Archives for July 2019

First of all, congratulations to Robin F. who is the winner of my review copy of The Knitter’s Activity Book by Sincerely Louise. Thanks to everyone who left a comment.

Work continues on my Freshet Pullover. I finished the back last week. Here is my progress on the front:

I’m loving this pattern — it is complex enough to be fun and easy enough that I memorized it fairly quickly.

There was a question in the comments asking how often I brush Loki since his fur always looks so nice. Loki says thank-you! He loves being b rushed — equates it to being petted. I try not to over-groom him, so do it about every other day.

I got a new book to review last week — this:

This is The Knitter’s Activity Book by Sincerely Louise (aka Louise Walker). If you are like me, you looked at the cover and thought “how fun!” I mean, who doesn’t love a knitted lobster?

While there is a statement on the cover that it is fun for all knitters, I think it is mainly directed at older pre-teens and teens. (The title page has a “This book belongs to” box for the owner to enter his/her name and age, so there’s a clue.) There are twenty cute patterns for the following items: Lion Mug Rug; Triceratops Slippers, Lobster Dinner, Faux Taxidermy Heads including Pig, Cow, Donkey and Giant Elephant; Polar bear; Toucan; Meerkat; Killer Whale; Chickens; Raccoon; Corgi; Starfish; Swan Door Stop; Giant Balloon Dog; Pretty Platypus Scarf; Roselle-Laura the Manta Ray; and Crocodile Rug. 

The Lobster Dinner is featured on the cover, and I love the interior photo of it as well:

Another of my favorites is Lola the Polar Bear:

In addition to the pattern for Lola, her story is told in a series of photos, with cartoon balloons depicting her thoughts. Very very cute!

The cuteness continues:

Cruelty-free taxidermy!

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the patterns there are puzzles and activities, like this word search:

And a cute flowchart to help you in deciding to knit:

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The patterns are all pretty easy and straight-forward, so I’d be comfortable giving this to an older child.

So who’d like my review copy?

To be entered in a drawing to win my copy of The Knitter’s Activity Book , leave a comment on this post by 11:00am, Sunday, July 28, 2019 at 11:00am Eastern Time. I’ll pick a winner at random then.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I took some time out from knitting Freshet to whip out a chemo cap for someone who just started chemo:

I knit it from leftovers of Rowan Softknit Cotton that I used for my Kenmare sweater. The pattern is Martina Behm’s Tensfield hat.

And Loki is still adorable.

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments about my Newlyn Jacket. I’m looking forward to being able to wear it in a few months when the weather gets cooler.

On to the next project.

This is Freshet, a design by Irina Anikeeva for Brooklyn Tweed’s Wool People 13. I am knitting mine from Rowan Softyak DK in the Steppe colorway. It’s a lovely design and very easy to memorize. A fun knit!

I finished knitting and putting together my Newlyn Jacket yesterday. Here it is, before shrinking.

I worked short rows for the shoulders and did a three-needle bind-off on the shoulder seams. I also picked up stitches along each armhole and attached the sleeves via three-needle bind-off. I wanted to ensure that I had nice neat, strong seams, and the three-needle bind-offs ensured this.

I got some gorgeous buttons:

These buttons are from Twig and Horn. They are these brass wood-grain buttons. So pretty! They were rather expensive but after all the work I put into this jacket, I figured it deserved nice buttons.

I knit a quick little swatch from the denim yarn and three that in the washer and dryer along with the jacket. Then I unraveled it and used the yarn to sew the buttons on.

And, the Newlyn Jacket is done!

And the back:

And Loki was a big help.