Jan 6

FO: Ondawa

First FO of 2019! Which feels like cheating because this sweater wasn’t even cast on last year, but the year before that.. Yes this is a remnant of the summer of 2017 and it was about damn time I finished it.

Pattern: Ondawa by Michele Wang
Yarn: Cascade yarns 220

This sweater is literally cables for days (many many days, that it took me to knit them). I actually think the front and back panels were finished pretty quickly, and then I stranded on sleeve island for about a year. Not sure why I stranded there for so long, but I think part of it was dreading having to seam the sweater together. And boy, do I hate seaming.

I made no modifications to the pattern, other than going for full length sleeves. In case the prospect of all those cables is daunting to you, I’ve seen a lot of projects on ravelry where on the back panels the cables were substituted with twisted rib, although honestly I would have found that much more tedious to knit.

The sweater initially started out because I had some skeins of Cascade 220 in my stash that were going to waste, and I wanted to find a good use for them. I ordered some extra skeins and the sweater was started. First time using this yarn for a sweater and so far I’m really happy with it, especially because you don’t need to clean out your bank account for a worsted weight sweater.

The fit of this sweater is definitely unlike anything I’ve ever knit before, and when I first tried it on I thought ‘oh my, I’ve knit a cropped cabled tent!’. Then, moving around in it I really started loving this quirky sweater!

Jan 3

FO: Tuileries pullover

I have one last FO to show from last year, quite literally finished within the last few hours of the year. This pattern was actually cast on on my birthday, which is December 1st. That day I made a visit to La Bien Aimee and came back with a nice bag full of this lovely orange yarn. Later that day the sweater was started. Precisely 1 month of sweater knitting later, and this is the result!

Pattern: Tuileries Pullover by Julie Knits in Paris
Yarn: De Rerum Natura Ulysse

The pattern is a very cosy, wide turtle-neck style sweater, which includes (fair warning) quite bit of twisted ribbing. The fit is loose and intended to be cropped, something I’m very much into lately. The pattern is easy to follow and great for travel/tv/meditative knitting. I was hoping to get a hug of a sweater out of this and that’s exactly what I got.

After a wash the yarn becomes lovely and soft to wear on the skin, so I wouldn’t worry about this yarn being scratchy on your neck. I’m super pleased with the fit on me! The only thing I’m still trying to figure out a little is how to ‘wear’ the collar. In the pattern images it’s held up by hand, and for me it doesn’t stay up on its own accord. Nothing wrong with that, but as the twisted ribbing is one sided, the way it falls on my neck always reveals a substantial amount of ‘ugly’ ribbing. So for now I like it best to fold the collar inwards and turn it into a wide turtle neck. There’s probably different ways to wear the sweater, and I’m still playing around with it to see which way I like best. Whichever way I wear it, I’m at least certain I’ll be comfy in this sweater for the rest of winter 🙂

Jan 2

Knit pile of 2018

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you had relaxing and happy holidays, whichever way you spend them. I spend one week in the Netherlands at my parents place, and am now following this up with another week off back in Paris. I never make a big deal out of New Years eve to be honest, nor am I big on resolutions. Some big life events happened for me in 2018, such as defending my PhD, getting married, and moving abroad. I’d be pretty content with a less eventful 2019!

I had no fixed knitting goals for 2018, other than wanting to knit more sweaters. As you may know I’m pretty addicted to sock knitting, and normally most of my FOs of the year will be socks. Wanting to knit more garments I knew would result in 2 things; less finished socks and less finished overall objects (a sweater takes me much longer to knit than a pair of socks).

Both of these predictions seem to be true. As you can see from my pile, I managed a total of 6 garments (2 tops, 1 cardigan, and 3 sweaters), which I’m super pleased with! I’ve been wearing them very proudly (whenever the weather allowed it). The bottom most orange sweater hasn’t been blogged about at all yet, as I cast it on last month on my Birthday and finished it on NYE. I’ll reveal its identity later this week!

The garments I knit are: Tegna top, Tambourine cardigan, Gran sweater, Threipmuir sweater, and the Bolan T. I’ve been wearing all of them but I think my absolute favourite has been the Threipmuir sweater. It was my first ever colourwork sweater and even though it is not perfect, it is perfect to me. I wear it whenever I can!

I finished 2 shawls, both at the beginning of the year, and already got so much wear out of both of them. I’ve been wearing the Henslowe shawl on warmer days and the Invincible Summer shawl on cooler days. To be honest they’ve kind of dominated my shawl choices, making me feel bad for my other shawls.

I finished two hats, one gifted (the Frais hat), and one pictures on the pile (Coral Reef hat). Both had similar rainbow style pompoms, making them incredibly cheerful.

Even though I knit much fewer socks than I normally would, 6 finished pairs is still pretty decent. This has also brought up the total count of pairs of socks I own to 41. This number has made me itch to get to 50 pairs in 2019, even though I realise it is a totally arbitrary goal. I knit 3 pairs of vanilla socks, and 3 patterned ones (Fade X socks, Tulsi socks, and Prairie Spring socks). I do by now feel like I’m slowly getting over knitting vanilla socks to be honest. The knitting is too boring and I’d prefer even having a simple stitch pattern to knitting a vanilla sock.

Once again I have no strong goals for 2019. I guess I want to continue knitting more garments, as its been such a rewarding thing for me in 2018. More colourwork would definitely be good to improve my skills there. Other than that, I’ll be knitting whatever strikes my fancy.

 

What about you? Do you have any (knitting) resolutions for 2019?

Nov 24

Review: I Knit Paris

I had a very happy mail day last week, receiving my copy of the new pattern book I Knit Paris. The book features 10 patterns inspired by the city of Paris, by nine different French designers. Besides these patterns, the book includes an overview of all the knitty spots in the city, as well as interviews with all the designers and their connection to and favourite spots in the city.

I’m really excited by this books, as it actually is very insightful about spots to visit that I wasn’t aware of yet, and has information about all my favourite knitting stores bundled together. The pattern photography is stunning and feels properly Parisian, capturing both the knitting and the places that inspired it.

I think my absolute favourite pattern from the book is the Tuileries Pullover by Julie Knits in Paris. If I’d had to imagine a sweater that looked interesting to make, interesting to look at, but also interesting to wear basically every day, this sweater is the personification of those thoughts. I’m going to need this sweater in all of the colours.

I’m of course also head over heels (pun intended) in love with the sock design in this book. The Jardin à la Française socks by Tisserin Coquet feature fun colourwork inspired by shapes and symmetry that can be found in French gardens.

I also had an immediate cast on after receiving the book, which is the Running Up That Hill shawl by les Tricoteurs Volants. The pattern name refers to the hill leading up to Montmartre, which in general I would not recommend you to run up ;).  Knitting this shawl I can heartily recommend however.

All in all, I’m extremely happy with this book. If you’re looking for a beautiful pattern book that also happens to be a knitty Paris city guide, this is the book for you. You can have a look at all the patterns here.

Nov 11

Dreary Sunday, happy socks

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday afternoon. I am currently wrapped up in my pyjama’s while watching the rain outside. It is perfectly cosy. And every cosy Sunday needs a cosy pair of socks.

Pattern: Improvised vanilla socks with fish lips kiss heels
Yarn: Twisted Limone sock yarn in the Dreamcatcher colourway

These socks have been my mindless knitting for the past couple of weeks, picking them up every now and again. They are actually much longer than I had intended. I had just bought a new set of 2.25mm sock needles and cast on 72 stitches. After knitting a couple of cm’s these socks seemed way too big however. I measured my brand new needles as a sanity check, and turns out they were actually 2.5mm needles. Very frustrating! I didn’t feel like starting over so I decided to make them longer and decrease stitches on the calf. I added contrasting heels and toes using some leftover sock yarn.

With these socks now off the needles I only have 2(!!) active WIPs! One is a pair of First Star socks, and the other is the Inori shawl. I feel a little cast on spree coming on soon..