Happy New Year! (I know I'm very late to the party)

Hi everyone!

First of all, I wish you all a happy 2016 and hope that 2015 ended well.

My last entry was almost two months ago. It's the time it takes me to take some pictures and come back around here. In my defence, I can argue that the days here are way shorter than what I'm used to and I still need to adjust (after two years) to limited day light to take pictures.

Anyway, no sweaters today (at least in adult size), I'm here only to show you two shawls. First is my Paris toujours shawl. The design is by Isabell Kraemer and it was an easy and fast knit. I am very pleased with it :)

The yarn is from Ice Yarns, I used leftovers from my stash (and didn't finish everything yet, so I think I'll make myself a hat with the last ball).
Since I've knitted this shawl, I've been wearing it everyday, I really love it.

The second shawl was a present I knitted for a good friend of mine who came to visit me for my birthday. I improvised the design and used almost two balls of Holst Supersoft. It wasn't the hugest shawl ever but she was pleased and very happy to have it as an extra layer when it got colder (needless to say I was beaming with pleasure inside myself when she told me that).

 

Finally, here is a little sweater I knitted for my 2 years old niece's Christmas. The design is  Coquelicot from Hel et Zel and it's available for free. I used some Holst Supersoft (as often), I think it took less than 2 balls of yarn to make the whole sweater.

 

I added cute little whales buttons that I bought some time ago at Textile Gardens (I highly recommend this shop, I had trouble at the checkout and the staff was very helpful and super nice, I'll definitely order more from them. Plus the choice they have is insane!).
It seems that when she received it, my niece did not seem very interested in it, but she then decided it would be a good idea to wear it on top of all the other layers she was already wearing, I guess that means she liked it in the end :)

So that's it for now. I'll come back soon (meaning in 2 months most probably ;) ) to show you some sweaters (if I managed to take pictures).

See you!

This blog is not dead*

It's already been two months since my last post!!!
I hope I haven't lost all my readers in the meantime. Now Spring is there and I can try to come out of hibernation (at least for one little post, I don't know when the next one will be written though...).

One good reason for my non-blogging is that I have been a very bad knitter lately. I finished a test BUT did not take any picture yet (I'll try to get this done before the end of the month though I am not sure I'll be able to make it). Apart from that, I have lots of works in progress but that is the problem, they are in progress (and I already blogged about the mentionned progress before beginning something else so they are not really progressing right now...)

Anyway, I DO have finished something AND took picture (which is already amazing).

The finished project is another test for Isabell Kraemer (lilalu on Ravelry). I had the great chance to test her latest pattern Hanami.

Here is my version.

 I knitted mine in Holst Supersoft (for a change ^^). My main colour is Oatmeal and then I used, Sugarsnap, Sunrise, Burnt Orange, Clementine, Poppy and Bokhara. Of course, being the loose knitter I am, I had to go down a needle size (and use 3mm).
At first, when I swatched, I was a little afraid it would look over kitsh (I do like over kitsh sometimes though) but in the end, it turned out very casual. My advice if you knit this sweater will be this one: make a big swatch with the complete stripe repetition to see how the stripes are going to look with the main colour.
Apart from that, as always with Isabell's sweaters, the pattern is clear, the sweater is gorgeous and it has little details that makes it unique, and I learned new things (like the I-cord  neckline, now I'm obsessed with it). I love it!!! (but if you didn't know by then, I'm partial to Isabell's designs) 
 

The back, in a kind of action picture...

 Nothing to say about the yarn, as always, I'm very happy with it, the colours are gorgeous and the quality is great. I wasn't sure about my colour choice so I ordered more (and more) yarn so you'll probably see more Holst Supersoft items around here in the near future.

And a last front picture because I couldn't choose :)

HOPEFULLY, I will finish some of my projects soon (and take pictures) and I'll be able to show them here (at least one...). I can't make any promise though (but I'll try real hard).
If not to show projects, I'll most probably blog about my weekend in Berlin! I'm going to the yarn festival and I hope to be able to buy tons of yarns (fingers crossed for having saved enough money). I'm also going to attend the workshop of Rililie on Sunday, I'm sure it's going to be great fun and that I'll learn tons of things (fingers crossed for finishing my FIRST revamp during the last days of the SECOND one so I can wear my cardigan at the workshop, though somehow, I doubt I can make it...).

Now I'm off to work so I can show you some stuff soon ;)
 

*I've just been very busy...

Revamp KAL, the end...

So as you already know, I participated to the Revamp Kal organised by Rililie. I had planned on knitting a sweater, but I still needed to finish my Got the Blue to use some of the remaining yarn as my main colour. As it took me quite some time, I decided that I would knit a pair of fingerless gloves in the meantime. And here is the final result!

My Mouton Mitts Revamp, my modifications can be found on my project page.

Afterwards, I finally made up my mind for a Revamped SpliTTop into a cardigan but couldn't finish in time and as I had Christmas gifts to knit, I decided to put the project on hold for now. You'll hear more about it later :)

But, the Revamp story doesn't end here! I had the great surprise to win one of the wonderful gifts Rililie offered at the end of the KAL. I received my parcel last week and could finally take pictures so here is my prize:

A beautiful skein of Shibui yarn in Poppy and some delicious caramels! What a treat! I already have plenty of ideas for this skein but for now, I have to get back to my Christmas knitting... (I know I know... I'm late but I only need to offer my gifts at the beginning of January, isn't an extra week enough to finish a couple of sweaters?)

So for now, that's all. Here's a progress pic of one of the gifts I'm knitting, Definitely Susan by Josée Paquin. More about it in another post!

New test

Yesterday Annamária released her new pattern, Got the blue. I had the chance to test this pattern last month and now that it is released, I can make a post about it.

This sweater is fairly easy though with an interesting construction. You begin with both shoulders before knitting the back and front (and eventually, joining in the round).

I didn't have any major problem except that I had to rip off a little bit of my sleeve in order to match the colours. I also had to deal with my gauge which was (as always) a little off (the joy of being a loose knitter). But at least, I've learned to adjust to that and usually go one needle size down. Here the effect of my gauge being a little more loose than it should makes the sweater a bit more large but it's fine by me, I like it this way!

A very nice project in fingering weight. I have to say that I was stunned by many of my fellow testers sweaters, lots of gorgeous colour combinations. Mine is in Holst Supersoft (for a change) in colourways Topaz, Kingfisher and Sage Blue (following their order on the body). The only modification I made was that I chose to knit the neckband in "reverse" ending with Sage Blue instead of Topaz.
I love my new sweater, I'll probably knit others with this pattern.

Apart from that, I finished my fingerless mitts for the Revamp KAL but couldn't take pictures yet (I found out that it wasn't that easy to take pictures of your hands and details on your hands without anybody helping you when you have a small camera and don't really know what you're doing. I really have to begin working on my photo-skills). I also have hats to show you but for the same reason, I keep on delaying the post. And other things but more of that next time (so now I'm forced to post soon :) ).

So I'll try to come back soon (and knit and take as much pictures as I can!)

A new KAL*

Sorry for the silence but with winter coming, days are getting shorter and I can't find the time to take pictures...
I still find the time to knit though and today, I'll show you the first part of my small contribution to the Revamp KAL hosted by the talented designer Rililie.
The idea is to take one of her patterns (at least) and modify it so that it becomes "truely" ours.
I wanted to knit a sweater that would mix several of her patterns, but as I was in two tests and I have a lot of Christmas knitting planned, I decided to begin with fingerless mitts. So I chose her Bisontine Mitts pattern and incorporated the broken seed stitch stripes from her other pattern Dessine-Moi un Mouton. And here is my progress!

Yes yes, I need to weave in the ends but, hey, isn't it why it's called a progress pic :)

I am using Holst Supersoft in Oatmeal, Sunrise, Burnt Orange and Bokhara. I had to modify the mitts pattern because it was waaay too big at first but now it fits ok. I'll post all about the modification when I'm done with the mitts (Which will hopefully be at the end of the week).

I hope to come back next week in order to show you a pair of mitts and at least, one new sweater (that is if the weather is ok and I can shoot correct pictures).
In the meantime, have a nice weekend!

* KAL stands for knit along, I know most of you will know that but who knows, somebody might just as well wonder about the meaning ;)