Knit: Citron

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Mabel

Citron
Pattern | Citron by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn | Simple Scarves Silk-Wool Laceweight in Electric Blue
Needles | 4.5 mm circulars & 4 mm crochet hook

This was a simple knit – knit, purl with plenty of increases and decreases to get the ruffles. I made a crochet edging to finish off the shawl and instead of the recommended number of repeats (five), I made seven (or was it six?) repeats, resulting in long tedious nights of stockinette stitches and mindless knitting in front of the TV/laptop.

Blocking this was a challenge – I think I overblocked towards the bottom of the shawl which resulted in the last section of ruffles disappearing. I’ll have to keep in mind not to do the same the next time I put this in the wash.

Other than that, I’m loving the yarn and colour despite how “noisy” it seems. It’ll go perfectly well with solid tops or dresses – I can see it being showed off prettily on a simple black number. The silk in the yarn gives it an added shine and like my Jaali, I cannot stop molesting it. If I were to ever go back to dyeing, this would be one yarn base that I would hold onto simply because it’s amazing to knit with!

Now that I’ve cleared this, I’ll be gearing up for a cardigan KAL as well as the upcoming Ravelympics 2012 (and more reviews on medical scrubs)! I don’t know what possessed me to sign up for a KAL (Knit-A-Long) and the Ravelympics but hey, I figured I might as well hang onto my knitting mojo while I still have it! Hehehe.

Knit: Hooting!

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Mabel

Hooting!
Pattern | Owelet by Kate Davies
Yarn | Cascade Yarns Eco+ in Summer Sky Heather
Needles | 6 mm & 6.5 mm circulars

I never really got around to making any sweaters for Eva until last year when I began to clear all my WIPs or newly started projects. I decided to take advantage of this love and plunged into uncharted waters – sweaters! To make things simple and easy, I decided to use a pattern that called for bulky or aran weight yarn, figuring that I might finish it faster.

I settled for Cascade Yarns Eco+ because of the price. Originally, I wanted something along the line of teal but they ran out and I didn’t want to wait so I settled for a lighter shade of blue. At first Nil sounded skeptical when I told him that I couldn’t get my hands on teal but when he saw this colour, he gave his okay.

I made this in Kids Size 2 (age 5-6) but an unfortunate glitch saw me knitting the sleeves in 6mm instead of 6.5mm and skipping out on three stitches. While Eva could still fit into it, it is rather snug so it meant some serious blocking for the sleeves. The width and length – as you can see – is ample so I didn’t really block this to death. I figured that in time, if I need it to be wider, I’ll block it then but for now, the sleeves need more vigorous blocking than the other parts.

Now that this is done, I’m contemplating between finishing my entrelac shawl or starting a lacework piece in one of my handdyed yarns. I miss knitting lace!

Pompom!

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Mabel

Pompom!
Pattern | Pompom Bear by Amanda Keeys (0-6 mths)
Yarn | 100purewool.com Merino Worsted 3 ply in Blue & Bluish
Needles | 6 mm circulars
Ravelry project page here

Noah’s current hat is getting a little tight around the ribbing and he has long been unable to fit into his Bluey Hat so I decided to make him another (blue) hat! I didn’t want to start using a fresh ball of yarn so decided to go with whatever that was left. This plus Koolhaas ate one entire skein so I’m a happy camper – no more bits and pieces of yarn to deal with.

Definitely a fast knit (I finished in under two days but you could do it in less than a couple of hours if you didn’t have other distractions) and a great way to use up all that leftover yarn! Can’t wait to get him in it tomorrow when we head out to buy some fruits.

In the meantime, the Malaysian group of knitters have decided to start a group project – a granny square throw – for a fellow member as a wedding present. Each person is supposed to crochet two 8″ squares in lilac or pink. While my stash has some of these colours, they are mostly in wool or non-machine washable yarn. I ended up selecting my handspun yarn for the squares. Figured that since the skein is too small for any other project, it should give me two nice squares. We’ll see how it goes.

Knit: Nil’s Quick Beanie

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Mabel

Nil’s Quick Beanie
Pattern | Koolhaas by Jared Flood
Yarn | 100purewool.com Merino Worsted 3 ply in Blue & Bluish
Needles | 4.5 mm & 5 mm circulars

I finished this in the beginning of the month but never got around to blogging about it due to all the excitement with my soaps as well as going through salesforce reporting assignments.

I must be frank – I have never knitted much for my hubby. Every time I offered to knit something, he would declined. If I made something on a whim, I end up being the one to wear it like that blue entrelac scarf I made a few years back. So it was not surprising that whenever I do knit something for him, I either take ages or…urm, I just don’t do it. Hehehe.

This time around, *he* asked for a knitted item but only because his trusty beanie sported a hole and stank to high heaven. It was something his late grandma made for him and I could see that he cherishes it. He continued to wear it year after year and only recently when his dad bugged him to get a new one, did he finally ask me to make him one. But true to form, he gave me a pretty tight deadline and was quite picky with the colour.

“Nothing too bright” (when I suggested a nice red)
“Nothing too small or weird” (when I suggested a pattern)

The pattern he originally picked was…well, complicated so I got tired and settled on Koolhaas which I had done before for my brother. I knew it was a forgiving pattern which allowed for plenty of stretch. In the end, Nil was quite happy with the knit but not so happy with modelling it for me (as you can see in the picture).

I still have half a ball of yarn left so will either chuck it away until I need it for something small or…make another hat with it?

Knit: Brown Meret

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Mabel

Brown Meret
Pattern | Meret (Mystery Beret) by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn | Noro Kureyon in 149 and 242
Needles | 5 mm circulars

Finally, a knit for myself! With the awful weather and my last hat being a lousy fit (it’s more suitable for Eva than for me), I decided to start work immediately on a beret with some Noro yarn I bought last year when I wanted to knit a hat for my mum. Beanies don’t really look great on me with my round face so I thought why not a beret. After scouting around, I decided to stick to a pattern that I was familiar with. (Perhaps I should be more adventurous and try something different next time!)

Unlike the one I made for my mum which had four repeats, I made this extra extra slouchy by adding another repeat giving it a total of five repeats. I also blocked it over the largest plate I could find here at my father-in-law’s place – that really help bring out the shape. In terms of the dramatic striping that you need here, well, that’s because I split the two separate balls into half – meaning I knitted the brim in one colour (149) and then the other colour (242) and then 149 again before ending with 242.

I should take an action shot – perhaps tomorrow when the weather is better and we’re out AND I’m done weaving the ends. Hahaha.

Only one left for the year?

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Mabel

As we get ready for the coming Christmas and New Year holidays, I’m taking stock of my craft work this year and am glad to report that I finished a cool 23 projects. Out of the 23, three of them were from before I had Eva!!!!!! The oldest was my Ivy cardigan which I casted on in 2007 and will not care to mention again (not very happy with it – hmpr).

I discovered the joys of knitting two socks on two separate DPNs, thanks to Lois, who decided that this would be best to combact my SSS – Second Sock Syndrome. It was also the same project in which I knitted with my plied handspun and discovered that uneven spinning makes for uneven finished yarn which will affect the outcome of the sock. These were gifted to my mum as I decided that the measurements and stitch count that I have always been using was not exactly suitable for me. I reckon in 2012, one of my knitting goals would be to knit myself a sock that will fit me decently!

Anyway, as we get ready for the end of the year, I find myself looking at one WIP that is nearly finished – Eva’s cardigan – and one that I would probably finish next year – my entrelac stole. I am beginning to see why some people are monogamous when it comes to knitting projects and after having read other people’s account of the dreaded startitis (the habit of starting but not finishing projects), I’ve decided to have a maximum of four WIPs in queue at any one point in time. This would include other crafts like weaving, spinning and crochet work. That way I reckon I can organize my time better, especially seeing how needy Noah can be.

So yes, all in all, a good crafty year! Now back to my hunt for some funky address plates – I wonder how addressplaques.net for address plaques works out.

Knit: Heliotrope in Bloom

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Mabel

Heliotrope in Bloom
Pattern | Jaali by Kitman Figueroa
Yarn | Simple Scarves Silk-Wool Laceweight in Heliotrope
Needles | 3.75 mm, 6.0 mm and 4.0 mm circulars

This is one crazy knit…but in a good way, I must say. I started this as part of a Knit-Along or KAL with some Malaysian knitters back in April. There was no deadline attached to it (I reckon because we are all crappy with deadlines!) and the condition was that we would use yarns made or dyed by fellow Malaysians. I chose to use my silk-wool laceweight blend and against all sane thoughts, picked the large size to knit up in order to fully use up the nearly 670 meters worth of yarn.

That was the easy part. Now came the hard part…

Casting on 300 over stitches (at this point, I was beating myself up for choosing the large size)
Ripping them out three days later because I forgot about the center stitch
Ripping out 25 rows of 300 over stitches because I had 14 repeats on one side and 16 on another…in the process, my yarn got tangled so I had to snip and trash a portion of it. (ARGH mode!)
Then I put it down and picked it up about two weeks later – bad idea to knit when you’re angry
Reached the second chart about a week or two later
Put on hold sometime around mid-May to focus on my mum’s beret
Picked it up again about one to two weeks later

By June, I was at Row 51 out of 165. Heh. After that, it was all quiet on the update front until September when I reached Row 79…no thanks to the move back to France. Noah’s early entrance didn’t help and this project stalled until two weeks ago when I picked it up again to add some variety into my knitting. Luckily the stitch count from this point on was getting short and shorter fast so it turned into a speedy trip to the finish line.

As I sat with the hairdryer, drying the shawl as it blocked (yes, I was that desperate to make some space in my hall and to see my finished project), I told myself never again! I love this pattern – don’t get me wrong. It is very exquisite but it is not a mindless knit-in-front-of-the-TV project (even though it’s a Samsung LCD. Nonetheless, if you do choose to knit this, you won’t regret it…I certainly don’t.

Now that this is complete, I am going back to my entrelac stole and Eva’s sweater which I seriously need to focus on otherwise she’d never get to wear it for winter!!!!

Possible Christmas projects…

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Mabel

…if I can finish up Eva’s sweater and my Jaali shawl as well as work on my usual review assignments – one of which is the one on cheap sexy lingerie. These days, all I ever do is breastfeed (Noah is latching on for all his feeds so YAY!), pump milk (to maintain my supply), entertain Eva, do the laundry for both two kids and the adults, cook dinner…thankgoodness my parents are around to help although I will need to figure out a schedule of some sort when they have gone home.

Anyway, a while back, I ordered some Chromo Fingering yarn from Knitpicks. It is a gradient/self-striping single ply yarn which is great for socks as well as other things like scarves and even shawls (although I suspect the nylon component bit will give it a bit more stretch than I would like while blocking). Because of how the colours flow from one to another, complicated sock patterns are definitely out of the question so I reckon I’ll have to stick a simple rib and/or stockinette stitch topped off with a ribbed cuff.

As for the scarves, I intend on fixing up the weaving loom and combining this yarn with some Wollmeise or The Knittery yarn that I have in my stash. It’s about time that I stash working on reducing my stash – not so much to add more to it but just to move it around. Hm. That doesn’t sound quiet right. O’well…I reckon the scarves should just be perfect for winter and make quick gifts. Hm.

That is IF I can finish them in time. Kekekeke.