Tag: Knitty

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NOLA Shawl

A while ago I told you about my fabric I bought in Seattle, and how that was going to be a thing when I traveled.

I’ve not yet done anything with the Seattle yarn, but I was lucky enough to go on a road trip with some friends last March and bought some lovely tencel yarn in a gorgeous colorway.

We visited four cities on this epic road trip, but New Orleans was the one that hooked me on the trip. I study hurricanes in my real life, so I am fascinated in part because of the geological conditions, but the fact that I hear a lot about it from my favorite food blogger who moved there, and see pieces of it (even if they might be fake) in shows like NCIS NOLA, I was pretty interested. So even though this colorway is not quite indicative of the NOLA people know, it is definitely more my style and wearable in my life. Though I did waffle over some Mardi Gras colorways.

This is not the first time I fell in love with these particular colors together. A few years ago when I was beading as much as I breathed I bought a bunch of beads in that colorway with the intention of making a necklace for myself, which has still not come to pass. Maybe soon? But I consider this colorway Van Gogh colors, since they really remind me of Van Gogh’s sunflower painting.

Officially this is yarn from the brand Prism, and its called Delicato, 100% Tencel, and this is the colorway named Sierra.

Back to the shawl.

The yarn was so soft and I was looking for a low key distraction at the time, so I decided to use it right away. I looked at a bunch of patterns, and ultimately decided on the Good Day Sunshine shawlette pattern from Knitty by Amanda Bjørge.

I really liked the pattern. I didn’t take notes as I went (story of my life), but I seem to remember having to fudge some parts of rows to get it lined up, but I don’t know if that was a careless mistake on my part or if it was the pattern (probably the former). Overall, easy to knit up and the lace kept things interesting!

And then I knit for a month or two. I finished the shawl just before a wedding I attended in early March, but because I had made an outfit with sleeves for that I didn’t need a shawl that night. Until a week or two ago, I haven’t really worn it, but that is not without precedent.

A few years ago I made the Knitty Wavedeck shawl from Kate Atherly which gets worn occasionally, but not enough to be called often. It doesn’t help that with the DK yarn weight it feels more like winter, but we haven’t gotten much winter weather, and that it ended up being more of a shawlette. And shawls are less conducive as scarfs when biking when they need to be attached to something to prevent them from falling off. I’m debating keeping safety pins with the Wavedeck shawl so I can pin it to my clothes before I start bike riding.

With this fingering weight one it’ll get more fall and spring wear, and has already proven so! I wore it three times this week, which was great. I wish the weather agreed with me wearing it though…

Shawls are so pretty, but I need to get more in the practice of wearing them. Especially since I love knitting them!

This was finished in very early summer, and other than a project I started knitting and abandoned for time, I haven’t really been knitting. I got a little bit of a start when I saw Blade Runner 2049 (so pretty) with these socks that I’ve been knitting since I saw Deadpool in theaters. I think I’m calling them my movie socks, since they’ve seen me through about 6 movies, both ugh and awesome!

What are you all knitting up right now?

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Vale

I’ve shown you this sweater before…

But that was over a year ago…

At that point, I thought I had cast on the sweater in the fall of 2015…

This sweater represents two years of my life, by the numbers if not by the proper months.

My first big sweater, and first real thing made of wool, was this gorgeous aran sweater I bought for my birthday when studying abroad in Ireland. It’s green and gorgeous, and heavy, but has a very open weave, so it’s not much good in even a small gust in wind.

I’ve been wanting one that would hold up a bit more in winter weather, and that would have a lot of cables, yet still be a loose cardigan. See, I was on a hunt while abroad for a penannular brooch, which I only found at the end of my trip in a medieval craft fair in Germany. I’ve been hoping to have a sweater that I could use it with for many many years, and this one fits that bill!

Here are the details:

Pattern: Vale sweater from Knitty.com. I had to rework the fronts a little to accommodate the yarn I had left and the fronts I wanted to have.

Yarn: Mystery wool. I got a big bag of mystery yarn from my grandmother’s belongings when she moved to a nursing home, and found a number of skeins of this worsted weight wool. Other than wool, I’m not sure what is in it, but it was pretty nice to work up!

Time: Two years off and on, but an awful lot in the past three weeks?

Finishing: Since it’s knit in pieces, I had to “sew” it up. I ended up crocheting the pieces together, since the  back’s pattern had a similar look. It’s worked out nicely!

The sleeves are a bit tight around my arms, but otherwise this sweater is fantastic and warm and wonderful! I’ve been wearing it about daily for the past week or so!

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Cornflower Shawl

Guess what’s off my needles! (Hint: It’s in the title.)

I finished the shawl!

full

So the full details:

This is the Wavedeck Shawl by Kate Atherly in Knitty Winter 2014.

I did get a little impatient, and I skipped a few rows of edging and zig zags, but it’s the first non-sock pattern that I didn’t end up making big changes to! Normally I don’t like the way that its bound, or I’m too impatient for long sleeves, etc. But not this time… partially because I would have no idea what to do in order to change things, but mostly because I love it just the way it is.

This was Christmas yarn from over 3 years ago… I picked it out when we moved my brother into college as a freshman, and my parents kept it for me until Christmas. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Prima, which is now discontinued I’m afraid, but its a nice thick DK or thin worsted, as it almost worked out for me. Part bamboo and part merino, so its just warm enough, but not overly warm.

back

It felt like it took forever, but I think it was a February and February alone project, which is nifty. I like finishing projects within a month of starting them, and bonus points for actually getting pictures and posting about it.

I was going to take a picture with my coat on, ready to go to school, but when I went outside to take these and a few other sets of pictures, I realized that it was too warm to do that. Despite all the melting snow that I cropped out of these pictures, it was quite warm.

pinned

But the way that I’ve already fallen in love with wearing it is with my shawl pin. So woot! A use for my shawl pin!

 

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Deep Forest Cowl

So I had a good amount of yarn left after my socks were completed. This wasn’t surprising, as I have rather tiny feet, but because it was the most expensive yarn I had ever purchased I wanted to use it for something special.

When I was abroad, I found myself wearing scarves all the time, all day long. I carried this with me when I returned stateside.

But what is more handy for a full day of neck-covering goodness? A cowl… It doesn’t fall off your neck… Always a plus.

So I was looking through the Knitty archives looking for a hat pattern, but when I saw this cowl I just couldn’t resist. It was everything I wanted: lacy, pretty, a cowl, and not requiring oodles of yarn.

It is… the Eleanor cowl. The one, the only, the lovely.

It was a quicker knit than the socks, if only because it was less repetitive and therefore easier to get interested in working the pattern.

I blocked it, my first successful blocking if we’re being honest, but it quickly snapped back a day later. No matter, it’s still comfy and will certainly serve its purpose well!

I still couldn’t find a yarn needle, though, so I ended up using this knitpicker thing to sew up the seam. An effective but time consuming method. Kinda like using a needle threader for every stitch.

Now if only cooler temperatures would appear, then I could get to wearing some of the stuff I’ve been making!