Sunny Snow Day Knitting

Snow day! No school -- which made sense at 5 this morning when the snow was pretty bad, but now the sun is shining and this is the view from my window:


So a good day to catch up on some knitting and finally photograph some FOs.


First, I finally finished my Daybreak Shawl, and it is just gorgeous! I've been wearing it nonstop since.

It's a pretty great size -- I knit the large, but then I stopped at 18 stripes of each color and 5 garter ridges at the end. This is an easy pattern to knit, but it did take quite a while, especially when those rows got really long at the end!


When I finished the shawl I made myself a matching beret. This was the Purl Bee beret pattern, which I think I added some stitches to because of a gauge difference. A nice simple pattern. I didn't like the way the decreases made the top pucker on the Purl version, so I spaced mine out a little differently. It came out to a nice size, a tiny bit bigger than I'd like perhaps. Sorry not to have a modeled shot -- I'm still in my pj's with no makeup in lazy snow day mode!


I was wrangling two and sometimes three balls of yarn, because I had two colors of orange that were slightly different and I decided to work them kind of like a gradient. Then at the end I was running out of one of the oranges so I did stripes of the two oranges together. It worked relatively well. I like the brighter orange better, though -- "Smaller Yellow Ant," if you are looking for a really gorgeous, rich, slightly brighter than pumpkin color. Fabulous. The other color is "Ruddy Daggerwing," which looked much darker and redder online, and is in fact only slightly darker and browner than the other orange (still a lovely color, but not as rich and bright). I had originally planned to stripe the two oranges, but they weren't different enough in color, so I ordered some more contrast yarn. The green is "Juniper Hairstreak." Again, a gorgeous color with a lot of depth. I had heard a lot about Sanguine Gryphon colors, and it was all true -- such beautiful, rich, sophisticated colors, with a nice variety of tones, but no pooling -- a truly gorgeous yarn. Bugga! is really soft but seems relatively strong. It did lose a little of its elasticity in blocking. This was fine for the shawl, though if I were to do it again I'd use smaller needles (I knit this on size 4). For the beret, it meant that I had to thread some elastic through the ribbing band. No big deal. Anyway, Bugga! is by far my favorite fingering/sock/light sport yarn now. So far it's wearing quite well, though of course it's a scarf, not socks. I don't think I'd use it for socks -- too soft, maybe not elastic enough, probably would wear out quite quickly. It's a tad on the pricey side, but the yardage is really generous. When I win the Megamillions, I am going to buy a skein of every color.

What I'm working on right now (somewhat furiously) is a super-late Christmas present for my bestest friend. She's the only person I've gifted knitting to who really seems to appreciate it. Non-baby knitting, that is -- I've knit a lot for babies and the moms (and grandmas) are always super appreciative. Anyway, I had ordered some pretty blue DK cashmere from Colourmart before Christmas to make her a cowl, but it still hasn't arrived a month later! This is a real fluke for Colourmart -- I have ordered from them a few times in the past and things always come shockingly quickly, considering that they're coming across the Atlantic. [update: it turns out the delay is due to US heightened security measures that were in effect between November and January. So their shipping should be at normal speed now if you order from them.] So I finally gave up on waiting and bought some Madelinetosh Pashmina to make a Honey cowl -- bandwagon knitting again!


It's a really beautiful fabric and a sophisticated final product, but it's kind of a tedious knit, especially because I decided the larger size really looks much nicer, and because I'm using a finer-gauge yarn than the pattern specifies. I am using Fleegle's garter-in-the-round hack, as suggested by Christina (Bowie on Ravelry) -- a brilliant way to avoid purling! But it does leave you working with two different balls of yarn, which is a little less portable, I find, and it also means that you have to keep peeking behind the slipped rows to make sure you're on track, because the wrong side is facing you when you knit these rows instead of purling them. And I find that I am just absent-minded enough that I mess up whether I am knitting or slipping a given stitch with relative frequency. Luckily the fabric is pretty easy to read so it's not a huge deal. The Pashmina yarn was nice and soft in the store, and really beautiful colors. Knitting it now I'm a little underwhelmed -- it doesn't feel quite as soft knit up, and it looks to me like it's going to pill and halo pretty quickly. For yarn that expensive I was expecting higher quality, I have to say.

Anyway, it's a lovely day to be sitting here in my cozy apartment, with a warm dog sleeping on my feet and a warm piece of knitting in my lap! Happy snow day to you all!

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone! How about a late-for-Christmas present?

I cobbled together this cowl as a present for my mom and to use up some really nice fingering cashmere I had from School Products. It's kind of a combination of the shape/button of Knitty Gritty Thoughts' Spiral Cowl (a pattern you know I love) with the stitch pattern in Leila Raabe's Shaelyn, another beautiful pattern I'm dying to try. I have to admit I didn't buy the Shaelyn pattern -- just eyeballed it and assumed that the wavy stripes were done in "Crest of the Wave," an old Shetland lace pattern.

I see that School Products no longer has the yarn I used, but this would be a good project for one skein of Jade Sapphire 2-ply.

The pattern is for a woman's cowl -- if you want to make one for a child, it could easily be done by taking out one or two pattern repeats (the pattern repeat is 12 stitches) and knitting only three stripes of the lace pattern. Or if you want your cowl to be bigger, cast on an extra 12 stitches and work five stripes of the lace pattern.

Update 1/14: Thanks to Marina Carelli, who has translated the pattern into Italian. You can download the pdf (in both languages) here.

Grazie a Marina Carelli, che ha tradotto il disegno in italiano. È possibile scaricare il pdf (in le due lingue) qui.

Update 1/14: Thanks to Lilian Sant'Anna, who translated the pattern into Portuguese.
Obrigado a Lilian Sant’Anna, que traduziu o padrão de Natal Cowl em Português.
 

Christmas Cowl

Size: 21 inches circumference, 9 inches tall
Gauge: 7 stitches and 9 rows = 1 inch
Yarn: 200-300 yards fingering weight yarn in something light and luxurious, like cashmere.
Needles: 16-inch circular needle, size 3 or whatever size will give you gauge
Notions: one stitch marker, tapestry needle, one coordinating button

Glossary
K: knit
P: purl
K2tog: knit two stitches together
Ssk: slip-slip-knit: slip the next two stitches one by one as if to knit. Return both stitches to left needle, then knit them together through the back loop
YO: yarn over

Instructions

Cast on 144 stitches and join to work in the round, being careful not to twist. Place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round (where you just joined yarn).

Work two garter ridges: Knit one round, purl one round, repeat these two rounds once.

Work one repeat of Crest of the Wave pattern:

Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Purl
Round 3: *k2tog twice, (YO, k1) x 3, YO, ssk twice, k1, repeat from * to end of round
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: Repeat round 3
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: Repeat round 3
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: Repeat round 3
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: Knit
Round 12: Purl

Work 12 rounds stockinette (knit all rounds).
Work another repeat of Crest of the Wave pattern.

Continue alternating 12-round stripes of stockinette and stripes of Crest of the Wave pattern until there are four stripes of Crest of the Wave. Then work two more garter ridges (knit one round, purl one round, repeat these two rows once). Bind off loosely (I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff).

Weave in ends and block very well -- I recommend wet blocking. You can stretch your cowl slightly in blocking it to open up the lace pattern and to make sure your fabric has some drape. You will find that the lace pattern is more "wavy" on the bottom than the top -- feel free to try to pin it in such a way that you make both the top and bottom as wavy as possible. I did this, and it sort of worked.

To finish your cowl, pick up three stitches at the top edge and knit a length of i-cord about 1.5 inches long. Make this length of 1-cord into a buttonhole loop by tacking down end of i-cord next to where you picked up the stitches and weaving in the end. Try on your cowl with the buttonhole loop at the top and fold over the loop to overlap cowl at the neck as tight as you would like it to be. Mark the place where the buttonhole falls when you do this, then sew your button at this place.

Your cowl is done! You can wear it loose and unbuttoned (like my lovely Mom is wearing it in the picture), or you can tighten it around your neck with the button to keep out the wind.

What I'm doing this weekend instead of going to Rhinebeck

Eating brussels sprouts.

(Isn't this thing cool? I got it at the farmer's market today. Who knew that they grew like this? It's heavy, too -- like a big caveman-club of healthiness.)

Knitting cashmere spiral mitts and listening to NPR.

Grading papers.

Reading for orals.

I'm sure that Rhinebeck will be more fun, but I just can't stomach it with both the work pileup and the upcoming move -- don't need more stash to pack!

Want another shot of those mitts? I thought so.

They're ribbed for her pleasure! I laboriously un-plied the double strand of 1/14 I had used for the spiral cowl (which I had originally twisted like that by colourmart), so these are exactly half the scale of the cowl. I love them! It was my first crack at top-down mittens -- I like it, and it does let you modify to fit the amount of yarn you have, but I'm not a huge fan of the thumb join part. These guys are so warm! Just trying them on for size or to snap a photo made my hands feel so warm and cuddly. I think they're going to get a lot of use.

NB: I cast on 56 stitches to make these, following the 8-stitch repeat of the spiral cowl's eyelet pattern after a picot edge. I added a 30-stitch-around thumb tube after 4 repeats, then decreased the thumb gore every other round until it was gone, then worked 5 more repeats of the spiral and cast off with a picot edge. I also tried picking up stitches and working a 3-needle BO instead of sewing down the final hem -- kind of a cool idea, and definitely a lot neater, but less stretchy, despite the fact that I used a needle 4 sizes larger for the bindoff.

How do I love thee? Let me cowl-nt the ways.

Finally put the button on the cowl, and, as the Harlot would say,


Dudes, I love it.


It's soft and fluffy and not heavy, and it tucks just perfectly into my coat. It looks good buttoned and unbuttoned -- I'm currently sitting at my desk at work wearing it unbuttoned around my neck, and it may stay that way all day.


I love it so much that I immediately cast on for another one and a matching pair of mitts!

gorgeousness

The cashmere spiral cowl is finished and blocked, and man, is it beautiful! The yarn bloomed and softened even more with the final soaking I gave the finished piece, and it's just a pleasure to hold up to my neck.


Now the dilemma is the perfect vintage button to use. I've narrowed down my selection to this (admittedly still large) array of options:


Clockwise from the top they are:

1) creamy mother-of-pearl with sort of feather detail around the edge, a family heirloom
2) dark gray faux mother-of-pearl shank
3) black plastic faux braided leather
4) heavy cream mother-of-pearl or bone (this one seems really old to me)
5) dark gray abalone or mother-of-pearl shank
6) dark gray mother-of-pearl with fancy etchings
7) dark gray mother-of-pearl with four holes
8) dark gray bone or something
9) black plastic with sort of art-deco detailing
10) brown plastic with flower-shaped indents
11) dark gray mother-of-pearl shank
12) dark gray mother-of-pearl shank
13) black plastic with sort of art-deco detailing

Thoughts? Personally I am leaning toward #11, I think. It will blend in nicely and I like its style and size. Were I to go for personal meaning, I would pick #1. If I wanted something that would pop, I think I'd go for #9 or #10. On the off chance that you care as obsessively about this choice as I do, you can click on the picture for a close-up that shows the detail better.

I thought I was going to give this away as a present, but it's just sooo lovely...

Ful semyly hir wympul pynched was

Whoa. The first few days of the school year hit me like a steamroller this year! Between not being prepared either for the classes I was teaching or for my own reading, dealing with multiple technological issues in the office, assisting with a big medieval conference (at which I discovered that one of my personal medievalist heroes is also a knitter on Ravelry!), putting together loan documentation and board package materials for an apartment I'm buying, and triangulating multiple times a day between the lawyer and the broker, not to mention dealing with a mouse infestation in my current apartment, I am exhausted! And that's after only a two-day week of school!

It's a good thing that this also arrived this week: lovely, unbelievably soft cashmere yarn from Colourmart.


Now I know what everyone's gushing about! This yarn arrived quite quickly considering that it was sent from England. It came on a cone, oiled for spinning, and I skeined it and gave it a hot bath with dish detergent (twice with the detergent, followed each time by about five rinses). It still hasn't bloomed as much as it could, and it also smells really strongly now of Mrs. Meyers' Lemon Verbena dish soap. Even so it is heavenly to knit with -- sooooo soooooft, with a gorgeous fluffiness that is also somehow satiny, just like the most luxurious cashmere sweater you could imagine.

I'm using it to knit a spiral cowl. I am not usually a cowl kind of girl, preferring not even hand-knit scarves but big thin pashmina-type wraps, but when I saw all the cute pictures on Ravelry of this, I was convinced to try it. I certainly now appreciate the pleasures of knitting a cowl -- just round and round and round, no shaping, a nice size for subway lap knitting. I tried out a prototype with some leftover Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it knit up. It's been a while since I knit anything in a gauge larger than 7 stitches per inch, I guess. Off the neck, it's pretty, but rather unimpressive:


But on and buttoned, I think it's really quite nice, sort of floppily structural. Pardon both the double chin and the visible bra straps:


There are many nice things about this pattern. The picot hems give it a polished, feminine look and maximum stretchiness; the eyelet spiral keeps it interesting and looks much more complicated than it actually is; it uses only about 200 yards of yarn, so you can buy something luxurious; and it's a great way to showcase one awesome button. For this red one, I used a metal "pelican in her piety" button that was a present from the ex-boyfriend -- it's a long and nerdy medieval/choir inside joke.

Baby Cashmerino was not really the best yarn for this pattern, and I'd warn people against using any bouncy, multi-ply superwash yarn like it for their cowls: it's just too stretchy and heavy and floppy really to hold the great structure that makes this pattern so cool. You definitely want something luxuriously soft and with some drape, but not perhaps stretchy -- lots of these cowls on Ravelry are knit with Malabrigo merino silk dk or Manos Silk Blend, and those both seem like a perfect choice. I have high hopes for this cashmere. I've also picked out the perfect button from my collection of antique buttons -- I have so many singleton beauties I've been dying to use!

Now for a nice, slow afternoon of luxurious knitting therapy!