Category Archives: FO

a finished thing

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in FO, friends, knitting, shawls

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mostly this is a post about knitting. some food, some thoughts, but mostly knitting.  so the knitting first. i finished a thing, finally, and i love it

its the ‘colour affection’ shawl. in ravelry my project name for it is ‘a lofty affection‘ because its made with that gorgeous brooklyn tweed yarn called loft. affection is certainly an emotion i associate with this project. i bought the yarn for it at purl soho in new york city, the day after the night before in baltimore. i had a smile on my face then, and im smiling now thinking about how i felt that day. how hot it was in new york, how tired i was. how i spent many hours and hundreds of dollars in that store, and how i shuffled through crowds and the subway with massive paper bags full of yarn like a crazy knitting lady. i started this almost as soon as i got home, and i finished it earlier this week. thats about 4 months of work. i made it bigger than the pattern, because i had so much yarn, so i did extra stripes in the two colour section, which meant extra short rows.

it has a massive wing span now, but its perfect. it sits beautifully on my shoulders and wraps around so i will be nice and snug when i wear this when i am back in new york city in march.

i washed it in some soak that i also bought at purl, and it came up beautifully soft and drapey. i used to think this kind of wool was scratchy, but not anymore.

its lovely right up against my skin and the smell! smell is such an evocative sense – its so powerful with this project it brings tears to my eyes.

im not sure i will ever be able to wear this without all those reminders, but what a blessing, really! im so grateful for all the memories this shawl conjures up, and to have a project that carries so much meaning.

and i love the yarn so much that i cast on another project in it straight away. as well as all those greys, i also bought two skeins of a lovely blue called almanac, and ive started a ‘daybreak’ shawl with it.

im going to alternate the greys left over from the colour affection in with the blue, and then i will have two shawls from that yarn. i also love the difference between the garter and the stocking stitch, the stocking stitch makes a lovely lightweight fabric that would be perfect for a fair isle cardigan. i see more hours in purl soho in my future, and many many more enjoying the feel and smell of Loft.

the photos of me above were taken in surry hills on saturday right after knitters guild, by missfee. (anyone would think she was, like, an artist or something!). saturday was a really fun day, with suzyhausfrau visiting guild, then lunch, then dinner out with a small group at a swanky restaurant in darlinghurst. i have a soft spot for christine mansfield. not just her amazing food, but her principles and her life journey. she’s quite inspiring. her food was pretty damn awesome too.

then on sunday a whole bunch of us got together again to celebrate the ‘festival of scorpio’ with more knitting and afternoon tea at alison’s house.

because you can never have enough knitting and cake. it is interesting how many of us are scorpios, and whether you believe in that or not, those of us born under that sign are quite similiar in many ways. not always easy people, but passionate, thoughtful, intelligent, creative and loyal to a fault.

like many knitters, really. many of whom are like, totes awesome, even!

k xx

that time of year

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in cardigan, FO, knitting

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i am a fairly consistent cardigan knitter. consistent in that i seem to manage about one a year, and i always seem to finish them right at the end of winter when its turning too warm to wear them.

here then, is the latest effort, the ‘flaming june’ cardigan, from knitty spring/summer 2012.

according to ravelry i started it in march 2012 and i finally finished it, ready to wear, last monday, september 17. thats actually not that bad, for me. think about it this way. its a lot of knitting, in my size, to finish a stocking stitch/garter ridge cardigan, in madeline tosh merino light sportweight, on 3.75mm needles. it took a completely monogomous effort at the end, and a few days to block all the pieces.

then i needed some help from rosered to pin the sleeves so i could sew them into the armholes (backstitch, for stability. it looks a bit messy here but it smooths out when they’re on my arms)

and then mattress stitching the sleeve seams

and then sewing in all the ends.

there is a lot to like about this cardigan, the reverse garter ridge for the collar,

the lovely points on the sleeves and hips

i particularly love the points on the sleeves, they make me feel like wonderwoman.

i’m really happy with this, the lovely soft drape of the fabric, the gorgeous colour (‘ink’) that is very much me.

and even though i’ve lost 9 kilos since i started this cardigan, im still really happy with the fit. of course, by the time i wear it next winter, it might be too big, but i dont think i’ll care.

k xx

photos and accessories courtesy of knitabulous

one hat wonder

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in FO, knitting

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im not usually a big wearer, or knitter, of hats, but considering my sock knitting mojo has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and i can not STAND those small triangle shawls on me, i need other things to make out of single skeins of yarn. its not usually cold enough here for mittens or hats, but i’m doing some travelling this winter to colder climes, so when i made the half-cranford mitts, i decided they would need a matching hat out of the remaining yarn (the gorgeously smooshy ‘sanguine gryphon bugga’). i had first thought of the ishbel beret because i knew it incorporated a similar pattern, but then fee showed me this, and i was away

i cast on on friday night i think and soon had the first repeat done. i knew i was onto a winner, easy to follow pattern, looking great in that awesome yarn.

by saturday night, it was off the needles and a bunched up pile of grey.

sunday morning it had a little bath and then put on a plate in the sun

the yarn had gone quite floppy in the bath, so i couldnt really stretch the pattern right out without making it too big but it fits

and has excellent crown shaping (which ishbel lacks i think) that makes this gorgeous star on the top of your head:

and it matches the mitts perfectly!

i would definitely make this pattern again  but i would go down a needle size, i didnt have a 2.25mm circular for the ribbed brim so i used 2.5 and then 3.25 for the body, its probably a little loose. i did everything exactly as written (including the 152 stitch long tail cast on) and i love it. now i just need to get my  hands on some of the actual quince and co yarn.

i am like, queen of accessories, at the moment. lets just not talk about the cardigan. or a particular piece of deadline knitting.

k xx

FO: celes

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by in FO, friends, knitting, lace

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yes thats a finished object. and a big one too, not just some little mitts or socks. according to ravelry, i started this in june last year. oops. so nearly 12 months on the needles, although it did hibernate for a while. the only way i got it finished in the end was to put everything else aside and just do it. the longest part was the edging. it seemed endless.

but it finally came off the needles on thursday night,

and i was home sick on friday, so it had a quick bath and then i blocked it outside in the gorgeous autumn sun.

i think you’re not meant to do that but i wanted to wear it on the weekend and it wasnt going to dry inside. as far as blocking goes, i knew it had grown in the water, just length wise really, which is what you’d expect from a heavy weight lace project. it opened up beautifully and i just laid it flat and pinned out the points. every single last one of them. it didnt take long to dry and when i picked it up i nearly cried it was so lovely and smooth.

i am pretty confident that there are no mistakes in the pattern, i was pretty ruthless about ripping back something i wasnt happy with, including the graft (which now lies beautifully flat and seamless). i wore it on sunday to the  annual old  bus depot markets pilgrimmage. it wasnt a particularly cold day, and thats a lot of scarf to have about your neck

but its not the least bit scratchy (it is alpaca/silk after all) and it was really easy to wear.

i love this yarn, i have one and a half skeins left to maybe make a hat with. the pattern worked really well in it and the pattern itself was fantastic. jared writes a beautiful pattern, and this had all the right shetland techniques, two halves grafted so that the pattern flowed in the same direction, a tree and diamond motif, and a gorgeous knitted on border, including really easy to follow instructions for getting around the corners.

i would definitely make this again, but in a lace weight yarn this time. i got  lots of nice comments on it, and margarita took these photos at the markets, where i was remarkably restrained,

buying only one of michelle’s excellent project bags, some sock yarn for a friend who’s having a rough time and needs some cheering, and some bc garn baby alpaca from suzyhausfra, who had her first stall at the markets. and boy was she popular! it was great to meet her in person and see the stall doing so well. i also had an excellent time visiting with my favourite canberra family. we played lots of games, ate cake for mama’s birthday and went to see james’ drawing in a local art show. in his skinny jeans and black tshirt he was very much an artist in the making!

its lovely to have little people who are excited to see me and sad to see me go, and then its lovely to come home to a quiet house again. im feeling a little poorly today, sore throat, head ache but i have a big deadline at work this week so i am in the office soldiering on. i would rather be home knitting though. so many more projects to get off the needles! what will it be next?!

k xx

fo1: unst redux

15 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in FO, knitting, socks

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the first finished objects for 2012 are the lovely unst socks by nancy bush

this is my second attempt at these socks. i messed up the pattern AND sizing the first time and then messed up the yarn (spud and chloe fine in ‘shitake’) when trying to rip back. but i wanted to do them so much because i had initially started them as part of a KAL with alison and fiona, and they finished and i didnt. so i picked up this lovely koigu yarn from calico and ivy in perth, and started again.

im glad i did. this is a really easy pattern, with only 4 pattern rows, two of which are knit, and the actual stitch pattern easy to remember. its the ‘columns and arches’ stitch pattern and it comes up a treat in this tightly twisted yarn

(apart from where the knitter makes mistakes, but in socks for me i dont care). i did make one serious miscalculation however. i upped the stitch count by a whole pattern repeat (so from 56 stitches to 70). 56 stitches is way too small for me, especially on 2.25mm needles. i forgot however, that koigu skeins are a bit shorter than usual. so i ran out of yarn right near the end of the toe

i decided to just finish the toes with what i could reclaim from the aforementioned spud and chloe. it was a pretty good match, and i dont think you’d know if i didnt tell you. i will wear these a lot, they fit well and the colour goes with everything.

i would defintely recommend this pattern to start with if you’ve not knitted nancy bush socks before.

im enjoying knitting socks at the moment, and started another KAL with fee and al yesterday at lunch after knitters guild meeting. this time its wasabi peas from interweave knits

but i am not a green yarn lover, i dont own or wear a single green thing and dont intend to start anytime soon. so, in line with my ‘knit what you want with the yarn you want’ motto for 2012, i’ve started mine in madelinetosh sock in ‘tart’, which is my favourite colour of hers and will match my stripe study shawl. im calling them ‘tarty peas’

we’ve made a few mods to this pattern so far, including upping the stitch count, changing the cuff and modifying the actual stitch pattern! i’ll let you know how they work out, and hopefully there will be no mishaps with pattern or yarns this time.

k xx

toe fetish, with interruptions

19 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in FO, knitting, socks

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these last two weeks before christmas at work have been crazy. im having most of january off and suddenly everyone wants me to finish everything. of course, its not happening. i have two more meetings today and then i go into serious wind down mode. my currently throbbing right wrist will thank me, if nothing else, although i suspect thats got more to do with knitting than work! and i think its from knitting furiously for at least a week on tiny 2.25mm needles.

first i had to fix that toe issue on those stripey socks. so i got everything set up for my sock surgery on thursday, turned the offending item inside out and set about trying to unpick a judy’s magic cast on.

not as easy as it sounds, and neither is unravelling a toe when there are decreases to be dealt with.

it got a bit messy at one point.

scissors were required.

right after i took this photo i decided to go cool off with some laps in the pool.

it hasnt even been hot here yet, just a bit humid and muggy, with so much rain and cloud, but the sun came out and i decided to just jump in there. i was pretty happy, my first swim in 8 months and i did a kilometre no problem, including 400 metres non stop (usually i break it up every 100m with a kickboard lap). it felt great to be in the water again. im not a fan of summer but i’d be happy for it be warmer OUTSIDE the pool than in (the water is warmed slightly so it was 27 in and 22 out!).

of course, swimming makes me ravenously hungry, so i made a little afternoon tea before getting back into the sock surgery,

which, once past the decreases,

proceeded without further problems!

i finished them up last night, and they are almost a perfect match.

the lengths are now even, but there is a slight difference in the actual shaping of each toe. i dont think the recipient will mind.

i had another toe issue this weekend as well, which involved the Unst socks ive been working on in that yummy koigu stuff. i forgot that koigu skeins are a bit sparse, and i went down a needle size PLUS added stitches, and forgot to adjust the length of the leg accordingly. i thought i might get away with it. people i had lunch with on sunday thought i might get away with it.

but i didnt. i ran out on the train on the way home.

so close! so i decided to risk it and join in some closely matching spud and chloe fine (the yarn i originally started these socks in!) i only had about 8 rounds to go, and im pretty happy with how it turned out.

you can really only tell if you look really closely, and who’s going to be looking really closely at the toes of my handknitted socks, especially when they’re inside my shoes?

so even though i should start the second unst straight away, i think i need a bit of a break from the tiny needles. there’s some madeline tosh prairie and a jared flood pattern calling my name.

kxx

FO: adrift cardigan

15 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by in cardigan, FO, knitting

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before i started the previous two new projects on the weekend, i had actually finished something, and a rather ‘epic’ something, in the form of the ‘adrift’ cardigan. all the photos of me have a stupid look on my face (me and photo-taking not good at the best of times, but in a busy cafe this morning? eep!). so you get headless shots, but you know, its about the cardigan, not me, right? so here it is

pattern: adrift by carol feller. a really well written pattern, with a lovely short row collar, and easy top down construction. yarn: elsbeth lavold silky wool in ‘bristol red’. sticks: 4.5mm knitpicks options. mods: well, the sizing, mostly. the actual pattern is written for malabrigo lace. i will burn in hell before i knit another garment out of that stuff. its called lace for a reason, and even then it felts if you look at it. i chose the elsbeth lavold because of my experience with it for summer solstice. very light and pretty durable. but of course, its an 8ply (although i really think it knits more like a 5). so i looked at the numbers and my brain exploded. thankfully i’d done a swatch, and the brains trust was able to work out that from my gauge, i could just mostly knit the 36inch size. this seemed to work out, for the most part.

i do think its probably a bit big. the body seemed to take forever, and the back of it seemed too short, so i kept going, not realising that that was also going to make the front of it way longer. d’oh. so sometimes i feel like im wearing a blanket, albeit a very lightweight one.

i like the style, generally, but the curled up stocking stitch edges make it very casual. it really only goes with jeans. i tried it with a flowy skirt and tights the other day. not a good look. and quite possibly, the whole flowy foldy thing will be way out of fashion next year. all that aside, i would knit this again, but i’d make it shorter and probably do the 3/4 sleeve option.

for now, its a good seasonal-transitional piece that i’ll probably wear a lot before summer kicks in with a vengeance.

k x

another FO: greenfield cardigan

07 Thursday Jul 2011

Posted by in cardigan, FO, knitting

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obviously im on a bit of a roll with the whole ‘finished object’ thing. it feels particularly good to have this one finished, firstly because its an actual garment and i didnt think i would get one done this year, the rate i was going, and also because winter has hit with a vengeance here, 100kmh winds roaring up off the snow and icy pacific, and i really needed something warm and woolly to wear. and boy, did i get what i asked for. i am wearing it for the second day in a row, and managed to get some pictures this morning:

so here it is, the greenfield cardigan from new england knits , in the berocco ultra alpaca light i originally picked up at looped yarn works in washington DC. they had a whole wall of it, and i fell in love. it was a beautiful yarn to knit with, and its come up really well in the garter stitch after blocking. it did grow where i wanted it to, length wise, so im glad i stopped knitting when i did, and it does get a bit of fluff pill on it, it is alpaca after all, but its really easy to just lift off as i see it. however, i made quite a few modifications to this pattern. i didnt do the neck cast on as directed, i could see from the picture it was already very scoopy, and i might be wide in some places but across the shoulders isnt one of them. so i followed someone elese modifications on ravelry to cast on less stitches and then start the raglan earlier. its worked out quite well, and sits pretty much where i like it.

i didnt do the leaf pattern on the front panels, i actually had an idea to make little pockets and sew them on, and i might still do that because i have two whole skeins of yarn left. i also added slightly different shaping in the body. the pattern says to do some decreases then increases, but i skipped the decreases entirely. i increased under the arms every 8 rows the entire length, and then about half way down i added some back increases to add some swing (every 4th row i think). i didnt want it to be a tent, but i did want flare. i think it sits pretty nicely.

(god i need a hair cut and that is so not my actual colour!). also, i added button bands. i started knitting the buttonholes in to the bodice as directed, but i could see i would need a bit of extra width across the bust, and some stability as well to stop the garter stitch from stretching. so i picked up and knitted 3 stitches in every 4 along both front edges and added three button holes. when i sewed on the buttons tho, the third one sat too low so i cut it off and am sticking with two.

a note about the buttons. they are a present from knitabulous who picked them up in liberty in london when she was there earlier this year. they make a lovely contrast against the black, and go with my winter colour scheme of red, black and grey. they make me smile everytime i look at them!

im really happy with how this has turned out. its not particularly fancy, just a basic black that will go with everything. i wasnt sure about the garter stitch, a bit wary of the possible bulk, but the yarn is not quite a DK so it sits pretty flat, especially after blocking. and the garter stitch with the slightly flared sleeves and the top buttoning actually gives it a kind of classic 50s look. i might not knit this pattern again but i would definitely use the yarn. its lovely and soft and not at all scratchy or heavy, and most importantly, really really warm! im just a little bit happy that its freezing cold and i can wear it lots!

kxx

FO: conwy socks

29 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in FO, knitting, socks

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it feels like forever since ive had something finished to show, and something relatively substantial. hats dont count really, do they? and of course, its pouring rain and the light is bad and i cant get a decent photo, but let’s plow ahead anyway. so here they are:

the conwy socks! this is the only shot from outside that’s usable -  i wanted natural light to show the depth and complexity of the colour in the yarn but you’ll just have to take my word for it. its wollmeise twin in mitternacht that my wonderful friend george bought back from pfaffenhoffen for me, and its divine. the photo below is close to the true colour:

these socks represent a couple of firsts for me. they’re the first socks ive made in wollmeise, and they’re the first cabling ive done, ever. its only a little two stitch cable and rosered showed me how to do it just slipping the stitches, and after the first few repeats i had it worked out.

its a lovely simple pattern, like all things nancy bush, and i followed the instructions as written for the most part. a couple of modifications: i knit the legs on 2.5mm needles because they seemed pretty tight and were destined for man legs, then swtiched to 2.25mm for heel and foot. also, i used 3 needles not 4, so i modified the toe decreases slightly and kitchener stitched them closed.

the yarn was beautiful to work with. at first i found it a bit splitty but that was mostly from my cabling inexperience, once i got better at that it was lovely and smooth and the resulting fabric is so amazingly thick and woolly and luxurious.

of course, i am giving these away (these are the first knitted thing trent will have from me in about a year!) but i see some red wollmeise socks in my very near future.

here’s hoping it stays cold a while  yet and he gets some wear out of them.

k xx

FO: hat – a study in stripes

02 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in FO, knitting

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its getting cold out there. this weekend i am willingly driving myself and my dog to a place where i know it gets REALLY cold. i was going to camp on site, but reason has prevailed, and ive booked into a pub about 20kms away from the farm we’re working on. gotta love those old country pubs. especially good to know they have all the good beers on tap (sarcasm). seriously though, im really looking forward to it. apart from the 6 hour drive. its hard to knit when youre driving. also, did i mention it would be cold? so, i made a hat.

its the corbin hat, and the pattern uses sock yarn, but i used the filatura di crosa sport wool i got from clegs in melbourne recently. the colours are similiar to the ‘tart’ and ‘cloak’ from the stripe study shawl, buts it not really meant to match. i just love those colours at the moment. i did do the hem with the last bit of tart

and its nice and smooth against my forehead. i have, however, made it slightly too long

i wanted to get the aesthetics of the stripes right, and to stop a repeat earlier would have made it too short. it should sit down on my head a bit snugger than this,

but apparently an air pocket at the top is good for keeping the heat in. i knit the pattern pretty much as is, except for the extra repeat, and i used 3.25mm needles for the slightly chunkier yarn. it really is very warm, and i’ll be glad i have it for this weekend, but thats enough with the accessories now. i started the first sleeve of the greenfield cardigan last night

and was reminded again of how much i hate sleeveland, made worse by the use of magic loop and doing garter stitch in the round. ugh. but it will be worth it, this yarn and pattern are turning out to be a perfect match.

so im off early tomorrow morning, and not back till late sunday night. im pretty confident 3G phone coverage will be less than adequate but hopefully i can squeeze out a tweet or two!

have a great weekend, whatever you’re doing.

k xx

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