fo: Amethyst(!!) Henri, at last!

Snotty expression is deserved, I think.

Dearest Henri, you're done at last!  And I couldn't be more pleased with you!  You're gorgeous, your so cuddly, and I want to just snuggled up with you forever!

And you're the perfect shade of purply tweed and texture.  SO MUCH TEXTURE.

ETA: People are being clever in the comments, and holy cow I didn't even see it Henri totally looks like an amethyst geode YOU PEOPLE ARE SMART.  Now I can't unsee it so this sweater is now dubbed the Amethyst Henri!  I DIDN'T EVEN GO THERE MENTALLY I HAVE THE BEST READERS.  :)

NOOO YOU CAN'T HAVE IT IT'S MINE!!

Guys, this is seriously the best thing I've ever knit/made/sewn, and I don't ever want to take it off!  I finished this sucker off on the 22nd, and have worn it nearly every day since (I gave it a break on Friday, but promptly put it back on yesterday during my recovery from Beerfest Friday night *ahem*.

Pattern: Henri, by Ann Leachman for Holla Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed in Brouche
Needles: 3.75 mm for main body and 3.5 mm for hems
Mods: a bunch

I'm not going to go into all my of tech and modification details here (although I babble about some of it below).  I just rewrote it all up on my Ravelry project page, so if you're interested in things like that, please go check out that link.  In fact, I'm going to keep this post pretty light on words because I've been trying to write it for a few days now, and nothing seems good enough for this sweater.

I have babbled about this before, both at the halfway point and when the body pieces were finished.  That'll have to do.  And the pile of pictures below, of course.  ;)

I reduced the back width a bit, and I think it was a good decision.

The sleeves sound up HUGE.  I'm okay with them though.

Less okay with my sleeve hems.  I might reknit those later.

Despite my mods, the neckline still wound up wide.  Not surprising considering I made a 48" wide sweater for a high bust of only 38" - that's 10" of ease on the upper chest and shoulders!  That's why I did all those mods - if I hadn't, this thing would probably be fall off of my shoulders right now.  I did add a line of crocheted slip stitches (for non-yarny people, that creates a firm, non-stretchy edge) around the inside of the back neckline, which has helped stabilize it a bit.  I might yet add one to the front, depending on how it behaves.

One of my mods included adding width on the shoulder and reduce width at the centre front.  It's one I've done before in sewing.

I was terrified of sewing up the side seams, but it went surprisingly well.  Michelle's tech knitting post helped a lot!

Look at all of that texture!

Don't get the comments above wrong, I adore how this sweater turned out!  But we're all our worst critics, and I like to see what I would've done differently to learn how to handle things going forward.  :)  Live(knit) and Learn!

Oh, and this is what we woke up to yesterday morning.  Finished my cozy sweater just in time, I think!

Alright now, bring it!  I've got my skis and a cozy warm sweater.  I'M READY FOR YA!!

Half-way there, Henri

So I have about a thousand other posts to write - including a bunch of finished projects.  Instead, and entirely because it just came off of the drying board and I can't stop petting it and admiring the cables, I'm going to post about my Henri.

Besides the name and shame post and it's most recent response, I don't think I've really blogged about this sweater.  Which is odd because I'm totally in love with it.  I started it back in December, when I couldn't stand not playing with the lovely Knit Picks City Tweed I'd bought for it.  The purple is scrumptious and the tweedy flecks appeal to the Grumpy Old Man that lives inside of my heart.  I knew it'd be perfect knit up in Holla Knits Henri, by Ann Leachman.

The pattern is interesting in that it's worked from side to side, starting at the wrist of one sleeve and knitting it, then casting on a ton of stitches and working across the body before binding off and knitting the second sleeve.  Then you repeat the whole process for the back.

I worked pretty steadily through the pattern, charting up the cable pattern across the body to make it easier to follow, and pretty much plowing through to the second sleeve of the front.  And then the Holla Knits KAL started in February, and I put Henri down to work on my Cardboard Cafe.  And I never really picked it up again.

Granted, stopping at the beginning of a bobble stitch pattern I hate making (but love once it's done) didn't help with that.

The Boyfriend was being a brat while taking these photos. HE WOULDN'T STOP!

And then I did the Name and Shame post, and started to think about my Henri again.  Coincidentally, the Very Shannon Summer Sweater KAL started up at the end of July, and being a wip-friendly group, I decided to pick up Henri again for the KAL instead of starting a whole new sweater (like I almost desperately wanted).  It helped that I was still in my self-imposed 'No New Projects' timeline.

But mostly, I'm so in love with this sweater, and I want it finished so I can wear it constantly!

I was a little worried that it would be too short.  It was looking awfully cropped pre-blocking.  I KNEW that it wasn't, that the cables would open up and it'd be the length I'd done some painful math to work out.  But that didn't stop me panicking.  So as soon as the front was off the needles, I blocked that sucker out.  Not only is it working up to be the perfect length, the fabric has softened up even more, hence why I can't stop petting it.  :)

Now I've just got to knit the whole other half...

fo: SpringTastic Socks!

Oh my gosh, they're done!  I feel like I've been working on these forever, but I really only started them in early June, and they spent a lot of down time as I got charmed by other projects.  My declaration to complete some WIPs put them back on the radar, and after finishing the first sock, I whipped off the second sock in 9 days.  A quarter of that was done last night!

Pattern: SpringTastic Socks by Stefanie Goodwin-Ritter
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Alegria
Mods: I started with the 9" sock for the width, but only knit 7" before doing the toe decreases for my size 7 feet.  I reduced the toe length by only knitting 6 decrease repeats (decrease 1 row, k 1 row), then decreasing every row for 6 rows.  I then sewed the toe closed with 28 stitches on the needles instead of 24 to reduce the point for my blunt toes.  The fit is perfect!
Here's my project page on Ravelry.

I admit, I didn't really like the cable and lace pattern when I first started it.  It's knit ankle down, so the pattern is upside down as you knit it.  It's not a symmetrical pattern at all, and it looks kind of kooky as you knit it, and I had no idea what the pattern had to do with spring.  But I was committed so kept going.  It was only when I tried them on to check the fit that I understood.

It's a basket filled with flowers! 

I was already sold on hand knit socks, but if I weren't these would've done it.  They're so adorable and beyond comfortable!  How have I gone so long wearing ill-fitted socks?  :)

Yarny Prizes from the hkkal

So I was one of the lucky winners of a Grand Prize during the Holla Knits KAL earlier this month, and that prize arrived at my door today!

I picked the Lion Brand gift prize, which included a couple of balls each of four of their yarns.  I've never used Lion Brand before, so I was excited about this package.  I did a bit of research, shot off an email with my colour choices, and then promptly forgot about it.

Until today.

I chose white gold for the LB Gold Leaf after stalking the projects made from this yarn.  The silver grey was decent looking, but I thought that the lighter colour would look nicer.  I admit, it's a bit ugly - the gold leaf is pretty gaudy, more so in person than in the photos (it actually looks pretty good in the photos).

I suspect it'll look better knit up, and I think I'm going to knit up the Vermonter, a chunky hat pattern I've been eyeing up for ages now.  And I'll probably knit it up pretty soon too, because I'm curious if this yarn will look nicer in a project than in the ball.

I chose two colours for the LB Baby Alpaca with the intention to reknit a hat for a friend.

I'd knit yet another version of the fornicating deer toque for her a couple of years ago, but the colourwork was too tight making the hat too small, and the wool in the original hat was too itchy for her.  I'll have to adjust the pattern a bit to account for the finer yarn, but this stuff is beyond soft and fluffy, and the cream should pair well with the cowl I knit her this Christmas.

For the LB Merino Superwash, I decided on a bright read with the intention to knit more red accessories for next winter.  I'm loving red right now for winter things - my favourite winter boots are red felted wool, my car is red, and I'm itching to knit a pretty hat from this gorgeous tonal red a friend sent me for my birthday.  So maybe a pair of mitts and a matching scarf/cowl?  Something fun, anyways.  This yarn is quite soft and cozy, if much brighter than I expected.

The last yarn was the LB Silk Chiffon Ribbon yarn.  This stuff is a little weird, and is made up of shredded strips of chiffon.  Though despite the 100% silk label, I really suspect this is polyester.  (ETA: Silk it is!  It didn't feel like what I think of as silk, more like poly or rayon - but as Karlie mentioned below, it's illegal to misrepresent the fibre content, and a burn test suggested by MrsC confirmed it.  Thanks ladies!)  The odd part is that this 'yarn' doesn't have any colourways.  That means that what they have is what you get, and I don't think you get any say in the matter (not in ordering online anyways).  I requested whatever they decided to send me!  It's odd, but like the gold leaf, I'm itching to knit it up and see how it looks.

I'm thinking a small cowl or something.  Maybe the Three-Turn cowl?  It has to be a small project, because I only have one skein of this yarn.  I want something simple to let the 'yarn' shine, but I don't want just plain stockinette.  

I think, as of now, I am on a yarn diet.  I don't actually have any more places to stash all of the astronomical amount of yarn I've acquired lately.  I am working on it - I've started two projects lately that is using yarn that's been in the stash for over a year now.

Are any of you on a fabric/yarn/craft supply diet?  If so, do you count prizes/giveaways/presents in that diet?  I think those should be exempt, eh?

fo: The Cardboard Cafe Cardigan, Done at Last!

And I absolutely love it.  It's actually been done for a while, pretty much right after I finished seaming the thing, but I've been dragging my heels to get it photographed.  Sorry the photos aren't great - I sucked it up and took them outside despite the crazy winds we've had this week.  Hence why there's so many photos with my hand on my head - I'm usually holding down my bangs.  And I kept slipping on the wet dead grass, so I clung to that tree a lot.  I'm a stellar model, I know.

ANYWAYS, here's the details:

Pattern: Cafe au Lait by Klever Knits
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Mountaintop Vail in Adobe colourway (aka cardboard coloured).  This yarn is fingering weight, but knit on 4.5 mm needles, so it went much quicker than your average fingering weight sweater.
Size: 48" bust
And here's my Ravelry Project Page, for other little detail.

I'm not actually leaning in any of these pictures - my backyard slopes to the right, and I totally didn't account for that with the tripod.  It looked straight relative to the fence, and I totally didn't realize how slanty it was until I saw how tilted I was.  Oops.

I did a couple of mods.  First off, I'd planned to make this sweater end at the high hip area instead of the butt length the pattern is designed for.  My swatch told me that the length wouldn't change after blocking, so I knit to 15" or 16" total length from the armpit, which should've been the right length.  I also reduced the original batwing-like underarm by increasing the amount of stitches on the underarm from one pattern repeat each step to two pattern repeats (does that make sense?).

The sleeve length was perfect for me - I wanted them full length since 3/4  just doesn't work for me, too chilly!  These were knit to pattern for size 48, and I only added a 1" ribbed cuff.

While the sleeve mods worked wonderfully, as you can see the length...didn't.  If this had been knit out of wool, I think it might've.  But this yarn is 70% alpaca and 30% bamboo, and if you know anything about these fibres, you'll know that both of these fibres grow like a mo-fo.  I should've known better.  Le sigh.

It also didn't help that the originally fairly snug (but still comfortable!) sleeves also grew, which helped drop the body below them down by a couple of inches.  But wow are these sleeves even more comfy now!  I'll have no problems layering t-shirts underneath these suckers.

Despite the epic growth, I'm not at all upset.  I'm not usually a fan of tops at this length, but I'll make an exception, because this butt-length sweater is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE GARMENT I'VE EVER MADE.  I don't care that it covers my ass, it looks awesome and it suits my style to a tee!  And goes with all of my casual tees.  I can honestly say that this is not only my most successful knitted garment, but also my most successful garment, period.  And that's saying something, considering that I've nearly worn my grey and purple Linden sweatershirts to pieces already.

Look at how the fabric changed with blocking!  Pre-blocked dense and squished fabric on the left, airy and light-weight fabric on the right.  What a difference!

Despite the lacy-ness of the fabric, this sweater is remarkably warm, but not overly so.  I think it'll be the perfect layering piece for Yukon summers, which can still be chilly in the evenings (which regularly get down to single digits Celsius), but still work for a daytime layer as well.

The buttons are probably one of my favourite parts.  They're made locally from caribou antlers!  No, the animals weren't harmed in their making - caribou shed their antlers, and they're not difficult to get a hold of.  I bought the buttons at our local yarn shop (LYS) last summer in a fit of pure love, with absolutely no idea what I'd do with them.  As soon as I started this sweater, I knew I'd found their mate!  Sadly, I only bought 5 of them, and discovered after the buttonband was finished that I actually needed 6.  Oops.  Luckily the LYS still stocked them, although the price had nearly doubled!  EEK!

I probably won't wear this sweater buttoned up very often, since I love it open - but I'm glad that it can button closed without any straining on the buttonband.

I'm pretty proud of myself, not only because it's an awesome make, but also because I managed to start and finish a sweater in almost exactly 2 months!  This is unheard of for me, and I'm pretty stoked.  It's been such a fun knit, especially since there have been a few of us knitting this one together during the Holla Knits KAL.  Have you seen Michelle's Cafe au Lait?  So pretty in purple!

And despite being quite sick of this stitch pattern, there's a tiny part of me that wants to knit this again, but in a dark neutral (navy? black? charcoal grey?) that actually ends at my hip this time.  AAHH THAT'S CRAZY TALK THERE HEATHER!

*~~*~~*~~*

I know there's been a lot of knitting on here of late, and very little rock/sewing/anything else (besides one little embroidery post).  Don't worry, you'll be getting an eye-full of sewing projects and plans for sewing projects soon!  I'm behind on my Make a Garment a Month, but they are coming, and I have a deadline I'd like to hit for one of my makes, so keep an eye out for those!

Seamin', Seamin', Seamin'

That's right, ladies and gents, we have seaming!

I was rather not looking forward to this bit, so after I found the front pieces of my Cardboard Cafe blocked and dried this morning, I grabbed a cup of joe and hunkered down to it.  It took a few tries to figure out the best seaming method, but I managed to get the once side of it finished.

Starting the second (of anything) can always be a pain, as I'm sure you can commiserate.  So I made myself a cuppa my favourite tea (vanilla Earl Grey), put on my favourite movie (Persuasion), and curled up in my favourite sunny spot near the flowers I bought myself for my b-day this week, and got to it.  By the time the movie was finished, I had the whole thing seamed.  WOOHOO!

It looks like it's going to fit really well too, although it's really loose at the back neck.  I think I'll just pick up less stitches across that section to tighten it up a bit.  I was worried about that, actually, since this sweater has a ridiculous amount of ease, and as with many patterns, the front and back are designed the same size - that doesn't work well when you carry more width across the front, with a larger bust and all.  But I'll figure it out!

I can already tell that this is going to be my best sweater yet!

wip: Quilts and Sweaters and Garment Sewing Plans (OH MY!)

I've got two projects on the go right now that I'm determined to get finished asap.  Because wow do I ever have a lot of wips!

The first is my quilt.  This thing flew through my sewing machine, and all it needs is the edges bound!  I tried making continuous binding for the very first time, and despite a lot of confusion and almost making a bunch of rings instead of one long strip, I managed to get 150" made up!  Now to make up another 150", and I'll be ready to finish this thing off!  It's looking so bright and cheerful, and I'm so glad it's nearly done, yeh gods I'm tired of man-handling this beast.  SO much more unwieldy than a sweater or a dress.

I should've learned this lesson already from the blanket I made my Mom this Christmas, but sometimes it takes a few tries before this aging dog learns something new.

The other project I'm stubbornly being monogamous with (for knitting, anyways) is my Cardboard Cafe.  I powered through the front right side with the help of a few late nights, and just cast on the front left side this morning.  I had a root canal done today though, so I'm distracted and achy and utterly useless for knitting.  So instead of knitting, I dug around in my pattern and fabric stash, and brainstormed some garments to make to go with my new cardigan!

I'm still in love with my Coral Laurel (even if it's a wee bit too snug on me right now), and I'm thinking another tunic-length dress and a top would be perfect makes, since I mostly have the fit down.  I didn't take a photo, but a quick fitting showed that I need to do a small FBA and maybe add a 1/2" to the centre back to make it fit a bit better this time, so it's nice to know that in advance.  This pattern might become a TNT for me!

I'm thinking that funky orange for the shirt, and either the woven plaid-like shirting or the purple floral for the tunic-dress.  I'm SUPER keen for the orange, since I've been trying to find the right t-shirt pattern for it for YONKS, so I'll probably start with that.  I think it'll be fun with my Cardboard Cafe, don't you? 

What do you guys think?  Subtle plaid or loud purple for the dress?

wip: Cardboard Cafe - Cast On!

Holla Knits KAL2015 has officially started!  ...on Feb 2.  I worked on this off and on throughout the day, and got about 5 inches of the back knit.  Considering that I'm shortening this cardigan to hip length and only need to knit about 15 or 16 inches before starting the arms, I suspect this sweater will take a bit less time than I thought. And in fact, tonight I've knit another 2 inches so far.  HUZZAH! 

#hkkal2015

 

It's that time of year again - time for the Holla Knits Knit Along!  I joined this last year and managed to knit my Eastwood Cardigan within the 3 months of the KAL (which was amazing for me - I'm such a slow knitter).

This year, I plan to knit Cafe au Lait, a pattern I've been in love with since Holla Knits showed a sneak peak of the cable and lace months before it's spring 2014 release.  Hell, I even went online and bought the yarn the day the pattern was released.  And then the damn yarn has been sitting in my sewing room for months, so it's about time to get this done.

I started swatching, using the recommended yarn and needles, and it turned out pretty good.  Preblocked, the length was dead on, but the width was 3.5 inches instead of 6.  A bath and an overnight stay on my blocking mat mostly solved this.  I wet blocked it to 6 inches, but it shrunk down to 5 3/4 inches once dried.  I didn't block it that aggressively though, and if needed I could get the additional 1/4 inch out of it.  But I did some Math, and I think this will reduce the width by 2 inches.  Considering that I'm making size 48", which will give me 9 inches positive ease from my upper bust, I'm okay with losing a couple of inches of width.

This pattern is a little hard to switch to though.  I've been working on another pattern with a ton of cables, and the added lace is throwing me off.  Glad I did the swatch though, not only because it gave me an idea of the sizing and gauge, but I also got a feel for the pattern before it needs to count.  I made a couple of mistakes in the swatch, but it's a swatch so I let it be.  Think I now have a feel for the pattern.

ANYWAYS, this is going to be a fun KAL.  I'm also considering knitting Hodgepodge mitts out of the colours above, and I'm itching to make that black version of Deco Daisies I mentioned a while back.  Ambitious plans for a slow knitter like me, but what the heck, it's worth a try.

Any knitters out there considering joining along?  Holla Knits has some really innovative and unique patterns available, and I know from experience that this KAL is a ton of fun!  Oh, and did I mention the prizes?