Category Archives: Inspiration

Inspiration: It’s Cold Outside

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It’s cold outisde, and not in a fun “Christmas Cheer” kind of way. As I write this, Seattle is in the 20s, which I realize isn’t that cold, compared to some parts of the country right now. But, we’ve had freezing rain all day, and literally every surface outside is covered in a sheet of ice. So scary!

Needless to say, I’m staying inside where the floor has traction and the air is warm enough that I can be comfortable wearing only one sweater.

But while I’m in here, I’m going to stare longingly out the window and dream about the cozy sweaters I could be making.

First, the Snowy Forest pullover by by Midori Hirose. This is just gorgeous- I love the plump cables and the wildly oversized shape. It’s cozy, but still feminine, and way out of my wheelhouse. It could be a fun project to use to stretch my knitting “legs.”

And it can’t be a round up of cozy sweaters without an Icelandic yoked sweater. Levi by Sari Norlund is just to die for. I love it in the soft grayscale, but can you imagine it in wild rainbow colors?!

I know I’m a bit late to this pattern, but man, have you looked at this sweater? The Handsome Chris Pullover is gorgeous. Maybe not quite as cozy as the other two sweaters, but I think I would wear the heck out of this one. You know me- I do love a cabled sweater.

What’s your favorite sweater to reach for when you’re cold?

Inspiration: Over the Garden Wall

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It’s officially fall (at least according to my heart, if not the weather), so it’s time for the annual re-watch of Over the Garden Wall.

Over the Garden Wall is a cartoon miniseries that’s super-weird, and is just wall-to-wall fall vibes. It’s cute and creepy and just makes you want to put on a cozy sweater and drink some hot apple cider on a walk through an overgrown cemetery.

It’s the story of brothers Wirt and Greg, and Beatrice the talking bluebird as they travel through a mysterious wood full of a host of weird and wonderful characters. A riverboat full of frogs that like to dance! A village of pumpkin people! An evil Beast stalking the woods at night! A mysterious woodsman who may or may not be trying to kill the kids! C’mon… what more can you ask for?

Anyway, here’s some patterns:

Look at this gorgeous afghan square! I could see making it into a washcloth or a tea towel, if you’re not up for making a whole blanket.

2019 GAL: Over the Garden Wall by Jacquiline Rivera

This is little Greg’s rock that he carries in his pocket (along with some candy and a frog whose name keeps changing). This little guy is surprisingly show-accurate.

Over the Garden Wall Rock by Mooeyandfriends

And, this isn’t precisely an “Over the Garden Wall” pattern, but I love the variety of these pumpkins. They definitely have the vibe of the show, and if you added little faces, they could totally be made into the folks from Pottsfield.

Pumpkin Parade by Norman Schwarze

Do you have any favorite fall movies or shows?

Spring!

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It’s definitely spring around here! I can tell because:

  1. My kid won’t stop talking about his birthday.
  2. I’m dying to get out and start planting the garden.
  3. I’m constantly sneezing.

What’s an allergy-ridden, indoor kid to do when the weather turns? Oh that’s right. Knit! (Or at least daydream about knitting.)

If I had infinite time and energy, I’d definitely make myself a lovely new spring sweater. Shall we window-shop through Ravelry together?

Rift by Jacqueline Cieslak

Such a stylish-yet-comfy silhouette. I love the subtle shoulder and hem details, and the slightly-textured yarn she chose for the samples. Can you imagine it in a cotton-wool blend? Or better yet: a nubbly slik? Ugh. To die for.

Felix Cardigan by Amy Christoffers

Or what about this darling little number? Can you imagine a more perfect springtime cardigan? I love the sweet little shoulder details. Plus the wool+mohair combo? Perfection!

Dustland Sweater by Stephen West

If I’m being honest, it’s still pretty chilly around here (despite what I want to believe), so maybe this is the best way to go. A lovely, textured pullover in a fantastic spring color. I usually like to switch up the colors of sweaters I make, but honestly, I can’t imagine this in a better color. That electric lime might just be exactly what I need in my wardrobe.

If you could magically knit up a sweater right now, what would you make?

Little Gifts

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So, my blanket continues to grow, and it continues to look exactly the same, so instead of giving you an update on my progress, I figured we’d go look at patterns on Ravelry, and you can help me pick out my next project.

It’s almost a month until Christmas, which means I should have finished any holiday knitting by now (or at least started it), but I haven’t. I’m not going to even attempt any big projects at this point- I’m not going to stress myself out that much. But I have been thinking about making a little something for the kids. Specifically, some a little doll or stuffed animal. Maybe a pair of almost-matching little guys for them to keep. (Not that they need more stuffies- we have baskets full, and they’re almost never played with.)

So, I need your help! I’ve got it down to four patterns, but I can’t decide which I like best. I’d love your input:

Mini Boy Bunny and Bear by Julie Williams of Little Cotton Rabbits. I’ve loved her patterns for years, but have never gotten around to making one of them. Pros for this pattern: Super cute, could make “fraternal twins” for the kids, they’re a perfect size for little hands. Cons: I shudder to think at all the ends in these little guys.

Butterfly & Cocoon by Susan B. Anderson. Another classic stuffed toy pattern. I love the goofy little wings, and the tiny little sleeping-bag cocoons. I know my 3-year-old would be beside himself if he saw this guy, but I also know that he’d need us to put that cocoon back on him about a million and a half times. And I don’t know if I want to do that.

Bebe Bunny by Amanda Buckley. These little guys are just so perfect and sweet. Honestly, they look like something out of a Pottery Barn catalog. Which generally isn’t the vibe my kids go for. If I was making these toys based on aesthetics alone, I’d be tempted to go with these little guys, but if I’m being honest, they might not get a ton of play.

Teddy Boo and Friends by Claire Fairall Designs. Finally, these guys are just the goofiest little stuffies I ever did see. I mean, c’mon. Look at them. They’re so silly. I like that they’re pretty simple, and that I could make two different animals, instead of just changing the color.

But, yeah. They’re all super cute, and if I’m being honest, they’d probably all about the same amount of play (which is to say none, because they’re not trucks). Which would you do?

Have you got any holiday knitting going this year?

Inspiration: All Creatures Great and Small

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So, I’ve decided I need a new aesthetic. I’m no longer going to dress as a 21st century 30-something mom. Nope. No more t-shirts or leggings or hoodies for me.

I’m now officially dressing as a country vetrinarian from the 1930s.

It’s all tweed and knit vests and crisp white shirts from now on.

Why yes, I have been watching the new All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. (And yes, I know I’m several months late to the party).

And if you haven’t watched it yet, what are you doing?! It’s a delight. It’s like a warm cup of tea poured by Mrs. Hall in the surgery kitchen. Which is exactly what I want these days. (My usual media diet of old Star Trek and true crime documentaries hasn’t been great lately).

Anyway, now that I’ve decided to totally overhaul my wardrobe to accommodate my new dream, we should probably talk vests.

Because, y’all, there are some very good vests.

Take this amazing Fair Isle number. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of stranded knitting generally, but I could get behind making up something like this. It’s gorgeous, it’s super fancy, and still manages to be understated. Plus, how much fun would it be to pick out all those colors?

Machrihanish by Kate Davies Designs

Or I could go the absolute opposite direction, and go super simple with super-wide ribbing. Classy. Classic. Cozy.

His Vest by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

But, I think this is my favorite of all the vests. (And I think it’s James Herriot’s favorite, too, since he wears it all the time.) It just looks so soft and comfy, and you know me and cables. Cables+me=BFFs.

Delius by Bristol Ivy

Well, I’m off to watch the Christmas Special (which is very timely… ha!) and go online shopping for tweed and button-downs.

What are you currently watching?

Inspiration: Sweaters I Wish I Was Knitting

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I’m really having trouble getting inspired about knitting these days. Or at least I’m not feeling inspired about my knitting.

Like I said last week, I’ve run through most of the fun yarn in my stash, or at least the easy-to-repurpose yarn. Just about all the sweater-quantities have been used up, and I’m even running low on groups of the same yarn base in different colors. Sure, I could cobble together little bits and bobs of different yarns into a sweater… but that’s a lot of effort. And who knows how that’d turn out.

It’s been waaaay too long since I set foot in a yarn store. All I want to do is go to my LYS to pick out a new, fancy sweater pattern and go a little wild picking yarn, spending way too much time agonizing about color and texture, only to go home with the same oatmeal-colored wool that I always gravitate toward.

Sigh.

(Also, as I write this, I’m 2 weeks out from having a newborn in the house, so starting a new fancy sweater is an utterly stupid idea. Which isn’t to say that it will stop me.)

Anyway, I figured that instead of starting a new pattern, I might just write about the patterns I wish I were knitting.

First up: A sweater I find utterly beautiful, and one (if I’m being honest) I would never actually work up (baby and pandemic notwithstanding). It’s utterly gorgeous- those colors! I would be so tempted to pick different colors, which would take about 30 hours of me second-guessing myself the whole time. I mean, it uses 14 (FOURTEEN!) different colors. It’s so freaking gorgeous. It would drive me up the wall to knit. Maybe I can find someone to knit it for me? Ha!

Foxthoughts Pullover by Hiroko Payne / The Hare And The Crow

As beautiful as that sweater is, if I’m being honest, what I’m really itching for is a big ol’ cabled/textured sweater. I really want to get my needles deep into a sweater like this. 5 (or so) different cables? Yes please. Lots of seed stitch? Yep. All-over texture? Definitely. Cool saddle-shoulder detail? Sign me up.

(Plus, it would look pretty great in my “signature” oatmeal/gray.)

Yule Sweater by Anne Podlesak

Or maybe I could combine the two. Why not have color and texture? Why not jump on the Shifty bandwagon? Heck, I might even be able to actually find enough scrap yarn in my stash to cobble together a workable version of this bad boy. Though, I shudder to think about all the ends I’d need to weave in…

Shifty by Andrea Mowry

I’ll get to go to a yarn store again some day, and I’ll get to knit a sweater again, too. It’s just going to be a minute. In the meantime, the daydreams will have to satisfy.

What are your current dream projects?

Just Some Hats

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Hi folks! Nothing too special about today. Nope. Just a Regular Monday before a Regular Tuesday. I thought maybe we could spend this Regular Day looking at some hats, for no particular reason.

Hat number 1: Look at this one! Look at that pompom! I’m a sucker for a big ol’ pompom.

Vote Like it is 1920 by Molly Conroy

Hat number 2: Ooh, I really like the bold use of color on this bad boy. What a striking hat- red, white, and blue?!

Get Out & Vote Hat by nycraft craftivist

Hat number 3: I love the all-over stranded knitting pattern. So well-excecuted!

Please Vote by Leslie Roth

Wow! Those are some regular hats that I just really think are nifty. Nope, no ulterior motives for posting them here. No sir. **

Are there any regular old hats that you like?

** For the love of America and everything/everyone in it, if you haven’t already voted, please, please, please vote tomorrow. Voting is always important, but this year it’s insanely important. And, while I usually try to say “Vote for whichever candidate you prefer,” this year, I’m going to say “Please vote Biden/Harris.” Because, frankly, this election is literally a matter of life and death.

If you’re not sure where to go, this is a great resource.

Switchy Swatchy

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OK, I totally hadn’t planned on going forward with the Helge Doppler sweater vest from last week. Sure, it was cute, and I really liked the texture, but lord knows I’ve got enough half-finished projects sitting in my studio right now.

But, well, it kind of got stuck in my head. Like a weird knitting version of an ear-worm. An eye-worm maybe? Ew. A knit-worm?

Anyway, one thing led to another and I was swatching before I knew it.

I started with US2s and some leftover Hawthorne Fingering. (I’ve since come to the decision that a kettle-dyed yarn is not right for this pattern, and that I need to go down at least one size (maybe two) to get the stitch definition I want. The swatch isn’t super clear, but bear with me.)

And just to remind you, this vest is my goal: (Again, sorry for the poor-quality picture- it was the best screenshot I could find.)

I began with the pattern I sketched out last week, and rapidly discovered that it was wildly wrong. (It’s the bottom section of this swatch.) What I thought was diamonds of stockinette and reverse stockinette clearly was not. The diamonds were super small and squished- hardly even diamonds.

So, I went back to the drawing board and tried using garter stitch instead of reverse stockinette, which looked a lot better (the top part of the above swatch). I wasn’t sure about the transition from one repeat to another, so I tried a few different varieties (you can see that each repeat is slightly different) until I landed on one that looked more or less the way I wanted it to.

I sketched up the new design, and here we are:

Now I’m off to swatch this new pattern out with finer needles and some machine-dyed sock yarn. Wish me luck.

The only question left is, “Do I want to knit a sweater (even for a 2-year-old) on US0s?” Eek!

Knitting on the TV

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It’s been a minute since I’ve gotten really excited about knitting in a movie or on TV, but I think I might have found my next project. (Ha! Like I need another project.)

Ya’ll know I’ve been watching Dark on Netflix. It’s very moody and (well) dark. There’s lots of rain and nighttime scenes, and of course lots of knitwear and very good coats.

Plus, part of the story takes place in the 50s- the heyday of knitting, in my opinion. Knitting in the 50s was all vests and sweater sets worked on tiny needles with fingering weight yarn. It would drive me nuts to do it, but man, I love how the finished product looks.

Speaking of the finished product, look at this amazing sweater vest! (And don’t worry- no spoilers here, unless you consider a kid with a very good sweater vest a spoiler.)

And a close-up:

I mean, that color, that all-over texture, the 1×1 rib edging, the v-neck. It might be the perfect sweater vest. So stinking cute. I kind of want to make one for everyone in my family. Or at least for my kid. After all, making a vest for a 2-year-old on US2s is much less daunting than making one for myself. I’m thinking I could even use sock yarn to make sure it’s machine-washable and can stand up to a very busy toddler.

The thing I think I like most about this sweater is the geometric knit/purl texture. It doesn’t look particularly tricky, but when it’s worked all over the whole piece, it really packs a punch.

In fact, I like it so much I couldn’t stop myself from “sketching” it out and making up a little chart. (Empty squares are knits, dots are purls. Also, for what it’s worth, I haven’t actually swatched this out yet, so it might be wildly off. It’s just my best guess, based on obsessively looking up screenshots of this vest.)

I’m not sure if I’ve got the time/energy/follow-through right now to actually make this sweater become a reality, but man it’s fun to daydream. Maybe it’ll become a pattern?

Has any TV knitting caught your eye lately?

Inspiration: Comfort Socks

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I don’t know about you, but I know that I’ve needed a little extra comfort these days.  Frankly, the only time I’ve been able to leave the house in the last 4 (5? 6? 10,000?) weeks has been to take my kid on a walk around the neighborhood.  He insists on walking, refusing the stroller or the wagon, but he’s (almost) 2, so we don’t go far.  I couldn’t tell you what Seattle is like outside of our neighborhood, but I can tell you where all the points of interest for a 2-year-old are, including:

  • The Cow Mailbox
  • The house with an owl decoy in the middle of the yard for some reason
  • All the good puddles
  • The house with the plastic dinosaurs in the yard
  • Two chicken coops
  • The “Unicorn Car” (It’s a mustang, but the kid is really into unicorns right now, and he insists on finding all the “unicorns” whenever we walk by the car.)
  • All the “Train Tracks” (The cement retaining walls that he likes to walk along.)
  • Where the mail-carrier parks his truck every morning

We have fun.

But, while I’m wandering the neighborhood with the kiddo, looking for kitty-cats to try to pet/harass, I always wish I had a little something extra comforting (and comfortable).

And, for me, that’s new knit socks.

A good pair of knit socks, fresh off the needles is one of the best things I could imagine right now.  I’ve already worn the ones I finished last week at least 3 days in a row (gross? Maybe.  Comfy? Definitely.), and I think I’m going to go to town on another pair as soon as I get myself together enough to start a new project.

I might make myself a pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder.  They’re classic- a subtle knit-purl pattern, sturdy, cozy, and utterly practical (in a good way!).  A great way to use special yarn that you really want to show off.

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Or I could use up some scraps with my old favorite, the Broken Seed Stitch Socks by Hanna Leväniemi.  Super cute, and way more complicated-looking than they actually are to work up.  If you can knit, purl, and manage 1-row stripes in the round, you’re golden!

IMG_4210

Or, I could really go back to the classics, and knit one of the first pairs of socks that I ever successfully finished .  Monkey Socks by Cookie A!  These were the first really nice, non-frustrating pair of socks I ever knit.  (I wore them into the ground, then made several more pairs with the same pattern.)  They’re just lacy enough to be fun, without making them delicate or more prone to wearing out.  Perfect socks, in my opinion.

monkey_1

I’m not sure yet which one I want to knit, but I do know that I’d wear the heck out of any of these socks right now!

What’s your favorite comfort-knitting pattern?