Peach Tree

Say Goodbye to Our Month

We're nearing the end of "our" month (Knitty 2007 Calendar). Being a calendar girl has been a real treat! Thanks again to Martine, Kat and Anna (and Glampyre for her design) for making it all possible.

Under the Hoodie

I've wanted to knit this sweater ever since I bought Stitch N' Bitch, but really didn't want to use Rowan Kid Classic yarn as I find it too itchy. I finally decided on Rowan Classic Soft Lux in two neutral colours, Sable and Cashmere. I couldn't be happier with the finished product!

Blythe

She's a very quick and satisfying knit.

Knit with Rowan Little Big Wool in Moonstone (#507) and Amber (#508).

Pattern from the Rowan book Arabesque.

The Big Sack Sweater that's just not Big and Sacky Enough!

Yup, 2 posts today. Maybe more if Momo's nap gets any longer (already been 2.5 hours)!

Here's yet another FO from the fabulous Stitch N' Bitch book - the Big Sack Sweater by Jenna Wilson. See pic here: View this photo

Yet despite the fact that I used the same yarn the pattern calls for, had the correct gauge, and followed the instructions to a "T", the damn thing ended up being way too short (although the sleeve length is perfect). I'm scratching my head wondering what the F* happened? And I'm pondering frogging it down to the armholes and adding a few more rows to lengthen it. But that just seems like a lot of work.

However, I have been wearing this baby tons this winter. It's extremely warm and cozy and the colour's just awesome.

Hmmm..what to do...?

An Oldie but a Goodie

Here is an FO from last year. It's Skully from Stitch N' Bitch and I love it to death!

This was #1 on my To-Knit List when I first learned how to knit 2 years ago. But due to the fact that I couldn't find a suitable substitute yarn for it, and since I was 5 months pregnant at the time and desperately wanted to start and finish a baby blanket before the Peach popped out, I had to set it aside and knit the blanket instead. Finally, my MIL's best friend, Heather, found the exact yarn the pattern calls for, bought 7 skeins for me and sent them all the way to Tokyo - what a doll!

Since this was my first time doing intarsia, I had a heck of a time trying to keep all those blasted baby balls of yarn in order. After trying a number of techniques, I finally found a shoe box, cut about 8 tiny holes in a line across the lid, dumped the balls in the box, thread the ends of each ball through the holes, numbered the holes 1-8, numbered the colored sections of the chart correlating to each ball of yarn 1-8, then just went for it. Worked like a charm!

This is the perfect project to knit if you want a really warm, comfy sweater with BIG sleeves.

Plus it looks cool ;)

Ribbed Lace Socks

These are what I decided to knit out of some Fleece Artist sock yarn I bought in the summer. At first, I tried to knit the original sock pattern the yarn came with, but they ended up being way too baggy and unflattering - booooring. So I frogged 'em, picked up the best sock book in the world, and picked out a scrumptious 8-stitch lace pattern - ribbed lace, and this is how they turned out:

   

A Dress for Renae

Wow, 2 posts in one day!

This was one of the projects I brought along with me to Canada this trip. Another cutey-patootey dress from the Miss Bea collection. This one is called the "Jumping Dress" from Miss Bea's Playtime. I knit the 1 - 2 years size using Rowan Handknit Cotton in 4 colours.

Little Renae is my cousin's daughter. Isn't she just the cutest little thang?!

Something to Keep Mr. Whisper's Neck Warm (and mine too)

The Mistake Rib Scarf, knit with Rowan Chunky Print (2 balls) and Lantern Moon needles (9mm).

I liked this stitch pattern so much, I decided to knit one for myself using Rowan Plaid (also wanted an excuse to use my Lantern Moon needles again...). I'm just finishing it up now.

3 FOs!

I've been finishing up old projects like a madwoman these days! I tend to do that - knit all the pieces to a project until I inevitably run into a problem with finishing, chuck it aside, start a new project, knit until I run into a problem with that one, chuck that one aside, start working on another project...and so on and so on...until one day I suddenly get the urge to just bust through with the finishing of all my projects. And I always feel so relieved and satisfied with the result - a bunch of new FOs to show off:

I'm wearing the Charlotte I made for my Mom for Christmas. Click here to see the one I made for myself last year.

The adorable sweater I'm holding in my right hand is Agnes from Rowan's Little Treasures book, knit with Rowan Baby Soft. I was intending to give this to my cousin's little girl for Xmas, but am thinking of keeping it for Momo cuz it's just so darn CUTE and SOFT!

The jacket I'm holding in my left hand is knit with Rowan All Seasons Cotton (I can't remember which book I got the pattern out of), and is for Momo. The best thing about this piece is by far the cute flower buttons I bought at La Droguerie in Harajuku.

Here are some close-ups:

3 Gems

The Rowan/Jaeger shop (just a 5 minute walk from my house!) had a big sale on selected sample pieces this past weekend. I snagged 3 gems, all for a super-amazing price!

The sweater ia a Jaeger design (and yarn), and the bobbly bag is knit with Rowan Summer Tweed (one of my personal faves.)

This last one is knit with Rowan All Seasons Cotton (I think).

 

What to do about those baggy ankles...

These are the Garter Rib socks from Charlene Schurch's incredible book, Sensational Knitted Socks (Thanks, Faye!). But alas, the ankles are too baggy. I had the same problem with my Jaywalkers (although not nearly as bad). Either I just have super-skinny ankles, or my gauge somehow manages to get looser at the ankle parts only. Am thinking the way to solve this problem is to either a) knit those parts with smaller needles, or b) somehow work decreases there (but wouldn't that screw up the pattern?).

Ideas anyone?

Colinette Candy

I picked up one hank each of Colinette's Prism (top) and Zanziba (bottom) from the Beehive in Victoria. Pattern ideas anyone? Was thinking a warm, winter hat using Prism, and a scarf for my aunt with Zanziba.

From beans to yarn

10 balls of SWTC's soysilk yarn, Karaoke (50% soysilk, 50% wool) in color 289, ordered from Kpixie. This stuff is made from soybean residue from tofu manufacturing. Cool, huh?

And with this fabulous fiber, I'm going to knit Glampyre's Simple Knitted Bodice, which happens to be this month's Sexy Knitters' Club KAL.

I haven't decided yet what I'm going to use as the carry-along yarn in the lacey bits. I might just add beads to the same yarn, or maybe buy some Tilli Tomas Rock Star, which is expensive, but sooo cool.

Can't wait to get started on this one!

Finished Jaywalker

I'm done my sock,

I'm done my sock,

Hot damn, I'm done my first sock!

And no, that's not a glitch on the toe - my middle toe(s) are actually almost as long as my big ones...freak!

Sock yarn...yummy!

Yesterday I bought some fabulous sock yarn by Canadian Fleece Artist at a great store up-island called the Loom, in Whippletree Junction.

Then today I grabbed some Lang Jawoll cotton superwash sock yarn in a tasty pink/blue/orange downtown at the Beehive, along with some other treats that will be featured in a future post. And last but not least, I bought some more Lang Jawoll (Color Superwash) in a delectable cherry flavour and started knitting my first pair of socks ever - Grumperina's Jaywalkers!

I think this could be the beginning of a new obsession. I can already tell I'm going to have the dreaded "Second Sock Syndrome" though as I found myself secretly wishing I only had one foot.

* Note the nifty stitch marker I borrowed from my MIL. Gotta git me some o' those.

Boutique De Laine

   

The Loom

The Beehive

Green Honey and my new toy

Green Honey

I realize this looks nothing like the pattern picture. I did use the same yarn though (Rowan Summer Tweed), but for some reason I chose a really bright green that may be a bit much...but man this yarn smells good! Like a stack of hay or a clean barn (can you tell I was once a farm girl?!) And I just love finding bits of twig and straw in my yarn while knitting. Is this weird?

So yeah, I made a few changes: shorter sleeves, no button at the top, and I plan on actually wearing something underneath it - unlike the lovely model in aforementioned pattern pic (and it probably won't be this Lockup T-shirt either).

My New Toy

So I'm at the yarn store the other day, taking my usual Tuesday afternoon lesson, and I notice all these cute little flowers on the counter that the ladies there had made. I thought that one of these made into a brooch would look cute on my Bad Penny, so I had them teach me how to make one using one of these contraptions and the pattern from this book:

And here's the result:

Another FO (something we've all seen before...)

She's on a roll, folks!

Here's my completed Orangina knit with Rowan 4-Ply Cotton in Bloom (or is it Cheeky?):

Soon to finish Honey and (fingers crossed) Buttercup...

At long last...

Finito!

Here she is: Bad Penny - in the right size this time.

Note: That's not a roll of fat above the bottom ribbing! I must've used a smaller needle than I should have for the pink parts. The ribbing is too tight in both the bottom and the sleeves, although I like the way the collar turned out.

I highly recommend Rowan Calmer - so unbelievably comfy to wear!

The first time I made this I screwed up my guage (which is easy to do with this yarn), and it turned out way too big. So I frogged the entire thing and started again from scratch - using the same size needles if you can believe it!

   

Namaste

Here's my finished Namaste yoga mat bag. It's a good thing I enjoy cabling, 'cause there sure was a lot of it.

There are exactly 2 reasons why I've been putting off joining a yoga studio near my place: 1) because I don't have time, and 2) because up until now, I didn't have a funky, handknit yoga mat bag to show off!

And that's what it's all about, you know.

By the way, the yarn I used was a Japanese brand that says "More happy knitting yarn" on the label.

Bad picture of a dope sweater

Here is my Forecast which I finished ages ago, but have yet to take a decent picture of. This was taken with my cell phone camera (hot pink as you can see)...

I can't wait for autumn so I can wear this again!

Dixie and new haircuts

Mr. Whisper and I both got haircuts today. I'm wearing the Dixie scarf I knit out of my JoSpun yarn from Anna. Hey Anna - did you know your yarn matches my eye colour perfectly before you gave it to me?

JoSpun

Anna's birthday present to me was about 300g of gorgeous merino wool - that she spun herself! I call it JoSpun and it's fabulous! I've decided to make the Dixie Scarf (a Kim Hargreave's design for Rowan) with it, minus the i-cord fringes.

Thanks Anna!

2 PENNIES FROGGED!

Omigod... I did it!

This is the first time I've ever frogged an (almost) FO - and I did 2 entire pieces at once! Am I completely mad? I actually almost cried while ripping these out. It was like I was fishing, reeling in miles and miles of line, only to discover there's no damn fish at the end, just a hell of a lot of tangled seaweed!

So what was supposed to be Penny (from Rowan's Big Easy) will now be Jude (from Rowan's Bigger Picture). And what was supposed to be Glampyre's Bad Penny will now be...Glampyre's Bad Penny - IN THE RIGHT FRIGGIN' SIZE!

Before:

After:

Here's what Bad Penny looked like on me before I frogged her:

Ganbarimasu!

         

Done Dylan

Here he is in all his Big Wool glory. Merry belated X'mas, Mista Whispa! 

New haircut and Forecast thus far

I love my new haircut. Takashi - you rock!

And here's my version of Forecast, a wicked design by the ever-so-talented Glampyre. I copied Kat's 4x4 cable idea, and will probably add a few rows onto the lower body part as well. Still haven't decided how I want to do the sleeves though. Oh yeah, and I'm also using Rowan Cork - an awesome yarn they should NOT be discontinuing.

Wish I could say I knit this

How adorable is this knit bundler from Baby Gap?! I bought it on sale last week and will ship it off to my cousin in Manitoba tomorrow. Her baby girl, Renae Jane, was born on the 15th and is cute as a button of course.

I did, however, knit the little booties. Here's a close-up shot:

The World's Biggest Swatch

I had to frog this and start over using needles 4 SIZES SMALLER than the ones called for in the pattern. Either I'm just an incredibly loose knitter, or Debbie Bliss (this is her pattern Lara) is a really tight knitter. Anyway, I've learned my lesson about not knitting swatches before starting a project. The reason I didn't knit one is because this is the project I brought with me to our 2-day trip to Nikko in December, and I didn't want to bring more than one pair of needles with me...duhhhh.

Finished Fanny!

Here she is...finally! Thank you Rowan for Big Wool! This feels like I'm wearing a sweater made of butter. I think I'm going to have to start buying lotto tickets, and when I win, spend the rest of my days happily knitting things out of Merino wool.

Itchin' 2 B Stitchin'

All I wanna do these days is knit. I blame my MIL who got me started last Christmas. She's created a monster!

These are just a few of the projects I have on the go right now.