Yesterday I received a bunch of yarn from Pickles which is going to various projects already planned and others still in the works.  Some of the colors didn’t turn out that close to the images (not just the color, but the intensity, and they were inconsistent in their difference) but I think they will work out great.  I know I shouldn’t wind them into balls until ready to knit, but just couldn’t help myself!

My second-greatest knitting fear (after not having enough yarn for a project) is ending up with too much afterwards.  I’m not a fan of projects with too many colors and while I love variegated yarns to look at, am unsure about how to actually make a pleasing project from any of them.  Hopefully my calculations are correct-ish.

Abuelita Baby Merino Lace in Charcoal

Abuelita Baby Merino Lace in Petrol – more streamlined (due to dyeing?)

Pickles Cash-Tweed – I like to imagine them living in colonies

I will be plying the Abuelita in Petrol with two strands of Cash-Tweed to make Ysolda’s Struan which will make the colors deeper and hopefully even out the blotches of color.

plies

Finally unpinned my Ishbel from the blocking towel last night and love it, though this morning when I tried to wear it, realized that it makes me look like some sort of weird pioneer woman/bandit.  Will have to learn my lesson and convert any future lace shawl patterns into scarves.  Oh well.  I already sort of suspected that shawls were not going to become part of my wardrobe and it has been confirmed.  Still, I really enjoyed learning how to build the shape of the triangle, and it was really fun.

unblocked and blocked

The inspiration for the color comes from this Ishbel, although mine is a little more orangey.  I just love this color as an accent, and it looks exactly like that cheese powder packet that comes with Kraft macaroni and cheese.  mmm!

unblocked and blocked

Every girl wants a pair of red shoes.  These little booties for Carmen are made using the Saartje’s Bootees pattern on Ravelry.  She was born a couple months ago, but I will be seeing her soon.  Hope these fit.

The yarn is something mysterious from the back of my stash which I got two years ago at Idee in Berlin.  I was on a month-long trip that began and ended in that city, so on the first leg I bumped into the store, saw how amazing it was, and put it on the list of shopping destinations for my return.  I got one little knitting project to take on the trip with me, but didn’t want to carry too much in my backpack.  This is some yarn I picked up for a special project to make at home, but I ended up only needing a few yards.

Since the quantity of the yarn was unknown as well, I opted for a single-strap version with stitch numbers adjusted like these.  Fortunate, because there was only about a yard left when they were done.

The shoes are so cute I could not stop taking pictures.  As an added bonus, may I would like to present you to Robby Raccoon himself!

the one and only RobbyRaccoon!

don’t they fit him perfectly?

Asparagus, it’s what’s for dinner.

in season

Maybe next time I’ll try this  yummy recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

This weekend I watched the final season of The Wire.

Everything else came second.  Or really 11th.  Because there were 10 amazing episodes.  I should have trusted Terry Gross sooner…

Of course to make myself feel productive, instead of like a couch potato, here are some of the handicrafts I worked on:

This is the lovely Laurel from Brooklyn Tweed.  It turned out pretty well in a Rowan cotton-wool blend.  Since the yarn was a little thinner than recommended, and I like denser fabrics, I changed the pattern to have 7 repeats around and four repeats vertically.

It came out a little small for me, but will fit the recipient just fine.  Although the pattern is lovely, all of the travelling cables became a bit tedious, and while I can figure out how to cable without an extra needle, I don’t really enjoy the loose loops hanging out.  This was definitely more of a product knit for me.

Next, I started the Ishbel by Ysolda Teague and, as with her other patterns I have used, it is beautifully written.  I have never made a shawl before and would normally eschew them in favor of a more rational scarf (no weird shaping, plus I feel like “shawl” always sounds so old-fashioned) but I’ve seen some really beautiful versions of this (color inspiration) and it seems like everyone on Ravelry has one, so who am I to argue…

So far I’ve finished the stockinette section (perfect for those final gripping episodes of The Wire…) and the first pattern repeat, but my favorite part is the cast-on.  I just cannot get over how ingenious it is, and I love seeing my triangle take shape.  The one change so far is to do the edges in stockinette – which as you can see contrasts with the cast-on.  Oh well.

I am using the same Pickles Extra Fine Merino in Sunflower but somehow the texture feels a little different from the magenta…   I already know the product will be great, but the process on this one is amazing.

In grade school I would get a new box of Crayola markers every August, and by May the only ones still working with plenty of ink would be the orange, purple, and brown.  As you can tell, I am not much a fan of purple.  But every once in a while I find just the right shade + object combination and it is love!

my sneaks!

So it was when I saw the beautiful Manos del Uruguay 5-ply Merino at PurlSoho I had to order two skeins.  They call it “magenta” but it is a beautiful deep mix of purple and fuchsia, and so saturated.  Quite hard to capture the exact color because it is very complex.

I decided it would be perfect as a cowl and searched the PurlBee until I found this pattern for a Leaf Lace Scarf.  Of course, making a cowl version means not dealing with the dreaded Kitchener Stitch, but I did have to adapt the pattern to be knit in the round and it was my first experience with lace knitting.  I even had the yarn-overs going in the wrong direction for a while…  The cast on edge is garter stitch, and the other edge is a seed/ribbing mix with a fake tubular cast off from TECHknitting.  After blocking it is so comfy and soft!

Leaf Lace Cowl

raccoon-like

The second skein was used for the Waffel hat over at Pickles.  I had a little trouble with the gauge and ended up knitting the hat upside down.  I started at the brim but it was too small, so I increased (that’s why the pattern is at a different scale than in the original).  When I had enough height I bound off, then cut the cast-on edge and reknit, decreasing to the top of the hat.  I love how knitting is so forgiving in this way.  The smocking texture is very easy and could easily be used in a garment.

honeycomb

smocking

purple head

The hat will be going to someone who favours the color…

Tazones, Asturias, Spain

Shell-inspired projects:

Pomatomus Socks by Cookie A.

Lost at Sea by Resurrection Fern

the hat is done!

done!

old and new bands

I think it looks sort of like a brain…

This hat is made following the Rose Red pattern created by indie designer Ysolda Teague.   I discovered her work a couple months ago and through the blog she writes and really love the whimsy of her collections and the bold colors she uses.  This is not the first of her designs I’m knitting, but it is the first to be finished and is written beautifully.  The chart is very clear and because the complex geometry of the hat, is in my opinion much easier to follow than the written directions because you can *see* the shape growing.

twisting vines

It is the first pattern I’ve ever followed completely faithfully.  Well…  I didn’t follow the gauge but did knit a larger size to compensate for the thinner yarn and needles used.  About a third of the way through the project I really believed it would end up too short vertically and began planning ways to add extra repeats, but it turned out in the end.  Just needs some light blocking to open up the lace patterns.

I can definitely imagine making another, although I might simplify the lace so that the overall growth of the hat from i-cord cast-on to the band is more obvious. Finally, I used a sewn bind-off which is going to be my default from now on.

Again, I used two yarns, both from the Pickles website:  Cashmerino in Soft Blue combined with a Silk Mohair blend.  They are so soft, but I did have some problems with the plies of the cashmerino separating.

With the left over yarn I made an i-cord ribbon and pom-pom to wrap the package.  I was inspired by this recent post by the Yarn Harlot.

This hat will be flying to my grandmother for mother’s day, though she won’t be able to use it until the fall.  She was the one who originally taught me to knit and I still have the red yarn and bamboo needles somewhere…  so this hat is to thank her for showing me how to knit.  And so much more!

head shot

i-cord cast-on

pom-poms

A month later and it almost feels like Spring!

freesia

24cable blocking…

A little spring poetry.  Not exactly the version I heard growing up, but more or less.