knit parade: tunic and rocketship

Because I am ambitious to the point of seriously deluded, I didn't feel like I could live with myself if I didn't knit my gifts. On top of all things, the knitting has to happen. And if it must happen, why shouldn't the product of the knitting time be a couple of nice things for the girl? 

First, she requested something pink. I haven't knit her a little pink dress 2 years ago now so I thought it was appropriate to indulge us both.

The pattern is Versa and it makes a really nice tunic. I lost the band on the yarn but it knits up like Cascade and is hand-dyed this lovely raspberry pink. 

I think the button on the back really makes the dress.

I think she likes it. 

Next up, the girl's asked for a rocket ship since I knit her brother one last year. 

I had hoped to knit her one in time for Christmas. I couldn't let her down now. 

The pattern is called Blast Off knit with Spud and Chloe sweater. 

I do like that each of my babes can have their own ride to the moon and beyond.

The girl even picked the colours out herself, much to my... discomfort.I wouldn't have put those colours together at all. But I daresay, they work.

Her expectations seem to be met, don't you think? 

I was hoping that having the thing with her in bed would encourage her to stay in her own bed all night. I even told her it was like she was sleeping beside me every time she hugs her rocket ship.

It didn't work. 

Oh well. I really can't win them all. 

knit parade: onward "shlanket"

In more knitting news, I knit a shawl so big, it's practically a blanket.

I'm calling it my Onward Shlanket and I adore it. The pattern is by Shannon Cook of Very Shannon, who co-wrote the pattern book Journey with my favourite designer, Jane Richmond.  The pattern is pretty special because not only was the shawl (shlanket to me) an easy and engaging knit, I felt so very clever for being able to make pretty arrows with while minding stir-crazy toddlers and most times half asleep, trying to resist the insistent charms of really sweet drooling kitten (she's 12).

She finally agreed to let me knit because really, what could be better than sleeping on my lap, under a shlanket? 

The shlanket is so big, I think it's actually taller than me! 

It's definitely taller than the boy! 

The yarn I used is from Sweet Fiber and oh my goodness, I think I have a new favourite: soft, lofty, and just exquisitely dyed. The colourway is called paper birch, a well-lit grey that I get to wear year-round with my all black and grey uniform.

3.25 skeins later, happiness is a shawl for all seasons.

Come on, Spring! It's your turn to linger! 

knit parade: my beacon hill cardigan

i've waited such a long time to share this with you. 

P

this is the sweater i volunteered to test knit way back when. and the pattern is stunning. it was an epic 6-week endeavor - complete with an all-over stitch pattern, 2 skeins worth of frogging, alternating skeins of handpainted yarn, and the search for the perfect buttons. 

i should've photographed it months ago. but i only go the go-ahead to share the sweater very recently. so i thought i'd take the my beacon hill sweater (official name) out for a walk on the train tracks on the day we got over 100cm of rain.

all in all, i'm very proud of my work on the beacon hill sweater and know that i'll be wearing it for many, many years. the design is classic. and so quintessentially me. and warm. so warm. 

beacon hill cardigan by jane richmond
hand-knitted using madelinetosh vintage in graphite

designed by the lovely jane richmond (whose patterns i have been known to knit over and over again), the beacon hill pattern can be found in the newly released cascadia: a gorgeous book full of knits by west coast designers, brought to you by the knit social ladies. 

i have grand plans to knit everything in the book. at some point. someday.

for now, i fully intend on wearing my beacon hill sweater to knit city, where i can be sure to meet other sweaters of its kind in a multitude of colours. i'm getting excited just thinking about it, actually. i get to see some very cool people again. and i get to meet the yarnharlot. she's going to teach me a thing or two. and then there's the market. 

yup, i'm totally doing a giddy dance in my chair.  

knit parade: yarn chicken

if a game of chicken is one in which someone dares to you to face your fear factor fears, than it follows that yarn chicken* can be defined as a game in which a knitter isn't exactly sure whether or not she or he has enough yarn to finish a project and forges forward by casting on anyway, yardage (and gauge) requirements be damned.

that's how i've been playing it, anyway. yarn chicken, that is.

for example, i played yarn chicken with my owley flugel sweater for the summer sweater kal and lost.

sweater front

sigh. although the yarn is rather reasonably priced (and so, so worth it the extra shipping and potential customs charges), my yarn budget is stretched to the limit at the moment and i've decided i'm going to fight back the tears be an adult about all of this and just let the sweater hibernate until i can get off the yarn diet. which may be awhile, because life happens.

there's the whole front left side still to do. then i'm supposed to pick up stitches for around the collar and then 8 rows of 1x1 ribbing. i think i'm gonna need 2 more hanks just to be safe.

sweater back

but isn't the sweater going to be so cute and awesome? it really, really is. 

wanna see the inside of my sweater? 

(see what i did there? i distracted you from the visual effects of my clumsy seaming. all i can say is, don't look back. don't. look down, it's even scarier.)

i know. when i shared this seaming predicament with the sskal ravelry group, the reactions i got included sincere sympathy empathy, cold sweats, racing hearts, and pure relief that although their project had some necessary seaming involved, their sweater did not look like it had been gutted from the inside.

after all was seamed and done, a pet fuzzball!

clearly, intarsia is not my strong suit. i tried many messy things seaming this sweater. and while i'm okay with the things i've done inside my sweater, i am not inclined to show anyone my gutsy seaming job. nope, you cannot make me. okay, maybe in exchange for the yarn i still need to finish this sweater. but nothing else can make me.

i digress.

because in the interest of full disclosure, i apparently play yarn chicken all the time. okay, 3 times, including above sweater. 

because in the interest of trying not to buy yarn, i turn to the stash. and i don't gauge swatch. 

because in the interest of living a life that is not motivated by fear, i like to live dangerously.

in the end, what i get out of each yarn chicken experience is another finished accessory or 2 and um,  spawn of the yarn i was trying to use up in the first place. ahem.

in my defense, i didn't buy the shibui stacatto yarn that i only needed 2 feet of, to finish this rae scarf (which i love). my cousin and now converted knitter (yes, i've been recruiting) bought it for me because he is a sweetheart.

i have no defense for buying more madelinetosh dk (lovely plied yarn). it's not even the same yarn as i started knitting these rathrevor gloves with. i originally used madelinetosh merino dk (single ply heaven),  the yarn shop isn't getting any more of it in the victoria gothic colourway. but about 5 feet into finishing a pair of gloves, i caved.

so, to conclude: i suck at yarn chicken and intarsia. but since all 3 knits were meant for me, it matters not. and i still have the yarn that i started with. that is, except for the yarn i need to finish my owl sweater.

good times.

*i did not coin the term yarn chicken. i saw it in a comment on instagram. i can't remember who posted it or for which photo but it was yarn harlot's. lots of people comment when she posts a photo. i have no idea if yarn chicken actually a thing outside my own definition. 

inside

someone called me outdoorsy recently and i almost laughed out loud. if you knew me growing up, "outdoorsy" wouldn't be a word you'd use to describe me.

and while it is true that i am actually outdoorsy - as in, i really do enjoy being outside in all kinds of settings - i really love being home.

and bringing the outside, in - well, it's my favourite, too.

while outside is starting to look a lot like fall, the days are still are hotter than my senses are choosing to believe. 

i want to stay inside. 

i want to eat food that makes me feel lit from within. i want oatmeal in the morning (already happening). i want my oven to pretend it's a bakery and dole out cookies and muffins and breads of all kinds (not quite happening). i want to decorate my house with pumpkins already.

i want to knit full time. 

check out the sweater i'm hoping to finish in time as part of my summer sweater kal shindig. the pattern is called flugel - a classic batwing silhouette that i'm rather smitten with these days. 

and since i can't have a pet owl, i thought i'd have one perch at the sweater's centre, using the chart from a pair of mittens i'd been meaning to make.

the yarn is quince and co. puffin and it's fluffy and meaty and delicious to knit with. so i can pretend there's already a veritable chill in the air.  the yarn is left over from a failed attempt at a sweater for me - which allows me to feel warm and fuzzy because i'm using stash yarn.

now this sweater, belongs to the wife. 

she's doing well, is she not? she's never made a sweater before and she dove right in with an adult-sized garment for her. she's knitting beeline and the using cascade 220 heathers. we're rather in love with the colour - a lichen green with teal and amber highlights.

neither of us know whether or not we're going to make the kal deadline with these sweaters but we're having fun with it anyway. these days, our date nights double as knit nights and i think it's pretty romantic that we're in this together.

and just in case you thought i was kidding about wanting to knit full time, you should know that i celebrated finishing the kids' sweaters by casting on 4 sock projects at the same time. you know, just the right amount of hardcore knitting to while away long car rides and commutes or to accompany late night tv watching and audio book listening.

i want us to have warm feet when the going finally gets cold.  

summer sweater kal: the finished sweaters

  

we took the kids and their finished summer sweater kal cardigans to the river beach for a shot at fishing and a bit of a photo shoot. the boy willingly modelled his sweater - which he claims to love. but the girl was having none of it today and that's just fine.

i'm really happy with how the kids' sweaters have turned out. i'm also well relieved that they are finished before the kal deadline (many thanks to the wife who sews buttons on for me. i don't love sewing buttons.) i may have already started a sweater for myself, with high hopes that i may just sneak it in. but time and circumstance will tell.  and in case you were wondering, the wife's sweater is getting on well, too. more on both of these anon.

we hadn't been to the river since before we went camping. today's leisurely visit through our favourite and familiar stomping grounds seemed to be just what we needed to reconnect as a family before the boy's school year officially begins.

have a fantastic first week of september!