Lace Gloves

So, I had a really cute Halloween costume idea, but I ended up with a migraine, so I didn't do anything for Halloween this year. Just as well because the dress I made for my costume was several sizes too big and I still haven't decided if it is worth the effort to fix. But before I knew all that I made myself a pair of gloves to go with my costume.

The pattern is called Ladylike Gloves. It is free on Ravelry. I've actually been eyeballing the pattern for a while but never had a good enough reason to make the gloves. Sorry, the picture isn't so great, it's really hard to take a photo of your own hand. 

The yarn is Rowan Fine Lace that I had left over from a shawl. The yarn is absolutely delightful, one of the most stunningly soft yarns I've ever had the pleasure of knitting with, but I have to say knitting these gloves was a nightmare. They are done on size three needles and when I started the only size 3s that I had were exceptionally slick metal. My needles kept slipping out of my work as I was knitting. 

I had to set the gloves aside while I hunted for a pair of size 3 double points in wood. Fortunately using wood did solve the slipping problem or I would never have finished these. 

Although I'm happy enough with the finished object I'm not really sure they were worth the effort. I've worn them to work once, and I do like that because of the lace pattern over the fingers I can use my touchscreen and not have to take my gloves off, which is cool, they just were not fun to knit.

It's Socktober!

Hey y'all,

Don't you just love the myriad funny words that October gets turned into? I find it really amusing. My favorite one by far is Socktober though. I love knitting socks. I've always got a pair going because they are the perfect project to keep in your purse and pull out during downtime. Just remember to wrap the ends of your DPNs with rubber bands so you don't loose stitches or one of your needles!

On the other hand, I finish socks really slowly because they just live in my purse.

So my most recent pair I started back in August and I just finished the second sock last night. I was putting off doing the Kitchener stitch, the toe has been finished since Thursday.

So there they are. The Pattern is The Weasley Homestead by Erica Lueder. I really love her sock patterns. It tickles me that they are all Harry Potter inspired, but mostly I just like that they fit well, I love the way she does her heels and toes, and I've never had one end up slouchy on me. There is nothing worse than having to constantly dig into your boot to hitch your sock back up, right?

The yarn is Serenity Sock weight yarn, I got it at JoAnn's a while back. It was dirt cheap, but it is more of a light fingering than a proper fingering weight. The color combo is delightful, it's the same brand that I used to make Husband his Wedding Socks. I got a sock and a half out of one skein, so I've got a bit left over now. I might try for a pair of anklet socks before I toss it in the Sock Yarn Scrap Blanket bin. I've got two more skeins in black (I said it was dirt cheap, right? I stocked up). I will probably use the black to make a pair of socks for Husband. He does like boring colors. 

Linen Tunic Pattern

Ah fall, it is by far my favorite time of year. It is the time of year for showing off cute sweaters before they are hidden underneath bulky winter jackets. It's also got the best color pallet, dark greens, rusty reds, navy blue and black. I love it.

I decided to celebrate the fall this year with a new knitted tunic. I had some wonderful linen yarn (Lindy Chain by knitpicks.com - who I am totally not affiliated with, I just like it) that was recycled from a different sweater that I knit but never wore. Linen has absolutely wonderful drape, which made it perfect for a loose fitting a-line sweater, but less than ideal for the more fitted cardigan I had originally knit. Live and learn.

So I searched Ravelry for a top-down, a-line, crew neck, short sleeve tunic, in a fingering-weight yarn, but such a pattern didn't seem to exist. So, I wrote one, and now I'm sharing it with you.

I think this is a great transitional piece because when it's still slightly warmer is looks great over some leggings with just a cami underneath, but as the weather cools it will work with a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans instead.

Linen Tunic:

Materials:

11 skeins (1198 yds) Lindy Chain in colorway Linen.

US 3 double point needles or 16" connected needles

US 5 connected needles.

Guage:

27 sts by 33 rows equals 4” in St st.

Size:

Would fit 38-42” bust. Pictured on 40” bust with 2” positive ease.

Instructions:

Neck:

On size 3 needles CO 130 sts, join in round, work k1p1 ribbing until neckband measures 1” Switch to size 5 needles.

place marker for beginning of round and at 65^th st.

Shape back of neckline:

K60 sts w&t, p55 sts w&t, k52 sts w&t, p49 w&t, k46 w&t, p43 w&t

knit 2 rnds, picking up wrapped stitches and knitting them as you go

Begin shoulder shaping:

Round 1: Place BOR marker k5 m1 pm k1 m1 k53 m1 k1 pm m1 k10 m1 pm k1 m1 k53 m1 k1 pm m1 k5

Round 2: k

Round 3: k to marker m1 sm k1 m1 knit to 1 stitch before marker m1 k1 sm m1 knit to marker m1 sm k1 m1 knit to 1 stitch before marker m1 k1 sm m1 knit to BOG marker

Repeat rounds 2 and three until there are 120 stitches each for front and back and 74 sts between sleeve markers

Place sleeve on holder, CO 5, pm (new BOR marker), CO 5, knit to next marker, place sleeve markers on stitch holder, CO 5, pm, CO 5 knit to end of round

Body:

Rnds 1-10: Knit

Rnd 11: knit to 1 stitch before pm, m1, k1, sm, k1, m1, knit to 1 stitch before pm, m1,k1, sm, k1, m1

Repeat rounds 1-11 until 1” shy of desired length is reached. (pictured length is 29" so knit 28" from neckline)

Switch to k1p1 ribbing for 1”

BO in pattern

(note: the goal for me was using up all my yarn, so after knitting a couple of body rounds I paused and finished the sleeves, that way I could just knit the body until there was no yarn left.)

Sleeves:

Pick up ten stitches from underside of arm

K 18 rounds

knit k1p1 rib for 9 round

BO

I am not great at drawing, but here is a rough sketch to show the finished shape and measurements of the tunic.

I am very pleased with this tunic, and I hope that you like it to, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to leave a comment. This is my first time writing a knit pattern and just because it makes sense to me doesn't mean it's as intuitive to everyone else. 

Shout out to my friend Hilary from The Cutie Life for helping me take pictures. Thank you! 

Works in Progress (WIPs)

Are y'all familiar with the term multicraftual? It's like being multilingual, instead of just speaking one language (knitting) you speak multiple languages (knitting, sewing, quilting, spinning, tatting). Some people see it as a sign of being unwilling to commit/having a short attention span. Others see it as natural branching out of interrelated talents. Guess which school of thought I belong too.

And speaking of opposing schools of thought there are also those who say that you should have only one project at a time, while others believe that variety is the spice of life.

Normally I have three or four knitting projects, a quilt, several sewing and tatting projects and a cross-stitch all competing for my attention. This blog probably makes it appear that I spend most of my time sewing because most of my posts are about sewing, but hour for hour, I am a knitter first and foremost. Of course, hour for hour, it just takes longer to knit something then it does to sew. 

Today I was thinking about Works in Progress (called WIPs if you are on Ravelry) because since the wedding I have felt like I have nothing going on project wise. Seriously, my sewing table is actually clean of projects right now, it's sort of freaking me out. Husband and I got engaged one year ago today and since then it's been a whirlwind of wedding related DIY craft projects. The post-wedding project void feels very really y'all. But contrary to the way that I feel I actually have a lot going on at the moment. It's just less stressful because there is no "due date" so to speak.

Right now I have a quilt top pieced together and half quilted. This picture is the unquilted top laying on my bed to show the size.

I've also got a bolt of burlap, hemmed and waiting to become a bed skirt. 

I have a pair of leggings that just need to be hemmed, and I have four t-shirts, four camisoles, and five pairs of panties cut out and waiting to be sewed together. I don't have pictures yet, but I will probably bust them out this weekend and then post pics on Instagram. 

Knitting wise I've got a pair of socks I just started two days ago. Also, I love how well the yarn coordinated with my pajamas.

I have a perpetual sock yarn scrap miter square blanket going on.

I have the scarf of insanity that I will honestly maybe never finish, but I enjoy working on it sporadically anyway.

There is also a secret Christmas project on the needles. And there are always washcloths to knit because it is impossible to have two many washcloths.

Non-sewing and knitting projects I have half a skein of alpaca/silk noil yarn spun, and 3/4 of a handkerchief edge tatted.

And I've got a large cross-stitch image that I've been working on for years and probably will continue to work on for years to come.

So really, I have plenty going on. Maybe I've even got a touch of project ADD, but I prefer to think of myself as more of a Renaissance Man. I don't want to specialize, I want to know a bit about everything. Husband is afraid that it's a way to never really master anything and I am not saying that he is wrong, but I do think I would feel limited if I had stuck to only knitting. What do you think? Do you prefer to have only one project at a time, or do you want to be able to switch what you are working on whenever you get bored?

Sweater Weather?

A couple of weeks ago it was 90 degrees out and I was totally desperate to do something, anything, that had nothing to do with my wedding, so I finished knitting a wool sweater.

It was way way way too warm to wear a sweater, so I put it on for, like, 30 seconds, snapped a picture and called it good. 

I haven't posted about it until now because I kept thinking I would take the time to take a better picture, but I haven't gotten around to that yet, so no good picture for you :)

Anyway, I am very pleased with the final fit of the sweater. It has a hi-low hem which I'm not sure I really like, but it is super duper comfy. I think of it as the sweatshirt sweater because it's that level of comfort, but just by being a sweater it looks 10x more professional. It's hard to tell in the picture because the lighting is terrible but it's a nice gray-blue color. The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed Loft (the fancy 100% USA made yarn I talked about a while back) and the pattern is Brooklyn Tweed Gable. It was a total snap to make, wonderfully mindless. All in all a great mental break from wedding projects.

Now that I've gotten it done I am throwing myself into wedding stuff with a renewed vigor and determination. I've got 1 month to get everything done

Sweater Seams

I didn't post on Saturday because I thought I had nothing to say. I have actually caught the blog up with all of my finished objects. Last night a friend and fellow blogger came over for dinner and I was lamenting my lack of post ideas. She astutely observed that I can talk about projects before they are finished. She even pointed out that people might be more interested in how I make things rather than just seeing what I've made.

And so, without further ado, I present a sweater in progress.

My sweater only needs one more sleeve. Tragically that half a ball of yarn where the other sleeve should be is all that I have left, and it's not going to be enough to finish the sleeve, so now I am sort of on hold until I can get another ball. 

But in the mean time I thought I could talk about seaming a sweater. I firmly believe that the finishing work on a sweater is what makes the difference between being hand-made versus home-made.

I like to do the finishing work as I go for a variety of reasons. 1) weaving in the ends of one sleeve isn't nearly as arduous and weaving in the ends on an entire sweater. (Let's be real, we all know at least one knitter who could have a beautiful finished object who just never bothered to weave in the ends.) 2) Sewing together the peices of the sweater as I go allows me to check fit before everything is done. Before I knit this sleeve I knew my sweater would fit because I had already sewed together the front and back and tried it on. 3) If it doesn't fit it allows me to make changes without having to frog the whole thing.

So, after I weave in the ends of my sleeve I start sewing up the long straight seam. Most tutorials on seaming recommend sewing the shoulder seams of a sweater, then sewing the sleeve cap, and finally treating the side seam and sleeve as one long seam. I don't like doing that because it means I have to have everything done before I can do any seaming. 

When I sew my seams I work with the right side visible, that way I can see what my finished seam will look like and fix any icky spots. 

Use your needle to pick up two of the bars between stitches on one side of the fabric. 

Then pick up two bars on the other side of the fabric. This is easier to do if you use both hands, instead of taking a picture with one hand. 

Pull your thread tight between stitches.This is where working from the right side really helps because you can control the tension of your seam more easily when you can see it. You really don't want to pull the seam too tight or leave it too loose; just like when you are trying to get a good, even, tension while knitting.

Because I'm sewing the side seam before doing the sleeve cap I don't want to sew it up all the way, instead I stop a couple inches before the sleeve cap shaping, then I jump to my sleeve cap. When working the cap always start in the middle of the cap and work your way down to the armpit, then go back up and do the other side. This helps keep everything nice and even. 

Sewing the sleeve cap is a little trickier than the side seams because you don't have the same directionality on all your stitches. Instead of picking up the bars between stitches on your sleeve you will be inserting your needle underneath a stitch.

On the body of the sweater you are still picking up the bars.

And once again, just keep sewing. This is really the place that you want to be patient. Don't work on seaming if you are in a hurry.

Sew all the way down to the armpit join.

Then go back to the top and work your way down the other side. When it's all done you won't be able to tell that your seam was done in pieces. In the picture below my needle is pointing to my starting spot.

Once your sleeve cap is done, go back and finish your side seam. Everything should line up nice and neatly, but sometimes you end up having to ease in a couple of stitches. If you are off by a stitch or two, I wouldn't worry, but if you end up off by inches I would take the seam apart and start again.

And this is what your seams should look like on the inside. Aren't they nice and neat?

Some sweater patterns will use a two stitch selvedge, the pattern I'm working with here only used one. Some don't include one at all and you will need to add it yourself. Make sure that you check your pattern before your begin, especially if your pattern includes ribbing because you want your ribbing to line up correctly like mine does on the sleeve.

I love nice neat seams. I think learning to seam my sweaters correctly made the single biggest difference in my knitting. If finishing is something that you struggle with I would highly recommend Deborah Newton's book Finishing School: A Masterclass for Knitters. 

A Quick Catching Up

So much for my goal of posting every weekend. Monday is at least weekend adjacent though, can I have partial credit for that? No? Okay.

I've been crazy busy the last couple of weeks and I have a bunch of projects that I want to share with y'all. I'll probably do in-depth posts about them later, but for right now this is what I've been up to:

Three weeks ago I made a new laundry bag as part of my goal of decorating my bathroom. I was going to write a tutorial on how I did it, but I forgot to write down the sizes I cut the pieces to, and I forgot to take pictures as I made it, so now you just get a picture of the finished object. I like it because it's fully finished (my obsession with French seams continues) and it has handles. I don't have a washer/dryer in my apartment so the handles are particularly helpful.

I wanted to make something that would stand up on its own, I had hoped the canvas was stiff enough too, but alas, it only stands when full of clothing. I think I'm going to make a couple of channels and insert some dowels, see if that does the trick, but for the moment, it works just fine. 

And speaking of bathroom projects and black canvas here is the project I just finished today:

There will definitely be a tutorial on how I made these in the future. In the meantime, I am just so stoked about them. This is probably the most organized my bathroom has ever been, and I think they are cute to boot. 

In between these two projects I had two jam-packed weekends. 

Last weekend I spent Saturday at a friend's house for her birthday. It was a potluck dinner. I brought rolls, they were a big hit. It made me realize that I need one of those quilted casserole carriers that I made for Fiance's Mother and Sister, so I'm going to have to bump that up the priority list. 

On Sunday, I went to a Cork and Canvas event with my Mom. It was way too much fun. We each had a glass of wine and followed along with an instructor to paint Mount Rainer! I had never painted before and I had way to much fun. Here is me with my mom holding our finished paintings:

I added a sailboat to my painting because Fiance builds them when he has enough space. I hung my painting in my kitchen. I feel a bit silly about it because the rest of the artwork in my apartment is all original done by professionals or my friends who have BFA's in art. Mine looks like the first attempt that it is hanging near the rest, but I'm proud of it, so I'm going to display it, silliness be darned!

Two weekends ago was Madrona Fiber Festival. It happens in Tacoma every year, but this year was the first time I had ever gone. I had a total blast. Everyone was wearing their most impressive knitwear, I've never had so much fun ogling people's clothes. This is what I wore:

Again, there will be a longer post about the dress. I made it on Friday and woke up early Saturday morning so I could sew on the buttons before heading out the door. 

My tax return came just days before Madrona so as a special treat I allowed myself to purchase enough Brooklyn Tweed Loft to make a sweater. I've been lusting after the yarn for ages. It's a tad pricey, but it is 100% made in the USA and that is a quality that I am willing to pay extra for. 

In real life, I think the color is a bit lighter than this. It's really lovely yarn. I spent ages debating between Loft and Shelter (fingering weight or worsted) and between this color (Faded Quilt) and Long John (a lovely brick red). They didn't actually have enough in one dye lot at Madrona so I ordered it there and it was shipped to me later. It came through Churchmouse Yarns on Bainbridge Island and let me just say that that is a business I will happily be going back to. Probably for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Long John. When I ordered the yarn I gave them my name, number, and address and was told they would call for my credit card info when the yarn was ready to ship. Well, I ended up getting the yarn on Tuesday but because of a miscommunication with their shipping department I hadn't paid for it yet, so I called them up. Today I got a note in the mail from them thanking me for my honesty! The woman that I talked to on the phone was really lovely and so was everyone I met at Madrona. 

I'm not letting myself start knitting with it yet though. I've got two projects on the needles to finish first. 

One is a sweater in Rowen Felted Tweed. I've got the back done, and most of the front. I feel like I'm using up the yarn at an alarming rate, though. Even though I have the yardage that the pattern calls for I think I'm going to need at least two more balls of yarn. 

This is the back of the sweater:

I also need to finish the mate to this pair of socks for Fiance:

And be on the lookout for an upcoming post about my new wooden sock blocks, my new sewing table, and my thread holder. I have so many exciting things I need to share. I recognize that I'm saying this in a post that should have come two days ago, but I am really going to try to increase to two posts a week and stick with Wednesday and Saturday updates. Wish me luck!

Catching Up With Christmas Gifts

So wow I am behind on my blog right now. I think I mentioned in previous posts that Fiance and I were in the process of moving. Moving is not conducive to writing or crafting. But things are starting to settle down; the beginning of the year madness of work is calming, we have our new apartment mostly set up, we have internet hooked up, things are getting organized.

I was going to do a separate blog post for each Christmas gift that I made this year, but since it's been so long since I posted and I'm feeling rather behind on projects I'm just going to put them all in this post, sorry, but it will be a bit long.

In the past, I've stuck to just knitting gifts, but this year I did a bit of sewing too. The first two projects that I completed were quilted casserole carriers for Fiance's mom and sister. I used the free pattern provided on Sew Desu Ne. I used a fat eighths bundle for the top of each carrier and a yard and a quarter of cotton for the bottom and handles. The bundles actually left me one square short for each carrier, but I made up the difference with fabric from the bottom.

The blue one was for my future sister-in-law, this is what the top of it looks like when laid flat. All of those triangles were a breeze with the rotary cutter that Fiance's Mom got me for my birthday.

I also made one in orange for my future mother-in-law. This is what it looks like when it's folded up to carry a dish. I am really pleased with the way these turned out and when I get some free time I think I am going to make one or two for myself as well. P.S. the handles aren't as long as they look in the photo, it's really difficult to take a picture of your own arm without getting a really skewed perspective. 

Continuing with gifts for Fiance's family: I always make stuffed animals for his nieces. I typically pick a theme and make all four stuffed animals fit within it. This year's theme was safari animals. I was going to make a zebra and a lion for two of his nieces, but I couldn't figure out how to send them to Costa Rica without it costing both parties an arm and a leg (taxes on packages are weird down there apparently). I did make an elephant and a giraffe for the two girls in Idaho. 

I did add eyes to the elephant, I just forgot to take a new picture after doing so. It's a bit creepy looking without them. I used this pattern, but I left off the tusks. I'm pretending it's because this is a female Asian elephant and they don't have tusks. It totally wasn't because I didn't have any white yarn and I was too lazy to knit tusks. Nope. That's not it at all. 

The giraffe came from this pattern. I like the look of the pattern, but boy did working on this remind me that I hate doing stranded color work. Not that it is particularly difficult, I just don't find it enjoyable to knit. Also, I forgot to add Mr. Giraffe's ears. Oops. This project took me way longer to finish than I thought it would and by the time I got to the ears I was just so done. Oh well. I think he is still cute. 

And speaking of projects that took way longer than they should have:

Before Fiance and I moved away from all our friends I loved nothing more than decorating for holidays and having people over. I had a great deal of pride and joy in our handmade Christmas decorations. I made us stockings and an adorable (if I do say so myself) advent calendar of tiny mittens and socks. My finished project is pictured below. My mom took one look at it and said she wanted the same thing for Christmas. That was three years ago. Then we moved and I lost interest in all things cute, decorative, or Christmas themed. Losing interest in something I loved so much really should have been a red flag that we needed to be back among friends. But I did try to make mom her advent calendar. By Christmas last year, I had made her three red mittens. By Christmas this year, I had made one green one. I actually knit the rest on Christmas day at her house because I felt so bad that I just hadn't been able to get myself to work on them more. So now she has twelve mittens. Maybe by next year, I can finish the twelve socks although she says she is happy with just the mittens and decorations for her tree. 

And for the last of the handmade Christmas gifts, I made Fiance a red beanie. We didn't really exchange gifts this year because of the move, but it felt wrong not to give him anything at all and he needed a new hat. The ribbing and the color are inspired by the beanies worn in "Life Aquatic" although they aren't exactly the same. Last year I made a matching one for one of Fiance's best friends. I'm still waiting for a picture of them wearing the hats together. 

And that's it. End of the Christmas gift post. I think it's the fewest handmade gifts I've ever given, but between moving stress and work stress and a general lack of interest in anything Christmas I just didn't feel like making a lot this year. I'm confident that next year will be better, though. I'm already thinking of making some new decorations and trying to decide what the next animal theme should be. I am so happy that we are back to living among friends. 

Dumbledore's Christmas Socks

Holy Wow! Two knitting posts in a row! I am on a role. Plus, I'm too broke to buy fabric, but I have plenty of stashed yarn, which may also be a contributing factor. :)

So, in my last sock post I said it might be a while before I did any more socks because it took me so long to finish that last pair. Yeah, I totally cast on another pair of socks, like, that same night. I was re-reading Harry Potter for the millionth time and Dumbledore's line about a good pair of wool socks being a great Christmas present got me wanting more socks, and I already had the pattern Dumbledore's Christmas Stockings by Erica Lueder all qued up, and I had some left over Madelintosh yarn from a sweater I made years ago. I was reasonably sure I didn't have enough in either color to make two socks, but between the two leftover bits I could get some nicely coordinated but not matching socks.

When I first wrote this post sock number one was done and number two I had gotten as far as the heel turn, but before this reached it's scheduled post date I finished the second sock. 

I'm very pleased with how they turned out. The sock pattern has two different charts that you can mix and match. I used chart A for sock one and chart B for sock two. They were a fun knit, and the yarn was great to work with. Merry Christmas to me! And now I really need to get started on other people's gifts. 

Knotty Gloves

Having finally finished that second sock of doom I managed to wip through another knitting project. I really should be working on Christmas knitting. We exchange gifts with Fiance's family at Thanksgiving because that is when we go out to see them, with Christmas being spent with my family, and I haven't even started making gifts yet. For the first time in five years I think I might just buy presents. * gasp *

Probably not though. Fiance is going to head over to see them early (I have to work Wednesday to get my holiday pay) I think I can manage to finish everyone's gifts while he is out of town. It's amazing how much knitting I get done when I am bored and lonely.

That was probably how I got through these gloves so quickly, Fiance was out of town for work when I made the first one.

I was really pleased with how it came out. That cable design was the perfect mix of interesting and easy, providing a fun break to the ribbing without making it into a long drawn out knit. I do wish I had make the fingers longer though. They always seem long enough when I am working on them and then too short when the glove is totally finished and on my hand. Oh well.

The first glove was so much fun that I finished the second one in fairly short order. I don't make gloves often because I hate weaving in all the left over ends from doing the fingers, but this pattern was just so pretty, I didn't own any gloves, and I had plenty of yarn left over from my lace cardigan. Don't be surprised if you see a matching hat soon too. If I get bored enough it might even be in time for Thanksgiving seeing as it is already snowing at my future in-laws house. I need to be prepared for the cold!

The pattern is Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller, the yarn is Knit Picks Palette in the colorway Hazelnut.

The Finally Finished Socks

At the beginning of this year I made a list of sewing and knitting goals. I wanted (and still want) to create a wardrobe of handmade items right down to basics like socks and underwear. I told myself I was going to knit a pair of socks a month.

Yeah, that totally didn't happen. So far in 2015 I have successfully finished two pairs of socks. It's November. Somehow I don't think I'm going to knit 10 more pairs of socks in two months.

But I am happy to say that I finished the pair I talked about in Block Sock Block back in August, the pair that I originally cast on in February.

As I mentioned in that post, I think the biggest problem I was running into was that I didn't like the yarn. I still have another skein of it somewhere, but I think I'm just going to throw it into the stash and forget about it for a while.

I'm not sure you can really tell in these photos, but I changed the pattern of blocks for the second sock. The original pattern is Patchwork Weasely Socks by Erica Lueder. I adore her sock patterns, but I also wanted to honor the spirit of Dobby with my Harry Potter inspired socks so I decided to not make them a perfect match, but still have them go together like Harry's socks with broomsticks on one and snitches on the other.

The really funny thing about finally finishing these socks was that I was immediately inspired to cast on a new pair. So now I'm working on Dumbledore's Christmas Stockings, also by Erica Lueder, and they are going much more quickly. 

Sweaters: the Good and the Bad

So, remember back in August when I wrote this post about my orange cardigan and how much I liked it? Remember how at the end of the post I said I was a bit bummed that the yarn was handwash only, but it wasn't that big a deal? Yeah...I totally felted that sweater. I didn't even realize that it had ended up in the wash.

That face is the one that Fiance calls my "Muppet Face" because apparently only puppets should be able to frown that deeply. He thinks it's a creepy face, but I think it's appropriate for felting a sweater. Obviously the sweater didn't shrink too much, and it is still wearable, but it doesn't hang right anymore. I think it shrank more in length than width and the seams are oddly stiff now making the hips flair in odd ways. 

Not totally ruined, but not wonderful anymore either. 

In better news I finished a new sweater this week. 

This one is also made with knit picks yarn, this time it's Palette. This one is also not superwash, so again I'll need to be careful (a bit more careful this time) when washing. I like the Palette line of yarns because it comes in so many wonderful colors, and it is inexpensive. It's got a little bit of that wool itch, but not enough to keep me from wearing it next to my skin. I used the color Hazelnut for this sweater, and it is a wonderful rich brown.  It's a bit lighter than it looks in the pictures. We've entered the rainy season here in Washington so I'm having problems getting good lighting for pictures again. 

The pattern is Casual Lace by Justyna Lorkowska. I know you can't really see the lace pattern in these pictures (grrrrr bad lighting) but it is a pretty pattern. It's a top down knit, I modified the sleeve length to be 3/4 because I have a habit of pushing my sleeves up and ruining them getting them all stretched out that way. One of the things I particularly liked about this pattern was the twisted rib used at cuffs, collar and bottom/button bands. I meant to take a close up picture of it and compare it to regular rib so you could see the difference, but I forgot. Oops. 

So, one messed up sweater, but one that turned out well. And maybe someday I'll even finish that darn sock...