Acorn Trail

Hello Chickadees!

I'm here to share the first finished project of 2015- my Acorn Trail sweater!

This is Amy Herzog's Acorn Trail pattern. This pattern has been on my list of favourites on Ravelry for quite a while. I finally decided to take the plunge and start it, and I'm so glad that I did! It was my first Amy Herzog pattern, and I really love the way it was written. It was really easy to follow the pattern, and everything went together perfectly.

 I knit this using Knit Picks City Tweed, which is a merino/alpaca blend. It is so snuggly and warm! I am usually freezing, and this kept me warm the entire time during the shoot. The cables on this are my favourite part. I have grown to love knitting cables, because it gives me something to look forward to while I'm knitting each row. 

This is my very favourite handknit project so far. I love the yarn/pattern pairing! I've worn it every day since i finished it, because it's just so cozy!

More sewing projects are coming soon, I promise! It's just been very cold and dark and wet, making it rather hard to get decent blog photos!

I'll leave you with this picture of me getting excited about ducks.

What are you guys working on right now?

What's in my Queue?

Hello Chickadees!

Now that Christmas knitting is all done, I'm very excited to have some time to work on some projects for myself. I am constantly cold, and the thought of new warm garments makes me very happy!

First up and already on the needles, Amy Herzog's Acorn Trail Cardigan. I've been drooling over this pattern for months, and I finally decided to knit it up. I love the combination of cables and lace, and I think it's going to be very warm for the following chilly months.

Acorn Trail

I cast on for this sweater on the 30th, and I've already finished the back and the front pieces. It's a nice quick knit, and the mix of pattern and stockinette keep it from being too painfully boring. I'm using KnitPicks City Tweed in the colour Romance, which is a merino/alpaca blend,and it's so warm and cozy once it's been washed. I'm very excited about this!

At the end of October, I started watching Outlander. For those of you that don't know, it's mostly based in Scotland in the mid 1700's. The costumes in this show are fantastic, especially the knitwear. I love the sort of "rustic" feel that some of the knits have, and I wanted that for myself. I decided that I needed to knit up a giant shawl in some warm brown tweedy yarn.

In my head, a shawl should be like a blanket that is socially acceptable to wear out of the house. I stumbled across Brooklyn Tweed's Ashby, and it really fits the bill. Lots of texture and cables which help to keep the heat in, and it's huge! The wingspan on this thing is about 66", which is pretty awesome.

Ashby

This will be knit up in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Tweed in the colour Reindeer Heather. I love the mixture of colours in this yarn! I can't wait to snuggle up in this one.

I always have some sort of smaller project on the go to keep in my purse. I need something that is boring enough that I can knit it while still holding an actual conversation. I just cast on a Multnomah Shawl using Knit Picks Gloss in the colour Doe. I plan on making it larger than specified in the pattern, because I'm all about the giant shawl/blanket things. I'm still working on the endless garter stitch section, so it's still a great project for when you're on the bus/car/waiting for food/at church/anywhere where you'd need to keep your hands occupied. It's great!

Multnomah

What are you guys working on, now that the Christmas Crafting Craze is over?

Rachael

The Big Post of Christmas Knitting

Hello Chickadees!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season! My Christmas was full of family and food, and it was lovely!

My favourite part about Christmas is coming up with gifts to give to each of my family members. This year I decided to make all of the gifts for my family, which was quite fun! I made mostly socks, with a few cowls and hats thrown in there.

My mom always has frozen feet, just like me, so I knew right away that she'd appreciate a nice warm pair of socks. We were yarn shopping in Comox, and she commented on how much she like this yarn, so I bought it secretly and knit up a pair. This is the Online Supersocke 4 fach Sydney Color in colourway 1631.The yarn is self-pattening, and it was fun to knit up because they look fancy even though they're just plain stockinette.

My dad is very understated in his sock choices, so I found this great black and grey striped yarn. It's simple, and durable, which is just what he needs for socks. I knit these up with a plain stockinette foot and a 3x1 ribbed leg for maximum stretch and comfort. These socks took FOREVER to knit, but in the end, it's worth it.

I know I wanted something crazy for my brother Jarrett. He loves bright and strange colours, so when I saw this fluorescent yarn, I knew I had to get it for him. This is Regia Fluormania Color in the Neon Ocean Colourway. I used the Making Waves pattern to break up the chunks of colour a little bit. I need to lenthen the leg on these, because right after I cast them off, he was lamenting about his lack of long socks to wear with his Docs. Sigh.

Jarrett's girlfriend Sam loves bright colours as well, so I thought it might be fun for them to have matching socks. I managed to find the Neon Rainbow colourway of the same yarn, and knit these up using a chevron pattern. This yarn is so bright that I could knit in the dark while riding in the car with no problems at all. Crazy!

My brother Riley loves whacky and warm socks. I wanted to do something for him that he could use for bumming around the house or out on his hikes. These are knit up in Regia Sentimento in a crazy bright yellow/green colour. I used the Randle pattern for these, and they came out nicely! (please excuse the weird wrinkles. I don't have men's sock blockers, and these would not lay flat on the blocking mat.)

I knit up two cowls for christmas, and did not get pictures of either of them! Silly me. But I used the Gaptastic Cowl pattern, and it's great!

I also knit up two hats last minute for my little cousins. My youngest cousin, Eva is in kindergarten, and I thought she'd look cute in this cream coloured hat with gold sparkles!

My other cousin, John, loves Star Wars, so I stitched up an R2D2 hat for him.

Did you do any Christmas knitting or crafting?
Rachael

Baby Boy

Hello Chickadees!

Last week a couple from our bible study had a precious little baby boy. Since it's winter, I thought that a fitting present would be a baby sweater and booties.

I knit the Baby Sophisticate pattern, which is free on Ravelry. It was a lovely quick knit, and quite fun. Baby knits are awesome because they're so tiny, they hardly take any time at all! And they are incredibly adorable!

I knit this up using Loops and Threads Ringspun, which is a cotton/acrylic blend. It's machine washable, and super soft. It is a little finicky because it splits very easily, but I didn't mind knitting with it, and it was easier on my hands than some other cotton yarns I've used in the past.

Since it's sort of a "grandpa-style" sweater, I was hoping to find woven leather buttons, or something similar. I managed to find the perfect plastic buttons in my stash!

They loved it, and while it's a little big on him now, he'll grow into it quickly.

Do you make any baby presents? Do you have any favourite patterns to use?
Rachael

Knitting for Babies

Hello chickadees!

I am of the age where many of my friends from school and church are having babies. This is a wonderful time, especially as a "crafty" person because it provides many opportunities to bless my friends with adorable handmade items!

A while ago my friend Tayler announced that she was having a baby boy. Exciting news! I was invited to the baby shower, and so I figured that I would knit something special! 

What better way to celebrate the arrival of a new precious bundle of joy! 

The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Worsted, and had been hanging out in my stash for a bit. I had originally planned to use it to knit a cotton version of the Miette sweater, but could not get a nice looking gauge. It was perfect for this little project! 

This sweater had so many false starts! I knew that I wanted a cardigan, preferably raglan sleeved, and not too girly. I started knitting it about 8 different times and hated all of them, until I finally settled on this modified version of Brenna Kotar's Hoot Cardigan. Instead of the owl cables, I just used a simple 6 stitch cable pattern. All of the edges are finished with I-cord. 

I even found the cutest little puppy dog buttons!

The booties are my own pattern, basically just a teeny tiny sock finished again with I-cord. Are they not the most precious thing? If these little guys don't start your baby fever, nothing will. 

The sweater was a hit! Now we're just waiting for baby to arrive! 

The mama-to-be loved it!

Love,

Rachael

Victorious!

Hello Chickadees!

Look! A finished sweater! 

 This is my first big project, and I'm so happy with the finished result. I've worn it all day, and it is amazingly warm! Merino really is a miracle fibre.

This was knit in about a month, with a little break in between. The pattern is called "A New Design In Cable Stitch",  from the Victoria and Albert Museum Knitting Collection. As I mentioned before, I used Knitpicks Gloss Fingering weight, in Jade. I'm totally in love with this colour, and the yarn is so lovely and squishy. 

This pattern is knit in pieces, and then seamed together, which is really a blessing and a curse. It feels less daunting to knit things a piece at a time, especially if you're used to knitting socks or hats like I am. But the downside of pieced knitting is the seaming. I spent many many hours sewing up all of the seams. But it is so very worth it!

I found this pattern really quite easy. The instructions are brief, but easy to understand. It's a simple cable stitch with a few increases and decreases. I didn't make any changes to the pattern, for two reasons:
-I've never knit a sweater before, so I didn't want to go messing about with things I didn't understand
-I loved all the pictures that I've seen of other knitter's projects.

Now that I've knit this one up, I have plans to make another one, but switching the regular cable to a braided one.

 

When I put on this sweater, I felt like a 1940's college girl, so I thought I'd pose with a book. Plus it gave me something to do with my hands, to avoid the awkward new blogger thing.

I love that this sweater works with my little Scotty Dog brooch.

Ravelry notes HERE

I hope you all are keeping warm!

Love,

Rachael

Faling Out Of Love

Hello Chickadees,

Do you ever fall out of love with a project? It starts off great. You are happy with your choice of material, you love the pattern that you've chosen. But the closer you get to the finish line, the more frustrated and annoyed you become with it? Stephanie from Yarn Harlot wrote an excellent post about this just the other day. You can check it out here.

I am having this issue with my Knit for Victory project. At first, I was LOVING the pattern. It looked lovely. I knew it was going to be nice and cozy warm. But each piece that I completed made me long for my next project. Now, I'm currently on the last piece, which also happens to be the largest one, and I feel like it takes some major will power to pull it out and start working on it. But alas, I have a deadline, and I believe that I can finish in time!

Here are a few shots of the completed piece:

Finished arms

Finished right and left front

In progress back

In the mean time, I'm taking a break from the monotony of cables with a little side project. I signed up for a knit exchange, and my partner has requested socks. I found out that she loves Dr. Who, so I settled on a pair of Tardis socks for her. I'll post some shots of those at a later date.

Love,
Rachael

Knit for Victory!

Hello Chickadees!

If you're into vintage knitting or sewing, you've most likely heard of Tasha from By Gum, By Golly. She is a knitting wizard. In November she announced a 1940's inspired knit-a-long, called Knit for Victory. It is a non-competitive knitting challenge, with the goal of creating an accessory or clothing item that is 1940's inspired.

Naturally, I thought this sounded like an exciting project! I couldn't wait to start knitting! I've had my eye on a pattern called "A New Design in Cable Stitch" for at least a year, but was rather nervous about knitting my first sweater. This was just the kick in the pants that I needed. I chose a lovely jade coloured merino/silk blend fingering weight yarn from Knitpicks, and cast on on Christmas day.

I've already finished the sleeves, and tomorrow I'll cast on one of the front pieces. Here are some Iphone pics so far:

Knitpicks Gloss fingering in Jade

Knitting the first sleeve

If I keep on knitting at this pace, I should be finished in time for the deadline of January 31st. Keep your needles crossed for me!

Love,

Rachael