Hazel Knits

Wendy of Hazel Knits had a trunk show at the Fiber Gallery last weekend. I wound up my birthday week by buying even more yarn.

Top to bottom: Merino Soy sock in Pacific, Artisan Sock in Strawberry Lemonade, and Artisan Sock in Chocoberry.

Aimee

Did I ever tell you about my recurring cape-knitting dream? Yes, recurring. The most I can ever remember is that I'm knitting a capelet out of one of my Japanese knitting books in blue worsted weight yarn. This dream sparked a conversation at my knitting group about all of the other capelets that people want to knit and that we should do an informal KAL. Before embarking on the capelet of my dreams I decided to knit a simpler pattern to see how I felt about sporting a capelet/ponchette thingy-ma-bob. The outcome is Aimee by Kim Hargreaves - one of my all time favorite designers.

Pattern: Aimee by Kim Hargreaves from Thrown Together
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers color #9489 & GGH Kid Melange #012 held together
Needles: US #9 Addi Turbo
Mods: Converted to work in the round and knit to 55 cm tall rather than 59 cm tall. Yarn is held together for super fluffiness.

Keeping On

Castlegar, she is growing! I'm just about to hit the 8 inch mark and just keep slogging through a little bit every day. Once I get the sleeves joined and the first set of decreases done I'll be a happy girl.

Scare Isle

When the new Deep Fall Knitty came out I knew that I needed to knit this tam in time for Halloween. Every year Greenwood businesses host a trick or treat so I'll be working at the yarn store and handing out candy to hundreds of kids. Why not do it in Halloween style? The pattern is Scare Isle knit in odds and ends of crazily bright fingering weight yarn from my stash (why did I have those eye-searing colors? dunno.) and some black spindrift that I purchased. I had a few problems:

1. I ran out of black yarn
2. the 1x1 rib stretched out a ton
3.we didn't have a plate large enough to block this to tam formation so it's more of a slouchy hat

I still like it even after my, uh, pitfalls and I think it's the only really seasonal or Holiday piece of knitwear I own. The yarn came mostly out of stash and it was fun to knit a Fair Isle pattern in crazy colors.

The Big 3-0

This weekend marked my thirtieth birthday so I got the heck out of Seattle with my sister and my friend and went over to Port Townsend for a couple of days. As usual, I packed far too much knitwear. The weather was beautiful, although slightly chilly, and I was able to provide warm things enough for us all to wear. I bought lots of yarn, ate lots of yummy food, and knit knit knit to my heart's content.

Top 5 favorite things this birthday (in no particular order):
1. Vegetarian Poutine
2. Knitting with friends
3. Being on my own schedule
4. New yarn
5. Drinking beer in the afternoon

This birthday went exactly how I wanted it to go, relaxing and easy-going. Thanks to everyone for the awesome gifts - you rock!!! A girl couldn't have much better friends!

Good Goes

I was recently paging through a knitting magazine and found a tiny little blurb about Good Goes, a program organized by Save the Children that provides medical treatment and other support for newborns and children in needy countries. They're asking for donations of knitted or crocheted newborn caps to distribute. This coincides with a lot of recent thought about my small balls of leftover sock yarn and this would be a great way to use them up and give to a good cause. If you are interested in learning more you can do so here, there is a downloadable pdf with shipping information and a free worsted cap pattern here.

Castlegar, Castlegar

I started this sweater with the best of intentions. You know, intending to knit it mostly monogamously so I could have a shiny new sweater to wear this Fall. I am moving along but it feels quite slow and not as gratifying as I feel it should be. It's the Castlegar Cardigan by Laura Chau and I really really want to wear it but I don't really really want to knit it. On sock yarn. On 2.75 mm needles. I purchased this yarn in my buying frenzy at Stitches West this Spring and it is lovely to work with and I'm not getting any pooling or flashing or anything but wonderful softness and sheen from the merino/bamboo blend. Miss Babs, you do me right. If the glass is half full I've already got the two sleeves done if the glass is half empty I haven't even cast on the body (almost 300 stitches) and that, my friends, is a setback indeed. Instead I knit a baby sweater and a headband and bought yarn for a Super Cupcake Cowl and am doing anything but casting on those stitches. Kick me, please, and just tell me to cast on and knit the damn thing.