Malabrigo is amazing

Malabrigo combines buttery smoothness with luscious color and a soft, warm, squishy fabric. I think I am in love. I only have one skein, and it seems to be about 900 too few. I think I could happily knit with just Malabrigo forever.


I cast on a cowl in a twisted plait stitch pattern, and am lovvvvvvvvvvving the results:

Here is a peek at one of my knitting related Christmas gifts this year. My little sister, who is very much not into knitting, very sweetly braved a yarn shop, and picked out this gorgeous trekking for me. I have been wanting to try it (what could be better than 25% bamboo socks!?!?!) and now I can't wait to cast on!

And, for good measure, a puppy picture. Everyone could use a little puppy induced smile!

FO: Rain Forest Socks

Gifted to my aunt on Christmas eve, here are the details and bad, blurry, indoor pictures of my completed Monkey socks.

FO: Rain Forest Socks
Pattern: Monkey Socks, by Cookie A. (free pattern publishes in Knitty magazine, Winter 2006)
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest. Used almost one skein, but still have enough left over for a footie sock or small glove.
Needles: US 2 bamboo dpns

I loooooooooooove this yarn. I plan on casting on Cookie's Pomatomus socks with my second skein for my lil' sister. The yarn gets and A plus, as does Cookie. The DIC Smooshy has some variegation within the main color, but not so much that it pools, or distracts from a great pattern.
The purls separating the knit part of the pattern occurred at the join of my dpns, and for some reason my purls always have laddering. I can control the knits a bit better across the dpn joins, but my purls seem to always be a bit loosey goosey. As a result, the triangles of purls are a bit more prominent than I like, almost as if they were the main attraction in the pattern. If I make them again, which I think I might, I will try the No-Purl version, and knit the purls.

I hope everyone had happy holidays!

Hookey Gloves

FO: Hookey Gloves
Pattern by me!
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight (1 skein)
Needles: US 4's

I named these Hookey Gloves because I started and finished them on a rainy day that I didn't feel like going to work. I designed these gloves for a friend for Christmas. I love how the cabling looks ridiculously hard, but it's actually pretty simple. This yarn is amazing. It is so bouncy and you just can't go wrong with alpaca. It might be my favorite fiber to work with.

Click here to print a pdf of the pattern. I don't know how to get it to download to your computer, but you can print it, or copy and paste to a word doc and save it. Some creativity required.

Two more days of last minute holiday knitting!

I really love the holidays...

Hooray for a two day work week! I am a massive holiday lover, obviously, and an SF lover, so here we have, the holidays around SF, part one gagillion. I have a couple stocking suffers left to buy, a hat to make, and a toe to knit on the second monkey sock. I might have sustained a slight stab wound to the left pointer finger while trucking away on the foot of the sock yesterday, but I think I can knit past the pain! All should be done and ready by Christmas eve!

The Amelia Scarf

As promised, the second free, simple, super easy, chunky scarf pattern! When ever I type chunky, I think "chunky monkey" in my head. Odd, yes. In any case, here is a pretty, simple, and quick knit (thank you chunky monkey yarn) that produces a nice, squashy fabric. My little sister saw this while it was on the needles and now wants one, so they must be reasonably cool and hip, though I think a fisherman colored scarf has a rather classic look to it.

The Amelia Scarf
A free pdf of this pattern is available for download here on Ravelry.

Materials: 110 yards chunky yarn, needle (size recommended on ball band), tapestry needle, sewing needle, and a button of your choosing. The button shown here is about 3/4” in diameter.
Gauge: None needed! This pattern can easily be made wider, skinnier, longer, and shorter.

Notes: Above, I recommend chunky yarn, but this scarf can be made with any gauge, depending on taste. I used one skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn on 9mm needles, which produced a thick, springy fabric, and a short scarf.

Cast on 18 stitches.
Both sides: Sl, K1, P1, *K2, P1, repeat from * to end of row.

When scarf measures 42” long, work buttonhole row:
Sl 1, K1, P1, K2, P1, K2, P1, YO, K2tog, P1, K2, P1, K2, P1
Work pattern for two more inches, and bind off, weave in ends.

To affix the button, use a piece of yarn (I used one ply of this yarn, since it was so chunky) and a sewing needle. Fold scarf in half, and affix button on the cast-on end of the scarf to line up with the button hole on the cast-off end of the scarf.




Happy Friday!

The season continues

Union Square is one of those places when I think of San Francisco and the holidays. Filled with childhood memories of shopping, soft pretzels, the cider at Williams Sonoma, the Macy's window display, and the light up snowflakes on Sak's, this place at Christmas is jammed packed with enough nostalgia to give me the warm fuzzies for days. Aside from the fact that last Christmas season, N was pick-pocketed about 200 yards from here... still. I love Union Square at Christmas!


That's right. A Christmas tree, along side palm trees, and an ice rink that has to be frozen, since it does not freeze here :) Its been in the 40s this week, and egad, I cannot remember being so cold. Makes me want to stay home and knit all day!

The Mariam Scarf

Today I have the first of two simple patterns to share. Both are simple, chunky scarves born out of Mariam's birthday scarf request, and the resulting stitch patterns I fiddled with trying to fulfill the order. No great feats of design genius here, but I liked the results, and thought I would share the method.

At some point, I hope to have these available as Ravelry downloads, but at the moment, technology is besting me left and right, so that might be a bit :)

You can view the pattern on Ravelry here, and add to your queue and such. The pattern page is still in the works, and photos will be added when that function is approved on the page.






The Mariam Scarf

Materials: 110 yards chunky yarn, needle (size recommended on ball band), tapestry needle, sewing needle, and a button of your choosing. The button shown here is about 1” in diameter.


Gauge: None needed! This pattern can easily be made wider, skinnier, longer, and shorter.

Notes: Above, I recommend chunky yarn, but this scarf can be made with any gauge, depending on taste. I used one skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn on 9mm needles, which produced a thick, springy fabric, and a short scarf.

Instructions:
Cast on 18 stitches.
Right Side: Sl 1, K1, P2, *K2, P2 repeat from * to end of row
Wrong Side: Sl 1, P1, K2, *P2 K2 repeat from * to end of row.
The scarf is worked in a 2x2 rib, with the first stitch of each row slipped to make a neat edge.

When scarf measures 42” long, work buttonhole row on a right side row:
Sl 1, K1, P2, K2 P2, K1, YO, K2tog, K2, P2, K2, P2.

Work rib pattern for two more inches, and bind off, weave in ends.

To affix the button, use a piece of yarn (I used one ply of this yarn, since it was so chunky) and a sewing needle. Fold scarf in half, and affix button on the cast-on end of the scarf to line up with the button hole on the cast-off end of the scarf.




Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Christmas in the city

Why is it Christmas trees are so hard to photograph?

I was going to post two patterns today and have them available on Ravely, but alas, that apparently takes a bit of time when you are a first time designer. Patterns to come, I swear! For now, a little seasonal cheer from my own Christmas tree:




And a couple shots from around SF, so Saviche will feel at home!

The Boy Hat and the Blueberry Scarf

Two FOs to share today! Work has been total insanity, with limited knitting time. Today we have one long overdue FO, and one quick Christmas knit.

I finished up Saviche's belated birthday present:


Blueberry Scarf
Pattern: A simple stitch pattern advertised in a SWTC newsletter a few months back. The pattern is K1, YO, K2tog* repeat from * across both sides.
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Chunky AL, a bulky y 12 WPI yarn
Needles: 6mm Bamboo straights



This turned into a looooong skinny scarf. I though casting on 30 stitches in a chunky yarn would produce a wider scarf, but not so much. The stitch pattern must have narrowed it down a bit. Rather than frog and start over, I decided to make a long skinny scarf. The recipient lives in LA, and would probably stifle inside a chunky wool scarf anyway!

Happy belated birthday Saviche!

Next up, The Boy Hat, made for my little sister's BF for Christmas. He does not spend a ton of time browsing the knit blogs, so I think the Christmas surprise will stay intact.

Colin's Ribbed Hat
Pattern: The Boy Hat, by LimulusKnits
Yarn: Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends, in a charcoal grey
Needles: 4.5 mm bamboo dpns


The clever decreases are what makes this hat fun and interesting. Plus, I got to use 8 stitch markers, which is always fun times. The way the ribbing intersects on the crown reminds me of Gothic architecture, flying butresses and all that. I foresee a couple more of these fun, quick hats in the future. Coming up tomorrow, 2 free patterns! Stay tuned :)

FO's

FO: Lina
Pattern:Lina by Johanna of Joko Knits
Yarn: Fibranatura Baby Merino in Natural

Needles: US 5 DPN's

Started 11/17/08; Finished 11/23/08
No mods necessary. Very straightforward and quick. I love the "open" cable look. It's like cursive writing- all flowing lines and graceful beauty. It looks like a relatively loose fabric, but it was still very warm, although I'm sure my own dense hair may have had a part in that.

I've been plugging away at my Hemlock and I finally finished skein 1 of 2. It feels like it's getting pretty big, but I'm only a little more than halfway through. Maybe by next winter I'll have an awesome blanket.

And now for your Eye-Candy Friday viewing pleasure, here is a shot of my sister's teddy bear-like dog, Charlie. He is taking a little nap in the car.Yeah, he's a cutie.

Goodbye Beads

This weekend I decided to purge my bead stash. From ages 8-16 beading was my craft of choice, and I amassed a huge quantity of beads. I swear I still have beads that I picked out when I was 10 years old. Needless to say, my taste has changed. Somehow a yin yang beaded necklace does not seem as cool as it did in 1995. I got out my beading supplies to fix a friend's bracelet (which I discovered I need more supplies to do) and ended up going through the beads. 99% are going to be donated, but I did keep a few.

I also decided that while I had everything out, I might as well makes a hodgepodge collection of stitch markers. Some, like the butterfly one above are an homage to my 4th grade beading tastes. Others are just cool, funky beads I didn't want to get rid of.



I cast on The Boy Hat as a Christmas present for my sister's BF. I started it on US 8 needles, which proved to be way to huge, ripped back about 2 inches, and started again on size US 7 needles. The yarn is Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends, a synthetic and cashmere blend that makes for a nice soft machine washable hat.

A shot of the Sharks warming up on Saturday:

They lost to Edmonton, but the Sharks are still #1 in the NHL!

Spumoni

WIP: Chickadee Cowl by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: DragonFibers Merino/Bamboo in "Secret Garden", handspun by me
Needles: US 6 circular

I feel like I've been working on this cowl forever. I started spinning it way back in July or August and I started knitting at the beginning of November. There is still about 100 yards of it to knit up, so it'll probably be a few weeks before it's done. I really like how it's turning out, but everyone I've asked thinks it's silly. Some people just don't appreciate handspun.

The thought of having a completed handspun project makes me really excited. It's going to be so warm and fantastic. Like a little piece of spring in a bleak, chilly winter.

More blocking fun...

But first, some Thanksgiving fun:

Bacchus gate
Downtown Sausalito, CA

Restaurant, with a view of San Francisco, Sausalito, CA

And onto blocking. I finally finished the blueberry scarf, which turned out to be quite skinny, despite casting on30 stitches on 6mm needles. Not a tragedy, the recipient lives in warm LA.
Another chunky white scarf, a gift for a friend. Knitted up in a day and a half. Very simple but pretty stitch pattern,




And onto some Christmas cheer, taken through the front window of a random building in San Francisco's Financial district: