Tag Archives: Knitting

Hayward, in Noro Ayatori

25/01/2014 2:49 pm \ 24 Comments \
Hello!  In further knitting news I have also just finished a comfy new jumper recently.   The pattern is the Hayward, by Julie Hoover, and the yarn is Noro Ayatori; a wool/silk mix, in colour 19; a beautiful variegated collection of raspberry pink, grass green, warm pinky/ivory, mint green and hot chilli pink.  The yarn was a birthday gift to me from the lovely Yoshimi; thank you so much Yoshimi!  

When I was trying to decide what pattern would be worthy of this eye-catching yarn, I remembered an elegant Hayward Yoshimi had knitted for herself and I have to admit I seriously wanted to copy  🙂  I enjoyed wearing my new jumper for the first time on our recent day out in Tokyo together.
And actually Yoshimi also wore her own Hayward that day too!

 

I think this is a very chic style; I like the loose and wide boxiness, the wide unstructured boatneck and the curling up lower edge and neckline.  It’s soooo supremely comfortable!
I knitted mine pretty much to the pattern, the only change I made was to the neckline: I kept all the top stitches live without casting off, and once I had sewn the front back and sleeve pieces together; knitted in the round around the neckline using all live stitches, for 4 rows before casting off loosely.  I did this mostly because I’m lazy and loathe picking up stitches, but really it makes more sense to do it this way since, well c’mon it is so much easier and as well makes for a much smoother seamless look at the neckline.  My jumper is size 48″ (34-36″ bust) and I found it necessary to have eight balls of the Ayatori to complete the jumper with stripe matching at the sides and to have the sleeves identical to each other.
I had already started knitting this last year so unfortunately I cannot include it in my SWAP wardrobe; but it’s going to go very well with all my planned olives and ivories  🙂

Details:
Jumper; the Hayward in Noro Ayatori yarn,col 19, the pattern is available here
Beige high-necked Tshirt (under); Metalicus
Jeans; Burda 7863,white cotton denim, details here and my review of this pattern here
Ski gloves; had for years, can’t remember where they’re from
Snow boots; I bought these from Big KMart in the US, 13 yrs ago!  while we were living there  😀  We come across snow so rarely I expect these will last me forever!
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Sheen green hand-warmers

24/01/2014 1:49 pm \ 23 Comments \

Obviously I’m not in Australia here….  😀  we’ve been visiting Japan, and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing my friend Yoshimi again.  Thank you Yoshimi, it was so lovely to spend time with you and to meet your gorgeous family too.  It was lots of fun!
Sorry for my silly photos here. Snow is still such a huge novelty to me, you see.  I can’t stop marvelling at it.  It seems like such amazing and magical stuff! and maybe it puts me in a kinda loopy mood  😉  I never even saw snow until I was in my late 20’s, and first put on a pair of skis at the age of 36.  Meaning, I’ll never be anything more than a really slow and cautious skiier, but I still love it!  My quads are killing me, but!!
Now for the point of this post: hand-warmers.  Bright ones!  Highlighter hand-warmers!  These are brand new, fresh off the 2mm bamboo dpn’s.   I lost my ultramarine blue arm-warmers last year, I’ve searched and searched and searched, in vain (massive sad-face).  No time for moping but; I needed some more, pronto!  These were cast off in the nick of time to be pressed into immediate service….  🙂  
They are basic tubes knitted in the round with a gap for my thumbs, using Morris and Sons 4ply merino wool.  The colourway, Sheen (col419)  is kind of a whoa! in-your-face colour, like a hi-vis construction worker vest.  In my present surroundings though, I’m considering that to be a plus.  If I get stuck and incapacitated in a snowdrift I can just stick my arm up, and the arm-warmers will be like a beacon for the rescue crew.  In-built safety feature!

Ahem; and now, a silly little haiku…

Neon hand-warmers
on tatami mat.  Empty,
Momentarily.

Hmmm, okaaaay then….  Poetry has never been my forte 😉

Details:
Hand-warmers; knitted by me
Beanie; knitted by me, details here
Thermal top; Kathmandu, neckwarmer; Kaos (both old items I’ve had for years)
Ski pants and boots; hired

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Capricorn

17/12/2013 7:40 am \ 38 Comments \
Capricorn; the sign of the goat.
Baaa.  No, not me.  So the “goat” is in the form of my new knitted mohair jumper, or I reckon it’s more like a Tshirt really.  And this is the very last thing in my zodiac series…  Yay!  Finished!  😀  
This is the Mohair Sweater, available for digital download here, knitted in Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Kid Mohair Infusion col 617 (Rosehip)  I bought the yarn a few years ago, when Jo Sharp closed down their shop here… (sad face) oh I still miss that shop, waah!  Pink is a colour I’m not supposed to wear, but I do think I might be able to get away with this warm deep shade.   I LOVE pink… LOVE IT I TELL YOU! and one of the saddest things about getting my colours done was being told that pinks were Not For Me.  But hopefully this almost orange-y pink will be alright   🙂
The design is a really fantastic basic, the sort that seems boring at first but you could easily have one in every colour.  It’s beautifully shaped so it curves nicely into the waist.  Ribbing at the neckline, but not the sleeves nor lower edge so they curl up attractively.  One I will use again; a nice and easy project.  Except… well, for the mohair.  I find mohair a very temperamental beast.   The reason why it has taken me yonks to finish this simple little thing…  it’s hard to see the stitches for fluff, and it sticks to itself, so if you make a booboo then unravelling is pretty much impossible.  Please remind me to never ever buy mohair yarn, ever again?  Next time I’m going to seek out some alternative.
To be honest, it is way too hot to wear things like this right now.  It’s sheer madness that I’m even wearing it here.  But I had to show it, yes?… and at least I know now how very very cosy and warm it will be for next winter  🙂
Details:
Top; knitted by me, Jo Sharp’s mohair sweater in mohair, col 617 (rosehip)
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen,  my review of this pattern here
Socks; knitted by me to a 60’s pattern, Morris and Sons 4ply wool, details here
Boots; hiking boots, hand-me-downs from Mum
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Audrey in Unst, in Blue

18/10/2013 4:23 am \ 53 Comments \

I am finishing all of my winter knitting projects just in the nick of time for them all to be packed away.  Woot!  This is pretty typical for me.  I think  I really should plan my wardrobe far more efficiently and be more seasonally aware and prepared!
I was struck by something Roobeedoo wrote recently; that since a knitting project takes so much longer than a sewing project and, as well, lasts for so much longer in your wardrobe, the sensible self-tailored individual plans future sewing projects around a current knitting project; not concurrently.  So sensible!  An edict; the singular wisdom of which I had not appreciated before then…   
Thy knitting projects are the key to planning thy wardrobe, y’all!
I bought this lovely wool during my afternoon out in Paris with Donna of Nid de Tissus, so it brings back happy memories to me of our fun chatty lunch and fabric/wool shopping excursion together.  A wearable souvenir!  It is from Renaissance Dyeing;  4-ply poll dorset wool hand-dyed with natural plant dyes in France, colour Canigou.  Terrified of not getting enough I bought four skeins so obviously Murphy’s Law decreed that I had overestimated how much I would need… doh!  I can never get that bit right!  The cardigan used just over two skeins, so at some point I am going to order some more and make something else using my almost two whole leftover skeins.  I do already have ideas, hehehe  🙂  The full range can be viewed and ordered here.

The pattern is Audrey in Unst, designed by Gudrun Johnston; available here.  I’ve long admired Roobeedoo’s leaf green version that she has worn during me-made May and had decided that at some point I would have to make my own.  The shape is nearly identical to my recently finished Miette! but the chunkiness is the difference between the two.  The Miette is in a thick aran weight yarn, whilst the Audrey in Unst is in a light, fingering weight yarn.  So this is a light little cardigan with much finer stitching tension, and subsequently took a lot longer to knit!  I started this at the beginning of the year  (blush) and only just bought the shell buttons and stitched them on a few days ago.

 The neckline is finished off with an i-cord stitch.  This is the first time I have tried this technique and I think it’s quite a nice, neat and tidy finish and a refreshing change from the usual rib.

 The cardigan is knitted bottom up, and is, like the Miette, designed to be knitted in one piece with no stitching pieces together.  WIN!  Well, you are supposed to stitch the shoulder seams together but I elected to graft the stitches together, like I do with the toes of my socks.  This gives a very nice seam; neat and flat and quite unobtrusive.  I can do a step-by-step if anyone hasn’t heard of and is interested in this technique?

The pattern has a built-in faux side seam, which is an interesting feature.  Essentially it is just a purl stitch every knit row, and vice versa.  The shaping is discreetly alongside the faux side seam.

 The sleeves are knitted by picking up the stitches and knitting short rows with wrapping and turning to form the sleeve cap.  LOVE this feature and I think it makes for a really nice attractive finish; far smoother and sits flatter than a stitched in sleeve would be.

Are there any negatives?  Well you get started; and 36 long long rows of ribbing later, all that blasted purling through the back of the loop had just about killed me.  Seriously HATED this bit. And I’m curious, does purling/knitting through the back of the loop really make a significant difference to the rib?  and if it does then is it really an improvement on the regular sort?  That’s not a rhetorical question btw, I would like to know.

Details:
Cardigan; Audrey-in-Unst in Renaissance Dyeing;  4-ply poll dorset, colour Canigou
Skirt; Vogue 1170 lined, blue corduroy later dyed brown, details here and my review of this pattern here
Tshirt (under); self-drafted, white cotton jersey, details here
Sandals; c/o Misano

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A Hunter Miette

02/10/2013 7:16 am \ 52 Comments \

Hello!  I’ve knitted the Miette cardigan.  This is a free downloadable pattern by Andi Satterlund
This design first caught my eye when I saw Carmela Biscuit‘s utterly perfect LBC (little black cardigan) during me-made May.  So perfect!  Everyone needs a cardi like this one, I thought.  I mentally filed the name away to check it out sometime… and when the Handmakers Factory announced a Miette knit-along, I discovered it was not only cute, but a fabulously free! pattern!

This is a gorgeous little design, subtle lacework around all borders but with plenty of stocking stitch so you can knit happily in front of the telly and not miss anything.  I really like how it is knitted top-down and all-in-one so that you can try it on as you go to check for fit.  Plus you can keep knitting to add length, using up excess wool should you so desire.   I did so desire, and added an extra two pattern repeats  ‘cos the original is a tad on the tiny side. As in cropped-tiny, not tight-tiny.  More like a bolero than a cardigan really.
Knitting all-in-one-piece also means that once you’ve finished knitting there is not even one single seam to be sewn up.  This is Smart knitting; a new-ish concept for me knitting-pattern-wise but one that I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with already.  Let’s face it; sewing up the pieces is a bit of a pain and everyone hates that bit, right?  Really, a clever designer can easily dispense with all the seams in any knitting pattern, since your garment ends up as a one piece thing then logically there’s no reason why most designs cannot be knitted as one piece as you’re going along.
This should have been a super quick and easy knit, but I still managed to take forever.  It was just one of those projects where nothing seemed to go right.  Following is the truncated saga of my Miette…
Did tension square.  Tension just slightly off but hyper-enthusiastically got going anyway.  Three entire balls later had to admit it was going to be too small.  Unravelled in entirety.  Started again in larger size.  Ran out of wool.  Wool shop sold out.  Wool shop not ever getting it in again.  Searched a coupla real life shops.  Searched online.  Ordered from the UK.  Waiting on extra ball.  Missed end-date for knit-along.  Waiting.  Waiting.  More waiting.   Ball finally shows up, cardigan finished mere hours later, worn and photographed same day, bam!  
Phew, mission accomplished!!!  (air fist pump)

Note to self: SIX balls of the yarn are needed!!

Details:
Cardigan; Miette in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, in col.Hunter (360026) … SIX balls!
Skirt; my own design, stretchy layered lace, details here
Tshirt (under); self-drafted, white cotton jersey, details here

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Beluga knitted gloves

11/05/2013 10:04 am \ 35 Comments \

I have knitted some gloves!
I used an pattern from the same knitting booklet I use for my hand-knitted socks; the Patons Knitting Book C11, a little pamphlet dating from the early 60’s.  The only change I made was to knit each glove entirely in the round, including the thumb and each of the fingers so there are no seams to stitch up in the end.  Bonus!

For my gloves, I used a 100% Australian Merino wool, which is beautifully soft and snuggly against the skin.  Australia has the finest merino wool in the world, producing nearly 80% of the world’s fine apparel wool (reference)  This is the Morris & Sons Empire Superwash 4ply, available here.  It is the same wool I have used for most of my hand-knitted socks.
My husband took these photos, because there is an inherent difficulty with photographing your own hands, even when operating a delayed response remote control!  Some posing experiments were conducted to determine how to most effectively show off the new gloves.  It was kinda hilarious.  I hope some of these outtakes amuse  🙂

Details:
Gloves; pattern from the Patons Knitting Book C11, and using Morris Empire Superwash 4ply in col Beluga (430)

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Mum’s knitted Noro vest

20/09/2012 5:35 am \ 27 Comments \

Anyone familiar with my blog might remember that occasionally I feature my Mum here, and some of the meticulously crafted and beautiful pieces that she makes.
She knitted this vest a few years ago and has up until now resisted pleas to feature it on my blog, typically protesting “oh, no one wants to see this old thing!”
(speechless)
Thankfully she has been persuaded so we can now all enjoy a really good squizz at a really lovely handmade garment …
Mum knitted this vest using Noro yarn and the pattern “Sakiori 1” from the book “Folk Vests” by Cheryl Oberle.
The Noro sections of the vest are stocking stitch, with contrasting moss stitch bands in charcoal yarn.  The long front bands and side bands are made by picking up long rows of stitches along the edges and knitted in vertical rows of moss stitch.  The two underarm side sections are knitted separately.  
Mum also made the trousers she is wearing, using a custom-fit pattern.
Thank you Mum!

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You are all so brilliant!!

31/07/2012 8:52 am \ 7 Comments \

Woa, you are all so fabulously switched on and fashion-icon-savvy!!  hehe, might I just add; far more so than my husband, who had no idea  …   😉
Yes, of course, everyone was correct, I was Annie Hall.  My husband went Hawaii 5-O; in a loud Hawaiian shirt, his bright red jeans, boaters and a straw hat.  And thank you, we had an absolute ball!  we stayed alive; celebrating raining men, proclaiming our will to survive and asking to be taken to FunkyTown until the wee small hours….   
Naturally one of the fun-nest parts of any dress-up party is checking out and discussing everyone’s costumes… there was a Bianca Jagger, and some Abba’s and more afros, bellbottoms, safari suits, psychedelic minis and gogo boots than I’ve ever seen in one spot.  Giving me an illogical desire to hunt down a pair of glossy plastic gogo boots, ahem…. must resist…  
There is one guy in the group who, for every single fancy dress party, no matter what the theme; wears a fat-Santa suit…  He adds some accessory that is a token nod to the theme, this time it was a peace sign necklace … 😀

For those who wanted to enter into the draw… ElleC, I will be contacting you to send you the pattern.

Now, while I was digging through my stuff trying to settle on a costume, I found and initially thought I might wear this old thing… and you’d think surely I must have shown all my “old things” by now, hopefully this is the very last!
I’m pretty embarrassed to show it here, it is a rather hideous waistcoat, that I knitted during my teenage years.  I was pretty into Kaffe Fasset knits back then, and this was one of my earliest attempts at his style of colour mixing and matching.   The triangles design is his but I made up the knitting pattern myself…  it has no side seams, but was knitted in one piece in the round, and just joined at the shoulder seams; then I picked up stitches around the armholes and the front to knit up the ribbed bands.   It was knitted in the intarsia method, and sadly has a few moth holes now  🙁  but that’s OK since it’s not as though I was actually going to start wearing it again, except if we got invited to a bad taste party, maybe  😀

I have made a “new thing” though, a gloriously fashion-forward piece of haute couture…
kidding...!  
My old peg bag finally had the richard and I made another one.  It is all leftover fabrics; a small piece of rust-red upholstery fabric (from my friend C) for the outer shell, and lined with some of the blue-grey knit leftovers from this little jacket; so it is double layer for extra durability, and exactly the same shape and style as my old one (which I also made).  I re-used the same old clothes hanger for the top.  Both my grandmothers and my mother always made their peg bags just like this one, and I have inherited a preference for the style.  Mum goes the extra step of hand embroidering “PEGS” onto hers in beautiful script; if I had half her talent and patience then maybe my peg bag would be a bit more visually stimulating!  Mine has more of a slapped together rustic-chic look about it… hehe

(and I know the accounting is boring and I kinda half-wish I had not started, but I said I would so I will see the year out!  :S) 
…so, some judicious jottings for July

My Raincoat
Nylon Rip-stop; $22.50
Polyester net lining; $4.99
2 dress zips for pockets; $1.98
Open-ended zip; $2.99
Thread; $2.68
Seam Grip; $17.95
Eyelets; from stash
Cord; $1.49
Cord Stops; $1.19
Velcro; $4.00
Pattern; self-drafted
Total cost: $59.77
Seafoam lace lingerie set
Fabric; $13.90
Bra cups; $8.99
Patterns; panties were a free download, and the bra was self-drafted
Hook and eye closure; $2.49
Underwire; $2.49
Total cost: $27.87
Cassie’s Raincoat
Nylon Rip-stop; $12.60
Polyester net lining; $9.98  
(yup, being white = “bridal” = twice the price of the black net I used in mine…!)
Thread; $2.68
Open ended zip; $3.49
2x Dress zips for pockets; $1.98
Seam Grip; $17.95
Cord; $1.49
Cord Stops; $1.19
Eyelets; from stash
Velcro; from stash
Pattern; self-drafted
Total cost: $51.36
(y’know what though? I’m not going to include this one in my year’s total since it is not part of my wardrobe  🙂  )
A Velvet-y Dress
Fabric; $27.00
Pattern; self-drafted
Total cost: $27.00
Peppercorn cardigan
Yarn; $108.70
Pattern; a free download
Buttons; a gift from Mum
Total cost: $108.70
New-Old Hoodie
Fabric; made from all old clothes
Pattern; my own design
Thread; had the right colours already
Buttons; from my stash
Total cost: free
Peg Bag
all leftover free fabric and a re-cycled hanger
Miscellaneous
This month I also
purchased:
Seam Un-picker;
$3.95
Sewing machine light bulb; $7.95
Total cost: $11.90

o hai there…
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