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

Goodbye 2011

Last day to squeeze in one more blog post!  I haven't been around here much this December.  That's because I rather overbooked myself with handmade Christmas.  Then we traveled to GA for the Holiday (lots of fun, despite the cold I brought home with me--boo).  And to top it all off, I got a last minute commission from Knit One Crochet Too for a new pattern they want to debut...next weekend.  Been a little busy--as you can imagine.  At least it's better than being bored, right?

My current test knit project hasn't been released yet (how cool is that) so I can't show it to you just yet--that and I'm not quite finished with it.  Guess how I'm spending my New Year's Eve.  Not that I would want to be anywhere other than parked on my couch with a knitting project and a glass of wine :)

So, here is a crash course of all the handmade gifts I've neglected to show you over the last couple of weeks.  I promise a more in-depth post once I've finished this next test knit.  I am on a deadline ;)

First the knits:

A couple of ornaments for an online ornament exchange, courtesy of Knit Picks and Karolina Eckerdal,both in Palette:

Some gloves for Dad, from Never Knit Your Man a Sweater* in Swish Worsted:

And a scarf for FIL, Cerus Scarf by Hillary Smith Callis:

 

I wasn't planning on making anything for him, but was having a really, really, really hard time coming up with something for him for Christmas.  Turns out he's going to be taking some depositions in northern cities and very specifically wanted a *cardinal red* scarf to go with it.   I thought I wouldn't have time to finish it, but I managed to squeak this one in about 2 days before we left!

The time it took to knit it could have something to do with the pattern--it is lovely and very masculine, but it makes for a very thick fabric and one that doesn't knit up very quickly.  I recommend it highly, but not for projects that you need quickly.  

Also, if you get the chance, give Knit Picks Full Circle a try.  It's made from recycled wool and merino fibers and comes in some really beautiful, vibrant colors.  It is a bit splitty, so it wasn't really the best choice for so thick a fabric, but it's airy, warm, and super soft.  I plan on ordering myself more as a belated Christmas gift to myself :)

And now a bunch of non-knits:

I mentioned in my previous post that I am trying to enhance my sewing skills (up from nil).  I decided to give this quilted oven mitt pattern a try.  I think it came out well!

I made one for each of our mothers and they really seemed to like them!

I also tried this etching tutorial (really, it's amazing what you can find on Pinterest!) to make some personalized wine glasses for friends and family--look how pretty!

It was a little tough to cut those shapes out of masking tape, but totally worth it.  I think that etching cream was one of the best investments I made this season!  Definitely making one of these for me in the future.

Did you get any fun crafty gifts this year?

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year.  Hope 2012 treats you even better than 2011!

Cheers,

-Allie

Entangled Gloves

Here they are, the last of the Gloves-for-All-My-Coats Project, the Entangled Gloves:

These were the most difficult by far.  Ringwood and Herringbone didn't even come close.  Just look at all that crazy cabling!  Julia Mueller must be some kind of genius to write a pattern like that!

From start to finish, these bad boys took me about a month, which, for me, is a really long time.  Granted, I had a bunch of other projects going, but this was still a very labor intensive project.  I draw your attention once more to the crazy cabling.

I only made one change to the pattern.  With a gorgeous pattern like this one, there really wasn't a lot too change.  How can you improve  upon perfection?  Well, my change was more of a rebellion than a modification.  In the introduction, Julia extols on the merits of knitting with magic loop and how these gloves would be sooo much easier if you knit them her way.  To me it seemed like she was trying to convert me to the cult of the "magic" loop.

I refused.  She might know how to design cables, but she can't tell me how to knit.  I didn't need her circular needle sorcery!  I took it as a challenge and knit the whole project on dpn's just to prove that I could.  So there. 

Okay, so maybe I'm just too lazy to learn how to magic loop, but dang it, I am a whiz on the dpn's!  At least I was when I remembered how to cable without a cable needle--easy and not nearly as scary as you might think it is.

Anyway, the end result of my rebellion is lovely:

You may recognize the yarn, too.  I used the leftover Knit Picks Gloss in Dolphin from the Pas de Valse cardigan.  I looove that cardigan.   I wear it whenever I need a little pick-me-up.  Not only is it a gorgeous sweater, but the vain side of me still loves revealing my handiwork:

"Oh hey, Allie, I love your sweater!"

"Thanks!  I made it myself." *Gloating Smirk*

*Jaw Drop*

Call me proud, call me vain, my little ego never tires of it.  I anticipate wearing these gloves a lot, too, not only because they're warm and soft, but because I can then waggle them under the noses of friends, family, bank tellers, grocery store clerks...  If that makes me a bad person, then so be it. 

Next Time: a sneak peak at my blanket-in-progress for Vicki's little girl on the way.

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

Knotty but Nice

So sorry for the late post this week.  I actually went through with dying my hair red.  We did a foil, rather than dying the whole head, so it's subtle, but a lovely dark red/brown color.  I'm not sure that I love it yet (one reason why there are no pictures--the other is that the lighting in our apartment is terrible and my face ends up looking redder than my hair), but I'm sure it'll grow on me.

And to distract you from the lack of hair photo, here's a cute kitty picture!!

Awwwwwwww!
Kitty update: Arty is getting so big!  He's about 5lbs now (was 2 when we brought him home) and he can now jump and reach things he couldn't when he was tiny--uh oh.  We think the ringworm has largely been eradicated from our house.  Arty still has a little bit on his back, but it's almost all gone, hurray!

And now Knitting:

Welcome to yet another edition of stash-busting.  I almost never use all of the recommended yardage for my big projects and here are a couple of results of the leftovers:

Even after the Gretel Beret, I still had a fair amount of the Elann pink alpaca and after scouring Knitty for a while, I found this little number.  The pattern is Knotty but Nice and was written by Natalie Larson.  It was originally written for a man, but what self-respecting man wants to wear a hat made of pink alpaca?  None that I know.  So I sized it down by using smaller needles.  It fits my medium-ish sized head.

The pattern itself was very straightforward.  The cabling looks like it was hard, but so long as you're paying attention, it looks a lot more demanding than it really was.  An excellent choice for a quick Christmas gift.

For some reason 2010 has been a year of pink for me.  Lots of pink sweaters and therefore lots of leftover pink yarn. This is the very last of the angora from the Arisaig sweater.  It was sooo soft, it really had to be used to comfort someone's hands and so I chose Knotty by Julia Mueller.  Funny that both designers came to the same name and same design independently--I wonder if one was inspired by the other.  In any event, the two projects (even if they're not EXACTLY the same pink) will make a nice set for someone for Christmas--I can think of a lovely budding photographer would might appreciate some fingerless gloves...

As you can obviously tell, I didn't have quite enough yarn to make these full gloves, much to my chagrin.  I don't usually like fingerless gloves/mitts, but I didn't have the heart to tear out such a pretty cabled pattern.  Plus they'll be great for photography practice!
I will definitely make these again--and finish the pattern next time!!

Next week I'll have to post twice to make up for lateness this week.
Next time: Finished Goddess Top

Cheers,

-Allie

A Very Matthews Christmas

I am on the ball this year with Christmas gifts. I have already finished all the gifts for my in-laws this year. I've got a good deal more knitting to do for my Mom, Walker and me, but I've made excellent progress.
For Mary, I made the Smock-a-Ruche Scarf from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. I used Cascade Eco + Bulky. Not my favorite yarn ever, but it keeps the shape well and I liked the color a lot. I think Mary will, too.For Walker's mom, I made the Twisted Stitch Gauntlets from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007. I used Karabella Aurora 4, which is a really soft merino in sport weight. Not a terribly easy knit, but enjoyable all the same. I really like that the cuff will go over her coat sleeve and keep her wrists warm.

I asked Walker's mom what the boys would like for Christmas and I was pleased to hear that they wanted the easiest things ever to knit: hats! For Walker's dad, I made the Jacques Cousteau hat (a Ravelry download) in Knitpicks City Tweed DK. Really really soft yarn, but I think there are too many little 'fuzzies' in there. Good for a men's hat, though.

Charles is getting a Seaman's Cap, also a Ravelry download. The yarn I used was Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes, an excellent standby yarn. I got a little creative with the striping because I was running out of the black yarn, but I like the result all the same. It was a little small on Walker's head, so I'm really hoping it'll fit Charles...

I guess we'll see come Christmastime.

For the rest of the family, I am working on a beautiful shawl out of Knitted Lace of Estonia for Mom and just finished the Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 for Miss Caroline. Once I finish Mom's shawl, I'll do a Wilkes gift edition. I am also working on a matching pair of stocking for the Mister and myself for our first married Christmas. They are based on the Judy's Colors stockings, which are only sold in absurdly expensive kits, so I made a heavily modified version of my own, so ha! I'm done with the cuff portion of Walker's, so I still have a ways to go...

In non-Christmas related news, I'm going to have to frog Venezia. She is just too small and blocking is not what I need. I'm going to have to either start over or move on to something else. Sad :(. After all the Christmas stuff I have a few other projects I want to work on, so redoing the Venezia marathon is not exactly a welcome development right now, but it's such a beautiful pattern that I can't abandon it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to spend some quality time with your families. Good luck with all your Christmas shopping/other holiday endeavors!

Cheers,

-Allie

Back to "Normal"

Well, we're back from Paris and settling back into normal schedules. It's weird not having wedding planning to do anymore. And, as you all know, I have a hard time not having anything to do, so I've thrown myself headlong back into knitting!

Firstly, I finished the Kingdom gloves:
Despite not being wild about the pattern, I like the way they turned out. Now my only complaint is the way the cuff is set up, so I decided not to keep them. Vicki will enjoy them much more than I will. I really liked working with the Knitpicks Gloss yarn, though. Highly recommended.

After all those tiny cables, I wanted to work on something with a bigger gauge and a much simpler pattern, so I found the Francis Revisited Sweater by Beth Silverstein. The gauge was so big, the whole thing only took me about 5 days, 5 glorious days of mindless stockinette. This picture doesn't really do the sweater justice--it makes the thing look a lot more see-through than it really is, but you can see how loose the gauge is. The opacity is a lot more like the previous photo and the color/fit is like the one below.Really comfortable, really cute. Here's the back.Next on the agenda is my slew of Christmas gifts. Since we're doing Christmas with the Matthews this year, my list has expanded quite a bit and, as you can see by the sidebar, I've started early. I've been working on the batch of Matthews gifts first (partly because the Wilkes have asked for considerably more complicated gifts!) and once I finish with the last one (about halfway done) I'll dedicate a blog post to all of them. I decided it would be easier if I split the two posts up.

In fact, I should have started posting this stuff ages ago, but the reason I waited was because I wanted to include some wedding photos in my next blog post! Yes, they're up and if you really want a print, you're more than welcome to order one from her site! I don't have the hard copies or the digital disc yet (should get them later this week), but I wanted to share them with you guys as soon as possible!

Happy stalking! And to wrap things up, here's Jericho making a fort out of a yarn shipment box.

Cheers,

-Allie Matthews (!)

2 More Days!

Wow, I can't believe it's so close! My to-do list is done and the in-laws have arrived. I just wanted to get a few pictures up for all of you to enjoy while we're on our honeymoon in a couple of days, so this will be a short post.

First on the list: the skinny empire sweater. I wanted a cute little warm-weather sweater (which is now already obsolete until May) so I made one! I got the pattern out of Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits and knit it with Knitpicks Telemark. If I'd had more cash lying around, I probably would have picked a more luxurious fiber than straight wool, but I really liked the way the telemark kept the ruffle in the collar. I like the mint-green color too.



If I did it again, I would probably have made it a little longer, but I still think it's super-cute. Here's the back:Next on the list is the first of the Kingdom gloves that I've been working on since about June. I'm just not that interested in the pattern. It's too complicated for something I'm not very excited about. I got the pattern off of Knitty, I think it was the summer issue. I've just had more interesting things to work on, so these have been neglected some. I will finish glove number 2 when we get back from Paris (eee!)

And thirdly, and most importantly, is the shawl I've made for my wedding day. Obviously I wasn't thinking straight when I thought I halter dress would be a good idea for Maine in October (I don't think I would have cared then, anyway, it's a gorgeous dress). And I didn't even think that I would need more warmth until about 4 weeks before the big day. So I ordered the yarn (Valley Yarn's alpaca/silk lace, which I love love love--so soft!) and set straight to work. I think the result is quite lovely. I finished it in exactly two weeks, even making it a little wider and a little longer than the pattern called for. I got the Lilac Leaf Shawl pattern out of Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. It was very straight forward worked up really quickly. Here's a closeup of the lace edge:

Well, I think that's all for this update. I have to scurry off again to do wedding things. Once I get back and get back into the swing of things, I'll have more to tell you. I'll even see some of you tomorrow, yay!

Cheers,

-Allie

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

The day of love is upon us and of course I've made a few little goodies for the occasion:
I made Walker the little 'lovebug' and a few little stuffed hearts for my parents. A couple of them have faces on them, but that's a little hard to see in this photo. You just have to trust me.Our job situation hasn't really had any progress. We have a few prospects, but they're all moving at the speed of a molasses covered turtle. So hopefully I'll have some better news by my next post, but don't hold your breath. But that means that I've had plenty of time to knit!
I had some dk yarn kicking around and wanted to make some yummy gloves out of it, but couldn't find a pattern for dk-weight gloves, so I decided to try to write one. The one I managed to finish fits very well, but the one skein didn't quite cover both gloves, so I'll have to order another one...once I get around to doing that. So for now I have a glove and a half lying around. Once I work the kinks out of this pattern, I might get around to writing it out for various sizes and post it here!
I did manage to finish some other handwarmers, though! With some more leftover Christmas yarn, I did another pattern out of the Selvubotter book, but this one is for little girls. So if you know any cold little girls, let me know.Alternatively, if you know any medium-sized girls (or boys) whose hands are chilly, they might also be in luck. With some leftover white yarn from mom's Scandanavian scarf, I made some cute cabley mittens.So now all of my yarn is gone, except for that last half ball of bamboo yarn, which is turning nicely into the forest park scarf, which I found in the Designer One Skein Wonders book (as well as the cable mittens, actually). I made some modifications, like I made it one repeat wider, so I'll be able to block it between 12-16" wide and I'm not going to use the same edging. I won't put any edging along the sides and at the ends, I'm going to put in Pinapple Lace Edging. I'm about halfway through the body pattern (shown below) and then will put on the edging. I think it will end up being 5 1/2 feet long, but that kind of depends on how long the yarn allows for.After that, though, the knitting basket is empty: no more yarn. I will have to order one more skein of elegance to finish those gloves, but after that, I just don't know. I will try to write that pattern for Christina (once she gets me her measurements!) and then I guess I'll just get a lot of reading done. We'll see!
Here's Jericho, looking very comfy in Walker's lap, to wrap things up!

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

-Allie

Leftovers

A lot's happened since my last post, both in knitting and in the rest of my life.
Firstly, Christmas happened. Everyone seemed to like their knit gifts very much. Here's a picture of the scarf I made for dad but forgot to photograph before I wrapped it:It looks nice, but the dye turned some of my needles green. :( It was worth it, though, and Christmas joys were more than enough to overshadow this drawback.
Walker came with me to Maine both to meet my extended family and for an interview with a staffing agency in Portland. Both events went very well: my family enjoyed meeting Walker very much and the staffing agency seems very confident that they should be able to find us something good, which brings me to the next major event. We're moving to Portland. Yay!
We've found a great apartment with brand new appliances about 10 minutes north of my parents and we're fairly confident that we've found someone to take our place in Philly, so (barring a major issue) we're leaving next Saturday! I'm so excited! It will be so nice to be in a place that feels safe and familiar and where we have a good chance of getting a job, hurray!
We'll also be in a convenient place for wedding plans, since it'll take place in Maine. We've got major things, like venues, band, and my dress (I'm going to wear my aunt's dress, which I might post once my mother gives me the pictures she took), but it'll be nice to be around to make the details. Oh, I feel happy again :)
So, knitting news: I had a lot of leftovers from Christmas presents and have been trying to use that up, creating the following projects.
Walker finally conceded that he needed a new pair of gloves, so I made him this fairly simple pair to keep his hands warm:These didn't finish off that scarf yarn, though, so I made this cute little beret. I had intended it for Jericho, but he's still too little and it didn't fit him right. Maybe it'll fit my parents' cat instead. He's certainly large enough...Even after this, I still had a little left over, so I combined it with some of the white cotton blend from Caroline's sweater (which she refused to model for a picture, stinker) to make this hat. I combined a basic roll-brim pattern I got online with a fair-isle pattern from a book. The pattern is called 'Alaska,' so that's what I'm calling the hat. It's a little too small for me, though. So if you know anyone with a smallish head who would like this hat, let me know or I'll just hang on to it.The hat finished off the green yarn, but I still had some white cotton left, so I made a little washclothand a cat toy meant to look like a Chinese dumpling. I think there's only a vague resemblance, but Jericho likes it, so I guess it doesn't matter.Now all I have left is the fingering weight yarn from Walker's socks and Mom's gloves. I made Caroline a pair of gloves from the Selbuvotter book, which I also did not get to photograph so you're just going to have to imagine them in their green-and-white moose-y glory.
Since I'm kind of tired of making socks, I may just make a whole bunch of gloves and mittens, saving them for gifts. Or something. I did start on a really cool pattern I found for argyle mittens called Vespergyle.This one came out nicely, but took me forever (by my standards, anyway). I'm making them on size 1 needles, so they gauge is tiny! I'm going to make the other one and then work on projects with the new yarn I got today. After that I might figure out something to do with the rest of the fingering weight pile.
Next projects with the new yarn are going to be a lovely beret in teal knitpicks elegance (70% alpaca 30% silk), which is soooo soft! I can't help petting it!
I've also got some worsted weight wool to make Mom a scarf to match her gloves.
I've noticed that my posts are kind of getting out of control. I'm sorry about that--I'll try to update more in the future, but once I get a steady job, I might have fewer projects to report anyway.
Wish us luck in our big move!

Cheers,

-Allie

Christmas Time!

Yay, I finished all my Christmas gifts! Here are some pictures of the gloves I made for Mom. I tried at first to figure them out from pictures I found on the internet, but I couldn't quite get it right, so I had to buy the book, but it was worth it, I think: And the palm:

I didn't get any pictures of Dad's scarf because I wrapped it up before I remembered that I was supposed to take a picture, so I'll just have to do that after I give it to him. So then I didn't really know what to do with myself or my leftover yarn until I found a gaping hole in the gloves I was using. And what better way to replace them than with another pattern from the new book I had to buy? Here's the first glove I've completed.And the palm:I haven't finished the other one, mainly because I messed up by starting to make another right-hand glove and had to start over. Whoops. I'm sure I'll have it done in no time and then my fingertips won't be so cold anymore. Dad's scarf had some considerable leftovers, too, so I'm going to make Walker a nice pair of gloves, so his fingers will be nice and warm, too. I have a whole bunch of fingering weight yarn that I don't know what to do with, though. Any suggestions?

In other news, Christmas is in less than a week and I couldn't be more excited! We're leaving for Maine tomorrow afternoon and I'll get to introduce my new fiance to friends and extended family, yay! We also have job interviews with a staffing agency on Monday, so wish us luck!

And here is the customary picture of Jericho wearing his adorable Christmas collar that jingles when he moves. How cute is that?

Merry Christmas everyone!

-Allie