ShihKnits » Tops

Stripes

winnie — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:03:27 +0000

The second half of 2008 has been very frustrating and depressing for me, professionally. It is one of those times when you’re given a mountain of lemons, and asked to make lemonade. In my case, I was given rotten lemons and um, let’s say, a manual lemon juicer. Given the state of the economy and the rounds of layoffs that I’ve survived, I should be thankful. Yada yada yada.. but in truth, I wake up almost everyday wanting to scream at unnamed individuals and tell them to shove the work to where the sun don’t shine. So here’s to hoping that the next year will be an improvement on the last, and that next year’s end-of-year post will end on a much brighter note.

This little gem was completed in November, made up from a skein of red cashmere that was gifted to me by Joy before she moved to Hawaii, and 3 skeins of leftover Rowanspun 4-ply in the colorway Squirrel. The top-down yoke sweater is inspired by MissLemon’s stripey version, and all it took was just a simple gauge swatch, some head measurements to make sure the sweater will fit through my noggin’, and try-as-I-knit top-down fun.

The edgings for the roll neck, sleeve and the bottom bands were finished off with an applied icord, a la Purl Bee’s tutorial. I played around with jogless stripes and centered the beginning of each round at the center on the back of the sweater (traveling down the spine). It’s not completely inconspicuous, but it’ll do for now.

The result is a feathery-light garment that I’ve dubbed : Candy Cane. If you’d like to knit one for yourself, please drop me a comment and I’ll go dig up my pattern notes. Of course, it’ll only be in the size that I knit, which is 36″ around for 2″ positive ease. (editted to add additional pictures)

Pattern: Garter Sideways Hat from Drops, Sz 58 cm

Materials: Noro Sock Yarn (Colorway S164), 0.5 skein, Sz 3 needles

There isn’t a thing that I don’t love about this hat. The garter stitch, the slouch, the colorway, and the simplicity of the pattern. You should all knit yourselves some. Trust.

Happy Holidays.

Toledo

winnie — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:59:35 +0000

Last month, during a phone conversation with my mom, she finally asked me when I was ever going to knit her a sweater. I thought about it long and hard, and finally narrowed it down to two patterns: Toledo from Rowan 37, and also Ilga Leja’s Fluid Linen. I emailed her images of both patterns, and even before she responded, I cast on for Toledo. 12 inches into the pattern, she called back to tell me that she liked Fluid Linen. Oops. How presumptuous of me.

Nevertheless, yarn had been bought, and I was not about to let it go to waste. I ended up ripping out most of the sweater and modified it to suit my measurements. Realistically, this tank only took me a week to knit.

The tank wasn’t fully complete without its accent ribbons. And since I didn’t have the Rowan Linen Print called for in the pattern, it took a while before I settled on Berroco Suede and finally called it a FO.

Pattern: Toledo, Rowan 37, Sz L hips modified to Sz XS for the rest of the bodice

Materials: Sz 6 and 8 needles, 5.5 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cottons (Shade 192) and 0.5 balls of Berroco Suede (Shade 3764)

Notes: All Seasons Cotton is a lovely yarn. Quite unlike the ropey feel that I have come to expect of cottons, it is springy, smooth and quite spongy. A delight to wear and also to knit with, very much to my surprise. I used 12 strands of the Suede yarn per plait, in lieu of the Linen Print. I think this blue/gray combo turned out quite nicely. In all honesty, I have always liked this pattern and wondered why I never see more of them on the web. In hindsight, I think it would fare better for a DK-weight yarn instead of an aran weight cotton, to minimize potential chunkiness. But all in all, a great pattern.

Now that this one’s out of the way, I better get cracking on that Ilga Leja Pattern.

Woohoo for stashbusters!

winnie — Mon, 02 May 2005 05:59:00 +0000

Pattern: Lelah (size M) designed by Christine
Materials: GGH Samoa (stash, less than 500 yds), 2 yds green velvet ribbon (Joann), US 9 and 7 circular needles
Notes: 9 lace repeats, 7″ bust area w/ 1″ allowance for elastic, 3/4″ elastic band.
Finished size: 29″ on top to fit my 34″ bust

This was a fun knit. Quick and easy. My stash was stressing me out and I got to frog a failed project to make this tube top. My bust looks a little “bunchy” in the pic because I had to tuck in my bra straps. Now where the heck did I put my strapless brassiere? I might make another in black Wool Ease just to bust my stash some more. Special thanks to Christine for this pretty design.