SOS :: soldotna & pavement

Today I wanted to highlight some techniques that I used to cobble together enough stash yarn to make two very different sweaters. The first one is my most recent finish:

It’s the Soldotna Crop (by the fabulous Caitlin Hunter) which is a super fun all over colorwork sweater knit with dk weight yarn. Unfortunately, my stash is on the light side when it comes to dk weight. But being a sock knitting fiend, I have tons of fingering weight yarn. The pattern calls for a small amount of four different colors so I decided to double strand the fingering weight yarns together in order to achieve the called for gauge. It worked like a charm, although I wished that I had a little bit more yardage left of the main body color to make the top less cropped. In order to compensate, I knitted the bottom ribbing a little longer and the sweater hits just at the top of my high waisted jeans. It is surprisingly wearable with both jeans and dresses/skirts. I am thinking of making a second more neutral version with varying shades of grays.

Summer of Stash sweater number two is one of my favorite finished sweaters ever. It’s the Pavement sweater by the ultra talented Veera Valimaki.

Simple designs such as this one lends itself well to color fading don’t you think? I had bought these three skeins of Hedgehog Fibres several years ago for a Stephen West mkal but ended up going with a different color scheme. Now I’m kinda glad that they were stashed because I am so thrilled with how they knitted up into this sweater! It’s a wonderfully comfy lightweight pullover.

So there you have it! Two new sweaters made entirely from The Stash! I am planning on shopping the stash for some baby knits. A good friend is expecting her first child (a boy) in September & I would love to make some special hand knits for the kiddo. Do you guys have any suggestions for baby pullovers or cardigans? Also hats & booties too :)

sweater swagger

You guys! I don’t know how it’s happened but I am on a sweater finishing roll right now. The Weekender was such a joy to knit. Although I have to admit that when I first read the pattern and saw that it began with a tubular cast-on, my enthusiasm level was dialed down quite a bit. But there was a link in the pattern to a very helpful tutorial which has me now completely in love with the technique. The rest of the pattern was just as fun to knit and I love the cozy, relaxed style of the finished sweater. I honestly would be wearing this 24/7 if the darn weather here in Maryland would cooperate. At least it’s cool enough in the mornings to wear a wool sweater. The tweedy yarn is from Peace Fleece. It is very rustic and woolly but softened up a lot after a good soak. I am already dreaming of a marled version. Maybe I’ll splurge on some special farm yarn at Maryland Sheep and Wool next month.

march finishes

Hooray I actually finished a sweater!!! So incredibly excited to cast off my Edith Cardigan while it is still chilly enough to wear. Good thing that it is extremely cozy because every year when the calendar turns to March, the hubby dials down the heat to sub-zero temps. But this year I will not engage in thermostat battles :)  I love how warm & woolly this cardigan is. It was my first time knitting a dropped shoulder construction and I was a little concerned with how the finished sweater would look since I usually wear raglan sweaters. Really pleased with the relaxed fit. It was a very well written pattern and would make a great first sweater project. I am debating on whether or not to add in the big patch pockets. Maybe at some point down the line but for now, I want to finish up my Weekender and cast on for some Easter socks. Here’s the pair I made for St. Patrick’s Day:

These were fun fun fun to knit! The yarn is from Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Zombody go bragh colorway. Those green stripes have me looking forward to some fun Spring knitting. What’s currently on your knitting needles? Anything on the radar for Spring?

knitting the season

Hi guys! Are you falling for all the Fall knits right now? There are SO MANY sweaters that I want to start and it’s making me kinda paralyzed with indecision. So I decided to play it safe and pick a project that has been on my wishlist for a few years now: Edith, a cozy oversized wooly cardigan by Pam Allen. This is pretty much a product knit since the actual knitting is very simple. Lots of stockinette. In boring beige. Makes for good movie night knitting though (side note: I recently watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and thoroughly enjoyed it! The series is one of my YA faves so I was gearing myself up for disappointment. Happy to say that it exceeded all of my expectations. The actors that played Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky had the best on-screen chemistry. And I loved all the scenes with the sisters together).

Ok, back to the knitting. It’s the start of Soctober and I am looking forward to lots and lots of sock knitting. Finally finished my Mind The Gap socks which the hubby is wishing was his, poor chap. So I ordered more yarn from Trailing Clouds to knit him his very own. I also have two new socks on the needles: a plain ol’ one out of a new-to-me commercial sock yarn from Germany called Comfort Sockenwolle. Plus my first Must Stash Yarn socks in the Pumpkin Spice Latte colorway. Both are fulfilling all of my autumn knit cravings for the moment. Speaking of cravings, I recently raided Trader Joe’s of all of their seasonal Fall goodies.

What are your current Fall cravings? Watched anything good lately? Have a fun knitty week!

sunset highway

As you can see by that big grin on the kid’s face, we had a fabulous time at the seashore. Play Eat Repeat. I even squeezed some knitting in and managed to finish my Sunset Highway. I decided to knit short sleeves in keeping with the whole summertime casual easy breezy theme. I love that the yarn for this tee was all pulled from stash but the control freak knitter in me is not sure about the colors. It all looks okay together but I can’t help enviously drooling over all the pretty Sunsets on instagram and ravelry with their seemingly perfectly curated color choices (who knows maybe most were stash inspirations as well). Does that happen to you sometimes when trying to use your stash? But at least most of the envy is balanced out with the satisfaction of turning perfectly good yarn into a finished object.

down to the wire

#bangoutacarbeth

#fringeandfriendslogalong

You guys! I can’t help but give myself a little pat on the back for finishing not one but two knitalong projects by today’s deadline. Even the ends are woven in! Super happy with how they both turned out too. Carbeth gave me a little bit of a scare when I first cast it off because instead of the intended positive ease, the sweater pretty much hugged me like a sausage casing. But through the magical powers of blocking, it ended up being okay. I’m pretty happy with the fit and the marled fade makes me smile. It’s a great way to use up those colorful single skeins that we all have lying around.

Another technique to play with stash yarn is logcabin knitting. It’s just the most fun! I am so glad that I didn’t give up on these logcabin socks during the bumpy design process. I wrote down the steps to make them and just have to translate my messy notes into a free pattern for anyone interested in knitting a pair.

If you get a chance, please check out the hashtags for both knitalongs on instagram. There are so many cool projects in both. I am totally adding the Carbeth Cardigan to my future sweater list and the inventiveness of the knitters in the logalong feed just blows me away!

february knitalongs

I can’t believe how quickly this month has flown by! Has it for you? Definitely unusual for February but I have no complaints. The faster winter speeds by the better. This month has been filled with lots of fun knitalongs which are terrific motivators for getting projects off the needles, don’t you think? Here’s a quick rundown of the ones I am currently participating in:

The above pair of socks were for the little bobbins Christmas Eve cast on and also the Box O’ Sox kal. I love how comfy they turned out to be. The pattern is Emily’s Favorite Socks and the pretty yarn is from A Homespun House in the cozy nights colorway.


Still working on my logcabin socks for the Fringe and Friends Logalong. I decided to go with a darker color scheme for this one. It’s taking a little bit longer since I am trying to write down the steps as I knit.


Next up is a pair of Valentine’s Day socks for the hearts and heels kal hosted by the happy knitting podcast. The yarn is Paintbox Socks in the passion colorway. How was your Valentine’s Day? My husband and I usually give each other cards and some candy to celebrate the day. Nothing too fancy. This year’s treats are Japanese strawberry KitKats my fave!

Last but not least is the project that has been my main knitting entertainment this month. It’s the Carbeth pullover by Kate Davies knitted for the fast and furious annual bang out a sweater kal hosted by Kay & Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting. I will post more pics next week after it’s washed and blocked.

I hope that you are having a fun month of knitting and creating. Are you joining in on any knitalongs or craftalongs this month/season/year?

madewell fade

Happy last day of January! Are you looking forward to Spring as much as I am? I’ve been flipping through my botanical books and sketching little flowers into my journal all while dreaming of the season ahead. It seems so far away when the chilly wind is howling outside and there are grey days upon grey days. Makes me ever grateful for all of the woolly projects in my basket. I’ve been making good progress finishing some of them so a cast-on party is sure to happen soon :) The latest one off the needles is my Madewell Fade. The pattern is a great basic cardigan by Joji Locatelli. All of the yarns used are from Hue Loco. This was quite a quick knit for a fingering weight cardigan. The body only took me a couple of weeks to knit up, but the project stalled when I reached the sleeves. It’s a mystery to me why sleeves take so long to knit but socks fly off the needles. Does anyone else have this problem? Oh well I am just happy to finish a sweater after going a whole year without any completed garments. I can feel my sweater knitting mojo finally returning. Have a great rest of the week!

catching up

Exploration Station 

Madewell 

Sorry for the radio silence but things became crazy busy once August hit. My mom was here visiting from Vietnam which is always so fun. I miss her already. And then back to school happened and we are still adjusting to the change in schedule. Having to wake up super early is probably the hardest thing for us to get used to. Especially when I stay up way past my bedtime knitting. There has been a lot of that going on lately. I have been trying to finish up some lingering WIPs which is such a great feeling. But there are some new cast-ons as well so it all balances out in the end. I finally started a new sweater, my first for the year. I am making surprisingly fast progress on it, considering that it is knitted with fingering weight yarn. The color fading definitely helps to make the knitting more fun and compelling. I am also looking forward to the Speckle & Pop! Westknits Mystery Shawl KAL starting this Friday. Just need to finalize my yarn choice. I can't wait to catch up and see what you all are knitting & making! Are you giving into the urge to cast-on all the shiny new Fall things?

sweater weather

Yay! It's finally cold enough to comfortably wear a woolly sweater and flannel shirt! To celebrate sweater weather, I wrapped up the finishing touches on my fringe and friends improvised top-down kal sweater. So pleased and truthfully, surprised at how well this turned out, considering that it has been quite awhile since I made anything with sleeves. Here's a visual rundown of the process:

dreaming and planning

(mis)calculating

suspenseful knitting

randomly adding another design element

the part that gave me a migraine

sleeve island

plotting woolly tattoos (hmmm flowers, unicorns, donuts...finally settled for trees)

happy sweater dance!

last days of summer

We have been soaking up every last bit of summer these past few weeks. Next Monday is the little guy's first day of middle school, so in between....

visits to the beach

bike rides on the island trail

and local camping trips

....there has been some behind the scenes preparations for what looks to be a fun school year. I love back to school season and all of the excitement that it brings. New beginnings & possibilities. Also, to be honest, a little anxiety. And, thank goodness, always a little mindless knitting  to help with that last bit.

Notice the cute project bag? It's the Rosemary Bag from Della Q and since receiving it to try out, it's accompanied me on all of our end of summer adventures. I love the smooth lightweight fabric, the cute dumpling shape and the just right length of the handles. It even has a handy outer pocket and is the perfect size for my current favorite on-the-go project, socks. I also started a Cancun lacy box top with some sparkly rayon yarn in the stash which matches the pretty colors of the bag. Love when that happens :) The top was an impulsive cast-on but I am really enjoying the simple lace stitches. It will probably be put on hold until next summer though, because with back to school season comes the alluring call of wool. Right now there is an improvised top-down sweater knitalong happening over at Fringe Association which you can follow on Instagram using the hashtag #fringeandfriendskal2016. Lots and lots of lovely ideas and projects. Here's how mine is shaping up so far:

I hope that you are all finding time to enjoy these last few weeks of summer. Hugs go out to those of you who are saying goodbye to your first-time-away-from-home college kids. I can't even imagine! I know that I will be wiping away some tears on Monday and it's just middle school!

stopover

2 weeks from cast on to bind off! Talk about fast. And totally unplanned for. The fun idea to #BangOutASweater was the brainchild of Kay & Ann from the always witty Mason-Dixon Knitting blog. The beautifully written pattern is from the ever stylish Mary Jane Mucklestone. I mainly posted about my progress on Instagram, where you can also see lots of inspiring Stopovers-in-progress as well as #bangfinishers (gosh how did we ever live without hashtags?!?). The yarn is lettlopi & all three of the main colors (oatmeal, brown & rose) are from deep stash. It has been many years since I have knitted with lettlopi. I had forgotten how beautiful and unusual a yarn it is. Rustic but blooms like a flower after blocking. Warm but light as air. This was my first time knitting a lopapeysa and I highly recommend Stopover for Icelandic sweater newbies like me. Very clear instructions and easy colorwork. I also love how Mary Jane included waist shaping so that the sweater has a very modern look to it. She also went rogue with the gauge which she explains here. I can't wait to try this same easy gauge technique on Dalur. Another 2 week sweater perhaps? I could easily get addicted to that!

I couldn't decide on a single pop color so I used three!

sweater daydreams

I hope that everyone is gently easing back into their post-holiday routines. This week has been spent trying to finish up some WIP's left over from last year. My current strategy is to knit on one project at a time until it's finished, then go onto the next. So hopefully there will be a steady parade of FO's in the next few weeks if all goes well.

The temperatures have dropped and now that winter is finally approaching, thoughts of sweater knitting are happily dancing around in my head. But what sweater should it be? We are so lucky as knitters to have a treasure trove of patterns readily available with just a click of the mouse away. But sometimes all of that wealth can be overwhelming. Plus, I would love to choose a sweater project from one of the many books that I own or a downloaded pattern already in my Ravelry library. So after a fun few days of sweater daydreaming, I managed to come up with a list of possible contenders for this year's sweater projects:

Several standouts from Swoon maine, the stunningly beautiful new book by Carrie Bostick Hoge: Shore Cardigan & Lighthouse Pullover. Both of these sweaters would fit seamlessly into my everyday wardrobe.

I would love to use up some of my lettlopi that has been stashed away from when I first started knitting sweaters. These four sweaters from Knitting with Icelandic Wool would make for some dreamy wintertime knitting: Riddari, Kross, Aftur, Dalur.

When I found my way back to knitting after college (pre-Ravelry & before knitting blogs came into existence. In other words, the Prehistoric Knitting Age) my main sources of inspiration were the always gorgeously styled projects from Rowan knitting magazines. I would drool over every page but can you believe, I have never attempted to knit a single Rowan pattern? So it's long overdue. I love the interesting stitch detail that is the highlight of Laide. It also looks less intimidating in the finishing department than other Rowan patterns that I've recently come across.

This next one is a long shot since I am still trying to make heads or tails of the pattern. It's by the prolific Japanese designer Michiyo: Tight Fit Aran Pullover. The name just rolls off the tongue, right?  I might have to bribe my Hubby with some hand knitted socks in order to get his help translating the Japanese kanji. But it would be well worth the effort.

Lastly, I couldn't resist clicking on the buy now button when I saw the Reindeer cardigan designed by the talented Alina from The Gift of Knitting blog. She hit it out of the ballpark with her first sweater design. There is so much to love about this cardigan: beautiful cables, interesting textured stitch details, open & easy fit. I love the longer length and predict that the finished cardigan must feel like being wrapped in a cozy wooly hug when worn. The hardest part is deciding on the color. Kinda crushing on this lovely version.

Whew, sorry for the loooong drawn out post. At least now there's a bit of a plan. Of course, nothing is set in stone and there's always the rogue impulsive mustcastonnow sweater projects that manage to sneak their ways onto the needles. What kinds of projects are you daydreaming about in the new year?

But before I can cast on for any of the above beauties, there's some socks to finish. Here's a little video clip of me knitting away on them. (A bunch of knitters are posting videos on Instagram showing how they knit using hashtag #loop2loop and #howiknit. So much fun to watch if you get a chance!)

morning mist

The name of this pattern fits it to a tee: quiet peaceful serene. Knitted in one of my favorite summer yarns, Hempathy, it was the perfect beach take along project. The only thing that caused just a tiny bit of angst was my decision to pass on the fun color block effect. Even now, I can't believe that I let a chance to play with colors slip by! Oh well, there's always the next one. I would totally knit this well-written pattern again.

Have you ever regretted a color choice for a project? What did you end up doing? Although the off-white color is ho-hum boring, it does show off that pretty lace pattern rather well.
 

I think that this simple top will get worn quite a bit during the warmer months.

do-over

Can you hear my huge sigh of frustration? There has been more frogging than knitting going on around here lately and it's making me mighty grumpy. You know that knitting has taken over your life when everything that goes wrong can be blamed on it. Forgot to update the kid's lunch account? (should have done a proper gauge swatch before casting on for these cute Fee-bee mitts) ... started dinner at the last minute and found out that a couple of essential ingredients were missing? (the lace cuff was looking too big and messy) ... forgot to pay the cable bill? (kept on knitting despite it all) ... the air-conditioner stopped working? (ended up admitting defeat & ripping out the entire project).

So this morning, I decided a do-over was in order. After putting the little guy on the bus and drinking a huge mug of coffee, I escaped to my secret knitting spot, enjoying the beautiful water views along the way (while ignoring the frogs croaking rip-it rip-it). The clouds cleared and the sun came out.

A couple of blissful hours of knitting on Morning Mist did wonders to lift my mood.

With a clearer head and calmer heart, I have decided to ditch the Fee-bee mitts for now and just play around with some pretty autumn colors from my stash. 

I hope that this week (and your knitting) has been kind to you!

hitofude

Sorry for the long silence this month, but things have been a bit topsy-turvy here lately. I had to make an emergency trip to Vietnam (due to some health issues with my dad) and just came back a week ago. Re-entry into real life has been difficult but hopefully things will get back to a normal routine soon. Making the most of the last couple of weeks of summer vacation. Can't believe that school will be starting soon! Where has the summer gone? Time to get those warm weather WIP's off the needles in order to make way for all the new Fall knits.

I finally finished my Hitofude after knitting on it off and on for over a year. Just happy that it fits, although there's not a lot of wiggle room in the upper body.

The yarn is Quince & co. Sparrow, a linen yarn with beautiful drape and colors but not a lot of give. I would definitely knit this clever and fun pattern again with the same yarn, but in the next size up and in a more neutral color. This rose color is pretty but an off-white or grey cardi would be worn more often. Can't recommend this pattern highly enough, especially if you are in the market for a knit that can be easily worked on over a long span of time. The lace pattern is easily memorized and intuitive. Just make sure to keep track of where you last left off in the pattern.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone's August happenings. Hope that it's been a good month for you all :)