I had some concentrated knitting time last week - on the way to and from a lovely visit with my family. The result is this:



which will become the lovely Tyra

from the book Modern Living by S. Charles. From the moment I saw the pattern I wanted to make this vest/shawl. I got the book from Webs (my LYS didn’t carry it) and found some Maggie’s Alpaca in my stash.

It’s great car knitting because it is all seed stitch and ribbing. It’s a bulky gauge (12 sts/4 inch) on US 10’s. The pattern called for 14 sts/4 inch but I couldn’t get that with this yarn so I modified the stitch count. The vest is constructed from 3 rectangles.

This is just an everyday, no nonsense, warm cap, but it’s made from a blend of 60% cashmere and 40% merino wool.

I bought the yarn at Stitches East 3 or 4 years ago. Because of my faulty memory and/or record-keeping, I thought it was merino - if I had remembered I had cashmere, it would not have hung around unused for so long. But, I’m glad it did, because I dug it out to make a cap for a friend, and it’s perfect for him (I hope he agrees!). One of the Rainey Sisters just happened to blogged about a Marsan Cap at about the same time I was mulling over what pattern to use, and thus the stars were aligned.

I’m quite fond of the twisted rib (very stretchy) and the way the crown decreases spiral.

This is a scarf & hat set I made for my step-mom for her birthday.

The scarf pattern is Stolen Moments (Ravelry link) but I made it much narrower to be a scarf instead of a wrap.

The hat pattern is Basic Ribbed Hat (also a Ravelry link). Thank you, EOL, for modeling it for me before I mailed it off.

I toyed with the idea of making a hat in the lace pattern of the scarf, but decided that New Hampshire winters are too cold for hats with holes.
The yarn is Lobster Pot wool and mohair blend in the “Beach Plum” colorway. I used 2 skeins.

Here’s a fun hat:

This is for a friend, my lovely and talented logo designer, TLDesign. She bought the yarn and her only instructions were “make it messy,”

After I knit the green brim, I switched to the thick/thin yarn (I don’t know what it is, but it reminds me of Colinette Point 5). Then I randomly put in stitches of the green, and every once in a while, pulled out a bit of the yarn and twisted it back on itself.

It was a fun hat to knit and I think it’ll be fun (and warm) to wear.

I started a new scarf yesterday.

I bought this “Queensland Haze” last month because I liked it - I had no project idea in mind. It turned out not to be stretchy enough for knitting: it is 60% corn (!) and 40% cotton. The skein is 275 yards, not quite enough for a scarf on its own, so I had to find a weft from my stash to go with it.
I tried black, purple and a “terra cotta” cotton:

(the color is off in this picture: it’s a royal purple, not blue)

I had to beat pretty severely to get a nice fabric: you can see both loose and tight beating in the terra cotta swatch.
My favorite was the terra cotta, which is Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton. It completely changes the original colorway from the Queensland Haze - here’s a shot of the warp by itself:

And here is the warp and weft:

This bag is for Etsy:

The yarn is Elann Pure Bamboo knit on size US4 needles. The beads are glass seed beads, 2 per stitch.

The top of the bag is a drawstring.

It was a quick knit and lots of fun to knit (I love me those shiny beads!). The shopping took longer than the knitting.

I needed a small gift for my sister and what is nicer than a hand-knit dishcloth? Well, maybe a flat-screen TV, but my time and budget made me lean more towards the dishcloth.

The pattern is the ubiquitous Ballband Dishcloth. I used King Tut cotton (natural) and Cascade Sierra cotton/wool blend (blue) (both from KnitKnack) on US 7 needles.

I hope to get it in the mail tomorrow.

I finished the baby blanket in plenty of time for the baby’s arrival:

The stitch pattern turned out to be easy to do, reversible and very nice with this cotton:

When I finished it, I had some help to try it on -
and then fold it:


Then it was washed, dried, and mailed to Pittsburgh.

Baby ZGBC came last week and is the third-cutest little boy EVER!

I started the “Must Have Cardigan” from the Paton’s booklet “Street Smart.”
These are the 2 sleeves:

I have learned to only knit on this project when I’m by myself and not multitasking. When I try to talk to someone and knit, a skill I usually do quite well, I forget to turn a cable or something and end up ripping back a row (or more).

I haven’t knit this type of cardigan for many years, and I’m enjoying the texture. I’m calling it Maybe-Have instead of Must-Have since it won’t be done for a couple of months. The wool is vintage Bernat Sesame.

I’m currently working on two (relatively) big projects:
1) a baby blanket - my dear friend C.Z. is going to be a grandmother, and this is for her grandchild-to-be:

It is made from Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton in “Buttercup” on US 6 needles. The pattern is Horizontal Parallelogram Check from Barbara Walker’s First Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

2) Next is the lacy top Delphine from French Girl Knits:

It is knit in the round from the bottom up until the armholes. The yarn is “Angora Soft” from Knit One, Crochet Too on US size 7 needles. The pattern suggests a US 3, but I had to go up to a 7 to get gauge. Since I’m typically a loose knitter, this rayon/nylon/angora blend must be very different from the alpaca/silk the pattern calls for, but I like the way it’s coming out, and I’ll be able to wear it more easily in warmer weather.