Saroyan

I took a major hiatus from blogging for almost a year. While I've been at it (more or less) since January I've mainly been relying on my backlog of knits from 2013 to fuel the posts. However, I've hit the point where I only have 4 well photographed finished projects left to show you. (Keep your comments about whether some of the other projects I've shown you have been "well photographed" to yourself.)

Finished in July of this year is my Saroyan by Liz Abinante. I've also made Liz's Traveling Woman shawl in 2009 and both patterns are great. I started it because I was going to be teaching a class on shawls knit side-to-side but it was a summer class and filling them is hit or miss. There weren't enough takers, so we had to cancel. I got 3-4 repeats in to learn the pattern, but stalled to work on other projects once the class got canceled.

It languished for over a year until I finished the last commute project I was working on and went rummaging for something that would be commute appropriate. I found the old Saroyan and after a few weeks on the train I had a new scarf.

The fun thing about this pattern is that you get to choose the depth based on how many increase repeats you do. and because it's knit side to side if you weight your yarn along the way, you can use up all your yarn. My version is 6 increase repeats deep, and 8 straight repeats in the center making 20 leaves total (counting the 6 decrease repeats on the other side.)

The yarn I used is Plymouth Yarn Suri Merino in the aptly named colorway 687. It's a blend of 55% alpaca and 45% merino and it's got lovely drape. My best guess is that it took just over 300 yards. I've already warn it a few times because fall is definitely in the air here. I'm one of those perpetually cold people, so a new wooly scarf is just exactly what I need. 

Prototype

One of the designs that's been kicking around my head for some time is a pair of convertible mittens in fingering weight yarn so that they're not super warm and so that your fingers have maximum dexterity. I know I want them to be textured, but I can't decide if I want to do cables or a simple knit purl design. While I still have to figure out the details of the design, I think I've got the gauge and sizing figured out.

I love convertible mittens. You get the best of both worlds--the warmth of mittens, the dexterity of gloves--and free fingers for texting and turning doorknobs. I also put a "hood" on the thumb so that when you are in mitten mode you get maximum warmness.

I sort of used Ann Budd's glove template from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, but made lots of mods (obviously.) Now that I've got the basic shape down, I can start playing with finding the perfect texture.

The yarn I used was Knit Picks Stroll in colorway Saphire Heather. It took just barely more than a single ball. I ran out of my first ball just as I was finishing up the hood of the second glove. I had to use maybe 20 yards from the second ball. 

I still need to figure out what texture I'm going to use and then who knows when I'll have time to write it up... I guess what I'm trying to say is there is no time horizon for the pattern release yet, but I'm one step closer now.    

February Baby

As I mentioned in my last post, there were a few new babies born to my coworkers this summer. In addition to the little Harvest I knit for Megan's baby, I also knit a little sweater for Jason's brand new baby girl. Baby girls are such a delight to knit for because all of adorable details you can choose from--lace patterns, pico edges, bows, there's just so much. I decided on the classic Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The pattern is from The Knitters Almanac and is only about a paragraph long.

Zimmerman seems to be a lover-her or hate-her figure in the knitting world for her casual writing style and her "recipe" style instructions. Her patters do assume that you're bringing a lot of knitting knowledge to the table and she doesn't spare many words for the "how"--her patterns are all about the "what."

Unfortunately, this was the only picture I remembered to snap just before I gave it to the dad-to-be. It's on my messy desk under fluorescent lights. Lots of people were saying that using the recommended fingering weight yarn resulted in a newborn sized sweater. I wanted a 6mo size so I followed the same instructions but bumped up to a DK weight yarn. I used Socks That Rock Heavyweight. Color is unique. It was a mill end skein. The colors range from a medium gray to a magenta. I love the way it knit up. Girly without being overpoweringly pink. 

I did not add any buttons. I think open cardis look adorable on babies over a onesie, no potential choking hazard if they fall off, and (lets be honest) I hate sewing them on in the first place.      

Baby Harvest

This summer we had two babies due around the office. Luckily I have an hour long commute each way on the train, so I was able to whip up a little sweater for each of them. The first was for a baby boy due at the end of May. Can I just say, there are way fewer adorable knitting options for baby boys. You're basically stuck with either super plain, or heavily cabled. I decided to go the plain route and chose Harvest by tincanknits. I chose the 6-12 month size hoping it would be big enough to fit when winter rolled around.

I used some old Knit Picks Swish left over from a different sweater project. Obviously machine washable is a must for baby things. The colorway is called Jade. It only took 2.5 skeins to nock this little guy out. A very fast and gratifying knit. The pattern is extremely well written for a free pattern. I would absolutely recommend it. It would also be a great first sweater pattern for someone hesitant to jump into the garment world. It's top down knit in the round so you can try it on as you go. Shaping is minimal and you end up with a classic goes-with-everything cardigan.