Finished Object: R&R Hoodie

Pattern: R&R Hoodie by Tanis Lavallee
Yarn: Tanis Fibre Arts Green Label
Colours: Tartan, Lemongrass
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm Round Needles
Start of project: October 29th, 2016
End of project: December 4th, 2016

On Ravelry

I didn't finish anything in October and there were no blog entries in November. November was a weird month for me, the light was waning, a close friend got bad medical news, school was intense, but there were also good moments such as watching live football with my students, a yoga workshop and a yoga weekend retreat in Germany and other small stuff. I didn't stop knitting but I needed the little time I had to recover (sleeping and yoga) more often than not, so progress was slow. Nevertheless I have now three FOs almost at the same time and my second R&R Hoodie is the one I started first (here is the first one I knit).

I knit it for my neighbours son, a very cute little boy who loves to be outside and roll around in the dirt (he doesn't quite walk yet) I think the colour Tartan is going to be very forgiving with a bid of mud. Yasha already tried it on while it was on the needles and I think he was quite taken by it because he didn't want to take it off anymore even though it wasn't even finished then (he doesn't talk yet either so it's all guessing ;-).

It took me a while to come up with the perfect solution for the iCord lining. Even though I like the Tartan I hadn't expected it to be quite so dark so I knew I wanted a contrasty colour. Then I rememberd the Lemongrass I still had left over from Antonia's hoodie. I had to hold it double because it's only DK.  I think it works really well together, which is why I added some double stitching
along the little pockets. Finding a good zipper was another challenge, but I am glad I went with red.

The hoodie is still rather on the big side for Yasha, so he will be able to wear it for a while. I am looking forward to seeing him run around in it.

Finished Object iPhone Sweater and a few thoughts

Pattern: iPhone Sokker by Katrine Augland
Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash Solids
Colours: White, Blue and Black

Needles: 2.5mm

Start of project: August 17th, 2016
End of project: August 18th, 2016

On Ravelry

I knit this little iPhone cover for a friend of mine. It only took me a couple of hours, it's such a small project. I am not even sure if she'll use it, but I just felt like knitting something else, because I've felt a little stuck with my Silversmith Hoodie these last few days.

This cosy was done with left over yarn from Antonia's Tardis Socks and it was heavily influenced by all the beautiful Norwegian Fair Isle patterns we saw while in Bergen. I always find it hard to knit fair isle on such a small scale, somehow the floats get more uneven than on bigger projects. But the blocking helped and now I think it looks neat.
 

As written above my bigger project right now is my SSKAL16 project, the Silversmith Hoodie. I started it on the 5th of August and have been knitting ever since. The pattern is fairly complicated because there is a big part that's made of small cables which slow me down considerably. I don't find it as hard as in the beginning but the going is still rather slow. I actually reached the desired lenght of the pattern (40 cm from the underarm) but I want this longer, almost like a coat, so I've been adding more length. I am almost where I want it to be, I think I need about 4 cm more and then I can start with the ribbing. I am in love with the colour and the pattern but it does get a bit repetitive, so I'll be glad to start on the sleeves.

 

School will start again tomorrow, so I won't have as much time to knit anymore, but on the other hand the temperatures are cooling down and I spend more time on my sofa again, so I will still find enough time to knit. I am in a weird mood right now, but it might just be the end of summer blues, because now my five weeks of holidays are over.

Finished Object: Playdate

Pattern: Playdate by TinCanKnits
Yarn: Biscotte & Cie Bis-Sock

Colours: Sorcerer Uniform and Bouclier

Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm Round Needles
Start of project: July 8th, 2016
End of project: August 8th, 2016

On Ravelry

When I started this I had an idea in my mind which came from an inspiration I saw on Julie's blog. I had this vision of a striped cardigan with unicoloured details but of course I forgot a few important things. The thing is, sock yarn is dyed for socks, so the stripes look best when the piece you are working on is about sock width, which you can see at the top of the sleeves. When the circumference is bigger, the stripes get thinner or kind of disappear which is what happened at the body of the cardigan (that's my favourite part). The stripes get very fat and kind of heavy when there is just a small piece of fabric, as you can see at the top of the front (that's the part that I don't like very much). So all in all this got much wilder than I expected. I kind of hope that worn it won't matter as much, I think it might look nice in movement (with a kid inside ;-)

This was the second time I knit a Playdate (the first one was done exactly a year ago) and I really love that pattern. This time I chose the 2 to 4 years old size and in the beginning I was scared that it might turn out too small, but now I think it's a good size for a boy that will be around 18 months in the fall, so he will be able to wear this for a while. I still love the little pockets and how light it is, I used exactly 1 skein = 100gr of the stripey yarn and around 30 gr of the grey. As I bought two skeins of the stripey yarn there is definitely enough leftover for a pair of socks ;-) I added a shawl collar because I think they are very cute for little boys and for everybody really. The sheep buttons might not be terribly practical but I just couldn't resist them.

  

  

Now I'll need to fix a date to give this to the little boy it was knit for and hope that he and his mom like it.

Finished Object: Airflow

Pattern: Airflow by Justyna Lorkowska
Yarn: Madelinetosh Merino Light
Colour: Moonstone
Needles: 3.5mm and 3.75mm Round Needles
Start of project: April 15th, 2016
End of project: May 13th, 2016

On Ravelry

For this year's TTTKal I didn't really have a plan at first. I knew I didn't want another tshirt because the two shirts I knit last year (Waterlily and Gemini) don't get a lot of wear. They are both beautiful patterns and I like how they turned out, but I don't like wearing them on bare skin. I want to be able to wash a shirt as soon as I've worn it and that's just very complicated with handknits. I started wearing them over 3/4 shirts in spring which worked out fine but it's still not ideal. I decided a light cardigan or a shrug would probably be more practical, because these are always worn on top of something else.

When I saw Airflow I liked it right away. I have used Madelinetosh Merino Light before (for my Hitofude) and it's lovely to work with and keeps well. I wanted something neutral that would go with a lot of my other clothes so I decided to go with grey. In the yarn shops close by I found the colour Moonstone which looked lovely. It is grey with a hint of purple and light blue, really beautiful indeed. I looked through other people's pattern pages and read a lot about rolling edges because of the stockinette collar. In one project the knitter used a garter stitch collar and I liked both the look and the effect of it so I decided to modify it like that as well.

I had planned to start knitting my Airflow during the Stitching Retreat but the beginnig together with the modifications turned out to be too fiddly to do while talking at the same time. I started again at home, while dreaming about our upcoming holiday to Cyprus. The way this pattern is written is actually really interesting and I am glad I took my time with it. I knit a little bit during my first Knit'n'Sip and then I packed everything in my handluggage and continued knitting during both flights to Cyprus.

In Cyprus I got a great deal done. Sitting in the sunshine, enjoying the warm temperatures and a cup of tea and just knitting was the perfect way to wind down after a really stressful time at school. I especially cherished the early morning when it was just me and a lot of tranquility.

By the end of our week I'd split the body from the sleeves and had reached the bottom of the body. I decided to do the hem in garter stitch as well. I wasn't sure about the length, it seemed a bit short but I really wanted to have a first version done because I needed some project photos next to the sea ;-)

I started the sleeves during our flight back home and finished the second one during another Knit'n'Sip. When I tried it on, I was happy with a lot of it, the garter stitch collar and hem go great together and there is no rolling at all. I love the subtle eyelets that go down each front, the yarn and the colour are great but the length could be improved. It was slightly short in the back and too wavey because I'd added additional increases and I didn't like the way it looked in the front yet. So I went back almost a whole skein and started the bottom again.

I was a bit scared it would not work out because the yarn was all wavey from the frogging but I hoped for the magic of blocking. On Sunday it was blocked and dry and it looked just the way I had imagined. Fortunately I had a coffee date with my friend Silvia planned, so I asked her if she could take a couple of photos for me.

So for once I am not standing in front of the same old wall next to our parking lot but you actually get to see a glimpse of Zürich (the Schanzengraben, a medieval moat around the old part of Zürich).

After we'd taken the photos we had coffee and cake at Babu's (a new to me coffee shop that I totally liked), then we walked through the old botanical garden and along the Schanzengraben to the lake and had a look at all that water that was rushing down after the rain the last few days. We observed some fishermen having a relaxed time on the water (I don't think their goal was to catch anything) and then we strolled back along the Limmat and over the newly renovated Fraumünsterplatz to the main station. Such a lovely afternoon and during all that time my new cardigan felt totally comfortable and light.

Finished Object: Ravine is the New Oranje

Pattern: Oranje by Ann Weaver
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Art Purple Label
Colours: Ravine, Charcoal, Natural
Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm round needles
Start of project: December 30th, 2015
End of project: February 7th, 2016

On Ravelry

Wow, that was really an intense project! So many little extra steps which took ages to finish. I think I spent more than 11 hours on it only this weekend and I just had to turn it from a sweater to a cardigan. It has also been the "longest" project in my second year of knitting, I used 1280m of yarn for it. Unfortunately I only finished today when the light was already fading, my hair was wet, the hair drier started to smoke and burn (no joke) and my usually reliable photographer Antonia was in a crappy mood so I am not satisfied with the final photos yet, but I am sure we will find a sunny day soon to change that (in the meantime we went outside without rain and now I am satisfied ;-) So, I am totally happy that it's done and I love it.

So here's what I did this weekend:

Yesterday was Steek Day. I met Denise, our handy craft teacher in her craft room in the morning. None of us had done a steek before, so we had read everything we could about it before and I knit a little extra swatch to try the technique. Denise carefully sewed up and down it twice on both sides and then I cut and hurray it didn't fall apart.

Next she sewed the real sweater three times on each side to be really on the safe side. (I never use a sewing machine and I was too scared to ruin anything, so thankfully she took over). The cutting took some courage to start but wasn't really that hard, especially because we left in the yellow marker line which really helped both while sewing and cutting. The whole process went really well, there was no fraying at all.

After the cut I went shopping for a zipper because we couldn't find the perfect colour at school. The sales lady convinced me to go with a colour very close to the Ravine yarn and I have to say she was right. Back home I started picking up stitches along the edge of the steek stitches. With these stitches I did a 4 stitch iCord along both sides.

Once that was done I started putting in the zipper - a part of the project I really don't enjoy, I just feel so clumsy with a needle and thread and everthing always gets tangled up and it never looks really as neat as I'd like to. I had hoped that the zipper would hide the edge of the steek but with the iCord it wasn't wide enough. So once I'd finished both sides of the zipper today I decided to knit an inside lining along it to definitely hide the steek (I saw this on Frau Mascha's project page). So I knit two long thin strips that I then attached over the zipper and the steek. Again it took ages but now I have to say it looks very secure.

That's it, my SSKAL2015 sweater is finally done. I am glad I did it but now I need something really easy to knit next!!!

Currently Knitting: Ravine is the New Oranje

Pattern: Oranje by Ann Weaver
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Art Purple Label
Colours: Ravine, Charcoal, Natural
Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm round needles
Start of project: December 30th, 2015

On Ravelry

Just before the new year began I finally started the cardigan that I'd originally planned to knit for SSKAL2015.

I'd seen the beautiful Oranje cardigan sometimes last spring and decided that was going to be my sweater project for the summer. I ordered the yarn but then I got sidetracked. Babies were born and needed gifts, Yannick and Andreas wanted their own sweaters and I knit lots of stuff, just never the cardigan I had planned.

I think I got kind of scared of this whole project, lots of fair isle with the unknown territory of the steek at the end of it. Whenever I looked through my stash this beautiful yarn looked at me but I couldn't get myself to get started.

On the 30th I looked through my stash yet again and there it was, looking all unloved and sad and I decided to finally give it a try. I cast on and have been knitting quite a few hours on it this year.

I totally love the colour and the pattern looks beautiful. I think I chose the right size (I will be able to try it on soon) and I managed to do most of the Vikkle Braids. There are two more braids to be knit, one more fair isle pattern (just a few rows), about 15 stripes of charcoal and natural and then I'll have to block it before I will get to the seriously scary part, the steek. I think I'll knit a little test swatch and try to cut it apart because even our handycraft teacher who normally knows everything has never done steeks.

Finished Object: Playdate

Pattern: Playdate by TinCanKnits
Yarn:  Party of Five / SweetGeorgia
Colours: Snapdragon
Needles: 3.25mm and 3.75 Round Needles
Start of project: August 8th , 2015
End of project: August 23rd, 2015

On Ravelry

For this little cardigan I used the second part of my yarn shopping at Vancouver's Baaad Anna yarn store.

It was love at first sight with these five small skeins of sock wool. I had no idea what I'd knit with it but I knew right away that I wanted it. We went back to our b&b that day and there I got a text message from my cousin. His wife had just given birth to his second daughter. I knew I wanted to knit something for her but had no idea what it would be yet.

 The next day we flew back home and I think it was still in Canada that I read Julie's Modification Monday blog entry about a very special little Playdate cardigan. I had already seen this stunning version on Tanis' blog a couple of days earlier.

After a very long flight we got home and the next few days were a blur of jet lag and birthday parties. I actually met my cousin but didn't see the baby yet. And then it clicked. I realised I must have bought that yarn pretty much at the same time the baby was born back home in Zürich, so of course the yarn had to be made into something for the baby and I remembered those two blog entries and voilà -  my own stripey version of Playdate.

I only did the fair isle on the knit rows, the purl rows came out too uneven. Knitting this was slow work, all the colour changes brought lots and lots of yarn ends to sew in. I tried to do it as tidily as possible, but the ends aren't totally invisible and I hope it won't unravel. But I am happy that I knit it like this and I hope little Marlene will like it once she's a bit older ;-)

Finished Object: Hitofude Cardigan

Pattern: Hitofude Cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu
Yarn: Madelinetosh Merino Light
Colours: Jade
Needles: 3.5 mm Round Needle
Start of project: April 19, 2015
End of project: May 9, 2015

On Ravelry

It's done. It took a while, in the end each row was soo long I needed more than 10 minutes to get from one end to the other. I also had to frog back about 5 cm right before the end when I realised that there wouldn't be enough yarn to finish the way I wanted. So I just added another chart E instead of doing a chart F.

I am very glad I started again bigger because the M fits me much better than the S would have done. Right now the cardigan is drying and I can't wait to take it off the needles to see how it looks for real. But I am pretty sure this will see a lot of wear, because a cardigan like this is just perfect to wear on top of a t-shirt.

It looks like the last skein was slightly lighter than the other two (or maybe it lost more colour when I soaked it because I never noticed it while knitting) There is a difference of colour but I hope it won't be terribly noticable once it's dry, especially because the garment won't be flat when worn. There is no way I'll go back a whole skein ;-)

Today (Sunday) it was finally ready. Once again Antonia helped me out and was my photographer. We were very lucky to get the last bit of sunshine and lots and lots of green and yellow. I am very happy with how this turned out!!!

I will share this post with "auf den Nadeln im Mai"...

Currently knitting: Hitofude Cardigan

Pattern: Hitofude Cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu
Yarn: Madelinetosh Merino Light
Colours: Jade
Needles: 3.5 mm Round Needle
Start of project: April 19, 2015

On Ravelry

Last week I had a lot of time to knit. It was the first week of spring holidays and both kids were at a computer camp in the mountains. I had a few things to do for school and I tried to move my back every day but apart from that it was a relaxed and lazy week which I used for coffee breaks with friends and for knitting. The weather was brilliant the whole week, lots and lots of sunshine, quite cool in the beginning but almost summery warm in the end. I knit on the balcony or on the sofa watching The West Wing and things progressed nicely.

Until I realised that once again I had chosen a size that was going to be at least very tight if not too tight. I don't know why I always do that, I like fitted clothes so there's always a chance that it might end up too small, but still. Also I was too lazy to knit a proper gauge swatch this time.

On Thursday afternoon I tried on my cardigan on which I had already done both arms and the body had started to grow down. It felt too tight, especially around the armpits. I debated forwards and backwards with myself about going back to the arms and make one more pattern and then I just tried. Somehow I wasn't careful enough and I went back too far and in the end I wasn't able to pick up the stitches anymore at all. Which left me with more than half an hour of ribbing and quite a nasty feeling for losing so much effort.

I cast on again (and the second provisional cast on wasn't much more enjoyable than the first one) and then I tried to get back on track. I knit so much that my hand started to hurt intensly but by then I had  lost the joy of knitting and I just wanted to get back to the point where I had been before.

Finally yesterday after almost 4 days of knitting I reached that point and now I can start to relax again. I haven't tried on the cardigan yet (the photos are from the tight version), but I can see that it looks wider and I am pretty sure this time it will be ok. How come I always put so much pressure on myself, there is no dead line to this whole knitting business ;-)