Carmela Biscuit's Spot

A new set of a hat and cowl I knit for Gaby. Though the hat is knit with Cashmira 100% wool and the cowl with Lanagold 50% wool, 50% acrylic, both are Alize yarns color 111 (purple), so the colors are matching.

Pattern: Chain by KK design
Yarn: Alize Cashmira 100% wool, 80 g
Needle: 3 mm, 4 mm
Time to knit: 2 days
I first saw this hat in Natalia's blog, queued the hat and downloaded the pattern, which was then a free pattern. It is an easy pattern with some very clever crown decreases, which I haven't seen before. I made two and a half repeats of the hat body chart before the crown decreases. The hat has been in use for already a week and Gaby likes it.
The cowl came as a logical continuation of the hat - I had some 130 g of Lanagold in the same color and I wanted to make a cowl. I could have made it a smaller more narrow cowl with just these 130 grams, but I opted for a broader one (about 35 cm wide) and it soon became clear that I'll need additional 100 g of yarn. I bought another skein of Lanagold 111, but the new batch is more saturated in color, as is noticeable in the above picture. Anyway I knitted the cowl in the two shades of purple, I prefer to think of this defect as an intended effect :)))

Pattern: Purple Cowl (personal pattern)
Yarn: Alize Lanagold 111, 230 g
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: 5 days

This is what I've been working on during the month of November - a big shawl in light fingering weight wool. Frankly, the chart is not very easy and intuitive and required attention most of the time, so not the ideal TV knit, but I am very happy with the result. I knit it for a friend and I do hope she will like it. The shawl is intended for the winter, but as it is very light and airy I believe it would be fitting for the summer evenings too. Actually, I liked the result so much that I'm thinking of knitting a similar one for myself, when I have the time.


Pattern: Shells & Tide by Veronika Jobe
Yarn: Alize Cashmira Fine 100% wool, 200 g
Needle: 3.5 mm (US 4)
Time to knit: one month

I made a new hat for husband and where best to test it but on Vitosha above the snow line. We are still enjoying a mild autumn-winter transition in town with temperatures above zero even at night and no snow yet, but in the high areas of our near-by mountain we walked on snow yesterday. But more about our wonderful hike - in my next post. Now - about the hat.


I wanted to make a new stranded knitted hat for husband, lined with polar fleece and I liked this item by the Norwegian company Dale of Norway. I made a chart, based on the pictures of the hat and knit the hat with Alize Cashmira 100% wool in black, white and red on 3.5 mm circular needles. For the lining I made a simple polar fleece hat, which is attached to the knitted hat.


Pattern: Dale of Norway Inspired Hat (personal pattern based on ready-to wear commercial item)
Yarn: Alize Cashmira 100% wool, 300 m / 100 g
Needle: 3.5 mm circular needle
Time to knit: 4-5 days


Pattern notes:
Gauge: 20 sts and 26 rounds in stranded knitting make 10x10 cm square. The hat is 24 cm deep and fits an adult male head, providing space for a polar fleece lining.


Cast on 108 sts with provisional cast on and 3 mm circular needles. Close to knit in the round and knit 5 rounds. On the 6th round knit together the stitches on the left needle and the stitches from the provisional cast on to make a double brim. Switch to 3.5 mm circular needle and continue with the chart, starting with the three rows in black. On the 18th row increase two stitches, evenly distributed - total number of stitches now equals 110. Continue knitting the chart in the round. After finishing the chart begin the decreases for the crown. Place 10 markers evenly and decrease 10 stitches every third round until 20 stitches remain. Cut the yarn, thread it through the live stitches and tighten.

I haven't blogged about knitting for a very long time :( It does happen often to me in the summer - I cast on projects, then lose interest and drop them or just can't find time to knit. The same story every summer.
This summer I cast on a cotton cardigan from Sabrina Magazine, knit the two sleeves and almost the entire back and decided I didn't like it, so I left it as it is until next spring or summer.
After almost a month's hiatus from knitting I cast on a lightweight wool cardigan for autumn - Wildflower Cardigan by Alana Dakos. The yarn is Alize Cashmira Fine, which I hand dyed last autumn. So far I love the result, I've knit the two fronts and the back, the neckband and the two buttonbands. I have only 900 m of yarn and I could never repeat the same dyeing process with the same outcome, so 900 m will have to suffice. The body ate 2/3 of the yarn, the remaining 1/3 should be enough for 3/4 sleeves.


Although my yarn is quite thin and I'm knitting with 2.5 mm and 3 mm needles, I couldn't get anywhere near the gauge, so I'm making (again) my own calculations and using only the general idea of the design.

 I believe this is my first cardigan with pockets. I love them - aren't they really beautiful and cute!

I played with the yarn dyes again this Sunday and dyed two balls of Cashmira Fine classical unbrushed pure wool. The original color was snow white number 55.


This time I experimented with four colors - red, blue, violet and purple. The color came very dark and mostly deep midnight purple with reddish-brown and blue nuances. It is actually darker than on these photos and the variations are not that noticeable, especially in the evening, but I think it's still interesting.


Next time I want to try mixing only purple and violet in much lighter tones, probably some blue too, but the red was a bit redundant.



I tried a small sample to figure out what to do with it. It's only 200 g, but the yardage is almost 1000 yds, so it might be enough for a small light cardigan or a 3/4 sleeved sweater.


Meanwhile winter stepped in and for two days we were covered in snow. Most of it melted today, but it's cold, the winter boots and jackets are already out, hats, scarves and gloves are inspected and distributed and new winter accessories are planned.


And the house smells of apple pies and cinnamon. This one I made today using a recipe from procurora's blog. It came out very delicious, light and juicy with apple pieces and walnuts inside and very crispy crust outside.

I know I haven't been blogging about knitting for almost a month, but it's not like I haven't been knitting - just I've been doing it very very slowly. I'm very bad at stranded knitting - one reason - I knit with the yarn in front of the knitting, and when there are two or more colors passing through my pin, it usually quickly becomes a mess and keeping the right tension is quite a challenge. But this Knitty Deep Fall 2013 sweater has only a few sections of stranded knitting, so I thought I could manage it.


I made a few modifications to the original pattern, some good, some bad judgement.
1) I elongated the body a bit, making the rib longer and adding a row to the single color sections.
2) The sleeves are 3/4 long, repeating exactly the body.
3) I changed the waist fitting, distributing more evenly the increases and the decreases, still keeping the stitches multiples of 6, where it was necessary (the stranded sections).


4) When I reached the underarms, I decided to continue with the upper part, adding the sleeve stitches with provisional cast on. I do that often with raglan sweaters, as it provides a more neat connection between the sleeves and the body. I knew the V of the stitches on the sleeves would be ^ upside down, as the sleeves are knit in the opposite direction, but I thought I wouldn't mind that too much. However, when I began the sleeves, I found that I minded the difference a lot, so I unraveled the stranded diamonds, cut the yarn and started the sleeve from the wrist and then added it to the body with grafting. I think it worked alright and doesn't show. Now I'm working on the second sleeve (and fighting the second sleeve syndrome :). However, if I had to knit this or any other stranded sweater again, I would knit the sleeves first and then continue with the upper body.


5) I omitted the last C1 color section and instead added some length to the back in the C2 color section, using short rows. My first try actually included the C1 section and short rows in that section, but it didn't look alright with only two rows of orange in the front and 10 rows of orange in the back, the bigger yellow section worked better with the elongation of the back neck portion.
I'm almost done with the second sleeve, so I hope there will be a FO photosession later this week :)

A month ago I cast on Faina Goberstein's Cabled Top with the modifications, made by Elving. It was quite a spontaneous knit, I just fell in love with her sweater, had the same yellow Cashmira and wanted to knit it, immediately. Then, after a week of struggling, I found that this shade of yellow was awful on me, switched to orange and things went well until I reached the underarms. I have some hesitations whether to make the sleeves shorter or full version, but most of all, I wonder what do I need another wool sweater for? I'm bored,  knitting with this yarn is no longer fun and I just don't feel like finishing this.


So I think I'll leave it like this until next cold season and then we'll see. I might be in the mood for a new sweater :)

Pattern: Karen Millen Cardigan (personal pattern, inspired by RTW design)
Yarn: Alize Cashmira 100% wool, white, black and a very small quantity of red, 300 g total
Needle: 3,5 mm rib, 4 mm body
Time to knit: appr. three weeks with breaks


Gaby wanted a simple cardigan for school and liked the unostentatious and elegant geometric design of this Karen Millen block striped cardigan. I had my doubts in the course of knitting, actually at one point I was about to abandon the pattern altogether and to knit the Drops stranded cardigan that I used for the hat pattern. But now, that I see it done and worn, I'm glad I finished it and Gaby really likes it. This is how she wore it today to school (not exactly how I had planned this photosession, I would have preferred black jeans and a black top under the cardigan :)






Pictures taken in front of my Alma mater - Sofia University, today on her way back from school.