V like....

... Catriona (my Ravelry page) by Debbie Bliss.


I like the way cables look, by I don't fully enjoy knitting them - the pulling of the fabric puts a lot of pressure on my hands and that's not nice, nevertheless once in a while it's OK to do and Catriona was an easy project with a very stunning appearance.

Specs
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Merino Soft (100% merino, 50 gr 130 m, color 05)
Needles: 3 mm, 3,75 mm, 4 mm
Pattern: Catriona by Debbie Bliss (Ravelry)

Halliste Girl - Folk Costume

It's done! (nearly). I got the set ready just in time.

The apron is still not quite "full" - it is supposed to have a very crowded embroidery. But I'll do it one of these weeks - I still have the other side to do anyways. The motifs on the apron are very old - they represent crosses, roses, cart wheels, sun and arborvitae.

Mimosa Odysseia Final

I wanted to follow the process of this huge shawl on the blog, but the darned cord that transfers photos from my camera to my laptop was missing and turned out just today... from my husbands backbag... I have a stinky feeling that this may be the result of my quick clean-ups at my home, when I stuff things in the less likely places all around the house without giving it a second thought. Ah well, at least it was safe traveling forth and back between home and office.
As a result here follow pictured process from day 1 to day 20:


02.02 I managed to cast-on twice. That wasn't nice because 599 stitches is not nice to CO again. Not to mention that I figured my Moebius mistake out after near 5 rows - that is nearly one and half ball of yarn. And then count and count and re-count countless times. Believe me you do not want to err with that many sts on your needles.

05.02 This where the expected setback happened. I ran out of beads. I had to wait until 13th of February to get the beads (I'll write a separate post about that specific bead shop).

14.02 I just got the beads the day before and decided to spread out the shawl on 3 circulars to see how wide it was going to be. Obviously it was going to be wide (that measuring tape is 150 cm / 60 inches long).

16.02 I've injured my left hand index finger. I have a small cut that often occurs when one is knitting a lot with drying hands. If you didn't know - knitting dries hands quite a deal.

Luckily my daughter takes care of me and offered one of her band-aids to help me through my injury.

18.02 The wrap is 3/4 done, it goes much faster to knit a row, but I've been making silly mistakes, like decreasing too much or too little, or knitting into the stitch below (often happens when knitting on high speed and in stockinette stitch), I've had to rip back 10 cm (4 inches) once but usually my good friend crochet hook helps me out.

20.02 Fresh off the needles. Washing and darning in the ends are ahead.

I'm darning. I only had 22 ends. Until I decided to split the yarn and it became 44. But I got through it pretty fast.

The shawl is blocking. And it became even bigger (I have a king size bed). And then I remembered. Merino stretches - A LOT!!! So from 22 sts per 4 inches / 10 cm it fell down to 19 sts

Here it is, on the ground with two 60 inch / 150 cm measuring tapes close by to show the size.

I used app. 1200 Toho Craft square beads - they are gold lined and it gives them a darker color than they really have.

This is a closeup of the central part here panels come together.

And the last shot:


Stats
Yarn: 11 balls of Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK (75% extrafine merino, 20% silk, 5% cashmere; 127 yrd/116 m for 50 gr ball)
Needle: 4.5 mm
Pattern: Mimosa by Sivia Harding from Big Girl Knits
Extra: 1200 Toho Craft square beads, color 39

I used less beads: didn't insert beads in the diamonds and didn't put them on the edges as well.

Faux-roositud

These mittens are not the very first FOs of the 2008, I managed to finish a pair of baby mitts beforehand, but I won't present them without a decent picture, so there Faux Roositud have the honor to be very first ones presented on 2008.
,

Why are they Faux, one may ask. Quite simple, roositud inlay is supposed to be done with just a single thread, but I used it double, otherwise I would have had to go down on needle size and there simply wasn't much to go down to. But I already bought 1,5 mm dpns, so soon I want to go for another attempt.

Info:
yarn - simple estonian homespun, no idea who made it though, approximately 80-90 grams.
pattern - my own.
needles - for cuff 2mm, else done with 2,5 mm.

Chevalier Mittens

My last Christmas gift got done on the plane to Estonia, I blocked them a night before Christmas Eve and packed them just half an hour before the gifts were handed out (here the presents are brought by "Santa Claus" on the 24th after a huge dinner with family).
I made the mitts slightly shorter but that was all I changed, kin of nice to knit mitts again, haven't done it for awhile.


I wish You peaceful and joyful Christmas! And yarnful and FO-rich new year!

Annimanni`s warm winter

May I present - Anita, the latest recipent of my creations and a little joy to mommy, daddy and me (what a talkative cudly baby she is). I do not have many baby girls around lately, but if I have just one, I`m happy. And today I`m especially happy of this set I managed to finish to keep little Anita warm for the winter holidays. Unfortunately the measurements I had for 1 year old, fit Anita who is only 7 months old. I suspect that either Anita is really huge for her age (doubtful) or the standardized measurements don`t make a good clue of what one really ought to knit. Anyways, right after holidays I hope to finish writing the pattern and post it here. I`m not sure yet, whether it will be my first attempt to make it paid or maybe a another free one. Have to reflect on it.

One down (nearly) 4 more to go.

Remember yesterday's post?
Well I finished the hat and ripped the mitt. Hat with a wide brim this time, I used the white merino wool from Puglia I made the Inspiration aka first BSJ with, and leftover yarn from mitts. Designing this I had a very clear idea of what I wanted - a strong, big folding brim, two earthly colors and something my lovely grandmother in her 80+ years could wear daily yet provide a lady-like feel, something that she could wear with -20 degrees C and still have wide brim!



More pictures here!

Details:
Needles 5,5 mm and 4,5 mm circulars
Yarn: Argentinian handspun (natural brown, about 40 grams) and natural white merino wool from Puglia (about 50grams)
Pattern: mine

If you are interested knitting this type of a hat, leave me a note and I'll write the pattern down.

Marabou Beret

My Bainbridge Scarf needed a hat and I am in the mood of berets. I googled and "raveled" but couldn't find one I really like. Plus I wanted to continue the Broken Rib theme, so in the end I had to come up with my own design, which turned out to be quite fun and I learned a lot. I have just finished writing it down and you can download for free from here (.pdf file). Se qualcuno e' interessata lo posso scrivere anche in italiano. Lasciate mi un commento.
The beret has nothing to do with the Marabou Stark but has a lot to do with the Swedish nut chocolate Marabou. Believe me, designing might become quite a fattening process, if you have to frog a lot and the only thing helping you avoid stress and depression is a chocolate bar ;)

Info:
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl 100% Merino - brown and gray
Needles: 3,5 mm
Pattern: my own

Update 20.02.2008: Link to the pattern was broken, I changed it so now you can download the pattern without any problems.

Choker

I'm on the scarf-hat-mitten mode right now - like every autumn, even though this year I have 30 degrees Celcius outside and not 13 or 3 (Italy/Estonia). As soon as Christmas is over I start knitting other things, but until you gotta bear with my Christmas gifts.
So this time I present you Bainbridge Scarf. It is a very easy knit, you basically cast-on, knit in round, cast-off, knit two ribbons and then say... ?!?!?!?! buh... Then you open the .pdf again and step in front of mirror and practice putting it on. Simple as that. Takes a few times though before it becomes your absolute favourite. Like in my case.

Technicalities:
Needle: 3,5 mm
Pattern: pepperknits.com Bainbridge Scarf
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Merino Soft (100% merino)



Maybe a hat now? A Beret? Ravelry.

Old Debt

When I was in Italy still packing when I dug out a vest from my closet, completely forgotten :(. The only reason for that - I don't have a white long sleeved shirt. When I saw the Leftovers vest in knitty.com I had a sudden urge to knit it. And I was very sure I wanted to knit it from the same yarn, because I saw some really yummy photos on Alison Hansel's blog. But unfortunately already back then (winter 2005-2006) the yarn was discontinued and not available for the European knitter. After countless searches I finally found a Dutch yarn shop without a website but luckily with an e-mail address who had still some leftovers and some corrispondence with the kind shop-owner lead to my order. It took 1 month of agonizing wait, I already had had my fingers burnt with Poste Italiane. I finally got it, and within next two days I had my result:

Phildar Legende Tweed Alpaca is a very nice yarn: interesting texture, nice soft and beautiful colors. It is 48% wool. 41% acrylic, 9% alpaca and 2% of rayon. It has 125yd/115m for 50g. I knit the vest with 4,5mm needles.

Mindless knitting

I have very limited amount of yarn!!!! And the delivery of our household items will not be before 16th of November. It's horrible to live without my stash!!!
Therefore I have been forced to use that little I brought over in my luggage. I think in someways it's good that my yarn isn't around, so that I finally knit the stash that has been around for a while. Like my handpaintedyarn.com Ejido 160.
As part of the Christmas Gifts Project 2007, I've finished two simple scarfs. Everyone, who has been an expatriate, knows that first few weeks, nothing is better than some relaxing mindless knitting, that allows you to keep an eye on things or avoid certain missing necessities.

Earthly scarf

Info
Yarn: Ejido 160 (100% merino, hand dyed)
Needles: 4,5 mm
Pattern: my own

My so called scarf

Info
Yarns: Ejido 160 (100% merino, handdyed)
Needles: 8 mm straight
Patterns: My so called scarf

And as a side-project I'm doing this:

I have to say, it has been and still is the most difficult "knitting project" of all.

MS3 Complete!

My Swan Lake is ready. The actual knitting part I finsihed already a month ago, but due to lack of a blocking area I blocked it just yesterday and from late evening last night it has a new home with my new friend Laura, who actually dares to wear it.
My main concern when I started to knit Swan Lake (having heard It won't be symmetrical), since I am not a shawl person (too young, in my opinion) and most people I know wouldn't have the courage to wear it, was that it might stay in my closet for a very long time. Luckily I met Laura.
It was a tremendously fun project to knit, and I have many thanks to give to the designer Melanie Gibbons, from Pink Lemon Twists. If the next years Mystery Shawl sounds even half as interesting as it did this year, I will be knitting MS4 along as well.

Beret in 31+ degrees

We've arrived in the Singapore heat, but the very first and very chilly impressions made quite clear that my wool knitting life is not suspended yet, for indoors it really is cold, freezing cold.

And as comfort knitting I finished a beret in two nights. I used handpaintedyarn.com Ejido 160 100% merino with 4,5 mm dpn and circular needles and followed Tweed Beret instructions (with modifications) from Interweave Knits 2006 Fall until the decrease rounds, I increased slightly more and changed stockinette stitch edge to 1x1 rib to make a better fit.

Quick knit Urchin

Everyone liked Urchin on its first outing at Stich & Bitch Milano this Saturday. Here are just some examples:


Info
Needles: 5mm
Yarn: Hanspaintedyarn.com Ejido 160 (100% merinos, 1 skein)
Pattern: Urchin

Between Pauses

Bloggin vacation for now is over.
It is quite shameful that whenever at the seaside in Puglia I have no urge to knit, it isstrange though that each year I take allmy UFOs and pattern and yarn along and never do anythingh, but I am convinced that the year I'll elave my needles and stash behind will be the Most Eventless Summer of all.
Therefore I have (ashamed) accomplished only 18 nearnothings as seen on photo.
And finished Clapotis.
Mystery Shawl isn't quite finished yet, I'll work on it during the next following weeks. For now I've finished packing my yarn (and it was mopre difficult that anyone can imagine), and I'm emotionally ready to not seeing them for the next 2-3 months while they do their seatrip towards my new home in Singapore. And I guess the next post will come from there as well. Until then, arrivederci!

Blue Vest

Yarn: Schaffhauser Wolle "Allround", 100% merino, ~300 grams

Needles: 3 mm straight

Pattern: Mani di Fata November 2006


Finished it in November last year, but couldn't present it before it was in the hands of the future owner, my sister.

Inspiration

First: I'm in Ravelry. Got an invitation yesterday and started discovering that constantly growing and interesting community straight away. It'll take some time to settle in with my UFOs, WIPs, stash and accessories, but it'll be worth while.

***
Now something that is ready. Finally.

I saw Elisabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket for the first time few months ago. I thought it's a clever idea, but wasn't tempted enough to buy the pattern. A month ago I found from local market an amazingly soft handspun merino from Southern Italy and thought that it would be fantastic to knit something in garter stitch. And then I remembered EZ's jacket. But I didn't want to buy the pattern (I was in the midst of packing before a big move and long vacation away from home, so it would have arrived to me probably not before September) and wanted to solve the mystery myself. I surfed around and read some comments from which I understood that it is based on mithered square and it's about double increases and decreases. So I started knitting it. I don't think I've ever ripped and reknit an item this many times before. After the 3rd attempt, I had figured out how it worked, but couldn't get the sizing right. Once over that part it was an easy knit. And I am tremendously happy that I finished it :)


So it's not EZ Baby Surprise Jacket, but she was the inspiration and motivation. Thank You, so much!

Information:
Yarn: 1,5 skeins of handspun natural white merino from Puglia (DK) and Noro Silver Thaw (wool 50%, angora 25%, nylon 25%) colorway 09 about 15 grams.
Needles: 4 mm Addi Circulars

The sleeves with this techique never come full-sized, in Inspiration's case it was less than elbow length, so I had to lengthen it somehow. I tried picking up stitches in regular way, it wasn't nice, I think it can only be done without leaving obvious line if you are using colors. So I decided do follow the clue of the full construction and knit mithered squares inbetween and then picked up stitches to continue.
Noro Silver Thaw is a difficult yarn (uneven color sections, scratchy and uneven surface) to knit I-cord with, but without a doubt it was the best option for this edging.

Forecast done!

Tadaa! My Forecast is done.Actually it was done quite a while ago, I just didn't get to taking the pictures.
I like the design a lot and it was really fun to knit, which explains how it got ready in only 5 days.

And I did sew on the self-made buttons.

Modifications:

• I didn't purl, I knit the garter stitch part, which meant changing the pattern a wee little in the beginning.
• Different kind of yarn. I went down on needle size, that meant more bobbles (iiiik), but I got them done.
  
• I didn't turn my work while knitting bobbles, I just slipped stitches back to left needle and knit them through then just passing stitches over the last stitch.

What I wish had done differently: knit the ribbing part longer (blocking again will help I hope, or losing weight :P) and knit the first stitch of every row. I trusted the pattern, but should have trusted my experience, now I have this strange cross-stitch row between body and button bands (It's because my stitches are quite loose). But I guess you can call it DESIGN element.

Info:
Yarn: Unknown producer, 100% merino, cream, 350 grams
Needles: 4 mm and 3,25 mm Addi Turbo circulars
Pattern: Forecast
Time: 5 days

Belle & epoque

I am licquidating my stash by knitting faster (khm... smaller projects)
Last year I purchased 2x400 grams of Katia Jamaica cotton yarn, the turqoise-pink-orange one became Clapotis nr. 2, but green-beige-red-orange mix hid in the closet and didn't find a pattern.
Then one day last week my daughter came home and asked whether she could stay over for a night at a friend's place upcoming week. Of course I said yes, last time they had great fun together.
And it just happened that I was cleaning the closet and deciding the fate of my stash, so I instantly got an idea to knit some playful skirts. I pulled out Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge and picked out two ruffles.
2 days later I had these beauties ready:
Belle

...and E'poque

Close-ups of ruffles, they are:
Belle Epoque

...and knit fluted edge
Why such a name... Well, Belle èpoque means in french "good/beautiful times" and I guess childhood can be considered the best of times, so it wasn't difficult to name the skirts after ruffles :)

Info:
Yarn: Katia Jamiaca, 100% cotton, color 4002 (Suzanne) , used for both 320 grams
Needles: 4 mm Addi Turbo circular
Pattern: my own