Seabreeze Sweater

I’ve finally finished my Seabreeze Sweater and taken photos!! It’s a bit warm to wear just yet but I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. It’s a little more close fitting than I’m used to but very comfortable. I’ve been wearing shapeless boxy tops for too long I think.









The yarn is soooo nice to work with. I used Apple Laine's Apple Pie yarn.

With a 2mm circular needle, I cast on 240 sts, joined and placed markers at the raglan increase points. 80 / 3 / 34 / 3 / 80 / 3 / 34 / 3

Knit in 2 x 2 ribbing, increasing 8 sts. every 2nd round, until armhole depth is reached (10” in my case).

Then divide for body and sleeves. Body = 328 sts. Sleeves = 130 sts.

I'll see if I can decipher the rest of my notes later.

Ambitus neckwarmer

This post was from February 9, 2008, and didn't get posted either, so here we go!

This week I finished up my Ambitus neckwarmer and wore it for the first time yesterday, a -27C north wind kinda day. I was nice and warm!



I used Apple Laine's Apple Pie yarn double-stranded for this pattern with 3.75mm and 4.5mm needles. The colourway is called "Arizona". I purchased the yarn from Darlene at Northern Sunshine Designs.

Right now, I'm working on socks for myself out of the Apple Pie yarn in "Sea Breeze". After these are finished, I'm going to make a sweater for myself out of the "Sea Breeze" colourway. I'm designing it in my head right now. I'm thinking top down raglan with 3x2 ribbing. I'll post details as I get them figured out.

Happy Spring / Tire Tread Hearts

This post is from February 7, 2008, and for some reason it didn't get posted, so I thought I would post it now! Better late than never, I guess.

I looked out of my studio window this morning(Feb. 7) and this is what I saw in the parking lot! I managed to get the photo just before someone drove over it.

Odds n' Ends Socks Finale and Meet up with Rosemarie

Wow! It's been awhile. I did finish the Odds n' Ends Socks and have enjoyed wearing them this winter.








Here I am wearing them on the Harbour Walk in Nanaimo, BC. I spent the weekend of March 7 - 10, 2008, at the Spring Meeting for the Board of the Assembly of BC Arts Councils. Such a nice city and we had great weather for the weekend too.







On Monday, it was a bit rainy, but I got to meet up with Rosemarie and check out the local LYS, Mad About Ewe (ravelry link). Rosemarie and I hadn't met in person before but have been online friends through the Laceknitters list for a few years now. It was so much fun to finally meet in person! I hope we get to do it again soon.






While we were at the yarn store, I picked out a seashell button to put on my Malabrigo Hat.





The button didn't look quite right all by itself so I put it in the centre of a little knitted flower. Much better!


Talk to you soon,
Cyndi in BC

Playing with Puzzles

I just wanted to try out this puzzle embedding script, so I've used a photo of my cat, Molly. I thought it might be fun to post knitting photos in a puzzle format from time to time.

Odds n' Ends Socks

Here's a photo of my current WIP, socks for myself made from the odds and ends of sock yarn that I've collected over the last couple of years. The yarn is a mixture of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, Opal sock yarn, and Confetti sock yarn. The pattern is one that I concocted over the last few years to fit my ever swelling ankles and calves.

I'm doing both socks at once on 2mm Brittany Birch dpn's. I started with a star toe, the body of the foot is done on 72 stitches for 7 inches. I did stocking stitch on the bottom of the foot and a 2x2 garter rib stitch on the top of the foot. Then I did a garter stitch short row heel on 40 stitches.

When I finished the heel, I started doing 2x2 garter rib on all of the 72 stitches. I did this for 2 inches then did an increase row making the pattern a 3k x 2p garter rib (90 sts.) At 5 inches, I increased again for a 3x3 garter rib and that's where I'm at now.

I plan to continue in the 3x3 garter rib until the socks reach 8 or 9 inches, then I'm going to use 1x1 ribbing until the socks are long enough to reach my knees (or until I run out of yarn).

Knitting for Rugs or Mats

Now that I have recorded the Preface and Introductory Chapter, I will skip through the book, highlighting the knitting patterns and other interesting tidbits. The book does cover crochet, tatting, netting, point lace, braiding and embroidery, as well as knitting but, as I am not proficient in these other needlework arts, I will just work with the knitting.

"KNITTING, FOR RUGS OR MATS OF ANY SIZE. p.11

The wool which is to form the raised work is cut in even lengths; to cover a mesh with a groove, to admit the scissors, is the best way. The needles and material for the foundation must be proportioned to the article intended to be made. For a hearth or carriage-rug, the needles should be 8 or even a larger size. The material---fine, soft twine, or the coarsest woollen yarn---almost as coarse as moss yarn.

For an urn rug, the needles must be from 12 to 15, and the material the coarsest sewing cotton, very fine twine, or coarse strong, woollen yarn.

Set on the number of stitches you wish. Knit a row.

For the row at which you insert the wool.---Knit a stitch; take the wool to be worked in, in the left hand; put it round the foundation material, (which is held in the fingers of the right hand) close to the right-hand needle; put the ends even together, and draw it under the right hand needle, to the front. Knit a stitch, pass the wool back again, under the right-hand needle---then take another piece of the wool, and proceed as described above; repeat to the end of the row, then knit a plain row, and repeat the instructions given above for inserting the wool. For a hearth rug, the wool to be inserted should be a least four times double."

Now that I've gotten that little set of instructions proof-read, I will try to interpret them in wool. I will work on this over the next few days and post some photos as I go.