Getting crafty with rosettes

I don't really consider myself a crafty person. I do my knitting and sewing of clothing items, but that's about it. Not long ago, I spotted this Rosette Art book at a local boutique/gift shop at half price and I was mildly interested. I'll admit, I probably would not have been as interested if it was sold at full price. What caught my eye was the mobile on the back cover. It gave me the idea to make a flat 2-dimensional quasi-mobile that I could use as a hanging over the bed in a guest room.

The book provides some printed card stock paper, both scored and not, to make quite a few rosettes. I also bought some additional paper because I wanted some more designs. It suggests buying a bunch of supplies, but I improvised with stuff I already own. I used white glue instead of a glue gun, and I used the end of a letter opener as a paper scoring tool. Luckily, I already own a paper cutter. The only tool I did buy was a one-inch hole punch since I figured there was no way I could cut one-inch diameter circles that looked good. I used fishing line to hang the rosettes from a wooden stick. I attached another stick in front to hide the holes and knots where the fishing lines attach.

The hanging definitely looks DIY, but in a nice way. Here's the bedroom where it hangs. The rosettes sort of echo the circles on the quilt.

FO: Driftwood Tee

This is the Driftwood Tee from Interweave Knits Summer 2014. I made mine quite a bit longer, and I added some waist shaping. It's knit with a bit of positive ease since it's lightweight and the yarn drapes well. I wanted a little more detail at the top so I decided to add in a slice of the openwork pattern on one shoulder. I put it only one one shoulder to keep with the asymmetry theme. My quasi sleeves were a bit too wide and flared out too much so I scrunched them in using an edging of one row of single crochet followed by a row of reverse single crochet.

I love the yarn -- it's Batiste by knit One, Crochet Too. It's 50% merino/30%linen/20% silk, feels luxurious against the skin and has a mild tweedy look. This particular color is called "lipstick" and there's a good selection of colors. This may become one my favorite DK weight yarns. I think the sweater is wearable in all but the warmest summer days.

Yarn bombing at the de Young

The de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is featuring some fiber art by the artist known as Streetcolor. The exhibit is called "Streetcoloring at the de Young" and runs through January 4. The exhibit features yarn bombing throughout the museum and its surrounds. Here are the decorated bike racks outside the entrance.

The poles around the ticket lines are decorated.

There is an exhibit of her felting art in one of the galleries. She is doing felting on the premises and there are times available when you ask her about her work. Here's a display of some of her pieces.

There was a crowd knitting event on Dec 6, but I didn't know about the exhibit until recently. It's ending soon, so if you're in the area, check it out!

FO: Germander shrug

This the Germander Shrug from Graphic Knits. The yarn is the now discontinued Sublime Yarns Organic Merino DK. I wanted to knit this shrug mainly because I liked the stitch pattern on the back. Also, I didn't have enough of the yarn in my stash for a full cardigan so I thought this pattern would be great for it. The yarn knits more like a worsted weight instead of DK weight. As with many shrugs, the front isn't very exciting.

I don't know that I love this shrug, but I generally don't love shrugs that much because they look a bit odd in the back for my taste and they don't cover enough in the front. This pattern has an interesting construction which makes the sleeves start really low on the arms so it feels like the shrug is being pulled off by the sleeves. I do like the stitch pattern and the yarn feels very luxurious, so I'll probably get some wear out of it come spring when I just need a bit of warmth around my neck and back.

FO: Buds and Blooms

I recently finished knitting Buds and Blooms from Botanical Knits. My yarn is the discontinued Cascade Cash Vero. I was attracted to this sweater mainly because of the pockets, but I do like the detailed back and the shape of the collar. The collar has an interesting construction at the top of the button band that makes it fold over very nicely. I was dubious because the collar stitches are picked up on the wrong side of the body but the collar folds high enough such that you don't see the ridge where the stitches were picked up.

I made some sizing adjustments, as I usually do. I made mine a bit longer and I put in waist shaping. I also narrowed the shoulders a bit. I used my own sizing for the sleeves since I like narrow sleeves. I knitted this yarn at the looser end of the recommended gauge range so the sweater is a bit on the floppy side. It's probably just as well since it needs the drape to avoid looking too large. Also, the collar needs to be fairly soft in order to lay flat nicely. I did use needles 3 sizes smaller for the button bands to make them a denser fabric.

The pockets have an interesting construction, and they did come out very nicely.

Accessories

News flash! I knitted a shawl! If you have read this blog for a while or looked through my ravelry projects, you'll know that I never knitted a shawl before. I never really want to wear a shawl - I just prefer to wear a sweater because I don't have to fuss with it staying on my shoulders a certain way, or whatever. I took a short trip to Carmel-by-the-sea not too long ago and while there, paid a visit to Knitting by the Sea as I always do. The shop had on display a sample shawl knitted with Fame trend paljett yarn. This yarn is threaded with small sequins and I was attracted to the bling, sort of like birds attracted to bright shiny things. One shawl only takes one ball of yarn, and the shop provides the pattern with a yarn purchase. It's really a simple shawl knit in garter stitch with a YO increase at the start of every row. I really do like the bling and I'm amazed how warm it feels for such a lightweight piece that is only 55% wool.

I seem to be on an accessories roll since I also knitted up a long cowl, using up some Sublime merino wool in my stash. I wanted to knit a lengthwise cowl and just stop when it felt long enough. I just sewed the ends together.

The pattern is a simple lacy rib adapted from some sweater pattern or another. The lace pattern is 4 stitches:

• Row 1: K2 YO K2tog
• Row 2: P
• Row 3: SSK YO K2
• Row 4: P

I separated the lace pattern with 2 purl stitches, and used a garter stitch border.

I've been re-published!

Not too long ago, Knitscene published my one and probably only knitting pattern. It's the Manganese Cowl and it's a fairly simple knit. They decided to re-publish the pattern in this new Make it! Knits magazine which is targeted for the beginning knitter and sold in big box stores. Here's my pattern in all it's glory:

The magazine features mainly accessories and all the yarns are worsted weight or higher for quick knitting. Many of the pieces would be great for quick holiday gifts. I'll probably knit one of two of the cowl patterns, such as the Leadville Cowl and/or the Serpentine Cowl.