F.O. Old Romance by Joji Locatelli

Pattern:  Old Romance

Old Romance

Designer:  Joji Locatelli

Yarn:  Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino 20 (70% merino, 20% cashmere 10% nylon)

Colourway:  Verve

Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino 20

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light  (100% merino)

Colourway:  Cathedral

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light

Needles:  3.5mm and 3.0mm

Ravelry:  my notes

Added Notes:

1. I enjoyed the unique construction of knitting Japan Sleeves by Joji Locatelli three years ago, and I decided I wanted to repeat the fun, and knit the cardigan version of the pattern.  I finally got around to it, and started the lace inserts on January 1, 2018.  I don't usually take four months to complete a sweater, but this is one of those patterns that I would pick up and add a few rows now and again, while I worked on other projects.  The first step for this pattern is to knit the lace for the sleeves and this took me quite a bit of time.  After construction of the lace strips Joji has you cleverly join both to create the sleeves. 

Construction of the sleeves

However, that's where the fun ended for me.  After the sleeves were constructed the remainder of the sweater is knit in stockinette and I felt that it went on forever.  My only modification was to knit the body two inches shorter than suggested in the pattern.  With blocking the cardigan grew a couple inches so the length ended up perfect for me.

2.  I was lucky to get Sweet Fiber's Verve colourway during one of the shop updates.  I first spotted this colourway on a trip to Victoria to the Beehive Wool Shop and saw a shop sample of Viajante by Martina Behm knit in this gorgeous shade of purple.  Unfortunately, it is no longer listed as one of the colourways that Sweet Fiber dyes.

3.  I usually stay away from variegated yarn when knitting lace but I am pleased with the result.  However, I find that the Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light pills quite a bit and my lace inserts are no exception.  I have knit a few sweaters with this yarn and they all pill. And for that reason, I have learned that I prefer to knit sweaters with plied yarn, not single ply.

4.  The boredom I experienced while knitting the body was forgotten when I tried on the sweater.  This is an open cardigan that will be perfect to slip on top of whatever I am wearing.  The cashmere content in the Sweet Fiber Yarns makes a super soft fabric and since it is a fingering weight it will be worn year round. My conclusion is that it was definitely worth it!

A Look Back: 2017

Like so many of you, I have continued my obsession with knitting and yarn.  I think there has to be some kind of Ravelry record set this year for the number of patterns published.  It seemed like everyday new patterns were popping up on the Ravelry Pattern page.  It was hard to keep up.  I have enjoyed checking out all the new patterns and yarn throughout the year and the size of my queue is ridiculous.  There are just so many patterns I want to knit.  I think we can all agree that 2017 will be remembered as the Year of the Fade thanks to Andrea Mowry.

I present to you my annual round up of favourites for 2017.

Best Yarn Shop:  Haus of Yarn, Nashville, Tennessee
The variety of yarn, the size and warmth of the store, and quantity of knitted samples was impressive.  I would highly recommend this store to anyone visiting the Nashville area.  You can read about my visit here. 

Just a sample of what Haus of Yarn carries (Wool & Boon and Old Rusted Chair)

Feyre Shawl by Shannon Cook:  one of the many samples at the store

Best Sweater/Cardigan:  Camira by Carol Feller. 
I love this cardigan's unique construction and how well it fits.  It is a sweater I wear on a weekly basis, and I think it would look great knit in many different yarns.  

Camira by Carol Feller

Best Yarn Brand:  Woolfolk
I have knit a number of accessories in this yarn and love everything about it.  It is incredible to wear, and my dream would be to knit a cardigan in this yarn.  I would never take it off.

On the C Train knit in Woolfolk Fär

Best Yarn Colour:  Maize by Tanis Fiber Arts (Purple Label)
One of my favourite things to do is to photograph yarn.  When you have a colourway that looks like this, it is an absolute joy.  Tanis outdid herself when she created this colourway specifically for Knit City 2017.  

Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label:  Maize colourway

Best Knitted Accessory:   Deep Woods Toque by Kiyomi Burgin. 
My favourite accessory was a hat I knit for my daughter, using Tanis Fiber Arts' Purple Label Yarn, combined with Sweet Fiber Yarns Super Sweet Sock.  I love everything about this hat.  The colour combination and finished product makes me so happy.

Deep Woods Toque

Yarn That Impressed Me:   Gauge Dyeworks Merino Twist Classic (colourway All Together Now) 
I knit Martina Behm's very popular Hitchhiker using this beautiful colourway.  I love how the yarn colour switches back and forth.  I think the dyer behind this yarn is super talented.  Just have a look at the shawl below to see what I mean.

Gauge Dyework Merino Twist Classic

Hitchhiker Shawl

Best Knitting Instagram Feed:  1. Clara Parkes (Instagram stories)
If you haven't checked out Clara Parkes Instagram stories you definitely should.  She is so witty and her stories always make me laugh.
2. Instagram Photos:   As for Instagram pictures this is an impossible choice.  The amount of talent on Instagram is incredible and inspiring (and a bit overwhelming trying to keep up to be completely honest).  Some of my favourites are:  espacetricot, quinceandco, boylandknitworks, happycactusdesigns, soveryshannon and mysocalledhandmadelife.

Best Knitting Magazine:  Laine Magazine
This Nordic knitwear magazine showcases impressive patterns by talented designers, as well as interesting articles.  It is an enjoyable read and totally worth every cent.  If you haven't had a chance to look at a copy yet, you can check out the patterns from the magazine on Ravelry.  

A few of my favourite publications

Best Knitting Vlog/Podcast:  Melissa and Lisa of Espace Tricot wins hands down for me this year. 
This definitely was the year of the podcast. There are so many talented vloggers out there, but the owners of Espace Tricot (a Montreal yarn store) are consistently enjoyable to watch.  Each time I watch their podcast I always learn something new, and end up adding patterns to my queue.  I find them so entertaining and talented.  

Favourite Designer:  Andrea Mowry  
I have yet to fade anything, but I admire Andrea's talent and prolific designing.  I have many of her patterns in my queue and will definitely knit a few of her designs in 2018.  Here is one of Andrea's patterns called Goldfinch that I knit this year.

Goldfinch by Andrea Mowry
knit in O-Wash O-Wool Sport

I am also super impressed with Caitlin Hunter and her unique designs.  I am excited to see her new designs in 2018.

Best Yarn Show:  Knit City in Vancouver
I have to be honest and admit that I only went to one show this year, but wow, it was a great one!  Everyone involved in Knit City was super friendly.  There was so many talented designers and dyers, as well as amazing classes by talented teachers. Vancouver is my favourite Canadian city to visit too. If you can only go to one show next year this is the show you need to get to.

Designs by Sylvia McFadden

I think it was a great year in the knitting world.  I am excited to see what new designers emerge in 2018 and what's hot.  What were some of your favourites?

F.O. Deep Woods Toque by Kiyomi Burgin

Pattern:  Deep Woods Toque
Designer: Kiyomi Burgin

Yarn: Sweet Fiber Yarns Super Sweet Sock:  80% merino 20% nylon
Colourway: Vintage Lace

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label Cashmere Sock:  70% Merino 20% Nylon and 10% Cashmere
Colourway: Maize

Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label Cashmere Sock

Needles:   2.75mm and 3.25mm

Ravelry: my notes

Added Notes:  
1. This was a fun pattern to knit.  Once I got through the 5-1/4 inch of fingering weight ribbing the tree pattern knit up quickly.  I like the way the brim folds up offering that extra warmth on your ears.
2. Tanis Fiber Arts and I go way back.  She was the first indie dyer I bought yarn from in 2011 when I got back into knitting. Since that time I have knit 38 projects with her yarn!  When I saw the colourway Tanis dyed for Knit City this year I knew I wanted to do something special with it.  I decided to knit Deep Woods Toque which had been in my queue for some time.  I love how good this colourway looks when paired with Antique Lace.  The bonus is I still have enough of the Tanis Fiber Arts skein left to knit another small project.

3.  The only modification I made was to knit the first row in the same colour as the trees and not in a contrasting colour as the pattern suggests.

I hope you are enjoying your knitting and are not too frantic during this holiday season.  Happy weekend!
p.s. Thank you to my daughter for modelling this hat.  I had her in mind when I knit it.

F.O. Camira by Carol Feller

I can't tell you how much I enjoy knitting a sweater or cardigan which is constructed in an unique way.  For example patterns such as Hitofude by Hiroko Fukatsu, Japan Sleeves by Joji Locatelli, and Capall Dubh by Carol Feller are examples of beautiful patterns with interesting constructions that I have knit.

Once I saw Carol Feller's gorgeous cardigan for this year's KAL (knitalong) I joined right away. I knew I was in for an entertaining knit.  I was not disappointed.  The directions were broken up into four clues and were very clear.  Additional help, if needed, was available in the discussion boards and that made the project so easy and fun to follow.  Here are the details:

Pattern:  Camira

Camira front view

Camira back view

Designer: Carol Feller

Sweet Fiber Yarns Merino Twisted Worsted

Yarn:  Sweet Fiber Yarns Merino Twist Worsted (100% Merino 183m)
5.5 skeins

Colourway:  OOAK 

I have been a long time fan of Sweet Fiber Yarns and was lucky enough to snatch up six skeins of this yarn at the Knit City yarn festival at the end of September. (I used the word snatch as it was an extremely busy booth and these were the only skeins of this particular colourway).  It is very hard to capture the correct colour of this yarn, but the swatch below gives you an idea of the gorgeous mix between purple and  blue. 

Needles:   4.5mm & 4mm

Ravelry:  Camira

Added Notes:

1.  The construction of this cardigan was unique and very entertaining. The directions were broken down into four clues. The first step was to knit the center column of the back. 

Clue 1

Next the sleeves were constructed coming out from the center column. The bonus of this step was having the sleeves done so early in the pattern.

Clue 2

Then stitches were picked up around the front and the back and the rest of the body was completed for Clue Three.  For the final clue the collar and button band were knitted.

 2.  I did not want my cardigan to have too much positive ease and kept that in mind when choosing the size.  Prior to blocking the sleeves were a bit snug and the sweater length was not quite as long as I wanted.  But as with anything knit with superwash yarn, the cardigan grew with blocking, and I am very happy with the resulting fit.

3.  I tried to take some photos of myself to show you the fit.  My son usually helps me out when I need a photo taken of myself but he was not available to help.  Luckily I finally bought myself a tripod and I braved the cold weather to try and get a decent shot of myself. The following was the best one out of the bunch.  All the ones with my face in it consisted of me with either a weird expression on my face or the photo was not in focus.  I definitely need to practice! 

I would highly recommend this pattern as it was a very fun knit, but not difficult at all.  If you are nervous about knitting this cardigan, there are lots of photos and support given in the Discussion Boards, that should answer any questions you may have. Enjoy!

Knit City 2017 Vancouver

I finally found time to look at my photos from my visit to Vancouver and Knit City a few weeks ago.  Sorry for the delay!  I had an incredible time and I highly recommend going next year if you have the chance.  If you asked me to describe Knit City with just one word I would choose fun.  Everything about this well run event was terrific. The booths in the venue were roomy and never felt overcrowded. The attendees of the yarn show were enthusiastic and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  The designers and dyers were very friendly, and the quality of Canadian talent was evident.  I heard Stephen West speak and he was so funny, and at the same time inspiring.  Although I did not take a class, there were a variety of talented instructors and classes scheduled, which were well received.

Here are just a few photos of the event to give you an idea of what was available.  I will let the photos speak for themselves.  I have included links to each of these companies.

Yarn Ink

Sweet Fiber Yarns

Ancient Arts Yarn

Gauge Dyeworks

Colourway:  All Together Now

Fibre Art Studio

Designers
Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook

West Coast Cardigan by Jane Richmond

Beacon Hill Cardigan by Jane Richmond

Shannon Cook's shawls on display

Tin Can Knits

Clayoquot cardigan

Triptych mittens and Prism Hat

Sylvia McFadden

Gentle Armour by Sylvia McFadden

Shawls by Sylvia McFadden

Lanterns knit in fingering
see my version of Lanterns knit in Sweet Fiber DK cashmere

Of course I did not go away empty handed!  I have been posting some of my purchases on my Instagram feed.  If you want to have a look check it out here.  Stephen West said in his talk on the Friday night that instead of the word "stash" he prefers to think of it as, "We are curators of collections." That works for me.  And after that weekend my collection is growing.   : )