Cedar Vest
Pattern: Honeycomb Vest – Knitty, Spring 2008
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, “Cedar” colorway
Source: The Mannings, East Berlin, Pennsylvania
In stash since January 2008
Needles: Size US 4 and 5 circulars

I modified the original pattern slightly – changing the stitch pattern from a small cable to an undulating rib pattern I found in a Japanese stitch dictionary.  It is so simple and proved to be a much happier knitting experience than the tiny cables.  I couldn’t have those bad feelings going into a garment for my sweet sister!  As usual, I also modified the pattern to knit in the round rather than dealing with lots of seaming at the end.  I knit up to the armhole decreases, and then separated for front and back, working one at a time.  This technique seems to save me lots of headaches with seaming!

The yarn choice was simple:  I bought this yarn specifically thinking that it would be a great color for Sarah.  Her dark hair and complexion works so well with the richness of this goldenrod/pumpkin color.  Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool is such an amazing yarn with such depth and texture.  I love working with it.

I knit this vest for two Ravelry knit-alongs:  Vest-uary (since I started it in February) and for the National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathlon (NaKniSweMoDo).  This was my second vest for Vest-uary(remember my first?), and my fourth garment for NaKniSweMoDo… and I have already finished my fifth too!

…Another garment to make Sarah smile!

(almost complete in time for her birthday next week!)

…is very similar in color to a certain mister feline in residence…

*meow*

]]> http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/03/10/observations/feed 22 http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/02/24/a-case-of-the-mondays http://lollygirl.com/blog/2009/02/24/a-case-of-the-mondays#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:00:37 +0000 lolly http://lollygirl.com/blog/?p=1520 I was lucky enough to have a Monday off after a long weekend of Yoga Teacher Training (next post!)… here is what I did on my “off” Monday…

Brussel sprouts are one of those vegetables that really suffer from overcooking.  The bad reputation that they have received over the years is undoubtedly from the mushy bitterness that comes from keeping them on the stovetop far too long. 

Miniature cabbages and such a pretty green!  I picked these up at the market and found a recipe that sounded like a delicious way to use them.   I didn’t really grow up eating Brussel sprouts, but in recent years, I gained an appreciation for the little cruciferous veggies! 

Brussel Sprouts Risotto
3 c Brussel sprouts halved
1 T oil (olive or canola)
1 c chopped apple (peeled)
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chestnuts or walnuts
1/2 c vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the Brussel sprouts in boiling water until desired softness (better al dente than over done!) In a large skillet, combine oil with apples and onions and cook over medium-high heat until soft , about 3 minutes. Add Brussel sprouts, nuts, broth, and seasonings. Cook, stirring frequently, until broth has soaked in, about 5 minutes.

Risotto made with oil and veggie broth on the stovetop (followed the arborio rice instructions from the package subbing oil for butter to make it vegan) and added some onions, some crushed garlic and a dash of seasalt and ground white pepper.

Kris often prefers his food with a bit more salt than I do, so he also added a few sprinkles of soy sauce to the top and reported that it tasted good… you can easily experiement with some different seasonings!

<< >>

I cast on for my sister’s birthday present late last week, and I was looking forward to a day of knitting progress yesterday.  I can happily report that it went as planned:

This is the Honeycomb Vest pattern from Knitty, and I am using Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool in the “Cedar” colorway. The original pattern uses a small cable stitch, and after I swatched a few repeats, I wasn’t feeling the love.  I thought it was very pretty but it was too tedious… so I pulled out some of my stitch dictionaries and found a textured stitch that wouldn’t make me dread knitting this vest. That is way too much bad juju to put into a vest for my little sister!  I found a simple broken rib pattern that slightly resembles the honeycomb stitches, and I am zipping right along with it. Since I changed it up a bit, I am now calling it the Cedar Vest – that seemed fitting.

I love this yarn – one of my favorites, for sure.  I made the Glee Tee with it in 2007, and when I saw this yarn last year at The Mannings, I picked it up immediately.  The color was too amazing to pass over… and I think it will be a great color for my sister too!

…I am planning several other gift knits this year – mom is next (her birthday AND Mother’s Day), and she has already chosen a pattern, and then I have some great ideas for my other sister’s birthday this summer… and lots of baby knits on the horizon… I love to think about all of the possibilities, but now I need to get those fingers flying!

My Tess Wrap Vest is this kind of garment. My own personal uniform.

…A beautiful lightly variegated moss stitch vest uniform….

Tess Wrap Vest
Pattern: DROPS vest, originally titled Sleeveless Jumper with Belt
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, 1.2 hanks (~650 yards)
Source: Maryland Sheep and Wool, May 2007
Needles: Size US 7 and 8 circulars

…and just because I love it so much – more photos! this time with a yellow top…

Can you tell why I like it so much?   It is just so darn wearable!  If you are familiar with the original pattern, you will notice that I made a few modifications.  The original pattern has a 2×2 ribbing for the hem, and the front panels and neckline.  While the ribbing looked okay (enough to attract me to the pattern) I thought it looked a little odd at the bottom when (inevitably) the picked-up stitch rib portion is shorter than the hem rib section.  I opted to go with a double moss stitch pattern – it keeps the spirit of the original, but adds more depth, in my opinion.  It also did not draw in severely at the bottom edge.  The collar is one of my favorite features of this knit:  I knit it for about 9 centimeters on each side, so I had enough of an edge to turn the collar up or down.  I could have knit even more for a more dramatic flare collar, or even put a few short rows in there for some more differentiation… but I am happy with how this looks the way it is now. 

The yarn was great to work with – Tess Yarns have been a favorite of mine for several years, and this was my first time working with this weight (worsted) rather than the sock weight.  The deep brown was what drew me to this yarn back at the Festival stand in 2007, and it is what I still love about the vest.  There was a little dye transfer on the needles and on my hands, but nothing too major.  The yarn is sold in huge 570 yard hanks, so, I only ended up using about 1.2 hanks, approximately 620-650 yards of the yarn with the Medium size vest.  I still have more yarn – it would make some great hat/mitten/scarf combos, I think.  I am looking forward to May’s Festival so I can pick out another color of this yarn for another future project!  Tess Designer Yarns is always on my list of places at MDSW!

When I first started this vest, I knew that I didn’t want to knit over five feet of knitted i-cord for the belt, so I decided to try my hand at some braiding techniques that I read about in one of my Christmas gift books.  I picked up 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave with a gift certificate to the bookstore.  It is an Interweave Press publication from 2007:  “profusely illustrated” (as one reviewer noted), spiral-bound, and very informative.  I see this book as a great resource for all sorts of trims and finishes for knitting and weaving projects. As I flip through the pages, I wish there had been something like this available when I was a child – my sisters and I were obsessed with making friendship bracelets out of DMC floss when we were young, and this book has so many designs that we would have loved! 

There are so many techniques discussed in the book, and it has great photos to illustrate each step of the process.  Yarn is used in several of the samples, as well as ribbons, thread, beads, satin cords, fabric strips, etc.  There is so much you could do with this!

Selected images from the book, 200 Braids...

Following some of the models outlined in the book, I decided to braid some sample yarns I had in the stash alongside the Tess yarn for this belt. Of course, once I started going, I had to make another… and I probably could have kept going to make more and more belts!

Tess Merino / Araucania Pomaire / Zaol Big Cash

 I love how they turned out – simple, quick to make, and uses up some stash! Funny thing is, after making two of the belts, I figured that I preferred the vest without a belt… I like the way it looks open. I have the option to wear the belt if I want, but in the mean time, I can use these braids elsewhere – as hair bands, or as straps for my yoga mat!

Vest-uary Vest #1 complete!

This is the DROPS pattern “Sleeveless Jumper with Belt”, but for some reason that name didn’t really sound too good to me, so I am calling it the Tess Wrap Vest    I am using some of the Tess Designer Yarns worsted merino that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in 2007.  The light variegation of the brown really works for me – I love the depth. 

In place of the ribbed edge, I decided to spice the vest up with some double moss stitch.  It looks similar to garter stitch, but with a little bit of variety.  I plan to do the same moss stitch when I pick up the stitches around the body and the neckline for the collar. 

My fellow knitalonger, K at WestCoastCreative, is also making this vest, and we conferred before the knitalong about modifying the pattern to knit it in the round.  I haven’t had any problem changing it up at all – I have done this with other garments (the Printed Silk Cardi was the most notable) and as long as you split the pattern at the armhole bind offs, it goes smoothly.  

Yesterday, I reached the armhole bind offs and placed the right and left front panels onto stitch holders while I worked through the decreases on the back portion.  Completing that quickly, I moved on to the right front.  This is flying off the needles, and I should be able to finish it before the halfway point in the month.  That means I can cast on for Vest #2, a birthday gift for my sister…

I am looking forward to the belt… I have something special planned!  I hope it works out like I want it to – more details to come! 

…and there is still plenty of time to join the Ravelry Vest-uary group!  you have a good 3 weeks to knit a vest

Védís Vest

Pattern: Létt-Lopi Vest, Ístex free patterns (links to .pdf)
Yarns:   Reynold Lite Lopi / Berroco Peruvia
Needles: Size US 5 and 8 circulars

Knit completely in the round and not even one seam to sew!  Does it get any better than that?! Also knit in eight days… and honestly, I could have finished it faster but I wanted to savor some bit of it… I told you I couldn’t put it down – especially once the yoke started.  The colors – leftovers of Reynolds Lite Lopi from my beloved Aftur (and my first dip into the Icelandic yokes) and a recently acquired skein of Berroco Peruvia for the ivory portions.  The colors came together better than I could have imagined.  I think purple and yellow are a match made in heaven!

…and just when we started to take photos, it started to **snow!**

If you are going to model an Icelandic vest, it really should be snowing – all about authenticity!

The pattern is easy and simple to follow.  I totally recommend it.  If you have never tried colorwork, I feel that Icelandic yokes are a great way to “cut your teeth”.  They are knit with worsted or aran-weight yarns and use bigger needles, making it easier to see and carry the yarns across the back.  With most traditional yokes, there are no more than two colors per row of knitting.  The only consideration with any stranded knitting:  watching the tension of the stranding to avoid the puckering effect.  A good blocking can ease up some slight puckering, but you have to be conscious of it while you are working on the garment.   With this particular pattern, and most Icelandic yokes, you decrease stitches within the colorwork patterning.  The charts can be slightly confusing with the “no stitch” distinction.  Since this was a .pdf, I noticed that my printer did not color the “no stitch” area properly, and when I started the ivory, my count was off.  So, I got a colored pencil and went over the chart to make it crystal clear.  You may want to do this too to avoid any ripping or miscounting!

I slightly modified the small cap sleeves with 3 rows of seed stitch to match the hem and the neckline.  The pattern  does not state this, but I felt that it finished the garment off better than the raw rolled edge of the stockinette.  You could also single chain crochet for a few rows.  I went down to a size 5 needle with the sleeve cap but still got a slight bell effect.  It doesn’t bother me too much, but if I were to do it again, I would probably go down to an even smaller needle size.

I made the Medium – measuring 87 centimeters, approximately a 34-inch bust.  The wool does have some ease, and after a light blocking to straighten out the hems and the armholes and even out the colorwork, I feel that I got a perfect fit.  There are some waistline decreases and bustline increases incorporated into the pattern to add a more modern and fitted look.  I do love to mix the modern look with the traditional motifs…

Wonder how long I can wait till I cast on for the next yoked garment?  …I already know that it is not going to be very long… I am totally addicted.  I consider this one a little warm up for the Vest-uary knitalong (Rav link) for February though… I will be casting on for this beauty – not a yoke, but amazing nonetheless.

Malsen's Lett-Lopi Vest from Ravelry

wait to make some more.

…and I am not the only one with yokes on the brain… Whitney started the perfectly named Society for the Appreciation of Yoked Sweaters blog and Ravelry group and there are some beautiful sweaters in the Ravelry gallery that really inspire me.  Stacey and I have weekly conversations about which yoked colorwork projects we are planning… and I just saw the Lopi #28 preview…

No more waiting. I decided to try one of the free patterns from the Istex website, the Lett-Lopi Vest (links to .pdf) – a vest knit in the round with a pretty and relatively simple colorwork yoke.   I cast on with some of the yarn leftovers from my Aftur – Lite Lopi and some recycled yarn from a thrift shop sweater.  I am using the great heathery violet with indigo undertones for the main body, and I am planning to use mustard, ivory, black, and possibly another color for the yoke.  The pattern only calls for three colors but this Lolly isn’t afraid to use the stash and to use the color!  I decided to call my vest the  “Védís Vest”, named after the designer of this vest (and many amazing Lopi patterns, including Aftur), Védís Jónsdóttir.

… and without sleeves to worry about, this vest is pretty much flying off the needles!  I guess it is a warm up for the Vest-uary knitalong next month?  (great idea, Sarah!)