Knitting: the Journey Hat

This is the first hat that I knit during our trip to Patagonia.

The pattern is the Traveling Cable Hat from Purl Soho. It just so happens that I had two skeins of Berrocco "Voyage" yarn in my stash, of the right weight and length, so it was only fitting that I used it for this pattern.

The pattern has a nice mix of cable and twists. It was fairly easy to make once you get into the rhythm of how the stitches repeat, and it was the perfect past time to keep me occupied on the two days we drove southward on Ruta 40, in Argentina. The road spreads for hundreds of km in the dry and dusty pampa, with not much to look at other than the occasional Guanaco grazing on dry twigs off the side of the road. So while B. did all the driving, I kept my hands busy with knitting and our minds entertained with Marc Maron potcasts.

I was able to finish this hat just in time for the final stretch of our trip: a 6-day hiking trek on the O circuit of the famous Torres del Paine National Park.

I love that in the end, I knit this Traveling Cable hat with Voyage yarn while on a road trip, and wore it on the last leg of our journey. Ha!

We got back to a snow covered Vancouver and everyone was asking me if it was tough to come back to the cold after our trip, but I'm actually happy about it - it gives me a chance to wear my new hat -and a lot of my other knit items from previous years...

Knitting: Bray Cap

In December, B and I went away for a full month and traveled to Costa Rica and Chile. We were camping and backpacking most of the way, so we had to pack light. But even then I couldn't resist bringing a knitting project along, and what best project to bring than a hat.

In fact, I brought two hat projects with me, and this one happens to be #2, which I started on the trip but finished here last week.

The pattern is Bray Cap by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed. It is a mixture of cables and lace, for a  slouchy result. I probably knit mine a little looser than intended as it seems to be slightly more slouchy on my head than on the pattern photos, but I do have a rather small head, so that could also be it.

The pattern includes instruction for tubular cast on, but I couldn't be bothered, so I just did a regular cast on.

Once I got the hang of the chart, the knitting was pretty straight forward and it came together quite fast (except I forgot to change needles between the ribbing and the main part, so I had to undo a dozen rows and start over with the right needles....).

I used Madelintosh yarn from my stash, Tosh Vintage in colorway Badland (worsted). It was really nice to knit with and a good combination with this pattern. Plus it's 100% superwash merino wool, and you know how I love me some merino.

I'm really happy with the result, I love the color, I think it works well with the stitch pattern, and judging from the photos, it definitely fits into my usual color scheme.

It has been snowing a lot in Vancouver, which is highly unusual (we barely ever get snow in the winter, let alone that much snow that sticks to the ground and stays over a few weeks), but I kind of like having that excuse to wear my new hat.

B, snapped all these photos yesterday morning, just before I left to go to work, and I just loved all of them, so yes, that's a lot of photos of my face for one single hat... But it's my blog after all :P

The other hat I made while on the trip was Purl Soho's Traveling Cable hat. I have to go dig through the thousands of photos taken over the month of traveling to collect some for a blog post, so hopefully I will be posting some "action shots" in the near future.

Knitting: A Sweater for My Man

Back in the fall, I decided I would make a cardigan for Brice. I had actually never made anything for him (the two camera straps made out of remnant cotton tape don't count). Brice's daily uniform is a fitted black t-shirt and jeans. He 's always warm, even in winter. I would't even try knitting him a scarf because he wouldn't wear it, and he prefers hats with a brim, which I don't really know how to make. But when I saw this pattern, I knew it would be perfect for him.

The pattern is Slade by Michelle Wang, It's included in the BT Men pattern book by Brooklyn Tweed, but I purchased it on its own on Ravelry.

For yarn I used Berroco Ultra Alapaca, in Charcoal Mix (Brice picked the color himself). It's a really soft and warm yarn and a pretty affordable.

The sweater is knit in pieces and seamed together at the end. Based on Brice's chest measurements, I made the second smallest size. My only adjustment was to make the sleeves narrower and longer. I probably could have made it one size bigger, although B doesn't like garments that are too loose...

This is probably the most complex sweater I've knitted in terms of construction. My previous sweaters and some intricate stitches, but construction wise were pretty simple. This one had a tubular cast on on each pieces, stitches to pick up all along the front, a collar band and button holes. I got quite confused by the buttonhole process actually, and couldn't quite make sense of the instructions so I did a bit of googling and eventually figured it out. The whole thing took me about 2 1/2 months, which isn't that bad considering!

When Brice first tried on the sweater, I was actually a bit disappointed. The sleeves were a bit too long and tight (so much for my adjustements), the armholess were also too small, the overall length was too short in my opinion, and the band for the shawl collar was bound off too tight, with the front corners being pulled up. The only thing I could correct at that point was the collar, so I undid the bind off of the entire collar band, and used this technique for a stretchier bind-off. It worked really well.

 

Brice was thrilled with his sweater though and didn't seem to mind any of the flaws I was seeing. He's been wearing it  non-stop since I finished it. The sleeves have actually loosened up a bit so they're not as tight as they used to be. I think the sweater might have lenghtenned a tiny bit too, from hanging on the body, The only thing that won't change of course is the size of the armhole. You can tell that it makes the shoulders too short as well, and the collar doesn't really fold into the "shawl" style, but it lays flat on his shoulders, which I'm ok with.

 

Overall after my initial disappointment, I'm actually happy with the result. I think I started off with a certain idea of what I wanted the sweater to be, and when it didn't turn out prefectly like I imagined, I had a moment of doubt. I've definitely come around (even if some things still bother me a bit).

On Saturday Brice went for brunch with his running group. He wore the sweater and they all complimented him on it. Later on that night, we saw his friends again at a party (I was meeting most of them for the first time) and all of them individually said "You made Brice's sweater!"right after we got introduced. Goes to show how criticizing we can be with our own work, but in the end, it's nice to take a step away from the flaws and appreciate the finished product as a whole.

For the photos we went to one of our favorite spots for easy week-end strolls, and for once I was the photographer and he was the model...That was a lot of fun.

Finished Project: Snöflinga Hat

Another knit project! 

I knitted this hat no less than 3 times. And y that I don't mean I made three versions, but I undid it twice and remade it twice.

The pattern is the Snöflinga Hat by Jenny Gordy. I don't remember what caught my eye in this pattern,  I think it was the simplicity of it, and yet it had some interesting detail, simply created by contrast between knit rows and purl rows, and one row of bobbles. I made it with the suggested yarn: one skein of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in colorway Woodsmoke. It's a great pattern to make with this yarn. It was a super fast knit, just a few hours really. I had never made bobbles before, but they are surprisingly easy. 

So the first time I made it, I felt it was too big. Although a few friends said they though it was fine, I decided to unravel it and make it with a smaller needle size, and less row. I liked the result even less than the first time, so I unravelled a second time and made it again, back in the original size. Somehow it turned out better and I actually really like it now. I have to say, that's the beauty of knitting vs. sewing: if you don't like the result, you can start over, nothing is wasted.

I like to wear this hat indoor actually, perfect for bad hair day, and it looks great with a more casual outfit.

Man, that's a lot of my face in this post :P

Finished Project: Poolside sweater

A few years ago I purchased a few skeins of Estelle South Pacific cotton yarn from a store that was closing down near my work.
It took me forever to decide what to do with the yarn. I considered the sweater below from Phildar,

  

 But after doing a test swatch I decided I didn't like the result of the cable pattern with the yarn so the search for the right pattern continued on. Eventually I chose the Poolside sweater by Isabel Kraemer.

This sweater is knitted in the round, from top to bottom. The body is worked first, then you go back to each sleeve where the stitches have been put on hold and you knit them. The previous sweater I made was knitted in pieces and seamed up, so it was nice to try this other method.

 

What was nice about  knitting in the round was being able to try on the sweater early on in the making, and making sure the fit was correct. I did not enjoy however how long the rows ended up being, since it's knitted in the round. Generally speaking, I find that knitting in pieces is easier from a motivation persperctive, as each piece you finish is an extra step completed, whereas when knitting in the round, you have to knit the entire body before achieving the first step.

I really like how the stitch pattern on the body turned out but let me tell you IT.TOOK.FOREVER.
The thing is, it's one of those repeat patterns where you have to really pay attention. Forget about social knitting and having conversations while working on your project. This one (for me anyway) was a full-focus project. I could barely watch TV while knitting it. Hence the time it took to finish.

I made a size S. The pattern is designed with negative ease in the upper body, which makes the fitting a bit easier I think. As far as adjusments, I added a few rows at the top to make the armholes bigger. I didn't want the sleeves to be bigger though, so I balanced that by not adding additional increases on my additional rows, and making more decreases at the start of the sleeves. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but it worked out in the end.

To make the sleeves, I used double pointed needles. I didn't love that process as, again, it's a bit more focus-intensive as knitting flat and you have to pa extra attention to all needles and not dropping any stitches from any of them. In the end though it was nice to bind of the last sleeve and be able to put the sweater on right away (well, after weaving in the ends) without the hand-seaming step...

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Even though it's cotton, it's pretty warm. I haven't had issues with the cotton stretching, which was one of my biggest worries, but no major stretching so far, hopefully it lasts...

I just finished another sweater, for B this time, and the next one on my list will be a Phildar pattern with some black Cascade 220 yarn I purchased in Washington State on our Christmas road trop..

A Quick Hat

After spending a good threem months on my sweater, I wanted to try a quick knitting project. I had picked up an issue of Phildar magazine in France back in September, and had bought the yarn for one of the hat patterns.

The Yarn is Laine Partner 6 in colorway Chataigne & Fushia.

The hat came together pretty easily. The only thing a bit confusing about it at first is that you sue circular needles, but it's not knitted in the round. Because of the two colors, knitting with circular needles allows knit one way with one color, and then knit the same way again with the second color. So you don't work back and forth all the time, sometimes you might knit on the right side for two rows before going to the wrong side, and vice-versa ( not sur if that makes a lot of sense).

Anyways, I knitted this in a few days and didn't bother blocking it (yarn content is mostly synthetic). I really like it, it's a nice pop of color and the pattern is pretty easy, after a few rounds you don't need to look at the pattern anymore (until you start decreasing.

Turns out also, my mom had grabbed the same yarn to make the matching cowl, which I though she was making for one of my cousins, but she actually was making it for me, and I received in the mail.

 

(I don't think I would wear the two together in reall life though)