Changing Seasons

If you were paying attention, one beautiful winters night in Seattle, you would've seen this amazing sunset right in your own backyard. You would've stood in awe as it changed and morphed into something spectacular. We called it "Jenny's sunset", in honor of my cousin who had surgery and was in our prayers at the time.

And if you blinked, you entered into a new season of magical snowfall, that closed down our city for nearly a week ... first with its heavy snowfall and subsequent ice storm, then followed by the threat of flooding. I think it is all mom's fault because she made this Christmas card....What do you think?

 What's a Seattle knitter to do with all this snow and days home from school, which for me is work? Well that is obvious, don't you think? However, I never guessed we would be without power in 29 degree (below) weather and I'd be knitting with an REI headlamp on my head. So thankful for our gas fireplace! A sneak peak at the next sweater project. I am dreaming of spring...spring green and leaves.
Leaflet, on size 10 needles and using Eco Wool once again. It's inexpensive, it's chunky and it's wool. And it is helping keep me from going stir crazy being cooped up inside the house.

Ubernatural Cardigan

Stefanie Japel's Ubernatural Cardigan: size 15 needles, size 13 for ribbing. 1 and 1/2 skeins Alpine chunky wool.

With a few more buttons "on order", I can still try it on with 6 sewn on!

My daughters says she likes it this way with just the top ones on and besides, I don't know if I will be able to button the lower ones anyway. Brrrrrrrrrrrr! It's cold out today for a photo shoot! Great knitting weather!

It is sweater weather and I'm loving being a knitter this time of year! This one, once I finally got going, went so fast due to the bulky yarn and needles. The concept behind this sweater is that it is topdown, raglan, knit with chunky yarn, with deep ribbing, and the contrast of the many buttons plays against the minimal neckline detail.

Using 1 1/2 skeins of chunky 14 ply Alpine wool, my Ubernatural Cardigan is based on the Stefanie Japel pattern. My color choice is about as icy tealy blue as a cold snap in Seattle. Which we are having right about now. Mine was made on size 15 needles for body, and 13 for ribbing. It has a million buttonholes. I changed mine to a K2, YO, K2tog. I also lengthened my sleeves a bit. I finished the bottom body ribbing after the 10th button. I just could not bring myself to knit yet another buttonhole so I knit a few more rows and bound off!

I made a few more increases rows than called for at the shoulders until I reached the underarms. That is the beauty of a topdown sweater that you can try on as you go.

Since my needles were chunky I had to resort to wine markers for stitch markers.

This yarn had alot of knots and puffy places in it, but knit up fast. There were a few errors in the pattern so I relied on Ravelry members to set me straight on the

corrections. Mainly that you knit 1 in between the two YO's that make the increases on the shoulders. That was a biggie... I only did one decrease row at the waistline,though did not like the slip1, knit1, pass slipped stitch over and how it looked in this chunky of a yarn. It shows up too much on the finished product. I would just do a ssk instead on one side and a k2tog on the other. And now to hunt for 10 buttons????

Americano Vest

Here's the completed Americano Vest from the Berroco Chunky & Vintage Chunky Booklet #302. Completed using size 10 needles and Cascade 128 Chunky. It took less than 3 skeins.

Showing my back yoke seam that I kept visible for a "design element!" I am hunching over sort of, don't know why. I thought maybe I was making it look "flatter" that way.

Trying out buttons...after finishing off the edging and blocking.

This image is a photo I took of the project page of "Americano" out of the Berroco Vintage & Vintage Chunky Booklet #302, a lovely vest pattern I fell in love with. All the projects are named after locations in my Seattle area and vicinity. This booklet was my final purchase when my local yarn shop closed this past year. I was unable to find the called for yarn on a recent trip to another yarn shop, so chose a Cascade 128 chunky yarn for this project. It is very soft and felt great working up on a size 10 needle.

This vest is worked in pieces and has some great textures and angles that make it intriguing to work and to seam up. Shown below in pieces being held down by some random objects!

I love the front pieces and the K3tog that makes a nice faux seam up the front, then angles off as you continue in a K2tog.

I chose to do the back yoke seam as a visible seam, because I felt it would be fun to do so, considering all the other texture and seams that are visible in this project.

The edges do curl so blocking is imperative. An edging will be placed around the neckline and buttons will get added. This is turning out to be an adorable vest! I have done the size 38.

A quick and gratifying knit!

With alot of visual interest and angles. I learned that M1K doesn't mean make one, then knit one! I knit this with the memory that some of the time I was working on it was spent as my friend was going through a very hard time in which she lost her husband. I knit some of it while sitting with her mother. I knit some of it after hearing that her mother in law was blessed by my teaching her to knit, so she could knit at the hospital by his bedside and felt as if I were right there with her. In these times I feel knitting is my gift from God. To me, and to others.

Second Best Friend

Just in time for the chill in the air that means fall is here...I can almost taste a pumpkin spice latte, can't you?

Edited to add a few photos of the finished Best Friend Cardigan. Pattern by: Wenlan Chia
Size 19 needles. 3 skeins Thick and Chunky Wool Ease in "Spice". This one's very warm and soft. The large actually ended up fitting me. Still haven't blocked it, but that's typical of me! I can never wait to wear things when I finish them. Arm seams a bit bulky. All in all, it came out cute!

What's better than a Best Friend? A Second Best Friend! OK, so the lilac was a trial run, remember? Besides, I am waiting for buttons and can't wear that one yet. I am a fickle friend and am already on to the next chunky bulky one. This one is the real deal weight called for in the pattern. Using big needles, size 19. Talk about fast knitting. This thing could knit itself in a day. I am not even kidding! FAST!

It's sort of a spicy pumpkiny fall color. Whadya know? It's called "Spice". I got 4 skeins of Thick and Quick Wool Ease. A blend of lamb's wool and (gasp!) acrylic. I know, I know. I have used the blends in the last two boleros which didn't turn out half bad. There is not alot of stretch to acrylic, but it was bulky and so there you have it.

It crunches up rather smallish right now and I hope it is going to S-T-R-E-T-C-H on me with those big stitches when I put it on! Or when I block it. I did not do the bobbles. Didn't want to. I did not do buttonholes. Others said they were not needed due to the big stitches. I did not do the waist decreases as others recommended not to. I added a few rows of the ribbing on the waist. Other than all that, I don't think I modified anything. I know, amazing the "Mod Squad" did not do too many more "mods" this time. I made the large. It doesn't look very large yet.

Friends Can Be Fickle

So I started the Best Friend Cardigan out of Wenlan Chia's book. It is a free pattern on Ravelry. I just got the book from the library for fun...and then I went off with another project for awhile. And now I'm back again. Just like a fickle friend I guess. Now it isn't so hot outside, so it's back to knitting with wool. I am not really sure about this project yet, ....not sure about the color. The color lilac is so...lilac. But the pattern is sort of funky and fun. So it deserves a fun color. I am considering this my "test knit". I have gotten some other chunky yarn to use to make another one if I like how this turns out. So I figure this is my practice run. I have heavily modified this pattern to fit my yarn gauge and my needle size was dropped down from pattern recommended size. So now it doesn't resemble the original pattern a whole lot. As in, the original only has maybe 4 cable repeats up the front and is on way chunkier yarn and huge needles, but this is good practice! Upside down -not sure why?-photo (above) of one side or front of the sweater. Lower photo shows how this pattern was written. It is knit from the bottom up and side to side, then you leave the sides on holders, knit the back upwards, and then put the neck on a holder. Then you go back to put the front pieces on the needles and knit upward, keeping the pattern going, as well as buttonholes. I did mine so I'll end up with six buttonholes up the front. I have many more cable pattern repeats than the pattern, again, due to my yarn, gauge and needle size.

See how it looks all opened up? (above) Now I will fold it in so you can see what it might look like for real. (below)

I am now knitting up the other front side, then I will bind off at the neck. Then I think it will be time to do the sleeves. Some other people who have knit this pattern have done the sleeves in the round. They are written in the pattern to have a cap and be knit in with seams. I'll see what I feel like doing when I get to it. This is an experiment for me in gauge and stitch count and fudging.

After the sleeves will be time to finish off the neck and do some buttons and blocking. I could buy buttons or make them by doing a crochet-covered button, depending on what I want to do at the time. Hm...not sure if I can commit to this Best Friend yet. My daughter said, "It's very PURPLE." Thank you, honey. I know. It is. Maybe purple is the season's "new black". I have nothing against purple. I look good in purple. Many friends of mine love purple. (Julie or perhaps Christine?) It's just not my all-time favorite, not my very bestest friend color. Not yet, not this week. Maybe next week.