Oh my goodness, I finally finished the Bamboo Diamond Shell. A year and seven months in the making (okay, I knitted it off and on and put it away for months and months), I finally decided to wear it for the first time today since it was a mild mid-70F day in Los Angeles. The Valley Yarns Southwick bamboo cotton blend (from WEBS/Yarn.com) kept me nice and warm and it felt really comfortable against my skin too. I love the retro styling! And the button is vintage too! I scored it at one of my favorite flea markets and have been saving it for years to go with the perfect garment.

I actually had all the pieces (collar, bodice, and waist band) finished for months and just couldn’t bring myself to seam them together. And that said, if you ever see me wear this in person, please don’t look too closely at the seams! I really need to get myself to a “finishing school” or class one of these days.

I actually wore this to work today. It always feels a little awkward/funny wearing something I knitted, but dang it, it’s something I made! I’m a knitter and I’m proud. ;)

Can you believe we have 50 more knitting days until Christmas?! This year has gone by way too fast. I’ve only done three projects for myself (so many more in the queue!) but I have to start knitting holiday gifts soon!

The pattern is “Bamboo Diamond Shell” from the book Boutique Knits. I love this book!

It’s been a while since my last update, but I am still knitting! I have done lots and lots of doll dresses (which I still love doing, even after 20+ of them), and lately I’ve been making baby sweaters. A few months ago, I found out that three of my friends at work are expecting! So of course I had to take the opportunity to take on some knitting projects.

The first cardi is the popular February Baby Sweater for M. She loved it and got a little verklempt at her baby shower. :) I used Gedifra Extra Soft Merino in a pale pink. It really is so very soft and perfect for a baby! The shank buttons are vintage. M’s colors are pink and brown. She had her baby girl on 9/10/11!

The 2nd cardi is also a February Baby Sweater. I think this brings the total to 8 of all the Feb Baby Sweaters I’ve made. I swear everyone loves them, and thankfully I’m not sick of them yet! It’s for my friend Y who is having a baby boy. Y loves white and so I kept everything classy white, from the yarn (Gedifra Extra Soft Merino again, I love it) to the shank buttons. I decided to play with the pattern a bit to make a little collar. I think it turned out nice.

And last but not least, I made a fun cardigan for my friend J who is also expecting a baby boy. J likes stripes so I took the opportunity to practice knitting with two colors. I had forgotten how fun it was!

The yarn I used are Classic Elite Yarns Classic One Fifty in Blue Sky, with Gedifra Extra Soft Merino in White. The pattern is “Little Coffee Bean” which is available for free on Ravelry. It’s a seamless sweater knitted from the top down, and the button band is picked up along the front and knitted on after. I used plain white 5/8″ buttons but added a little splash of color with bright orange thread!

I knitted the last two sweaters in 2 weeks, which is a record time for me. I just wanted to see if I could do it! It felt like cramming for finals 8-)

Phew. After these, I think I’m going to continue finishing some projects I’ve had laying around that are for myself. Then it’s time to start thinking about holiday knitting! This year has gone by so fast.

I finished my Sideways Grande Cloche today and I absolutely LOVE it! Turns out 2nd time’s the charm, as my first try came out way too tall for my head even though I followed pattern instructions. My modifications were casting on 33 sts instead of 42(!) as the pattern originally called for, and 1/2 inch wider in circumference which worked out perfectly.

The yarn used is Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky from Yarn.com. It’s a wool/alpaca blend which is super warm and cozy! It’s also very “bouncy” in feel and knits up nice and fast. The dark teal color looks great and classy. I can’t wait to wear it out!

This is my first finished project from Boutique Knits. It’s my favorite knitting book at the moment, there are so many projects I want to try! I’m still working on the Bamboo Diamond Shell, but it’s temporarily hibernating as I am into more wintery knits right now.

I just got a nice shipment of yarn from Jimmy Bean’s Wool and will be working on Nimbus next. I’ll be using Berroco Peruvia Quick, super-bulky weight yarn, so it should (hopefully) be another fast & fun knit. I’m still waiting for yarn from WEBS to arrive so I can start on the Owls sweater!

Ahh, finally finished my first pair of Fetching. It’s a fun, quick and easy project, I don’t know why I didn’t start sooner!

So this pair was done following the pattern exactly, in Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran with size 6 DPNs, and it’s perfect for medium-size hands. I have really small hands, so I decided to give away this pair as a white elephant gift at work – my friend Meggie ended up with them, yay! She is also a knitter and blue is her favorite color! I’m so glad the gloves went to someone who will appreciate them.

I still wanted a pair for myself, so I used the one skein of Debbie Bliss Rialto DK I had in my stash and knitted them up on size 5 needles. Perfect for my small hands!

The colorway is just called “Brown” which isn’t too exciting, but it looked very velvety-chocolatey and reminded me of chocolate mousse. I finished them in one weekend while watching anime on Netflix. And instead of the picot edge finish, I just did a straight bind-off. I was worried one skein wouldn’t be enough, but it was!

And of course, I had to model them with my vintage phone just like the photo on Knitty. They’re so cute, girly and retro. I’m pretty sure I’ll be knitting up more Fetching in the years to come!

Next on my list is the Sideways Grande Cloche hat from the book Vintage Knits. This will be my second attempt. The first try, I followed the pattern exactly and it turned out way too tall and looked like a fez! Hopefully my modifications will work this time around.

Happy knitting and happy holidays!

Yes, another February Baby Sweater! I have been getting good practice with my gull pattern thanks to my friends/family who are having babies! So far I have made six of them, four for girls and two for boys. Everyone just loves these so much!

One thing I love about knitting in lace patterns how different it looks from the average stockinette. It makes a garment look so much more special. And if you have made this sweater, you know the instructions are really just two paragraphs!

I have to say, Elizabeth Zimmermann was a genius :)

Yarn used is Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK (Microfiber, Cashmere, Wool) in Cloud. It really is so very soft! Buttons are vintage.

And of course, the pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac.

I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it in the December 2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I wanted to knit this adorable dress for my niece, but the sizes available go from 6 months to 24 months. She just turned two, so I wanted to make it just a little bigger. Rather than use the DK/sz 6 needles the pattern called for, I decided to upsize the yarn to aran, and used size 8 needles. I used the 6 month size numbers as a guide and eyeballed the rest so it’d look proportional. I love the Madiera lace pattern! I also really like the yarn I’m using, Valley Yarns Valley Superwash in Misty Lilac. Personally, I like using “non-baby” colors to knit baby garments. I’m not a big fan of baby blue, pink, mint green, etc.

After blocking the pieces (thank goodness for KnitPicks’ great blocking boards), the lace pattern opened up and looked so pretty. I usually dislike seaming A LOT, but I figured this is a toddler-size dress so it shouldn’t be too much of a headache. Thankfully, it turned out okay. I still dislike seaming though. :P

Here is the finished product. I happen to have some 1/2″ wide velvet ribbon in dark burgundy that goes with it perfectly. I hope it’ll fit my niece. I’m thinking of making a Blythe-size version now!

Last winter, I asked my Mom if she wanted anything knitted for Christmas. I gave her a feather & fan scarf a few years ago and she really loved it. She said, “A vest!” And so I decided to give it a go.

The pattern I found online (Pretty in Pink on freepatterns.com) on was very easy to follow and the cable looked fairly easy to do. I had never done cabling before this, so I figured this might as well be my chance to use a cable needle for the first time! Plus it’s knitted in the round and doesn’t require seaming! I used Valley Yarns Valley Superwash from Yarn.com and it’s lovely to work with! It’s so cozy and warm, with great stitch definition that really made the cables stand out.

Needless to say, my Mom loved it. She gave me a big hug and asked, “How did you know it would fit so perfectly?”

I call it beginner’s luck! :)