The Cabled Baby Jacket now belongs to a real live baby. And it fits! Oh dear Lord it fits and I’m so relieved. Here are some pictures!

I’m a bit squeamish about putting pictures of babies on the Internet (that’s for them to decide when they grow up), so all faces have been replaced with characters from a recent blockbuster movie-film.

Good advice from Knitting Daily:

“The best way to get to know a stitch, and the effect it will have on your knitting, is the same approach used by cooks when faced with a new spice: look at how the unfamiliar ‘ingredient’ is used in other recipes, and then experiment for yourself.”

Meow!

Found via Cute Overload.

If you are knitting or have already knit a pattern that I’m talking about, leave me a comment and I’ll update my post with a link to your version. If you’ve written up a pattern and you want me to link to it, send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll post it! It makes the list longer and my job easier.

• This Cable & Rib jacket is by Debbie Bliss.
• I think I’ve already posted the Saturday Market Bag, but I am too lazy to check. Example here.
• Wow, a giant list of Triangular Shawls!
• This Turbulent Indigo scarf is quite pretty.
• This Felt Box is old but I hadn’t blogged it, so here it is!
• I really like this Felicity Hat! It has an interesting structure. Example here.
• Here’s a hat called Thorpe, and endlessly modifiable hat. Examples are here, here, here, here, here, here, and with colourwork versions here and here.
• Need a woodland shawl? Here’s a Woodland Shawl.
• OMG, a giraffe!

I love these beautiful works from Hunt Rettig. I used to draw patterns just like this all the time when I was in high school. (I was bored a lot in Biology.) Of course, my inky duckling scratches didn’t look nearly as pretty.

What on earth is polyester film? Would it be wrong to make one of these? It would look so nice on my wall. Maybe I could make a pretty paper thing and put it behind glass. So many options… It would be a reinterpretation, not a copy. Meh, we’re all influenced by each other, right?

Dear Eve,

Thank you for subscribing to Interweave Knits, and allowing us to spam your mailbox with useless crap every month! We sent you six renewal letters already, but we thought you might like a seventh in case the other six got lost somehow.

Aren’t you lucky? Because you’re a subscriber, you get to enjoy fantastic benefits! As well as paying us to spam you, you can also resubscribe for a truly exhorbitant price. (Exhorbitant is good! It means big, and big is always good.)

Whereas before you were forced to pay the staggeringly high price of $4.20 per issue, we’re offering you the low, low resubscription fee of a teensy $7.00 per magazine! Think of the savings! And by savings, we mean gouging.

Oh, and in case you thought otherwise from reading this letter, we’d just like to leave you a parting reminder that we think you’re a complete moron. Have a wonderful holiday.

Yours in form letters,
Eunny Jang’s peon #3
Editor (…’s peon #3)

You didn’t think I could hear about new Phildars without talking about them, did you? Especially since some of the catalogues are now also 50% off?!

These are my favourites. I’m not sure I would make the tunic on the top left as long as it is, though. Wearing it without pants, sure, that could work. But with a long dress over a pair of pants, you’re going to have some belt loop outlines. Which may be sexy to belt-loop fetishists, but I’ll stick to a tunic length, thank you.

But yeah, the rest are really pretty, too.

Read the rest »

Pantone Pen Print via Design Crush. 1 of 73 for £1, 2 of 73 for £2, 3 of 73 for £3, 73 of 73 for £73. A lovely combination of artistry and capillary action.

I finished 9 projects this year. Not the most amazing turnout, but I learned quite a lot. I think my New Year’s Resolution for this year will be to finish at least one project every month. I have three sweaters that are close to completion, so those will be the first to go.

Here’s a little meme I found via Reunasilmukka:

1. Your best FO of the year

Definitely my Cabled Baby Jacket. It took a long time to finish but I learned a lot about seaming and it turned out so beautifully.

2. Best FO of the year made by a blog you link to

Birgitte’s Bubble Pullover. I love all the sweaters she knits, but this was my favourite and I can’t wait to make my own this year.

3. Best yarn you tried

Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo
Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo Malabrigo

4. Best new book/mag/pattern of 2007

I was going to put in Knitting Nature here, but it turns out that was released in 2006. I haven’t seen too many new books, although Romantic Hand Knits looks really pretty and so does Fitted Knits. I’d like to get them both.

In terms of mags, my favourite has been Phildar, but the most lusty patterns have once again been 2006 patterns. My Touch of Grey sweater and Colchique are both Phildar patterns from about a year ago. I love them, and I can’t wait to finish them and wear them.

Best pattern overall is a toughie, and I’ll set it as a tie between two. The queen of cable patterns this year has been Tikru, who not only put out these beautiful Chevalier Mittens but also this Green Gable Sweater. They’re my favourites of this year.

5. Best new knitting technique or gadget you tried in 2007

This year I did a bunch of seaming, which is kinda basic but something I had to get used to. I want to buy The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques so I can get better at it.

6. Top 5 inspirations – what five things inspired you the most over the past year?

Runways, blogs, science images, my work with AI and genetic algorithms, people on the subway.

7. Designer who most amazed & inspired you throughout the year

Tikru!

8. Knitting resolutions for 2008-what’s next for you and your blog?

One FO every month, and five of them have to be sweaters. Let’s hope I can do it.

My apologies, folks, for being absent this past week! I’ve been working hard to finish up my master’s thesis proposal (completed yesterday afternoon) and the Christmas and New Year’s season has also gotten in the way. I’ve got a few posts lined up starting on Monday, and plenty of knitting to show you guys! I’ve started back on Colchique and I’m blocking my swatch for the Somewhat Cowl. I’ve stalled on Orangina due to yarn run-out, but it’ll be back and soon finished once more yarn comes in! And now for your regularly-schedule pattern programming.

If you are knitting or have already knit a pattern that I’m talking about, leave me a comment and I’ll update my post with a link to your version. If you’ve written up a pattern and you want me to link to it, send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll post it! It makes the list longer and my job easier.

• Beautiful Latvian Mittens. Here’s the PDF.
• Situate is a knit that you sit on! Get it??? Berroco is FULL of LOLs!
• A little late, but also more than a little cute. Check out Rory the Reindeer. Yay!
• Vogue Knitting put up a few of their 25th anniversary knits and I just caught on. There’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 patterns! And some others I haven’t bothered linking. They’re all PDFs.
• A nice basic boy’s hat is necessary when you are dating beaus like mine. Here’s the uncomplicated, non-indie Twisted Rib Watch Cap Pattern, example here.
• If you speak German, you might want to check out Waldpassage, Diagonale, Allegro, Diagonalsocke, Blümchenschal, Kornblume, Kosima, and Pearls!
• Here’s a stylish Moss Stitch Beret (for the boys but I would totally wear it if I was into berets), example here.
• Dizzy is a swirly hat.
• Madison’s hat, a fair isle hat in bulky yarn.
• And finally a Baby Dress/ Christening Gown.