Ribbed Cowl FO

This would have to be my first FO in around four months! I am so glad the knitting hiatus has come to an end and my needles are once again clicking away as rapidly as possible. Here is a simple cowl that took me a few days to knit up.

{Ravelry Link}




It can be worn looped once or twice depending on how you feel like wearing it...
The pattern was a free design by Amy Christoffers of Savory Knitting. All of her designs are simply wonderful, especially her collection of timeless very wearable sweaters. Some of my favourites include the very popular Acer Cardigan, the Linney Cardigan and the newly released Pinoli Cardigan.

Don't you just wish you had endless knitting time so that looong list of 'to knit' projects can be completed!?

Bamboo Needles

Knitting with Bamboo Needles has always been something that I have wanted to try. I have always only ever knit with metal or plastic needles and always wanted to try the bamboo alternative. I read a few reviews before I considered buying some to learn more about knitting with wooden needles. I found a Knitters Review article that I found really helpful especially when weighing up the benefits and drawbacks.

I finally decided to buy a set of mid range bamboo needles, and when paired with the right project an yarn, I have discovered, bamboo needles are a lovely alternative and I suggest picking up even just a pair to give them a go.

It's been a while

It has been quite a sometime since I have even had the time to think knitting and unfortunately, consequently the blog has been a bit neglected. But, exams are over for now and besides for a large pile of summer homework for the new year, I have nothing to do but think knitting, and oh there is sooo much knitting to think about!

I picked up the needles after a long hiatus a few days ago and started up some simple wristwarmers with some yarn that I actually handyed with some yarn dyes last summer. It is a soft mix of blues, pinks and purples and the colour shows nicely in garter stitch.

{Ravelry Link}





I also cast on for a cowl, in an effort to use up my large and seemingly never ending stash of cascade 220, making a pattern called 'Lilac Wine' by Savory Knitting.

{Ravelry Link}





Happy knitting!

Cocoon Cowl

I picked up a single ball of Rowan Cocoon while I was in the city in June. This yarn  is really, really, really soft and a luxury to knit with, I didn't want this project to be over! I only got one 100g ball so I decided the best thing to knit up with this was a small cowl.

I cast on 59 stitches and knit in a purl 1 knit 1 rib until I only had a bit of yarn left, then I picked up stitches from the cast on edge and did an adaptation of the three needle bind off, just so that I didn't have the seam the ends together!

{Cocoon Cowl}

   
I can't wait to get some more of lovey Cocoon.

Red Dunes

Dunes, has been one of those projects. You know the type, those projects where knitting a 12" wide scarf in lace weight yarn seems like a good idea, and then you start, and you wonder what you were thinking.Well I persevered,and knit through this beautiful alpaca scarf, and the result, was well worth the patience that knitting a lace weight scarf entails.


 



 

I ended up just taking the lace pattern from Dunes, and adding it to the start and finish of the scarf, as a detail instead of knitting the whole scarf/shawl in lace pattern, what I ended up with was a lovely soft, delicate scarf with a beautiful drape, that I'm sure will be worn and cherished by my mum for a long time

Fuzzy Feet

Quick, fun, practical and very very warm, my new Fuzzy Feet are the ideal companions for those chilly winter mornings and cold winter nights around the house.


{Ravelry Link}

Felting is always a bit of fun, and to see the before and after result and see what some water and a bit of soap can do is just a bit magical.




This is the perfect project for scraps, and would make lovely gifts, as they knit up quickly and would be warmly welcome by any pair of cold feet

The small things

Lately I have been very preoccupied with the sweaters in my knitting life, so for a while I think I'll take a break from the large projects and turn some attention on smaller knitting projects.

I bought 200g of the lovely Tailored Strands 100% Alpaca in lace weight a few weeks ago, and am knitting up a rectangular shawl for my mum, for her upcoming birthday. The project is Dunes by Gena Wich.

{Ravelry Link}

I usually don't knit in the colour red, I'm not sure what it is, I just have never warmed to the colour... but because my mum does enjoy deep reds, and this yarn was beautiful I guess I thought I would give red a chance

Owls

Owls, was a quick, wonderful, rewarding project knit in the very warm and smooshy Cascade Eco + You probably have heard, seen or even knit this pattern before, since there are 4195 projects and counting on Ravelry alone!

The construction is bottom up, with a yoke that you knit last when you combine the sleeves and the body. This pattern was great, really easy to understand with clear instructions, highly recommended

I was debating whether or not to put the buttons on for the eyes, but I chose not to, I like it the way it is, maybe if I knit this again I will sew on the eyes!

Beatnik FO

I am happy to present to you the fully knit, seamed and blocked, ready to wear Beatnik. Since it came out in the Fall issue of Knitty I have been eager to knit this lovely Norah Gaughan pullover. Beatnik was great cable practice and gave me some good expeience with setting in sleeves. I knit the 32" size and it fit just right, I didn't make any modifications except knit the sleeves down one needle size, because I often find my sleeves too large

note: yes my hands are a bit blue (dye!) I will explain some other time ;)





I chose not to double up the ribbing on the neck because I thought it looked perfect the way it was and wasn't sure if I could pull off that look!


This project has inspired me to do a whole lot more aran knitting and given me confidence that I can really start to tackle more complicated and involved garments, looking forward to the next one!

From one sleeve to another

I have been organising my stash, doing a whole lot of seaming, and apparently knitting a whole lot of sleeves lately, and also most importantly finished Beatnik! It's currently blocking in all it's seamed glory, and looking quite promising, I am so excited to give it a wear and take some photos. Following my sweater craze, I cast on for Owls, a cute owl inspired pullover by Kate Davies. The pattern has you knit the stockinette body up to the armholes, but the stitches on hold and then knit the two sleeves and then put the body and the arm hole stitches together to form the yoke (with the cabled owl detail). I had finished the body before I cast on for Beatnik and had put it away, so I was up to knitting the arms, and because I knit the arms for Beatnik last, I am knitting 4 arms in a row - as you can imagine, I don't think I want to knit another arm again!

Thankfully, I'm up to my fourth consecutive arm!

Before I finish up, I have to share with you this lovely Australian 4ply fingering weight alpaca I bought last week, in a deep red that I tried to capture as best as I could. This is the softest alpaca yarn I have ever come across, and I am hoping it will become a shawl or shrug sometime soon

Multnomah FO

My first ever shawl was finished up about a week go and now lives with it's happy recipient. Multnomah is a garter stitch triangular shawl with a simple, yet effective feather and fan border. While I was trolling Ravelry for a shawl pattern to knit, I came across some really stunning (free!) shawl patterns. Some of my favourites were Annis, Haruni and the Holden Shawlette. Ultimately I settled on Multnomah because I thought the pattern level suited my current shawl knitting abilities plus it didn't hurt that I didn't need to cast on some enormous amount of stitches to get the shawl going. So here it is!



I think I migh buy some more fingering weight yarn!

Progress

Beatnik, has seen quite a lot of progress over the past week. Though, not knitting up as fast as I thought it would - I probably didn't realised how involved these cables were, but it's all worth the time - the cables are lovely!
Rav Link

I have just completed the back and cast on for the front, the twisted k1 p1 rib is making my hands a bit sore, but I'm trying to get it done quickly so this doesn't end up in my ever accumulating UFO bag!

I am really excited about this sweater, and hopefully it will be knit up in the next few weeks so I can get some wear out of it this winter. I'm a bit nervous about the finishing, blocking and all the seaming I am going to have to do, but lets hope for the best ; )

Hello Beatnik!

A few days ago, with my newly aquired yarn, I cast on for Beatnik - the wonderful aran sweater pattern by Norah Gaughan. This is the most complicated cable pattern I have ever tried - and despite my many concerns that I wouldn't be able to do it - it's turning out quite nice and I am pleasantly surprised.

Rav Link

This picture was taken a few days ago, I have now completed about half of the back.
This sweater is knit in pieces, and has thee quarter sleeves. It was published in last years Knitty's Deep Fall issue, and has many completed FO's. If you love your cables, then give this pattern a go, and the cable repeats aren't that complicated - especially if you colour code them (as I have shown in the image below).

The difference that colour coding made, was huge, it was so much easier to work out which cable I was meant to be doing, and it was kind of fun to take out all of my coloured textas!

And the yarn arrives

I am so excited about the huge package, filled with my favourite thing that arrived for me today at my door. The perfect pick me up to a not-so-perfect day, I bet you can guess what it was...

Earlier this month I had ordered the biggest ever amount of yarn I had ever purchased at one time from my favourite online yarn shop Webs. I bought so much, that in fact it was more than enough for six different medium sized sweaters, yes, I'm not kidding. This urge to buy yarn, has eminated from my lack of having any yarn in my stash that I could just cast on for a project with, but now - no excuses, I have more than enough. I decided not to show everything that I aquired just yet, but here is a bit of a taste of what I got....

Cascade 220 in Straw


Cascade 220 in Natural


Cascade Eco + in Skyblue


Cascade 220 in Turtle


The weather has been terribly gloomy, so I haven't felt like taking many more pictures, but I will post my other yarns another time!
Receiving yarn in the mail, is probably one of the best ways to have a great day, so I urge you to give it a try, and enjoy the experience of coming home to a nice box of yarn.

Pink Mars

Sock knitting has always interested me, I had seem to have caught the bug last year, when I knit the stunning Lindsay pattern by Cookie A. But after that sweaters preoccupied me and socks seemed to take a backseat, but while I wait for all my sweater yarn to arrive, I find myself wanting to knit a toe up pair of vanilla socks!

It may not sound as exciting, but I have never tried toe up sock knitting before, so for me it means learning a new technique/cast on. I chose a the Nikki Burns Humble Sock pattern, it's such a great, free!, clear and helpful sock pattern. And then read instructions for the Turkish cast on, which was much easier than I expected, this tutorial was great, and provided step by step instructions that were easy to follow.





The yarn for this sock, is something that I handyed, quite late at night, so I wasn't sure what I would wake up and have the yarn looking like! It turned out alright, It's an interesting colour mix, and the first thing that came to my mind when I tried to find a word to describe it was 'Mars'. So here are my Pink Mars socks!







I also decided to knit two at a time, which is something that I always thought was a good idea, but never actually tried. Hopefully this will prevent second sock syndrome, and help me achieve more identical looking socks.

(note the very very curly knitting needle :S)

So I think I'm a converted, toe up sock knitter!