Morning in Engelberg (a test knit)

That cable.

 I'm so happy I can finally share this beautiful sweater! The lovely Nadia asked me a couple months ago whether I would like to test knit something for her, as part of the Casual Friday collection, and of course I responded with a resounding YES. I was torn between Morning in Engelberg and Evening in Locarno, but I felt more confident that I would be able to finish in time with thicker yarn, considering school.

I don't usually work at this weight for garments (aran weight, knit as a substitute for worsted weight), and I have no idea why not. They're so quick! The garter stitch body, coupled with the large offset cable, make for an interesting texture to an otherwise plain and comfy sweater. And plain, simple, and unfussy things are definitely my thing. In case you haven't noticed. There's also this lovely slipped side detail (below). The length of the sleeves is pretty perfect too: they cover my wrists and I can grab the hem of the sleeve with the tips of my fingers when my arms are down. Bliss.

Lovely side detail.

Also, this yarn is an absolute thing of beauty. I'm this close - this close - to running back to Romni's and buying out their shelf, especially since it's in the basement. In case anyone wants to buy it out before me so as to prevent me from doing so, it's the Araucania Rinihue. There's enough of the red colourway for a Belfast Hoodie. Or whatever full garment you please. Beautiful.

Two more things.

1. Although I lack photo evidence for it at this moment in time - and they will happen hopefully soon enough - I have also completed a piece that's been on the loom for months. I kid you not: months. I also haven't touched it for months, so I really hope that redeems me a bit, considering it's just plain old plain weave. I actually still have to cut it down as it's for a project, but I'm more or less done. And I'm so glad I sloughed through it! It's incredibly soft, and I'm thinking of weaving another one already, except one that I can keep as a scarf or something.
2. I thought I couldn't do it, but I did: I finished the Shipwreck Shawl. It's in the process of blocking (no pins, so I hope it just stays in shape), but I can already tell it's going to be incredible! I really hope the recipient likes it! More on that later when I've actually got pictures.

Plans for TCK12sweaters2015

Miss Babs Heartland in Beach Glass

Cascade 220 in Charcoal Grey

With Arabella, it's one down. As I've mentioned, there's another sweater in the works that's halfway done, so two. Let's actually not kid ourselves about those two other sweaters that haven't been completed in forever. Let's be real*. Here's my plan:

1. Arabella - done.
2. Secret - WIP, 50% done or so?
3. Timberline in Miss Babs Heartland - purchased, swatched, uses stash, I should have enough
4. Zenith in Cascade 220 - purchased, swatched, uses stash, I have more than enough
5. Burgundy Cardigan - simple oversized cardigan using recycled yarn from thrift store sweater (100% lambswool)
6. Linen Cardigan - WIP, back almost finished
7. Sandhurst Jumper in DK yarn - swatched, uses stash, I should have enough
8. Classic Shirt in Elsebeth Lavold LinSilk - in library, swatched, uses stash, I should have enough
9. Inky in Eden Cottage Yarns BFL Sock? Maybe? Undecided about this one.
10. Purl Soho Silken Straw Summer in that green cotton I picked up at the Knitter's Frolic last year?
11. I actually love this one so much: V Piping Jacket using Plotulopi, I'm thinking.
12. Maybe a Laneway. In madtosh lace.
13. I've actually got another idea for a dress using my DyeForYarn splurge sometime December (see below), which is stunning! And it shipped really quickly! Always a plus. It does have a couple of lighter spots that I don't think are entirely planned, but overall I am very pleased with my purchase.

DyeForYarn 8-Ply Mulberry Lace in Dried Brown Algae

As you can see, I'm trying to use mostly stash yarn, if not completely. All of these planned sweaters kind of fit the bill (except for the secret one - that I had to get something new), which is a motivating factor for me to actually get to them. I know I say this every year, but I really want to not let my stash grow beyond what it is right now, and although that doesn't mean I'll just stop purchasing yarn, that does mean I need to plan how to use what I currently have. Novel idea, right? So for the time being, and this is completely flexible, I'm going to not purchase any more bins to hold my yarn. What storage space I have is what storage space I'll stick with. So if I want to get more yarn, I'll have to clear out some space, either by using it, donating it, trading it, selling it, whatever works. Hopefully that'll get me motivated to finish some sweater quantities before the Knitter's Frolic!

* Given that I just cast on for a Shipwreck Shawl as a graduation present for my friend (I'm aiming for being finished April, but I get the feeling it won't be done by then), I don't think this plan is going to happen within the year, realistically. That being said, maybe over the next year as well? Or the next couple of years possibly? How about sometime within my lifetime?

1/12: Arabella

First FO of 2015!

May I introduce my first FO of 2015, Arabella! It's also the first of 12 sweaters I plan to hopefully knit this year for Tincanknits' 12 sweaters in 2015 contest. I've got another one on the go right now, about halfway finished (it's a secret for now), and if I count those two unfinishable sweaters (if you remember my sheep sweater-turned-vest-but-still-not-finished-one and the green sweater for my brother. Who am I kidding? I should know better than to count those in!), then I technically have 1 finished and 3 more already cast on: 4/12-ish! I'm on a roll! There's also that linen cardigan I have on the needles, so that's already 5. Add all the sweaters and dresses I have planned/queued-with-stash and I probably have about 10 in the works either in reality or in my mind. Psshhhh piece of cake! I highly doubt I'm going to complete 12 sweaters in 2015. 

These photos may look a bit different from my usual self-portraits, and if they do (of course they do! They're a bazillion times more beautiful! More well-lit! I just don't have enough words to say how much I respect people who can work with lighting!), it's because my incredibly talented photographer friend, Haley, generously agreed to take these for me! She's also a hooker now (crochet), and I'm teaching her how to knit. I'm so proud to be her friend! Go check out her tumblr at autienne and her ravelry as well!

Now. About Arabella.

Look Ma: seams!

It knit up surprisingly quickly over the break (when I was no longer living in the print studio and had time to knit), and is such a beautiful design - I love it! I do have a couple of things I would do differently next time though - and this is one of those sweaters that I would seriously think about knitting again - including using a different yarn, which I think would solve the other issue of the back neck dipping a little too low for my liking. Not enough to make me not wear it or rip it out and fix it, but enough for me to adjust it every so often. Like I said, I suspect it has to do with my yarn choice (Cascade Heritage, pictured below), which I'll discuss after I heap a mountain of praise upon the pattern.

Arabella was written very clearly and I had no issues at all following the pattern. The fit was also perfect; I had worked one size larger to achieve my size, and was really just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best, since this yarn grew quite a bit after blocking (thank goodness I blocked before seaming this time!!), but it all came out according to expectations. Hurrah! I would definitely consider knitting this again. Now the yarn.

Silky smooth and soft...

Of course, seeing as it's incredibly silky smooth and soft, I should have expected that it would be more prone to fluffing and pilling than other possibilities in my stash, but I was quite in love with the sample Arabella in the Brooklyn Tweed pictures, so I bulldozed ahead. With larger than recommended needles (3.5mm - the largest recommended size is 3.25mm), I blindly put my faith into the durability that nylon would lend this yarn. It turned out pretty well, to be honest. I mean, it's not nearly as bad as I'm making it sound. The fluffing does stand out a lot to me whenever I look down at the front when I wear it, but it probably doesn't look quite as ratty to anyone else. This yarn also produces a very drapey fabric, which drags down the entire sweater a bit. As I commented above, the back neck slides down quite a bit when I'm wearing it because of this. Oh well. I like the resulting sweater and I'm pretty happy with it.

I found knitting with this yarn to be a slippery experience, although it was not too splitty for me as others have commented on Ravelry. On the whole, I would purchase this yarn again at the price that I got it. Probably not much higher than that. Which means that I'm most likely never going to purchase this yarn again, seeing as I got each skein for the price of $7.47/skein during one of Craftsy's sales. I'm pretty sure this usually retails for about $14/skein or so maybe? I wouldn't know: I never considered purchasing it when it wasn't on sale. I would, however, consider knitting this pattern again.

Scotland Photos

Finally got the b&w film shot in Scotland developed and printed! This post is going to be really image-heavy, but it's worth it. Scanning in photographs is kind of a pain though... or maybe I'm just not up to par in this regard? I can't get it to show quite as beautifully scanned as it is in person.

And now... THE SHEEP!

There were many many more sheep, but these are some of my favourites, from when we went to climb up a hill. We had a bit of a struggle, but the sheep seemed totally comfortable.

Secret Santa/Secret Child

A change of heart

This was my present for my secret child! It took a grand total of 3 days and a bit to finish, so it's definitely a great present-knitting choice. No photos of my secret child wearing it, unfortunately, but she loved her present, so all's well!

The pattern is Change of Heart by Justyna Lorkowska (free Knitty pattern!), and I used completely different needles and yarn, since my secret child asked for a knitted chunky circle scarf (among other things). It's a lovely pattern: the lace is easy to memorize, the cable is very simple and complements the lace very well, and the i-cord edging on the one side of the garter stitch band is a nice detail that makes the entire thing come together neatly. The moment I finished, I wanted one for myself! A change of heart indeed!

White Linen Dress

It's winter right now.

I know I don't post my sewing stuff up here very often - at all - but I'm pretty happy with this one, and it's the first thing I've sewn in a while. In addition to that, it's the first time I've used the sewing machine to do all of it! All of the edges have been french-bound, so no more frayed edges (some of my previous garments have frayed edges that have started to fall apart a bit, so I am learning from the past). And of course, there are pockets. And it's kind of a wonder that I can pull it on and off due to the lack of closures - it was a real concern.

The fabric is a linen/rayon blend and the pattern was drafted by yours truly. The original plan was to do 2 layers and make it reversible, but when I tried that on the muslin, it felt a little too thick and stiff. That might have had to do with the fact that the fabric I used for the muslin was completely different from the real thing though. Now that the real thing has been sewn up, I kind of wish I had a white slip or another layer under it, since it is a bit sheer. A long knit tank top has been cut out of a jersey fabric in my stash, but I haven't gotten around to actually sewing it yet, since the bias binding straps are a pain to make (can't iron it down, so there's a million pins holding one in place at the moment).

The fit is lovely (as it should be, since it was drafted to my measurements), and I am thinking of this style of dress in various colours. Maybe make it into a circle skirt instead? Or add in that second layer, as was originally planned, next time? It has started to stretch a little because I put it onto a hanger for a couple of days (the armholes were much more fitted at first). Hopefully it'll shrink back in the washing machine?

FO & WIP

Finally did that neckline after... how many months?

This shirt/sweater has been in the works since the summer, but to be honest, it's been about 99% done for the past couple of weeks (if not months) waiting for me to undo one gauge swatch so I'd have enough yarn to knit the neckline. It really took a whole lot longer than it should have, and the process of knitting the neckline wasn't half as bad as I had anticipated. I did run out of yarn, as expected, so I had to frog one of my swatches, but apart from that, it went swimmingly. And now I have one more top to wear for this winter! Why didn't I do this sooner?

I love the way it turned out! The neckline does need to be worn to be stretched out and not roll down (it's stockinette), but I think some blocking will fix that up. Not that I'm going to block it until after its first wash. And even then... the hanger will do nicely.

A touch a (mad) tosh

When I got all the measurements down and started on the math for this, I noticed something pretty interesting: 17" seems to be my magic number. My sleeves are 17" long from the underarm. The length of the body is 17". The width of the body is 17" (34" all around). 17" everywhere seems to be the perfect number for me!* Which makes my life a whole lot easier in terms of remembering it!

There is another finished project, but it's for my secret Santa recipient, so that will be posted after everyone has exchanged presents. It's actually already on my ravelry, but they don't know. Shhhhh...

Arabella in the works

And here is a WIP of my Arabella! I started this around the time this semester started, so I haven't touched it for a while, but hopefully I'll be able to get a few more inches done before I have to go back!

*Excepting sleeve circumference & neck circumference, of course. Actually, I totally winged the neck, so I don't know how large it is... maybe 17"? And of course, those are bracelet sleeves, so if I want anything more hold-sleeves-in-hands sweater-length sleeves, then I'd have to add a couple more inches to that.