Coming back

Hello all,

It seems like I am a sporadic blogger. It's been month and month since I posted here. Not because I didn't knit anything (quite the contrary) but because I have been extremely bad at taking pictures. I think that on this regard it's getting worse and worse.
Anyway, today I finally found the time to take half of my latest knitting in pictures. The weather here is terrible so the quality of the pictures is not top one, you've been warned :)

First, I'll talk to you about a nice test I've been in, one for Connie (yellowcosmo on ravelry). I tested her pattern called "When skies are grey" and it couldn't fit my version better (as it is... grey).

I got the yarn for Christmas last year and held it double to knit the sweater.
The construction is very smart and I really enjoyed knitting this project even though I am not naturally encline to much bottom up knitting (I am tall and usually I need to add a couple of centimeters at the bottom of my sweaters in order to avoid wearing crop tops only, that's why I mostly knit top-down).

This little digression leads me to the next projet. I participate (yes yes I'm still knitting on some projects there) in the ongoing KAL in Isabell Kraemer's group on ravelry. When I joined, I had just began working on "A hint of summer" so it was perfect timing.

Yes, you could almost believe that I am warm and that summer is still there. Well no it's not, it's freezing cold here lately.

I used Holst Coast in black and silver grey. I love this sweater except that:

1. I knitted it with 2.75mm needles in fear of knitting too loosely and in fact I could have used 3mm needles for a looser fabric.
2. I should have lengthened the sleeves and the hem because I'm always pulling them dowm.

All in all I'm still very pleased with it but I'll keep these two details in mind the next time I'll knit one.

Then, my second finished project in the KAL was my Ravello. Remember, once I told you about another KAL and my Ravello project. Well I finished it now (yes I can be inconsistent in my knitting sometimes, especially when sleeves and a changing in seasons are involved at the same time). Anyway, NOW was the perfect time to be done with it as it is COLD. I can wear my sweater all the time (which is actually what I've been doing since I blocked it).

I love it! I love the colours, I love the yarn (Drops Alpaca). It's soft, it's warm, it's PERFECT!
The pattern in itself is like any of Isabell's, straighforward and quite easy to knit with a little twist here and there to make you learn something and be proud of your work in the end.

Now I'm planning to finish another of Isabell's sweater for the KAL (but I still have one sleeve to go and Christmas is right around the corner so... no promises) and her Paris shawl (I'm almost done here too but the need of a nice shawl is really there as my current scarf is not very effective with the dropping of the temperatures).

I was also part of a couple of other tests (but I need to take FO pictures there too) and plan on some Christmas knitting (2 sweaters, a hat, and some fingerless gloves... I'd better get started). I'm also testing new things right now so this means you'll hear from me again. As to when, well, you know.... I can't promise anything here either :)

A little bit of what I've been up to lately

The resolution of last post didn't really last. I have tons of things to do and little time to show off what comes out of my needles.
I have finally finished my Definitely Susan, although I still need to sew on the buttons. The thing is that I can't do that for now because the sweater is in another country and the buttons are with me. I'll only be able to show it here in about a month or so. Shame on me I only notice now how long I've been working on this project!!!
Anyway, I do have a couple of things to show you!
First of all, I finally finished my dad's Christmas present which turned into a birthday present. 

The Pastiche Sweater, personal pattern, yarn BC Garn Baby Alpaca

 He wanted a copy of a sweater he had and liked very much but that was on the verge of getting very holly so I selected a nice yarn and began thinking of the best way to copy the pattern.
After some time, I realized that the easiest way for me and the less time consuming as of course, I was already late in knitting it would be to use Tuulia Salmela's The Tailored Sweater method.
I had already used it to knit a couple of sweaters and I knew it would work out just fine. 
So I began knitting and it took me ages! The curse of the loose knitter! In order to have a nice fabric that wouldn't show everything that is underneath it, I had to use 2.5 mm needles (the yarn tag states you can use 3mm needles (even 4 mm !) but with my way of knitting, it wouldn't have looked like anything).  It took the time but it was worth it. The sweater is great! The yarn is a wonder, it's super soft and with a wonderful drape. I'll probably use it again when I have some time before me. My dad loves his new sweater too bad, I would have kept it more than willingly and he's eagerly waiting for colder times to come so that he can wear it.

You can see it modelled here by yours truly in a little oversized style. My dad has a proper fit on him.

 Apart from that, I was at the Berlin Knits festival and it was great fun. I bought some wonderful yarn and met or rather watched from afar being the super shy kind of person lots of people I chat with on Ravelry. Of course, I didn't take any good pictures (but I'm sure you've already seen tons of them so...).
I was at Rililie's class and it was great. We got to learn some nice knitting tricks and got to knit with a very nice yarn from Nice & Knit. I'll have to order some more from this company.
It was also the first time I was in Berlin and in Germany, airports do not count and I liked it very much. We had quite nice weather so visiting was very pleasant. And the apartment we rented was 10-15 minutes away from Alexanderplatz and maybe 2 minutes away from the festival venue (even less), which was great! I'm really looking forward to the 2nd edition!

The second Revamp KAL was also running and I won a prize! A discount for some gorgeous yarn from Snail Yarn. I had a hard time choosing between all the beautiful colours and bases, but finally opted for some merino single.

Colours: cloud and peach

I'm already planning to knit a sweater with it (and it will be striped). Hopefully I'll be able to make a pattern out of it. We'll see.

I am currently working on a couple of testknits. One for Connie  and one for Judy. I should be able to show some pictures of these soon. I am also working on other things so keep on coming around to learn more about it!

As for now, see you all hopefully soon but I'm not promising anything...

That's the goodbye picture :)

  edit: I realize it's been a huge post, sorry for that! ;)

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...

Work in progress

As I told you in my last post, I am currently part of a KAL. It's the celebration KAL in Isabell Kraemer's group on ravelry. I had some Drops Alpaca in my stash and I decided that I would knit myself a Ravello. I had be looking at a good deal of projects with great envy, so I decided to make myself a gift and bought the pattern (with the nice discount that Isabell gave for the anniversary of the group).
So, here is my progress on my sweater:

pattern: Ravello by Isabell Kraemer, yarn Drops Alpaca

I hope I'll be able to reach the body section tonight ( I should because I have knitted a little more than what is shown on the picture now).

More on this project soon and on other things too :)

Plum Rain

Today, I finally have time to blog about the great pattern by Yellowcosmo "Plum Rain".
I had the opportunity to test the design last October and I was (and still am) really happy with this sweater.

My Plum Rain in Ice Yarn Morbido Alpaca.

The sweater really knits up very fast (stockinette stitch in the round might be one of my favourite stitch ) and at the same time you have very interesting finitions with the sleeve pattern and the bottom of the sweater that is shaped with short rows.
You end up with a sweater that fits with almost everything and the details allow it to stand out very nicely.

The yarn was a first time for me. I wanted to order some alpaca from Ice Yarn for the Definitely Susan I'm knitting. At the same time, I thought that I would make the most of the shipping costs in ordering some more yarn.
First of all, I was a little surprised when I opened the parcel because the balls of morbido were all small and I had thought they would be big because they seemed so on the website picture. Apart from that, the yarn is quite good. It was very cheap so, to me, it is definitely worth it :) The yarn is very soft and I like the colour a lot.
I also have some left so I'll be able to knit up a little something with it (maybe fingerless gloves or a hat...).
If you ever feel like trying this brand, I would say go for it. And the staff was super nice and helpful because, as usual, I couldn't finalize my order without making a mistake choosing the shipping option...
We'll see how the yarn will live but so far so good.

So my Plum Rain is definitely a winner, I like everything about it and I'm very happy I had the possibility to test it :)  

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!)