Little Queen

There are a lot of chic people in New York City, and fall and winter are the chic seasons.  Spring is flirty and summer is sexy, but fall and winter are when style takes center stage.  Sweaters and tights and corduroy and boots and coats and scarves: there are a lot of elements, including textures and colors, to consider when dressing oneself for cold weather.  It's easy to look clownish, which I sometimes do.

Lately I've been finding myself enraged when I see impossibly chic women with gigantic scarves and cowls wrapped round their necks.  I want! I want! I want!  And sometimes, the best gift to give is one that you would like to receive (assuming, of course, that the recipient would enjoy it as well).

Details:

Pattern: Snickerdoodle, by Lindsay Ingram

Yarn: Quince & Co. Puffin

Needles: US 15/10mm

Started: November 22

Finished: November 28

When I saw this pattern, I freaked out a little bit because it was EXACTLY what I'd been wanting, and I also knew it would be perfect for my friend Amy. Initially I planned to use the yarn called for by the pattern (Rowan Cocoon) but in the end I decided to use Quince and Co.'s Puffin, a bulky yarn that comes in a beautiful variety of colors. Peacock is the one I selected.

Working on this was a little tricky, as the recipient is my roommate; I couldn't exactly knit it up while we were sitting on the couch watching 30 Rock.  Fortunately, some friends asked me to house and dog sit while they were away over thanksgiving, so I decamped to their home and knit this linen-like stitch demonically for four days. I was both sneaky and productive.





I was worried about blocking it, but she Amy was called out of town for work and I seized upon the opportunity to wetblock (I always wetblock) the 56" long cowl and dry it on the floor under a fan.  The stitch opened up a bit with blocking, but it didn't grow a tremendous amount, which was a relief, as it was sizable to begin with.  The yarn did soften a bit, though, which was nice.  It's soft and flexible, yet has good body.  There's definitely going to be more Quince & Co. in my future.  Amy's going to Minnesota tomorrow for the Christmas holiday, and since it's been blizzarding out there (I'm not joking; their football stadium collapsed under the weight of the snow), this should prove quite useful.

A few of my knitting pals and I got together on Sunday to say "Bye for now" to one of our ranks who is heading to India for two months.  It was a lovely afternoon and I took advantage of the daylight to snap these photos. I was excited to see the cowl (dubbed Little Queen", another homage to Heart) on women of different heights, sizes and coloring.

Thank you to all of my sporting models. And good luck with your holiday knitting!

Pink and Blue and Cream All Over

There's been a bit of a lag since my last post, but don't for a second think this means I have not been busy. On the contrary, my fat but long fingers have been whipping up many knitted delights; the problem is that most of them are gifts, and hence to be kept on the Q.T., you dig? I'm excited about them all and look forward to a time in late December when I can share them with you. While I've been Christmas planning, I've also been feeling a bit grabby lately, like I see yarn and think "Ooh, I want that and I want it now." I don't feel guilty about this, since I seldom make things for myself, but I do have to be careful: On Monday I "accidentally" dropped $60 on three skeins of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in lettuce, an electric green. My plan is to make Laura Chau's Honeybee Cardigan, the cropped version. After the holidays, I imagine.

While there's much I can't reveal, there are some projects which I can. Like this:

Details:
Pattern:My Kind of Town Cowl, by Trish Woodson
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
Needles: US19/15.0mm

Started: September 15

Finished: September 19

This started out as Jane Richmond's Marian, but I wasn't feeling the combo of the yarn and the pattern, so I ripped it out and started over. The cowl I ended up making is chunky and dramatic, but it has the problem that plagues so many of the new and trendy cowls: it leaves a gap in the front of my neck through which the wind can whip me. Wind whipping is precisely what a cowl is supposed to stop, so this project rates only an OK from me, and therefore, is unlikely to find another home.

Now, this next project made me much, much happier:

Details:
Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath (highly modified)

Yarn: Noro Retro

Needles: US7/4.5mm

Started: October 26

Finished: October 28

I love these! Love, love them. I wear so much grey and black during the winter and have been looking for ways to bring some color to my wardrobe, so when I saw this beautiful ball of yarn at Seaport Yarn downtown, I couldn't walk away from it. I tried, because I was just there to buy some crochet hooks. But it was so pretty: chunky, bold and rustic yet feminine. And the blend of wool, silk and angora just felt so good. Later I learned that it's a new yarn from Noro, which somehow made me feel better about the impulse buy.

I used Fetching as the jumping off point for these, but I modified heavily. I omitted the cables, adjusted the number of stitches cast on to accommodate my gauge, knit the wrists longer and wear them inside-out. I like the look of the reverse stockinette; it has a more open and textural feel than regular stockinette. I call them my Pink Shockers, in part because they're shocking pink in color, but also in honor of some Minneapolis friends. They know why, oh yes, they do.

And now, so do you.

Earlier this fall, I was seduced by a Webs sale. It seems that Sheep Shop Yarn Company is going out of business, because their yarns are on sale all over the place. This was the first time I've purchased anything of theirs, because I found the yarns to be rather spendy. Hmm . . .perhaps this is why they're going out of business.

Details:

Pattern: A Little Ruffle, by Jennifer Lang

Yarn: Sheep Shop Yarn Company Sheep 3 Yarn

Needles: US7/4.5mm

Started: October 1

Finished: October 25

This yarn gets a mixed review from me. It is incredibly soft and was a great choice for this project. However, and this is a big however, the skeins were drastically different. One was a bit of a semi-solid pale blue, while the other was variegated blue and cream, heavy on the cream. The result is that the wrap appears to be almost striped in one section. It's super annoying, and I've never had such a problem when ordering yarn on line.

On a more positive note, the pattern was well written and I think the project came out really well (ignoring aforementioned color issues). This did involve yards and yards of stockinette, which came to be incredibly boring, which is the only negative thing I have to say about the pattern, and that's not even a criticism, just a comment.* So beware: If you're not up for a few days of straight up stockinette, work a different wrap. But if you think you can stomach it, this project is well worth the monotony.

*That was a bad run-on sentence up there. Sorry for that.