I missed a post last week, but for good reason: I spent 8 hours over two days making decisions about the yarns I want to bring in this fall for your knitting delectation. It’s exhilarating for an hour, then it’s exhausting. I want all the beautiful yarns they show me but I can’t have them all – life is so unfair!! Anyway, I have loads of Manos, Fibre Company, and even some MadelineTosh coming, as well as some very nice new yarns from Juniper Moon and Noro. I want it all right now, but most won’t be available till late summer/early fall. I’m a little forlorn about that.
So these nice finished projects will cheer us all up! It’s all about sweaters this time. Why sweaters this time of year? Because fall is only a few months away and you’re going to want something new and beautiful when the weather cools off. (That’s after the weather warms up, of course – it will happen, surely?)
Anne Nordhoy, who grew up in Norway and visits regularly, knits as naturally as the rest of us breathe. Here are two sweaters she whipped up. Both are simple styles, one with set-in sleeves and one a top-down raglan. The navy is a sturdy classic wool from Ella Rae and the red is an amazing color of Zooey, a cotton/linen blend just right for these cool-into-warm days:
Karen Wenrich made this beautiful Trace from Shibui’s luxurious M’aai. The fit is perfect and the color is lovely on her. I love the glamour-girl pose, too – done to show the sweet ribbed trim, done in Pebble and Cima.
Anne Alderman has taken up knitting with a vengeance and has made a number of beautiful items, including these pieces. The first is a Shibui design done in their Baby Alpaca. The pretty fuchsia Adrift is knit in Lace Lux, and the wonderful T-shirt is from a free shop pattern in Lang Ella. Thanks to Anne for finding all the problems with the pattern – it was years old and we didn’t even know what it would look like when finished. It was written in the days before photographs could be easily digitized and computers didn’t have enough memory or power to include good photos in documents. Just a dozen years but an entirely different cultural era ago. Anyway, Anne soldiered on and the tee looks wonderful on her:
Jettie Hunt is modeling her Tracks in a Field from Karen’s winter class, looking put-together and comfortable all at the same time!
Becky Steltz finished this pretty lacy pullover – I’ll bet this is the perfect time of year for it.
Ginny Close took on the challenge of Brooklyn Tweed’s differently-constructed Keel and and did a beautiful job!
Jane Brubaker made this simple and elegant Cornice in Shibui’s M’aai. Sorry for the terrible photo – the fit is absolutely perfect.
David Ritz sadly doesn’t get down to see us much these days but that doesn’t stop him from knitting with us! Here he has done Orca Run, a wonderful cowichan design from Beth Brown-Reinsel, and our own V-neck Raglan Cardigan and Drape-Front Cardigan. We muss him!
And Laura Vilardo finished her Trailhead, which was way too long – we evaluated the fabric and decided her purling row gauge was a bit loose and did some PT for her purling moves, but that still left her with a beautiful sweater that was much too long. Her hands didn’t even reach the pockets! She wasn’t going to rip and she wasn’t going to wear it, so she decided to gently felt it – a dangerous move, but one that made some sense. When you felt stockinette stitch, you lose a lot more length than width and that was just what she wanted. So she tried it – just for a few minutes! – et voila! A sweater that fits and still has plenty of stitch definition as you can see by the back view. Whew!
Thanks to everyone who brought in their projects or sent photos. It makes our day!
