Iris

I finished this top not too long ago and I love it! The pattern is Iris and the yarn is Hempathy. I've used this yarn severaL times before and it's great for warm weather tops. It's also really durable and washes well over and over. Since the weather is still cool, I wear this over a longer sleeve top but I imagine that when the warm weather arrives, I can just wear it over a sleeveless tank.

I used a finer gauge yarn than specified in the pattern so I got a 40" circumference or so instead of 42". I've knitted quite a few sweaters by this designer and I usually go for a narrower look. I also shaped the shoulders and shaped the front neckline so that it scoops about 2.5" below the back. My sleeves are also a bit narrower than specified. I finished the neckline with some purl rows.

I anticipate wearing this top quite often in the next few years.

Poncho Sweater

And here I present a recently finished garment! This is a self drafted pattern. It's loosely based on a garment I saw in a window on a mannequin at a shop at the Shinjuku Station in Tokyo when I was there on vacay in October last year. I call it a "poncho sweater" because it is essentially two rectangles with a hole for the head. Well, it's a hole with a nice fluffy collar added :). I forgot what sort of collar the window garment had since I had deleted the photo by accident. I do know that it had fringe on the sides, but I didn't really want fringe. I ended up adding the button tabs on the sides because it reduces the flapping around of the pieces and also gives the garment an illusion of shape. The yarn is a blend of merino wool and bamboo so it has nice drape. It's a discontinued brand from WEbS. My favorite feature of this sweater is the fluffy collar.

Happy 2024!

Happy 2024 everyone! I can't believe that I haven't posted any knitting projects since April of 2023. Knitting has been happening, although at a slower rate than past years. Here's one cardigan I knitted some time ago last year. It's the Wilder pattern, knit in a bulky yarn from Cascade. It's a really warm sweater so I enjoy wearing it this winter. It's also an oversized look, so I made mine shorter in length and moved the pockets higher because I didn't want that long of a baggy sweater. For some reason, I could not capture a good photo of me wearing this thing -- it always came out crooked and my neck came out too thin! It's probably because I wasn't in the mood to take a picture anyway.:)

On the other hand, here's a photo of a much more photogenic life form with her new vest! This is Proton the Dog, who can get a bit cold because she doesn't have a thick undercoat of fur like some dogs do. I used up some leftover yarn and made her a granny square sweater/vest. She seems to like it, or at least she doesn't complain!

Bamboo

I recently finished Bamboo from DanDoh Designs in a nice lightweight cotton yarn. The yarn is Filatura Di Crosa Kady in white and in a variegated green. My yarn is a finer gauge than the specified yarn and I knitted the 46 inch size to achieve about a 40 inch width. I was going for a 21 inch length but got about 22 inches. This is a very loosely knit style so it drapes very well. I didn't add any sleeves and I also did some shaping on the front neckline so that it curves down lower than the back. This is because I prefer to have at least some front scooping on my necklines instead of the more flat boat neckline look. I could probably have curved it down even more. I finished all the edges with two purl rows after picking up stitches and bound off in purl. I used a decrease bind-off to achieve a little more stretch.

This sweater is great now that the weather is warming up so I plan to wear it a lot this spring and summer. I'll wash it after a few wearings and it might shrink a bit but that would be fine.

Big Slouchy Cardi

Happy spring, everyone! It's been awhile since I've posted about a finished garment, but knitting has been happening. It's still pretty cold in the SF bay area, so I can still wear this bulky knit big cardigan. It's loosely based on the Hattie Cardigan from Debbie Bliss. I used a broken rib stitch instead of the moss stitch because moss takes too long. I knitted the fronts and backs as separate pieces and sewed them together. My size is also a bit narrower than the pattern's smallest size. I picked up the sleeves from the shoulders and widened them a bit as I went so that I could gather them at the cuff. The yarn is Baa Baa Bulky by Ewe Ewe Yarns, which is a washable merino. It's not really that bulky, but is a weighty yarn. I'm happy to wear this until warmer weather rolls around.

Stash Buster Pullover

I finished this pullover some time ago but never got around to taking a photo or two. This is my stash buster pullover, although not entirely so because I did buy two of the yarns. I had the grey Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in my stash as well as the dusty rose Batiste by Knit One Crochet Too. I had to buy one skein each of the white and pink Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool because I didn't have anything else in my stash that were suitable colors. The grey midsection is knitted side to side and the top and bottom sections are picked up and knit vertically. I also used a broken rib on the bottom and a simple knit-purl squares pattern on the pink. I think I could have used an extra 1/2 inch or so of length, but in general, it's a very wearable top for spring or fall.

Copycat cardigan

I finished this little cardigan earlier in August. It's a copycat cardigan because I used a ready-to-wear cardi that I've owned and loved for years as a template for the size and shape. The ready-to-wear version is in black and it's more finely knit but the drape is about the same and I got the sizing to match up very well. The simple 1x1 cable pattern on the front and back is just something I've knitted on cowls and such. I was thinking of adding a small clasp closure at the neckline but I might just let it hang open. The purchased sweater has these small hook and eye closures on the front but I never wear it closed. This was knitted with Debbie Bliss Rialto DK. I wanted this sweater to wear with many of my soft dresses that are gathered in a bit at or above the waist. I like this shape so much that I'm going to make another cardi using a combination of a merino yarn and kid silk haze, mainly because I've always wanted to knit a cardi with kid silk haze. I think I might do a slightly simpler stitch pattern for the next version just because it's kid silk haze and I don't want ot have to correct mistakes with it!