Terracotta morningside

When I spent a month in Berlin last fall brushing up my German, I met a very nice, authentic Berliner through a German colleague of my father, J; he’s been so friendly to me, and showed my some of Berlin’s hidden spots, the kind one never finds reading the best of tourist guides. So I wanted to send him a small thank-you gift, and decided on a cowl – it can be just as manly, and since J rather likes orange (he has wears a very bright orange coat most of the time), I thought this colour combination would be to his liking. The yarn I used is Garn Studio drops alpaca in two different shades, held double, which gives the finished object this interesting heathered colour. The pattern is Morningside neckwarmer by Jared Flood.

Morningside Cowl

Project is raveled here.

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My first socks

I’ve decided to challenge myself and knit myself some socks. I have this gorgeous sock yarn that my friend debolsillo destashed to me, which is an unknown special colourway of socks that rock medium wheight sock yarn:

Socks that rock medium weight

The yarn is wonderful to knit with, and I cast on my first sock using the general toe-up technique debolsillo taught me, here’s a photo of my budding sock:

My first socks

I still have to consider further details of my design for this socks, but I’m sure they’ll come out lovely, as this yarn is just so beautiful and oh-so-soft. Project is raveled here.

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Daffodil BSJ with a matching cap

A good friend, who is also a designer, will have his first baby boy born soon, so I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to knit a baby surprise jacket for the first time, as I’m sure he would appreciate the cleverness of this pattern written so long ago by Elisabeth Zimmerman, which is knit all in one piece and resembles nothing at all until sewn together properly. Since this is my first BSJ, I decided not to add a hood, and instead to knit a matching cap using this lovely Norwegian pattern. Both projects are raveled here and here.

I chose to knit this cardigan with Lorna’s laces Shepherd Sport, which is a superwash yarn that comes in lovely colours, such as this colourway called “Daffodil”:

Lorna's Sheperd Sport

I don’t have any pictures of my own, but the young family happily sent me some photos the proud father took. Not surprisingly, the cardigan is still a bit big, but it just shows that knitting for a slightly larger size (3-6 months) is a much better choice, as the item would be used a bit longer until the baby fills it up.

BSJ for Gilad

And here’s a photo of the little guy with his cardi and matching cap:

BSJ for Gilad

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My guy’s sweater, finally finished

It took me no less than 8 months to finally get my grip and get over my frustration at the malformed sleeves, frog them, refashion their pattern and shaping so I could knit them and finish this sweater; needless to say, the knitting part itself was the quickest part of all.

So here it is in its full glamour, my guy clad in a bit more than 600 grams of the finest malabrigo yarn, in Paris Night colourway:

My guy's sweater
My guy's sweater

To his request, I made the sweater (he doesn’t allow me to call it a cardigan, saying that only women wear those…) zippered at the front, using a metallic zipper, again to his request, as he likes the contrast of the metal against the yarn. Here’s a front view:

My guy's sweater

Of course, he’s very happy with the sweater, but since he’s so insensitive to the cold, he’s worried whether there would be enough times he would actually get to wear it, as its a bit too warm for him.

Project raveled here.

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Berlin update

I’m in Berlin right now for an intensive German course courtesy of a generous foreign language scholarship I received from the Spanish government, and having the time of my life. As expected, I’m knitting and not just brushing up my German, and my project is very well suited to the German autumn:

Autumn shawl

The pattern is Adamas Shawl by Miriam Felton, one of my favourite designers and this project is raveled here.

I also found a lovely yarn shop in the centre of Berlin, called Handmade. I had a lovely time chatting with the adorable owner, and chose these yarns to adopt and take home with me:

Handmaid

That’s some super-soft sock yarn called Casbah, by Handmaiden, and this one over here is an amazing silk and cashmere blend, which I can’t decide whether the colour or the texture are responsible for its effect on me. I guess it’s both.

Cashmere-silk

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A scarf for grannie

Living abroad and away from family has its benefits, like giving birthday gifts whenever I come for a visit rather than on time, as I should have. My grannie’s birthday was exactly three months ago, but I wasn’t around to give her my gift, so I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to finish it on time (which would have been a problem, since I haven’t started it till I was in France for my stage…).

Now, since my grannie is always cold, I decided a nice and soft scarf, knit in Malabrigo lace yarn, would be the best gift for her. I chose a lovely cornflower blue to match her blue eyes and knit it in a diagonal lacy stitch pattern I found in one of my favorite online knitting pages.

Here are some photos of the scarf, blocked on our spare bedroom bed:

Diagonal lace Bday scarf for grannie
Diagonal lace Bday scarf for grannie

Raveled here.

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A little bit of showing off…

I can’t help it, I must show off a little bit, see how the yarn matches the dress perfectly? I’m so happy with how it came out. Absolutely gorgeous, and I’m not one to use this word lightly. I know this one will serve me well in the future.

Bennie & Monica's wedding

Project is raveled here.

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Knitting on a deadline

It’s still a bit hard to believe, but I’ve made it! I finished it on time. Of course, I’ve only spray-blocked it so it would be dry before we have to leave for the wedding tomorrow morning, but it’s done. I forgot to mention in the previous post, but this lovely pattern, which is also very easy to follow, is Cleite by Miriam Felton. Here it’s all done, still being blocked.

Cleite

And here’s a detail from the shawl’s center:

Shawl 031

Project is raveled here.

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Urgent knitting

I have a very fancy wedding in about a week, and I need finish shawl before then, and I’m so not sure I’m going to make it… The yarn I got is this perfect, hand dyed 100% silk that just matches my gown so nicely, that it would be a shame not to have it ready by then.

Cleite shawl

Here’s how much I’ve advanced since I got the yarn a couple of days ago:

Cleite shawl

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Red evergreen

I got this lovely red lace yarn from my knitter friend and have been thinking for a long while what to do with it, and then I found this pattern, and I realized it was just perfect for a birthday present for my sister.

Merino lace

I’ve had my share of tinking until I had the pattern all figured out, especially as I printed it two rows of the chart were blackened and I didn’t know there were more rows in between.

Shawl for my sis

On the blocking board…

Evergreen Shawl for my sis

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