Presents and new projects

Thanks for all the nice comments on Juno. I've worn it quite a bit and am pleased with how the Yorkshire Tweed is wearing (not much pilling yet). Here's what's been going on in my knitting world over the past few weeks. First, I told you I got some cool birthday gifts from Bill.

Has anyone seen or used these before? They look pretty cool. Here's a close up:

I haven't tried them out officially, as I'm not working on any projects with size 6 needles, but they do glow nicely in the dark!

See the glow?

This gift here took the cake, however. I don't know where he got it, but this swift is beautifully made and works great, as you can see.

For my WIPs, I've got quite a bit on the needles now, actually.

Fetching, using Cashmerino Aran. I've never knit a complete project on DPNs before. You know, I've used them to finish hats and stuff, but this is BIG for me. So far, so good. I'm not minding it too much.

I started another sweater: Starsky from knitty. I'm almost done the back.

This was a big disappointment for me. I got some Malabrigo in Olive for Christmas last year, and have been waiting to cast on for Wicked. I finally did, and I hate it! I'm alternating skeins of yarn of everything, but to me, this looks like army camouflage. I'm sad over it, partly because I've been so psyched up to start a project with Malabrigo. I think the green is nice, but there's too much dark color variations in it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the 5 skeins - this may go up on my Ravelry trade/sell page.

I've made progress on Bill's one row reversible cable scarf. This will be ready by Christmas. The only other Christmas knitting I'm doing is a scarf for my brother. I picked up some Patons Shetland Tweeds in charcoal to make him a manly scarf, too.

I also started Gretel. I am not liking working with DPNs on this one, so it will sit until I can buy a pair of size 5, 16" circulars.

Lastly, we are remodeling our bathrooms next week! Our house was built in the 50's, and we have the original tub and toilets, and possibly original tile (though we think it's more 70's tile). We are replacing the tile, toilets and tiling over the floors. New cabinets, mirrors and lighting, too.

Before: Bill's bathroom.

Bill's wallpaper. Giddee-up!

Before: My bathroom.

After pictures: stay tuned!

FO: Juno!!!!

I am probably just overly excited by the outcome of this project, but I really have to say that Juno is one of the best knits I have ever done. Here it is, with lots of pictures!

Pattern: Juno, from Rowan 40. A HUGE shout out to Silvia over at silverknits for mailing me her copy of Rowan 40. I am so grateful for the kindness of other knitters. Silvia, I am mailing your magazine back with a surprise this week!

Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in Wild Plum, just a wee bit over 6 skeins. The pattern calls for 2 strands of Wool Cotton held together, but if you've seen other FOs or checked out the Ravelry project pages, you wouldn't think it. Ever since Vanessa at Coloursknits debuted her Juno, in which she substituted the Yorkshire Tweed Aran, everyone else followed suit. This is an example of why I am so thankful for blogs and other knitters who share their experiences. The Tweed is a perfect substitute and makes for a beautiful (and less expensive!) sweater. Buttons are from Joann's, $6 for 8 of them.

Modifications: I did make several modifications to the pattern. Other knitters had noted that they were unhappy with the boxier shape of the body, so I cast on the numbers of stitches in between the 32" and 34" size and worked some waist shaping. I also made the body longer, about 15" before the armhole. I followed the pattern as written for the armhole shaping. For the sleeves, I cast on 34 sts and increased 1 st at each end every 12 rows until 52 sts and then followed the pattern as written. I followed the instructions for the button band and collar as written.

Verdict: Um, I LOVE IT. Can I marry this sweater? I've never made a sweater that knit up so quickly or fit so well. I did my best to knit up the sizes of the back, fronts and sleeves that are best for my body, but I think I lucked out that this yarn behaved and stayed on gauge! The collar is really unique. Even my mom asked, "You didn't knit that, did you?"

I really like the color of the yarn. It has little flecks of hot pink and green and red in it, so I have many options with the color of my layering tee underneath. Here I've got red. Yesterday I wore it with a hot pink and today I'm wearing it with a purple (yeah, I've worn it 3 days in a row!!).

This only took about 6 weeks to knit, while working on other things. I could have knocked it out in a month for sure if I hadn't been distracted by other knits. The body went really fast (the back only took 2 days), but the collar took much longer. I ended up doing 13 repeats of the cable pattern. Once I got the hang of it, it went faster, but it was slow going in the beginning.

What else can I say? I celebrated a birthday yesterday so Juno was a fantastic birthday surprise. I also got 2 really awesome knit-related gifts from Bill, which I'll share with you in the next post. In the meantime, be thankful for the gift of knitting and everything and everyone else in your life you have to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

FO: Pink Rockstar Scarf

Another super quick project comes off the needles. This scarf is so beautiful I can't stand it. Really. You have to see it in person because the pictures don't do it justice, but I tried to take some nice close ups for you all! If you click on the pictures, they will blow up and really show the yarn.

Yarn: Tilli Tomas Rockstar in Hope, 1 skein.

Pattern: Reversible Lace Stitch, found where else? Ravelry. It's a 12 st repeat so, I cast on 26 sts and kept the first and last stitch in garter. I also slipped the first stitch every row to keep the edges neat. The stitch pattern is really lovely and it's perfect that it's reversible.

Verdict: I LOVE this scarf. The silk is so shiny and the beads are so pretty. It came out long enough to wrap around my neck and tie. It's not a scarf to keep the cold out, but it did keep my neck warm over my v-neck sweater yesterday at work.

I'm at work. Serious face.

Close up of the shiny pretty yarn.

I know I've had a lot of FOs lately, but after Juno, that trend is going to end. I'm am almost finished with Juno . . . the collar is taking WAY longer than I expected. Lots of cabling. I have three more sweaters on the horizon that I'm itching to cast on for, as well as a few accessories. No Christmas knitting for me this year means I will have more time to work on them! I enjoyed Christmas knitting last year, but it took a lot of time and I have to admit that I'm not sure how well appreciated the handknits were. Oh well. I really really really want to have Juno finished by the weekend, so send me fast-cabling-collar thoughts!

FO: Ivory Sequined Scarf

I had a lot of fun using the self-timer and taking pictures of my finished sequined scarf. I'm no photographer, but the contrast of black and white with the lighting looks cool to me!

Throw it over your shoulder.

Pattern: Reversible cabled scarf, inspiration found here. I wanted a simple stitch pattern so as not to overwhelm the delicate silky yarn and sequins. I also wanted it to be reversible. Here's what I did:

Cast on 20 sts.
Row 1: K2, [K2, P2] to last 2 sts, K2
Row 2: Repeat Row 1.
Row 3: K2, [C2B, P2, C2F, P2] to last 2 sts, K2.
Row 4: Repeat Row 3.
Repeat rows 1 - 4 until desired length. That's it!

Yarn: Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in Natural, 1 skein.

Wear it like a normal scarf.

I envisioned this to be a fun accessory for the holidays. It has just enough sparkle to add some bling to an otherwise basic black cardigan or other outfit.

Or tie it loosely around your neck.

Or wrap it several times and wear shorter around your neck.

When I bought this at Stitches, I was undecided between this color and a very light pink one with beads (you know me and pink). I didn't want to drop all that $$ on two skeins, but I become obsessed with this luxury yarn while knitting it. As luck would have it, I found 1 skein of that exact pink yarn (Tilli Tomas Rockstar in Hope) on eBay ON SALE. Whoo hoo!

I've already started knitting another fun scarf with it and I am in love with this one. I think this is going to be one of my favorite knits of all time.

The shiny variegated pinks with the delicate little beads and the lace pattern are beautiful together. I found the stitch pattern here. It's a reversible lace that has a scalloped edge and flow to it. Gorgeous. I can't put it down, which means I'm having some finishingitis with Juno. Almost all the knitting is done on Juno (just about 2/3 of the collar remains). I am hoping to have it done by Thanksgiving.

FO: Bea

After lots of math, mismatched dyelots and fear of running out of yarn, Bea has redeemed herself to be a decent FO!

Pattern: My own, inspired by Kim Hargreaves' Bea. I have parts of this written up for a size 34". It has stretched a little and probably would fit a 36", too. There was a lot of math involved, mostly to get the purl knots to match up correctly at the ends of the rows and to get the eyelets to match up across the waist. I used a simple K4, P1 across to get the texture and garter stitch lower body (peplum), sleeves, neckline and button bands. To get the picot effect on the edges, I did a KFB at the end of every other row and then cast off the extra stitch on the following row (I copied this trick from knitternatter Amelia). For the sleeves, I did a picot bind off.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton, color 604. 10 balls exactly, with maybe 1/2 yard to spare.
I made the never-again mistake of getting 5 balls each from 2 different dyelots. The effect was very noticable, but well hidden by changing from stockinette to garter stitch. This is why I have garter stitch sleeves from the elbow down.

Verdict: Since this was only my second attempt at designing a sweater myself, I am happy with it. The finishing touches, like the purple shell buttons and i-cord, really make it work. If I had to do it over again, I would cast on fewer stitches at the neckline and make it just a teeny bit smaller across the chest. It's pulling down towards my shoulders, which is making the raglan seam get big under the arms.

What I Learned: Writing up your own pattern is hard! It does take a lot of time and thinking, so I really do appreciate what desginers go through when they are working out a new pattern. I also learned a cardinal rule of knitting (the hard way): DON'T MIX DYELOTS!

The wool/cotton is a nice yarn to work with, but I find that Debbie Bliss yarns come with lots of knots, and usually only a few yards into the skein. The yarn did bleed a bit when it got blocked, which I was happy to see. I think it helped the dyelots blend a little more. I am going to try wearing this over a collared shirt - the yarn is just a teeny bit itchy on my skin.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help along the way. You all are the best!

His & Hers Scarves

Wow, thank you so much for all the wonderful comments on the Cable Down Raglan. I am really flattered! Today's post is just a quick update to show you what I've been up to this week. I am actually wearing Bea right now as a type, but due to the much needed rain that finally arrived, photos haven't been taken. But, I will tease you all and say that this FO came out pretty great (given all the things that could have and did go wrong!).

At Stitches East, I splurged on a skein of Tilli Tomas Disco Lights. I have used this yarn before, in Sahara #1, and I used the Exotica in Sahara #2. I tried making my own beaded yarn with Ms. Marigold, but I realized that unless you can bead directly onto the yarn itself, carrying along a string of beads on thread is not easy (or really worth it, IMO).

Inspired by a modeled version at Stitches, I wanted to make a simple but pizzazzy (heh, is that a word?) thin scarf to throw around my neck on days when I need a little shine. A little panache, if you will. I tried several different stitch patterns, and I finally settled on this reversible cable stitch, inspired by It Ain't Plain, Jane! by Dorothy. It has a simple garter st border and cables that are similar to what I did in Something Blushy.

I also started a scarf for Bill using the Kathmandu Aran I got at Stitches. Inspired by the Harlot's One Row Handspun, this has a reversible cable in the center.

I'm sure most of you have seen the new Interweave Preview. I saw the cover Aran Cardigan at Stitches and must say, it looked really nice in person. I think this is going in the queue.

Juno is also progressing nicely. Just one sleeve, the rest of the collar, buttonbands and seaming to go!

Have a great weekend and stay tuned for Bea!

FO: Cable Down Raglan

This sweater was finished early last week, and is finally making its debut!

Pattern: Cable Down Raglan by Stefanie Japel, Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Yarn: Classic Elite Summer Set, color 3146. 11 balls.

Modifications: None. I followed this exactly as written for the 31 1/4" size. I still haven't figured out the whole negative ease stuff, but I know that when there are cables in a pattern that you should pick a size smaller than you normally would, so that's what I did.

Verdict: Pretty good! I wore this sweater to work last Friday. In the beginning of the day, it fit great. But as the day wore on, the sweater stretched out a lot. This is my fault in yarn choice. The Summer Set is 64% cotton, 19% alpaca, 12% polyester, 5% lycra. The alpaca makes it warm and fuzzy, but cotton grows. If I had to do it over, I would have picked a merino wool based yarn for this project. But, I was able to hand wash it, let it dry slightly and then throw in the dryer to shrink it back into shape. I guess I'll just do this every time I wear it.

The Summer Set was great to knit with and produces a soft, although just slightly itchy fabric (I have sensitive skin). I wore this with a t-shirt underneath and it was fine. The pattern was easy to follow and fun. Although, I was sick of those cables by the end!

As always, thanks so much for the helpful suggestions on my dyelot nightmare with Bea. It's almost done and I'll debut it next week!!

Stitches East Report: Tweed Alert!

Saturday was my big trip to Stitches. I went with my friend Elizabeth (non-blogger) and we had a great time. We both felt that there weren't as many vendors as there were last year, but that might just be that we knew what to expect this year. I was well behaved. I purchased items that were on my list and a few surprises, too.

I was hoping that Webs would have their new tweed, Williamstown, with them so I could check out the colors and feel. Let me tell you, this is really soft tweed. It doesn't even feel tweedy. It has 25% acrylic in it, which is probably where the softness comes from. I bought a full bag of color #5, a nice classic red. No project in mind yet.

Next on my list was to find a ball or two of a 4 ply tweed. I am going to make EZ' s Seamless Hybrid for Bill in some discontinued Yorkshire Tweed 4 ply. Inspired by Brooklyn Tweed's version with the folded hem, I wanted to find a constrasting color. Webs had some of the new Scottish Tweed 4 ply, so I picked up 2 balls in a blue.

I don't like the new Scottish tweed as much as the old Yorkshire tweed. Maybe it knits up differently, but it seems scratchier and more felted than the soft Yorkshire tweed.

I also found some clearance Queensland Kathmandu Aran in a hunter green for a scarf for Bill. It was a tweedy kind of a day!

Also on the tweed front, I picked up some Rowanspun Aran in Husk from Jan over on Ravelry. I'm thinking this might become the increasingly popular Drops A-Shape Jacket.

Last but not least, to balance out all this tweediness, I succumbed to the temptation of the beautiful Tilli Tomas Disco Lights (again). I picked up 1 skein in natural. It's simple and stunning and will become a thin, reversible cabled scarf to add pizazz when I need it.

My general report on Stitches is good: there were lots of yarns to look at and touch, but ultimately I only ended up buying from Webs and the other vendor where I bought the Disco Lights. A lot of the vendors just didn't appeal to my personal style. Many featured knitted sweaters and garments with novelty yarns mixed in and boxier shapes. There's nothing wrong with any of this; it's just not my taste. When I peruse Ravelry and blogland, I often find more updated, stylish FOs from knitters. I just didn't see much of that represented at Stitches. But I had a great time!