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Normally, I'm not a pullover sweater type of girl. I much prefer cardigans, and will often adjust a pattern from a pullover to a cardi to suit.
Quinn is an exception. It's a short sleeve, cotton/linen blend summer top.
And while it make me look rather large in these pictures (and admittedly, I'm not a tiny girl), it is rather flattering, and oh so comfortable.
I did change the bottom construction - I had never planned on making it with the asymmetrical hem as shown in the pattern - I prefer this tunic length. Over a pair of capris or shorts, or linen pants, it's a great summer top.
Quinn is from the most recent KnitScene magazine, which is fast becoming my favourite of all the magazines out there. There are usually 3-4 patterns in each issue that catch my eye, which says something about a magazine. I used an ancient pale green 50% cotton - 50% linen yarn I have had in my stash forever. It's from Elann, and I think I bought it over 4 years ago. It was nice to clear a small corner of the stash (which quickly got filled by something else). But while I was looking around for something suitable, and I found this, I also found a number of other summer-weight yarns that I had forgotten about. (Note to self - toss the stash more often to find gems that get forgotten!) So there might be some more summer projects to come.
But not next - Next up is some Tanis Blue lace weight wool. BUt it's lace weight, so I still think it's suitable for summer knitting...
16 stitches to cast off, and all of three inches of wool! So annoying!
But... the joys of a large stash - I found a lace weight int he pale orange that worked just fine, and solved the problem.
This is the Jeweled Cowl, and I love the pattern. I made a couple of changes - I increased the size of the beaded portion, as well as the overall size - the recommended 200 stitches didn't seem big enough.
Well, I'm an idiot -now it's too big, and the 100% cashmere laceweight I used does not have enough body to really hold up to the weight of the beads. It's still nice, and works well as an infinity scarf and cowl when doubled, but I want a little more body, so I figure I will felt it a bit (by hand), to give it a little body and heft.
So into a bowl of hot water, and with gloves on, I swirled it around a bit to agitate. What I noticed first off is how much this wool bled! That's a serious amount of orange dye in the bowl! (I'm wearing white nitrile gloves here).
Plus, I may have been a little too gentle - it can probably use another hot and cold dunking and stir, but I'd rather do it in stages, than risk ruining it.
It's drying after the first round, I'll try it on when dry and see if it needs more.
I love this pattern. SO much so, that I've already cast on another one, using Merino/silk fingering weight with tonal beads in green tones.
I'm sticking with the recommended 200 stitches, and the slightly heavier wool should give it the heft I'm after.
This weekend is our Canadian May Long Weekend. Officially known as Victoria Day, the third Monday in May was chosen to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria. Unofficially known and the May Two-Four Weekend, mostly because of the copious amounts of beer that will be downed during the weekend. (I'll be doing my part...)
For us of course, it marks the start of the cottaging season. (Not that we really adhere to a season - we go whenever we can), but for the rest of the family, and much of the lake, this will be the first time they've been there since Thanksgiving. That's going to be hard - sharing the place again with family, after having free run of it for the winter...
But, regardless of who will be there, it's where WE will be, and I can't be happier. We'll head out tonight, once the husband gets home from work, and the neighbours are already planning get togethers and cocktails. It really is heaven on earth for us. And the fact that the weather forecast is supposed to be stellar, well, that doesn't hurt!
Of course, I've been planning out the knitting to bring - socks of course, for the drive (My FIL is getting REALLY impatient for a new pair...), another jeweled cowl (I know, you haven't seen the first one yet! That's coming...), and the start of a laceweight sweater, using the contiguous sleeve method (top down, set in sleeves, rather than raglan), using some luscious Tanis Fibrearts Laceweight in the Midnight colour way - a dark tonal blue. I was going to bring the Cricket and do some weaving (one of the reasons I bought the smaller loom was it's portability), but there's so much stuff we have to bring up for the cottage, I'm worried it would get crushed or broken, so on Susan's advice, the Cricket is staying put. This time. I swear, it will see the lake soon enough.
And because a wordy post without pictures can be tedious, I've been working on a patchwork playmat for my son's teacher. (His second son is due next month.)
It's further along than this (It's actually finished), but I didn't have the camera with me, so I'll show finished pictures later. It's got a blue flannel backing, and a natural cotton batting, and a light blue satin blanket binding.
I finally got around to warping my new Cricket loom. I chose some fabulously luxurious stuff to christen it. Tilli Tomas silk for the warp, and Tilli Tomas beaded silk for the weft.
It's weaving up nicely, and the beads are falling on both sides, which pleases me. Of course, I'm not sure I will ever wear this - while I love the beads and shiny things to knit and weave, I rarely wear anything like this. I'm a jeans and hoodie type of girl. But I'm already having a hard time thinking of giving this away...
Not only do I have a few pairs of socks awaiting heels, I have socks that are awaiting mates.
I dug through a pile of UFOs, and found a couple of half pairs. I plan on getting through these, as well as the stretch bamboo ones, and the cashmere ones for my FIL (those will be first).
I couldn't figure out why I always seem to have at least 4 pairs on the go, until I looked at this:
Four project bags, each sewn out of knit themed fabric. That's why. I love the bags I made, so I seem to feel the need to keep them in use.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
I haven't (until this week) really posted the progress I've been making on socks lately. As I have said, socks are my travel and waiting knitting - that's why I make plain vanilla socks with afterthought heels - simple straight forward stockinette tubes with a toe. I don't have to concentrate, I can knit away while cheering on my kid during basketball or baseball games, or hold a conversation while driving to work with my boss or to the cottage with my family. No fear of mismatched heel placement, or dropped stitches during a heel turn, or missed wraps in a short row heel. Plus, I don't have to determine the recipient of the socks until I put in the heels, which only takes a couple of hours at most. It's a real win-win for me.
I have a bag near my knitting chair that I toss the finished pairs in, and I thought I'd dig through to see what I've got.
these are the finished pairs, (plus there was the green alpaca pair that was just finished and gifted to a friend/co-worker.)
The Noro ones on the left are for my nephew, the red and black are still unknown, the grey sea silk ones may be for my MIL for Mother's Day, the brown, black and cream stretch cotton ones are still unknown, and the green, blue and black will be for my son's teacher and coach. I will mark off the different tournaments and games I knitted through - I think he will get a kick out of that.
I'm getting into prime knitting season for socks as well - summer weekend drives to the cottage are coming up fast! Plus, I often knit socks at the cottage - small, easy projects to have on hand when gathering for cocktails, or it's just too hot to have a lap full of wool. I'm hoping to have quite the stash of socks by the fall!
Just one knot in Noro sock yarn does this.
Fraternal socks. No way to get these to match - the stretch of brown and green in the middle of the right one only appears once, and the purples and greys are there way too often. Too bad, because I really loved the browns and greens!
Whatever. My dancer nephew who lives in Montreal and loves the hand knit socks, will be getting these for his annual sock-Christmas gift. (we have an agreement - I knit him socks for Christmas if I receive a personal thank you for the ones given previously. He's 31 years old - I told him he was far too old to have his grandmother forward his thank yous. And we won't even discuss the fact that his mother has never said thank you for anything...)) I got a text for last year's, so he gets these this year. He is one of the few people in the family other than myself that will appreciate the randomness of the stripes.
Heels to come later.
