dimanche 27 septembre 2015

Opera Tee

I was very monogamous with my knitting this week, as I cast on and cast off my Opera Tee
The pattern is the latest from La Maison Rililie and it's called  DrawingStraws, since you can take your pick between short or 3/4 sleeves. I opted for the tee-shirt kind, because I figured that's what my wardrobe is missing. 
Also, it was a safe bet because I wanted to use a single skein of Julie Asselin Milis in the Opera colour (hence the t-shirt name!).  That colourway is beautiful and looks very good with my other yarn choices : Handmaiden Lino in Crema and a soft pink Baby Alpaca Lace. I held the two strands of lace together to achieve the sport weight gauge and it worked well! I felt a little bad about using the splendid Lino alongside another yarn, since it's such a beauty on its own. But then again it gave me the perfect drape and you can still see the sheen of the silk, combined with the raw feeling of linen. Enough chatter about these yarns, but let's have a look up close...
I love the slightly variegated effect it brings to the piece!
Another winner from Rililie.

dimanche 20 septembre 2015

Spring Lines

Talk about a fast, addictive and comfy sweater! This is Spring Lines, from La Maison Rililie. I already blogged about two of her other designs : Dessine-moi un mouton and BlueSand Cardigan. They're all garments I love to wear. Very polished lines, intricate details and awesome fit. Some people even think I purchased those pieces. What a great compliment!
 
I'm thrilled with this pullover! I like the wide neck, the fitted yoke and sleeves, balanced by the baggy body. It feels like you can almost have too much for dinner and it won't show! ;)
The yarn I used was ALL from stash. I told my boyfriend there'd be 4 skeins less in the living room.
The light turquoise is particularly soft and nice against the skin. It's leftovers from this previous knit. The blue and orange were initially destined to become colourwork mittens, but then abandoned. And finally, the beigy brown, I still have a lot of, and used it before for this top-down.
Among my favourite details in this pullover, there's this purl stitch on each sides. I've seen it before, many times, but I always forget to use it. So genius when it comes to stripes! Much easier and neater to hide all those ends.
The pockets are a great addition too! And how convenient that I had this soft MCN from when I knitted these super pretty mittens.

I highly recommend this pattern for a simple Top-Down with a twist. Now I'm thinking about knitting another one out of merino DK leftovers...

dimanche 13 septembre 2015

Gradient Stripe Study

Today, as I'm taking some time off, I'm treating myself with some bloggin'... Twice this week!

It always feels like a reward. Like I get to chat about my FO as soon as it's off the needles and dried (if blocked, wich is often the case).

The rain was not going to rain on my parade today, as I was intent on taking some decent pictures of my brand new shawl.
The pattern is Stripe Study from Veera Välimäki. We have Zoée's in store, made out of Nanos by Julie Asselin, and it's very popular with the clients. I decided it was time I cast on one for myself, with one of the Julie Asselin Leizu Fingering Gradient Sets pairing it with Piccolo in Parchemin.
I had to redo part of the first few stripes, as I figured I would run out of yarn too soon if I didn't use most of the lighter colours. In the end, I used most of the lighter and darker pinks, and every bit of the others in between.

When I soaked my shawl, I used lots of salt and vinegar to make sure the colours didn't bleed. It worked fine. Phew!

I can't resist it when one of my pets sneak up on one of my pics. Look at those blurry paws in the back!

mercredi 9 septembre 2015

Beachcomber

I like to read jaykayknits blog and I recently stumbled on an article where she mentionned the Sidewalk to Seashore collection by Chelsea Berkompas. I instantly fell in love with the Beachcomber shawl : her colours were just gorgeous!

I wanted to cast on right away, so I picked the Katia Linen we had in store in the three colours available. This is an unusual choice of colours for me, almost too classic. I'm more attracted to vibrant colours, but this turned out real nice. 
The process was thoroughly enjoyable. And stripes make for one very addictive knit. You always want to get to that other colour.
The construction of this asymmetrical shawl was really interesting and I have to keep it in mind as future reference. It's so versatile.
I actually messed up the last lace repeat somehow but decided there was no way I would "tink" or pull of my needle at this point. Let's pretend it's an esthetic choice. ;)
And how about this picot bind off?! It takes forever but is so worth it. Every time!