FINISHED! Cinnabar Sweater

First finished sweater for the decade is this sweet textured Cinnabar Sweater designed by Rachael Raimo of Maven Crafted. Can you even believe this is her first sweater pattern?

This sweater is designed with a couple of different mix and match options, but I chose to knit it with the full length fitted sleeve option. I encourage you to take a look at the project pages of other knitters as well to see the crop length, and the BELL sleeve she has also included.
My reasoning for the choices I made fall mostly in when I intended to wear this sweater. I knew I wanted to be able to wear this to work under my lab coat and I thought the bell sleeves would make that difficult. But I DO intend on making a cropped bell version in black for out of work wear 😉

The sweater construction for all versions starts out the same with raglan increases and some short rows in the middle back just after the ribbing. I absolutely love the wider neckline as this is a worsted weight sweater and tight necklines often end up too warm on me (especially in layers!) The raglan is also rather deep, giving a cozy snuggly feel. I knit the size 36 inch chest, which gives me about 3 inches of positive ease at my full bust, and I think it is perfect for this style sweater.

One thing I appreciated about the testing call Rachael put out is that her first sample was knit in a Lion Brand yarn. She knit subsequent samples in the different length and sleeve options, partnering with an Indie dyer, but I love that her first “reveal” was very approachable in terms of “cost inclusion”. I chose to knit mine in a blown yarn that I picked up at my LYS from Juniper Moon Farms. This is the Stargazer Brushed line in colorway Bacchus which is 85/15 Baby Llama/Nylon blend. This gave me a slight halo appearance, and the sweater itself is SO fuzzy and also immensely warm. I think this was my first time knitting with Llama, and actually really enjoyed it. I would love to pick up more of this yarn in the future.

Overall, this sweater was a super speedy enjoyable knit. The texture rows kept it from becoming “boring” to knit, but still was easy to knitflix during. I’m really looking forward to getting started on my second version 🥰

xo-lj

FINISHED! January Socks

My husband absolutely loves his hand knit socks, so I’ve made a promise to myself that this year I will focus on making him at least a pair of socks of month. In fact, that is one of my only “knitty goals” this year, one whole #boxosox for my very very supportive and knitworthy partner. I have of course also set very arbitrary goals, like an entire box of Christmas themed socks. I’ve even gone so far as to very recently acquiring a Christmas sock yarn stash. Both of these pairs of socks happen to be from that stash, although it may not look so on first glance.

These stripes socks are my “Jack and Sally” socks, based of course on the characters from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is arguably equally a Christmas and Halloween movie. I knit them out of a self striping yarn from Nomadic Yarns in the colorways Sally (the main body) and Jack (the contrast). The base is her “trusty” base- a 75/25 merino/nylon blend which I do think is my favorite base of theirs. It comes in a relatively generous skein, at 462yds/100grams, but also holds up extremely well to wear.

The speckled socks I finished in December, but I just recently blocked them so I thought it would be fun to share them together. The main body yarn is Yuletide by Jawbreaker Yarns with a Knit Picks Stroll heel and toe in Holly Berry

For my husbands socks, I just follow a basic formula. I cast on 72 stitches using a US1 nine inch circular needle. For these socks I did a two by two ribbing, and a simple short row heel. My husband likes his sock legs to be five inches, for peeking out of his boots but not being overly long (or maybe I convinced him he liked that length so I am not knitting 20 inch tubes). I sadly ran out of my contrast mini on my second sock, and just knit with whatever I had wound off the skein before starting the second sock to make up for the extra toe length.

Have you set any gift knitting goals this year?
xo-LJ

FINISHED! High Desert Socks

Lindsey Fowler of @lostandfawned knows how to knit a good sock pattern. I have test knit three of her sock designs so far, and have greatly enjoyed each and every one. Her latest boot sock, The High Desert Socks however just may be my favorite.

I can’t say enough good things about these socks, but let me make a list for you:

• They are knit in fingering weight held double, making them SUPER fast knits.

• Perfect for scraps. Like seriously, perfect. I used one full skein of yarn for the main color of my sock, and two scraps I had weighing 20 grams and 6 grams total.

• They are written for 7 sizes, based on CYC sizing. I love this because I know my loved ones shoe size, but have truly no ideas on specific lengths, and most certainly can not try socks on them as I go.

• They fit perfectly and make a cozy sturdy boot sock for our Midwestern winters.
  

I knit my pair on US3 nine inch circulars, which is recommended in the pattern. My main color I ordered from Lindsey’s pattern collaborator- Six and Seven Fiber Co in the colorway Grey Lady on the Clover base. The base yarn is a really lovely 75/25 Corriedale/Nylon 2ply, which I really enjoyed knitting with. As I mentioned my two contrast colors were from my big partials basket.

Lindsey and I have chatted about all of our potential partial skein, scrap combos, could knit this for a year straight dreams. I would highly recommend scrolling the project pages to get alll of the inspiration ✨

xo-lj

FINISHED! The Calla Shawl

First FO for 2020!

I saw my sister this summer at a family wedding and she mentioned wanting to wear a shawl on her winter wedding day, but being a new knitter she wasn’t sure if she wanted to make one herself. So obviously I immediately offered to make one. I waited a few months to get an idea of her dress and overall wedding vibes, and we ultimately decided on the Calla Shawl by Natasja Hornby.

This was hands down one of the most enjoyable things I have ever knit. The broken rib kept the shawl from being miles of stockinette, and watching the cable lillies emerge was almost magical. We picked out Brooklyn Tweed Arbor in the color Parka after seeing a beautiful shop sample with really amazing stitch definition, and I can’t imagine a more perfect pairing. Arbor is a 3ply DK weight 100% Targhee wool, available in a stunning range of colors. Every time I picked up this project I was super excited to work with this yarn, which has an almost bouncy quality to it. I think knowing how special this project would be for my sister helped with the excitement also :)

I knit this pattern out of a copy of Laine magizine, with the entire cable motif charted out. This was my first time knitting such large pieces with little written direction, and I had to trust what I already knew about knitting. It was very easy to read my knitting as I went along however, and I was really proud of how confident I found myself. I think it also helped having a physical copy of my chart, rather than zooming in and out on a phone.

My only “hangup” as I was knitting is that I ran out of yarn! I originally bought 7 skeins of this yarn, which is available in 145yds/50grams. According to the pattern I should have had 7 yards left over, which I know is cutting it close. But I ran out with 4 (long) rows and a picot bind off to go! Luckily my LYS had the same lot I had started with in stock, but I would recommend not cutting it close on yardage with this one.

Her wedding day ended up being a beautiful day here in Detroit. The ceremony was held in a state park conservatory, and we gathered for dinner at a near by old estate turned classy restrurant. I’m incredibly grateful I was able to contribute to her wedding in the best way I know how. 💕

xo-lj