Sidecar Jacket

This Sidecar Jacket is one I have wanted to do for a long while now.
Kind of a cute cropped one. I love the color I chose....

 However I did not love the weight of this yarn or the ply...too soft for this large-needled heavy sweater. I would choose a heavier gauge yarn if I did it again. Overall, it was fun to construct, with the cabled waistline first, then picking up stitches upward for the body. However, the picked up stitches are quite visible in this.

I used some extra snaps to try to hold the front flap down and tried to tack the collar down also...
Overall, cute pattern, poor choice of yarn on my part.
You may find it here on Ravelry: Sidecar Jacket

Cinnamon Annabel Cardigan and Felted Poms

A little cinnamon wool and big needles, endless garter stitch and a super easy pattern. Annabel Cardigan, from Quince and Co. I got two skeins of Eco Wool, but barely used the 2nd skein for this one. I did use dpns for the sleeves and you can see where I had the needle changes so I tried to smooth that out when blocking. This sweater is worked from the top down, sleeves put on holders and worked at the end.

Feeling a little crafty, I got some Roving  and watched a tutorial on felting it in warm soapy water. It would've worked better if I used the roving that comes in fluffy sheets instead of the yarn.

 I got my hot water ready with the soap in it and made a ball, and started working it side to side in my hands.

It looked like this:

 Then I added on a color to it. Again, this would work much better if you  had the roving separated into thin strips instead of it being in a twisted yarn.

 My end result was this little funny display of yarn balls, stuck on some floral stems and put in a vase. It added some green and whimsy the table. However the yarn is visible where I wound it. I also tried putting the balls in the washer inside a fabric bag. If I were to try this again, I would either take the time to really separate out the layers or buy the roving in big "batting" type form. But it was fun to try out.

Turning Over a New Leaflet

My matching leaflet necklace was made for me by my daughter :) My shirt is a bit scrunched up on the neck below, but take a look at this beautiful triple leaflet pattern! I can see that I have room to snug it up closer to my body and pull it in tighter across my front. It is very comfortable and just the right weight for wearing a layer underneath. I was able to eke it out in one skein. Barely! Final mods: Added two stitches extra at the underarm (as I mentioned below) than called for in my size in order that the K2P2 rib would come out even on the sleeves. I also ended the front and neck ribbing two rows prior to the pattern directions, since I was about to run out of yarn and wanted to make it with one skein. Whew! I had maybe 4 inches left and that was it. Talk about cutting it close.

Leaflet Sweater is coming along rather nicely, rather swiftly in the chunky yarn. Progress shown here. Knit down the back putting sleeve stitches on hold, and when reached the end of the 3rd leaflet, I knit on the lower ribbing. Then using dpn's for the sleeves, knit them downward in the round.  Only mod is I added 2 more underarm stitches so my P2K2 rib would come out even. Getting ready to pick up stitches all around the front side and neck and then it will get blocked nice and smoothly!

This is the back side. The cute leaflet pattern is a fun detail that runs all the way down the mid back.

As the snow melts, I can see the green appear once again out from under the white. All the mess and debris from the wind is strewn all around. Ready for something new now. Ready for a routine and to get back to daily life, but it was good to be still for awhile and have non stop knitting days.

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.

Snowy Chocolate Owls Sweater

Given my recent liking for owls, this sweater seemed like the obvious next project to do, along with hundreds of other Ravelry folks who have gone before me...Mine is in Ecological Wool, two skeins of a very dark brown, on size 10 needles. I'm doing the body on circulars from the bottom up, as directed in the pattern. The sleeves are knit separately and I'm doing those on size 10 dpn's. They will be attached to sweater body and the yoke will be knit upward. The fun part is coming...knitting the cute owls! This is going to be a really cute sweater!

Owls, by Kate Davies:

Snow days can be very, very productive, indeed!!

Wooly Christmas!

First, I need to show the mother/daughter project results of our Vitamin D sweater! My mom looks great in hers! She showed up in it Christmas morning so I ran and put mine on too. It was fun to do a project with my mom. She's a fantastic knitter! And a very fun momma!

 My daughter has been busy making these little felt ornaments this year and this set belongs to her lucky sister:

 This set belongs to lucky me!:

 She also made me these little notecards, somewhat similar to last years'. They are new little critters playing with yarn again! If you are interested in her etsy shop, it is here:{ helloyellowbird}

 My husband was sneaky and asked my friend about getting me a yarn swift and ball winder without me knowing about it! I am having such fun winding up my skeins!

I forgot to add this shot earlier... my sis in law gave me this sweet ornament which is a knitting bag filled with yarn and needles and says "Queen of Knitting". Cute! Hope you had a warm and Wooly Christmas!

Back For More Coffee

 

Ta Da! My Coffee Bean is finished and fits me! Amazingly enough. Considering all I put it through. It's a very lovely sweater indeed. This yarn is a dream to knit with. (Elsebeth Lavold,Silky Wool)

Better pics to follow, I hope!

 My Coffee Bean Vitamin D shown here blocking on a beach towel. Blocking does wonders, let me just say. 

Fall is here, the sunny days are waning, but the leaves are beautiful. A few days left for walking outside...Time for the cozy days of knitting and for coffee bean Vitamin D sweater progress. Shown here, the front side with all stitches on the needle and done with the short rows and wraps.Wraps, wraps, wraps and more wraps, short rows and wraps....this sweater has more short rows and wraps than any on the planet. Well I'm sure I am only exaggerating. It is a lovely pattern of course. One must be careful when doing this sweater of keeping good track of your increases and then making sure to pick up wraps when you pass them as well as counting when to make the wraps carefully. I sure hope I picked up neatly all the short row wraps on the reverse side. I have a bit of trouble with the purly ones. Well it is coming along and actually seems to fit, which is great seeing as how I changed yarns and needle sizes from the original pattern and guessed on the size, M1. I was able to try it on briefly and it is coming along. Made it through the second set of short rows and wraps, with only one slight detour and me having to fudge a few rows. Next are the last sets of the front radials and then it's off to the "finishing" stage, then blocking. I love, love this yarn. I hope I love, love this sweater! I do love the feel of the yarn, the color, and the radials in the back. My mom is making progress on hers also and I hope to be able to show them both when we are finished.

I have now finished, and realized I used size 4 needles for the entire lower portion, by accident, as they were the needles that I used as "holders" at one point...and this sweater is so very forgiving. It might just still look dandy even with my dandy errors worked lovingly right into it. As a matter of fact, I think that it might be a blessing in disguise that I used smaller needles due to the overall room I have in the sweater. I may have been ok to do the size small even, given the amount this yarn "gives", however overall I am very pleased with the outcome of it. And have worn it out and about already. My daughter is making me just the necklace that will go perfectly with the browns and coppery tones in it.
And below....my mother and I in our matching sweaters! Hers is not blocked yet, but it came out more beautifully knit than my own!