IK and Knit.1 on May 5!

It's always exciting when previews from your favorite magazines become available!

Here are my favorites (at first glance)...

IK Treillis and Keyhole Tank

IK Spidery Tank

Knit.1 tank (no names yet)

Among them, I would most likely knit Spidery Tank. We'll see ;-) Have a great weekend!

Not much activity...

Good afternoon! Spring is coming, days are getting longer and my knitting time is diminishing...

I've started the front of Lilas though. I hope that the fact that it could be worn this summer will bring motivation... We'll see ;-) In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of the cables on the left front. They are fun to knit! Very delicate too!



Enjoy spring... and the rest of the weekend!

Anyone can knit...

by Rhymes with Orange ;-)

The return of Branching Out

Hello! Another sunny weekend morning! It feels good! I hope you all had a good week.

I had a good post-Thermal week! On Wednesday night, I met with the North Shore Knitters and continued Lilas. The back is almost completed. I really look forward to knitting the fronts!

On the other nights, I started a new Branching Out with the remaining skein of Gloss. Half of it is knitted already. I started a Branching Out in 2006 with a thicker yarn (Bernat Satin). It will be frogged. It didn't do justice to the pattern. It was my first lace project however and I can appreciate the hability I've acquired while knitting this other version, soon to be forgotten ;-)

Here is a photo I took this morning. As you can see, I keep my magazines close... What will be next? My first pair of socks? There is also Habanero and the Millefiori Cardigan that I am much interested in. After Lilas of course. I will not say more before I make up my mind. I'm surpised I didn't see many Habaneros on Ravelry. I think this pattern is very interesting.

Have a great weekend!

Knitting sweaters

I can't believe I will no longer need to say to myself: I should be working on Thermal ;-) That will make me think seriously, next time, about starting a new sweater or any long project. I will knit more sweaters and tops for sure. I already feel like I have more experience: the gauge, the length, regular checks to ensure it fits, etc. But you have to love the pattern and the yarn.

So, here are a few photos:


Pattern: Thermal by Laura Chau
Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss
Needles: US 2.5 / 3.0 mm
Color: Black
Start to finish: October 2007 - March 2009 (yes, it took me that long)
For: Me
Notes: The pattern is very well written and Knitty.com provided answers to all questions I had. I've made a few modifications: no buttons, 3/4 sleeves, grafting instead of 3-needles bindoff for the shoulders, and more length to the body. And although I made the body in size A that made it very adjusted due to the fact that I knit a bit tight, I switched to size D (!) when I started doubting that my arms could get into the sleeves of size A. I think it explains why the collar does not go very low: smaller size made longer.

Here is also a closer look at the stitch pattern, collar and shoulder. I have to say I am very satisfied with the result. Very proud also. Every defect I detected, I corrected. Even if it meant hours in some cases. To give an example, I picked up the collar stitches 3 times (and there were about 250 stitches for the collar): the first time was for practice (!), the second time I did much better except for the back which explain the 3rd tentative (after knitting half an inch I decided that I wasn't satisfied with the back). Every time, I was so glad I did it again.

Another thing I learned is that knitting is not a matter of life and death ;-) When I put the center front on a stitch holder to knit the sides, I lost many stitches without realizing it. Can you imagine my unpleasant surprise when I realized that the stitch holder was not holding the stitches? I was so discouraged. It did not occur to me then that I had the capability to fix it. This yarn is so small and dark. I waited a while and then, a co-worker explained to me what I had to do and with a lot of work (and countless hours), I was able to fix it. That teached me that knitting is a hobby. If I want it the easy way, I can always go buy a nice sweater at the mall. If I want to learn and achieve new habilities, I have to work hard and mistakes are part of it. Isn't it a nice conclusion?

I hope that this will inspire other people to knit this sweater. After all that time and hard work, I'm really glad I did!

Thermal: check!

Thermal. Completed. Except for blocking but I will do that later. I'm so happy and relieved. It will definitely be good to move on to other projects now.

Also, it fits. It's adjusted though. I will have to be careful so that it doesn't get smaller than that. There is still a bit of room, but not plenty.

I've made a few modifications here and there. I will post a more complete summary later today with some pictures of me modeling it!

Wow! It's sunny outside and Thermal is complete! I looooove spring!

Stitch pattern

Hello! These days, I spend a lot of time reading blogs. I would accomplish so much if I was knitting instead!

While surfing to see more Bella's mittens, I came across a picture by Ruth Cross that gives a very good look at the original ones. I really like the effect on the inside and the thumbs, but I don't know what stitch pattern this is... Any ideas? I'll look through my magazines. Maybe I will find something similar.

I truly like them. I'm not sure if it's because they are pretty and comfortable or because they are from Twilight. It must be both ;-)

One more day before the weekend...