Purple Toddler Coat

 We have had a lot of rain this month and so while I finished this coat a week ago, there has not been enough light to take proper photos till now. It may look benign or even nice, but it was one of the most tedious things I ever knit. Not fun at all. In addition, the honeycomb pattern can be physically challenging to the wrists.

The technical details..Initially, I picked this pattern to knit, but my yarn was a different weight, so I decided to do my own math. And go with a top-down, contiguous approach, which I later realized, was all wrong for this design because of the considerable gauge difference between stockinette st and honeycomb pattern. So when I tried to get proper sizing at the yoke, the sleeves caps grew quiet loose. At that point, I had already invested a great deal of time and energy (remember the honeycomb pattern being hard on the wrists) to rip back. So I decided to move on and get it done.

 Thankfully my toddler does not have an eye for such details yet. She is happy and content with the fact that her mom made her a new cardigan. And that is good enough for me. It is a bit large on her at the moment as it is intended to fit her next winter.

Red Coat

 

 The contiguous experiment went very well and I now have a quite nice-looking finished garment. I made this for my six year old, with room to grow. The design is my own, though I used the contiguous method by SusieM for top down set-in sleeves. The yarn is our local acrylic worsted weight on 4 mm needles.

 My daughter is very happy with the coat and wants a hat to match, so I guess that is going to be my next project. I have to say I love all these buttons, make me think of a ladybird.

 

Contiguous Adventure

For my next project, I decided to try a new technique....contiguous method for doing top-down set-in sleeves and shoulder seams by SusieM (ravelry group here.). It did seem a bit daunting initially but is actually a quite simple concept. You start at the neckline, do the shoulder shaping and the add stitches for sleeves and do the set in sleeves at the same time as the front and back of the garment.There are a lot of things going on at once but the end result is  quite pretty and seamless.

My first attempt went very well, I think. I had a flash of inspiration and knit the sleeves first. Now that I am past all that shaping, all I have to knit is the rest of the body on this red coat for my older daughter. Nothing  challenging, just acres of plain stockinette stitch.

Sunburst Strikes Again

This time around, it is in grown up size (for me) and is a bit cropped and sans the collar. The fit is just right and I am very happy with it. Yarn is garden variety Pakistani yarn, good acrylic but acrylic nonetheless. So, I am hoping this pattern will be even more flattering in nicer yarns.

Now I am hoping the tweak out the pattern and proceed to the test knit phase within a few days, inshaAllah. In case anyone is interested, I will be putting it up for test knit at the Free Pattern Testers group at ravelry.
Also I am open to suggestions regarding the name. It is an adult version of the Sunburst Coat and I want to come with a name that is distinct yet related to the original.

New WIPs

A bit unusual for me, I am currently working on multiple projects simultaneously. And as a result, going is slow on all of them. So let me show you the WIPs (works in progress). Besides the clapotis, I am knitting another pair of socks. This one is the Monkey in Heirloom Jigsaw. This is my second monkey pair and I find them to be the most comfy pattern of all that I knit so far. I finished the first sock of the current pair yesterday.

The next WIP is a cotton top for my daughter. It is my own design in Rowan Cotton Glace. This has had its share of ripping, then re-knitting and ripping back, as I attempt to improve the design.

The next WIP is another of my designs...I am attempting an adult version of Sunburst Coat. It is still in the early part of the yoke.

Then another WIP, a set of placemats for our new dining table. I am trying to work out a pattern and size to make four placemats out of four balls of Peaches and creme (two yellow and two red).

That concludes the works on my needle but we have one other, bigger work in progress at our house. An entire floor is getting new floors, bathrooms, kitchen etc and almost one and a half months into the job, we are still looking at several more weeks of construction, sigh.

Sunburst Coat Is Up

After being test knitted, Sunburst Coat finally goes up for sale at my ravelry store. Non-ravelry people can find the purchase link on blog's side bar.
This is a top-down seamless coat for sizes 2- 12 years.

Yarn weight: Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Gauge: 15.5 stitches and 22 rows = 4 inches in st st on 5mm needles

Needle size: US 6 - 4.0 mm, US 8 - 5.0 mm

Yardage: 550 - 1300 yards (503 - 1189 m)

Sizes available:  2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12) years

Finished measurements:
Chest: 24 (26, 28, 30, 32,34) inches
Length: 16 (18.5, 21, 23.5, 26, 28.5) inches
Armhole depth: 5 (5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5) inches
Sleeve length (to underarm): 8.5 (10.5, 11.5, 12.5, 13.5,15) inches

A Girl Coat

I finally cast off the collar on the coat/cardigan I was knitting for my daughter. And sewed on the buttons. It is knit in a local worsted weight yarn on 5 mm needles. The credit for the idea for this coat goes to Shells who suggested it to me. (She is going to test knit for her daughter's size). I knit a size four so it is a bit large on my three-year old. However, she was so pleased with it, she kept it on for hours, resisting all attempts for it it to be taken off.

I am going to write up the pattern over the weekend and then have it test knit, inshaAllah. And yes, I am looking for a name for the pattern.

While I Was Away...

I have been away from the blog and the rest of the cyberspace for over a week, the reason being the ongoing plumbing work at our house. It was an affair of leaking pipes/drains and damaged floors. We had to move out as the water supply was cut off during the repairs. The plumber had initially promised an optimistic three day period to get the work done, but eleven days later, it still goes on. Hopefully, it will be finished today, inshaAllah.

When we moved out, I took a load of knitting with me in the hope that I will get a lot of time to knit. Time I did have, but the enjoyment that comes out of knitting in my living room in a familiar and homey environment, was not there. Needless to say, I did not get as far as I had hoped.

The project I am working on is a cardigan/coat for my daughter. It is a top-down, seamless design of my own. I am at the first sleeve right now. The local yarn I am using is not very soft and rather awkward to work with, but it is knitting up better than I expected. I will take better pictures when it is done, but with camera batteries dead, these will have to do for now.

Sylvi

So At last I finished the first project of the coatimundi KAL. It is such a wonderful pattern and I had a great time knitting it. The seaming and tucking in of the loose ends can be a bit tedious but still worth it. So, here is my coat done on 6.5 mm needles with some local yarn which had no label. No modifications here.

Coatimundi KAL, week 5

The now-in-the-second-month KAL has suffered from neglect lately, but that is changing now as I push to get both projects done by the end of April, inshaAllah. I don't have any latest photos, but I'm done with the first half of the shawl, including the edging. And as for the coat, I'm right now working on the second sleeve.
Shells is well ahead now with her coat almost done and her shawl looks so pretty.

Coatimundi KAL, week 3

An update on the KAL has been long overdue. It's already third week into the KAL and I'm happy to report that I knitted enough on the stole to complete one half (border exepting). I hope to start the border today, inshaAllah.

I am halfway through the first front of sylvi but seed st can be so boring esp after the interesting and not-so-intricate cable pattern of the back. I think I'll have to knit this while watching TV. :)
And all this while, Shells has been speeding through the back cables. She already has both front panels done as well as half a sleeve. I love her coat's color!

Coatimundi KAL days 3-5, and more

Well, things slowed down during the week and I don't have any progress pictures on the coat and stole. however, am just about to finish sylvi's back and am in the midst of chart four for the stole.
In the meanwhile, I did manage to finish up my first sock of the march pair. Even if I say so myself, it is gorgeous. The pattern would have be a masterpiece if it were written in the right format and the few few mistakes corrected.

I also did some spinning over the week. I'm halfway through the purple roving I got from a friend lately.

And there is some exciting news, but that will require a separate post of its own.

Coatimundi KAL day 2

This was the day for knitting the stole. I finished the third chart for the first half of the stole. It is my first stole and I am enjoying the experience. It was difficult to take a photo because right now, the edges just keep curling up!

Here is the progress, Shells is making on her sylvi. I love how hers is turning out.

Coatimundi KAL day 1

Yesterday was the kick off day for Coatimundi KAL. Although we had already started the projects, now we get to work on them almost exclusively. I had skipped the sleeves and started with the fun part (back) first.
So, I did some more knitting on the back yesterday. Here is what it looks so far:

Today, I hope to work on the stole, inshaAllah. Shells ser progress on the stole, here.

Coatimundi KAL

This is the name of the great spring KAL about to start on March 15th. My friend Shells and I plan to knit a coat, sylvi and a stole during this. She blogs about the name of KAL and her warming up progress, here.
I did a bit of warming up myself over the last two days and managed to do quite a bit doen on the stole. This is my first big lace project and I am enjoying it already. This could easily get addictive.
As for sylvi, I started with the back simply because I could not wait to get to the fun part, :)
So, you see, this KAL has a lot of variety and promises to be so much fun, inshaAllah!