Echo of Bells

Pattern: Echo of Bells by Anne Hanson as December’s Fall in Full Colour Club project

Made for: still unknown

Size: Tall

Yarn: Great Northern Yarns 70% Mink 30% cashmere yarn in Rhododendron

Needles: 3.5mm circulars

Started: Dec 24/11       Finished: Dec 31/11

This was the last project of 2011 that I officially finished as it was blocked on New Year’s eve.  This is a keyhole scarf which makes use of a small amount of luxury yarn. There is also a set of wristwarmer that go with the pattern and enough yarn leftover to make them.

This yarn is absolutely delicious but is a bit deceiving about it’s true nature. It doesn’t look all that special when you start working with it except that is unbelievably soft. But after a nice blocking it gets this beautiful halo of fuzz that is just sumptuous!

Frankie was kind enough to be the model for this project and was very good about not licking the yarn.

Sunnyside Cardigan & Cabled Toque

(In case you are wondering todays finished object post describes two finished objects)

Pattern: cabled Sunnyside Cardigarn by Tanis Lavallée and a variation on Basic Toque by Ann Budd

Made for: Mandi and Brian’s newly arrived baby boy

Size: 3-6 months for the sweater and 0-6 months for the toque

Yarn: Tanis Fibre Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight in Lemongrass

Needles: 3mm circulars and dpns

Gauge: 30sts/4inches

Started: July 30/11(sweater)           November 6/11(toque)

Finished: August 13/11(sweater)     November 8/11(toque)

Modifications: For the sweater I continued cable down side “seams” as it just seemed natural to do so. For the toque I added in a cable and fudged the number of stitches cast on.

This was made and gifted before the baby and therefore before the sex of the baby was known. This was gifted in November and yes I know I am only now posting about it. What can I say I am very behind (and on more finished objects than just this) but I can report that  Xavier is very cute! I would also like to state that I love the lady bug buttons!

Butternut Scarf

Pattern: Butternut Scarf

Made for: Gurmeet

Size: 13×46.5″ blocked

Yarn: Indigodragonfly Merino Silk Lace in Pink Freud colourway

Needles: 3.0mm circulars

Gauge: larger than recommended

Started: Aug 13/11        Finished: Sept 11/11

Modifications: Knit at a slightly larger gauge due to the right sized needles being in use.

This was made for a very good friend who also happens to be my coworker. She is an awesome friend for a knitter to have as she speaks enough “knitter-ese” to understand when I get technical and is always admiring and commenting on the projects she sees me work on during our coffee break. And to make her an even better friend to a knitter she has never once asked for anything for herself.

So I decided to make her a birthday present this year. It all started when I spotted the skein of Indigodragonfly’s Merino Silk Lace in Pink Freud and thought the colour would look fabulous on Gurmeet. When I came back a few weeks later and it was still there I snatched it up and decided to make her one of Anne Hanson’s Little Nothings.

Her birthday was this past Tuesday. Sadly I don’t have any pictures of her modelling it so the ones of me will have to do but best of all was her reaction: “I finally have a Lizzie!”. 

Les Abeilles

Pattern: Les Abeilles by Anne Hanson

Made for: me

Size: petite

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Silver Label Mulberry Silk in the Stormy colourway

Needles: 3.0mm circulars

Started: June 9/2011    Finished: July 17/2011

I made this to be a nice light summer shawl that won’t be too hot if I wear it outside but warm enough it will take the chill out of any AC room I walk into. I think the silk helps accomplish this very well, not to mention the drape is phenomenal. The pattern is beautiful but still very simple so it is nice and casual, which is the way I dress the majority of the time but I think you can dress it up too. A perfect wardrobe addition!

I have been wearing it quite a bit since I finished it but it has been taking me a long time to get pictures taken so I could post them on the blog. I guess I have been spending most of my time taking pictures of Frankie.

Today was the perfect day to take pictures modelling it as I just got my hair cut therefore it was styled very nicely.

Ishbel

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague

Made for: My mom (in exchange for some delicious beef)

Size: small

Yarn: 130 yards of brown handspun containing 1/3 each of quivet, merino & cashmere and a little over half a skein of Knitwise cashmere in cream.

Needles: 3.5mm circulars

Gauge: Umm I was bad and didn’t check.

Started:   May 22/11       Finished: May 27/11 (knitting);  June 20/11 (blocking)

Modifications: used two yarns to create stripes (and help the handspun go further).

This project was started earlier (we are talking April) in a completely different incarnation (a personal variation on the Haruni pattern) but ended up being ripped out twice before I finally decided to work on the Ishbel pattern and it flew off the needles with no frogging necessary. In my opinion that is always a good thing.

Sean thinks this is one of the fanciest and more difficult things I have knit. I don’t necessarily agree but if he thinks two colours looks fancy he is definitely welcome to that opinion (it is all a matter of taste isn’t it?). The pattern was very well written and fairly easy so not difficult in my opinion. However he is the one who had to listen to my not so happy comments about weaving in all those loose ends so he may be onto something with the difficult part. The finishing aspect is for me the least enjoyable part of any project especially weaving in ends, assembling by sewing or inserting zippers.

The weaving in of the ends is part of the reason it took so long to get around to blocking the item; the other part was the postal strike. What is the point of blocking it when you are going to have to wait forever to be able to send it to the recipient so you can post the pictures? I ended up doing it anyway since I had a few other projects that needed to be blocked anyway and I do love the magical transition that happens when you block lace.

Oh and my mother thinks it’s beautiful!

Super Bunny!

Pattern: Sophie by Ysolda Teague with a cape designed by me

Made for: Megan’s baby boy

Yarn: not quite one skein of Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 ply in a bright red colour. Cape made with Lily Chin Chelsea.

Needles: 5 2.5mm dpns

Gauge: didn’t bother

A nice stuffed toy that was quite enjoyable to make for my work-roomate’s little boy (the pattern was very well written). She can knit a little bit and is quite the crocheter so she asked me to knit a toy since it was something I could make a with a lot more ease than she could and was something she really wanted. I included a cape because in all honesty it makes the bunny even more awesome. The cape is my own little pattern and is just an i-cord with picked up stitches at the centre and the cape was knitted in moss stitch increasing as I went until it was time to cast-off.

Henley with a Twist

Pattern: Henley with a Twist by Anne Hanson

Made for: Me!

Size: 33″ (about 3″ negative ease)

Yarn: Sundara’s Sock Yarn in Earth Studies #98

Needles: 3.0mm circulars for the lace pattern and 2.5mm for the garter stitch pattern

Gauge: Spot on

Started: Nov 18/11       Finished: June 26/11 (knitting was complete in early March)

Modifications: I believe I made the sleeves a tad longer than instructed since I have long arms.

I tried something new for this sweater and knit both sleeves at the same time which is now my default for sleeves as it guarantees both are as alike as they can possibly be. It also means that when I cast them off it is done and I don’t have to make a second one.

This is another of Anne Hanson from Knitspot‘s patterns and I love it. It turned out perfectly except for the little bit of pooling over my right breast but that has to do with the yarn and not the pattern which I think is fantastically written as per usual. This is most certainly going to be another go to sweater like my Sprossling which gets a lot of wear. I do love the colour and softness of this yarn by Sundara. I just wish it was easier to get my hands on her  yarn!

As per usual, it was the finishing that took so long to have a completed sweater. As much as I hate sewing seams I do like the structure they give, especially for garments I know I am going to wear a lot. We also needed to go and pick up an iron so I could iron the seams open and the steam block the neck and button bands. Luckily Canadian Tire had a $100 quality iron with excellent steam capabilities for $40. We also picked up a small table top ironing board at the same time that came in handy this morning.

I am very lucky that today is actually cool enough that I can wear it comfortably before it likely has to be put away before the fall.

Hitchhiker scarf

Pattern: Hitchhiker by Martina Behm

Made for: Not sure. Will most likely end up belonging to Aunt Lynn.

Yarn: 5 skeins of Iris’s mystery content handspun (~500 yards)

Needles: 5mm needles

Gauge: good question!

Size: Umm… larger than the original pattern due to needle size and it has a total of 35 “teeth”

Started: May 29/11                    Finished: June 20/11

Modifications: Used a heavier weight yarn and larger needles than recommended.

I have had this yarn from my second cousin for quite some time but until now have yet to find the pattern that would show it off to its best advantage. This was of course until one afternoon at the Purl when I saw one knitter working on this pattern (only with Handmaiden Casbah) and became enthralled with the brilliant simplicity of it. It was designed to show off colour variations in hand-dyed sock yarn and in this case it shows off this handspun handsomely!

As much I enjoyed knitting this scarf I don’t think it is particularly me, but it would most likely suit my aunt. So if she likes it, the scarf will be going home with her and I will make myself one in colourway/yarn that suits me better.

Pea Vines

Pattern: Pea Vines by Anne Hanson

Made for: Me!

Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPM) in a brown/green colourway (P315)

Needles: 3.omm needles to knit, however used 3.5mm needles for the cast-on to help ensure a lose cast-on edge.

Gauge: my unblocked stockinette stitch matched the one recommended by the pattern.

Size: mini (pattern has two more sizes, petite and tall)

Started: June 3/11                    Finished: June 10/11

I learned a new way to SSK for this shawl (to clarify I learned of this technique and applied it to this pattern). Instead of the slip the first stitch as if to knit and slip the second stitch as if to knit then knit the two stitches together through the back loop, you slip the first stitch as if to knit and slip the second stitch as if to purl then knit the two together through the back loop. It makes a much cleaner SSK that looks more like the smooth K2tog decrease, only it’s mirror.

I really enjoyed knitting this little shawlette and will most likely knit a larger size of it in the future. It is challenging enough because you do have to pay attention on both the right and wrong sides (although the yarn overs and decreases are only done on the right side) but it is not too difficult that is gets frustrating. It knits up awfully quick with the fingering weight yarn (I’ve only made lace with laceweight so this was a nice treat).

The one thing I would change about it however is the way the nupps are done. I tried the way recommended in the pattern and really did not enjoy that method (involved doing it all in one stitch on the right side) and I found it was really hard to get a smooth, pretty nupp. There is a good chance I will make this shawl again in the future but I think I will change the nupps to the way Nancy Bush does them as I find I prefer her way (the rapid increase of stitches is done on the right side and then they are all decreased on the wrong side) and find the nupps come out looking so much more charming (see Nanny’s Triangular Summer Shawl or the Madli scarf).

I love the colour of the Koigu. Although it is very variegated it manages to remain subtle while adding amazing depth to the yarn and the pattern. Since it is a fingering weight yarn it feels a little more sturdy than my lace weight shawls and might be more suitable to everyday wear.

There should be more finished objects making appearance soon on the blog, including the last secret project so stay tuned!

Shale Baby Blanket

Pattern: Shale Baby Blanket by Jared Flood

Made for: Karyn’s baby girl (due date is late this month I think)

Yarn: 4 skeins of  Tanis Fibre Arts Green Label Aran Weight in Sand

Needles: 4.5mm circulars

Gauge: close to indicated but didn’t really care; it is a blanket after all.

Started: January 3/2011                 Finished: Feburary 21/2011

Modifications: don’t think I did quite as many repeats as the pattern recommended before running out of yarn

This was an easy to knit up project for a baby even if it is a little bigger project than I would normally knit for one of my expecting coworkers. I really wanted to knit this pattern and my coworker wanted a baby blanket as it would still have uses as a couch blanket once the baby (or babies have out-grown it). It was pure luck that what I wanted to knit was what she fell in love with and fits her tastes perfectly.

She is planning on having more than one child so I thought a neutral colour would be a smart choice and the Sand colourway by Tanis is nice and neutral but still has some interest from the shifting neutral colours and a hint here and there of pink and blue.

It grew considerable upon blocking and this yarn was very easy to handle wet and easily blocked out the way I wanted it to. The feather and fan pattern is one of my favourite simple lace patterns.
Part of me doesn’t want to give this blanket up but the other part of me is happy it is going somewhere where it will be used.