Gramps cardigan

I went to a very dear friend's baby shower last weekend. Of course, as a knitter, when I hear the words "baby" and "shower" in the same sentence I get all giddy and excited and start planning for some awesome baby knits. Knitting for babies is one of my very favorite things. You get all the satisfaction of having a great FO, but with the added bonus of it being super fast, and oh so wee and adorable!

The couple is having a baby boy. I wanted to knit the perfect little old man sweater and I am beyond thrilled with how great this little number turned out. This is the Gramps cardigan pattern from 9 months of knitting, a great little e-book with lots of really cute patterns. There are several patterns out there for similar baby-shawl-collar-sweaters, but the reason I like this one so much is because the proportions work out perfectly with my Green Label Aran Weight yarn. I've knit the Baby Sophisticate pattern in the past, but since it calls for a chunkier gauge I wasn't happy with the way it looked in my aran weight, I think that it would need a few mods to come out nicely, while this one seems like it was tailor made for TFA Green Label.

I added stripes, because I wanted to use up a few odd bits of yarn that I had laying around, stripes are always great for stash busting and, of course, all babies look great in stripes! The coordinating Hunter hat makes this outfit complete. 

I have a few other expecting moms in my life, I have a feeling I'll be knitting a couple more of these adorable sets!

Ravelry project page with more details here. 

TFA Tuesday: Anna's Scarf

Pattern: 28's Cousin 53!

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn in 'Dove'

Top Tier Knitter: Miriam (Ravelry Id, blog)

Totally Awesome Because:  This is a great match of yarn and pattern- yarns that have more tonal variances in them (like Dove, shown here) look extra awesome when knit up in highly textured patterns, so that the wonderful swirls of lavender and periwinkle meld beautifully with the shades of grey. This scarf reminds me so much of a Monet painting, don't you think? Project page is here.

Stella's Dino Wee Balaclava!

I was so inspired by the TFA Tuesday post featuring Pauline's awesome Dino Wee Balaclava that I went ahead and cast on for my own version and used her great notes to add the dino spikes. Though Stella makes an awesome model, this hat is actually a gift for my little cousin. 

I knit mine in Olive with Lemongrass spikes and it definitely looks very dinosaury to me, perfect for a 3 year old boy. 

Am I the only one who finds these photo's of Stella absolutely hilarious!? She's so used to wearing sweaters in the cooler months that she wasn't phased in the least when I put this balaclava on her. She totally cracks me up. She makes my day. 

Cabled Canuck and Windward Hat patterns!

I have been dropping hints that I was working on a couple hat patterns lately, and here they are! Introducing Cabled Canuck knit in Green Label Aran Weight yarn. 

And the Windward hat knit in Yellow Label DK Weight yarn.

Both hat patterns are now available for sale in my ravelry store and would make fantastic Christmas gifts (there may be one or two lucky people on my Christmas gift giving list who will be receiving one of these hats this year!) Both are 1 skein wonders and fit a variety of head sizes well. 

Cabled Canuck is a warm and lusciously cabled beanie, the neatest part about this pattern is how the cables all come together to form a flower on the top of the crown. Even with a flower, I think that this pattern would work really well for men too, Chris says he wants one knit in Chestnut. 

Details:

Size: One size fits most - 19"-23" head go up a needle size and extend ribbing for a larger hat.

Yarn: 1 skein TFA Green Label Aran Weight yarn 115g = 205 yds. Sample shown in the Dove colourway.

Needles: 4.5mm 16" circular (or dpns)

              5mm 16" circular

              5mm dpns

Gauge: 4.5 sts = 1 inch in reverse stockinette

Ravelry pattern page here.

$4.00 CAD

Windward is versatile, offering both a beanie and a slouchy option. The fabric created by my favorite zigzag lace motif is light yet still warm, it makes for a really stretchy and comfortable hat. It features a double brim, so your ears are always covered in a really cushy fabric, which I love. And of course, the decreases (aren't they the best part of any hat?) these ones come together to create a star. 

Details:

Size: One size fits most :: brim is 19” in circumference for both hats, beanie is 8” tall, slouch is 10” tall unstretched. Since the entire hat features a ribbed pattern it is very stretchy and fits a variety of head sizes well.

Yarn: 1 skein TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn 115g = 260 yds. Samples shown in a One of a kind colourway and Sand.

Needles: 3.75mm 16" circular (or dpns)

              4mm 16" circular

              4mm dpns

Gauge: 24 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in windward lace pattern after blocking.

Ravelry pattern page here.

$4.00

You've still got time to pick out 1 special skein from your stash and cast on for another gift!

New Knitty Pattern: Velvet Morning

The newest edition of Knitty has just gone live, and I'm so excited to share Julie's newest design in TFA yarn: Velvet Morning!

The pattern features Green Label Aran weight,  and Julie's version has Midnight as the base colour, and three contrasting colours: Sand, Mallard, and Atlantic. My light grey version features the base colour Sand, and the contrasting colours are Lilac, Plum and Dove. It's really neat to see the contrast of how it looks as a dark blue sweater and as a light grey sweater- and it looks great both ways.

It was so much fun to test knit the Sand version, the colours are amazing (Julie was inspired by eye shadow palettes when she came up with this colour combo, isn't that brilliant?) I've worn it so much already. It's just a great comfy, cozy cardigan, the kind that I love to grab on chilly mornings. Great job Julie!

We took these photo's on a warm but rainy day in August! I spent a lot of time trying to tame my ever frizzing hair and keep the wind from blowing it in my face, we ended up with a lot of shots like this:

I kind of like it!
Ravelry project page here.

TFA Tuesday: Dino Wee Balaclava

 Pattern: Wee Balaclava

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Green Label Aran Weight in 'Orange Blossom'

Top Tier Knitter: Pauline (Ravelry Id)

Totally Awesome Because:  Pauline recently finished a gorgeous trio of of hats for her three beautiful little girls, and it was so hard to choose one to ask to feature for today! This little dinosaur theme balaclava is just too cute- I love the addition of the rainbow dinosaur spikes (and Pauline put great instructions for achieving the same dino spikes on her project page), and the bright colours make this such a fun hat. I bet this is amazing for keeping wee ones nice and warm in the winter, plus they'll be the cutest little dinosaur around!

January 2012 KAL

We are putting together a January 2012 Knit/Crochet Along! Head on over to the Ravelry group to join in on the fun. Now that it’s December 1st and we have 31 days until the KAL officially begins, let’s set out the parameters! We are going to try organizing things by yarn label:

• Green Label Group
• Yellow Label Group
• Blue Label Group
• Pink Label Group
• Silver Label & Red Label group
• Purple Label

Each group will have it’s own Ravelry forum thread, and at the top will be a static post listing all the group participants and their chosen projects. If any group develops more than 100 members, we might need to separate out into types of projects, but we’ll see what happens. The rules:

• 31 days to cast on and complete item: You can cast on anytime after midnight on December 31st, and cast off by midnight on January 31st.
  
• Knit/crochet any pattern you like, as long as it’s in a TFA yarn you can participate! For those that are still undecided about their project(s), we can let it slip that there will be a boxing week sale on TFA patterns at the end of the December- something to think about!
  

To join: Go to the Ravelry group thread, and click on your chosen forum (Green label, blue label, etc) and leave a comment letting everyone in your group know what you plan on knitting/crocheting (or colourway, or anything you want). if you are still not sure what you’ll be knitting, don’t worry- leave a comment on the Ravelry thread letting me know you’re still thinking about it and well add you to the list anyways! It'll be a great time for a KAL- the craziness of the holidays will have died down, and a new year is a great time to start a new project.

Preppy socks

I'm knitting these socks for my dad for Christmas this year. He loves hand knit socks, and I love knitting them for him. I couldn't decide on a pattern so instead I just made one up. These preppy faux-argyle socks will add just the right touch of class to any outfit. I plan on writing up the pattern because these socks are just so cute and smart looking!

I'm knitting these in TFA Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn in Atlantic. I just can't get enough of this colourway, and though I hate to pick favorites, I love all my colourways the same, but I might love Atlantic the most. That's true for today at least, my favorite colour seems to change with every new project I knit!

TFA Tuesday: Royale

Pattern: Royale

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Green Label Aran Weight in 'Olive'

Top Tier Knitter: Gretchen (Ravelry ID)


Totally Awesome Because: I love this sweater! It's a perfect mix- the shape and texture is classic and never out of style, and the Olive colourway always seems spot on for fall and winter (not to mention the perfect compliment to Gretchen's lovely red hair!). This is the kind of sweater that does warm AND stylish, which is hard to get in the cooler months. Great job, Gretchen!

Year In Colour Club - November

The November installment of the TFA Year In Colour Club featured this gorgeous hat pattern, the Asteroidea Hat, designed by Kirsten Kapur. I'm crazy about the combination of lace, cables and slouch! 

The November colourway was a real challenge for me. I happen to hate dyeing reds! They are so hard to get right. But this Cranberry colourway... well, I love it! It's deep, rich, red. Perfect for this festive time of year!

Memberships for the 2012 Year In Colour Club are now available, be sure to sign up before Dec. 15th in order to get the reduced rate (the Club price will increase by $15 on Dec. 15th).  

To see what we've been up to all year check out the Year in Colour Club blog page here.

And with that, the inaugural year of the TFA Year in Colour club has officially come to an end. It's been a fantastic experience and I'm really looking forward to next year! Above is a photo that I snapped of all the 2011 colourways together, don't they make a pretty collection? 

TFA Tuesday: Little Paris Scarf

Pattern: Stockholm Scarf

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Yellow Label in 'Plum'

Top Tier Knitter: Jennifer (Ravelry Id)

Totally Awesome Because:  Okay, I'm a wee bit biased on this one, but I love how the Plum colourway looks in this high-texture infinity scarf. The rich colour looks so great with almost any coloured coat, and a big, beautiful infinity scarf is a great accessory for the colder weather. I love that she called it the 'Little Paris Scarf', it really does look like something chic enough for the City of Lights. Project page can be found here.

Progress

My Cobalt Julissa is coming along nicely. I honestly did think that there was a possibility that I would be able to finish this sweater in one weekend, but alas, no such luck. I cast on enthusiastically, and I worked on it exclusively all weekend. It's not finished yet, but I'm well on my way. I've tried it on and it fits exactly like it should. So far, so good!

The studio reno is moving along nicely. Most of last week was spent working on invisible parts of the project, things like burying pipes underground. Then they poured the foundation, the most beautiful, smooth, shiny slab of concrete I've ever seen. Chris filled in the trench and put the grass back, that was one of the reasons that we opted to dig the trench by hand, Chris carefully removed the top layer of soil and grass and put it aside, when the work was done and the trench was back filled he then replaced all the grass and now we have our yard back! Friday the magic happened, I looked out my window in the afternoon and there was a building in my yard!

This part is really exciting. See that big 9 foot wide window opening on the side? That's going to be so nice to work under. French doors, a vaulted ceiling, the studio is going to be the nicest room in our house!