Time for something new!

All will be revealed on December 2nd over at Georgian Bay Fibre Co.

Well all my design knitting is done, and will be released very soon!  I'm really excited to share them with you and the rest of the collection they are part of.

However, with that big chunk of knitting off my lap (literally and figuratively), I'm thinking its time to do something new, and in this case, my very first garment.

For me, garments have been a bit overwhelming. This is in part due to my size. It's not something I talk about a lot on this blog, mostly because it's not really relevant to the knitting of socks and goofiness of my cat, but also because I didn't really want to. However, I'm a plus-sized woman, and so the outlay in terms of cost and time to make myself a garment, one I'm not certain will fit well or properly, has always been a bit overwhelming.

However, at the KW Knitter's Fair back in September I was working at the Georgian Bay Fibre Co. booth and I realized I needed to make myself something to wear when representing that brand, and a shawl was not going to be the thing.  However, Carla made a really great looking vest and I though, I should probably have one of those.  Well not that design, but the Honeytree Vest by Tanis Lavallee. 

Photo by Tanis Lavallee/Tanis Fiber Arts

Although I am quite a bit larger than Carla, I was able to try on her version of it from a few years ago, and while it was much to small for me it did let me know that the shape would be quite flattering for me, if knit, y'know, in my size.  

Thankfully Tanis's patterns come in a good range of sizes!

For yarn I'm using GBFibreCo. Hennessy Aran, in Monck Fir Cone.  It is one of the fall collection colorways that is being discontinued on December 1st, so if you are interested in getting some too be sure to place your order before then.  

So now I need to go off and do some swatch so I can get this done before the new year!

FO: Waterloo and Ottawa Baby Sweaters

Baby Sweaters

As I mentioned a while back I have two cousins both expecting babies last month.  Back in February, over Family Day Weekend, my Aunt hosted a joint baby shower for Heather and Lara at my mom's house in Parry Sound. There were about 40 family members and it was a great chance to see some of my cousins I hadn't seen in a couple of years.

The shower had a book theme and I gave both copies of Brambly Hedge, one of my favorite books as a kid.  However, as a knitter I couldn't resist adding some handknit woolies to the parcel.  I pulled out the Puerperium Cardigan pattern which is quickly becoming my go-to baby knit.  It is quick, can be done from a single skein of DK weight yarn and gets good reviews from moms.  I've been considering getting more of Kelly Bookers patterns for kids, because these babies are going to grow up (rumor has it) and I really like the way she writes and formats her patterns.

Neither of these babies has made their arrivals yet, but I'm looking forward to meeting these new additions to my already large extended family (I'm 7th of 14 grandchildren).  I'm glad to know that they will have wooly goodness and that I have a go-to pattern for the babies that will continue to show up in the years to come.

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Projects: Waterloo Puerperium and Ottawa Puerperium

Pattern: Puerperium Cardigan by Kelly Brooker

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts, Yellow Label in Spearmint and Pink Grapefruit

The next wave approaches ...

So earlier this year I was prepping for what is an inevitability of growing up, that  my cohort would start having babies.  I wanted to get a sense of what a person should knit for babies, and used baby Nico as a test run. I ended up knitting two "sets" a Puerperium Cardigan  Sweater in Tourmaline by Sweet Georgia Yarns and Baby Vertebrae Sweater in Kindling by KnitPicks both by Kelly Booker.

Nico is now six months old (and still wearing the brown sweater) and over Thanksgiving I heard that two of my cousins are expecting babies in April!

I'm really happy for both families, and these are the first babies in several years.

One family is planning on finding out their baby's gender while the other is  not, so I'm trying to plan out matching/coordinating knits in coordinating and gender neutral colors.  I'm expecting that there will be lots and lots of pictures of these two together (because the mom in one family and the dad in the other are siblings).

Seeing how much love the brown sweater has had I know I want to make ones for the new babies, and the blue sweater was just so cute (and perfect for pictures) so they will each get one of those.  I just need to hear about the gender of one of the babies and then I can pick the yarns.  Of course I have till April to get these done, I do want to get a fresh start on these in the new year.

FO: Forest Baby Blue Duckie Sweater

The real success of this knit is thanks to Carla, who helped pick the yarn color and also helped with button selection, and for me the sweater is cute but the duckies make something really fun and special.

However it is thanks to the Yarn Harlot that I know about this great little sweater, she knit it for a baby last fall and I just fell in love with the shape.  And when the arrival of the Forest Baby was announced I figured it was a good a time as any to try out the pattern.  It is a keeper, a quick knit and a great finished object that is totally gender neutral (depending on color and buttons) so it is a good one to keep in the file for friends future babies.

- Details -

Project Name: Forest Baby Blue Duckie Sweater

Pattern: Puerperium Cardigan by Kelly Brooker of knit.so.quaint

Recipient: Forest Baby

Yarn: SweetGeorgia Superwash DK in Tourmaline

Modifications:

  • None - Except I opted for the short-sleeves because I am sick of knitting sleeves

New Skills:

  • Attaching Buttons - The last thing I made with buttons my mom ended up putting them on for me, but these ones becasue of the style I found that yarn worked better than thread for attaching.

Feedback:

  • Yarn - This stuff is AWESOME.  The yarn base was nice enough but the yarn color has nearly send me into a tailspin of figuring what I can make out of it for ME!  I took some of it to a Guild meeting and someone asked me what color I called it, and really it is impossible to determine whether it is green or blue.  It is just totally made of awesome.  I am looking forward to using more of SweetGeorgia's yarns in a balanced diet with Tanis and indigodragonfly.
  • Pattern - Much like the Baby Vertabrae, (which is by the same designer) I found this pattern clear, however as it was free there was only 1 size.  In future I may decide to upgrade to the paid version as I find the shape appealing and I know that the paid pattern will give me a huge range of sizes and yarn weights.

Re-Knit?: Quite possibly, this size used just over half a skein and left enough yarn to knit a baby hat and some mitties, which makes $20 for the DK and $5 for some buttons makes a pretty affordable knitted baby set as a gift.

FO: Forest Baby Vertabrae

So yesterday you saw the Legwarmies, they matched up really nicely with the Baby Vertabrae.  This knit too way too long in my mind, the pattern is great, but I would do it in DK, because working up fingering weight yarn on 3.25 and 2.75 mm needles is too much purling at sock gauge.

However I find the design brilliant, keep a baby warm and make sure their bellies are washable.  I did make one design change to the pattern, on the advice of a new mom, I knit 10cm of the arm in stockinette, and then did another 10cm of 1x1 rib.  By extending the rib I gave the option of wearing the sleeve folded back (and not falling down) or pulled down over the hands if the baby gets cold.

This along with legwarmies make a great gift for someone who doesn't want to knit for a brand new baby but in 9 and 12 month sizes.

- Details -

Project Name: Forest Baby Vertabrae

Pattern: Baby Vertabrae by Kelly Brooker of knit.so.quaint

Recipient: Forest Baby

Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll Tonal Fingering in Kindling

Modifications:

  • Changed sleeve to shorten and increased cuff length

New Skills:

  • Picking up a sweater collar - Worked out fine, but I slipped the edge so the collar seems to really pull in.  Whooops, live and learn for next time.
Feedback?:
  • Yarn - The color of Kindling was nice, although there were all sorts of funny felty joins in the yarn.  Not enough to find concerning but after the Felici incident I was kinda of annoyed.  I have other sock yarns I like more, but Stroll Tonal is great for those who are looking for a hand dyed look at not indie hand dyed price.
  • Pattern - Nice pattern, although there was some errata that thanks to Rav pattern system I was able to get the updated pattern while I was knitting so there was no trouble for me.  It is great that you can make a whole bunch of sizes in all sorts of different yarn weights on the same pattern.

Re-Knit?: Quite possibly, but never again in fingering, DK would be a nice weight.