fo : ease pullover

I took the path of least resistance on this one. I decided to just accept that my third hand-knit sweater's gonna be one of my more loose, comfy ones. The color's gorgeous (not one I'd expect I'd like so much,) and the pattern was easy enough to follow. 


I'm also happy to report that a friend reached out to me, letting me know that my WIP inspired her. She started an Ease sweater of her own, with Knit Picks Hawthorne!

Knitting-evangelism +1.

pattern : Ease by Alicia Plummer
yarn : Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Mineral Heather
needle : US 6,10 [4mm, 6mm]

size : Large

Alicia Plummer’s thoughtful design elements in this pattern were much appreciated here. The use of a purl ridge to encourage a crease on the stockinette knit fabric was a nice touch and made a pretty effect.

I used Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind-off method for the end of the body and the sleeves—Highly recommended.

After the first wash this garment bloomed…a lot. I’m reserving this sweater for days like this one in Lithia Park where bundling up and keeping warm is more important than doing my silhouette any favors.

fo : seahawk and rogue nilla socks

This pair of socks took a year to get off the needles because I was eyeballs deep in my projects at work. I still put the couple hundred odd stitches here and there to decompress when things were especially stressful, but it definitely did not progress as quickly as I had wanted.

pattern : Improvised
yarn : Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Fondo del Mar
needle : US 1 [2.25mm]
size : 10"

pattern : Vanilla Latte Socks by Virginia Rose-Jeanes
yarn : SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Rogue
needle : US 1 [2.25mm]
size : 10"

My rogue nillas marched at a much faster pace but I was still pretty impatient about it. I cast these on while moving across the rogue river valley. I just had to start something, sitting shotgun on a road trip would otherwise have felt like a waste of valuable knitting time.

Recalling the experience of knitting these two pairs is almost embarrassing. It’s like I’ve become this results driven careerist about something that was initially supposed to be an ongoing process to feed my soul. When did my yarn stash and project queue become such a to-do list?

While caring for and photographing these projects, I got to take in details I didn’t really notice as much when I was in the process of rushing to the finish line.

I had a chance to appreciate the little lightning bolts that took shape against the blue and lime green backdrop, like some storm on a little alien landscape.

The army-green and gem-violet spiraling up from toe to cuff remind me of sedimentary rock, taking ages to fall in line but always seeming to know the right place to sit—just like each one of these little colored stitches.

The simple texture of these knitting patterns allowed the variegated yarns to take center stage. Plain socks and multicolored yarns go together like milk and honey. No matter what you do, it pays off—it’s beautiful as a hank, and the result when knit up is inimitable.

I also was very giddy about finishing with a rounded toe tin the Magic Loop style. Anyone close to me while I was wrapping up the toe became a captive audience to my lecture about how I’m basically knitting two little hats for my toes with this method. Sorry, friends. I owe you something for that.

What if I honored these details while in the process of crafting them?
It probably wouldn’t have hurt to observe more while making them instead of rushing to mark something as done. I guess I knew that at one point in the process of crafting and documenting, I’d have that nudge again to be a little more present while turning fiber into wearables.

A little bit of yarn is left over from these socks, and instead of being an angry completionist about it (I should have made the cuffs longer!) I might store them for a scrap blanket project of some kind to be able to cherish this lesson of mindfulness one more time.
That blanket project idea is a little further off in the future since I’ll need some more sock yarn in my stash to begin, but I’m open to learning about some pattern favorites. For now, Severien’s beautiful work in progress definitely comes to mind.

fo : clarke, rhubarb show-offs

2017 has been a year focused on a lot of other things, like the surprising turn my career took, the first apartment I moved to (with a partner I never thought I would meet and grow with). I lost a lot of good knitting time this year being swept up with a lot of that but still managed to get a few things off the needles.

The problem (?) with taking so long to blog about something you've knit is that it's likely that you've already spent some time incorporating them into your life and putting them into use.

pattern : Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

yarn : Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Cobblestone Heather and Garnet Heather

needle : US 6, 7 [4-4.5mm]

size : 40

My Clarke sweater's already a little rough around the edges. I haven't really felt the push to block the garment to make this look as attractive as possible for the blog, I hardly even wove the ends in! As soon as it was bound off I wore it and continued to whenever the weather deemed it appropriate to. It can't be that heretical to admit that, right? I don't block that often at all!

The first pullover I knit was a Jane Richmond pattern. It was such a simple and enjoyable process that I sank my teeth into the Clarke pattern expecting the same straightforward, highly customisable design. I was not disappointed and might make another sometime in the future. So far the Swish Worsted has been soft and very comfortable--no scratchiness at all. One issue I see is that it pills quite a bit. The pilling makes me wonder whether this batch of skeins I bought from knitpicks would suffer the same unfortunate fulling effect post-wash that I read complaints about on ravelry. It would suck to see such a fate from a sweater I love this much.

pattern : Show-Off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell

yarn : Regia Hand-Dye Effect in Rhubarb

needle : US 1 [2.5mm]

size : medium, 10"

This whole sock project was a nightmare, and it was entirely because of the yarn. I had this in the time-out pile since 2014 and didn't pick it back up until 2016. I was determined to finish it. Ignoring the general convention of knitting both socks with the same types of needle to ensure gauge is the same, I just picked some aluminum dpns and sped through the last sock.

With the frustration of the yarn behind me, I can enjoy these gorgeous colors and how the Anne Campbell's pattern has let them shine. To give the pattern a good faith effort once more with less annoying yarn, I casted on once more with a Zauberball skein instead. Anne Campbell kicked ass with this design.

fo : manta

This has been finished for quite some time, but I hadn't photographed it until very recently--after some attempts to make it a part of my wardrobe this year I decided this belonged to one of my more fashionable friends for Christmas this year.

pattern : Stingray by Evan Plevinski

yarn : Lion Brand Heartland in Great Smoky Mountains

needle : US 8 [5mm]

size : a little too large

I don't really remember what my experience was like knitting it. I didn't encounter any glaring difficulties in the pattern itself, but I did get a little careless at one point and worked to many repeats of a few of the sections. It gave me a larger, prettier fabric but wasn't faithful to the intent of the original design.

While it's not lacework, I'm happy to say that I've made something that I didn't think I would--a shawl. Thankfully this doesn't need the intense sort of blocking a super lacy, feminine shawl would have needed, I probably wouldn't have made it in the first place if that were the case.

I hope the recipient likes this gift! She and I agree on wardrobe color palettes for the most part, and I look forward to how she makes this a part of her already nice wardrobe.