Finished – Fossil Pullover

Fossil Loft yarn feels perfect for fall

It's done… which happened a few weeks ago.  And I've finally photographed it.  I love this little sweater and cannot wait for the littlest little to be big enough to wear it. (Details can be found on Ravelry here.)

Pin oak leaves and acorns

Chose the vintage buttons

And now I'm on to Christmas making… more posts about that soon.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Fossil pullover

Button selection...

Last month when starting the Stephen West mystery shawl, I was all poised and ready to knit with Brooklyn Tweed's Loft.  As it turned out, that yarn wasn't quite the right type for that particular project (see my post about it).  But I was still really anxious to start something with Loft.  So I cast on the McDreamy pullover by Drops design.  It was a free pattern which I had marked as a favorite on Ravelry some time ago.

I knit this sweater out of the Fossil color way, and my notes about the pattern can be found here.  It was a really pleasant project.  Not so fussy that I couldn't pick it up and put it down without losing my place.  And now I'm working on button selection… I'm leaning towards the rounded vintage buttons (closest to the neckline in the photos).  I was planning on going with pink or red to girl-it-up a bit, but now I'm not so sure…

Leaning towards the top button

Mandala meets paper cutting

All in a row

Having been gifted an afternoon without my entourage by my lovely husband, I decided to take on the project of finishing the nursery decor.  I had purchased some pre-assembled frames with mat and glass for 5"x7" work.  There were four of them, and I have been stewing for several months about what "set" of four things I would like to frame for the new little.

My first thought was to purchase four prints from this amazing photographer.  And although I still adore these photos of animals, it seemed only fair to make something for our girl, since I took the time to make something when the small fry arrived.  I just had a difficult time deciding what to do.  I thought about painting something – and then remembered that it's not something that I'm particularly good at – small detail.  I thought about embroidery, but that would be terribly time consuming and likely take me long enough that by the time I finished four pieces, she would be old enough to tell me that she didn't like them.  

And then I settled on paper cutting.  I learned about paper cut artwork when I was about 9 or 10 years old, from the then-fiancee of a Danish exchange employee of my parents.  Her name was Annette and she was creative and funny and always charming.  Her beau was equally lovely, but fewer of his interests coincided with those of a 10-year-old girl.  She gifted my family some holiday paper cut mobiles and then also made a gorgeous Hans Christian Anderson mobile as a going away gift when they returned to Denmark.  And while she was here she taught me a little about paper cutting.

When the small fry was born, I created some botanical patterns/illustrations for paper cutting and framed those in some floating frames.  I'll photograph them someday and share them.  And those have moved to her new room.  

And for the littlest fry I decided to find some pretty and not terribly intricate mandala designs and use those as inspiration.  I had to modify each one a bit to create some balance in the weight of the lines of the mandala.  And also add a few lines here and there for a few "floating" elements that wouldn't have otherwise translated to paper cutting.  

In work

Originally I envisioned backing each space with a different color paper.  But as I cut and thought about it (paper cutting is a nice meditative pastime -– and reportedly so are mandalas), I decided that too much color would be a bit too stained glass, or Rose Window-ish.  And so I settled on using one hue family for each and just highlighting some of the more striking elements of each.  

First and second in purple and orange

I think it worked.  At least I'm happy with the results.  And the up side to choosing this as the artwork for these frames is that I was able to complete the set in less than two days... partial days at that.  

Third in pinks and red

And the small fry likes them so well that she has declared them her own and would like me to return the old ones to the nursery so that she can have the new ones in her room.  We're thinking about it...

Fourth and final in blue

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.