A Summer Sweater

My swing cardigan, Alexandra, is moving right along.  I've got one half of the front done and working on the other half:

                                                                               

This Azapa yarn is nice to work with - very soft and the colors are great.  Unfortunately, my photography isn't doing this justice.  Starting to plan for a summer sweater project and I have narrowed the possibilities down to the following:

                                                                                   

This is a Jenny Watson design called Elizabeth and the yarn is Araucania Nature Wool but I would probably use a cotton blend for this.


This is Hannah Fettig's Wispy Cardi and I think this is so cute and a quick knit as well.  It was knit with Quince and Co.'s Lark:

                                                                               

I found this pattern on Quince and Co.'s pattern page and I think this is the one I am going to make.  It's called Olga and unfortunately, the sample is in white so it doesn't show up very well here:

                                                                                 

It's done in Quince and Co's Chickadee but I found some yarn in my stash that I think will work well with this.  It's Reynolds  Coco that I bought at Webs a long time ago and just never found the right project for it.

                                                                                     
 
    Here's a better picture of Olga.  This was done by korallik and she was kind enough to allow me to use a picture of her version:

                                                                               

    
    Happy Fiber Arts Friday and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!  

                                                               


                                                                                   
                                                                                         

                                                                           

My Bandwidth and a New Project

I love knitting hats - you can finish them so quickly!  Here's my Bandwidth hat which is a Stephen West design.  I used Madelinetosh Vintage and now I know why everyone is talking about this yarn company  - the colors are gorgeous and the yarn is so soft.

                                                                             
   

                                                                                     


Here's a better picture of my finished Montana Cardigan:

                                                                 


On to a new project.  I am making this swing cardigan for my daughter with hand dyed Azapa yarn from Araucania.  Jenny Watson is the designer and it's called Alexandra from the Araucania Collection, Book 1:

                                                                               
 

 

This is the second project I have made with this yarn - it is so soft and warm!  The fiber content is alpaca, merino and silk  and the colors are so rich:

 

Have a good weekend and Happy Fiber Arts Friday - check out Andrea's blog for more inspiration!                                                                                                                                                                    

Happy Day After Mother's Day

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day weekend;  by that, I mean someone serving you breakfast in bed or taking you out to lunch and then lots of time to knit while watching your favorite movie.  Two of our kids were not around here this weekend and my husband and son took off to watch an Oakland A's game on Saturday and so I had the afternoon to myself to do a little knitting and watch Diabolique, a very famous French movie from the 50's with Simone Signoret.  Have you ever tried to knit and watch a movie with subtitles?  Not so easy.  You really have to keep your eyes on the screen to follow along (unless you understand French) and this movie is known for its complicated plot with many twists and turns long the way.  Needless to say, not much knitting got done, but it was worth it.  Here's what I'm working on:

                                                                                   

 Stephen West's Bandwidth and I'm using Madelinetosh Vintage.

Mother's Day was fun:  I got some cute workout clothes, lovely roses, Eggs Benedict for breakfast and an audio book from my daughter, along with the paperback version:

                                     

   

She also sent me one of these cute mesh storage things from IKEA.  I had my eye on it when we went there and thought it would make a great place to store small planned projects, WIPs, sock yarn, more yarn I didn't need to buy, etc.   I'm going to hang it in my craft room:

So this picture kind of summarizes my Mother's Day:

 

Nice breakfast, followed by lots of time to knit, look through my new book, enjoy my flowers and thumb through my new Summer issue of Interweave Knits at a leisurely pace.  Life is good and I have a great family!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A Couple of Finished Projects

It's been a great week, knitting wise.  Finished my Cabled Capelet and just about done with my  Montana Cardigan; just need to finish the belt and block it:

                                                                                           

                                                                                   

Of course it's in the 80's this week and I won't be wearing these guys 'til next Fall, but still, there is that great feeling that comes with finishing another project and planning for the next one.

Here's a project I would like to find time for this summer.  Saw this ruffled scarf at Jimmy Beans:

 

                                                                                                                                                                   

It's made with Bodega from Trendsetter:

                                                                               

Can't  resist putting in another picture of my friend Vera's Color Whirl.  She's got a great sense of color and always seems to find accessories that go perfectly with her projects - love this shawl pin.

                                                                                     

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!  Check out what other knitters are up to at Alison's blog.

Madelinetosh and a Trip to Jimmy Beans

The weather is turning delightful with warm sunny days and the snow has just about disappeared from our neck of the woods  near Lake Tahoe - time for a road trip to Reno to see what's going on at Jimmy Beans Wool!   Three of my friends started out in the Bay Area and stopped at Got Your Goat and Filati's in the Sacramento area.  Then it was on to Truckee to meet up and plan our trip to Reno.  Vera and Cris were wearing a couple of things they had made.  Here's Vera's Color Whirl which got lots of complements wherever we went:

                                                                                   

She made this with Prism Symphony and the color is really gorgeous - not sure if these pictures do it justice.   Here's Cris wearing her Must Have Cardigan, a beautiful aran cabled sweater:

                                                                                   

Then it was off to Jimmy Beans:

       

                                                                                                                                                                                       
 
Jimmy Beans has moved to a big new space in Reno and they have a nice shop but their inventory is so extensive, you really need to visit the warehouse in the back to see everything they carry which is where the best of intentions to stick to a few selected purchases go flying out the window:

       
There was a whole section of Madelinetosh Onesies on sale - these are skeins that are seconds - and it was fun to go though boxes and boxes of these yarns and plan a project using them.  I decided on Stephen West's Spectra and here's the Madelinetosh Merino Light I chose:

                                                                                                                                                           

A few more pictures of our haul.  Most of these skeins were Madelinetosh but they also carry an extensive selection of Lorna's Laces:

   

More Lorna's Laces:

                                                                         

 
Here's some Madelinetosh yarn chosen for a Catkin project:

 

It was a great day and we will be spending the summer working through all these planned Madelinetosh projects.  Can't wait to see pictures on Ravelry!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A Few Random Things

                                                                                   

I love this!   Repinned this from my daughter Sara's Pinterest Board; thought I'd start this day off with a smile for all you knitters.

When Pam Allen first launched Quince and Company I signed up for their email list and looked forward to seeing their designs and trying out the yarn that went with them.  From what I have seen, the yarn looks great, the colors are lovely but I haven't seen a pattern that really made me want to jump in and try it for myself until I saw this cute sweater:

                                                                     

  It's called Sibella  by Carrie Bostick Hoge and the yarn is a sport weight called Chickadee.   I think it would be a nice project for the summer.

                                                                             

                                                                                 

Here's my progress on the two projects I have been working on.  This is my Cabled Capelet and I'm ready to pick up stitches around the top and do the ribbed neck:

     

  Finishing up my Montana cardigan:

 

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Cream and Sugar Cowl and a Few Other Things

Last year at Stitches West (2011, that is) I was making my way towards Alana Dakos' booth when I came across a woman wearing a really lovely version of Alana's  Cream and Sugar Cowl.  I asked if I could take a picture of her and she graciously said yes:

                                                                                   

Her color choice is one of my favorite colors and I believe she bought the yarn at Wool Candy. That Fall I  contacted a knitting group near where I live and they urged me to join them  but due to personal issues, I ended up not having the time to join them.  Fast forward to this April and I looked them up again and made plans to meet up with them.  I took a closer look at their members and thought one looked familiar - looked through my old Stitches photos and who should pop up but knittybarb in the Cream and Sugar Cowl!  Two days later I was at 24 Hour Fitness and I noticed the woman sitting next to me looked awfully familiar - yes, it was her - we were definitely meant to meet!  We both had a good laugh about all this and I really enjoyed getting together with her group.  In addition to being a very talented knitter, Barb and her daughter also have a very popular podcast called 2 knit lit chicks that is really fun to listen to.  They seem to know everything that is going on in the knitting world in the Bay Area and they invite friends to join them to talk about their various knitting projects.  The second half of the podcast is about books and since I enjoy reading and am always on the prowl for a good book to read, I really find this part interesting.

Barb was kind enough to give me permission to show some of her wonderful projects, including her
version of Spectra which was made with Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn:

Here's her Wingspan made with Noro Taiyo:

                                                                                                                                                                 

Anyone looking for a cute book to read to young children and knitting related as well?  Have you seen the new book, Extra Yarn ?  A friend sent me a copy to read to my little grandson and it is really fun with lots of great photos:

                                                                                               

It's about a young girl who finds a box of yarn and keeps knitting and knitting not only sweaters and mittens but she seems to have taken to yarnbombing in a big way:

 

                                                                            

   

                                                                 Have a good week everybody!