Tag Archives: ysolda teague

Obnoxious Birds

You may recall that about three hundred years ago I started a certain cardigan project with birds.

Well, I’m happy to announce that after nearly a year of frustrated knitting and two long hiatuses, I am officially almost done with this one.

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[Cue maniacal crazed laughter.]

No, but seriously. I was looking for steeking tips in other people’s project notes and every time someone said “This project was SUCH a delight to knit” I wanted to stab them in the eyeballs a little bit.

But violence is bad.

Anyway, I finally faced my fears and hacked a project I’d been working on for nearly a year in half. I’m kind of proud. I’m also fairly certain that my steeking techniques are entirely made up. In any case, it seems to be holding remarkably well. All that’s left is the garter stitch edging. And weaving in the ends. And blocking. And seaming the underarms.

So possibly another year’s work.

(Apologies for the crap cell phone photos. My camera is hiding from me.)

Finished Project: Veyla in Dusk

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Pattern: Veyla by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in Dusk
Started: December 20, 2011
Finished: December 21, 2011

Ravelry page

I think I’m jinxed when it comes to Ysolda’s patterns.

I absolutely love nearly all of her designs, but I’m always a little apprehensive to start one because for some reason I will always inevitably make some stupid mistake or assumption that leads to a tangled mess that does not remotely resemble something wearable.

When I first started these, the first thing I did wrong was to assume that because they were gloves, they must be knit in the round. So I cast on 23 stitches and started knitting in round. It was not until an embarrassing number of stitches later that I realized that I was knitting a pretty little finger warmer.

My next attempt failed because I didn’t realize the chart is read back and forth and not all from the same side. In my defense, I’ve never actually used a chart that wasn’t symmetrical before. In my stupidity, I failed to realize that the chart was also written out until after I finished an entire cuff.

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In the end we came to a truce, and the result is these gorgeous little gloves. These are going to live with my friend but I have a ton of the yarn left since they hardly require any so I’m definitely making a pair for myself.

Note to self: you have tiny wrists and maniacally large hands so make a small cuff and a large mitt.

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Finished Project: Veyla in Dusk

CIMG2185

Pattern: Veyla by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in Dusk
Started: December 20, 2011
Finished: December 21, 2011

Ravelry page

I think I’m jinxed when it comes to Ysolda’s patterns.

I absolutely love nearly all of her designs, but I’m always a little apprehensive to start one because for some reason I will always inevitably make some stupid mistake or assumption that leads to a tangled mess that does not remotely resemble something wearable.

When I first started these, the first thing I did wrong was to assume that because they were gloves, they must be knit in the round. So I cast on 23 stitches and started knitting in round. It was not until an embarrassing number of stitches later that I realized that I was knitting a pretty little finger warmer.

My next attempt failed because I didn’t realize the chart is read back and forth and not all from the same side. In my defense, I’ve never actually used a chart that wasn’t symmetrical before. In my stupidity, I failed to realize that the chart was also written out until after I finished an entire cuff.

CIMG2184

In the end we came to a truce, and the result is these gorgeous little gloves. These are going to live with my friend but I have a ton of the yarn left since they hardly require any so I’m definitely making a pair for myself.

Note to self: you have tiny wrists and maniacally large hands so make a small cuff and a large mitt.

CIMG2186

Mysterious.

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I have no idea where these knitting needles came from.

I had been oggling Ysolda Teague’s Peaks Island Hood pattern for weeks (actually I’ve been oggling most of Ysolda’s patterns for weeks) and finally caved and bought it. Three of the projects I’ve been working on lately have been sweaters and I needed some instant gratification (well, not instant, but instant-er than a month).

After waiting impatiently for the file to download (three of the longest seconds of my life), I opened it up and read through what I needed. At first I was going to splurge and buy some of the Green Mountain Spinnery yarn that she used, but then I realized that I don’t really need a $52 scarf. I might buy some anyway though, that stuff looks delicious.

I dug around my stash and found some Lion Brand Wool-Ease that I had bought during a yarn sale (because it’s so expensive to begin with) because it was pretty. The color is called seafoam, and it just screamed at me to be made into this scarf/hood. I took another look at the pattern. US size 10 needles. I was positive I didn’t have any in that size. My knitting needle collection is pretty sparse. I hadn’t really started knitting until recently so I pretty much just have single pairs of needles that I grabbed off the shelf because they looked about right. I decided to take a look anyway so I could pick up a few other sizes I might need for the upcoming projects in my queue.

And somehow there, sticking out the side of my knitting basket, was a pair of size 10.5s.

I’M SO CONFUSED.

When it comes to sewing stuff I have so much it’s hard to keep track of and I’m always running into things I had forgotten I owned, but not so with the knitting stuffs.

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Anyway, I’m not really asking questions. I decided that 10.5 is close enough to 10 so I cast on and now I’m about five inches into the 27 inches of seed stitch. (The above photo was taken about 25 rows ago.) Yay for happy mindless knitting!

In other news, I posted some Jayne Cobb hats in my etsy store. Feel free to check them out and, you know, buy one. 🙂

Chirp.

orange
Call me weird but yesterday I came home from work and immediately developed a huge craving for oranges. I peeled a bunch of clementines and broke the sections apart and stuck them in the fridge for a bit. I guess I won’t be getting scurvy anytime soon.

In other news, it’s my weekend!

I was so excited about finally getting to the color-work portion of Little Birds that I somehow got through a whole pattern repeat last night. This sweater is actually coming along pretty quickly now that the ribbing is done.

I’m a little rusty on colorwork so the birds aren’t as pretty as everyone else’s pictures on Ravelry. Or maybe it’s just the fact that I keep holding it two centimeters from my nose and inspecting it for mistakes.
Little birds
Aren’t they cute though??

Little Birds

I should also mention that I have absolutely no idea if I’m doing this right. I’m also terrified of the steaking part but we’ll cross that bridge in about four bird rows.

I might take a break from this in a bit to work on Beatnik because it’s been neglected for at least a week now.

Lastly, I’m pretty sure I’ve been spelling Ysolda Teague’s name incorrectly (with an “I”) up until today.