Yarn Along: Quiet Knitting

Last week, I had two projects on the go.  I finished the gloves (come back Friday!) and I am still strutting along on the little Capuchon project.  It's real quiet knitting.  Long rows of stockinette, with a small seed stitch border.  It does not look much like a cape yet, but I am sure you can appreciate how relaxing it is to knit.  In the last few months, I really have challenged myself knitwise (ha ha!), so taking a break from intense knitting is quite appreciated.

What is also quite special is that I don't know what I am going to knit next.  I usually have this long mental list of projects I want to tackle, but it seems that I went through it.  Maybe it is a time to take a break?  Nah..... I'll certainly come up with something else while looking at other great projects in progress on  Ginny's Yarn Along, Tami's amis WIP Wednesday, and Nicole's KCCP!

FO Friday: Zipped Cardigans!

Finally!  With the weather getting warmer, I packed my two girls and took the trip to my local craft store (which is not that local...) to get the zipper that I needed to finish Gabrielle's cardigan.  This cardigan has been sitting on my shelf for several months, waiting for additional yarn first, and then for a zipper.










I thought it was the perfect item to try  the TECHknitter no-sew zipper.  It was more difficult than I anticipated - most likely because I didn't have the right tool - but I am very pleased with the result. I do not have the tiny latch hook the TECHknitter uses for this.  I did the job with a regular tiny hook, so my yarn got split several times.  I nevertheless finished the job of transforming the zipper into a "knit-able object".  Once that's done, fixing the zipper on the cardigan becomes incredibly easy.

While at the craft store, I found this lovely Winnie the Pooh ribbon  - Winnie is Gab's favorite - and thought it would do a fantastic job to hide the zipper on the inside.  She loves it!

 I have also finished the Icelandic cardigan (from the Craftsy Top-Down Icelandic Sweater course) for Gabrielle's mother.  I was quite anguished while knitting it because I relied on measurements more than on the pattern.  Mrs Godmother hasn't tried it yet, but I am pretty sure I did a good job.

 I am really happy with the color work.  That purple really jumps out!

I have also finished it with a zipper rather than buttons, but I didn't use the no-sew technique for this one.  It just felt easier to sew it there, and allowed me to tame my steek stitches which were flaring a little.  I could resist:  I used the same ribbon to finish the inside: the godmother and goddaughter will share that little secret!





It's so great to have finished these two projects!  To look at more beautiful finished objects, visit Tami's amis FO Friday!

 

Yarn Along: New Projects!

Hello everyone!

This is my first post in two weeks - glad to be back.  Blogging and a number of other things have been on hold due to a tendonitis to my shoulder: no more browsing and typing allowed while breastfeeding.  The bad news is that this will considerably limit my contribution to the online knitting and crafting community.  The good news is that, weirdly enough, it doesn't stop me from knitting.  Pheeewww!

In the past few days, I have finished the two cardigans I was working on.  More about these on Friday!  The great thing about finishing items is that I can start new ones completely guilt free.  So here's what's in my project box now:

The red yarn that wants to jump in your face from this photo comes from my big stash of Caron Simply Soft that I bought on sale during the Christmas time.  It is yarn to experiment, but also to play.  I started this lovely little cape, Capuchon,  for Gabrielle.  I thought that since she lives pretty much all the time in a musical or in a play, she would love to be the little red riding hood.  It is very simple and relaxing to knit...

In the picture, you might also have recognized the Lett Lopi I used for my Icelandic cardigan.  I have a few skeins left and thought I could use some of it to make fingerless gloves.  The cardigan is for the girls' godmother, you had requested, a while ago, a pair of such gloves.  

I finished one and the other one is on the way.  I try to reuse some of the cardigan color work pattern on the glove.  I guess I could have done something a little more intricate, but I had never made gloves before and had to deal with a slightly different gauge than the one specified on the pattern.  I decided, for all these reasons, to play safe!

I am now debating whether I will also make a hat or a scarf...  but might just end up keeping the lovely Lopi to make some gloves for myself!

To see other great projects in the making, visit Ginny's Yarn Along, Tami's amis WIP Wednesday, and Nicole's KCCP!

WIPW: Icelandic Anguish

A short post this week.  We've been quite busy with Easter, of course, seeing family and swimming in maple sirup at the sugar shack.  

Knitting has therefore been replaced, to a fair extent, by sleeping to recover from all this excitement....

I made progress, nevertheless, on the Icelandic sweater I cast on last week for the girls' godmother.  The yoke is finished, and since then, I am giving myself a little sweat by ignoring the pattern is just going with the godmother's measurements.  My gauge is a tiny bit off (me and my infamous loose knitting....) so I decided to knit the size below, but must make sure to increase enough so that it fits nicely on the high hip.  Hence, I knit a few rounds, I worry, I measure....  Knit a few rounds, worry, measure...  So on and so forth.

I still haven't made it to the craft store to buy the right zipper for Gabrielle's cardigan.  I nevertheless resolved to fix the sleeves that are a little too long with the Length Reassignment Surgery published by the TECHknitter.  Stay tuned for the result!

Linking with Tami's amis, Ginny's Yarn Along and Nicole's KCCO.