FO: Aidez

January 21, 2012 //
11

I might have stayed up until 4 am last night so I could seam this sweater.  I realize how this may sound, but I was really excited at the prospect of having a new sweater today, that I couldn’t help but stay up into the wee hours of the morning mattress stitching.  This being my first pieced sweater, I have something I would like to say on the subject of seaming…

I LOVE it!  It is the most magical thing you can do with knitting!  After reading countless stories of how everyone loathes finishing and seaming, I was slightly dreading the fact that I would have to seam this sweater.  I even knit the sleeves in the round so I would have two less seams to do.  But in the end, seaming is probably the most fun you can have with yarn…except maybe untangling it! Yes, I know that this places me in the 10% of knitters who enjoy seaming and probably the 1% who enjoy untangling yarn.  I’m an oddity and I stay up late to knit, sacrificing a social life and sleep.  And I’m okay with that.

I loved knitting with this yarn.  It was nice and squooshy and soft, and quite affordable, I may add.  Somehow I managed to use a whole 2-1/2 skeins less than what the pattern calls for.  I don’t know how that happened exactly, because the sweater measures out to a size S perfectly.  There were many reports of the armholes being too tight, but I knit the sleeves as directed (although in the round) and do not have that issue.  I loved romping around in this sweater today and staying up until 4 am so I could do so was totally worth it.

Pattern Details:
Pattern: Aidez by Cirilia Rose
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky, in Bare (~700 yards)
Needles: US 10.5 (6.5mm) Crystal Palace Bamboo
Modifications: Knit sleeves in the round.  Did not bind off on the front pieces.  Instead, left the stitches live and used kitchener’s stitch to sew the neck extensions together.  Added applied I-cord to the open edge of the front pieces before blocking.
Recommend to a Friend:  Definitely.  I think this is a great pattern for those new to sweaters.  There are a few stitches that were new, but otherwise very straightforward and well written.  Also, being an open cardigan with vertical details, I find it to be flattering for all shapes.  Plus…SEAMING IS AWESOME!!!
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Categories Freshy Knits!

Snow Day in Seattle

January 18, 2012 //
9

Seattle is always in complete disarray when it snows.  Schools and businesses shut down, grocery stores are overcrowded with people rushing to stock up on non-perishable items, the roads are taken over by cross country skiers clad in their newest REI gear…

Me?  I make sure I’m stocked up on yarn, because if I’m going to be stuck at home, I might as well be doing something productive and fun.  Let’s not forget the hot cocoa.  That’s definitely a must for snowy days.

Before you drink hot cocoa, it is very important to block your pieces of Aidez.  First of all, it’s white and you are a klutz.  Secondly, it’s much more fun to sip hot cocoa while you’re pondering your next project.

Really, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with planning your next project before you’ve officially finished your current one.  I’m thinking stripes, I’m thinking open, drapey cardigan, I’m thinking nautical… knotical?  Well, I laughed on the inside.

How do you enjoy your snow days?  Do you stay in or out?  Knit or ski?  Hot cocoa or hot tea…or hot toddy?  Whatever it is, hope you’re staying warm!

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Categories Freshy Knits!

FO: Rock Island Shawl

January 15, 2012 //
4

Last week during lunch, I found myself in a pet store staring into a cage with the most adorable kitten you ever did see.  I stuck my fingers through the cage and scratched her soft furry little head.  She responded with a soft purr and, people, believe me when I say that she actually sat up, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Freshy, please take me home meow.”  What an intelligent kitten, I thought.  I began to imagine how wonderful it would be if I took this sweet little thing home with me.  Our future brightly flashed before me: curling up next to each other under a warm blanket, telling each other funny jokes, eating tuna, I would train her to use the toilet and I would knit her cat toys….

Suddenly, I saw that upon bringing her home I would find out that she does not dine on tuna, however, she has an unprecedented palate for fine merino wool and silk blends.  Unacceptable!  Besides, I’m already a crazy knitting blog lady.  Being a crazy cat lady with a knitting blog might be too much for me to live up to.  With all that craziness in mind, I left the kitty behind in the pet store and went to work googling this.

Today, as I was walking by the pet store, I noticed she was still there.  Fate, why do you tempt me with soft cuddly things I can’t have?!  I couldn’t help but have that same momentary lapse in judgment where Freshy’s knitting world would be so awesome with a cute little kitty in it!  Imagine all the fun kitty sweaters I could make!  What fun we would have!  I could change my blog name to Yarn Over Kitty, in which every post would feature a cute little kitten mischievously playing with yarn!  Wait, my yarn?  Damn, that’s right.  This will never work out between us, Kitteh.

It’s a good thing I have such wonderful judgment (haha, that’s funny…), because I definitely would not have been able to block this shawl out on my bed with a soft, playful little ball of mischief hanging around.

I also listened to my better judgment when I decided to reknit this using a size larger needle.  The shawl may not be as soft as a cute little kitten, but it’s big enough to wrap around your neck a couple of times to keep you cozy while it’s snowing outside.

Pattern: Rock Island by Jared Flood
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Prairie, Lace 2 ply, in Tart (~700 yards)
Needles: US 7, Knit Picks Harmony Wood
Modifications: Used US 7 needles instead of US 6
Recommendation: Yes. 
Notes: It’s a simple pattern to memorize and pretty fast to knit up.  I also love that it’s a reversible pattern.  This was also my first time knitting with Madeline Tosh, and I was really pleased with how strong this yarn was.  There was no splitting or snagging while knitting.  The color is such a deep red (pictures really don’t do it justice).  All in all, I loved the end result!
 
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Categories Freshy Knits!, Lace

One Armed Sweater

January 11, 2012 //
1

I’m done with the first sleeve of Aidez!  Now I face a critical decision (one that I face nearly every night that I stay home knitting): stay up late and have probably the best, most productive solo knit night ever(!) or go to bed like a responsible adult (pfft).  Unfortunately, no wait: Fortunately… No, I was right the first time: Unfortunately, I made a promise to myself to wake up early and attend the gym like all those other over achievers.

I would like to take the time right now to point out how difficult it is to photograph your own arm and get it in focus.  There are about 15 or so more photos where this brilliant shot came from.  But I’ll save the outtake slide show for another time.

Oh and just a word of advice:  If you have a pattern that is designed to be knit flat, and in all your brilliance, you decide to knit it in the round instead, remember that when they say to knit on the WS, you should probably purl that row because it is now the RS.  Seems obvious right?  I thought so too, but I forgot this information on the transition row between my cuff and sleeve.  Lucky for me, I love ripping out rows and rows of knitting….

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Categories Freshy Knits!

Wintery WIP’s

January 5, 2012 //
1

Happy New Year (albeit a few days late)!  I hope you have all enjoyed your holidays.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been on vacation, it’s always hard to go back to work/the gym/real life.  Yet, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since I’ve picked up knitting needles; it’s always easy to come back to that sultry temptress that is knitting.  It’s even easier to load up your knitting to-do list with more projects.  Maybe that’s where the difficulty in knitting arises.  I haven’t quite figured it out yet.  Call me in a few weeks after I have officially bitten off more than I can chew.

Rock Island Shawl is done (granted it’s still sitting in a pile over yonder waiting to be blocked and blogged about), so naturally I picked up another lace project.  I know, I’m rolling my eyes at me too.  It’s just that, well look how pretty it is…

It’s Kimono Shawl by Cheryl Oberle in Folk Shawls, knit with Jaggerspun Zephyr.  I can’t even explain how much I love this color.  I went to Home Depot to have paint mixed to match this yarn.  Incidentally my living room wall is now a beautiful sage color.  My pajama pants (which I’m currently in, because real clothes are for working hours) match up perfectly.  Why can’t I have more things this color?  This yarn has been waiting ever so patiently in my stash for the last two years.  I’d pick it up occasionally, pet it softly, and reassuringly whisper in its ear that someday it will be something special.  I swear, after knitting up the garter edging, it looked at me and smiled.

Meanwhile, I’m still successfully working on Aidez.  Earlier this week, I finished up the two front pieces and have started on the sleeves.  The pattern calls for the sleeves to be worked flat, so naturally, I threw caution to the wind and started knitting them in the round.  Why I do these things, I cannot say.  The upside to this is that it’s two less seams that I’ll have to do.  The downside is that I don’t have enough room on my circulars to knit the sleeves two at a time.  I’ll just have to stay vigilant with my note keeping so that I knit the second sleeve the same.

I expect that I will finish the sweater in the next week or so, because my little eye did spy my next WIP (among many others).  And I really can’t help it if I start casting on for it in the very near future.  Startitis is real, people.

What projects are you working on this winter (knitting or otherwise)?

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Categories Freshy Knits!, Lace
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