Yarn Intercept

Starghan

I just finished up a baby blanket for my cousin’s new baby boy! It’s the Starghan and is a pretty easy blanket. It was also one of those that starts in the center with each round getting longer and longer. So, the longer I knit, the less progress I seemed to make. But I persevered and finished it! I then washed and dried the blanket and it held up really well.

I used Knit Picks Swish worsted in, I think, Big Sky and Parrot with Ash as the accent. I can’t find any ball bands anywhere! I think it turned out rather well.

I can’t provide stats this time because I don’t remember when I cast on or when I finished (it’s been done for a few weeks). I also don’t remember the needle size I used, but I do remember that I had to order a 60 inch cable so I could fit all the stitches!

I have another finished project to show, but it’s still blocking. It’s for another baby and is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

          Tiger says, “That spells adorable! You must be talking about me.”

I Love Knit Picks

I recently sorted through my yarn and realized that I have a ton of Knit Picks yarns! I think the quality of the yarn is excellent and it is very affordable. I pulled everything out and this is what I have that isn’t currently in a project or an FO:

 

Starting at the bottom left and working clockwise, I have:

3 skeins of Shadow Lace in the discontinued color, Sunset
2 skeins of Gloss Lace in the discontinued color, Chipotle
10 balls of Shine Sport in Cream
1 ball of Dishie in Clementine (I now have two of this colorway)
1 ball of Chroma fingering in the discontinued color, North Woods
3 balls of the special reserve Full Circle worsted yarn in Passion
4 balls of Stroll in, left to right, Wonderland Heather, Rouge, Navy, and Midnight Heather (I had a multi-color sock design in mind)
1 skein Stroll Handpainted in Tree Fort
1 skein Stroll Hnadpainted in Watermelon
2 balls Felici in Botany  
2 skeins (one is not pictured) Imagination in the discontinued color, Pixie Dust

I am currently working on four projects using Knit Picks yarn. Here are two:

On the left is a new shawl design using Chroma fingering (Rollerskate) and Stroll fingering (Midnight Heather).
On the right is a star-shaped baby blanket using Swish Worsted in Big Sky, Parrot, and Cobblestone Heather. I just finished knitting this and will post a picture after I wash and block it.

I’m also working on a pair of socks using Stroll in two colors as well as a hat using Wool of the Andes sport in two colors.

I use the needles but am not as enamored with them as I am the yarn. I have the interchangeable set and while it is serviceable, I do have the perennial problem with cable joins. I love the points though!

Do you use Knit Picks yarn too?

 

           Tiger says, “I use it all the time! Stroll makes a terrific pillow.”

New Pattern Layout

For the last few months, I’ve been collaborating with a graphic designer, Yvonne Kao, cogknition on Ravelry, to create a new pattern layout. Basically, I told Yvonne what I wanted, and she took my ideas and made them professional and organized! I am thrilled with the results and am finally ready to share them with you. She built a template that I can use to keep all my designs in the same format without much work from me. It’s amazing how easy it is to use! I’ve used word processing software for years but had never utilized a template like this before. It’s fabulous and I can’t thank Yvonne enough for the work she put into this.

Since I didn’t have a new pattern ready to go, I converted one of my older, free patterns to the new layout. You can download Veezy Socks in the new format here: download now

Here’s a sneak peek:

She made the blue axes and the graph paper a main element in the design. Then, she picked a few fonts, including the Journal font for the main title and headings, that looked good together. Again, I am thrilled with the new look and hope you like it too!

Now, I just have 13 more patterns to convert to the new template. I’m glad I haven’t been more prolific!

        Tiger says, “Me too! It might have taken away from feeding time!”

Deadline Knitting

Sometimes you know you have to knit something by a certain time, but you still procrastinate on getting it done, right? It’s not just me, is it? Well, I’ve known I was going to make a colleague a shawl for months now. I drew her name for our school birthday exchange ages ago. I knew her birthday was in February and we’d be having the party sometime this month. Still, I didn’t start. I was told last Friday that we’d be having the birthday party this Tuesday. That gave me THREE DAYS. Many would give up. Knit a dishcloth and call it done.

But I wanted to make this lady something special. She is a lovely person and a joy to work with. So, I stopped by the yarn store on Friday and picked up some Cascade Heritage sock yarn in black and orange (she’s a big Oklahoma State fan…it was an easy choice). Then I came home and bought Stephen West’s Daybreak shawl pattern and cast on.

Then I knit. All weekend. After an inservice at school, I knit all day Monday. I skipped planning and grading and kept going into the night. I finished binding off (45 minutes) and blocking at midnight on Monday. Tuesday morning, the shawl was dry and I wrapped it up. I gave it to her Tuesday afternoon, after our Mardi Gras parade (hence the beads!). It was big hit! She put it on and tied it perfectly. See? I told you she was lovely.

Pattern: Daybreak by Stephen West
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Sock in black and orange (about 1/2 ball each)
Needles: US size 4 circulars
Cast On: February 17, 2012
Finished: February 21, 2012
Modifications: I made the medium size, but didn’t get to 16 stripe sets. I knit until I had 14 and knew I needed to start the edging or I’d never finish. Also, I messed up the garter ridges on the edging a bit, but I’ll just call it a design feature! It looks intentional.

At the Mardi Gras parade, my boss’s wife brought their baby…wearing his Peapod Cardigan that I made for him! Doesn’t he look adorable?

 

                           Tiger says, “Adora ---- yaaaaawn ----ble!”

Oddments Now Available

I have released my Oddments sock pattern and it is now available for free on Ravelry!

                                 download now 

I used 6 different leftover yarns, but you can use as many or as few as you like! This would also look terrific in a single handpainted or even solid color. The yarns blend together using a wrapped stitch every 4th row. The other rows are plain knit so this is an easy, mild pattern. If you choose to knit Oddments, let me know if you have any questions! I’m always happy to help.

 

               Tiger says, “How about you come help me outta this sink!”

Happy New Year and Happy New Pattern!

I’m starting the New Year off with the release of a cowl that I’ve had in the works for ages and ages. It’s the Quartette Cowl and uses a luxury yarn by Cascade – Epiphany - now discontinued, thanks to the rising prices of cashmere. Choose your softest, most lush yarn that you’d love to have next to your neck to knit this with. Think alpaca or cashmere. Epiphany is a sport weight yarn (Cascade says it’s DK, but it’s really lighter than that) and the cowl uses size 3 needles. It only takes 125 or so yards. I knit two versions using the 273 yard ball of Epiphany and I still had some left.

Just so you know, the word “quartette” is just a variant spelling of “quartet”. I just liked the look of “quartette” better! There are 4 repeats of the lace pattern and 4 buttons are used as closures. Quartette seemed the perfect name!

The pattern includes both charted and fully written instructions. The I-cord loops are easy to do and are explained in detail. A few of my testers had the neat idea to use a contrasting color for the loops. Be sure to check out their project pages! And, as always, if you have any questions at all, please send me an email. 

                                                  

                                                  for $4.00

 

 

                 Tiger says, “Quartette, quartet. I can’t spell anyway!”

Oddments

I came up with a name!

Oddments is another name for all of those leftovers, remnants, remainders, etc. So this pair of socks is now called Oddments!

Pattern: Oddments – my own, available soon
Yarn: Leftovers from 6 other pairs of socks
Needles: US 1/ 2.25mm dpns
Cast on: December 1, 2011 (SKA challenge for December to use leftovers)
Finished: December 28, 2011
Interesting info: Because I used so many yarns, I wasn’t able to carry them along, but instead cut each yarn after using it. That left me with a TON of ends to weave in. It took fortitude, but I finished them!

In the last post, this picture showed the yarns I planned to use:

And now, after knitting the pair, the same yarns in the same order:

How is it that the two yarns in the middle look like I didn’t touch them? I promise they are included!

Close up of the stitch pattern – a fun-to-do wrapped stitch:

It blends the different yarns together nicely. This would probably be a useful way to knit with handpainted yarns as well as a multitude of leftovers. I am having the pattern test knit right now and it will be available for free soon! (Free because other than the wrapped stitch row, there isn’t much pattern to it!)

I received some Christmas yarn, but I’ll save that for another post.

                      Tiger says, “The anticipation is killing me…”

A New Heladas Hat and Another Sock

I needed a quick gift for a colleague at school so I thought my own hat pattern, Heladas Hat, would work perfectly! I knew she liked the colors yellow and gray together, but I wasn’t sure if she’d like the pinstripes. I left them off and just knit the main body of the hat and crown in gray after working the brim with yellow as the contrast color. I think it turned out perfectly!

 

I think I accidently worked an extra repeat on the brim, but I still like it!

Pattern: Heladas Hat by ME!
Yarn: Cascade 220 in gray and yellow (I probably have enough to knit a second hat with gray as the contrast.)
Needles: Size 6 circs
Cast On: December 14, 2011
Finished: December 17, 2011
Modifications: As already mentioned, I left off the pinstripes and worked in just gray from the brim to the crown.

I’m also working on a pair of socks. The challenge for Sock Knitters’ Anonymous on Ravelry for December is to use up leftover yarns. I picked 6 coordinating yarns and cast on for a new design.

I still don’t have a name so if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments!

The pattern uses a wrapped stitch that is worked on the first row of each color change. It blends the different yarns together beautifully.

Tuesday was the last day of school for Christmas break and we had our usual class Christmas party. The class gave me a generous gift certificate to my LYS, a canvas bag with all of their signatures that said, “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn”, and this box of chocolates. I had to take a picture because they were almost too pretty to eat! Almost. The box isn’t quite as full now.

At school, one of my students decided to draw a picture of Tiger. I told her that he had a “W” on his forehead so she added that as well.

                                              And Tiger approves!

Sweet Pea Cardigan Done!

This Thanksgiving Break has been good for my WIPs. This is my second finish project this week. I’m close to finishing a third as well. I just finished crocheting the button loops and sewing the buttons on about an hour ago and I just couldn’t wait to share. The cardigan turned out adorable! I hope baby Sebastian can wear it this winter.

 

I found these buttons at Joann’s and they match PERFECTLY. I debated whether to get a contrasting button, but I just couldn’t find anything I liked better than these green ones.

I had fun making the little pea pods – bobbles, cables, and the little stems turned out so cute!

 

Pattern: Sweet Pea Cardigan by Mary Scott Huff from 60 Quick Baby Knits.
Yarn: Berroco Vintage – 3 skeins. I forget what color because I’ve lost the ball bands!
Needles: US 6, 4mm – circs and dpn’s for the sleeves. Size D, 3.25mm crochet hook for the button loops.
Cast On: Sometime in September.
Finished: November 25, 2011
Modifications: I didn’t include the squiggles on the hood or the ribbon trim. I also did plain hems instead of picot hems. All mods were because the sweater was for a boy and I thought those details were a bit feminine.

 

I hope all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving (or Thursday, depending on where you live)! We spent the day at my brother and sister’s-in-law house. They have 3 cats and apparently Sasha lays like this on the floor all the time:

Those paws! SO cute! I love how she looks like she’s saying, “Who the heck are you?” or “Get that thing outta my face!” Whatever it says, I knew trying to pet that tummy would land me in the ER with major gashes on my arms.

When we got home, we were chewed out greeted by Tiger who had obviously missed us. Here he is making sure Mike doesn’t go anywhere.

Tiger says, “Well….at least they brought me turkey after leaving me alone all day AND taking pictures of other cats.”

Veezy Socks

I finished up a pair of socks this weekend for Sock Knitters Anonymous! One of the themes for October was textured socks. I decided to design an easy pair and use the Three Irish Girls yarn I got in a swap. The socks have purl V’s on a knit background that is flanked by seed stitch. Just to keep things a bit spicy, the pattern is carried on the heel flap. Other than that, these are super easy to knit! V-easy! Veezy!

 

 

Pattern: Veezy Socks – my own, will be available for FREE after test knitting is complete!
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale Sock in the Smoke and Mirrors colorway
Needles: 2.25mm dpn’s
Cast On: October 6th, 2011
Finished: November 20th, 2011
Thoughts: I LOVE this yarn. This is my first time knitting with any Three Irish Girls yarn and I’m very pleased. The color is a smokey blue-gray and the yarn is very sproingy and soft. The pattern is pretty easy and I eventually had it memorized. It will be available in 3 sizes – I knit the medium size over 64 stitches.

Here’s a close up of the V’s:

Now that I’m done knitting the socks, I can get back to the baby sweater that should have been done a month ago.

This is the Sweet Pea Cardigan from 60 Quick Baby Knits. It is for my boss’s new baby, but since the little guy is only 3 months old and the cardigan is for a 6 month old, I’m not feeling too bad about not being done yet. I’ll have it finished by the end of Thanksgiving break though! Just the rest of a sleeves to knit, add a few button loops, and sew on some buttons and I’m all done!

Tiger says, “Did someone say Thanksgiving? That means turkey! Wake me when it’s time for leftovers.”

Tiger, Mike, Amanda, and I wish all our American friends a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy the food and time with family.