On My Needles

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

The girls aren’t the only ones claiming my time – their things are just finished more quickly! Here’s what’s on my needles for me right now.

This is my second No. 9 sweater, knit as a pullover this time with a different yarn and weight. (These are all Ravelry links.) The Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky was an impulsive buy, once upon a time, because I loved the colour so much. (It’s called Salt Water.) I *thought* I had a bunch of patterns specifically for the yarn and figured I was golden – nope, the patterns are for the other weight of Berroco Blackstone Tweed, which is an aran. This one is bulky. So, this pretty yarn sat in the stash, waiting for its moment.

This winter, the moment arrived. Sweater No. 9 calls for a bulky yarn, but not one like this. The pattern uses two yarns held together, a silk mohair and a fingering yarn. The result is just not as bulky as this bulky weight yarn. Gauge is on a 7mm needle, with 14 stitches and 10 rows to 10 cm. Gauge is of course highly personal – the needle size is less important than the stitch count, which ensures the result is the right size. On 6.5mm needles, my swatch was 12.5 stitches to 10cm and I liked the feel of the fabric. I knew the finished bust size I wanted so figured out how many stitches that would require in this gauge. I then followed the directions and stitch counts for the size that ended up with that many stitches in the bust.

For my first No. 9 sweater, in contrast, I was getting 16 stitches to 10cm on 5mm needles with the Kidsilk Haze Trio. I did the same calculation, then followed the directions and stitch counts for the size on the pattern that resulted in the right number of stitches across the bust. That resulted in a sweater that fit me perfectly in that yarn.

The big different between my chosen yarn and the specified combinations, even though the weight is close, is in the rolldown collar. This robust yarn just doesn’t fold over well. It’s really thick, so I’ll probably wear the collar up under my chin.

No. 9 sweater in progress, knit in Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky by Deborah Cooke

I’m stalled at the sleeves because I’m positive I must have a 40cm 6.5mm circular needle. I just can’t find it. (I mean, really, I have buckets of needles. How can I be missing one?) If I’d been near a knitting store, I probably would have just bought one by now, even if it meant ending up with two. Instead, since we don’t have a LYS anymore, I have to make a pilgrimage to a store and that hasn’t happened yet. It’s okay. This yarn is used to waiting.

I do like how the ribbing is more defined in this wool. I changed the stitch counts on the collar and hem to make them line up again, and continued the ribbing from the raglans down the sides, and I like both of those elements too. 🙂

Meanwhile…I bought a kit. I’ve knit the back so far and am really liking it. The pattern is Churchmouse Yarns’ Quintessential Cardigan and jewel-necked cardigans are one kind of sweater I wear over and over again. (I may even wear out the Kidsilk Haze Stripe Hebrides or the Lunenberg in Koigu KPPPM.) The yarn is Jody Long Alba, unknown to me before I indulged in this kit. It is kind of an amazing thing to knit with a yarn that isn’t discontinued yet. This colourway is Moss.

Here’s the product detail page at Knitting Fever – it comes in a lot of colours!

That makes sense as Alba is quite similar in feel to Rowan Felted Tweed, which also comes in a lot of colours. The composition is the same, too. Both yarns are 50% merino wool, 25% alpaca and 25% rayon/viscose. Alba isn’t as soft as Felted Tweed, though, which might be a good thing in some ways. It’s hard to sew seams with Felted Tweed because it breaks all the time, but Alba would be fine. Hmm. I wonder why. Is it the “felting”, however that’s done, or is the Alba made of fibre with a longer staple? I don’t know. The put-up is much larger: Alba comes in 100g balls of 350m while Felted Tweed comes in 50g balls of 175m.

Here’s the back of the new sweater.

modified back of Quintessential cardigan designed by Churchmouse Yarns, knit by Deborah Cooke in Jody Long Abla in moss colourway

I love all the flicky colour bits of the tweed!

We were talking a few weeks ago about cropped sweaters and I discovered in the knitting of this one that it was intended to be cropped. (Feh.) I first knit a 12″ side seam as specified in the pattern, thinking that would result in a high hip length which I like, but the armscye is shorter on this pattern and the sweater hem ended up just below my waist. I ripped it back and added two inches into the length before binding off stitches for the armholes.

I actually bought two of these kits, the other in a heathered plum called Kilt, and may knit that one another inch longer than this. I’ll see whether I run out of yarn on this one first.

I did knit a sweater in Felted Tweed a few years ago and here it is again. I did like the feel of it while I was knitting and this pattern was a bit addictive. This sweater has some miles on it, if not a lot of wear. My mom admired it and I gave it to her, then she didn’t wear it (she didn’t like the pink) and she gave it back to me. I don’t wear these colours so much now that my hair is grey, so it’s waiting on a day in the sun.

Bute by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Colourspun and Felted Tweed by Deborah Cooke

The pattern is Bute by Lisa Richardson, which was shown in two colourways by Rowan. That’s the link to the version I knit on Ravelry, and here’s the link to the blue variation. The blue version is shown as a man’s sweater, but actually the pattern is unisex. Hmm. Yes, it had suede elbow patches, which I left off. I also recall that I had to take in the shoulders for a better fit. The mister liked the blue one, so I stashed all the yarns. There’s another project I should get on the needles to free that yarn from the stash. So much string, so little time!

New Socks for the Mister

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve been stuck with my current knitting project. I can’t find the right needle for the sleeves of my current No. 9 sweater. It defies belief that I don’t have a 40cm 6.5mm needle, in all my stash of knitting needles, so I’m hunting through everything. Dollars to donuts, as soon as I decide I must not have one and buy one, I’ll find the one lurking in my projects. This is, after all, how one gathers a needle stash.

I actually made a spreadsheet a few years ago, inventorying all of my knitting needles for exactly this reason. At the time, I listed the project where the needles could be found, if they were being used. The spreadsheet is out of date, sadly, but it does not show that I have a needle in this size. Maybe I don’t. I’ll keep looking to be sure.

In the meantime, there was movie night and nothing to knit. I cast on a pair of socks for the mister, and now they’re done. (But I still haven’t found the needle.)

men's socks knit in Online Supersocke New Wave by Deborah Cooke

This yarn has been well aged in the stash: it’s Online Supersocke (6-fach) New Wave – Color, a sock yarn from Germany. That’s the Ravelry link for the yarn since it’s discontinued. The yarn was actually made in Italy. This colourway is 1091.

And yes, I really like that I was able to make them match. 🙂

This is a nice yarn, squishy but with a firm twist. I think it will wear well and the mister really likes the colours. It comes in big balls and I bought a few of them when they were on sale, once upon a time, since the colours appealed to him. Thanks to Ravelry, I know I don’t have any more of this specific yarn in the stash, but I should have one more big balls of Online Supersocke. Time for it to be knitted up!

Meanwhile, I’ll keep looking for that elusive 40cm circular needle…

A Knitted Purse

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s another project that’s been waiting on me for a while and was finished up this week. I wanted to post it yesterday, but the handsewing at the end took a bit longer than anticipated.

One Stick Two Stick Sushi Wallet instructions

It started with a kit called Sushi Wallet. Here’s a Ravelry link for the pattern. The kit was from One Stick Two Stick and was packaged in a cute way, like a tray of sushi with six little balls of wool. I’ve chucked the packaging from mine, but here’s one that sold on Etsy. The kit includes the yarn, the pattern and a matching zipper.

On the right is the instruction folder, which shows the sushi wallet you’re supposed to make at the top. The second wallet is a variation, with just one sushi on the side and stripes on the back.

I found the kit for a buck in the discount section at Len’s Mills and they were all in the blue-green colourway called Caribbean Seas, possibly because it doesn’t make sense for sushi to be those colours (even though the combination was pretty). The yarn is a bamboo wool mix and there were four colours included: 64g of the medium blue, 18g of the light blue, 13g of the dark green and 11g of the light green. I weighed them all because I planned to do something different than follow the instructions. There was enough yarn to make two wallets, but I didn’t want two wallets.

I made a bigger purse instead, by casting on more stitches and knitting more rows. I also added a wedge at each side and a base so it wouldn’t be flat. (The original design is flat, a rectangle folded in half.) I also knit a strip to be a handle. Then I knit petals and leaves from the other colours. Here are all the pieces.

Purse pieces knit by Deborah Cooke for modified sushi wallet

I felted everything in the washing machine. I put the pieces in laundry bags to make sure none of them were lost in the washing machine – this set from Ikea is really useful. Once that was done, I sewed everything in place. I added some embroidery and ended up with this:

Felted Purse with embroidery by Deborah Cooke

I still didn’t love it, so I added some beads:

Felted Purse with beads by Deborah Cooke

I lined the bag with a cute scrap of batik cotton in matchy colours – just using the purse as a pattern and adding a small seam allowance. I also added a little pocket inside, because I always add little pockets inside purses. They’re so useful. You can see it on the right – it’s the perfect size for a hotel room key, credit card, or folded $20 bill.

batik lining for felted purse by Deborah Cooke

Here’s the assembled lining, ready to go into the purse:

assembled batik lining for felted purse by Deborah Cooke

I hadn’t planned on those two tabs at the top, but they came in handy when attaching the handles.

With the zipper inserted and the handle added, the finished purse looks like this:

Felted Purse by Deborah Cooke, finished - side A

And the flip side:

Felted Purse by Deborah Cooke, finished - side B

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this. The shape is a little bit wonky, but that tends to happen with felted knits. I certainly like it better than I would have liked a blue sushi wallet. 🙂

And this reminds me that somewhere in my stash of unfinished projects, I have the Elegant Edibles kit from Knitpicks, which is now discontinued. I think I knit the kiwi purse and I know I knit the orange one, and they must both waiting to be lined. I was going to knit the bunch of grapes, but I have a feeling that yarn joined the stash instead. I’ll have to have a look.

Modified No. 9 Sweater Finished

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

I finished that cardigan from the No. 9 sweater patterns that we talked about last week. Since it was a much better day, I took an outside pic of it.

No. 9 sweater from My Favourite Things knit with modifications in Kidsilk Haze Trio by Deborah Cooke

The colour is pretty true in this picture. I really like this sweater: it’s light, warm and red! I’m swatching with another yarn (we can gasp in unison at that bit of news) to try the pullover version next.

Here’s a better shot of the buttons that don’t quite match.

They’re a little more pink than russet, but I like those two gold lines in them a lot. They’re staying. 🙂

I’m also embarked on a long-overdue sort of my fabric stash, which will continue to my yarn stash. It’s time to get organized, and time for some things to find new (more appreciative) homes.

I’ve noticed that the fabrics headed out the door fall into three groups: the first group is the biggest. My colouring was Autumn before I let my hair turn grey, so I had a lot of Autumn-favouring fabrics in my stash. I still like the russets and burgundies, the olive and some of the brown. The gold, taupe and beige, though, just don’t work for me anymore. I also used to wear white shirts a lot, and they don’t work for me anymore either —they’ve been culled from my clothing stash and are leaving my fabric stash, too. (There are compensations. Now I can wear black.)

The second group of fabrics are graphic prints. I like bold prints on the bolt and often admire them in the store. Some have come home with me over the years. I tend not to like them as much once they’re garments, or I like them but don’t wear them. They’re leaving, too.

Finally, there’s a shade of pink. Maybe it’s a pink that is supposed to work for Autumn colouring. (?) We used to call it dusty rose – it’s a mucky pink, not a clear clean one. Now it looks like Pepto-bismol to me, so out it goes.

It is very interesting to see how things pull together after my measuring, sorting and stacking. There’s a new cohesiveness in my stash, which I like — it makes me want to display it, not pack it away LOL — and which is also inspiring. I can see how things coordinate and work together, which gets me planning. It’s proving to be a useful exercise, though a time-consuming one. I expect I’ll be sewing more in the near future and not just for the girls. That makes me happy. 🙂

The Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

As promised, here’s a post about a sweater knit a while ago. First, let’s talk about the pattern. I used The Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan. I think it appeared in Threads magazine once upon a time and you can find it online now. It’s less of a pattern than a formula, so it can be used for any size of person and any yarn. Here it is on Ravelry with links to the Wayback Machine. It looks like you can download it from Rav, too.

I used this formula a couple of times to make sweaters for Mr. Math, including the Elrond Sweater. That’s the link to my Ravelry project page, and here’s my blog post. Below is the sweater. Ha. I knit it in 2009 and he still loves it. 🙂

The Elrond Sweater, knit in Kauni Effektgarn by Deborah Cooke

The sweater I wanted to write about today, though, is this one, which was knit so long ago that it doesn’t even have a Ravelry project page.

The Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan knit in A Pound of Mohair by Deborah Cooke

My No. 9 sweater reminded me of it, so I dug it out. This sweater was knit from a huge ball of yarn that I bought at Lewiscraft, probably in the 1970’s. It was called A Pound of Mohair or something similar. (How fun. I found an article on Knitty about Lewiscraft upon its demise in 2006.) As you can see, it was gradient-dyed.

This is not the mohair of KSH but the older variant, which is more prickly and thicker, blended with a bit of synthetic. Hayfield 80 (80% mohair, 10% nylon 10% acrylic) which is an aran weight is more similar to this one. (That’s a Ravelry link.) The scary thing is that I have another 1 lb. cone of similar mohair in graduated tones in my stash, which I bought in NYC, but that’s another story.

So, this cardigan was knit maybe 40 years ago. I was so proud of myself for getting the gradient on the sleeves to match! That was only possible because I used a contrasting yarn for the ribbing, although I don’t remember what it was. It doesn’t have any detail on the ribbing increases – like the one for the mister, the increases are just made on either side of two stitches that define the raglan line. It would be easy to increase the stitch count there and do a little cable, or the P2K2P2 of the No. 9 sweater.

The other cool thing about this sweater are the buttons. They’re clear with bugle beads inside. They’re very sparkly and special – I bought them from a little button shop on Queen Street West in Toronto, which was gone the last time I went looking for it. It was one of those places with all the boxes of buttons, and you bought buttons individually. (Yes, I have a button stash. Don’t you?)

I used similar gold buttons that have metallic threads inside, bought at the same time, on my felted Stripey Noro messenger bag. (That link goes to the pattern page at Ravelry. This design of mine is a free pattern download.)

Stripey Noro Messenger Bag by Deborah Cooke knit by Deborah Cooke

This button place reminded me of excursions with my mom when I was a kid – she would make the trek from suburbia on public transit to Dressmakers’ Supply on Avenue Road for notions like buttons. I thought it was an amazing place – all those boxes of buttons, sorted by colour! I also thought it was about six million miles north of Bloor St., but really it was maybe three blocks. We always walked that bit. Dressmakers’ Supply moved down to Queen St. West at some point and has since closed down.

There is another button store on Queen St. West now called Trillium Button – or maybe it’s the same place but on the other side of the street now – which I’ll have to check out the next time I’m downtown. Ha! I found a blog post from 2012 about the button store and it IS the same store, but moved west and to the north side of the street. Definitely worth a trip. (Here’s that blog post, which has some pix.)

And hmm. Now I’m wondering what to do with all that mohair in the stash…

The No. 9 Sweater

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

Last year, I knit a lot for the girls as there’s something satisfying about finishing up a project quickly. It was time for a human-sized knit! This sweater for me really took a while, as I knitted it twice. Will I ever learn to knit a gauge swatch? Probably not. I just don’t like doing it and if the price is having to knit something twice, well, I don’t mind so very much. Usually, I realize what I’ve done sooner than I did this time. Often, I find other things I want to change in the sweater, anyway. That happened this time, too.

So, let’s take a look. The pattern is Sweater No. 9 by My Favourite Things. Here’s a Ravelry link and here’s the link to the pattern on the designer’s website. It’s a top-down sweater with some ribbing detail on the raglan lines, with two suggested lengths. Here’s one of the designer’s official pix:

I used some Rowan Kidsilk Haze Trio from my stash, in Loganberry. This yarn is wonderful and squishy as well as very light. It’s discontinued now, but you could replicate it easily by knitting with three strands of KSH (or similar) held together. The colourways have three different harmonious colours each – this one has a red, a burgundy and a more orangey-red hue.

Here’s a pic of the yarn, knitted up in green and in the ball in the red, as well as my Felix cardigan knit of a KSH-ish yarn held with a fingering weight merino. That gives a similar effect to the KSH trio but is a little bit heavier:

Felix cardigan knit by Deborah Cooke with two shades of Kidsilk Haze Trio

I had bought this yarn in two colourways, as you see above, and knit a sweater of the green colourway, called Fern, a while back. I used a Rowan pattern called Paige but turned it into a cardigan. Here’s my Ravelry project page and here’s my blog post. I don’t wear that one much, because the drop shoulders and the length make it seem like a droopy blanket. It is very light and warm, though. Here’s that sweater:

Paige by Lisa Richardson, with modifications knit in Kidsilk Haze Trio by Deborah Cooke

And here’s the new red cardigan – with one sleeve still on the needles. The pictures are less than ideal as it’s snowing and grey today. There’s not a lot of light, even with all the lights on in the kitchen.

I’ll finish it up this week – this yarn knits up quickly! – and when there’s a sunny day, I’ll take a pic of it outside.

The benefit of knitting something twice is that I can see what things I don’t love and change them out in my version. For example, I really dislike when ribbing doesn’t line up with the pattern in the body of the sweater. If you’re knitting a K2 P1 rib for the collar, as here, and there’s a K2 in the raglan rib, they should align IMO so that the K2 in the ribbing just continues on down into the sweater. That isn’t going to work in this case, since there’s only a P1 on either side of the K2 and the raglan lines are P2 K2 P2. So I changed the counts in my collar, plotting out the placement of the raglan lines from the outset and working P2 K2 P2 in the collar to line up with that. You can see the knit ridge in this photo, that continues up the collar.

My second change was also a result of that test knit. I tried on the sweater and oooooo, that yarn was itchy itchy on my throat. I know I can’t wear KSH against my skin but I had a moment of (unmerited) optimism. So, when I ripped it back, I split the front of the sweater, turning it into a cardigan with two moss stitch bands down the front. I wasn’t sure of my ultimate row count so I winged it with the buttonholes, but it worked out fairly well.

My third change was a result of comments on Ravelry. The fronts and the backs of a sweater should not be the same and interchangeable, since the neck should be lower in the front. I added four short rows between the back raglan increases before starting those raglan increases – I could see the P2 K2 P2 place in the ribbing – to make the back a little higher at the neck. It was an easy change.

Change number four was an inadvertent one. I finished the yoke and wasn’t sure what to do with the ribbing lines from the raglan once the body was joined in the round. Just stopping them looked silly to me, so I picked up an extra stitch to have another K stitch in the middle of the 4 purls, and carried them down the virtual side seam of the sweater. To my delight, everything matched up at the hem for the K2 P1 ribbing at the waist, just as I’d set it in the collar.

There are two suggested lengths in the pattern for the sweater and mine is in between. I tried it on, because there were a couple of Ravelry comments about the hem being in an unfortunate location and I wanted to be sure. I generally don’t like cropped sweaters as they seem too short for me, and as a shorter person, I often need to shorten a “regular” length sweater so I don’t look overwhelmed. 12.5 – 13″ from underarm to hem is good for me. That’s 32 – 33cm. This one is 22 cm from underarm to the top of the ribbing and the waist ribbing is 10 cm. It’s perfect for me.

The buttons aren’t a perfect match – a bit more burgundy than russet – but I like the bit of gold in them and they came from my stash, which is even better. (That is a fuzzy pic!) The funny thing about them is that the shafts aren’t all drilled at the same angle. I’m a little OCD about things lining up and buttons being at the same angle, so I may take these off and re-sew them so that the little gold swoosh has the same orientation on all of them. Right now, all the buttons are sewn on with the hole in the shaft at the same angle.

I really like this sweater. I like it so much that I’m thinking of ripping back the Ferny Paige and knitting a green version of this sweater of that yarn instead. I also have a sweater quantity of a tweedy yarn in the same weight, so will try the pullover with that first.

It also reminds me of a mohair sweater I knit a looooooong time ago, and I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

Water Shawl

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

The Water shawl by Sylvia McFadden has been in my queue for a long time, even though the stitch pattern in the inserts is one that always gives me trouble. (That’s a Ravelry link.)

I made her Waiting for Rain shawl in 2017 in two colours of MadTosh Dandelion. It looks like this:

Waiting for Rain shawl knit in MadTosh Dandelion by Deborah Cooke

It’s a very long and skinny shawl, and better if I can wrap it around my neck twice.

Here’s one of the official images for Water:

It’s so pretty!

I decided to knit mine in Fleece Artist Anni, a mohair and merino blend. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I’m using the colourway Frozen Ocean, the perfect mix of blues. Here it is in the skein:

Fleece Artist Anni in Plum and Frozen Ocean

I also bought a colourway called Plum. It’s a light fingering weight which makes it a little bit skinny for the pattern’s specifications. As a result, I dropped down to a 3mm needle (instead of the specified 3.75mm) to get a fabric I like. My shawl, of course, is coming out smaller, so I’m thinking I’ll need to do more repeats.

Here it is so far:

Water, designed by Sylvia McFadden, knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Anni Frozen Ocean

The lead edge is at the top and it’s pretty tight at this point. I hope it relaxes when the shawl is blocked.

I think I’m still having trouble with that pattern stitch. It doesn’t look like the photo from the pattern:

But I like it enough to keep going. It’s all twisted stitches so reknitting it isn’t an appealing option. I’ll just continue and be consistent. 🙂

Overall, I’m pleased. It has a wavey watery look to it that I like a lot. Onward!

What Happened to February?

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

I apologize for the silence here on the blog. My last post was at the end of January. I had my busiest month ever in February and barely had time to turn around.

We’re having what has to be a false spring here. The chipmunks are awake, the grackles have returned and the snow is gone. The hellebores are lifting their buds from the soil and the daffodils are a few inches high. Even knowing that the snow will probably be back one last time, the sunshine and milder weather is wonderful.

In the midst of all my writing and publishing jobs, I did acquire a new doll. 🙂 Of course, she has a different body sculpt from all the other girls, so I’m doing some sewing for her now.

She is Amazing Grace #3, a Robert Tonner doll sold through the Virtual Doll Convention, and the first Tonner doll I’ve bought new. She’s 16.5″ tall with the RTB-101 body sculpt. (They still have Amazing Grace #1, the blonde, in stock. The redhead and brunette are sold out.)

Amazing Grace #3 2024 — 2024 Amazing Grace #3

This doll has a lot more articulation and flexibility than the Tyler Wentworth dolls, even the BW body sculpt (my fave). I have mixed feelings about her proportions. I wanted to adore her as soon as I saw her in real life. I like her, but I don’t love her yet. Maybe that will come in time. (Maybe I should have ordered the redhead….) Her hands and feet seem big to me, but there you go. At any rate, she has clothes in the works, though I’m not sure she’ll have sisters.

I have a few projects to share with you, but need to take some pictures first. We’ll start again tomorrow, with a shawl that’s in progress. I’m also finishing up a sweater for myself, which is reminding me of a sweater I knit years ago. And of course, there are new things for the girls.

I’ll be back tomorrow with knitting pix. I hope February treated you well!

Side-To-Side Cardigan & Dress

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

Last summer, I showed you a top-down cardigan I’d designed and knit for the girls in many sizes, from Monster High to Barbie and finally to Tyler.

I’ve also showed you this Tyler-size version. It’s knit of Koigu KPPPM in colourway 513P – KPPPM is 175m for 50g. I knit this one a little longer and also did some back neck shaping to make the front of the collar sit better. It’s modelled by RTW Rouge Sydney Chase, with a matching dress.

Top-down cardigan and dress knit for Tyler Wentworth in Koigu KPPPM and Sugar Bush Drizzle by Deborah Cooke

For the dress, I used the free pattern T-Shirt Dress for Tonner Dolls by Samira Jessica (that’s a Ravelry link) but divided the color. It’s a top-down knit with cap sleeves that are created when you cast off for the arms. I started with Sugar Bush Drizzle, held double, in Pink Puddle. At the waist, I changed to the Koigu KPPPM. I didn’t rib the skirt (as the pattern instructs) but just knit it in stockinette, then purled one row and cast off purlwise. I thought that might keep it from curling at the hem, but the hem still wants to roll up, even after blocking. I also added a little kickpleat at the center back. 🙂

I quite like this little dress, so I made a variation of it for Tyler in a different colourway. Here are the two of them together – Sydney is still wearing the first one – the light isn’t as good in my office this time of year as it was on the steps in the summer, but you can see the little kick-pleat on Sydney’s dress. Tyler has one, too. (Don’t you love Tyler’s shoes? They’re sling=backs, too. I want a pair myself.)

Dress and side-to-side cardigan knit for Tyler Wentworth by Deborah Cooke

The top of Tyler’s dress is Sugar Bush Drizzle held double – the colourway is Monsoon Mauve – and the skirt is a fingering weight yarn leftover from a sweater knit for me, The Loving Path Fibre Arts High Twist Sock. It came with a dyed-to-match Kidsilk Haze type yarn, The Loving Path Fibre Arts Aura Lace. I held the two together to knit a Felix for myself. (Those are Ravelry links., the last one going to my project page.) The colourway is Bewitched, a glorious mix of greys and blacks with flicks of purple and green. No photograph can do it justice.

I wasn’t so fussed about the way the top-down cardigan looked on Sydney. It makes her shoulders look quite broad, which wasn’t the feminine look I was after. So, for this one, I knit a side-to-side cardigan in the Aura Lace to coordinate with Tyler’s new dress.

Here’s the sweater laid flat.

Side-to-side cardigan knit for Tyler Wentworth by Deborah Cooke

It has been blocked but those fronts want to roll. This was a bit of a surprise as I’d thought they might drape – sweaters knit like this in human size have cascading fronts. But on these needles, the fabric ends up too stiff to cascade, thus it rolls.

I knit the sweater from front to front – casting on at the front edge, knitting to the side seam, putting the sleeve stitches on a holder, knitting across the back, putting the other sleeve stitches on a holder, knitting to the front edge and casting off. I then sewed the shoulder seams, picked up the stitches for one sleeve in the round and knit down to the cuff, then repeated for the other sleeve. The only seams were the teeny ones at the shoulder.

Here’s the sweater on Tyler – I had to cover her hands to get it on, btw:

I put a pin in it because I’m still thinking about the fastening, since it won’t cascade. It wants to be a double-breasted sweater jacket. With a pin at the waist, the fronts curl back like lapels. I put a clear snap at one side and three little black beads on the outside. The other side will stay tucked under when it’s closed. It’s a little more formal look than I expected, but this Tyler seems to like it.

I’m going to knit another version, but from cuff to cuff and without the extended fronts. I may pick up a collar afterward, and am thinking of adding a cable, too.

I have a sweater for myself to show you next week. 🙂

New Projects

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

There’s an unusual confluence of variables in my life right now, which means I’m starting both new writing projects and new knitting projects. It’s amazing to me how similar the two situations are. It’s not just about choosing the project—the bigger issue is getting the combination of variables right. Possibilities abound! I need to get some of them settled so I can start creating effectively.

Let’s talk about the knitting project here.

First off, I finished another pair of socks. These are knit in my usual pattern, the one I have memorized, in Fleece Artist Kiki. (That’s a Ravelry link.)

socks knit in Fleece Artist Kiki by Deborah Cooke

The tag says the colourway is Pansy but I think it’s really Nova Scotia (there’s no purple in this skein). I was excited to get this yarn on sale and realized later that it’s discontinued. It’s quite a thick sock yarn, so I went down to 64 stitches from my usual 72. I knit another pair of socks in another colourway of Kiki and showed them to you earlier this year. It’s a nice squishy yarn and good to have another pair of socks done for the winter. (I may have to cast on another pair of socks, just to have an anchoring project in my currently chaotic world.)

I also cast on a new shawl. Water is a pattern I’ve wanted to knit for a while (that’s a Ravelry link) and I finally found the perfect yarn for it. The designer is Sylvia McFadden and one of the official pix of the shawl is at right. (Click through on the Ravelry link to see more.) You can see that it’s in garter stitch with lovely wavey insertions.

I bought a collection of her patterns and knit Waiting for Rain from it – that’s the Ravelry link for the pattern and this is my blog post about my shawl.

In case you don’t feel clicky, here’s my Waiting for Rain shawl.

In that pattern, the insertions were of a different lace pattern and they were knit in a contrasting color. There was a lot of stripe-y goodness in that design.

I’m knitting my Water shawl with Fleece Artist Anni (that’s a Ravelry link), a limited edtiion yarn that is also discontinued. It’s fingering weight and a blend of merino and mohair. It’s a bit more itchy for me than anticipated, so is a better choice for a shawl than a sweater. The colorway is called Frozen Ocean, which seems very apt.

Here’s how it looks so far:

Water designed by Sylvia McFadden knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Anni in Frozen Ocean

The color is really not true in this image. It looks very green here, but is actually turquoise. I made good progress but am now at the first insertion and need to pay attention to the lace stitch. This bit isn’t TV knitting. 🙂

Portia deisgned by Norah Gaughran for Berroco

Which meant (inevitably) that I was casting around for a TV knit, since we’re binging mystery series these evenings. I’d been thinking of making an asymmetical sweater for the girls, which reminded me of this pattern. Portia is another sweater I always intended to make. (Yes, that’s a Ravelry link.) It was designed by Norah Gaughran for Berroco and has such an interesting design.

I actually have the specified yarn, Berroco Peruvia, but don’t have quite enough of it. I could make the smallest size, but that seems overly ambitious. It’s unlikely that I’ll lose a bunch of weight, sitting on the couch knitting. (That’s a Ravelry link because yes, Peruvia is discontinued.)

So I ended up auditioning yarn candidates from my stash – which is awfully similar to auditioning opening scenes for a book, my daytime task this week. The first candidate was some Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, which is exactly the same weight as Peruvia. (That’s a Rowan link as my colorway is discontinued but not the yarn itself.) Mine is a rosy colour, though, and I’m not sure I’ll wear a sweater coat in that shade. It’s a lot of pink. Beautiful yarn, though. I need to figure out what to do with it now.

Next up, some Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran in a scarlet shade. (Another discontinued yarn; another Ravelry link.) Very pretty but I thought the yarn looked too thin when knit to gauge. I could use smaller needles, but then the dimensions of the garment would be changed. Given the design of this sweater, it’s tough to anticipate how to adjust the fit.

#18 Shawl Collared Coat from Noro Magazine #1, designed by Mari Tobita

Next candidate: Noro Nadeshiko. This is lovely squishy yarn, an angora, silk and mohair blend. It’s a little heavier than Peruvia but I really like the firmer fabric when knit to gauge. I had bought this to make another sweater coat, this one from the original Noro magazine, designed by Mari Tobita, at left. It’s called #18 Shawl Collared Coat. (Yes, more Ravelry links. The problem with a well-aged stash is that everything is discontinued.) This coat has really pretty shaping in the back.

The colourway I have is less stripey than the one in this picture. It’s mostly shades of grey with a little bit of brick-red and a bit of white. I’m concerned that it might look too stripe-y in Portia, but am giving it a try. Here’s what I have so far:

Portia by Norah Gaughran knit in Noro Nadeshiko by Deborah Cooke

This is the centre-back braid, knit down from the back yoke, so it’s going to taper from here to that lowest point. The red looks more emphatic in the photo than in real life.

After this triangular piece is knit, you then pick up the side panels along the edges and knit toward the front. If I continue with the Noro, I’ll have to make sure that the stripes are symmetrical. I’m just too matchy-matchy to be happy with the result otherwise. I’ll see how it looks when the triangle is done.

With any luck, I’ll soon have both a knitting project and a writing project launched!

Alive & Knitting

Knitting and other tangled webs we weave

Category Archives: Knitting