Lemongrass

This pattern must be easy to adapt, because I successfully managed it with different yarn weight, needle size and guage, considering too, that I knit this adult-sized sweater for my 10 year old. The ease was for most part due to the top-down construction and loose fit.

 

 I simply cast on with the sts for smallest size and winged it from there. I did do little math and worked out the number of sts I needed to have at the underarm, considering my gauge. (I do not remember the exact number, as it was mostly in my head). I also drove my daughter crazy, having her try it on several times along the way. Beyond the armholes it was all plain sailing.

 

The yarn is our good old acrylic. I am planning on adding a third button to the sides, to decrease gaping. Other than that, it is all done and looks good. 

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.

Little Pullover For June

I reclaimed this yarn from a baby sweater, that I had knit for my littlest two years ago and had since then been outgrown. After searching through all possible patterns and failing to find a suitable one, I improvised one of my own. It has turned out on the smaller end of my target size range, but I am just glad to have a finished sweater.

This sweater marks the sixth sweater of the year, namely the sweater for June. I have already cast on for the next one, which promises to be a lot more exciting.  Still, Ramadan is round the corner,  and I plan to take a break from my crafty pursuits during the holy month. To this end, I am rushing through my Eid sewing,  these days. My girls are getting some sparkling, traditional dresses this year.

Selina Tunic

The March sweater got finished on Friday.  What can I say about it, it was just my kind of project _ a yoke full of colorwork, and stretches of plain stockinette stitch for mindless knitting. And it turned out pretty cute as well.

The pattern is another DROPS free one, the yarn, our local acrylic. My daughter did not want crosses in the center of colorwork,  so I replaced them with some flowers.

I have selected the pattern for the next kids' sweater, but the yarn for it still needs to be wound. While I wait for that to happen, I have started a vest for myself.
And as it is spring already, I have many sewing projects lined up.

Laddu Pullover v 2.0

The sweater for my son was done during the week, and a brief spell of rain, brought down the temperature low enough for him to wear it during this winter. I used my laddu pattern for the design with a few bits of modifications. Firstly, I upsized it. Secondly, I knit the sleeves in same color as the body. Thirdly, I joined the sleeves and body and knit the yoke in round. Fourthly, I incorporated some cable into the raglan decreases.

Despite all the modifications , the sweater knit up quite fast. My son approves of it and gives it a high score of nine out of ten.

Dreams Of Aran Pullover

 

Three weeks ago, I made a tall claim of getting this sweater done in a week. But seasonal illnesses took most of December away from me and I was only able to really knit during the last week.

 Still, I cannot help but be thrilled about being able to post a FO (finished object) on the first day of the new year. Especially, since it means that I have finally finished a project that I started in October 2014, and that I was mostly successful in getting it done by the end of December (It was all done except the neckband).
You can tell by the length of time it was on the needles, that it was not an easy project. Like all knitting project for men, it took too long to grow. The cables slowed the knitting even further. Then I ran out of yarn, with both sleeves to go, and could not find the color in the same yarn wight. So after much misgiving, I knit the sleeves with two strands of much thinner yarn, held together, and am happy to report that the difference between two yarns is barely noticeable.

 

The pattern, like most DROPS patterns, was a bit difficult to decipher at places, but was well-worth the effort. In the end, I am totally pleased with the sweater and the fact that it got done in time for my son to wear during the winter season. My son rates it an eight out of ten, which is not bad at all, considering he compares it to his Neville sweater, which is totally awesome.

Bulle

It must be the longest a finished project of mine has taken, to get posted on the blog, but life has been very busy lately, and I survive by triaging my to-to list. So this is the sweater for my eldest daughter which got done last week.

 The pattern was a pleasure to knit, easy and super fast.  I even took it on a car ride, which shows just how desperate I was for some knitting time, because I almost never do that. Only modification was that I lengthened the sleeves to full-length. I used red yarn for the pockets. It turned out very cute.

 

 It was very well-received too, she loves to wear it and pockets always clinch a deal with the kids. My husband suggested I also knit one for our middle one.

I am already well into my next project, which is to be a cardigan for me. And yes, I am still avoiding that baby dress on tiny needles.

October Update

I have no pictures of any wonderful FO (finished object) yet, but my knitting has picked up speed lately. I started this month with a dress for my daughter. Fingering weight yarn on 3.25 mm needles, made ten days of knitting equivalent to this:

At that point, I decided to take a break and start something else. Almost-worsted weight yarn on 5 mm needles made a for much faster knitting and this sweater has come this far over a few days:

I have finished the sleeves since I took that photo and hopefully there will be a FO within a day or two, insha Allah. Which means, it is time to pick my next thicker yarn project, to knit alongside the toddler dress.

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.

Linen Stitch Top

 

When I started this top, it was with the intention of using up leftover yarns and getting a small sweater (toddler size...maybe) as a result. As I mentioned earlier, I was too lazy to measure and estimate gauge and just cast on with a random number of stitches. It turns out that my approximation was way off, and I a bit off and the top ends up being a 6-year-old size. Other than that, it met the target of using up a lot of leftover yarns and has turned out to be as a nice, wearable top. The yarns are all DK-to-worsted weight, acrylics; pattern, none.

New Knitting Project

Before my knitting hiatus, I had started this project. This is to be a top, with linen stitch detail, which is actually an attempt at using up scrap yarns. I cast on with a certain number of stitching, keeping in mind, the amount of yarn I had. And I had no idea what size it would be. Having three daughters, mashaAllah, means I can be lazy this way. It is bound to fit one of them, sooner or later!  Now, I am estimating it to fit a 5-6 year-old. In other words, my middle one, next winter.

I am happy to report that I am finally back from my knitting break, and have had some time to knit on this top, this week. At the moment, I have just started the yoke and hope to get it finished soon.

Slow And Not So Steady

Since completing my last project two weeks ago, I have been diligently working on this pullover for my son, at every possible knitting time that I could find. But between the facts that it has a lot of cabling, it hurts my hands, and that I have very little knitting time at the end of the day, the progress has been slow. I have barely managed ten inches of the body (it is in round, if that is any consolation).

A bit disheartened by the slow going, I decided to have a little project on the side_ a hat. But just then, certain family circumstances arose that require my time and attention for the next month or so. So, my already strained knitting time is further depleted and lately I find myself too tired at the end of the day, to even pick up my needles.
However, it seems that though my hands may be tired and my time short, but my desire to knit is still strong. I find myself planning another upcycling project besides the hat. And I plan to persevere with the sweater. At least in my mind.

Neville Sweater

I started this sweater in March and worked slowly on the body. Then it remained mostly untouched during the summer, only to be taken out last month. At the time of my last post, two weeks back, I was working on the first sleeve. Continuing on, I knitted both sleeves and joined them to the body and knitted up the fair-isle yoke to finish up the sweater.

 The yarn is our local acrylic, the pattern is a Garnstudio DROPS free design. I chose to make an adult size sweater for my ten-year-old, because it is a bit tiring when kids grow out of the handknits after a single season. My son can wear this one with rolled cuffs this year, and hopefully will last him a few more years.

The plain black part was boring and tedious stockinette st, and it was extremely slow-going, but the things looked up with the yoke. I loved knitting the fair-isle part. And the end result was totally worth all the slog.

The sweater has been well received, my son did not want to take it off, regardless of the fact that it was 32 C today. My husband also thought it was outstanding. And as a bonus, I think I got my knitting mojo back with this one.

Another Start

After the sizing problems with the first design, I thought I was going to try something different in monochrome.But I could not get colorwork out of my head. So I looked around and found this chart for mittens. A little adaptation later, I was able to put it into my new pullover.

 

This chart was just the thing to get my interest back into knitting. I am enjoying this sweater and already planning ahead for my future projects. And I must replenish my stash too, so I'll be shopping for some yarn soon!

Spring Sewing Part 2

 It has been ten days since my last post. Looking back, I know I indulged in some sort of craft activity, most of those ten days, still there is not much to show for it. I did sew a couple of my shalwar kameez but that does not make for interesting blog content. I also sewed a dress and a top for my five-year old:

Both have almost identical draft, just variation in length and placement of elastic gives different results. 

  Sadly, on the knitting front, my color work project did not go very well. I had started Dance of Robots for my son. The pattern is for 3-7 year olds and my son is eight. I was hoping to get the right size with larger needle size but my optimism was unrealistic. It makes me sad, because I quite loved the pattern.

 So I have ripped back and will start with something quite different. No color work this time, unless someone has any suggestions?

Little Pink Sweater

I started this with the intention of using up some of the leftover yarns from last year's projects, to knit a pullover in 2 year size. Initial the plan was a simple striped one, but after many modifications, mostly to adjust to the yarn amounts and because I was to lazy to do the appropriate cast on for the sleeves, this is what the finished sweater looks like:

And in my eagerness to make a sweater roomy enough to last a growing child a bit longer, I ended up with a larger size, around 3-4 years. However it did use up several odd balls in my stash and will be a good sweater for the baby to wear around the house, when she is old enough to fit into it.

Kaptaan Cabled Pullover

It took me eleven months to churn out the pattern for this pullover and get it test knitted. It is finally up for sale at my ravelry store. I had a great set of test knitter for this one too and you can also see their FOs at the store. Kaptaan is the Urdu word for captain, which is what my cricket-crazy son aspires to be one day.
 This raglan pullover is knit in rounds from bottom up till the armholes, then the front and back are worked separately. The sleeves are done the same way.

Yarn weight:  Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Gauge: 20 stitches and 36 rows = 4 inches in cable pattern with 5 mm needles

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

Yardage: 475 - 1300 yards (434 - 1189 m)

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

Finished Measurements:
Chest: 26 (28, 30, 32, 34, 36) inches.
Length: 16 (18, 20, 22, 24, 26) inches.
Sleeve length (to underarm): 9 (11, 12, 13, 14, 15.5) inches.

Butterfly Pullover

 As the nights get chilly and we can feel the winter finally approaching, I decided the baby needed a warm pullover to wear around the house. I did not have enough of a single yarn. Getting more yarn would mean having to wait and I am not good at that. So, I decided to mix and match using the red and brown leftovers in my stash. These are probably aran weight acrylics. To make it more interesting, I added the butterfly to the front of the pullover from the butterfly garden socks pattern.

Morning sunlight makes it look orange, however the actual color is a definite red. Next, inshaAllah, I will be knitting some booties/socks that actually stay on her feet for more than a few minutes. Thus the baby will be all set for the winter.

Cable Pullover With Shawl Collar

 Thank you all for your well wishes.

 Before continuing with my baby knitting, I had to complete this sweater I had started for my son in January. It was neglected quite a bit, while I worked on the baby blanket. I took it up again last week and finally it is done and donned.

 The pattern is my own and the yarn, our local acrylic (which is quite nice and excellent for kids' knits). I had wanted to knit a shawl collar for a long time and this project seemed perfect to try it out. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. The sleeves are quite a bit long, partly due to it being a size 8 on a seven year old and partly due to my inadvertently adding an inch to the size 8 length. But he will grow into it by the next winter, inshaAllah,  for which the pullover is intended.

Tutu Pullover is Up

After test knitting, the Tutu pullover is finally up for sale at my ravelry store. You can also find the purchase link on blog's side bar, though it might not be needed any longer. The reason coming up in the next post :)
This seamless pullover is knit in rounds from top down.

Yarn weight:  Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi). 

Yardage: Two colors in approximately 400-850 yds of MC and 180-400 yds of CC.

Gauge: 17 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in st st.

Needle size:   US 7 - 4.5 mm, US 6 - 4.0 mm.

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

 Pattern Difficulty: easy-intermediate. Requires some knowledge of knitting in rounds, short rows and M1 increases.
Finished measurements:
Chest: 24 (26, 28, 30, 32, 34) inches.
Length: 16 (18, 21, 23, 25.5, 27.5)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.