Saint Rémy

This is rather a late post and I'm sure you've all noticed by now, but if you haven't, my sweater pattern, Saint Rémy in the latest issue of Knitty!!

That's me!!  I am simply beside myself with excitement.  This is my very first professionally published pattern and in Knitty!!  I could gush for roughly years about how happy this makes me, but will suffice to say that I am deeply flattered and honored to be included in such an illustrious and well-seasoned publication.  Thank you, too, all those involved in the decision-making and editing processes that made this possible.  Another big thank you to Bristol Ivy for her absolutely stunning photography!

My first inspiration was the color palette - the vibrant contrast of the canary yellow against a deep, regal blue - and was unable to break away from images of starry skies.  And, art history dork that I am, I kept coming back to Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, struck by the similarities in color and shape between my swatches and the Dutch painter's depiction of the night sky of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.  Thus, Saint Rémy, the sweater was born!

The yarn is Quince & Co.'s Finch, a smooth, but delightfully springy fingering weight yarn.  I think it's fair to say this is my new favorite yarn.  It comes in an astonishingly vibrant variety of colors and the smooth ply is equally friendly to cables and colorwork.  Plus, it's soft and squishy and a real pleasure to wear.  I totally could not wait for the first rainy day after this pattern came out just so I could take her out in public - who cares if it's June?? (I mean, those photos were taken last August, anyway)

Saint Rémy is an elegant, fitted sweater suitable for work or play.  The brilliantly colored yoke draws the eye upward to the wearer's face and the subtle waist shaping serves to flatter any body type.

So please, tell all your friends! Add it to your Ravelry queue! Cast it on and give it a go!  If you have any questions or confusion, please shoot me an email.

Now that I've finished my little electronic happy dance, I hope you all have a lovely fiber-ful day!

-Allie

Perfect Storm

It's rare that a knitting pattern can stop my in my cyber-tracks and drop my jaw.  Maybe I'm just jaded, maybe I'm anesthetized by the wealth of beauty that is available on Ravelry.  (I clearly need to work on this, but that is a story for another day).  But the stunning force that is Kimberly Voisin's Perfect Storm Mittens absolutely blew me away.  I had to have them now.

Of course "now" in knitting terms can mean "six months from now" or "when I finally finish that sweater I'm working on."  It's all relative.  At least I couldn't resist casting them on almost immediately after the pattern was released.  Christmas projects and a few demanding sample work projects forced me to put these aside for a few months, but now they're back...and finished!!!

I've been too afraid to wear them and sully the swirling waves with the nasty dirt and sand all over my car...I've just been carrying them everywhere so that I can proudly proclaim to my friends, "look what I did!!"

That sense of accomplishment is compounded by the fact that this pattern was not easy.  Of course, it doesn't include any outrageously difficult techniques, unless you count stranding with three colors at the top of the right mitten.  It's just that chart...and all the irregular swirls.  It took a considerable amount of focus just to keep pace with the unpredictable chart.  Definitely not TV knitting, but worth every minute.

I mean, look at the back of the thumbs!  She thought to continue the wave pattern through the back of the thumbs.  Now that takes dedication.  I am so in love with these mittens and in awe of the creativity and work that must have gone into creating the pattern.  Bravo, indeed.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I didn't go out and buy any extravagant yarns for this masterpiece of a pattern, just some Knit Picks Palette that I happened to have lying around in the right colors - Whirlpool, Oyster Heather, and Pimento.  While it probably gave me a tighter gauge (I had to block the hell out of these puppies) and it's not the softest fiber, the vibrant colors really bring out the colors of the crashing waves.

On another note, you may be interested to hear that once I finish my current sample project, I plan to take a little time to work on my own pattern designs again.  I'm cooking up some good ones this time, I think...

Here's wishing you a warm and snow-free start to spring!

-Allie

I'm Back!

That's right!  After a two-year hiatus from blogging, I am back.  And with a vengeance!

There's absolutely no way I'll be able to fill you in on all of my knitting adventures in the last couple of years.  I'm still irresistibly drawn to sweater patterns, I'm still working as a sample knitter, and if you're dying to see the beauties I've been creating since I've been gone (there are just so many!), you can link directly to my Ravelry page with the fancy schmancy button in the right sidebar.

However, the piece of news I'm most excited to share with you is that I am now designing my own patterns!!! That's right, I now have two of my very own patterns up on Ravelry. (I've also added a section to the right with direct links to anything I have already designed and will add more as I continue to publish).

My first was a pair of mittens, called Crystalline Mittens:

I knit them in Quince & Co.'s sumptuous Tern, which is a sprightly blend of wool and silk.  Just the sort of fiber you want warming your delicate fingers.

The inspiration for this one, oddly enough, from the color.  It's called "Back Bay" by Quince & Co.  The title, I'm sure, honors the prominent bay in their hometown of Portland, Maine, but it made me think of cool temperatures and elegant ice crystals.  So here they are, complete with sharp, sophisticated cables, my Crystalline Mittens:

My second pattern was also a handwarmer, Carolina Gloves:

I knit them in SuriPaco's Springvale Collection, a blend of alpaca, wool, and silk.  SO soft!  The name, as many of you know, is for my sister Caroline, whose Christmas request was gloves.  And overly-ambitious crazy person that I am, I thought, "Sure, Caroline, I'll just go ahead and design you a new pair!"  I must have problems with saying "no."

The design itself was loosely inspired by the warm colors and geometric patterns of the American Southwest.  I would say I was lucky enough to spend a little time there recently, but the real reason for the trip was to mourn my recently deceased grandfather, who was based in Santa Fe, NM.  I wanted to honor his memory with this small tribute to his chosen hometown, one more token of affection from his granddaughter.

And they sure came out pretty, didn't they?  I couldn't be more pleased.

So please, check out my new patterns!  Tell all your friends!  There's a new designer in town, baby!

Until next time...

-Allie

Crafty Pay it Forward: Part II

Okay, so I still haven't passed these along to their intended recipients, but everyone's been super busy, so I haven't had a chance to see them since about March.  I will finally put the things in the mail this week, though.  I promise.

For Terry, The Nemesis Socks:

 

 The pattern is by Susan Dittrich and was featured in Knitty Deep Fall 2010.  You can also download it for free on Ravelry.  I really enjoyed this pattern!  I started out rather ambitious and tried Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks, but they're out of my league.  Size 0 needles and ~a million tiny cables.  I probably *could* have knit them, but they were extremely difficult and required more effort than I wanted to put into this project.  Sorry, Terry, but I wasn't looking to create masterpiece socks here.

Nemesis, however, was quite fun.  If you can read charts and you can knit and purl, you can knit these socks.  The hardest part was paying close attention to the chart and remembering my place.  A row counter definitely came in handy here.  It's a long chart, too, so I never got bored knitting it.  I might knit another pair of these for myself later!

The yarn, however, I did not enjoy as much.  It's Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fina, which I have used in the past to great effect, but found frustrating this time.  It was splitty, prone to tangling, and I had to use both wet and steam blocking--on socks!  The tangling was the worst part.  I had it wound all prettily into a yarn cake, but while I was pulling from the center, it collapsed into a knotted disaster that took an entire afternoon to untangle.  I will be steering clear in the future.

At least the color's pretty.  Hopefully Terry will like them.

For Jennifer, The Little Gems Mitts:

 

At first, I had no idea what to knit for her, but this came right after I finished that monster of a sweater, Venezia and I had a dozen leftover bits of Palette yarn--perfect for little mosaic mitts! (Yes, all the colors are Palette). The pattern is by Donna Kay and was featured in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007.  

These were a little bit harder than the Nemesis socks, but after Venezia, they were a piece of cake.  They look like intarsia, but there's never more than two colors per row, so you can strand away.  And if you don't like the look/feel/process of knitting all the fingers separately, you could also make them true fingerless mitts and knit that all as one piece.

I probably would not knit these again.  They're pretty cute and good for using up some ends of yarn, but there were a lot of ends to weave in for such a little project and it didn't use up hardly any of my leftover colors, just the gray.  I suppose you could fix that by only using one or two accent colors, but then what's the point?  There are way cuter fair isle patterns out there for mitts.  Good to try new things and use some of the patterns that are already in my library, though.  I should do that more, considering I've got roughly 500 patterns at my immediate disposal...

I do like the effect of all those blues in the gray background, however.  I hope Jennifer likes them as well!  Too bad it's about 80 degrees right now and she won't need them until November.  Oh well!  That's just one of the pitfalls of knitting year-round.

Good news: I finished knitting the Aeolian Shawl!  I plan to block it out tonight and maybe, if you're really really nice to me, I'll post some pictures of it blocking...

Cheers,

-Allie

Bad Sewing, Good Knits

I'm almost done with my Christmas gifts, yaaay!  I only have the collar left on Mom's cardigan and I am allll done with Christmas knitting!  After that, it's just edible gifts and figuring out what on Earth Walker wants (grumble).  All of the Christmas ornaments are done, all of the little knitted accessories are done.  I am way ahead of the game.

One of the knitted accessories is a pair of Norwegian-style gloves for one of my coworkers:

The pattern is Anemor 12 from Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitted Tradition by Terri Shea.  I absolutely love this book.  If you scroll back through this blog, you'll see that I've used it a number of times.  There are just so many beautiful gloves and mittens in there!  This particular design features a lovely north start pattern on the hand and a traditional geometric pattern on the palm:

I used my extensive store of Palette for these, Grass and Celadon this time.  I used about 3/4 of the ball of Grass, but only about 1/2 a ball of the Celadon.  If you've got some spare sock weight yarn lying around, stranded gloves are a great way to use them up.  Despite how complicated they look, these gloves knit up really really fast.  Impressive, but much easier than they look.  That could be because I was so in love with the pattern that I couldn't wait to knit the next round.  What a gorgeous (and useful!) knitting tradition!  Hopefully, Mel will agree...


For my other coworker, I attempted to make my first sewn Christmas present.  It came out...tolerably.  Knit Picks seduced me with their project bag sewing kits that included fabric with patterns that resemble knit fabric--really cute.  They still have some for sale if you're so inclined.

I started nice and easy with the reversible project bags.  They were simple enough that my lack of sewing skill went unnoticed and they are currently residing in my knitting basket--success!

However, I then made the leap from "easy" project bag to "intermediate" knitting needle roll.  The finished result is functional, but not entirely straight.  Or pretty.

Okay, the outside looks fine.  Everything is facing the same way and the fact that I substituted a snap for a button goes unnoticed (buttonholes scare me a little).

But then you open 'er up and the crookedness becomes more apparent.
See Exhibit A:

and Exhibit B:

Yuck.  Seems I have a little more practice to do before I try another one of these.  Or I need to do a better job of matching the tread color to the fabric...  I didn't even do the top stitching around the edges because I knew it was going to be ugly.

Honestly, I think this pattern/tutorial/whatever you call sewing kits is an excellent idea for a gift to a knitter--in practiced hands.  Seems I need to go back to project bags for a little while before I tackle those slipcovers (dun dun dun!).

I really have myself stressed out over those things.  I was utterly defeated by Joann Fabric the other day.  I went in with measurement figures for my couch and I was all ready to select the right fabric, but then I started second guessing myself.  I asked the nice saleslady for her advice on the matter, but felt like all the questions coming out of my mouth were so stupid that I left the store without buying anything.  Pathetic. 

I later rallied my courage and ordered some lovely blue fabric online and it should be arriving at my door some time this week.  I will probably be tackling this project after we get back from GA for Thanksgiving.  There are still some unfinished gifts that need finishing between now and then and the cheapskate in me wants to pay as little for shipping as possible :).  Then I might finally post some of the other redecorating efforts I've been working on at home--just want to give you the full effect at once!

Next time: Wilkes Christmas Sweaters

Cheers,

-Allie

Christmas Ornaments

In the grand tradition of overreaching one's abilities for Christmas gifts, I am trying to knit little ornaments for as many people as possible.  If I succeed, I will be keeping the gift budget low and using up a significant amount of my Palette stash (really, it's absurd), but I will also be using up a significant amount of my time and sanity.  I will truly succeed if I have it all done by Thanksgiving.  Did you ever know me not to be an overachiever? :)

I'm a little over halfway done now and I have the stocking pattern mostly memorized, so hopefully it'll go a little faster now.  Anyway, here's what I have so far:

Monogrammed Christmas Stockings

I found this pattern on Ravelry as Hogwarts Mini House Sock Ornaments.  That pattern has you knit the whole stocking and then embroider the letters in duplicate stitch.  No thanks.  I knit them in the pattern using a chart from ChemKnits alphabet chart compilation and added some designs from this stocking pattern to the back (not shown).  For those who don't like stranding, duplicate stitch may be for you, but I really hate everything to do with finishing, so stranding was much easier for me.  I still have a whole mess of these little babies to make, but I am really happy with the ones I've finished so far!

The rest of the following stocking patterns can be found in the Knit Picks Holiday section.  There are also patterns there for a yeti and a pickle ornament if those strike your fancy.

Snowmen:

Elf:

 And for the non-knit worthy, lumps of coal:

As far as the rest of my Christmas knitting goes, I only have Mom's cardigan left.  It's a bit of a labor-intensive project, but it is coming along beautifully!  I think I did a better job this year of sorting the knit worthy and the non-knit worthy when it comes to big projects, so apart from little ornaments, everyone else will be will be getting something either store-bought or edible.  No point in knitting something nice for someone who won't appreciate it or who will accidentally felt it in the wash.

Plus, I can sooner get back to some selfish knitting for me :) (I've got some really gorgeous things in mind, too)

Next time: finished co-worker gifts.

Cheers,

-Allie

Christmas: 1st Installment

Yeah, yeah, it's still only October, but this girl has almost got her Christmas presents finished for her in-laws!  I've just got to finish a couple of knit ornaments and make a couple of non-knit purchases and they are all done!  Pretty good, even considering I wanted to have it all finished before Thanksgiving, so that I wouldn't have to ship anything to them.

MIL wanted something simple and warm.  Since the gloves I made her last year were light blue, this year she is getting a light blue Jacques Cousteau Hat (can you tell I really really like this pattern?).  Honestly, I don't know why--the boring ribbing goes on for 8 straight inches without any change.  It's tedious, but I really really love the end result.

I used Knit Picks new Capra DK yarn, which is a cashmere/merino blend.  It does have excellent loft and stitch definition, but I confess I was expecting it to be a little softer than it is.  It is still VERY soft, but it did not quite live up to my expectations.  It is an excellent yarn for accessories, though.


I showed Miss Mary some fingerless gloves I was working on when they visited this summer and she decided that she wanted a pair of her own.  For her, I made Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts:

This was a very easy pattern.  It worked up quickly and I am so pleased with the results.  For anyone looking to try an easy stranded knit pattern, this would be a good one to try.  It is a touch snug, so for those of you with wrists on the less petite side, I would suggest either going up a needle size or a yarn size, to sport weight.

To wear with her gloves in the "chilly" Georgian winter, I also made Mary a Rose Red beret by Ysolda Teague.  (Apologies for the dark image)

It is a lot slouchier than I was anticipating and I am thinking about frogging it and trying a different pattern, as I used worsted weight yarn when the pattern called for DK.  The sample images aren't as slouchy as mine, so it must be that my gauge is way off.  I am undecided about whether I will (or will have the time to) try again with a different pattern or a different yarn.

On second thought, I might just frog the thing for fun.  If you've never experienced the thrill of ripping knitting apart, you are seriously missing out.  It is immensely satisfying--that is until you look at the pile of yarn barf (yes that's a real knitting term) and think about how you now have to untangle and wind it...

Beyond these little numbers, I just have 3 more tiny ornaments to make and I'm thinking about some kind of delicious cookie or hot chocolate mix in a tin, hmm.  Wait until you see these ornaments (perhaps next post?).  They are way too cute!

Cheers,

-Allie

Leopard Print Vest

I know I've been talking about it for ages, but it's finally here!  It's finished, pressed, and delivered to its recipient.  No action shots yet--still too hot for wearing a vest, even if it is cotton, but here's a photo of the completed vest:

For the shape, I used the Geek Chic Argyle Vest from Picture Perfect Knits.  Rather than knit the front and the back separately, I knit the vest in the round to the armpit and the knit the front and back separately, ending with the 3-needle bind-off.  I have to say, avoid stranding when knitting flat.  It's doable, but such a pain that I would really rather steek. Unfortunately, cotton doesn't hold up to steeking, so I was stuck purling.

Intarsia's kind of a pain in the bum, though, so I used the "Tarzan" pattern from Vogue Knitting's Stitchionary of color motifs.

Here's a close-up of the leopard pattern:

This photo is a little truer to color.  We really need to move into an apartment with more light for better knitting photos!  (Might be happening fairly soon--stay posted!)

I'm really really pleased with the way this turned out.  It was a little tight on Vicki when she first tried it on, but that was before blocking and since it's cotton, it should stretch some.  The cotton will also make it easier to care for, even if it's not my favorite fiber.

Unfortunately because I changes the color pattern around so much, it was difficult to estimate how much yarn to order and I had a lot of the cashew color left.  So I searched through my library (Man, I sure do love Ravelry) and dug up this little number, the Citrine Socklets by Marylin Webster from Interweave Knits Holiday 2007.

I had just the right amount to whip out a pair of cute little socks.  I had to make the leg section a couple of pattern repeats shorter, but they'll make great little slipper socks for Vicki, whose yarn it is in the first place.

Right now I'm having a very hard time being faithful to one project.  I'm working simultaneously on the Goddess Top by StitchDiva and the Ivy Sweater from Knitty.  Not making much project on either since I can't decide which one I like better.  And then to make the sluttiness worse, I've got about 300 yards of the yarn left from the Myrtle Sweater and cannot for the life of me find a pair of socks this yarn wants to be.  I tried Bayerische by Eunny Jang, which has a 7-stitch cable I couldn't wrap my head around, and the Cablenet Socks from Knitty, whose teeny-tiny cables don't show up well in the heathered yarn.  I'm thinking I'll have to find something ribbed or lacy...wish me luck...

In non-knitting related news, I have made the all-important decision to dye my hair red.  I have always admired auburn hair, but have never dyed my own.  This changes now.  As soon as I can fit in an appointment, I am going to show up at my hairdresser and demand that she imbue my locks with my alltime favorite color.  Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have some photos for you of my new tresses!

Next time: Knotty but Nice patterns, new hair?

Cheers,

-Allie

Stashbusting: Pink Edition

For some reason, this has been a year of pink for me.  Two lovely soft pink sweaters and a whole bunch of leftovers.  Here are some of those leftovers:

Because Charlotte was so helpful to me with setting up the Etsy shop, I made her this pair of mittens to keep her hands warm in the cold winters of NYC.

The pattern was written by goldenknits and were inspired by Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mitts, but fortunately this pattern was free (and more elegant in my opinion).  For materials I used leftover angora from my Arisaig Cardi and some leftover Palette from the Ivy League Vest (colorway Bison).  The cuffs are folded over for extra warmth and I made sure to put the angora on the inside to it'll nestle next to her wrists.


Here's a shot of the palm side:

What made it difficult (besides stranding on teeny tiny needles) was that the pattern felt more like a recipe, plus charts, so that the knitter is kind of on their own for the cuff and the thumb.  Since the cuff was meant to be straight stockinette, I didn't have much of a problem with that.  But every attempt I made at a stranded thumb came out much too tight, so I gave up and Charlotte will just have to have brown thumbs.

At least I didn't make the mistake of knitting two right-handed mittens this time...


I'm a little jealous of Ysolda Teague's talent.  She's only 25, but she's already published dozens of beautiful patterns.  Just a little bit humbling...

One of her loveliest patterns (in my opinion) is her Gretel Beret.  I'd been eying it for a while and decided that the leftover alpaca from the Fitted February Sweater was just the perfect material for a slouchy cabled beret.  I don't have a modeled shot for you, but I made this in the slouchiest size. Check Ravelry in the fall/winter and I may model it for you.  Ysolda's photos really do the hat justice, though.

With Ysolda's suggestion, I used this project to learn how to cable without a cable needle--so liberating!  Where has this technique been all my life?  My cabling is now so much faster and I don't have to worry about losing the extra needle!  The tutorial she recommends is by Grumperina and you can find it here.  The idea of switching the stitches by taking them off the needle is a little scary at first, but it's so, so much easier!  I would not otherwise have been able to finish this lattice cable hat so quickly.

Here's a detail shot of the cables:  

Sorry it's so dark.  I was trying to get some pictures up quickly and it was dark out.  The color is truer in the first photograph.  I'm so looking forward to fall when I can start wearing my knits again!


Plans are also underway to get the Etsy shop moving again in the fall--you may have noticed that there hasn't been much movement, but come Septemberish, I plan to have a bunch of fall harvest items--flowers, pumpkins, squash, etc to welcome the cooler weather.  It's just been much to hot to market mittens...

Next time: Finished Leopard Print Vest and its Aftermath

Cheers,

-Allie

Autumn Rose in Action

Here's another blog post about how blocking works miracles.  Autumn Rose the finished object was a touch too tight for me, an unflattering squeeze in too many places.  But after I soaked it and pinned it out, it is absolutely perfect.  I couldn't be happier with the finished result:

I love the waist-shaping, the sleeve length, and the neckline.  I did have to modify the neckline a little--I used the chart from the size up from mine because it just dipped too low for the 35" size and I want to be able to wear this baby to the office!  Too bad the weather has been too warm to wear it out in public yet.  I am dying to take it for a test drive!  Tuesday's supposed to be a little cooler.  Maybe that will be the day.

What a beautiful sweater and a fantastic pattern.  The whole sweater was charted out, so there was no guessing on where to increase or decrease.  Despite the complicated colorwork, the construction was very straightforward.  Quite the masterpiece from Eunny, I think.

An excellent testament to Jericho's memory: handsome, full of energy, and I absolutely adore it.

Speaking of kitties, I will be making a big announcement later this week, providing everything goes smoothly on Tuesday.  Wish us luck!

-Allie

Goodbye Jericho

I really did mean to post some picture for you last week, but as many of you know already, Walker and I experienced a bit of tragedy this week.  Our beloved bad kitty, Jericho, passed away very suddenly Thursday night.  The vet thinks he had an undetected heart condition and he slipped into a cardiac arrest.  It was very quick and the poor thing didn't really have time to suffer, but he's left an enormous hole in our lives.  Walker and I are utterly heart broken.  Jericho was an integral part of our family and without him, the house has a palpable loneliness.

Of course our sweet Branwen has been a great comfort, but she lacks the confidence and unapologetic friskiness to fill the void.  We can't decide if we should quickly try to replace him, giving Branwen a companion and filling the energy hole in our lives or if it's better to let the sting subside before asking another cat to fit into Jericho's very large shoes.  We will have to think on this some more.

So this weekend I did a great deal of knitting-as-therapy, which fortunately means I finally finished the Autumn Rose pullover!  It was a little snug when I first tried it on, so here is a picture of my attempt to wet block it.

The steeks worked out great and I really really loved that the only sewing I had to do was the zillion ends from all the color changes.  Plus it is a beautiful, beautiful design.  It was still wet this morning, so I haven't gotten to try it on yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it fits.

This one is especially emotional for me because this'll be the last sweater to have Jericho's fur knit into it.  I was working on it when he passed and I'm dedicating it to his memory, pouring all my happy thoughts of him into it.  Jericho, I'll think of you every time I wear it.  We love you.

Here is your giraffe, your partner in crime to see you out.

 Goodbye, dear friend.  Rest in peace.

-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

Ivy League Vest

It's here! It's done! My first *successful* steek project, yay!

It fits great, too. The pattern I used is called Ivy League and was written by Eunny Jang. I just love her--she has the greatest patterns. In fact, three of the projects in my queue were written by her: Venezia, entrelac socks, and the Autumn Rose pullover. I guess she is my knitting role model *sigh*
Anyway, I knit it on size 4 needles and used Knit Picks Palette for most of the vest. The dark green is Berroco Alpaca Fine from an earlier project that I frogged because I just don't ever wear it. Although it doesn't feel very soft when you first touch it, Palette knits up so well, especially in fair isle projects. It's soft and it clings to itself just enough to make it a great choice for steeking. Love it.
For once, I didn't make any modifications to the pattern. It was just that perfect. I have nothing at all to complain about this project. Really. It was definitely the hardest thing I've ever completed, what with fair isle shaping and steeks, but it came out great and the instructions explained it all so well. Great project and I'm really looking forward to knitting the rest of Eunny's oeuvre in my queue.

Etsy news: Get excited! It's coming really soon. I now have 9 finished items for sale and have been noodling around with writing welcome messages, policies, etc. Mom gave me a deadline of May 1st since she'll be attending a baby shower then and so it needs to be up and have a bunch of baby things in it by that time.

I have a great idea for a baby hat for project no. 10 and then all that's left is making some graphics to make the site look *professional.* Charlotte has volunteered to help me with the graphics so I'll have to make her a little something special as a thank-you once the place is up and running. After talking about it for so long, it's almost here! I'm almost giddy with excitement :)

Cheers,

-Allie

Dum dum da dum...

Only 7 more weeks left, yikes! We've actually got almost everything under control. We're in the middle of a month-long lull, waiting for my dress to come in and for everyone to RSVP (hint hint). Once September hits, things will start getting crazy, but for now, I'm enjoying the extra knitting time!

Firstly, Dad's birthday is coming up on Monday and I had no idea what to get him. So I decided to find something obnoxious to knit him and I found some patterns for some patterned golf club covers!

What guy wouldn't want pink argyle protecting his driver? Actually, I enjoyed knitting the Dots and Spots one better. Slip stitch is a lot easier than argyle--there are fewer strands in the way and the argyle one is pretty scrunched, which is a shame. I think he'll enjoy them all the same. I knit them with two different Knitpicks yarns: Maine Line (pink and green) and Shine (ivory). I have to say that the Main Line was a lot easier to knit than the Shine; cotton is not my favorite material.

I cannot say the same thing about alpaca, however, for the shrug I designed myself for the rehearsal dinner is finished, a vision in Knitpicks' Elegance, a silk and alpaca blend. I’m VERY pleased with the way this project came out. This was a totally improvised project and it fits and looks exactly the way I had imagined it, yay! I love love love the yarn, too. Knitpicks’ Elegance is so soft, I didn’t want to put the project down!

The only problem is that I didn’t keep meticulous notes while I was knitting it, so I only have a vague idea of what I did. Basically, it’s a cropped raglan with seed stitch trim on the sides and bottom. I added a picot edge to the neckline and a lace edging from Knitted Lace of Estonia, I forget from which project.

Unfortunately, I didn’t account for how much it would ‘swing’ in the back, resulting in a lot of curling, so I pulled out the needle and thread and nipped it in on the sides. So now it fits great, but you can’t close it at the bottom, which was not what I made it for, anyway. I’m so excited to wear this to our rehearsal dinner in October. I think it’ll look great over the pink floral dress I got the for the occasion. Yay!

Here's the picot edge:

And the lace cuff:

I've also had some time to work on the Venezia Sweater, which is not progressing very quickly. I have, however, finished knitting the bulk of the torso. Here it is with the steeks uncut:

Looks funny, doesn't it? Since I took that picture, I have cut the neck steeks and have been working on the neckline, but I don't like the way it's turning out, so no pictures yet. I might have to rip out what I've done on the neckline and try again, but that's irritating me, so I've started the left sleeve (pictures of that when I've made more progress).

Here's a close-up of the pattern stitch. I'm very pleased with the color selection I spent so long making. Totally worth the deliberation.

I still can't predict how this sweater will turn out, since I can't try it on until I cut the arm steeks and I'm afraid to do that until I have a sleeve to put there. I love the pattern, though, and I really really hope it turns out well, especially since it's taken so much time to get to this point. I want to finish it before the wedding, which may or may not happen, depending on how busy September gets. I really don't know why I gave myself that deadline--maybe because I want to show it to people coming into town? Maybe I just can't wrap my head around any date after October 10th? We'll see. Apologies in advance if this is my last post before the wedding. It's not because I don't love you guys, but because I'm too busy preparing things for when I see you in October!

Oh, here's a silly Jericho picture to wrap things up:Cheers,

-Allie