If you follow my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I took the month of August off from blogging. I decided that instead of focusing on knitting and blogging, I wanted to focus on the last month of summer with my family. My oldest child starts preschool next week and our entire schedule will be changing. I wanted to spend my days running through the sprinkler, playing in the sandbox, chasing fireflies, lighting sparklers, and just enjoying my kids. I spent a lot less time knitting than I usually do and therefore, didn't have much to write about. I hope you'll forgive me. At least I'm back with a pretty great FO.

Project Details
Pattern: Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in Grasshopper
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm), US 7 (4.5mm)

I finished these adorable little legwarmers last week and despite our hot temps, they have already been worn a few times. My daughter loves them. She carries them to me and says "Mama, on" while flashing her sweet little smile. I can't say no.

I finished my Goldilocks yesterday! I even had enough time to block it and get some pictures before bedtime.

It was a quick knit once I made it past the first 10 rows. Getting started with the contiguous increases and the cable pattern required a lot of paying attention. As you can imagine, I don't get a lot of undistracted knitting time. Most of the time, my kids are with me when I'm knitting, which can lead to mistakes (like knitting instead of purling, or missing an increase). This sweet dress was completely worth the short-lived confusion. Grace even agrees!

I'll be back later today to announce the first blogiversary pattern winner and put up a new contest. Stay tuned!

As promised, here are the last of my Mad May projects. One of my best friends is pregnant with her first baby, a girl, due at the end of the summer. Since we had just attended a shower for our other close friend, Kelsey knew I was going to knit her something. She just had no idea what. I was happy to fulfill my duty as the friend that knits and make that something she knew was coming.

Her baby shower was last weekend. The shower was beautiful, though very pink! Not that I'm complaining, I love pink. In true Jenn fashion, I knit a pink sweater and matching hat. I know what you're thinking, but don't worry, the sweater is a 6-12 month size and the hat stretches a lot. Plus it gets cold where she lives in mid-September. Trust me, I thought about all of that. After having two winter babies and receiving beautiful summer clothes for them in newborn sizes, it's ingrained in me to pay attention to the seasons.

Over a year ago, I bought 2 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico - this really beautiful dusty, pale pink with slight tan undertones. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it was too beautiful to pass up. When Kelsey found out that she's expecting a girl, I knew immediately the Faded Calico had her name all over it.

There are a ton of great baby sweater and hat patterns out there, and I agonized about which one to use. I finally decided to knit a Baby Sophisticate. It's a classic sweater with a shawl collar and 4 buttons. It's simple enough not to be fussy (even if the baby is), and the collar/ button combo guarantee that it will fit over the baby's head easily. Mom won't even have to unbutton it if she doesn't want to. Maybe that's just my button-hating bias showing.

Since I went relatively simple and safe (read boring) with the sweater, I wanted something a bit more fun and feminine for the hat. As you all know, I'm pretty addicted to the Cabernet Series, so it should come as no surprise to hear that I made a Cabernet hat. This hat is so incredibly clever. The crown shaping is practically invisible in the Cabernet cable pattern. Sidenote: I can't wait to make one of these in my size!


Kelsey cried when she opened them, which I was really hoping to avoid, but I'm pretty sure that's the hallmark of a good gift. All in all, I'm really happy with how this sweet little set turned out. But more importantly, I can't wait to meet her baby girl. Is it August yet?

Project Details: 
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down; Cabernet Hat by Monika Sirna
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico
Needles: Us 4, US 6, US 8

About 6 weeks ago, I posted about the Kveta Hat that I had the opportunity to test knit for Monika Sirna. I also had the pleasure to test knit the matching cape, but I just realized that I never posted about it! Bad blogger...

The Kveta Cape is a sweet little accessory than any girl would love. I made another Kveta Hat to match the cape - because, really, who can resist? The cape has a lot more finishing than I typically go for, but it was well worth it. The pattern has you hand sew ribbon and snaps onto the ribbing for closure.

Earlier this week, I finished Ease. It took a whole lot longer than it should have, which I admit is totally my fault. I knit the entire body in  2 or 3 days, the sleeves in another 3 and then I started the cowl. That's where things got derailed. The pattern has you pick up stitches around the neck for the cowl, but the yarn I used (Dream in Color Classy) did not cooperate. I tried several different ways, but no matter how I did it, the pickups looked sloppy (no fault of the pattern). I knew I wanted the cowl neck, so it was time for plan B. I decided to do the cowl in garter stitch instead of stockinette. I purled the first round after picking up the stitches, which seemed to help camouflage the wonky picked up edge.

I knit mine out of Cascade Heritage in Anis and Cerulean. I love these shades of blue together! The yarn is soft and light. The entire shawl weighs only 96 grams, which makes it perfect for Spring and even into Summer where I live. I have enough of each color left over to knit the inverse, so don't be surprised if that's my next color combo.

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Happy Friday!

To go along with WIP Wednesday, I thought I'd do a FO Friday post too. I finished my daughter's Tiny Rocky Coast earlier this week, just in time for the warmer Spring weather. Here she is rocking out in her (Tiny) Rocky Coast.

Since it's essentially the same pattern as the Rocky Coast, just on a smaller scale, I have a lot of the same notes. Namely, size up (seriously), learn to cable without a cable needle, and use more stitch markers than you think you need.

1. On the size - my daughter is 15 months old, her measurements suggest that she could fit into the 12 month size, but I knew I wanted it a little bit big so she has some room to grow. I also know that you're supposed to knit a few inches of ease into the sweater. Armed with that info, I opted to knit the size 2, though I lengthened the body and sleeves by .5" each. Now that it's finished, I probably could have (and should have) knit the 4 and been totally fine. Also, apparently my gauge swatch telling me the 2 would be big was a lie. My kid did not grow several inches and gain several pounds in the 3 weeks it took me to knit this.
2. On the cable needle - it might seem scary, but it's not. You save a ton of time cabling without one. It's totally worth it to learn the technique. Practice on the swatch if you're nervous. But really, it's not that bad.
3. On stitch markers - I ended up using stitch markers to note where to do the raglan increases, but also where to start and end the cable repeats within each section (front, sleeve, back, sleeve, front). It saved a lot of headaches (and a lot of counting) to be able to see how many stitches I had and whether that was enough for another cable repeat or not. I used different colored markers for the cable repeats (green) and raglan increases (purple).

First things first - the winner of the project bag giveaway is Mary/May! Congratulations to her, and thanks to all who entered! 

When I think of Calligraphy I think of fanciness and frills - hand written letters that scroll across an envelope. When you see your name in written in calligraphy it generally signals A.BIG.DEAL. Usually it's a stuffy affair where you wear a fancy dress, eat fancy food and have a great time. Usually. The Calligraphy cardigan is anything but stuffy, and certainly not fancy (at least not mine). My cardigan is soft and comfortable. It's like wearing a really old pair of broken in jeans. It just feels good.

I fully admit that the pictures accompanying this post are not good. It's overcast here (and likely will be until April, thanks to Pittsburgh's lovely weather). I tried my best and will happily edit new ones in when I can get some better pictures. In the mean time, please accept my apologies.
I knit mine with a lot of positive ease (over 4 inches, which is a lot for a cardigan like this). I like things to be big and slouchy. I knew I wouldn't wear it nearly as much (if at all) if it clung to me. To some, it might look sloppy, but to me it's comfortable. I knit the 38.25 inch size, which would have given me about 4 inches of ease. Though, I wasn't paying enough attention and I swatched on size 5 needles, then knit my sweater with size 6 by accident. So, there's that. I ended up with more ease than I planned. Total rookie mistake, but oh well. I still love the sweater!

The most accurate picture of the true color of the sweater.

I'm not 100% sold on the button bands. I think they might be too floppy and I'm debating re-doing them. The only thing stopping me is the fact that I then have to sew the buttons on again and I hate sewing buttons. If you're part of the Yarniacs KAL on Ravelry, you've seen me complain plenty about the button bands and buttons. I would have finished this sweater 2 weeks ago, had it not been for the button bands and buttons. I dread them that much. I do love the buttons I found though. They're 7/8" instead of 1", so I made my buttonholes one stitch smaller than called for.

I'm already planning a few more sweaters to knit this year. I've been eyeing a Rocky Coast Cardigan (to fuel my Hannah Fettig obsession), Ease by Alicia Plummer, Olive by Helga Isager, Bayside Pullover by Hannah Fettig, and I want to adapt Bulle by Karen Borrel to adult size. Yeah, just a few. I have a couple of friends having babies this year, plus my own kids, so I'm sure I'll be knitting some tiny sweaters too.

Anyone else knitting a sweater this year? Or sweaters? What's on your list?

I'm a member of the Madelinetosh Lovers Group on Ravelry, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. In 2012 they hosted quarterly "stashdowns" where you knit something from your MadTosh stash (has to be stashed prior to the quarter you knit it). About halfway through last year, I realized I had accumulated a ton of MT yarn and I should definitely join their Toshdown.

I entered my Featherweight in the Q3 Toshdown and I was shocked to win a prize! I was lucky enough to win a skein of Tosh DK Twist in Antique Quilt! I also won a pattern of my choice (I chose Gathering Stripes by Veera Välimäki, which I knit for Grace back in November).

I'd never knit with Twist DK before, so I was thrilled to receive some. The colorway is gorgeous - shades of dusty purple, pinks, blues, grays and even a tiny bit of brown. AH-MAZ-ING!

I finished my mom's Featherweight Cardigan last week, but haven't posted yet because it's her Christmas gift. As excited as I am, I really didn't want to ruin the surprise. I'm giving it to her today, so I can finally show you all the finished result. I took these pictures last week when I finished it because I was so darn excited. So, it's a bit big on me because, well, it's not for me. Forgive the fit, please.



For background, my mom is a knitter. A good one, at that. She mostly knits small projects - hats, socks,  baby sweaters, the occasional shawl and once she knit a really awesome coat. I think she's more of a product knitter than a process knitter. She likes the finished objects, but doesn't love the process as much as the end result. I love both - equally. I find something really calming, yet exciting about watching something grow stitch by stitch. And, of course, I love wearing my finished creations.



Over the summer, I knit a Featherweight Cardigan for myself and my mom fell in love with it. She decided she wanted to knit one, too. I offered to help her get started - figuring out the size, gauge, yarn, etc. The more we talked about it, the more she realized that it would take her almost a year to finish it with her current schedule and projects. She still wanted to make it, but she wanted to wear it more. I did the only thing I could think of and I offered to knit it for her.

I took my time - casting on at the end of September and finishing it the first week of December. It's a lot of stockinette, in lace weight. I knew I would get bored, so I interspersed other projects here and there.
I, again, opted for long sleeves and more length in the body. I did a ribbed hem and cuffs this time, but I did the feather and fan collar, just like before. I have to say, I love my mom's featherweight more than the one I knit for myself. I hope she loves it as much as I do. If nothing else, she knows how much love went in to every stitch and that alone makes it worth it for me.

Yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Cousteau. My mom and I loved my Honey Cowl in Cousteau so much, that we knew it was the perfect color for the sweater. I used a size 5 needle and a size 6 for the bind-offs. As a side note, this yarn is ridiculously hard to photograph. It's a beautiful deep blue-y green, but it gets a weird cast in the photos, regardless of the light.

I used the following pattern for the feather and fan collar - feel free to use it too!
Multiple of 18 stitches
knit in stockinette for 1/2 inch
Row 1 (RS): Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: *k2tog (3 times), yo k1 (6 times), k2tog (3 times)*, repeat from *
Row 4: Purl

Repeat rows 1-4 six times, work 2 more rows in stockinette and bind off loosely.

Happy Friday!

I'm really excited for today's FO Friday. Maybe because it's the first time I've actually finished something in time for FO Friday? Or maybe it's because they're super tiny and cute. I'm a sucker for anything tiny - tiny knits are no exception.

Last week, Purl Bee published this adorable little mitten pattern. I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to make them. It took me a few days to free my needles from other projects and cast on. Like all tiny knits, it was a super fast project. A couple of hours at most. The worst part? All that i-cord and weaving in the ends.

I did alter the pattern a bit, since Grace is now 10 months old and the pattern says it should fit 3-9 months. I cast on 36 stitches and knit a few extra rows before the decreases, including an extra contrast color row. The i-cord is a genius way to make sure you have both mittens at all times. I just thread it through her coat sleeves and bam, attached mittens. Perfect.



Yarn is all Knit Picks - Palette in Silver & Stroll Hand-Paint in Dolly. It might be hard to tell, but the stripes are variegated in shades of pink and purple due to Dolly's hand-painted-ness (yeah, I made up a word, whatever).

Happy weekend, all!