fo: p u r l s c a r f for maggie

Hooray, it's done! The congratulatory purl scarf for my sister is done! 

I used Malabrigo Worsted, madelinetosh merino light and Rowan kidsilk haze, and I love the way they look together. I stopped measuring it, though I suspect it's not quite as long as the pattern calls for - but it's still taller than me, and definitely long enough to loop comfortably around her neck. 

The photos don't really do the pretty yarns in this scarf justice. Not the most thrilling project to knit, but I could definitely see making one for myself in the future - perhaps with bigger needles and casting on a few more stitches, since this one is a lot skinnier than I pictured. So, yay scarf! Yay for managing to finish projects despite working round the clock!

Raveled here. 

wip: p u r l s c a r f

My baby sister is getting a children's book published (!!!) so as a congratulations present, I'm knitting her a scarf in her favorite color. She picked the base yarn (Malabrigo Worsted in Sapphire Magenta) and I picked the complimentary yarns and the pattern - the Purl Scarf, from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This was one of the very first knitting books I ever bought, and though I'm not a big scarf knitter, I've always wanted to knit this one. I'm knitting it on size 13s rather than 15s, mostly 'cause I don't have 15s, and it's definitely thinner than I expected based on the photos - if I made it again, I might add a few stitches to get a bulkier scarf. But I love the loose open rib and the way the colors all go together, so, here's hoping she likes it too? 

fo: bandana cowl

As part of my new years resolution to use up some of the stash I already have, I cast on this Bandana Cowl a few day ago, using an errant ball of Malabrigo Twist that I bought more than a year ago. I want to say the color is zinc, but I wouldn't swear to it - in any case, it's a very pretty light grey with an overtone of pink to it. I'm pretty happy with the yarn - pattern combination, as it was *just* enough yarn (I actually omitted the final decrease round, just to be safe) and the resulting cowl is squishy and cozy. Knitting this totally reminded me that Twist may be my favorite Malabrigo base, it's just so crazy soft. 

The Bandana Cowl pattern itself is very pretty and easy to follow. If I had any fear of short rows in the past, I definitely do not now, because there are a *lot* of them in this pattern, and you definitely get used to them. This was exactly the kind of pattern I wanted to knit - something fast, mindless enough for late night tv watching, and good for using whatever you have on hand, rather than something you have to buy new yarn for. The resulting garment is a bit slouchier than I'd imagined, but I like it nonetheless :) 

Raveled here. 

me elsewhere!

I know it's a bit late to be posting this seeing that it's now at least one Monday ago, but I was super excited to have a project of mine featured on the amazing Knitted Bliss blog! I knit these almost two years ago in Japan, to match the ones I'd made for Iain earlier that summer. Thinking about this project for the first time in a long time (I have no idea where these gloves are now!) reminded me what an awesome pattern Dashing is, with or without mods. If you don't already follow Julie's blog, you definitely should - Modification Monday is a very cool feature, and her designs are absolutely gorgeous. 

FO: bulky moebius cowl

This was a fast instant gratification project I knitted two or three days after getting back to Oakland; it was my first attempt at moebius knitting, and even with the time spent puzzling over the helpful Cat Bordhi tutorial on YouTube, it only took a handful of hours. 

The weirdest thing about moebius knitting is that you start from the inside of the loop and work your way to the edges - I didn't realize this at first, and was convinced I was doing something wrong, so it was very cool to see the cowl taking shape. The CO for moebius knitting is fairly easy, but you really do need a looong and flexible circular cable - mine just squeaked by.

The finished cowl is very pretty, though California is too hot for me to think about wearing it any time. Really I just like any excuse to play with Malabrigo Rasta yarn (used here in Archangel) - it's just the most luminously gorgeous bulky weight yarn I've ever seen.

two hats

Things have finally settled down a bit after our whirlwind visit to the States for the holidays, so I was finally able to finish to WIPs that had been lying around for the last month. The first was yet another Thisbe hat, knit in madelinetosh Eyre, in the wren colorway. I ordered this skein last summer, and this was the yarn I'd wanted to knit the prototype for Thisbe in all along, but I hadn't taken into account the shorter yardage OR the extreme dearth of Eyre on the internet. Out of sheer desperation, I posted on the Ravelry Madelinetosh community forum, and found someone within 2 hours who not only had an extra skein of the elusive yarn, but who was willing to mail it to Japan. It was an awesome, Ravelry-affirming moment!

ps, please excuse that random strand of hair looking all weird. It's like that in *every* photo :( 

I've heard rumors that Eyre has been discontinued, which is a huge shame, because it was the most beautiful single ply yarn I've ever worked with - soft, drapey, luminous, with no piling so far. If I wasn't on my strict no new yarn policy, I'd be scouring the internet trying to stockpile it (Okay, so I did buy one more skein of it when I walked into Article Pract in Oakland and saw a big pile of the yarn in the same colorway I'd been so desperately searching for back in Japan - but that was before January 1st, so it doesn't count. Right?).

The other WIP was another excuse to play with a gorgeous yarn, this time a skein of Malabrigo Rios. Living in Japan, I'm a bit slow to check out new yarns, but was finally able to order a skein in sunset. I doubt I'd be able to say anything new about this yarn, but at the very least, I can add my voice the the chorus of praise: the yarn withstood repeated frogging with no splitting or piling, and is amazingly soft.The hat ... I'm not so sure about. It's not been blocked yet, so I'm withholding judgement for now. I lost my notes but am working on re-writing them up, and I totally fudged the top decreases (I am amazingly lazy when it comes to knits for myself) and need to sort that out too, if I were ever to make another.

really big yarn!

One of the most exciting things about being home (okay, after the family and the friends and the food and the ability to understand people) is the ability to actually visit local yarn shops! I also feel kind of guilty dragging people along with me, though, so when my sister held up a skein of Malabrigo Rasta and asked if I could make her a scarf, I of course said yes. I'd never seen Rasta in person before - the downside of doing most of my shopping for yarn in tri-annual online shopping binges is that I almost never pick up anything I'm not already looking for, and I almost never use bulky yarn. Rasta could make me a convert to both super bulky and crazy variegated yarn, though - the colors look like a watercolor in the skein, and almost luminous in seed stitch - so, so gorgeous.

The store only had one skein of the color my sister liked (indiecitas), so I opted instead to make a cowl. I'm about half an hour into the Marian Cowl by Jane Richmond (link forthcoming), and am both loving and vaguely unsettled by knitting with insanely chunky 15 needles. It's kind of like knitting with toy knitting needles, or something, but I'm certainly not complaining, especially since I'm almost halfway through already.

new pattern: arden

New Pattern up on Ravelry today! 

Arden is unisex elbow-length hand-warmer that uses a single skein of Malabrigo Worsted. One large cable is accented by single ribbing and smaller twisted cables, which can be easily knit without a cable needle, making Arden a fast, engaging project.

Arden is available in two sizes, a smaller size to fit an average woman’s hand and a larger size to fit an average man’s hand; the smaller size has a hand circumference of 7” and the larger size has a hand circumference of 7.5”. Both sizes of hand-warmer measures 7” around the arm, and are 15”/ 38 cm long when lying flat and un-stretched.

Two notes on fit:

• If you have small hands, you may prefer working at a tighter gauge by going down a needle size and/or using a lighter worsted weight yarn to ensure a closer fit.
• These mitts are elbow length, but it’s very easy to shorten them if that’s too long for you - some test knitters left off one repeat of the cable pattern for shorter mittens.

This pattern has been test-knit in both sizes, and includes written and charted directions.

Materials:

• 220 yards worsted weight yarn (I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Paris Night)
• Size 7 DPNs or size needed to achieve gauge. 
• Cable needle, tapestry needle, stitch markers.

download now!