Showing posts with label Vogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vogue. Show all posts

Monday, October 13, 2008

Fo : Kiwi Green Gable

Yes I did complete the whole thing yesterday night, but had to wait for some light and a person to play photographer (read my mom) before to able to show you my hard work !!!


Please have a seat and enjoy the view...




Name of the pattern : #28 Vihervaara-huppari / GreenGable - hoodie

Availabre in the Vogue knitting magazine fall 2008


Cast on : September 5th when I leave for my travel in Spain

Cast off : October 12nd


I could have finish was faster but I had some distractions in between start and finish and for sure I did not knit at all in Spain.


Needles : 6.5 mm Kitpicks interchangeable wood harmony (I LOVE THEM !)

Size : 36-38 (I was a bit off gauge so I played in between the 2 sizes)


Yarn : Cascade Eco +, under 2 skein of yarn

The yarn is really cool and I recommand it. The stiches definition is clear and it react really real to unraveling (since I did the yoke twice and frogged some part quite a few time it was helpful to have a yarn like this). I have another full skein in this color + another skein in red, I'll find another fun project to work it. I really like the fact that the ball is big and has enough yardage you can actually do a short sleeve sweater out of one single ball and it was pretty cheap (14.95$ canadian).


Pattern note : Umm, the first thing I want to say is a good thing : the sweater construction and fit is fantastic, I love it and will wear it a lot this winter for sure. The second thing I want to point out is that it's not really a beginner pattern because a lot of parts in the pattern are unclear and you have to know how to resolve your own problem to go through the whole thing. In general it does look like to most of Vogue pattern, errors in the pattern, unclear and really helpful to read other persons comment on Ravelry or on their blog for sure !!!


First sweater of the year, maybe I'll have time to knit another one by the end of the year :)

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The yoke of doom

Yes I am at the shoulder and hood really soon now ! But the pattern is so unclear sometime + I am in between gauge and size so it makes it a bit harder for me...


I had redone the yoke twice because I had missed out a complete row in the cables pattern, yikes, so I undo and redo the whole thing again and now I am pleased with it, finally ! If anyone is looking to do this particular sweater, always read way ahead in the pattern and use your imagination/intuition to move forward or you will maybe be stucked somewhere !


Out of these technicalities, the sweater is really cool and so far the fit is perfect on me : YES ! I was so afraid of not getting the good size, but it's perfect ! :) Can't wait to be finish on this one... it will be soon count on me for this.


As I unraveled quite a few time I can say the yarn act beautifully and I react well to knit/unknit factor without any problems. (Reminder it's Cascade Eco + in color Kiwi)


Until the end of the project at least here are the proofs that I have 2 sleeves and a yoke completed !!!


And for now what about a cookie ?


Sunday, September 28, 2008

Spain part 2 and a right sleeve !



Hello !

Now let's talk about our second stop in Spain : Marbella, one of the cutest beach resort city I have seen. Life seems to be cool and relax in that place of the globe and I feel like I would stay there for all the sunny season ! We spent 3 days in Marbella including transportation by bus from and to Malaga for our connection to other destinations.

Marbella is a city of around 115 000 inhabitant. Like in the rest of Spain, economy is hard for tourism related industry and there are a lot of empty restaurant at night. But the terrasses were almost all full in the Old city where we were lodging. The motto of the city is "A way of life" and I can tell that I can adjust to that life for sure ! It's kind of the "St-Tropez" of la Costa del Sol in Spain. There are plenty of artist and rich people who crossed those streets. Back to Orange Square, or "La Plaza de los Naranjos", as it is called in Spanish, expect to meet with stately buildings, small shops, art galleries, bars and bistros and is a hub of activity day and night.

You can also take a walk on the Avenida del Mar where you can find classy restaurant, bar, and concrete skycraper just a few step away from the sea. Marbella coastline is 26km long. We tried some restaurants with the most delicious seafood at night for dinner and fabulous tapas for the lunch (to be enjoyed with a cold beer).


The beach is perfect and here you can see me in the water (really cold!)




Night at the restaurant




The sand alligator




Truly, I wish I could go back soon in this beautiful place and spend a lot of time sleeping under the sun, shoping in the shop all around and enjoy good meal everynight !


Now about knitting...


I have finish my right sleeve, yay for me ! I did not spend that much time on knitting this week, first week back to work is always a bit crazy and everyone is asking about the travel and want to go lunch with you and since you can't say no you finish by spending way too much time at lunch and you have to finish your day later... ouf. Viva la vida loca ! It's fun to be appreciate at work but it's a lot of work too ! haha !

I still enjoy the pattern a lot, the yarn and the combinaison of both seems to work great. Size is good. I am really proud of this work, all thoses littles stitches all together to form a sweater that's so cool. I love knitting ! As I lengthened the body, I am doing the same with the sleeve. I only have some trouble with my imagination to imagine all those part combining for the yoke... we'll see soon.

Look at the beast it is closer and closer to be a sweater now ! With a second sleeve it will be better for sure, so back to work on it !

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Back to real world

Welcome back to me and to the already coming : fall. When I leaved Quebec it was the full glory of the summer with 3-4 weeks of perfect hot weather and superb sun. Then I went to Spain having myself ann additionnal 2 weeks of wonderful weather and then...BANG... back to Quebec and it's cold ! My God ! it's almost time to wear jackets, hats and mittens. *sigh* Yes, welcome back to reality...


What about my travelling... umm where to begin, lol, been quite adventurous sometimes and so lazy at others. But in facts, I'm just so happy that I enjoyed 2 weeks with Mr.Wonderful in Spain, just the two of us 24/24.

First stop was on Malaga, a transit city in which we have spent 2 days and where I had my one and only Mojito drink of the whole trip since it cost us a bunch ! Can you ever imagine paying so much for so little attention at the end. It's horrible. So after that we only drank beer (cerveza), wine (vino) and water (agua) and if you don't speak spanish, the pronunciation is very far of what you're thinking ... for those like me who have french as first language it's easier, but I am lucky enough to get it fast because in lot and lot of place, they don't even know the existence of english or french.... hahaha !
So back to Malaga, it's the typical old town which grown up and became a center not for tourism but for living, working, commuting, etc. As we learned after it's not the place really to be a tourist. They are not really activities, not a lot of restaurant and since it's was a special holiday on the second day it's was worse and we spend the day walking around, taking picture and we followed a plan about what to see in Malaga, provided by the tourism office, but there is so few things to see you can do them all in the same day for sure.
The Cathedral



The Roman ruins



Oh and the good point is that Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, so I can accept that the city have a bigger interest to me, but be aware that the "Museo Picasso Malaga" is very small and they are not big artwork or anything you may know, the real thing is mostly in Madrid or Barcelona museums. So that's it about Malaga... it may sound rude or that I dislike the town, but in comparaison with the other location we visited... this is not my favorite at all.

I will continue with my other 3 locations in another post, because now for me it's almost bedtime, still a bit on jetlag and I have to work tomorow... :P

About knitting now : first of all I had no problems at all with my needles in the planes, security checks and all the places they checked on you around airport, train and autobus. For sure I choose Knitpick Harmony woods in circular version so it was not metal and second important point, I did not exibit it in the check points. I only use it in the place when flying and in my hotel room finally. And here are the results : the body of my Green Gable is done, it's a bit longer because I like it that way, but after the try on me, for sure I will pay attention with what I will wear it because chunky yarn is not friend with baggy style if you don't wanna look like 200 pound person !
That's all for tonigh folks, stay tune for the other 3 locations in Spain and possibly the right sleeve of Green Gabel by the end of the week...

Friday, August 22, 2008

Magic on my hand !

Yes I am talking about my Druid mittens, I love them a lot ! Clever pattern, fun construction and even if the chart look like very impressive at first look, after a pattern repeat it's always the same till the decrease at the top. I worked almost a full pattern repeat longer to fit in my very long fingers ! I should have done a full pattern repeat, but I'm sure they will strech a bit after washing and light blocking. My only complain except the weird gauge...is that the palm is not strech enough in comparaison to the back of the mitten unfortunatly. As I said light blocking and will see after.
Here the first one :




I did made a mistake, I made the same row twice, but when I saw it I was almost at the end so I decide to live with it and keep it as is. I'm sure I will forget about it sometime and it won't bother me anymore ! hehe !



My mom thought I was kind of crazy doing mitten in the sunnier part of the summer...I agree with her ! But, since I begin on this project we had so much sun and warm weather than I only think that I must have done that before !!!



I am very happy with my gauge on the 2.25mm, if you ever attempt the pattern, really take time to swatch of check after a few row how it looks. When I first cast on with the 3.25mm it was so large it could have almost fit on my head... talking of my head...since I love so much this yarn/pattern combinaison, why not buying another skein to make a matching Druid-ish hat ? Umm, sounds good... I will hunt on Ravelry if I can find a skein cheaper than at the LYS.



Dream in color smooshy if a breeze to work with and the stitches definition is perfect, I rarely give a five a 5 stars rating to anything but this yarn deserved it truly.



And what to say about VK ... I love the magasine, I want it for my birthday !!! :) Anybody heard, if you need a birthday gift idea, VK subscription is the thing that I want...

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Green Gable will be really green !

Hey I forgot to tell you that I received my yarn to do my Green Gable in my trip to Spain... the shipping was so fast ! I order in the evening of Sunday and received it on Wednesday ! Wow that what I call fast shipping !

I order the yarn at Kitknit in Ontario, fast and clear communication with the shop owner and the website is really esay to navigate. She even included some sampler of Eulacan in the package, how sweet ! Price are good and they carry most of Cascade Yarn. This is the brand I was looking for to do my hoodie : Cascade Eco in the very bright green color they called : Kiwi, look at this !!!

It will be a perfect combinaison I'm sure. I can't wait to received my new circular needles from Knitpicks to swatch this baby ! I will have a hard time not to cast on before September 5th when I have a long trip to do all alone in alone, knitting will be very welcome to keep me busy ! Yummy yarn and it feel great in my hands.

I also bought a skein in color "half baked" which is a deep red. I though it would be a bit closer to be pink than red but it's ok, I will find something cool to do with it.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Why not knit mitts

Don't you think august is the best month to knit mittens ? I do ! Weather is going to change fast I am kind of bored by socks for now... so why not switch to something funny and unusual to me. I choose the Druids Mittens from Fall Vogue Knitting 2008. This magazine is awesome, I will ask for a subscription as a present maybe... :)


Come to my mittens...



I had hard time on finding correct gauge, there is no way I was getting it on recommand 3.25 mm ... unless I wanted to put both hand in the same mitten ! I had to get down to 2.25mm, 2.5mm would have been better but they were busy at the moment. 2.25mm give me a snuggly fit that I appreciate on my hand to drive my car. I don't like to wear too big mittens I feel like having bags on my hand instead of mitts. So far it's a popular pattern on Ravelry and I know why, they look complicated but in fact if you know how to knit, purl and do cables, you can do them ! Try them by yourself and you will be surprise how fast they knit up. For exemple, I cast on for them in the evening yesterday and I am halfway of the left mitten. Not bad...



Yarn is my beloved Dream in color smooshy, color Happy Forest. I love love love the way it look so far !



I let you judges, mitts in august ?



Mods none so far but I think I will made them a repeat or two longuer to fit my long fingers and will probably do the same in the thunb section.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

News delivery


Hey look what I got this week in the mail... 3 new magasines ! Knitting one for sure... First the ever wanted Interweave knit, Spring 2007, then Vogue knitting spring/summer 2008 and the Vogue knitting fall 2008 !!!

Too much knitting in the same letter box, maybe it will explode one day...
Look at these...

From IK Spring...


From Vogue spring/summer


(if I could lose another 10 pounds)


Sweet shrug !


From Vogue fall

the now famous druids mittens !

and at last, my very loved Green Gable... (I ordered yarn for it today...)