Knitting

Knit This: Plowline Raglan Sweater

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garment house, knitting pattern, raglan sweater, garter sweater, colorblock sweater, spring sweater

Do you guys remember when I used to knit things? Sort of? Barely? Not really? The reason you can’t remember is that I haven’t knit anything for myself in about a year. That’s a really long time for someone who used to be an avid knitter. Back in the day, I would finish one project and then start another within a matter of days.

I have a few theories for why I don’t knit as much as I used to:

– I was part of a knitting group in college and we used to meet weekly, so even if I didn’t knit at all during the week, I was still knitting for a little bit each weekend.

– Knitting can be an expensive hobby. When I was part of that knitting group in college, our supplies were subsidized, but of course I’ve been paying for everything myself for the last few years since I graduated. I live on a pretty tight budget, so sometimes I just don’t have the money to spend on anything that’s not a necessity.

– I’ve been doing a lot more reading in my downtime. Sometimes there are only a few precious hours after work and while I didn’t knit a lot in 2013, I did far exceed my reading goal!

I did complete one item last year- this cozy herringbone scarf. Also, towards the end of the year, I became a test knitter for an accessories designer here in NYC. This meant that I knit up samples from patterns that they created. Now that that gig is almost over, I’m excited to pick up knitting myself again.

There are a couple of blogs that I’ve discovered (or rediscovered) recently that have gotten me excited about knitting again. Meredith’s blog One Sheepish Girl is fun and colorful and she always finds the prettiest knits. I just found Karen’s blog, Fringe Association, and I love her “Knit the Look” series where she describes how you might recreate knits from inspiring street style pictures.

Finally we get to the picture above! I think this sweater could be my next project. I love the simple, yet colorful style and it would be the perfect thing to work on as I’m logging all of these hours watching the Olympics. I’m currently in the research phase, meaning I’m trying to decide what yarn to work with and if I want to go for a more springy or wintery color combination.

Tell me: Are you a knitter as well?

(image via)

Knitting

On Nnenna’s Needles #29: Heart-Shaped

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On Nnenna's Needles #29

Heart-Shaped (picture by Alex)

You might remember this sweater from last week’s outfit post! Well I wanted to revisit it this week and talk a bit more about the process :) I picked this sweater after a bit of a dry spell with knitting. I hadn’t knit at all during the summer and I was excited to pick something cozy to knit for fall. Whenever I take on a bigger project like this, I do a bit of research first to estimate how much it will cost me, read through the pattern in case there are any tricky bits, and search on Ravelry to see how other people’s projects have turned out. With every project I work on, I have to make sure I really love it otherwise I know I’ll never finish it!

That definitely wasn’t a problem here. I love the base color yarn I chose- Malabrigo is so soft and squishy and delightful to work with. Even better, it’s pretty affordable as far as high-quality yarns go.  For the hearts, I luckily had enough yarn leftover from this project for each of the three different colors. It took me a little over a week to complete since the pattern is very straight-forward and easy to follow. The hearts were the more time-consuming section, not surprisingly, since I had to keep untangling the yarn from itself.

This sweater is not super form-fitting, so I like to wear it belted like this to give it a little more shape. If I were to make another one of these, I would add some shaping in the middle section so that it nips in at the waist a bit. I would probably also make full-length sleeves, because cute as half-sleeves are, I kind of feel like it’s “go full or go home” when it comes to sleeve-length.

Tell me: For the other knitters/crocheters out there- are you working on anything currently?

Knitting

Sproos Shop!

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Sproos Shop Collage

I have some exciting news to share with you guys! You can now find some products made by yours truly in the lovely online hair accessories shop- Sproos!

These items are exclusive to Sproos Shop and there are limited quantities, so if you see something you like, you should snap it right up! :) Also, you can check out their Facebook page for special deals and promotions!

And for more excitement, don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the kickoff of a seasonal series!

Knitting

Sandy Craftalong

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Sandy Craftalong

When I found out about this project on twitter, I was immediately all in! Two NYC-based bloggers organized this craftalong to make warm items to donate to people who were affected by Sandy. These items can be knit, crocheted, or sewn and can be any of of the following: hats, scarves, mittens/gloves, blankets, sweaters or socks. They’re looking to collect donations and give them out as soon as possible, so if you have the time and resources to spare, I highly encourage you to participate! Take a look at the two items I made below (Alex and I think they look like a squash and a bell pepper, haha) and click here to find out all the details!