In the Spring, A Young Girl's Fancy Turns to Cardigans

I finished my Mirabella cardigan! You know, I loved this cardigan from the moment I saw it on the IK preview website. In fact, I bought the yarn for it even before the magazine came out. And when I finally got my hands on the Spring issue of IK, I was not disappointed! Kudos to Jennifer Tallapaneni for a beautifully constructed and well-thought-out pattern. Jennifer includes great details--a knitted hem, needle size changes for additional subtle waist shaping, slipped stitch "darts", a double-knit collar, and crocheted buttonband. I had never done double knitting before, and for the first few rows, I was just blindly following the directions. Then suddenly, it began to make sense! When I finally was able to grasp the topology of it, I saw just how clever double knitting is, and this project was the perfect little introduction. As for the buttonband and button loops, I was very nervous about doing these since I am really, really bad at crochet. To be completely honest, I'm not sure I even did them right, but I like how they turned out anyway and will probably come back to this way of doing them again. More details are in the gallery.

Because I'm still in a cardigan mood, I have bought some Berroco Comfort for Currer and some Hempathy for this Lacy Leaf Cardi. I'll keep you posted, of course!

Just Do It!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. I went to Los Angeles for spring break, and then I've just been really busy with Life since then. I kept waiting for the right light to take pictures, the right time to sit and think, the right amount of knitting progress to show, etc. But this morning, I had some time off, and I decided I'd just go for it :-)

My trip to LA was wonderful! Our family had a great time, and I even managed to get in a few yarn store visits. I have to say, I showed unexpected restraint and only came home with this:


My first yarn stop was at a store that will remain unnamed. They had an okay selection but nothing to "wow." The salesladies seemed very nice to the "regulars" but didn't pay much attention to anyone else. 'Nuff said.

The second store I went to was A Mano Yarn Center, which Jillian had been kind enough to recommend. The store was cozy and inviting, and there was a fun, chatty group there knitting at the table. I had just missed their big sale, which had happened the week before I got there. They still had old Rebecca mags for 75% off, but not the ones I needed. The yarns were really nice, but they were ones I could get locally already, so I almost didn't buy anything. On my way out, though (isn't that always the way?), I spotted some pink Feza Lisa yarn in the $1 bin. I have never heard of this yarn. But I thought it might work for the Drop Stitch Lace Tank that I've been meaning to make, so I grabbed 3 balls. If it doesn't work out, oh well. But if it *does*, well, my tank would have only been $3! BTW, the staff was really friendly.

And finally, I visited Knit Cafe, which was a real treat. I met up with the super-talented Christie, who was really fun. It was so sweet of her to rush over from work so that we'd have time to chat for awhile. We also got to visit with Suzan, the owner, and Sarah--both were great! Suzan even showed us some of the knitted samples from the book! I was going to buy a book and have her sign it, but they didn't have any more books; they had even just sold the store copy and were waiting on more. At Knit Cafe, I bought the Rowan Studio book because I've long-admired Olga's Jolien, and my LYS doesn't carry these booklets. Christie and I were sad to learn that Knit Cafe will be moving. Oh, that also meant that I missed their sale too, which was scheduled for the week after I left.

All in all, it was a great trip, even though I got precious little knitting done. I had anticipated doing a lot of car knitting while my husband drove, but I couldn't do it because there was waaaaayyyy too much stop-and-go traffic on the highway, and that makes me car sick. I did manage to add several inches to the middle section of my Juno Regina, but there's not really anything exciting to show from that. The only other project I brought along was some Manos Silk Blend to make a My So-Called Scarf. I am almost half-way done with it.


Once home, I picked up Mirabella again. I finished the fronts and back and was half-way done with one sleeve when I finished my 2nd skein of yarn. I reached for the 3rd skein and...

...those of you who were whizzes at the "What's Wrong with this Picture" puzzles in Highlights will realize right away that I completely did not pay attention to dye lots when I bought this yarn. I mean, c'mon, it's an entirely different type of tag! My only defense is that I bought it at a sale and I was just in a daze with so much yarn. I thought about going back and exchanging it, of course, but I could really not tell any difference in the colors, so I decided--Just Do It! Yep, I want ahead and used a different lot number. I will say that when I went to block the pieces, the 3rd skein was more water-resistant and looked a heck of a lot lighter, which gave me a scare. But after awhile, those areas soaked up water too, and all was well. I'm putting the finishing touches on this baby and need to shop for buttons, but maybe I'll have an FO by the weekend.

Thank you all for the nice comments on Coral Seas. I credit my 8-year-old Sweetie for taking deceptively nice pictures of it. I am still taking a mental break from the tank before I decide its final fate!

Celebrations, Part 5: Knitiversary (and contest winner)

So as to not keep you in suspense, the winner of the birthday contest is...can I have the envelope please?

No Country For Old Men!

What? Oh, sorry...wrong envelope. The winner is...

Caroline!

The fates were in her favor, 'cause as it turns out, she has the same birthday as me! Caroline, I've emailed you for your color choice for the Malabrigo. Congrats!

On to another celebration, I'm observing my knitiversary this month. Now, I don't have a specific day or anything, but it's now been 2 years since I started knitting--just not 24 consecutive months. Here's the story:

It was December 2004, and I was shopping for Christmas gifts at the Barnes & Nobles. There was a woman there knitting a nice scarf with very novel-looking yarn that I had never seen before. And for some reason, I was drawn to it. Something in my mind clicked, and I suddenly decided I wanted to learn how to knit. I guess my brain was just primed for it and got the stimulus it needed. A few days later, I went to a Michael's and picked out what I thought was a neat yarn. I brought it home, googled some stuff on the internet, and stumbled across knittinghelp.com.

Well, I sat there for over an hour and couldn't figure out what was what, even though I was just trying to do garter stitch. Turns out, I chose an eyelash yarn for my first project. Brilliant. I did finally end up with something that looked kinda like a scarf, and I even wore it out in public, but it did not last. There were so many dropped stitches and inadvertent yarn-overs on that thing that it became kind of a mess. I don't have the original anymore, but I do still have a smaller version of it that I made for my daughter with the leftovers. This was my second attempt, so it came out better and is still intact.


After that, I went to a *real* yarn store and they helped me pick out some yarn for the Frida poncho from Knitty (which I can't find the link to, for some reason). It was basically a big rectangle, and I never did sew it up as a poncho, but I was enthralled by the leaf motif and still keep it as a decorative thingey on one of my chairs.


I was definitely hooked! For the next 9 months, I did a slew of projects. I wish I had thought to photograph them all. There was felting and lace and sweaters and a couple of things I made up myself. I loved it!

But then, I got pregnant. And while I thought that I would be spending that time making utterly cute and tiny things, the reality is that I couldn't stand to knit at all. It made me so nauseous to knit! During my first pregnancy, I had had a strong aversion to the smell of seaweed in Japanese cooking, which I normally love. This time around, it was an aversion to knitting and all things associated with it. Weird, huh? The feeling was so strong that even after my delivery, I had no interest in anything fiber-related. Not for almost a year and a half.

And then one day, in December again, it was cold and I longed for a scarf. And so I made one. And just like that, I was back. In honor of this 2-year knitiversary, I am going to make a contribution to Ravelry. I think they are great!

Thanks for putting up with the walk down memory lane. Let's fast forward to the present, and I'll show you my WIP's.

The body for Athos is all knit up, as is the neckband trim. I have blocked them and need to sew on the trim and then pick up stitches to make that cool medallion. I have not yet knitted the sleeves, though, because I was going to use the sleeves from the Porthos design. Well, it seems there is a mistake, and the printed directions for both sets of sleeves are the same, even though they are clearly different in the picture. I posted about this on the Norah Gaughan forum on Ravelry, which Norah herself frequents, and I am waiting to hear back.


And finally, here is Mirabella. I really am so impressed by all the detailing in this pattern. The back is all done and I'm going to block it and make sure everything is on track before I knit the rest.

Progress

I finished the Cropped Duster! I really wanted to get some wear out of this before the cold weather completely disappears, so I was glad to be done. More pictures and details are in the Gallery if you are interested.



In other good news, I was able to get the Fifi pattern! I contacted Kristeen through Ravelry and I was able to buy the pattern from her online. Hooray! Now that I have the pdf, I'll be swatching for it in the next day or two. I've also been swatching that Blue Skys Alpacas Dyed Cotton for the Mirabella cardigan, and I think it will work! So all in all, things are looking good.

Celebrations, Part 4: Birthday (and Contest)

Yes, it's my birthday! I treated myself to a bunch of new yarns over the last couple of weeks. The Calmer is from a Ravelry destash and the rest are from a recent sale at my LYS. Let's look at some yarn porn, shall we?

This is Berroco Linen Jeans. As you can see, I've already knitted 1 skein's worth on Athos from the new Norah Gaughan book. So far, it's very nice and drapey!



Next up is some Rowan Calmer, in the discontinued Tangerine color. I intend to make Fifi with this, and I was actually all set to swatch for it. I had somehow thought that I could download the pdf of the pattern but was really bummed that I couldn't. So I'll have to wait till I find a site or local store that carries these patterns. Darn!



I love the color of this Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. I am really hoping that the swatch will work out for the Mirabella cardigan from the new IK.



This is some Tahki mercerized cotton. I was thinking about this for the Emerald Seas top from Knitty or for the Drop-Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits, but I need to swatch it and see if I like it for either.



I realized after I finished making all those scarves for Christmas that I actually have very few scarves of my own. So I bought myself some yellow Malabrigo to make a Shifting Sands scarf and some variegated purple Manos Silk Blend for a My So Called Scarf.



Ahhh, I love it! Okay, now, it wouldn't be right to bask in all this fiber goodness by myself. So I decided I'd have a little contest. It's easy. All you have to do is guess the time of day that I was born. Remember to indicate AM or PM and make sure I have some way to contact you, either through your blog or email. The contest will run through next Saturday, February 23. The prize? The person who comes closest to guessing the actual time wins 2 skeins of Malabrigo in her choice of color. Enjoy!