Knitting JOURNEY: Antrorse

Like my new sweater? I obviously do!

 

The pattern is Antrorse and is part of the JOURNEY collection/collaboration.

The pattern is by Shannon Cook.
Like all of Shannon's patterns, the instructions are clear and incorporates classic sensibility with modern twists. I highly recommend this pattern!

I finished this a while ago, but it took me a while to photograph it. Mostly because it's been beastly hot and today was the first day I could stand to wear the sweater for more than five minutes.

This pattern is truly addictive..."Just one more pattern repeat" is what you'll find yourself muttering!

Leather vintage buttons from my stash. SCORE!

Woohoo!

Photo Credit: These two goofsters!

We had so much fun!

Knitting JOURNEY: Spate Mitts

After casting off my Onward shawl I had a skein and a half of Spud & Chloe sweater taking up space in my stashbox.
During a chatty-chat with dear pal Becca of Nook I had a "duh" moment when discussing the Spate mitts. why not use the leftover yarn from my Onward shawl? Spud & Chloe "Sweater" yarn is easy to knit, looks great and I know from how much I wear my shawl it's an easy color to wear too.
That conversation happened goodness knows how long ago but I finally made them! Right before the weather turns ridiculous here.

Pretty, eh?

Details on Ravelry project page.

I just think that it's plain awesome to have a friends that are always willing and happy to talk yarn/knitting! I love speaking a "third language" with these friends...you know who you are! xo

A Fun Afternoon

Due to extreme laziness on my part I have not sewed buttons on my Grace which took me months to knit and months to block. However, I finally got around to weaving in the ends and decided since I usually don't button my sweaters anyway this was not going to stop me from wearing it.

 

The next problem...photographing myself.

I don't have a tripod doohickey and photographing a whole sweater always poses a

So this afternoon harbored a great experiment to solve this problem.

I enlisted my lovely, genius, amazing five (AND A HALF, as she is always quick to point out) year old bebe to take pictures of her mama wearing the Grace cardigan.

The results:  

 "Hi Mama! What are you looking at, by the way? You need to look at me."

 

"Okay."

"Where are the buttons mama?"

"Oh, I forgot to put them on."

"It would look better with buttons."

"Yeeeeeees....."

"Okay Mama, I don't like looking at your back".

Not sure what she meant. 

Being a top model is tiring.

"Make a silly face mama!" 

\

I love my new-ish sweater!

The Heritage sock yarn is easy to knit with and makes for a super soft and cozy sweater.

For such a light knit it's very warm, and the color is vibrant and makes me happy.

I love the lace, the tiny garter detail, and I loved knitting it.

Knitting a sock yarn sweater is a serious time investment,

 but this sure was a fun way to celebrate finishing it!

My little buddy photographer! On the go!

ONWARD

JOURNEY, the latest collaboration between the Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook, was released for pre-order HERE. It is an inspiring collection of classic but modern pieces and I can't wait to delve into it!
I was privileged to be a part of the test-knitting process. I knit the "Onward" shawl.

It's the largest shawl I've knit and for me is as useful as a cardigan. I chose a blue that has turned out to be fairly neutral and works with many colors. 

I like to wear it (giant) kerchief style.

The shawl is reversible and patterned throughout, which makes for an engaging and fun knit.
 

 

I knit the shawl using 3 skeins of Spud & Chloe "Sweater" yarn. 

It gave great stitch definition and was easy on the hands for a wool-cotton blend. 

No pilling issues and I've been wearing the heck out of it!

All in all it was a pleasure and an honor to be a part of this "journey". 

Best of luck to shannon and jane!

magnolia cowl

First project from the ISLAND collection:

z

Arbutus cowl in Madtosh DK

colorway: Magnolia Leaf

This scrumptious yarn was so easy to knit with, I couldn't resist snapping pre-blocking photos. 

See the squish!

The cowl looks like a triple loop but is knit in one piece using short rows. This was also my first time doing a cable cast-on. It was fun to learn a new technique.

The first time I saw this colorway I knew I had to have it, because the area around our new home is lined with magnolia trees. I wish I could capture the color better...
Happy Election Day!

Flowers and buds

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to my mom. Where would I be, who would I be without you? Thank you for all you have done and are doing. I love you.

In other news, Happy Mother's Day to me! haha. Yesterday was a very fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of day. Daniel had to give a farewell message at church in Flushing and Manhattan, so we knew it was going to be a long day. The Manhattan chapter is close to my sister's apt. so we decided last minute to drop by and ended up making a night of it! It was great to spend more time with them because the move is SO CLOSE.

Tulips! My favorite!

Although the day was very long, it was so fun and awesome! Thank God for giving me my two little reasons to celebrate it with joy in my heart! 

Oh, I also had time to knit this:

Dogwood Cowl, pattern by Jane Richmond for Spud & Chloe

As soon as I saw this pattern I knew it was something I would want to knit and wear, and I was right! I knit it a little bit snugger than the pattern as I prefer my cowls to fit closely. It is so very warm and I'm happy to have yet another great looking cowl in my repertoire for possible gift giving. It's no surprise that Jane Richmond designed it. Haha. 

Slow and Steady - WIP Wednesday

With all the other stuff going on in our lives right now progress has been slow on my KAL project. While is is a relief on the mommybrain to reach the "knit even" part of the body, the seemingly endless rows of stockinette were starting to wear on me. 

But I'll tell you this...trying on your garment is certainly a great way to revitalize your interest in a project! I put it on waste yarn this morning and the fit is great. I was planning to snap a pic of myself in it but I haven't reached far enough for the picture to be...hrrrrm....decent. Haha. 

Knowing it fits makes me excited to finish and wear it! Hopefully I can wear it for Noelle's birthday. 

Gemini Top project page

There are a few gifts that I have planning to knit and the first one up is this kerchief for my hubby's boss's wife:

The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower

 After all the garter stitch and stockinette-in-the round (i.e., garter stitch) I am loving working on this stockinette pattern! I don't detest purling like some people I know (ahem, Shannon). It's so well-written and the garter stitch eyelet is such a clean-looking and effective touch. The yarn is Noro Kureyon Sock. While the texture is definitely not the softest, the colors are just amazing and add so much interest to an otherwise simple project. LOVE.

HUG ATTACK!!!

Rasta-Marian

My Gemini self needed a break from my Gemini (tiny needles and tiny yarn)...so I made a Marian cowl (pattern by Jane Richmond) with lofty, softy, delicious Malabrigo Rasta yarn. 

All I have to say is that this pattern and this yarn are a match made in heaven. Seriously.

 Attitude!

i love how she looks like she's being swallowed up by the scarf.

happy yarny babies!

looks like a top!

I've reached the sleeve separation point on the Gemini top which is the point in the top-down knitting process where the work actually starts to look like, well, a top!

Leave it to me to be nowhere near done and dreaming of my next project...Castle Pullover by Cecily Glowik McDonald...isn't it gorge?? I totally blame the KAL!

I'm thinking either of these yarns would work pretty well...
lovely Malabrigo Worsted from my Christmas yarn stash.

Which color should I go with?