Tweed + Cables = Love

Despite having been confined to the couch for the last 24 hours, I've managed to make a little progress on my Martha Cardigan, with the back now finished. 

While the pattern itself is easy to follow and very well written, I got somewhat confused when I had to continue the cabling beyond the arm shaping as I had to fiddle with my odd number of stitches.  Nonetheless, after a lot of frogging, re-reading, re-calculating, and reknitting, the back was completed - but not without some niggling "i could've finished the front by now" thoughts!

And while I'd love to continue sitting on the couch while knitting to endless episodes of gossip girl and grey's anatomy, my boyfriend's parents are staying with us for the weekend so I have to be useful and get things prepped. *sigh*.

Oh how I wish it was just me and the couch...

PS. Check out that little widget on the bottom of my right column... it tells you all the knitting books that are being released, and their release dates. Genius!

Thicket : The road home

For the last 36 hours, I've been feeling like a squashed mushroom on the side of the road, sick with a fever and a flu, and yet, despite feeling so sick, have had to catch three planes in the last three days. NOT a recipe for getting better :(

As soon as I got home, I did the mandatory "coughing-on-the-boyfriend-to-share-the-germs" thing and then basically collapsed onto the couch. To my surprise though, there was a little envelope waiting for me addressed from Thicket. 

As I opened it, out propped three remnants of Jo Sharp yarn, a free pattern and a little note from the lovely ladies at the store. 

[In the photo (from back to front): Alpaca Silk Georgette, Summer Soho DK, Summer Soho DK]

While Thicket don't have an entirely large range of yarn, I just wanted to give them a little free press by saying that they have been absolutely delightful in their customer service, happy to field lots of questions, and the best thing of all - happy to help with pattern interpretation! 

So anyways, if you have a chance, pop over to www.thicket.com.au , join up on their mailing list, and support a very lovely online LYS :) 

Hello Martha!

Following my "colour" purchase recently of 5 balls of Grignasco Tango, i embarked on a little mission to find a summer cardigan to knit. The only characteristic that I wanted from my cardigan was that it had to look nice in a tweedy yarn.

What better option than to search for patterns using Rowan Felted Tweed - almost the exact composition as the Tango that I bought.

I hit jackpot! 5 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed is needed for Sarah Hatton's Martha Cardigan, featured in Rowan Studio 2 , which is exactly the same amount that I had in my little stash.


So I've cast on, and the yarn is knitting up similarly to the colour I used for my Patti Cardigan, and I'm so looking forward to seeing how it goes! It's also been awhile since I've knitted using cable needles, but I do hope it's like riding a bike.. that is, once you get back on, it comes naturally.

Colours vs. Neutrals

I was looking through my yarn stash the other day when I realized that I really only knit in a few colours - red, teal and purple. And then I looked in my wardrobe, and realized all my clothes were either grey, pink, white, or black. Where did this dissociation between my real life wardrobe, and my knitting wardrobe come from? At what point did they become two separate beings?

Take case 1 - the non-coloured wardrobe... From a functional point of view, my normal wardrobe means that everything can be easily matched, and can take me from day to night. Everything matches with grey, white or black , and the colour infused by my pinks means that I don't just look corporate, dull, or uncreative everyday.

Case 2 - My knitting wardrobe however, is awashed with colour. The only "neutrals" i have comes in the form of a scarf, and even then, that was more to do with stash busting than purposeful knitting.

Reason? After a bit of pondering, I came to realize that the reason why I don't knit in blacks or neutrals too often comes down to a few reasons.

1. Blacks and greys - I can purchase these in abundance at any store that I frequent. Knits in these colours are everywhere during the winter months, and knitting in colour allows me to a bit more creative.
2. Knitting in colour often emphasises a pattern's details more than neutrals do. For example, when knitting cables, it is often easier to see the detail on coloured backgrounds, than on a black background (the exclusion being in whites and creams).
   
3. I knit because I enjoy it. I don't knit for the sole purpose of having something to wear. If I were to knit for the latter, it would be much easier, and immediately gratifying if i just went to the shops and bought something. Knitting in colour therefore is a bit more of a 'fantasy' thing, and is all the more enjoyable because of the previous two reasons.
   

So anyways, blabbering aside.... I went to my LYS again and picked out 5 balls of Grignasco Tango (again) in a blue colourway. Hopefully something enjoyable will be knit from it ;)

Oh knitting inspiration .. where are thee?

I'm stuck.

I have three pages of queued projects in Ravelry, and no inkling to knit any of them.

I'm looking for inspiration. I'm looking for something to knit. And my hands are getting fidgety.

Anyways, I went to my LYS the other day and picked up three balls of Grignasco Tango in a lovely red tweed colour hoping it would inspire me to knit something.
I tried a scarf, and didn't like the way it knitted up. I tried to look at cardis, but don't have enough yarn for it. I tried a beanie, but realized I didn't want to use three balls of lovely red tweed on a beanie I would hardly ever wear. So i'm stuck. Stuck in square one again. *sigh*.

Oh well , at least the yarn is nice to look at.

FO: Global Warming

Project details:
Pattern: Global Warming, by Suvi S. Ravelry link here


Yarn: Merino et soie, 10 ply Shade 107 which is a reddish pink colour. It is slightly heathery with lighter bits of pink running through it. I used 5 balls of yarn, with a bit left over from the fifth ball. The yarn was fabulous to knit with - the merino was soft and lovely, while the silk made it smooth and easy to work with. I'd definitely use this yarn again - especially since we find it quite hard to get 10ply here in Australia!


Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size 5.00mm. My gauge was slightly too big at 19.5st per 4"/10cm, which accounted for my sweater being less than fitted around the waist.

Comments and Modifications: The sweater is constructed in a raglan bottom up manner, with the sleeves worked separately first and then joined to the sweater after bind off.

The pattern is easy to follow (however, if you are an absolute beginner, you might want to work out the raglan decreases first as the instructions aren't very clear in that respect), and the sweater a cinch to knit.


Unfortunately , there is not much shaping involved in the sweater (not counting the raglan decreases), and unless you are fairly flat from bust all the way to hips, you might want to add some in for a more fitted shapely look.

The sweater is also very short. I put on an extra 4 ribbing rows but still found it too short in the end so if you are planning to knit this, you might want to add a full 5cm of ribbing before starting the stockinette area (or similar).

The puffed sleeves are very cute, but would have been cuter if they were "puffier".

Lastly, in Villapeikko's original, she has a very cute little kangaroo pocket at the front. While I did make the pocket, I didn't end up sewing it on because my sweater was too short and the placement of the pocket would've drawn too much attention to the tummy area.

In the end, I dont think this fits me as well as I would've liked, and I think i'll give this one to my sis.

Pink stockinette..

Whenever I knit something, I almost feel as if I *need* to post a WIP entry / picture so that if ever I feel the need to go back to a project, then at least I have my ongoing and current thoughts on the project to help me confirm/unconfirm my decision.

On the flipside, there are some projects that just don't really require a WIP entry as there's not much to it. Case in point? Global Warming - the cute little puffed sleeve, kangaroo pocket pullover. I tried to take some interesting WIP photos of it, but given that it's just ribbing and stockinette, was not very successful. You see, ribbing and stockinette just don't make for very exciting entries. Nor do raglans really...

However, in keeping with my "need" to post that WIP entry, here is a dull shot of the ribbing/stockinette...

Hopefully an FO won't be too long given that I'm up to the neckline bindoff and finishing (i haven't really tried it on though, so hopefully it'll fit).

A new toy.. for me? Oooh!

I have a new toy.. and boy is it beautiful (and takes beautiful photos):

I couldn't resist the Nikon D40 when I walked into my local Harvey Norman the other day. Plus, it was on sale for a great price at $598 (Aussie dollars of course), making it a great deal! I'm still learning all its functions, but am already happily snapping at all kinds of knitting and non knitting related things. Can't wait to share.

I've also started working on my Global Warming, and its knitting up quite nicely. More comments later, when I can also post some piccies up. Yay!

Rosemary's Swing Jacket

Could it be? A finished object?

After many many months of looking for my knitting mojo, I may have at least found the mojo's legs for the time being and finished a project that actually fits, and that I actually like. Hurrah!


Project Details
Pattern: Rosemary's Swing Jacket, by Cathy Carron. Featured in Interweave Knits Winter 2007. For those on ravelry, the link is here

Yarn: Heirloom Merino Magic in a dark purply/plum colour. The yarn required by the pattern was a 10 ply yarn, which I wasn't able to find enough of in my LYS (they only had 6 balls of the plum colour) so I substituted with a DK weight yarn (and therefore changed the gauge), figuring that since it was a raglan top down, I could modify and alter as I went along. I was right ;)


The Merino Magic was lovely to knit with, but at times I would find bits of straw throughout it which I have never encountered with this particular yarn. It may have just been a spodgy batch, but I thought I'd let you know. Also, the yarn likes to attract things - magic dust, strange splodges, so it might require quite a bit of care in the long term!

Needles: Denise interchangeable circulars size US7s for the main body, and 5.5mm dpns for the sleeves.

Comments and modifications: The pattern is very easy to follow, and as it is a top down raglan, very easy to modify as you go along according to how you want your fit and length. I pretty much followed the pattern, though I did start off with a few less stitches than required as the smallest size listed was still too big for me.

I also ended my sleeves at 3/4, partly because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn for full length, but also because I generally like 3/4 sleeves of swing coats and jackets anyways. I also cast off tight to get a little "bubble sleeve" which I had seen and liked on the Minimalist Cardigan.


I also didn't like the way the jacket hung on the original model, so I decided to make mine "double breasted" so that the hem edge would hang in line both front and back rather than drape. I prefer it that way as I think it looks neater.

And to top it off, I added a little bit of my own personality and put a little bow on the neck edge. I like whimsical and cute, and it definitely helped it become just that.

Did I hear a sale??

I went to my very local (read: country hicktown local) yarn store the other day and found out that they were having 30% off all yarn until the end of month! My heart skipped a beat, but I managed to contain my impulses and decided to head home first and find out what I needed and what I didnt need rather than stashing. 

Today I went back, and purchased 6 skeins of Merino Et Soie (a lovely merino/silk 10 ply) in a dark dusty pink/maroon colour :

and some Panda Pure Wool (240m per skein at $3 ??? who could resist) in a lovely olive colour. Both are earmarked for projects that I will start straight away so will go to good heed.

After my very drawn back spending of 9 skeins of yarn, new yarn needles, some bias binding and some buttons, the total came to $36!! I was shocked at how cheap it was, and suddenly realised that I *needed* to buy more. So I shall return to that little store very very shortly! heehee

On knitting news, I finally blocked and re-sewed the Hexacomb Cardigan, and am waiting to see how the reblocked version goes. Hopefully it'll fit better than that gigantic illfitting product I ended up with. 

Also, I'm 95% done with Rosemary's Swing Jacket. I'm determined to finish it within the next two hours (only a bit of the sleeves to go) as I want to wear it with my little black dress tonight. Fingers crossed. The moss stitch is going slowly, but I'm loving the fabric nonetheless. And it's certainly not as bright as this, but I just couldnt get the lighting right for this one. 

Phildar Autumn

oh excitement! Phildar have released their Autumn catalogue for 2008 and as always, Phildar have not disappointed - boy are these cute!!

A burst of colour:

Some VERY cute dresses (mmm!):

And some very cute coverups:

The reasons we knit

I started knitting about three-four years ago, soon after I bought my first sewing machine and very shortly after I realized I wasn't very good at making clothes. I'm not sure of the reason why I started knitting, but I think it all came down to two simple reasons. Those being, that I enjoyed creating something from nothing and because I was spending a lot of time watching tv (cue: Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, SATC etc) and finding that the time spent watching tv was time spent wasted.

Over the years, I have knitted items that appealed to my sense of style but at the same time, have hardly worn any of the things I've knitted (that and the fact that many things were just plain wrong for me in the end).

I don't think however, that I have ever knitted anything to save money. Not at all because I have loads of extra money to splash around (ha!), but simply because the time it takes to make a garment coupled with the cost of yarn would very rarely equate to the efficiency of simply going out there and buying something. That said however, there will always be a ceiling to what I will spend on yarn, and the amount of time I would dedicate to it. Incidentally, the latter is probably a little more important to me than the cost at this stage in my life.

I did however come across a *stunning* little coat (aptly called Audrey), designed and created by Blue Skys Alpaca and knit in sportweight. The pattern calls for 30 balls (!!!) of yarn , and at current australian prices, it would equate to approximately $450-$480. There's nothing special about it except perhaps the beautiful colour, but something keeps drawing me into buying this pattern.


I wonder, even if I subbed for this yarn, would it be worth my time/cost in knitting this, or should I just go buy myself a lovely new winter coat ?

Preview: Rowan 44

It has been a gazillion years that I have bought a Rowan magazine/book. Actually, the last Rowan book I've bought was Rowan 39, and while that was in itself a shocker, I bought it for the sole reason that was Rambling Rose (yes, $35 for one pattern does seem a bit much now...). As much as I've liked a few classics here and there, there just wasn't enough in each book to warrant my buying it.

The latest offering however, seems to have revived a bit of love in the Rowan series. In their 30th anniversary edition, Rowan appears to have gone back to the style they've been famous for, and true to each pattern's namesakes (each one is named after a classic hollywood star), they are classically styled, very wearable, timeless, and with a bout of vintage nostalgia. Here's a sneak peak of it:

WIP: Rosemary's Swing Jacket

Exciting news! Well, not exactly for you, but for me, definitely. I think I might be getting my knitting mojo back, and as such, feeling muchly revived and excited about the (very good) possibility of finishing off a successful knit.

The work in progress is Rosemary's Swing Jacket, by Cathy Caron. The project itself is coming along at a very steady pace (although those 300+ stitches before dividing for the sleeves was turning me a little impatient), and as it is a raglan top down knit, should end up fitting very nicely. I do love the colour of it, and even more so, I adore the way the moss/seed stitch is coming up on the merino yarn. *Love* A little WIP shot for you:


And what else have I been doing in my spare time? Eating lots of pancakes and crepes - that's what!
Unfortunately I've also been told off for how much sugar i've been eating (for fear of getting diabetes as I get older), so from today onwards, I'll only be indulging once a week at most.. *sobs*

New knits

Following months of missing my knitting mojo, I'm determined to set about correcting it. And what better way than a raglan style knit, where I can size and knit as I go?? (surely that's guaranteed to give me at least halfway decent results right... right!?).

Knit in question... Rosemary's (soon to be mine hopefully) Swing Jacket from Interweave Knits Spring 2007.Yarn in question... Heirloom Merino Magic in a deep plum/purple colour (yes i do love this colour). I actually wanted this is a dark charcoal, or an olive colour, but Kalgoorlie's yarn selection is rather lacking...


The pattern calls for seed stitch all the way, and although I do love this stitch design (it's so uniform and textured and creates a nice sturdy fabric), it takes uber long to get anywhere. After 1 whole day's work, this is as far as I've gotten to:

But in keeping with my end goal of completing a successful knitted garment, I'm happy to forgo speed if only my mojo comes back.

Please mr. mojo. I miss you.

Bula Bula!

Bula! (hello as they say in Fiji, the country of beautiful sunshine and lovely people).

As regular readers know, I have a fairly hectic life, basing myself in two towns and working away offshore. When I'm not flying to and from work, I'm flying to and from my two home bases. Consequently, my love for flying has dissipated quite rapidly, but my love for travelling still remains.

Recently, six of my girlfriends and I decided it was time to ditch the boys and have ourselves a bit of girly fun, and what better way than to ship ourselves off to a little island and sip away at cocktails and get ourselves tans?? For your viewing pleasure:

The very friendly and happy singing fijians:

Fire dance ceremony:

South Sea Island:

Sunset over Port Denarau

On knitting news, I haven't tried to fix my Hexacomb cardigan as yet, but I did swatch for the Sylph Cardigan with a bit of Bendigo Woollen Mills Alpaca. While I managed to get gauge on all three stitch/swatch patterns, the faggotting and twisted rib texture got lost in the grey alpaca. So i'm looking at getting another colour, or trying something else but that will have to wait another two days until I get back to Perth..

All work and no reward

Contrary to popular belief, there has actually been knitting going on! Unfortunately, it hasn't been successful knitting. I seem to have hit a bad patch where everything I knit either comes out wrong, looks awful, or doesn't fit. Because of that, I have restrained from sharing my disappointments with you all, but at the end of the day, my blog is supposed to be a journal of my knitting journey so here we go... (apologies for short details - trying to keep the post short, and am not entirely excited about any of these projects!! hehe)

FO 1: Bubble Scarf

Using some stashed unidentified yarn, and a website pattern (which I've forgotten since then), I decided to start a quick easy project for instant gratification and was pleased with the result.
The scarf used up one skein of mystery yarn (approximately 350metres) and took just over a week worths of bit part knitting to complete. It was a very simple pattern that allowed for mindless knitting, but the end bubble scarf is quite cute.


FO 2 : Socks again

Another instant gratification knit, due to my lack of inspiration and knitting mojo. I used Silver's Sock Class once again but by now I had pretty much memorised it and so the project was pretty smooth sailing. The yarn is Moda Vera Socks yarn in a grey self-patterning style, which I picked up on sale at Spotlight for about $3.00. Surprisingly, the yarn is actually quite warm and soft but tended to pill when frogged.


FO 3: Lush and Lacy Cardigan

A very fun to knit pattern by Sweaterbabe,the pattern calls for a "lush and lacy" style yarn such as one with angora in it. Unfortunately, I didnt see any angora that I liked - there was only two choices at my LYS and both much too fluffy for my liking - so I decided to try plain Bendigo Rustic Wool in a beautiful red colour.

The knitting went off without a hitch, and I sewed it all up only to realise that the thing weighed an absolute tonne, and was by far more frumpy and granny like than cute and vintage. I'm now thinking of using the yarn for the Central Park Hoody, or I might just be lazy and keep the sweater to wear at home on the couch while knitting new projects...

KIP: Hexacomb Cardigan 2

So i restarted the Katie Himmelberg's Hexacomb Cardigan again in another yarn after the crunchy corn incident. And while the pattern was more successful this time round, it has ended up a tad too big for me. It's all loose just under my bust, and doesn't fit the upper part of me properly. See?


It's a cute cardigan, so I don't want to have to frog it and am thinking of taking a sewing machine to the sides or even hand sewing in some "darts" or seams to take it all in. Has anyone had any experience with this sort of post-knitting alteration and can give some tips??

And oh boy, am I not looking forward to weaving in the many ends.