cute mitts

Mitered Mittens (May) by Elizabeth Zimmermann
wool: Noro Silk Garden
weekend knit (started Friday after work and finished on Monday)

ez at perfection! i think this might be the perfect car knitting pattern ever … small/portable, ideal mix of mindless stockinette but miters keep it interesting… feeling inspired to make a bunch on the upcoming road trip into BC
love love love!
used the gusset thumb thanks to grace ivy

i have narrow hands so adjusted the stitch count
CO 48st and reduced to 36st (so a flared long cuff)
gusset thumb: 12 st

ps crazy how these ending lining up! it is like i planned it (not at all)

on to the edging

well i've done the body of the cardigan now onto the edging. to help the monotony of it (twenty stitch saw tooth lace edge) i've decided to add beads - i picked out gold seed beads in Inuvik but i haven't been able to find a crochet hook small enough to add them to the yarn. so yesterday i went to our great local dollar store and found these larger beads and a size 14 crochet hook (0.60 mm smallest i've been able to find in whitehorse). The beads are a clear amethyst purple with a copper foil lining - the copper glints in the light and also makes the beads appear brown in some light. i really like how they shift colour - sometimes a pale grey-purple, bright copper, or dark warm purple/brown.

i have to admit i'm a little worried that they will add too much weight to this light floaty cardigan (wool will weigh about 100grams) and/or distract from the lace - however they are really pretty and it is fun to knit with them!

ps want to know how to knit with beads? knitty has a great article about beading it is much easier than it looks - try it out!

currently on the needles ..... and on my plate

hardly looks like anything here but it will end up as a lacy floaty cardigan .... this link isn't a great pic but it does give you an idea how it will end up. the pattern is Honeysuckle in Rowan 45. mom has given me a subscription to this British magazine for the last couple years and i love it. it isn't a fast knit ... i'm on row 86 of 130 .... well then i do the edging and sleeves. so i'm getting there but haven't reached the half way mark yet!

mom and dad were here last week. it was so great to have them visiting as they finally got a chance to see the Yukon during our long summer days. they drove up bring my bedroom furniture ( a tall boy chest of drawers and vanity both with beautiful art deco lines from the 30s) and my great grandmothers china ... yes i now have a stunning set of dishes!

Blue Mikado by Royal Crown Derby ... this set was once Jennie Cogswell's my mom's mother's mother ... willa also got a beautiful set - from mom's father's mother - unfortunately not all of willa's made it to her complete ... so sad!!!! many broke ... so we'll hunt the internet for replacements. andrea also just received china too from our grandma white - her's has lovely pink blossoms that almost have a botanical drawing feel about them - so perfect for andrea!

back to my trip with mom and dad - they spent a few days here in whitehorse then we drove up to dawson city where we had three nights. there are so many touristy things to do in dawson and it has been a while since i've done them! we did the walking tour(highly recommended by the way as they also take you into restored buildings), the dredge (so big!), and mom and dad also went to robert service's and jack london's cabin .... i had homework to do then so didn't make it to those. we all went up the dome road which is high above dawson to see the sun not set on the 21st at midnight. it is a big gathering spot everyone brings a bottle ... or card table (there were a couple of groups plying poker) ... we looking rather square with out booze and mom and i were pretty tired ... but it is always cool to experience to sun stay high .. or skim above the mountains anyway ;)

ok i'm going to knit a bit more this morning .. enjoy your sunday morning

icelandic wool

one thing i absolutely had on my list to bring back was icelandic wool. hee hee no surprise there! the mecca? the Álafoss factory outlet shop/orginal mill (pictured above). willa and i drove there on monday before we started our country drive. and wow! so glad we went. the staff were sooo nice, the selection amazing, and more than just wool lots of knit sweaters/ lace stoles/ kid items etc. oh and great prices - i left with spending just under $40 CA with enough wool to knit a cardigan and 2 or 3 lace stoles/scarves!

i will warn you my knitting/yarn geekness is going to come out here - so feel free to glaze over and just admire the pics.

Like Shetland (northern scottish islands) Iceland has its own breed of sheep. the resulting wool is warm, hardy and water-repellent. its long fibres mean it wears well (merino and cashmere for example have short fibres meaning they are soft .. but are delicate/prone to pilling - this is over simplified but you get the picture) because the long guard hairs are included - this adds to the wind/water resistant quality but also makes the wool 'hairy' looking and many find it itchy - ps a wash/soak in hair conditioner does wonders!

Ever heard of Lopi? yep that is icelandic wool - available in north america in 3 weights lite, regular and bulky. It is one ply with a loose spin/twist. Pretty affordable a lot of people i know use it for felted items (slippers etc) ......... i've used it a few times often carrying anther fibre like mohair with it to soften it up a bit

but i've been curious about the other icelandic wool out there..... in particular the traditional unspun that comes in "cakes" much like white buffalo used to, and the lace weight.

Plötulopi: the unspun wool, it "is fragile to knit; however, due to the length of its fibres, it knits into a sweater that is both sturdy and soft." see the lovely sweater above? I bought one from "Farmers Market" - young design company [profiled here] that is re-imagining the traditional lopapeysa - or icelandic yoke sweater. I love the sweater - i must get a shot of of me wearing it. anyway back to wool it is knit with a single strand of unspun while more traditional sweaters you'd knit with 2 to 4 strands at a time which would make them ready for the elements. but since i'm wearing this inside i love how lightweight and airy the cardigan is - yet still warm.



i love it so much i'm going to knit myself almost the same sweater - this time in a natural heathered grey with cream and purple. swoon! i have soooo many projects lined up but this pretty pretty wool is calling. oh and it smells great - i guess because it is rather unprocessed


and then there is the laceweight: Loðband - if you've been following the blog you'll know i've been really into knitting lace. and based on a beautiful triangle shaped shawl we saw in the shop [here is one that is similar - might be the pattern i'll use] i bought 6 natural shades from the lightest cream to a deep charcoal. i bought extra white/cream and charcoal so i have enough for 2 or 3 projects!

ps. if you are interested in more about icelandic wool and knitting - check out the The Handknitting Association of Iceland

hello lace (goodbye winter?)

i'm wishing for spring these days ... well maybe not wishing as i do love the bright sun on the snow but i am dreaming of warmer weather and green grass and flowers. so instead of the sweater(s) i had planned, i have been knitting lace. above is the hemlock ring tam knit with "silky wool" - it is wool and raw silk so has this lovely tweedy texture which i think works for this lacy tam. it isn't warm enough yet for this hat .... but maybe in a month or two?

yesterday i cast on for my next lace project: Cobweb Lace Stole by Michele Rose Orne found in last spring's IK Knits magazine. this pattern looks like a bit of a handful! there are no “rest” purl rows in the main pattern/section - but it shouldn’t bore me at least! so far i have the ruffled edge almost done - it reminds me of foxglove flowers



it is for my trip to Reykjavik and Copenhagen in early april with Willa. (squeal!) so i have a deadline i want to wear this light airy for spring in Scandinavia. the wool is from my trip to the east coast with my family last year - it is the prettiest pale coral or salmon pink/orange. it is suri blue a lace weight by Fleece Artist (based in Nova Scotia) - this wool/alpaca is totally lush - the colour has a slight variegation and a soft halo

tweedy is done!

Alexandra Ballerina Top by Stefanie Japel (found in Fitted Knits)

Needles: US 10½ / 6.5 mm

Yarn: Rowan RYC Soft Tweed (7 balls + a wee bit more) in Slate Blue

Size: 33" plus a lot more length for my looooong torso


i really like the back - all the waist shaping was done here - although this photo makes it look a bit lumpy!

while i'm still not 100% about this sweater - as i said before it's the chunk factor - it is cozy and the colour is pretty. oh and i think the sleeves are cute too!

tweedy ballerina

its coming along! the neck is pretty wide & big though, so will likely cut it out and re-knit it tighter. i'm not 100% on this knit - it's feeling a bit chunky. however i love the yarn, Rowan Soft Tweed! why oh why has it been discontinued? (hint... if you see Soft Tweed on sale keep me in mind!)

World Wide Knit in Public Day

WWKiP day was fantastic - we had 25+ people show up all different ages and sooo chatty! loved it! spoke for quite a while with this lady (she’d be in her 80s) about knitting and her 10 kids! She grew up in the Yukon - her best friend’s mother taught her knit as her mom didn’t knit - so at nine years old she began knitting her dad sweaters for work - her dad did the mail run between Whitehorse and Dawson City (this was before there was a road! about 500-600 km) - so cool and great

new sweater swatch w notes

rose_swatch w notes
Originally uploaded by knit_north

i'm about to start a fair isle sweater (Autumn Rose by Eunny Jang) - totally excited -
but still need a few colours - i'm in victoria next week so i'll actually be able to pick out colours in front of me instead of guessing over the web.


here is my swatch - i think i need a deeper gray and a brighter turquoise (instead of the moorgrass)
i think i’ll also swap out the shetland black with a deep purple
i tried out spruce and tartan - i like the darker green -tartan- better

winter knitting

hooray for completed projects - these all seemed to finish at the same time and boy does that make me smile!

first off the tams - i fell in love with knitty's three tams pattern
i made this one (version c) for me with local yukon alpaca and noro silkgarden (shade 226)


and a second one (a hybrid of version b + a) for willa - we've named it the bruise tam because the colours are all bruise-y shades mmmmm mustard-y green and purple


and yes i've cast one another!


and my tomten for my friend's little boy is done- hoooray!! i actually completed knitting it in November but haven't been able to put the zipper in until now - i'm home for christmas so my mom sewed it in with her machine. i'm sooo pleased. the buttons are just a 'design element' -read: the top of the zipper was difficult to sew so it looked rather messy there so we sewed on the buttons to hide the machine stitches there ... plus i do think they are cute (knit with Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies - daffodil shade)



another gift i made was toque for Tom for Christmas - it is 100% baby alpaca and super soft and cozy

frans mittens

frans mittens, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I knit mittens!!
and it was totally easier than i thought it would be!
These mitts are for my friend frances, part of her birthday gift. i'm thinking of lining them with micro fleece for a bit more warmth.
but yea mittens!

wool woes

i'm almost done knitting my tomten sweater but gaah! i don't enough to finish the sleeve .... i bought the last 4 skeins of cute variegated wool (Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies Multi) on sale at the Knit Cafe with Willa, and figured i had plenty. no no no
I don't really feel have the time to search online for the dye lot etc .. so am going to the local wool shop today in hopes i can find a solid colour to finish it off with - wish me luck

knitting projects!

cable, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

snail, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

thought I'd show off my latest knitting projects...
I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
The top one is the cable hat I've been working on for about a year (ready just in time for fall) and the bottom is a super warm snail hat i started when mary was up visiting.. It was super fast!

tomten

tomten4
Originally uploaded by knit_north

latest project - bought the wool in toronto with willa so i had something to knit at V-fest and on the train to montreal - i'm really loving the colour and the pattern - but ummm bit surprised how big the size is!


during v-fest they had staff photographers wandering around snapping pics - here is will + i knitting on day 2 (yep you can tell it is the last of the festival - oh so glam)

Molly Dress - free knit pattern for blythe

a great, easy little mod dress for your blythe.

SIZE
12" Blythe Doll

MATERIALS
- Lang Jawoll sock yarn [75% superwash wool,18% nylon,7% acrylic 206 yards per 50 gram ball] - I love Jawoll! It is a lighter weight than most sock yarns, which is great for doll clothes. The best thing about it is each skein includes a 5g spool of reinforcement thread ~ perfect to sew on buttons, sequins etc!
- two doll sized buttons
- sequins, beads [optional]
- set of four 2.75 mm [US size #2] needles

PATTERN
Body:
· CO 40 sts. leave a tail aprox 3 inches long
· Knit 2 rows. Join - being careful not to twist.
· Eyelet Row: *K2tog YO* repeat
· Knit 10 rows
· Reduce row: *K3, K2tog* repeat (end up with 32 sts)
· K1P1 Rib for 4 rows
· Knit 12 rows
Divide for Front:
· K16 turn, P16
· K1P1 for 3 (or 4) rows
· Cast off Purl wise
Back:
· Pick up 16 sts at the Back
· Stockinette 4 rows (K on RS, P on WS)
· Next row P on RS
· Eyelet Row: *K2tog YO* repeat
· P 1 row
· Cast off


FINISHING
Use yarn tail from bottom to sew the bottom 2 rows together.
Sew on 2 buttons to the top front edges (use the eyelet holes as button holes) If desired, sew on sequins and/or beads to skirt portion. Weave in ends. Block as desired.

done the wedding present!

i think the bamboo facecloths turned out well - but more than anything it is a relief to have them in the mail (ahhhhhh sigh)

don't ya love how well that ribbon matches?!

ps i added in treats from Aroma Borealis (lovely handmade herbal bath stuff, skin cream etc...)

bamboo tape

so here is my new project .... (Blouson from IK Summer 07) well kind of - i'm adapting it - knitting it at a larger gauge and changing up the neckline and sleeve length.

this is the "wool" i'm using:
rowan bamboo tape (in amethyst)

anyway i'm getting there - already 3 balls in and about 10 inches up from the bottom!