Modified Beatnik Pullover

Pattern: based on Beatnik by Norah Gaughan.
Yarn: TFA Green Label Aran Weight yarn in Seabreeze.
Ravelry project page here.

Sweater love. There is definitely such a thing. True love between a girl and her new favourite sweater. I don't pick favourites generally, actually, that may be the complete opposite from the truth... every sweater I knit is my new favourite. Which is really a nice thing since I think that getting excited about the things that you make is important. So right now, fresh off the needles, this sweater is IT for me. It's my number one. I love the texture, the cables, the seed stitch 3/4 length sleeves, the wide, high collar. All lovely. 

If I'm being completely honest I should admit that there were a few things that I didn't love about the knitting of this sweater. Mainly the "increase/decrease in pattern" parts. Increasing and decreasing in seed stitch was difficult to get looking really neat, and frankly I don't think that I nailed it. Along the same lines seaming seed stitch was also no fun. I love the clean, crisp lines of a perfectly mattress stitched seam, and this pattern just didn't allow for that. The seed stitch does do a very good job off hiding any little blips or flaws in seaming though, so I guess it's a problem that takes care of itself. 

I switched out the cables for this sweater to better suit my taste and I'm really happy with the mod. I love that smocking stitch cable and it's extremely easy to do. It has such high impact and is really stretchy, which is nice since I have a few more curves for this sweater to stretch over these days... I do intend to update my Ravelry project page with the charts for the cables I chose, but that will have to wait until I have a bit more time to work them up for you. I did not modify anything other than the cables. I made sure to pick patterns that worked with the given stitch counts for the sweater, so the set in sleeves and front and back shaping remained the same. Super simple mod. Just what I needed. 

And Seabreeze, still so not over this colourway!

Heavenly

This is my knitting nook. This is the corner of the sofa where I used to spend hours every night sitting and knitting. I have the phone within reach, there are baskets containing yarns, patterns, notions all just an arms length away. It's my happy place. Stella usually sits with me, she adds to the happy vibe. Like most babies, Rowan likes to be held and has made this preference very well known. With the addition of this awesome sling to my baby wrangling arsenal my happy place is now even better. I certainly don't get the same couple of knitting hours in every night, but a few stolen moments during the day is just heavenly.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day... To ME! And all the other moms out there of course. I'm just a little bit excited to be a mom for the first time myself this year. ;) I'm a mom. What a thrill. Having a baby has made me feel so incredibly overwhelmed with love. I love Rowan more than I ever thought possible. I love Chris more than ever because he's such a natural, amazing dad and I see him every time I look into Rowan's little face. I love my parents because I now know how they felt when they had me, and I appreciate them for loving me this much. So much love!

Enjoy your day moms!

Reverb

I have something very exciting to share with you all today. Last fall I was secretly working on a design and it has officially been released: Reverb for Brooklyn Tweed's Wool People 5! Here it is on Ravelry. Most of my design work has been self published, using my own yarns, a process which I find very rewarding. It was really neat, however, to do something different and get to work with the Brooklyn Tweed team and the beautiful Shelter yarn for this design. It forced me to branch out of my comfort zone and stretch my design muscles. I feel so lucky to have been included in this awesome publication! 

photo by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed

Of course, another real bonus was getting to see one of my own garments expertly photographed by Jared himself. His images are always so stunning, check out the beautiful gold Hayloft colourway against the models red hair. perfection! Before sending my sweater off we snapped a few photos ourselves. I was a few months pregnant in these shots, so the sweater didn't quite fit the way it was intended to. 

I really love the rich texture that the Shelter yarn lends to the knit fabric. Those beautiful tweedy, heathered colourways look so great worked up in cables, they really pop! I decided to keep it crisp and clean for this sweater, a straight, linear design. I'm really happy with the finished product and will be wearing this sweater a lot in the fall. 

Now the big question, what colour of TFA yarn do I knit a second version in?

Moodboard Monday - Seabreeze

I thought it would be fun to combine a few of my favourite things into a new occasional blog feature. I'm calling it Moodboard Monday (though it won't happen every Monday, it just has a nice ring to it.) I'll pick a colour that I'm really into right now and make a lovely little moodboard to highlight it's beauty.  It's all about the eye candy really. Enjoy!

Seabreeze

photo credits, clockwise from top left: TFA, TFA, bottle vases, tiffany chocolates, TFA, earrings,  chandelier  

What would you knit in Seabreeze?

1 month already!

My little baby boy will be 1 month old tomorrow. I can't believe it. He's already outgrown his newborn clothes and has changed so much. I took these photos when he was about 10 days old. He's twice the size now so I'm so glad that I have these images of his sweet little newborn face. 

Taking newborn photos is not easy!!! We managed to get a few winners, but there were also a ton of misses... but sometimes, at the end of the day, the failed shots are the best ones! Looking at this collage makes me giggle. It was a tad frustrating at the time, but life isn't always about perfectly serene sleeping babies. This reminds me of last year's anniversary photo collage. Apparently this is our "thing". We aim for perfection but then embrace imperfection! I love this little dude.

5th times the charm

I'm knitting a Gramps cardigan for Rowan. It's such a quick, awesome knit that last night I cast on and made it almost to the point where I was ready to divide for the sleeves when I realized that I had made a mistake and had to rip back the entire thing. The crazy thing is this is the FIFTH time that I've knit this pattern and I do believe that every single time I do I make the same mistake. The sweater is knit from the top down, you increase at the raglan markers and along the front to make a v-neck... I never remember the front increases! I can't believe it. I need to triple underline and highlight that instruction in the pattern. 

I'm knitting Rowan's Gramps out of leftover skeins from Chris' Brownstone pullover. Actually, I can't be entirely sure that this yarn is leftover from that project, it looks like it, but it's been lingering in the stash for so long that I can't quite remember! Either way, it's lovely and Rowan will look terrific in this shade. :)

Nearing the finish line - Beatnik

I'm kinda feeling like a bit of a champ today, like things are all going to work out. It's taken me the better part of the morning, but I've managed to knit a few rounds on the collar of my Beatnik sweater, take a WIP photo, upload it to the computer and compose this blog post... all with a moderately fussy baby in my arms. It's definitely not the most efficient way to work, but as long as it gets the job done!

I should be able to have this sweater finished in the next day or two. The weather is really warming up around here, so it's totally not sweater weather at the moment, but that's fine by me because I'm not entirely convinced that this sweater is going to fit me right away anyways. Now I need a new project to cast on for or else my needles will be empty! I'd like to make something for Rowan, maybe his very own Gramps is in order. I've knit them for all my friends who have had boys, I think my own boy deserves one too.  

corners of my studio

I found this collage the other day. I had made it during the last week of my basement reno. I was still very pregnant (the contractors finished the basement the day Rowan was born!) and I was sick of living amid the chaos of the reno. I came close to throwing a minor tantrum. I was tired of living in a dusty house with side effects of the constructions everywhere I looked (stacks of paint cans in the dining room, laundry room cabinets in the living room!) I was ready to reclaim my space, but I still had a few more days of mayhem to live through. I grabbed my camera and spent a couple minutes just looking around my office and trying to find the beauty amid all the mess. Here are a few of the moments that I captured. I'm lucky to always be surrounded my so much colourful, fibery awesomeness. 

Iris Patina Socks

Pattern: Patina Socks by me!

Yarn: TFA Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn in Iris.

Ravelry project page here. 

My Iris Patina socks are all finished and have been stashed away in the sock drawer. These may get gifted as I already have a pair of Patina socks in the TFA Club's March Patina colourway. However these socks are kinda super, so I may not be able to part with them. There may come a day when I no longer feel like knitting socks and I'll be glad that I've amassed a life time supply of hand knit socks while I've still got a taste for them. 

I've already discussed this pattern and that I'm very pleased with it. I think that it makes for a really well fitting pair of socks and there are lots of little details that I love. The slipped stitches down the sides give me a thrill. They stand out so beautifully, each stitch a different colour. I'm also really happy with how the Iris colourway knit up. I prefer semi-solid yarns for most of my knitting projects. Multi's and variegated yarns are so gorgeous in the skein but often result in frustrating pooling and are unpredictable. Chris and I have worked hard to develop colourways that have lots of dynamism and interest, look beautiful in the skein, have unexpected colours AND knit up nicely. No small challenge! I think that we're getting somewhere because the colours in these socks really sing. Yes!  

The same but different

I am the same as I was before Rowan was born, but also different in every way. This colourway is the same as Truffle, but just a tad different due to a lucky dyeing accident. This pattern is the same as I Heart Aran, but different. It's I Heart Cardigans. It is a pattern in progress and it will likely be some time before it's ready to be released. I have it mostly finished but I need a bit more time with it. I love it. It's knit in Orange Label and I wore it to the hospital. Can't wait to share more!

Livin' the dream

Last week a knitter posted a photo to the TFA Ravelry group of herself knitting, in her hospital bed, with her newborn son cradled in her arm. Wow, I thought, this girl has really got her act together. Julie summed it up nicely when she commented that she was "living the dream"! I couldn't agree more. I started off slowly, Rowan was dozy but a bit fussy so I cradled him in my lap and cast on for my second Patina sock while I watched him settle. Then I got gutsy, the other day I held him in the crook of my arm and let the rhythmic motions of my knitting soothe him to sleep. He seems a little bored by the knitting already though doesn't he? Hopefully I'll get a few years of dressing him in knits before he gets too cool for me!

I've turned the heel and am half way through the gusset decreases on my second Iris Patina sock, I'll have an FO for you in no time!