FibreJoy's Blog

Last month I participated in the indigodragongly’s HOLIDAY GIFTAPALOOZA 2011. This is the package I received from talented and creative Kim and Ron, the owners, who organized this gift exchange. Check out their website to know what they are up to and go buy her wonderful dyed yarn and other knitting related stuff!

And this is what I got:

– A beautiful and very soft skein of exclusive indigodragonfly MCN Sock (75% sw merino/15% cashmere/10% silk) in colour ‘Driving under the influence of Muppets’.

– An intricate pattern for a pair of gorgeous mittens, ‘Preposterous’, by talented Torontonian designer Natalie Selles.

– Two very cute magnets that are already on my fridge, with 2 of Kim’s exclusive and beautiful colours.

– A pretty and very convenient knitting bag from the tireless ‘Cute & Cuddly Mutant Zombie Squirrels’.

– A ‘Gauge rage-o-meter’ tape measure with ‘indigodragonfly’ printed on it, also in blue!

– And last but not least, a recipe sent by my secret knitting friend, Lindsay to make delicious ‘Toblerone Chunk Cookies’, which I am planning to make this coming weekend, since I’ve started doing a lot baking this past weeks, and can’t wait to try them! Thank you so much!!!

Take a good look at my wonderful gift, and go run get Kim’s yarn… quick… just go!

(Pictures were taken with a new lens we are trying – and loving-, the Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX, AF 11-16mm f/2,8)

Look! Otis is on the holiday card!

News on my knitting world are that with the freezing temperatures in Toronto this days -yeah… I know it’s winter after all-, I’ve been progressing on my Hela cardigan. Here is a picture and some comments:

Knitting the yoke of my Hela cardigan

I think I should have used a different colour for the yoke, other than the green, a more contrasting colour, I mean. Even though I love that green, when used on a small part of the yoke, it looses itself into the gray.

What you see under the armpits are stitch holders, not some kind of crazy ornament…

I am excited though about knitting a very warm gray cardigan, which will most probably have a zipper after I steek it! This yarn, Létt Loppi is supposed to be one of the warmest wool yarns in the world.

I had started knitting Laura Chau’s ‘Monday Morning Cardigan‘ and got to the point where I stopped knitting the body, which has a bottom up construction, to start the sleeves. I was half way the first sleeve when I doubted my memory and went to see how much yarn I had left.

I should have done that before! The pattern calls for about 1,320 yards in size 3 (out of 8 different sizes) and I discovered I only had about 1,210 (11 skeins of Knit Picks ‘Wool of the Andes’ which comes in 110 yards per skein)… darn! The thing is that I wanted this cardigan to have full length sleeves, so I could not cut down in the size of the sleeves to make it up for the lack of yarn.

For some reason I thought I had 14 skeins, but I never checked to realize the bag only contained 11… what a silly mistake…

On the positive side -probably the only one I see- I am thinking of restarting this cardigan going 2 sizes down, as I found it comes really big, larger than I had planned if using the measurements of the sizes described in the pattern, and I think that after blocking it, it will stretch a bit because of the yarn. Also, if I do that, I should be able to use less than the 1,100 yards that are called for size 1, as I want to make the sleeves narrower, the pattern is written in a way that makes the sleeves really big. I would still like to have full length sleeves though.

Oh well… I need to remember to re-check how much yarn I have BEFORE starting any large project!

I had this, before ‘I saw the light’:

Now that I finished unraveling it, I have this:

Right now I think I will leave this project aside for a while, as I’ve started what will be my first ‘steek’ project -I had been wanting to try this technique, where you knit the piece in the round, then use a sewing machine and do a good 2 rows of straight stitch on both sides of what will become your cut, then do the actual cut in the front, turning it from a sweater into a cardigan. My knitting readers will most probably know what ‘steeking’ is, but if you are not a knitter and would like to know what I am talking about, check out this video from YouTube. In this case, the cutting of the sweater is very impressive, because the whole piece is done in colourwork, using several different yarns… yikes! Also, the knitter says that instead of using a sewing machine to ‘reinforce’ the stitches before doing the cutting so the sweater does not unravel later, she did a crochet reinforcement.

I’ve chosen the ‘Héla – 2 and 3 colour Cardigan’ from ‘Ístex Online Patterns‘, a website specialized in patterns for Icelandic yarn. I had some Létt-Lopi yarn remaining from my ‘Owls’, remember?

The finished Héla cardi might look a bit similar to my Owls, because I still have more gray than green, and I am planning to do the colourwork in the yoke following the pattern, but that is not an issue, as I want to have a gray cardigan anyway.

This is what I have so far:

I am now in the not-so-exciting part of plain stockinette stitch for the whole body, which is bottom up until you reach the sleeves. Then, after knitting the sleeves separately, there is where the fun part begins, the 2 colour yoke and then the steek/cut.

I’ve always found this yarn a bit harsh to the skin, but as it happened when I knitted ‘Owls’, after washing the sweater in Eucalan, leaving it for a few hours in the water, and a good blocking, it turns to be pretty soft and the yarn is indeed very warm.

Stay tuned for more as this WIP progresses!

I’ve finished knitting ‘Dew Point’, Laura Chau’s latest beautiful shrug design , and could not be happier.

Loved the design, how it is written with a matrix to pick up the sizes and stitch numbers, so you fill in the blanks within the pattern, following your own size. Very smart! I wish all knitting patterns in different sizes were written this way… good job Laura!

I also loved the yarn, 60% Merino, 40% Bamboo, from indigoDragonFly in colourway ‘Oh Glenna And Her Lemongrass Martinis’, a very soft dreamy yarn to knit with. I almost used a whole skein, which comes in a generous 650 yds, 225g per skein. I love your yarn Kim!

Here are a few pictures I took today, after blocking the shrug:

Dew Point - detail of the sleeve twisted ribbing and the Italian lace edge

While watching Argentina playing with Nigeria at the Soccer World Cup 2010 yesterday, I also finished the second one of my Ribbed Socks.

I like the stretchiness of the yarn I used, Lana Grossa  sock yarn in Marmi colorway (Tan, Brown, Orange). And the bonus was that I still have half a skein to knit another pair of short socks. Just need to find a pattern that is also simple enough not to get in the way of the variegated color.

This was a long wait for the first orphan sock I had finished a long time ago! It’s good to see them together, they look and feel good!

Basic Ribbed Socks - pattern by Kate Atherley

Basic Ribbed Socks - pattern by Kate Atherley

Basic Ribbed Socks - pattern by Kate Atherley with Fabric Shoes

Do you suffer from ‘second sock syndrome’?

I have several WIP’s (works in progress) and 3 of them are socks.

1. The first pair of socks I learned to knit were the ‘Basic Ribbed Socks’ by Kate Atherley. I knitted the first one during a course I took with Kate, using 2.75mm dpn’s and a pretty Lana Grossa  sock yarn in Marmi colorway (Tan, Brown, Orange). I was all excited about learning new knitting techniques. And being able to knit socks, for a knitter anyway, how cool is that? I finished the first sock, started the second one -yes… I started it!- Here is proof:

2. Then this happened:

Original picture from designer Evelyn A. Clark

I -irremediably- fell in love with the ‘Waving Lace Socks’ by Evelyn A. Clark from ‘Favorite Socks’, Interweave Knits, Spring 2004, and I just had to start knitting them, never having tried lace on a sock before. I used Regia sock yarn in Nordic Color:

And this is the finished orphan sock:

Even the the Yarn harlot held my sock:

3. So… when I thought I was on track to have my first very cool pair of lace socks, these beauties caught my attention:

Original picture of 'Francie socks' from designer Rebekkah Kerner

Original picture of 'Francie socks' from designer Rebekkah Kerner

And this is my first ‘Francie’, about to start the toe and finish, that I am knitting with 2 circulars. I am using ‘On your toes’ 4-ply sock yarn, with aloe vera:

So… yeah… I know… I have no excuse. I just go crazy about trying new beautiful patterns and want to knit them all.

If only I could knit first socks that would match each other … so at least I would be able to wear them in pairs, even if they are orphans…

I really like knitting for babies and kids. The projects are quick and as a crafter, you get instant gratification, while you are giving something pretty and handmade to a little one!

This is a baby jacket with matching hat in yummy Lamb’s Pride Worsted from Brown Sheep in 2 different shades of green. For this set, we will have to wait the baby to be born, which will happen in a few months: