Splitstone

Pattern: Splitstone by Alicia Plummer

Yarn: Cascade 220 in colourway 9456

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I finished my test knit for Alicia and I couldn’t be happier with this.

I’ve been hoarding this colour of Cascade for something special. It’s such a beautiful blue with a bit of a purple undertone. I assumed it would eventually become something for T but when I saw Alicia’s vest I just knew it would have to be a Splitstone for me.

One thing I enjoy so much about Alicia’s patterns is that I never have to lengthen ANYTHING. She has the long torso down to a science!

We took these pictures during a snowmobiling trip through the woods. We had a little bonfire on the trail and toasted marshmallows before I striped off the snow pants to get a couple of quick shots.

Splitstone has already been getting lots of wear but I’m HOPING I will be able to put it away for a few months to enjoy some warmer weather….

The snowfall this morning doesn’t leave me with much hope though.

Crossroads

This was a quick test for Elena of Anadiomena Designs.

Pattern : Crossroads Hat by Elena Nodel

Yarn: Colour Adventures Sweet Merino DK in Aegean Sea and Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton Colour 125.

My Rav Project Page

A sweet little hat that is perfect for using up all those scraps in your stash.

The whole hat uses approx 50 grams of yarn.

 Stripes are addictive by themselves but seeing that slip stitch pattern emerge really had we wanting to keep knitting until it was finished.

 A great unisex pattern to whip up for a gift.

I gave T a couple of colour options and of course she chose blue. It paired up very nicely with some grey left overs I had kicking around.

Little T is just getting over a bad bout of pneumonia and actually her first time being sick other than a runny nose. It was quite a shock for all of us when we found out she was so ill, at first we suspected the flu but when she wasn’t getting any better we knew something was up.

Its so nice to see her smiling face in these pictures and know that she is back to the fun loving little girl we are used to seeing.

Definitely a deserving recipient of one of Mama’s hand knit hugs!

Welsh Country Socks

Pattern: Welsh Country Socks by Nancy Bush from the book Folk Socks

Yarn: Patons Kroy Sock, undyed and Knit Picks Stroll Solids in Ash.

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I have been wanting to knit this pattern for years. In fact Folk Socks was the first sock book I ever bought back in 2006. I’m glad I finally took the time to make them. Simple with just enough colour changing and stranded knitting to keep it interesting.

If you are looking for some mindless socks with a few simple changes I would definitely recommend this pattern.

Mods: I started out with 82 sts and decreased down to 64 for the foot. If I were to knit these again I would cast on less stitches for a tighter leg.

I also added the stranded motif to the start of the toe as well as the leg. The original socks in the book were knit this way and I think it really ties everything together nicely.

 I finished knitting these almost 3 weeks ago but am only now getting around to taking pictures of them. I knew there was no way I was going to start a sock KAL with socks still on my needles. I would have been doomed from the get go. I don’t plan on having any languishing UFO’s this year. I’m going to knit and complete everything in a timely manner and not bombard my needles with too many projects. I may even tackle some of my poor sock UFO’s from last year that I just didn’t have the heart to frog.

I  already have a list of sock patterns ready to cast on once my business casual’s are complete so I best get knitting!

No Snow Blues

Winter has been anything but spectacular so far this year. We had a few dumpings of snow although nothing has really stuck for any length of time. Last week it was -37C  but during the middle of the week we had a huge wind and rain storm with temps going up to 10C…… Mother Nature just doesn’t know what it wants to do this year.

The wind storm we had caused mass power loss across the province, trees were dropping like flies and people loosing shingles left and right.

What we are left with is straw coloured grass and lots of fire wood to cut up for next year…..

I’m glad that through all of this I at least have some pretty knitting to look at.

I’m testing Splitstone for Alicia Plummer in the most gorgeous shade of Cascade 220.

My Rav project page

The colour number is 9456 in case you are interested.

The cable pattern adorning the front of this one is very intuitive and is making for a quick knit. I only had two skeins of this in my stash but managed to track down another one from my LYS. I’m currently at a stand still while I wait for it to arrive.

In the meantime I’m enjoying looking at this brilliant blue.

It is definitely helping the “no snow blues”.

Business Casual KAL – Casting On

I’m so excited so many of you are joining me in knitting Business Casual. I expected 10 -20 and got 115 participants to date! I am gobsmacked to say the least and cannot WAIT to do an FO Parade. Just think of all those finished socks!

Of course with that many people joining me I couldn’t just leave it at one prize…… I’ll be adding more to the list as we go along so keep a look out for Prize Alerts!

Tanis has given us the go ahead to use the picture above for our project pages and blog posts about the KAL so feel free to spread the love. Don’t forget to sign up HERE to be eligible for prizes and tag your project pages with CCObusinesscasualkal so I we can all see each others progress. I will be using some of your pics for update posts, with permission of course. If you need help tagging let me know and I’ll walk you through it.

I loved hearing what yarns you have chosen to use so I think its about time I share mine with you.

I have this lovely skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in the Brick colourway that I’ll be using to cast on with for my business casuals.

Its a semi sold so those different peaks of colour will add some interest to the diamond pattern as I knit.

That isn’t however the only pair of business casual’s I’ll be knitting. I won this skein of Wandering Cat’s Barn Cat in the ParrotFish colourway last year on Monika’s blog.

 I always thought it would make a nice pair of variegated business casuals and since I couldn’t decide whether to do a variegated pair or semi solid I’m just going to knit them both!!

All caked up and ready to go!

Now before you all go running off to cast on I wanted to show you the cast on method used in the pattern. Tanis refers to it as an elastic cast on. It is my first time casting on this way  but one that I will absolutely be using from now it. It leaves a wonderfully stretchy edge and takes most of the fiddle work out of casting on and joining that first row.

I know some of you are fairly new to sock knitting and even those who aren’t new like me, may find it interesting!

Elastic Cast On

Now GO CAST ON!!!

If you would like to link blog posts about your projects for others to catch up on feel free to do so below with the link.

 

Downton Girl

I was thrilled to be able to test Downton Girl by Melissa Schaschwary.

I love cloche style hats but I was never sure if I could actually pull this off. Even while knitting it I emailed Melissa to ask if it was ok for T to model it because I didn’t think I could pull it off.

T decided she didn’t want to wear it even though the whole time I was knitting it she proclaimed it to be her hat.

It all worked out in the end because I absolutely love it!

This cabled brim, and the patterning on the side is so spot on.

I knit this with Elena’s Colour Adventures yarn in the Jade colourway. Yes she dyes yarn too and the colours are absolutely amazing!!

It was totally fitting that Melissa called this one Downton Girl. Who doesn’t have a love for Downton?? *If you have yet to watch Downton you need to run out and get season 1 and 2 NOW*

I also used this as my project for the Dowton KAL happening at luvinthemommyhood. The plan was to pick a project with a Downton feel to knit while watching Season 3.

There are still a few weeks left if you would like to join in.

After this I think there will be a few more cloche style hats in my future.

Tiny Dancer

Growing up dance was my passion, I took class twice a week and attended many festivals and competitions. From the moment I woke up my feet were tapping and I danced anywhere and everywhere. I spent many hours in our living room practicing routines or making up my own to music.

Of course when T arrived and was a girl it was my hope that I might have passed on a little bit of my passion to her and that she would enjoy it as much as I did.

I enrolled T in dance in September and kept my fingers crossed on the way to her first class that it might be something that she liked. If it wasn’t something she enjoyed that would be fine we would find something else that she loved but I had to at least try and see.

I took T to that first dance class and sat at the edge of the room watching. *parents were allowed to stay for the first week only* The music came on and the children started to follow the teachers movements. Some of the children were crying and running over to their parents and some just surveyed the scene but T…… she was hands on hips, bending her knees, shuffling like a pro *I did teach her a few things before hand to see if there was interest*

I didn’t have my camera with me that day,unlike the rest of the parents but I will forever remember that huge smile and her enthusiasm for what she was doing.

After the class I got into the car and cried like a baby. I was so proud of my tiny dancer, she did amazing. I then called my Mum from the car, she wasn’t sure what had happened when she answered the phone to me crying. I then told her how well she did and that I was so happy that she liked it. You see my Mum was with me at every competition I ever attended, made my costumes, watched me practice and danced with me through every step of every routine. She knew exactly what it was like.

There isn’t really a dance dress code at her dance school and while there are an abundance of pink tutu’s, pink, pink and more pink. I just wanted something different for T.

She has been wearing her Artichaut cardigan over her black leotard for the past few months and it is super cute. I’m thinking of making another cropped cardi in the same style for her I just haven’t figured it all out yet.  I did however promise to make her some striped leg warmers.

These are knit with less than one ball of Knit Picks Felici in the Rainbow colourway and improvised the pattern. I knit them on 2.75mm DPN’s but I think I could have gone down to 2.5mm’s and had a bit of a tighter fit. They do stretch quite a bit when worn.

I whipped these up in a few days and she was able to wear them to her last dance class before the christmas break.

Hopefully there will be many pairs of knit legwarmers in this Tiny Dancer’s future.

Sock it to me!

You will never guess what I’m knitting…….

yeah ok the title probably gave it away but HEY I’m knitting SOCKS!!!

It’s been a while since you saw a pair of socks around these parts hasn’t it?

It seems that around the same time every year my knitting cravings turn toward socks. It usually lasts through one pair…. or half of a pair….*ahem* and then the craving vanishes but I’m hoping to rectify that this year. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.

I cast on this pair of socks just before Christmas. I wanted plain stockinette, nothing fancy but enough to keep me interested. My mind flew to the many Nancy Bush books that are on my knitting shelf and I knew immediately that I wanted to knit the Welsh Country Stockings. I have been coveting this pattern for years and they fit the bill perfectly for the kind of knit I was craving.

These have mostly been knit in the car or while visiting someone at Christmas time. I usually get a mummy break when we visit others because there are new people to play with. They are flying off the needles quite quickly and I will be happy to have a new pair of socks, almost knee highs at that to add to my arsenal.

So the plan for 2013 is to knit more socks. I have quite a few skeins of sock yarn that are never going to see the light of day if I don’t get them knit up.

Truth is I prefer socks with complicated lace and cable patterns but most of the time they are the ones that steer me clear of knititng socks altogether. So in 2013 I will be using up my sock yarn stash and knitting socks, plain, patterned, colourwork whatever I’m in the mood for.  Just so I don’t fall off that band wagon right away I’ve choosen 6 skeins of sock yarn from my stash to use.

Some I have a pattern in mind and some I don’t. I’m not nailing myself to these skeins either. If after a while I want to switch a skein out or using for some other kind of knit I will but at least it will give me something to go by and hopefully use up my poor neglected sock stash.

There will still be sweater knitting OF COURSE, heaven knows I’d die without my sweater knitting but hopefully I’ll have a few more pairs of socks along with the sweaters this year.

Do you have stash lingering that you are eager to knit up this year???

Woodburne Cardigan

I recently had the chance to test knit the Woodburne Cardigan, Carol Feller’s newest pattern for her KAL.

As always I knew right away that I wanted to add Woodburne to my wardrobe and testing was the icing on the cake.

It is knit bottom up with a round yoke and a modified saddle shoulder construction. I had yet to knit saddle shoulders so this was a first for me.

I knit this with Di. Ve Zenith that I’ve had in my stash for a couple of years. I could never find the right pattern for this yarn because it has a bit of stretch to it. It was splitty to knit with but has wonderful stitch definition that really makes the cables pop.

I added a bit of length when knitting Woodburne but because I knew it was going to stretch out a bit when blocked I left about 2 inches for growth.

The cables on this one are so interesting and different and as a friend put it almost Art Deco-ish. It really lends a modern look to the cardigan.

One of my favourite things about Carol’s designs is that they are always different in the way they are constructed. Woodburne’s waist decreases are at the middle of the back between the cables instead of at the sides where you would traditionally find them. I love how it makes the cables look like they are pulled in at the back creating a nice waist.

The cables travel up the sleeves and right over the shoulders with the saddle construction.  The shoulders were easy to knit through once I got my head around what I needed to be doing.

It’s easy to get into ruts with your knitting.  We all usually have one construction style that we prefer and tend to knit it over and over again but I always like to challenge myself, learn something new. I always know I will most likely be knitting out of the box when working with Carol!

I couldn’t be happier with this knit. I knit the 30.5 size with a little bit of a different gauge to achieve a 33 bust. I’m seriously thinking of knitting 33″ busts from now on because they create that little bit of room and are just so darn comfy!

Although the KAL is almost over you can still purchase Woodburne and knit it at your own speed. I would definitely recommend it. This is one of my favourite cardigan’s to date.

My Rav Page

Aidez KAL – Gathering

We are just one week away from the cast on date!

September 24th we will be casting on for this beautifully cabled and cozy cardigan.

photo: Aidez by Cirilia Rose

Image source: Cirilia Rose

Aidez by Cirilia Rose

People have been asking about my yarn choice…. well here it is.

This is Cascade Eco in colour 8061, a light beige.

I wanted to be able to wear this cardigan with absolutely anything and not have to worry about clashing so I think beige will be a great choice.

I’m choosing to knit this in pieces and seam together although going seamless did cross my mind.

I know a lot of people cringe when they hear the word “SEAMING” but I’ve put together some great  seaming tutorials to help you out. Its really is simple once you get a rhythm going so check out my videos!

We have quite a team of knitters ready to tackle this project together and we’d love to have you knit with us!

The Team *so far*

SARAH   HEIDI  MICHELLE   HANNAH   RONNIIE

JESS   EVELYN   ANNABELLE2   ELIZABETH

CHRISTINED   LETE   ALAINA   SARA  KELLY

REBECCA   JESSICA  SHANNON   GEORGIE

LACEY   TINA  JEANNIE  EMILY  ANNIE

KATHERINE  KATE  MEGAN

Feel free to join in at anytime just let me know and I”ll add you to the list!

My yarn is caked and ready to go so tell me…

What yarn are you using and how will you knit your Aidez??