Yggdrasil Afghan

So, remember how I said I was going to give you a preview of this project?  Well, you're in luck today because I finished it over the weekend.  Yup, it's allll done, all 2184 yards of it (that's 1.25 miles!).  I will probably deliver it to the lucky mommy-to-be on Thursday.  So Vicki, if you're reading this, please avert your eyes until later this week!

I'd had this pattern in my queue for a while, but never had a good occasion to knit it before now.  What better occasion than a new baby with whom to share a "tree of life" pattern?  Here is the completed blanket:

(Sorry for the crummy picture.  The finished blanket is about 58" square, so it was tough to get a good angle for a picture, plus fight naughty kitty off it)

Here is a better image of the center square:

This one is truer to the right color, too.  The "tree" section was probably the most difficult because I had to be sure of where I left off in the chart, making certain that all the rows line up properly.  But the effort is worth it--the end result was inspired by the Norse myth of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, complete with tree, Celtic braid, and leaf border (larger picture).

The free download of the pattern by Linda Jacobs is available here for those ambitious enough to try it.  It's not especially hard, but requires some advanced techniques like cables, reading charts, grafting, picking up stitches, and working in the round.  It has a pretty cool construction--you start from the very center of the tree pattern, working in the round from the inside out.  Doable, but not great for "tv knitting."

By the end, I was starting to moan that it was taking too long (~6 weeks--hey, that's a lot for me!) and taking up too much space on the couch when I was working on it, but given that it required 2184 yards and is 58" square, that's not surprising.  And I didn't even knit the largest size!  I could have made it 74" square, but I thought ~5' was a good size for a toddler to grow into and treasure later in life. 

My favorite part is that I used Knit Picks simply cotton, which is a deliciously soft completely organic undyed cotton.  It's machine washable and there no artificial ingredients whatsoever--perfect for a little yogini!  I don't think the entirely organic product is available anymore.  They do still have the organic cotton, but the dye for the heathers is artificial.  Still machine washable and wondrously soft, though.

So congratulations to Vicki!  I hope you and Little Violet get many years of love and joy out of this blankie!

Cheers,

-Allie

New Etsy: Fall Edition

Man, I am such a lazy bum.  These sweet little items have been sitting in our guestroom for ages, just waiting for me to take some pictures and post them to the shop.  As good as the yoga challenge was for my figure, it really left me without energy to do anything around the house.  All good things in moderation, it would seem.  I've been taking my week off after 30 days of beating myself up (I did it!  21 90-minute classes in 30 days!) and tomorrow I'll start working out again, but at the gym sometimes, and not just the studio.

Anyway, fall is here and so are my fall items!  All of the baby stuff is made with superwash merino, so it's amazingly soft, but also machine washable, yay!  Enjoy:

Apple

                      Flower

Pumpkin

                    Sunflower

And, of course, my favorite Mary Jane Booties

I remembered the adults this time, too!  I had some beautiful teal alpaca/tencel leftover, just enough to make a lady's lacy beret:

.

  I used my standard peacock tail lace pattern, which the tencel gives a beautiful drape:

I have half a mind to keep it for myself.  :-p 

So enjoy, swoon, recommend it to your friends! 

Next time: Christmas is just around the corner and I already have my sweater ready!  (And a couple of gifts to boot, but they might have to wait until the following blog post).

Cheers,

-Allie

Hats, Big and Small

I've had both of these for a little while, just never got around to photographing and posting them--what a good shop owner I am, huh?  For all my talk, I have some kind of mental block about the shop.  I really need to get over this so I can get my name out there and make more sales.  Surely it's not as scary as I'm making it out to be.

Anyway, I've got three new listings this week: two baby sets and one ladies' beret.  I think these peach baby sets might be the cutest ones yet:

I knit them in CotLin, a very soft cotton/linen blend from Knit Picks.   I have both a small and a large set available, so if you know of any 6-month-olds to whom you still owe a shower gift, you're covered!  I can't get enough of those sweet little mary jane booties.  Not enough to make me want to have a baby just yet, but I do want to find a little girl to model them.  Any takers?  A free set of booties to anyone willing to exploit have their baby sit for a photo session.

In case you adult ladies were feeling left out (even though it was 90 degrees yesterday), I have a new beret just for you:

I had half a skein of leftover undyed baby alpaca, which really isn't enough to make anything, but a hat.  The  result is this little number, which I designed based on the "ladybug lace" pattern from Knitted Lace of Estonia (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite knitting books).

 It has a lovely drape to it, don't you think?  This is one of the softest yarns I've ever worked with.  In fact, I was considering keeping this for myself, but I already have a beret...anyway, I listed it today as the "ladybug lace beret."  Check it out and tell all your friends!  I will also have a couple more things for next week, both adult and baby.  I just need to make a couple of alterations to the adult item first.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Move update:  yes, Walker and I were thinking about moving to NC.  We did visit and did like it, but once we returned, Walker was offered a job in a local law firm and we would like for him to get some experience there for a while.  He also just started an accounting class and, since pursuing that career would have a big impact on what we do and where we move, we 're waiting until he finishes those courses before we make any sudden moves.  This issue will get readdressed in August and we'll let you know what we finally decide.


Cheers,

-Allie

Autumn Rose Preview

No big finished objects for you this week.
I did put a few more baby things up in the shop, my favorite being some pink mary janes:I knit them with leftovers from Mom's Mother's Day socks on size 1 1/2 needles, so the garter stitch is very very fine, but still prevents slippage. I just love the mary jane booties, even more in their perfect pink color and totally washable! (I know, sounds like an ad, but it makes me happy to know that it's an easy care product). The very best part, though, is the buttons I found:How could you pass up tiny heart buttons? Not enough to make me want to make a baby girl of my own, but I wish I knew a little girl to make another pair for. Too cute.

I then got really excited about the Autumn Rose Pullover by Eunny Jang and blew through about 40% of it this weekend. I'm up to the armpit on the body and started the first sleeve. I really really love that this sweater has a raglan yoke. I'll finish the sleeves to the armpit and then join all three pieces, knitting the yoke as one piece and decreasing to the neckline. It means I only have one steek and don't have to so any sewing (except for the gazillion ends to weave in).

Here's a detail shot of the pattern:

I'm using Knit Picks Palette, which I've already gushed about and don't love it any less. Because Palette is a little lighter than the suggested Jamieson Shetland Spindrift, I had to bump the needle size up to 2 1/2. Knit Picks made several color suggestions for this sweater: purples, blues, oranges, etc. I picked the "original" colors, based on the colors in the original pattern because they're gorgeous and because I already had most of the colors from the palette sampler I bought a little while ago.

I did make a couple of changes: instead of marine heather, I'm using navy and instead of edamame, I'm using celadon heather. They just tone that layer down and are closer to the original color scheme. The full list of colors is as follows: Doe, Camel Heather, Bittersweet Heather, Ivy, Navy, Merlot Heather, Celadon Heather, Turmeric, Cornmeal, Autumn Heather, Salsa Heather.

I couldn't be more pleased with the result. Very much looking forward to finishing and wearing this sweater. More pictures when I have more progress.

Cheers,

-Allie

We're in Business

I'm sorry this post is so late this week, but a lot has been going on, like my first AND second sales!! Okay, the second was to my mom, but the first was to a total stranger! And I even got a request for a custom item this past weekend, so I am officially in business!

If you haven't noticed yet, I finished listing the rest of my inventory, both baby and adult accessories. I also made a few more baby sets this past weekend. This strawberry one is my favorite:
Too cute. I made them in KnitPicks Shine Worsted, so they knit up really fast, are 100% washable, and really, really soft. I just love the mary jane booties, don't you? I have 2 other sets up there in the same material. Check them out!

I also made a facebook fan page for the shop this week, so if you're not a fan, the link is in my sidebar. Become a fan and suggest the page to your friends! Please help me get the word out.

Enough about Etsy, though. I have found the time to knit for my family and me, too. Apparently, I have little to no self control when it comes to yarn. I had nothing to do one lunch break, so I thought I would check out a yarn shop I'd not yet visited. I told myself I would just browse, but I walked out with two hanks of Shibuiknits Sock yarn in the perfect peachy pink and superwash merino. I used Mother's Day as an excuse, but we all know that's a big lie...

Anyway, I did knit some lovely slipper-socks for Mom. She has been working too hard lately and needs to find a little time to relax on her own, so these socks are strictly for relaxation time.
I used the pattern Voronetz Socks by Tia O'Connor and while they came out nicely, the constant cabling was a bit of a pain in the butt. Socks aren't really my favorite thing to knit, so I don't know why I picked such a labor-intensive pattern. Silly me. At least there is a lot of love in these socks--Happy Mother's Day Mom!

While I've been waiting for the yarn for a couple of custom orders, I've been doing a little knitting for myself, too. I made a lot of headway on the Swallowtail Shawl, so next week I hope to show you some before/after pictures of the magic of blocking!

Here's a shot of Branwen being a kitty parrot to end this post:
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cheers,

-Allie

Daisy Hats

Spring is coming or at least I really want it to! And it's probably this wishful thinking that produced these hats: Mom's former assistant just had twin girls this past week and these cute little numbers were there to welcome them into the world. I knit them in Knit Picks Comfy worsted and Knit Picks Main line. I don't usually like cotton yarns, but the hint of acrylic in comfy actually makes it easy to work with.
The pattern, however, was not very fun to knit. I really don't like projects with a lot of sewing or finishing and this one required that the petals be knit separately and sewn onto the top. It was a bit of a pain for little kiddie hats and I don't think I'll be making them again. At least not in the same way.

They are awfully cute, though. Color is truer in this second picture.

In other news, Walker and I made it to NC only this past weekend. The snow storm the weekend before prevented us from getting any further south than Baltimore. Not a good omen, in my opinion. Last weekend's visit was much more positive, however. Charlotte was lovely, and we did make some important job connections, but it doesn't look like there will be any openings for us in the immediate future.

We're going to keep plugging away at it, of course, but for right now, we think we're going to stay in the Portland area. Rather than beat our heads against a brick wall in NC, we think we'll continue to gain experience here and take a couple of accounting or investment classes to increase our marketability. It's a little disappointing, yes, but much much better than rushing into something that coule turn out to be a terrible mistake.

Who knows, though? Next week I could find some perfect opportunity at a bank in Charlotte and we'll move in April, but the chances are much better that we won't move again until fall.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-Allie

Planning in Full Swing!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been rather preoccupied with wedding planning details, which are coming along very nicely! Just yesterday we ordered the wedding favors and booked flights and a hotel for our honeymoon in Paris! I am so excited about this!

The other reason I haven't posted is because I signed up for a shop on Etsy and was trying to postpone this until I had that all set up, but I still don't have a very strong idea of how to get that going and I have a bunch of things to show you (!), so here's my update.

You might have noticed that I've changed the name of the blog from Unraveled to Bad Cats, Good Knits. This is because I've also signed up for Ravelry, whose blog is also called Unraveled. Bad Cats, Good Knits is what I've decided to call my Etsy shop and I thought it might be a good idea if they matched. My username on both sites is ReineduMonde, so check me out!

Now the knitting!

Firstly, I finally got around to blocking the Forest Park Scarf:
To be honest, I was a little bored with it after the Cleopatra wrap. I kind of regret buying so much of the orange bamboo yarn--not my favorite color. My coworker, Vicki, on the other hand, loves orange, so I passed the scarf on to her. She seems to like it since she was very excited about wearing it yesterday :).

Secondly, I finished the Nautical Baby Sweater:
I'm worried the collar might be a little too tight, so I probably shouldn't sell try to sell the thing (or really any of it because the yarn is acrylic). Other than that, I think it came out nicely.
And a couple of cute hats to finish off the acrylic yarn!
Now that that junk is out of my basket for good, I can concentrate on using quality materials next time so I won't be so ashamed about putting them up for sale. Maybe I'll wait until I have some good products before really opening the Etsy shop and I can stop worrying about that so much!

My latest project has been a sweater commissioned by Vicki from the Sensual Knits book by Olga Buraya- Kefelian, called the Balloon Sleeve Cardigan:
I'm almost done with it now. I've got everything all knit except for the belt, for which I am waiting on the buckle so I can size the width accurately. I've sewn the hems up, the pieces of the body together and set in one of the sleeves. I just need to set in the other sleeve, sew on the collar and the buttons and make that pesky belt. Then Vicki can enjoy her new sweater! :) The pattern calls for a wool-cashmere blend, which was prohibitively expensive, and Vicki wants it to be a summer cardigan, so I picked Knitpicks Comfy Worsted. It's extremely soft and (shocker!) comfortable. Unlike a lot of cotton yarns I've worked with, it doesn't stick to the needles at all. I am very pleased with the way this cardigan is working out and hopefully Vicki will be too!

Lined up after that, I have the Venezia Pullover by Eunny Jang. I've substituted pinks for the yellows, but I'm not entirely sure about the arrangement of the colors yet. I'll have to play around with some swatches before I really get into it. I'll certainly keep you guys posted here, but might be posting on Ravelry more often, so sign up for it! It's got some really cool programs for logging projects and checking out member patterns.

(I owe you a kitty picture in the next post, I promise)

I hope all of you are having a wonderful spring and that your summer will be as fun-filled as mine is promising to be!

Cheers,

-Allie

Springtime!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. It's been rather a busy couple of months!

First of all, about 5 days after my last post, I was offered a great job in a small law firm! So now I'm a legal secretary and in charge of all the personal injury and medical malpractice cases. I'm really loving it so far, especially the small size and friendliness of the firm. The only downside is that work really cuts into my knitting time, so I don't have much to show for the last two months of not posting.

Second of all, Walker and I adopted a new kitty! We adopted her from a shelter, she's about seven months old and her name is Branwen:

Isn't she adorable? We're hoping she'll make a good playmate for Jericho and are working on the adjustment phase while Walker's looking for a job. (He's been having a little bit of luck with that lately, actually! He had a substitute teaching gig last week and is editing a book for a family friend, yay!) So far, she's still a little skittish, but she's getting more adventurous by the day and we suspect that she actually plays with Jericho at night, when she knows were not there to see it happen. She tries to be dignified, but we know the truth!

Thirdly, wedding plans are coming along nicely! We hit the 6-month mark last week and booked a photographer and picked a florist. We've also received the finished invitations, so you should be expecting your save-the-dates soon! So exciting!

Now, knitting:

Because I promised Charlotte a hat, here it is:It's a little bit long, but I really love the pattern! If you love it, I will be very happy to send it to you (you might have to tell me what your address is again). If you don't, I can try to make my first sale on the website that was recently brought to my attention: http://www.etsy.com/ (I hope to also sell the baby sweater I'm working on here when I finish it). The yarn I used is also a little bit yucky, since I thought I'd try acrylic again to see if I was being a snob over nothing. Turns out I still don't like acrylic yarn.

Which is too bad since I bought enough of it to make me a lovely pink sweater:

This is a slight variation on the Ramona sweater in the Sensual Knits book. The original design is by (Yahaira Ferreira), but I changed the center seam to a cable instead of having to knit it like a cardigan and then sew the front together. That was more me being lazy and not wanting to spend too much time working with acrylics since knitting in the round goes a lot faster for me. I also brought the armpits up a little and nipped the waist in a bit. I really like the way the sweater turned out--it fits really well. I just wish I'd used a different yarn.The other reason I bought the acrylic yarn is that it's a really good choice for baby clothing since very often wool irritates their sensitive skin. I'm trying my hand at a little designing, leaning heavily on The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Interweave Press for measurement suggestions since I have no idea how big babies are. The rest of it, including the little boat pattern, is all me, though:

I hope this turns out to be cute and fits some adorable baby! I finished the back of it and am about halfway through the front and then the sleeves and finishing should be pretty easy. There should also be plenty for making matching booties! I have no idea how I would set a price for a handknit baby sweater--by the hour would be too much since I'm already at 4 hours and not even done with the torso. Any suggestions; I am fairly new at this selling game?

I'm also really sorry I haven't mailed you guys the items you've claimed. With the compiling of guest list addresses, they were handed over to my mother before I got the chance to mail them. So Christina and Sunmi, you might have to remind me where to send your things.

One more cute kitty picture:

-Allie

Hats Galore

It's picture time. I had a lot of time to knit while I was in GA, so here are a few completed projects:
First, I made a hat with some of the leftover blue mirasol yarn based on the blue mirasol pattern and added a flower. I kind of made up the pattern based on a few different ones. So I didn't really write it myself, just had a lot of inspiration.
Cute, huh? I gave this one to Mary (Walker's sister) to match the gloves I made her (below) and she was excited that no one else she knows will have a similar hat. Yay, original handmade gifts! Speaking of which, the punkin hat is also completed:

Awww. I didn't get to make this one in cotton as I would have liked because they didn't have a suitable orange, but it's in a washable merino from knitpicks, so that's almost as good. I'm going to ask my mother secretary to send me a picture of her little Charlie in the hat. If she does, I'll share it with you guys =)

Jericho thought it was relevent to his interests as well. He's so helpful with picture-taking. =P

I also made little Charlie a froggy with the leftover yarn:

I thought about keeping it for Jericho, but he really has enough toys lying around our apartment, so I mailed it to Charlie with the hat.

Un/fortunately that Blue Mirasol hat wasn't enough to kill that yarn, so I made some gloves for Mary, using the Cable News Gloves pattern. They were fairly complicated--I had 7 needles going on them at once--but they came out nicely and fit her very well.

Now she'll be super-stylish and warm when she gets cold at the football game.

But I had SO much of that yarn leftover that even these gloves couldn't finish it off, so I'll be trying to make another of those Blue Mirasol hats for Walker's Mom so mom and daughter can match. Yay! And then I can finally get to that Stardust Cardigan, after all these little projects and after that yarn accidentally got shipped to Reno.

News on the job front: no word yet. I'm going to call them tomorrow and hopefully I'll get a favorable answer. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Cheers,

-Allie

Over the Hump

So this last week has kind of been the week from Hell, what with huge papers, presentations and poetry recitationt to memorize. But I still managed to get a few projects done, including finding a use for that yarn Mrs. Matthews gave me:I made some lovely, and festive cabled mittens that I really have no use for. Does anyone want these (who has hands about my size) or know anyone who does? If not, I'm going to donate them to charity so that at least someone will love them.

A few weeks ago, one of my mother's employees gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, so to celebrate the occasion, I made him an adorable little blueberry hat (yeah, yeah, I ordered more yarn...) that is accompanied by matching booties:

Too. Cute.

After that, I'll set to work making Jodi's graduation gift and after that a scarf for my sister, using the final remnants of that lavender yarn. I found a neat reversible cable scarf that my sister can enjoy and than I will finally be rid of that pile of purple yarn. Yay!

And then who knows? I'm sure I'll find something to do when I really should be wrapping up my final projects. =P

Cheers,

-Allie