Have you seen the new Knitty issue this week? Deep Fall…I fell in love with the pullover called Lia. It’s sexy, but not too sexy for work. While my very plush self doesn’t always look good wrapped in yarns fatter than worsted weight, this one definitely has possibilites, especially given that the recommended yarn is Malabrigo Chunky.

Lia by Mandie Harrington, courtesy of Knitty

While the pattern is sized for chests 28-52 inches, you’ll notice the finished chest is 26-50 inches (depending on size, of course). This sweater is designed with 0-2 inches of negative ease. But don’t fret, those purl ribs will stretch to maximize your curves. And if you’ve wanted to learn how to cable, but just not jumped in, I think the cables in this sweater are great for newbies. Just a few cables, and the larger sized yarn makes it easy to see exactly what’s going on.

So if you don’t have Malabrigo Chunky on hand, you may want to look at Cascade’s Eco or 128 Tweed. Or with the new Berroco shipment in at the Studio, take a look at Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky or Vintage Chunky.

Who’s up for showing off your curves?

This scarf/wrap caught my eye and imagination. Hypernova.

Hypernova courtesy of Arlenes-Lace

I went to a potluck yesterday for the musicology grad students at UMKC, hosted by one of my faculty colleagues.  My husband and I were one of two childless couples there.  One of the grad students and his wife had baby twins, one of the grad students is expecting her second child, one of the grad students and his wife had 4 year old twins, and the host faculty member and his wife have two sons!  I was reminded that I really needed to get some baby knitting done (for the twins and the one expecting!), so that’s the inspiration for today’s featured pattern. And whatever seems to be in the water has missed me, in case you all are wondering!

Norwegian Baby Cap courtesy of Saartje 1 on Flickr

The pattern I wanted to feature is no longer available for purchase (because of Sidna Farley’s death — how very sad), but this one, the Norwegian Baby Cap,  is similar.  You can use up sock yarn (so 100 Gm ball of sock yarn will make two hats, perfect for twin boys!), and if you use self-patterning sock yarn, a cute design is knitted in!  The seemingly zig-zag nature of the edges makes it perfect to cover baby’s ears and forehead, but still have a little room at the baby’s nape for head and neck movement.  The cap is sized for 6 months, 1 and two years.  And it’s FREE!

Please check it out — and before you dismiss it — look around.  I certainly know a number of folks who are expecting or who just had babies.  What a fast project for upcoming cooler weather!

Lace. Looking at the spider webs and wispy grasses, I can’t help but think of lace as autumn approaches.  Hawthorne by Susanna IC  is a great pattern to ease into lace knitting.  A garter stitch curve with lace edging of leaves and berries, it uses only 800 yards of worsted weight yarn.  In the Twist Collective styling, it’s thrown over a jean jacket and I love the dressed up, yet casual look.

Hawthorne by Susanna IC from Twist Collective

While the pattern calls for Spirit Trail Fiberworks Lyra, you could use a favorite worsted weight yarn, particularly wool.  Any of the Cascade or Ella Rae worsted weights would work well, Manos del Uruguay, Rowan Felted Tweed or Dream in Color Classy.  Plus the Classic Elite yarns Montera, Portland Tweed (YUM!), and Kumara.  Lots of lovely yarns to consider.

The forecast is calling for rain the next few days — wouldn’t this be a great project to crank out with a cuppa tea beside you and have ready for the first leaves turning?

Greetings!  I took some time away from blogging to recharge.  As many of you know, I’m a librarian at a local university, and late July/early August is my last chance to take a deep breath before the mass influx of students and the rapid pace of  life that brings.  Also, I’m one of those who has a hard time getting much knitting done in summer’s heat.  I did manage to get a cotton dress finished for my niece and the scarf mentioned earlier, but not much else.

This week’s cooler weather (hallelujah!) has stoked my knitting engine, and I’m even willing to contemplate wool now without having an instant hot flash at the thought of wool.  And even though the early fall Knitty has been out since July, I can finally face it.

Iced cardigan from Knitty Early Fall 2010

Carol Feller’s Iced just sang to me.  It’s a lovely shawl collared sweater with a deep raglan sleeve that should flatter any figure and has a top down construction.  I don’t like raglan sleeves that make me look any bigger or make my shoulders look any broader, but this one is steep enough that it shouldn’t make me cranky.  I also love the garter stitch texture in the shawl collar — it helps bring a strong vertical line to the garment, which is also flattering for the plusher body.  And if you’re not so plush but petite, that strong vertical line may help lengthen your look.

Ms. Feller used Garn Studio Drops Ice (cotton/acrylic blend) for her garment, but other options include Cascade’s Eco and Eco+, Rowan Big Wool, Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky, Berroco Comfort (doubled, I would guess), Classic Elite Ariosa.  If your tastes run to Noro, I imagine this would be stunning in Noro, especially with the contrasts between horizontal and vertical striping.  Gauge for this garment is 3 sts/inch or 12 stitches to 4 inches — a bulky yarn or (swatch carefully) a smaller yarn doubled should work.

Pattern finished chest measurement ranges from 30.5 to 54.5 inches.  Think how fabulous this will be at the end of this month and into October!

Happy knitting!

Happy Tuesday!  I’m in Virginia visiting family, and am sharing something fun and easy.  If you’ve not made this yet, give it a try.

I made my mom a gorgeous scarf out of the red Trendsetter Cha Cha yarn.  She showed it to her neighbor, who thought it was fabulous and fascinated at how it was made.  I taught this neighbor to knit, so later today or tomorrow, I’ll bring her the skein I bought for her and teach her how to make it.

So easy — take one skein of the Trensetter ChaCha yarn in your favorite color.  I recommend balling it by hand carefully so you don’t twist the fat ribbon.

Don’t overthink knitting this one up.  Thanks to Staci who showed me that I was making it harder for myself!  Take size 10 or 10.5 US straight needles, and weave the needle in and out of the boxes on top of the yarn so you have 10-12 threads on top of your needle.  You may want to have every other box, or every 3 boxes so it looks like your needle is laying on top of San Francisco’s Lombard Street.  This sets up the ruffle.  When you knit the first row, don’t freak.  Just slide your right hand needle into the first thread laying across the top of the needle, through the open box of yarn.  Be careful how you “wrap” the yarn — don’t twist the yarn and skip a couple of boxes (whatever number you choose, stick with it) to create the ruffle.  You slide the open box over the needle with one thread laying on top, then slide the “old” thread over the top.  You’re really just knitting those boxes, not the entire yarn.

Keep going until the end of the row.  Turn the needle and keep going.

Binding off may seem a little strange, but you do it just like any other project, but just sticking to using the boxes in the top of the ribbon yarn as your working yarn.

When I finished knitting the scarf, I took a yarn needle, threaded it with the ribbon, and carefully worked it through the spaces left by the boxes at the top of the ribbon.  I tried to make it look somewhat like the inside of a rose — that layered look.

I’m sorry I don’t have a good camera with me to show you the finer details of how this works.  There are some great videos on the web of how to knit with this, but I didn’t find any about how to finish it (weaving in ends).  Try my suggestion and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

What did I enjoy about this project?  It was fast and while I was afraid it would look cheesy when finished, it didn’t. I was a little frustrated at first because it didn’t start out quickly, but once I got the hang of the technique of working with the boxes and not the entire yarn, it flew.

And with one skein, it’s not a lot of yarn to get you hot with summer knitting!

Enjoy!

HI there! Haven’t fallen off of the planet, but this summer has been much busier than expected! I’m off on another trip soon — to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

In the meantime, here’s some knitting suggestions to add to your queue or sideswipe your current projects:

*Adrift is an accessory — it’s a vest with long, swishy points in a good way. It’s done up in Malabrigo Lace (pitter-patter my heart), and when Beth first shared this wtih me, I was wondering how I could adapt Candace Eisner Strick’s Merging Colors technique to this. It comes in size 30-54 inches and you can probably fudge a little on both ends. Wonderful for the movies when you want just a little something.
*Staci made a lucious ski jacket from Brown Sheep Bulky (which is in stock!) — this is a divine Véronik Avery pattern from Knitting Classic Style. Finished measurements are 33.75 -52.25 inches. If you’re going to a cooler clime or you are not dealing with hot flashes, go ahead and cast on. Or just stock up on the yarn now… not that I’ve ever been known to do this!
*and in honor of our troops, consider knitting up a Helmet Liner or Wooly Pulley. It’s a fast knit and if you’ll mail it to Citizen SAM or probably even one of the local bases, it’ll get to a soldier who can use it.

I hope each of you had a safe and joyous July 4th. I really enjoyed hearing the Declaration of Independence read on NPR Friday morning. It wouldn’t hurt any of us to re-read it at least once a year!

There’s a new yarn in town, Fiesta’s Baby Boom.  While it’s steamy outside, it’s never too early to think about fall and winter knitting.  Anne Hanson’s Sprössling is a lovely cardigan with a subtle pattern that won’t be negatively affected by Baby Boom’s handpainted colors.  This pattern comes in sizes XS (28.75″)-3X (56.75″).

Now, if you’re not up for a cardigan, consider this lovely lace stole by Shui Kuen Kozinski and Benne Ferrell called Dancing Cranes Stole.  Measuring 14.5″ x 80″, it’s a free pattern from Elann.  You could try Louet’s KidLin for this, Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze, Malabrigo Lace, or Skacel’s Merino Lace.  Think about this for a summer wedding on a cool-ish evening, or at the movies or the museum.

ENJOY!

It’s Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was formerly known.  I’m the daughter of a veteran, and on this day I remember not only my father’s service during the Korean War, but that of my uncles, including Uncle Bill, who died in France in WWII.

We have troops serving now, even without a mandatory draft.  Whether or not you agree with the politics behind the various wars, our men and women are still serving us, still defending us.

Our soldiers serve in a variety of climates.  Here’s a pattern for “Soldier’s Glomitts,” a free pattern for fingerless mittens with a mitten cap.  It uses worsted weight wool (350 yards), and size 5US needles.  Cascade 220 Superwash in a dark or sand color would work well. It’s just the right kind of wool knitting to remember our troops and our veterans this Memorial Day.

I gave in and turned on the A/C yesterday.  As a woman who’s experienced hot flashes since my mid-30s, I don’t mess around when it comes to humid and warm weather.

Sunday’s humid weather reminded me of the need for something cooler to wear to work.  Something that would dry pretty quickly and not hold the dampness near my plush self.  I LOVE linen.  LOVE it.  Love hemp.  I don’t love knitting it, but I love the fabric I knit up from it.  This Louet pattern, Tori, has cap sleeves, some easy cables, and would make up well in Louet Euroflax, but I think Berroco’s NaturLin (40% linen, 60% rayon), and AllHemp6 from Hemp for Knitting (DK not sport weight, though!  gauge accordingly!!!) would work.

The pattern is for bust sizes 33.75-66.5 inches.  Note that some of the cap sleeves on the Ravelry photos seem to almost be small wings.  If you’ve worked with linen or hemp, you know that it has quite a bit of body, but after it’s been washed and dried several times, it softens up and has a lovely drape.  If you’re a little nervous about what might happen, buy a skein, knit a swatch — a washcloth pattern or a stitch pattern out of a stitch dictionary is great — then wash and dry it quite a few times.  For fun, knit two, and only wash/dry one of them to see and feel the difference!