Sunday, June 30, 2013

FO: Color Affection 2

Another June, another Color Affection? I seem to be a creature of habit even more than I realize.

This time rather than purchasing yarn specifically for the project, I went digging in my stash. How glorious to find three TFA lovelies seemingly meant for each other. Made me feel (slightly) less guilty about the size of my hoard.

Love this yarn and love this pattern. Nothing else to say, so let's proceed to the glory shots...

color affection 2 blocked

Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: TFA Blue Label OOAKs (Cornucopia and Olive Truffle) and 75/25 Merino Silk OOAK (Sprout)

color affection 2 detail

12 Candles

Wow. How did that happen? How did we go from this...

my sweetie

...to this in such a flash?!

birthday-skirt

Yesterday, Izzy celebrated her 12th in style. (Nice of the calendar to cooperate and give us a Saturday birthday.) She started the morning making the skirt she's wearing above at a class courtesy of Autie and Uncle. (Side note: The fabulous fabric at Crafty Planet now has me itching to start sewing again.) Then we headed to Target Field to watch the Twins beat Kansas City (Izzy's choice instead of a party this year).

twins-game

Last night she declared it a great birthday. (Violet still holds the title of best birthday present ever — and I'm guessing will for many years to come.) What a great 12 years I've had being her mom!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

FO: Gramps Cardigan and Hat

I've long admired this pattern and was thrilled to have the chance to make it for a good friend expecting her first baby. Nothing more satisfying than setting the needles to work for a fellow knitter, is there?

gramps1

Pattern: Gramps by tin can knits
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash Solids (Caraway Heather and Cinnamon)

Not only is the pattern put together really well, it has a fantastic blog tutorial. Total win. Wish I was even half as pleased with the yarn. I liked the colors and springiness while knitting (nearly) enough to deal with how splitty it was.

But then the wet blocking almost. did. me. in. Not only did it grow to ginormous proportions, but a couple of carefully woven seams started to come apart. Thankfully, I was able to save it with a long timeout in the dryer. (I've never been so happy to be working with superwash.) But just look at this before shot to see how tidy the pocket seams/joins started out. Sigh...

gramps

Light at the end of the tunnel? Knowing that not a single person will be looking at the seams once it's keeping a cute little boy warm!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

FO: Socks, Fully Groked

I went several decades without ever attempting a sock. In fact, in that time I don't think I even considered knitting socks for a combined five minutes. Beyond that irrational fear of turning a heel, I had one other reason: I'm very particular about how my socks fit.

Yes, re-read that last line as I smack my palm on my forehead. It was only after I'd finished two pairs and taken that Yarnover Grok the Sock class that the full stupidity of that statement sunk in. Well Golll-ly, you can customize them to fit your feet exactly.

grok-socks-2

Pattern: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's recipe fully customized 
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball (Arroyo)

These are pretty spot-on (despite the twisted toe that came while trying to photograph my own feet).

What surprise insights has knitting brought your way?