Tosh | Page 2

Rhinebeck Bound!

The Tosh sweater is done! It’s gorgeous. Unfortunately, it’s also unblocked, so the big reveal will have to wait a few days. But it will be done long before Friday, which is good because…

… that’s the day I’m leaving for Rhinebeck!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about that:

Although my sweater looks a teensy bit cooler than his.

It’ll be my first time at Rhinebeck, so I’m mostly just going to soak in the atmosphere. I’ve heard it can be pretty overwhelming for first-timers! I’ll be at the Ravelry meet-up on Saturday, so if you’ll be there, you might get to see my pretty Tosh sweater in person.

Hubby and I are driving out to New York and it’ll take about 10 hours, so of course my thoughts turn to projects for the car.

I’m thinking I’ll work on the matching hat for the Malabrigo scarf:

I might get through that one, though, so I’ll need another project too… hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

WIP Wednesday: Design Snag

I’m still working on the same sweater, but I’m not quite as lovey-dovey about it this week.

I finished the body and the neckband, which is good:

But the little jog where the neckband ribbing meets the placket ribbing is bothering me. Which is bad.

The stitch markers are standing in for buttons.

It’s especially bad because I wove in all the ends already… thinking that the main reason I didn’t like the look was because there were dangling ends everywhere. *facepalm*

I think I might have to unpick all the ends, rip it out, and try again… which doesn’t make me very happy. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my year + of designing, it’s that time spent re-doing something that isn’t quite perfect is time well-spent. That was true when I wasn’t designing, too, of course. I just didn’t want to hear it then.

Want to help me get psyched up for all that ripping? :-(

Same Sweater, Different Week

I’m still knitting away on my Tosh Merino Light sweater:

The placket part looks so weird before the buttonbands are added, doesn’t it? I have to keep reassuring myself that it’ll all look fine once the finishing is done.

Now that I’m past the part where the sweater is joined together, it’s smooth sailing (no more purl rows, yay!), so I should be able to make some good progress on it this week. I’m hoping to at least have the body and sleeves done by next Wednesday (the finishing would be great too, but I’m not sure if that’s a realistic goal).

I’m a few inches farther now than that picture–and I only just ran out of the first skein of TML! Knitting fingering weight on size #6 needles is definitely a good way to stretch out your yarn, that’s for sure. I’d be surprised if I used all of three skeins for the whole sweater, since I’m planning to do 3/4 sleeves anyway.

Back photo:

WIP Wednesday: Dream Sweater

I finally got a chance to get started on my new sweater design! (See this post for details.)

I am completely in love with this project. The Tosh TML is amazing to knit and to look at, and the pattern has just the right amount of juggling to keep me interested (the twisted rib on the back, raglan increases, and neck increases).

We’ll see if I still love it later….

New design brewing…

I’m already thinking hard about how to use my beautiful Tosh Merino Light from the last post…

…and after some sketching and swatching, I think I have a winner!

I went back and forth on the “interesting rib” I wanted to do… and finally decided on this nice mock-cable rib:

I love mock cables. They’re easy to do, require no cable needle, and look just as pretty as “real” cables.

So now that all that’s decided… I’m waiting until September 22nd to cast on. Sigh. I want to participate in a knit-along with the members of the Madelinetosh Lovers group on Ravelry, and that’s the official start date.

Until then, I have a sweater pattern to finalize and some winter accessory swatching to do. That sounds like fun too, don’t get me wrong… but I can’t wait to get my hands on the Tosh!

Birthday Wrap-Up, Part 2

I was planning to blog about the rest of my birthday presents (first post here) last week, but I’m participating in a few writing contests and the time just got away from me.

Without further ado, the rest of my yarny presents!

My mother-in-law isn’t a knitter, but she is a painter. To my delight, she decided a few years ago that choosing from all the scrumptious Madelinetosh colors was her idea of a seriously good time. Remember Blue Betty and Chandail? Yep, the yarn for both of those sweaters came straight from her.

I think she outdid herself this year.

That’s five (count em! Five!) skeins of Tosh Merino Light in Worn Denim. Is that gorgeous or what? I love blues and greens, so this is pretty much nirvana in skein form.

Just looking at the pictures is making me drool. I’m thinking a sweater with lace details for this.

And just when I thought no one could top the presents from both of my fantastic mothers, my husband gives me this:

That’s a skein of yarn he hand-dyed in my favorite color, just for me. The picture doesn’t do it justice–it’s a stunning tonal green, with perfect darker and lighter bits interspersed throughout. I’m thinking a hat for this, but I’ll have to choose carefully, because I’m not about to waste this amazing skein.

I am seriously the luckiest person ever.

New Pattern Release: Blue Betty!

Remember Blue Betty?

She’s all grown up and released as a pattern! I’m so thrilled about this one. It only took me a few weeks to go from concept to sweater, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I think I achieved my original goal–a bust-friendly colorwork sweater!

Blue Betty is available to purchase for $6.00. The specs and the purchase link can be found on this page of my website, or on the Ravelry pattern page here.

A few gratuitous glamour shots:

In my head, this picture is named Betty Boobs.

My LYS = win!

I trekked down to Mass. Ave Knit Shop in Indianapolis a few days ago to search for blocking wires.

They had these ones by Fiber Dreams, which are awesome and worked perfectly:

Also: I forgot how much I love that yarn store. Five years ago, before I moved to LA, I used to come to Mass. Ave a lot–but I wasn’t as much of a yarn snob then, and I also wasn’t designing. Now I can really appreciate it!

This wall of buttons makes my heart go pitter-patter. I’ve been to every yarn/button/craft shop in the LA area over the past year trying to find a store with even a fraction of this selection:

My other favorite thing is their Madelinetosh TML rack–look, they have a few sample yards of ALL THE COLORS! How cool is that??

I think I’m lucky the shop is an hour drive from me…

FO Friday (and new pattern): Rosanna Wrap!

It’s so nice to have a plethora of projects that I’m allowed to show off!

This is my newest design, Rosanna Wrap:

I picture this wrap being perfect for dressy nights out in the summer–it looks fab with a little black dress. And it’s long (75″), so there’s enough fabric to actually keep one warm.

Blocking the finished wrap was a bit of an adventure. I wanted a nice straight edge (obviously), but I don’t own blocking wires (haven’t ever needed them before) and had only about 50 pins. First, I went out and bought a couple more packs of pins. Then I used a method I found on Ravelry: I ran cotton yarn along each edge, pulled tight, and then braced the cotton with pins so the lace was pulled tight and able to open up.

It worked rather well, if I do say so myself–but slowly weaving in the cotton yarn and putting in a few hundred pins isn’t an experience I care to repeat very often!

I also decided to up the dressy-factor by adding a knotted fringe. I had to look up tutorials on how to do this and I figured others might have to as well… so I included my own photo tutorial in the pattern.

Here are the specs on my FO:

Pattern: my own Rosanna Wrap, available to purchase on this website or through Ravelry here.

Yarn: madelinetosh tosh merino light, 2 skeins in Tart. I blogged here about my worry that my two skeins (purchased at different times) were too different from each other… but oddly enough, that appears to have been completely addressed by blocking. The dye ran pretty severely when I soaked the FO–I had to empty the sink and add fresh water five or six times before it was clear. The excess dye seems to have evened out the difference in the colors, which is so lucky I can hardly believe it. But the proof is in the pictures!

FO Friday: Blue Betty!

The blue Tosh sweater is finished, blocked, and photographed!

I’m so, so happy with the way this design turned out. My intention was to design a colorwork sweater that would be flattering to larger-busted gals. Here’s my original sketch:

I did add ribbing on the sleeve cuffs. My first idea was to do a turned hem, but I don’t think it would have looked right with the ribbing at the bottom and the neck. Other than that, the sweater’s pretty much the same as I envisioned!

Hubby and I went out to a local park and strapped the 50mm/f 1.8 lens to our Canon Rebel T3. I cannot begin to express my love for this camera and this lens. Practically every shot pops right off the screen. And after hours of manually blurring backgrounds in Photoshop on the pictures from our point-and-shoot, having pics that don’t need anything more than a little cropping is spectacular.

The Tosh just glows, doesn’t it?

Here are the specs on the FO:

Pattern: my own, tentatively called Blue Betty. I’m hoping to get it into the hands of test-knitters next week and release the pattern in a month or two.

Needles: 32-inch circs in US #6 and #7, plus DPNs in both sizes. Loving my Knit Picks Harmony DPNs–they really make sleeves in the round more enjoyable.

Yarn: madelinetosh tosh vintage in Betty Draper’s Blues (about 4 and a half skeins) and Antler (about 1/4 skein).YUM. Tosh vintage remains up there on my all-time-favorite yarn lists.

Two of my skeins were much darker than the others, which unfortunately didn’t show up until I wound them into balls. I alternated skeins on the sleeves and yoke to address this, and I think it worked out okay. There’s a little bit of striping, but nothing I can’t live with. You can see it on the upper back in this pic:

Notes: I love the fit of this sweater. I tried back shaping only instead of my usual side shaping, and I’m totally sold. My back is much narrower than my front, so this sweater fits me better than any others I’ve knit. The colorwork band pulls in right under the bust and adds an almost empire waistline effect.

Now on to writing up the pattern! Also fun, but not as fun as knitting (and wearing) the sweater…