Month: June 2008

Popping in

… to say hello!

Hello!

Ahhh, I’ve been slack in the blogging department again, haven’t I. I haven’t gone anywhere, really, just that the time (and words) keep getting away from me. Well there have been good and bad…

Good — Going to the Craft & Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour, and went home with a nice stack of fabrics and yarn (yep. yarn diet? what yarn diet??).

Bad — Father-in-law got admitted to hospital for heart problems. It was quite a scare. Had to cancel going to the WWKIP get-together as a result.

Good — He’s much better now, thankfully, and steadily recovering. As a bonus it has brought the family closer together.

Bad — Annette getting sick and being in a grouchy mood for a whole week.

Good — Going to dinner with a bunch of crafty ladies, where I scored this beautiful scarf made by Marina. It’s made of very soft (and pretty!) flannel, and feels really nice around my neck. The fabric is from eQuilter I was told, which I haven’t come across before, so will have to check that out. Looks like a massive store!

Scarf from Marina

Another good — A new hat for me, the Rose Red hat!

Rose Red hat

Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague. I made the medium size.
Yarn: Seasoned Spice Yarn Bee #120 in ‘Azalea’, from Spotlight.
Needles: 4mm circulars.

The yarn was a surprise find. I knew I wanted a red hat (red for a change, seeing that multiple people have pointed out to me that I always wear blue 🙂 and I have to say I like the change!) but I was having trouble finding just the shade of red that I want. Then one day while pottering around in Spotlight looking for something else, I found this little shelf tucked somewhat further away from the knitting section, with various yarn lines called “Yarn Bee”. And of course I couldn’t walk past undiscovered yarn without checking it out first 🙂 This particular yarn immediately called to me. It’s 70% wool/30% soybean, and there’s some silvery strands spun together with the red. Doesn’t quite show in this photo I’m afraid, but trust me it’s pretty. It wears quite well too so far.

Pretty red, great yarn and fun-to-knit pattern, what more can I ask for, really!

Hello winter

Tangled Yoke is done! Tangled Yoke is done! Yay!

Tangled Yoke

I gave myself a deadline of 1st of June (which is when winter “officially” starts around here) to finish this cardigan, and that was just when this was finished. With the weather getting colder and colder it’s about time really.

Tangled Yoke

Some details:

Pattern: Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang, published in Interweave Knits Fall 2007. Great, well written pattern. I loved knitting this. Everything just fell into place. No need to fudge numbers, no need to wrestle with it to make it work. Just mindless knitting mostly, with the exception of the interlocking cables at the yoke. Even then it wasn’t so bad, I love a good challenge.

Although, it wasn’t without casualties. I did have a miscrossed cable, which I didn’t notice until several rows down the track. As much as I enjoyed the knitting, I wasn’t going to rip back (have I mentioned that at one point in the cables section there were over 400 stitches on the needles?). So after I finished the cardigan, I fixed the miscrossed cable with the Yarn Harlot’s “draw on” method that she described on this post (scroll down to the “desperate measures” section. Indeed.) which does not require ripping back. It worked!

Tangled Yoke

Yarn: 6.5 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed in ‘Whisper’ (colour #141). Love this yarn. It was a bit prickly to begin with, but after a wash it softened up a lot, and produced this lovely warm fabric with a nice drape and a soft halo of fuzz. I think the alpaca content gives it extra warmth. I love how it’s cozy and warm without being heavy (the yarn itself is perhaps just a bit thinner than DK or 8-ply weight).

Needles: 3.75mm for the most part, 3.5mm and 2mm for yoke and button bands.

Tangled Yoke

And a close up of the buttons…

Tandled Yoke buttons

I just love this cardigan. I can see myself wearing this a lot!