Look At This

See? I told you this would be a fast knit.... I have front, back, first sleeve, neckline done, and second sleeve started, likely to be finished tonight! This is a dream instant reward sweater! I even like the minimally amusing stitch pattern - k3, p3... purl wrong side. Very easy, but not as mindless as stocking stitch. I should be finished, photographed and pattern published by Saturday, so stay tuned...
p.s... Doesn't my knitting look even better against oak hardwood floors.... :)

And Here It Is!

The Blog Book came in the mail today, only 2 weeks from when I thought of doing it, to in my hands. I love this website and service! It is 140 pages of ALL of my blog from 2008. All I added was the cover, intro page and last page to sum up my thoughts for the year. How cool and easy is that?
To make your own Blog Book, you go to Blurb.com and download the book making software, then follow the prompts to "slurp" your blog into it. You then can re-arrange the photos and text to a pleasing design and add a cover and introduction. It took me less than an hour to tidy up the pages (I did not edit anything from the existing blog) and then I uploaded the done book and they print and mail it out! There are SO many ideas and applications for this book making method, I don't think I will scrapbook in the traditional sense anymore! Honestly, these books cost less than I have been spending on scrapbooking, with the albums and pages and photo printing, and the doo-dads. Check it out.

Two on the Go

The sweet cable rib has a front and a back, and I am about to start the sleeves. The neckline is a big dipping, squarish shape and I think it will have a substancial pick up and rib neckpiece, maybe 2 inches wide?

The other is a new project of Colinette Chrysalis from the Ram Wools sale, and is knit on 8 mm needles, so REALLY fast. It would be a 2 day sweater, if I only worked on one thing at a time (not my style).

Silk, Wool, Hand dyed

When digging through the stash to post some eBay clearances, I found this...

Beautiful, Silken Twist, from Yarns Plus. It is 227 grams of 30% silk, 50% wool and 20%nylon in natural. I picked this huge skein up at the Knitters Fair in Kitchener in September, and had planned to dye it and knit something, I don't know, fabulous.

So here is the dying baths, denim blue, royal blue and teal.

And here is the skein, still drying.

Not sure yet what it will become, but I will swatch it to see how it feels and drapes and make a choice from there. I think there is enough yardage (874) to make any style of garment I feel like. I think it is a fine sport weight (3.5mm needles?) and will try that first.

Stash Clearance

A few smal lots of fabulous yarns are posted on eBay. Just trying to clear out some obviously not needed yarns (all ends of projects you have seen here in the last year) and I hope someone will find a good home for them!

Here is some Rowan Cashsoft, hand dyed. All Auctions HERE. Stop by and take a look!

Patchwork Stash Scarf

My knitting friends found a yarn that was made up of different yarns, tied together in about 4 foot lengths, and each yarn more special than the last. It had mohair and glitter and silky and metalic, changing on it's own as you knit... We were all in awe as the lacey shawl it became grew... So it inspired me to dig into my stash, and spend an hour selecting leftover bits of fancy, finer yarns and winding them into a ball of patchwork stash. I also found a few small remnants of larger exotic ribbon yarns and brought those out too, but did not wind to the ball.

Starting with 10 mm needles, I cast on 25 stitches with the stash ball, and knit 2 rows. (the whole scarf is knits and yarn overs - simple). The next row is K1, [yarn over twice and knit the next stitch] repeat bracket until end of row. Next row knit all the knit stitches and drop all the yarn over stitches.... pull gently after this row to stretch out the long stitches you have just made. I knit 2 more regular rows, then another yarn over row.... basically one fancy row to 3 knit rows. To make it even more fun, I tied in a ribbon yarn at every third fancy row, and used that larger yarn for the yarn over row, and the knit row back, tied off again and continued with the stash yarn (which was not cut, but just carried on the side for the two rows). The beauty of this is that you can do what you want, when you want and if by chance (like I did) you mess up and do an extra knit row.... who cares, it is so busy and lacey you can't track the design!

So dig down deep into your stash and see what you can create. Definately one-of-a-kind yarn!

Attention all Bloggers! Slurp your Blog!

I have talked about it before, but I am so excited about a new feature of the site BLURB.... You can now get a printed book that contains all the words and photos from your blog! At first I thought it would be all about the copy and paste and edit and drag photos times 100 pages (labour intensive) but when I clicked on the "make a blog book" prompt, it asked me where my blog was (blogger) and what my account name was... and it asked if it was OK to "slurp" the whole blog into the book???!!! Slurp! what a great word. And that's just what it did. It took about 3 minutes and ALL of my blog was laid out on the pages of the book, with all the photos neatly lined up along the edges..... (mouth hanging open right now).

So I spent about one hour, respacing the photos and prettying up the details, and choosing a cover design and writing the intro page.... and my 140 page book that contains the whole year (2008) of entries is ready to upload and print.... (mouth still open).

I will order a copy of the book and show you in a couple of weeks.... looks so cool.

Meanwhile, the small book of paintings arrived and it's sweet...

some of the pages:

Also a photo of the front of the new pullover in Baby Color.... cabled ribbing on the lower half and fat ribbing on the upper... should have a hugging shape even after blocking.

Ebay Clearance! Check it out...

I have spent the afternoon sorting the stash and bunching some small precious yarns together for eBay auctions. STASHBUSTING!

You can check it out here, and click sellers other auctions to see them all!

Also I have added one kit for the Tequila Sunrise Top, using the same yarn, but a deeper colour.

If there's something you need, great, but thanks for looking (and making room for more yarn purchases!) Win - win!

Tequila Sunrise - free pattern!

A vision of a sunny little cotton top, with a swooping drape across the front has floated around the back of my mind for a while, but when we decided to visit the beaches of Mexico, I kicked it up front and came up with this. The fit is snug and sexy, flattering for all, achieved with ribbing on the bottom half for a slim fit there, and some interesting decreases and increases through the top front. A clever rotation of the shoulder seam creates fullness at the bust and the generous drape. The result is the perfect top for a summer evening (or a party at a beach bar after sunset). The color I chose reminds me of the popular cocktail, thus the name.

SIZES: XS [S, M, L, 1X,] (shown in size M)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS Chest: 31 [34, 37, 40, 43] inchesLength: 21 [22, 22, 23, 23] inches

MATERIALS
Filati Sailor [100% cotton; 135m per 50g skein]; color406 (yellow,orange, pink); 4 [5, 5, 6,6] skeins [or any cotton sport weight yarn that knits to gauge]
US #4/3.5mm straight needles


GAUGE
22 sts/34 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES
See the diagram to find the A and B markings that will guide you to line up the shoulder seams. The 45 degree rotation of the front shoulder seams, creates the drape of the top half on the front.

PATTERN
Front:
Cast on 76[84,92,100,108].
Work in ribbing: Row 1: k2, p2 across. Row 2: k2,p2 across.
Work this ribbing for 10.5[11,11,11.5,11.5] inches. End with wrong side facing you.
Next row: knit.
Next row: knit.
Next row: knit, increasing 6 stitches evenly spaced across the row. 82[90,98,106,114] stitches on needle.

Right side facing, begin top half. Change to stocking stitch, (knit right side, purl wrong side). Work for 4 inches in stocking stitch.
Armhole shaping: Cast off 3 stitches at start of next two rows. Knit 2 together at start and end of every right side row 6[7,8,8,9] times. Work even until length from start of armhole shaping measures 5.5[6,6,6.5,6.5] inches. Increase one stitch at start and end of every right side row 4[4,5,5,5] times. Cast on 3 stitches at the start of next 4 rows.
Work even until 2.5 inches from last cast on row. Work in garter stitch (knit every row) for 6 rows, then cast off all stitches.

Back:
Work the same as back until armhole shaping.
Armhole shaping: Cast off 3 stitches at start of next two rows. Knit 2 together at start and end of right side rows 6[7,8,8,9] times. Work straight from here until length from armhole is 7[7,7.5,8,8] inches. With right side facing, K16, purl across to last 16 stitches, K16. Next row; Purl across all stitches. Repeat these last two rows twice more. Cast off all stitches. (A section of garter stitch creates a natural back of neck edging-no need for further neck finishing!).



FINISHING
Sew shoulder seams together, matching up A and B points from diagram.
Pick up 76[80,84,88,92] stitches around the armhole and work in k2,p2 ribbing for 4 rows, then cast off loosely. Sew side seams.

Finished Project!

Here is the final photos of the Cabled Cardigan, that gave me such angst. I like the end result, and the nickel buttons are crisp and classic.