Leaf Cardigan Reveal

Here it is, at long last. It's been over a month since Hermanita's birthday, but first she had to block it, then I needed to remember to ask her to model when there was still some light left.



Pattern: Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties, by Stephanie Japel (32" size)
Yarn: Cascade Dolce in Lavender Pearl (938?), not quite 6 skeins

This was a very nice pattern--simple and straightforward. Because I had to knit away from prying eyes, this got to be a bit boring, but it would be a great project for knit nights/TV knitting. To make things even simpler, I did the sleeves in the round. My row gauge changed slightly, but this didn't matter because the sleeves only need to be a certain length, not a certain number of rows.



As to the color: generally I eschew pastels (repressed memories c. 1990) in favor of earthy or bold colors. But see how the walls are almost exactly the same color as the sweater? That's Hermanita's room. Need I say more?

Next up, some current knits as they relate to that omnipresent force, my Stash.

It's a Bib! (boy version)

The Petal Bib pattern withstood the replicate test. Specs are identical to the girl version, with the exception of the color, Ice. I highly commend this pattern to anyone with a last-minute baby shower invitation and some fancy cotton hanging about. I consider myself a relatively slow knitter, but I did the petals while waiting for the shuttle to the airport. A few Concerts a Emporter got me through the short-row shaping, and doing the i-cord took less time than reviewing a GRE vocab list (bleugh).

Whip up a little washcloth to match,



and you're in business.

(no pattern there--just 34 sts on those size 6s)

The real excitement is not in the stockpiling of items for a hypothetical baby, but in clearing the detritus from my stash. The washcloth represents the very last of my Cascade Pima Tencel, save for a scrap destined to become a gift bow. The aforementioned washcloth party is underway, and my stash tote is beginning to feel roomier.

Not to worry. I will not be a yarn ascetic forever. This period of prolific stash knitting will soon be supplanted by a fortuitous event: my birthday, which, I have a feeling, will be characterized by prodigal yarniness.

(no, "yarniness" is not on any of the GRE vocabulary lists)

It's a Bib!

Now all I need is a baby to put it on.

A few years ago I was knitting a baby blanket in a café and the girl behind the counter--a slight acquaintance--asked if there was anything she should know. This rawther irked me, because a) I am not overly enamored with children (nor they me) and b) I see no reason why you need to wait until there's a baby handy to knit baby stuff.

Pattern: Petal Bib from One Skein.
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel in White Peach
Needles: my size 6 Clovers which are beginning to wear out at the tips.
This page has good instructions for wrapping stitches to hide the short-row shaping.



Texture note: make sure you keep the garter stitch going up the sides. Also, when you go to knit 3 together, don't. It's a purl 3 together. Not that I knitted three together for the first 3 decreases or anything, although if I had, I could tell you that Pima Tencel is really perfect for unzipping and reworking single stitches.

Note the gauge issue that causes the bib to go a bit wonky in the middle. I started it while we were watching The Maltese Falcon and falling asleep one afternoon, worked the middle on the bus, and finished it while we were watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and trying not to fall asleep. Ah well. The baby it ends up on will drool on it just as happily as if the gauge was perfect.

When All Else Fails

There is knitting. The yarn may be a funny colored acrylic, and the needles raspy aluminum, but knitting is predictable. It is tractable, it goes at the pace you need it to, and it doesn't wait until Tuesday to tell you what to study for your Thursday test. Not that that last bit's actually happened in one of my harder classes and I'm feeling bitter and hating the teacher for all the time I spent this weekend studying the wrong stuff.

Back to knitting. Around Christmas, I whipped out three of these:



(Modeled here by Hermanita)

Pattern: Tweed Beret from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: A skein and a half of Cascade 220 for two solid-color hats and one hat with stripes of Cascade 220 and Lion Brand Mohair blend that I bought so long ago the color went out and came back in again.
Needles: size 6. You could go up to size 7 for a floppier fit. It wasn't until I was on the third one that it occured to me to use a 40" circular and pull out the extra length of cord: by the time you reach the hat's maximum circumference, there's only the shortest bit extra.
Be forewarned: you need 8 stitch markers to keep track of the increase points. There's no fudging this one, especially not if you're using black yarn.

I normally don't knit the same pattern twice, but hats are nice. You cast on, knit to the end, bind off, and you're done. No fiddly seams to sew or mates to match.

A little Quant and I think I can manage to look at school again.

Welcome to Shop on the High Street!

I've got a blog!

Geocities and its minute data transfer limit was bringing me down, so I said to heck with it and transfered to Blogspot. The entire process was scarily easy. Why Blogspot? It's free, and some very cool blogs (like sock prØn and b r o o k l y n t w e e d) are hosted here.

Those ARE both knitting blogs--how very astute! I am already linking to knitting blogs because this will be a blog about knitting. Knitting, yarn, and all the little things that make knitting and yarn even better.

To everyone who knitted (and crocheted) with me over the summer, thanks a million times again! I promised I'd keep you updated : ) Stop in at the Shop on the High Street, and tell me what you're up to. Better yet, show me pictures!

Here is my latest accomplishment: Nautie, from the spring '06 issue of Knitty, the world's most incredible ezine. All of the tiny fiddly shaping bits and miles of sewing inherent in little, 3-d toys usually scares me off, but this pattern was incredibly easy and had a grand total of ONE seam.


I think everyone needs a stuffed nautilus.

My pattern adjustments:
All parts are knitted with two strands of Cascade's Pima Tencel

I put a bell in the head before sewing the pieces together to make it rattle

Because this nautie is going to a baby, I didn't use felt fort the eyes. I did not embroder eyes, either. I asked my sister to do the embroidery: this nautilus is supposed to be cute, not scary.

Happy September!