You know, your coat is kind of a brownish color...

I am totally head over heels in love with a sweater! Aidez has been popping up all over my flickr stream and my friend’s activity on Ravelry. Every time I was browsing through Ravelry I would always come back to Aidez and admire all 627 projects, longing for my own. When my birthday came around I spent the money on three skeins of Cascade Ecological wool in a lovely brown color. I had to hold off knitting this beautiful sweater so that I could finish a pair of socks for my mom’s birthday, but as soon as those were done that sweater was on my needles.


















Cascade Eco is a bit thinner than the yarn that the Berroco Peruvia Quick the pattern calls for so my gauge was way off!  I figured out that if I knitted the 48 size that I would get somewhere between the 40 and 44.  I read through many knitter's comments about the sleeves being too tight so I knit the largest size but fudged with the decrease rows to match the body of the sweater.  This sweater took me just over two weeks, which is also the same amount of time it took me and Scott to get through Firefly and Serenity for the umpteenth time.  


I did fix the cables so that they were the correct way but managed to screw up the ear of corn pattern.  I read it as skip the first stitch and knit through the back loop between the two stitches. Instead it should be skip the first stitch, from behind, knit through the back loop and then knit the skipped stitch. I knitted both fronts at the same time so I was consistent with the error.  Normally I would have ripped the entire thing out but the weather is getting warmer and I really wanted to wear this at least once before I have to put it away for the season.   I also didn’t realize that there was a purl ridge after the ribbing. Oh well. Although I really should read patterns more carefully before and while knitting.




I finally have a wearable that I absolutely love!

KCBW Day 7

Day seven: Your knitting and crochet time.

I craft every single day. Five minutes here, and hour there, whenever I find myself with idle hands I always try to occupy them. While at work I will bring a project with me to work on at lunch or on a break. After dinner has been cleaned up and Scott and I settle in to watch tv I’ll pick up some spinning or knitting. While waiting on long lines at the store or waiting for a table or a movie to start I’ll pick up the project that is stashed in my bag. In the past I would knit in the car every chance I had, but after the accident I feared it would be possible to impale myself with my needles if ever in another accident. Only in recent months have I started to knit in the car again but not with the same fervor I once had.

Once a month I go to the spinning guild meeting where I either knit or spin with some wonderful ladies and gentlemen. There we discuss our craft and learn new techniques and other wonderful fiber related facts. It was there that I met a young lady who invited me to a knit night. Now every week I meet up with these wonderful ladies who have become some of my closest friends to craft.

KCBW Day 6

Day six: Something to aspire to.


I have always admired my fellow knitters that have designed their own pieces. I would love to one day write my own patterns, especially lace shawl patterns. I understand the construction of lace shawls and socks since I’ve knit enough and I can comfortably change patterns while I knit them to suit my needs. However I never seem to be able to make that leap into design. This past Christmas Scott gave me the set of Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries, with these maybe I will finally test the waters with designing.

KCBW Day 5 (Progression of a shawl)

KCBW Day 4

Day Four: Where are they now?
My poor Bird in Hand mittens and koolhaas...






Now this is a sad knitting story.  Back in 2008 I knitted my first pair of colorwork mittens and I loved them dearly.  I did wear them from January through March that year and again in November.  Later that year I pushed to finish Koolhaas before we went to Chicago in November and wore them both proudly through the cold Chicago streets.  A few weeks after that trip my husband, our two good friends and I were hit head on by a wrong way drunk driver.  My husband broke his wrist, our friends had whiplash, and I broke my collarbone; we were very lucky that was all that happened.  I was wearing both my mittens and hat at the time and realized while being loaded into the ambulance that one mitten was laying on the ground with my hat in a puddle of car fluid.  I asked someone to grab them but I guess emergency services don't really see hand knits as important as a knitter does.  When Scott went to grab our stuff from the car the next day he could only find one mitten and my fluid soaked hat.  I tried to wash the fluid out of the hat but it shrank and no long fits.  My one mitten is tucked somewhere waiting for the day that I knit another one. 

KCBW Day 3

Day Three: Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised?

I am not very organized with my physical stuff.  Everything is all over the place, and I can never find any of my needles.  However I love using Flickr and Ravelry to keep track of when I start projects, what needle size I use and how much yarn I needed.  I'm trying to organize everything better now that I have my very own craft room.  

All of my fiber is in bins and my handspun and sock yarn are in the white cabinet.  I really should take another picture of my room since I've added an armchair, tv and photos to make it more inviting, however it is a bit of a mess at the moment.  

KCBW Days 1 and 2...I'm late to the party

Day One Tale of Two Yarns:Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.



When I first started to knit and explore knitting blogs I used Januaryone’s Jaywalking KAL to learn how to knit socks. It was through this knit along that I began lusting after Socks that Rock. I just loved the colorways and couldn’t wait to get my hands on some for myself. Five years later it is still my go to yarn for socks. I just love the feel, the way it holds up, and how many weights in comes in. It was my go to yarn for the beautiful blanket I knitted.




This past year was the first that I really knitted with Malabrigo, I love the softness and colors.  I found this season though that it is suited for certain projects but not others.  It pills and felts a bit too much for my taste.


With the denser gauge it is perfect for my cabled cowl.


However I do not like the way it looks in my Tilting Tardis cowl.  The yarn fulled a bit too much for the lace to really stand out.

Day Two:Skill + 1UP

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

After knitting many pairs and single socks over the years I have finally allowed myself to make up a pair on the fly.  

I even completed a short row heel, which I normally dread doing and avoid at all costs.  It really wasn't as scary as I thought, and the socks are one of my favorite pairs.