FO: Tegna sweater

This little sweater has been all summer in the making, with a little knitting here and there. I’m pretty sure I finished all the knitting well over a month ago, but was too lazy to weave in the ends. To be fair, it was so incredibly hot I wouldn’t have worn it anyway. But now with the start of what appears to be an absolutely perfect autumn, I’m going to say the finishing time of this top is absolutely perfect.

Pattern: Tegna by Caitlin Hunter
Yarn: La Bien Aimee Tough Sock in the Yellow Brick Road colourway

One of the very first things I did after moving to Paris was pay a visit to the La Bien Aimee store, which is where I picked up the 2 skeins of yarn necessary for this top. At that time I might have been the absolute last knitter on earth that hadn’t knit a Tegna yet, so it was an obvious choice. It’s an easy and satisfying pattern that I would most definitely recommend!

I’m going to tell you one little secret about this top, which is that I nearly frogged it after it was blocked. I was having such a bad day and was feeling all sorts of bad about myself when I tried it on for the first time. In my mind this thing was hideous and unflattering and I just wanted to rip it out right there and then. I was feeling ugly, like a failed knitter, and in my mind this top was the culmination of all of that. I didn’t frog it, thankfully, and now wearing it I actually feel fantastic in this top. Just goes to show what kind of mean tricks your mind can play on you. I’m not sure what the take home message from this should be but I do want to tell you this; be kind to yourself. Give yourself a break. And let knitting be a positive light in this world that is all sorts of messed up right now. Oh, and never frog a knit in the heat of the moment!

Sep 9

FO: Fade X Sox

I’ve returned from my lovely holiday in Slovenia. I’m still planning on making a separate picture post for that, but this will require me to first sort through the hundreds of pictures I took 😉 So for now you will have to do with the first FO from my holiday projects.

Pattern: Fade X Sox by Leeni Hoi
Yarn: Artemis Yarn sock in the Dream colourway

The pattern consists of stitches travelling across your sock in a band, making it both an easy meditative knit, but also in my opinion very well suited for variegated yarns. I’d therefore really recommend this pattern for travel knitting! I know the word fade is mentioned in the pattern name, but there is no fade to be seen for my socks. Which is not to say I don’t think faded socks are amazing, but mostly means that for this particular project I couldn’t be bothered.

As for the yarn, this was my first time knitting with Artemis yarn after already admiring her colourways for quite some time. I think dream is a perfect name, because these socks are super dreamy. I don’t know why exactly, but while knitting this project the yarn-pattern combination was also giving me a strong 80s vibe (and I mean that in the best way possible).

I’ve actually also as good as finished the Gran sweater I was knitting in Slovenia, however after fudging up the skein alternation I’ll be reworking part of the body. Almost there though!

Aug 28

Holiday knits

I’m currently enjoying a 1,5 weeks trip to Slovenia, which despite lots of rainy weather, has so far been a very pleasurable experience. The biggest challenge of the trip so far was limited luggage, which also meant I needed to have a big think about what knitting to bring.

I ended up packing two skeins of sock yarn with some needles, the first skein of which (sock yarn by Artemis yarn) has by now been cast on as the Fade X Sox pattern by Leeni Hoi.

As you might notice, I am not fading these at all. However, I figured it would also work really well with this sort of variegated yarn. I’m really loving the look of these and they’re honestly flying off the needles, as I have just cast off sock nr 1.

Right before setting off I also cast on a sweater pattern, which has proven to be equally addictive. I’m using some very subtly speckled DK merino yarn by Snailyarn and am knitting the gran crown pattern by Dora Creadora. I honestly wish I could have everyone squish this sweater, because the texture it is creating both looks and feels ah-mazing.

As a pattern that I mostly brought out of wishful thinking is the Summer Rain shawl by Veera Välimäki, which I’m knitting out of yarn by Viking yarns. I cast this shawl on the very first day I moved to Paris and found myself in desperate need for endless garter stitch. Suffice to say that need has passed and this project has been lingering. I still think it’s going to make a lovely and wearable shawl, but garter stitch over hundreds of stitches with still many many many rows to come isn’t exactly motivating me.

And that’s it! I think it’s more than enough to still keep me busy for the rest of the trip, even if it doesn’t sound like all that much. What sort of knitting projects to you like do take with you on holidays?

Aug 19

FO: Tulsi & vanilla socks

It’s mostly still too hot to knit anything other than socks, which is why, especially after my last pretty sock FO, I made it a goal to get some of my lingering sock WIPs off the needles. So hereby I’m proudly showing off the first two pairs that benefited from my burst of sock motivation.

Pattern: Tulsi socks by Verena Cohrs
Yarn: Sock yarn by Koperdraadje (not sure if the colourway has a name, someone *ahem* misplaced the label)

I started these socks while on a neon-yellow high earlier this year, but then they quickly became buried under all the stress of finishing my PhD and moving countries. I’m so so happy I picked up this WIP again. I had already started the second sock and it pretty much flew off my needles.

The pattern in itself is pretty, the neon yellow toes and cuffs make them fantastically pretty. I made only one tiny modification, which is knitting the fish lips kiss heel instead of the heel in the pattern. I honestly can’t even remember why I chose to do so, but the fit is great so I’m not complaining. In any case I’d highly recommend both the yarn and the pattern!

The second pair I finished is a simple vanilla pair, with some yarn I purchased at La Bien Aimee during one of my very first weeks in Paris! The brand is called Mondim, which is a Portuguese brand if I’m not mistaken. It comes in all kinds of speckled fun colours and is a great value for money kind of sock yarn. If you happen upon this yarn in your LYS, it’s definitely worth stashing up a skein or two, as it’s perfect for cute vanilla socks that are likely to be very durable.

These two finished pairs means I only have two sock WIPS floating around in my life. Given that only yesterday I also cast off a new top (more on that very soon), I reckon I’ll be having a little cast on party first before continuing on my WIP finish-itis 😀

Aug 5

FO: Prairie Spring 2.0

I guess there is no point in complaining about the weather, because it seems to be super hot just about everywhere. Nonetheless, it definitely affects my knitting mojo, and I’m currently mostly sticking to small projects that take up no lap space. That’s why Brandy’s (of Long Dog Yarn) current indie sock along challenge is perfectly timed. And my first FO for this KAL is an old familiar pattern!

Pattern: Prairie Spring by Samantha Myhre
Yarn: Undercover Otter Squirm sock in the Wicked Little Things colourway

If you have been following this blog since way way back, these socks will definitely look familiar. In 2014 I knit this pattern for the first time, and they are still one of my most worn pairs! The old pair is nowhere near being worn out yet, but still I’ve been itching to make a new pair.

You can really knit this pattern out of any yarn and it’ll look brilliantly. You can probably see that these two socks look very different from one another, but it is really from the same skein I promise. With this pattern it really isn’t a problem though, and I even like the uneven feel to them.