I know I tend to veer towards the hyperbolic about most things (along with sneering contempt it's my favorite mode of expression), but I am here to tell you that I have just completed test knitting the best thing I've ever made, courtesy of Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops fame. Wood Hollow Vest! Wood Hollow Vest! Shout it from the mountain tops--it's a real honey of a pattern that deserves your immediate attention! The Specs Pattern: Wood Hollow Vest by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops Yarn: Cascade 220, 4.5 skeins of #9564, 'Birch Heather'. Size: 44 Needles: size 6 and 7 circs Time: Cast on Christmas Day while starting into the void and my in-laws in NJ, worked on it on and off while doing other things, and finished last night. Mods: Excuse me? What is this 'modifications' thing of which you speak? ETA: there is one unintentional mod--I muffed up the cable panel on the front. But hey--only God is perfect, etc. There is so much to love about this pattern. One thing that I so appreciate as Chesty McChesterton is that the pattern comes in sizes 32-54 in a way that actually works, meaning that it's not like those patterns that work perfectly at the smaller sizes but haven't been properly thought out at the larger end. The cables are perfectly proportional in all sizes.
This is the ultimate Cascade 220 project as the yarn makes the stitches pop to perfection. I'm sure that right now most of you even have enough in your stashes to do this pattern. This particular color is also quite appealing as well as it's a tad odd. I first saw it chez Babs as she's using it for a vest that SHE NEEDS TO FINISH. Ahem. To me it just screams 'Old English Furniture polish', which in my world is a supreme accolade. It also reminds me of the shag carpeting the Silverman twins had in their basement as well as the cock-a-poo Ginger our family had in the 80s. All good associations! There's a new Wood Hollow KAL on Ravelry if you fancy doing this pattern with the real time, live blogging assistance that only a RavKal can provide. I also think that this would be the perfect Ravelympics pattern as it would hold your interest and is totally doable in the time frame of the event. Me? I'm a moron and am trying the Autumn Rose Pullover because apparently 'going down in flames' is how I plan on celebrating the Winter Games. From the department of shameless family promotion, because it's what we do: You might have heard about a little device announced yesterday with a regrettable name? Well guess what--my brother CALLED IT over four years ago as a writer at MadTv:
Waaa-waaa. Ravelry has been blowing my mind recently with a lot of crazy awesome features. The newest one? The Help for Haiti patterns: buy a pattern from a favorite designer and at least 50% of the proceeds will go to relief efforts for Haiti. Yo: I'm not talking about crocheted toilet paper holders here (see how I vilify what I don't understand?), I'm talking about patterns that are already in your queue. I nabbed several, including KK's Dorothea beanie, M-H's Simple Things, Daybreak, Wandering the Moor and two shawls I've been dying to make: Clothilde and Milkweed. So check it out, the designers have been so generous to offer their proceeds.
While on the topic of Ravelry, I am excited to have joined an insane group on there called 10 Shawls in 2010. Yup, you guessed it: you knit 10 shawls in one calendar year. I'm kind of excited about it because I have recently rediscovered the awesome power that is the shawl, and it is this: the key to wearing them and not looking like a society for creative anachronism member or historical reenactor is to wear them as bunched up as scarves. Voilà. Such an earth shattering observation! What's next? Leggings as pants? NO.
If you are looking for a quick knit with a maximum hubba hubba factor, look no further than ARM CANDY. Specs: Arm Candy by Amy Herzog (Stash Knit Repeat) Yarn: Valley Yarns Colrain in Grape Jelly, 8 skeins Needles: size 7 For: My mom. Mods: The only mod I did was to pick up the sleeves and knit them in the round. I am still looking for that missing entity, you know, that magical object that will make my life complete, i.e. THE PERFECT BUTTON. Once located, I will crow about it. This was a very fast knit: the pattern is intuitive and expertly written, the sizing options are out of this world, and the finished sweater is a winner. There are several shaping options: I went with shaping in the back but not the front. Teen thing is modeling it here and it looks very drapey on her slight frame, but a larger gal would fill this out for some serious va-va-voom. I have yet to meet a Valley Yarn I didn't like, and Colrain is not exception. It far exceeds my initial expectations, as far as I'm concerned. It sells for the nice price, is super versatile, and is silky and sheeny yet not disco. That is totally my new motto btw. Amy was a love to let me test knit this for her. Thanks! Next up for me is a Ravelry viral hit: Saroyan. I'm breaking into my precious, newly acquired stash of Malabrigo Twist in Tuareg and I am here to tell you that it is unreal and is basically making the regular Malabrigo feel like sand paper. Yeah, it's THAT soft.
*Thought I'd sneak a little Jeri Blank in the title because well, I love her. FANDANGO.
First project of 2010 alert! First project of 2010 alert! And it's another Kirsten Kapur winner, folks. I feel like I am that Julie chick and that I'm trying to cook my way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, except that it's knitting and I'm knitting my way through the Kirsten Kapur design catalog. If you don't know her designs, you should: she is terribly talented and her patterns are among the clearest out there. Do yourself a favor and get on board while you can. The Specs: Pattern: Empire Hat by Kirsten Kapur Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Marine, .75 of a skein. Needles: size 7 Size: small Mods: AS IF! Because I made this for my friend Dave's daughter, I opted to only do one repeat of the main pattern and went ahead with the size 7 needle. The next one I make will be done on a size 8 and I'll do the full two repeats for optimum whimsy. I was afraid that the recipient would have a bout of shyness and wouldn't want to model the FO for me, so I went ahead and snapped some pics before gifting it. Worrying that all our heads would be too big and not wanting to go the grapefruit route, I remembered my parents New Guinea art collection and that there was a statue that would be a perfect stand-in. Hooray for being home, where despite the -15 temps, I can get something accomplished! Luckily I was wrong and Dave's daughter was a willing accomplice. She squealed when she received the hat and noted that it will match her backpack. So, YAY!
If I ignore certain minor irritations, like the Curmudgeon claiming he didn't know we were exchanging Christmas presents this year and therefore not getting me anything (luckily my girl Peeper-Lou was keeping up with my Amazon wish list like it was her job and saved the day, if you count telling him to tell me that he was going to buy me an electric blanket as a last ditch desperado move as saving the day), I'm basically living a charmed life. More proof of this came last month when my one true love Kate Davies offered me the chance to test knit an up and coming pattern that is going to take the world by storm: F U G U E
The fact that doing this project involved receiving a parcel in mail from the lovely and generous Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt Yarns made the whole endeavor terribly exciting. Special Delivery: the softness, most otherworldly yarn ever!
The Specs: Pattern: F U G U E (this is the official spelling now for all KD patterns, btw) by Kate Davies, forthcoming. Kate's Ravelled version is here. Yarn: Bowmont Braf by Old Maiden Aunt Yarns, two colors Hebridean and Blackbird. Needles: size 3 & 4, 16 ins. Modifications: None whatsoever
Honestly, this yarn is something special. It is incredibly soft but creates a dense fabric that is completely warm. The yarn blooms beautifully during blocking--I really recommend giving it a try, it's 100% unique.
Like all worthwhile patterns, this one affords the knitter the chance to learn a new technique. For me it was the concept of the knitted braid, one that I am now dying to put on every single thing I ever knit form here on out. It's kind of like mastering the subjunctive, once you learn how to use it correctly, you want to use it all the time. Except it's knitting...
Oh, and for the record? WE ARE ALWAYS EXCHANGING PRESENTS. GOT IT?
In a perfect world, everyone I love would be getting a Meret for Christmas, as they are exceedingly easy to churn out. Everyone deserves one. Honestly, if you start right now can you can easily finish by tomorrow morning, with time out for egg nog and the like. But sadly, my Holiday Handknitting 09 (tm) has consisted of frantically digging through my FO pile in order to pull out a (natty?) shawl for my mother in law. Yes, my holiday knitting is a giant serving of HELLA with a festive, heaping side-dish of NO. Just the way mama likes it!
The Specs: Pattern: Meret by Woolly Wormhead Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Aran Tweed in #14, 1.25 skeins Needles: size 8 Size: cast on for the medium but did three repeats total for slouchiness. Like (1).
I could imagine a person going hog wild with the various combos: 'medium size on size 7s with the large repeats/ large size on size 8s with the medium repeats', etc. It's a truly versatile pattern, people. I am quite happy with this iteration, and if I make more, I think I might have found the golden combination.
Here's to hoping that my Freethinking Pagan Pals had a rock solid Solstice and that all my Hebrew peeps had a killer Hannukah.
I know that my Christmas has been made because Peeper-Lou uttered the most Christmasy of all phrases last night under the tree: "...it's like the presents are blood and I am a vampire, tempted by them!". Happy Holidays!
Every once on a while there is a trend on Ravelry that makes the rounds and leaves little impression on me during the first contagion, but after it's hung around a while, suddenly it hits me like a speeding train and it's all I can do to not work on it 24 hours a day. Meret is this pattern for me--I saw manyversions on otherpeople and thought 'Huh, sure looks nice on them' and then kept on about my business, which probably involved obsessively checking my Amazon wish list while eating candy canes, because I'm 13 and I love Christmas. Normally I shy away from slouchy hat patterns, as they seem to not be warm, can sometimes look like a giant sun dial on a person's head, seem at times too close too that scarf thing that Rhoda used to wear and can even be bigger & flatter than these pancakes that my brother recently ate in Hawaii. But not Meret! There are many options with this pattern--as written it's not terribly slouchy, can be made into a beanie but can go slouchier by adding repeats. The Specs: Pattern: Meret by Woolly Wormhead Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, .75 of skein in 'Frank Ochre' Needles: size 7, 16 inch Mods: Cast on for the medium size but did the large repeats. As you can see the hat is not gigantic. If I had made this for myself I would have done two extra repeats and maybe gone up a needle size. Knitting Meret also allowed me to get in touch with part of me that loves to crank out small accessories. I just love making small projects, it's where my knitting interests are most satisfied. Sure, sweaters are super-impressive, but more and more I realize that the short attention span theater in which I have taken up permanent residence dictates that small projects are my thing.
Now that my own kids have dumped me and moved on to other gigs, I had to rekindle my relationship with my friend Sandrine in order to snap some pics, because Lord knows this hat was never fitting on my head [see pancake pictures above for genetic explanation]. I was able to ply her with end-of-the-semester Thai food, and since I knit the hat for her anyway, I figured this was as good a time as any to give it to her. Plus now I can claim to have a real bona fide Parisian modeling a beret on my blog! What's next--a Japanese exchange student donning a knitted kimono? Hey, it's a small world after all... I must say I enjoyed every one of your comments re: Malabrigo so much. Many of your fave colors were not a surprise to me at all [Impressionist Sky and Tuareg REPRESENT]. But others were totally unknown to me: Pearl Ten, where have you been all my life? I thank you for that. Luckily I actually have two skeins of Bobby Blue to send off [heh heh I am too sekritive]. And as soon as I get the addresses of Jodi and Elizabeth, they will be on their merry way to new homes. Enjoy!
I have basically broken every self-imposed knitting rule in sight these days and am in a sort of WIP free fall, which is not where I wanted to be several weeks before Christmas. Luckily holiday knitting 09 was D.O.A. before it could really take hold. This is a relief. Let's take a look at our list of infractions...
- Knitting more than two projects at once? Pshaw!
-Casting on for numerous large sweater when other large sweaters are laying fallow? Maybe.
-Having to buy more size 7 needles/stitch markers because all your other ones are in use? I'm not saying that didn't happen. Yikes.
-Melting cheese on everything in sight? Wait, different type of infraction. But still, not good.
Luckily such moments can be be rescued by everyone's favorite knockaround pal, the small knitted Malabrigo accessory. One of my very best Besties M made a gentle request for a hat for her son, E, who is basically the cutest kid in America. Apparently he likes to wear the hat I made for her, and so she was thinking that maybe if it wouldn't be too much trouble I could perhaps make one for him, too...is she kidding? DONE.
The Specs Pattern: IAD Dulles hat, which in my mind is a. a very under-appreciated pattern and b. heretofore renamed the IUD hat. Size: Children's small Needles: Size 7 16 inch. See I wasn't kidding about the needle problem. Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in 'Bobby Blue', a little less than half a skein
Please note that this hat is actually supposed to be hippy/slouchy, but it looks like more of a skull cap on our sullen, ornery 12 year old model. I fear my days are numbered as a mother with willing knitwear models. Waa.
I just love this hat, and let's be honest: the yarn is a dream. Malabrigo is made for the small accessory, is it not? And the color, the color...
Bobby Blue might be my favorite of all the Malabrigo colors, which is funny, because I normally don't even like blue that much. While Vaa is the closest color to a mood ring I've ever seen in yarn, Frank Ochre is both flat-out weird and fantastic all at once, and Sealing Wax is quite possibly the most luscious shade of red on the books, for me, Bobby Blue is number one with a bullet.
This leads me to the gimmicky portion of today's post. I love to give away yarn to people that love yarn, and since recent detashing efforts have been unpleasant, shady and soured me on the cheap-assness of many folks, leave a little comment here if you wish & tell me which Malabrigo color makes your heart skip a beat. I'll choose a random pal to receive a skein of my favorite color, Bobby Blue. We'll shut the fun down on Tuesday at midnight. So tell me, which is your favorite shade of Malabrigo?
How could I not participate in an event so appealing as Vestvember? It has all the hallmarks of a perfect knitting scenario for me: a proscribed time-period (the entire month of November), a specific type of project (vest) a nutty name (Vestvember?), and finally the communal daisy chain aspect (hey we're all in this together). The time frame makes the whole endeavor seem time-sensitive which does tend to light a fire under me, and the fact that a vest had to be made makes it a knitting with constraints project, similar to the writing with constraints concept, which I find completely freeing, and I just love me a group project. So it had been written even before the Flickr & Ravelry groups came to be: Vestvember was ON.
I had set out to initially do the Honeycomb, but the finer gauge and the stitch pattern sank my battleship in no time flat. And the increasing/decreasing non-directions didn't help much either. Come on! We're paying you to be explicit in your directions, pattern writer. Oh wait it's Kntty, nevermind:) You know that feeling of futility that washes over you and lets you know that something is not to be? Welcome to the Honeycomb experience. NEXT! [I will add that given that I had to make an xl, I was dissuaded from this pattern, but I know all you size 0s in the crowd would make mincemeat out this lovely pattern.]
Luckily I had a back-up project in the offing and set about making it happen. Last year I bought some Ella Rae Classic to make Leslie's Libby sweater (wizard pattern from a love of a person) but Peeper-Lou's initial enthusiasm ("oh yes, please make it for me!") quickly turned to lukewarm wavering ("I might wear it to church") to downright refusal ("take me to Abercrombie so I can spend my gift card"). Yes, consumer death culture has our children in their grips and doesn't seem to be letting go any time soon. I am now left with the sad realization that the knitting for my own kids window has closed. Leslie: I love you , and my child is not worthy of your greatness. This meant that I had 4 skeins of yarn, i.e., the perfect vest amount.
The Specs: Pattern: The Back-to-School U-Neck Vest by Stefanie Japel in Fitted Knits Yarn: Ella Rae Classic, color #117, 3.25 skeins. The yarn is a perfect sub for Cascade 220, which is to say that it's nothing you are going to ohh and ahh about, but it will do you right. Needles: Size 7 Mods: None! Not a one.
The pattern is a lot of fun and it has it all: ribbing, waffle stitch, hubba-hubba bust darts and a funky garter/stockinette edging. The u-neck is a fun, unexpected touch. The directions are among the clearest and easiest I've ever read. The book also has several other super enticing projects as well, so I highly recommend it.
This past week my parents have been visiting for the holiday, which has afforded me the opportunity to do a father/daughter vest photo shoot. Last Christmas I made him the Dr. G's Memory Vest, a pattern for which I have nothing but laudatory praise and high esteem. The money goes to the Alzheimer's Foundation. If you are looking for a special vest project, this deserves your attention. Madame Kapur is a raving made genius, as evidenced by her newest vest, which has me gasping for breath...
For the record, I do not endorse the vision of masochistic love promulgated by the Twilight franchise, however these mittens are totes cute! Specs: Pattern: Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault Yarn: Ella Rae Kamelsoft in maroon, two skeins exactly. Needles: size 8 Mods: none This is a fun, fast project that results in a pair of giant gauntlet-esque mittens. If you weren't working on say 12 projects at once you could most definitely finish these in a day or two. In my recent sweater knitting extravaganza I seem to have forgotten the secret to a balanced knitting life: equilibrium can only be maintained when there are a proportionate number of small accessories vs. large projects on the needles--these smaller projects seem to provide the light at the end of the tunnel when you need it most. Next up for me: my Vestvember project and a family funtimes photo shoot! Stay tuned...
On the heels of all the super-sweet comments you guys made here and on Flickr about the Ingenue and how the color suited me, I got to thinking about my relationship to purple. If you were to ask me to name my favorite colors, I would most certainly say 'green', 'brown' and of course 'orange'. 'Purple' would never come to mind--in fact, I distinctly remember looking down at girls in elementary school that were in to purple--it seemed too easy. Yes, my judgmental nature and me go waaay back. In any case, it is therefore somewhat surprising to me that basically every project I have on the needles right now is purple. Huh? Let's take a stroll through crazy town the WIP/zzzz basket and examine the evidence, shall we?
Diminishing Rib Cardigan: Silky Malabrigo in Wisteria. I know I will come to regret making a sweater out of this pill-tastic yarn, but it's pretty, right?
Tea Leaves: Brooks Farm Mas Acero in some cryptic color. Genius call on the yarn if I do say so myself. Ok--my Twitterpeeps picked this out, aren' t they smart?
Seamless Hybrid: EZ Seamless Hybrid in Berrocco Inca Gold--have you seen this yarn? Such sheen-y beauty, almost seems like a shame to give this one away! But it's not going far, just one closet down from mine.
Back-To-School U-Neck vest: My Vestvember project in Ella Rae Classic 'Purple Heather'--how ridiculous can this get?
Sekret Test Knitting: Some Valley Colrain in Grape Jelly. This is top secret: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
Bella's Mittens: One down, one to go. This is Ella Rae Kamelsoft. Great pattern. Super soft yarn. Squee.
I guess the evidence is incontrovertible. I am a purple fiend. Perhaps growing up in the land of Darling Nikki and having my strongest sports affiliation be to the Minnesota Vikings might have something to do with it.
I think I might be taking a page of out of my Grandma Dot's playbook here: once on a visit to Florida in the late 70s I made the (foolish?) comment that I really like her Deviled Eggs. From then on out it was Deviled Eggs 24/7. They popped up at every holiday and social occasion imaginable. This of course caused me to despise them. Please don't let this happen to purple.
