Knit Wear Fall 2012

Last night I picked up the latest Knit Wear magazine and I have to say I am not disappointed by the patterns, but then again I have yet to be disappointed on the patterns offered by this publication.

My favorite patterns from this issue are:

Boxed Pullover

Trapezoid Tee

Tucked-Buttonband Cardigan

Turned Cable Cardigan

You can see the rest of the patterns on Ravelry here. Have you seen this issue? What are your favorite patterns?

Until next time, Happy knitting!

~Knitting Chica

New Yarn: Miss Babs yarn all day every day

Last Saturday I went to the MissBabs trunk show at Fibre Space and after acting like a totally nuts fan girl, I proceeded to add more yarn to my stash. Her yarn is just so beautiful and I had such a hard time picking what I wanted, but I think I came out with some great stuff and I did not make that big of a dent on my wallet.

First up is Miss Babs "Yowza - Whatta a Skein!" in the color "Oyster". It is her Worsted weight, superwash, super yummy yarn. Which I plan to make the short sleeved version of the Space Girl pattern. 

 

Next up is Miss Babs "Yummy - Monochrome Sock & Baby Yarn" in the color "French Marigold". It is her 2 ply, squishy, superwash, wash yarn. I plan to make the Kiertoradalla sock pattern in this yummy orange color yarn. I have wanted a pair of Orange socks for a year now. When I saw this yarn I snatched it so quickly off the rack. Glad I did as other people were admiring the skein and it was the last one!

And lastly is Miss Babs "Leftie Yarn Set" in colors Peweter, Coos Bay, French Marigold, Frog Belly, Naples and Ruby Spinel. This will make the Leftie Shawlette pattern.

These patterns should keep me pretty busy for the next few months, I am not even counting the others I have planned so there should be no more yarn buying for me for a while.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

~Knitting Chica

From Heaven to Hell and back to Heaven

Pattern: 198 yds. of Heaven
Designer: Christy Verity
Pattern book: N/A
Yarn: Louisa Harding Yarns Kashmir Baby
Needles: Size 8 Circular Auddi Turbo needle
Pattern Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 due to instructions

If you read my previous post on this pattern you already know that it was a test on my patience. I originally started on this pattern to have something green to wear for St. Patrick's day, but after starting this project over 7 times it did not work out that way. There was something about the way this pattern was written that was not computing inside my head. I almost gave up on this pattern, after seven times of frogging and starting over it was driving me nuts and my yarn was starting to suffer.

I decided to give it one more try (7th times the charm, right?) but before I started over I did some digging on Ravelry (Thank god I was not the only duffus that was confused) I found a link to another site where someone wrote out the pattern row by row. I followed the pattern and came up with the shawl above. As you can see, it does not have the same lace finishing  and that is because the lace finishing was added on after one of the designer's 3 updates to the pattern (not sure which update added the lace finish). Now that I have a road map and understand how this pattern is supposed to be knitted I will be making it again. This time with the lace finish.

I must say that I LOVE the finished project. The color is just beautiful and it is super soft. So while the pattern was Hell to knit the finished product is just Heaven.

Do I recommend this pattern? Yes, but t is definitely not a beginner project. Before you start working on it read other people's notes on this project. It can be a pain in the neck but once you get the way the pattern is supposed to go you end up with a beautiful Shawl.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

~Knitting Chica

Work in Progress Wednesday: 198 Yards of Heaven

This pattern is not a hard pattern but for some reason my brain was not making sense of if it. Made me feel like a total duffus, I had to start it over 7 times to get it right, thus the reason why I am not even half way done with the project. I meant for this to be my road trip project and I was supposed to wear it for St. Patrick's day, that is why I am making it in green. I guess I will just have to wait till next year.

In the mean time, here is a progress picture:

Hopefully I will be done with this by this weekend and I can start on my next project. What are you working on?

Until next time, Happy Knitting!!

~Knitting Chica

Happy Friday! It is Road trip time!

I am going on a road trip today to visit family and friends. I am still awaiting for my yarn order from WEBS to come in so that I can start my Kate Spades inspired sweater. In the mean time, I have decided to cast on the 198 yards of Heaven Pattern that you can download for free on Ravelry. It is a small enough project that will keep me entertained while I sit in the back of a car for 4 hours.

Not my picture... It is a picture from the project page on Ravelry

I have not forgotten to give a follow-up on my Spinning class from Wednesday. I will have a post up when I return. I still have to download the picture's of the yarn that I managed to make. I will just say that they class was a lot of fun and I cannot wait to get better at Spinning.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

~Knitting Chica

I am as Mad as a Hatter

Pattern:                Mad Hatter
Designer:             Louisa Harding
Pattern book:      Queen of Hearts
Yarn:                   Zara DK Superwash Extra Fine Merino Wool
Needles:              Size 3 and 5 circular  Addi Turbo needles.

It is only fitting that the very first real post on my blog is about a pattern that gave me more trouble than what it should have. Do not get me wrong, I love the final product and it really was not hard to knit. It was just tiresome. After a while it almost felt like a chore instead of a cool knitting project. But I am sure you guys want to know about the pattern and not read me whine.

The pattern: The pattern is very straight forward and extremely easy to read. The rib row and the start of the chart were written out. The heart pattern was in chart form and that made me really happy. I love it whenever a pattern is charted out, so much easier to follow.

I made the hat in Zara DK superwash. It is one of my favorite inexpensive DK yarns, even though it has it's issues. For example it says it is a superwash but if you put this bad boy in the wash it will felt. So hand washing and flat drying is a must. Another thing that this yarn does is loosen up once you wash it. I do not mind that and is one of the reasons why I love it so much because I am a tight knitter!

Anyway, back to the pattern. This hat took me a week and a half to knit! Now I am not a super fast knitter but I do not consider myself a slow one either. It usually takes me two to three days to knit up a hat. I think it was the amount of cables in this pattern that slowed progress down to a crawl. There are seven cabled hearts in the hat and the rib row has twenty-one cables! Here is a snap shot of some of the cables:

Rib row cables

More cables and the bottom part of the hearts

Another thing about this pattern is that you knit it flat and not in the round. I have noticed that a lot of British hat patterns are this way and I do not understand why. I really do think that the project would have gone a lot faster if it were in the round, since if it were in the round you can see at all times how the pattern is forming up and at the end you do not have to worry about seaming up the project.

At the end of the day it came out very pretty, I got lots of compliments and hat stares when I wore it out. But will I knit this pattern again? HELL NO! There is no way I would put myself through the almost two weeks of hat torture. Would I recommend it to others? Sure, it is pretty, simple to read and if you do not mind knitting it flat and have patience to deal with all the cables, go for it!

Now I am off to figure out what my next project will be. Until next time! 

Happy Knitting, 

Knitting Chica xoxo