Waiting for Rain KAL

As you may know, the very talented Sylvia Bo Bilvia recently released this pattern (link), and it became very popular very quickly. I couldn't resist either, and quickly cast on for this shawl.

A lace detail, before it was finished.
I very much enjoyed knitting this shawl. The instructions are clear, and the combination of garter stitch en lace short rows makes for relaxed knitting, without it becoming boring.
The yarn I used is Lana Grossa Lace Merino, in the colour charcoal (7). It's nearly black, but not qquite. I'm very happy with the colour I chose. The lace is still very visible when worn, and a colour this neutral means I can wear it with almost everyting.

Blocking this was hard, as you can see by my wobbly edges. It barely fit across two matresses, but luckily, it took very little time to dry. And the finished product is worth it.

It's huge. It's so much larger than my wing span that I couldn't find a place to take proper pictures. I ended up holding one end, which is why you can't see the dimensions properly. I haven't measured mine, but according to the pattern, the finished object has a 82" wing span. I'd say mine's about that size.

If you love it as much as I do, you can still enter the KAL! It runs until March 15th, and you don't have to be a very speedy knitter to finish before that date. From cast on to cast off, this thing took me 12 days to knit. Weaving in the ends and blocking took place later, because I was ill for a week.

This brings my FO total to 8! And I almost forgot to add number nine: a pair of vanilla socks. The yarn is Drops Fabel in the colour Sea Mist. I bought two skeins, but ended up using 1.3.

Until next time!

Lots of love,

Lisanne

A load of FO's

Blogging regularly is hard. After my last post, I've completed quite a few things, but I've been either too tired or too lazy to show them. I have, however, made a few photos, so I can share them today. This post will be quite picture-heavy. I've had the flue, and I'm still not quite recovered, so I'll keep the talking to a minimum.

FO #4 is another Earbud Pouch. I had just enough yarn left for a third one. The picture is one I've used before, because it looks exactly the same.

FO #5 is Bandit, my boyfriend's dog, made from the English Bulldog pattern from the book Knit Your Own Dog, as a birthday present for my sister in law. Actually, Bandit is a French Bulldog, but the pattern for the English one was free. This is also my stash yarn project for February.

FO #6 is the first and only thing I've sewed this year. It's by Kommatia Patterns (this one), and the second pattern I've tried from them. The pattern itself is fine, and easy to follow. However, my sewing machine was impossible to work with during this project. It kept trying to swallow the yarn, which led to wonky seams. It's put me off from sewing with jersey for a while. I do like wearing this.

Finally, my seventh FO of the year is a Beatnik Sweater. I love this. It took a little over a month to knit, but it was so worth it. It's incredibly cosy and I just love it a lot.

My resolution to try and reduce my stash has taken a beating. I couldn't resist the Waiting for Rain KAL, and while ordering the yarn for that, I also ordered yarn for three pairs of socks. And as if that wasn't enough, there was a crafts convention nearby, and I couldn't resist. I got two sweaters worth of Stylecraft special DK and a few skeins of Katia Cotton Merino. And my mom got two skeins of Malabrigo Sock, so I can knit a scarf for her. Oops. All in all, I've got my next few projects planned out. The Waiting for Rain shawl is cast off and waiting to be blocked. And I've knit one sock and am currently knitting the second one, so expect another FO heavy post in about a month's time.

Until next time!

Lots of love,

Lisanne

Flash your stash 2016

Yesterday, I came across a forum thread on Ravelry, called Flash Your Stash 2016. I had already decided to try and decrease my yarn stash this year, but seeing other peoples' stashes gave me that little extra motivation. So, today, I took all my own yarn out, to see if my stash met my expectations, and to get a clear image of what I own.

This is almost everything, laid out on my bed. On the right are my WIPs. Apart from one, all of these are knit with yarn that has been in my stash for a while. Now for a close-up:

I'm quite relieved that I had a pretty good idea beforehand, of all the yarn I own. The only thing that surprised me was how many skeins of purple DROPS Alaska I had left from the cardigan I made with it (the second column of yarn). From left to right, there is cotton yarn destined to become a sweater for my mom, the leftover wool yarn I was talking about, some alpaca and DROPS Eskimo, in mostly whole skeins. The fourth column is all aran acrylic that has been dipped into. I started last year on my quest to make socks out of these skeins, although I may use the black one for my beekeeper's quilt.
After that, it's all leftovers or single skeins of yarn that were gifted to me. I've got no idea what to do with this, apart from knitting accessoires. The balls are still a bit too big to use for my mitered square blanket, or the wrong weight.

And lastly, my small leftovers. Also pictured is my mitered square blanket. I've used up leftovers, and I'm also using up my mom's stash on this one. Unfortunately, most of the yarn I got from her is blue, so this project is hibernating until I've created some more leftovers.

That's it! I'm very happy that this amount of yarn is quite manageable. I should be able to reduce this by half in the next year, although I'm not setting a specific goal. My fabric stash, on the other hand... Let us not speak about that one.

I'd love to hear from you about your own stash. Do you keep it small? Or are you happily drowning in yarn?

Lots of love and until next time,

Lisanne

Pouches and a sweater

It's late, but I still want to start off by wishing all of you a very happy and healthy 2016. May your days be bright and your crafts succesful.

It's customary to start the year with a few resolutions, but I decided against doing that this year. Instead, I've got a few goals I want to reach this year. I want to:
1. knit something with yarn from my stash at least once a month
2. document all my makes here

The last one is to keep me blogging, and for myself to see what I've accomplished in a year. I can hardly remember the things I made in 2015. The first one is because my stash is growing out of control. I've got four bins worth of yarn stuffed in my closed, the drawers in my desk are filled with WIPs and leftover yarn, and I've got another basket of yarn sitting on my desk. For three years of knitting, this is getting ridiculous.

This is the basket. The socks on top have been there for a few weeks, because I have to weave in the ends. Typing that makes me feel bad. I do like how you can see two hand-knit blankets in the background.

But onto the documenting. I proudly present to you, my first FO of 2016! It's a stockinette sweater with the chart from Pull (presque) Sessun on Ravelry. It includes a pattern for the sweater, but it wasn't in my size and I couldn't make sense of the French, so I decided to make my own pattern. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The sleeves fit well and the overall length is good, but the body is quite loose. However, it is nice and snuggly, and I think it will fit better once I've blocked it.
The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, in the colour cream. I do like the yarn. It's very soft and warm for an acrylic yarn, and you get a lot of yarn for your money. I used less than three skeins for this, which set me back about €9. I did buy four skeins, which means there's plenty left to make a scarf. Which is what I think I'm going to make.

My second and third FO are Earbud Pouches. The yarn is sport weight, I think it was called Pinguin Pingofine, and it's left over from a lace cowl I made. These little pouches take only about 15 metres, so they're great for stash busting. The left one actually contains earbuds. I made the one on the right, because I got a little mirror for christmas, and I want to be able to carry it around without damaging it. It fits perfectly.

There's more of these in my future. I've still got quite a bit of this yarn left, and they're addicting to make. After the first one, I had memorised the pattern, and they don't take long to knit at all. I made these two in one day, apart from the kitchener stitch on the second one.

That's all for today, though. I'm going to cast on a third Earbud Pouch now.
Lots of love and happy crafting!

Lisanne

To sew list

Lately, I haven't been the best. It took me two and a half weeks to finish my Morris Blazer (and I love it!), but I still haven't prepared a post about any of the things I've made. Also, the only things I've finished are said blazer, and a few hexipuffs. That's not much. And while I don't think that that is necessarily a bad thing, it is if you keep buying fabic. And that is what I did.

I won't bore you with showing everything I've bought, so one picture will suffice. In short, I've bought about 8 pieces of fabric, including sweatshirt fleece, poplin, lace, three pieces of jersey and two pieces of interlock. Yes, I told myself I can't buy any more, but we'll see how long that lasts. I also have another piece of interlock lying around, which is bright purple.

Now, I have to find patterns to sew. And therefore, I figured I'd make a to sew list. Not only will this help me figure out what to make, hopefully a reader will come across a pattern that they like. Or a designer. Or not, but someone might like to read this. Who knows.

Photo credit: Grainline

First and foremost, I want to make a winter coat. Grainline Studio's Cascade Duffle Coat, to be exact. I've been looking for a good coat for some time now, and I haven't been able to find one that I like. I'm not sure whether I'm a good enough seamstress yet, and I fear my sewing machine will not be able to handle such heavy fabrics, but I really want to make it. I've read nothing but good things about the pattern, and I think it is very pretty. The photo above shows the long version, and that is the version I'd make. I'm still not completely sure I'll make this, especially since the fabric would be very expensive, but who knows. If I can find fabric that is within my budget, I'll be very tempted to give this a go.

Also from Grainline: the Hemlock Tee. I've made this already, and I love it. It's not the most flattering picture, but I'm still planning to make a proper blog post about this tee. I've been wearing it every week since I made it, and it's so comfortable that I want to make another. I might use one of the green jerseys for this. I also want to make this into a dress, for added comfort, because I wouldn't have to wear pants! I could pair it with a belt and a pair of leggings, and I would be good to go.

Also from Grainline: Archer. Need I say more? It's a beautiful shirt, that will look different in every colour. I wasn't sure at first whether this is the pattern I wanted to use, since there are many beautiful patterns for button-up shirts, but from the ones I've looked at, this one stood out, because it seems to fit best with my figure. Other ones were designed for women with wider hips, and my hips are usually a size smaller than my torso, so I suspect Archer will fit me best.

And the last of the Grainline patterns (for now), my Morris Blazer. (link can be found at the top of this post) I love it. A lot. It gives a smart touch to any outfit, but it's still playful. I also love the fabric I've used, a medium weight interlock. I bought it at my local Jan Sikkens, where I get most of my fabric, but unfortunately, it was the last bit they had.
This is the first pattern I've bought on its own, and one of the reasons why I bought it is that it's versatile. It would look very different in the grey interlock I've bought, and I think it would look awesome in some kind of plaid as well. That is a must for me. I don't want people to notice that I own the same kind of garnment in multiple colours, I want to be able to re-use patterns. Luckily, this pattern is one of those.

Onto another designer. After I bought the sweatshirt fleece, I've been looking at other people's sweaters, and I came across the Lola Dress, by Victory Patterns. I love it. Lauren's beatiful dress inspired me to make one myself with my navy fabric, and preferably, with light grey ribbing. I haven't found that yet, though, and I do not have as much fabric as the pattern calls for, so I haven't bought the pattern yet. I'm still on the fence about this one.

I came across this designer, Kommatia, on Tumblr, and I'm very curious about her patterns. I want to try making either the crop top with the ballerina neckline, or the crop top with the turtle neck, I'm not sure which one yet. Her patterns are not expensive, and very modern. I very much want to try making one of these tops, with the purple bit of interlock.

Last, but not least, it's Nettie, by Closet Case Files. I've seen a lot of people make it, and heard very good things about the pattern. I definitly want to make this, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Phew, this has been one picture-heavy post. Fortunately, now I've got a list of patterns to make. Now I only have to decide which one to make first.

Do you have a to sew list? I'd love to hear from you!

Lots of love,

Lisanne

Oops, I did it again...

Yes, I started another beekeeper's quilt (by Stephanie Dosen, Ravelry). I started my last one about two years ago, and I think I finished knitting the puffs about a year ago, but I have to admit that I still haven't tied all the puffs together properly... Another oops.

Last time around, it took me over a year to make and I used 21 skeins to make it. I used Katia Basic Merino, a DK weight yarn. The pattern calls for fingering, but I'd used this yarn before, and it's soft and affordable. It's about 50% acrylic and 50% merino wool, and I still like the yarn. I've knit two sweaters with it since, and they are holding up well.

(Yes, I tried to make artsy pictures using my phone)
I don't have too many pictures of the second project (the black puffs), because black is hard to photograph and I only have six puffs so far. The yarns I'm using are stash yarns, and they have been for about two years. If you look closely, you're hopefully able to see that four of the puffs have a little sparkle in them. That's the yarn that started it all. It's Zeeman Sparkle, a crappy acrylic yarn that I bought when I first started knitting. I thought it looked pretty cool, but when knitted up, it doesn't. The sparkle comes from a little metallic thread, and that makes it scratchy and uncomfortable to wear. I can't even begin to count all the projects I've started and frogged with this yarn. The only way it worked for me, was to hold it together with a normal yarn, and treat it as bulky. I've made two projects with it that way, but I still had about one and a half skein left in black, and one in blue.

This is what the yarn looks like. It makes for wonky stitches and uneven tension. It's not fun to knit with.
But I'd barely been knitting lately, and when I saw my hexipuff blanket again, I figured I'd give this a shot. And it worked! The wonky stitches are not too noticeable, and paired with puffs made from a normal black yarn, they look pretty good, if I say so myself. And I'm knitting frequently again. I think I started this on sunday, or maybe monday, but now it's thursday and I've already knit six puffs. On the other hand, now I stopped sewing. Downstairs, I've got a piece of fabric, ready to be made into a Morris Blazer, but that has been laying there since about friday, and I haven't touched it since. Maybe this weekend.

(more artsy pictures)
I'm not that confident in sewing, yet. I've finished almost all the projects in my Love at First Stitch book, and I've made a Hemlock Tee, but that's it so far. I'll try to write a post about these projects sometime soon. But that's all for now.

Love,

Lisanne