knitting school dropout

the last time i finished a sock was april 13, 2008. yet, somehow, i keep acquiring the occasional skein of sock yarn. i am particularly weak when it comes to the crazy zauberball. i'm not sure what it is about the stuff, because it is pretty "crazy" when you consider that i'm a rather dull dresser. i own about 20 brown or grey t-shirts and cardigans. i have 2 pairs of dark jeans. brown shoes. brown boots. and a stash of crazy sock yarn.

i think i buy it in the hopes that i'll be able to infuse some of that color into my wardrobe. so, whilst lounging on the beach for a few days this week, i decided to swatch for an accessory that would make the most of the yarn's striping pattern. a few days later, i had this (kindly modeled by cara, who knows i'm a sucky model):

as written, the pattern uses about 420 yards. if a semi-solid is more your thing, yarn weight and yardage-wise, tosh merino light would also do the trick with only one skein.

this loop scarf is knit in the round with fingering weight yarn on a larger (us7 4.5mm) 24" needle.

from now until november, $1 from the sale of each pattern will be donated to pancan.org. pattern is $4.50 per copy.

Posted by melissa at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

new england knits was always planned as a 25 project book. but, in the end, we had 26. so, one little project never made it in, but now it's available as a free pattern!

photo by sadie dayton

the wakefield scarf is a diagonal lace scarf knit with 3 skeins of the very lovely yarn mirasol tupa.. the lace pattern can easily be adapted to knit a wrap instead of a scarf (don't forget to purchase double the yardage though).

so, go check out the pattern here.

or queue it on ravelry here.

Posted by melissa at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

before the finished objects start piling up, i'd better blog about these recent knits. if they look kind of familiar, well, they are. i rarely knit the same thing twice, but sometimes, it's just necessary. i'm so pleased with both that i hardly minded at all.

first off, i tried my very best at replicating this baby sweater. my friend kept commenting on how much she loved it, and the next thing you know, she found herself knocked up pregnant. i immediately began scouring etsy, for the perfect handspun (i know, i should just get a wheel already). i was lucky enough to come across this shop, and found a close match.

the finished sweater is pretty damn close, i think:

it was another modified february baby sweater from the knitter's almanac. you just leave out the lace, replace it with stockinette, omit the bottom decreases and you end up with this swingy baby jacket.

although i don't intentionally knit for others all that much, i do have a tendency to give my hand-knits away if someone seems to really like one i'm wearing. this was the case with my last entrelac scarf. it was all "mine, mine, mine" for about a month, then i gave it to a friend who liked it. well, i missed it. a lot. i finally found the perfect colorway that made me want to knit it all over again. this is noro silk garden #249, people. if you love earthy tones and blue, go out and buy yourself some. i used 4 balls and it's the perfect length to get all bundled up in. love.

i've cast on for a bazillion different things recently. expect a parade of finished knits to come.

Posted by melissa at 07:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

let's just pretend, for a minute, that a scarf would have been appropriate for today's weather

the entrelac scarf is done, just in time for the 60-70f degree temps coming this weekend.

details:

pattern: i used the entrelac tutorial from the spring 07 issue of interweave knits. i've never tried entrelac before, and the instructions were very clear.

yarn: 3.25 balls of noro silk garden color 251(from 3 different dye lots, because i purchased them at different times)

needles: us6 bamboo straights

thoughts: entrelac is easier than i expected. i found it hard to put down, telling myself that i'd knit just one more block before i went to bed. it'll impress your friends and co-workers and it's so damn pretty. you should try it if you haven't. it makes knitting a scarf fun again.

today was the first day i felt better after being really sick for 2 1/2 weeks (note to self: get out of heathcare field now), so not much progress has been made on the green cardigan. i predict that it'll grow quickly from here on out though. the lace pattern is a really simple one called arrowhead lace from one of the barbara walker treasuries. there are 2 panels of the lace on the front, 2 on the back and 1 running down the center of each sleeve.

i'd better get knitting. it seems like great weather is on it's way.

Posted by melissa at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

wow! thanks for all the lovely comments on my sweater. i highly recommend the pattern. it's very clear and easy to adjust. ah, the beauty of the top-down raglan.

i started feeling ill when i was out with my friend last night and today i can barely remove myself from the couch.

i'm itching to start a new project, but before i tackle another sweater, i thought i'd give something new a try:

i'm using eunny's entrelac tutorial from the latest issue of interweave. entrelac, much like colorwork or lace is totally entertaining to me. i was just going to knit a swatch, but i'm having fun so i'm just going to keep going and call it a scarf. i have 3 skeins if this silk garden colorway, which should be enough, i think. i know it appears that scarf weather has left the building in new england, but really, you never know.

ok, my hot water bottle wants to take the place of this laptop. i'm out.

Posted by melissa at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

i was flipping through the new issue of interweave today and when i got to page 36, i had to look twice. there was an ad for blue sky alpaca/silk with a photo of a woman wearing a wrap with a diagonal lace pattern. this is strange because last week, while i was supposed to be shopping for a specific needle, i was distracted by the blue sky alpaca/silk and ended up walking out of the store with 5 hanks. after some consultation with ms. walker, i settled on the diagonal madeira lace pattern. i wanted something at least twice the width of my widest scarf, that i could wrap around my shoulders, or wear around my neck, folded over. this was my jury duty knitting on monday. from what i can see in the photo the wrap may be a few inches wider, but the lace pattern seems to be the same. i just couldn't believe it was an ad for the exact yarn i'm using too. weirdness.

hard to see, but that's the ad:

this is how much knitting you can do while waiting 3 hours to be called in to the court:

the lace pattern is one of the easier ones out there. after a few repeats, you can pretty much read the stitches and know what to do next. the blue sky alpaca/silk is some wonderful stuff. i think i'll be using more of it as i knit gifts.

i also started knitting clapotis:

i just couldn't resist. i am always freezing, and i can totally see myself wrapped up in this baby as i suffer through another winter in an apartment with drafty windows.

i'm using noro silk garden lite in color 2013. i was a little disappointed at first, as all the balls of this particular colorway were very brown and pink when i saw them in person. when i ordered it though, the ones i received were heavy on the purple, which happens to be my least favorite color. maybe this will change that though because as i'm knitting it up, i'm quite smitten.

Posted by melissa at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

i decided to start with small projects first, in order to shrink my WIP pile this weekend.
first off, i've finished the girlfriend's ganomy hat. i'm sure i'll be stealing this from her until i can knit one for me. maybe she won't like it, now that it's done.

pattern: ganomy hat from EZ's knitter's almanac
needle size: u.s. 10.5 addi turbo
yarn: rowan biggie print? ( i lost the label) in grey
i intentionally knit this on smaller needles than recommended for the yarn, for a more dense fabric. this hat must provide warmth during the endless shoveling of harsh new england winters.
i cannot recommend this pattern enough. once your read it over, you won't have to look at it again and you'll end up with a ridiculously cute hat. yay!

i also finished another Noro Kureyon striped scarf for a friend's birthday. same deal as before, 1x1 rib alternating between two different balls, every 2 rows. i think i used one ball of color 156 and one of 157, but those ball bands could have ended up in the bottom of my bag from something else. i think i'm totally burnt out on these now though.

now i'm off to map out my route to the federal courthouse. yep, this knitter has jury duty tomorrow. i hoping for lots of uninterrupted knitting time, i've lots of big projects to get moving on.

question: are they going to swipe my addi's at the metal detector? or should i just switch to my plastic denise needles and play it safe?

Posted by melissa at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)