Image update
This is my Selma now:
Looks pretty good. A thing I would change might be gauge, tad looser might do good for drape. But washing and blocking might change my thoughts about this…
Archive for in English
Chunky cables
I love knitting cables! And I’m practising some pattern writing skills while that Anthropologie - copy advances.
Don’t those cables look deliciously chunky?
As far as I can see the construction of this cardigan is fairly simple. I guess that the body is just a large rectangular piece with vertical holes for sleeves. Other pair of corners of that rectangle come to front center and the long side between them goes behind the neck. Another two corners form those neat tails to the sides. Very clever construction - few seams and nice trapeze silhouette! I swatched three different cable patterns for the cardigan and charted them, seems to me that they are pretty good match to the originals. Now I have advanced just past the sleeve holes and my first fitting seems to confirm my assumptions about the construction.
It got a name, too. It is Selma.
For 2007
Just few last FO:s for this year. My steel gray Montego Bay scarf from Colourmart cashmere silk is a drapey, buttersoft and very usable piece of accessory.
I made another as Christmas present. Unfortunately I don’t have an image of it in finished state, but this picture shows well the beautiful colours of Skeinqueen’s lovely handpainted yarn.
More scarves! I made this mohair shawl from yarn I got from Finnish swap. Just stokinette stitch and some crochet edging from beautiful Sublime Kid Mohair.
And here’s almost all knitting from 2007. By clicking the image you start Flickr-slideshow with extra images.
And to finish with, meme from KnitLit:
1. your best FO of the year
Hard pick. I’ve used a lot Twinkle’s Karate Sweater. Another favourite is Butterfly Dress, which I haven’t actually used at all. But it is waiting a special occasion, you know! And Eunny’s bayerische were a dream to knit.
2. best FO of the year made by a blog you link to
A very hard pick! Mentioning few (and doing general violence to so many others). Maud made a beautiful v-neck to Eunny’s stunning Venezia pullover. Jatta and her candy slipover. And Another Shopgirls lovely cabled vest (those pictures are lovely!). Neja gets the overall recognition for her work, Mohairmetsä was the main inspiration for me to wake from my knitting hibernation…
3. best yarn you tried
Umm, don’t even want to count the euros spent in Colourmart…
4. best new book/mag/pattern of 2007
Twinkle’s Big City Knits!
5. best new knitting technique or gadget you tried in 2007
Two socks with magic loop!
6. top 5 inspirations–what five things inspired you the most over the past year?
Flickr, ravelry, endless sources for knitter! Street fashion. Wenlan Chia’s way to use bulky yarn. Socktoberfest woke up the inner sock knitter in me.
7. designer who most amazed & inspired you throughout the year
Kamicha the process knitter loves Eunny Jang’s interesting and well thought patterns. Always new techniques, great attention to details and well fitting results. Kamicha the fashion victim just adores Wenlan Chias way to make chunky wearable!
8. knitting resolutions for 2008–what’s next for you and your blog?
Next year I will make many of my new knits based on my own designs. At least one should be written down as pattern. This blog needs some serious work. I chose WordPress and separate installation for flexibility - and here I am with barely modified template! Probably these English posts will go to a separate blog for better usability. Name suggestions, anyone?
Happy new year 2008 to everyone!
Christmas presents, giant cats and greetings from London
I love how the perspective sometimes does its tricks to photographer. The cat is actually small and man just over 180 cm…
Those are Cable Rib Socks from Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave
Note: I’m testing Amazon affiliate program. I don’t have dreams on getting rich with my humble knitting blog, but I would be more than happy to get my maintenance costs via advertising.
Mods: Thicker yarn for larger socks and some modification for the side cables. I did not like how the cable does not continue smoothly after leg part in the original.
These socks are mainly intended to be used inside. Our kitchen has ceramic floor and it gets very cold at winter. I love the yarn, it is Finnish lambswool, unwashed with natural gray color.
*****
This Christmas my husband and I gave each other a shopping trip to London. This is the first time I understood to search some yarn suppliers. Unfortunately small shops tend to be closed from Christmas to new year (at least Loop was). Of course there are department stores and actually I was pretty impressed about John Lewis’ yarn selection. And lots of yarn in sale, yay!
I took a sackfull of Rowan Alpaca Soft…
And some Rowan Wool Cotton in beautiful shade of patina…
I won’t introduce my clothes finds, but some shoes… …I love Topshop for great selection of very affordable and beautiful flats - and look those bone white platform shoes, yep, they are patent leather, not plastic…
Copycat
This knit from Anthropologie caught my eye on last fall. But they don’t ship to Europe. And that one was rather expensive…
As you wish. I’ll make a copy. Sackfull of Rowan Alpaca soft from John Lewis yarn sale (greetings from London) is waiting its destiny as pirate copy cardigan.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to all readers and passers by!
Wishes Kamicha, blog cat #2 and Råttan from the bottom of the food chain.
Knitting assembly line
I probably have too much going on right now, very few finished objects lately. These (familiar) baby socks
And some funny striped headwear… …sorry about the image quality…
And those unfinished ones. These man’s socks are my absolute favourite right now. I love the look of rugged, coarse and oily finnish lambswool so much that I don’t mind that it is not the most pleasant yarn to knit. Pattern is from Favorite Socks book: Cable Rib Socks.
I love Koigu! It’s very pleasant to knit but the best part is lovely colourwork, it emphasizes knitted surface in a very unique way. These are my denim Embossed Leaves Socks! It’s a shame that this yarn is so hard to get…
I don’t love all my knits in progress. Chevron Sweater almost makes me cry. I love green but these two shades are too close together. The shade is different enough, but it would look so much better if there were a difference in colour value, too. So this is hibernating a while, and I’m considering getting one shade lighter green silk from Colourmart. And now the promise: I will never again start colourwork without actual yarn samples and proper swatching!
Ah, there is another finished object: my gray Montego Bay scarf - which I absolutely love! Actually I love it so much that this lovely handpainted mocha-purple yarn is knitting up fast to another one! I try to take a photo of the finished object in the next weekend.
What’s happening here
My needles are actually very busy, although the updates of this humble blog seem to be rare these days. Christmas presents will not be documented here…
But of course I’m making something nice for myself, too! The largest new project is Chevron Sweater from Erika Knight’s Glamour Knits -book. I actually bought the book ages ago because of this pattern, but the execution has suffered from some rocks on the road. My first yarn choice - Yeoman Cannelle - was a disappointment, I don’t like cotton mercerized stiff as stick for clothing. Will make beautiful bags, though…
I found nice option from Colourmart silks, a beautiful set of greens caught my eye. Some neutral and dark brown to spice up the palette and some photoshopping to test the results:
Colours are beautiful in nature, too. Greens are slightly different quality from neutrals, I hope that this will not show too much in the result.
I had to frog this beginning and try to slant the M1:s differently to get neater surface. It helped a little but the decrease continues to pull the drapey yarn somewhat ugly. Don’t want to change that, though, the hatched effect does a lot for the pattern.
Bit slow to knit and yes, somewhat boring. But the end result is alluring, yarn delicious and I love the clever construction of this simple pattern.
I have been searching another simple pattern for lighter scarf for everyday use. I don’t know why I haven’t noticed the Montego Bay Scarf in IK spring 2007, but this pattern certainly charmed me in lovely Team Knit blog, see multicoloured and natural version of this beautiful scarf.
Another cone of Colourmart in use! I’m certain to make another one in brown colourways, so I ordered some taupe handpainted yarn from Etsy. I hope that I can take a snapshot of that lovely yarn tomorrow. Meanwhile: my steel gray silk-cashmere Montego…
The dark side are they
I took some time to photograph my FO:s. It is dark here until April, so please bear my dark and unsharp images. Thumbnails are somewhat hopeless, but larger images show some detail, so keep clicking!
Last one is Jo Sharp cardigan from Knit issue 3. Yarn is Rowan Pure Wool DK ine Earth and Cypress. Lovely yarn to work with and nice result with good stitch definition and evenness.
I love those buttons.
From the back.
All front images failed more or less.
Some light on my shoulder, yay!
And here’s Tangled Yoke, size smaller would have been great, but will do…
I love the delicate cable pattern.
And this one here is Martha. A-lined short sleeved cardigan has been surprisingly practical addition to my wardrobe.
Blurry, but the lines of the jacket show well from the backside.
Tiny pieces
Those fair isle cardigan pieces looked so small, in fact too small. I had to throw the unfinished sleeve away, sew the body together and give some tender bathing/blocking for that half-of-a-cardigan.
Phew, it was all about the aggressive rolling of those pieces. Now it looks like it could actually fit a human. Even for me. It is snug but so is the one in the pattern images.
My needles are quite busy these days on the other projects too, but I can’t update all here. Christmas time, u know!
Wabi-sabi -shaali / huivi / torkkupeitto
Cilla - muunneltava peruspipo
Selma - lämmin palmikkoviitta