Me Made May: Week 3 (and a sewing FO)

Another week, another cardigan:

This week I've mostly been wearing my Shetland Shorty cardigan. I love this style of cardigan in the summer and I still plan to knit another.

Also me made this week is my first 'dressmaking' project. A Tilly and the Buttons Bridgitte scarf. More of my summer dresses are yellow than any other colour so I picked out this bright yellow spotted cotton. The fabric was shorter than the width called for (115mm) but works well enough for keeping hair off my face.

FO Angostura

If you knit enough projects there will always be some that don't work out. This project was one of those. I first swatched for this in 2011 and, over that Christmas break, I knit the back. It was too big.

A year later I redid my swatching and restarted, this time the back looked about perfect when blocked and so it was on to the front. I finished up the seaming over the 2012 Christmas break, and here it is:

I don't yet seem to have found the perfect items to layer underneath it but I'm pretty happy nonetheless.

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and I spent a LOT of time worrying that the slight fuzziness meant that the stitch pattern wouldn't show -- I'm pleased to be proved wrong.

Pattern: Angostura by Ysolda Teague.
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in colorway Grass.
Mods: None.
Project: online at Ravelry.

FO: Boyfriend Socks

More socks for Mr Me.

This acrylic/nylon blend was bought at Natural Stitches during his visit when I stayed out in Pittsburgh for three months in 2009. Red is his preferred colour so this yarn was very much up his street. Despite the crinkles in the photo, the socks are actually a snug fit.

Pattern: Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell.
Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock in colourway True Red.
Mods: None.
Project: online at Ravelry.

FO: River Socks

I've been wanting to knit these socks forever. I've had the pattern printed out and in a project bag with the yarn for in excess of a year now. So when I was looking around for another travel project, these seemed like a great choice:

I love the twisted stitches and the anatomical toe.

Pattern: Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä
Yarn: Stylecraft Pure Luxury Merino DK in colourway Cornflower from Hesters Haberdashery (Lancaster Indoor Market)
Mods: None
Project: Online at Ravelry

FO: Plum Snapes

At last year's Glasgow School of Yarn, I took a class with Amy Singer and she recommended Sock Candy as a yarn for those who would like handknit socks but cannot wear wool. When back with Mr me, we picked out some yarn on Blue Moon's Website and, some time later, it arrived. After a little fondling, the yarn went into the stash until I pulled it out in April ready for a Ravelry SKA Sockdown challenge.

I really do like this colourway. It's called Plum Crazy but it makes me think of the beach. Dark, wet (muddy) sand and blue seas.

Knit two at a time, toe up (I was hoping to use all the yarn but didn't quite). These would have been a quick knit if I hadn't initially made my traditional toe-up mistake of forgetting to knit the pattern on the back of the leg. They spent some time in timeout before I finally gave up aspiring to find a block of time to drop each stitch and correct it, instead I ripped back the leg and reknit.

Pattern: Snape's Stockings by Erica Lueder
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Candy in colourway Plum Crazy
Mods: Lots! Knit toe up, adjusted the number of stitches in the pattern repeat and the number of repeats round the sock. Knit a different heel and toe. Can't remember which toe, but the heel was the origami heel and I'm never knitting one ever again.
Project: Online at Ravelry

FO: Marin

This was a mindless knit during some thesis panic. I needed knitting that just amounted to following row after row of instruction so I ignored the chart and just plodded through portions from the written instructions as and when I got the chance:

I love the colour of this yarn and I'm glad a pattern finally came along for it.

I don't know if I'll wear this as a shawl much (it could be a bit heavy?) but it will make a great winter scarf.

And, of course, there's always the neckerchief option.

Pattern: Marin by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Lana Gatto Feeling from Natural Stitches, Pittsburgh

Mods: None.

Project: online at Ravelry

FO: Multnomah

I sat down this weekend and wove in ends on three projects that were sat waiting for those last finishing touches. Here is the first:

For a long time I was convinced that, even when I blocked it, this shawl would be way too small to be wearable. Turns out I was wrong :)

I think this will be a great casual scarf for autumn/winter. I'll wrap it round my neck bandit style:

All in all, a great pattern/yarn combination (thanks for the ideas Ravelry). If I did it all again I would have made it a bit bigger. I still have twenty-five grams of yarn leftover and even with the extra size it would still be very wearable.


Pattern: Multnomah by Kate Ray.
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball in colourway Herbstwind (Autumn wind).
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Elijah

I finished something!

This guy has been waiting for eyes for quite some time now, but this weekend I finally looked up instructions for french knots. Some time later, I had two eyes and an elephant:

I think he needs a scarf :)

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry

FO: Shetland Shorty

This may be the first item I've ever knit purely for functional reasons. I have a brown mesh cropped cardigan I bought six years ago on one of my first forays into the world of work (a summer internship at the company my Dad worked for). Since the company wasn't just programmers, they had higher standards than the places I've worked at since and so I was required to wear things that weren't jeans, namely skirts.

It was the perfect summer for skirt wearing. Nice weather, little rain and no air conditioning. I bought two new skirts in serious looking colours plus a few netural looking summer tops and two mesh cropped cardigans, one brown and one rust coloured (Sadly some time later I gave away the rusty one thinking I could have no further use for two cropped mesh cardigans).

Since then I've discovered that, when we do have summer weather, that cropped brown cardigan is the perfect thing for making me feel like I'm not in a state of undress whilst still maintaining a comfortable body temperature. It's great for so many occasions. And so I set out to knit something comparable:

I think I've been pretty successful. This is Shetland Shorty, a free pattern from knitty.com. It's a clear, well-written pattern and the sizing seems pretty good to me (I knit the XS). It's biggest negative is probably the quantity of stitches that have to be picked up for the various edgings but that's simply because that technique is still pretty low down my favourites list. It's also got a very slight tendency to be more of a boob holder than a cardigan, but it's a fine line with these cropped things I think. I'll quite probably knit this again in other colours and will also look out for similar patterns (lace, cropped, tie cardigans) - any suggestions?

The yarn is from stash (extra brownie points there) and seems quite well-suited to the pattern. It's a milk/cotton blend with the emphasis on the milk. It's soft and smooth and didn't seem to split at all. The colour looks far more interesting knit up that I'd thought from the hanks.

Pattern: Shetland Shorty by Gudrun Johnston.
Yarn: Kollage Creamy in colourway 7101 - Almond. I bought this yarn from Natural Stitches at 40% off in 2009. The project took just short of two skeins so I have just over three left.
Mods: None.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Blisco

I can't believe I forgot to post this... possibly the thing I'm proudest of so far this year:

This is starts out as a really interesting knit and then moves into straightforward stockinette.

Pattern: Blisco by Lily-Kate France.
Yarn: Patons Linen Touch DK in colours Carnation and Lilac.
Mods: Shortened the sleeves a bit.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Booties

These have been a long time coming. Cast on in March(!) I've finally finished them today, more than three months later.

Why so long? I don't love them. I think the contrast of the black against the orange is a bit too harsh but I didn't have enough orange to finish them any other way. (I don't hate them either mind).

They've spent around two months waiting for 18 stitches to be grafted - that's it. The baby they were knit for is now rather too big for them so they'll go in the gift box and wait for the next baby to come along :)

Pattern: Stay-on baby booties
Yarn: The last of the Regia Stretch Color in colourway Edmonton, bought for my first ever pair of socks and also used for some blanket squares.
Mods: Knit in the round, slightly shorter leg.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Harvest Dew Socks

My first FO in a while:

These socks were knit for April's Rose Hiver sockdown theme. The pattern is really straight forward without being boring and I'm very happy with them.

For a bit of a new experience, I started these top-down socks with a provisional cast-on and dived straight into the leg chart without any ribbing. I knit the pattern as written from then on until the toe which I shortened a little. Once I'd grafted the toes I then went back and picked up the live stitches from the cast-on and knit the ribbing. I really like this as a way of knitting socks. I'm pretty sure I get a better fit from top-down socks but I also never seem to use up as much yarn because I always seem to have a leg pattern that is tighter than I thought. Knitting this way I should know much more quickly if I've cast on too few stitches for the leg (rather than have the ribbing trick me into thinking I'm OK) which will allow me to knit longer top-down socks.

Pattern: Harvest Dew by Rose Hiver.
Yarn: Eden Cottage Yarns (was Wild Fire Fibres) Fantasia in colourway Samhain.
Mods: Knit toe as written until 21st per needle then repeated only the decrease row until 13st remained per needle and grafted the toe shut. Provisional cast on (as above).
Project: Online at Ravelry.

FO: Calorimetry

My Blisco swatch is drying. In the meantime, despite lovely sunshine last week, this week I'm back to wearing the winter accessories:

This is my Calorimetry, knit with what remained of the Malabrigo twist after my Bandana Cowl. The yarn is still gorgeous and I like the pattern (mostly).

This is warm and practical for those days where I just can't face leaving my hair down. Only slight issue is it's a little big/slippy-offy. I'm not sure if this is my button placement or a feature of the ribbing stretching out once on my head.

Pattern: Caliometry by Kathryn Schoendorf.
Yarn: Malabrigo Twist in the Olive colourway.
Mods: Cast on fewer (92) stitches and knit fewer repeats of rows five and seven.
Projects: online on Ravelry.

Just one more end

A little while ago I finally blocked and got photos of my Andrea's Shawl.

As is traditional with shawls, this was an interesting and beautiful knit but I've now finished up with a shawl I'm not sure how to wear. I love the fact that this is two colours and it's probably this that meant I did actually wear it to work a couple of weeks ago.

To my surprise, after wearing it much of the day I discovered just one more end that had escaped being woven in. There's always one.

A metephor for life I suspect: nothing is ever finished.

FO: Blanket Squares

This year has mostly been about the quick knits - tiny projects finished almost before they were begun. Case in point: one blanket square...

No, I'm not knitting a blanket. I knit two identical squares as a contribution to a baby blanket for someone in my local knitting group. The squares are knit from the centre out and in this way I avoided having to swatch first.

Pattern: Sock yarn square by Shannon Geddes
Yarn: Regia Stretch Color in colourway Edmonton
Mods: Left the YOs as YOs rather than knitting into the back of them to close the holes.
Project: Online at Ravelry.

PS - This blanket was also the reason for that garter stitch back in January, but that square just didn't want to work out.

FO: Stripe Tease

They've been a little while coming, but I finally finished my Stripe Tease Socks:

I started these as a last minute project for December's "Unusual Construction" SKA Challenge but I think I knew even then that they weren't going to get done in time, I just really wanted to knit them.

The cuff and toe are knit in the round and then the rest of the sock is knit flat, in strips -- initially three short strips down to the heel, followed by three more short strips for the base of the foot, then finally three long strips all the way down the front of the leg and foot. Each strip is connected to the others through knitting only, no sewing required but lots of stitches to pick up.

I think the last strip in particular is magic -- it feels like zipping up the sock!

And finally it all comes together and your left with a toeless sock. One toe later and you have this:

Pattern: Stripe Tease by General Hogbuffer.
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball in colourway U Boot (Submarine) 1511.
Mods: Nothing deliberate but the second one came out more true to the pattern than the first!
Projects: online on Ravelry.

PS - Yes, I can feel the "seams" on the bottom of my foot. Surprisingly though, they don't actually bother me once my feet are actually walking.

FO: Boating Socks

I successfully hit my target of the end of the month (January) for these socks:

There were a few bumps and hurdles along the way but they're done:

Lookin' good!

FO: Cabled Mitts

It's been so long since I actually finished these mittens. The yarn was bought for this pattern two Christmases ago with the intention of a quick gift knit. Now that they're done I'm not sure I have anyone to give them to!

As I discovered knitting the first pair, this yarn is pretty scratchy to knit with and masks nearly all of the pattern. That aside, they're quite nice mitts (I quite like the colour changes in this yarn).

Pattern: Cabley Mitties by Allison Clayton.
Yarn: Stylecraft Brushstrokes Chunky.
Mods: Nothing significant.
Project: online on Ravelry.

FO: Bandana Cowl

Finished with near perfect timing - the bandana cowl (pictured here with my Verity hat, finished at a this time last year):


This was a super-quick travel project: cast on during a flight to Germany. Having arrived, it was colder than expected but a 3 hour lecture slot provided the perfect opportunity to bind off and weave in ends - done!

It doesn't look like anything special but this pattern is a real winner for me. All the warmth of a scarf with no ends to dangle in puddles when I tie my shoelaces. Small enough to stuff in a bag 'just in case' too.

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho.
Yarn: Malabrigo Twist in colourway Olive (leftovers from my Verity hat, also pictured).
Mods: None.
Project: online on Ravelry.

There's just a smidge of this yarn left, I'm wondering if it's enough for a Calorimetry.

FO: One of a Pair

Knitting on a deadline, part 1 (the completed part) of 2:


I finally cast on the second of these last night, if I don't finish Santa won't be able to leave me any presents :(

Pattern: Falling Snow Stocking by Jennifer Hoel.
Yarn: Stylecraft Life/Special Chunky (I can't remember which right now).
Mods: Upped the pattern from 64 to 80 stitches (this thing is huge) and added an extra chart for the name. Modified the colour transition on the toe slightly.
Project: online on Ravelry.