Tag Archives: knitting

2016 Make Nine

Posted in Knitting, Sewing by

2016Make9

Seeing everyone’s #2016MakeNine posts pop up on blogs and Instagram, has me inspired to do some planning ahead myself. These are the nine items that will probably appear in my closet at some point in 2016.

  1. Phoebe Dress by Colette Patterns.
    The sewalong for this dress has just kicked off, and I’m excited to join it. Pattern has been printed and traced, and the fabric is ready to go.
  2. Archer Button-Up by Grainline Studio
    My main quest for this year is the perfect button up shirt. Judging from all the pictures I’ve seen of it, this one might just fit the bill!
  3. Cascade Duffle Coat by Grainline Studio
    I need some sort of winter coat for the coming winter, and I’ve been desiring a duffle coat for a long time. I have some plaid and some purple wool in my stash for this.
  4. Zinnia Skirt by Colette Patterns
    I really like the small darts, and think this will look lovely a wide variety of fabrics.
  5. League Sweater by Veronik Avery
    Can’t say much about this, other than that it looks awesome! It will be hard to find other colour combinations that work for this though…
  6. Watson Bra & Undies by Cloth Habit
    Here I’m most likely to draft my own pattern instead, but as I already own this I might as well see if I can get this one to fit.
  7. Scout Tee by Grainline Studio
    Even if I find the perfect button-up, I don’t want to be wearing only those all year. Especially for summer, this seems a cute, simple top!
  8. Cascades Sweater by Michelle Wang
    Not 100% sure if I will make this exact sweater, or if I will design my own cabled sweater to go over button-ups, but some type of gorgeous cabled sweater will be created at some point in 2016!
  9. Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Files
    Although they’re last on this list, they’ve jumped to the top of my sewing queue after I ripped trough the knees of my only pair of jeans.
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Wednesday WIP: Exploration Station

Posted in Knitting by

Exploration Station - Hedgehog Fibers

I’m not one for mystery knit-alongs, so I waited until all the clues were released to decide whether or not I wanted to knit Stephen West’s latest mystery shawl “Exploration Station”. After seeing a bunch of gorgeous versions pop up on Ravelry, it was time to make my own.

I’m using Hedgehog Fibres Sock in the colours Pollen (C), Crystal (D), Raven (A) and Rusty Nail (B) (clockwise from the top left in the picture above). This yarn is so gorgeous and soft, and an absolute joy to knit with so far. I’ve just started the brioche section today, so I expect it won’t take very long to finish at all!

Exploration Station - Hedgehog Fibers

FO: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap

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baby hat

Pattern: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Natural & Solis
Needles: 2.5 and 3 mm +

Just a quick FO post on an otherwise dreadfully lazy Sunday afternoon. A few weeks ago, I taught my BF to knit and his first “real” project is going to be this hat for his cousin’s baby boy, who was born last February. I feel kind of bad for knitting the same thing and finishing it before him, but it was is just SO CUTE. I’m obviously not giving this one to the cousin though, it’s going to a knitting friend whose baby should arrive in a few weeks. I’ve made the 1 year size, because hopefully there won’t be a need for hats until the baby is quite a few months older!

I should have been working on a wedding dress(!) I’m making for someone, but it was giving me grief this morning, so I cast it aside for a few hours, finally properly started watching Castle from Season 1, Episode 1 and finished up this cutie instead. I’m hardly original in knitting this one, but almost 5000 Ravelers can’t be wrong, now can they? In fact, I’m quite tempted to start another one for another baby!

Experiments in Dyeing

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dyedyarnWhen I was at de Breidagen  a few weeks ago, somehow none of the yarn really wanted to come home with me. My bank account was about as happy as I was disappointed. The only things I bought were supplies – from Stof tot Verven –  to start dyeing my own yarn, and these three skeins are the result.

The dark blue one in the back was my first attempt. I didn’t do anything special, just some blue dye in a pot. It ended up looking kind of denim-like because some spots took a lot less dye than others. It’s not extra-ordinary, but I like it.

For the purple one in the middle I decided to try something different. I mixed up some purple dye and let the yarn sit on the heat for about half the necessary time before I sprinkled in some dry red dye. That I left to do it’s thing for a few minutes before stirring it in. The end result is a beautifully semi-solid reddish purple with some quite red spots.

The third skein is my favourite, even though I’m not normally a fan of orange. I was originally going for a soft coral, but as you can see I got BRIGHT orange instead. This one was dyed similarly to the purple one. I started with yellow, but instead of sprinkling dry red dye over it, I poured a dye solution over it. This is probably my favourite method, because the colours flow into each other beautifully. The skein goes from deep, reddish orange to some sort of golden yellow.

The only downside of this whole thing is that I decided to practice on a batch of undyed yarn that I got a few years ago and absolutely hated to knit with. So now I have yarn that I hate to knit with, only in gorgeous colours that I DO want to knit with… Perhaps I’ll try weaving with them. At least there the splittiness won’t be as much of a problem.

FO: Thiong Bahru

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thiongbahru_closeup

Just the facts!
Pattern: Tiong Bahru by Åsa Tricosa
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sophia Lace in Midsummer Night’s Dream (about 800 m)
Needles: 4 mm
Rav link: Project page

It’s been a while since there’s been any knitting on this blog, but here’s something! I finished this shawl somewhere around November last year, but somehow never got around to showing it or posting about it at all. Probably because I have been living in it (I’m wearing it right now too!) ever since I blocked it and therefore didn’t take any pictures yet. I haven’t been able to find a time for someone to help me take modelled pictures, so for now the dummy will have to do.

The yarn is from the Posh Yarn Cashmere Club, which they ran in 2010 if I remember correctly. Is it a sign of too much yarn when you have no idea in which year you acquired some of it? Anyway, it’s  soft, gorgeous, and did I mention SUPERsoft!

thiongbahru_2Here you can see it in all it’s not-quite-freshly-blocked glory. And for those of you who are playing along at home, yes that is my corselette underneath. Perfect combination of sexy and cosy, no?

I absolutely loved this pattern, although the stockinette body and the bind-off were a bit challenging for my impatient self. I’m glad I persevered though, because this is definitely my favourite shawl ever.

thiongbahru_1