FO: Star Swirl Beret

My swap partner for the July Monthly Color Swap let me know that she loves knitted berets, so I decided to make one for her. I found a pattern on Ravelry, printed it out, knit it, discarded my hard copy and then…couldn't find it again. I've found several similar patterns, but I cannot seem to find the one that I knit. I'm very confused.

I knit it in Valley Yarns Northhampton, which has some seriously impressive yardage- I managed to knit this beret and a clutch out of one skein. It seems pretty comparable to Cascade 220, but is cheaper for more yardage- what's not to like?

Pattern: ?

Yarn: Valley Yarns Northhampton

Colorway: White

Needles: Size 3 Circulars

Made for: Montly Color Swap (July: Black & White)

The Verdict: I love the way it looks. The swirl pattern on the nice simple white looks very chic and sophisticated. When I was knitting it, I was afraid that it would be a little small, but the yarn really bloomed out nicely when I washed and blocked it. I'm quite pleased with the result, and hopefully my Swap partner will be too!

FO: Chastain Park Shawl

When I saw Noro Silk Garden in a gorgeous colorway on the Jimmy Beans Wool Watcher at a really decent price, I couldn't resist ordering three skeins. I then had to find a pattern to make with my pretty new yarn- something simple, so that it would show off the pretty color changes, but with a little bit of lace to add some interest. I settled on the Chastain Park Shawl pattern.

I loved the pattern. It was an excellent choice for the yarn. It was simple enough, yet still pretty. I managed to mess up on the lacy edge a few times, but that was totally my fault, not the pattern's. My only complaint is that I hadn't done much triangular shawl knitting in the past, and it wasn't really clear from the pattern that it was to be knitted from the top down- I was incredibly confused until I actually just gave up trying to understand and started knitting. Once you can see it in action, it's fine- but since this is a pattern that is supposed to be good for beginners, I think they should spell that out a little bit better to prevent confusion.

While the pattern was great, I was no so thrilled with the yarn. So many people seem to either love or hate Noro that I refused to buy it at full price, and I'm really glad that I did that. While most of the color changes are gorgeous, I really don't get the hype. There was way too much vegetable matter (twigs and bits of wood)- I don't want to get a splinter from my knitting! It went way beyond a thick-and-thin yarn- there were points where it was like a ball of fiber just got bound up with the rest of the yarn. I ended up having to trim these places. To make matters worse, while most of the colors were gorgeous (pinks, purples, and a little bit of blue), there was this awful mustard yellow that kept showing up. The yellow completely did not go with the rest of the yarn, and I ended up having to cut it out, leaving me even more ends to weave in- and I hate weaving in ends.

Luckily, I had a little more yarn than the shawl required, and I ended up making the lacey portion a little bit bigger- I basically kept knitting it until it looked like the yarn would run out.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden

Pattern: Chastain Park Shawl

Made For: Me

The Verdict: I love the finished object- it's really pretty, and the colors are perfect. I would definitely make the pattern again. However, the yarn was way more trouble than it was worth- It created a lot of extra work, since I had to pick out splinters, trim down the slubby bits, and cut out the yellow portions. I definitely would not buy Noro Silk Garden again. I might be persuaded to buy a different Noro yarn if it was really on sale, but even that isn't particularly likely.

FO: Squatty Sidekick Purse

First of all, I don't know that this is the best name for the pattern- it makes it sound really unattractive, when it's actually pretty cute! I made it for the Monthly Color Swap group on Ravelry- the color was red, as you can probably tell. Felting is a lot of fun, so I thought I'd make a nice felted bag for my swap partner.

It was fairly easy to make; there wasn't really anything difficult about the pattern. The worst part was lining it- it was easy enough to sew the lining on the machine, but I hate hand-sewing it into the bag- it's so hard to make the stitches look nice and neat! The bag actually sat around for awhile because I couldn't bring myself to finish sewing in the lining- it's a good thing that there was a deadline, because it forced me to finish it!

Pattern: Amanda' Squatty Sidekick

Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool

Colorway: Bright Red

Made for: Montly Color Swap (June: Red)

The Verdict: The purse turned out really nicely, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I probably wouldn't make one for me, just because I generally like larger purses to lug around all of my stuff, but I'd definitely make more as a gift.

FO: Felted Cloche

I've been wanting to make a cloche for awhile, and finally settled on the St. Vincent cloche. I picked out some nice purples, and went for it- plus, it was a nice, easy stockinette to knit when I didn't really want to pay attention.

This is it before felting:


And after felting:


Unfortunately, it's a bit tight- I managed to felt it a bit too much! Nevertheless, I am determined to wear it.

Pattern: St. Vincent's Cloche
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool
Mods: None (that I remember)
Verdict: It's a great pattern, and a cute hat- I just wish that I hadn't overfelted it!

USPS Tracking

I love the way that when you order something, you can get a tracking number that allows you to track your package's progress through the USPS tracking page. However, it can be problematic- I ordered yarn for a project I really want to make, and I have been obsessively refreshing the tracking page every 30 minutes....

The Snowmaggedon Sweater (And Other Knits)

I've been working on getting the Hey, Teach cardigan going- I figure that, by the time I finish it, it will be the proper weather for it anyway. I'm calling it my Snowmaggedon Sweater since such a large portion of it was knit during these last two snowstorms.


I'm making the size XS. I started with the small, but it was looking huge! For some reason, I keep messing up and getting the wrong number of stitches when I'm working the lace, and have to keep ripping back- it's incredibly frustrating.

I'm also working on a pair of socks for my mother's birthday. Like me, her feet are always freezing, so I thought a pair of wool socks would fit the bill perfectly. However, she almost only wears black patterned socks- so I'm forced to knit with fingering-weight black yarn. I'm really not a fan of knitting in black, since I can't see my stitches, but I suppose I can do it for her...

I'm adapting the lace pattern from the Meret- it seemed like it would look really pretty on a sock, and it's so easy to follow! You just move the yarnovers every other row. I wish I could show you a picture, but I can't get anything near a decent photograph of a lace in black yarn.

Alright, back to the needles- I've got some more knitting to do!

FO: Cabled Scarf

For Christmas, my big plan was to make my aunt a DNA Scarf. The fact that this post is not titled "FO: DNA Scarf" should be a testament to the fact that this didn't actually happen. I tried, I really did- but the cables were going so very slowly. I gave up, and decided to make her a simpler scarf that would match her Cabled Brimmed Cap.

It took me long enough, but I finally finished- better late than never, right? Here is my aunt's belated Christmas present: