Knitting Box – Page 24 – I knit, I sew, I blog

New Obsessions

Look what I got!

Victorian Lace Today, of course, needs no introduction. You can see the rave review here with lots of snapshots of the projects. It really is a lovely book with lovely patterns, and I also love the fact that this book has lots of patterns for rectangular shawls and scarves. I’m more of a scarf person than a shawl person myself, although I like shawls for special occasions, and unfortunately triangular shawls don’t look very good on me (although this book has one of the most beautiful triangular shawls I have ever seen). For me, I have my eyes on the Melon shawl which is on the front cover. And I’m thinking of making one of the scarves for my mum.

The other book is Iro Iro Nuigurumi (ISBN 4579109783), which has the cutest nuigurumi (rag dolls) patterns. Here are some of my favourites.

While doing a bit of research on the Internet, I came across Aranzi Aronzo, the company and designers that produced this book, and found that they also have a shop with their own line of fabrics, appliques, stationery, etc. So. Much. Cuteness!

30 January 2007

Endpaper Mitts

I love how these turned out!

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Grignasco Bambi in turquoise (#193) and pale green (#189)
Needles: Bamboo DPNs 2.00mm for the ribbing, and 2.75mm for the rest
Modifications: None
Other notes: I did the increases using the yarn over method that Eunny described here, which was new to me, and I think it does make it look neater.

And here’s the state of pomatomus, one sock down, one sock to go. The yarn is Celia’s Basket handpainted sock yarn. It’s more variegated than what I originally intended for these socks, but I quite like it. So far there are no crazy pooling, and I think the colours are blending quite nicely.

Oh, and thank you very much for all the sewing book suggestions! I checked at my local library and found that they have the Reader’s Digest sewing book (one of the older editions), which I’ve borrowed and flipped through. It looks good indeed, and I think I’ll need to get myself a copy. I’d love to do more sewing this year, although I won’t neglect knitting that’s for sure! 🙂

14 January 2007

Holiday crafting

I’m back! Well, I didn’t actually go anywhere, I’m still here, just relaxing and enjoying time with the family. Hubby is taking some time off work, and it’s been good having him around. We’re not traveling anywhere though, most of the time is spent at home, although we’re also trying to do the be a tourist in your own city thing. So far we’ve taken Annette to see the Sydney Opera House and the Coathanger (a.k.a. the Sydney Harbour Bridge). Very touristy.

And there have been some crafting too. First, I finished these hats for my nephews before Christmas.

On the left, is a Cupcake Hat for my 8 month old nephew.
Pattern: Cupcake Hat
Yarn: A mix of woolen yarns

On the right, is for my almost 3 year old nephew.
Pattern: My own fair isle pattern, and following the basic hat recipe from Knitting Rules!
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk in white and green

And here’s a summer dress I made for Annette.

The material is from a ladies skirt that I found at the local op shop. The pattern is my adaptation of Burda 3026. It’s an ‘adaptation’ because the original pattern has a hem ruffle (click the link to see what I mean), but I decided to raise the ruffle to make a high waist instead. This is the first sewn garment that I’ve ever made, and I’m very pleased with it! 🙂

After making this dress, it became clear to me that I need to get a proper sewing book. One that’s a good how-to book, and tells me what things are — so that I don’t have to keep referring to “that gathered bit” or “that thingy over there” etc. At the moment I’m thinking Sew U would be a good candidate for clothes making, judging by Amy at Angry Chicken‘s review. (Gosh, as I was writing this, I discovered that Amy had just announced her new book! It looks great and probably just what I need…) But that aside, does anyone have any good sewing how-to books to recommend? Ones that you’ve found useful?

In other news, I have also joined Project Spectrum 2.0, finished the Endpaper Mitts (sneak peek on the Opera House pic above 🙂 ), and started the Pomatomus socks. Pictures soon!

9 January 2007

O Christmas Tree

There were plenty of things I would have liked to do for Christmas. I had visions of yo-yo or pompom garlands, a Christmas wreath, handmade cards, criss-cross coasters, Korknisse people (how adorable are these — unfortunately I couldn’t find any corks, I think I need to drink more wine), a forest of soft trees, and even this tiny little village, but they were not to be. Ah well, that’s okay. Christmas is meant to be fun and enjoyable, not stressful, and there’s more to Christmas. But here’s an early new year’s resolution: I shall not consider October too early to start making things for Christmas!

I did however manage to make one soft tree, the Christmas tree you see in the picture. I made it out of some el cheapo towel and Annette decorated it with star-shaped foam stickers. After I made it I realised that I could make a “nativity scene” out of Annette’s farm animals set. 🙂

I just want to say that I have really enjoyed having this blog this year. I’ve met many many wonderful people through blogging and made new friends, and I thank all of you for that. Thank you for reading, and thank you for all your comments too, I love reading every single one of them.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, have a good holiday, and see you again the new year!

21 December 2006

Good and Bad

Bad:

This is the state of the Jess cardi that I’ve been making for Mum. It looks pretty good, really. But it’s a disaster. The pattern itself is great and well written — can’t find fault with it. The only cause for the disaster was that I was being stupid when doing the yarn substitution. I can’t get the recommended yarn (Elle Pure New Wool) anymore, so I substituted with a cotton yarn! Oh, and did I mention this pattern is worked with 2 strands of yarn held together? The result: An overly thick, heavy, and stiff cardigan. Well, it’s not quite stiff, it’s still drapey, but it’s not comfortable to wear. Gah! I should’ve paid more attention to the warning signs when I hesitated about the yarn in the beginning. Guess I had been in Denial. So I’ll be making something else for Mum, don’t know yet what.

Good:

It’s my version of the Shifting Sands scarf by Grumperina. Belinda gifted me with a very lovely skein of Malabrigo yarn on our first meet up. It is sooo nice and soft that I had been waiting for just the right pattern to use it with. Then inspired by this, I thought this scarf would be it.

I made the scarf narrower than in the pattern, as I like my scarves not too thick (that and the fact that I only had 1 skein, so I wanted to make it as long as possible). I only casted on 22 stitches (instead of 52), and just kept knitting until I run out of yarn. I only used 1 skein, which gave me about 150 cm (60 inches), not including the fringes. I love, love, love this scarf. I love the colour too, definitely the brightest thing I have ever worn.

Project Details:

Pattern: Shifting Sands scarf by Grumperina, with mods above
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, 1 skein
Needles: 5.5mm straights

18 December 2006