Fair Isle

Fair Isle Speed Swatch

This past weekend I took a workshop on designing fair isle sweaters from Janine (aka Feral Knitter).  It was wonderful! We started with an inspiration photo; and picked out colors that were in the photo’s color families and then knit up a speed swatch.  Day two began the motif swatch; and mine needed a bit of tweaking.  Pictures of that when it’s blocked.

Blog upgraded

I upgraded the Wordpress software that runs the blog. Seems like it went pretty well - let me know if you see any weirdness as you’re browsing around.

In the meantime, here’s something pretty to look at: (click to see bigger - it’s worth it :)

Spotlight in Seattle

Glowing clouds

Seattle Sky

Seattle Sky

It’s too nice out to knit. Although I did knit a bit on a sock on my way into work this morning. :)

For Sproutlet

For Sproutlet

Proof I’m still alive, and still knitting!

This was a knitty pattern, Helena, knit top down. I made a few modifications (of course!). The yarn I used said it would meet gauge, but my gauge was tighter than the ball band; and I was rather pleased with it so I stuck with it. As a result I made the larger size to come out about a 6-9 month (up to 12 month maybe). I also did i-cord for the ties instead of simple garter stitch that was only 3 sts across.

I used Dale Lerke, a wool-cotton that is super soft. It has a tendency to split when knitting so you really have to watch the strands when you do decreases or other fancy maneuvers.

Pocket wheels nose to nose

Pocket wheels nose to nose

In a desperate attempt to show that this blog is not dead; here is a picture of my wheel on the left; and another pocket wheel (older vintage) on the right. Someday the singles on mine will be yarn and I will knit with it.

Someday.

Queen of Beads Socks

Queen of Beads Socks

Finished! And before the next kit is here. Which means I need to cast on a pair of socks for my son. I let him dig through my sock yarn stash and pick what he liked. They’ll be bright.. that’s for sure :)

Twist

I have been working on socks, baby sweaters, spinning some stuff; but nothing picture worthy lately since I finished my daughter’s lilac rose cardigan (which she wears All. The. Time, I’m proud to say).

So since my blog fodder is non-existant, I’m going to leech off my mom’s spinning.

First, we see some yarn that she sent me a picture of:

The colors are nice, but to me, it really didn’t have enough twist in it. So we talked about it. How it might be splitty when knit with; what she might want to knit with it, and so on. She decided to add more twist to the yarn.

Here’s the result:

I really like the 2nd one better.  I think she does too.  I haven’t been able to see how the yarn feels; but I would bet it has a bit of bounce to it. :)

Finished: Lilac Rose Cardigan

Katie in Lilac Cardigan

It’s done! It’s beautiful. I’m very pleased I worked so hard to get this done so she can wear it before she outgrows it.

Blocking Lilac Rose Cardi

Blocking Lilac Rose Cardi

While knitting I was hoping I’d be able to block this out to around 15″ across total; it was measuring around 14″ across when I was knitting it. A quick dunk in the sink; gentle squeezing out in a towel and I laid it out to be 15″ across.

I finished the first sleeve last night too - but won’t block that until it’s mate is done. I did a sample fitting into the body (pre-blocking) and it was fitting nicely. One more sleeve, a collar, some sewing, weaving in of ends and it’ll be done.

Gull Lace Chart

Gull Lace Chart

Sometimes you just gotta make a chart! I recently took a look at the February Lady sweater pattern available for free - and it has a simple lace pattern in it. No chart provided, so I whipped this up in Knit Visualizer lickety split.

You can download the free pattern here.