Owl Coffee Cozy

Tired of ugly cardboard cup sleeves for your coffee that just wind up in a landfill? Knit your own reusable sleeve. Better yet, one with googly-eyed owls! (Extra points if you bring your own reusable cup, too!)

Get the free pattern here.

The Go-To Cardigan

Wow. It's been a while since I had a new finished knitted thing to share! I'm pretty pleased with this one. My goal was to make a cozy and versitile cardigan that I'd hopefully get a lot of use out of. You know, the kind of thing you can throw on over just about anything when the air is chilly. The result is this, my new Go-To Cardigan. The pattern was free online here. I used Cascade Yarns "Sierra", a machine washable cotton/wool blend. It's comfortable, pretty warm, and not itchy. Plus it comes in tons of colors, and was on sale at Webs, which is even better! I'd definitely use this yarn again. Heck, I'd make this pattern again! You'll notice that the pockets are not a part of the pattern. I added them myself.

Nice shaping at the waist

Finished!

My Bionic Hands

At last, the final part of my Winter 2013 accessories is finished, hopefully with plenty of time left in the season to wear them all! This was my first time knitting full gloves, rather than just little fingerless mitts. Not too hard, really. This pattern is also from Knit Picks, and it's called In Touch Gloves. They've got a circuit board motif in pink (hence my name, Bionic Hand Gloves), and if you look closely on the tip of the thumb and forefinger there is a bit of electro-contuctive thread sewn in, which allows you to keep your gloves on when using a touch screen for a smartphone or something. And it works! Huzzah! I finally have the sort-of bionic hands I've wanted ever since I watched The Terminator and T2 (not to mention Star Trek TNG) oh-so-many years ago, forever associating android with awesome. 

Candy Skull Cap

I was worried that this winter might be too short or mild for me to make some new accessories, but boy, was I wrong! This weekend we were visited by winter storm Nemo, also known as Snowpocalypse 2013! All roads in Connecticut were closed, and with good reason! You can't go very far in 2 ft of snow. Luckily I just finished knitting a fun new toque, the Candy Skull Cap. I used the same yarns I used in the previous brioche scarf. Now I'm just about ready for anything!

The aftermath of Snowpocalypse 2013!

Colorful Keyhole Scarf

I needed a quick yet satisfying project to follow the Christmas sweater, and boy was this it! It's a little keyhole scarf done in brioche stitch, which was a new technique for me. I loved learning it! As you can see, it is a reversible stitch, with the colorful yarn prominent on one side, and the black yarn prominent on the other.

A Trio of Sweaters

It's been quite a while since I last posted, and for good reason! I've been hard at work knitting sweaters since the fall. My plan was to make a sweater for Jeet for Christmas, but then I was commissioned by my dad to knit a sweater for a family friend who had recently had a baby. On the side, I also knit a teensy weensy sweater from a Christmas ornament pattern, just because it was cute.

I ordered the yarn for the big Christmas sweater, and while I waited for it to arrive I knit up a sweet little cardigan for our friend Julie's baby boy Timothy. I bought the pattern here on Ravelry.com and purchased the yarn and buttons at JoAnn Fabric. I made a baby version of a classic men's sweater, complete with little pockets and faux leather buttons. It took less than a week to finish. By then, the yarn for the Christmas sweater had arrived, and it was time to get started!

The Christmas sweater, a colorful, cabled zip-up cardigan, had a few challenges. From having to rip and re-knit several sections, to having to do minor surgery to take apart and then graft back together a piece that was accidentally too long in the middle, to having to special order a zipper long enough because the length recommended in the pattern was too short... Well let's just say I'm really glad it is finally finished! :-) Phew!

And now, a much deserved break from knitting sweaters. My next few projects are small, quick winter accessories. I need some near-instant gratification now! Oh, and that tiny sweater? Maybe a gift card can fit in it someday? I'll just file it away under "cute but not very useful".

The tiny sweater, next to a quarter to show scale

The baby cardigan

The Christmas Sweater

Warm Weather Knitting

My sister gave me a great knitting book in April for my birthday, Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. I find that a lot of sweater patterns are rather boxy, over-sized, and otherwise have a lot more ease (extra room) than I want in a sweater. I like my clothes to be fitted, not frumpy! This book solves that problem with 25 stylish, attractive, and fitted patterns that range in difficulty from easy to experienced.

I'm working on a cotton short-sleeve tunic top that I'll be able to wear in warmer weather (although not hot weather, of course!). It's unique in that it's knit side-to-side instead of top-down or bottom up. It uses randomly placed knits and purls that you improvise yourself to create a dash-line Morse code look. I'm using Cascade Yarns "Cotton Club" in a light blue.

What the finished product is supposed to look like

Spot the hidden "M" :-)

Pilgrimage to WEBS Annual Tent Sale!

This past weekend WEBS held its annual tent sale, and there was no way I'd miss that! Neither could any other knitter in New England, apparently! It was definitely crowded with lots of happy knitters and crocheters, and I saw more than a few great things I was tempted to load into my shopping bag!

First though, we stopped in town to get breakfast at Bruegger's Bagels (I had smoked salmon and cream cheese on a skinny bagel!), and I saw this knitted graffiti on a parking meter. It says "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL", with a little red heart underneath, which is very cute. This is the kind of graffiti we should see more of!

This is going to knit up really comfy!

At WEBS, I bought a bag of this pleasant light blue (kind of a cornflower blue) cotton yarn for only $2.60 per ball. I'm using it to make this tunic, which I'm calling the Morse Tunic because of the random lines and dashes in it made up of knits and purls, from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. It'll be a nice warmer-weather top. 

For REAL do-it-yourselfers, these two cute Alpacas were on sale out front! I'm not sure I'll ever get into spinning my own yarn, but these two are adorable! 

Pining for the Highlands

A friend of mine was recently in Scotland, and at my request, she found some nice local Shetland wool for me! I wanted to make something classically Scottish with my undyed cream-colored wool, so I chose a cabled beret. I couldn't bring myself to go all the way with a pompom on top like a traditional Tam O'Shanter; it's a little too much for me. The beret is very reminiscent of handmade Aran sweaters worn by fishermen in Scotland.

Scappa Aran: 100% Scottish Shetland Wool

Work in progress

It's blocking over a dinner plate to get its shape. It's a brighter white in this photo, but it's more ivory in reality

The Finished Product!

Wow, what would I give to be able to trek all over Great Britain in my tweeds and argyle and cable knits! Someday!

Finally, the Finished Shrug

OK, so the shrug has been finished over a week now, but I was just too lazy to take a picture of myself in it! Enough is enough... here it is (of course Casper found his way into this picture too!)

Back to the Shrug!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled knitting! After a nice entrelac break, it's back to the shrug, and it's now blocking. Once it's dry I just have to sew the sleeve seams and then knit a ribbed band around the front opening. I'd say it's just in time for spring, but considering it's snowing today, maybe it'll actually be a little early! ;-)

p.s. Happy 3rd birthday to my kitty, Casper! :-)

My Noro Entrelac Cowl

Finished knitting... now blocking

The finished product!

Versatile!

Entrelac Sneak Peek

When I went to WEBS on Saturday for my "Exploring Entrelac" class, I had the intention of buying some nice multicolored yarn to use on an entrelac cowl. I'm making the pattern featured in Rosemary Drysdale's book. I found some amazing discounted yarn in WEBS' warehouse in the back of the store: Noro Silk Garden (in a discontinued color, hence the discount...otherwise it would have cost about twice as much). It's a rustic-looking silk/kid mohair/ lamb's wool blend that gradually changes between several beautiful colors. Here's what a plain knit-up swatch would look like in the color I chose:

My entrelac skills are pretty solid now, and I can knit along merrily without having to refer to the pattern at this point. It looks really amazing knit up with this yarn! Here's a sneak peek at my upcoming cowl...

I have several cardigans that match the colors in this yarn... Yay for an accessory I'll be able to match with lots of things!

I think the way the colors fleck and blend makes it look like a wearable oil painting. :-)

Another Sneak Peek at the Shrug

Some pretty detail down by the sleeve cuff...

Exploring Entrelac

On Saturday I trekked over to WEBS Yarn Store in Northampton, MA to take a knitting class: "Exploring Entrelac" with Rosemary Drysdale, author of the new book Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting. The class was fantastic! It was totally sold out, with 25 students anxious to learn with Rosemary. Her book is great, and shows the step-by-step process to making entrelac. Entrelac has a very distinctive basket-woven kind of look, and it's a great skill to have in your knitting repertoire.

Rosemary brought all of her sample swatches featured in the book so we could see them up close, along with a few of the garments that are among the book's patterns. She even had the lovely bit of colorful knitting on the cover of the book. After the class she had a book signing and a reception with lots of yummy treats and wine. A perfect afternoon! :-)

Here's my own swatch I knit in class, both in progress, and the finished product.

I can't wait to make an actual project using this fun technique! I bought some fun multicolored yarn at WEBS that I plan to make an entrelac cowl out of. I'm still working on the shrug, but once I finish the first sleeve I'll take a brief hiatus to make the cowl. I want to get as much use out of it as possible before it's too warm out to wear it!

Knit-spiration

Pardon the lame title of this blog, but that's what Vogue Knitting's new Spring issue created in me! Here are some of my personal favorites... There are more that I love in the magazine, of course, but this post could become really long if I put them all here!

Lots of beautiful detail in this tunic

I'm not really a poncho kind of girl (or am I??) but this lacy beach cover-up is stunning!

This one looks a teeeeny bit easier than the others... only ranked "intermediate" skill level, compared to the "advanced" of the tunic and the blue cardi

A Sneak-Peek at the Shrug

As soon as a I possibly could, I moved my knitting for the Camellia Shrug off of the double pointed needles and onto my circulars. Here's my current progress on the lace part...

For the most part, once I got going, it's gone well. I've had to unknit and reknit a few portions here and there to correct the inevitable mistakes that happen with lace knitting, but no harm done. Once I really block it and the stitches even themselves out, it'll look even better. Just a few more rounds to go before the lace portion is finished! I'm definitely loving how it's coming out and can't wait to wear it this spring!

Thank Goodness for YouTube

I was really excited to start making the Camellia Shrug today, but little did I know how frustrating it would be to get the darn thing started! You start with double pointed needles, working from the center of the back outwards, and I've never done that before. It's quite a pain in the behind to handle five needles at once with only a couple of stitches on each! It kept getting twisted around, needles would fall out of the stitches, and I ripped it out and started again at least 6 or 7 times. Finally, I gave up trying to figure it out myself and fired up YouTube. I'm always so thankful to all of the people out there who take the time to create helpful, instructional videos for others! I found one that taught two different methods for circular cast-ons for center-out knitting. I'm happy to say I finally am on my way! Here's what I've got so far...

Get Your Knit On

Knitting has really been experiencing an upsurge in popularity these days. Used to be that it was just something we associate with grannies and aunties, but not anymore! Knitting is, dare I say it, hip! From young IT professionals who want something tangible they can actually create in the real world to avant-garde guerilla-knitters who make very public knitting installations grafitti-style, knitting is suddenly new again. NPR's "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook just did a show called The Resurgence of Knitting, available for download as a podcast on iTunes. After listening, I'm just dying to get the needles clacking! Here's what's next...

Knitscene Magazine's Camellia Shrug

This is my next project plan. The lace-work on the back and sleeves is just gorgeous, but not so delicate-looking that it becomes too precious. You could just as easily throw it on over a tank top as a dress. Can't wait to get started!

I've got another fun thing coming up. In March I'm taking a knitting class at WEBS in Northampton... Explore Entrelac with Rosemary Drysdale. Entrelac is a style of knitting that produces a distinct basket-woven look, and who better to learn it from than a master knitter who literally wrote the book on it? I'll let you know how it goes, and of course post all resulting projects!

Leftovers

I haven't really felt like tackling any big knitting projects, so I thought this was a good opportunity to use up my leftover sock yarn and make some fingerless gloves.

I'd give it two thumbs up, but since I've only completed the one glove, that's all it gets.