MOONSTITCHES

soft, fuzzy, ticklish

And so sweet.

Hello!
I thought between the last posting and this one would be a couple of others while I knit and finish this cardigan, but I didn't want to force anything over the last weeks of summer holidays... So, here we are, two weeks later. 

The child is back to school, I have all the time of the world, so it seems to me, a pot of fresh, green tea on my desk and great plans to catch up with you.
I might sneak out and get lost in between, indulging in some swatching activity (just received a new batch of Elsa Cormo yarn... it's heaven!), but I more or less may spend the morning sitting here, writing mails and catch up on blogs. (Edit, a few hours after I started writing this posting: apparently  got lost on ravelry in the meantime... always the same! And I haven't swatched yet.)

Back to this sweet cardigan.

It's soft and very comfortable, and the fit seems perfect right now.

It is not blocked yet, maybe I will wait with this until it is getting a bit snug. Unless the angora hair is bothering too much, then it will be actually washed right away. So far there had been no complaints.

Dagny was making a mockery of the photo shoot, photo shootings in general, especially the ones she's witnessing here at home sometimes... just a sign of how happy she is about her new cardigan :)
Makes me happy to see!

Knitting this cardigan hasn't been so easy for me.
I am easily confused by a written pattern and made many mistakes. To get a better understanding of the pattern I converted the lace instructions into a chart, wrote myself a row by row plan and drew a rough schematic. All helped a lot to get a clearer picture of what to do. I guess it is just a matter of getting used to written patterns.

The pattern itself is really good. You never wonder if you are supposed to be on the right or wrong side of the work when having to start the next section... no question about whether to cut or not cut the yarn, or how many stitches you are supposed to have on the needles after having finished a step - the stitch counts given in the pattern are always there to confirm you. 

Also the pattern is quite a nice adventure. I loved learning new things, like casting on for the lace panel at the front sides. The curved neck line which is a result of the lace is so cute! Such an interesting construction.
We both love this cardigan.

Oh, in my last posting I mentioned that the colour of the yarn would be called 水色　mizuiro... I should add that it means water colour, the colour of water, which would be light blue.

Wishing you a happy day!

Mizuiro

It was my birthday last week and we went to the sea.
To Enoshima, a small island which you can access on foot because it is connected to the mainland by a bridge.
You can read about the island here. What we like most is to spend some time down on the rocks in front of the caves.

...and knit! 

At least one of us.

I am making a Sweet Peasy (ravelry link), using very soft angora blend in mizuiro (light blue). Dagny is already loving it. "Cuuuuute!"
Hope she will not get annoyed by those angora hairs when she's wearing the cardigan. I find them a bit ticklish and somehow gravitated towards my face. 

The knitting is going slowly. The gauge is rather small (26 st/ 35 rows) and I have been frogging a lot. Mistakes while knitting the lace and also a bit confused about when to do which increases. But it is a lovely pattern and now that the bumpy start is over I do enjoy working on the cardigan. 

Wishing you a beautiful week!

Reversible, II

Exactly a year ago I made myself a cardigan in grey Beaverslide yarn. Never really posted about it here on MOONSTITCHES, only once it sneaked into a photo I showed around this year's New Year's Day.

I loved that cardigan dearly, still do, and have now made the same again, just longer and boldly coloured.

It's a free pattern from Lana Grossa, coming in only one size (36-40/ 10-14). Quite simple design and easy to customize.

This time I added some length to the sleeves and a bit more (12 cm) to the hem to make it more snuggly.

I also made a (4 stitches stockinette), 230 cm long, skinny muffler can be turned into a belt, changing the look of the cardigan considerably. I like it either way, with muffler or worn tied with the belt, but after one year with my grey version of this cardigan I know I mostly wear it like in the photo above.

The seams are done in mattress stitch, which I learned for the first version of this cardigan. I loved the result so much with both sides looking so nice, I just had to declare that cardigan reversible, wearing it inside out almost every other time. Now with this second edition of that cardigan inside has officially become outside and those stems from the leaves of a chestnut tree I picked up on a windy day in Autumn last year to quickly have something to close the cardigan with on my way to school have become my usual closure. I am using whole stems or halves, depending on how I want to close the cardigan. Good for shawls too, by the way.

The summer here is still quite hot and humid and the cicadas are deafening loud, and we're enjoying the fireworks and watermelon, but Autumn lingering around the corner and I am looking forward to it.

Take care!

things you've got to do

I was in a yarn store the other day to look for linen for another shawl... found some.

Dagny was with me and found something else... samples of crocheted softies from a book by Hamanaka.
Things you have got to do... :)

Paul.

Exploring the clover field...

Spotting a way out...

Going home :)

The yarn I used, Recycle Jeans by Hamanaka, was made from recycled jeans... very fashionable to be green here at the moment in Japan. I like it. It's quite soft and natural.

Hope you are having a beautiful week!

masking tape is the new fence

There are 7277 Swallowtails (Evelyn A. Clark) to be seen on ravelry at the moment, and this one comes in at rank 7268... sure, it has become a free pattern over time which explains part of its popularity, but it is a charming pattern indeed. 

I like it very much and enjoy knitting it in different yarns. Although this yarn has really been a challenge because its lack of elasticity. First time knitting with linen, I surely had a lot to learn. Finding the right tension and watching what I was knitting since the yarn was a little bit splitty.

Lifting every single loop over the tip of the needle with my fingers when it came to k5tog... patience, patience!

But I knew it would be done at some point... and what comes after the nupps is really easy and quick. A bit like a reward for being so brave making it through the nupps.

I LOVE this colour.
Don't know how I feel about it in winter but right now it looks so fresh and vivid to me, and Japanese... thinking of blue and white china, indigo dyed fabrics...
And the produced fabric is draping nicely and feeling dry and cool, and I would recommend knitting with this yarn (Hamanaka Flax c) although it is classified as a crochet yarn. But what does that mean anyway?

Do love my new shawl.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

PS: And yes, I totally jump from one cliche to another, avoiding the typical fence shot by using masking tape :)