Knitwise, Purlwise

2013 in Review

2014-01-02T12:33:00.000-05:00

I learned so much on my knitting journey this year. I made lots of new friends, began test knitting, and even released my own designs. I can only hope for continued luck and success in 2014. Now, let's relive some of finer moments of 2013...

As most of you know, I love Instagram. A lot. I post most of my FOs there as well as snippets from my everyday life. These were my top moments this year.

Or maybe you remember when I was featured on the Ravelry homepage (this one still blows my mind)? I knit my daughter and I matching tops - hers is Goldilocks and mine is Alice in Wonderland, which somehow got the attention of Christina and ended up being featured for the Matching Families Community Eye Candy.

In no special order, here are some of my other favorite projects from this year:

Cabernet Classic, Window to My Soul, Shifting and Cladonia

You can see the rest of my 2013 projects (all 65 of them) here. Looking back, it was a fantastic year full of lots of FOs! I was more than a little surprised to count up 65 of them! Thank you for taking this journey with me - I'm looking forward to spending 2014 with you too.

Are You Kitten Me?

2013-12-30T15:56:00.001-05:00

Introducing Are You Kitten Me?...

Whether playing dress up or trying to stay warm in cold weather, this hat is perfect for every kitty‐lover in your life. Sized from newborn to large adult, it fits a wide range of sizes and the length is easily adjustable to ensure a perfect fit. Meow!

Sizes:
XXS (newborn): 14”/35.5 cm
XS (baby): 16”/40.5cm
S (toddler): 18”/45.5cm
M (child/teen): 20”/50.5cm
L (adult): 22”/56cm
XL (large adult): 24”/61 cm

This pattern is suitable for an advanced beginner. Techniques used include:

alternate rib cast on
knitting in the round
grafting
duplicate stitch (full charts included)

It calls for 75-250 yards of worsted weight yarn, though the estimates are generous. Plus a few yards of contrast color for the ears. You can buy it now using the button below, or visit the Ravelry page for more details. It's currently on sale for $2 until Friday. Happy knitting!

A Slew of Mitts

2013-12-17T11:44:00.002-05:00

I've been on a mitt(en) knitting spree lately. In the last month, I've knit four pairs. Two of them for my kids (one pair for each kid) and two for me. Fair, right?

Both for both kid pairs, I used the Kveta Mitt pattern by Monika Sirna, just opted for different embellishments. For my daughter, I chose to crochet some flowers. Her mitts have fold over cuffs on both ends. The top cuff will cover her fingers when fully extended. They're not the best snow mittens, but they did a great job this fall keeping her tiny hands warm while still allowing her to play.

My son decided he wanted a sea theme for his mitts, so I embellished them with an octopus and a fish with bubbles. He loves them! His don't have the fold over cuffs, since he didn't want them. He likes to wear his mitts with those cheapy 3/$1 mittens underneath anyway. And again, they add some warmth without restricting his hands at all.

After knitting mitts for both of the kids, I realized that I don't have any mittens. So I made a pair of Kveta Mittens for me. They're reverse stockinette, which I love. It adds just a tiny bit of texture to a relatively simple pattern.

I still hadn't had enough of mitten knitting, so I knit a pair of A Time to Reap mitts. Pattern is by Melissa Schaschwary. These are perfect to wear when I need some dexterity. They're slouchy and casual, and oh so warm!

All of the mitt(ens) were fun to knit, but especially the kids mitts. They were super quick, too (added bonus of tiny knits). All pattern notes and yarn details can be found on my project pages.

Carabe

2013-11-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of test-knitting Carabe - a new pattern from Justyna Lorkowska of Lete's Knits. It's a striped sweater with a slip-stitch detail and shawl collar. It has easily become my favorite comfy sweater.

I had a lot of fun picking colors for this knit. After some back and forth, I finally decided on Silver Fox and Nassau Blue, both on Tosh Vintage. It wasn't until after I'd knit a few stripes that my husband pointed out it looks like the Eagles team colors. Oh well - you can take the girl out of Philly, but I guess you can't take the Philly out of the girl. Maybe next time I'll knit one in black and gold. :)

I made a few minor modifications to the pattern, which you can read about on my project page.

Project Details

Pattern: Carabe by Justyna Lorkowska

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Silver Fox and Nassau Blue

Needles: US 6 (4mm) and US 8 (5mm)

A Finished Shifting

2013-10-27T09:15:00.002-04:00

I can finally re-home that ill-fitting bright pink cabled Gap pullover because my Shifting is finished!

I couldn't be happier with the fit. I did make some modifications to the pattern to make it more tailored to my shape, including less stitches in the back, additional straight rows after the raglan increases before dividing for the sleeves, and additional length. Oh, and then there's the scoop neck. I mostly winged that. I've knit one scoop neck before. So, I kind of knew the proportions I wanted, but I wanted to knit the scoop while incorporating the cables in the best way possible. I didn't want partial cables coming out of the sides of the scoop. I took it one row at a time and did a lot of holding it up and squinting to make sure it was perfect. You can see all of my notes on how I did this on my project page.

I did have some hiccups along the way though. Mostly the fact that out of my 5 skeins only 3 of them matched. The other two were noticeably darker and therefore created stripes when I tried to work them in. Not a good look. I also had this mess to contend with:

Due to the mismatched yarn, I ended up alternating 2 skeins on the sleeves, but was knitting from both ends of both cakes (instead of 4 separate smaller balls) and ended up with this tangled rats nest. The effort and tangles were definitely worth it though because the skeins blended really well together and I love my new sweater.

Project Details
Pattern: Shifting by Justyna Lorkowska
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in Vintage Sari
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm) and US 6 (4.0mm)

A Shifting Work in Progress

2013-10-22T10:29:00.001-04:00

Years ago I bought a bright pink cabled pullover from the Gap. I don't know if it ever fit properly, but now it's about 3 inches too short, and if I'm honest, the crew neck isn't all that flattering. It's still in my closet because I love the classic, preppy style of it and I can't bear to let it go. I never wear it, but I want to. Once a year or so, I try it on thinking that magically it will have gotten longer. It hasn't, so back into the closet it goes...except this year. This year, it's sitting on top of my dresser as a reminder that it needs to go. So this year, I'm replacing it with something that actually fits.

Months ago, I found Shifting while browsing on Ravelry. I mentally tucked it away and decided that someday I would knit it. Then I started seeing it everywhere on Ravelry. KALs in a few groups, popping up repeatedly in my friends feed, and lots of chatter in the forums I read. I couldn't get it out of my head and I decided to knit my own Shifting ASAP.

If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen my Shifting progress photos. I decided to make my version with a scoop neck, since I don't find crew necks flattering on me. I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in Vintage Sari for another twist on the shade of pink. Vintage Sari is an orangy-pink with hints of brown. It's grown up version of that bright pink pullover I love so much. So far, I love it. I'm about to start the bottom ribbing and then I'm on to sleeve island. I'm hoping it will be a short stay because our weather has turned cold and I'd love to wear it soon.

Community Eye Candy

2013-10-08T17:34:00.002-04:00

I know it's been a long time since I last blogged - I'm sorry. Our Fall schedule has been a lot busier than I anticipated. But, I'm back with a bit of exciting news. Grace and I are featured on the Ravelry homepage today as a part of their Community Eye Candy series. This week is featuring matching families.

We're on the right - I'm in my Alice and Grace is wearing her Goldilocks. Both patterns are by the fantastic Justyna Lorkowska.

I am so flattered that Christina (of the Ravelry staff) picked my knits to be featured. There are so many beautiful matching sets out there. Trust me, I've looked. I have a thing for matching, or coordinating as I like to call it. To say I'm excited is an understatement. Christina contacted me last week to ask if she could use the photo of us since Grace is a minor (I thought it was really awesome of her to ask permission, by the way). I had to keep this a secret for an entire week. If you know me, you'll know how hard that was. If you want to check out the rest of Christina's picks, which I highly recommend, you can see them all here.

Larch - FO Friday

2013-09-06T12:31:00.001-04:00

If you follow my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I took the month of August off from blogging. I decided that instead of focusing on knitting and blogging, I wanted to focus on the last month of summer with my family. My oldest child starts preschool next week and our entire schedule will be changing. I wanted to spend my days running through the sprinkler, playing in the sandbox, chasing fireflies, lighting sparklers, and just enjoying my kids. I spent a lot less time knitting than I usually do and therefore, didn't have much to write about. I hope you'll forgive me. At least I'm back with a pretty great FO.

I finished my Larch Cardigan. It was a test in patience and perseverance, to say the least. It took me about 3 weeks longer than I expected to knit this sweater. Maybe that was in part to my reduced knitting time or maybe it was because I re-knit the collar twice. Twisted rib on size 5 needles wasn't so nice on the hands and caused me to take even more breaks than I wanted, but I didn't want to hurt my hands. I also learned how to do top-down set-in sleeves (the pattern calls for bottom-up seamed sleeves). Full disclosure - I was a little intimidated to do the sleeves, since I've never done set-in sleeves on my own before. Going rouge! Luckily, I found a really fantastic tutorial on YouTube (part 1, part 2) that made it easy to do, once I found the courage. You can read all of my modifications on my project page.

Project Details
Pattern: Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in Grasshopper
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm), US 7 (4.5mm)

Larch

2013-07-31T08:20:00.000-04:00

After finishing Alice, I decided to finally cast on for a Larch Cardigan. Larch has been in my queue pretty much since I started knitting. I don't know why I put it off for so long. I'm using Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in Grasshopper. The MCN sport is amazingly soft and drapes so well. This sweater is going to be like wearing a hug. A hand knit hug.

I started Larch a week and a half ago and while I'm making progress, it really doesn't feel like I am. To this point, I've only knit top-down sweaters for myself. I don't know about you, but I get all kinds of "new project excitement" and generally fly through the first several inches of any project. When a sweater is top down, the rows are shorter and I can move much faster. Since Larch is bottom up, I'm knitting all of this stockinette at the widest point of the sweater and it feels like I knit forever with no progress. I've started clipping stitch markers to the edge to prove to myself that I am, in fact, making progress. I have a few more inches before I can shape the neck and divide for the fronts and back.

I'm not totally convinced that I have enough yarn, so I'm going to attempt to do top-down set-in sleeves (another first for me). If I can pull that off, I can knit them two at a time and ensure that I will use every last inch of yarn available. Anything to avoid another yarn debacle. I'll keep you posted.

Alice in Wonderland

2013-07-22T08:30:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, Justyna Lorkowska released her newest pattern - Alice in Wonderland. I had the absolute honor to test knit it. It's the adult version of Goldilocks, which I knit for Grace last month.

Alice has an amazingly flattering silhouette - a low scoop neck, fitted through the bust and then a-line to either tee, tunic or dress length. I opted for the tee length, but the tunic and dress versions I've seen are also fantastic!

And because I couldn't resist, here is a picture of me and Grace in our matching hand knits!

Project Details

Pattern: Alice in Wonderland by Justyna Lorkowska

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana

Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)

Superman Stripes - FO

2013-07-17T08:27:00.002-04:00

I finished Jack's Gathering Stripes last week and as predicted, he wanted to wear it on the hottest day we've had so far this year. I guess that means he likes it.

I really love this pattern and I can definitely see myself making it again as my kids grow.

And with this being off the needles - I've finished my July sweater. Knocking it out early this month. For those that asked, the buttons are custom made by Digits Designs. Judy was lovely to work with and the buttons are fantastic!

Project Details

Pattern: Gathering Stripes by Veera Välimäki

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage in Marine; KnitPicks Palette in Serrano

Needles: US 2, US 4, US 5

Superman Stripes

2013-07-10T08:30:00.000-04:00

This little sweater has been languishing in my WIP pile since the beginning of June. I started it at the end of May, quickly made it through the body, promptly tossed it into the WIP basket and forgot about it. Oops! I'm not in a hurry to finish a long-sleeved, cowl neck sweater for my "always runs hot" 3 year old. By his own choice I'm sure he'll wear it constantly. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite understand dressing for the weather yet.

I ordered some custom buttons for it around the same time that I tossed this into the WIP basket, and when they arrived last week I was reminded that I should probably finish the sweater. It's another Gathering Stripes. Jack needs a decent sweater and since he likes stripes it seems like a perfect match. He picked the color combo, which reminds me of Superman.

And yes, I'm still having the epic dog fur battle. Thanks for noticing.

East End

2013-07-03T11:46:00.000-04:00

I was going to wait to post this until the pattern is released, but I love it too much not to share. I finished my East End test knit. In case you missed my last post on this knit - East End is a soon-to-be-released pattern by Alicia Plummer. Update: you can find it here.

I knit my version out of Tosh Merino Light - a single ply merino wool. It's warm, but airy and will be great on cool summer days (we've had a lot of those already this year).

I made a few modifications, but nothing major. I really like the pattern and can see myself knitting it again in a different, more neutral color.

Although it's short sleeved, I'm counting this towards my sweater a month goal - it's still wool, after all. So, with this addition to my FO pile, I'm still on track for a sweater a month this year. And I actually knit 2 in May, so I'm ahead of the game.

To those in the US - Happy 4th! I hope you have a great holiday!

Project Details

Pattern: East End by Alicia Plummer

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Fragrant

Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) and US 7 (4.5mm)

Nozky

2013-06-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

I finished these adorable little legwarmers last week and despite our hot temps, they have already been worn a few times. My daughter loves them. She carries them to me and says "Mama, on" while flashing her sweet little smile. I can't say no.

I used Madelinetosh DK Twist in Sweetheart, which is a fantastically variegated colorway with purples, pinks and red. As usual with Monika's patterns - it's clear, easy to follow and yields an amazing result. I'm very happy with this project!

Project Details

Pattern: Nozky by Monika Sirna (Free in the most recent Knitty!)

Yarn: Madelinetosh DK Twist in Sweetheart

Needles: US 4 (3.5mm) and US 6 (4mm)

Blogiversary Giveaway Winner

2013-06-28T07:13:00.003-04:00

And the winner of the Fable Fibers Folktale and Knitter's Pride stitch markers is.... Sherry!! Congratulations Sherry, I can't wait to see what you make!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A very heartfelt thank you to everyone that entered one of my Blogiversary giveaways this year. I am amazed at your support and love. I can't wait to do it again next year. :)

Stay tuned for a Finished Object Friday post later today!

WIP Wednesday

2013-06-26T07:45:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed that things are especially quiet around here. There are a few reasons for this and it's not because I suddenly hate blogging, trust me. One, it's summer, so naturally I'm spending more time outside and less time knitting. Two, I've jumped into the world of test knitting and I LOVE it! Test knitting wasn't even on my radar until a few months ago, but now I can't get enough. One of the drawbacks is that I generally can't share what I'm working on while I'm knitting. So, less time knitting + having to be a little secretive = not so much blog content. Luckily, today I can share my current test knit and I'm really excited to do so.

I'm testing Alicia Plummer's new design, East End. It's meant to be a beach cover-up, but well, I'm not really a beach person (let's just say that sand and me - we're not friends). Alicia originally styled her linen version as a t-shirt. Loose, relaxed and effortless. I fell in love! I asked if it would be okay for me to use wool for my version and she said yes. I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Fragrant. It's bright and pink, and I'm happy.

PS. Don't forget to go enter the final blogiversary giveaway here. Tomorrow is the last day. The winner will be announced Friday, so stay tuned for that post!

Nozky

2013-06-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite designers was recently published in Knitty's First Fall 2013. I've already raved about Monika Sirna's Cabernet Series a few times, so I think you're all familiar with my love of her patterns. If you aren't, or you've never heard of Monika, please go check out her designs. They are amazing! Her patterns are incredibly well thought out, easy to follow and she is fantastic about answering questions, should you run in to any problems.

When Monika announced that her Nozky pattern was published in Knitty, I was beyond excited. I was not only excited for her (because, hello, how amazing is that?!), but also for the adorable little legwarmer pattern! I almost immediately cast on for a pair for my daughter. It doesn't hurt that there's also a KAL happening in Monika's group right now. You know how I feel about a KAL.

By a total stroke of luck, I received a yarn purchase in the mail the same day that Nozky was published. I had purchased a destash on Ravelry and due to a tiny hiccup in the transaction, Nicole very thoughtfully included a skein of Madelinetosh DK Twist in Sweetheart. I think I might have actually jumped up and down when I opened the box. Not only was the extra skein totally unexpected (and wayyy too nice of her), but the colors are to-die-for! I knew immediately that yarn was destined to become a pair of Nozky for Grace.

I finished the left legwarmer in no time at all, but I've been slow to cast on for the right leg. This is why I do almost everything two-at-a-time. No fear, I will finish the pair soon and my girl is going to have some stylish little leggies come fall.

I know, I know, long post about little legwarmers, but my heart cannot contain all of the cute. I have to gush. Please excuse me.

Final Blogiversary Giveaway!

2013-06-17T10:45:00.000-04:00

As promised, I'm back with the final blogiversary giveaway for this year. From now until midnight on June 28th, you can enter to win a skein of Fable Fibers Folktale in Silver Birch and a set of matching stitch markers from Knitter's Pride.

Fable Fibers Folktale (try saying that three times fast!) is a superwash merino sock yarn with 400 yards per skein. Silver Birch is a fun variegated gray and white colorway. And, the best part is that it's hand dyed in North Carolina by Lelah. The stitch markers are ring stitch markers with gunmetal hearts and pearl beads. They're sized to fit different needles. They will come in their original packaging with a darning needle.

Since this giveaway is to celebrate my first year of blogging, you have to be a subscriber of this blog (somehow!) to enter. All of the usual rules and ways to enter apply - just use the rafflecopter widget below. Be sure to leave either your ravelry name or email address with your entry. I'll announce the winner in a new post on June 28th. Good luck!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just because it has to be said, this is not a sponsored giveaway. I just want to share the love and say thank you for a fantastic first year.

Goldilocks - FO

2013-06-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

I finished my Goldilocks yesterday! I even had enough time to block it and get some pictures before bedtime.

I used exactly 1 skein of Malabrigo Sock in Light of Love. I'm surprised that it only took 1 skein, since the yardage requirement for this size is 750 yards! I was really expecting it to take at least a little bit of a second skein. I have another skein of Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana that would make a perfect fall/winter version of this dress.

It was a quick knit once I made it past the first 10 rows. Getting started with the contiguous increases and the cable pattern required a lot of paying attention. As you can imagine, I don't get a lot of undistracted knitting time. Most of the time, my kids are with me when I'm knitting, which can lead to mistakes (like knitting instead of purling, or missing an increase). This sweet dress was completely worth the short-lived confusion. Grace even agrees!

Happy Friday!

Blogiversary Week 2 Winner

2013-06-14T07:23:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to this week's winner - Carmen (cnuland on Ravelry)! Carmen received an adorable child's sweater pattern called #144 Three Flavor Delight Top-Down Cardigan. I can't wait to see your sweater!

The final giveaway for June still has some loose ends to finish up, so I'll be back on Monday with that one. It will run from Monday the 17th until Friday the 28th, but that's all I can say so far. You'll just have to come back on Monday!

Happy weekend!

Goldilocks

2013-06-12T08:19:00.002-04:00

Since my last post was about a sweater for my son, I figure it's only fair to dedicate this post to the dress I'm making for my daughter. I'm knitting her a Goldilocks by Justyna Lorkowska. Justyna is hosting a KAL in her group on Ravelry for Goldilocks through the end of July, if you want to join in the fun! There's also a great thread that offers some tips for the pattern.

The pattern offers instructions for two lengths - a tunic and a dress. I'm knitting the dress. Grace is at an age where her chest measurement will likely stay the same (or only fluctuate slightly) for the next few years, but she's going to get taller. For reference her brother is 2 years older, but his chest measurement is only an inch bigger. So as she grows, the dress will still fit, it will just become a tunic and then a t-shirt. If I played my cards right, she could really get three years of wear out of this. I know that's pretty optimistic, but it could happen!

I decided to use Malabrigo Sock. I'm in love. It is the softest sock yarn - it drapes beautifully (more than I thought it would!), it's really light, and it's machine washable. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait, it does because I'm using Light of Love. Light of Love is the most gorgeous orangey-pink. I'm almost tempted to knit myself a sweater or top out of it.

I only have the sleeves and bottom cable details to finish on the dress, so I'm hoping I can finish today or tomorrow!

What are you working on (knitting or otherwise)?

A Sweater for Jack

2013-06-10T08:32:00.003-04:00

If you haven't entered this week's blogiversary giveaway, you can do that here!

If you take a look at my Ravelry projects page, you can see that I really like knitting for kids. [Sidenote: every project gets added there, not every project gets blogged, so if you really want to see what I'm up to, you can add me on Ravelry, too!] I admit, the projects are heavily biased towards my daughter. What can I say - the girly patterns are so much cuter! I think I might have knit 2 hats for my son, ever.

Jack is 3.5 and has a total opinion about what he wears everyday. If we're staying home, he insists on pajamas (and I don't mind!). If we're going anywhere (and I mean anywhere - grocery store, playground, post office), his first outfit choice is always a button-down dress shirt and corduroy pants. Even in 85 degree heat. Last week, I tried to get him to wear shorts with his dress shirt (one battle at a time) and that didn't go well. He wore the pants.

Needless to say, if I knit him something, I want to make sure he's going to wear it. For almost a year now, I've occasionally asked if he wants me to knit him something. The answer has always been "no". A few weeks ago, we had a familiar conversation - I told him that I really want to make something for him, he said no. I figured that was my effort for the time being and we'd revisit soon. Imagine my surprise when a few hours later we had this conversation:

"Mama, do you want to make me a sweater? I might like that."
"I would love to. What color do you want it to be?"
"....hmmm....ALL THE COLORS!"

The next day, I got out the appropriately stashed yarn and let him pick. He chose a really great, deep blue and red. The blue looks either navy or bright depending on the light. I'm making him a Gathering Stripes and he already loves it. "Mama, did you knit the third stripe yet? How about the fourth stripe? .... How many stripes does it have now?"

Last night I finished the body and in the next few days I'll do the sleeves. It'll be finished in just enough time for Summer to be in full swing. I really hope he doesn't want to wear it everyday.

Blogiversary Week 1 Winner & New Giveaway!

2013-06-07T11:23:00.002-04:00

This giveaway is now closed.

A big thank you to all of you for playing along with this week's pattern giveaway! The winner is Jesse! Jesse chose Pendulum by Amy Miller and I can't wait to see the color combination she comes up with!

Don't worry if you didn't win, this week's giveaway is another pattern giveaway! Just leave a comment below telling me when you learned to knit. I absolutely love learning about why people fall in love with knitting! So, feel free to elaborate on the why or how if you want. As always, you can earn extra entries if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

Good luck and happy knitting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Calico

2013-06-07T08:05:00.001-04:00

I'll be back later today to announce the first blogiversary pattern winner and put up a new contest. Stay tuned!

As promised, here are the last of my Mad May projects. One of my best friends is pregnant with her first baby, a girl, due at the end of the summer. Since we had just attended a shower for our other close friend, Kelsey knew I was going to knit her something. She just had no idea what. I was happy to fulfill my duty as the friend that knits and make that something she knew was coming.

Her baby shower was last weekend. The shower was beautiful, though very pink! Not that I'm complaining, I love pink. In true Jenn fashion, I knit a pink sweater and matching hat. I know what you're thinking, but don't worry, the sweater is a 6-12 month size and the hat stretches a lot. Plus it gets cold where she lives in mid-September. Trust me, I thought about all of that. After having two winter babies and receiving beautiful summer clothes for them in newborn sizes, it's ingrained in me to pay attention to the seasons.

Over a year ago, I bought 2 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico - this really beautiful dusty, pale pink with slight tan undertones. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it was too beautiful to pass up. When Kelsey found out that she's expecting a girl, I knew immediately the Faded Calico had her name all over it.

There are a ton of great baby sweater and hat patterns out there, and I agonized about which one to use. I finally decided to knit a Baby Sophisticate. It's a classic sweater with a shawl collar and 4 buttons. It's simple enough not to be fussy (even if the baby is), and the collar/ button combo guarantee that it will fit over the baby's head easily. Mom won't even have to unbutton it if she doesn't want to. Maybe that's just my button-hating bias showing.

Since I went relatively simple and safe (read boring) with the sweater, I wanted something a bit more fun and feminine for the hat. As you all know, I'm pretty addicted to the Cabernet Series, so it should come as no surprise to hear that I made a Cabernet hat. This hat is so incredibly clever. The crown shaping is practically invisible in the Cabernet cable pattern. Sidenote: I can't wait to make one of these in my size!

Kelsey cried when she opened them, which I was really hoping to avoid, but I'm pretty sure that's the hallmark of a good gift. All in all, I'm really happy with how this sweet little set turned out. But more importantly, I can't wait to meet her baby girl. Is it August yet?

Project Details:
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down; Cabernet Hat by Monika Sirna
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico
Needles: Us 4, US 6, US 8

A Tart Cabernet

2013-06-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to go enter the blogiversary pattern giveaway here!

One of the gift knits I made during May was a Cabernet Infinity Scarf in Madelinetosh Tart. I knit it for my mom, and doing that turned out to be a very lucky decision!

A little backstory - at the beginning of May I decided I would knit Window to my Soul and Pressed Leaves for Mad May. I figured a fingering weight cardigan and a complex leaf cable motif hat were more than enough to keep me busy. I know, I know, I should have known that I would stray from my plans. Anyway, I never really planned to knit a Cabernet Scarf, but a friend talked me in to it and I'm so glad she did.

I frantically cast on a Cabernet Scarf in Dahlia after a battle with my Window sweater. Almost immediately, I fell in love with the stitch pattern. It's beyond beautiful! As soon as I finished, I knew I wanted to knit a cowl for my mom too. As much as it pained me to do it, I had a skein of Tosh DK in Tart in my stash that I knew would be just perfect. If you're not familiar, Tart is this incredible (and I mean a-maz-ing) deep, complex red. It's seriously unreal. While I really love Tart, I can buy another skein. Only the best for my mom!

Monika Sirna (the designer of the Cabernet series) hosted a celebration in her Ravelry group on May 24th. Anyone that had a current WIP of one of her patterns and posted a picture in the celebration thread was eligible. So I entered my Tart Cabernet cowl. Naturally, I also entered my FO in the Mad May KAL thread. Imagine my surprise when I won prizes in both threads! I was totally shocked and obviously really excited. I think it's the universe's way of paying me back for giving away a hand knit made with Tart. Thanks universe - you keep this up and I'll be knitting gifts left and right. You might even get some Tart.

Project Details:
Pattern: Cabernet Infinity Scarf by Monika Sirna
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK, Tart
Needles: US 6 (4mm)

Have you knit any gifts recently? What were they? Were they well received?