Modification Mondays: Sarah's Favourite Cardigan

Original Pattern: Favorite Cardigan

Knitter Extraordinaire: Sarah (Rav Id)

Mods:  Changed the boat neck to a crew neck, lengthened the sweater, and altered the sizing. Also included shaping, and a slightly different button band. Wonderful details on her mods can be found here.

What Makes This Awesome: I can't get over how different this cardigan looks from the original, and yet the modifications (while plentiful) are not designed to drastically change the look of the sweater. The transformative powers of a different neckline and shaping are never so evident as they are here! I love the classic details, and the neckline looks fantastic. I LOVE this version!

FO: Blackberry Cowl

 Pattern: #12 Cabled Cowl

Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss HW in Blackberry

Needles: 5 mm/ US 8 circular

Mods: none.

Notes:  I loved knitting this. The cables and stitches made for an interesting project to knit, and the size of it meant it was done pretty quickly. I love the final result! The yarn was really lovely- it has great sheen, and holds up really well.

Over the long weekend, I also got a chance to indulge in many of the things I said I wanted to do. I did a bit of gardening, drank gin & tonic (and wine...), ate lots of delicious things (including radishes, one of my favourite vegetables) and had a lovely picnic with friends. It is this very picnic that the above photos were taken! After all, why not get some FO shots when you're doing something fun, right? It was delicious. Erica made a wonderful chickpea salad and lemon tassies, and I made couscous salad and coconut macaroons from Lunch in Paris (I don't recommend the recipe, they ooze everywhere and were not fun to make. I ended up making them in muffin tins just to corral the oozing.)

You may have noticed that we are drinking (well, I'm drinking) wine out of wine glasses. Just because you're outdoors is no reason to drink out of plastic cups! Hey, it's important to class up your picnic be environmentally friendly.

The empty plates pretty much say it all!

I'm also working on Athyrie at the moment... I'm loving the pattern so far. It's straightforward, and simple enough for a bit of mindless knitting. I'm really looking forward to the convertible end result:

Modification Mondays: Lagon Sweater

Original Pattern: Lagon Sweater


Knitter Extraordinaire: Zita (Rav Id)

Mods: Turned the original knit-in-the-round yoked pullover into a raglan-sleeved cardigan.

What Makes This Awesome: I love it when people know themselves well enough to figure out which sleeve style works best for them, and if their wardrobe needs a cardigan or another pullover. Zita's cardigan is a gorgeous example of how knowing yourself can allow you to transform what was already a beautiful pullover into a truly wonderful cardigan. The result is really amazing, and even her buttons are perfect, too! . Details on how she turned it into a raglan sleeved cardigan can be found on her project page here. 

A Quick Update

The Brooklyn General Store Squirrel contest results are in- you should see the many adorable winners! Maple didn't take away any top honours, but I'm sure she was just happy to have a little fun with all the other squirrels over at Brooklyn General. If you happen to be in the area, the squirrels are still on display until mid-June.

My dears, I must apologize. I'm woefully behind on my blogging. I have some new FOs, and new WIPs, and oddly no photos of any of these things. I'm anxiously awaiting the long weekend- I want to garden, picnic, and take hundreds of photos. It's funny how the internet has transformed how we document our lives- indeed, made documenting our lives important to just about everyone with a high speed internet connection-and I want to indulge in all that shameless, photo-heavy joy. I also want to drink gin & tonic in the sunshine, and eat lots of cupcakes (have you seen this link?!), and lemon tarts.

Oh, and if any of you are hosting a brunch or just would like a special breakfast this coming weekend, I highly recommend this recipe. I made it for my parents recently and it was a hit. Baking eggs in bread bowls is easy-peasy, but looks impressive.

(photo shamelessly filched from noblepig.com)

Modification Monday: Selbu Clochette

Original Pattern: Selbu Modern


Knitter Extraordinaire: Sarah (Rav id, Blog)

Mods: Began with a sweater hem-style brim, added tucks, and an additional colourwork chart on the edging. The crown was worked with the Selbu pattern.

What Makes This Awesome: Sarah fell in love with the lovely alpaca yarn first, and then couldn't resist the gorgeous colourwork of the Selbu Modern pattern. What I love about her solution was to not fight the drape-y fabric that the alpaca would create, and instead thought about the kind of shape that would work. Her gorgeous cloche is perfect. The style is amazing and flattering, and the tuck rows add texture and style. I absolutely love the result! there is a need for more hats with tucks, I think! She explains her mods (and how to do the tucks) on her blog post, which can be found here.

2010 Knitter's Frolic- Toronto

The 2010 Knitter's frolic took place at the Japanese Cultural Centre in Toronto this past weekend, and it was fantastic. 

You all know how much I love a good photo mosaic, so here is the at-a-glance fun that was the Frolic:

I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked- I was so busy fondling the yarn and deciding what to buy I had to do another walk through to snap some photos! The full set is here.

 I tried to be a bit restrained this weekend- funds are a bit tight, but that didn't stop me from making a few purchases:

I'm utterly in love with the new St. Denis spring/summer 2010 issue. There are so many patterns in there that I'm desperate to knit! I also picked up a copy of Royale, a new pattern that I'm so in love with.

 Let's get a yarn close up, shall we? Top: Mirasol Sulka, one of my favourites:

I love Sulka for it's lovely, subtle heathering. The yarn is practically prismatic!

And on the left, a lovely skein by Indigodragonfly, in 'kitchen sink', and two skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts Green label in 'Stormy'. I have to confess I already own a skein of laceweight in the same 'stormy' colourway- I can't get enough of the grey blue and grey green tones. All the yarn is slated for gifts- cowls, shrugs, and the like. If only I could decide on which patterns to use!

Modification Mondays:

Original Pattern: Citron

Knitter Extraordinaire: Deb (Rav Id)

Mods: Used 4 different yarns in a combination of tones and fibers, added beading to some sections, and used different stitch patterns for some of the bands. Project page, including details and stitches used, can be found here.

What Makes this Awesome: The beads! The stitches! the different yarns all within the same colour group! This is a rare occasion when I've actually knit the pattern being modified, and I'm so jealous I didn't think of this idea first! The original pattern is wonderful, and judging by the thousands of FOs, I'm not the only one who feels this way. It's a very straightforward pattern that leads to perfect-for-everyone, and straightforward patterns often lend themselves to infinite versatility. Using different yarns AND using different stitch patterns (plus beads, people!) means that you could have a whole wardrobe of these, with different colours, fibers, stitch patterns, and anything else that strikes your fancy. The result is a stunning accessory, and one that is truly all your own.

FO: Maple the Squirrel

remember how I mentioned that Brooklyn General Store was having a Squirrel Contest? Well, here's my squirrel. Everyone, meet Maple.

Pattern: Squirrel and the cardigan is from clothing bundle 3 .

Yarn: Bernat Solids. I know it's acrylic craft yarn, but it's perfect for machine washable children's toys.

Needles: 4mm / US 6

Mods: I made the ears much smaller, by really just using three stitches (squirrels have really small ears!). I also used the idea of the tail construction from the Brooklyn General Store Squirrel Pattern, but had to sew the seam of the tail (which is constructed like a pom pom) since I didn't quite understand how to crochet a tail seam. For the cardigan, I made a small hole in the back of the cardigan so that Maple's tail could be pulled through for maximum tail glory!

I named her Maple because she's the colour of maple sugar and is, of course, Canadian! Although for those unfamiliar with Canada, please note: we do not have real maple sugar squirrels here.

She's already in transit to New York to begin her squirrely adventures. Brooklyn General, I know you'll take good care of her while she's there!

And hey- if you are wanting to get your squirrels in, the deadline is May 15th- there's still time! Toys knit up so quickly, and there is always express shipping  if you need to get it there overnight.

Seven Random Things, and Lilacs Galore

 

Leanna so graciously gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award on her blog! I'm so touched, thank you so much! It's always great to hear that people like your blog, especially those people who aren't related to you and stand no chance of being quizzed over dinner one day about recent blog posts.

I never know who to nominate for these, you are all so awesome and I love going to your blogs. So I hope if you are interested, you'll consider yourself tagged! As part of the award, I'm to post seven random things about myself. So here you go!

• One of my overall life goals is to visit 50 different countries before I die. So far, I'm clocking in at about 19, which isn't too shabby. For those interested, they are in no particular order: Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia & Montenegro (although it was called Yugoslavia when I was there), Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, England, Ireland (both parts), Spain, The Dominican Republic, The Bahamas, and the United States. Sadly I did the vast majority of those in my early twenties, when I was living in Istanbul and travelling a lot more. 

• Which leads me to my next little factoid- I taught English in Istanbul for two years. I think that having lived in Istanbul is easily one of the more interesting facts about me. 

•  My husband is British, and he moved to Canada so we could be together. We met here in Toronto when he was on holiday and  had a whirlwind 5 day romance before he had to fly back to England. He asked me to wait for him, because he was coming back for me. I didn't really believe him, but he convinced me by endlessly calling, emailing, texting, msn-ing,.... you name it.  He moved to Canada three months later. I've been ridiculously happy ever since.  

• Although this blog hides it very well, I actually want to be a novelist and poet. I write things, and then never talk about it except to very, very few people; although occasionally I publish the odd poem here and there. which brings me to another point that this blog hides very well....

• I'm terrible about self-promotion, or any kind of tooting of one's own horn. Except for things I've knit. Then I'll tell anyone who sees it that I knit that, and isn't it awesome. I really must learn to apply this trait to other areas of my life.

• I'm a total, full-on green tea addict. I do drink coffee sometimes as a special treat, but it's green tea that I drink from the moment I get up to when I go to bed. Right now I'm crazy about Iron Goddess of Mercy tea. How can you not be ready to face the day after you drink a mugful of something called Iron Goddess of Mercy?!

• Whenever I'm in a conversation about which superpower you'd love to have (I feel like I've been in a lot of those conversations over the years), I always, always choose invisibility. Of course, I'd like to be able to turn it on and off at will. Then I could totally fight crime or something- I'd be invisible, and filled up with Iron Goddess of Mercy tea. Nothing could stop me!!!

I'm currently recovering (catching up on lost sleep) from a work conference that consumed much of last week. The lilacs in the garden apparently realized I was away a lot and took the opportunity to explode into full bloom, in a bid for total neighbourhood domination. I can actually smell the lilacs in my garden from three blocks away.

Their perfume steals in through the open windows, and at night I love to imagine that they are lulling me to sleep with their scent.And in the morning, in the sunshine, they are quite simply the most beautiful sight to see.

Modification Mondays: West Hill

Original Pattern: Nob Hill

Knitter Extraordinaire: Louise (Rav Id, Blog)

Mods:  Deliberately came in under gauge, added extra edging, shortened the sleeves, and used short row shaping for the seed stitch sleeve border. 

What Makes This Awesome:  I love the smaller-sized take on this that brings the fit in, and makes this a really wearable layering piece. The smaller sleeves are lovely.  Even though the photos are the oft-seen photo in the bedroom mirror, I think the shot below shows how really great this looks over a simple shirt and jeans- the vest/bolero transforms everyday wardrobe staples into something really stylish. And let's not forget cozy! I love this look. Project page with details on the mods is here.