fo post: bellevue!

Even though I’ve been knitting for close to six years, I still get such a sense of awed surprise when I finish a sweater and it actually turns out the way I hoped it would. In other words, my Bellevue is done. And I bought a remote for my camera, so that I can take pictures of myself in it!

This is the fingering-weight version, made with Malabrigo Sock in “Impressionist Sky.” It’s the first fingering weight sweater I’ve knit, and I’ve got to say, I’m pretty well sold. I think this will hold up a lot better than my Featherweight did, but it’s still got that light, drapey feel that I think means I’ll be able to wear it in warmer fall and spring weather.

The one change I made to the pattern was to include full-length sleeves, because I really like sleeves. (I was one of those kids in high school who stuck their thumbs through the sleeves of their hoodies, okay? It’s a thing.) This was dead simple to do, since the pattern already has directions for cropped sleeves, but for the interested, I’ve written out notes in my Ravelry entry for this project.

But, overall? This sweater is awesome. It makes me really happy. I’m thrilled that it turned out the way I hoped it would, and someday – when it’s not summer anymore – I will wear it lots and lots.

happy birthday mom, etc.

My mom is the best possible kind of knitwear recipient. Every single thing I have ever made for her is received with a smile and an “Oh, wow, how did you make this? It’s beautiful.”

Granted, I am her firstborn daughter, and she is a pretty firm believer in politeness – I’m pretty sure that, even if I made her the world’s ugliest pair of worsted-weight socks, she’d smile gracefully and say they were lovely and make a point of wearing them when I came to visit. But she does seem to enjoy the things I knit for her an awful lot, and I’ve given her enough gifts over the years that I’m fairly certain she’s not just being polite.

Last year, on her birthday, I gave her an Ishbel. She wears it fairly often – not the way I wear my shawlettes, with a hoodie and t-shirt, but in a dignified Mom sort of way under a nice winter coat. The Ishbel was done in bamboo sock yarn, because (she claims) a lot of yarns are “too itchy” for her. Since she wears her shawl mostly in the wintertime, I wanted to make her something with at least a bit of wool in it, this year. After checking to make sure that Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label (70% merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon, 375yd) passed the itch test, I set out to make her another birthday shawl.

This is not the best-lit photograph in the world, but it is the most colour true. I chose the “Chestnut” colourway, which is a lot of browns and oranges with a little bit of yellow, and – like the Sand colourway – absolutely maddening to photograph. It always comes out looking redder than it is. In real life, the overall effect when this shawl is on is sort of a deep maroon with yellow highlights.

The pattern is Knitting Kninja’s Arabella, worked on 4mm needles. I only modified it very slightly. The yardage I had available to me was slightly less than what the pattern called for, and the author stated quite clearly that the pattern used very close to the full 400yds required, so I knit seven repeats of the main lace pattern, rather than eight, and it turned out beautifully.

This was my first time working on an allover lace project – the pattern was fantastic, and very clearly written, but I’m not sure I like having to concentrate quite that much while I knit.

I mailed this off a couple weeks ago. Having spoken to her on the phone a few times since then, I’m pretty sure she likes it.

mittens in july

So, there’s a story to this mitten. Well, two stories. The first is why I made a pair of mittens in the middle of summer – in payment to a good friend of mine for babysitting my ridiculous, pretty-not-smart cat for a month. The second is the process of figuring these mittens out.

I started a couple months ago with two balls of St-Denis Nordique, knowing that I wanted to make fairisle mittens with squirrels on them. My first stop was the Squirrel Sampler Mitten pattern. I liked it, but it called for fingering weight yarn and 2.5mm needles, and I was sure that if I knit them with the St-Denis yarn my mittens would end up gigantic. So I did a few Ravelry searches, and stumbled upon the Squirrel and Oak Mittens. These seemed perfect! DK-weight yarn! A squirrel!

And then I knit the first mitten – yes, the entire mitten – and realized that they were way, way, way, way too small at my gauge in fairisle. I have very small hands for an adult, and kids-size gloves often fit me, but I could not even work my hand into this mitten.

But, having my gauge in fairisle with this yarn and needle combination, I went back to the Squirrel Sampler pattern. It still looked like it’d be far too large if I knit it as written. But that’s about when I remembered that, on the St-Denis blog, there are printable blank mitten charts, made for her yarn, in various sizes.

I worked out that, at my gauge (slightly larger than the blank chart gauge) I’d have medium-sized mittens for my friend F if I knit the size small chart – 62 stitches.

So then I, uh. Bought the Squirrel Sampler pattern, which is 72 stitches around, and recharted it to 62 stitches. In hindsight, I’m sure there were simpler solutions to this problem, but whatever. This worked out, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Also, F likes her mittens and they fit, which is really the most important part.

So, yeah. My first fairisle experience was definitely a learning curve, but I’m glad I mastered this knitting skill. My Ravelry queue is suddenly much more attainable.