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! ;)

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 :)