Another sweater!

Oh my, is it another month already? I'm so busy these days! I think about posting a lot, just don't come around to it. Silly me.

Here we go. I just finished the second "sweater" for IntSweMoDo2010. It's actually a knitted dress, so it makes up for the first sweater I did for this challenge (which I actually only sewed the buttons for this year, so it counts only half!).

Pattern : Luna Dress by Katie Himmelberg (Interweave Knits Fall 2007)
Yarn : one strand of 100% Cashmere and one strand of 100% Wool (with the speckles, from a cone), both from my LYS and no brand! :D
Needles : 7.00mm, 5.5mm, 5.00mm

I started it at the beginning of January 2010 and finished last weekend, so under 4 months for this! :D That's quick for me! Actually, it should have been done sooner. But I couldn't get the sleeves to match. I don't get why the body is knit on the 5mm needles and then the sleeves on the 7mm. So I did the sleeves top down based on the instructions by Barbara Walker. A lot better and very easy to knit this way! Might do a lot more sleeves this way! Of course this dress is to warm to wear now as it's finally warming up over here. I'll wash it and then put it away for Autumn!

I actually pulled my Raspy sweater out of hibernation to finish now, and I'm also knitting a nice striped cardigan (which I think I mentionned last time). I'm making good progress on that one especially knowing that it's next to my bed and I only get a few rows done every day before going to sleep (I have a few other things I have to work on and this way I'm not tempted to knit the cardigan! :D). The list of sweaters and cardigans I want to knit is only growing longer!

Another finished knit is the shawl I started ages ago and I never got around to sewing in the ends and blocking it :

Pattern : Andrea's Shawl by Kirsten Kapur (Ravelry link)
Yarn : 100% Cashmere (same as the dress)
Needles : 4mm

It's actually smaller then I had planned, but still lovely. I started this one before I knitted the one for my mother. I now also need one like my moms, but no rush. First some other knits!


And to end with some spinning I did (which is also a project that was hibernating) :

This yarn is one ply of silk and one ply of merino. The silk was on the bobbin for ages but I had to little yardage to make something of it (well, not all silk was spun, had to finish it). So I decided to spin some merino and ply the 2 together. It actually gave me some decent yardage. Not as evenly spun as I wanted but ok. The silk lost all of the yellow when I washed it so all of the yellows and greens are gone. It's now only pinks and purples and some blue, which I love of course, but that's again just my faves and I was hoping on something a bit out of my normal comfort zone. Oh well, it's a nice yarn!


I'll try to be back soon!

Spring is in the air!

Well, there's been a lot of crafting around here, and some finishing though not as much as I had hoped! :D Oh well, we keep on going.

First of, I did finish my first sweater for IntSweMoDo2010 challange, even though it was only sewing on the buttons. But the sweater is finished and I already wore it and I love it! :D

Pattern : Riding to Avalon by Connie Chang Chinchio (Ravelry link)
Yarn : Textiles de la Marque Laine et Alpaga
Needles : 3.75mm

The picture isn't to great (the sleeves are the same lenght!) but well, it's a nice sweater. I love the buttons! I also love the pattern. I'm not to happy with the lenght (should have been just a little longer) and the set in sleeves (well, I'm not happy with my sewing skills!). but I think I'll wear it quite a bit. The bottom edge is a bit wonky from the blocking, but I guess it'll get better after another wash. I also think the sleeves might look better after wearing it a few times.

I am knitting on the dress which should be my second sweater. I seem to have no luck with sewing in sleeves, and well, the sleeve cap looked horrid with the dress, so I decided to knit the sleeves from the top, based on the instructions of Barbara Walker. It's quite a bit better and I might do this more in the future!

Now I've fallen totally in love with this sweater (it's a Ravelry link, the knitter doesn't have a blog). So I've gotten the yarn for a stripy cardigan and I'm going to swatch. Now I do plan on knitting this top down raglan style (I don't owe the Zimmermann book for a EPS, and it's not available through Amazon but second hand). And I've got a few more cardigans and sweaters in mind. There is so much I want to knit! :D

Here's another knit I'm really happy with :

Pattern : Andrea's Shawl by Kirsten Kapur (available through Knitpicks or through Ravelry)
Yarn : Misti 100% pur Alpaga des Andes and Noro Kureyon
Needles : 5.5mm needles

I totally love this shawl! Knitted it for my mom for her birthday (and actually finished it in time!). I finished the same shawl in some Cashmere for myself, but I still need to sew in the ends and block it. It's a ton smaller though (knitted the same size but on 4,5mm needles). I want one like this for myself too! I love the striping of the Kureyon shawl and I love the size. My LYS lady already requested one for herself as well, so I guess I'll be knitting a few more! :D It's a quick knit though, to that's ok.

I also finished this scarf/cowl and totally love it.

Pattern : 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf by Margaux Pena

Yarn : 100% Cashmere

Needles : 5.5 mm

I love this scarf and I love to wear it, even though it's a lot bigger then what I had planned. I can wrap it around my neck 3 times! It's lovely and warm and easy to wear and I want 10 more! :D I love my scarfs so much, it makes me hate that Winter is over.

And there's a woven scarf too but I'll keep that one for next time.

I do want to share the spinning I did the last few weeks. I don't have the possibility to visit any yarn shows or so, but I decided to particpate in the Great Stash Spin-up at the Spunky Club group on Ravelry. I don't get much yarn spun up as I'm addicted to spinning my yarn as thin as possible. But I got 2 yarns done :

Flowering weeds (Spunky Club fiber), 70% merino & 30% mohair

3ply, 223yards (204m) to 3oz, about 16wpi before washing

Insect Wings (HelloYarn club fiber), 100%BFL
2ply, 421yards (385m) to 5oz, about 22WPI

I'm a bit dissapointed in the yardage on the last yarn as I had hoped on more. The problem is that my spinning was really inconsistent so it's thin in some places but rather heavy in other. Oh well, I'll keep on trying. This by the way was fractal spun.


There's more to show, but I'll keep that for next time! The weather is turning into Spring and I do like Spring (I really don't like Summer). It has been raining a lot too, but well, I'm living in Belgium! What do I expect? I do hope on some better weather to start riding more again, but for the time being I'm just knitting more!