Bichons In Berry Sauce

I wanted a scarf that would sorta match my Esther Williams hat, but not really. I wanted something with distinct vertical lines, perhaps seperating the picked up stitches a-la-Esther. Everything I tried was ripped out. Sometimes it looked too complicated, and no distinct pattern was obvious from a distance. Sometimes it rolled up on itself into a scarf burrito. Sometimes the design was too dense for the yarn. And sometimes a pretty design on the right side was not very pretty on the wrong side. With scarves, shouldn't both sides be right sides? Or at least both look presentable?

Looking for inspiration, I turned to my bookshelf and found Scarf Style. I had purchased this from amazon a while back intending to make Interlocking Balloons, which Diana made look so pretty. I still might make it someday, but it didn't seem right for this yarn. After much flipping back and forth, I settled in on Midwest Moonlight. I was impressed with the pattern once I began knitting, but it was to be ripped out once more... too wide. I nixed two sections of pattern repeats to skinny it up, and now it's perfect.

It seems that Abby has a soft spot for recliners. It's her favorite place to lounge at my house and my boyfriend's house, and it doesn't seem to matter what we've set on them. Here she is, in her natural habitat.

Posted by Nancy at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've finally finished the ribbed jacket. There hasn't been much motivation to do so, as the adoption process has been a bit stalled. The little girl won't be here till March. Today I finished blocking, bound off my last edge, and even completed the dreaded weaving-in-of-the-ends.

a closeup of the collar:

Pattern: Ribbed Jacket from Special Knits
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in a muted pink shade
Needles: Boye circulars, size 8

My wooly little girl sat next to me as I finished up the sweater-- she's always up for some lounging on the couch time. She's been raised sitting by my side as I knit, so she doesn't bother things too much.

Abby needs a haircut quite badly. I wanted to take her to a new groomer, and when I called, their first appointment was in three weeks! She'll be shorn next wednesday-- she's really not as large as she looks.

Posted by Nancy at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm a little bit stalled with my knitting projects. The baby ribbed jacket is blocking, and the demi just isn't that much fun to knit, though I'm making some slow progress with it. I have three projects I'd like to begin soon, but I can't start any of them for a few very good reasons. Dianne's Noro yarn hasn't come in yet, I haven't yet decided on a pattern for the Esther Williams-esque scarf, and I am waiting patiently for Grumperina to post the instructions to Sarit's hat.

The noro yarn should be here soon, then I can begin the bag, but until then I needed something to keep my hands busy during Desperate Housewives last nite, so I made a swatch for my Jacket with Ribbed Collar.

The yarn is so soft and smooth, I wanted to keep going on my swatch just to keep knitting with it. It's Rowan Cotton Cashmere in Cool. This has been in my stash since last May, waiting for me. My roommate tells me she likes to go over and pet it every so often.

My gauge is just two stitches over what would be the correct gauge, so I'm thinking that if I size up things should work out. We'll see what happens after I wash it though-- this yarn is too perfect and deserves the best.

Posted by Nancy at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Esther Williams is the quickest thing I've knit in a long, long time. Besides the flowers, they don't count. The pattern is very well written, and was relatively easy to modify for yarn of a different gauge. And, it fits my head perfectly.

Pattern: Esther Williams hat by Laura
Yarn: Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool (85% wool 15% mohair) in Blueberry Ice, less than one skein
Needles: Inox 16" circular, size 6 and Boye dpns, size 6
Modifications: To accomodate for a smaller gauge, I added a few more pattern repeats to my initial cast-on, and one twelve row pattern repeat before beginning the decreases. I opted not to attach the crochet border because 1) I don't know how to crochet, and 2) seeing as how I already added length to the hat with my extra twelve rows, it's long enough.

I'm thinking about knitting this hat again in the future, maybe from some leftover Cashmerino Aran. It was fun to knit, and my modifications didn't end up messing up the pattern, even at the decrease stage. The pattern is clear and easy to follow! Abby absolutely *loves* to model my new knitwear for the camera. Wait. No she doesn't. But she said she'd be willing to if I gave her something to eat.

Posted by Nancy at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

But I do get free yarn! Sorta. One of my co-workers (who has great taste) had been admiring a felted Noro bag she saw, and asked if I could make something like that. Never having made a bag before, and definitely never felting anything before, I said sure. It can't be that hard, right? Another of my co-workers, who really is a knitting library, brought in some basic felting books for me to borrow. I have some studying and experimenting to do.

Out of all the Kureyon colorways I gave Dianne to choose from, she picked a beautiful one with reds, purples, and maybe a hint of blue. I found a great 10 skein deal on Ebay, and convinced her I could make a neat multi-directional scarf with any leftovers.

While knit-blog surfing a couple days ago, I ran across a beautiful knitted wrap on treschicVeronique's site, in the same Noro Kureyon colorway Dianne picked, #124. It looks beautiful, bright, and vivid all knitted up.

Next, Di needed to pick a bag style.. I gave her a great selection of Black Sheep bags to choose from. Being that Dianne has excellent taste, of course she picked the right one.

I'm going to try to talk the boyfriend into going to the yarn store with me today to pick up the pattern. It calls for 3 skeins of Cascade 220, which means about six skeins of the noro, so there should be plenty of leftovers for the scarf and a practice felted swatch.

Posted by Nancy at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Remember the yarn stashing trip Andra and I took? I decided to turn my yarn into an Esther Williams hat and possibly some sort of coordinating scarf. The yarn is this pretty ice blue color, it really shows off the stitch definition. It's made by Steadfast Fibers, and is 85% wool 15% mohair, so it sheds just a little. I was really set on using this yarn for this hat, and even though I didn't get gauge with it, I decided I was brave enough to fiddle with the pattern a bit. I needed to cast on a few more repeats, as my gauge was a bit smaller than it should have been. I've also added one more 12 row repeat, which I hope doesn't make the hat too long.

I'm still fairly unsure which pattern I should include in a scarf. I need to go through some of my books and maybe make something up.

A few days ago, Cary and I went to PetCo to get Abby more food (she's a greedy little pig) and treats. I like to get the "bin treats" for her, and tried these new little ones that look like little marrow bones. You'd think she'd love them, being the greedy little pig she is. About a half-hour after I gave her the treat (she sits!) I caught her walking around the house with her mouth half open like she was laughing at me. Turns out, she had been holding the treat in her mouth with no intention of eating it. Silly girl!

Posted by Nancy at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would like to play now, please. Thank you.

Mom's birthday is way way too close to Christmas. I wanted to get her something nice and the menorah pillow was going to be hard to top. I couldn't think of anything neat store-bought, and mom's a sucker for the home-made variety of gift. She's also a sucker for anything that sparkles or shines. I 'borrowed' a bit of Andra's leftover silvery novelty yarn from her Hershey kiss hat, held that together with some leftover creamy cashmerino from the menorah pillow, and whipped out a flower-broach. Then came three more, all knit with stash yarn!

Pattern: Morning Star Flower from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Clockwise from the top: Knitpicks Sock Garden in Hydrangea and Star Gazer Lily, Noro Cash Iroha in a discontinued berry color (the rest of which will someday be an hourglass sweater), and creamy white Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran combined with an unknown slivery novelty yarn.
Needles: Boye circulars, size 1 for the two multi-colored flowers, and size 7 for the white and berry flowers
Modifications: For the two flowers knit with sock yarn, I added a few more pattern repeats and rows so I didn't end up with little teeny miniature flowers.

Posted by Nancy at 06:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This sweater was one I began way back in my baby sweater knitting spree days of July. It's been mostly done with a few finishing details to go since then. I worked a nite shift a few days ago, and brought all of my sorta almost finished projects with me. When it's between sitting at work bored or weaving in ends, I'll weave in ends. I finished sewing on the ribbon edging and the buttons, and now I have a new FO!

Pattern: Ribbon-Edged Cardigan from Special Knits
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a light bluish-green shade
Needles: Boye circular, size 6 (The yarn calls for a size 3, but I'm a super tight knitter, and I usually get gauge with something a few sizes bigger.)

Posted by Nancy at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

These were meant to be Christmas presents for a few of my boyfriend's family members, the teal one not pictured was for his mom, the blue for his dad, and the purple for his older sister. I didn't quite have all of them finished before Christmas, then when they were done, I forgot to give them! I remembered to give his mom's as she was out the door, so there's no picture, but here are the other two:

Pattern: A made up roll-brim pattern for the purple and teal, ribbing added to the bottom for the blue
Yarn: Peruvian Collection Highland Chunky purple hat in grape heather, violet heather, and oatmeal heather, blue hat in dark indigo and mid indigo.
Needles: Inox 16" circular, size 8

Posted by Nancy at 05:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)