Posts tagged ‘inspirationMonday’

Inspiration Monday: Olson

For those of you knee-deep in holiday knitting angst, take heart … there’s great Selfish Sweater Knitting on the horizon. Just a few more weeks ’til the new year and your well-earned respite from gift making!

Anyone who hangs out to knit with me knows of my unabashed and unashamed love for Julie Hoover’s designs — always so classic and timeless, with that edge of interest that keeps you from feeling plain. She’s done quite a few great garments over the years for her own label, as well as collaborating with other companies now and again.

Olson is her latest, and of course it didn’t take five seconds for it to land in my pattern library: look at that drape! The easy, throw-it-on-over-anything shape … and that shoulder seam detail! I can’t even.

Knitters are in love with boxy, oversized sweaters right now, and it’s no wonder — they are the most forgiving of garments (handy at this time of year, when the sideboard groans with treats and celebrations fill every weekend with food-laden gatherings). No need to worry whether the cardigan will button over your food baby when it’s got such a broad, swingy profile through the hips.

(When I get this knit up, I’ll have to spend more time leaning up against walls, thinking. It’s that kind of sweater.)

Julie’s sample, shown in the photos here, was worked up in a DK weight alpaca-silk blend, knitted quite open; so this is a great chance to explain the alchemy of yarn substitution. At first glance, you might look at the knitted gauge of 18 sts = 4″/10cm and assume she’d used a worsted-weight yarn (which usually has a gauge range of 18-20sts/4″). The soft swoop of the fabric in the photos tells a different story, however — this is clearly a drapier, more fluid fabric. For successful yarn substitution, it’s important to also look at the ‘ball-band gauge’ of the yarn used: in this case, it’s a DK (11wpi). (Nice of Ravelry to put that information right front and center on the pattern page!)

Fortunately for me, I had the chance to indulge in some instant gratification: my mighty Blue Moon stash offered up two great candidates for this drapey beauty! Interestingly enough, neither of them are blends — they are both single-fiber superheroes. Cake DK is a springy, sweet and plump merino beauty, and BFL Sport is a fuzzy, halo-y taste of the joys of Bluefaced Leicester.

(‘Hang on, Karen,’ you say — ‘BFL Sport? I thought you said we needed DK!’) Technically, yes — the pattern calls for a 11 wpi yarn, but given the right fiber content and bounce and spring, you could work with a slightly finer yarn and get good results. I definitely felt like the BFL was swatchworthy. (You know, for science!)

And here are my happy swatches, after blocking and resting for a few days: Cake DK at top, in colorway “Spicy Plum,” and BFL Sport below in “Champlum.” (Total coincidence that I had these yarns in sympathetic colors to Julie’s pictured sample — inspiring, however!)

I wish I could have you all here next to me to feel these swatches — they are both so gloriously plump and fluffy, lightweight yet bouncy… they make me want to cast on right.this.second! The fiber subtleties come out when you have them next to each other like this: the Cake’s merino yields a smooth, soft fabric that just glides across your skin if you rub your face in it (oh, c’mon — you totally would!). I love the bounce and spin of the three plies, and the stitch picture is so tidy and happy! (I’m a sucker for a good merino. Tina knows this.)

The BFL Sport was a bit of a wild card, I’ll admit — I kinda swatched it on a self-made dare, because I have an SQ of it in Champlum and I would just loooove to have a sweater that color in my wardrobe. Could it work? Could it indeed! Despite the fact that it’s 12wpi (one more wrap per inch than the specified yarn weight), it’s holding up beautifully at the pattern gauge. It has a light, fluffy, slightly-fuzzy airiness to it that’s just enchanting. Not as regular and smooth as the merino, but slightly woolly in a way that still manages to be soft, soft, soft.

Interestingly enough, I needed to go up to a US8/5mm to get gauge for this pattern; but that’s not uncommon for me with Julie’s patterns (I suspect she’s a loose knitter, because she often calls for a needle size on her patterns that’s much smaller than what I end up using). Reason #6,432 to swatch, swatch, swatch! And because both of these yarns have quite a bit of bounce and snap-back, I’d recommend waiting a few days after your swatches have dried from their initial blocking to take a second, rested, measurement. Yarns bounce back! (And you wouldn’t want a sweater  you’d knitted to come out too small or too short after its first washing, would you?)

So lucky me — I’ll have my SQ of BFL Sport waiting under the tree for me on December 25, ready for a me-gifted cast-on party! What about you? What colorway will you choose for your cozy-over-pyjamas-or-your-party-dress Olson? 1320–1745 yards is what you’ll need, which translates into 2 or 3 skeins of either scrumptious yarn: a veritable bargain, considering either is just $35 per generous skein!

Happy sweater dreams, y’all. Hope all your holiday wishes will come true in the next few weeks!

inspiration monday: festivus minus the frenzy

Here in the United States, turkeys everywhere are getting pretty nervous. Next week we sit down for our Thanksgiving (being a bit tardier than Our Cousins to the North on the gratitude front), and after that it’s just one big landslide down into The Holidays.

If you weren’t Little Miss/Mister Organized this year, here are some thoughts for what to put on your needles ASAP so you can give thoughtful, handmade gifts this year without losing your everluvvin’ MIND.

HATS!

Hats are a godsend to the gifting knitter: the sizing isn’t crazy-critical, it’s a fun way to use a bit of yarn to make a statement, and unlike sleeves and socks, they are a ONE-and-DONE gift. And let’s face it – no matter where you live, a hat can come in handy this time of year (even if only occasionally, for an hour – like for our friends in Florida and L.A.).

Hat patterns also span the spectrum of mindless (great for parties and gatherings of relatives) to entertainingly complex (for plane flights or distraction from those same relatives). Here are two of my ‘go-to’ patterns for myself and my knitworthy loved ones.

photo © Churchmouse Yarns & Teas

One of my favorite, most-used patterns is Churchmouse Yarns & Teas’ Boyfriend Watch Cap. It has a pleasing thick gauge which knits up quickly and provides reassuring warmth while being stylishly unisex. And even better, it’s your excuse to use pleasing, plump PLUSHY!

Since each skein offers a generous 330 yards, if you get two skeins, you’ll have enough to make three Boyfriend Watch Caps. Two different colorways could give you one solid cap in each color, plus a striped or colorblocked third. Go crazy!

I’ve always been mad in love with ‘Manly Yes, But I Like It Too‘ – those browns and greys are welcome in so many wardrobes.

And maybe zing things up with a skein of ‘Scumble Bumble’…? The simple construction of the hat would let Tina’s colorways be the star of the show.

If you’re looking for a hat that gives back to you as well (in the form of entertaining knitting with cool texture), look no further than L’Arbre by Cirilia Rose.

photo © Jared Flood

This was part of a 2015 Hatalong hosted over on Karen T’s wonderful Fringe Association blog. The pattern is from the fantastic and inspiring book Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads, but the Fringe blog kindly still hosts a link to try this pattern for free (which will only whet your appetite for the full book – you have been warned!).

I loved everything about this hat – the pattern was easy to follow, the texture interesting and motivating (and distracting!) to knit … and it’s one of my go-to hats to wear. You know how good it feels when you put a hat on and it just *fits*? This hat does it for me. (I’ve got a 21″, fairly standard-adult head; but if you were knitting this for someone with a bigger head, you could just add more depth to the hat.) The ‘Little Tree’ pattern is just 4 rounds tall, so it’s easy to add a repeat or two or three for additional depth.

Bonus: if you have a super-knitworthy person in mind, there are mitts to go with the hat!

I’m toying with the idea of knitting a second one for me, with mitts to go with. Perhaps I’ll put a skein of CAKE Worsted in my stocking – I’ll have to check with Tina to see if she thinks I’ve been naughty or nice this year.

This is one design where it’s worth sticking with Shaded Solids, to let the pattern play stand out. Oh, but the Raven Clan… they would be so beautiful here! Or the Spirits…! You may have to indulge in a few. You have folks to knit for, right? Perfect excuse.

Place your order for some Plushy or CAKE now, and you’ll get a lovely package in the mail from Blue Moon just in time to pop these on your needles, knit them up lickety-split, wrap ’em up and put them under the tree!

Inspiration Monday: Round and Round in Circles

As I sit and write this in my little corner of the Pacific Northwest, the moon is finishing its valiant trip across the sun, and things are slowly getting brighter and brighter. That’s a nice image to start the week with, eh?

Amidst all the hullaballo about the eclipse, I haven’t stopped thinking about the quiet brightness of Suvi Simola’s Sketchbook Shawl. This beautiful, quiet design had been on the docket for last week’s Inspiration Monday until Eclipse Madness took over.

I can’t decide if it’s the sweet regularity of the yarnover lace pattern, or the simple geometry of the thing, but I’ve been a bit obsessed to cast one of these on…

I know a lot of us are fans of Blue Moon because of Tina’s masterful use of color – and the Multicolor Wave colorways are eye candy for any day of the week – but let me make an argument for the quieter side of the palette: the Spirits. “Wraithlike tints,” the Spirits are colors taken all the way to their essence; Tina says they are like homeopathy for color.

Seen side by side on their web page, you can tell the different tints apart – but get them alone and they register as a quiet version of white or off-white. I have some Jengu in La Luna Lace that’s quietly calling me to cast it on for one of these Sketchbook Shawls.

Jengu is ‘spirited from the color blue,’ and named after a mermaid-type spirit who inhabits the waterways in Cameroon and is the bearer of good fortune and healing powers to all they encounter. Sounds like an ideal Spirit to call forth in a pretty, lightweight wrap!

Two skeins and several weeks of calm-yet-entertaining knitting later, you’ll have your own Spirit to wrap yourself up in. And no matter where you live, there’s some weather coming up that would be ideal for a lightweight shawl like this over your shoulders.

In the meantime, in honor of the light returning from behind the moon, we’ll leave you with an inspiring quote from Paulo Coelho:

“You are the light of the world. Shine, and the darkness will disappear.”