Category: ravelry

Peppery Cloak and Dagger Pivotal Point Shawl

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelryLeave a comment
A skein of dark grey mad hatter in colorway too much pepper caked and placed next to a skein of light grey unicorn in colorway cloak and dagger.

When I think of knit shawls, I tend to have very specific shapes in mind (half circles, full circles, and triangles). The Pivotal Point Shawl is a shape very different from what I’ve worked before: an arrow >

Knit manipulating knitting front to back and knit two together with a “pivoting point” in the middle where the two switch sides, Pivotal Point Shawl rotates through two main stitch patterns. Honestly, just when you get sick of working stockinette it switches to the lace pattern and visa versa. The wear of this shawl fits its different shape – the eye seems to be drawn to the sides of the shawl that hang rather than the middle of the shawl the way it would with a half circle.

I am very excited by the skein of Unicorn that I worked with, there’s something to be said about adding a little bit of sparkle to a project. Definitely find myself bouncing between neutral projects and colorful ones these days.

Use the discount YARNVIP for 15% off your total purchase from Wonderland Yarns (discount not eligible on sale items, with other discounts, or on yarn clubs) :]

A woman in a striped dress standing in front of a mirror wearing a light and dark grey pivotal point shawl.

Beinstulpen im Trachtenlook: Translated into English

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, ravelryLeave a comment
Toddler legwarmers knit up in a multicolored worsted weight yarn.

Last week, I mentioned that I made leg warmers for our little one using Beinstulpen im Trachtenlook which is written in German. Google translate did a pretty good job getting me some of the way there, but I did have to rely on my own experience to finish the translation. Since the pattern is free, I thought it might be worth sharing more broadly because it’s free and fun to make!

The pattern has two sizes, SM and ML, and takes ~100-120 yards of worsted weight yarn. I knit a size SM for a sie to fit someone around the 1-year mark. In terms of length, I worked 8 cable repeats and then knit 3 knit rows before casting off (~9in). There was no special reason for picking this length other than working with the goal of the leg warmers going as high up the leg as possible.

What I did:

CO 44 (48)
R1-4: [K2, P2] across
R5: [Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2] across

I didn’t stagger the twists, but if you wanted to:
CO 44 (48)
R1-4: [K2, P2] across
R5: [Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2, K2, P2] across
R6-9: [K2, P2] across
R10: [K2, P2, Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2] across

In terms of length, I worked 8 cable repeats and then knit 3 knit rows before casting off (~9in). There was no special reason for picking this length other than working with the goal of the leg warmers going as high up the leg as possible.

Bright Red Hyphen Sweater

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelryLeave a comment
Red short sleeved handknit cardigan with a hyphen pattern across the yolk. Coordinating multicolored pom pom hat and cabled leg warmers are laid on top of it.

No matter how you swing it, patroning yarn shops with my husband is different from patroning yarn shops by myself. He forces me to slow down and reminds me to take a look at the gorgeous samples that the shop owner/employees have taken the time to knit up, otherwise, I’m often someone who runs in and out to pick up yarn for a specific project (a habit developed out of necessity when working for Webs Yarn Store). In fact, if he hadn’t been there when I impulsively decided to pop into Norwich Knits I probably would have walked out empty-handed instead of with the two coordinating skeins of Malabrigo that I left with.

The initial plan was to make two short sleeved Hyphen sweaters and while it’s true that I loved working the pattern (the yoke stitches were the perfect pop of interesting), my second plan was to work up a coordinating pair of pants. Then I decided to knit the sweater in a size larger and realized that I hadn’t purchased enough yarn for the pants!

With a quick pivot, I worked up a pair of coordinating leg warmers (I’ll do a separate post on that because I translated a pattern from German and it’s worth sharing!) and a hat. So happy with the end result, right down to the red flower buttons I found.

Speaking of buttons, I used my sewing machine’s button stitch to attach the red flower buttons and I’m sold. Despite the knit fabric, they are firmly attached it took a quarter of the time. 100% recommend this technique :]

Baby Messenger Henley

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelry, yarnLeave a comment
Teal baby sweater with yellow stripes across the yoke and sleeves. Three purl snaps are used to keep the henley neckline closed.

Let me start by saying a few things:

1) I probably should have done a gauge swatch because I would have learned the correct needle size to use. Using a size 5 instead of a size 4 has left me with a size ~12 months instead of ~6 months.

2) You can’t tell, but I put the outie of the snaps on the wrong part (I prefer the outie to attach to the pearl snap side). That being said, this was my first time attaching snaps to a handknit and I have to say I’m a fan.

3) I cannot get enough of this blue yarn, seriously it’s gorgeous and reminds me of jumping in a cool brook on a hot summer day.

4) Where is this sweater in my size? Do I dare seek out a sweater’s quantity of Mad Hatter in Glow Worm for myself?

When thinking about baby sweaters, blue and yellow are such a classic combination. That being said, I love the depth that Glow Worm adds to the sweater — in fact, it was very difficult to choose which color to make the contrast color and which to make the main color. If one had a really hard time choosing or second-guesses the choice they made, there should be just enough yardage to make two inverse sweaters.

The other thing that I’ve learned to like about any baby top is the ability to create a large opening at the neckline. Pre-baby, this was because babies have large heads. Post-baby, this is because it takes a while for babies to be ok having garments go over their heads and a large head hole makes it quick and easy (and you can take it off by sliding it along their body if you’re not brave enough to go back over their head.

I’m tempted to knit this sweater again using the leftover yarn (this would mean a yellow sweater with blue stripes) for my new nephew, but there’s a crochet baby sweater I’m tempted to try. After all, why not keep working on my crochet skills this summer?

Want to make a Baby Messenger Henley of your own? Use the discount YARNVIP for 15% off your total purchase from Wonderland Yarns (discount not eligible on sale items, with other discounts, or on yarn clubs) :]

Community Cardi

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelryLeave a comment
Young woman standing in front of a mirror wearing blue pants and a pink tank top under a grey cardigan.

It’s been a long time since I’ve made anything for myself in the realm of a garment. The reason for this has been twofold: 1) I didn’t want to make something that wouldn’t fit right and 2) I wanted to give myself the space to be patient with my ever-changing body.

Pregnancy is a crazy experience, the closest I can get to describing how you see yourself through the process would be to equate it to walking through a room filled with funhouse mirrors. Even as you accept what’s happening, you’re onto the next mirror which also brings dramatic changes. Then, just when you think it’s all over, you’re out the other side and you don’t really remember what the original mirror actually looked like. Sure, you can compare yourself to photos of what you used to look like, but you still have to come to terms with what you look like now — and even that continues to dramatically change over the next several weeks. I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans by week 3, but my body still looked weird to me. They say 9 months in 9 months out, but as someone who has struggled with body dysmorphia all my life, I’m not sure exactly how long it will be until I feel as though I’ve truly stepped out of the funhouse.

At first, I thought my first knit sweater would be Puntilla due to its shapelessness. The hypothesis was that the forgiving design would give me time to adjust to my body and that it would fit as my body changes over the years. Then I rediscovered In Stillness and started daydreaming about how elegant it would look paired with one of my work outfits.

As this post is not called “Puntilla” or “In Stillness”, it’s safe to assume that those sweaters are still on my knit list. I have yarn set aside for both: Puntilla will be worked up in two colors of Wonderland Yarns and In Stillness will be worked up in Blue Sky Fibers. In fact, I was debating which sweater to cast on first (the yarn came in at the same time) when Alicia Plummer put out a test call for her Community Cardigan.

Community Cardi was inspired by exactly what the name suggests – the knitting community. The short version of the story is that Alicia was going to release a cardigan version of Justin’s Flannel, and discovered her design was too close to another that was recently released. Over the next few weeks, Alicia solicited opinions and feedback from her Instagram followers and the result is this sweater! Community Cardi is exactly the sweater I needed, something to be lived in day in and day out without fear of baby fluid. The pictures screamed knit me in a superwash and wear me every day, it was all I could do not to beg to be included in the test.

Real talk: the stitch pattern is so meditative I was actually bummed when it was over. I’ve already offered to make a matching cardigan for my husband and am thinking of attempting to make one in child size for our daughter. Usually when I work a pattern I need time before my brain can handle knitting it again. Like Justin’s Flannel, I see myself reaching for this pattern again and again. Surely one can have one of every color in their closet?

I did make some modifications to the pattern to ensure its everyday use: I ditched the pockets and buttons. I’m not a huge fan of buttoning my cardigans and didn’t want the (slight) additional bulk that the pockets would add. In hindsight, the pockets would have been fine, but I’m happy with the final sweater!

Young woman standing in front of a mirror wearing jeans and a blue tank top under a grey cardigan.