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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.

I finished my Larch Cardigan. It was a test in patience and perseverance, to say the least. It took me about 3 weeks longer than I expected to knit this sweater. Maybe that was in part to my reduced knitting time or maybe it was because I re-knit the collar twice. Twisted rib on size 5 needles wasn't so nice on the hands and caused me to take even more breaks than I wanted, but I didn't want to hurt my hands. I also learned how to do top-down set-in sleeves (the pattern calls for bottom-up seamed sleeves). Full disclosure - I was a little intimidated to do the sleeves, since I've never done set-in sleeves on my own before. Going rouge! Luckily, I found a really fantastic tutorial on YouTube (part 1, part 2) that made it easy to do, once I found the courage. You can read all of my modifications on my project page.

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)

6/14/13

Goldilocks - FO

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

I used exactly 1 skein of Malabrigo Sock in Light of Love. I'm surprised that it only took 1 skein, since the yardage requirement for this size is 750 yards! I was really expecting it to take at least a little bit of a second skein. I have another skein of Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana that would make a perfect fall/winter version of this dress.

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!

Happy Friday!

6/12/13

Goldilocks

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Since my last post was about a sweater for my son, I figure it's only fair to dedicate this post to the dress I'm making for my daughter. I'm knitting her a Goldilocks by Justyna Lorkowska. Justyna is hosting a KAL in her group on Ravelry for Goldilocks through the end of July, if you want to join in the fun! There's also a great thread that offers some tips for the pattern.

The pattern offers instructions for two lengths - a tunic and a dress. I'm knitting the dress. Grace is at an age where her chest measurement will likely stay the same (or only fluctuate slightly) for the next few years, but she's going to get taller. For reference her brother is 2 years older, but his chest measurement is only an inch bigger. So as she grows, the dress will still fit, it will just become a tunic and then a t-shirt. If I played my cards right, she could really get three years of wear out of this. I know that's pretty optimistic, but it could happen!

I decided to use Malabrigo Sock. I'm in love. It is the softest sock yarn - it drapes beautifully (more than I thought it would!), it's really light, and it's machine washable. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait, it does because I'm using Light of Love. Light of Love is the most gorgeous orangey-pink. I'm almost tempted to knit myself a sweater or top out of it.

I only have the sleeves and bottom cable details to finish on the dress, so I'm hoping I can finish today or tomorrow!

What are you working on (knitting or otherwise)?

5/6/13

Pressed Leaves

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This post might seem a little inappropriate for May seeing that it's all about a very Fall beret, but just bear with me.

I really love fall colors, a lot. I also really love leaves. I especially love watching the leaves change colors. The amazing shades of yellow, burnt orange, red, green and brown are just perfect. Mid-September through mid-October is my absolute favorite time of year. It's no surprise then that I was instantly drawn to Alana Dakos' Botanical Knits. A knitting book inspired by leaves. Knitting and leaves - talk about a match made in heaven!

I am totally smitten with Pressed Leaves, a beret pattern with a gorgeous leaf motif. I perused my LYS in search of the perfect yarn for it, knowing that I wanted to make it for Mad May. I found a skein of Tosh DK in Magnolia Leaf and knew it would be perfect. Those colors!

I caked my skein in anticipation of May 1st, and anxiously awaited casting on. I sped through the ribbing and quickly moved on to the chart. I have to admit, I was thoroughly confused for the first few rounds. A lot of the stitches were new to me and I was struggling. By round 5, it all kind of clicked and suddenly it just made sense. I could see the leaves emerging in the pattern.

From then on, it was smooth sailing. You can read more about my project notes here. I am really thrilled with my finished hat and am sad to tuck it away until the fall. But I know my perfectly autumn-inspired hat will be waiting for me when the leaves start to change.

Project Details:

Pattern: Pressed Leaves by Alana Dakos

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Magnolia Leaf

Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) and US 7 (4.5mm)

5/1/13

Mad May

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Do you know what today is? Yes, it's the first of May. But that means it's also the start of Mad May! For those unfamiliar, Mad May is a series of huge KALs (knit-a-longs) hosted in the Madelinetosh Lovers Group on Ravelry. There are several specific pattern KALs and a slew of general KALs. As a part of the General Sweater KAL, I've committed to knitting Window to my Soul by Joji Locatelli in Tosh Merino Light in Wash.

I originally swatched the lace pattern in TML Fragrant, but decided that the yarn/pattern combo wasn't the best. So, I'm going to knit it in this yarn:

That's Tosh Merino Light in Wash, which I serendipitously discovered on my yarn tour. I've worn my Rocky Coast Cardigan (knit in Tosh DK in Wash) so much that it will be really nice to have a lighter-weight sweater in the same colorway. Where I live, we start wearing Spring colors long before it's actually warm - so it's going to be awesome having two Spring-y sweaters in different weights.

For the General Hat KAL I'm knitting Pressed Leaves by Alana Dakos in Tosh DK in Magnolia Leaf.

I really wish I had a picture of this pre-cake, but I got too excited, caked it and then remembered to get a picture. Oh well. Magnolia Leaf just screams Fall to me. It's the perfect combo of rusty reds, yellows, and oranges with hints of green and brown. I am in love. Watch out Wash, you have some competition for my favorite MT colorway.

Anyone else participating in MadMay? What are you knitting?