Fall Start-itis

Now that the carpal tunnel symptoms have passed and the weather has gotten cooler, I want to cast on about one million new projects.

Waistband and stockinette body of McDreamy

I've managed to cast one one new one – the McDreamy sweater for the smallest fry.  I wanted desperately to find a project to use the Brooklyn Tweed Loft yarn that didn't work for the shawl.  And I fell a little in love with the baby model for the photo of this sweater.  How darling is this scowl?  I'm knitting this in the Fossil color way, which is the lightest of the three colors that I have on hand.  And I'm envisioning using some pretty red or pink buttons for the raglan and then making a pair of "big butt baby pants" to go with this... maybe even line them with flannel... for maximum cozy-ness?

I had some help with the photo shoot of this work in progress in the form of the small fry and her fairy collection.  This is Spike I believe...

A little help...

I've also restarted my Knit.Sock.Love socks.  This is the beginning of the Twisted Flower sock in a gorgeous kelly green Koigu KPM that I've had in the stash forever.  I scored it on one of those rare Koigu sales and have been saving it for something special.  I'm excited about this pattern and have recently come into possession of my first ever roll of highlighter tape.  Which means I have no worries about marking my place on the beautiful, yet extensive, charts for this pattern.  I love, love, love twisted stitches.  Some day I need to do a retrospective on my Bayerische socks...

Soon I'll write a little about my nearly finished Loki sweater... I've got a few final details to finish and then I'll let you know what I also plan to finish this fall.

Until then, enjoy this fall weather.

Color Craving KAL

In mid-September I signed up for Stephen West's Color Craving knit-a-long (KAL).  It was kind of a crazy idea, since the release of the first clue happened within a week of my due date.  But two lovely friends of mine were signing up too, and I envisioned lots of knitting time made available while feeding the smallest fry. (This may or may not have actually worked out... )

So the knitting commenced.  I started initially with some lovely Brooklyn Tweed Loft.  I love the yarn. But I didn't read the instructions carefully enough on this pattern, and the twist and stitch definition  made it a less than ideal match for this project.  So I ripped out the first weeks clue (ugh...) and started again with some Malabrigo Finito, which was a much better choice for this project.  The only other change I made to the directions was to knit this on US 5 needles.  I did this because my US 6 needles were otherwise occupied and since I'd already purchased two types of yarn for this project... ahem.  I'm glad that I did this though... the finished object is plenty large.

In progress... actually almost complete

Knitting  the clues as they came without knowing what the finished product was a leap of faith for me.  Being a visual person, I often rely on the photos of the nicely finished object to make sure that my interpretation of the directions is correct.  And this wasn't really an option; which is sort of the point... to be surprised.  

Closing in on the seemingly endless i-cord bind off

I must say that it was a pleasure to knit this.  As I got further and further into the second, third and fourth week, I got more comfortable with the directions. Some of the design elements were repeated and I took comfort in knowing that I was at least being consistent (right or wrong).  But this ended up turning out beautifully, and having taken a look at some other finished projects, I think my interpretation was correct - whew!

I'm happy with my yarn choice too. I think this red really pops and the finished result is something that is fun and unexpected... It's a bit more modern-art-ish than I probably would have normally chosen, but not so strange that I won't be able to wear it.  You can find the details on Ravelry here.

Finished length – nearly 4' long!!

... like a folded pennant.

Best modeled with Dora PJs of course.

Three cheers for Stephen West... I can only say three things about Stephen's knitting patterns, interesting, interesting, interesting!  In design (use of simple elements and geometry), use of color and finished object.  And now my eye is on his Batad shawl... how gorgeous is this?

A Brand New Little

...and then this happened.  A new and perfect baby girl has graced our family.

And now we are four.

We are all doing extraordinarily well – a little sleep deprived – but wonderful.

Shelter Loki – Work in Progress

Just a quick share of my most recent work in progress...

Shelter Loki Yoke

Late last fall I had the pleasure of visiting NYC with my darling sister on a totally indulgent, kid-free, long weekend.  One of our stops was to Purl Soho, where I scored a few skeins of Jared Flood's Shelter. I had great aspirations for designing a color work sweater for the small fry.  And again I found that my knitting "eyes were bigger than my stomach" and the yarn has been patiently waiting a plan for nearly a year.  So in an effort to be more realistic and not let this yarn sit in the stash for yet another winter, I have cast on a Loki for my girl.

It wouldn't be fair if all the new hand knits were for the much anticipated babe.

So, here it goes, and it's lovely so far.  The colors I am using are: Camper (pink), Long Johns (red), Nest (light brown) and Pumpernickel (dark brown).  Isn't it lovely?  I'm convinced that there must not be any bad color combinations in Jared's color palette.  The tweedy nature of this yarn is the best, and without having blocked it, I anticipate it being fairly light weight and really warm at the same time!

Stay tuned.

Classic Striped Cardigan

Marled Stripes and Flower Buttons

So the knitting did continue... although slowly.  But I've finished our new babe's striped cardigan and it's blocked and ready to be grown into.

I totally fell in love with this pattern the first time that I knit it.  It's constructed from the bottom up and knit in separate pieces until the underarm decreases.  (For a striped version, this is the point at which you want to be careful where you stop your striping.)  And after the two fronts, back and two sleeves are knit to the underarm point, they are joined and the raglan decreases begin.  And the knitting continues until you reach the collar.  It is SUCH a clever way to construct a sweater... I'd try it on an adult version, but I'm not sure how well it would work with shaping and my currently addled cognitive skills (I'm blaming pregnancy brain – isn't that convenient?)

Ready to be grown into

I ended up having plenty of yarn, and was a little bit worried about running out of the red.  I consumed more of that, as the ribbing for the hems of the body, sleeves, collar and button band are all done in red.  But I finished with enough to spare.

The small fry helped me pick out some matching flower buttons, and we used some contrasting blue thread to pick up a little color accent.  What fun it was to knit this.

Finished knit

And I'm day dreaming about the coming days with a new babe in hand, and a bit less water retention.  This pseudo carpal tunnel thing is not much fun for someone who likes detail work as much as I do. Soon enough, I'll get my wish... less than three weeks left until my due date.  Cross your fingers for me.

Knitting (with pins and) Needles

Third trimester fun is revealing itself in some very manageable but subtle ways around these parts.  And I'll open by saying that I feel great.  And I'm cruising through this pregnancy with little to no issues which is such a huge blessing.

The funny and somewhat ironic thing is that I'm retaining a little water, which is pretty typical. And it's so minimal that I likely wouldn't even notice it, except that it's giving me carpal tunnel symptoms.  Which is putting a serious damper on my knitting, sewing, typing, writing, pretty-much-any-repetitive-fine-motor activity.  And so my productivity is down a little because between every second and third row, I'm icing my wrists to get feeling back in my thumb, index, middle and half of my ring finger.  (How funny is that?)  It's not painful, it just feels a little like my fingers are asleep... that "pins and needles" sensation and my ability to gauge how tightly I'm grasping something is a little off.   I'm dropping things a bit more often that I used to too.

Conch Shell hat for the babe.

But the knitting marches on... just a little more slowly.  I managed to finish the conch shell hat from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Opinionated Knitter.  It is such a clever pattern and pretty finished object.  I ended up using the Purl Soho - Super Soft Merino that was sent to me from my Squam friends... aren't they lovely?  It used up nearly the entire skein, and I modified things only by selecting a smaller needle size.  I used US 8s.

And I've cast on another Classic Cardigan from Debbie Bliss in the two skeins of Ella Rae that were also sent from Squam.  I love, love, love this pattern... It's a bottom-up raglan and is pretty easy to stripe as long as you pay attention to your stripe stopping point before you join the backs, fronts and sleeves...

The beginnings of a classic baby cardi

Pretty isn't it?

Monkey Dress

The finished Monkey dress made it's debut on the 4th of July weekend, on a trip to see some family a little further north.  And it's been worn and washed and I think it's going to be a hit. The small fry seems to like it. A cotton smock is a pretty nice warm weather option, and the sleeves are minimal so there is plenty of air movement.  The hem and yoke are doubled, so the dress has weight where you want it – up high for structure, and at the hem for weight.  And the dress in the middle is single weight so it's cool and flexible.

Have bucket hats, will travel.

Some of the other details that I love about the design of this dress are the notches in the center of the neck and the pocket yokes.  It's a simple element to create and adds a little interest to the garment without making the assembly fussy.

Notched pocket details...

Another Oliver + S success!

And the companion dress