Sknitty’s Emporium of Low-Light Photos

Daylight savings time. Late fall, winter. All rob the photographer of many hours of light. Rather than not posting at all, I finally said screw it and took low-light photos. Bumped the exposure in iPhoto, what are you going to do?

Still focusing on gifty knits, and nearly done. The Thorpe hats for my niece and family are now sent off, after finally blocking and partially felting (on purpose) for extra warmth.

Also working on a Cedar Leaf Shawlette for a friend who is a botanist – what better knit than one that incorporates leaves?

I’m using Mista Baby Suri Alpaca and Silk in “Jade”. It doesn’t look it so much here, but the color is deep and vibrant, with a touch of olive. I realized on December 11th that I would run out of yarn. Found an online site with this colorway in stock, on sale no less, and another skein is on the way. Whew! Because of how this pattern is constructed, there is no make do. You have to have enough to finish all the leaves along the scarf edge. This must be done by next Tuesday, and I should make it.

This yarn has been in my stash for a spell, and it’s a dream. Not just alpaca. Not just baby alpaca. Baby suri alpaca. With silk. It flows like water through the fingers. I cannot wait to block this and see the yarn bloom and the pattern lie flat.

Fylingdales and other patterns for moi have taken a back seat, mostly. I did finish the second arm on Fylingdales. Just the collar and buttonbands to go. Inspired by Ameri’s sweater, I’m going to do a short stand-up collar instead of a shawl collar. I’m hoping to finish this and possibly the neglected Kimono Wrap over my end-of-year break, 11 days off.

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The winter pattern collections have started arriving this week! The Winter Knitty is out, and there are several pretty patterns. I especially like Shroom and Citron.

The Winter issue of Petite Purls is also out, and it’s loaded with the goods. Both the patterns and features are chock full of interesting items. The Petite Purls editors really have an eye for kids patterns that are cute, wearable, and knit-able while not being too sugar-coated.

The Winter VK preview is up – a decent collection. Not so over the top as VK can be, which I think is nice.

And if you are looking for a fast, last-minute knitted gift, check out the French Press Felted Slippers (the ones mentioned by Yarn Harlot) and the Breckenridge Cowl, also by French Press Knits.

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Finally, just because, some Topaz scenery, wherein he demonstrates there’s no place that’s not fit for a nap.

“Helping” me wrap on Sunday, and…

…later finding my recently vacated spot.

Catching up

I hope all my American friends had a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving! And that everyone had a fantastic weekend, long or not

I spent a good chunk of it happily trying to catch up on gift knitting. And I meant to blog the whole time! Did that happen? Obviously, nope. So now I am catching up on blogging.

The up side is that over four days I finished most of a scarf/shawlette and three hats. I have some more to do, but I’m not sweating bullets about it now.

For a friend, a Just Enough Ruffles…

Yarn: Reynolds Rapture, wool/silk blend, 4.2 skeins (about 302 yds)

Needles: US10

Mods: To account for the heavier yarn (listed gauge of 14 sts = 4in), I cast on 175 sts instead of 200. Otherwise I followed the pattern as written. As hoped, this grew and opened up beautifully with a soak.

My niece requested a set of earflap hats, with braids, in specific coordinating colors for her family. That was the only direction I had. I quickly landed on Thorpe as the perfect pattern. In 3 family-friendly sizes, and easy to adjust because it’s knit top-down. Then I decided on Lamb’s Pride Bulky for the yarn. But I hemmed and hawed over how to integrate the colors, without them looking clownish.

In the end, the simplest solution seemed the best. I sure hope they like them!

These still need to be blocked, but mostly finished.

Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Bulky, 2 skeins Grey Heather and bits of Navy Sailor, Tiger Lily, Jack’s Plum and Turkish Olive.

Size: M/L, M, and S

Needles: For the M/L hat, US10; for the S and M hats, US10.5

No mods on these. But a goof. I realized after I finished the second hat that I had misread the earflap directions, making them shorter than the pattern. But I realized that I liked them this way and left it.

  

Got reader?

Amazing how one little gadget can gum up the blogging works. Got a new reader and all is well.

Fylingdales is motoring along:

Made a good start on the second sleeve last night, but I really must turn my attention to gifties now. Or so I keep telling myself. Being so close to being done makes it hard to stop!

This month I’ve found a handful of beautiful new patterns, many of them accessories, just in time for end of year gift knitting! Check out the Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos, the Simple Things shawl by Mary-Heather Cogar, the Slouched Tuva Hat by Turvid, the Go Vest by Pickles, and the Fiddlehead Pullover by The Purl Bee. A fun project that is only new to me is the Giant Olive by Marcie Nishioka. The perfect thing for martini lovers, although I will probably make one with worsted or dk yarn for a smaller olive, but still giant.

And not yet published, but in the works, is Needled’s Manu. Oh my.

A few weekends ago, N and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We took only a few pictures, mostly at the site of the reader-dropping accident, the Lorikeet exclosure. This is pretty much our favorite feature of the aquarium, ironic that it does not involve sea creatures. This one was taken for us, a rare N sighting on the blog.

And we were mesmerized by this crab, of all things.

Well, that’s all the news that fit to print. Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Technical Difficulties

I have knitting to blog…sadly my camera’s card reader took a fall and broke.

Last night I got a new reader, but have no pictures yet to load. Wah wah.

As much a I try not to blog without pics, there’s too much pattern news to wait.

Sunday, the winter Twist Collective went up! At first glance, most of the hats are my favorite patterns. To my surprise, though there are many lovelies, there isn’t a pattern that’s wanting to jump onto my needles.

IK Winter and IK Accessories previews are up as well! IK Winter has a few patterns that jump out at me. I like Nora’s Sweater, Alpaca Pleats Jacket, Aquitaine Pullover, and Dusseldorf Aran. There are some other patterns I like, but know I wouldn’t knit or wear or use. Will have to see this issue in person.

IK Accessories seems to be almost entirely reprints, with a heavy lean on Scarf Style. If you don’t happen to have many IK-published accessory patterns, this is a fantastic collection. If you do, well, be sure and look at the preview first.

On Fylingdales, I have the body and one sleeve done. One sleeve and bands to go! Got new yarn to work up gifties, so I am starting to feel the heat of that. I think I shall have to change gears for a spell and concentrate on those knits. Pictures soon!

  

Allllll-most

Almost to the armholes on Fylingdales…another inch or so ~

I added an inch to the stockinette portion, in anticipation of adding at least a couple of inches in length below the arms. But as I knit it up, I realized this would make the piece much too heavy.

The yarn I’m subbing, Ellan Peruvian Sierra Aran, is a wool/alpaca blend with 92 yards per 50g. Ergo, I’m only to the armholes and that sucker is already just over 250g. So I am leaving the extra inch below the arms, but an going to shorten the armhole depth by one inch. Overall, it should be the same length as the pattern.

I remember now, when knitting a sweater in one piece to the arms, when you get the armholes you say “Whew!” Just like when knitting top down and you get to split for the arms you say “Whew!”

However, I am enjoying the pattern and the yarn, and the combination of the two. The alpaca fuzz lends a halo to the gansey (or is it guernsey) pattern. It’s less crisp and more subtle. Kind of faded. I like it. I did add a little shaping in the body about the stockinette and welt lines. I’m hoping it takes some of the box shape out of it, however minimally.

This is all I’ve been working on. My gifty knitting is stalled while I wait for yarn and other supplies.

Hoping to split for the arms this morning, because I want to take it in the car on our way to the Aquarium of the Pacific today! Whee! We love this place and haven’t been for years. What’s extra nice is this visit is courtesy of a colleague who passed along two tickets he had gotten at an event and couldn’t use. Extra whee!

Hope your weekend is also off to a fantastic start