The Fine Print

I’ve been knitting away on the sweater for my son whenever I get  a few moments.  For all you moms out there with young children, you know how those free minutes are few and far between, right??

Anyway, I sort of wrapped the work in progress around his torso yesterday evening and I realized that this sweater isn’t going to fit him unless I blocked the life out of it once I’m done.  And the chances of it fitting then.. also highly questionable!  I went back to my notes and it looked like my calculations to size this design down made sense, but why wasn’t my knitting behaving?

Then I read this part in the pattern that says… “Gauge: 19 stitches and 34 rows = 4inches in Ranger Textured Stitch”.  Hah, my gauge swatch that I based my calculations on was done in Stockinette Stitch!

The Ranger Textured Stitch is done using a slip-stitch pattern.  That means that the resulting fabric will be denser and also tighter than it’s smooth, flat, loosey-goosey cousin, Stockinette.  So, guess what I’m doing right now?  About 13 inches through the knitting (gah) I’m swatching again using the right stitch pattern!

Lesson Learned: That fine print, it’s darned important!!

Snow, Yeah!

 As promised, we got our winter wonderland :)

The cuteness!!

Despite explaining to Prithvi that 2 cm of snow doesn’t count for the school distric calling it a “snow day”, he was up really, really early this morning watching the local news to see if his wish would come true.  Nope, no snow day today!

Snow makes everything so magical and yesterday’s sunset can bear witness to that fact.

The first thing Kiki asked me this morning was if we had any carrots.  I’m thinking, “This kid wants carrots for breakfast?  Something’s off!”  Turns out she and her brother have after school plans :: building a snowman, a snowball fight and making snow angels.  I might even join in for some of the fun!!

In knitting news, being the good mom that I am (hehe!), I told Prithvi last week to pick out a pattern that he would like me to knit for him.  That took less than ten minutes on Ravelry… there’s like 7 patterns for guys and a gazillion to choose from for us gals!  He chose Ranger from the issue of BT Fall 2011 and went stash-diving in my yarn bins for yarn.  He picked Rios by Malabrigo Yarns in the colorway called “Paris Night”.  Nice choice!

There’s a bit of math involved sizing it down to fit him and I’m also using a different yarn than what the pattern calls for.  But he said that he’d really, really like this sweater in this specific yarn and so I cast on.  Let’s hope my calculations work!

Purging

How has your new year been so far? All 13 days of it? Have you been organizing and clearing out all the clutter? This is something I do every time the new year rolls in. Once the Christmas decorations are packed away, the organizing bug bites me hard for a few days. It really helps that every store seems to have their boxes and bins and baskets on sale right now!

This year, I organized my yarn stash too and I was actually pretty surprised (and quite delighted) that my stash isn’t as overwhelming as I thought it to be. I know some of my friends have had quite the opposite experience. But, we’re all supporting each other to love that stash and knit it up this year. I really culled my ooh-shiny habit last year and began buying yarn only when I had a project in mind. Of course, I had a few slip-ups, but on the whole I think I’m understanding the whole point of Stashdown.

 I finally cast off for a project that’s been on my needles since the beginning of last year!!  I have to admit that half way through knitting this sweater I was bored to tears and it really doesn’t help that I think the sleeves are meh!

This project, my Garter Yoke Cardigan, is blocking right now and who knows how long that’s going to take because this is what we woke up to this morning….  So pretty!

The weatherman said it’s going to be “frosty with a chance of snow”!  I think we’ve been cheated this winter with temperatures that have been spring-like, I’m ready for some snow!

Done And Dusted

Does everyone feel like 2011 has flown by at warp speed or is it just me?  Personally, it has been a challenging year in many ways but at the same time so rewarding. 

My knitting journey has moved forward in a positive direction and although, it felt like I didn’t knit as much as I did in previous years, the number of finished projects as recorded on Ravelry and on my blog speak otherwise (that discovery was a pleasant surprise, to say the least!)

I’ve completed 22 projects this year :: 12 accessories and 10 sweaters (I must add, for the sake of full disclosure that 5 of these sweaters were for Kirtana ) 

Publishing my first pattern was a highlight of my knitting year and I enjoyed that process thoroughly. 

In fact, I’ve forgotten to add pictures and project details on Ravelry for one of the design prototypes – how that happened, I’m not sure!!

Pictures of my finished Emelie haven’t appeared on this blog.  That’s because most of the pictures from that shoot were destroyed by a salt water damage to our camera.  Here is one of the “survivors”.  I will re-photograph that sweater in the New Year.

As I stand on the brink of 2012, I look forward to new adventures in my knitting journey and sharing these adventures with all of you, my lovely blog readers.  Thank you for your friendship, your lovely comments and encouraging emails.

Happy New Year to each and everyone of you, may this year be truly remarkable! 

xo

It’s Christmas!

It’s finally here!!!

Merry Christmas to you and your family from ours

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Not really, but that song is stuck in my head and I smile everytime I hear it

So, Christmas came early for me since the UPS man showed up this morning with a rather large box.  No, he didn’t bring a boatload of yarn (although, that would have been lovely too!)  He did bring something else that’s been on my wishlist for ages…

Meet Scarlett O’Hara!  She now lives in my kitchen and she’s red

In the midst of all the usual hustle and bustle that’s a part of this time of year, I’ve managed to get a wee bit of knitting done.  Look… more red!

It’s the same pattern that I finished last month.  This time I’m using Tosh Vintage in my favorite color ever :: T.A.R.T!!!!  Kiki picked out this yarn and I was so surprised she didn’t pick purple or pink.  I don’t know if I can finish this before the end of the year seeing that I still haven’t finished all my Christmas shopping and then there’s that small matter of wrapping presents!  It’s a good thing there is no knitting police to enforce deadlines ;)

Despite all of the chaotic frenzy that surrounds the holidays, I hope that each one of you is enjoying family, fun and love during this special time of year!

Mustard Cables

New threads for the Little Miss

When I first saw this yarn, I fell in love with the color.  I knew immediately that I wanted to knit a cabled sweater with a bit of chic thrown in.  “Functional and fun” was what I had in mind.  I love this little sweater even though it’s got a few boo-boo’s (cough..mis-crossed-cables-tight-sleeves..cough, cough!!)

I used Cascade 220 Heathers for this sweater and I’ve already cast on for another one, this time using Ultra Alpaca by Berroco.

The sweater is almost seamless other than a few grafted stitch at the underarms, but my favorite part of this knit is the applied i-cord on the button bands.

Mustard Cables (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: My Own
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in “Golden Heather″
Needles: Size US 7 & 8 / 4.5 & 5 mm

Change Over

Time to say goodbye to these cute little cherubs

and drag out “Mr. Fakey” to get him all spruced up.  Because Tis The Season!

The kids laid out our “snow village” this year

and I have to say, they did a fine job of it!

I do have a bit of knitting on the needles but since it is for Christmas gifting, I can’t really talk about it yet.  I did, finish (sorta) a cardigan for Kiki in this lovely Mustardy yellow and after I blocked it, I realized the neckline was all wrong.

Rip!!!

I say, better to re-knit than to let that pesky neckline bother me and so it’s back on the needles now.

Frozen Fingers

Seen on our walk yesterday…

and this sweet girl

and this little guy

soon, all those leaves will fall

But look at that snow line!

Granted we don’t get much snow in Vancouver but this city is nestled alongside the Coast Mountain Range and those mountains get covered in white fluff every winter.  My hands are always the first to freeze when it gets cold outside (or with over-zealous air conditioning, or at the movies!)  But not today.  Today, they were TOASTY thanks to my new mittens!

Why is it always so impossible to photograph red???

Laurie’s Mittens (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: Laurie’s Mittens by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in “Ravelry Red″
Needles: Size US 8 / 5 mm

I used the same size needles throughout because I wanted these mittens to be snug but not too tight at the wrist.  They turned out perfect this way.  No more frozen fingers!!

Aidez

A wonderful way to celebrate Wovember with a wooly sweater… my Grandpa Sweater Aidez is completed and is the coziest thing ever!!  I adore everything about it.  What an enjoyable knit!

Considering that this is a longer sweater and is knit using bulky yarn, it is actually quite light and the wool softened considerably after being treated to a warm bath with some wool wash.  This design has different cables to keep the knitting interesting and after a long, long time, I knitted a pattern that isn’t seamless.

Being knit in pieces and then sewn together is key to this yarn/cable combination.  The seams provide structure and reinforcement and I think they will increase the life of this sweater considerably.  I don’t mind seaming all that much which helps!  I think I used about a skein and a half of Cascade Eco + for this sweater and given the price of this yarn, I got a wonderful cabley sweater for less than 30 bucks!!

There was one (huge) oversight on my part.  I read the chart wrong for the seeded wishbone cables on the fronts and the sleeves and somehow converted them to “ribbed” wishbone cables.  I realized this error when I was knitting the last sleeve and wasn’t going to rip everything back to correct it.  It works with the design though and doesn’t seem out of place, so I’m okay with that!

I’ve been craving a cable fix for a while now and Aidez helped me indulge quite excellently!!

Aidez (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: Aidez by Cirilia Rose
Yarn: Cascade Eco + in “Grey 8401″
Needles: Size US 10.5 / 6.5 mm