2 Comments Aubergine Goodness

I am tireless when it comes to knitting, it seems. Just recently I finished this ridiculously lengthy project, and guess what? I started another one the very same evening! Crazy me, I know. But I suppose I simply got too used to making something with my hands in the evenings while watching TV with family. Kind of like a newly acquired habit.

So, there goes that. Anyway, you may or may not know that one of the biggest public holidays celebrated here in Russia is approaching rapidly – the 8th of March or International Women's day. This day girls and women of all ages are being shown their appreciation in the shape of flowers, gifts and other possible goodies by their families and friends.

It is also the first holiday of spring, and generally the weather would already have started getting nicer, warmer and greener. So everybody is getting kind of hyped around that time, the happy kind, naturally. Ah, the sweet anticipation! 

Since the weather is fairly unpredictable here during mid-season, despite the spring bloom, and simply knowing that my mother loves her warmers, I chose to make her one of those cuddly rectangular shawlettes/wraps to wear at home.

This lovely "lace capelet" pattern by Tanis Gray was featured in Vogue Knitting SS2010 issue. I set my eyes on this one about a year ago, when I was doing my random pattern browsing on the Internet, and instantly knew I would LOVE to make one of those (damn these manipulative bastards with their sleek and elegant professional photographs!) And now was the perfect occasion.

I took my mum yarn shopping some time back when I was still on my cardi project, to have the yarn all good and ready by the time I was done. She picked some soft 100% wool in a lovely saturated aubergine'y colour (nearly identical to Rowan's Kid Classic in colour 835 Royal). We got a total of four 100g skeins 250m each, and I ended up using up almost precisely three skeins. 

It was a relatively fast knit, I was done with it in about a week working evenings. Patterns are very simple and are well explained, making them practically foolproof. And knitting with 5mm needles was such a treat, too!

The middle lace part and the border are knit separately and and then joined together before blocking. Gathering the two pieces was a bit tricky, mostly because of counting stitches you have to raise, and I hate doing that. I then blocked the finished capelet by gently steam ironing it, going twice on the middle section since the lace motif was stubborn and bubbly. 

A slight confusion was that despite following the guidelines precisely, the finished piece was noticeably larger than stated measures especially in width. Although in my case it turned out even better to have it that way – moar knitted cuddliness! On top of that, made from pure wool the capelet is very warm yet soft. Needless to say, my mother loved it! 

So, here goes the gift I made for my mum. I gave it to her already, because she kind of saw the whole process of making it anyway. I know it is a couple of weeks early, but I was starting it in advance in case it'd take me a while to make. So will need to buy a box of chocolates on the actual day, I suppose :)

I hope you guys like it, too! Let me know what you think in the comments ;)

E.V.

0 Comments Old-School Toffee Cardi

Right, so at least one of my unexpectedly long-term projects has come to an end a few days ago. Namely, I finished that knitted toffee colour cardigan I wrote about some time back. The story goes, I had quite a bit of yarn left from the Wedding Gift project, and brave as I am I decided to have a go at making a cardigan out of ample leftovers. I figured a soft toffee colour of the yarn called for an old-school'ish cardi, preferably in textured knit. 

And I found a lovely Finnish pattern here, which fit the idea perfectly – it had 3/4 sleeves, crew neckline, button front and pretty lace/aran mix of a pattern. Even its colour was nearly exactly the same as the yarn I had. So, I got myself some fitting needles and started casting on straight away. 

That was more than three months ago. 

I did not spend that whole time knitting this cardigan, but rather I kept putting it on hold to make things like the Onerva shawl,  these fingerless mitts, and a couple of camel wool hats which I probably will be sharing here a bit later. Altogether that took up about a month or so.

The biggest bummer was my own stupid mistake. Remember when I said you shouldn't be afraid to unravel your knitting if you made one here? Well, about two days after that post was published, when I was blocking the body of the cardigan (which, mind it, is a massive single piece comprising of back and both fronts), I realised I knit the wrong size... Chest circumference was too small, so it wouldn't even meet on me. 

*Massive sigh* Loathing myself for not double-checking final measurements of the size I picked, there I sat – unravelling the whole thing until there was nothing left but two balls of curly and tired-looking yarn. 

To keep my sanity after undoing weeks worth of work, I decided to make sleeves first this time around. When I was making the body once again, this time in the correct size, some things I managed to improve. Which is a poor consolation for having to redo it, but still a nice thing. 

I followed the pattern exactly, although I did use slightly smaller needles to achieve the required gauge, 3.25mm instead of 3.5mm. The lace was a bit tricky at first, but once I got hold of it I could do it with my eyes closed. Figuratively, anyway. Also I used a crochet hook to cast off the neckline as well as to hem the cast-on edge, which made the latter look much neater.

Embellished collar: ASOS
Glass bangles: gift from India

You can imagine what a relief it was when it was finally finished and looking so good! The [correct] size fit me perfectly, although because of it being quite structured, the fitting is more like that of a jacket rather than a cardigan. It also turned out to be pretty heavy and warm, more than I imagined it would be, anyway. 

Here I am wearing it on top of a half-sleeve white blouse with peplum hem that peers out from beneath like a ruffle, and slim black pants (sorry you can't see it here). Surprisingly, the embellished collar complements the cardigan rather nicely, and kind of adds to the old-school feel of it.

3/4 length sleeves are undoubtedly my fav, as I might have mentioned here a few times. The knit work on this one for some reason gives me that vintage'y feel of 40's and 50's, but with a slight touch of countryside chic. So pretty and tender!

Because of its neutral colour, a cardigan like that would be perfect to mix and match with many other colours and styles. It can also be accessorised with skinny belts, collars and brooches to achieve different looks depending on the outfit. Can't wait to play around with it!

As usual, let me know what you think in the comments ;)

E.V.

2 Comments Bringing Photography Back into My Life

As you may have noticed, I added yet another tab to the navbar. This time it is photography, which is something I have been very fond of since I was about 15. I got my first and only DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera, Pentax K200D, at the age of 17 during the first year of my stay in the UK.

Since then (and it has been a 'wow!' 6 years already) I have been using it on and off, and in the recent years I only ever used it whenever I went for a holiday. For the most of it I simply didn't have time to go around taking pictures, and when I did I was kind of being too self-conscious to just take it out and start shooting, unless it was during a holiday trip. Because, apparently, it makes a difference!

The final blow was my camera sticking in the AF (auto-focus) mode for as long as two years. 90% of the time I would use MF (manual focus), so without it taking pictures instantly became rather dull. But, a very big thanks to this lovely forum thread, I fixed my cam and am now ready to pick up photography again! 

Testing the heart-shaped bokeh technique

Actually, I even got brave enough to start thinking about participating in Taylor Wessing photography portrait prize competition hosted by London's National Portrait Gallery. I mean, I sure can try – even if I don't win, getting lucky enough for one of my photographs to be exhibited will be winning in itself.

I still have until end of July to submit the photographs, so hopefully I will come up with a concept soon enough to start shooting. Wish me luck!

Have you ever taken up adventurous endeavours like that? Let me know in the comments ;)

E.V.