FO: Mother's Day Lace Sweater

 
Pattern: #28 Lace Cardi

Yarn: Elann Superwash Worsted

Needles: 5 and 6 mm circulars (US 8 and 10)

Mods: Eliminated the shawl collar, opted instead to just do a normal ring of ribbing around the sweater. Added sleeves.

 
Notes: A huge thank you to Laura who kindly sent me an extra skein when I ran out of yarn. For some reason, I thought it would be super awesome to have all my cream/white coloured yarns together in the same box, so I thought I had more of this yarn that I actually did (no, just loads of other weights/fibers in the exact same colour...). And it turns out, they don't make it anymore. But super Laura to the rescue! The sleeves I added on are bit small, but fortunately my mom has skinny arms.

This sweater was an unusual knit for me, the construction was not something I'd done before, and the whole second half of knitting it I was constantly battling fears of running out of yarn while simultaneously adding sleeves. my mother picked out the pattern, and it is beautiful, but I find the shaping a bit odd, in that it is most narrow at the hem, and widest through the waist. But the end result is beautiful.

Modification Monday: Help Me Rondeur

 
Original Pattern: Rondeur



Knitter Extraordinaire: Heidi (Ravlery ID)

Mods: Adjusted the hemline from the original pattern to sit flat for a more flattering hemline, and added a lace detail. Project page can be found here with more notes.

What Makes This Awesome: This is a perfect example of how awesome it is to be a knitter and customize your clothes for a more flatting fit. Heidi wasn't comfortable with how the rounded hem of the original pattern might fall on her body, and instead chose to do a more classic hem, but added a bit of lace detail to spice things up. I love how the lace at the hem line balances out the amazing detail at the raglan 'seams'  and the whole garment looks beautiful. What a fabulous customization! Plus, I had a genuine smile over her witty little project name.

A Trip to the Frog Pond

I hate frogging. Every time I consider it, I suddenly have a Rain Man-esque ability to remember exactly how many hours I spent knitting it thus far, and it hurts.

The cowl was cast on in August 2010, while in... England? Stockholm? It feels so luxurious to be wondering what country/city I was in when I cast on. Which is why I've been clinging to this project, hoping it would magically become something I wanted.
But you know, it's just not going to happen. I love the yarn ( Knitpicks alpaca cloud) but this cowl is just... not working out. I know I'm not going to wear it. And what is the point in knitting something that you know you aren't going to love?

This was supposed to be this caplet, but somehow it transformed into what is a very granny tea cozy, no?

 (okay, this is a useless photo that is mostly showing the wrong side of the knitting, but trust me- it's striping and looks dreadful)

Because that's all I see when I look at this- a self-striping, granny tea cozy.  Which isn't going to work for me. I do love the yarn (although it was a surprise to find out it stripes!), but it's going to be shelved, and one day, the perfect project will present itself for this yarn, I know it.

Modification Monday: Girly Wurm

Original Pattern: Wurm

Knitter Extraordinaire: Jaana (Ravelry ID, Blog)

Mods: Added a picot edging and eyelet details to the ribbing for the body of the hat. Details are on her project page, here.

What Makes This Awesome: The Wurm pattern is so lovely and simple, it's great to see how a few small tweaks can yield such beautifully different results. I absolutely love the eyelet between the ridges of garter stitch, and the picot trim looks so pretty. I love this mod!! Might need to make one for myself when the weather turns cool again....

FO: Handspun Toasties

Pattern: Toasty

Yarn: Pidgeonroof Studios roving, handspun by Tanis

Needles: 5 mm dpns

Notes: I. Love. These. Mitts.

They are buttery soft, toasty warm (true to their name!), and pure bliss to wear. I was originally thinking of a cowl when I saw the skein of handspun, but then I couldn't bear to knit it up into something I'd never be able to see while I was wearing it.

 

But I look at my hands. Actually, I look at my hands a lot.

And these are pretty awesome to look at.

TTC Knitalong Redux

Saturday was the 3rd year in a row I participated in the TTC Knitalong, which was a blast. I was attempting to do more live tweeting, so I didn't actually take any photos during the event that weren't cell phone photos! But here is Team Purple at Americo (sorry for the grainy cell snap):

It was a very fun day indeed! I was pretty restrained, since my stash is already a huge storage problem to begin with, but I couldn't resist taking home these goodies:



I was feeling salmon-y pinks that day, I think! And I also scored a Gleaner, which I was pretty excited about.

My take along knitting for this fun day was a very simple pattern made from this amazing, gorgeous handspun:



The roving is from Pidgeonroof studios, and was spun and plied by Tanis . As soon as I saw it, I couldn't wait to knit something up- it's so deliciously soft and cozy. Not that I need that right now in July, but that's how amazing this yarn is- I couldn't wait for chilly weather. FO photos coming very soon!

To conclude today's post, here is a photo of Gatsby hiding under the barbecue:



So fluffy. And he's trying to stay out the sun to cool off, poor thing.

Modification Monday: Steampunk Wedding Veyla Mitts

Original Patterns: Veyla and Bo Peep Gloves

Knitter Extraordinaire: Tanya (Ravelry ID, Blog)

Mods:   Combined two patterns into one for a pair of beautiful, vintage-inspired gloves. Project page is here.

What Makes This Awesome: I think you all know how much I  love a good pattern mash up! I don't think it would have ever occured to me to put these two patterns together, but I can't believe how beautiful the results are- the combination of the bo peep glove texture and the perfect lace cuff  of Veyla just look meant to be together! And those pearl buttons underline the delicate vintage beauty of these mitts. I'm in awe- they look so stunning.

Pearl and the Beard Giveaway Winner... Emily!

Congratulations to Emily,  who was selected by the random number generator to win the Pearl and the Beard CD!! Yay Emily!!

I did a post over on the TFA blog, about this Canada Day weekend at the cottage; which was a great time to do lots of future planning for the blog and patterns to come. Also: a sneak preview of a new design that will be coming out at the end of the month!

Modification Monday: Latvian Cowl

Original Pattern: Baby Blanket Latvian Garden

Knitter Extraordinaire: Raquel (Ravelry ID, blog)

Mods: Transformed the stranded baby blanket into a beautiful cowl. Great details to follow her modifications can be found on her project page, here.

What Makes This Awesome: I'm a huge fan of taking a great colourwork chart and using it for other items, and starting with something a bit smaller can make colourwork easier to tackle. This great  cowl looks beautiful and is no doubt super toasty warm, thanks to the stranded colour work. Look how cozy  Raquel looks in the photo above! Bonus- It looks very fetching on the canine set, too:

I couldn't' resist posting these adorable photos of her doggies  modelling. Dogs and knits, it's just an awesome combo.