This is a throwback post published on February 21, 2009.

I enjoy a good “fast-off-the-needles” project, and this was one of them.

Pattern: Herringbone Slouch
Yarn: Mission Falls Superwash 136 (one ball each colour)
Needles: 3.25 mm dpns

Mission Falls makes a lovely yarn. The colours are fantastic and the wool itself has a great soft and springy factor. I was going for a knit fabric that would be substantial enough to keep you warm, and the needle size coupled with the extra-layer provided by fair isle make this a cozy knit.

Though honestly, I was sort of hoping for a more “slouchy” effect than the one I got. I’ll just have to get my hands on some lighter-weighted yarn and give it a go.
____________________________

On an unrelated note: As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been messing around with my template and creating a new look for the blog. While it’s very fun, I must admit that I know very little about this stuff, and am sure that the page could appear rather, uh, messed up on other screens/browsers.

If you notice anything funky (and that’s the bad funky!) please drop me a line and tell me I’ve gone awry.

This is a throwback post published on September 20, 2008.

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on Ravelry

This is a throwback post published on September 16, 2008.

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on Ravelry

Scrumptious!
Superb!
Silky!
Scandalously superfluous!

with a little bit of happy dance thrown in.

Why the exuberance?
Well, my friends, I do believe that this Saturday has seen me make the most wondiferous single stash enhancement ever.
Since I cannot help myself, I pampered me to an early birthday prezzie and got:

3 different colourways of Fleece Artist’s Woolie Silk
(I think the colours are best described as Granny Apple Green for whom I already have plans a-brewin’, Amber and finally a Buttery Cream),
Enough Handmaiden silk to make a long-planned for autumn sweater (I must give the proverbial shout-out to Linda’s Craftique. I buy gorgeous yarn from her booth every year, and yet have still never been the store itself),
a perfect and long-searched-for shade of chocolate brown in a dk merino from The Black Lamb,
some black baby alpaca,
and a couple hanks of black laceweight merino.

Hmmm, I feel a new personal colour preference coming on.

Stayed Tuned.

Oh yeah, and Rav got me “recognized”. How cool it that?!
In the meantime, I’ve been diligently knitting away on a new one (this time from the Great Stash Enhancement of July 2008.
As per my usual trademarking, this lace has many-a-woopsies, but I’ll live with it.
I think I’ve cropped them out of this photo…
You’ll see in (hopefully) a couple days.

This is a throwback post published on June 20, 2008.

I’ll have to fess up and say that a rather disproportionate amount of joy for me comes from naming knits for designing.
This is a case in point.

Pattern: Alauda
Yarn: oh, a few scraps. Methinks it was
1) Brown Louisa Harding “Grace”
2) Orange Manos Silk Blend
3) a couple different yellow/golden shades of Handmaiden’s “Silk Maiden”
4) white Elsebeth Lavold “ClassicAL”

Why I made it:
My hands were unbelievably cold at work.
Why it’s got such a highfalutin name?
I love the naming. I love the organizing and labelling and making odd and rather twitsy-turny connections. In this instance, I knew I wanted to use some pretty stash scraps, hence the idea of a “legion”, expand that to a particular legion (one of Caesar’s Gaulish legions, see here)
and to top it all off, this particular Alauda word morphed into the modern French word Alouette, which is denotative of a small bird.

Gratuitous Butters photo:

If you want to make a pair:
step 1 – get scrap (all same gauge)
step 2 – measure around knuckles to get # of sts cast on (1” neg ease)
step 3 – cast on and knit knit knit in a rectangle til the piece measures to your wrist (if you want to add the YO row, just work one YO, k2tog across the fourth row).
step 4 – cast off and stitch together edge, leaving thumb holes!

This post has been brought to you by procrastiknitting.

This is a throwback post published on May 3, 2007.

Please let me know if you see any glaring errors. I didn’t keep the best notes going along. I hope this isn’t too convoluted.

Sized for a 36″ bust. You can read my suggestions for pattern-improvement.
Gauge: 7 sts/inch
Yarn: Wendy – Peter Pan 4 ply
Needles: 2.5 mm
Extras: seven 1 cm buttons, tapestry needle.
Warning: crochet ahead!
Hook: 3 mm

You can block the Spencer to make the lace look nicer. Just don’t use pins that will rust! (yes, I did).

Double Seed Stitch:

Row 1 – *K2, p2. Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2 – As row 1.
Row 3 – *P2, k2. Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 4 – As row 3.

Clover Lace:

Rows 1 and 7 – K
Row 2 and all Wrong side rows – P
Row 3 – K2, yo, sk1, k2tog, psso, yo, *k5, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo*, rep from * to *.
Row 5 – K3, yo, ssk, *k6, yo, ssk*, rep from * to *.
Row 9 – K1, *k5, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo*, rep from * to *.
Row 11 – K7, *yo, ssk, k6*, rep from * to *.

Back

CO 82 sts
work 1×1 ribbing for 1 cm (0.5 inch)
work double seed stitch for 6 cm (2.5 inches)

Begin clover pattern, and begin increases. Increase 1 st on each side on the Front Side of the work until piece measures 23 cm (9 inches) long.

(I had to fudge the pattern for the increases. What I did was placed markers at the beginning stitches, and continued the pattern as normal within the markers. When there was enough stitches outside the markers – which is seven, I believe – I worked those in pattern).

Shaping armholes:

When piece measures 21 cm (8 inches) long, begin shaping armhole by dec 2 sts on each side of Front of work for six rows. Then dec 1 st each side until piece measures 28 cm (11 inches). Arm holes are now shaped.

Continue in clover pattern until piece is 36 cm (14 inches) long.

Front Panels:

Work two. Just remember to reverse the neckline and arm hole shaping!
At this point, choose which side you want the buttons on, and which side the button holes.
CO 38 sts (this is what I did, but I recommend casting on a few more. I found the front panels to be a bit small).

Do the same shaping for the front panels as you did for the back, save for the 6 sts along what will be the buttonhole edge. Here I just kept the knitting in sockinette.

Button holes:

You create the first buttonhole on the first row of double seed stitch, and from then on place the buttonholes at approximately 2.5 cm (1 inch) intervals.
All I did was work 2 sts on buttonhole edge, cast off 2, and continue in pattern. Then on the next row, you just CO 2 sts over the space created by the 2 you cast off.

WHEN THE FRONT PANELS MEASURE 8 INCHES
Begin neckline shaping. (this is also when you begin armhole shaping!)

Neckline Shaping:
Cast off 18 sts to create beginning of neckline. You should have about 30 sts left.
Now you continue to shape the neckline edge by dec 1 st along neck edge every Front side row. Continue dec in this manner until you have 12 sts left. Work until front panels are same length as Back.

Sleeves:

Make two.

CO 70 sts.
Work 1×1 ribbing for 1 cm (0.5 inches).
Begin clover pattern.
Work in pattern until piece measures 4 cm (1.5 inches).

Begin shaping sleeve.
Dec. 1 st each side of Front of work until you have 2 sts left (my sleeves ended up being 16 cm/6.5 inches long).

Finishing:

Sew up side seams, shoulders and sleeves. Place and sew buttons.
Pick up sts along neckline (sorry, I didn’t count them), and knit two rows in stockinette. This makes a nice edge for you to create the crochet trim upon.

Neckline crochet:
Starting at one edge of neckline, make 1 sc.
Skip 2 sts.
Make five dc in next st.
Skip 2 sts.
Slip-stitch this down.

There you have the mini-shell that I used all the way around the neckline. Just continue the pattern til you get all the way around the neckline. I consciously kept my crocheting a little looser, because I was afraid it would pucker the knitting and look funny.

Suggestions for improvements to pattern:

If I were making this pattern again, I would add an inch-worth of extra stitches to the bust area (I would spread this out across the front panels, so I’d add 0.5 inches to one side and 0.5 stitches to the other).

I would also attempt to do it in the round, at least for the bottom half. I only suggest this because I dislike sewing seams.

I suggest creating a row of garter stitch on the edge of the front panel where the buttons will be sewn. This will make the fabric want to lay flat, rather than curl under like the original does.

Here is a pathetic Paint diagram of the measurement I took of the Spencer. If you can measure your own gauge, you can fit the pattern to you and your own yarn/needles/tension.

This is a throwback to a post published on August 20, 2008.

Pattern: Corona
Yarn: about 3.5 balls of Cascade 220
Needles: My beloved Boye interchangeables (methinks it’s 5mm… whichever are the light pink ones)

Changed from first Corona: had to make the sleeves a bit wider at the bottom (this’ll be reflected in the pattern).

Having already knit this sweater once, I’m able to directly compare the effects of expensive vs. economical yarn choices.

Both the Cascade 220 and the original Dream in Color “Classy” yarn were nice to work with. Neither had any knots in any of the hanks, the plies stayed together nicely (although if agitated, the Cascade would split a very small bit), the stitch/cable definition is perfect and the yardage count per hank is awesome-o.
Where the Dream in Color zooms ahead of the Cascade is in the beautiful colour and texture. Soooo very smooshy and inviting. If you’ve got the cash and you want a sweater to dive into, then this would be the way to go.
The Cascade 220 was exactly half the price of the Dream in Color, and this you can tell by its rougher texture (though not itchy! I wouldn’t buy it if it were) and overall less elegant feel.

I’ve worn the Dream in Color Corona a few times, and can happily report pilling has not been an issue. I’ve only put on the Cascade Corona for the photos, and I fear that pilling may be imminent. When I was buying the yarn the cashier actually asked me if I was planning on felting a bag because “This yarn is really great for that!”
Yipes.
Ah well, I may or may not have a trick up my sleeve. I’ve heard through the grapevine that liquid glycerin, mixed with some water for a knit-soaking, will solve the pilling problem. I have as of yet to get my hands on the elusive liquid, but I’ll definitely get back to you if it actually works.

These photos were taken pre-blocking, so the hood edge looks a bit floppy and rolly. It’s easily fixed. (What can I say – I was excited that the day dawned bright and sunny!)
As for the pattern – since I’ve now completed this one, I have the info required to write up other sizes. Me and the maths are not the best of buds, so I’ll have to be very nice to it and see if it’ll cooperate with me and produce accurate numbers for all. The plan is to have it written up and ready to go by the end of the month.

***PATTERN***
unfortunately, I’ve tried to paste it here, but it just won’t work with me.
Please see it here on Rav.

This is a throwback to a post published on June 16, 2008.

Pattern: Corona (download now)
Yarn: Dream in Color – Classy, 3 hanks (almost exactly)

I’ve decided to leave off the pocket on this hoodie – the majority of opinions swayed to the “no pocket” vote.

I’m very happy indeed with how this turned out. The yarn is so soft and sproingy (yes, technical term) that I can’t wait to purchase another batch for another project (and at this point, I foresee another one of these hoodies in the near-knitting future).

The honeycomb cable panel was sourced from a stitch dictionary. I haven’t ventured into the wide world of cable design for a while (first and last time was the Alatus).

I’m not miffed about the hood being pointed, rather elven-like. I’ve had a few good suggestions as to where I can find a pattern for a flat-top hoodie, and will probably play around with that for the next hooded-knit.

One thing I would change (and you can’t see it in these pics at all) is the sleeve-tightness around the bottom. I need to find a happy balance between sleeves that sit snug to your arm, and ones that don’t leave little ribbed-rows on your skin!

As you can probably tell, I had a hand with these photos. It certainly pays off to get another human around to take the pics (in daylight!) so that the colours of the yarn can show properly. And these colours are quite lovely – they remind me of (80s child warning) a particular Strawberry Shortcake plastic figurine I had as a child. She smelled of strawberries 🙂 Plasticy, plasticy strawberries.

Now that my three week love affair with this knit is over, I feel anxious to get started on a fresh idea. It just might kill me to wait out the next 21 days til the annual tent sale at the The Needle Emporium.
I will try to focus on writing up notes/a pattern for this knit.
Stay tuned.

***PATTERN***
unfortunately, I’ve tried to paste it here, but it just won’t work with me.
Please see it here on Rav.

***ERRATA***
It blinded me with the maths!
Here are the discovered errata for the pattern:
_______________________________________

These are the 2 things I found and re-calculated:
1. On the arms, the size medium should have a total of 40 stitches (pattern says 42) on the stitch holder. We started with 52 stitches and placed 12 on scrap yarn, so that equals 40.

1. After re-calculating increases/decreases and accounting for the arms being added and other stitches being placed on holders, this is what I came up with – I re-typed this section of the pattern:

Joining Arms to the Body
Pick up Body and knit to 4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts before first side-marker.
Put these 4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts on scrap yarn. Remove side marker, and put the following
4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts on scrap yarn.
Place marker, pick up and k the 40 (40, 40, 48, 52, 54, 64) arms sts not on scrap yarn.
Place marker.

K across back of sweater until 4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts before second side
marker. Place these 4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts on scrap yarn, remove marker, and place
following 4 (4, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8) sts on scrap yarn. Incorporate second arm in the same
manner as the first. K across front of body and cable panel.

You.ve just joined the sleeves, and will graft them together at the armpit during finishing.
You now have 200 (210, 220, 252, 300, 316, 356) stitches not including those on scrap yarn.
Work one WS row.

Thanks to michelleh13 on Ravelry!

_______________________________________

At the bottom of page 2, after creating the extra 20 stitches for the cable, it says:

Work around body, and when you return to the beginning of the cable panel, work the sts
you placed at the back of the work. (you should k2, p2, k12, purl 2, knit 2).
Now you have 124 (135, 148, 200, 216, 236) sts for the body.

Since after the 1st increase row it said:
You now have 104 (114, 128, 144, 180, 196, 216) sts.

and we added 20 stitches, so the line at the bottom of page 2 should read:

Now you have 124 (134, 148, 164, 200, 216, 236) sts for the body.

_______________________________________

Errata or my mistakes (Size S)??

At the bottom of page 2
X Now you have 135 sts for the body.
O Now you have 134 sts fot the body.

In the middle of page 3
X You should have 147 sts
O You should have 146 sts

After joining the arms to the body, I have only 210 sts on the needle and 8×4 sts on the scrap yarns, instead of 221 sts. Did I make mistakes? I’m confused. But I try on this sweater, it fits. I don’t find any problems so far.

When there’s 6 sts left on each sleeve:
RS: K to marker, sm, k1, ssk, k2tog, k1, sm, K across back, sm, k1, ssk, k2tog, k1 sm, k to end of row.

At the beginning of the hood, I have only 98 sts, instead of 110 sts. But the sweater still fits well.

_______________________________________

This is a throwback to a post published on July 16, 2008.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Howdy from a sunny July day and the just-finished Lovegood.

Pattern: Lovegood
Yarn: about 3.5 balls of Manos Silk BlendI likes this yarn so very much.
I don’t think I can say that enough.

Originally I was envisioning belt loops for this one, and the ability to wear said belt at either just under the bust or natural waistline. As it happens, I’ve made it a touch too short to wear the belt at my waist. Methinks it’d look a bit funny. And, the belt stays put, so no need to add the loops.

The neckline turned out how I wanted (thankfully!) in that I wanted it wide and almost off the shoulders. The sleeves aren’t as big and flowy as I wanted, but I’m satisfied with them.

I’m undecided about the wood buttons, though. In my zeal to get this one completed, I grabbed the only flat-fronted, right-sized wood buttons the store had – and now I suspect they’re too contrastive to the yarn. * le sigh.

But, my enthusiasm level for this one remains at the moderately high level (I gave it the smiley, but not super-smiley, face on Rav). It’s certainly wearable and much needed for my summertime wardrobe.

The lace panels are just “Snowflake Lace” from one of my few stitch dictionaries.

And here’s a little guy who hopped on by during the outdoors photo shoot.

This is a throwback to a post published on April 28, 2008.

This is a throwback to a post published on March 7, 2008.

I’d like to announce to the knitworld that I love Manos Silk.
Here’s what it told me to make it into:

Pattern: Hew (available as a pdf download on Ravelry. I have, rather unfortunately, not figured out the delicate art of pdf-ing).
Yarn: 2 skeins of Manos Silk

This pattern was a bit of a departure for me. Usually I think on a design for quite a while, sketching and dreaming. Hew just grew itself, in a manner that I’m certainly not used to when it comes to knitting. It was a very organic process, which brought me to a wearable and rather enjoyable finished garment.

My issues: because it was such an ‘organic’ knit, it’s a bit loose in some areas and a bit tight in others. It sort of works out, but I’ve found myself tugging at the bottom edge and re-tying the ties every once in a while to keep it below-bust.

I’ve kept pattern notes this time, so I hope I can accurately tell you knitgentry (for this I shall title you) how it grew and how to make it grow for other sizes.

Hew
By CanarySanctuary
http://canaryknits.blogspot.com

Size:
Bust 34 (36, 38, 40, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54)

Materials:
Manos Silk 2 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5)
4 mm circs (16” or longer)

Gauge:
5.5 sts / 1” on 4 mm needles

Pattern Notes:
Garter Rib: RS – K1, P1 to end
WS – P all stitches

This garment is constructed as a top-down raglan, with minimal seaming.

**Note: please be understanding. This is the first pattern I’ve attempted to size!

Pattern:
Cast on 96 (102, 114, 128, 132, 146, 150, 168, 168, 182, 182) sts.
Knit across 6 (6, 8, 10, 12, 12, 14, 16, 16, 18, 18) place stitch marker, knit in garter rib 12 (12, 16, 18, 18, 22, 22, 26, 26, 28, 28) place marker, knit 60 (66, 66, 72, 72, 78, 78, 84, 84, 90, 90) place marker, knit in garter rib 12 (12, 16, 18, 18, 22, 22, 26, 28, 28) place marker.
Arms are now marked for raglan increases.

From now on, do raglan increases in the manner written below until stitches for back number 82 (88, 90, 94, 96, 98, 98, 100, 100):

Raglan increases:
Knit across 6 (6, 8, 10, 12, 12, 14, 16, 16, 18, 18), slip the marker, increase 1, knit ribbing across arm stitches until one stitch before marker, increase 1, slip the marker, increase 1, knit across back stitches until 1 stitch before marker, increase 1, slip the marker, increase 1, knit ribbing across arm until one stitch before marker, increase 1, slip the marker, knit to the end.

When you have the number of stitches for the back, continue increasing for the arms (but not for the back!) until they fit comfortably around your upper arm.

When the arms fit around your upper arm:
Knit along front 6 (6, 8, 10, 12, 12, 14, 16, 16, 18, 18), slip the marker, cast off all arm stitches, take off second marker, knit across back, slip marker, cast off all arm stitches, take off second marker, knit until the end.

Increasing for bust:
Right Side Rows: Knit 1, increase 1, knit across all stitches until 2 stitches from the end, increase 1, knit 1.
Wrong Side Rows: Purl.
Work in this manner until number of stitches for front are 22 (22, 32, 32, 44, 44, 56, 56, 66, 66, 78).

***KEEP TRYING ON THE GARMENT to see how far it’s coming down your bust.
When you put the shrug on and it comes down 1 inch below your bust, begin the ties.

Ties:
With the RS facing, cast on 200 (206, 212, 224, 224, 230, 236, 247, 247, 260, 260).
Work garter rib across to end. Cast on 100 (103, 106, 112, 112, 115, 118, 121, 121, 124, 124).
From this point on, work garter rib, decreasing one stitch at the end of every row.
When the ties are 1 (1, 1, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 2, 2, 2, 2) inches wide, cast off all stitches.

Neckline:
Work entire neckline in garter rib.
Pick up 20 (20, 26, 26, 32, 32, 38, 38, 44, 44) along top of left tie.
Each RS row, pick up one stitch from edge of neckline and knit it together with first stitch of garter rib.
Work in this manner all the way around the edge of the neckline until you get to the right tie.
Finish off by grafting/Kitchener stitching the garter rib neckline to the top of the right tie.