cottington's so crafty: veera valimaki

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Looking Ahead to a Petite Polished

Y'all are in store for a cozy twosome in this post! Camden gets to show off a new hat AND a new sweater!

For such a lovely sweater, I took so long to write the blog post that the Petite Polished shows wear. I would say it honestly started pilling pretty soon after finishing it, too. I wanted to hold out on allowing Camden to wear this design by Alicia Plummer, but since I finished it in October and she needed a pull-over, well, that was that. Originally, I'd wanted to sew her new jeans first for a nice photo combo, but I have yet to get around to sewing those. Maybe next week, aha.

There was some silliness in knitting this pattern, though the pattern itself was lovely. Because of my gauge, I added extra yoke rounds, but in doing THAT, I also added extra increases, which wasn't great for the sleeves, and when I started the first sleeve, I realized my mistake and had to rip back and decrease differently. I wasn't sure that it'd work, considering I couldn't just get rid of the original sleeve stitch count, but it ended up being okay. I alternated skeins, and while the gauge called for is looser than I like to knit a DK weight yarn, it does look nice. In saying that, I wonder if it'd be AS pilled as it is if I knit at a tighter gauge. I knit with Tanis Fiber Arts PureWash DK in the Luna Gray colorway. I was glad for Camden to have a somewhat neutral-toned sweater, which it is, but she really still needs another pull-over - and a cardigan, while we're at it. I had been desperate to try the PureWash base for some time (because of its more eco-friendly "super-washing" process, and it is nice to knit with, but I'm not sure I'll knit with it again, unless I do try some time, at a tighter gauge. Overall, the sweater is quite lovely, and Camden loves to wear it!

As for Camden's hat, this is another moment where I feel cool that I knit with deep stash yarn!!! The yarn was purchased way back in 2012, and I had paid an Etsy seller to knit a sweater for Camden, because I didn't trust my abilities or something and figured another person would knit it faster, LOL. Anyway, the remnants have been in my stash every since, some lovely Madelinetosh colorway - I think it was Truly, Madly, Deeply.

A tiny July 2012 Camden!

Looking Ahead, designed by Veera Valimaki, is a simple-enough pattern, thought I botched up the decreases a bit; it was hard to know how to stay in pattern, or I'd get off track. Either way, it is cute, and I also had a feeling it'd be super cute with a faux fur pom pom, and I was RIGHT! I am so glad I ordered from Thread Head Knits. She has tons of choices, and I bought my poms as a bulk order, but keep in mind that some colors can't be ordered in bulk buys. I was winging it on color choices, but I figured something I ordered would work, and the light pink is so pretty with the hat.

Even here, you can see the pilling. I really should get a Gleener!

I am pretty happy that I have been working through stash yarns - for the kids or for others. I am knitting two wee sweaters for twins right now - one down, one to go! And I have recently knit another pair of mittens each for the kids, both from scrap yarns.

Lastly, so much has happened since the last post, but here are some snippets from some days!!

She worked on this longhouse with her dad. She presented very well!

Their monsters are afraid of faeries!

But their monsters love to eat!

This and the next shot are the same beach, same five minutes, LOL

A gift her grandma made!!!

Gift for baby cousin Helen!

They are now obsessed with The Lion King!

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Two Hats for the Family! Can You Fathom One is for ME?

Indeed, folks, I have knit myself a hat - for the first time in six years, I believe...something close, anyway! As you see, of course, it's photographed on Camden; I couldn't handle the photos Matt took of ME in said hat. Sad times.

The hat is Fathom, from the first collection of Interpretations patterns by Veera Valimaki and Joji Locatelli (ebook on Ravelry). The pattern fell under Veera's interpretation of the word "reflection." This hat is one of the reasons I wanted this book (though Laneway is also lovely!). I own the third volume, also, and the newest volume, number 4, is out, but I only see one pattern in there that I'd like to knit, so, I think I'd just buy the pattern individually, if I ever get a chance to knit it. Veera does also have a blog, 100% Rain, if you want to check it out!

Man, this hat is better on HER!

I used Orange Flower Yarn in the DK 250 base, colorway Peachy which is clearly NOT the called-for sport weight base, but I knew it'd work out just peachy keen (see what I did there??!), because of my loose knitting/tighter row gauge thing. The yarn was something I ordered a couple years ago, because some raveler just had knit up the most glorious project...in which colorway, I do not know, but I think I managed getting my skein on sale - yay!

The pattern knit up beautifully and FAST, which is always great. I had cast the brim on a couple weeks ago, before my beach weekend, and I let it sit on the needles until I finished Camden's Little Honey sweater. What makes me laugh is that I knew I had to work next on Tiberius's Antler cardigan, yet I somehow COMPLETELY forgot all about that in my fervor to work on something for myself ;) I will clearly get back to his cardigan now, as I need to cast on the sleeves. I feel bad, as it took me all winter, and I haven't yet finished a cardigan for the poor little guy.

Another reason I was pushed into starting this hat is seeing Jeanette (Bookish Stitcher Podcast) knit up a gorgeous version, which she showed off on her podcast last month. I clearly needed it - and it worked nicely into Nina's Palate Cleanser KAL (This Old Knit podcast).

Awwww!

Next up, we have the Cables and Twists Beanie by Jamie Sande. It was a lovely, simple pattern - less purling than Fathom, which was nice, too, LOL. I'd had this skein of Madelinetosh DK for years now, so, I yanked that sucker out of my stash and said it would be a hat for Tiberius (though it was originally meant for Matt - oops!). The colorway is Terrarium, and it is a lovely green that sadly didn't come out well in the photos, both because of lighting and Tiberius acting like a crazy person. I apologize for the poor quality :O

And...how most photos went...

It is a FREEEEE pattern, which is a bonus! I probably cast on ten fewer stitches, and I could have maybe gone up a needle size. It's not snug at the moment, but I hope it actually fits through NEXT winter. I also maybe could have gone a smidge taller, but whatevs at this point, aha! Of course, it seems like there is enough yarn yet in the skein for maybe some mittens???? That'd be awesome! I'll have to remember that a million months from now!

And now...a million days in review!!