Category Finished Object Friday

FO Friday: Entrelac Butterflies Cowl

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Lookit what I made!

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Project: Emo Butterflies

Pattern: Knitted Scarf Butterflies

Designer: Svetlana Gordon

Available: $3 on Ravelry

Yarn: White Birch Fiber Arts 100% SW Merino, DK in “Emo Enough?” (self-striping)

I first encountered White Birch‘s amazing self-striping colorways at Stitches East.  I picked up two skeins of her DK-weight 100% SW Merino, in part because I recognized the base yarn (Crazy Eight, from Wool2Dye4).  I’m familiar with Crazy Eight, because Kate uses it too!  I love this bouncy 8-ply yarn that straddles the line between sport and DK. Knowing the base made it easy to invest in the dyer at White Birch — and her self-striping colorways are fantastic, so I really wanted to take some home.

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Finding the right pattern for this spectacular colorway — “Emo Enough?” — took some time.  I cast on a number of projects and ripped, ripped, ripped. Eventually I settled on the Knitted Scarf Butterflies pattern, marking my first time doing entrelac.  To my surprise, the back-and-forth rhythms of entrelac knitting were soothing and fun! Each tier of tilting rectangles feels like an accomplishment. Each rectangle has a single cable cross, further livening things up.  This isn’t entrelac for newbies, but it certainly is a nice, chewy knit — and the results speak for themselves.

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Alas, my yarn didn’t go as far as I’d hoped … my FO was not quite long enough for a scarf or doubled-up infinity scarf, and was a bit long for a single-loop cowl.  No amount of thuggish blocking got me anywhere near the length I needed, so I played a bit with it in the mirror, and decided that some buttons and i-cord could bridge the gap.  I’m quite happy with the result, and may use this “shape” again with an otherwise-awkwardly-short scarf.

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CO Monday: a pair of design projects, and a bonus FO sweater

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I have been disciplined lately, and have hardly cast on anything!  Woo.  But, I do have two new design projects share. One is for Classic Elite, which means I can’t tell you much; the other is an indie design project with splufty yarn from New Zealand, and I can tell you alllll about that one.  Also, I have gift project to tell you all about, because I cast on and finished in two short weeks.

First off, the least informative project: a shawl design in Alpaca Sox.  I can show you a closeup of the yarn:

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… but I can’t say much else.  The finished design and pattern will be available sometime in mid-2015.

Second, I have some sumptuous new yarn all the way from New Zealand. Outlaw Yarn’s Bohemia Sport is 45% Polwarth, 45% Alpaca and 10% Possum fibre.  It comes in 15 keen colors (or colours, as the NZers say), including two that I’ve seen in person:

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Here’s what they have to say about Bohemia Sport:

The Polwarth provides excellent stitch definition, stitch memory and sheen, the Alpaca gives a silky drape and the Possum content is perfectly balanced to bring a subtle marl and soft halo to the knitted yarn. Possum has similar qualities to mink. The fibres are hollow, light, non-itchy, extremely warm and (unlike angora) Possum is pill resistant. Alpaca is an extraordinarily fine fibre with microscopic air pockets creating unique thermal properties. Its durable, non-flammable and non-itchy containing no lanolin with a smooth cell structure.

I’m designed a mobius-based cowl with Bohemia Sport.  Think garter stitch with some slipped stitches. The mobius will transition into a flared tubular cowl so it will lie nicely around the shoulders while still being snuggly around the neck.  Here’s a sneak peek of that:

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Last but not least, I made a sweater in just two weeks!  Ok, it was a Julian-sized sweater, and it was bulky yarn on size 10 needles … but still!  I bought three skeins of Wynter in Crimson, and two skeins of MountainTop Blackthorn (one each of Seal and Beaver Grey).  (Oh, I also got myself some #10 Signatures, so now my set is complete!) I ended up needing a fourth skein of Wynter, but that is only because I changed my mind about how much striping I wanted to do.

Here’s my youngest boy, Julian, who commissioned the sweater and collaborated on stripe placement:

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He asked for a red sweater, I asked if I could add some stripes.  Halfway through we agreed that stripes on just one arm would be cool!

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I used Ann Budd’s Top-Down Sweaters book as guidance — I added some short rows to shape the neck, and altered some lengths to suit my actual child.  (Fab book by the way! Super useful.  Saved me much math.)

I love how the sweater came out, and especially how much Julian loves it!  I think he’s worn it every day since I finished it.

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FO Friday: Tangled Gal

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At Stitches South, I bought yarn from the famous “Miss Babs” for the very first time.  Yowza is a BIG skein of yarn, more than enough to make a good-sized project. I chose a reversible cabled work-sideways scarf:

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Project: Tangled Gal

Pattern: Betangled Shawlette

Designer: Jennifer Weissman

Available: $5 on Ravelry

Yarn: Miss Babs Yowza What a Skein

This scarf starts from one tip and increases to the halfway point.  Short rows shape it nicely at the turn, and then you decrease to the other tip.  It’s great for making as much as possible out of the yarn you have.

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The giant-sized reverisble cables provide a built-in “keyhole” feature — super wearable.

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FO Friday: Two Hats

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Project: Peacock Themisto

Pattern: Themisto

Designer: Tori Gurbisz

Available: $5 on Ravelry  

Yarn: Glenfidditch wool in Silver and Peacock

I fell in love with a skein of blue-purple yarn at Stitches East 2013.  I looked at my handy project/yarn buying list, and chose this hat pattern … which meant I needed a second skein in a contrast color.  I made the hat, loved it … but it was taking FOREVER to dry after washing, so I put it out on the deck on a nice warm day.  Alas, the sun ruined it — almost all the purple highlights were bleached out, in a single afternoon outside.  So sad.

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Project: Trilobite

Pattern: Trilobite

Designer: Hannah Ingalls

Available: FREE on knitty.com

Yarn: Ella Rae Lace Merino Chunky in Acorn Brown

Ella Rae confuses me by using the word “Lace” in all their yarns … but I forgive them, because their chunky yarn is soooooo delicious! I love the yarn, the pattern, and the finished hat.  Thumbs up all-around.

FO Friday: Ginger Socks

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Socks for my mom, pair 4 of 5!

Project: Pretty Ginger Socks

Pattern: Fosco’s Pret-Pret-Pretties

Designer: Heather Ordover

Available: $6 on Ravelry  or $16.95 for the 28-pattern e-book, What Else Would Madame DeFarge Knit?

Yarn: Tosh Sock in Ginger

This was an interesting pattern to knit, with neat lace and cables. Lots going on to keep a novelty-seeking knitter like myself occupied and entertained! However, I did run into some problems with the charts (symmetry issues, which were relatively easy to spot); and, later on I had problems with the heel/gusset — I’m not sure if it was my fault or not, but I did eventually give up and just do a heel I was more familiar with. Because of this, I would recommend holding off on knitting your own Pretty Socks until the errata have been published.

FO Friday: Fairy Rings

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Lookit what I made, it’s so cool! 🙂

Project: Fairy Rings

Pattern: Miss Winkle

Designer: Martina Behm

Available: €3.60 EUR on Ravelry

Yarn: A Hundred Ravens Iachos  in “Frances and the Leaping Fairy”

So … I think we all know how hard it can be to find a good pattern for a high-contrast multi-colored skein of hand-dyed yarn.  For instance, take a look at this skein:

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In terms of colors, the white, coral, and green all contrast sharply.  The tone of the saturated green and color are about the same, as you can see in the black-and-white version, but there is a strong contrast between the white and the most saturated “grey” ends of the skein. This is a colorway that will be stripey, and would overwhelm any but the most simple lace pattern.

BUT — it’s perfect for garter stitch, especially if the project has a variable stitch count to help avoid big pools of color. Martina Behm’s Hitchhiker is a perfect example of a simple pattern in garter stitch that increases gradually from a small cast-on to a broad end … it’s classic!  Martina seems to have made this sort of shawl/scarf a bit of a speciality.  What I like about Miss Winkle is the awesome loopy edge.  I need something to help hold my attention when working garter stitch, and this was just the thing.  An unexpected side-benefit of the loops is that they concentrate the color.  I estimate that each loop uses about half a round of the skein, so many progress through all three main colors. It helps “pop” the colors in the garter stitch…. and also, they are so cool!!

The curve of this kind of shawl happens naturally — the neck edge has kfb on both RS and WS rows, so it “pulls” a bit.

 

FO Friday: Mad Lamina

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Check it out, gradient handspun!

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Project: MadLamina

Pattern: Lamina

Designer: Karen S. Lauger

Available: FREE! on Ravelry or on Knitty 

Yarn: my handspun Mad Color

This was the perfect little pattern for my gradient handspun.  I worked reeeealllly hard at getting the yarn to come out right, and I’m very pleased!  The roving (from Mad Color Fiber Arts) had a high-contrast and interesting color progression, and I feel like I preserved that in the finished scarf.

 

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I did get a tiny bit nervous as I neared the end of my knitting … that tiny bow of black yarn is the sum total of my leftover yarn. Whew!

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FO Friday: Sleepy Molly

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I have a new favorite FO!

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Project: Sleepy Molly

Pattern: Molly

Designer: Susan Mills

Available: $6 on Ravelry (also available in several CEY booklets)

Yarn: my handspun Sleepy Hollow!

This was, simply put, the perfect pattern for this yarn. The long color repeats are highlighted by Molly’s short rows, and the rib/ruffle design was forgiving of handspun irregularities. It was a delightful knit, very fun and rewarding every step of the way.

I used needles appropriate to the yarn, but kept the stitch counts the same, so my Molly is a bit wider than the original. I hoped that I would have enough yarn to make a long enough scarf for a loop to work — both as a single-loop long cowl, and doubled up.  I had juuuust enough yarn to accomplish this goal — it is super cozy doubled up, without strangling me :).

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FO 2013 — Year End Wrap-Up

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It’s officially New Year’s Eve!  In the spirit of tidying up loose ends, here are all the projects that I’ve finished in the last few weeks. Because there are so many, I’ll keep my comments pithy — click through to Ravelry for pattern and yarn details.

Mariposa Peacock

Great pattern! Had some trouble with the yarn hemorrhaging dye during the pre-block soak, but managed to control it with help from Kate.

Mystery Mare

This M-KAL was great fun! The finished shawl is HUGE and heavy from all the beads — totally fabulous.

Dancing Fringe

I’m sorry to say the purple yarn bled dye and now I have purple socks with PINK faux fringe. I’m glad I have one good picture beforehand!  Note to self: take your own advice re: dye fast testing when combining saturated colors with white yarn. Sigh.

MIL Clapotis

I finished this Christmas gift in plenty of time. My MIL wrapped it around her neck immediately, and wore it home.

Iris Stucco

High-contrast yarn needs just the right pattern — I’m pleased with how this came out.

Awesome Handspun

Finished this cup-cozy today! Love how the overall twisted-stitch pattern makes a plush fabric from my silky-merino handspun yarn.

Rosewood Gingerbread Dorothy

This was a toy M-KAL — the finishing left to the knitter’s imagination. I went for a “Dorothy from Oz” look, with some success.  I couldn’t get the gingham to work, however, so I’m not 100% satisfied.