Blog Hop

My friend, Amy, of Quixotic Pixels asked me to participate in a blog hop last week and I jumped at the chance! Amy is a busy mother of two and she's always creating things - from sewing to knitting to jewelry-making, I'm always impressed with the amount of crafting she fits into her busy schedule. 

The blog hop has four main questions, so let's get to it, shall we?

What am I working on? 

This is probably going to be the longest part of this post! 

 

I cut out an Emery Dress last weekend and am waiting for a good block of time to start the sewing! All of my pieces are marked and ready to go, I just have to pick up some black fabric for the collar and lining the skirt. I'm using a chambray from fabric.com and since the fabric is really lightweight I want to line the skirt to make it feel more substantial. 

 This is the first of four knitting projects I have on the needles. The pattern is Pretty (me) by Nadia Cretin-Lechenne from the ebook Emmitouflage(s). I'm using Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sport in the Del Rey color.

 This project is Sylkie by the Shetland Trader in some Imperial Stock Ranch Columbia. The color is Cactus Blossom. When this grows up it'll be a cowl for snuggling up in during the cold, rainy season.

 A pair of Simple Skyp Socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock December Ribbon Candy color. This picture is deceptive, I'm actually through the heel turn of the second sock.

Finally, I've barely even cast on the Love & Happiness cowl by Amy Christoffers of Savory Knitting. It's a heavily cabled cowl and I'm using the Plucky Knitter Primo! Worsted in Bleedin' Armadillo Groom Cake (I purchased this yarn at a craft/garage sale and it's a club colorway).

How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

 Hmm. I can't say that my work is hugely different from other work out there. My sewing is heavily influenced by sewing bloggers that I read and my knitting tends to be inspired by yarn I want to use or patterns that speak to me. I have a few designs on Ravelry and they tend to be simple items. In general, the items that I design are influenced by my yarn choice and tend to be a marriage of easy knitting (good for social knitting) and simple texture.

(Photo by Amy of Quixotic Pixels)

This is my design, Pillsbury, knit in Dream in Color Classy. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.

Why do I write/create what I do? 

 The urge to create things is strong in my family - my grandmother did all manner of crafts and my mom sewed all the time when I was a kid - so it runs in the family, I guess. My mom urged me and my sister to do all kinds of crafts growing up so I learned to sew when I was twelve, did embroidery and cross-stitch, and finally hit upon knitting in my late twenties. I find crafting of all kinds to be good for my well-being and a good way to make useful things for my family and friends. I knit when I'm happy, I console myself with knitting when I'm sad, and I use knitting as a way to stay in touch with friends at our weekly meet-ups.

How does my writing/creative process work?

In choosing patterns to sew I usually look at sewing blogs for inspiration. I'll also look at my wardrobe to see what clothing hole needs to be filled and then go from there. 

Choosing a pattern to knit can be as easy as looking at my queue on Ravelry and deciding what to make next, or, digging through my stash and finding a yarn that speaks to me. The second option is way more fun, by the way. I'll then swatch if the project is a sweater and go from there or cast on right away and get to knitting my new project.

This feels odd to write, but most of my designs are fueled by knitting ennui. Sometimes I just don't want to be married to a pattern or don't have the head space for following someone's directions. I'll dig through my stash, think of the kind of item I want to knit and what kind of design attributes I want it to have (see above, a marriage of simple but interesting) and get cracking. I've learned to take notes from the get-go and to annotate changes as I make them rather than try and knit an item to the finish before writing anything down. Once an item is done I'll sit down at the computer and write a rough draft pattern from my notes and then find a test knitter (usually my friend, Monica). Once the pattern is tested and I get feedback about the pattern I'll make any necessary changes and then wrangle another friend to take pictures for me. The final step is to format the pattern and the pictures and get the whole shebang uploaded to the Ravelry pattern shop. The whole process has to move along at a pretty nice clip or else I get bored and patterns languish (like a shawl that has been sitting around for two years).

I guess that'll do! Thanks for stopping by on the blog hop! I've passed the torch to Stariel of Stariel Knits and Andi of My Sister's Knitter. Watch for their blog posts next Monday! A big thanks to Amy for asking me to participate in my first ever blog hop.

Fortune's Wheel

Remember how my last post was all about me moving to Austin, TX? Within a few days of writing that post we had a sudden reversal in all of our up-in-the-air plans. Mr. B had an interview on Friday and within hours he received a phone call with a verbal job offer IN SEATTLE. With the three day weekend he's still waiting on the formal paperwork but we're fairly certain that this will all work out in our favor since they want him to start work this week. Excited? You betcha. Relieved? That too. While I'm interested in Austin, the idea of planning a cross-country move right after Little A starts kindergarten (can you believe it?) and after I finally got settled into my newish job was more stressful than anything else. I'm happy to stay in Seattle and be able to plan a move in several years with purpose rather than because we have to. 

But let's talk about knitting!

 

My knitting group had a stash swap/sale and Jeanne gave me two 50 gram skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in December Ribbon Candy. I cast on for Simple Skyp Socks and enjoy the way the yarn is striping. 

 

I also have a cardigan on the needles for my podcast's new KAL - Cardi Party KAL - that starts tomorrow! This is the very beginning of Pretty (me) by Nadia Cretin-Lechenne in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sport. The color is Del Rey and it's a delight to knit. 

Thank you so much for all of the kind words about our almost big move! I have my fingers crossed that everything works out as anticipated and we'll able stay in Seattle for the next few years. Wish us luck!

 

WIPs!

I have knitting to share with you! My last few posts have been sewing heavy - the newer craft is the sexier craft - but I've been doing a lot of knitting, too!

This is Happy Street by Veera Valimaki. The pattern was gifted to me by my lovely friend, Sonia, last year when I was having a bit of a difficult time. I love this pattern. The yarns are: Colorful Yarn in Steel, Hazel Knits Entice in Queen of the Night, and Hazel Knits Piquant Lite in Lichen. All the yarns are slightly different in texture and weight but the garter stitch showcases each yarn wonderfully well.

This is Myrna, the sweater component of my OAL entry. If I were knitting this cropped the body of the sweater would be done and I'd be cruising along on the sleeves. I did try this on once I hit the specified length (over my dress, even) and just didn't feel comfortable with the length. I've decided to make it a high hip length so it'll be more versatile with the rest of my wardrobe. The yarn is good old Cascade 220 in color 2409 and I have more than enough of it to lengthen my cardi.

WIP Wednesday

I had a really busy weekend and the rest of March looks like more of the same. Between the social happenings and work and enrolling Little A in elementary school (say, what?) I feel like everything has been go go go for a couple of weeks now. My body seems to think so, too, since I now have some vague illness lodged in my throat making me incredibly tired and rather cranky. What's a knitter to do? I called out sick Tuesday so I could sleep as much as I was able and then lay around on the sofa between doing loads of handwash and shooting chloraseptic spray down my throat. Ick. But it also means that while I was lolling around I did quite a bit of knitting.

 This is most of a pair of Ruru mitts for Little A. I pulled a ball of sock yarn scraps out of my scrap bag and measured it - 20 grams exactly! I think I made the top part of the first mitt a little too long since I don't have enough yardage for the second one. I'll knit as far as I can on the second mitt and then pull out some of the first mitt so they're even. It's my first time knitting the owl cable and it's pretty cute.

This is Antarktis that I cast on last weekend in a fit of knitting ennui. I was given this yarn at Stitches to review on my podcast and since I don't knit with variegated yarns very often I thought that the garter stitch and eyelets would help break up the colors and create a nice harmony between colors. This is exactly the right kind of knitting for me at this moment and I think it would make a good project for social knitting, too.

Let the Games Begin!

Are you participating in the Ravellenic Games*? I hemmed and hawed and finally decided that if I was going to participate I was going to knit a sweater. Not really surprising given one of my knitting resolutions this year was to knit more sweaters, especially from my sweater yarn stash. Once I decided to participate in the Ravellenics the decision of what to knit came quite easily. I swatched for another Acer Cardigan by Amy Christoffers in Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort and got perfect gauge on my #6 Hiya Hiya needles. 

Friday at work all I could think about was going home and casting on my sweater but once I actually got home I decided to work on my other sweater, Dimbala, and am just to the point where I can split the front and back. 

I made some modifications in order to add in a bit of waist shaping in the form of vertical darts and I apparently forgot to knit a few rows of garter between the ribbing and the texture stitch for the body. There are also fewer rows of twisted rib at the bottom edge since deep ribbing isn't super flattering on me.

And then I decided that I should finish off these socks for Little A out of some sock yarn scraps since it has been in the 20s this week (modeled picture coming soon). 

And then I decided that I should finish these socks since the tubes for the foot have been siting around for at least three weeks and all I have left are the heels. I finished them up this morning while having my morning cuppa because this happened: 

Snow! After tromping around outside for the better part of an hour with Little A we came home rosy-cheeked and cold and I actually cast on my Acer Cardigan. Ribbing accomplished!

*The Ravellenic Games take place during the Olympics and knitters and crafters compete by choosing challenging projects to be completed within the time frame of the Olympics in various events. The sweater event is called Sweaterboard Cross and if you're interested in knitting along you can check out more info on Ravelry.

Start to Finish: Pomme de Pin

I'm hosting a cardigan KAL in one of my very favorite groups on Ravelry - My Sister's Knitter - and thought I'd share my process when knitting sweaters for myself. It seems straightforward enough, right? Choose a pattern, choose some  yarn, knit a swatch, knit a sweater. Done.

A lot of things go into my decision-making process, including the yarn and pattern, but also my body shape and my existing wardrobe. So let's talk about body shape first - Amy Herzog has an amazing class on Craftsy that gives a great overview of different body shapes and some guidelines for what sweaters might work for each shape. In the end, though, you should wear sweaters that make you feel great about your body and that you'll love regardless of whether they fit into specific guidelines for your shape.

For example, I have a proportionate figure where my bust and hips are both 43" and my waist is 36". I also know that my bust and my rear stick out about the same distance from my body so I don't need to do short rows to make adjustments for a large bust and a small rear or vice versa (short rows help sweaters not ride up in the back or front if you have a bust/rear inequality, or a large tummy). When I choose sweaters I tend toward patterns with set-in sleeves, or the illusion of a set-in sleeve, so that the sleeve cap seam creates a visual reference point for the outer limits of my body. Cardigans are also at the top of my list for wearability since the vertical line down the center of the body visually breaks up the width of my bust and hips.

How do I choose a pattern?

If you're on Ravelry, use the advanced pattern search and filter your search by the attributes you want in your sweater. For example, I would search for cardigan and set-in sleeve and maybe a fabric characteristic that I feel like knitting such as cables or lace or a construction method such as top-down or bottom-up. If you have a yarn in your stash you'd like to use you can also choose that weight of yarn.

If you're not on Ravelry I suggest visiting an LYS and looking through patterns and books as well as getting suggestions from staff.  

 Photo via Savory Knitting

I chose Pomme de Pin since I absolutely love Amy Christoffers' patterns and already had the pattern in my library (it meshes with one of my resolutions for this year). This pattern also has a lot of projects listed in Ravelry so I can browse how it looks on different body types and with different amounts of ease. Generally, I knit a 42" bust since I like a little negative ease. Pomme de Pin is meant to be worn with 3-ish inches of positive ease which puts me smack dab in the middle of the third size. I'm okay with that amount of ease since the other option is to knit about 4" of negative ease. This cardigan is meant to be a cozy, lightweight piece so 3" of positive ease sounds just about right to me.

What about the yarn?

I'm using yarn from my stash (another resolution) that I purchased from Webs at Stitches West last year specifically for Pomme de Pin; Valley Yarns Northampton Sport in Ocean Heather. Again, you can look at what other knitters used for their sweater on Ravelry, dig through your stash, or visit an LYS for suggestions and help. One thing I do look at when substituting yarn is the content of the yarn. If a pattern calls for a silk blend yarn you're going to want a yarn that has similar drape if you want your finished sweater to look the same. Pomme de Pin calls for Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport which is a superwash wool yarn - my yarn isn't superwash so my swatch will tell me if it's going to behave correctly. That leads me to the swatch.

Do one. Really. It's going to tell you a lot about whether or not the pattern and yarn will play nicely together. I've knit a large-ish swatch - about 7 inches square - and washed it just as I would my finished garment and then let it dry before measuring it. My swatch (mysteriously disappeared now that I want it to show y'all a picture) was spot on for gauge so I'm going to go ahead and cast on!