Haubergeon Pullover

It's ready...it's here...I'm so stinking excited!

My first design - the Haubergeon Pullover.

The Haubergeon Pullover is inspired by medieval chain-mail armor, updated with lace for a touch of femininity. Knit in a sport weight wool-blend, this top will be a perfect layering piece and add that extra bit of warmth needed on a cool fall day. The garter stitch yoke and deep hems contrast the meandering lace panel on the body and sleeves.

Worked in the round from the hem to armholes, then worked back and forth. Seamed at the shoulders using 3-needle bind-off, then sleeves are picked up and knitted down to the cuffs.

Finished Bust Size
32 (34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50) inches
Suggested ease of -1 to +1 inches

Yarn 
Knit Picks, Stroll Sport, 75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon; 137 yards/50 grams. Shown in “Navy.”

Approximately 1100 (1250, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1750, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200) yards

Note: Yardages are for full length sleeves.

Needles 
US 4 / 3.5 mm and US 6 / 4 mm needles
or size to obtain gauge

Notions 
Tapestry needle, stitch holders, stitch markers.

Gauge 
21 sts = 4 inches in garter st with smaller needles.

I designed this for Knit Picks Independent Designer Program. It is now available for purchase on Ravelry and will soon be available on Knit Picks as well.

I sent the sample in to Knit Picks and they took some pictures on their model.

She appears to be quite a bit smaller than me, and is wearing it with some positive ease. I think it looks great either way!

I love it and can't wait to get it back. I will wear it all the time, I'm sure!

FO: Preemie Hats

For those who don't know...

My baby (#2) was tiny.

That's my pinkie he's holding.

2 lbs, 3 oz. Born at 28 weeks.

He spent 10 weeks (75 days) in the NICU.

He is perfect.

A perfectly wild, crazy, funny, silly, toddler.

In honor of his 2nd birthday at the end of the month I wanted to make preemie hats to take with us when we visit the NICU.

Ernie and Bert, of course, got some of their own.

I made these with various scraps I had from other projects. 

I still have the hats James received  when he was "doin' his time". I hope these will give other families a fun keepsake to remind them how small their little rascals were.

FO: A Small Viking

How small? As small as a paperclip!

"Hi, friends. Meet my buddy, paperclip."

Meet the yet to be named Viking. He will be the mascot in Troy's classroom. I think the Viking should move around every few days to keep the students guessing.

And, I think Troy should have a naming contest with his students.

Project: Viking (because I'm that creative with naming)
Pattern: "Tiny Viking"by Anna Hrachovec
Yarn: Appleton Brothers Ltd. London - crewel embroidery yarn
Needles: US 0 / 2 mm

So, he took me two days - only about an hour each day...and only that long because I kept stopping to admire and giggle at him. After day one, I put him on Troy's nightstand until I could work on him again. Ben came downstairs the next morning to wake dad up. He immediately picked the viking up and wanted to play with him.

"Bye, friends!"

Next up, a Vikella.

FO: Fly Away Beret

I made a hat.

I don't know that I'm a hat person, but this one was so pretty I just had to.

Project: Fly Away Beret (because I did it on vacation)
Pattern: "Crooked Paths"by Melissa LaBarre
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Vintage (Color: Corsage)
Needles: US 6 (4 mm) and US 7 (4.5 mm)

 And now, for some beauty shots:

I am now a hat person.

My first design is now in testing and will be available both on KnitPicks and on Ravelry. I will post more when its ready, but, for now, here's a sneak peek: (and a bit in the above pics too)

Buttons, Buttons, where are my Buttons?

The other day I was showing a friend all my completed knitwear. To my horror, I discovered that NOT ONE finished cardigan included buttons, or closures of any sort. No wonder I've been struggling with how to wear them!

Dahlia Cardigan

Opposite Pole

Lilas Cardigan

Watershed

So now there is a new sheriff in town - the button/closure sherrif! For the forseeable future I want to only make cardigans with closures!

First up - Fireside. This one is in hibernation. It knows what its done (darn sleeves).

I'm also working on Ash. This one has a zipper, which I've been wanting to try in a knit for a while. So far, it's going well.

My Dark and Stormy cardigan is on a break because I've used up all the yarn I had. As soon as I get more yarn, I'll finish this up...just have the sleeves and collar to go.

In other exciting news - one of my knit design submissions has been accepted! I'm just waiting for the yarn to arrive to get going on it. I should hear back about a few other submissions in the next few weeks. Yay!

Sock. Love.

Project: Scylla - my first sock!
Pattern: Scylla by Fiona Lucas
Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll Hand-Painted in "Watermelon"
Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm

My first pair of socks is done, and I love them.

The yarn was great to work with. I didn't expect as much black but, it turned out nice. I'm thinking next time I'll go even brighter!

I changed up the pattern just a bit. Honestly, I got sick of the slipping stitch action so I worked 7 rounds plain after three repeats of the pattern. It was nice to see the color changes on plain stockinette and on the pattern.

I did 2x2 ribbing at the cuff and bound off with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind off.

So now, I get it. I know why people love to knit socks. They are so comfy and warm.

Even my husband, Troy, admitted he wouldn't mind having some hand knit socks. Ben, my almost 4 year old, kept asking to try on the socks while I was still working on them. I guess I'll just have to make socks for everyone.

Mother's Day - washcloths

For Mother's Day this year my sister Lucci and I split the gift. I made three washcloths and a zippered bag, she bought smelly lotion/soap to go with it.

These are super easy, I made three in three days.
Pattern:  Grandmother's Favorite
Yarn: various Peaches n' Creme

I made each in a different size, increasing to 49, 44 and 40 stitches along the diagonal. I think 44 stitches is my ideal size.

I didn't get a picture of the zipper pouch before I gave it to my mom...sorry!

I have been on a drawstring bag making kick lately, I'll post about that another day, after I work out all the measurements as I like them.

FO: Dahlia Cardigan

It is finished!


Project: Dahlia Cardigan
Pattern: by Heather Zoppetti in Interweave Knits Fall 2011, on ravelry
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine Sport  (Color: Wisteria)
Needles: US 6 (4 mm)

I had to completely change it, and the only original thing is the lace panel on the back.

 I worked the two fronts seperately but at the same time on one long circular so I was sure they were the exact same. I plan to wear it open so I didn't add buttonholes. I do wish I had made the fronts about 1 inch wider, but it will work as is.

 I worked the sleeves top down from the armhole and used short-rows to shape the cap.

When I had about 4 inches left on the last sleeve my son found my knitting and broke one of the needles (!!!) a harmony wood tip from KnitPicks interchangeable set. Luckly, KnitPicks replaced it right away and after a few days I could finish it up. This will be a perfect cardigan for the summer when I need just a touch more coverage.

And, there's more knitting news...
I've submitted two designs to one magazine, one design to another, and am preparing two more for a yarn company and four more for another submission....I hope one of them gets chosen. :) Regardless, I plan to work up all these patterns and will post them on Ravelry when I finish them up.

knit = fail

Oh, Dahlia.

I was almost done...then, I tried it on. It didn't work for me. I couldn't try it on earlier because of the afterthought sleeves. Once I finished the first sleeve and started on the second I could try it on. FAIL!

The bottom, and top, were wavy. I think I may have picked up too many along those edges. The collar was floppy and long...and I had even shortened it.

Because of the afterthought sleeves, and the lack of sleeve cap, the shoulder lacked structure and the underarm was bunching with excess fabric. I should have realized this was just a blanket with sleeves.

My plan was to make the fronts shorter so I could button it down the front, but the top was way too floppy to fit the way I wanted. I think waist shaping will be necessary. I did like the sleeve length and the thicker band of seed stitch.

The yarn has been great (KnitPicks Shine Sport) and I'm loving my new KnitPicks needles. And, I really do like the lace on the back. So here's the new plan:

• bind off the two sides so I can just sew the seams together. I may add three or four rows on each side before starting the top back and bottom back.
• knit down from the lace panel to finish the bottom of the back.
• knit up from the lace panel and shape the back neck and shoulders. I think it only needs another inch or two.
• knit two fronts for the cardigan, adding waist shaping and armholes. seam to the back piece.
• work top down set in sleeves with short row sleeve caps. keep the length the same.
• keep the wide seed stitch borders on the hem, cuff, and button band. not sure about the neck yet...maybe still seed stitch just thinner.

So, basically a cardigan from scratch with just the lace medallion from the original pattern.

It only took about an hour to rip it all back. Good think I like to knit.

Dying Yarn

I've been dying to dye yarn (he, he) for a while now, so I asked for Kool-aid in my stocking. Today, Ben and I got to it.

I used one ball of Washable Ewe (100% superwash wool - 100 g, 183 yards) in the color Cottontail, which is a light cream. I don't have a scale or way to measure length super acurately so I just wrapped the yarn around my kitchen island 20 times. I got 4 skeins that way, so each is about 25 grams or about 45 yards each.

I then filled some glass canning bottles with water and mixed in two packs of the same Kool-aid in each.

• Berry Blue - only contains blue 1
• Lemon Lime - contains yellow 5 and blue 1
• Black Cherry - contains Red 40 and blue 1
• Tropical Punch - contains Red 40 and Blue 1

I put each skein in the bottle and cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes at a time, letting it cool a bit between nukings. The first three were twisted into a skein so the color wasn't picked up all the way through the middle and there are spots of cream, particularly in the green and blue. The red (black cherry) actually soaked in pretty well. That's when I decided to not twist the last skein and just dropped it in the tropical punch.

Finally, I rinsed and hung them to dry. Aren't  they lovely?

I knit up some swatches to see what they looked like. The blue turned out well, if a bit bright, but my favorite was the Black Cherry. I think I'll do that one again with a looser skein.

I went back and tried to tone some of them down with brown and black.

• Wilton's Black contains Blue 1, Red 3, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6
• Wilton's Brown contains Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, and Blue 1

I added vinegar as the acid to the yarn while it was soaking, since the food coloring doesn't include acid like the kool-aid does.

I added some brown to the green and it ended up a bit different then I expected - more camo style.

I'll probably just make up some preemie hats with the mini-skeins and donate them. Of course, I'll also have to buy lots more wool and kool-aid. This was really fun to do and it was so neat to see the yarn take up the color.

Hat Pattern - made up on the fly.
Cast on 60 sts on dpns, knit some 2x2 rib, knit in stockinette for about 3 inches then started decreasing randomly. when there were 6 sts left I just worked an I-cord for a few inches.