I just finished a fun project this morning.  Even though I'd made these tiny trees before, when Martin Storey came to my town and my local yarn store, I couldn't resist taking a class from this amazing teacher, knitter, designer and gentleman.  I'm a fan!  The little trees are addictive to make and are in his book, Easy Fairisle Knits.  This book is not available in North America, but Martin said he has expanded the book to double it's size, and this new version will be available everywhere in late 2015 or early 2016.  I'll be on top of it and let you know when it's out; he says there are some great new designs he's really happy with.  He said, "I know you're going to love it!"

In the class Martin shared his tips for holding and carrying the yarn when doing fairisle.  Also, he is a big fan of beading and showed his very easy beading technique.  I am now a big fan of beading too, and can't wait to get to beading this fall when Rowan and Swarovski debut their collaboration of knitting with crystals just in time for the holidays.  What Rowan and Swarovski have come up with is completely gorgeous in every way.  As soon as I can share more, I will, believe me.

Back to the trees: I'd made the tiny trees garland from the book; there's also an adorable pillow and afghan that use the trees, but I thought this time I'd make Christmas ornaments.  Whenever I have a fiddly project like this, I like to gather my supplies on a lipped tray and set it next to me.  The little bits are easier to find than if I'd used a basket, and the lip keeps things from getting lost in between the sofa cushions.  

The yarn used was Rowan Felted Tweed DK.  A few people in the class hadn't used it before and it was a big hit!  If you haven't knit with it yet, it's one of those yarns that is very easy to handle and makes a beautiful fabric, even if your tension is less than perfect. For the backing, I used 100% wool felt from Purl Soho that I treated myself to when I was in NYC last year.  I whipped stitched knitted trees and felt together and stuffed with a tiny bit of batting.  I left the cast off end for hanging and took a picture of them dangling on some branches I have in a large vase in my kitchen.  These bare branches are great for showcasing different holiday themes: at Easter I glue-gun tiny baby chicks on them and on July 4th they get tiny flags.  As much as I don't really care for Halloween, in October I do like to glue-gun black spiders on the branches and it's been know to house a scary web too. 

Just for the class, Martin had directions for a beaded (my favorite) and striped tree.

The book has several fairisle patterns to choose from.

I was in my sewing room all morning; glorious, as it had been a long while since I'd had a chance to spend quality time in my favorite room in the house.  My husband poked his head in and said, "Playing in your room this morning, hon?" Why, yes.  I was in the middle of an extremely important project.  On Sunday I'd taken an old, unused gray organizer from the attic and spray painted it white.  This morning I reached for my impossibly-difficult-to-keep-tidy button box and COMPLETELY organized all my buttons by color and style and put them into separate drawers.  It made me so happy--I was all smiles and singing when he popped in again.  I explained what I was doing, and I must have had a crazy-mad smile on my face, because he came over and kissed my cheek and said, "You're weird."  No matter what he says, I know I'm not.

Rowan is introducing three new DK weight yarns this season.  I previewed Alpaca Merino DK last week and today's previews are for Pure Wool Superwash DK and Super Fine Merino DK.  

Pure Wool DK is similar to their Pure Wool Worsted in every way except weight.  PWDK will knit up to a standard DK gauge of 22 sts. per 4 inches.  It has the same even stitches and is of course machine washable.  I consider this a family type yarn suitable for garments that will get a lot of wash and wear.  I am finishing up a baby sweater knit with this and the stitches are very even and the yarn is very well behaved.  I'll show you next week.  This is a sturdy, hard-wearing yarn.

Rowan has come out with three weights of Super Fine Merino: 4 ply or also known as fingering weight (28 sts. per 4 inches), a DK weight, and an Aran weight (19 sts. per 4 inches). We often see merino on a wool label and knitters know that to mean a high quality yarn.  Merino wool's elasticity and softness make it popular for knitters. But of the worldwide production of merino, only 5% can call themselves superfine.  Superfine is next-to-the-skin soft and even the most wool sensitive will want to give this one a try.  The fingering weight is great for baby sweaters and when Martin Storey was in town he showed me his newest book of baby designs featuring this yarn. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Both of these yarns will remain crisp when knit in cables or colorwork.  Both are machine washable, but always use care when machine washing your precious hand knits.  I never fail to use a mesh sweater bag with cool water and a gentle cycle.  The ball bands on both yarns say to dry flat.  I'll be honest and admit I often sneak a superwash into a low temp. dryer.  My method is to dry it flat until it's half dry.  Next, it goes in the dryer on low for 15ish minutes to fluff it up but I'll take it out before it's bone dry.  Then I pat it flat to dry the last bit.  I generally think the ball bands tend to be more cautious than is necessary.  Even when clothing labels say to dry clean, I often just don't see any reason why I can't hand wash, so I will and have success.  I think you just have to be practical.

The 12 designs below are from Martin Storey's supporting book called Easy DK Knits.  The look is casual and the knitting is easy.  Let's begin!  

I saw Barbican below at TNNA.  The entire sweater is just reverse stockinette with stockinette and garter stitch stripes.  It was stunning and the color, Marl, is soft and heathery.

Brixton above has large sideways cables sandwiched between ribbing. 

 Dulwich below, with deep dolman sleeves, is in my queue.

At first glance I looked past Greenwich, above.  But then I thought, what a comfy slouchy weekend pullover!  The texture is easily made with a simple rib-like stitch.  It would be heaven in the Super Fine.  

Hampstead below has rolled stockinette hems and neckline.  It would showcase the even stitches that hallmark a bouncy merino like Super Fine Merino DK.

Holborn above is my favorite. I have perfect yarn in my stash: one strand of KSH Stripe and one strand of Fine Art Lace held together.  It's going to be pretty.  

I really do love cables, but sometimes wonder if I really look all that great in the bulk.  Here is a nice way to add cables without adding bulk.  It would be easy to lengthen Hampstead, below.

Me:  I finished something pink.

Him:  Nice!

Whenever I make something in pink, my husband says, "Why don't you just knit everything in pink?"  It's nice that he likes me to wear pink because I like to wear it too!

The pattern is Goldie from Kim Hargreaves' Honey book.  I've knit this pattern before using one strand of Kidsilk Haze Eclipse (the sparkly KSH) combined with one strand of Rowan Fine Lace.  As soon as I finished it I knew I would have to knit another for summer.  This yarn is Rowan Panama, which for me knits up at 25 sts. per 4 inches.  The pattern calls for the gauge to be 23 sts. per 4 inches. By making my gauge smaller I was able to bring the sweater size in a little bit so it wouldn't be quite as blousey as the model.  Even with that modification, I decreased the stitches in the width and made the dolman sleeves less wide.  The V is very deep, which I like, but I'll often wear a cami underneath to be on the safe side.

Panama is sublime.  It's my second time using it and I love it for summer--it practically floats on your skin and is a yarn I can wear even in the hottest weather--it always feels cool.  It's a nubby, fingering weight combination of viscose, cotton and linen.  Simple stockinette in Panama has a lot of texture and beautiful drape.  Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but I put the sweater in the washer and dryer and it comes out perfect each time.  I'm pretty certain the ball band does not recommend this, but it works for me.  If I put any sweater in the washer I turn it inside-out and use a mesh sweater bag and use cool water.  If I put a sweater in the dryer, first I would lay it flat until it's half dry, then put it in the dryer on low for 10-15 minutes, maybe less, then take it out while still a teensy bit damp and pat it flat to finish drying. 

As much as I like to touch knit stockinette, (knitting without looking) I don't recommend it for this yarn, I found that I dropped stitches too often.  But if you look at what you're doing--and I know that probably sounds funny to recommend actually looking at your knitting--you'll find it easy going on your hands and your needles.  I liked using my sharp, wood, Knit Pick Caspians as they had just enough of a point to dig the stitch without snagging and the slick wood has just enough "grab" for the yarn.   The right needle choice for Panama is a must, so I would experiment to find what works best for you.

The neckline is supposed to be deep and wide when finished but while knitting you might think it will never work as it seems WAY too deep and WAY too wide.  Don't worry about it.  Keep knitting and follow instructions.  At the end, you pick up the neck stitches, knit for an inch or so, then bind off.  It will bring it all in.  

I am absolutely loving wearing this style of sweater.  Martin Storey has a similar pattern new for fall that I plan on making soon in the Alpaca Merino DK, the new yarn that I previewed last week.  I think it will be a perfect yarn/pattern match.  

Sorry about these poor, grainy photographs.  It's just me and my computer some days and it's either that, or no picture at all.  I have several more sweaters--and two of those are pink--and two cowls to share too.  I'm so behind in blogging about FOs and I hope to correct that this month.  So this summer there are more FOs, lots of reviews of the new yarns and some cool giveaways.  Come back soon! xo

Read about Rowan Panama here.

The pattern Goldie is from Kim Hargreave's Honey.

My Ravelry project page for Pinkie

Knit Pick Caspians/Rainbows, my must-have go-to needle.

This pattern was inspired by a little baby I met in San Francisco who was wearing a similar sweater.  A Ravelry search came up with nothing except a years-old out-of-print publication, so I decided to recreate it myself and offer the pattern to my readers for free. (Edited to add that in 2020 I sized the pattern to fit 1-8 years, links below.)

 

I made my sweaters from scraps of Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted left over from the Martin Storey Afghan KAL and the Kaffe Fassett KAL.  In the model sweater above, I used a fourth color for the back, but the pattern is written for three colors.  This is meant to be a real scrappy sweater and as long as you make gauge and use a soft, machine-washable yarn (it’s for baby after all), you can be thrifty and raid your stash using 3, 4, 5 or more colors. The color possibilities are endless and I can't wait to see what you come up with!  If you would like a summer sweater, I suggest Rowan Handknit Cotton or Rowan Softknit Cotton.  Both will give you gauge and both are machine washable. 

I've sized Gingersnap for one year, which is my favorite size to knit for baby.  Hear me out:  At one year old, babies are sitting up, walking about, smiling and laughing, clapping their hands, and generally causing a lot of commotion and attention to themselves, and thereby, giving a lot of attention to your nice sweater!  I'm also going to size this for an 18" doll because I love to knit for dolls and know a lot of my readers do too.  Give me a few weeks for that, so stay tuned.  Gingersnap is available as a free download on Ravelry.  If you don't belong to Ravelry, it's free, so sign up right away!  This pattern is suitable for a beginner.

August 5, edited to add:  By changing the gauge by using DK weight yarn, you can make a 6 mos. size.  Read about that here.

Even a baby sweater deserves a bit of fine finishing attention.  The direction of your increases and decreases make a difference in appearance, see the neck decreases above.  The pattern explains which way the decreases should go so they will be neat and tidy.  Professional looking seams, below, take a bit of practice, but they are easily achieved.  This sweater is a perfect project to practice your finishing techniques.  YouTube has some excellent video tutorials. 

Get your free Gingersnap pattern here, size 1 year only

Gingersnap for Bigger Kids, size 1-8

The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted

in colors, Granite, Gold, Soft Cream and Moonstone on the back.

The colors used in the sweaters below are Candy, Charcoal Gray and Soft Cream

and Gold, Bottle and Soft Cream.

Today I received the OK from Rowan to start previewing the 2015/16 Fall/Winter yarns and books.  As a Rowan Ambassador, I receive a preview pack each season containing sample skeins of the Rowan new yarns and the supporting pattern books.  It's HEAVEN! I was swooning and you'll be swooning too, so stay tuned because in the next two weeks I'll share them all. 

Alpaca Merino DK has a chain construction of 83% baby alpaca and superfine alpaca, 7% extra fine Merino wool and 10% nylon added for strength.  Whenever you see the words baby, superfine or extra fine, it means it will be super soft, and this yarn is indeed super soft.  Alpaca is warm, and because of the chain construction, it is very lofty and lightweight.  I imagine it will be very comfortable and lightweight to wear.  There are 10 colors in the shade range; two whites, several warm autumn colors and several jewel tones.  Winterscapes by Sarah Hatton has 12 designs supporting the new Alpaca Merino DK.  I'm adding 3 to my queue!

Rhodeswood above is perhaps my favorite.  I love full dolman sleeves when they neatly finish at the forearm with deep ribbing.  Because the Alpaca Merino DK is so lightweight, this big blousey sweater will feel like a cloud to wear.   I will be making it in either these two colors shown; the body is a deep purple and the ribbing is in navy, or I was thinking of making it in the two whites!  Hmmm, must give this some thought!

Langsett below has side insets of a ridge pattern that I think will make a very flattering silhouette.  In my stash I have some Rowan Fine Art and Rowan Kidsilk Haze, that when knit together get perfect gauge for this pattern.  It's almost the same lovely shade of blue.  I like the wide neck opening too.  I've already cast on.

Above is Millstone.  

At first I thought it was a vest, but nope, it's a sweater.  Ingenious use of fairisle colorwork.

Below is the Wheatland Hat and Cowl.

Above is Crowden with a classic cable pattern.  Etherow below is quite gorgeous.  First, love the color (Hoby) but also love the vintage ski-party look.  It is worked bottom-up in the round up to the armholes where you'll join the sleeves.  The yoke decreases are next with some shaping, then fairisle technique for the white snowflakes. 

Above is Padfield, a peplum jacket
and below is the cover project, Wedenshaw Hat and Scarf.
Wearing this yarn around the neck would be heavenly.

And speaking of covers, too bad this model is not simply GORGEOUS!
I love her haircut!  Her hair color is very retro.  Reminds me of Kim Novak.