Baby Knits for my new little Tater

My best friend is pregnant. Yep.

She's cute and round and officially done work, so it's only a matter of time before we get to meet the little one. She is a former doula so discussing different stages of the pregnancy comes natural to her. Well, the more I talk about it the less likely I will ever want to have a child - birthing process? No thanks! Especially discussing this over a lovely friendship date? That's just a disaster waiting to happen!

So when my lovely friend asked me to knit her baby something I made a pact with her. I will knit whatever she wants as long as she discuss the actual birthing process with me. I don't want to know about tears and stitches and all that - and in return I will give cute little "Tater" anything my friend wants. Perhaps a bit unfair, but I think our friendship will survive because of this pact.

Of course, once we meet Tater it will be all bowel movements, and spit up.... but that's inevitable! I just can't wait to meet them, hug the crap out of them (not literally) and maybe knit some more things once I know if it's a boy or a girl!!! :) 

So here is the "Birthing Process Pact Sweater"

A creamy sweater copying the Hudson Bay Co. traditional stripes.

The button band will be last, and I will have to check with her if she wants buttons, or snaps. But I'm pretty happy with the results so far. 

Yarn: King Cole Merino DK (Stripes) 

Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash (Cream)

Pattern: Little Coffee Bean Cardigan

Sweater Fever 101

Anyone who reads this blog must know that I obsess over which sweater to knit next. And any plotting and scheming usually comes along with colour planning.

Now I'm not normally one for swatches (but I think you should be). They are life savers, necessary and oh so practical if you want your finished sweater to, well, actually fit you! I do test my gauge once I get going, but usually by then I've put in so much work that it really isn't the best way! So if you learn anything from me today let it be that your simple swatch is worth it.

So I'm currently plodding along with my dark blue cabled Amanda Cardigan, which has almost taken me a year with my hiatus this summer, and dreaming of a sweater without cables. Something simple. Maybe something I've done before?

Oh, would I dare?

I think I would.

I have admired these colours since I started my own Maxfied Cardigan and actually spent $50 on the Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries alpaca wool I did not need while unemployed to make this sweater.  Now the grey I ordered online came a bit lighter than I wanted so I did an actual swatch and....

It just doesn't have the same Ooomph that hers does.  Which is unfortunate.  Also, the grey had acrylic content and I wasn't happy making another sweater out of yarn that's acrylic. So I kept swatching.

The black was too dark, making the colours look too childish and stark. I liked the blendy nature of her charcoal grey and the Mixed Berries. But the Lobster purple colour from Berroco's Ultra Alpaca (front centre) seemed the right shade and complemented the blues and pinks of the varegated Lorna's Laces yarn. It's also made of alpaca and I like to keep matching fibers in a sweater so that over time they wear in similar ways. 

 I have come to the conclusion that acrylic is okay for home decor items, like christmas ornaments and pillows, but anything that is to be worn should be of natural fibers. Any sweaters with acrylic that I've made have lost their shape and shrunk over time - which does not make me happy. What you save in cost of materials you pay for in life span of the item. And when it's a hand knit its just not worth it to save!

In other news...

So my blogging as taken a back seat to adjusting to downtown city life again. It makes it sound like I've been super busy and I haven't. I just haven't had too much knitting stuff going on.

My knitting pretty much stopped over the summer. Apparently Canadian summers don't inspire knitting in me the way British ones do! Might have something to do with the 30 degree heat.

Another thing that has actually affected by blog and I didn't think it would - I switched to an iPhone from a Samsung. This might not seem significant as I never actually write my blog on my phone, but I do use it to take pictures of my knitting. The iPhone camera is complete shit. Totally shit. I hate it. Where as the Samsung took decent pictures so that's really annoying.
But this winter I have been back at it! I joined a knit group at a local yarn store (and by local I just mean in the city as it's not that close to me). It's a great mix of people and very friendly. It's helped inspire me to keep at it and get things done!  This sweater is now too big to take along, but it is just about done. Then with a little blocking it will be ready to wear! I do need to find buttons so if you know of a cool place in Toronto to buy buttons lemme know!


I did manage to make 3 pairs of fingerless mittens and sell them to people at work for Christmas presents, so that was good.




And I knit a lot on the subway when I take it and tend to get into conversations with people about learning to knit so I have made some business cards to give to them offering lessons! Teaching definitely inspires me to keep knitting and learning myself.

Hello April!

I haven't posted in a while. I have been busy. 

Mostly just with internal stress. Apparently not working does not suit me. 

My past dreams of becoming a happy housewife in a home without children has thus been crushed. To be fair, I never really thought I'd find a guy rich enough to support me, my love of travel, food and yarn with a predilection for real estate hunting. So I guess it's better to also know that I genuinely enjoy working over sitting home all day long. 

I left my Amanda Cardigan at my friends one night, thinking I would get it back a few days later. And that turned into over a week. So in al the time since my last post I haven't really accomplished much knitterly things. While I have many other projects on the go, that one was my favourite and now that I have it back it's been a bit slow getting back into it. 

I have though, found a job! A full time, permanent, exciting to me, job. It's with a bank but not in the actual banking division but with "other stuff banks do" so I expect it will be right up my alley. And it's an awesome company so I am super excited. Life will hopefully start piecing together in my little Toronto city once again! 

If you are looking to learn to knit in Toronto, or join a knit group with other awesome peoples just let me know! Me and a few girls already meet on Tuesday evenings for a drink along Bloor and do some knitting in the pub! 

Little York - new pattern

Today I published a new pattern today on Ravelry. I thought it would be good to foray outside of the sweater craze and work on some designs. Also, to give me something to do while the “job application slump” has hit. I feel like I’ve already seen and applied to all the relevant jobs…. But with the pattern so far the reception seems to be pretty good!

I called it Little York and it is a hat I designed while living in England on York Road in my little basement flat. I loved that flat, and this hat was a nice little project one night when I was home alone and obsessing with all things knitting. 

So presenting my new pattern Little York!

(The cowl in the background is the Stockholm Cowl by knittedbliss) 

Sweater Hound

So I have realised my blog has become one big hommage to knitted sweaters.

Aidez, Maxfield, Silver Jacket, the sock monkey one I plan to invent one day and yes, I have started yet another sweater. But first...

Here is my finished Maxfield. As it's been weeks and Ive been wearing it and have not posted anything! I guess because when I post on Instagram I get instant likes and feel like I've shared and then the blog has fallen by the wayside. (Me on Instagram = sfknits)

And the new one? The Blueberry yarn arrived and after paying an arm and a leg in customs (about $30) I finally got my hands on my alpaca amazingness. I can happily say Berroco Ultra Alpaca is super super super Ultra. The name doesn't lie, the price is amazing; I think I'm in love. Cables are super quick to knit, and I kinda love this pattern (Amanda Cardigan; Lene Holme Samsoe).  I really hope it becomes the most amazing sweater in the world! 

I really think I need to pull my real camera out and actually photograph this stuff....

Inspiration - Sock Monkey Sweater

Ah weekend getaways. 

Long chats with great people, overdue catch ups with best friends, tea, sandwiches and coffee.... I loved last weekend. 

My best friend lives in Belleville so we went up for the weekend and took an afternoon trip out to Picton. I totally stole this picture from one of my friends to summarise our time... (I'm wearing my stockholm and my aidez cardigan!)

In the Bean Counter, a new coffee shop in Picton, I saw a girl wearing a sock monkey sweater!! I realised my goal in life is to own one of these! 

After some googling I have discovered that this was orginally sold by Roots (mmm, sigh) but they dont seem to have it anymore. If I can't find it in an outlet store sometime soon I may need to knit my own. Maybe in chunky wool so I can wear it really really soon. I started searching for suitable patterns but haven't found one so I may need to design it, or alter someone else's design to get this made. 

But given that I have yarn for three other sweaters already this one probably won't see the light of day for quite a while!

(I am still on the hunt for a good job, so definately won't be buying any more yarn anytime soon!)