Hazeline

Pattern: Hazeline by Anne Hanson for the September installation of the Fall in Full Colour Club.

Made for: me

Size: small

Yarn: Shalimar Yarns Breathless in “Hazel Leaf” (colourway exclusive to club)

Needles: 2.75 and 3mm circulars

Gauge: pretty close to recommended if not spot on

Started: Sept 17/11        Finished: Sept 28/11 (knitting complete on Sept 23)

The yarn chosen for this month’s club instalment was absolutely lovely. I very much enjoyed handling it as it felt so soft in my hands as I worked with it. The colourway was a bit unusual but still very pretty in the skein and even prettier when knit up. The yellow does pool a bit but somehow, at least with this pattern, it is not unattractive at all.

I have been wearing it quite a bit since the yarn is absolutely lovely and soft so it’s welcome close to the neck and it is quite a sturdy shawl so I don’t really have to worry about it snagging too much. Sadly though there never seems to be a camera around when I am wearing it so an effort had to be made for to get photos. I took it along on a hike and made sure to shoot some pictures!

I am really enjoying the club so far and now have two great accessories. Can’t wait to see what this month will bring!

A Thanksgiving Hike

Last Monday was Thanksgiving and Sean and I decided to go on a nice little hike at Hilton Falls just outside of Milton, Ontario. The leaves where just starting to change colour and the day was unseasonably warm and lovely.  Frankie joined us and had a blast jumping into the reservoir for a short swim.

The October Package

Yesterday my yarn for the Fall in Full Colour club arrived. I found the package sitting on the couch of my office when I got home from dinner with a good friend of mine.

It is Briar Rose Fibers’ Fourth of July which is 100% merino wool in aran weight in an unnamed exclusive colourway which is a rich orange with hints of muddy green/blue, yellow and burnt orange throughout (kind of like the leaves changing colour). I don’t know the name of the colourway as it is not written on the yarn label, perhaps I will find out when the pattern is released.

This is a much thicker yarn than we have seen so far in the club and I can’t wait to see what this is supposed to become!

Longshadows

Pattern: Longshadows by Anne Hanson for the August installation of the Fall in Full Colour Club.

Made for: me

Size: scarf

Yarn: Spirit Trail Fiberworks Nona in “Autumn Aurora” (colourway exclusive to club)

Needles: 3.0mm circulars

Gauge: 6 stitches per inch in stockinette

Started: August 15/11       Finished: September 11/11

Modifications: added two extra repeats per side for a total of 4.

This isn’t a yarn or colourway that would normally jump out to me at a yarn store but after working with it I think it is absolutely lovely and knits up even softer than in skein form. This is only the second scarf that I have grafted as it is meant to be a symmetrical scarf although the pattern does mention you can go asymmetrical if you don’t mind the leaves going up one side and trailing down the other.

I ended up with only 5g of yarn left once I grafted the two halves together but love the extra length the four extra repeats give me. It has definitely been a go to scarf this season.

a hoodie

So last year this lovely pattern by Fiona Ellis came out in the fall issue of Twist Collective called Gwendolyn. It is a cabled sweater with a hood that can be either a pullover or a cardigan. I fell in love with it immediately but held off on making it because I had so many other things on the go. I still have many things on the go but a nice aran-weight sweater fills an empty niche I have in my wardrobe now that we have Frankie. And since I am going to be spending many hours a week standing outside watching her play, I need a sweater that will keep me warm and Gwendolyn fills that need beautifully while also looking stunning.

I decided on using Tanis’s green label. The main colour I chose is the Shadow colourway which is nice light grey with flecks of ice blue (the yarn cake on the left) and the accent colour is the Atlantic colourway which too me looks like a richer version of blue in the first colourway (yarn cake on the right).

I am making the cardigan version and have already finished the two sleeves and am close to finishing the right front. I ended up blocking the right front on the needles a couple repeats in as I was worried it wouldn’t be big enough and wanted to know before going any further. Turns out it blocks out to the measurements perfectly.

In other news…… Sean has discovered that the Pampered Chef apple slicer does a great job slicing apples into wedges (he made me come and take a picture) and then of course when reminded that it was very sharp he proceeded to cut himself on it.

And Frankie’s training is coming along as she just mastered the down command today and is getting a lot of attention every time she does it.

And last but not least Piper has mastered Frankie’s name and is constantly calling her. Frankie has her tuned out very well.

The September Package

So if you remember at the beginning of August I was telling you about the Knitspot Fall in Full Colour (FiFC) club I had joined and about the lovely skein I received for the August project. Well I did find out what that lovely skein of Nona was going to be and finished before the next package arrived (yes I am going to make you wait for the finished object post to find out what it turned into).

Well there have been a few changes to the club as we now receive the pattern on the 17th instead of the 15th and I have come to the realization that the pattern is not released until around 1600hrs so it puts a huge wrench in one’s plans if they were planning to spend the whole day of September 17th working on the new project because it was a Saturday. That day was a little more stressful than I had planned it to be due the flaw in my plan.

The September package arrived on the 14th. It looked like this: It is Shalimar Yarns’ Breathless which is 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere and 10% silk in the exclusive colourway “hazel leaf.” And yes when the pattern did finally get released at around 1600hrs and I cast on immediately as I had wound the skein in preparation for my day of knitting shortly after I received it. I wore this project publicly for the first time yesterday and yes I am going to keep you in suspense of what it turned into until the finished object post, just like for August’s project.

One of the deals I made with myself when I signed up for the club was to finish each project before the next one arrived otherwise I might have lots of lovely yarn and lots of lovely patterns and no finished objects. So far I am doing very well. We will see if it continues when the pressure for the holiday knitting really begin to dig in.