Blatherskite

This is what I have been working on the past month, the Garter Yoke Cardigan from the Winter Knit1 magazine. I made it with some Cotton Ease that I had in the stash. I really like how it turned out. It’s very roomy. I’m used to wearing sweaters with a bit of negative ease but It’s refreshing to wear something with a bit of ease for a change. It will be great for Summer. Cotton that doesn’t hug too much=no overheating. I’m not sure, looking at the picture, that I like how I look in it. Maybe it’s just because I hate how I look in pictures. But it feels good, so whatev.

Not much else to say about that. Didn’t do any mods or anything. So there you go. Here’s the Rav page for the details.

I’m finally getting around to posting this! I finished this vest the day before we left for vacation and I washed and laid it out to dry while we were away. Excited to wear it to work the Monday back to work I put it on. I wore it around the house for about an hour but felt weird wearing it. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It’s a cute vest, but I didn’t feel like me in it. I asked Raf what he thought about it and he politely said he liked it. But after telling him that I can take the truth, that there is something about the vest I’m not happy with, he finally let me have it. It looks frumpy. Yes, that is exactly the right word. Frumpy. I look frumpy in it. I’m not a frumpy kind of gal.

Part of it is the yarn. I didn’t like this yarn the first time I used it either. The color washes me out, for one thing. For another thing it is very heavy. It’s 100% cotton and it seems like bulky cotton tends to be on the heavy side. Thirdly, lets face it. I’m not the bean pole model that is modeling this knit in the Knit1 magazine. I have curves. Lately I’m a little (ahem) curvier than usual. The vest kind of makes me look even bigger. Sigh.

On the other hand I really had fun knitting this! It was knitted from the top down, a technique I’ve been slightly obsessed with lately. My gauge was not quite the same as the pattern (the pattern actually calls for even bulkier yarn!) so I did the math to figure out how many stitches to cast on. So I was kind of proud of myself for figuring out all of that stuff. The pattern at the bottom was fun to do, as cables always are. So great pattern! Just not the best looking thing on me. So I’m trying to figure out what to do. My instant thought was to just give it away. I don’t want to frog this yarn yet again. I don’t like this yarn. I want it out of my life. And the vest is cute! Maybe someone somewhere will love it and it will be perfect for them. But another part of me is saying to just hold on to it for a time and give it another chance in the future. I think I will go with the latter idea for now. Can’t hurt to just keep it for a bit.

Here is the Ravelry info if you would like to check it out there.

I started working on the Textured Vest pattern in the latest issue of Knit1 about a week ago (give or take a couple of days). It’s been kind of a bumpy start but I think I’m on the home stretch now. I will probably be able to have a finished product to show you in next Monday’s Crafty Monday post.

I am using some of the oldest yarn in my stash, some Softig I bought at Webs, like, 4 years ago on a whim. For years I have been trying to figure out what to do with the two leftover balls of this stuff I have had in my stash (I made a sweater out of the other 8 balls). And I think I have found the pattern that this yarn wants to be. I’ve been wanting a chunky-knit boho vest for awhile now so this is great!

BTW, have you see the latest Knit1? It’s been rather elusive. I finally bought one at my LYS last weekend and I am so glad I did. I think I want to knit everything in that issue! It also has some great articles in there about natural dying and profiles on some of my favorite bloggers, as well as a section on how to knit a top-down sweater. I also bought Wendy Bernard’s book, Custom Knits last weekend too. I LOVE it. This is the year of the top-down sweater for me. I’m excited.

I finished my Pfeiffer Falls hooded scarf earlier this week! This is first project (that I can remember) in which I really enjoyed the process of knitting. In fact, this is what I’ve been knitting during the hell that is the current winter we are having and if it weren’t for this project (or knitting in general) I think I would have lost my marbles. Yes, it was very Zen. I enjoyed knitting this immensely. While I knitted this I listened to The Hunger Games almost non-stop, so it will also always remind me of this wonderful book (I’ll talk about that later on this week).

So I liked it. I think the finished product is cute and it will get lots of use this winter. I had almost an entire ball of yarn leftover so I made a hat to match, for those extra cold days.

Here’s my Ravelry info if you’re interested.

I haven’t posted much in the way of my crafty endeavors for a couple of weeks but, I assure you, I am crafting. Knitting, specifically. As you know, this has been a challenging couple of months (It’s been a challenging year, but that’s a whole other blog post). Knitting has really, really helped me get through these times. The repetitive motion of knitting calms me down. Keeps me sane. I knit a bunch of hats for Christmas presents. The first hat I made I really wish I had taken a picture of and blogged about. It actually was a gift for my step-dad. I decided I was going to make him a hat when I was visiting him in the hospital after he had his surgery. We were talking about what he was going to have to go through regarding his treatment and he mentioned that his hair would probably fall out from the radiation. I said, “I should make you a hat!” and he said, “That would be great!” and so it goes. So I went home and dug through my stash to see what I had and I found the absolute perfect yarn for this. It is some yarn that I got in Ocean Park, WA at a little yarn shop there (the yarn in the photo). Alpaca from a local Alpaca farm. The name of the Alpaca is right there on the label, Freedom, is his/her name. Ocean Park is a favorite vacation spot of our family so I knew this was perfect. It’s like this yarn was bought so that I could make him this hat. So I made him a simple top-down ribbed hat and he loves it! Success! It’s such a nice, masculine pattern so I went ahead and made two more, one for my brother in black, and one for my dad in brown.

To go with my brother’s hat I made him a scarf. It’s a pattern in the book “One Skein” by Leigh Radford. It is one of the ribbed quartet and the pattern is Double Cable scarf (or something like that). It’s a really easy, quick project. Perfect for gift knitting. He loved it! I always appreciate it, as I’m sure you do, when people truly appreciate my knitted gifts. So I was happy. And with all of the snow he needs it! Here’s the Ravelry info if you are so inclined.

I’m working on something for myself, too! It’s the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded scarf from the latest Interweave. I’m using a yarn I have never used before, Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted. I think this may be my new favorite yarn! It’s so smooshy and nice. But more on this project later. We had another snow day today so progress is being made and I should have it done by next Monday.