Yellow FIFA Sweater

It all started with my new noise cancelling wireless headphones. This autumn I've been obsessed with listening to audiobooks during my daily walks, and even on my trips downtown. The weather this autumn was very mild, even warm and if i needed a hat, it was my cap to shade my eyes from the sun. 

And then came late November and it became too cold to walk in the park for an hour, often longer, without a warm hat. The headphones work over a hat, but not as effectively as directly on the ears. So, faced with my tiny problem, and as stupid as it sounds, I googled images of hats and headphones and came upon this picture of Selena Gomez from Only Murders in The Building. I was absolutely fascinated by her look with the yellow hat and the yellow sweater. Probably this is the inspiration I've been waiting for all year long, for I immediately started searching for suitable yellow yarn and planning a similar look.

Just then the sales for Black Friday were happening and I settled upon a sale offer from a Bulgarian yarn company, that I have used before - Performance yarn. The yarn I bought is supposed to be 100% merino of fine quality, 250 m / 100 g - exactly in the range of thickness I was shopping for and in a delightful mustard yellow color. 

Even with the sweet 20% off from the BF sale, the yarn was expensive, within the price range of the Italian bobbin merinos I've been buying these last years. Maybe I've been spoilt, but the quality of the yarn did not meet my expectations, given its price, so I won't be shopping any time soon from this company.

But I cast on my sweater anyway. I wasn't planning it as a FIFA World Cup sweater, I even thought of boycotting the football cup because of Qatar's questionable hosting, but football is football and I simply couldn't miss the emotions I get from following the matches every four years. And thus for two weeks now I've been watching the games and knitting my yellow FIFA sweater.

The inspiration sweater is a machine knitted raglan fisherman rib sweater. I'm knitting mine in half-fisherman rib and so far I've done the front and the back up to the armholes and this evening, while my beloved Spain lost to Morocco :(((, I cast on one of the sleeves. I plan to knit the two sleeves up to the armholes as well and then I'll decide whether to continue the sweater raglan or with separate sleeves.

I'm also playing with the idea of adding small zippers at the hem sides of the sweater, but I'll think about it when I come to that AND if I can find suitable zippers. I hope I'll be able to finish the sweater till the end of the World Cup and if I have enough remaining yarn, I plan to knit the matching hat too.

Work In Progress: Chocolate Sweater

A sneak peek in my other project bag :)

This is a work-in-progress, a sweater, actually - I hadn't knitted sweaters this year since early February, when I finished my Chaika. 

The yarn is my own dye work, I have only three balls, 100 g each and the yarn has been long discontinued, so I have to make do with what I have. That is why I am knitting all parts simultaneously, keeping track of the amount of yarn I am left. The pattern is my own design, a simple boxy thing with grown slanting shoulders and added sleeves without sleeve caps.

Because the yarn is hand-dyed, as hard as I tried, I couldn't make it identical and the three skeins came out in different shades. It shows, less in real life than under the flashlight of the camera. Anyhow, I've decided I'll knit it up and live with the differences. I could have alternated skeins, but not only alternating is difficult and slow, but it also creates stripes and I was not sure I would have liked that either.

I have only one cast off element - one of the sleeves and the front is probably long enough up to the underarms. I hope I'll be able to finish it till the end of the year, but we'll see, I have many other ongoing projects as well.

And another sneak peek - I finished my skirt yesterday. Today was a rather busy, plus cold and wet day, but I hope to be able to take a few modeled pictures of it tomorrow. So don't forget to check it out :)

WIP: Purple Christina

Last year in July I came upon a sale of bright pink Drops Muscat cotton yarn and I grabbed 8 balls of it and overdyed it in black to move the color to variegated dark purple. The yarn was intended for my mother, but as she is not a very keen knitter, she asked me to knit a cardigan for her, using the yarn. Years ago I had knitted two Joys by Kim Hargreaves - one for Gaby and one for my mother and she still wears her Joy with pride and erh, joy :). So what she had in mind was something similar, and my immediate idea was - Christina by the same designer. I love the pattern and I'm a little surprised that it has been forgotten - the last finished Christina on Ravelry is from 2017.

I'm well ahead in my knitting, with one back and two sleeves already done. I've blocked one of the sleeves and what a difference blocking makes to this texture! I can't even imagine how uninformed I was in 2012 - I didn't block my Christina and it shows in the blog pictures. Thankfully now I know better - not only do I block my finished objects, but I try to knit big enough gauge samples and wet block them before taking them into account.

Because the yarn is hand dyed, I alternate skeins, knitting two rows with one and two rows with the other skein. It slows me, but it does make a difference and provides a more smooth transition from skein to skein. The picture below shows the difference in size and texture between the blocked and the still not blocked sleeve.

I'm off to cast on the right front :). I should be able to finish the cardigan in time for the warm spring and summer evenings ahead.

WIP: Lavandula

On Friday evening I cast on a new sweater for Gaby and I can wholeheartedly recommend it as the most popcorny knitting I've done recently. I'm not following a written pattern, but the general instructions on the construction of this type of sweater in Olga Kondratyeva's video Polygonal Seagull.

My yarns are Zegna Baruffa Kent, 100% Italian bobbin merino, 200 g, 900 m / 100 g, in two threads and Zegna Baruffa Cashwool, 100% Italian bobbin merino, 20 g, 1500 m / 100g, in three threads. And I also added some beads to the light lavender yarn. I added the beads, using the "as you go" method and a crochet hook (or rather a small resistor, which I shaped as a hook, as I don't have such a small crochet hook).

As you can see, for three days I've already knitted the upper part of the body and almost finished with one of the sleeves. And I'm back to my stitch markers, made out of cotton yarn and beads. I've tried plastic markers, small safety pins, metal wire markers, but I give up - cotton thread markers are the only ones that work for me.

Blue Cardigan. Details

Last night I sewed the buttons to the long blue cardigan and it is now wet blocked and officially ready to wear. Gaby tried it and styled it with a fitted dress and low boots and I like the look of it on her. Some of the details I added to the cardigan:

A ribbed wedge between the sleeve opening and the sleeve. The wedge is formed using short rows and, apart from adding some interest to the design, it continues the slope of the shoulders (which are also formed with short rows), thus helping to eliminated any bulk under the arms:

Small buttons to the sleeves on a stripe of elongated rib:

The pockets are deep and separate from the body, so that they are not simply a decorative element, but Gaby can truly keep her hands in them - the idea of this cardigan is to be a work horse for university.

The most work consuming feature - the almost unnoticeable small pockets of stockinette stitches, which cover the edge of the fronts and the back, from which the stitches for the button bands are picked. To avoid excessive thickness there, I knitted each side of the "pocket" with a single thread and then combined the two threads to continue knitting the actual button bands. I really like this neat finish, though it is almost lost in the heather of this yarn. This is one of the videos I looked up for this detail.

Modeled photosession - hopefully on Monday, after Gaby's upcoming exam (one of six for this semester).

WIP: Blue Cardigan

My first WIP for 2019 is a long promised simple woolen cardigan for Gaby. It's even a bit too simple and I'm wracking my brain to think of small embellishments to face-lift its crude rustic look. Today one of those Russian bloggers I've been listening to lately shared a thought that struck a chord with me. She's knitting a very simple stockinette sweater and she's making a neck-piece that is attached to it in a rather sophisticated manner. According to her with such simple things it is the precision and mastery of the details that make the difference between a beautiful garment and granny's vest. I'm planning to use her idea for the button bands to my cardigan.

My inspiration is this acrylic cardigan, sold by H&M. The yarn I'm using is new to me, Kent by Zegna Baruffa, again Italian bobbin yarn. It is 100% merino, 900 m / 100 g and I'm knitting it in two threads.

Photo from H&M site

I'm planning to add the pockets as afterthought pockets, similar to afterthought heels. I've never done it before, but it should work on the same principle. And Gaby insists on buttons. I bought a handful of brown buttons to go with the brown leather tag, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about them. I'm almost done with the second front and I plan to attach it to the back, using the three-needle method and to give it a good blocking, while I'm knitting the sleeves.
While downtown, searching for buttons, I bought beading wire and crimp beads and I made my first wire stitch markers. It was great fun and the possibilities are limitless. I even feel a bit tempted to try handmade jewelry with beads and wires, so stay tuned :)

WIP: Raspberry Heart

My Raspberry Heart sweater, which I'm knitting with the yarn I dyed last month, is almost done and it's going really well. It is again a sweater designed by me, boxy shape, reverse stockinette stitch with a small heart cable, split twisted stitch rib, drop shoulder, rounded neckband. Initially, when I first conceived the idea of this sweater I had just heard of the NaNoSweMo - National Sweater Knitting month and I thought this could be my participation in it. But I was then in the process of finishing my Wisteria sweater and I had to choose between starting a new big project and finishing a long-standing WIP. I chose the latter and I think I did right. I'll certainly be able to finish the new sweater within a month, just not in the month of November. I started it on Nov 23rd and I have about half a sleeve and the rib of the other sleeve to do, so I reckon I have enough time to finish it. And it could be my this year's Christmas sweater for Gaby, I could make it a tradition there with her black brioche sweater I gifted to her for last Christmas and the Mondrian Color Block Cardigan for the Christmas of 2015 :)

Because my yarn is hand dyed, this time I decided to alternate skeins. I'm using the Felix method for alternating in the round and it works brilliantly - smooth transition and no strands pulling the knitting, I highly recommend it!

The back of the sweater is plain reverse stockinette and as I'm knitting it in the round, the body was all smooth thoughtless stockinette knitting with just a small cable to break the monotony and facilitate the keeping track of my progress.
To spice up a bit the plain back I added just a single heart "tattoo" between the shoulders.

For the sleeves, after several false starts in reverse stockinette, I decided to knit them in stockinette stitch, picking up the stitches from the body and adding a few short rows for a smoother transition. I had plans to make the sleeves different, I have a very soft spot for balanced asymmetry, but in the end I'll leave them plain. And I'm not alternating skeins for them, I think the skeins are identical enough so that the sleeves look the same, knitted from the two skeins each. So far it seems 200 g will be enough for a whole sweater, the yarn is again fingering weight (500 m / 100 g) and it will be a small light sweater. A bit about the yarn - this is the first time I'm knitting with it and I'm not very happy - it's scratchy. I got spoiled with those superfine Italian merinos I've been knitting lately and this alpaca/merino blend is surprisingly rustic and itchy. I hope washing will soften it, but I'm not buying it again - there are so many new interesting yarns to try and other quality yarns to repeat knitting with.

Mitered Square Blanket: Progress Update

I had abandoned my Mitered Square Afghan for a while, but I've been back to it and knitting it with full speed. I passed through the point where it was big enough for a cover for our balcony sofa, but I decided I wanted it a full size blanket. I'm enjoying it so much! However, because I started it out of cotton/acrylic blend, it is not as warm and cozy as a wool blanket and I'm seriously considering a second one next year, out of wool/acrylic blend. Dyeing all the tiny skeins of yarn and then turning them into colored squares is simply too much fun :)

: A few progress pictures

: And this is how I join the squares. Instead of picking up stitches with the new yarn, I go with a small sharp needle (I believe it's a US00  - 1.75 mm needle) through the bumps of the garter stitches of the square to the right of the new square - this makes 17 new stitches

and then I continue going through the square to the bottom of the new one and further create 17 more stitches + 1 in the middle, a total of 35 stitches.

Then I fix the new thread and directly start knitting the new square with my 3 mm needles.

The last two squares of this row are done. I've decided the width of the blanket to be 13 squares, which is about 1 m wide now, before washing, but given how garter stitch stretches, I expect it to grow to at least 1.20 m wide.

As for the length, I've knitted 14 rows of squares so far (you can see on this last picture I've added a whole row of squares to the blanket) and I intend to make them probably 23 or 24 rows. I'll have to go downtown today and buy at least  400 g more of white YarnArt Jeans to continue my blanket. The final product will be about 1 kg in weight.

WIP: Secret Garden Cropped Cardi

FREE PATTERN DESCRIPTION
 

I have finally a cropped black cardi to show - my Secret Garden Cropped Cardi. This is the same yarn - Performance Cotton Gem in black, which I had purchased for the frogged Vogue cardi. My decisions for this cropped cardi were so many and so wrong most of the time that this small cardigan, which should have taken me a week or so of enjoyable knitting, took me more than a month and cost me so many troubles! First - it was the wrong choice of pattern, but that can happen. Then - it was the insufficient quantity of yarn. Instead of ordering all of the yarn online from the beginning, I bought the two balls available in the shop, then a week later - two more balls which the shop procured for me, with the promise to provide more if I needed later. In the end I knitted and unravelled a lot to match the balls of yarn from different batches, frogged and shortened the sleeves to make the yarn suffice (because the shop never delivered more of the yarn) and in the end I found the manufactures site and ordered the yarn I was missing online.

After browsing Ravelry and Pinterest for cropped cardies, I eventually decided to design it myself, using a stitch pattern from the Japanese knitting stitch bible I got as a present for Mother's day. I sampled several patterns and in the end I chose stitch 104. For the rib I continued down the cables, but for the button bands and the neck band after much deliberation and sampling I decided on a simple 2x2 ribbing.

And here's the little black cardi finally finished. I'm fairly pleased with it, though I would have preferred more interesting buttons and maybe only 4 buttons would have been enough. I did think long about the size and the placement of the buttons and 5 big buttons seemed OK, but today as I sewed them I was not completely satisfied with them. I'll leave it as it is for now and if Gaby doesn't like them at all, I might redo the bands next year. May be :)

The cardigan is for Gaby and I hope we'll be able to have a small photosession with it modeled when she returns from her two months' practice at Cambridge university next week. Until then - just these flat photos.

Wisteria Sweater II

So, after finishing my angora FIFA sweater, which I enjoyed so much, and with still half the World Cup tournament ahead, I felt like prolonging the experience of knitting a stockinette sweater in the round. I spent most of my knitting time in April on a mohair sweater with hand-dyed yarn, which I ended ripping off. But I loved the yarn so much that I decided to give it another go. This time I'm designing it boxy and short (still debating the length), in reverse stockinette, bottom up. I plan compound raglan with shoulder patches, continuing from the sleeves and round neckline.

To spice up the simple texture I added an interesting cable to the sleeves, which I plan to continue on the shoulder patches. The yarn is very thin - 750 m / 100 g, difficult to knit and I wouldn't call this process very enjoyable. So I'm determined - regardless whether I like the final result, that's it, I'm not reknitting this yarn for the third time.

The tournament finished last night and I'm only halfway through the new sweater, but I hope I'll be able to finish it before the colder days and evenings are back. It'll be a perfect early autumn sweater.