G and I brought my 14 year old brother (who is making his first appearance on this blog- I bet none of you knew I even had a brother!) beryr picking recently. He's getting so tall.

I would make this again, but I think I'd substitute the root beer schnapps for cointreau. Orange and chocolate, there's a flavour combo my taste buds can wrap themselves around.

Original Pattern: Baktus Scarf

Knitter Extraordinaire: Terhi (Rav Id)

Mods: Turned the simple, textured Baktus scarf pattern into a lacy version by including eyelet rows.

What Makes This Awesome: This modification is quite unusual-  the mod became so popular, it was turned into it's own pattern. Another Ravel-er simply did up her mods and photos into a pdf, and voila! A new pattern was born. I personally have such a weakness for garter stitch eyelet. I love the texture, and provides so much visual interest. I'm not the least bit surprised that since it became it's own pattern, over 1500 people have knit it - it's gorgeous! Project page is here.

Pattern: Stacked Eyelet Cowl

Yarn: Indigodragonfly MCN Sport

Needles: 3.75 mm (US 4)

Mods: None.

Notes: This yarn is heaven. So squishy soft, so lovely- it's exactly the kind of yarn you want cuddling your neck on a chilly day. Too bad it's actually 30 Celsius (86 F) in these  photos.... but sadly it'll be fall before you know it!

This cowl is amazing- it's the perfect one skein project for a lovely little treasured sport weight yarn you've got hiding in your stash, and it's fast and easy enough to churn these out for gifts for everyone you know. I'm definitely planning on knitting this again- I can think of a few girlfriends that would love them, and it would be nice to have a great cowl wardrobe for myself during the winter months! We'll see. I've been true to my knitting goals of this year of gifting a lot of knitting so far, which I really enjoy.Here's some more gratuitous cowl photos!

And here is a photo of the cowl when it was in progress, so you can see how the stacked eyelets play out:

P.S- By the time you read this, we'll be either on the plane or freshly landed in Stockholm!

Original Pattern: Que Sera

Knitter Extraordinaire: Elspeth (Rav Id, Blog)

Mods: Turned the original cardigan pattern into a pullover vest, with a deeper scoop neckline. Project page is here.


What Makes This Awesome: This fantastic vest was borne out of that classic knitter's problem- running out of yarn. Elspeth actually planned on knitting the cardigan as a pullover. She had knitted the sleeves (and even made sleeve mods) before she realized that she wouldn't have enough yarn to finish it. So she frogged the sleeves, and completed the cardigan-turned-pullover-turned-vest. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! Doesn't she look amazing?! I love this vest, I love this outfit. I want to go shopping in Elspeth's closet.

Pattern: Geodesic Cardigan

Needles: 4 mm circulars (US 6)

Yarn: Malabrigo lace

Mods: Added more tucks, by eliminating 4 stockinette rows between each tuck.

Notes: If you have seen one of the other 300 hundred or so Geodesic cardigans in Ravelry, then you might notice that I have more tucks, and that they are closer together than in the original pattern. There is a slight excess of fabric across the bust, which, if I hold it closed, disappears. I'm not sure if this is consistent with other Geodesic cardigans, or if it is (more likely) the result of adding more tucks. I might add a small hook and eye closure, we'll see. I took my sweet time knitting this, because I hated the needles I was using (Addi lace needles). They had an awful 'step' in the metal bit, and I found that my stitches didn't flow smoothly over it at all. There were more than a few times I was ready to scream, as I manually pushed one stitch at a time over the step in the metal. Ugh. I hate them, and will probably never use them again. BUT- I love the final result. And it's a dream to wear- it's so, so soft and lightweight.


You know what owning a butterfly headband has taught me? That children LOVE the butterfly headband. If I wear this around any small children whatsoever, they are immediately entranced, obsessed, and generally all over it. The girls especially, but the boys are also pretty intrigued. If you enjoy beguiling small children, I recommend you get one (or making one- it's probably super easy). I've seen them lots of places, but I picked mine up here.

Some of you may have noticed that I've modeled another pattern from Alana of Never Not Knitting. I have to tell you- this is THE perfect neckwarmer. Seriously.  I'm going to knit myself one, and then I'm going to knit one for every one on my Christmas list. This is the perfect unisex pattern, too.

Check out Alana's full blog post here. If you make this pattern (and I sincerely hope that you will), you really must knit it with an alpaca yarn. This neckwarmer was so cuddly soft, so delicious against the skin, that if it had actually been cold out there is no way I would have returned it!! And considering that it was absolutely sweltering the day G and I shot the photos, that really is saying something.

Original Pattern: Manu

Knitter Extraordinaire: Ceylan (Rav Id, blog)

Mods: Ceylan turned this popular cardi into a gorgeous pullover with 3/4 length sleeves, and eliminated the pockets.

What Makes This Awesome:  Everything about this works. I love the simple, go-with-absolutely-everything-you-own style of it, and the neckline turned out brilliantly. The original pattern is great, but in her notes she describes admiring the pattern but feeling that it wouldn't suit her body type. That is definitely something to remember, folks- that you can customize a garment to flatter your figure using a  pattern as a jumping-off point. And if you want to knit one just like hers (I do I do!) she has fabulous detailed notes on her project page.

Pattern: Sheldon

Yarn: Misson Falls 136 Merino Superwash

Needles: 3.25 mm dpns (US 3)

Mods: None. Except that I accidentally didn't do the icord thingy to attach the shell bits, but it all worked out.

Notes: I love knitting toys. I don't mind all the finishing, although they involve a lot of small knitting in the round which tends to be harsh on my wrists. This is a gift for my little nephew Noah, although he doesn't know it yet. When G and I travel to the UK, Sheldon will be travelling with Maple to be given as gifts to our niece and nephew, respectively. This was a pretty quick knit, and stuffing and seaming as you go makes the actual finishing at the end relatively painless. And hey- a supercute turtle is pretty awesome. Even Yarn thinks so.


I tried to get some photos with Gatsby, but he was decidedly anti-turtle. About two seconds after this photo was taken, he sunk his claws into Sheldon and started to bite his face. I think he looks a bit murderous in this photo- I should have noticed!

Original Pattern: Noyaux

Knitter Extraordinare: Donna (Rav Id)

Mods: Changed the lace pattern for celtic braided cables, and added them to the sleeves as well. She also continued two of the small cables over the back. Project page is here.

What Makes This Awesome: Donna did an incredible job turning the original pattern into this gorgeous, richly textured cabled dress/tunic. The cables look timeless and the cut of the dress is very modern- it makes for a beautiful hybrid piece. This is a really testament to the design that you can swap out lace for cables and have it work beautifully. I love it!

Original Pattern: Trellis

Knitter Extraordinaire: Katie (Rav ID, Blog)

Mods: Dramatically resized the classic baby sweater pattern to create a beautiful grown-up version for adults.

What Makes This Awesome:  I think the February Lady Sweater proved just how popular a pattern can be when it's upsized for adults, and this amazing grown up Trellis sweater is so, so gorgeous. Just looking at the photos of Katie wearing her Trellis in winter is enough to make me absolutely positivity sure that this would be the perfect winter cardigan. I want one!! Project page, which includes lots of notes on how to upsize the Trellis sweater, can be found here.

It's no secret that I like baking, cooking, and all sorts of other kitchen-y good things. However, it's been a gloriously hot summer. HOT. which means cooking doesn't sound nearly so attractive, since my apartment only has one window unit air conditioner, and it is at the opposite end of the apartment from the kitchen. But I've definitely tried my hand at some new things this summer. For example:
 
Making ketchup from scratch was probably one of the easiest and most satisfying from-scratch things I've done all year. It's so easy, and much healthier than normal ketchup (since there's high fructose corn syrup in most commercially prepared ketchups). And it tastes amazing!

 This has also been my summer of sangria. I pretty much have a pitcher of it on the go in my fridge all the time. I do both red and white sangria, and I find it so relaxing to sit outside on our patio drinking sangria and relaxing, I've yet to remember to take a picture. But trust me- sangria, taken like a daily post-work vitamin, is good for the soul.

Also, I tried my hand at making my own insect repellent spray using these guidelines, and I had a lot of success. I found that the natural one I mixed up needed to be reapplied frequently, but I figure that's a small price to pay to avoid DEET and other harsh chemicals.Has anyone else tried making their own bug spray? I'd be interested so see what other essential oils people have tried.

We've also made friends with the friendly squirrel that lives under our patio:


Isn't he a cutie? Although I think we've become a bit too friendly with the squirrel- we've had to stop propping open the patio door for the cats, because twice the squirrel has decided to come into the kitchen, and once he actually chewed the lid off of some cocoa powder. Squirrels are much cuter when they are not terrorizing your kitchen!

Original Pattern: Caroline

Knitter Extraordinaire: Arlette (Rav ID, Blog)

Mods: Although she thought she got gauge, her hat turned out waaay too big. Being an intrepid knitter, she figured felting it would help- but the double-thickness hem didn't felt as at the same rate as the crown, and the pleats got even more out of proportion. So, she created a little rosette on the side of the hat with the pleats, and turned what was going to be an FO fail into a gorgeous, flattering, compliment-fetching hat.


What Makes This Awesome: The finished result is so lovely, I had no idea that it wasn't her intention to knit the hat exactly as it turned out!  Arlette transformed what could have been a knit disaster for many of us into what is easily the prettiest hat I've seen in a while. I love her version! Project page, including details on how she did the rosette, is here.

Pattern: Tea Rose Halter

Needles: US 11 / 8mm

Yarn: Patons Cotton DK in royal blue

Mods: Cast on only 74 stitches for the body, decreased to 62 for the ribbing, increased back to 74 when the lace resumed for the bust. Added two crochet chain straps for a tank top configuration, instead of a halter.

Notes: My darlings, I have a problem. And I'm not sure if this is something that is just a given, or if I'm doing something wrong, but every time I try to do ribbing in a cotton yarn, the ribbing bags and pouches. it does not pull things in, like it's supposed to (like ribbing does when knit in wool, for example). This pattern is knitted with DK yarn held quadruple (which is what I did), do you think that was part of the problem?

So... see how the lace pulls in everything, gives a great shape? And see how that ribbing just makes it... wrong? What happened?! This is not the most flattering thing I've ever knit, that's for damn sure.
 I speedily knitted this up in hopes of wearing it on the recent TTC Knitalong, but no go. I wore this instead. I think, sadly, that the Tea Rose Tank is destined for the frog pond.

I knew that if I asked my fellow knitters out there, you'd have awesome solutions to the problem of the rose armwarmers! I was absolutely bowled over by all the awesome suggestions, links to patterns with similar charts, etc. I can see now that I'll probably have to do some swatching with the colourwork charts, to see what will work- a big chart can only be scaled down so much when using fingering weight. I'm so excited to start them in the fall! As soon as I come back form England in September, I'm going to get started on them right away.

So. remember when I was trying to decide on the colourway for my Agathe pullover? And you all got to vote? Well, the yarn arrived, and I've swatched!  I don't think like it. Well, it's okay. Maybe it'll grow on me?

Original Pattern: Jaden

Knitter Extraordinaire: Marceline (Rav ID, Blog)

Mods: So many! She knitted it in the round, added single crochet edging around the armholes, used the top half of this pattern for the shaping and ribbing, and did all sorts of mathematical gymnastics to customize her perfect fit.

What Makes This Awesome: It's gorgeous. The colour, the fit, the style- this is such an amazing summer knit. It look so flattering, and I bet it's comfortable.  I'm so impressed by Marceline's determination to have the perfect custom tank top for summer- the way she used multiple patterns, adjusted her gauge, and really made this her own. And the results were so worth it!!!  Also, you really need to check out her detailed pattern notes- they are incredibly helpful. Full details on her project page .