Monday, September 26, 2011

FO: Peterborough


This is Peterborough by Norah Gaughan. I love this sweater. It will be perfect for the cooler fall days. The front and back patterned band feels like I'm wearing a cozy long draped scarf around my neck. The yarn is Filtes King Extra Stampato, a very soft merino wool. I think the yarn has long been discontinued. My sleeves are short because I didn't have enough yarn. I knew from the start that I would be short on yarn so I made the sweater a few inches shorter than the pattern's length, figuring that I would have enough yarn to make 3/4 length sleeves. I underestimated how much yarn the front lacy cables required and still ended up short on yarn. Hence, my sleeves are just above the elbow. After the body of the sweater was finished, I had one ball of yarn left for each sleeve. I did a provisional cast-on for each sleeve, knitting about one inch before doing the cap, and then picked up the stitches and knit until I ran out of yarn.

I made the front panel cables mirror images of each other. I did not see that stated in the pattern instructions, but I think it looks better than way, especially since I am fastening the sweater at one central point. The symmetry also looks better in the back where bands join together. I omitted the waist ribbing. I think I prefer the look of one sleek sheet of stockinette. On the front bands, I slipped the first stitch. For the bottom ribbing, I just used the same needle size and cast on the same number of stitches as the body instead of doing a finer gauge with narrower ribbing. I was too lazy to do the latter.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

These are just so cute


These are just so cute. I bought one from CB2 a couple of years ago, and I love it. Now Cost Plus World Market is selling them. I should get another one.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

FO from a few years back

I knit a sweater for Henry, the son of a former co-worker, a few years ago when he turned one. I don't have much experience with baby sweater sizes, and it was a bit big for a one year old. Maybe "a bit big" is an understatement. Henry wore his sweater to his first day of pre-school! He's definitely stylin'.

I don't even remember what I used for the base pattern. I think it was a free ravelry download for a plain toddler's vest and I embellished it with a simple cable down the front.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Winner!

Congrats to Kitten With a Whiplash, who won my giveaway of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2011 magazine!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Free Vogue Knitting Fall 2011 magazine giveaway


I've got an extra copy of Vogue Knitting Fall 2010 because I bought one at my LYS thinking that my subscription had run out, but lo and behold, I got the subscription copy a week later. I bought it because I skimmed through it at the shop and I liked quite a few of the patterns. My favorites are in the cables group and the easy fitting group. At any rate, I'm giving away my extra copy. Just leave a comment before midnight PST Sunday Sept. 11, and I'll randomly pick a winner. If you don't think I know who you are, please leave some trace of how I can find you.

Happy crafting, and happy September!