That skein: Hitchhiker

Sometimes you plan out the perfect yarn for the perfect pattern, and the whole thing comes out as inspiring as a Hefty bag.  Other times, an amazing project seams to materialize in your lap without any thanks to planning or forethought.  This is a story of one of the latter experiences.  

When I was buying yarn from Webs for several baby projects last Spring, I was just a few dollars away from getting their big discount, so I bought a single skein of sock yarn to put me over the top.  This is Pagewood Farms Chugiak in the Prism colorway. 

When it arrived, I regretted it.  I had no idea what I was going to do with this highly variegated yarn.  I really don't like pooling, which is when the colors that are so nicely mixed up in the skein clump together in splotches in your project.  So I stuck it in my stash expecting it to stay there forever. 

Then the Yarniacs, a fantastic podcast, hosted a brilliant KAL: knit something using one of the Pantone fall colors.  I searched through my stash and discovered that this skein had about three or four of the colors.  It would be perfect for fall.  But what to knit?  I did not want to take these pretty colors and splotch them all up in poorly planned pooling.

On Ravelry, I like to browse patterns by what's Hot Right Now, or what is getting the most page views.  For basically years, the Hitchhiker pattern has floated around the Hot Right Now page, which is hard to do for a pattern that's been around for a while.  In all those months, though, I never clicked on it.  Something about the cover picture left me as uninspired as that skein of yarn up there. 

When I was looking for a pattern for this yarn, I decided it should be garter stitch to break up the colors.  I wanted to make a shawl for fall.  I searched patterns with these criteria, and Hitchhiker kept coming up near the top.  So I finally clicked around to have a look.  I began to think it might have potential.  In an uncharacteristic move, I didn't over think it; I just cast on. 

This was a breeze to knit.  It was fun and simple, but not boring.  The colors turned out to be amazing, so they kept things interesting, and seeing the shawl instantly take shape was pretty motivational.  The yarn has a very tight twist, which I think would make it good for socks.  It means it's not very cozy for a shawl or scarf, but it's worked out okay.

I think this will be easy to wear, wrapped around my neck like a scarf.  I think I can tuck the ends in if I want it to look more like a cowl. 

I'm pretty pleased with this successful project that came out of nowhere.  Instead of regretting that skein purchase, I wish I'd bought more!  I think I'll be knitting another of Martina Behm's garter stitch shawls in the weeks ahead! 

Hat trick

That's from a sport.  Is it soccer or hockey?  I can't remember, but it's when you do three of something, right?  Three goals?  Ooh, in bowling, three strikes is called a turkey.  But "Hat turkey" is not as appealing a name for a blog post.

So I spent most of August knitting on this ridiculous sweater that I didn't like very much, and didn't think would look good on me.  Oddly enough, this really compelled me to finish it so that I could just move beyond it.  It doesn't look terrible.  I mean, it fits really well.  But the style is only so-so, and I think the color is not that great.  If you really want to see it, here's the Ravelry project page. 

Once I got that out of the way, I needed a bunch of instant gratification projects to get the bad taste of that sweater out of my mouth.  (Eeew, eating a sweater!)  Hats to the rescue! 

Rosebud
Rosebud by Jared Flood in Malabrigo Rios.  This yarn is so ideal for hats.  It's superwash, and I don't have much experience with superwash, but can't it get kind of heavy and saggy in sweaters?  I've only ever used it for hats and baby clothes.  This superwash is incredibly soft and squishy, and the tonal colorway is dreamy. 

I knit this hat exactly per the slouchy pattern, and I love it.  I blocked it very lightly, not stretching it at all really, but just to get the cable to relax and pop.  I'd love to knit this one again.  I think it looks great in this bright tonal colorway, but it would obviously be great in the tweedy Shelter for which it was designed.

Rav page

Pasha
Jane Richmond, this designer, has 501 hat patterns that I'd love to knit.  I'd be happy to knit this one again, too.  This one is a good fall hat, since I don't think it will be quite as warm as the Rosebud in Rios. 

I used Valley Yarn Northfield, a blend of merino, alpaca and silk.  I'd love to use this yarn again, as I think it has excellent stitch definition and is nice and drapey.  It's not as squishy as the Rios, but it works great in this lacy hat.  It would be amazing in a refined, tailored sweater.  That's on my list!

Rav page

Super Cupcake
I am super delighted with this super cupcake.  This has been in my queue for over two years.  I actually started it about two years ago with some Berroco Ultra Alpaca, but it just wasn't the right yarn for the job.  This pattern really needs something squishy that will bloom and fill up all those spaces between the rib stitches.  I lamented that I didn't have any Malabrigo worsted, and although I've been on the look out, I haven't come across any in the right colorway.

I participated in the Yarniacs' Podcast Fall KAL, and discovered that I had an ancient UFO that was in Malabrigo Rios in a colorway that was close to the Acai colorway.  So I frogged it, washed and reskeined the wool, and then cast on for the Super Cupcake.  This yarn is just perfect for this pattern, and the colorway is exactly what I wanted.  And it's been sitting in my house all along!  How amazing is that! 

Rav page  I have two more skeins of this, so I'll have to make the cowl sometime soon. 

So there's my hat trick!  Come on, Fall!

FO: Simplicity 1949

I might be the only knitter in history who is a bit ambivalent about baby knits.  (Although I have something on the needles at the moment that may change my mind.)  To me, it seems like a lot of fuss and finishing, and not as much time just knitting. 

Sewing for kids, though, is something I do without grumbling.  Here's the thing: Sewing is all finishing work.  There's no sewing equivalent of knitting's mindless stockinette for me, so all of sewing takes concentration.  Kids garments are smaller, so that equals smaller amounts of concentration.  (If my logic here is not rock solid, sorry.)  Also, I can fit all of a kid's garment on my dining room table when I'm cutting it out, and they take way less fabric.  I also don't worry about fit issues. 

So as we were packing up our old house and getting ready to move, I kept working on this sweet little summer dress for Little A, who is three.  It was the perfect thing to knock out in a few spare minutes during those hectic weeks. 

The pattern is Simplicity 1949, which is apparently OOP now.  Who makes those decisions?  This is a great dress that I'll go to as long as the pattern fits.  I made the largest size, and it fits Little A well with a little room to grow.  She's been wearing it all summer, calling it her umbrella dress.

The dress came together really well, with one notable exception:

Is that not the saddest zipper install you've ever seen?  I'd already been working on the dress for about three weeks, 15 minutes at a time, and I was ready to be done.  I can't remember exactly what happened, but I do know that since, I've watched Sunni's free zipper install class on Craftsy, and I am ready for my next zipper. 

I have a couple more patterns for Little A that I want to get to for the fall.  It's nice to sew her a couple of quick things and rack up some successful FOs!

Use the good china: Thurlow trousers

When I was little, we had dinner on fine china every night.  My mom loved the china they'd received for their wedding, so we used it.  We had thick, heavy white dishes that we used for breakfast and lunch, but dinners were served on graceful, thin plates.  

Mom's china pattern -- Source

We all know the moral of this story : if you save special things for special days because they're too special to use on ordinary days, you'll never use them.  Knitters and sewers know this too, because our stashes are full of special skeins that aren't worthy of any pattern in existence.  We have priceless fabrics we don't want to ruin.

Well, now I have another category I'm waiting to use: patterns.  I keep saying, "I'll wait until I get back to my pre-pregnancy size before I make that."  But I'm tired of all my knit dresses, and even when I try to dress up a bit, I'm still feeling a bit fluffy.  So I decided, whatever.  I'm using the good china now. 

One of these patterns I really wanted to make was the Thurlow trousers by the darling Sewaholic.  I was craving something that would stretch my skills a bit, something with some tailoring and some precision. This pattern was exactly what I needed!  I had so much fun picking the pocket lining, turning welt pockets, figuring out all the mechanics of a zip fly, that I realized it wouldn't even matter if these shorts didn't fit.  I just wanted to make something nice. 

I read and reread Lauren of Lladybird's Thurlow sew-a-long posts from last fall, and I couldn't have done it without her!  While Sewaholic's directions weren't unclear, they did cram a lot of detail into each step and picture.  Seeing full size pictures of the step-by-step double welt pocket gave me confidence to just do it.  Even with the zip fly tutorial, I didn't really know how to do it until I just did it.  I'm not even 100% sure what I did, but it works, and it looks good, too!

Since I was breaking out the fine china for the pattern, I decided to not go crazy with the fabric.  I used some very humdrum cotton broadcloth in my stash and some quilting cotton my mom gave me.  If it got ruined, no big deal.  I also traced the pattern, so I wasn't risking messing that up either.  The only thing to lose was my time!  And even that wouldn't be a loss, since I'd be gaining some methods and fitting skills. 

So do they fit?  I think so!  On my next pair, I might add half an inch to the front inseam to give just a bit more room in the crotch.  Is that the right adjustment to make?  Also, after wearing these for a few hours, they stretch out, but not so much that I can't wear them.  Would using fabric with stretch solve that?  Should I use a smaller size? 

The biggest mistake I made was in attaching the waistband.  The point seemed to be shorter than the fly extension by about half an inch.  I actually took a little tuck out of the fly extension to make it match the length of the waistband, then I sewed the waistband on.  Well, when I finished that seem, I realized I had been worried about the raw edges matching, not the stitching line matching.  That half an inch was supposed to be there because at the 5/8" stitching line, the point actually matched the edge of the fly extension perfectly.  I didn't go back and fix it, but now I know for next time. 

At any rate, they're very comfy.  It's great to have a pair of shorts, and to have a clothing option that isn't too tight and a little dated.  I'm really looking forward to my next pair.  I'd love to make a pair of denim trousers for fall.  I'll be on the lookout for some nice fabric for that. 

So here's to not waiting! 

FO: Girasole shawl

Wonder of wonders, I finished something!  And by finished, I mean blocked and photographed and uploaded the pictures.  Those last three steps are the hard part!

This is Girasole by Jared Flood.  I used the May installment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club, a laceweight yarn in a colorway called Moonmist.  I think the colorway is perfect for this pattern, and I love it.  There are about a dozen other patterns I'd love to knit with this colorway.  The stockinette portions are gorgeous.

I knit this on US size 2 needles, and I love the stitch definition and the density of the lace.  It is, however, only 41" in diameter, a bit small for throwing on and wrapping around.  I'll still figure out a way to wear it, but I may have to have a shawl pin.  I have plans to knit Leaves of Grass this fall, so I'll keep in mind that bigger needle = bigger shawl.

This was a really fun knit, even when there were 640 stitches per round!  I love knitting things with a knit on border.  I love the process of the FO slowly falling off your needles and watching all those scrunched up stitches take shape.  I have yarn and plans to knit this pattern as a blanket.  I'm thinking I'll use size 9 needles, so it should be huge!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom, superstar knitter and 1/2 of my reading public, celebrated a birthday last month.  She and Dad were visiting (and helping pack) last week, so I was able to give her a birthday present.  I love knitting for my mom because I know she'll appreciate it, whereas when I knit for almost everyone else, I'm afraid they'll think I'm giving them the equivalent of a giant 1970s-colored, acrylic, crocheted couch slipcover.  I mean, if you're not a knitter or crocheter, do you know the difference between Becky-homecky and really beautiful crafts-womanship?  I don't know.  Anyway, I know my mom knows the difference, so it's fun to knit for her.

With all the cray-cray around here, I only had time for a hat, but it's a gem of a little hat!  The pattern is Plover from Twist Collective, and I can't believe there aren't more projects on Ravelry.

I found some great yarn, St. Denis, which is on sale in Webs' discontinued section.  I love the color and wish I'd bought enough to make a hat for myself, too.  I love that the yarn is light and lofty.  The cables might have popped slightly better in a more tightly spun yarn, but I still think they look pretty good.

The cables were slightly annoying to knit--crossing one stitch across three, and then knitting the three in seed stitch.  Then there was a weird instruction about doing all the yarn overs backwards and knitting through the back loop of alternating first or second yarn overs.  Even with super pointy needles, knitting through the front loop of the first YO every time was frustrating.  But I love the way it looks.  I was definitely a product knitter on this one, and not as much enthralled with the process. 
 

I am horrible at actually wrapping presents (just getting a present is sometimes all the effort I can muster), so I thought it would be fun to make the wrapping a present in its own right.  A few months ago, I pinned this project to Pinterest.  It's a simple tutorial from So Chick.  I can't believe it, but this little boxy bag only took me about an hour to make!  I'll be making more. 

If only everyone in my life were as easy to knit for as my mom!

FO: Vogue 8379

I love dresses in the summertime, and last year, I made several.  This year, I need nursing-friendly dresses, which are hard to come by.  I thought this would be the perfect time to try out the world renown Vogue 8379.

Per everyone else's comments, I lengthened the bodice by an inch.  This helps my torso look longer, but the narrowest part of my torso is actually a bit higher than my waist, especially right now.  That means the ties tend to ride up just a bit, as they're doing in these photos.  I'll just try to keep them in place, without constantly fidgeting with my clothes.  We'll see.

I also added two inches to the length, which was almost impossible in 3 yards of fabric.  Cutting this one out was a chore.  Since the house is full of moving boxes, I didn't have enough floor space to lay in all out at once, so I had to do it piecemeal on our table.  When it got to the last pattern piece, the skirt front, I couldn't fit it in without taking a tiny chunk out of the hem.  I patched it, and it's folded into the hem so no one will know, but I was sweating it!

This dress is great for nursing, and it feels nice on.  I didn't remove any fullness of the skirt, and I'm glad I didn't.  Right now, I need extra fullness!

I'll make another one of these this summer, if I can bring myself to cut it out.   

Meanwhile, I'm getting tired of knit dresses, both sewing them and wearing them.  I'm craving something more tailored and crisp.  But I think I need to be patient and give myself a few months before I start on that.

FO: McCalls 6073

I'm a teeny bit disappointed in this dress, but it's actually still comfortable to wear and exactly what I need.

I made two of these maxi dresses last summer, and I figured they would be breastfeeding-friendly dresses. 
I've had this fabric sitting around for too long, and it was bugging me.  Somehow, yarn sitting in my stash makes me happy.  Fabric sitting in a stash makes me antsy.  I only had two yards, though, so I was limited in what I could do with it.

That's right: I'm bring the French braid back.

My main disappointment with this dress is that I really need to wear a cami with it.  I'm not sure how this happened, as I used the same pattern pieces and same mods, but it doesn't fit the way my last version did.  I like the way it looks with a cami, and it actually works out very well for nursing, but it still feels like a bit of a misstep.  If I'm going to the trouble of making clothes, I ought to make them to fit.  If I wanted a dress that I had to wear a cami with, there are hundreds I can buy.  But because the bodice is too wide to wear on its own, it makes for a great nursing dress.  Maybe I should just starting telling myself I made it this way intentionally!

Oh well.  No time to worry about it!  I'll appreciate it for what it is--actually a very good summer nursing dress.  Or maybe I should see it as a success, since it started out sort of poorly.  On to the next!

FO: Brynna cardigan

I don't know how, but I finished a sweater.  This sweater pattern, Brynna, was all over Ravelry a couple of months ago, and somehow it jumped the queue.  I think it's the color.  I unconsciously chose a color very similar to the pattern sample. The yarn is Valley Yarns Longmeadow, a cotton/microfiber blend that I got during last month's sale at Webs. 

This sweater wasn't without it's stupid new-mom mess ups.  Everything went fine until I got to the collar.  I knit all rows instead of purling 3 of the rows.  I know exactly why I did that.  Baby O was asleep on my shoulder, and I didn't have my pattern in front of me.  But I thought I knew what to do, so I went ahead, trying to take advantage of the precious baby sleep knitting time.  Sixteen rows later, something didn't look quite like the pattern.  I ripped it out and did it again. 

I improvised a little frog fastener by sewing two toggle buttons together, then linking them with a crocheted chain loop.  I can pop the back button through any of the eyelets, adjusting them in or out or up or down.  This way, as I lose pregnancy weight, the sweater is really adjustable.  

I like this sweater, but I'm really anxious to get back to my pre-pregnancy proportions.  Le sigh. 

Raveled here.

FO: Windsor Cardi

I started this sweater before Baby O was born, and I started the sleeves after we brought him home.  I worked on it so long that I forgot why I started knitting it in the first place.  Once I got the buttons on, though, I started to feel pretty good about it!  It's a great sweater for this cool, wet Spring so many of us seem to be having. 

The yarn is Rowan Amy Butler Belle Organic DK.  It has unfortunately been discontinued, which fortunately meant I could get it at a great price.  It's a blend of 50% wool and 50% cotton, a blend I'd been wanting to try for quite a while.  I knit with cotton pretty sparingly because it just doesn't have any stretch or memory to it.  It makes for hard knitting on the hands, and cotton knit garments are notorious for losing their shape.  Wool has amazing bounce and memory, and it's a dream to knit, but wool is just too warm for summer knits.  A cotton/wool blend yarn takes advantage of each's best qualities.  Also, the wool and the cotton take the dye a little differently, so there's a little shimmer to it.  I really enjoyed knitting with it, and I have some more for another summer cardi. 

The lace pattern on this Windsor Cardi is very stretchy, and lots of Ravelers commented on sleeves being too long.  I added extra length to the sleeves and the body anyway, and I'm glad.  As I get back to my per-pregnancy weight, it should get a little longer! 

I'm not very impressed with my job on the buttons.  While they're all exactly 13 rows apart, they don't look like they're spaced out equally, do they?  I need to study up on button bands.  But perfect is the enemy of done, so I'm living with it.  (We took these pictures while the last two buttons were still on back order.)

Ravelry project page here

Hooray for finished sweaters!

FO: Birthday outfit, New Look 6205 and Miss Marple cardi

Our wonderful daughter turns 3 this weekend, and for her birthday, she asked me to make a purple dress.  She asked me this way back in January (when we made a birthday cake together for her dad, and she started getting excited about birthdays), so I'm not sure she'll remember this request, but I wanted the Mom of the Year award, so I followed through.

I used New Look 6205 again (first version here) in a Joel Dewberry print.  This time, I opted for the little strapped sleeves instead of the cap sleeves.

Again, the bodice is lined, but in a sort of weird way that still requires you to finish the neckline with bias tape.

I made a size 3, and the neckline is a bit big on our 3 year old, but at least it gives her room to grow. 

For the sweater, I used a pattern called Miss Marple.

Isn't that the best name for a little girl's cardigan?  Miss Marple was an Agatha Christie character, right?  I used two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I had in my stash.  They were intended for a hat/cowl set, but I didn't like those patterns in this yarn.  So much the better, because it works perfectly for this pattern. Although I'm not sure anyone needs an alpaca/wool sweater in late April. 

The knitting only took a week or so, but it took me forever to finish the cardigan (see my previous confession regarding button anxiety).  I really wanted to practice finishing the cardigan with grosgrain ribbon on the button band.  This was good practice, and came out marginally successful.  In the first place, the grosgrain ribbon is the wrong color, but this shade purple was impossible to match.

The main problem is that my knitted buttonholes were horizontal.  I really wanted them to be vertical, so I machine stitched vertical buttonholes on the ribbon.  I'm not sure why I got such a bee in my bonnet about making the buttonholes vertical, but it seemed very important at the time.  The button holes are a little tight, and actually, the bottom one won't go through at all.  I may have to fix that. 

I found these great buttons on beadfreaky on etsy.  Again, not exactly the right purple, but I think they still work. Raverly page here.

So Happy Birthday, dear daughter!  We love you.  Enjoy your purple dress and your special day!

FO: Patina socks!

These are the best socks I've ever made.  I started with this:

This is the March installment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club.  This gorgeous perfect-for-Spring colorway is in her Blue Label fingering weight yarn, and it is a perfect sock yarn.  I love it.  Tanis designed a pattern to go with this variegated yarn, something that would help the colors play well together while not totally obscuring the stitch pattern.  That is a very tricky line to walk, but I think Tanis got it just right.  

This yarn is completely amazing, and I am stalking all things Blue Label right now.  I'm dying to order a skein in the pink grapefruit colorway.  I need pink grapefruit socks!

It's (finally finally finallllllly) spring here, so I'm not wearing socks at the moment, but that's okay.  I have these beauties on my dresser, and I'm just admiring them as works of art.  I'll look forward to wearing them when the weather turns cool again.  And maybe by then, I'll have another pair of TFA socks to enjoy, too.

Ravelry page here.  The next installment comes in May!  I can't wait!