April | 2011 | Italian Dish Knits

Archive for April, 2011

Andalus Mittens

April 11, 2011

Spring has sprung but I am busy at work on my Big Project – knitting something for everyone in my family by next Christmas (that’s about 15 people). I love two stranded colorwork and when I saw these Andalus Mittens, I knew I would be knitting them. I am knitting these for my mother-in-law because she really likes mittens.

These are knitted up in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, one of my favorite yarns. I selected the colors that I know my MIL likes to wear – copper and black. The copper color is called “Tiger’s Eye” and it has some interesting flecks in it.

I wanted to add some green to the mittens, but instead of knitting in little stitches, I used Duplicate Stitch to add the green after the mittens were knitted. I blogged about that technique here.

I knitted the lining for these mittens in Rowan Kidsilk Haze, color “Fern”. You can see how the lining is knit by picking up the stitches along the inside of the cuff :

Pattern: Andalus Mittens
Needle: US #2
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (Black, Tiger’s Eye, Pea Soup)
Lining: Rowan Kidsilk Haze (Fern)
Ravelry Page

I’ve seen so many beautiful new fun knits on the web lately and I wanted to share a couple with you. Have you seen Jared Flood’s new shawl, Rock Island? Knitters are all talking about it because it is so exquisite. He teamed up with Lorna’s Laces and they made a new colorway, Grand Street Ink, according to his specifications for this shawl. Check out the KAL over at Ravelry that’s been started for it. I wish I could do it, but I’ve got all these Christmas gifts I want to knock out.

Look at these beautiful mittens for spring, designed by Kirsten of “Through the Loops”. I fell in love with them the minute I saw them and immediately put them in my favorites on Ravelry.

Posted in finished objects, gifts, knitting, magic loop, mittens | 3 Comments »

Two Socks on One Circ

April 8, 2011

I hate having UFOs lying around. I really am pretty good at not starting too many new projects before other things are finished. I like having one mindless knitting project and one more focused, chart intensive kind of thing going at the same time so I can pick which to work on. So I don’t like having a third thing lying around, which is what these socks were. These socks were from a class I took a few months ago where we learned to do two socks on one circular needle, a technique I wanted to learn and immediately knew I disliked. As much as I love Magic Loop, I don’t like doing two items at one time – too much fiddling with the cables.

But the class did force me to learn to make socks, which I had never done, mostly because I just don’t wear socks. I go from sandals in the summer to my UGG boots in the winter, with no socks. But knitting my own socks may change my mind! Plus I wanted to start making socks for gifts – I do know that other people enjoy socks.

The instructor taught us how to make socks without using a pattern, which was a great lesson. These are toe-up socks, with an afterthought heel. We got to pick which kind of heel we wanted to do (I did a wedge) and which kind of bind off we wanted to do (I did a double crochet bind off).

picking up stitches for the afterthought heel

The afterthought heel was easy for me, because I’ve done so many afterthought thumbs with my mitten knitting.

picking out the waste yarn

grafting the heel with kitchener stitch

double crochet bind off

I like these socks a lot, although I made them a little too large for my feet. When you aren’t working from a pattern, you just have to go by feel. I forget to take into consideration that the socks would grow a little when I blocked them.

Pattern: None!
Yarn: Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks 100% Merino Wool
Needles: US#1 Circulars
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, knitting, magic loop, socks/footwear | 3 Comments »

New Yarn and Blazing Needles

April 7, 2011

I just got back from a skiing trip out in Park City with my family but because my poor old knees don’t let me ski, I did a lot of knitting when I was out there. I also drove to Salt Lake City to drop in at Blazing Needles, recommended to me by Susan Lawrence via Ravelry. What a cute shop. It’s in a residential district and I just loved the feel of the place.

Check out all the Koigu Yarn that they carry! I had to hold myself back. Such a great selection:

And they had a lot of Malabrigo. Love.

Do you need buttons? This is just a part of their incredible button selection:

I bought some Cascade 220 Superwash along with a stripey Shibui Merino Worsted in order to make this hat by Jared Flood.

And I also bought this incredible silk yarn with glass beads by Tilli Tomas. I just couldn’t help myself. And guess what? It’s called Rock Star! How great is that? I can’t wait to use it. I bought a little cowl pattern at the store that I may use for it. Look how gorgeous this stuff is:

And here is a sneak peek at a project I’m working on that I just love:

Posted in yarn | 4 Comments »

Pea Pod Baby Sweater and Hat

April 4, 2011

I just found out a short time ago that a food blogger I know, Maria, who writes “Two Peas and Their Pod” is having her first baby. I knew I would get to visit her in Utah on spring break, so how could I resist knitting her a little baby gift? No way! I love this cute little baby sweater from the Knitter’s Book of Yarn and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make it.

I sewed a little hat to match from this pattern on Ravelry. I’ve made it before in different colors and I thought in greens it would look adorable and keeping with the “pea pod” theme:

I knit the sweater in a “pea green” color – how appropriate – and it’s good because it’s gender neutral. I used Berroco Vintage, which is a great blend that is machine washable and very soft.

I sewed a little label into the sweater. I got these cute little labels at this Etsy shop.

There is errata for this pattern, which I didn’t learn about until after I had knit for a while. For the smallest size, you need to cast on 36 stitches instead of 38. It didn’t seem to make much difference for me – I just took in the back seams a little when I assembled the sweater.

Pattern: Baby Soft Cardigan
Pattern for Hat: Berry Baby Hat
Needle for Sweater: US#9
Needles for Hat: US#8
Yarn: Berroco Vintage Fennel & Douglas Fir
Ravelry Pages: Sweater, Hat