What a KAL can do - FO: Parrot

First of all, thank you for all the nice words you've put on my recent FOs! I appreciate every single one of them :)

I've never really been much of knitting podcast listener; my job is not of the sort where you can listen to podcast while working and my commute is quite short, so I've prioritised audio books to get just a bit of literature into my very scientific world. Earlier this year, Karen - Danish blogger of the blog lindse.dk - started a video podcast (in Danish), which I like a lot, though. With that came a Ravelry group, and now she's hosting a shawl knit-a-long running in September and October. I wanted to take part to get some inspiration and not least some good company, and decided that the Parrot shawl from Helga Isager's recent Bird Collection should be my project.

Yes, that is my 20th finished Amimono knit. It's an anniversary!

Initially, I didn't think too well of Parrot when I first saw it in the pattern book - I didn't like the colours of the sample - but then projects started to appear on Ravelry, and my affection for it grew.

It turns out that a KAL was just what I needed to get my knitting speed up. I'm practically on a roll! Within 20 days, I finished knitting this huge shawl! And now I'm almost halfway through the second one (Flukra by Gudrun Johnston). I can hardly believe it myself.

Pattern: Parrot shawl (Rav link) by Helga Isager.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in 3 different colours (Aubretia, Lupine, and Scotch Broom), Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk in 8 different colours (Æggesnaps, Kommen, Syrlig, Lilla, Grå Skifer, Rullesten, Asters, and Honning), and Holst Garn Supersoft in Graphite (the 'main colour', i.e. the cast-on edge and the tassels). 170 g in total (of which 10 g are for the tassels).
Mods: CO 942 sts to get the shawl slightly larger than in the pattern (CO 726 sts), i.e. six feather and fan pattern repeats more on each side. I used knit stitches only in the feather and fan pattern (didn't think all that purling made too much of a difference, so I didn't do it).
Comments: By advice from others I put stitch markers every 36 sts (39 sts at the edges because there are 3 edge stitches) to avoid counting too much while casting on all those stitches and keeping track of them all in the feather and fan pattern. Also, I spit spliced the yarn when changing colour to avoid weaving in a million ends!
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Winter trousers

The last FO of this FO Week - and the first photo of the pair of wee legs that inhabits our flat. Most of the time they look like this...

...but I did manage to get a few photos in focus. I think these trousers will be great for winter. Nice, soft, and warm. A bit on the long side when comparing to width, so I'm doing another pair (for later this winter) in the larger size, but keeping the length of these.

The original pattern sports a simple 2x2 ribbing around the waistline, but as I don't believe that would have kept the trousers on for more than a few minutes at best, I've doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.

Pattern: Bukser i glatstrik (in Danish) by Susie Haumann in All You Knit is Love, size 6-12 months.
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock in colourway Persia, 72 g.
Mods: Knit the legs in the round (apart from the ribbing). Doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Swallow

Although my expression in this photo may make you think otherwise, this is my new favourite cardigan! If you think about it, it couldn't possibly go wrong: it's my favourite colour and it's designed by my favourite designer. Ms Isager just keeps hitting it out of the ball park. In my opinion.

This is - hold on - my 19th finished Amimono knit (and I've cast on for another five, which were never completed). The 20th project - the Parrot shawl - is on the needles.

If I'm to knit it again - and I think I am in the originally intended two-colour version (different colours, though) - I'll skip the last buttonhole and start the neckline decrease earlier. I like my cardigans with a slightly deeper V (like Vanilla, my other favourite), but even so this is my new favourite. I've worn it several times already, and I am wearing it right now, too. 

Pattern: Swallow Cardigan (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, published in the recent Bird Collection, size M.
Yarn: One strand of J. C. Rennie & Co.'s Supersoft 2/11.3 Nm, colourway Flamboyant (as far as I can see, this colourway is discontinued, but since it's my absolute favourite colour, I'd very much like to know if this isn't the case!) and one strand of a thin wool/cashmere mix from Garnudsalg.dk aptly named Raspberry.
Mods: None.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Shellseeker

The next item in my FO parade is a sweater designed by Heidi Kirrmaier called Shellseeker. I immediately liked the idea of the sweater - stripes and a front pocket - and I enjoyed choosing colours slightly out of my comfort zone (greenish yellow) for the stripes. I think the match between the two colours is great, even if I do say so myself.

The sweater is nice, but I do wish I'd listened to that little voice in my head questioning whether it was such a good idea to follow the pattern directions when they told me to put zero stitches aside for the underarm. The little voice was right; the underarm fit could have been better, as you can tell from the photo. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll wear it anyway, even if it'll never be my favourite sweater.

Pattern: Shellseeker by Heidi Kirrmaier, size S.
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk, main colour: Dahlia, contrast colour: one strand of Syrlig and one strand of Kommen. 350 g in total.
Mods: I've done garter stitch edging rather than ribbing and added a garter stitch edging round the neckline as well rather that the rolled 'raw' edging.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: A Million Stripes Loop

If you've been touring Blogland recently, you'll most likely have encountered A Million Stripes Loop. I know I've seen some gorgeous versions myself here and here. I actually started mine back in January (when the pattern was still free?) and originally intended it to be the same size as the others, i.e. long enough to wrap around twice. Incidentally, I later changed my mind and it ended up being a single loop.

That doesn't make the pattern any less clever though; I like how you easily make the stripes jogless and the fact that it's grafted together at the end to make it an actual circle. While knitting, I told people 'a scarf with no ends' when they inquired what I was knitting. As has been said by others, it's brilliant for stash busting.

I like it a lot. It's wide and dense enough to stand up properly like a collar. Pretty and useful. 

Pattern: A Million Stripes Loop (Rav link) by Brenda Burrell.
Yarn: Mostly Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift (yellow and two purples) and some Holst Supersoft (graphite) mixed with a thin wool/cashmere strand.
Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Lemon feat. Robin

Over the weekend, I finally got some photos of the pile of FOs that have been waiting for weeks to be shown off here. There are five of them, so maybe this will turn out to be FO Week with a new one presented each day. Sorry about the blogging being this irregular. 

Let's start with the oldest one among them: Lemon, from Helga Isager's former Amimono collection, which after much debate with myself finally ended up with long sleeves like its cousin Robin from her recent collection. I started it one and a half years ago, but made the first side too wide, and then started debating whether to go with short or 3/4 length sleeves.

This year's Ravellenics (i.e. knitting as much as you possibly can during the Olympics to finish a project) was my opportunity to get this project done: I needed to frog one side (too wide) with a short sleeve and then finish two sides with 3/4 sleeves. And the waist band. Quite a lot of stitches seeing as this is a fine knit on 3.0 mm needles.

I didn't manage to complete it in time. When Betty the cauldron was put out on August 12th, I still had half a sleeve and a waistband left to do, but one week later I was finally done with the knitting. By August 27th, it was washed and blocked and all. And here it is. 

Another great Amimono knit! Not to be worn with the same tops underneath as in these photos, though :)

Pattern: Lemon (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, using the instructions for Robin (Rav link) for the 3/4 length sleeves (I did horizontal stitches on the cuffs, though, as this is the feature of Lemon).
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool, colourway Lilla, from Garnudsalg.dk. A vibrant purple colour - one of my favourites. I recognise that using the original, single-ply yarn gives a lighter fabric and better drape, but there you go.
Needles: 3.0 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.

Finishitis

I've been on a roll lately, finishing up a lot of projects, so look forward to an FO parade coming up soon. Let's celebrate that with a crocheted garland improvised to use up this cotton/linen yarn in girly colour (i.e. not suitable for clothing for the wee one...). More details here.

A lovely day out

During my maternity leave, I've started up a new knitting group with some lovely mums I've come to know during our pregnancies. They are all beginners - 5 in total - and I started out by teaching them how to knit this vest I designed using knit stitches only. We meet approx. once a week (with the babies) and have lunch together - and try to knit a bit, too, when the wee ones allow it.

They all learnt how to knit very quickly and a few weeks ago it was time for new supplies and new projects. I emailed Sanne of Rasmilla.dk to ask if there was room for all of us in her lovely little shop (I've never been there previously, but I've heard so much about it) during regular opening hours, and she then offered to open it just for us on a Tuesday. She pulled out tea, coffee, and lemonade and I brought a cake. We stayed for, uhm, four and a half hours and had a wonderful time! Not your average yarn store :) Of course, nobody left empty-handed. My loot is shown above: 4 skeins of Rasmilla's Yndlingsgarn in my favourite colours at the moment (grey and coral) and a small embroidery kit from Karen Marie Dehn.

FO: Raven

During our summer vacation I finished my third knit from Helga Isager's most recent Amimono collection, the Bird Collection, namely the Raven dress (the first one was my Nightingale vest and the second one was the Lark baby vest). 

It's a lot of boring stockinette, but then that's how you get a fashionable garment IMHO. This is indeed a fashionable knit - it's easy to wear, the fit is great, and it's very much in line with all those knitted dresses I saw in the must recent issue of Costume (Danish fashion magazine).

Despite the amounts of stockinette it was a pleasure to knit (and a lot faster than I thought!) and great for driving on holiday 4-5 hours away from home... :)

Pattern: Raven by Helga Isager/Amimono (Rav link)
Yarn: One strand of an anonymous yarn I bought at the sheep producers' Christmas fair in Copenhagen a few years ago (I think it's of the Gotland variety) in a deep purple colour mixed with one thin strand of Posh Yarn Mimi (alpaca/silk) in the beautiful colourway The Clock Struck Midnight I managed to score 3 skeins of quite a while ago.
Needle size: 4 mm - and 3.5 mm for edges.
Size: M for length, S for width
Mods: I used short rows and kitchener stitch grafting the side seams rather than casting off stitches and sewing it together (or 3-needle bind-off as used for Robin). 
Ravelry project page: Here.

FOs: A heap of baby knits

A few odds and ends became two hats, both two new favourites of mine: an ear flap hat with this cute little tip on top and a pixie hat.

Then a new little citizen arrived a few weeks ago. I haven't met her yet, but I've knit this one for her and put it in the mail. I'm looking forward to meeting her IRL. A few details here.

And, finally, my second finished project from the new Amimono Bird Collection: the little boy's vest Lark. A great model. Fun to knit. I'm making significant progress on Raven, so I think that'll be my next FO from that book and in general.

Sorry I couldn't be bothered to put details on the blog this time. You'll have to follow the links to Ravelry.

FO: Black angora dress

A simple, black angora sweater dress. This was going to be my Euro 2012 knit, but I already finished it after the group play, but there you go. A very quick knit on 7.0 mm needles. Plain stockinette with 1x1 ribbed edges and a purl ridge to separate ribbing and body. Tubular cast-on and bind-off. It does shed some fibres, but that's what you get from knitting angora at a loose gauge. I've mixed it with a merino/viscose/cashmere blend. More details on my Ravelry page.

FO: Cloudy Sunday - and a dress!

I am still knitting and reading a lot of blogs - I've even added some sewing blogs after I've taken up sewing over the past year - but that doesn't mean I'm blogging a lot myself, apparently. This short-sleeved cowl sweater has been finished since April 29th, but only yesterday did I manage to get a modeled photo of it. It's Cloudy Sunday by Hilary Smith Callis and you can read all about it on my Ravelry project page.

I could start showing you what I'm sewing, but most of it are clothes for the little one, and since DH is opposed to having photos of him on the internet before he can give his consent (and that may be a few years!), it's going to be pretty boring, unmodeled shots. That and I seem to be far from good at documenting my crafting at the moment, seeing as it took me almost two months to get this sweater on the blog. I will however show you the dress I made yesterday, since I'm so proud of it :)

It's made from a beautiful, thick blue-green silk (I'm no good at fabric names, but it's the sort that's woven from a blue thread and a green thread making a blue-green slightly stiff fabric) that DH brought home from Dubai on Friday and lined with a thin, stripy cotton voile that I had in my fabric stash (with matching thread, yay!). I made the pattern myself based on a Marimekko dress (the stripes were very helpful in reconstructing the nicely fitting bust dart - something I rarely encounter in dresses) during the second half of the Poland-Czech Republic football match on Saturday night. The little one decided that it was time to wake up at 5 AM Sunday morning, and by noon the dress was done - complete with name tag and all!
And, yes, I'm wearing jeans underneath, and, no, that is not the intention. 

FO: Nightingale Vest

I've finished my first project from the recent and very well received Bird Collection from Amimono: the Nightingale Vest. Regular readers will know that Helga Isager (the woman behind Amimono) is my all-time favourite designer, and I promise that this won't be the last project you'll see from this collection here. The Swallow cardigan, the Lark boys' vest, and the Raven dress are also in the needles.

 

What's not to love? As always with Amimono, it's all in the detail. The designs and their construction are ingenious, and the fuss about flaws and deficiencies in her early work that still seems to cling to her name are completely unwarranted. This goes for the other recent collections as well. 

Pattern: Nightingale Vest (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono.
Yarn: One strand of Isager Alpaca 1, colour 47 (antracit - discontinued) and one strand of Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk in the colourway Nattehimmel.
Needles: 3.5 mm.
Mods: I think I spent one more row of bells to finish the decreases for the armholes than intended, but it doesn't make much of a difference.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Fuse Cardigan

This is my most recent FO, the Fuse cardigan. It seems that working almost monogamously on projects is the way to get things done. Who would have known?

I was originally drawn to this project because of the collar that is created when the fronts are buttoned at the back of the neck. 

Despite getting gauge and knitting the size with the suggested 3-4 inches of positive ease, my cardigan is somewhat smaller and shorter than anticipated having seen the one shown in the pattern. I don't think much more can be gained from an even more rigorous blocking, but let's see. I may try to lengthen it a bit in a second blocking. Anyway, small cardigans seem more useful to me than large, bulky ones.

Pattern: Fuse Cardigan (Rav link) by Veronik Avery published in BrooklynTweed's Wool People vol. 2
Yarn: Two strands of Holst Garn Supersoft, colourway Heather
Needles: 4.5 mm (had to go down from 5.5 mm to 4.5 mm to get gauge. Strange).
Mods: None.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Jade

I finished the back of my Jade vest before giving birth to the little wonder, and he is such a good sleeper that I now - a good two weeks later - have finished the entire vest. Quite appropriate since I need something to keep his lunchbox warm in the Siberian cold. 

Not the best photo ever, but this will have to do. 

Pattern: Jade (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono.

Yarn: The thin yarn is a strand of a thin lambswool and cashmere blend from Garnudsalg.dk. It's mixed with four different colours of highland wool: Holst Supersoft in Graphite, Poppy, and Gladioli and Garnudsalg.dk's Blackhill Højlandsgarn in Blommetomat.

Size: S

Needles: 3.25 mm 

Mods: Deeper front opening.

Ravelry project page: Here.

Btw, have you seen the new Amimono Bird Collection (Rav link)? It's gorgeous. I've already started the Raven dress and the Nightingale vest. I also have plans for the Starling sweater and the Swallow cardigan. And then I'm contemplating whether to make my unfinished Lemon top from the previous collection more like the Robin top. 

A new little citizen

Just wanted to let you know that our little son arrived safely to the world last Friday, January the 20th. We're all doing fine and enjoying each other tremendously. He's a good sleeper, so I even get to knit a few rows every now and then.

A few more new projects

I thought I'd told you about all my new sweater projects last week, but a few more have been added to the list.

I finally had an excuse to get the Jade pattern (Rav link) from Amimono on my hands (buying Isager yarn for a birthday present) and here is my version a bit more than halfway up the back (I knit all this yesterday - thanks, pre-birth maternity leave!).

For some time, I've been wanting to knit a large sweater in this very orangy-red chunky merino from Garnudsalg.dk. I started the sleeve of a rev St st sweater just before Christmas, but it was no real success and I frogged it. Incidentally, I encountered Gudrun Johnston's new sweater pattern Cara (Rav link) on her blog this morning and it was just what I've been looking for - especially since this yarn is a perfect substitute for the (much more expensive) Quince & Co. Osprey. I know I'll be making one modification, though: St st sleeves. At a tension of 14 sts to 4" this is a speedy project - I finished two thirds of the ribbing in one hour watching two episodes of my favourite TV programme just now.

You can follow my progress and notes on all these projects on my Ravelry page.

FO: The Hunter's Sweater

Until now, all I ever knit DH are a few hats and scarves. A couple of years ago he started asking whether I'd knit him a sweater. Of course I'd be happy to (I'm not the superstitious kind), but I set up the requirement that he should decide what kind of design and colour he wanted. He's quite indecisive so that postponed the project for quite some time. Then, having taken up hunting, came the desire for a real hunter's sweater and the colour choice was easy: hunter's green. I searched for yarns in the appropriate colour and we ended up agreeing on Holst Garn Supersoft in the colour Mallard (quite an appropriate name for the purpose, eh?). The next thing was to decide on the design (he chose crew neck and set-in sleeves) and the texture.

The best thing is that the colour is an exact match with the oilskin vest, which was purchased after the yarn!

I made four different swatches and he chose the one with the following stitch pattern:
Row 1 (RS): *k1, p1* to the end of the row.
Row 2 (WS): k all sts
Nice and simple, and it can be knit in the dark, too (perfect for nighttime road trips across the country!) because you can feel with your fingers what stitch you're at. I used tubular cast on and bind off for a great finish (you should try this if you haven't already!).

The sweater was done early December in good time for the last hunt of the year, and I'm told it received many compliments from the fellow hunters!

Pattern: My own, based on DHs measurements (approx. mens' size M). 

Yarn: Holst Garn Supersoft, colourway Mallard, 500g (I almost had to unravel one of the swatches to make it!), yarn held double.

Needles: 4.0 mm (3.25 mm for the ribbing). 

Ravelry project page: Here. 

And you know what? I bought an extra 250 g to make a matching sweater size 1 year! :)

FO: Purple & Yellow Hat

This hat started out with a desire to knit the A Million Stripes Loop (Rav link) in the purple and yellow Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift I've had lying around for some time waiting for the perfect project - combined with some charcoal grey. I'm quite a fan of the purple and yellow combination - especially in combination with black or dark grey, too. I then came across the East Falls Hat on the Kelbourne Woolens blog, and as I've been too cold around my head on many walks lately I realized that maybe I should knit this hat seeing as I hopefully have many a walk with the pram ahead of me. I generally don't knit hats because I don't like the way I look in them (especially at the back of my head which is why you don't get a photo of that!), so I don't have very many to choose from and therefore wanted a new one. I don't have the pattern (I'm not buying the entire magazine for a single, simple hat pattern), so I just used the East Falls Hat as inspiration and made up my own, simple version.

Pattern: My own improvisation, inspired by the East Falls Hat.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, colourways 1300 Aubretia (purple) and 1160 Scotch Broom (yellow). I added a bit of Posh Yarn Mimi to the brim for softness and extra thickness.
Needles: 3.0 mm
Size: Mine, which is approx. 57 cm circumference. 140 sts in the stripes.
Link to my Ravelry project page: Here.

Next project on the needles must be the A Million Stripes Loop then!

Unqueueing

I just cleaned up my Ravelry queue. From 17 pages to 12. I do this from time to time, more or less rigorously, and it always feels great. Ahh. It's also nice to rediscover all those projects I forgot about - and to sometimes think 'what was I thinking?'.

How do you use your Ravelry queue (if you have one)?
Like me, for all projects that you may potentially knit at some point in your life and therefore want to save?
For projects you are actually going to knit within the near future?
Or?

I use tags to be able to search for specific kinds of knits - e.g. if I want to knit a cardigan, I can look at queued cardigan/sweater projects only - and I use the top of the first page to list projects I actually want to knit soon.

FO: Brick Baby Pants

The first FO of the year is a pair of woolen pants size baby:

I've agreed with DH and the little one kicking about inside that boys can easily wear brick-coloured pants. They are more orange and less pink than they appear in the photos. I recall red pants being fashionable for men this past year.

They are soft, warm, pretty, and squishy - and they were a pleasure to knit.

Pattern: Bukser med seler (Rav link) from Blød begyndelse (Myk Start) by May B. Langhelle with several modifications, e.g. stockinette stitch rather than garter stitch, only a single ribbing layer rather than double, and decreased stitch count due to different gauge.
Size: Approx. 3 months.
Yarn: The Yarn Yard Clan, colourway 1218 + Isager Spinni (Wool 1), colourway 28s.
Needles: 4.0 mm and 3.25 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.

Swatching...

Very soon I'll have very little time to knit - but up until then I'll have plenty. This combined with the fact that I have no projects on the needles that I want to finish (those few WIPs still lingering in my knitting basket have been put into hibernation) makes this the perfect time for starting a lot of new, larger projects.

My reasoning is that what really takes time and attention in a project is the planning, the swatching, and setting up the project. Once you have a few inches on the needles it's often plain sailing from there. Thus, if I have several projects at this stage - and at various difficulty level - I'll always be able to find one that I want to knit a few rows on whenever the opportunity is there. I have therefore been doing some serious planning and swatching over the last few days and am now in the starting-up-projects phase.

Firstly, I listed all the sweater-sized projects at the top of my queue in a spreadsheet featuring the intended gauge, required amount of yarn and yarn weight, etc. along with a list of the yarns in my stash I wanted to use up next featuring their yardage and amount. 2011 brought an addition to the stash of (ahem) 6 kg of yarn (almost 9 kg out, but 15(!) kg in), which means that I now have plenty of lovely yarn to knit from and that knitting from stash is really a pleasure while also being a necessity. I am a follower of the Isager school of pairing several yarns to get the intended gauge and texture, so with all the possible combinations, the list of yarns was rather long.

(Somewhere in here was acquisition of two new Kim Hargreaves books - Shadows (my favourite!) and Scarlet - and two patterns from the new Wool People vol. 2 - knitting from stash wasn't meant to be costless, right?).

Then I started matching those two lists paying attention to key points such as drape and texture needed for each project. This was quite an interesting task! After that it was time to start swatching to see if my yarn choices would actually work. In the end I came up with 6 new projects! Here they are:

Craft (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Scarlet in Rowan Kid Silk Haze (colourway 650 Killer Red) and Isager Alpaca 2 (colourway 025). I'm 3 inches on to the body by now.

Baron (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Shadows in Cascade 220 Heather (colourway Summer Sky) and Blackhill Højlandsgarn (colourway Andeæg). After taking this photo I realised I'd swatched the wrong stitch pattern (should be moss st, not seed st). Also approx. 3 inches on to this one.

Fuse (Rav link) by Veronik Avery from Wool People vol. 2 in two strands of Holst Garn Supersoft (colourway Heather). 6 inches of the first sleeve is done.

Lawrence (Rav link) by Melissa La Barre from Wool People vol. 2 in two strands of a single ply wool from Bindestuen in Saltum which I bought at the knitters' festival on Fanø this September (I only bought one skein of yarn, but then it was a 340 g one!) in the most wonderful purplish blue colour (which unfortunately bleeds a bit). I'm casting on as soon as I finish this post.

Hanley (Rav link) from Kim Hargreaves' Shadows in one strand of a Gotland wool I bought at a farmers' market the year before last and have been wanting to try out for a long time - and one strand of Posh Yarn Mimi (colourway The Clock Struck Midnight - wonderful purple colours!). Still only a swatch.

A variation of this sweater from Pickles (I want mine long and raglan) in black angora from Garnudsalg.dk and a viscose/merino/cashmere blend from the same place. Still only a swatch.

I've also recently started Fargo (also from stash) and I want to start Jade, too, once I can decide on the colours, so I think I'm more than covered in terms of WIPs that can be picked up for a few minutes and then put aside - and I'm very pleased with it all!