I’ve finally got around to taking pictures of a few things I’ve finished (but not my sweater workshop sweater yet! I’m so lazy!)

A bunny hat from the book itty bitty hats. I love this book – I’d love to knit every single hat I think!

I used scraps of Pima Tencel, Cascade Sierra and GGH Samoa.

A baby bib.

This is a super simple knit, inpsired by the bibs in Mason Dixon Knitting. (1 Skein Peaches and Creme, size 7 needles about an hour, ta da!)

The Rutabaga bag

This is from the Spring issue of Knitscene. It’s super fun to knit and make a great re-useable shopping bag.

2 skeins of Cascade Sierra, size 10.5 24″ circs.

And Christina knitted this Rusted Root for a model for the store. I just happened to have her knit it in my size! (Don’t mind the hair, it’s crazy windy here today and the dog decided that he wanted to walk with me to the yarn store today, so I had to chase him down and take him back home.)

We found the sizing to be a little big and Christina ended up knitting the size Medium (36-39″ bust). It took 4 skeins of Cascade Sierra, and it’s SO super comfy!

And just one quick pic of my little photographer.

It’s finished!

I really love it. I would have passed up this yarn had I not seen the finished project. But I have to say, it’s one of my new favorite summer yarns.

(photo by Eden)

Stats:
Pattern: Split-Neckline cap-sleeved tee from the book Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel.
Yarn: Invito Multicolor in color Joan (pattern called for 8 balls, I used 5) and Pima Tencel (pattern called for 1, I used 2.)
Needles: Addi Turbos US 7 32″
Use: for me!!

Changes: I decreased the amount of stitches picked up around the keyhole, it seemed to lay better on me this way. I also found it necessary to pick up two stitches in the underarms to avoid holes. And there were a few wording issues for separating the sleeves. Anyone who’s ever knit a raglan sweater can easily fix this.

Now I’m just wondering if I can get away with knitting one in every color?

What do you think? I’m not so sure about the teal. Either the original pic was altered, or there is a HUGE difference in dye lots (very unusual for Cascade).

I’m sitting here at Tangle anxiously awaiting the arrival of my UPS lady. (All of my postage delivery people are women – interesting.) I’m excited because I ordered in yarn to make this:

Isn’t it purdy? I’m even making it in that exact color which is quite a departure for me, but, hey, I gotta say, I love the green!

As you can probably tell, I’m really loving Stefanie’s new book, Fitted Knits. So much so, that if I had the time I’d knit through the entire book. Seriously, there’s very few pieces that I wouldn’t knit.

As with all books, check out the Errata here before enjoying!

(While I was trying to write this between customers my shipment arrived. I know what I’m doing tonight! – I’ll have the yarn up for sale asap at Tangle too. )

I think I knit this like 6 months ago. I felted it 2 months ago and I took the picture a couple weeks ago. I’m really on the ball here huh?

Pre-felting (lens cap for size)

post-felting

I think it turns into a really cute bag. Plus it takes like no time at all to knit.

Stats
Pattern: Noni Carpet Bags (smallish carpet bag)
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: Denise size 13 (I think? maybe 11’s)
Use: model for Tangle

The thing I love about knitting pure and simple patterns is how much you can change them to make them really fab. This baby dress is not only very cute, but was a great way to use up scrap yarn too. (Pictured on either side is a knitting pure and simple bulky cardigan and child’s cardigan – can you tell we love these patterns at Tangle?)

Specs
pattern: knitting pure and simple’s sundress pattern

yarn: GGH Samoa – used up all the leftovers from various projects – I just knit until each ball was gone.

needles: Denise

changes: Instead of sewing the straps down, I used a provisional cast on, and added the straps in while I was casting on for the back. I also made sure to slip the first stitch of every row for a nice clean edge. And I decided to crochet around the neck to clean up the strange looking stitches that occurred when casting on for the body section.

Now I only wish I made it in Eden’s size!

My list of things I’m knitting is growing again. I do this, finish up a whole bunch of things and then start a whole bunch. It’s not too bad of a cycle I suppose, as long as it all gets done eventually.

This hat was one of the things that I worked on in the car on the way to the hot springs last week. I really like this pattern – but I have to say, it’s not one that you can knit and be distracted.

A couple things that helped me were being in a quiet place and running a “safety line” after each pattern repeat. (I just ran some scrap yarn through each stitch on the needles after the pattern repeat – thankfully, because I ripped back SEVERAL times.) The only thing I would have changed about the pattern would have been to make the garter stitch cuff shorter. Considering the family that I came from, it’s surprising that my head isn’t really all that big.

I used one skein of Malabrigo Worsted Lettuce and size 7 needles. Oh and the other thing I did to the pattern was kitchener the seam rather than work the 3 needle bind off. I have no clue why it was written for a 3 needle bindoff rather than a seamless kitchener. (oh and to make the garter stitch look seamless with the kitchener, I worked those last 10 garter stitch stitches of kitchener on the inside of the hat rather than on the outside.)

Have you seen the German knitting magazine Verena? I’m in love. The only problem is that I can’t speak or read German. Luckily, I have a WONDERFUL person who helps me out at the shop who is German. I’m going to keep her around forever!

I’ve started knitting this shell, isn’t it beautiful? I’m using a rich, royal blue cotton with a tiny bit of wool in it. Actually, I’m really excited about this new yarn – that little bit of wool really makes it a nice yarn.

Other things I’m working on?
-a slouchy hat out of Malabrigo
-a funky free form crocheted blanket
-still my sweater workshop sweater (but it’s getting closer – I’ve finally been re-inspired)
-a baby dress
-a couple pairs of socks
-and I’ve got a couple patterns floating around in my head in various stages of knitting.
hmmm, I’m sure there’s more but I can’t recall… All I want to do these days is knit.

Have you knit with tencel? It’s a wood derived fiber that is so soft and silky. The mitts above were knit out of a double strand of Cascade pima/tencel. It’s such a nice, drape-y fabric with a good weight, I’m thinking about what I want to knit next out of it.

This is also a new pattern I have for sale at Tangle. I named the pattern after my knitting friend who passed away last month and a portion of the sales will be donated to breast cancer research.

Another item that I recently finished (again, another store model for upcoming classes) is this felted Hobo Bag.

This is a Noni pattern that didn’t really need any changing although, when I have some more time (like 2012), I plan to make some sort of applique for it just to liven it up a bit.

A couple things I learned with this:
-Cascade 220 Tweed is beautiful, but it is not worth the extra $$$ when it comes to felting because the little flecks barely show.
-Sewing a zipper into a felted object is much easier than sewing one into a un-felted, knitted object. But both are equally as tedious.
-Craft stores in my town have something against purse rings. (That and decent felt, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing.)
-Circular stockinette is my friend, maybe too good a friend.

Stats on the pattern:
Noni Felted Hobo Adventure Bags pattern (will be back in stock at Tangle soon.)
4 skeins of Cascade 220 tweed (pattern called for 5)
size 11 (or maybe 13?) 32″ addi turbos

Lately, I’ve really been trying to look at a pattern and see more potential in it. I think it’s a good step for a knitter to be willing to take the bones of a pattern and make it their own. Take for instance this photo:

Never in a million years would I want to knit this sweater. But actually, I did. I’ve gotten to the point where I know that these sweaters (Knitting Pure and Simple) have good bones and I was fairly confident that I could change it into something beautiful.

This is what I did. I started with a solid colored yarn – an improvement already. Then I decided to work the raglan increases with a k1, yo rather than a kfb. After that I thought picot edging would be really great, so I worked that on every edge including the button bands. For the button bands, I only worked one row of garter stitch after picking up stitches then I worked the picot bind off. I decided to skip button holes and go with a single closure at the top, a sweet satin ribbon.

This is what I ended up with:

I think it’s a vast improvement to say the least AND I didn’t have to go and write a whole new pattern to get something totally different… I just changed a few things. THAT is my kind of knitting.