Superyak to the Rescue!

Getting quite behind the times here...this one was finished in April, dear me! You can see from the snow melting in the background...and there was the whole summer and almost three more months of snow since then!


Pattern: Textured Shawl Recipe (more of a set of guidelines rather than detailed instructions)
Designer: Orlane
Source: Orlane's Ravelry project notes
Finished Measurements: 180cm wide x 83cm deep
Needles: 4.0mm circular

Yarn Details:

• Colourmart Superyak/Extrafine Merino 3/14NM Fingering weight
• 50% superyak (apparently the finest yak fibre) 50% Extrafine Merino
• 150 grams = 704 metres
• 171 grams used

Such humble beginnings! This yarn wasn't anything special on the cone, not particularly nice to look at but not too bad to work with. But after washing, it became a whole different yarn! It bloomed and fluffed up so nicely and smells fabulous. I actually only bought one cone, which should have 150 grams of yarn, but there ended up being just over 170 grams on that one cone. I managed to judge the cast off almost perfectly and have just a few metres left.


It was kind of silly making this in April because it was months and months before I could actually use it. The yak/merino blend isn't as warm as alpaca, but close.

The Windmill Blanket

Here's another project that I finished many moons ago...



Pattern: Solid and Reversible Afghan (free free free!)
Designer: Jane Wierowa
Source: Knitlist.com
Finished size: approx. 100cm x 190cm
Needles: 4.5mm addi turbos
Yarn details:

• Novita 7 Veljestä
• 75% wool, 25% nylon
• 150 grams = 300 metres
• 878 grams used (5.9 balls)

I had originally bought this yarn to make the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan, but after struggling with just a few rows, I remembered that I hate cables and so that got frogged. The next incarnation was the Diamond and Smocked Cover, which actually grew to a sizeable length before I got fed up with some parts of the pattern instructions that were unclear and I couldn't manage to make them look nice. This blanket was the third, and thankfully, the last installment.

If I remember correctly, this was the first project that I aimed to complete using the continental knitting method (aka 'picking', for the Yanks out there). I figured it was a big enough project that by the end of it, I would have my new knitting style under wraps (pun intended). And it worked! As of the beginning of 2009, almost all of my new projects have been made using continental style. Maintaining an even tension still requires concentration, though, so I haven't really made anything that needs perfect, even stitches. Soon, my pretties, soon.

This grew quite a bit during blocking, but really only length-wise, which resulted in a long-yet-narrowish blanket.

Siililapaset - Hedgehog Mittens

Oh dear me...let's not mention how long it has been since I blogged. I can't even blame it on my superbusy summer.

Down to business!

Check out these two little fellas! They've been keeping my grandmother's hands toasty during the southern hemisphere winter.



Apparently she gave them names, but I seem to have forgotten what she called them. Something starting with 'M'...Moritz and ... and ... something. Mum, help!


Pattern: Siililapaset - free free free! (in Finnish only)
Designer: tinttitintti (Ravelry link)
Source: www.novita.fi
Needles: 3.25mm and 4.0mm bamboo double-pointed needles
Yarn details:

• Hjertegarn Sock 4 (main mitten yarn)
  
• 75% wool, 25% nylon
• 50 grams = 210 metres
• colour #2300
• about 50 grams used (yarn held double throughout)

• Novita Tango Fani (eyelash fur yarn)
  
• 100% polyester
• 50 grams = 58 metres
• colour #328
• very small amount used, somewhere in the vacinity of 20-25 grams

I made a few small alterations to the pattern in that I made them in the round, I made the section before the thumb wider than the section after the thumb, and I made the fur section separately on very small needles (I can't remember the size; must have been around 2.5mm) and then sewed them on to the mittens. This last point took ages but it was absolutely worth it. Otherwise, the fur part pokes through to the inside of the mittens and isn't as thick on the back.

If you want to make these mitts but can't read Finnish, just find yourself a basic mitten pattern and stick some fun fur on the back of the finished mittens. Too easy, really.

Yellow Girly Dress

Here's another piece that I finished ages ago...a cute little yellow dress for my half-sister's daughter. I haven't given it to her yet, for reasons that I shall explain below!


Pattern: 76. Neulottu Tytön Liivimekko (Knitted Girl's Dress)
Designer: Arja Viitala
Source: Novita Lehti Kesä 2009 (Novita Magazine Summer 2009)
Needles: 3.5mm
Yarn Details:

• Novita Bambu
• 68% bamboo, 32% cotton
• 50 grams = 135 metres
• colour #217
• about 270 grams (5.4 balls) used

The first week of working on this pattern was very enjoyable, but geez the skirt part became tedious after a while. After I hit the bodice section, though, it was smooth sailing all the way to the end. An easy pattern with very little finishing required.

This is for my niece, who is two and a half years old. Somehow, somewhere along the way, this dress became big enough to fit a petite (adult) Asian friend of mine, so I think it won't fit my niece for a while to come! But of course it's better that clothes for children are too big rather than too small. So that's the first reason why I haven't sent it yet, and the second reason is that it's Winter in Australia right now and she won't be able to wear it anyway, even if she has grown like crazy.

I still have a few balls of this cool summery yellow left, so I think I'll make a sunhat or perhaps even a little cardigan for her.

Sorbet Vest

Yep, I admit it - I've been laaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzyyyyyy!

No posts for the whole month of May...naughty naughty! But here I am at the last minute, pulling out this vest, which I finished almost three months ago! Dear me.

Pattern: Neulottu Salmiakkiruutuinen Slipoveri
Designer: Anne-Maija Immonen
Source: Novita Magazine Spring 2009
Needles: 4.5mm and 5.0mm bamboo straights
Yarn Details:

• Novita Rose Mohair
• 65% acrylic, 35% mohair
• 50 grams = 189 metres
• colours #337 (green) #705 (lilac) and #011 (white)

Here's what the original looked like. See all of those diamonds on the front? That means ELEVEN bobbins of sticky mohair getting tangled all over the place!

I lasted a measly four rows with eleven bobbins before ripping back and deciding on a simpler approach.

There was also a slight modification with the sizing in that I cast on for the second size but increased for the third size by the time I reached the underarms.


I like this one a lot and have worn it quite often.

Coming up soon: a little yellow summer dress!

Another Pinwheel Blanket

I've been finding myself repeating some patterns...the Drops Baby Jacket (here and here), several pairs of Endpaper Mittens (here, here, here and here), and now another pinwheel baby blanket.


Pattern: Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket
Designer: Genia Planck
Source: Knitlist
Finished Measurements: 110cm diameter
Needles: 6mm dpns, plus circulars in 80cm and 150cm lengths
Yarn Details:

• Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora
• 80% cotton, 20% angora
• 50 grams = 79 metres
• colour #15508
• about 360 grams used

This pattern is so easy and seems to grow so quickly, until the end, that is...those last few rows are the killer! By the end of this one, I had to go up to a 150cm-long circular needle in order to keep the stitches in order. One round = 20 minutes.

Just like the last time, I took the edging pattern from a Nicky Epstein book: Knitting Beyond the Edge. The pattern as written in the book would work best with a lighter yarn and didn't look good at all with this cotton, so I made the 'waves' a little smaller than the pattern instructed.

When I started making this, I had no idea to whom I would give it, but in the end it found a good home with a friend's brother's little girl. I've seen pictures of the little one lying on it and apprently it is being put to good use, which pleases me to no end!

Finally - Vestish!!

Another long-ago project that is now getting some air time! Here she is, my VESTISH!



Pattern: Vestish
Designer: Robin Dodge
Source: MetaPostModernKnitting, Spring/Summer 2008
Needles: 3.5mm and 3.75mm
Yarn Details:

• Hjertegarn Lima
• 100% wool
• 50 grams = 100 metres
• colours #211 (darker brown) and #282 (lighter brown)
• 285 grams used
  

I really like the design of this vest and how the v-neck melts into the straps. The original design has little pockets at the front and it was always my intention to make them, but when I finished the main part of the vest, it looked cute enough as it was!

This was started in the middle of September last year and finished at the beginning of November. As I've mentioned before, there is a distinct lack of sunlight here during the winter, which makes photo-taking decidedly tricky. Hence it's now...geez...April, and I'm finally posting about it. The polar night can account for the time up until about the beginning of March...and the rest is just me.

I did make a rather large boo-boo on this one: the decreases for the arm holes are made every other row, and I in my excellence made them every row. So the v-neck is a bit shallower than planned, but not at all unacceptable. From memory, I was already working on the v-neck ribbing part when I realised my blunder - and there was no way I was going to rip it back!

I do wear this, but unfortunately not so often, because the fit is a little boxy; I tend to prefer more, shall we say, 'curvy' designs. So if I were to make this again, I would add in more hourglass to it.


Last but not least, this yarn is fantastic! It's nice and soft and was easy to work with. I think the gauge I worked at was tighter than is perhaps desirable, so with a slightly looser gauge it would be even softer and more pliable.