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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…

FO Friday: Ruffled Baby Hat

My last three FOs were secret design projects, and I’m currently working on three (!) large garment designs, so there hasn’t been much FO Friday action around here. But this week I actually have something to show off!

I whipped up a little baby hat for my friend’s impending new arrival (who might be making her grand appearance sometime today, it turns out! Glad I sent it last week… ).

It was sort of bizarre to knit from someone else’s pattern for the first time in… six months? Eight months?

Here are the specs:

Pattern: Ruffled Baby Hat (Ravelry link).

Yarn: Cascade Pacific, less than half a skein in color #32. I picked up two skeins of this newish wool/acrylic blend at a yarn store in northern California. It’s very, very soft and washable–I was impressed! Definitely one of the better acrylic blends I’ve used.

Needles: size US #7 (4.5 mm).

Notes: This hat knit up mega-fast, about 2 hrs from start to finish. I modified the pattern by adding an eyelet round a little bit above the ruffle–just a simple [k2, yo, k2tog] around. I’ve had the thin brown ribbon sitting around for years, and I think it looks great with the lavender.

The hat is SO TINY AND CUTE. It was a wrench to send it away, even though I have no kids (and won’t anytime in the near future). I just wanted it around to coo over every once in a while… there’s nothing wrong with that. I think. :-)

Pic with iPhone for scale (that’s a totally normal thing to do, right?):

WIP Wednesday: Blue Betty

I’ve got a colorwork design in beautiful Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage to show you today! As of this afternoon, I have the body and both sleeves finished:

I was originally planning to do a smaller version of the body motif for the cuffs, but it’s a 22 stitch repeat and would have made the sleeves too hard to size up or down, so I went with a simple 5 stitch repeat that (hopefully) does a good job of echoing the main pattern instead:

Usually I have trouble coming up with clever names for my designs, but this time I think I have a good one. The colorway is called Betty Draper’s Blues, so I’m calling the sweater Blue Betty. Perfect, isn’t it? :-)

Now, on to the yoke!

TILT: colorwork!

Thing I Love Today:

How amazing Tosh Vintage looks in stranded colorwork. Holy cow, why have I waited this long to try it??

WIP Wednesday

Now that the hubbub of Blog Week has died down, I can get back to regularly-scheduled blogging!

The green sweater is currently languishing in the WIP basket, waiting for buttons and possibly afterthought pockets. I’m giving it some time to marinate while I decide.

In the meantime, I’m working on a shawl design (my first!) in Tosh Merino Light. Being a newbie at shawl design, I didn’t plan for enough yarn, so I had to order another skein.

And now I’m paralyzed by doubt. I knew getting a similar-enough color was a total crapshoot, but I thought I got lucky–the new skein looked close enough in color when it arrived, but now that it’s caked I’m not sure. I don’t want to rip out the whole thing and alternate skeins (I’m 3/4 done!), but I have a bad feeling there’s going to be a noticeable line.

Hmm… although, looking at the picture, the new cake doesn’t look very different. I should probably just bite the bullet and work a few inches before making a final judgement.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Crafting Balance 3KCBWDAY7

Today’s topic asks: Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both?

I am a knitter, through and through. I’ve taught myself to do single crochet for edgings and joining, but other than that, I’m pretty terrible at it.

Every once in a while I get an urge to improve my crochet skills, though… usually when I see some adorable amigurumi (like Stacy Trock’s — LOVE her stuff! Sandford the Squid and Morris the Dragon are my faves) or something heart-wrenchingly adorable like these baby Mary Janes:

From http://hookcandy.com/

Besides my lack of skill, I don’t see how I could ever watch TV/look out the window/read a book while I crochet. I can do all of those things while knitting, as long as my project isn’t too complicated. I can feel the stitches as they slide off the end of the needle without needing to look at them. Crochet, as far as I can tell, requires you to look down to see where to insert the hook, regardless of skill level.

That said, I am glad I know how to edge things in crochet. That definitely comes in handy.

Here’s a little baby jacket with crocheted edging and button loops:

Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss

And a blanket with crocheted-together squares:

I’ve dabbled a teensy bit in other crafts, but I don’t think I can ever feel the same unbridled love for crochet (or sewing, or papercrafting, or sculpting…). To me, knitting is the best of all worlds–meditative and calming, yet challenging; endlessly versatile; beautiful and useful.

I don’t fault anyone for feeling differently, of course–things would be very boring if we were all the same!

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Improving Your Skillset 3KCBWDAY6

Today’s topic: Improving Your Skillset. How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base?

I would consider myself an advanced intermediate knitter. I can (obviously) design patterns, but there are still many skills I don’t know, or don’t know well.

There are a few skills I’m pretty confident about. Like complex cables:

Morgandy Mittens

Shedir

And colorwork:

an ill-fated Autumn Rose sweater

Socks (including stockings and slippers, which I prefer because they’re so much quicker!):

Cable footies from One Skein book (love!)

Stocking with short-row heel

Basic lace:

an in-progress Jordan

Kari Baby Blanket (my own pattern)

And obviously, I’m pretty good with basic sweater construction, both raglan (see my Chandail and Hipster Stripe patterns) and set-in sleeve (my Bevin pattern).

Which wraps up the list of skills I’m confident in… and brings me to the skills I’m not!

Here are a few that could be better:

1. Short rows. I’m okay at these, but they never turn out quite as I’d like them to–always a little messy or misplaced. I’ve been bookmarking alternative short-row methods for a while (shadow wraps, German short rows, Japanese short rows), and sometime when I’ve got a lot of knitting dead time (ha!) I’m going to do some mega-swatches and try them out.

2. Intarsia. I’ve done it, but it was fiddly and awful and I hated it. Here, for posterity, are the only two intarsia projects I’ve ever done:

Purple Totoro, a gift for my sister and brother-in-law

Doggie argyle

And here’s a list of things I haven’t tried at all (but want to!):

1. Steeking. Scares the crap out of me. I don’t have a sewing machine (or access to one), so I know I’ll have to figure out how to REALLY reinforce those center stitches before I dive in.

2. Complex lace. I’ve never done nupps or bobbles, never knit with beads, and never done lace patterning on both right and wrong side rows. This is more a case of not finding a pattern I’d like to knit than anything else, honestly…. I don’t wear or knit shawls (although I’m working on a design for one right now, oddly enough!), and I’m not a big fan of how most of the froofy lace stuff looks. But I’d still like to try it!

3. Crochet. I know how to single-crochet around the edges of things, but that’s about it. I would love to actually make a whole crochet project someday.

That was a fun list to create. Makes me want to go work on my shawl design, actually :-)

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Something Different 3KCBWDAY5

I was feeling some poetry for today.

The first two are haikus, the second is something… else.

PURSUITS

Your hobbies are nice

Trains and stamps, beads and scrapbooks

But mine is warmer.

COMMISSION

Sure I’ll make you one!

Pay me for yarn and knitting.

I’ll see you next year.

ODE TO BLOCKING

Every stitch perfect

As though I did not make it

But I was the one

Who blocked it.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Seasons 3KCBWDAY4

The prompt for today asks whether local seasonal weather affects my crafting.

Well, let’s look at an average temperature graph for my Los Angeles-adjacent town:

And let’s compare that to, say, Rhinebeck, New York:

Le sigh.

Do I wish I lived somewhere that got a little colder? Yes. Do I let it affect my crafting? Definitely not. I love woolly sweaters, jackets, hats, scarves, and mittens. I will continue knitting any and all of those no matter what the temperature is. I have family in the Midwest, for one thing–they can always use warm handknits.

There’s also an odd phenomenon that I’ve observed in Southern California. As I’m sure we all know, handknits can be very fashionable accessories. SoCal may not do cold, but it does do fashion. So anytime the temperatures dip below 60F, out come the wool hats, gloves, scarves, puffy parkas, and UGG boots.

Megan Fox's outfit here is not an exaggeration. I see people like this all the time.

I’ve fallen victim to it too, but for a different reason. Since I started designing, I have a closet stuffed with cute knit accessories. If it’s anywhere near a cold temperature outside, I seize the opportunity to wear one or more. I know it’s ridiculous and that my Midwestern friends would laugh, but there you go.

As far as knitting goes, I don’t let the seasons affect what I work on at all. When you’re submitting designs for possible publication, the timeframe is usually at least 6 months in advance anyway–so I’m knitting with light cotton in the dead of winter and heavy wool in summer anyway.

Here’s what I knit last summer, from June to September:

That’s a whole lotta wool.

And last December I was working on Bevin and Hipster Stripe:

Which are both about as summery as I ever get.

So I think I can safely conclude seasons have no effect on my knitting whatsoever :-)

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Your Knitting Hero 3KCBWDAY3

Today’s topic requests that I blog about someone in the fiber arts who really inspires me. I knew right away that I’d want to talk about one of the designers I admire–after all, looking at them is what made me think, “Hey, I might be able to do this design thing!” in the first place.

But who to choose? There are so many talented and awesome designers out there right now, and thanks to Ravelry, I can ~~stalk~~ follow their every designing move. I especially love Ysolda Teague’s modern and simple style, Marnie MacLean’s romantic, textural designs and willingness to help upcoming designers, and Romy Hill’s beautiful shawls (if I actually, you know, KNIT shawls, I’d be all over that).

But the designer I decided to focus on today is Wendy Bernard, who blogs at knitandtonic.net. She designs modern, figure-flattering garments that pretty much always appeal to me. And although she lives in southern California too, she doesn’t shy away from my beloved wool!

A look through my Ravelry projects tells me she was a good choice (these are all projects from before I started designing, of course).

Here’s Jordan (all pattern links go to Ravelry pages):

A striped Tomato in-progress (I did finish it, promise, but for some reason never got pics!):

And Dream Swatch Head Wrap:

Look at my short blond hair–yikes!

I’ve also made Sizzle, which was gifted to a friend before pictures could be taken, and Something Red, which turned out a little too small (totally user error) and then had to be frogged to make something else due to lack of yarn.

Now, five FOs from the same designer may not sound like much, but that’s BY FAR the most I’ve knit of anyone’s patterns in my almost 10 years of knitting. And even though I can’t really justify knitting anything that isn’t my own design right now, I still am dying to make these sweaters from Wendy’s wonderful Custom Knits book:

Slinky Ribs:

Favorite Cardigan:

Also Opulent Raglan, which I actually BOUGHT YARN FOR right before I started designing and then ended up destashing so it would stop taunting me.

I haven’t bought Custom Knits 2, because I have a feeling I’ll fall in love with sweaters in there too and it’ll just make me sad. But I will continue to admire Wendy’s design aesthetic and prolific output (Custom Knits: Accessories comes out next week!). I will also continue reading her blog, where she shares interesting and often moving stories about the business of designing, knitting, and life in general.

So thank you, Wendy, for being such an inspiration to this newbie designer :-)

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