Plisse Jacket

Two things attracted me to this piece when first seeing it in this book- its texture and swingy floaty way it hangs on the body. I still find the texture appealing - two different yarns are being used with the same size  knitting needle, the yarns are a good match in colour both darkish forest green that I like. The thicker *(sport weight I'd say ) one is lamb's wool of Patricia Roberts in olive tweedy green-really nice bouncy wool and the other yarn is Rowan kidsilk haze in Drab (discontinued colour). The Patricia Roberts yarn was gifted to me by my dear knitting fanatic friend :), not enough to make a big garment but perfect quantity for this design. The stripes are interesting to look at and I'm on purpose did not used blocking as I wished to maintain the texture.

Now that all is done I'm not sure at all about the swinginess  and this flapping about of the collar and hems. The weather is still cold so I need to be snug , my shoulders are narrow and the armholes tend to move and slide down my upper arms . So yes I'm afraid Plisse is going for a long nap in the green woolly department. Mental note to myself -there are other colours beside green ..

Sugar and Cream Cowl

A simple Cowl with downgrading cables by Alana Dakos.  I wanted to make sure this cowl will stand upright like a wind shield and not flop down so coupled my Malabrigo sock yarn with Habu stainless steel in midnight blue. The sock yarn is what's left from my old rose wrap .

I have not blocked or steamed this cowl after casting off as I wanted to keep those cables crunched and tighter around the neck.

Winter is lingering and it is difficult to get good lighting for photos. I loved the dusky pink of last sun rays, soon those trees will be leafy again..

Miranda scarf

What do you gift someone who got absolutely everything ?? You knit him a scarf in a hope he will appreciate the love and care put in every stitch..

The scarf I had in mind needed to be wintry warm , luxuriously soft , stylish but subtle and manly of course . I have looked at many designs on ravelry and nervously swatched and frogged few swatches with different yarns. My winner was the Miranda scarf.

I chose rowan baby alpaca in the charcoal colour, grey is one of my favourite colours. The pattern is basically a 2 by 2 rib with split cabling inserted every few rows - simple but effective.

I was pondering about the length , since its a winter scarf I wanted the wearer to be able to wrap it double around the neck with enough left overs to be tucked under a coat or a Jacket.

Success me thinks ! :-)

Gnarled oak

A wonderful knit from coastal knits- a collaboration project from Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig. As soon as I saw the preview I ordered the yarn - pigeonroof studios cassiopea dk from the states. The dyer had only 4 skeins in her etsy shop whilst the pattern calls for 6 skeins. I know the designer must add some extra yardage for safety but from past experience I know that for my size (XS-S) , 3 to 4 100 grams double knitting skeins are enough. The yarn is truly amazing ; exquisite colouring- love those silky shades of brown and green ,  it is  squishy with great stitch definition, and oh so soft against the skin.

Its a basic cardigan with striking embossed oak leaves on the yoke. Now I have this obsession to leave as little as possible yarn left overs and sometime I do go for the extreme. So here is what I've done ; started the cardigan from the bottom up, now doubting I haven't got enough yarn - made the body only 34 cm before starting the sleeves.  I've made a provisional cast on for the sleeves close to the armhole (about an inch) , join them to body and knitted up the yoke and cast off at the neck. Then rejoined the sleeves and knitted them downwards longer than stated up to above the wrist. Having finished the sleeves I had about half a skein left so without hesitation I inserted  a life line just above the rib hem of the body, cut the rib away, rejoined and  knitted downward until basically run out of yarn and then started the rib with the yarn frogged from the original rib.  A similar process was done here. I wanted to create a more slimline cardigan and I'm happy with the extra length skimming over the hips.
 

By the way the real stars here are my goats , the nanny with the collar is an old English pure breed. She is a definite character , goats are not as daft as sheep, there is a certain intelligence behind those alien eyes.. I'm milking her every morning and making  cheese.  Her two billies are called ,cough cough, Lunch and Dinner or in short Ed and Zed. But hey this is a knitting blog and I'm busy with holiday knitting , more of which later..

Cria

I have started the popular Cria by Ysolda numerous times. For those of you in the know , Cria is being knitted seamless top down with an genius method of picking up stitches and using short rows to build up the neck and shoulders area. I'm really bowing and removing my hat here for Ysolda - just the calculations here for all the sizes, wow ! You have to pay attention for the garter stitch neck edges because there aren't any hems later on. I was unhappy with my knitting at first until I decided to slip the first stitch on the neck edge instead of knitting it - that created a tidier edging. I know some knitters added later on edging by crocheting or I-cord but for me the wet blocking was all what it took to smooth matters. Another struggle for me was to find the right yarn. I've started with some grey 4 ply alpaca and it looked good at start but then my fickle knitting heart decided to frog it all and invest in the real McCoy- oh yes baby , old maiden aunt, hand painted alpaca/silk dk ion-dubh (blackbird). Ysolda used it in one of her Cria samples. The yarn is beautifully dyed, colors changing ever so slightly between the shades of this sophisticated dull blue. You just know quality when you see and knit it - recommend !

Its a tight fit but I like it that way.

Cuff close up-the buttons were bought in Ally Pally this year from the textile garden stand- lovely selection of buttons there  and a good customer service..

See the cute little pockets?

Enjoyable knit and I wear it often , its a one to keep !
                                            

Live oak shawlette

This is a lovely quick and easy pattern from knitscene fall 2011, designed by Romi Hill. Romi conquered a niche with all her small shawl designs and pretty shawl pins. I've got other shawls of hers queuing on Ravelry , purchased her 2nd book of small shawls and even got a swirl copper shawl pin  in knitnation London 2010.

I chose to knit with Malabrigo sock, an old favourite-you just know it won't shed like a black dog in summer ... The color is Turner , very uunusual variegated between yellow-olive-aubergine-brown. I was not sure about it when it arrived , but it grew on me and looks striking on grey or brown . The lace bit is incredibly easy and I adore those leafy ends. Here are some photos, it is rather cloudy and miserable-apologies...

 

Be Happy and Keep Knitting !

Cambridge shawl

Couple of months ago my mother in law brought me a cut piece of paper from the Daily mail. It was Kate Middletton shopping in Waitrose and wearing a green shawl. My mother in law kept admiring it and gave me some guastly scratchy mohair from a charity shop. I got the hint. I promised to knit it for her. Her yarn was given back to charity. I still got self respect..

I chose a dk yarn from my stash, rowan  ryc classic cashcotton dk in a pleasing spring green color. It is drapey and soft . I'm just not convinced if its going to stay like that after washing.. The pattern is easy to memorise after few rows. The ruffles are knit as you go by using short rows. On I went with the job - its going to be her xmass present. Here are the photos ;

 

I hope she will like it !