this is the second one that i've knit. the first went to live at madelinetosh headquarters.

pattern: tea leaves (my own) available for purchase here
yarn: madelinetosh tosh dk (formerly called tosh worsted) 4 skeins in malachite for the size 34"
needles: 4 and 5mm
mods: shortened body by 1" and made 3/4 length sleeves that lined up perfectly with the end of the body. it's a perfect transitional weather piece, and it will get lots of wear now that spring is around the corner. because of the shorter length, i used less yarn than called for. also, i got stitch, but not row gauge, so my ruched areas are narrower than the original. i considered adding 2 more rows to those sections, but i ended up liking how it looked and decided not to.

i've been wearing this sweater everyday since it finished blocking. i'm so happy to have another finished knit in my closet. i predict a few more finished sweaters in the coming month or two.

you can find it on ravelry here.

or you can buy a copy using the button below. thanks so much!

monday

spent half of my day off working on a new design and the other half finishing up this. it's the tea leaves cardigan that i started for myself many moons ago. everything is done except for 2.5 inches of sleeve and the blocking. i was hoping to finish it mid-week, but i ended up sick and without the energy to knit.

tuesday

did i tell you that i'm learning to crochet? i'm taking a class with my friend/co-worker elisabeth for the next few weeks. 2010 is my year of learning new things, even if i'm terrible at them. so far i've learned to use a rigid heddle loom, which i'm only ok at. i've learned to spin on a wheel, and i'm really terrible at it, despite having a great teacher. i'm hoping crochet will be the new fiber art that'll restore my creative self-esteem. i hope. i ended up going to my class when i was sick this week and as a result, i don't remember how to half-double crochet. at least i think that's what we covered. *shrug*

wednesday and thursday

these days were a blur of cold medicine and bad t.v. i worked for 2.5 hours, then didn't get off the couch for a day and a half.

friday

today i felt a lot better, just not quite 100%. i've been a non-smoker for 8+ months and the real difference i've noticed is that i get better so much faster when i'm sick. my colds no longer settle in my chest and turn into a month long cough. i get sick, i feel like crap for a few days, then i'm better. i can handle that!

i was dying to knit after a few days without feeling like it. instead of finishing my tea leaves cardi, i ended up casting on for a hat in madelinetosh vintage in"composition book gray", which is a grayed purple that i'm crazy about at the moment. this is a hat pattern that i'll be putting out any day now. the pattern is all done, i just have to put it all together with the pictures. i'll try to get it up on sunday.

my favorite part is the decreases (they look the same in bulky and worsted versions).

the blue and brown ones on the left are knit in berroco's peruvia quick, a bulky yarn that i love. options for turned up and plain rib brims are included and each hat uses only 1 skein, making this bulky hat an $8.00 project.

the hats on the right use the worsted weight version of the pattern. the hat on the top right is in madelinetosh tosh worsted ( which is now called tosh dk, but knits up at a versatile light worsted-dk range). the bottom right is in berroco vintage, which has taken some serious abuse from lots of wear and still look like new. love!

the pattern includes instructions for worsted and bulky weight versions. it's available for purchase now!

find it on ravelry

or buy now$5.00

thanks so much for your support!

Our book is available for pre-order on amazon.com. it's funny how some things make it seem so much more real.

i'm still catching up after a toothache that turned into last-minute oral surgery last week. honestly, the toothache was worse than losing the molar, and right now, the only bother is a diet that lacks crunchy things. i will survive. i will return emails. i will be saving indefinitely for a dental implant :)

green tea leaves

it's always a bummer to send away a sweater you like and never see it again. so, after i designed tea leaves, i immediately cast on for my very own in madtosh worsted in malachite. although i'm dying to wear it, i'm just not really ready to knit it all over again. it's been hanging out at the bottom of my bag for 2 months getting jabbed with pens and turning into a tangled mess. the 2 balls of yarn i was alternately are now on disaster i am not ready to tackle.

when the newest twist collective issue came out, i bought the pattern for cecily's mystere right away. i was just looking for a reason the use the ridiculously soft valley yarns amherst, and this was it. this is going to be a great everyday sweater.

i also participated in a little knit-a-long for the book knitted toy tales at webs. they book is filled with adorable toys to knit like a frog prince, matroyshka dolls, and an owl. i knit one of the three little pigs, but of course forgot to take picture after finishing. here's a little in progress shot and a crappy cell phone pic that i snapped before the store opened one day. the pattern do call for a lot of seams, but i knit most of the pig in the round with magic loop instead. it's pretty easy to avoid the seams.

i've also cast on for a ton of other knits. many are gifts and will be revealed soon.

i'll leave you with a quick peek at my soon to be released hat pattern. i used a stitch pattern that resembles acorns. this is the bulky version that uses 1 skein of peruvia quick. i'm currently finishing up the pattern for the worsted weight version that's knit with 1 skein of berroco vintage. the pattern will contain patterns for both weights. it should be ready within the next 2 weeks.

happy holidays, friends.

you'd never know it from this blog, but i've knit a whole lot of bottom-up sweaters this year. i thoroughly enjoy getting the slog of sleeve knitting out of the way first, and saving the fun part (like this sweater's colorwork yoke) for the end.

my original plan was to knit a cowichan style sweater but do animal motifs in intarsia. then i remembered how much i disliked intarsia. i had already knit the body of the sweater back and forth when i changed my mind on the yoke design, so i ended up knittiing the fair isle portion back and forth. this is something i hadn't done before, and it wasn't nearly as fun as knitting it in the round.

the yarn was what compelled me to knit this sweater in the first place. i absolutely love british sheep breeds from rowan, and i have enough of the chunky to knit several sweaters. i used 6 balls of mid brown jacob for the main color and used less than a ball each of shetland moorit, black welsh and steel grey suffolk.

i knit the sleeves about an inch longer than i usually do and added an extra 2" to the body so that the girlfriend and i can share it (she's 5'10" and i'm 5'2"). it fits us both perfectly and the longer sleeves and length actually makes it a really cozy sweater for me. i've been wearing it instead of a jacket today!

i've got 3 other sweaters on the needles, so i'm pretty sure i'll have a few more to show soon. xo.

i got a part-time job at my favorite yarn store. i love it, though i'm not sure the customers really love my constant insistence that they check gauge. people, i say these things because i love you.

i went to rhinebeck and saw lots of friends

oh, and i finished a new pattern!

it's a top-down, round yoke cardigan with puckered yoke details. it's knit is the lovely madelinetosh tosh merino and is just the kind of sweater i love to wear; simple, with one nice detail. i hope you'll love to wear it too.

you can buy the pattern on ravelry today and after that it will be available for purchase at the madelinetosh site.

i'm two inches away from finishing my 17th sweater this year. the good news is, this one is just for me. i'll be back in a few days with the details.

first off, thanks for all the support in my attempt to quit smoking. so far, so good! i'm happy to say that it's day 84 today, which is a hell of a lot easier than days 1- 40-something, which were pretty sucky, honestly. it feels pretty normal to not smoke at this point, and i'm trying to not let the bit of weight gain get me down.

a few weeks ago, i packed up a bunch of single skeins of yarn that i had accumulated through numerous trips to webs and the book swatching process and sent them off to robyn for her one hundred hats project. i know that over time the single balls tend to start taking over my stash, so it seemed like the perfect way to put them to good use. you can also help robyn by donating even a dollar to help with shipping 100 hats!

if you ever wanted to thank kate for all the lovely free patterns she's given us, you can go read this post and thank her with a donation to the pspca.

i've been knitting lots of sweaters, but unfortunately only one is even scheduled to be out this year. luckily i have permission to share it's progress.

it's a top-down round yoke cardigan design in the very, very, soft tosh merino. the colorway is called tannehill, and it's almost impossible to describe. the colors look almost iridescent. here's a little peek at the back of the yoke:

the pattern will be out later this year and will be available through madelinetosh. i'll keep you posted here.

i did start a sweater for me as a little reward for quitting smoking. i cranked out the body and part of both sleeves in a couple days, but had to put it away to knit on other sweaters. my plan is to resurrect it right before rhinebeck and finish it up. it's knit in several different shades of rowan british sheep breeds chunky, and has a yet-to-be-determined yoke design.

oh, how i miss knitting for myself lately. my past knits don't really fit that great anymore since i went from a 34 to a 36", and everything else that i've knit this year has been sent away. this gal is going to be cold this winter :(

i'm also dying to knit more for my friend's baby. she's already outgrown the little hats and cardigans i knit for her earlier this year, so i'd love to make a few more. i am also totally using the same little girl as an excuse to buy amigurumi knits, and then knit everything in it. holy cute!

so, maybe a little vacation from designing is in order this winter. just a month of selfish knitting, that's all i really need.

this sweater is knit from the top down, except for the funnel neck, which is worked upward after completing the sweater to keep the shaping of the fold and button details the same as the sleeves.

i love this sweater, which is why i threw it on for a few pictures before i mailed it off in january. i normally avoid this when the yarn contains alpaca, and i paid for it with a lovely patch of eczema for a week afterward. please excuse the odd poses. i was trying to show the button details.

this pattern is available in one of classic elite's fall booklets, called saturday afternoon. (ravelry link)

you can queue the pattern on ravelry here.

thanks for all your kind words about my patterns. i really appreciate it!

in other news: i quit smoking! today is day 29, and i wish i could say that it's getting easier, but it's still pretty hard. i'm sticking with it anyway. i was a pack a day smoker, which is crazy, considering that i didn't smoke in my home or car. really, it's just hanging around outside or on the porch that's the hardest, so i'm pretty much avoiding that altogether. what's been helping a lot is my gym membership, keeping track of how many cigarettes i didn't smoke so far ( 580 ! ), and a little retail therapy. when i go to work in a new shirt or something, i like to tell people that it cost "3 packs of cigarettes". just trying to remember how much extra money i have now. wish me luck!

xo

melissa

this cardigan is knit from the top down, in a super bulky yarn, and features leaf details at the neck and sleeve(i told you there were more leaf patterns coming soon). because of the alpaca content, i had to take ungodly amounts of benadryl and zyrtec to knit it and it's also the reason why my dress form is stepping in as a model. despite the allergy drama, i'm really happy with it. this sweater is a super quick knit ( i made it in just a few days). i'm hoping to make another for myself in an alpaca-free yarn of a darker color and wear it as a 3/4 sleeve jacket in the fall.

you can queue it on ravelry here.

i hope you like it!

i'll be finishing up gift knits for the rest of the day. i have a pile of hats that just need crown decreases (i'm writing patterns for almost all the hats i'm giving at the same time). once those are finished, i'm definitely casting on for something from vintage baby knits, which i just picked up today. but what? there are so many cute little things. i'm leaning towards a wool soaker and a cute boat neck sweater. i'll have to decide soon, my co-worker's baby just came a few weeks early.

while blue skies and beaches are lovely, i was especially thrilled with the two farms we shot at, one of which offered your standard friendly old dog, and the other, overrun with piglets. piglets! they ran around throughout the shoot, and i'm hoping they make their way into some of the final photographs.

it was really amazing to see how much work goes into photographing just one garment. i think when i witnessed that work revolving around a garment that i had knit just a few months ago, the book finally became real to me.

so, now it's really real. when cecily and i said goodbye to tricia and liz from interweave sunday night, i think we were both hit with a sudden wave of sadness. the big part is over, and the wait has begun. spring 2010.

pictures cross-posted over on our knitting daily blog

i'm in love with this blue-grey shade of manos wool clasica called "pewter". the thick and thin nature of the yarn gives the simple sweater a little texture.

you'll notice that i threw in a little leaf on the side there. it's kind of a joke at this point, me and leaves. this sweet little girl has been the recipient of a whole slew of leafy knits, so it seemed appropriate. she may grow up hating leaf motifs, but maybe i'll be over them by then.

i knit this sweater from the bottom up, based on her specific measurements. i knit the body with 2 inches of positive ease and the sleeves with 1 inch, so it will fit in a few months.

i was considering writing up a pattern for this based on standard baby measurements for different ages, but wanted to make sure there isn't one like it out there first. so far, i've found roll neck baby sweaters, but not the bottom up raglan sort. let me know if you know of one in existence, or if you'd like it written up.

happy knitting,
melissa

so now, let's get down to business...

knittingschooldropout.com is 3 years old! to say thank you to readers new and old, i'll be giving away a few of my favorite things. the contest is open to visitors new and old, and from any country. all you need to do is leave a comment on this entry and use a valid email address in the comment form (don't worry, the only one who can see it is me). every comment will be given a number based on the order it was posted. i'll use a random number generator to choose the winner. you have until midnight est on friday 6/26 to enter.

only one winner will be chosen to receive all of the following:

2 skeins of crown mountain farms sock hop in the lucy in the sky colorway (i used sock hop to make my favorite pair of socks ever. they've been worn and washed too many times to count, and they still look as good as the day i made them.

1 skein of folktale patchwork handspun in rona. i've used abby's patchwork yarns to make 2 pairs of mittens, and i just love them to death. the yarn does all the work for you. it's a perfect match for plain patterns. (picture used with abby's permission)

a bunch of lovely tree branch buttons from the button shop on etsy. i can't show what i used some of these for yet, but i love them. they look great on woolly cardigans.

last but not least, the winner will also receive a copy of one of my favorite knitting books from the last year, boutique knits. i've made some hats from this book already, and i'm pretty sure i'll be referring to it again for some gift knitting later this year. if the winner already has boutique knits, i'll let them choose from another recent interweave title, like sock innovation, spin control, or maybe weaving made easy, depending on what interests you. why yes, i am a bit biased when it comes to interweave. :)

i'm finally working on some bloggable knitting projects. i'll be back to share those soon.
thanks so much for visiting, and good luck!

and the winner is:

number 35!

chris from http://doodlesinstring.blogspot.com!