gaspard le nuage d'orage

Gaspard the storm cloud

The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Gaspard le Grand by Christine Rouvillé from WMD Les Wouimardis.

Size: Four years.

Yarn: madelinetosh tosh dk in Composition Book Grey.

Needles: 3.75 mm.

Stash/recycle content: Ah, no.

Start to finish: 8 May to 8 June 2013 - one month (plus a day)!

 

Comments: This little sweater was love at first sight. I made a lot of modifications structurally, which was branching out a bit for me. To start with, I knit this sweater seamlessly instead of in one piece from front hem to back hem as the pattern instructs. To do so, I cast on 4 stitches less required for both the back and front together and knit in the round to the underarms, again creating an Elizabeth Zimmerman faux seam on the inside (I think it is a bit more stable than just a line of reverse stocking stitch).

Then I divided the work to knit the upper fronts and upper back from bottom up and didn't cast off at the shoulders which I grafted together (but wouldn't do this again as there does need to be some reinforcement there - three-needle bind off would be a better choice).
 

The stitches for the front collar were already on hold and I continued to knit across the remaining live stitches from the back. I also knit the collar longer than required for this size, 20 ridges altogether.The sleeves were also knit in the round with a faux seam; the garter stitch cuffs I knit flat and seamed.

I did have some trouble with the pattern - as far as the sleeve decreases go, when the pattern instructs to decrease 'All 4 and 2 rows' I believe that it means, decrease on the fourth and then the second row. The sleeve decreases are a bit odd in that they are more widely spaced at the top of the sleeve and more narrowly placed at the cuff which is the opposite of usual sleeve shaping. I also encountered a bit of trouble
in that my gauge knitting in the round does not seem to be the same as my gauge when knitting flat so I had to knit a few extra rows in the body and before the cuff of the sleeves to compensate.

There are a couple more translation errors but nothing that interferes with u understanding the pattern.

The kangaroo pocket is adorable. Knitting note to self - yes, by all means pick up stitches with a smaller needle but remember to switch back to the correct size needle for the actual knitting (how many times have I done that?).

I think that this may be my first time knitting anything sizeable with madelinetosh yarn and I was very pleased with it. The degree of shade variegation is just about at my limit but I think that it works really well on this garment. The fabric is lovely and squishy.

Verdict: I am really, really delighted with this garment and baby b likes wearing it - hooray! I'm hoping to knit it again and again and again in the 6, 8 and 10 year sizes, have already stashed the yarn.

sara's hat

Last time I made something for Sara was when she turned one. Of course, she's at school now and needs a woolly hat for winter.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Basic Hat Pattern by Ann Budd.
Size: 21" head circumference.
Yarn: Morris Estate 14ply in '1441 Spruce' (100 per cent wool); 2 skeins.
Needles: 6.5mm for the ribbing, 7mm for the rest.
Stash/recycle content: No.
Start to finish: 2 June to 4 June 2013.
Comments: Such a useful idea this book, yet the available gauges don't really add up to anything useful. At least, there's no 5.25 stitches per inch which gives a good basic dk-weight gauge of 22 stitches per 4 inches. And this yarn, destined to be knit at 14 stitches per 4 inches presented a similar dilemma. As I was worried that the size (21" head circumference for child to small woman's) might be a little roomy, I chose the instructions for knitting at a gauge of 3 stitches per 4 inches.


Verdict: Hope it keeps her warm!

ribbon-tied wool vest

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Ribbon-tied wool vest by Erika Knight from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.
Size: 3 to 6 months.
Yarn: Patons Australia Bluebell Merino 5ply (100 per cent merino) in colourway 0100; 1.3 skeins.
Needles: 3.25mm and 3.75mm.
Start to finish: 22 April to 8 May 2013.
Stash/recycle content: Yes!! I have had this yarn in stash since ... since ... long ago.

Comments: I love this book by Erika Knight and have already knitted a few things from it - the Baby's Beanie Hat, Chunky Knit Cardigan, Garter Stitch Wrap Top). I even drove for what seemed like miles to borrow it from a library when I was pregnant with miss bear (now our local library, ha ha). Both times when I was pregnant I had lofty hopes to knit a handful of these little vests, one in each size, but I am glad that I didn't. Cherished as my babies were, this is not a simple knit.

Admittedly, I made things harder by modifying the structure a lot by converting it to seamless but I think that if I hadn't, and there had been seaming to do, it would have been even more work. Of course, there wouldn't have been the brain power required to convert it (ok, not a lot of brain power but I don't have much to spare!) if I had simply followed the pattern.

Modifications I made were:

- knit in the round to the underarms with a fake seam (one stitch knit in reverse stocking stitch) and used this neat TechKnitter trick of crossing the stitches over where I divided for the underarms. Techniques like this are great to know with the increase in patterns with seamless structure.

- made the neckline decreases one stitch in from the neck edge.
- grafted the shoulders with Kitchener stitch instead of using a three-needle bind-off.
- knit the sleeves from the top down using short rows to shape the sleeve cap. How did I work that one out?? I just winged it!

Now that is not a common approach for me. By winging it I mean I figured out how it should go (must surely go?) instead of actually checking one of the many patterns on hand at my disposal with top-down sleeve instructions to check how it is done.

The pattern directs you to cast on 50 stitches for this side, to knit for 2.5cms and then decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 10 rows, finishing with 40 stitches. That's the sleeve head shaping and that's what I was cogitating about (cogitating - thinking but with more effort); how to achieve that with short rows?

As I write this, I realise that I got my numbers wrong, I assumed an end stitch count of 30 stitches - oops. Anyway, it worked well in my opinion. Here's what I did:

Even though there were 30 stitches at the end (in my version) there were still 50 lines of stitches travelling all the way to the armscye. So, I picked up 48 stitches (2 stitches less to compensate for the seam that I wouldn't be working because I was going to knit the sleeves in the round) and commenced knitting in the round.

I knit to the halfway point (that is 24 stitches to the the top of sleeve), then worked in short rows (knit 15 sts, wrap and turn; purl 30 stitches, wrap and turn ; knit 31 stitches, wrap and turn; purl 32 stitches, wrap and turn and so forth) until there were 10 short rows (last short row being purl 38 stitches), picking up the wraps as I went. The Purl Bee's short row tutorial was really helpful here because I always get the pick-ups wrong on the purl rows.

One more wrap and turn and then I continued knitting in the round, picking up the last wrap made, then knit straight for 2.5cms. I knit the ribbing back and forth as I always do because I really dislike that jog when you cast off in the round. Quick flat seam to join the ribbing and done.

The ribbon I'm not so sure about. The effect is lovely but I wonder about safety. I stitched the ribbon to the neckline at the back so that it couldn't come loose but cautioned the mum-to-be to just remove it altogether if she wasn't comfortable with it. Ideally it would be sewn together at the bow but then the top would not go on over a baby's head.

The Bluebell does make for a lovely fabric (I used it to knit both of the baby blankets that I have made) but I wish that I had used a needle size smaller for better fabric.

Verdict: The final product is darling and now that I have it worked out I'm sure that any future versions would be much simpler to complete!

a fresh breeze

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk lately. Something that I was working on for a good month - a cardi for miss bear to wear to school - has taken up a lot of knitting time and energy and has simply not worked out. I finally just binned it today and feel so much better. Yesterday evening, so desperately wanting to knit something that worked, I cast on afresh. And finished it today.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Windschief by Stephen West.
Size: Small.
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Portland Tweed (50 per cent wool, 25 per cent rayon, 25 per cent alpaca ) in 5046; 0.8 skeins.
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm.
Start to finish: 1 May to 2 May 2013.
Stash/recycle content: Well, I didn't buy yarn in order to knit this so I suppose that means it came from stash ...
Comments: Such a great design and it comes in three sizes (small, medium, large) which is great for when you offer to knit someone a hat and they say 'oh lovely but I've got a really big/really small head ..." This is the pattern for those moments. The yarn was an impulse purchase when I was $5 off filling up my loyalty card at Weaving Works in Seattle. I found it a little scratchy so hope that it works well for a hat.
Verdict: I can see myself making this again, and again, and ...

more duffers

I identify for the most part as a process knitter (knit for the knitting experience, rarely the same thing twice) so the fact that this is my third pair of duffers this year (and fourth overall) is testament to the knittability of these slippers! These ones were a birthday present for a friend of miss bear's, here modelled by the birthday girl herself.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Duffers - revisited by Mindie Tallack.
Size: I knit US 3 but they fulled down to more of a US1.
Yarn: Patons Inca (50 per cent wool, 30 per cent acrylic, 20 per cent alpaca) in 7040 red (0.7 skeins) and 7041 purple (0.9 skeins). Washing instructions are strictly to hand wash only. Take note!
Needles: 8mm.
Stash/recycle content: Not this time. There was a specific colour request which I didn't have in stash.
Start to finish: 7 April to 10 April 2013.

Comments: Oh what a journey these were! I chose the Patons Inca because the red and purple shades were better than those of the Patons Jet (which I have successfully fulled before, no trouble). The knitting was no trouble, used Judy's (truly) Magic Cast-on to begin, but when it came to fulling them - nothing. No success whatsoever. I tried first by hand because you do never know and want to do these things slowly, just in case. Then I did some five minutes stints in the front loader on a hot wash with towels (just as with the previous pairs). Still absolutely nothing.

The next day, the day of the birthday, miss bear and I headed out to the laundromat to do a hot wash in a top loader but we left the house in a hurry and I forgot to take any towels. Fortunately, there is an op shop in our local shopping strip and we dropped in to buy some towels. Well, just one towel because as it turned out, I didn't have much cash on me and they don't take cards.

Off to the laundromat - front loaders only. Off to the other laundromat and finally got a wash going but, of course, you can't regulate the water level on those machines so the slippers and towel just floated around in the hot water. Fulling result - zilch. We went to the party with no present.

That night I was so fed up with them (and the prospect of having to buy more wool and knit another pair) that I put them into my front loader with a few towels on a normal wash and turned the water temperature way up high. Then I went to bed. The next morning, fully fulled slippers and just the right size - thank goodness!

Verdict: Finally, fantastic. Hand-made gift given with delight by my daughter and received with delight by the birthday girl. But Patons Inca - beware, requires major fulling effort!

little duffers

It's just the right time of the year for these (down here in the southern hemisphere, that is).

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Little Duffers by Mindie Tallack.
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Heathers (100 per cent wool) in 9322 and Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70 per cent merino, 30 per cent silk) in 3075.
Needles: 6mm.
Size: US 8.
Start to finish: 28 March to 29 March 2013.
Stash/recycle content: Yes and yes! The Cascade 220 is leftover from my Pimlico Snug and the Manos del Uruguay from the Attabi Wrap. 

Comments: This is the little brother/sister pattern to the Duffers that I knit recently for miss bear. Unlike the Duffers pattern which requires using a double strand of yarn, this mini version requires only a single strand. I had half knit a slipper before I remembered this. The Cascade 200 and Manos del Uruguay felted differently, to be expected given the silk content of the latter and could probably benefit from a bit more concentrated hand felting. At the moment though baby b is thoroughly delighted with them so I might just wait until he grows!  

Verdict: Quick, satisfying and effective knit, and an excellent way to use up stash!

duffers

This was one of those attempts at quick knitting satisfaction that actually worked - very quick, very satisfying!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Duffers - revisited by Mindie Tallack.
Size: I knit the US 3 size but felted them down to about a US 1.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in '7803 magenta' and '9404 ruby' (100 per cent wool), 0.4 skeins and .17 skeins respectively; Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (100 per cent wool). Yarn was held double throughout which makes me think that you could do some nice ombré effects by holding two different colour yarns together and shading into a solid colour.
Needles: 8mm.
Start to finish: 14 March to 16 March 2013 with a couple of mistakes and rip backs and reknits.
Stash/recycle content: Yay, 100 per cent!

Comments: Mine are a bit of a colour mix because I ran out of the magenta and had to finish the sole with ruby, then ran out of cream and had to do the cast off in ruby again. But I completely used up two random, hanging-around-for-ages skeins of yarn - hooray. I also left out row 11 I think but not to too much detriment. Felting was hard work because I did it mostly by hand, thinking that my front loader wouldn't do the trick. Well, more being anxious about not being able to regularly check without draining the machine each time. I did end up putting them in for 20 minutes on a hot wash with a couple of towels which turned out to be the last nudge that they needed.

Verdict: Warm feet at our house. I wonder if that will make it any easier to get miss bear out of bed in the morning?

eris

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Eris by Lisa Mutch of Northbound Knitting. 
Size: There's only one size in the pattern but it would be easily customisable. 
Yarn: Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash in the colours 'Admiral' (dark blue; 0.28 skeins) and a wd 'Oooohm' (the turquoise; 0.33 skeins) and madelinetosh tosh sock in 'tart' (red; 0.56 skeins). 
Needles: 4mm 

Start to finish: 19 November 2012 to 11 March 2013. It shouldn't really have taken that long but I got two-thirds of the way through and then it sat for a while. Quite a while. 
Stash/recycle content: nope. 

Comments: I don't often have trouble reading knitting patterns but this one gave me some grief. What does this mean to you?: "k to 1 st past last wrapped st". To me it means knit up to but not including the stitch after the wrapped stitch. But, I can sort of see how it might mean to knit until the first stitch past the wrapped stitch. No, not really. Anyway, the grief was indeed that I interpreted it as the former and found out many rows later that it meant the latter. Rip rip rip. 

There's also an error (in my opinion) in row 1 of section C. It should read k8 instead of k6, otherwise the numbers just don't add up. 

Also, I picked up the wrapped stitches along the change from section 1 to section 2, as it helped to preserve a smooth line. 

This was my first time knitting with Wollmeise. I had a bit of a panic attack upon returning to Australia that I would never be able to find gourmet yarn again. Never fear, turns out that quite a few local ravellers are selling theirs off and I now own quite a few skeins. The Wollmeise colours are fantastic but I found the yarn itself to be a bit splitty.

Verdict: Once the pattern is clear to you (!) this is very easy, albeit slightly monotonous, knitting. The result is a really great shape, best seen in the shot of it blocking. I think often of Di's comment about my knitting choices, that I knit for texture as opposed to shape (Di, that's going to stay with me forever, probably because it was so apposite). This knit went quite some way to showing me why - textural knitting is exciting, absorbing, engaging, yarn-over, knit-two-together, pass-the-slipped-stitch-over knitting.

Graphic knitting (for want of a better term) is just a lot of knit knit knitting, little bit of shaping, knit knit knitting, wrap and turn, knit knit knitting. Not that I have anything against knitting, obviously, but garter stitch never achieves the flow that stocking stitch does, particularly stocking stitch in the round. There are a lot of wonderful garter stitch shawls around at the moment, several that I have under consideration, but I really need to give that particular knitting a break for a bit.

family portrait

Mother and baby, reunited!

Exactly the same pattern but mama was knit with two strands held together of Moda Vera Husky and baby Pachelbel just the one.

solar flare

It's been sunny here lately.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Crochet Flower Hot Pad by FreeCraft Unlimited, free (thank you!).
Size: One size. 
Yarn: Sugar'n Cream Solids & Denim by Lily (100 per cent cotton), colours 1109 (yellow) and 18046 (rose pink); about 0.15 of a skein each.
Crochet hook: 4mm.
Start to finish: 9 January to 11 January 2013.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, from stash. I have blue somewhere too that I would have preferred to use with the yellow but no matter.

Comments: This was a case of 'new house, need new crochet hot pad', actually, just need crochet hot pad altogether. This sits on top of the oven and is the resting place for my Michael Graves designer kettle. The incongruity of this does not escape me. This is a well written pattern, fun to crochet and can actually look quite chic and graphic in one solid colour with a contrasting trim.
Verdict: I wonder if Alessi would consider doing them in black and white? black and grey? grey and white?

monster doily from the deep

Ok, we're halfway through January and I feel as though I am catching up with myself a bit. So, a huge chunk of 2012 for us was taken up with moving - moving house, moving country, moving time zone - and that took up a lot of mental space and time and effort.

We are now nicely settled in a rental property in Hampton East in Melbourne and the decorating challenge is just how much homemade stuff is required, possible or appropriate. Hence the bathmats.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Liz Snella's Heirloom Doily by Vintage from Yarn Over free (thank you!)  
Size: Just the one size and mine ended up huge, 60cm (23.5") across. I omitted the loopy crochet cast off. 
Yarn: This time I used Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton (70 per cent bamboo, 30 per cent cotton) in colourway indigo; 7.5 skeins.
Needles: 7mm. 
Start to finish: 24 December 2012 to 7 January 2013. 
Stash/recycle content: No.


Comments: I knit this with 4 strands held together (and again, way too small needles for the job to get a dense fabric). Knitting a doily pattern as a bathmat is a great reason to do some very textural lace. I was a little concerned that the bamboo/cotton mix might be too slippery on the floor but it's fine (speaking of which, our house has the original bathroom and it's fabulous - the original floor tile, pink bath and blue tiles with some burgundy accents on there and round windows in the doors. It's awesome.)

I should perhaps have cast off purlwise (instead of knitwise) but there's no way that I'm wrestling with this knitting again - it was unwieldy - and while I was working on it, the love just wasn't there. And the ends could have been better dealtwith. Getting it off the needles was a pleasant surprise because ...

Verdict: I'm very happy with it.

pachelbel

I love the name Pachelbel but it's not one you get to use often, unless you're a music buff naming a toy pachiderm.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Elephant by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton from the great first knitting book, aptly named A First Book of Knitting for Children.  
Size: The pattern only provides for one size so it depends on what weight yarn you use. 
Yarn: Moda Vera Husky (100 per cent baby alpaca) in colourway 5 'dark grey'; 1 skein. 
Needles: It's a bulky yarn but I knit it with 2.75mm needles to get a really solid fabric so that the stuffing wouldn't show or leak through.

Start to finish: 15 December to 23 December 2012.

Stash/recycle content: Alas, no. Oh actually, a tiny little bit. The embroidery wool for the eyes was bought at the op shop!

Comments: I actually knit two elephants, this baby one and a larger one using two strands at once and a 4mm needle. Unfortunately, I was so excited with the finished product that I gave it away to the happy recipient without even taking a photo. I'll try to get one at a later date.

I knit only 12 rows for head and decreased 1 st at beg of the last 2 rows for the ears. I then sewed the ears on with tail of the cast on, starting at the side of the body and working up toward the crown of the head. Then I used from the cast off end to gather up the side of the ear. Both elephants were stuffed with wool roving.

Verdict: Adorable, but certainly hard on the hands to knit.

time warp

I've decided to put the new year off until next month. Is that ok?

So, to round the year out with something familiar:

The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Cladonia by Kristen Kapur of Through the Loops. Wonderful, gorgeous shawl. 

Size: The pattern only comes in one size but I increased the size and depth of mine - details below. 
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft in 'truffle hunt' (my absolute favourite), 'old world' and 'blanket fort'. I love that one speck of red in the 'old world'.

Needles: 4mm. 
Start to finish: 27 June to 19 December 2012. 
Recycle/stash content: Well, it's all recycled from the first Cladonia that I knit but I don't think that really counts ... 

Comments:  I made considerable changes to this pattern to achieve a shawl that was both deeper and larger (that is, just more surface area altogether). The increase in depth was achieved by making the body increases every sixth instead of every fourth row. If you are making a striped version, this means that the increase will occur on alternating main colour and contrast colour rows (whereas in the regular version the increases are always on a main colour row). These increases all occur on right side rows.

To also make the shawl larger you need to effectively add some segments to the shawl (pattern provides for eight segments, mine has ten and I've seen that some people have increased it to eleven). To achieve the two extra segments, I made twice as many edge increases, half of which occur on wrong side rows; that is, you increase every sixth row for depth but every third at the edge. result is that the first and last of the eight segments are double the size (making effectively 10 segments) and the finished shawl thus four lace repeats wider along the border.

You can see here the elongated first and last segments and overall altered shape here (and that we don't much bother to rake up our leaves):

In order to make these two changes, you also need to make some changes when you cast on. To make the shawl wider/larger, you need to have 2 extra set-up stitches. Knit garter tab as per instructions (10 stitches on the needles: 3 for the garter stitch edge, 4 for the body of the shawl, 3 for the garter stitch edge); then work kfbf into first and last of the shawl body stitches (instead of just kfb) and kfb into the 2 intervening stitches (16 stitches on needles instead of 14).

Lastly, on this version I didn't do the contrast colour row in the edging; didn't feel that it was necessary now that I got the colours in better balance. 

Verdict: I think that this is going to work for me now. I am delighted with the finished product and just need to wait for some cooler weather, or stand in the shade.

... .-- ..-..

Translation: swf

The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Attabi Wrap by Laura Chau, but all modifications are based on robbyracoon's delightful 'morse code' version (and modeled by our equally delightful babysitter, Nadia).

Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns MountainTop Vista (50 per cent wool, 50 per cent alpaca) in shade 6076, 4.8 skeins; Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70 per cent merino, 30 per cent silk) in shade 3073, 0.28 skeins.
Needles: 5mm.

Start to finish: 28 June to 17 September 2012. Actual knitting was finished in July ...

Stash/recycle content: Alas, no.

Comments: I must repeat that this project is an unabashed copy of robbyraccoon's 'morse code'; joining the wrap into a cowl, leaving a notch at the border, the colour scheme, everything.

Reproducing this cowl was a great design and thinking challenge for me - initially I purchased (online) the exact same main colour yarn but found that in the wool it wasn't really the colour I was wanting. I really had to analyse what textures and what quality of yarn I needed to recreate the object of my obsession.  The trick was to pair something rustic with a bit of halo (MountainTop Vista, comes in great natural shades) and something smooth with sheen (silk content in the Malabrigo made it perfect and I love the way it moves ever so subtly from gold to amber to pink).

I didn't weave in the contrast thread Malabrigo as I knit: tedious. Instead I knit the entire round and then wove the contrast thread in as I slipped the stitches purlwise: still tedious but slightly less so. I also used a separate strand of contrast thread on every row, instead of one long strand. To finish them, I trimmed and spit felted the ends together so there was no weaving in of ends.

I did a provisional cast on for the i-cord bind off and grafted the stitches together after completing the bind off. This worked well but I think would have been better if I had cut the yarn after finishing the body of the cowl and started with a fresh piece of yarn, instead of striving to avoid two ends and making it a bit messy.

Verdict: Oh, so many variations that you could do with this pattern; the mind boggles. I'm very happy with this version and it has made a wonderful gift to a wonderful friend (I've made something for everyone in our fantastic neighbour family across the road now, hooray!)

sweet hex | heges

Sweet hex - one hat.
Sweet heges - two hats.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Sweet Hex Child's Hood by Lisa Shroyer, available for free.

Size: One size.

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (45 per cent wool, 35 per cent silk, 20 per cent nylon) in 24 'claret' and '01 'chalk'.

Needles: 2.25 and 2.75mm needles.

Start to finish: I started the project on 6 March 2012 and finished it yesterday, 7 September 2012, six months all up. I knit two hats though, the first was finished on 12 March, so took only six days to knit. The other hat I started on 7 August and finished knitting on 18 August, so eleven days.

Recycle/stash content: Yes, all yarn from stash and acquired at the Seattle Knitters' Guild Fiber Frenzy.

Comments: The pattern instructs to knit the hat in the round (and then steek) which I suppose is conducive to stranded knitting but strikes me as an odd choice given the yarn used, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. Or rather, Silky Wool is an odd choice of yarn, given the technique required. I did in fact use Silky Wool because I happened to have some at hand but I used a different technique - knit the hat back and forth (I don't mind stranding on the purl side) and grafted the last row together. Really, if you're not using a sticky wool, I would recommend doing this.

There is also a discrepancy in the pattern regarding the facings, one is six rows deep, the other nine - unclear why.

Rather than using a commercially manufactured cord and tassels, I attempted to knit i-cord on 2.25mm needles but it was almost unbearable with the Silky Wool which is  bit nubby and doesn't pull through smoothly at that gauge. After managing a few centimetres and realising that I would put off finishing this project forever if I went down that path, I instead made a really tight plait using six strands of yarn. Tassels I had made before for 'the cat on the hat' so I was able to wing it this time.

Verdict: I made these hats in reverse colourways, one for my daughter and one for her best friend who lives across the street. Their names are almost identical (just one sound different, think along the lines of Mara and Lara, which makes for a laugh when calling out to them at a playground) and now they have almost identical hats. I'm delighted with them.

ziggy

I am entering a finishing phase, so many projects hovering at 90 per cent complete. But not fast enough for how baby b is growing!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Ziggy Zag by Carol Feller.
Size: Three years, supposedly for baby b.
Yarn: Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull (100 per cent wool) in 5775 (dark blue), 2.4 skeins; and Patons Australia Patonyle (80 per cent merino, 20 per cent nylon) in 1009 (red), 0.3 skeins.
Needles: 3.75mm for the body and 2.75mm for the cuffs and hem, although it may have been 2.25mm but it was knit over some period of time and I didn't make a note and then I forgot ... the collar was knit with 2.75mm needles. I know this because that was the last thing I did.
Start to finish: 25 October 2011 to 31 August 2012.
Stash/recycle content: Yes, all from stash.

Comments: I started knitting this for baby b, who is nearing three, but he's a sturdy boy and there wouldn't have been much wear in this for him. So it was a two-year-old birthday gift for a friend's son instead - perfect! There are a few, ahem, 'design features' included like the red showing through in the change from blue to red yarn. I know that there's a way of avoiding that but I recall not having the oomph to get up and look it up at the time I changed yarns. So, design feature. I knit extra rows on the neck edging to help balance it up with the cuffs and hem. I am normally not one for colour blocking at all and now can't remember why I decided to use the red. An Estonian friend told me though that red at the cuffs is one of the oldest protective magics and I do like the idea of that. The cuffs and hem were knit flat and seamed because I don't mind seaming but I do mind that jog when you cast off in the round. I also decided not to sew on a button closure at the neck because by the time I finally had all the knitting done and the ends woven in, well, I made a design decision not to.

Verdict: Not quite the garment I had hoped for. It's very difficult to adequately block garments that are knit seamlessly. I tried a steam with the iron and maybe a few wears will help it along. The proportion of the yoke depth and underarm measurement also look a little strange to me. I'll be interested to hear how it wears.

delicious, a smorgasbord

New socks for Tim, with a secret ingredient:

Pink stripes!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Delicious Knee Socks by Laura Chau.

Size: Oh, can't remember of course. I think I ended up with 72 stitches, realised that they would be too big for me and decided to make them for Tim instead.

Yarn: Six of them from the toe up: Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes (80 per cent merino, 20 per cent nylon) in 'Black coffee no.9'; Grignasco Strong Print (75 per cent merino, 25 per cent nylon ); Zitron Trekking (XXL) (75 per cent wool, 25 per cent  Nylon) in 126 and then later in 81; Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball (75 per cent wool, 25 per cent nylon) in 'U-boot'; and Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn (50 per cent alpaca, 30 per cent merino, 10 per cent nylon, 10 per cent silk) in 'Blues in the Night'.
Needles: 2.25mm.

Start to finish: 10 June to 30 August 2012, so two-and-a-half months. Considering that the last pair of socks took me some two-and-a-half years, I feel as though I am making real progress here!

Stash/recycle content: All of them - the Foot Notes I previously used for the Honey Cowl, the Strong Print for a pair of socks, the Trekking (XXL) were both used in Babette (and came from the thrift store originally), Crazy Zauberball from Kerchief and Babette, and the Hand Paint Sock Yarn I got in a stash swap and used in both Daybreak and Babette.


Comments: I started off knitting these for myself but even though I seemed to be getting gauge they were going to be too big for me. And once I had finished the toe, I couldn't bear to pull it out so I knit them for Tim instead. Inspired by various projects on Ravelry, I really wanted to use up all the odds and ends of sock yarn that I have floating around from various shawl projects mostly. And really, woollen socks get worn under boots mostly so it doesn't really matter if they are multi-coloured. I followed the pattern up until the calf shaping started and knit ribbing after that instead. If I knit another pair, and I think I will, I might try for knee highs for myself. Oh and cast-on was my new favourite, Judy's Magic Cast On.

Oh, and I knit these two at a time, toe up! I'm very proud of myself. They did drag on a bit but there was certainly no second-sock syndrome difficulty. It might make it more fun to change yarns more often, although that would mean more ends to weave in ...

Verdict:  Deliciously happy. They are a great fit for Tim, of course, because I knit them that way! It was also fun to see the self-striping come out on the Trekking (XXL) which I had only previously crocheted with.

i knit a cloud!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer.
Size: Large.
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Gioiello in colourway 26 (30 per cent wool, 30 per cent mohair, 20 percent nylon, 10 per cent acrylic, 10 per cent cotton); 2.05 skeins. And madelinetosh tosh merino light in colourway 'well water' (100 per cent merino); 0.43 skeins, a present from Di.
Needles: 3.5mm to knit and 4.5mm to cast off.
Start to finish: 8 June to 27 June 2012 (yes, June of the same year).
Stash/recycle content: Alas, no.

Comments: I started planning this shawl at the very end of December 2010. It took me a while to get around to knitting it but once I did, wow, quick knit. I wasn't so lucky on yardage with the Gioiello though - I did need to buy a third ball for want of only about 11 yards of yarn. As it was, the third ball was a different dye lot to the first two (looks exactly the same but curiously a slightly different texture) and I knit the last of the white/gold sections from the third ball, thereby using up a little more than 11 yards of it! The tosh merino light is an absolute dream to knit with and the resulting fabric is gorgeous. As is this colourway, I definitely want to use it again. And there is just enough mohair in the Gioiello to make it sticky so when the shawl is flung around your shoulders, it actually stays there.

This shawl is a lovely design and a great shape. The instructions are, however, a bit confusing for being overly descriptive of how to make yarn-overs. Reading all the extra information bewildered me so I just started knitting and encountered no problems. Where the pattern calls for an M1 increase, I did a yarn-over and on the next row, worked into the back of the stitch.

Verdict: Llovelly. (Get it? Whippoorwill, Gioiello, Well Water.)

sweet honey in the rock

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Honey Cowl by madelinetosh, available for free. 
Size: I attempted to make the larger size, a cowl that could be looped around double. 
Yarn: Fiber Optics Yarns Foot Notes, 80 per cent merino, 20 per cent nylon in colourway 'black coffee no. 9', purchased at Rhinebeck last year. I used almost two whole skeins which is more than 800 yards of knitting. 
Needles: 3mm. 
Start to finish: 14 May to 8 June 2012. A 'quick knit' meaning that I didn't put it aside for six months at any point. I knit this pretty consistently (relentlessly), not starting or finishing anything in the meantime - unusual for me. 
Stash/recycle content: Hmm, well, the yarn was totally arbitrarily sitting in my stash ... 

Comments: This pattern calls for a dk weight yarn and I knit it in a fingering weight yarn so I cast on a third (?) more stitches than suggested, that is, 330 all up. And then I knit. Then I knit 62,000-odd stitches. Knitting your way through two skeins of sock yarn is a very long knit, and a simple pattern didn't actually make it go any faster. I have spent years knitting my way through similar amounts of yarn in complex lace patterns. I prefer that! 
Verdict: Full credit to reader Leonie - the solution for interminable knitting is to finish it.

three cheers!!

Sewing trifecta - hats, tunique francaise and now this Nani Iro number:

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Dress U from nani IRO by Naomi Itou (isbn 4579111834 / 978457911183).
Size: I can't remember ... needless to say, it no longer fits the intended recipient (miss bear) but has found a wonderful home up the street with a three-year old.

Fabric: Linen/rayon blend salvaged from a White Stag bias-cut skirt (which was great because the fabric was already set on the bias), purchased at the thrift store.
Start to finish: Started sometime after we returned from Savannah in October 2010 and completed on 4 June 2012.
Stash/recycle content: 100 per cent - hooray! Button was from stash.

Comments: Again, it was the bindings that did me in. And the little square patch with some gathers underneath it there on the front. I also couldn't get the opening at the back to lie flat - maybe something to do with the dreaded binding? I also simply made my button loop out of the sewing thread rather than the fabric which i thought would get too bulky and couldn't, um, really be bothered with at this late stage anyway. 

Verdict: Very pleased that I actually finished it. The fabric was a great choice for this dress, the colour, the coin spot, the blend.
The front and back are actually cut from two pieces - in the photo of the back you can see the diagonal seam along the bottom corner of the dress. I think that this is design to make the most of the print on the fabric from which the dress is made in the book. It also serves to make the dress asymmetrical but I don't think is necessary if you are not emphasising a feature of the fabric print; that is, I could have cut the back and front in single pieces. I also wonder what might happen to the hang of the dress is that piece were cut on the grain instead.

I have another bias-cut skirt waiting to be up-cycled ....