kittycafe

Mid-Winter Knitting, Late Winter Wearing

The Vogue Fair Isle Cardigan. the pattern is available here. I even found a video, who knew?

Made with Lettlopi. The pattern called for Reynolds Lopi-Lite. The colours were almost identical.

This was a fun and easy knit. It was pretty fast, although I took a leisurely time making it. It made for several good weekend movie pairings.

I am told that my monitor will show images lighter than most so I apologize for the dark photo.

The photo of the steek (yes, there has to be photographic evidence when you spend two months on a project and then cut it right down the middle) shows it in a more accurate light (I hope)

As an artist, I was dubious of the colour combinations but resisted changing the chart. I find it hard to relinquish artistic control! Never the less, I am happy with the outcome. It's warm, it's colourful and it fits!

With projects such as these I am left with all sorts of wool leftovers. It's tempting to go for a matching striped hat. Or I can put them all in a bag and start some spring projects. We shall see...

Weather and Socks

I'm home sick today, day 4 of a nasty, nasty virus that my darling daughter decided to share with me, so I thought I may as well update the blog between naps, sniffling, coughing and doses of elderberry tincture.

Well, where were we?

Since we last spoke the weather has been glorious and nasty about three or four times, in alternating sequence. I'm only illustrating this phenomenon so that when you hear that Canadians talk a lot about the weather well, THIS IS WHY:

I spent part of one enjoyable day cleaning up the garden in just my sweater, soaking up the sun... and then the next day, this:

And then the next day, this:

It was so warm and humid that you could see the snow evaporate.

Then on the weekend, we actually barbecued and ate out in The Porch. Heaven.

So while this was schizophrenic weather that we call spring was happening outside, inside I was planting seeds and knitting socks (seeds for the optimistic warm days, socks for the cold ones) I'll skip the dirt photos and go right to:

Mum's birthday socks. Called ' Cabled Sweat socks" in  Socks, A Spin Off Special Publication for Knitters and Spinners and my only actual sock book because really there are so many sock patterns floating around on the WWW I can't count my bookmarks.

I have made thes once before

in very different yarn, Koigu Painter's Palette for a sock swap in 2004. Goodness, I've been at this for a while. The new pair was made in the much revered "old' Kroy, picked up ages ago at a thrift store. It is deliciously soft but also a bit splitty so I'm not so sure what all the fuss is about. I finished these just under the wire for the birthday party, with fifteen minutes to spare.

Man Socks. In suitable man-approved colours. These are worsted weight, based on the pattern here. I had bought this yarn for a Boy Hat, only to learn the weight was entirely wrong and I had run out of time just before Christmas. It was then earmarked for slippers right up until the cast-on, when I changed my mind. My husband has chronically cold feet and I took pity on him. These babies are warm.

Lastly, for me:

I must admit to scrambling around last minute for the ball band for these. I love this yarn. So soft, so warm, so nice and stretchy. It is possibly the best sock yarn I have ever knit with and enjoyed wearing. I used a generic pattern for these and I confess I found the first sock half-knit when searching through the Breeding Box o' Yarn.

And that concludes the sock parade for the foreseeable future. The sock muse only strikes randomly around here and this was a hefty dose. It worked better than my cold medication. That said, I think it's time for a little lay down.

I'm going to bake you a wonderful seasonal treat for next time.

And hey, another random shot of the stripy blanket.

Oops, I did it again

I really should apologise for the title but I couldn't help myself.

I'm in the knitting zone. Two sweaters in under two months. I had no plan for another sweater when I finished the last one. I was lamenting again the lack of yarn in this house for another sweater and  again, the husband pointed to two large plastic bins in the bedroom closet. 

"All scraps!" I assured him/defended myself. This is a little bit of a fib because there is sock yarn in there for a few pairs, one even on the needles but and it's a big BUT, I have to be in the mood for socks.

The last time I sang this sad song I came up with the stripey blanket, seen partially here and here. I never posted this as a Finished Object and really, I don't know if it is. I had imagined a border at least. It is in constant use, though, so it's finished enough and I'll try to get a decent photo of it without felines on it.

The blanket didn't seem to make much a dent in the "scraps" and so I spend one afternoon soon after completing the latest DROPS number dumping out and sorting the two bins into order. I grouped the odds and sods colour-wise into bags and managed to eliminate one bin. Marginal success! I think the main problems was too many of those zippered plastic project bags taking up too much space. Also, I swear those little balls get too tangled up in there and start breeding - just a suspicion mind you, but it's crazy how many times I've managed to pull a project or five out of this box when I think I have nothing to knit. 

During the sorting I couldn't help but notice I had quite an abundance of blues and greens. No surprise there, I could live in blues and greens, the colours of the sky and the sea. Oh, wait, I practically do...

So I took put this bag aside, firmly shut the lid of the bin (I could even get it properly shut this time!) and went to the patterns. 

I will often say, "I could make this one again" when finishing up a particularly nice pattern, one that was a pleasure to knit and fits well. I often say it but I've never actually done it. My head gets turned by something new.

Well, until now. This is Jemima by Anna Bell. My first was here.(the link to the pattern is there as well) I loved it then and I love it now. Unfortunately, the bamboo/wool blend of the first one aged quite rapidly. That's another thing I'm always telling myself, "JUST BUY 100% WOOL! It is the only thing you are ever truly happy with."

There was no plan for the stripes because I didn't want to get committed to a definite pattern and then run out of one colour. So it was random all the way.

I am sorry to say I did not finish off the bag of blues and greens, either. Back into the breeding box.

I think it's time for a break from knitting (5 library books to read!) or succumb to the inevitable: a pair of socks.

Plan B

 These are not the Christmas gift socks.

I mercilessly stole the needles from the Christmas socks, which were turning out too large for the recipient anyway. The Christmas socks are now to be the Easter Socks (don't judge me, I just said I'd get them done, I didn't say when :))

I got obsessed with a new project and abandoned all reading until I finished them.

 

These are the Tyrolean Stockings (Interweave fall 2007) (So that's how you photograph these things!)

And yes, I believe I said something about returning the remaining wool from the Caitlin Pullover but I couldn't find the receipt (at first) and then I was cruising through Interweave back issues for some inspiration for my next cardigan/Olympic Knitting and this pattern was right after a contender, the Tangled Yoke Cardigan in the magasine and the flesh is weak (or at least my focus is) and well, here they are.

 

The fit is very nice indeed. And they stay up! They aren't quite knee socks on me but they are the longest socks I've made. I usually wear my socks ankle length.

 These are boot socks, thick and warm, just right for a Canadian winter.

tryst

or the story of a few skeins of some discontinued Bainin.

When Littlest was in grade seven, I volunteered after school helping to start up a knitting club. The teacher had a bag of donated yarn to use and we started the first meeting by making knitting needles. 

While the kids glued beads on top of their homemade needles I had a look through the yarn bag. I think the teacher saw my jaw drop a few inches when I pulled a few skeins of Alice Starmore Bainin out from the expected bargain basement acrylic and held it up.

"Who donated these?" I asked.

"I have no idea. This bag has been kicking around for a while."

I looked through for more treasures, keeping the Bainin close at hand.

"Would you like it? That yarn you haven't released from your iron grip you're holding?"

The teacher was a beginner knitter and wasn't acquainted with the quality of some wool versus others. I wasn't going to inform her either, at least not at this moment. (Okay, I confess I did tell her about it but she remained unimpressed.)

She shrugged, "Take it"

So the Bainin ended up in my knitting bag and waited there for the right pattern for a few more years. It was clearly earmarked for a hat/scarf combo yardage-wise but it is not particularly soft until it has been washed several times and who wants a scratchy scarf?

So finally,

it became the Tryst Cropped Vest.

Normally I don't go near cropped patterns because I usually have to add a few inches to regular patterns - most are cropped on me. But something about this one stuck. I feel very Jane Austen in it (jeans not withstanding)

It is such a beautiful warm day for November that for once I am not freezing my toes taking photos outside.

Mother Nature has already brought us a little of this, for the first time this year.

Snow. So these days are not to be missed by staying indoors.

It was my wedding anniversary yesterday. I remember 23 years ago it was similarly warm. I had made a special off-white jacket to wear with my dress for outdoor photos and I didn't need it at all.

Well, off to the woods to gather more kindling to prepare for the cold, which is inevitably riding the heels of this unseasonably warm treat. One can never have enough vests or kindling.

Winter White

I almost feel I should rename this blog Death By Stockinette.

 I'm sure you are weary of it by now.  It's almost a back to the womb phenomenon, or at least back to beginner knitting. But honestly, I like it.

After several tries at impatient teenager photography (and three layers underneath to go outside) I threw the darned thing on the bed.

Ah, that's better.

This sweater took a lot longer to complete than strictly necessary. I blame January, the worst month of the year. Nothing got accomplished in January. I would almost finish something and then start another project to deliberately thwart the ending. Why I don't know.

It's a good thing I was feeling bookish at least. 

This sweater is Vanille by Blue Alvarez. A basic top down pattern that everyone should have at least one of.

I didn't settle for vanilla, as the name implies but went all the way to pure white.

A dangerous thing for a committed tea drinker and sometimes slob but I really like white. I have noticed that intentionally or not, I dress to blend in with my surroundings and the theme right now is clearly snow, snow, snow.

The yarn is wool with a pinch of angora , Pamir by Elann, very nice.

I originally envisioned this as a loose boyfriend-type sweater. Oops. It didn't turn out that way.

Of course I also envisioned finishing it early in January.

You will be happy to know that I am getting a little antsy for cables and colour work so maybe an aran or fair isle is in order - so there is hope for me yet!

Nothing else new to report other than the cat's tail caught on fire by way of candle last night. He should have be a little perturbed at least(!) but this one knows no fear.

And he shouldn't have been on the dining room table anyway.

No worries, it was put out immediately. Just a little singe.

Jemima

It's impossible around here to get somebody to take my picture, especially during the daylight hours.

Finally today, I dragged The Lad away from the computer and we ran outside in the cold rain. All hope of an artistic set up was dashed (particularly when he caught me blinking. Hence, the cannibalistic shot)  He's impatient so I knew I couldn't push my luck and request another location and another try.

I think he was impatient to get back to the computer but ha! I wrangled it from him again and am here, at last.

This is Jemima, by Anna Bell

The yarn is superwash wool and bamboo, the colour, celadon. When my elann order came in, I was iffy about this yarn. There was a sheen I wasn't so enamoured  with but when I started knitting the sweater I changed my mind completely. It was soft and lovely to knit with.

The pattern calls for a tubular cast on, which I found a great tutorial for here. I love this cast on method.

It was easy breezy to knit. I did lengthen the body but that was my only modification. 

A classic sweater I am very happy to have in my wardrobe.

Although I'm still happy stocking-stitching away I am feeling the need for a little patterning right about now. It seems I started out knitting the most complicated patterns and I have evolved to craving the simplest. Similar to my life's evolution, I think.

I have been looking for a particular photo to illustrate this, from what I call the Intarsia 80's. No luck so far, could it be that it hasn't been unpacked yet?  I'll keep looking, it's good for a laugh if nothing else.

So anyway, as I was saying, from the complicated to the simple.

I've worn it all weekend.

Seafoam Blankie

Well, not a blanket at all, a cardigan.

When I was small, I had a "blankie". 

It wasn't so much a love object  as just a nice snuggle at the end of the day. It stayed on/in the bed and I tucked it up under my chin at night. 

Besides, no one had had names for these things like, 'love object' in the 1960's. If you were attached to your teddy bear, you were attached to your teddy bear, no college thesis or Jungian therapy required.

I particularly liked laundry day because that meant it was clean and sweet smelling and if I was very lucky, warm and soft from the dryer.

So I really haven't changed much.

This cardigan is Jess from Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora, made, surprisingly for me IN Cotton Angora ( colour, sea foam, 50% off sale at Urban Yarns earlier this summer)

It's soft and warm and a big unstructured hug, just like that old blankie.

You can see I'm still currently in my simple stockingnette phase, and a soft green phase as well. (Two more to go)

It didn't fly off the needles like the last stocking stitch, mostly because it was on larger needles. I like them small and fast.

I can't say I was enamored with the pattern writing per se; this is Debbie Bliss pre-schematics, which left me thinking I was off gauge/size a couple of times. And there was math required at one point!

The only mod. I made to the pattern was to crochet a simple edging all around; it didn't seem quite finished without it. Now that I think of it, a true blanket edging in satin might have been fun.

I think I'm going to be putting this on a lot around the house.

A blanket with sleeves, very much my thing.

Neiman

Fact:

You can finish a summer sweater project much faster if you don't read 5 books at the same time.

I am a fickle, fickle creature. I had already started another warm weather project which I dropped  like a hot potato when my elann order came in. I picked up the Baby Silk (baby alpaca and silk) and had to start knitting with it right away. It was so soft and fine and I am weak for soft and fine. The yarn was also a bit slippery and when it came time to do the sleeves on dpns, I dropped a lot of stitches. Thank goodness for the forgiving black yarn.

I have been checking Ravelry before I start a project these days to see what other's have experienced with the pattern in question. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage because while I do find issues to look out for, I also worry (usually needlessly) when other knitter's have serious fitting problems or unsatisfying outcomes. I read my share of both here but I encountered nothing but good knitting. It pattern was a doddle, it fits well and it's oh so soft. Have I mentioned about the soft?

The pattern is found here.

Did I say I was weak for soft and fine?

Hmm. The original Kitty Cafe is open for business in our new location.

They've found me.

 

A Frogging We Go

The Silk Corset is going for a swim.

I think the problem here was expectation. The first time I saw this project was over at Claudia's.(Click I'll wait)  She had made this lovely long sleeved version that really interested me. 

I purchased the pattern after seeing hers but it languished without yarn for about two years until I purchased the yarn to start on it.

I started to have some doubts when I saw some photos on Ravelry and saw other interpretations.

This is one of those negative ease patterns, meaning you are going to knit it a little smaller than you want the finish dimensions to be. Well, this involves a lot of stretching in the actual wearing and the ribbing and  lace pattern became too pulled open, and it's too tight to wear anything under it, for modesty sake. And it looks and feels too stretched and tight for my liking. I can never wear anything that's not 100% comfortable. 

It is a shame as it is a lovely pattern and the shaping is very well thought out.  If I reknit it in the next largest size it could work. There seemed such a jump between sizes and I was nearer the first than the second choice. But I don't have the will right now to start over and as it is very dressy I have no where to wear it and so no incentive to finish.

So it goes in the frog pond. 

Actual frog pond shown here! We're nothing if not authentic around here.

To prove it is a frog pond, here is my cat, Seamus with an actual frog.

I'll spare you further details. You know this doesn't end well either.