Vanilla is the New Black

Miss Babs Cosmic Sock Yarn

I came to a realization recently. There's a not-small chance that the world could end soon, so why not just knit with the good yarn?
"What's the point," I asked myself, "in holding onto it if we might all die in a fiery inferno because of some aggressive tweets?"
"No point at all," I answered. So I finally wound up this Miss Babs sock yarn that I bought at Stitches West back in 2013, when we still lived in California. I've had this yarn hanging on a hook above my sewing machine for literally years, because the color is so gorgeous that it seemed a shame to hide it away in a yarn bin. I think this yarn is discontinued now- it's Cosmic hand-painted sock yarn, and the color is called Impatiens.

One lonely sock

It's been a long time since I knitted a pair of socks. I think the last pair I actually finished was in 2016. I finished this sock above (Down the Rabbit Hole) around Christmas time. I started the second sock but HATED knitting it- these are mirrored socks and the first one was a bit annoying to knit, because you have to keep shifting stitches around the needles, but the second one was intolerable because the twists go the other way, and it was proving too fiddly to be worth it. So I put them away but now that they're out for photos maybe I'll just make the second sock the same as the first and be done with them.

But back to the new socks. These are Vanilla is the New Black. I do love knitting mostly stockinette socks- don't know why, I just do- so these were right up my alley. The heel doesn't fit as well as my usual heel flap heels, but it's ok. They were fun, I love the yarn, done.

Berroco Giveaway!!

I wrote about my new pattern the Millington Cardigan in Berroco's Portfolio Vol. 4 awhile ago, but let's talk about it some more.

This design is a bit outside my usual wheelhouse, because it's knitted in pieces from the bottom up and seamed. Who am I? I love me a top-down seamless sweater, but there was something really satisfying about completing each piece. Also it's way more portable to knit a sweater in pieces! I think the biggest reason I decided to do pieces was that I wanted the background fabric to be moss stitch, and I knew that it would be really complex to write that as a top-down sweater without just saying "do your best to keep in pattern around the sleeve caps."

But really, this one, for me, is all about those pockets. Several years ago, while watching Trueblood, I sketched a cardigan that Sookie was wearing as a future design idea, because it had these cool fold-over, integrated pockets. Design inspiration comes from random places.

So finally, many years later, I've got my fold-over pocket cardigan. I hope you love it as much as I do.

GIVEAWAY!
I'm thrilled to say that I am giving away a copy of the book (which is awesome, I want to make like everything in this collection) and enough Ultra Wool to make the Millington Cardigan in your size!! Thanks, Berroco! To enter to win, leave a comment and tell me what you think about the collection, or your best tips for getting a reluctant baby to take a bottle, or a reflection on Hurricane Harvey, or whatever. I'll randomly pick a winner on Tuesday September 5th Giveaway is now closed, thanks! and Berroco will send you book + yarn. Unfortunately I have to restrict this contest to the US only, please and thank you!

For the Love of Mint Green

When I was in fifth grade, I remember that my favorite colors were black, white, and red, all together, sort of like Minnie Mouse, I guess? Favorite colors are an odd thing. Red is not at all my color now. Hasn't been for a long time. I'd be hard pressed to say which color, for certain, is my favorite, but lately (for a couple years or so) I've been all about emerald green, coral, metallic gold, and mint. Oh, mint. If I really had to pick, I think mint would be my favorite. No offence to all the other colors, but mint is just lovely.

 Pomegranate!

See: my current sweater WIPs. Mint. Since the baby was born, I've sort of been taking a designing break. Little sleep = almost no creativity, plus I just don't have much for free time anymore- designing takes so very much time. I've been taking this opportunity to knit some things that have been in my queue for ages, and honestly it's been awesome. I can't remember the last time before baby that I had time to knit solely for pleasure. Right now I'm working on a Pomegranate in Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in... well, mint. I'm also making an October Cardigan from the latest Knitscene designed by my interwebs friend Jesie Ostermiller. For that one I splurged a little on some Malabrigo Rios in the minty color Water Green. It's wonderful to knit with, and there is zero pooling. I don't even have to alternate skeins- I sort of hate doing that. Love, love love how this is coming out.

Two sleeves and a back of my October Cardigan

When these two are done I might branch out and knit something that is not mint-colored. Or maybe not. I have some mint green sock yarn that's calling my name.

Toys for Elaina

 I've been making knitted toys for my baby during nap times. She only naps for 30-40 minutes at a time, which is super annoying, and not enough time to really get anything done.. so I knit toys. It's easy to get an arm and a tail knitted during a nap. So far, I've made this bear in a dress, a naked cat and a naked polar bear, and a dinosaur that I don't really care for.

The bears and the cat are patterns from Little Cotton Rabbits, and they are excellent patterns. I've never used a more thorough pattern. There are tons of pictures showing everything from how to make the eyes to how to make the tail curve. The cat pattern has like 10 different ways to make the head to end up with different cats. I love these patterns and I will surely make more dolls for Elaina.

This dinosaur: hmm. I have a book called Knit Your Own Dinosaur that I got in Portland last year. This one is whatever Brontosaurus is called now- I forget. It looks more like the Loch Ness Monster to me, and oh gosh was it fiddly, and not in a fun way. The two sides are knitted separately, along with the tummy. Then it all gets seamed together around some pipecleaners. The body has like no shaping, and the neck is weird. It's so long and skinny, and since you have to seam it top AND bottom it's super easy to torque it. I clearly did that in a few places because this poor beast looks like his neck has been broken a few times. Overall I'm not impressed with this pattern.

But I do like this bear.

I'm proud of myself for using entirely scraps and little leftover balls for these toys. The cat is Madelinetosh Vintage, so he fancy. The dinosaur and both bears are random Knit Picks yarns, and the dress is leftover sock yarn. Next I need to make some clothes for the two naked ones. I'm also thinking about using some leftover dishcloth cotton to make some rings for stacking. Finally, a use for the bins of leftover bits that I can't seem to throw away.

New Pattern: Sonoran Desert Bucket Bag

I have a new pattern out in the August issue of I Like Knitting! This is the Sonoran Desert Bucket Bag. It's a fairly simple intarsia pattern. The two intarsia panels are knitted flat and seamed together at the sides, then the live stitches at the bottom are worked in the round in garter stitch. The base of the bag is circular and is stabilized with some of that needlepoint mesh stuff (technical term.) Metal eyelets and rope handles make it look more polished.

For the sample, I used Cascade Avalon in White, Georgia Peach, Enamel Blue, and Tannin. I like this yarn for this pattern because it's a 50/50 cotton acrylic blend. Nobody wants to take a wool bag to the beach.

You can fit a ton of stuff in this bag. It would be great for the beach, or sightseeing, or maybe for kids' stuff for a day trip. Lots of options. You could also work it in a DK or sport weight and end up with more of a purse-sized bag.

To get the pattern, subscribe to I Like Knitting here, if you're not a subscriber already. It's pretty inexpensive for a year, and you get 30 patterns per issue, which is a ton, and 6 issues a year, which is also a ton. I wasn't a subscriber until this particular issue because this sweater caught my eye and I simply. must. make. it.

New Pattern: Millington Cardigan

Last year, I was asked by Berroco Yarns to contribute to their Portfolio Volume 4, using a new yarn called Ultra Wool, a superwash worsted. My idea was one I've been tossing around in my head for awhile- a cardigan with integrated, fold-over pockets. I dislike knitting really long ribbed cardigan edging, and I almost always wear my cardigans open, and I like cables, so this ticks all my boxes. This is the Millington Cardigan.

The cardigan is knitted in pieces from the bottom up and seamed. The fronts start out really wide, then once they are knitted up past the pocket top, they get much, much narrower. Then when you seam the fronts to the back, you fold the pocket over the front and seam through both edges. The bottom band is picked up after seaming and closes up the pocket bottoms. The body and sleeve fabric is double moss stitch because I like texture.

For a clean edge, I did knitted-on i-cord all around the pocket edges, up the fronts, and across the back neck. I do love me some i-cord.

I can't wait to get this sample back! I love love love how this design turned out and I'm so happy Berroco asked me to contribute. Made me feel legit.

Get the pattern on Ravelry here.

New Pattern: Carmine Pullover

I've been working on this pattern for AGES. I finished the sample at Christmas, at my mom's house, because I gave it to her as a gift, mostly because I was pregnant and knew it would be a year before I could wear it, but also because she really loves red. Then I took the photos when she came for a pre-baby visit in February. I finally got the pattern written in April, and here we are. I know I've said it like a million times but babies! They take up so much time.

Carmine is a decently simple pullover pattern. It's worked bottom up, in the round, to the armholes, then split and worked back and forth. The sleeves are also worked from the bottom up in the round. The sleeves are set in to the armholes, which is not something I usually do, but for this pattern, it's what worked. The body and sleeves both start with twisted ribbing that then starts to travel together until all the ribbing is contained in a triangle of twisted stitches.

Cascade Venezia is a lovely wool/silk blend with a really pretty sheen. I would recommend using whatever needles you like to use with splitty yarns (for me that's addi turbos with really sharp tips), because the way this yarn is plied means that it's easy to split stitches.

If you want to knit this sweater I'd recommend really, really liking twisted ribbing. There's a lot of it. I personally love to knit through the back of stitches, but as established, I'm a bit of an odd duck.

Sizing:
Ladies’ XS (S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X)
Finished Bust: 36 (38, 40, 43, 47, 50, 55)”
Shown in size M (40”), with approximately 2” of positive ease at the bust.

Yarn Requirements: 
Cascade Venezia Worsted; 5 (5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10) skeins

Get the pattern on Ravelry here!