Cinnamon

I really want to gush about this pattern from designer, Elena Nodel.  She creates the most interesting designs that are great to knit and fun to wear.  Since she’s got a little girl of her own, she cleverly incorporates “growing room” in her patterns with the active child in mind.  So, the finished sweater is not restrictive in any way for climbing and running and hanging upside down!!

Cinnamon is from her Spice Girls Series and is a top-down raglan jacket with a chic collar.

Cinnamon is perfect for the current time of year when it’s too warm for a full size coat with sleeves but you still want your little one to wear something to guard against the chilly breeze.  The stitch pattern is continued as you work the raglan increases and the pattern has plenty of hand-holding tips to help you with this.

This pattern is best knit with a springy wool and is something I realized when I was almost done knitting.  My yarn choice for this project was less than ideal.  I used Spud & Chloë Sweater which is lovely in itself but doesn’t work really well to accentuate the striking feature in this garment which is that collar!  (Oops, blurry pic, sorry!)

Oh, and I ran out of yarn before I could finish the collar so I didn’t get the amount of chic I wanted for that detail!!

Another great feature in this design is the floating afterthought pockets.  This was  a first for me and was fun to execute, including snipping (yikes) the stitches for where you want to add the pockets.  Due to my yarn shortage, I used Malabrigo Rios for the pockets in a contrasting navy blue.  Worked out nicely since the large buttons I had picked out for Cinnamon where a similar shade.

I think I need to go back and reattach the ribbing on the pockets with a crochet chain because my finishing on those is, well…. meh!  I love this finished knit and Kirtana does too 🙂

Not So Cinnamon (Ravelry project page)
Pattern: Cinnamon by Elena Nodel
Yarn: Spud & Chloë  Sweater and Malabrigo Rios
Needles: Size US 6 & 7 / 4 & 4.5 mm

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

Kobalt

I finished a test knit for a friend this week and it was just the perfect amount of knitting instant gratification.  More details about the pattern coming once it is published including my slap-forehead moment when I ran out of yarn.  I took advantage of the fact that my “recruit” was ready to strike-a-pose today 🙂

Additional pictures and yarn/pattern deets soon.

Posted by & filed under Accessories, Finished Knits, Scarves, Shawl, Stashbusting. This post has 7 comments.

Golden Circle

Mmmmalabrigo, Mmmmalabrigo!  That’s what I keep thinking over and over again when I’m knitting this squishy thing.

Nope, this is not a sock on the needles :: I haven’t gotten back on the sock train (yet).  It’s another hat, a beanie this time.  The highly addictive stitch pattern makes me want to knit just one more round and then one more!

Fortunately, my fidgety model with the strange eyes does not tolerate hats for more than 20 seconds.  So, this one’s for moi… you know, for those bad hair days 🙂

Posted by & filed under Accessories, Design, Hats, Stashbusting. This post has 4 comments.

A Side Of Sunkist

I love how each evening, the sun wants to stay a while and play.

Soon it will be time for pumpkins and acorns and floating leaves and many, many raindrops.  But not today.

Today is for enjoying these pretties.

Even the littlest ones.

I’ve got a bit of sunshine on the needles too.  More on that next time.

Posted by & filed under Rambling. This post has 4 comments.

Resisting Ooh Shiny!

I don’t know about you, but the longer I have yarn languishing in my stash, the less likely I am to be excited to knit with it!  I recently found a pattern for a little girl’s sweater on Ravelry which I thought would be the perfect layering piece for Kiki.  The pattern I’m talking about is Cinnamon from the uber talented knitwear designer, Elena Nodel.

I loved the chic-ness of it and thought about how gorgeous it would look knit it in the same yarn used by the designer.  Then I looked at my yarn bins in their over-stuffed state and decided that I would resist the Ooh Shiny temptation and knit this sweater with, drumroll please… stash yarn!

I’ve had these skeins of Spud and Chloe Sweater for a few months and now they are going to be turned into a Not So Cinnamon sweater.

This yarn is a blend of organic cotton which makes it perfectly suitable for fall wearing and superwash wool which means it is pre-school friendly!  Elena’s patterns are detailed and well written.  You can tell that a lot of effort and thought has been put into this design.  I can’t wait to get to the pockets 🙂

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

de Blob

We’re back to regular life here at Chez Rambling Roses with it being the first day of school today 🙂  I’ve been craving for some instant gratification knitting lately and so I decided to cast of for this hat a couple nights ago.  Instant gratification achieved since I finished it this morning.

Right now, it is just a blob and I’m hoping that blocking will work its usual magic so that I’ll have a nice little beret in a few days.  It will be a while until I use it with the amazing weather we’re still having.  For this beret, I used heathered Berroco Ultra Alpaca.  The alpaca adds a lovely halo and is so soft to the touch.

It is the same pattern as this hat for which I used Sweet Georgia Worsted.  The different yarns produce finished objects that are quite different from each other.

Once de blob is blocked, I’m sure it will take on a whole new look. I hope that the alpaca halo remains though because I quite like it.

Posted by & filed under Accessories, Design, Finished Knits, Hats. This post has 4 comments.

The Last Bit Of Summer

First of all, I hope all of my east coast friends are safe and warm and dry.  My heart goes out to all those affected by Irene’s destructive path.

I’m sneaking in a quick little post since we’re in between houseguests right now.  Well, not literally in between them… you get the point!  It seems like I do the whole hostess, chef, tour guide thing.  Then we wave goodbye.  I go change the linens, clean the house, restock the pantry and even before I’m done, we get the next set of visitors and I go through the whole thing all over again!

It’s been Cah-Ray-Zee to say the least but we did sign up for the everyone-please-visit-us-this-summer idea!!  All order and structure will return shortly because September is almost here which means no more guests and this, haha!

I pulled out my knitting bag this evening thinking that I’d get back to the project I began while on vacation, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out my place in the design.  I had to rip and cast-on again.  But it didn’t feel horrible at all, because I’m just happy that I can be knitting again and my needles are flying!!

* If you’ve emailed me or Rav-mailed me and I haven’t written back it ain’t because I’m ignoring you, I’ve just been a “tad” busy!  I will write back soon.  Same goes for catching up on my blog reader 🙂

Posted by & filed under Rambling. This post has 5 comments.

All Good Things…

… must come to an end.

Time to say goodbye ~~

Thank you so much for visiting this space as I rambled on about our summer vacation.  The ride has been amazing!  Regular knitterly blogging will resume after a few days 🙂

Posted by & filed under Rambling, Vacation. This post has 6 comments.

Summertime

I just can’t get that song out of my head!

My favorite version of Summertime (and my mommy’s too) is sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.  I must have listened to this song over a thousand times growing up and I still never get tired of it!  Just like I will never ever get tired of watching a gorgeous sunset!

Posted by & filed under Rambling, Vacation. This post has 5 comments.

On A Day Like Today

The perfect day

… to go on a hike

… to spot jumpers and cheer them on, “jump, jump, jump”

… to indulge in some jumping of our own

Oops, see this sign?

Turns out we weren’t paying attention.  Yes, that’s the sign in the right hand corner of this picture!!  I’m glad there’s no hiking police 🙂

Posted by & filed under Family, Kids, Rambling, Vacation. This post has 2 comments.