cherry blossom tree cowl

Some of you might have noticed this cowl in my me-made-may posts, and I’ve been meaning to show it off. Here it is:

I am a sucker for cowls I think. Three of them in four years isn’t really excessive I guess, but the last three scarves I’ve made, and really – about the only ones I use, are of the loopy variety. (here is a red cowl, which was the first one, and then a yellow one from this winter.) It’s just so lovely to not have any ends to tuck in, or to not have re-wrap while fighting blistering winds!

A funny thing with all these cowls is how the yarn has dictated the outcome. With the red one, I choose garter stitch to show off the changing colors, and tried intentional pooling for the first time. With the yellow cowl, I went with subtle and simple stitch patterns so the yarn is showcased in all its fluffy glory.

For this cowl, it was the colors. While I love tweedy, heathery color variations in yarn (like what I used for my Bayview Street cardigan), I usually don’t go for variageted yarn simply because I really don’t know what to do with the pooling that happens. This was a gifted yarn, and much like my yarn that did not want to be knit, I absolutely adored the colors and the skein, but was stumped by what to make with it. I tried a pair of mittens first, thinking I’d like the striping effect, but I actually hated it (my ravelry project page has a picture of the fated mittens).

So, another cowl came to life. It’s the honey cowl pattern, which has a pretty simple slipped stitch pattern repeat. I wanted something that would break up the pooling, and this did (with some additional coaxing to get the repeating of the colors to alternate and stagger instead of stacking). As I was knitting I kept thinking the one side looked like morse code! I view this scarf as patterned, and it’s quite honestly a little outside my comfort-zone and I’m having a bit of a challenge incorporating this cowl easily into outfits. I actually had more patterns as a goal in my (sort of failed, kind of still being worked on) fall palette challenge, so this is a wee attempt to do just that!

I also thought the colors were like the Japanese cherry blossom trees that have been coming in to bloom downtown. It does actually look like bark and buds to me, but I think it might be a good thing the cherry blossoms were still in hiding when we took these pictures, because they would have put my scarf to shame and made it look like a pile of mud! But it’s a funky pile of mud that keeps my neck warm, so it’s all good.

Photos by John B.

making costumes & missing crafting mojo

There has been a lot of life happening lately, and life needs attention (and paperwork apparently!). My crafting interest is nowhere to be found right now, and since I really don’t want crafting – or blogging – to feel like a chore in any way, I’ll just be waiting until it shows up again. I’m thinking some tea, chocolate, and lots of “Downton Abbey” is the normal cure for this, right?

Now – I have been crafting a little. I just haven’t worked on any of the “real” or big projects, like my Minoru jacket, which got half cut out before it got abandoned for now. Single-sitting projects are more like it at the moment; some underwear from old t-shirts (I have a free pattern is you want to make some too!), and a pillow-cover. It’s certainly not a big important project, but I like it all the same.

I pieced together the cover with left-over pieces from this lovely, dense herringbone wool we used for the Amanda show – see all the lines on the right side in the picture above? I stuck a zipper in there since this is for a regular pillow doing duty in the livingroom whenever we don’t have sleepover guests. That was a last minute addition as I realized I would be needing to get the pillow back out of the pillowcase!

This is our little reading nook, with a bed turned-into-sofa by folding the top mattress in half and covering it in fabric, putting up some shelves/backboards, and filling up with pillows. I’m working on the pillows part.

That’s it. I made a pillowcase, and it made me glad.

Also, I’ll be making some costumes for the student theater group here in Bergen! Right now I haven’t actually made any yet, but they are designed, and here are the fabrics. Should be fun!

my 6 favorite free patterns on ravelry

These are my 6 favorite patterns from ravelry, a fantastic treasure trove of a site! You’ll notice that these are all baby-things and accessories, which are fairly quick and doesn’t use a ton of yarn, and those are things that makes me happy with a project. Instant gratification! And maybe some last-minute Christmas-gifts? Well, here they are:

Aviatrix baby hat

This is a great little baby-hat. It is a quick knit, with adorable details, and clever construction. All the shaping is done with short-rows, and there is no seaming! I wouldn’t recommend it for the complete novice however, not just because of the short rows, but also because the pattern covers a large range of sizes and yarnweights and can be a little cryptic to decipher.

my ravelry project page | the pattern

Baby Sophisticate

I *love* this little baby-cardigan. It’s worked top down, with the collar and front button-band worked last (and easily in one single piece). It’s cute, and pretty easy, and.. did I say cute?

my ravelry project page | the pattern

Shifting sands

This, however, was anything but quick. Not in a bad way, just the slow-and-steady kind. I also used a thin yarn, which made all the cables tiny. Yes, those are hundreds, maybe thousands of cables. But they’re not hard! And this scarf has about the loveliest texture I’ve ever seen.

my blog post | my ravelry project page | the pattern

Robin’s egg blue hat

Another quick knit, with a seed stitch brim, and decorative flap with button. This really was fast, and would make a good, easy gift-knit. Check out the pictures of all the hats on the pattern page!

 my ravelry project page | the pattern

Pebble vest

So cute I can almost not stand it! I haven’t seen this in action, but the buttons on the side and on one of the straps apparently makes it easy to get on and off little wriggling babies. The garter stitch and stockinette stitch combination is lovely, and outside of sewing on buttons, there is only one seam to join!

my blog post | my ravelry project page | the pattern

Cabled watchcap

Part of why I like this hat is the very soft, very fine yarn that I used, but most of all it’s the pattern. It has cables of two different sizes, and the repititon of the cables against the purl background is enough to make it feel interesting, instead of overly symmetrical. It’s just plain pretty!

my blog post | my ravelry project page | the pattern

Shamelessly promoting my own free patterns:

Reversible biking hat

My first attempt at writing a sharing a knitting pattern! It’s a lightweight hat with eyelets, it’s reversible, and pretty easy. I called it a biking hat because John (that’s him in the picture) said it’d be perfect underneath a cycling helmet in the colder months. I’m at three hats made from this pattern now – I’m sure there will be more!

my blog post | my ravelry project page | the pattern

Elvish leaves scarf

And my second free pattern, a lace scarf in fingering weight wool. It has an elegant leaf pattern repeat, and makes for a good intermediate lace project. The thin scarf is perfect for slightly chilly days where you just need that extra little warmth and comfort around your neck!

my blog post | my ravelry project page | the pattern

the Valentine’s day skirt

Finally, something sewn! There has been a lot of knitting around here lately, which isn’t too strange considering that I’ve been without my sewing machine for months over the summer, only to play a repair waiting game with an airline, an insurance company, and a repair shop.

So, fed up with waiting, I did what any normal person would do. I finished this skirt by hand.

Eking every last centimeter out of this remnant. And yes, that makes me ridiculously proud!

The pink lining, the graphic ribbon, the silk organza, and the wool suiting.

Yeah, this skirt has been waiting for completion since sometime this spring. I started patternmaking around Halloween (I clearly remember my co-worker talking about the scant and tacky clothing she was planning to dress up in, and me drafting this pretty demure pencil-skirt. I pick pencil-skirts over scant and scandalous any day!). I posted about my muslin and the fitting changes back in December last year, and was really determined to finish the skirt for my Valentine’s Day date (John and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in the morning. Then I went  straight to class. It was lovely). That obviously didn’t happen!

The Valentine’s Day thing seemed appropriate because of the rich pink silk that I lined the skirt with, and I got pretty close to finishing before it all came to a screeching halt. I really wanted this skirt to be full of lovely touches, so I’ve been taking my sweet time and doing things thoroughly and nice. I interfaced the waistband with organza; I bound raw lining edges with more organza to prevent the crazy fraying I knew would happen otherwise (I used the same silk as a lining for another skirt, and when I took a look at the inside for some reason, it was such a mess! Just silk-fuzz everywhere!); and I french-seamed all the lining seams I could.

Binding the edges of the silk used for the pocket and the lining with strips of bias organza. That should keep the silk from fraying, and I think really increase the durability and lifespan of the skirt.

I had sewn in the zipper already and was all set to attach the lining to the waistband when I realized I had closed up the wrong side of the lining. I had just messed up which side was supposed to be open when looking at the right side – and since the right side of the lining was facing my body, it wasn’t the same as the shell where the right side faces outwards. Ops! Undoing painstakingly made french seams on silk charmeuse? Yeah, it went in the waiting pile.

Where it stayed. I graduated. I went on a cross-country road-trip for several months. I moved back to Bergen and Norway. And I was without a sewing machine. And really missing my sewing.

The insides of the pockets are the same pink silk as the lining. So lovely to put my hands into!

So I redid my french seam, and attached the lining to the waistband. I used this black and white graphic ribbon in the transition, and I love the way it came out! I also used it at the bottom – it made sense to me in how I needed to sew this thing by hand. Look how narrow that hem is! On the one hand I’m a little perturbed – hems aren’t supposed to be that narrow – but on the other side, I think the flash of black and white and pink is pretty cool!

The waistband facing, contrast ribbon, and the lining. And the same at the hem.

And I love the pink charmeuse best of all. I adore putting ont the skirt and seeing all the pink just hiding cheekily! Oh, and happy Valentine’s day everyone!

curry & snow

Well, look at that – I knit something!

With an absolute want of wintry knits, I had to hit the stash and make it happen before the temperatures dropped too much. One I had already started; the cabled watch-cap:

It took a lot of episodes of “House of Eliott”, but I finished it! Washing it got rid of all the kinks in the yarn, but it did bring about a slight problem. I guess it’s like straightening curly hair (which I know nothing about even though I’ve wished for curly hair for years) – it’s way longer in its unkinky form. Which means, my hat is too big. Luckily it’s all wool, so I think a tumble in the dryer under strict supervision might be enough to make it have the right amount of snugness. Don’t want to have my hat falling off after spending that much time on it, do I!

My other knit was a fairly quick, and much needed cowl. Ever since making a loop scarf out of the yarn that did not want to be knit, I’ve become a cowl convert. No ends to tuck away, or fly away – just woollyness around my neck! The yarn has been in my stash for years, and I’ve been tucking it away, waiting for the perfect project. I’m not quite sure if perfect projects are real, or just something that makes your stash dusty while you wait for perfection to arrive, but this yarn – finally – told me it wanted to be a cowl. I’ve been afraid of using it for a project that just wasn’t good enough, but this felt very right.

Also, I made curry today while wearing the cowl (it’s a bit chilly this time of year here – even inside), and they were totally the same color. That made me happy. Also happy? This picture of a boat at the docks we can see from our apartment. It is clearly also feeling the curry and snow.

All phots by John B.