Ranger

Finally, finally the sweater for my oh-so-patient son Prithvi, is done!  It turned out great and he loves it.

Remember how I blogged a while ago that I ran out of yarn while knitting this sweater and had to order more?  The extra skeins that were mailed to me matched perfectly!

The sweater turned so incredibly soft after I washed it and he absolutely loves wearing it.  I wish I’d gotten a bit more ease because when he buttons this cardigan up, it looks a bit snug. But teenagers aren’t into the whole button-down thing anyway, so it worked out fine.

I made a whole bunch of modifications to this pattern and didn’t do a very good job of taking notes.  I mostly knit things to size and changed up the numbers for the various increases and decreases.  The overall design is the same, but the numbers were adapted to my gauge being different and a smaller chest size than what the pattern was written for.

Ranger (Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Ranger by Jared Flood published in BT Fall 11
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in “Paris Night”
Needles: Size US 6, 7/4, 5 mm

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Family, Finished Knits, Kids. This post has 5 comments.

Soay Again

My Soay Cardi c’est fini!  This was my entry to MadMay2012 (Madelinetosh Madness).

I used Tosh Pashmina, my first time knitting with this yarn and it is pure buttah!!  I wanted to use this yarn for a totally different pattern, but as it sat in my yarn bin, my pattern choice changed many times.  I’m glad I finally chose this design because I could customize it.  I love that it is feminine with the bits of lace and the silk content in the yarn makes it so light and luxurious.

I have a bunch of it leftover which is fantastic because I want to knit this little number from Coastal Kids for Kiki and Pashmina would be perfect for it!  Isn’t Wee Wildflower so cute?  So is Little Oak, aww!  I love the whole collection!!

Mods: I lengthened the cardigan slightly (just a tad under 2 inches longer than the original), shortened the sleeves and added the lace motif to the back for fun.

This cardigan works perfectly over a sundress like the first one I knit or over jeans and a tee on cooler spring days.

Soay Again (Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Soay by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina in “Calligraphy”
Needles: Size US 4, 6/3.5, 4 mm

It’s May 31 and I made the MadMay2012 deadline. Whew!!  Try saying that 3 times fast 😀

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Finished Knits, KAL, Stashbusting. This post has 6 comments.

Stillness

Just birdsong and thoughts on this walk.

What’s your favorite walk like?  By the beach? In the woods? At the mall? Walking…  ugh?

Posted by & filed under Rambling. This post has 3 comments.

Spring Garden Tee The Second

I knit the Spring Garden Tee as a part of the Tops, Tanks & Tees KAL hosted by Shannon of luvinthemommyhood.  The first one was when I test knit the pattern for Alana way back in 2010.  This time around, I get to keep my SGT 🙂

luvinthemommyhood

I zipped through this one pretty quick and it is the most comfy tee to wear – cool, drapey and soft.

My gauge was spot on with this yarn (this never happens to me!!!) but when I knit my size as stated by the pattern, the tee turned out to be huge.  So, I ripped and restarted a smaller size which turned out exactly the way I wanted :: just the right amount of ease.

However, a few inches after the yoke, I was totally not cool with the color-pooling since I didn’t alternate skeins! le sigh!!  I didn’t want to rip a second time and decided that this pool-of-pink was to be a part of the “handmade charm” and kept on knitting!

Yeah… not sure that was a wise decision!!!

 Of course, the highlight of this pattern is the lacy cap sleeve.

I’m undecided about this yarn  – love the drape, but I’m not a big fan of the color pooling.  I have a skein and a half leftover.  Maybe a summer skirt for Kiki?  This pattern gets a thumbs up from me, like all of Alana’s patterns.

Spring Garden Tee (Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Spring Garden Tee – Adult Sizes by Alana Dakos
Yarn: Araucania Ruca Solid in color 120
Needles: Size US 5, 6/3.75, 4 mm

Posted by & filed under Finished Knits, KAL, Tops. This post has 7 comments.

A Postcard

Spring blossoms are so fleeting each year and right now the blooms are long gone.

Well almost….

A few of us signed up for a knitted postcard swap on the Amiras Group and this is the postcard I created for my partner.  I knit the background using different bits of yarn I had leftover from other projects and then embroidered the cherry blossoms and other flowers with french knots using embroidery floss.

I had to rely on YouTube to refresh my memory since I haven’t really embroidered anything since my Home Ec class in school!  It isn’t pictured here, I mounted the finished “postcard” onto card stock so that I could write a message to my partner.

It was a fun project trying to think out of the (knitting) box and my partner says she likes it 🙂  Score!!

Posted by & filed under Finished Knits, Rambling, Stashbusting. This post has 6 comments.

Melting

 When I picked up Kiki from preschool on Monday she said in a small, exhausted voice, “Mama, my skin is melting!”  Sweet child of mine 🙂  With us west coasters waiting with bated breath for La Nina to leave and those groundhog predictions to actually be miscalculations, we finally got our sunshine in all its fierce glory!

Speaking of my sweet children, they made Mother’s Day so special (I’m sure Daddy helped them with their most excellent plans ;))

A fantastical Mom’s Day dinner cooked by my young chefs ending with…

…grilled pineapple, ice cream and maple syrup.  Over the top I know, but oh so scrumptious!

I hope all of you mothers reading had a special Mom’s Day 🙂

Posted by & filed under Family, Food, Kids, Rambling. This post has 6 comments.

Hiyadoin’

Hi!  Hiyadoin’? I’m doing great, thanks for asking 🙂

We were just away at The Emerald City visiting family and while we were there, look at what we stuffed our faces with!

If you’re ever in Seattle, you gotta eat at The Crab Pot.  The mess is definitely worth it!

You should also definitely check out this studio.  We were able to chat with the artist, David Smith, and watch him work on a very interesting piece of glass work.  As a person who embraces the joy of working with my hands, I was fascinated by the whole experience of being able to mould and create something magnificent out of shards of colored glass.  Perfect symmetry between art and science.

Speaking of working with my hands, all that driving time to Seattle and back meant that I had ample knitting time on the road!  Here’s what I’ve been working on.

It’s a Soay cardigan. I test knit this pattern for Gudrun last year and love wearing it so much that I decided to knit it a second time using a different yarn.  I’ve added a bunch of inches since this picture was taken and I might even be done soon!

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Food, Rambling, Travel, Vacation. This post has 4 comments.

Tops, Tanks & Tees

It’s time to pack away my warm woolies and pull out those fun little tops and swishy skirts and summer dresses because it is spring and I love spring ♥

My knitting is going in the same direction too with the latest project that’s on my needles… the Spring Garden Tee.

I test knit this pattern for Alana a couple years ago and that finished project, knit in Be Sweet Bamboo, was mailed out to be a part of her trunk show.

I’ve been wanting to knit a SGT for myself and a KAL hosted by Shannon of luvinthemommyhood was the perfect excuse to get going.

luvinthemommyhood

I swatched with some recently acquired Araucania Ruca.

The gauge swatch turned out so drapey and soft and the color of this yarn is a *delicious hot pink!

* I apologize if you’ve grabbed your sunglasses to read this post because the colors look completely blown out.  Thing is, my laptop’s on the fritz and I’m using the home computer to write this post and the pictures look completely peptobismolesque to me!!!  I’m such a creature of habit and even though my dead laptop is old and cranky and takes a half hour to fire up, I love her so and the colors aren’t so over-zealous!  New laptop’s on the way, in the meantime, I gotta make this work. 

Happy middle of Spring everyone 🙂

Posted by & filed under KAL, Tops, Yarn. This post has 2 comments.

Goodies Galore

The second Club Kit from Dubai Knits arrived at my door earlier this month.

This month’s club had a bunch of goodies.  Heart shaped stitch markers from Fripperies & Bibelots, a much needed cute little measuring tape from The Sexy Knitter, aka, Sarah Wilson and the most adorable hand crafted polymer clay buttons from Tessa Ann.  How cute are these 🙂

The star of this package was the yarn!  Beautiful blue “Squishy” yarn dyed by Jocelyn, the owner of Dubai Knits.

She named this colorway, Up The River after a story she shared of the memories she has as a little girl visiting the famous Pagsanjan Falls in Laguna Bay in the Philippines with her family.  That’s not all, Jocelyn included a pattern in this kit for an infinity scarf she designed herself called, Boatride.

Cables and Texture in this gorgeous blue colorway – what can be better than this!!

Posted by & filed under Accessories, Dubai, KAL, Rambling, Scarves, Yarn. This post has 2 comments.

Oh Pickles!

I’ve been knitting the Ranger sweater for my son, Prithvi, for a while now and despite some gauge checks that had to be done mid knitting and the fact that he seems to be growing faster than I can knit, I was progressing at a steady clip on this project.  I joined the sleeves to the body of the sweater and kept making my way up the yoke decreases when I went to my bag of Malabrigo Rios to pick out my next skein to join and continue.  Nothing there!  I have run out of yarn, folks and I’ve got plenty more sweater to knit! Gah, gah, gah!!!!

I’ve got two skeins on order from Jimmy Beans Wool and I’m really, really, really hoping the dyelots are similar otherwise, he’s going to have a sweater with a big band across the yoke in a different color.  Oh, and different colored button bands too.  Buttonbands, I can live with but the band across the yoke… not happening!  I could overdye it if the colors are way off but seeing this is a navy blue, I’m not sure what color my overdye experiment will achieve.  I hoping not muddy brown!! What I’m really, really, really hoping for is that the dyelots match!

To cheer myself up, I cast on for Jocelyn’s first pattern, “Boatride“.  I’m so proud of her! More on that next time.

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Family, Kids, Yarn. This post has 6 comments.