WIP: Can you guess?

I'm working on something pretty amazing, and can't WAIT to share finished product photos.

But first, can you guess what it is based on materials?

There is a clue in this picture that should tip off the biggest nerds.

C'mon! Take a guess!

WIP - Kouki Cardigan for Her!

A quick glimpse at the Kouki Cardigan - in girl colors!

Never confidant with my color choices but I think this is pretty swell.

This is one of those projects that I am itching to knit, all the time. And it's crushing me that I can't just sit and finish the whole thing....crushing. Me.

I mean come on...look at that fair isle!

It's fun and quick this second time around (I'm doing a few sizes down - 12 months instead of 24 months). Only downer is doing fair isle flat. It's challenging enough to do it in the round (especially with four colors!) and doing it flat is serious thumbs down.

Hoping to have this done by Easter for Baby Q to wear while she hunts those eggs like Lara Croft. 

Mods Gone Wild! Kouki Cardigan Edition

I'm working on a very lofty interpretation of the fantastic Kouki Piloto Cardigan by Kyoko Nakayoshi of Cotton and Cloud.

Too cute!

Disclaimer:
I'm a huge fan of modifications and taking creative control. HOWEVER, I think it is even more important to honor the designer's original work. I realized after I started this that there are no other projects listed on Ravelry for this pattern... and I am completely embarrassed! I've set aside yarn and am going to knit this as written ASAP. Kyoko Nakayoshi is one of my favorite designers, and I feel so bad to have overlooked this.

But for now, back to the project.

The hobbly-gobbly experiment I mentioned is to create a toddler cardigan that honors the San Francisco Giants and their 2012 World Series win. (Hooray!)

Read up on it!

Mods started as:

• Change color to Giants colors, with style to match a baseball jacket
• Lining the jacket with some Giants fleece

This was a sketch of my original idea:

It took a while to find the right pattern to modify. (I was not up for completely fabricating a design. Why reinvent the wheel? I need all the experience I can get.)
As previously mentioned I'm a sucker for all things Kyoko Nakayoshi, so when I discovered her Kouki pattern it was hard to NOT pick it. She had just published it and I LOVE knitting her designs for the sheer process of it, not just the beautiful outcome.

However, I ran into a few issues with the mods I wanted. Can you tell? Here's the nearly finished product:

I basically got everything I asked for, but had to make a few compromises along the way. (Which involved a lot of re-doing!)

There is still a bit of work to be done, but I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully will update with more pictures soon!

WIP: Kouki Cardigan

Just a sneak peek at something grand I've been working on!

Black and Orange, you say?

So many things to say.

But you'll have to wait!

One more picture before I go? Sure, why not.

Uh oh, that doesn't look right...

Whoops!

Lots more to do.

NaKniSweMo - Day 25

Day 25 - Body is almost done! After this I move on to sleeves and then the collar. I bought 9" circular needles for this last week to try and expedite my knitting - no fussing with dpns.

Terrible dark photograph. No excuse, really.

Can't wait to see the lace open up. This is definitely going to grow quite a bit.

NaKniSweMo: Day 16

Here is where it's at:

Progress: finished the ribbing and started the pattern (almost 3 rounds of it)! It took me a while to get the hang of it at first (it was actually pretty excruciating) but now that I've got it figured out it's a nice quick knit.

On the upside, I finally got through the first skein! On the downside, holy cow I've only gotten through one skein. What, 9, 10 more to go? Yikes. I will have to do some serious guerilla style knitting it I want to come close to finishing.

14 days left.

NaKniSweMo - Day 9

So it's day 9 of mustache growing and sweater knitting.

My husband is making some fairly decent progress:

Putting the "joy" in looking skeevy.

As for myself...

(Pardon the chaos in this photo)

Looks impressive enough, right?

SIKE! That's what I did in March. I haven't done a stitch so far this month.

Depressing.

Well, there are still 21 days left in the month... And hey, my mother-in-law is supposed to visit next week so looks like I'll have plenty of opportunity to distract myself with awkward, angry knitting. I'm not giving up hope yet!

NaKniSweMo - Day 1

Yikes - almost forgot!! November first means it is the start of NaKniSweMo - National Knit a Sweater Month!

Unfortunately, I completely missed the boat on this one. I did not plan ahead at all! No design picked or yarn purchased. Slightly more pressing things in mind, I suppose.

HOWEVER! I do have that cardigan I started earlier this year, and never finished...and I know it seems a bit like cheating, but I think I'm going to have to take it as a handicap. "Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor."

Besides, it is kind of appropriate for me to finish this sweater now. I started it in March but had to stop due to terrible morning sickness. Haven't been able to look at it since. (I also haven't been able to knit in a moving car anymore.) Perhaps it was destined to be finished now?

The pattern: Pomme de pin Cardigan by Amy Christoffers

Yarn: Valley Yarns Huntington in yellow

So while my husband is busy growing a mustache for men's health (www.movember.com) I'll be working on this. Yay.

I am not afraid of my Serger Part II: Piecing The Quilt

I am still working on photos for this portion, so you'll have to do with words for now.

So: Once I finally had my arrangement decided upon, piecing was easy.

I followed the recommendation from the original pattern and just picked up pieces in a single row, then sewed them all together. Since I was working with the machine it made things a lot faster, which meant no need to carefully stack every row and place in labeled zip-lock bags - each row only took about 5 minutes or so to piece together! I tested out the style of stitching I wanted with some scrap pieces beforehand and was able to get some nice looking ladders:

Using this blog post as a guide to flatlock stiching, I was even able to emulate the look from the original pattern! (Which is all hand stitched...admirable or masochistic, you decide.)

Once I finished piecing all the strips I ironed them out and miraculously, they are all pretty much the same length. I was careful when building the pattern to find pieces that added up to the same length - glad to see that it actually worked out.



Although it was super tempting to just continue to work and try to finish the quilt, I had already spent an exorbitant amount of time on this project and my son needed to go to sleep (which means no more machine running...we have a very small house).

Funnily enough, I went into labor this night. One of the first things I thought when I woke up with contractions was "But my quilt!! I wanted to finish that today!!" I was so disappointed!! So, we'll see when I get time to put the final touches on this. The great news, however, is that when my step-dad came to see the new baby he brought our old Singer sewing machine with him! So I will have no problem finishing all the non-Serger aspects of this baby. (I was really scratching my head about how to border this thing...ever impatient am I.)

I am not afraid of my Serger Part II: Practicing With Felt

I recently inherited several boxes of fabric, one of which consisted entirely of felt. A few new pieces but mostly ends and scraps and strange bits. I knew this would be perfect for meditation and practicing some more Serger action, but I didn't know exactly how.

I adore Purl Bee for all their amazing patterns and fabrics, so this was the logical place to look for inspiration. They even have a section of felt projects, which made it really easy to browse. After considering coasters, placemats, bean bags, and a memory card game I finally settled on this quilt as a guide:

Because why have a bunch of useless bean bags when you can have one useless quilt? :)

So far I've managed to cut a million squares, iron them, and arrange them into a pattern I think I can like. Since this is basically just to keep me moderately occupied (I'm at home waiting for a baby to fall out of me) and to get some extra practice with the machine, it's nice to not have to worry about being precise.

Also, cutting through felt with a rolling cutter is so incredibly gratifying. I cleared the box in no time at all - look at how many squares I had!

ok, it's hard to tell. but those stacks are really high! 

Here's a picture of the arrangement I settled on. Can't wait to start sewing.

The black triangles are covering some of my slightly inadequate squares.

Update: If you've been attentive you will have seen that the baby DID fall out of me...so whaaa? I write posts in advance and schedule them for later publishing...that's why the time warp. Funnily enough, I went into labor the night I was putting this together.

At last! A new project

Getting a late start, but finally cast of for L's wedding shawl. Wedding is only ONE MONTH AWAY. Wish me luck.

blue pearl cashmere - Jade Sapphire

Pattern is the Bamboo Wedding Shawl from Purl Bee. Finally! An excuse to knit this.

WIP Wednesday

Here's another project that is NOT baby-driven. (It is starting to feel like babies rule everything around me!) Some gauntlet gloves for W, who is awesome and got me this cool book for Christmas: 

also love the lips. where do I get those?

[Technically the book is also from J but then I have to talk about how I should knit something for him too and that's just a conversation that I don't want to have. Mostly because he has it with me practically every day.]

There are so many cool projects that I've put on my queue from this book, but W took a shine to the gauntlet gloves: 

So on the needles we go. 

Took a day to finish a whole glove - not bad work for size 2 needles. Still have to block and seam, and just started the straps. I plan on finishing both of those before doing glove #2 - just to mix it up a little. I had tedious tiny projects when they are at the end - I usually try to get it out of the way so it feels more gratifying. 

rotten photo is all I've got

Bobbles aren't my favorite thing but these seem to have come out ok. Some careful steam block will hopefully take care of the inconsistencies I see. (Damn these Virgo eyes.) Hopefully I will finish these quickly and not get pompous or over-confidant, and ruin my momentum.

On the Needles - purple madness

Two projects - both purple!

I had to order more purple yarn for the second yoke jacket - and rather than twiddle my thumbs I decided to start a scarf for Baby E's abuelita.

a little smushy now, but blocking will definitely help

This is an amazing free pattern that has a tiny cable at the cross section of each 'X' - it actually calls for a bead to be placed at the cross but I have no beads. Too bad so sad. 

Also, it is the same yarn that I used for Baby E's cardigan...on special request. Good think I had some left over! It should actually be just the perfect amount.

And as you might have noticed - this actually is no longer on needles but rather a pin because THE NEW YARN ET ARRIVE. I had to swap my needles over to start working on the cable for the second jacket.

Again, I plan on integrating a little colourwork - this time from yet another mitten pattern...why are there so many cool mittens?? These are plum blossom themed. Check out the pattern here.

yes, you will suit my Asian theme just beautifully, you plum blossom you

On the Kneedles - Children's Yoke

Currently I'm working on something for the twins - already turning a year old! It is the Top-Down Baby and Children Yoke Jacket by Kyoko Nakayoshi (whom I greatly admire as a whole).

Cute in gray! But I'll be doing pink and purple

This is where it's at right about now:

Day 2

Because I can never leave things be, and for extra fun, I am planning on adding some intrigue to the bottom edge of the sweater. Since their parents met while teaching English in Japan they have a little extra love for Japanese things - and I want to reflect this. Presto - check out the pattern from these mittens that I have been DYING to make for myself.

Japanese Wave Mittens by Maya Poffenberger

The party is this weekend...yikes! At the very minimum I hope to have one completely finished, and the other one started. They're twins...they can share.

Modification Gone Wrong

Inspired by this amazing post I decided to try to duplicate the project and knit a cowl for a friend.

The more you knit, the more you learn. And apparently one lesson I need to learn repeatedly is to PLAN AHEAD.  *sigh*

Already skirt length and only 2/3rds done :( 

 Of course I totally eschewed the original pattern and eschewed looking at Raquel's notes (damn you hubris!) and now have knit myself into a rocky, hard placed corner.

Not sure if the original knitter ran into the same problem, but this sucker is HUGE. There is NO way it is going to morph into a beautiful cowl! I put in too many elephants, too many pattern repeats, too much of something...and now I can't in good conscious finish the project as I haphazardly planned. Perhaps I am being a bit of a perfectionist, but honestly I see no point in creating crappy knit works. This is where the "cross" comes in....(along with being cross-eyed from so many frogged rows and pattern repeats).

Mesmerizing, though, ain't it?

I suppose the lesson is...I am not a "seat of my pants" kind of knitter. I love, honor, and respect a good pattern. SIGH. Now to try and figure out what what to do with this non-cowl...

Ideas, anyone?