Millwater inspired

While perusing Ravelry before the holidays for a great (and portable) travel project to bring with me, I stumbled upon Beth Kling's Millwater pattern. This infinity scarf is beautiful, lush and cushy, everything that you need in a winter knit. I knit mine with two skeins of Madelinetosh 80/10/10 worsted mcn in The Alizarin colourway, I've had these skeins in my stash for ages and am really happy to have found the perfect 2 skein project for them. 

Full disclosure - I didn’t purchase the pattern for this lovely infinity scarf because I was pretty sure that I could get the look without the pattern. The big luscious, off-center, reversible cable on a background of crisp garter stitch is brilliant. I can’t comment on the pattern, but I can say that the design is definitely inspiring! I spotted a few other great patterns in Beth's Ravelry store and have already cast on for a Henslowe in TFA Red Label. Don't you love discovering new designers?

Our holidays

Chris and I spent the holidays out East with my family. It was beautiful and perfect! We were never less than 18 people, we stayed at two cottages side by side. We spent our days playing with my cousins kids, going on long winter walks by the ocean, building snow men, having snow ball fights, playing board games, watching movies, knitting, baking, cooking, eating, drinking... Amazing. 

When we go to the cottage in the summer, the beach is full of the friends and family who all migrate East to the shore for their summer holidays, but in the winter there is barely a soul there. It felt like the whole landscape was just for us to enjoy. I couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas. 

We have a tradition in my family where "the kids" (some of the kids now have kids of their own!) get to open one gift on Christmas eve, that gift is always pj's. This year my cousin found a store that sells adult onesies, so we all got matching fluorescent, plaid one-piece pj's and put them on immediately. It was absolutely hilarious! My cousin's might kill me for posting this picture on the internet, but it's just too funny to pass up!

Hope all of your holidays were as merry and bright as mine!

TFA Tuesday: Cinder

Pattern: Cinder

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Geen Label Aran Weight in Chestnut

Top Tier Knitter: Lorraine (Ravelry Id)

Totally Awesome Because: This is such a great pattern and yarn combination- I love how the Chestnut colourway looks in the thick ribbing and cables, and is such a great scarf colour that really speaks of autumn days and brightly coloured leaves. Such a fantastic job, I love this scarf!

Cobalt Julissa

I cast on extremely enthusiastically for this sweater back in November! I had the body done in that first weekend, and then got distracted by other deadlines and had to wait a few more weeks before I could finish the sleeves. Now that it's done, it was totally worth the wait! This sweater is da bomb!

Ravelry project page here. 

Knit in TFA Green Label Aran Weight Yarn in the Cobalt colourway. I alternated skeins throughout the body, but didn't find I had to on the sleeves. I kept checking for pooling since Cobalt is one of my more variegated shades, but it was working up nicely and thankfully I could knit happily from one skein at a time. 

I'm crazy about the details in this pattern. The cables, the lace, the bracelet length sleeves and the slightly wide neckline... the teal tank peaking through that bright cobalt blue (ok, that was my styling decision, not the pattern, but I love that detail!) Oh, and maybe my favorite detail of all, the cable down the sleeves! Yup, this sweater is pretty much a home run in my books. :) Hats off to the designer Vanessa Smith.

I've been wanting to knit myself a sweater in this bright blue colourway forever, because after all, blue is totally my colour and the fact that I didn't have a Cobalt sweater was a tragedy. Now that I do, I know that I'll be wearing it a lot. 

Happy Christmas to me!

Business Casual Sock Pattern - Free!

My dad is the best and he deserves custom designed socks for Christmas. I've done it once before, and I think that this may become a new Christmas tradition! This year I decided that dad needed a pair of cool, preppy socks. So I designed these faux-argyle cabled socks. You get the fun diamond shapes of argyle, but without all that tricky stranded knitting and with the added bonus of lots of cool texture!

If you too have a cool dad (or mom, or sibling, or friend) who needs a smart pair of socks, why not knit them some Business Casual socks!? I think I may cast on for a pair for myself next. :) 

Knit in TFA Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn one skein is plenty for a pair of socks (small or large). Kick it up a notch and make them extra luxurious by knitting them in TFA Purple Label Cashmere sock yarn! The socks pictured here (which are already wrapped up and under the Christmas tree for dad) were knit in the Atlantic colourway.  

As an early holiday gift from me to you I've made this pattern available for free!  

download now

Ravelry pattern page here. 

Happy holidays!

TFA Tuesday: St. James

Pattern: St. James

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Green Label Aran Weight in 'Deep Sea'

Top Tier Knitter: Tasia (Ravelry Id, blog)

Totally Awesome Because: There is something so lovely about this gorgeous shade of blue knitted up in stockinette, don't you think? It reminds me of actual water flowing. I love this simple knitted tee- I bet it goes with absolutely everything, and looks so pretty with Tasia's dark hair.  Her project page can be found here.

Gramps cardigan

I went to a very dear friend's baby shower last weekend. Of course, as a knitter, when I hear the words "baby" and "shower" in the same sentence I get all giddy and excited and start planning for some awesome baby knits. Knitting for babies is one of my very favorite things. You get all the satisfaction of having a great FO, but with the added bonus of it being super fast, and oh so wee and adorable!

The couple is having a baby boy. I wanted to knit the perfect little old man sweater and I am beyond thrilled with how great this little number turned out. This is the Gramps cardigan pattern from 9 months of knitting, a great little e-book with lots of really cute patterns. There are several patterns out there for similar baby-shawl-collar-sweaters, but the reason I like this one so much is because the proportions work out perfectly with my Green Label Aran Weight yarn. I've knit the Baby Sophisticate pattern in the past, but since it calls for a chunkier gauge I wasn't happy with the way it looked in my aran weight, I think that it would need a few mods to come out nicely, while this one seems like it was tailor made for TFA Green Label.

I added stripes, because I wanted to use up a few odd bits of yarn that I had laying around, stripes are always great for stash busting and, of course, all babies look great in stripes! The coordinating Hunter hat makes this outfit complete. 

I have a few other expecting moms in my life, I have a feeling I'll be knitting a couple more of these adorable sets!

Ravelry project page with more details here. 

TFA Tuesday: Anna's Scarf

Pattern: 28's Cousin 53!

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn in 'Dove'

Top Tier Knitter: Miriam (Ravelry Id, blog)

Totally Awesome Because:  This is a great match of yarn and pattern- yarns that have more tonal variances in them (like Dove, shown here) look extra awesome when knit up in highly textured patterns, so that the wonderful swirls of lavender and periwinkle meld beautifully with the shades of grey. This scarf reminds me so much of a Monet painting, don't you think? Project page is here.

Stella's Dino Wee Balaclava!

I was so inspired by the TFA Tuesday post featuring Pauline's awesome Dino Wee Balaclava that I went ahead and cast on for my own version and used her great notes to add the dino spikes. Though Stella makes an awesome model, this hat is actually a gift for my little cousin. 

I knit mine in Olive with Lemongrass spikes and it definitely looks very dinosaury to me, perfect for a 3 year old boy. 

Am I the only one who finds these photo's of Stella absolutely hilarious!? She's so used to wearing sweaters in the cooler months that she wasn't phased in the least when I put this balaclava on her. She totally cracks me up. She makes my day. 

Cabled Canuck and Windward Hat patterns!

I have been dropping hints that I was working on a couple hat patterns lately, and here they are! Introducing Cabled Canuck knit in Green Label Aran Weight yarn. 

And the Windward hat knit in Yellow Label DK Weight yarn.

Both hat patterns are now available for sale in my ravelry store and would make fantastic Christmas gifts (there may be one or two lucky people on my Christmas gift giving list who will be receiving one of these hats this year!) Both are 1 skein wonders and fit a variety of head sizes well. 

Cabled Canuck is a warm and lusciously cabled beanie, the neatest part about this pattern is how the cables all come together to form a flower on the top of the crown. Even with a flower, I think that this pattern would work really well for men too, Chris says he wants one knit in Chestnut. 

Details:

Size: One size fits most - 19"-23" head go up a needle size and extend ribbing for a larger hat.

Yarn: 1 skein TFA Green Label Aran Weight yarn 115g = 205 yds. Sample shown in the Dove colourway.

Needles: 4.5mm 16" circular (or dpns)

              5mm 16" circular

              5mm dpns

Gauge: 4.5 sts = 1 inch in reverse stockinette

Ravelry pattern page here.

$4.00 CAD

Windward is versatile, offering both a beanie and a slouchy option. The fabric created by my favorite zigzag lace motif is light yet still warm, it makes for a really stretchy and comfortable hat. It features a double brim, so your ears are always covered in a really cushy fabric, which I love. And of course, the decreases (aren't they the best part of any hat?) these ones come together to create a star. 

Details:

Size: One size fits most :: brim is 19” in circumference for both hats, beanie is 8” tall, slouch is 10” tall unstretched. Since the entire hat features a ribbed pattern it is very stretchy and fits a variety of head sizes well.

Yarn: 1 skein TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn 115g = 260 yds. Samples shown in a One of a kind colourway and Sand.

Needles: 3.75mm 16" circular (or dpns)

              4mm 16" circular

              4mm dpns

Gauge: 24 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in windward lace pattern after blocking.

Ravelry pattern page here.

$4.00

You've still got time to pick out 1 special skein from your stash and cast on for another gift!

New Knitty Pattern: Velvet Morning

The newest edition of Knitty has just gone live, and I'm so excited to share Julie's newest design in TFA yarn: Velvet Morning!

The pattern features Green Label Aran weight,  and Julie's version has Midnight as the base colour, and three contrasting colours: Sand, Mallard, and Atlantic. My light grey version features the base colour Sand, and the contrasting colours are Lilac, Plum and Dove. It's really neat to see the contrast of how it looks as a dark blue sweater and as a light grey sweater- and it looks great both ways.

It was so much fun to test knit the Sand version, the colours are amazing (Julie was inspired by eye shadow palettes when she came up with this colour combo, isn't that brilliant?) I've worn it so much already. It's just a great comfy, cozy cardigan, the kind that I love to grab on chilly mornings. Great job Julie!

We took these photo's on a warm but rainy day in August! I spent a lot of time trying to tame my ever frizzing hair and keep the wind from blowing it in my face, we ended up with a lot of shots like this:

I kind of like it!
Ravelry project page here.

TFA Tuesday: Dino Wee Balaclava

 Pattern: Wee Balaclava

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Green Label Aran Weight in 'Orange Blossom'

Top Tier Knitter: Pauline (Ravelry Id)

Totally Awesome Because:  Pauline recently finished a gorgeous trio of of hats for her three beautiful little girls, and it was so hard to choose one to ask to feature for today! This little dinosaur theme balaclava is just too cute- I love the addition of the rainbow dinosaur spikes (and Pauline put great instructions for achieving the same dino spikes on her project page), and the bright colours make this such a fun hat. I bet this is amazing for keeping wee ones nice and warm in the winter, plus they'll be the cutest little dinosaur around!

January 2012 KAL

We are putting together a January 2012 Knit/Crochet Along! Head on over to the Ravelry group to join in on the fun. Now that it’s December 1st and we have 31 days until the KAL officially begins, let’s set out the parameters! We are going to try organizing things by yarn label:

• Green Label Group
• Yellow Label Group
• Blue Label Group
• Pink Label Group
• Silver Label & Red Label group
• Purple Label

Each group will have it’s own Ravelry forum thread, and at the top will be a static post listing all the group participants and their chosen projects. If any group develops more than 100 members, we might need to separate out into types of projects, but we’ll see what happens. The rules:

• 31 days to cast on and complete item: You can cast on anytime after midnight on December 31st, and cast off by midnight on January 31st.
  
• Knit/crochet any pattern you like, as long as it’s in a TFA yarn you can participate! For those that are still undecided about their project(s), we can let it slip that there will be a boxing week sale on TFA patterns at the end of the December- something to think about!
  

To join: Go to the Ravelry group thread, and click on your chosen forum (Green label, blue label, etc) and leave a comment letting everyone in your group know what you plan on knitting/crocheting (or colourway, or anything you want). if you are still not sure what you’ll be knitting, don’t worry- leave a comment on the Ravelry thread letting me know you’re still thinking about it and well add you to the list anyways! It'll be a great time for a KAL- the craziness of the holidays will have died down, and a new year is a great time to start a new project.