Archives for April 2018

First of all, congratulations to Lauren Kowalczewski who is the winner of my giveaway of a copy of Wool Studio: The Knitwear Capsule Collection from Interweave. Thanks to everyone who left a comment!

I have now entered the really fin part of my Rose Cardigan: the finishing bits! I’m doing it a bit differently than the pattern directs. You are supposed to sew the fronts to the back before picking up and knitting the ribbing, but I elected to do the ribbing on each piece separately:

Now I’ll seam then together. After I finished the bottom ribbing on the two fronts and the back piece, I sewed one side front to the back along the top seam, and picked up the stitches for the cuff ribbing:

I’m working the ribbing flat, then I’ll do the underarm/side seam. Then I’ll do the same for the other side.

After that, the front bands remain, and this will be done. I ought to have to complete by the end of the week. You know, just in time for really warm weather so I will have to put it away until next autumn.

Meanwhile, Loki is enjoying some educational television.

A couple of weeks ago I was offered a review copy of this:

This is Wool Studio: The Knitwear Capsule Collection from Interweave, which came out last week. The editorial description of the book reads:

Wool Studio is a capsule collection for the modern knitter that features sophisticated, simple, and luxurious knitting designs.

That pretty much says it all. What a lovely collection of patterns! You can see all 21 patterns on Ravelry, here. These patterns are not new, but are curated from Interweave’s previous Wool Studio collections, which were digital only. This is the first Wool Studio available as a hard copy book.

And there is a lot to love! Some of my favorites:

Provincetown Pullover by Amanda Bell is a loose-fitting cozy turtleneck knit in DK weight yarn. The pattern has a nice range of sizes. I love the extra ribbing detail at the neck.

Susanna IC’s Malibu Cowl is also knit from DK weight yarn. It would be lovely in a tonal hand dyed yarn.

Linda Marveng’s Brewster Cardigan (another one worked in DK weight) has a clever cowl incorporated as an extension of the collar (it can be omitted entirely if you prefer).

These are just a few. Which one is your favorite?

Tell me which design you like best in a comment by Sunday, April 29, 2018 at noon, and you will be entered in a drawing to win this lovely hardcover book of patterns.

Loki

Loki would like to thank everyone for your lovely birthday wishes. He had a great day. Here he is right after he opened his presents:

No, he is not spoiled AT ALL.

I am still working on the third quadrant of my Rose Cardigan — this is the back left piece:

I ought to be able to finish it tonight or tomorrow, The it will be one to the last quadrant: right front. After that, there is still a lot of work to be done on the cardigan — all the ribbing, the neck/front bands, and of course seaming.

The pattern calls for a sportweight yarn, but the yarn I am using , Malabrigo Mechita, is listed as a fingering weight. But knit at the pattern gauge, it makes the most gorgeous drapey knitted fabric. And I think the dyeing is perfect for the pattern. It looks wonderful in reverse stockinette stitch. This adds up to a make this a very enjoyable project. One the one hand I am eager to finish this to  see how it looks completed, but on the other hand, I’ll miss knitting this.

Someone has a Birthday Coming Up

Hard to believe, but Loki is turning seven years old on Monday, April 16. He was two years old when I adopted him, so I never knew him as a kitten.

Can you imagine what an adorable kitten he must have been?

Happy birthday, Loki!

How’s that for a compelling blog post title?

Thank you for all the good wishes for my blogiversary. Blogs are really a thing of the past at this point, yet I continue to write mine from time to time. I guess that makes me a thing of the past too, huh? I do post almost every day on my Instagram account where I am @wendy_knits, so do feel free to follow me there. Most of those posts are Loki-related, but I’m trying to make an effort to post more knitting content there.

Speaking of knitting content . . .

That is the front left quadrant of my Rose Cardigan, which I completed yesterday. I started on the third quadrant:

This is such a fun knit — there are enough different things going on at the same time to keep it interesting!

Now I need to go play with this little guy:

He has been waiting patiently!

Today is my blogiversary! Sixteen years ago today I started writing this blog. Time sure flies, doesn’t it?

On to business . . .

The winners of a free pattern for Sandra C.’s lovely Mountain Peak Mitts are (by Ravelry ID):

• wingmarion
• milai
• knittingrd
• margvv

Each of these four lovely knitters has (or will shortly) receive a copy of Sandra C.’s lovely Mountain Peak Mitts pattern, 2 gifted from me, and 2 gifted from the designer herself. Thank you again, Sandra C., for your generosity!

Current Knitting

My current work in progress is Andrea Mowry’s gorgeous Rose Cardigan. as soon as I saw the pattern on Ravelry, I fell in love with it. I had some fun figuring out what yarn and colorways to use. I settled on Malabrigo Mechita, and picked out 4 colorways — shown in my last blog post.

Since then, I swapped out one of the colors as I found one that I think works better. This is the final line-up:

From top to bottom, the colors are Sheri, Sirenas, Indiecita, and Ninfas.

And here is the first quadrant completed.

I changed the rate of decrease at the top of the sleeve so I’d have a roomier sleeve, and more of a straight shoulder line. The Mechita yarn knit at the sportweight gauge (it is technically a fingering weight yarn) is gorgeous — it has a beautiful drape.

Speaking of beautiful . . .

It’s Mister Paws!