Spring Knitting And Sewing

The spring in definitely in the air, here in Islamabad. The winter chill is gone and we have days at a stretch, of warm sunshine, interspersed with spring showers. My latest projects suit this change in weather.

My old reader might know that I have a thing for girl dresses with knitted bodices. So, I recently got hold of two balls of cotton yarn, in light fingering weight, to make a couple of spring dresses for my 6-year-old. I bought the yarn online and was a bit worried about running out. But in the end, I managed two get both bodices done, using down to the last inch of both yarns.

Next, I went to shop for matching fabrics and thankfully found some suitable ones quickly. It took one evening to sew up the dresses and another to sew on the buttons.

I love these part-knit part-sewn dresses and would love to test some other stitch patterns in the futre, insha Allah.

In other accomplishments, I did an early spring-cleaning of my craft closet and it has made me resolved to use up some of my stash. I'm still undecided about what to cast on next, socks maybe, or a stole.

Boxy Lace Sweater

 Finally a post about the Boxy Lace sweater for my eldest daughter. This was the July sweater for my year long a-sweater-a-month plan. I got a little late in getting it done and later in posting about it.

Here it is, all done and worn (getting my daughter to wear in the heat and humidity of our monsoon season, was no easy task). It is a heavily modified version of the original pattern, downsized to tweeny size, with a lot of help and inspiration from the ravelry project pages. All the technical details can be found on my ravelry project page. The yarn is our local worsted weight acrylic.

 For my next project, I am having a difficult time selecting a pattern. I have been searching the ravelry library and pinterest to find one. I did not get a pattern per se, but lots of inspiration. So the next sweater will most likely be a hybrid of different design elements and involve a lot of improvisation.

Prairie Fire

 

The second attempt at a toddler sweater with the yellow yarn, was a success.  This time, I went for a pullover rather than a cardigan. Interestingly, this pattern has the same lace pattern as Lucille cardigan, which I had tried earlier. 

 Again, I had to recalculate for finer yarn and needles. I went up to a size 8T to get a size 2T but it was easily managed and I had enough yarn to finish it comfortably.

photo taken in front of a mirror

The pattern was a pleasure to knit and went fast. It fits our toddler wonderfully well and after nearly a month knitting with this yarn, I am more than eager to take on a different one.

Pink Baby Set

This was one deceptive little (!?!) project. Despite being for a toddler, it required almost as much work as an adult sweater.  But I think it is worth the effort as it turns out so cute.I made a similar one for my older daughter in my pre-blog era. It was a big hit. The pattern was easier to follow, second time around.Knitting more rows of ribbing at the leg cuffs as in the pattern, would have made them a bit narrower but I ran out of yarn. The yarn is our local acrylic, which works beautifully for kids in our climate.

Fingering weight and 2.5mm needles for the last 6 weeks, I think I need a change now. Most probably I will be casting on a vest in worsted weight.

Hanami Stole

 It is finally done, after 40 days of monogamous knitting. I am so happy that it is done. I did two extra repeats in each half of the shawl to lengthen it considerably. Pre-blocking, it measured 17 X 84 inches. After blocking, it is 20 X 92 inches.

 The yarn is Knit Picks Shadow. The blocking is a bit wonky, with somewhat scalloped edges, but I think I can live with it.

Lace Grows

 

Slow and steady knitting on the stole has made it grow to about one-third the finished length ( I intend to make it quite long).

In other happenings, we are having a very hot and dry spell, with the worst-yet load shedding and an acute water shortage. The past few days have been quite miserable. We are all praying for rain.

New Lace

So I did start a  lace project, one that has been in my queue for a long time. So far, I've just managed ten inches but with steady, daily knitting this stole ought to grow soon, inshaAllah. And to keep boredom at bay, I am thinking of starting a cardigan to work on, side by side with this stole.

Hedera

My hedera socks are done. It was such a simple, uneventful knit. Perfect to knit at the end of the day, when all your work is done, kids are in bed and you are too tired to tax your mind with more involved knitting. The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal (Canopy). I love everything about these socks, the yarn, the color,  the pattern.

Rose Trellis Shawl

It is knit, blocked and photographed. In the end, I did not have enough yarn in the end for an elaborate edging so I did a simple garter st border with a (k2tog, yo) row in the middle, for both ends. It turned out quite respectably proportioned at 27 X 81 inches, blocked. I am very happy with it, looks prettier than I had hoped. Now, on to look for a new project.

Shawl In Progress

As I mentioned in a previous post, I opted to resume knitting the Rose Trellis Shawl during Ramadan, to keep me from starting any new projects (that has been mostly successful, except for a pair of baby sandals :)).

 

Knitting lace has been my way of winding down after a long day. I work on it after the kids are in bed and Isha and taraweeh prayers are said. I am happy to report that I am now at the last section of the shawl. If I have enough yarn, I might add an edging at each end to lengthen the shawl.

Lace Cardigan

I started this cardigan about two months back. I wanted to take this DROPS pattern and make it my daughter's size (5-6 years). So I worked out the maths, knit the body and the sleeves up to the armholes, then chickened out at the idea of set-in sleeves and decided to do raglan sleeves instead. Also, I opted for a round neckline and in the end, I ran out of pink yarn, so had to improvise and do a lace portion in orange color.

All in all, if was an interesting project and turned out OK. The cardigan is a bit large for my not-yet-five year old, but she will grow into it, inshaAllah. My only concern is that the sleeves might be disproportionately longer. Or not. The yarns are Mondial Delicata Baby (pink), Knit Picks Palette (orange) and some KoolAid dyed wool, leftover from my tangled yoke cardigan.

Shetland Baby Blanket/Shawl

 This project has been the cause of my recent absence. It took about three weeks of totally monogamous and dedicated knitting. We are expecting a baby in summer, inshaAllah. This blanket marks the official start to my baby knitting. I also plan to do a bit of sewing.

Coming back to the FO, the pattern is a vintage Shetland shawl pattern, rewritten and made available free. (edited 2016:  It is no longer available for free). I first stumbled on the Danish translation of the pattern whose ravelry  page has some gorgeous FOs).

 I used Knit Picks Palette (white) and 4 mm needles. I modified it to knit it in round (except for the edging). The details are on my ravelry project page.This omitted most of the seaming but called for very long rows/rounds. It did get a bit tedious in the end with the edging, though thankfully it was easy to memorize. Now that the blanket is done, I am again in love with it. It blocks out to a large size of 130 x130 cm, which is good, seeing how we will have the baby grown a bit, inshaAllah, by the time winter arrives.

Beginning of a Shawl

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on multiple projects thanks to a recent spate of cast-on-itis. One of these is the Rose Trellis Shawl. I am still at the first chart but the pattern is already taking form.

 

Muir

I had a knitting marathon yesterday to help me finish the Muir shawl I had been working on for so long. I am happy to finish it before the weekend. The pattern is fun to do, easy and by the second half, I had it memorized. I especially love the picots around the edges. There were a few modifications I did to the pattern. Because the yarn is on the heavier side of lace weight, I used larger sized needles, i.e 4.5 mm then recommended and worked 2 pattern repeats across rather than three.I did 14 repeats instead of 13 to get a longer shawl.

So here it is in the unblocked state, about 24 x 76 inches:

Here it is blocking:

 It turned out to be approximately 31 X 96 inches after blocking. The post blocking glory:

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 Lace

So with my clapotis about 2/3rd knitted, I was itching to start a new project. And our warm weather does not encourage handling of heavier yarns, so i have picked another lace weight project. It is Muir and I have to say I am very pleased with it so far. It is easy, straight-forward and seems to knit up quite fast. The yarn I'm using is Shetland wool from a giveaway at the ravelry destash forum. It is much prettier in life than it appears in the photo.

CeCe

After a couple of weeks of sometimes reluctant knitting, I have finally managed to finish CeCe. I had started this in April and lost interest in it during the summer. This turned out to be a tricky pattern for me. I had selected the size with 2 inches of negative ease but it still turned out too loose (four inches!). I think the problem might be that the pattern gives gauge in st st while the cardigan itself is lace. I still love the lace pattern. And though far from perfect it is wearable and finally off the needles :)

A Knit Full of Adventure

Some might remember the shawl I was knitting last month, for which I ran out of yarn. A couple of my friends from Sporum Forum (ravelry)helped me find a matching skein and sent it to me. Only, when it arrived, we discovered it was a lot lighter than the original yarn. That's when I got the sound advice of dyeing the whole shawl with tea. You can see the finished shawl here, with the ugly color difference:

So, I brewed up about eight cups of really strong tea and soaked the shawl in it. You can see how early on during the soak, the color difference is still discernible:

I let the shawl soak for several hours, though I was too impatient for an overnight soak. Then I took the shawl out, rinsed it twice and the then gave it a gentle wash. Some color did ran out initially but it was negligible by the time of final rinse.
Next came the blocking, the shawl is quite large. (I was too lazy to measure it).

...And finally some glamor shots. The post tea dyeing color came out to be a nice honey color. And no discernible color difference !!I love the shine the yarn has after blocking. Also it is so light and airy, I am tempted to wear it right now!

Stuck At The End

I have been working on the clover pattern shawl for the last many days, hoping to finish it this weekend. The rows grew shorter as I progressed (this shawl is knitted from outer edge inwards), but my stress level rose as my yarn ball gradually diminished in size. However, I still could not be sure if I had enough yarn at this point.

But this little ball of yarn was good for only another 1.5 pattern repeats, leaving me short of yarn for the last 6 repeats. I am guessing I need about 100 m more. So, until I can find that amount of matching yarn, this project is on hold, sad really as I was hoping to finish it this weekend.
However I am taking this as the point were I have fulfilled my resolution of finishing two FOs before casting on any more. So I will be casting on a project or two over the weekend, inshaAllah.
On another note, Ramadan is just two weeks away and I have the intention of limiting my craft activities during the month and concentrate on the spiritual side of things, inshaAllah. I have started work on my Quranic Arabic and hope to read the Quran with understanding. I can manage some already but hope to polish it further.

The Gail Glory

After knitting solely and hard on it for the last one week, I managed to finish the shawl today. This project had it's own set of hitches, like after doing 6.5 repeats, I had to frog back to six because I suspected I would not have enough yarn. And as it turns out, I was right, I finished with just a few yards to spare. Also I ran out of beads twice, the last time, I just cut down the number of beads I was going to use as I did not want to wait for more beads.
Here it is unblocked, 30 x 64 inches.

While blocking, 38 x 90 inches:

A close-up:

And the final, blocked shawl: