Vacation

Tomorrow, I will be going home to visit my parents for two weeks. During that time, we are going to go to San Francisco for a couple days. There are a couple of yarn stores I would like to see, but I'm not sure if I'll get the chance. I heard there's a store called ArtFibers in San Francisco that is rumored to have gorgeous yarn at very expensive prices. Not sure if I will go if I know I definitely won't buy anything. I'm also excited to finally go see a certain yarn store in my parents' city. They're holding a bottle of Soak for me to pick up. (I can't wait to introduce my parents to Soak and the joy of washing hand-knits.)

I'm going to bring some needles and patterns with me. Currently, I'm working on a Gretel (finally, the first one for me) and hopefully I can get it finished in time before I hit the cold streets of SF. I'm going to bring along the pattern for Ingenue from Custom Knits, but I'm not sure if I want to start a large project over vacation. I tend to do smaller projects when I'm traveling for portability. It also makes sense because I wouldn't have Internet and access to Ravelry. *Gasp*. Most likely, I'll make another Koolhaas and various dishcloths to show you when I come back!

FO: Gretel #3

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Camel Hair

Amount: 1 ball

Needles: US 5 and 7

Size: Regular
Mods: None

If this hat sounds familiar to you, it's because it's exactly the same as the Gretel I made for my boyfriend's mother. Right down to yarn and color of yarn. :-) My mom asked me to make a hat for one of my aunts that we will be visiting next week.

FO: Basket-weave Vest

Front

Side view

Back

Pattern: Easy Basket-weave Vest by Edie Eckman from Creative Knitting, September 2008
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic in color #33 (Cinnamon Brown)
Amount: a little over 4 balls?

Needles: US 8
Size: 44" chest
Mods: Had to fudge the basket-weave pattern after the armholes since I kept miscalculating. Also, I added 1 inch of 2 x 2 ribbing around the neck, armholes, and hem.

This vest is for my father that I finally finished in time before Christmas. Woo hoo! Originally, I had planned to make the Notting Hill vest but that was quickly frogged due to the difficult pattern. I'm a bit nervous because I'm not sure if this will fit him. I asked my boyfriend who is much taller and thinner than my father to test model and it looked good on him. I'm concerned because he is about a foot taller than my dad, but the length looked appropriate for him. Therefore, I'm not sure if it will be too long for my dad. I begged to take a picture of bf in it, but to no avail. He looked miserable trying it on. Sigh. Guess we'll have to wait until I can get pictures of my dad in the vest.

Sorry for the grainy pictures. I didn't have good enough lighting. If I can get better pictures later on, I'll update again!

FO: Koolhaas Hat

Pattern: Koolhaas Hat from Interweave Knits Gifts 2007 (I don't have that issue so I bought the pattern from the Interweave Pattern Store)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Giada

Amount: 1 ball

Needles: US 6 and 8

Size: Man

Mods: None

This is the first Koolhaas I have made, and I was very relieved to discover that I was able to make it successfully. I only had to frog one row where I miscounted my cables, but afterwards it was smooth sailing. :-) This hat will go to my boyfriend's dad for Christmas. It looks pretty good on my boyfriend and fits him well, so I'm hoping his dad will have the same size head. :-P

I love the intricate detailing of this hat, and I can't wait to make additional ones in the future for my parents. The 1 x 1 cabling was a bit tedious, but it might have been because I literally spent an entire day from morning to night knitting most of the hat.

FO: Gretel #2

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Camel Hair

Amount: 1 ball
Needles: US 5 and 7
Size: Regular
Mods: None

This hat is a Christmas present for my boyfriend's mother. I thought it would be nice to make her a hat with alpaca content, especially since she drove us to an alpaca farm when I was visiting them in Washington in September. (Which reminds me, I still need to put up my Washington pictures! Sigh.) I love this pattern. It is the 2nd Gretel that I have made and I even managed to master tubular cast-on! Yay! I'm not sure how big her head is, but when I tried it on after finishing it, it came out too small on me. So I washed again and this time, I blocked it around a plate that was about 11" in diameter. Now it's a perfect fit (hopefully for her too)!

I love the smooshiness of the Ultra Alpaca, and the way it looks slightly hairy to give it a soft, muted look. This is definitely my most favorite yarn yet. :-)

FO: Opulent Raglan

My best friend, Maryann, came to visit me over Thanksgiving weekend and now I'm finally caught up on FO pics! Thanks so much, "Mackie"! :-) Readers, beware the flood of a FO parade...

Ever since I saw this sweater on Yarnhog, I knew I had to make one too. Technically, I finished this on Oct. 26 and have worn it at least a handful of times, but I finally got around to getting FO pics. This is my favorite FO ever, and the most wearable.

Pattern: Opulent Raglan by Wendy Bernard in Knitscene Fall 2008
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic Wool in colorway 11
Amount: ~ 4 balls
Needles: US 5 and 6
Size: 34"
Mods: I did an extra repeat of the cable pattern (~19 rows) before I started the waist shaping. It didn't seem right to me to start the waist shaping way up above my bosom. But I like it the way it is now. Also, I think I decreased 1 inch in length due to my fear of the yarn stretching too much which thankfully it did not.



Close-up of the front

Side
Back view
Trying to make the sleeves "pop"

FO: Rusted Root

This was also finished a while back.

Pattern: Rusted Root from Zephyr Style http://www.zephyrstyle.com/catalog/item.cfm/2367447/3289215
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Putty
Amount: 3 balls

Needles: US 6 29, and US 4 29" circulars

Size: XS
Mods: Lengthened by a couple inches

FrontSide
Back

I'm not sure I am completely loving it. Perhaps, it would have been better in a brighter color. This was using the extra yarn I had purchased for the crochet babydoll dress. If I was to make it again, I would go up to a size small as it is a bit too tight. The sizing threw me off because I was making this around the same time as Juliet, and even a XS on Juliet was looking big on me which does not happen ever! Also, there's a place in the lower back where I dropped a stitch and later picked up that annoys me because there is a tiny hole.

FO: Green Gable

Pattern: Green Gable from Zephyr Style
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Peridot
Amount: 3 balls
Needles: US 6 29" and US 4 29" circulars
Size: S
Mods: Added a few inches more of length and single crocheted around the neckline to minimize it from drooping. Sadly, the neckline still droops, but I heard this is a common problem among other Green Gables out there too.



Front


Side

I'm not sure what to say about it. I think it fits better than Rusted Root in terms of size, but I'm not exactly loving it. I'm a bit disappointed that none of the Zephyr patterns came out as I pictured them to be. But, these are all my first knit sweaters, so hopefully my FOs will come out better with experience. The sleeves aren't as pretty as they could be because I didn't know how to use DPNs back then, and I basically stretched them out on a 16" circular to work in the round. Yeah, not so good. The pattern recommends using 2 circulars, but I couldn't understand how to knit small circumferences w/ 2 circulars.

FO: Juliet

FO parade!

Pattern: Juliet from Zephyr Style
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple
Amount: 5 balls
Needles: US 10.5
Size: XS
Mods: None really, except for making the longer version so that the garter stitch section ends right below the bust. I also used 4 buttons on one side, instead of 3 buttons on alternate sides.





Front

Back

I am very proud of Juliet because she is the first knitted sweater I have ever completed. And this is coming from the girl who hated knitting when she first learned it because it stressed her out too much. But I am a bit disappointed with how flared it came out. My friends tell me I'm crazy, but I don't like the flare because it makes me feel like I'm wearing a maternity top. So I'll probably only wear this once in a while with my 4 inch platforms to balance the really wide look.