samedi 31 décembre 2016

Rififi

Here is the Christmas gift I made for my boyfriend. He loves it and even cuddles with it in the morning. I feel blessed to have an artsy man in my life who appreciates the colours, textures and overall beauty of my crafts. 

The pattern I used is from Lalylala and is called Fibi. I liked that name, but Pascal renamed it Rififi, so there you go. 
I used Jawoll super wash tweed for the orange and black, because I wanted to get that tweedy effect. I'm not crazy about the striping effect, but at least it's subtle.  
I loved crocheting this doll! The pattern is really well done and clear, with lots of explanations and layouts. The small parts make this project perfect to carry around and allows you to work on small batches. Although I needed to concentrate and count for many rows. The use of removable stitch markers helps in this matter. 
I'm already working on a dragon by the same designer for my godson in Julie Asselin Piccolo. I'll switch the wool roving for poly for this one, since I figure my in-laws with throw it in the machine eventually.

mercredi 7 décembre 2016

A 2 years throw!

Well, almost! Ravelry informed me that I started this on February 6th 2015 and I blocked this on Sunday. 
I had also blogged about this here. I realize now I never kept anyone posted on the progress. I'm not so good with sharing my WIPs these days. :/
Of course, in the mean time, it stayed folded for months... I picked it up now and then to add a few squares or borders. 

When we cleaned the shelf where it sat since July, I knew it was time to get it over with! So I crocheted the remaining square, added borders to the few missing and joined the whole thing.

It was lovely. I had a lot of fun putting the pieces together and didn't worry too much with the colours repeating (or not). 

I'm a real Noro fan and the blanket is a tribute to that. It'll sit nicely on my lap for years to come and I sure will continue to stare amazed by the colours. 



















vendredi 18 novembre 2016

Westknits Mystery KAL 2016

My Building Blocks from Stephen West has been finished for a while now, but I never had time to capture it during daylight.

Yesterday I did.
I'm really pleased with my colour combination. The blues are easy to wear and to pair with my clothing. I had initially planned on using some very loud colours, but during the first clue, I kept looking at my mix of colours and didn't enjoy it. So I frogged and started again with these. 

The shawl is easy to wear as a stole or a scarf. I made the small exactly for that reason. I wanted something not too big to wrap around my neck. I own many big knitted or crocheted shawls and needed something clean, classic and light. Mission accomplished! 
I often restrain myself from wearing my knits to make sure I have proper pictures, so now I'm glad I can wear it out as much as I want! 

The whole process was very enjoyable and it's always motivating to push yourself through a deadline.  I must admit though that I found the last two clues to be a little on the dull side. I saw some clients at my LYS who were very happy to learn something new, but us gals who know I-cord and chevrons it was a little repetitive. 

That being said, I still think it makes one pretty shawl and will wear it with pride!



lundi 26 septembre 2016

Nogat

As one of the owner of a local yarn shop called Pompon Laine Café, I planned a KAL with my two fellow coop admin. We selected Justyna Lorkowska, because : 1. her designs are beautiful and inspiring, 2. the projects and difficulty levels have a large spectrum. 
It was only natural that I make my pick among the options of patterns to knit and, because we had some brand new Fino Simple by Julie Asselin, in the new Echo colourway, I chose Nogat. The designer had made it with Fino, but the only difference is plied vs one ply. It's a dream to knit with and to wear!
I alternated skeins every other rows to prevent pooling and because my colours didn't match perfectly. 
Our window of time was between August 9th and September 17th, which was enough to knit a fingering weight sweater (if properly motivated!). I found that the combination of lace, cables and garter really helped me to get through the knitting, which is something I should keep in mind for future projects!
I pretty much followed the pattern, but made my sleeves 3/4, as I usually do, and did less repeats of the body pattern. 
I like the deep neckline and the pretty details in front. I'm also glad I did the short rows in the back, they make the sweater sit nicely around the bum. It is not a complicated sweater. I had the chart memorized after one or two repeats.
I can't believe this is the first knitted piece I own by Letesknits! I should really get more as I love her style and follow her with great pleasure.

jeudi 22 septembre 2016

Dotted Rays

 Here is the most recent addition to my shawl collection. Dotted Rays by Stephen West.
I felt urged to cast on for the #dottedrayskal by Stephen West in July, but didn't make it to the deadline in time. Other wips got in the way. I picked it up again in early September and added the three last wedges. 
Perfect for TV binge watching, as it's easy peasy garter stitch all the way. I knit this all from stash yarn and didn't bother too much with my sequencing and pairing of colours. My logic was more of a "make the most of that little ball of yarn". So I organized my stash from small amount to larger (but all leftovers) and used the tiny bits for the thin holey stripes. 
Can you tell I had fun during the photoshoot? The light, the colours and my black tunic played together so well. They are my favourite FO shots to date!
One of the things I love about this shawl, like all stash busting project, is that there is a memory attached to each little pieces of yarn. Together, they tell a story of past knitting. 

It contains about 220 g of yarn, but knit on 4,5 mm, it is light and drapey. I still have some more leftovers to play with, but I did finish a fair amount too. What will be next in the stash busting word of knitting? We'll see!

More pictures and details here

lundi 19 septembre 2016

First Handpsun Sweater

Lots of knitting since my last post, but not so many FOs to share. I should really take the time to document my process as well. 

But here we go. I have a new sweater to wear and it's half made of a yarn I spun myself! Yeah!
The roving I used was a Manos del Uruguay merino hand dyed. It came out my Ashford Kiwi Spinning Wheel looking like this : 
Pretty much a Sport/DK weight, as I explain on my project page. I decided to stripe it with Silky Wool and make myself a simple boxy, cropped sweater with dropped shoulders.  
It was fairly easy to produce and was pretty fast to knit on 5 mm needles too.  I wanted something smooth and light, and it worked well! It weights like nothing and is very comfortable! The only thing I would change, is maybe making it a bit longer. But that would be easy to achieve even now. 
The handspun colour is beautiful and created a nice gradient effect in some places, which made me super thrilled!
What a joy to be able to wear your handpsun... It makes me want to do everything from scratch. Ah, the good use of time I would make if I didn't have two jobs! ;)

I have another skein of roving on the spinning wheel that I might use either for another sweater or a shawl...

And more FOs to come real soon too!

jeudi 14 juillet 2016

Crochet (almost) took over!

I hope I won't bore knitters with this article, but this one is all about the magic of well designed crocheted garment pieces. But then again, maybe you just stumbled here from my Ravelry project page and all is fine...


A customer came to the store a few months ago with some cardigan she had crocheted in Julie Asselin using a Vichy Chan pattern and I was really intrigued. I asked her to send me the link and found this awesome bundle of crochet and knitting designs. 

I was amazed to find these pretty crochet patterns that seemed to look good on everyone. I purchased the Irene Cardigan first and was pleased to confirm what others said about the quality of the layout, charts and instructions. 
It was really addicting to crochet. The sequence in the pattern is easy to follow and changes quite frequently. I used Julie Asselin Piccolo in Satchel for this one and am glad that I now own a rich brown cardigan that is easy to layer. 
My only concern with this piece is that round yokes, although very beautiful, are often hard to position on my body. No idea why, and I don't think that has anything to do with this particular design (to the contrary, the cast on is right across the yoke, so that helps). But still, it's not the first time I've encountered that issue. I'll have to figure out in the future if I have to keep away from that  from of construction.

The second design I picked from Vicky Chan, is the Jordan - sleeveless pineapple top. That was also fun to crochet. Almost too quick! I tried to take my time so it wouldn't fly off, because I really enjoyed the process. 
It turned out a little long as I followed the pattern, so I took off an entire repeat from the bottom. It fits very nicely on me, but as I said on my project page, I would probably avoid the increases if I were to make this again. I'm not crazy about the flare... It's still a joy to wear though, and the straps and upper part fit like a glove. That would make the perfect start to a crochet dress.

lundi 4 juillet 2016

Imogen Tee

This is my second project of the Madder Anthology 1 : Camille, Sibella, Imogen & Beatrice. Good thing I purchased the entire ebook, since I plan on knitting many other beauties from this publication!

First one I knit was this quick and comfy Camilla Pullover
Now, with the warm weather, I had my eye on this Flaxen by Handmaiden. It is such a luxurious yarn! 65% silk 35% linen, a sport weight with 273 yards per 100 g. But it's around 40 $ (canadian) and you need about three for a tee! The same composition can be found in the Lino or the Flyss for about the same price, but at least you get to knit and entire shawl out of it. Anyway, I treated myself with this special yarn in the Apricot colourway and chose the Imogen Tee by Carrie Bostick Hoge to create this gorgeous pullover. 
As I explained here on Ravelry, I changed the proportions of the sweater to make up for the fact that I was using sport weight yarn. I pretty much reduced the number of rows everywhere to be sure I would end the lace panel at the same spot as the pattern around the neck line.
I love this little tee. The feel of it is very fresh on the skin, it drapes beautifully and the colour is amazing! Plus, that lace is so pretty! I can see myself knitting it again and again. Maybe in the cowl version
I took some time for pictures today, so I should be back to blog about two crochet projects very soon!

samedi 11 juin 2016

Four Seasons

I joined this KAL back in January, very curious to see what sort of mystery shawl Alana Dakos, from Never not Knitting, had in mind for us. 


Although the pattern is super lovely, I felt exhausted after a while... so many cables to knit and too many repetitions of the same sort of motifs for my little mind. I really do need some variations in my knitting to keep me going. 
So I left it in a project bag for a while. Then last month, I put the needles back on the cable and knit the second half. I kind of like this process anyway. I feel like it allows me to split these big endeavours in parts. 
The yarn I picked for my shawl is Cascade 220 SW in Lake Chelan. I wouldn't normally pick a super wash yarn for this kind of accessory, but at the time, my hands were hurting pretty bad from eczema and I needed something smooth. It falls nicely and the texture is fine, but it does make it a little too bouncy for my taste. 
If the cables drove me crazy at times, I have to admit they look pretty darn good! And the lace section is really pretty. That's the thing with mystery projects, you never know what to expect... I probably wouldn't have knit this big shawl if I had seen the picture beforehand, but now that I committed to it, I'm glad it's in my wardrobe!

lundi 9 mai 2016

Hoodie Shawl Cardi

I stumbled upon this designer's patterns a few months ago and was truly inspired by what she had created. 
The first on my list was the Hoodie Shawl Cardigan. It's a triangular striped shawl that grows into a hoodie!
I love the fact that it's made (seamlessly) into many different sections. That means it's never boring... I feel like I'm repeating myself, but it's true. I get bored easily within miles of stockinette stitches, so it's nice if the pattern is broken in chunks of colours or techniques.
In this one, when you're done with the yoke, there are short rows, then decreases in the back. After that, you make the hood, then come back to the bottom of the cardi, then add the trim and finally the sleeves. See? Never dull.

I knit mine in some very lovely yarns! For all the details, here is the link to my Ravelry project page

jeudi 14 avril 2016

Rainbow Yoke

Some people saw that nice rainbow yoke I had done back in early fall...
Well it is now attached to a body and I love the result!
The pattern is Christmas in July by Tanis Lavallee and most of the yarn used is Julie Asselin. More details on my project page.
That yoke is amazing! I love the high contrast suggested by Tanis. Having said that, I'd be tempted to try one in a colour palette, like this version Tanis made.
I love my main colour, Albizia, and how it's both contrasting with the yoke but elegant and easy to wear. And talk about a fingering weight pullover! It might be discouraging to knit at time, but the  feel of the fabric is so worth the wait and effort.
I was worried that is would grow too much, being a superwash merino sock yarn, but I didn't take any chance and picked a smaller size : 33 instead 36, which worked out perfectly. And I had only two skeins of the main colour, hence the 3/4 sleeves, which are a favourite anyway.

mercredi 6 avril 2016

Camilla Pullover

I love the Madder Anthology book by Carrie Bostick Hoge! So full of inspiring designs, both for little ones and adults.
The first one on my list was always Camilla. A quick knit in aran/bulky weight that doesn't look too heavy and is made super interesting by the fan panel in front.
Having made one now, I can confirm it's really fun and fast to knit! If I had been monogamous with this project, I could probably have done it in three to four days.
Cascade Eco+ was a good substitute for Quince and co Osprey. It's very affordable, and though it's not as round, it blocks well and retains its shape. My fan lace is not blocked properly here... I could have patted it a bit more, but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't expand too much. The ribbing in front will probably even out with wear.

I love a good woolly sweater and this one light yet squishy in garter. Perfect!