~ Kranium Kowl: doubleknit variation ~

Mar 012013
 

When it comes to colorwork knitting, there are some motifs that are better suited to doubleknitting rather than normal stranded knitting (even though normal stranding works just fine, too).  For example, if a colorwork motif has blocks of color that are more than, say, 5 stitches long, then it can be a little tricky to manage that long float and still maintain an even tension with stranded knitting.  Furthermore, if those longer blocks of color extend upwards for several rows, the knitter should make sure that they do not twist/weave their floats in the same vertical stitch as the previous row (otherwise, the knitting stitches will not look right).  Knitters who are experienced in stranded knitting most likely are able to manage these longer floats just fine, but personally, I prefer stranded knitting in smaller blocks of color.

The skulls motif that I use for my Skull Mittens and the Kranium Kowl has been one of my favorite colorwork motifs because it’s fun to knit and it seems to make good gifts.  However, it has blocks of color that are as much as 9 stitches long for 3 rows and, anymore, I just find it annoying to bother with long floats like that.

Enter, doubleknitting, a perfect knitting technique for colorwork that has long floats.  Previously, I have expounded upon the merits of doubleknitting ad nauseum… Not only do you not have to worry about managing floats, but your knitting is double-sided, and very very stretchy!

Basically, with doubleknitting, you cast on twice the number of stitches that you would with a single sided stockinette fabric and, essentially, work 1×1 ribbing (but bringing both yarns forward and back as you knit and purl);  the stitches that you knit become the “right side” facing fabric, and the stitches that you purl become the “wrong side” facing fabric and also presents itself as stockinette.

One of the components of doubleknitting that has eluded me until now is the cast on.   In my doubleknitting reference library, there are a vast array of cast on suggestions, but none of them have rocked my world.  Recently, I was fiddling with some different tubular cast ons, and discovered that using Judy’s Magic Cast On is possibly the most perfect cast on technique for doubleknitting.

Check out my cast on edge!  Doesn’t it match nicely with my Kitchener Stitch grafting?!?

For a few years, I’ve been fielding requests from knitters for a doubleknit variation of the Kranium Kowl and I am excited to finally be able to make that happen.  For this doubleknit variation, I used Knit Picks City Tweed DK in the Romance and Snowshoe colorway.  This is the small size and I used only one ball of each color (the sizes medium and large will take two balls).   In order to get gauge, I used a size US 4 needle (and for the cast on and the grafting, I needed a second needle).

The pattern for the Kranium Kowl now includes both the stranded version and the doubleknit version and I am keeping the pattern at $4.00.

Kranium Kowl

  $4.00

~ in which I note the passing of time and re-prioritize my crafting energies ~

Dec 112012
 

Well, it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone and shift my holiday crafting into high gear.  I recently noted that the present date is considerably closer to my holiday crafting deadline than I had realized, and so I opted to drop everything I was working on and re-prioritize my crafting energies.  Unfortunately, I won’t have much to show you for a while.

But, I did finish my shawl over the weekend.

And after I finished blocking her, decided to take advantage of the light dusting of snow we received, and ventured out on a photoshoot early in the morning on Sunday.

This yarn is the Kathee Nelson Art Yarn Ritz Lace that I procured last year at Sock Summit in Portland and it is amazing.  The name “Ritz Lace” totally applies, as it feels LUXURIOUS.  For this shawl (the medium size), I used approximately 67% of the skein, and I am wondering if I have enough left to make a small shawlette.

Anyway, my adventures into soup-making continue.  Still using my new soup cookbook, I whipped up a batch of the split pea soup (which contained, among other things, green split peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and bacon).  And yes, this photo is fairly true to color – - I think that all of the carrots gave the soup that yellow tinge.  And except for the peas, I already had everything in my kitchen stores to make this soup, which always makes me feel satisfied and not-wasteful.  Besides adding more bacon than the recipe called for, my only other modification was to add several hefty dashes of cayenne pepper, because I loves me a soup with KICK!

Incidentally, that bread (which clearly shows that my toaster machine needs some TLC because it toasts very unevenly) is a locally made cheddar-scallion sourdough that is AMAZING.  It is by far my favorite bread on this earth, and I am one lucky bread-consuming human, because there is a little market a few blocks from my home that sells THIS BREAD as well as my favorite variety of ice cream in all of the universe.  Needless to say, I take a trip to this market several times a week…

In other news, I continue to do my yoga, in addition to my normal exercise routine, and it is going well.  In the past ten days, I’ve only skipped doing yoga once and that was ONLY because I had gone a bit bananas during a hip opening sequence and pulled my groin.  It wasn’t a painful groin pulling, but the muscles and tendons felt all floppy and without strength, which led me to doubt my ability to hold a pose safely, so I took the next day off.

Anyway, I’ve also decided to retain my membership to the online yoga studio.  The variety of classes, styles, and instructors seems to keep me interested.  I have a tendency to fall back to my comfort zones and do the same thing over and over, and so I like that this variety is pushing my comfort level and encouraging me to “mix it up” (which is always beneficial for exercise activities).   Further, I have never considered myself to have good balance or coordination, and have been surprising myself with my capacity to move into and hold some of the more difficult (for me) yoga poses.

 

~ Knitting FO: DOTS socks ~

Nov 172012
 

Swaddling my feet in cozy stranded socks is an amazing way to achieve a state of comfortable bliss during the cold weather.

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, Pool, Celestial, and Raspberry Heather colorways
Needles: US 2 and US 3
Pattern: Improvised
Ravelry Project Page 

I flew by the seat of my pants with these socks, casting on my stitches on a whim and with no plan.  I love the finished socks, though I haven’t quite mastered the stranded short row heel (what with my jumbled color wraps).  On one sock, I did my wraps with both yarn colors, and on the other sock I wrapped with just the darker blue yarn, and both heels look equally jumbled.  Perhaps I should consult an actual pattern, ne?

There is also a lesson in color dominance with these socks.  Can you see it?  On the sock to the left, on the toe, there are two little stripes where the dark blue yarn is more dominant than the light blue yarn – - For the toe, I had intended to hold the light blue yarn as dominant, but I guess with those two lines I must have gotten my yarn mixed up.  Oops!

The chart for the main colorwork was about as simple as it gets.  For relaxing colorwork knitting, I tend to prefer simple repeating patterns that I can easily memorize and provide for mindless knitting.

Basically, I cast on 20 sts (10 on each of two needles) using Judy’s Magic Cast On on size US 2 needles, and increased every other round until there were 72 sts around, and then worked this stranded pattern.  After the short row heel, I switched to US 3 needles for the leg, and then back to a US 2 for the 1×1 ribbing.  I also gave these socks a good blocking to even out the tension in my stranding.  Eh voila!  A quick and easy pair of super cozy stranded socks!

 

 

~ Camas Lily ~

Oct 102012
 

It has now been almost a month since the release of my High Desert eBook and I have yet to write individual posts about each of the patterns, as per my promise.   I keep meaning to, but I’ve been having a mental block about it; I don’t know why.  I used to get this mental block in graduate school and would find myself sitting in front of the computer for hours until I would finally just force myself to start writing something.  That first sentence was always the hardest.

Okay, here goes…

One of the interesting things about the release of the book has been seeing which patterns are the most popular, and that the general popularity of the patterns roughly corresponds to my favorite as well.  For example, the three most popular of the patterns are Tumbleweed, Oleander, and Camas Lily, which are also my favorite.  Don’t misunderstand me, I love the other patterns but these three have really stolen my heart.  And my absolute, number one, favorite of my favorite patterns is Camas Lily.

I had had an idea for a cardigan with an undulating lace pattern sketched out in my notebook for a long time and when this book opportunity came along, this was the first pattern that I set out to make a reality.  And the pattern itself flowed together seamlessly, as though the idea in my head was so thoroughly imagined that I already knew how each element would come together.  Most designs don’t come together so easily, so Camas Lily was really amazing in that way.

I read a lot of interviews with pattern designers and find it particularly fascinating to read about what inspires designers to design what they design.  While I, too, am inspired by architecture, fine art, geology, runway fashion, and the infinite wonder of the universe, at the end of the day, what inspires me to actually design and knit something is more basic to what I want to wear and what I find enjoyable to knit.   While I have discovered a love for sewing garments, I still don’t tend to enjoy sewing my knits; as a result, I tend to design pieces that require very minimal seaming.  I also tend to find knitting miles and miles of stockinette in the round rather boring, and prefer to knit and design pieces that I find interesting to work on.  (Although, a good friend directed me to the obvious advantage to knitting miles and miles of stockinette in the round: subtitled films.)  Stitch patterns with cables or lace are particularly appealing to me because I love watching how the increases and decreases, cables to the front or to the back, come together to make patterns that are both visually interesting and exciting to knit.  The stitch pattern for Camas Lily is a twin leaf motif and it was both stimulating and satisfying watching the leaves grow and grow, as healthy leaves should.

Speaking of leaves, I don’t want to downplay nature as a source of inspiration and how wilderness is significantly more important to me than runway fashion in my design process.  When anyone learns that I went to university in Montreal and Sweden, without fail, their next question is why I live in Idaho (when compared to Montreal and Stockholm, it could be that Idaho doesn’t elicit the same visions of glamor and excitement).  Well, for one, I have a good number of friends here, so that’s important to me.  But wilderness and the ability to escape into nature is a HUGE reason why I choose to live in Idaho.  Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about moving elsewhere (as amazing as Idaho is, it is not perfect), but I feel very attached to the high desert landscapes of southwest Idaho.  Hence, why I decided to make this book my homage to the high desert.

Camas Lily brings together some of my favorite elements in a handknit sweater.  The fingering weight yarn yields a sweater that I find to be the ideal thickness/thinness both for flattering the figure and for temperature regulation (the sweater is neither too hot nor too cold, but is juuust riiight).  Cropped sleeves further enhance the temperature control factor, making it more ideal as a transitional sweater because your arms can breathe if the environment is on the warmer side of cool and facilitates the wearing of super cozy fingerless mittens that extend up the arm if the environment is on the cooler side of cool.  And the advantages of a cardigan, in my mind, speak for themselves: ease of putting on and pulling off, wear open if warm, wear closed if cold, not to mention the universal truth that cardigans are just awesome.  Also, I prefer to wear all cardigans (and the Camas Lily in particular) open like the model in the above photo is wearing it.

One of the reasons I procrastinated writing about these patterns is that I wasn’t sure what I should write that wasn’t already written in the pattern description;  I didn’t want to just copy and paste what I had already written.

However, it occurred to me that a good topic for this blog would be to show you photos of the sweater and different people wearing it!  A discussion a while back in the Designers forum on Ravelry was “being one’s own model” and that is very germane to those of us who self-publish and can be problematic because designers might not be trained models (and we might slouch in front of the camera, or smile awkwardly and crop our face from the photo because we’re self-conscious about how we look).  Having professional photographers and professional models is wonderful for producing higher quality photographs, obviously, and I was elated (and relieved) when Knit Picks said that they would take care of the modeling and photography!  So, here I am, showing you photos of different people wearing the sweater…  from the professional model, to the camera-shy.

These final photos are of my friend Amy (who was the friend with the brilliant insight about stockinette in the round allowing a person to actually watch subtitled films), who was able to test knit a larger size of the sweater.  As you can see, the sweater looks nice on three completely different bodies.  These photos of Amy I just snapped very quickly using my telephone camera, so I apologize if they are a bit awkward.

If you would like to make a Camas Lily of your very own (or for a very special person, who must be extraordinarily special because you knit for them), here is the link to Knit Picks where you can buy a copy of just this pattern for $4.99 or the entire e-book (which includes 6 patterns) for $9.99.  Suggested yarn for this sweater is Knit Picks Capretta (which is what all of the sweaters pictured here are knit in) and that would be an excellent yarn if you are looking for something that is so soft that you would want to spend all of eternity swaddled in it.   If you don’t need to be swaddled in yarnie goodness for all eternity and are interested in knitting this sweater using a more durable yarn, I would personally recommend the Stroll Tonal line, which is what Amy and I both made our Star Gazing Cardigans from, which has a higher nylon content and fantastic colors.

Finally, I promise to continue to give myself a hard time about blogging about the rest of the patterns.  I might not actually post about them in a timely fashion, but rest assured that I will be making myself feel badly until I do post about them.

(Amy decided not to add the buttons, but here she is modeling how it would look if she had.  …OMB, doesn’t she have great hair!)

 

 

~ Multicraftual WIPs v. 23 / Fall Wardrobe v. 2 ~

Oct 092012
 

It should come as no surprise that, in taking a week off from the Day Job, I chose to spend a good amount of my time working on crafting projects.

As for knitting, rather than spread my time between several different projects, as per my norm, I knitted (knat?) exclusively on my top-down tights.  I was able to knit through the top portion, the crotch gusset, divided the legs, and have made very good progress on one leg (with some progress on the second leg for trying-on purposes).  Despite my excitement for this project, I am reminded that miles and miles of stockinette in the round is kind of boring.  Anyway, as you can see, the fit is good.  I’m still trying to decide if these should be footed tights or footless.  I’m leaning towards footed, but that would entail learning how to turn a heel from the top-down, which I have never done.  And even though I’ve been knitting for over ten years, new things can still be intimidating.  What do you think, footed or footless, and if footed, do you have a recommendation for a beginner top-down sock pattern to teach me how to turn a heel???

I’m still planning on making two more pairs of tights, one with some kind of texture pattern (most likely fine cables – -  ”fine” as opposed to bulky cables, that is) and a stranded pair.

As for sewing, I have been sewing FAR MORE than knitting, which is good considering my need for stylish cold weather clothing items.

On my Anise jacket, I worked through two muslins to get the fit right (with adjustments for a small bust and narrow shoulders) and for the final jacket, I have cut out all of the pieces (no small feat, that one), interfaced, underlined, undercollared, collared, facing’ed, and now I have something that kind of looks like it’s going to be a very nice jacket.   The next step is to hand stitch the neckline and I feel a little intimidated about that, though the Anise Companion includes hand stitching tutorials.

 

(My two Anise muslins.  To the left, obviously needing some adjustments, and the right with adjustments for narrow shoulders and small bust).

(And my in-progress jacket – interfaced, underlined, undercollared, collared, and facing’ed.  This is the fanciest thing I have ever before sewn.)

I have also started working on a skirt in that wool fabric I procured from a thrift store for just a few bucks the other week ago.   I should be finished with this project soon, so I will tell you ALL ABOUT it then, but as you can see, I have added a slippery lining (for the purpose of not having the scratchy wool fabric cling to the tights I plan to wear with this) and also a piping detail (a piping that I proudly made all by myself!).  I am also excited because I think this skirt will work well with the top-down tights that I am knitting.

Finally, I have made some more progress on my quilt.  Last week, I realized that I had not made nearly enough blocks for my quilt – - apparently, you’re supposed to calculate how many blocks you will actually need, rather than just randomly making a bunch of blocks and hoping it’s enough.  I had made 54 blocks and subsequently calculated that I needed an additional 63 blocks… which is 126 more triangles to cut out, sew together, and press open before I can even get to what I hope is the fun part of laying out the blocks.  As an aside, I have realized that quilting is not my passion.  For knitting and garment sewing, both the process and product are enjoyable and motivating to me, but with quilting, I find the process rather tedious and just really want the finished product.  I envy anyone who enjoys the making of a quilt, because a beautiful quilt is really something to behold.

Somewhat crafting related, Josh and I went on a thrift and antique store shopping bonanza and I came away with a few crafting items – - two packages of horsehair braid for $1 (which I am going to use on my new skirt to give it some flair), two yards of green wool fabric for $1, and some patterns for $0.50 each.  I also got this Fiestaware butter holder at an antique store that I really love.

Also during our ‘staycation’, Josh and I were able to accomplish much in the way of home and garden work and I am hoping to write all about that in the next day or so.   You may also look forward to seeing my finished grey wool skirt very soon.

~ Knitting FO: Happy Sunshine Socks ~

Sep 262012
 

I finished my socks over the weekend and have been enjoying wearing them for several days.  I find them to be one of my more comfortable pairs of handknit socks… and also happy-making; don’t you love the sunshiney colors!?@

Pattern: Broken Seed Stitch Socks
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug and Knit Picks Felici (Rainbow colorway)
Needles: US 2
Ravelry Project Page

I worked these socks toe-up, with “Princess Soles” (wherein the sole is worked in reverse stockinette stitch), and a  basic gusset heel, with a slightly looser gauge than I normally use for socks.  The general thinking with socks is that for longevity and durability, work socks at a tight gauge; but I wanted socks that are squishy and sufficiently easy to pull off that I could do so with my big toe, so I used a relatively loose gauge.

I really love this yarn combination.  The Colinette is from my massive stash of grellow yarn that I purchased many years ago during a bout of yarn insanity that I’ve been gradually trying to knit down.  I bought the Knit Picks Felici several months ago to get my KP order over $50 to qualify for free shipping (I’m sure you can all relate to that).  While I absolutely adore the rainbow colorway, I had been concerned that one skein would not be sufficient for a pair of socks, particularly since I prefer socks with a longish leg length.  So I figured that combining the Felici with another yarn would be a great way to get a pair of socks to my preferred length while also making use of this wonderful colorway.

However, I am unsure if combining the Rainbow Felici with the Grellow Colinette was the best color combo.  This colorway of the Felici has a good chunk of yellow and light green that blend in with the grellow Colinette and I think the glory of the Rainbow colorway gets lost in all of the similar yellows and greens.  In hindsight, contrasting the Rainbow with a white or a black might have been a better move. Oh well, I suppose that I will just have to buy some more Rainbow Felici to get my desired rainbow socks; these are my sunshiney, mood-boosting socks.

~ Knitting FO: Dreaming Shawl III ~

Aug 282012
 

I finally had a chance to photograph my shawl this weekend.  Josh and I went up to a place called Tablerock, which is a plateau that overlooks Boise, and got some great shots as the sun was going down.  The light was perfect for photographing this shawl, and I feel that I really lucked out with the air clearing up enough to get some semblance of blue sky (there are a lot of HUGE wildfires all over the West and the smoke has been settling in the Valley, which has been very unpleasant).

This is the size large in the  Dreaming Shawl, knit in Knit Picks Shadow Tonal (Goldrush colorway), and I love the finished shawl.  The yarn is a lace weight merino wool and was lovely to work with.  The colorway mixes oranges and yellows very nicely.  I tend to not like variegated yarns with complex stitch patterns, but as you can see, the variegation does not distract from the stitch pattern at all.  I think they compliment each other well.

I used almost 2 skeins of the yarn for the large size; one skein would have been sufficient for the small size.  This is a bottom up shawl, where the knitter casts on many many stitches and g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y decreases.  I have read that some knitters prefer top-down shawls, where one casts on just a few stitches and then gradually increases, presumably because one sees faster results at the beginning of the project.  But I prefer bottom up shawls because the rows get faster (rather than slower) and near the end of the shawl, each row is super speedy to knit – - it becomes very exciting for me.

I don’t know if I have much else to say about this shawl.  Love the shawl, love the yarn.

Pattern: Dreaming Shawl
Ravelry Project Page
Yarn: Knit Picks Shadow Tonal (Goldrush colorway), 885 yards
Needles: US 7

Here are some more photos for your enjoyment…

~ Multicraftual WIPs v. 17 ~

Aug 132012
 

Finally, lots of crafting progress to show for myself!

This past week, I finished knitting my shawl, which still needs to be blocked.  I was able to use up almost all of the yarn, which is great.  The air quality in Boise is BAD right now because there are a lot of big wildfires burning in the Northwest and the wildfire smoke is settling in the Boise valley.  As a result, I stayed inside more than usual this past weekend and had a knitting marathon.  I’m still listening to A Dance with Dragons as my knitting audiobook entertainment and my current tv knitting is Agatha Christie’s Poirot, whose art deco styling has been providing me with a lot of design inspiration.

I’m hoping to get this shawl nicely photographed soon, but the air is so smokey that I am concerned it would make for some crummy  photos.  Check out this image that I slurped from the Boise City Air Quality Webcam.  One should normally be able to see more of the city and the foothills (and, well, blue sky), but the smoke is so thick and gross.  My throat and lungs are definitely suffering and I’m very upset about the air quality.

After finishing my shawl, I pulled out my Scandinavian and added several rounds.  This is a great project for working on in between other projects, because it is very easy to put down for extended periods of time and pick back up without having to think about what you’re supposed to be doing with it.

I am getting ready to cast on for another shawl.  This is going to be another bottom-up shawl and the yarn is Kathee Nelson Art Yarn Ritz Lace that I procured at Sock Summit last year.  Winding 1300 yards of laceweight took a while but I am looking forward to knitting with this alpaca, silk, cashmere blend.

In sewing news, I have successfully made some curtains for the kitchen!!!  After being so discouraged with my overly complicated curtains, I finally simmered down to the point where I resigned myself to sewing simple kitchen curtains and I am very pleased with the result.  I am still considering these a work-in-progress because I want to adorn all of the kitchen windows with my handsewn curtains (literally handsewn, as my sewing machine doesn’t handle thick fabric very well).  These are cafe-style curtains that are essentially hemmed rectangles with tabs for hanging and simple pleats.  My plan for the rest of this window is to make upper curtains in a plain yellow fabric (the yellow of the tabs) to offset the floral print.

In other home WIPs, Josh and I had a very productive weekend.  He finished his bike rack storage system in the bike barn, which turned out perfectly functional and allows the bikes to effectively line up nice and organized.  He spent a lot of time being very meticulous about the placement of each bike so that they are easy to get in and out of the rack.

And I was able to build four raised veggie beds with the help of my friend Amy and some final help from Josh.  I still need to procure a mass quantity of cardboard so that I can install them into their designated space and begin filling them with compost.  But the building is done and my body is recovering from the intense physical labor.  I will write a full ‘FO’ post about my beds once I can get them installed.

Finally, a friend recently gave me some feedback about my blog that she likes it when I post photos of food.  As I love to please, below is some of my recent culinary artistry.

Last night for dinner, I made Josh and I some salmon with veggies.  Garden harvest season is here and, even though I don’t have a veggie garden, I know sufficient veggie gardeners that I find myself in the wonderful place of having plenty of fresh garden veggies.  My friends Elizabeth and Edvin have a lust-worthy garden and gave to me lots of swiss chard and banana peppers.  For last night’s dinner, I wrapped the salmon up in some aluminum foil along with real butter, lots of garlic, lemon slices, swiss chard, banana peppers, and cherry tomatoes.  The resulting meal was delicious and didn’t require any additional salting or seasoning (even Josh loved it, and he is not the most enthusiastic about fresh veggies without salt or seasoning).  We paired this meal with a chilled white wine (of the affordable variety) and an action film, because we are cultured and enjoy only the finest things in life.

And here is a scramble I made for myself the other day.  Three eggs scrambled together with butter, swiss chard, banana peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and sharp cheddar cheese.  It tasted significantly yummier than the photo would lead you to believe.

Anyway, I thought it was funny when my friend said that she loves my food photos because I’ve never thought that I take good food photos.  Particularly since I am usually in hurry to eat my food, I do not tend to spend any time setting up the shot, making sure the lighting is good, or even worrying about taking an in-focus photo (as evidenced by the above photos).

Stay tuned for FO posts about my shawl and raised garden beds!!!

~ Knitting WIPs 2012 v. 1 ~

Jan 042012
 

So far, 2012 has seen quite a bit of knitting from my needles.

My test knit sweater is gaining length.  I have finished the sleeve caps and am into the body.  Sorry about the blurry photo, I tried taking this shot twenty times and this was the best I got.  I wanted to show you how awesome the sleeve caps look.  As I was knitting them, I wasn’t sure how well they would fit, but I was over the moon happy once I tried the sweater on.   Whilst knitting this, I finished reading the Hunger Games on my Kindle and have started reading Nefertiti (which is a mystery story set in ancient Egypt).  I’m hoping to read a lot more this year (my reading list from 2011 was embarrasingly short) so you may expect to see a good amount of stockinette from me.

I also have started the sleeves for this test.  The pattern has the sleeves worked straight, the same width from the wrist to the upper arms, and I decided to modify them to be fitted at the wrists and then increase gradually towards the upper arms.  This is just a personal preference on my part.  Anyway, not much to see here yet.

My Grace sock has a few more rounds.  I love how this sock is turning out.

Yesterday, I tried casting on for a new project, but didn’t get very far.  I want to learn how to crochet and I discovered that the Mollie’s Flowers pattern is a photo tutorial for making crochet flowers.  I’ve gotten so far as step one “Make a loop” but haven’t figured out what to do in step two, when the crochet hook comes into play.  I think the knitting side of my brain is hindering my ability to understand what I’m supposed to do with crochet.  Hopefully by next week, with the help of some You Tube crochet tutorials, I will have a crochet flower to show you.

Most of my knitting time has been spent on this doubleknitting design thing.  I am midly bummed out because, for whatever reason, doubleknitting doesn’t seem to be a very popular technique, yet I absolutely love it.  Poor, doubleknitting.

I went to my LYS the other day to pick up those blue buttons above for my doubleknit design thing and, while I was there, grabbed a skein of sock yarn.  This is Lorna’s Laces Solemate (55% superwash merino, 15% nylon, 30% outlast) in Chocolate.  I specifically have a sock in mind for this and will likely cast on in the next couple of days.

In other news, I was beside myself with excitement earlier this week when my Zest Cardigan hit the number one spot on Ravelry’s Hot Right Now Patterns.  Talk about fifteen minutes of fame!  I took a screen shot for posterity.

~ Zest Cardigan ~

Jan 022012
 

I am jumping for joy that my Zest Cardigan is finalized and available.  This cardigan makes me so happy and the pattern makes me so proud.  I devoted more of myself to this pattern than to any other to date, and am just thrilled with the finished product.

Zest is a fitted cardigan worked seamlessly from the bottom-up with an allover lace pattern. A panel of cables along the back at the waistline highlights the natural shaping of the waist and adds an interesting detail. The yoke uses raglan-style decreases, which are fully charted to not disrupt the lace pattern. Pattern includes both charts and written instructions, and the cardigan is sized from 30”/76 cm to 60”/152 cm bust with sizing increments every 2”/5 cm to help achieve the best fit possible.

Ravelry Pattern Link
 $6.00

Pattern difficulty: Intermediate. Pattern uses increases, decreases, following a lace pattern over a large number of stitches, cables, and knitting in the round.

The cardigan pictured in orange was worked in size 30” / 76 cm with 1” / 2.5 cm of negative ease and is intended to be worn as an open cardigan. The one pictured in yellow was worked in size 32” / 81 cm with about 1” / 2.5 cm of positive ease and may be buttoned in the front.

Sizes & Yardage

Bust / Hip (in) 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60
Bust / Hip (cm) 76 81 86 91 96 101 107 112 117 122 127 132 137 142 147 152
Yardage: Approximate yards/meters in fingering weight yarn
Yards 990 1062 1087 1183 1231 1280 1352 1425 1473 1545 1570 1666 1714 1763 1835 1908
Meters 905 971 993 1082 1126 1170 1236 1303 1347 1413 1435 1523 1568 1612 1678 1744

Yarn used for cardigan pictured in orange:

  • Madelintosh Tosh Merino Light (fingering weight, 100% merino, 440 yards / 402 meters per 100 gram skein) Napoli Colorway
# of Skeins 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5

Yarn used for cardigan pictured in yellow:

  • Knit Picks Palette (fingering weight, 100% wool, 231 yards / 211 meters per 50 gram skein) Canary colorway.
# of Skeins 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9

Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm or size to achieve gauge, circular needle at least 29” / 74 cm long and set of double pointed needles (DPNs) for sleeves or a long circular needle for Magic Loop.

Gauge: 20 stitches by 30 rows = 4” x 4” / 10 x 10 cm in Lace Stitch  after blocking. 

Notions: cable needle, stitch markers (10), stitch holders, tapestry needle, T-pins (optional, for blocking), buttons

What I love about this cardigan is how wearable and versatile it is.  I have worn this cardigan whist romping around in the high desert sagebrush in my hiking boots and a pair of jeans, to formal business meetings in my serious trousers and even seriouser loafers (arguably, the cardigan takes  away some of the seriousness of my otherwise serious outfit), and on a romantic date with Josh wearing a dress and heels.  This is also a good transitional weather cardigan – - the wool will keep you warm but the lace ensures that the sweater breathes.

I knit my prototype (below, in orange) in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Napoli Colorway.  I had not worked with this yarn before and I was concerned that it might not be the best for a sweater.  However, having worn this sweater many times, I am pleased to report that it is holding up nicely and I haven’t noticed any pilling.  Likewise with the Knit Picks Palette version (in Canary yellow), I wasn’t sure if Palette would be the best sweater yarn (mainly, I was concerned about whether it would be soft enough for next to skin wear).  However, like with the Madtosh sweater, I am over the moon pleased with my sweater worked in Palette.  I mostly wear short sleeved shirts or tank tops under it, and my skin has never been bothered by the itchiness. 

Also, while I enjoy neutral colors with the best of ‘em, I am a huge fan of using BOLD and BRIGHT colors for this sweater.  This time of year (at least for us Northern Hemispherians), when there is less daylight each day and fewer opportunities to bask in the sun, when seasonal depression typically takes its toll, I think bright and happy colors are a must.  I would actually like to thank Stacey over at Knit Picks for selecting the Canary Yellow yarn from their Palette line for me.  Typically, I shy away from wearing yellows (particularly when they are to be next to my face) because I worry that they emphasize my sallow skin tone.  But this yellow is wonderful and I love wearing it.  It is just so bright and sunshiney, I feel like I’m getting some Vitamin D therapy just wearing it!

Anyhoodle, this pattern will be available from Knit Picks, where you can procure for yourself plenty of Canary Yellow, but for now it’s just on Ravlery.

Ravelry Pattern Link
 $6.00

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