Tunic Fade

2017 was the summer of forest fires in BC, and in the knitting world it was the summer of faded knits:  shawls, sweaters, ...  I had wanted to knit a faded tunic for a few years after seeing a few different versions on Pinterest but was not confident enough to do it on my own without a pattern.

Then came a Tanis Fiber Arts Etsy update featuring these beauties:

Knowing that they would disappear within minutes of the sale opening, armed with my phone, at the given time I made a quick purchase and was lucky enough to get them.  Having purchased the yarn, there was no turning back and it was time to find a pattern.

I liked the shape of Amy Miller's Seamus, a fun, light tunic in fingering weight yarn.  Using the total length of the tunic, I divided the tunic into 5 sections, reserving the ribbing for the last colour.  When it was time to switch colours I would usually knit 1 row of the new colour, 3 rows of the current colour, then 1 row of the new, followed by 2 rows of the current, then 1 row new, 1 row current, 2 rows new, 1 current, 3 rows new, 1 current, and continue with the new colour.

When adding the sleeves I tried my best to match the colours with those in the main body.  The original pattern has pockets but I decided not to add these.  They look great on a plain tunic though.

The final product is amazingly soft with beautiful drape.

To think that I almost didn't finish it.  I thought that the teal might be too bright and would have preferred to switch the last 2 colours.  The project lay dormant for a few months while I completed Christmas presents and a few other knits.  I'm glad to have returned to it and toughed it out because the result is a spectacular sweater that feels amazingly soft and light to wear.

I have fallen in love with the tubular bind-off.  It adds bulk to the ribbing and gives a nice, clean edge.

Colours:  Tanis Fiber Arts Purewash Fingering in:  Poolside, Atlas, Hummingbird, Luna, and Silent Movie

Unstartitis

In the knitting world, to be struck with "startitis" is to be enamoured with the thrill of starting more projects than being able to complete.  I seem to be currently afflicted with quite the opposite because I  can't decide what to start next.  Am I so intimidated by my yarn's beauty that I'm afraid to crack it open?

Back in December I purchased this:

It's Cosmic Label - Cosmic Night, from Tanis Fiber Arts' now annual Boxing Day Etsy Sale.  The now discontinued Cosmic Label has sparkles and I was lucky to be able to snag a few skeins before they disappeared.  

I'm thinking of making a Sunrise Cardi by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  A few weeks ago I purchased "Swoon Maine", a pattern collection of knits by Carrie Bostick & friends inspired by the Atlantic Coast.  Every pattern is unique and has a modern understated style to it.  Most of the sweaters are worsted weight, but luckily I found this one in fingering weight on which I could use my prized Cosmic Label.  

I"m looking forward to knitting with this yarn again because the sparkles in the last project made with this yarn had me giggling all the way.  That alone should motivate me to start swatching, shouldn't it?

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/zenasmillet/wex

Scrappy Socks Rain Dance

Here on the Westcoast, 20 is a good number.  20 degrees C, warm enough for shorts, pleasant.  20 km/hr winds, not enough to cause damages.  So when the thermometer climbs to 30, 35+ as it has for the past few weeks, we're just not  equipped physically or emotionally.  Honestly, we're not whimps, we can survive months without seeing sunlight.  That takes some kind of courage too, doesn't it?

So we have been without rain since June.  Lawns have turned into yellow hay.  Jurisdictions around us have been implementing water restrictions.  Wells are running dry.  Around the province, fires are igniting spontaneously.  Fear not West Coast Aquarians lovers of water, I have found the equivalent to an old-fashioned "rain dance".  This is what I did yesterday:

First, I bathed a newly finished pair of scrappy-socks.  Next, I blocked them outside on a chair so they would dry in the breeze.  Then they were promptly forgotten, as they lay basking in the sunshine.  In the middle of the night the unfamiliar sound of raindrops on the deck should have triggered the memory of these poor beauties in distress.  Around 10am, the now soggy socks returned inside where they are still trying to dry-out in the 20 degrees kitchen.  Here they are in their soggy splendor:

So it rained and you're welcome.  We had a bit of rain today, perhaps thanks to the socks so bravely overnighting on the deck?  I hope we're finally back to our normal temperatures because it feels good!

Aubade Shawl

Last summer involved many trips back and forth between Victoria and Vancouver.   For the unitiated, this involved a 1.5 hr ferry ride, with an hour commute at each end (using transit).  While it was a stressful period, the ferry ride was made easier by keeping busy with a project.  Knitting atop the Sundeck on a beautiful sunny afternoon is a perfect antidote to a stressful situation.

I filled this project with so much dedication and love that it seemed fitting to gift it to an acquaintance recently diagnosed with cancer.  The pattern and colour were so beautiful together that it felt really good to gift it to someone who needed a lift.

But truth be known, I really missed this shawl and kept thinking about how nice it would feel to wear it.  So with the colour only available for a few more weeks, I decided to order more of it and make one for myself.   

I don't often make the same project twice and come to think of it, have never re-knitted the same pattern in the same colour.  I'm glad I did because I have learned that each project really has its own personality.  While the first Aubade was perfect in every way, this 2nd one is slightly flawed and a bit more loosy-goosy, which of course, makes it more endearing!  

I love this new shawl and can see wearing it all year round because it is so light, perfect for cool Westcoast summer nights, or as a winter scarf.

Aubade 2.2

Toe-up Socks

Hand-made socks are such a joy to make and to wear.  Each pair is unique, so soft & cushy.

Many years ago I taught myself to knit socks using an ancient pattern.  The heels on my first two pairs were a bit wonky because I had misread the instructions.  I finally figured out how to turn a heel properly, and have made many more top-down pairs.  I have sometimes used cable patterns but my favourite socks to make are what is known as "plain vanilla socks" on 4 or 5 double-pointed needles.

Then I mysteriously fell into sock-knitting rut, about 2 years ago.  I became aware there were other techniques out there such as toe-up, using 2 circulars, toe-up 2 at a time, ...  Surely I should push myself to learn something new.

So I bought a pattern book to learn how to knit 2 socks at a time.  I also knit individual socks using 2 circular needles.  And honestly, using circulars killed my sock-knitting Mojo.  I realized that I really enjoy working with double-pointed needles.  They make for a small, portable project, ready for an outing at a moment's notice.  For some reason, the floppiness of the circulars drove me nuts and I hated having to push all the stitches along those long needles all the time.  I was trying so many new techniques all at once, that I stopped enjoying making socks altogether.

I finally found my sock enthusiasm back a couple weeks ago after reading Tanis Lavallée's blog.   Perhaps I just needed someone to reassure me that toe-up socks were not a big deal.  There was a link to the funny Cat Bordhi toe-up cast-on video, and another to the afterthought heel.

To celebrate this new found knowledge I tried my skills out on a new pair of toe-up, afterthought heeled socks based on this cardigan, to use-up some leftover scraps.  They were so much fun to make!  I can see making many more toe-up socks in the near future, perhaps always having a pair in the works.

Project notes

Thanksgiving Hat

This past October, we celebrated Thanksgiving up-island with friends visiting the island from the mainland.  The long weekend felt special because it was my first free weekend since Labour Day, as I had been spending weekends working through an awesome Yoga Teacher Training program at Moksana.  So, working full-time during the week and studying full-time on weekends meant there was little time left for knitting.  I couldn't wait to have a weekend off and start a new project!

I received a skein of "Jean Jacket" Amber Label Tanis Fiber Arts in late September as part of the Year in Colour Club 2014.  It was quickly hidden and I didn't even *dare* look at it until the Thanksgiving weekend because I knew it would prove to be too great a distraction from work and studies.  Good thing I waited to use this skein because the digital version of Shannon Cook's hat pattern "Schwimmen" was finally released the day before our 3hr drive up-island on that Thanksgiving weekend (for non-knitters, a long drive usually = knitting time).  I had seen a sneak-preview of the collection but thought it was being released at a later date.  Couldn't wait for the paperback version of this pattern so downloaded the pattern at home minutes before our long drive.

The weekend turned out to be a rainy one, so we mostly read, played games, and I knitted, of course.  This hat proved to be a very quick knit and was done by Monday.  It feels super light & soft.  I'm usually partial to fingering-weight hats for our mild Westcoast climate, but this DK yarn/design combo is very comfortable.

One last picture of this Thanksgiving Hat sitting atop the underside of Tippy, my Dad's row-boat.

Project notes

Papaya Shawl

Back in July 2013 I received this gorgeous skein of "Paprika" yarn as part of the Tanis Fiber Arts 2013 Year in Colour Club.  As soon as I opened the package, a flurry of ideas buzzed through my head.  The Red Label was so soft and the colour so rich and vibrant that this skein had a life of its own and needed to go into production right away.

I had been eyeing this project.  I liked the airy, spring lightness produced by the lace pattern within the body of the shawl.  However, since the weight and yardage of my skein were much less than the pattern, I decided to make my own design.  That way I could also incorporate a few baubles, a recent obsession.   After testing a gazillion top-down baubles & vines constructions, I finally settled on a simple 3 baubles pattern.

This became shawl #2 for my Mom.  She looks awesome in orange and I knew she would love it.  I hope she doesn't tire of shawls because they are so fun to knit!

project notes

Cakes o'plenty!

Someone received a ball-winder as an excellent gift this season!  Thanks J. you're the best!

On My Needles - a sweater ... finally!

Socks & gloves are practically all I've knitted in the past few years.  Funny, because I used to think that they were so complicated.  As a teenager I knit many sweaters and even a long jacket.  Some were colour work, others cables.  I probably stopped knitting sweaters because wool is expensive and you need a lot of it to make a sweater, sweaters are difficult to fit, and take a long time to make.

Despite these major drawbacks, after a multi-year sweater-knitting hiatus, I started a new sweater project right after Christmas.  The pattern is called I heart Aran by Tanis Lavallée.  I'm also using Tanis' Green Label in Chris Grey , purchased on Etsy before Christmas.  At purchase time this shade was a One-Of-A-Kind colour, but has since been added to the regular colourways.  I love this colour because it's so shiny.

Unlike earlier sweater creations which followed patterns to the letter, I have changed a few sizings in this one to hopefully make it fit perfectly.  So far the front, back, and most of one arm are done.  Although the cable pattern looks complex, it was easy to remember. Ploughing through cables again was very satisfying.

Confession time - I have never blocked a sweater.  I will have to research whether to block it prior to piecing it together, or afterwards.

Here's the sweater so far:

Green - Line Break Shawl

2012 was the summer of green & blue.  The often fickle West Coast weather was amazing when J. & I went on a roadtrip around Washington's Olympic Peninsula, land of giant green trees & blue ocean.  

La Push, Washington

Two years ago, I bought wool with this shawl in mind.  For some reason I didn't get around to making it right away and more or less forgot about the colour combo until I saw Veera Valimaki's "Line Break Shawl" pattern.  As soon as I saw it, the blue/green colours screamed back at me.   

I couldn't wait to start this project.  With row upon row of garter stitch, it was the perfect travelling project.  No need to count rows or read a chart, but just watch the scenery in my summer roadtrip adventure as it unfolded before me!  

Knitting short rows made the project seem quick.  I had intended on making a lacey border with the light green, but decided on the modern look of the border as written.  This is my 3rd asymetrical shawl (Stripe Study, Color Affection).  I have yet to knit a triangular one, and perhaps never will!  

Journals

When I was 12 years-old I was homebound for 2 weeks with a nasty bout of Chicken Pox.  During these 2 uncomfortable weeks I read "The Diary of Anne Frank" from cover to cover.  Anne's writing inspired me to start my own Journal in which I wrote for the following 10 years.  Now that I'm all grown-up, journaling is no longer to record feelings but rather to keep track of various activities.

These days my Bread Journal gets the most use.  In this I keep 2 basic slow-rise recipes.  I also record every batch and loaf made.  My bread instructor (Brad Williams) suggested keeping a journal to keep track of successes & failures.  It comes in handy to remember how much water to use with certain flours.  Brad also suggests to record weather because this can affect the dough.  Keeping a bread journal has helped me to try again after failures by varying the amounts of certain ingredients.

My Knitting Journal is where I used to detail projects yarn, pattern, needle sizes, etc., however, since discovering Ravelry, project details are now online.  This paper journal is mainly a place where I glue yarn labels & samples.  I also glued a paper ruler (inches & cm) on the inside cover to measure swatches when travelling.  There's always a printed glove pattern in the back pouch for when the Internet is not accessible.

My newest journal is a Soap Journal where I record soapmaking adventures.  I keep track of the scents, colours, and bits which were used in the soaps.  I only need this one 2x/year so it's usually difficult to find.

I really enjoy the tactile feeling of writing on paper and looking back at past entries but sometimes it's just more practical to use a digital version.  I wonder whether paper journals will soon become a thing of the past.  Luckily, bookstores still sell beautiful notebooks.  My favorites are Moleskine Grid Journals.  Project journals, whether high or low-tech,  are excellent auxiliary memory devices.  Their real purpose is to write notes to my future self to improve on what I just did.

Fall is Orange

Last Friday was the first day of fall:  on the calendar and with the weather.  The weather became suddenly cooler & the fog returned to the West Coast.

So I was do glad to receive the latest I instalment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club 2012.  This month was ...

J.'s Hungarian Apricot Jam

Orange!! What a perfect colour to inject warmth into a cool day.

crazy-urban-garden-carrots

Goofy but true, lately when starting a new knitting project 2 things have happened:

1.  I have fallen in love with the colour.

2.  I notice that colour more often in nature.

Stripe Study Shawl

Last summer I fell in love with Veera Valimaki's Stripe Study Shawl.  Not normally a big fan of asymmetry, this surprisingly became the first of 3 asymmetrical shawls I knitted this past year (Mom's Color Affection).  My past self would likely roll her eyes at the fact I'm wearing shawls, however the colours and asymmetry gives them a modern look; not your grandmother's shawl.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

I fell in love with the stripes in this design at first sight.  The project progressed quickly with short rows and garter stitches.  I just couldn't put it down until a bit more was completed.

This 1st ever shawl for me was knitted with leftover sock wool which I had used to make socks, gloves, and a scarf.  All yarns are from Montreal's Tanis Fiber Arts.  I mainly use sock wool now because it makes it so much easier to mix & match leftovers.  I ran out of the dark blue "Stormy" & had to order online since it's no longer sold locally.  The newer version was a bit darker and actually gives the shawl more depth.

New skill:  short rows (wrap & turn)

I never did block this project.  I just wore it so much that it stretched out beautifully on its own!  More deets on my Ravelry project page.

Mom's Color Affection Shawl

I fell in love with the Color Affection shawl when I first saw it in January but had to wait until February until it was available to the general public.  I love Veera Valimaki's shawl designs.  She has released 3 striped shawls in the last year, each one a variation on the other by playing with short rows & colours. 

I wasn't sure which colours to use so I played around with various combinations.

As soon as I started with the Pink Grapefruit & Truffle (part of the Tanis Fiber Arts Clubs 2011 & 2012), it was obvious I had a winner.  

The shawl is a belated birthday gift for my Mom's February birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Yoga and Knitting, is there anything else?

Mid-March and the beginning of Spring Break.  It's been a tough winter since Christmas.  My January Yoga Challenge resolution seems long gone.  I made it home on a Sunday morning after day 20 of my Bikram Challenge, back in mid-January, and was promptly taken down by pneumonia.  2 months later and visits to the hot room are still too infrequent.  I am taking it easy because my breathing is still laboured.  My flexibility is suffering so I can't wait until I can practice more often.

I'm thankful for knitting to keep me occupied while I was really sick.  One lesson learned from battling breast cancer is to have goals each day, no matter how small.  Battling pneumonia, I was too sick to read but the repetitive motion of knitting, along with watching PVRed Tour de France 2011 episodes kept me going for a few weeks.

With knitting Christmas presents behind me I was finally able to tackle a project for myself.  Last summer I stocked-up on a few skeins of "Meadow" from Tanis Fiber Arts before it was discontinued.   A bit of back & forth knitting and "voilà", a new Azzu Shawl for me.  I love it!  It's soft, squishy, and warm.

I was able to take part in the Tanis Fiber Arts Knit-along in January.  I had not signed-up at the beginning of January because I didn't think I would be able to finish a project in a month.  Funny how things happen sometimes.  My yoga goal went down the tubes but I now have a new shawl instead.  My first knit-along, it was really fun to watch all the projects evolve and I discovered many new beautiful patterns.  Wool + pattern + needles = Joy!

July = Yellow

I bought a skein of yellow Tanis Fiber Arts wool  last summer when visiting relatives in Montreal.  It was July, the Tour de France was on, the weather was beautiful, so I easily succumbed to the appeal of yellow wool.  Sadly, upon return to Victoria the newly rolled-up wool spent an uneventful year stashed awaiting the perfect project.

Last July I found Star Athena’s «Tour de France » sock pattern and first made a pair for socks for myself, then altered the pattern to make a pair of fingerless gloves for Mom last Christmas.   I love this pattern because of the cables and moss stitch representing mountains and cobbles.  Very fun to make!

So July 2011 rolled around and it was finally time to put the beautiful yellow wool to good use.  I don't know why it took me so long to put this pattern & wool together.  I should have seen  before that Tour de France = Yellow, so therefore sock pattern = yellow skein.  July was the perfect month to start this project because that's when the Tour is on.

I have finished the right glove and took a few pics this week while visiting the beach in Deep Bay.  Still working on the left glove but it should be finished soon.  

New Gloves

Wool gloves are a real treat!  They keep my fingers warm when I'm biking, or just make them feel better when they feel old and arthritic.

I knit my first pair of fingerless gloves around 10 years ago as a challenge.  It was the next step up, a natural progression from knitting socks.  The fingers, after all, are just a smaller version of knitting a sock leg, and there is no pesky heel to turn.

I have made many pairs of gloves, either with full fingers, cut-offs, or fingerless mittens.  I have given them all away or (sadly) lost them.  So with time on my hands, last weekend was the perfect time for a new project.

I bought a skein of wool from the internet in the fall to make a hat for my Mom.  However, when I received it, it didn't really scream "hat" to me so I stashed it away.  I decided to use it now because I thought the pattern might be interesting in gloves.  The stripe pattern would show thin stripes in the body and larger stripes in the fingers.  It's fun to knit with hand-dyed wool because of the variations in colours.  Subtle changes in colour reveal patterns, one stitch at a time.  It's like reading a mystery book, where clues are revealed one at a time.  This one is called a multi.

This project also marks the first time I have written out a pattern.  I have posted the instructions in Ravelry .  I have written it out in an effort to save myself time in the long run.  No more trying it out and re-measuring.

Since spring is taking its sweet time in returning this year, I'm sure I'll be able to wear these many times before putting them away for the summer.