Swedish Heart-warmer Shawl

This KAL seems inactive but I'll post anyway. Just in case anyone is Googling Swedish Heart-warmer or Swedish Heartwarmer.

The Swedish Heart-warmer shawl is a colorwork shawl pattern contained in the Handknit Holidays book. For several months a KAL for this shawl has been going on over in Ravelry. It is a thread within the Stranded Ravelry group.

Some of us started the shawl in April of 2008. A couple of folks have just decided to begin (in January 2009).

So if you stranded colorwork experience and are interested in making this beautiful shawl (and have a Ravelry signon) hop on over to the Ravelry stranded group and check out the thread. The name of the thread is KAL: Swedish Heart-warmer Shawl-Still Active

Menorah Pillow

Handknit Holidays Menorah Pillow done in Elann Uros Aran wool/llama blend (much more economical than the yarn featured in the pattern). I think I used 5 or so skeins. It took a very long time to assemble and put it together but I'm quite pleased with the finished product, and it's the 6th night of Hanukkah tonight so I barely finished it in time! The 3 needle i-cord bind off is a pretty slick method and not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Anyone who knows of other Hanukkah knitting patterns, please contact me! There seem to be precious few!

Santa Hat

Just a quick one...



Pattern: Santa Hat from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Lion Brand Thick and Quick in deep garnetty red and cream
Things I fudged: Quite a few. I cast on something like 60 stitches. I used yarn that was not on gauge (as per my usual MO). Since I wasn't on gauge, I had to get creative with the decreases. In the end, I have a santa hat that's a wee bit big, even for my noggin.
I've had this book for over a year and a half now, and this is the first FO I have from it. I'm quite pleased.

Knitalong Closed

I can't keep up with the requests any longer. The blog will remain as a reference and current members are welcome to continue posting but I will not be adding any new members to the knitalong. Thanks.

Jessica

Swedish Heartwarmer

Hello everyone!
I bought this book last October, and I love it. I bought it for certain patterns, and when I got it home, completely different patterns jumped out at me, begging to be knit.
I was enchanted by the Swedish Heartwarmer shawl, which I noticed no one has knit yet. That's kinda scary, because I like reading posts about something I am knitting. But, I found a good source for the yarn, and bought it, and it is on the way to me! (eek). I'd like to be able to wear it this coming Christmas, but I do have a lot of other projects I want to make, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm thinking it will end up being a combination of Fair Isle and intarsia. I need to practice some intarsia I think.

Over-the-Knee Stockings

I'll post a little here about my delightful journey with the over-the-knee socks, or you can read all of my life at my blog.

It must have been September or so when I started these suckers. I had a giant skein of alpaca yarn from Rebelle in Lexington. I had a really rough start, I left my bag open in the university barn and the dogs got into it and decided they like the taste of alpaca and the crunch of Brittany #3 knitting needles. It took a while to get back into the swing of the sock, but I did eventually. As I neared the heel of the first sock I realized that they were going to hit me about mid-knee, not a good place, so I started added repeats until they were full-on stockings. I ended up with 23 repeats of the eyelet "seam."

I had a trip to Chicago with the Clack Mountain String Band and friends planned for February so a few weeks before I really started knitting the heck out of those socks. It got down to the night before I was supposed to start driving at 6 am when I realized that my dear little ball of yarn wasn't going to make it to the toe. I thought about finishing the toe with a different yarn, which may have been wiser, and then fixing it when I got back. I ended up frogging up past the heel, taking out a repeat, and continuing. I ended up with cute socks to wear in Chicago, but also with a horribly misworn and felted heel.

So after I got home and got to the yarn store, the whole, sad foot was frogged to the ankle and restarted.

I finished off the foot and ended up very happy and with the warmest and tallest socks I'll ever own!

Aran Stocking

Kelly, if you are reading this, you suck.

Christmas 2007 production is in full swing. Here's the Aran Stocking that matches my sister's Tree Skirt. It's knit with 2 strands of Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Wool Bulky on US13s. The trim is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Taupe. It's a super quick knit (especially compared to the tree skirt!) and the finished product looks great. Also, it's huge!

Though the instructions don't call for a lining, the stocking seemed too stretchy to handle a full Christmas load, so I added one. Just traced the outside of the stocking on canvas-y fabric and sewed it inside the stocking at the base of the cuff. Nothing fancy, but like a good bra it provides that needed support.

(sorry for the wacky color on the left photo).

Happy Christmas, Colm!

not so "elf-y" Elf Cap

X-Posted at string*THEORY

How about those GIGANTOID sun glasses, though? I use them as a replacement for sunscreen since they manage to cover my entire face. Ooh well, they match my gigantic head....hence the "not so elf-y elf hat". Wheres the cute little point?

Everything about this project was super cool, in my opinion. The yarn was soft & chunky at a cool 2 stitches/inch. The mauve and gold colors were interesting to see knit up in their unassumingly jovial combination.

Pattern: Elf Caps from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick

Needles:Size 15 bamboo (short length) circulars. This project would have been much easier using Addi Turbos because the yarn is loosely spun & got caught on the connectors a lot. The bamboo, however, worked fine & I wasn't about to spring $15 for some needles that I would seldom use.

Yarn: The GOLD is from Blue Sky Alpacas - Bulky Hand Dyes line, (50% Alpaca, %50 wool). The color is uneven giving it a home-made, organic, rustic look with a lot of depth and variance. This yarn would definitely be considered "luxury" due to it's high price tag (approx. $16) and very low yardage (45 yards). As much as it killed me to spend that kind of money on such a small amount of yarn, I would say that it's worth it (for a small project). It adds a lot to the hat and will prove to be quite warm and soft on my forehead. I used about 15-20 yards of the total 45 that came in the skien.

Yarn, continued: The mauve (color 9424) is Cascade Magnum. It's the recommended yarn for this project, and is also very chunky at 2 sts/inch. It's also quite soft and made up of 100% Pure Wool. This yarn was nice, but I'm not going to rant on and on about the depth of the color. It's flat in comparison to the gold. It's serves it's purpose, though, it's more utilitarian in it's make-up and didn't have the same luxurious look n' feel that the Blue Sky's stuff did. Rightfully so, it was much cheaper (not cheap! but cheaper - $20 for 123 yards).

Time to Knit: Approx. 2 hours. (not including the first time I knit it (huge) - the night before!)

All in all this hat was super fun to make, the swirly pattern of the decreases makes it interesting to look at from above and I love the endless embellishing possibilities of the finished hat. I think the next time I knit this, I will try a couple of knit rows in between each decrease row to get more of that gnome-pointed-hat look.

X-Posted at string*THEORY