neutral (black/grey/white) – Yards of Happiness

FO: For a Sweetheart

Happy Valentine’s Day! It has never been a holiday I make a big deal over (although my husband did propose to me 17 years ago) but I have a girlfriend whose birthday is today (and three others that were this week). She loves hearts and when I was on Ravelry and saw the new pattern for the Sweet Hearts Hat I thought, I can whip this up in time for her birthday.
Heat breaker
I asked her what color winter coat she had and she told me burgundy, black and cream. So I dug through my stash and picked out my Knit Picks Mighty Stitch in Pomegranate and Oyster. Another friend’s birthday was on Tuesday and her husband gave her a gorgeous red coat, so I may make her a red and white version of this hat to go with the new coat too.
Untitled
And as I was working on this hat I just kept thinking how cute this print would be as a sweater for Jellybean. So that might be something I whip up over this long holiday weekend. So here’s to a love filled day, I hope it is filled with yummy yarn. Happy Valentine’s Day!

FO: Matching Set

I’m getting to the end of the month and wanted to share another set of finished objects I made. I was hoping to get modeled photos but hadn’t as of yet so I wanted to share the projects anyway. My best friend Steven has a beautiful King Charles Spaniel named Sophie. You may remember that I knit her a sweater before and I made him a matching tie. Well this time as a belated Christmas gift I made Steven a hat that coordinated with a new sweater for Sophie.
Cute pairings
If I ever had a line of dog sweaters I’d just make coordinating hats for the owners, it’s the easiest matching pair. And for Steven I knew I wanted to make them a coordinated set and because he’s so NY and wears a ton of black on the when he’s not at work I knew I wanted to knit them something black but with a little something extra added to it. I’ve had a skein and a half leftover from my Caldwell cape of this really fun yarn from the Lemonade Shop called Mega Stuffed Toxic Oreo and it always reminds me of graffiti and I thought it would be the perfect contrast with black. I went with a soft acrylic yarn, Premier Yarns Everyday Worsted Solids, to help with wear and tear since I knew it would be on the body of the dog sweater.
Cute pairings
I decided to make the Max sweater pattern for Sophie and make the triangle accents look like an exaggerated shirt collar. I really love how it turned out in the end. And I love the purl accent on the body so the sweater that looks like it has fancy seams running down the back.

For the hat I went with the Purl Soho Classic Cuffed Hat because I knew it had inches of ribbing for the brim which would adapt well to an accent color.
Cute pairings
Both projects were super soft and so cute together. And Steven sent me the cutest boomerang video when he opened his package.

He told me I outdid myself this time and promised to send pictures soon. I’ll make sure to share them when I get them.

January 30, 2019January 29, 2019 by IamDWJ Categories: Color, FO: Finished Object, For Dogs, Hats, Knitting, multi, neutral (black/grey/white), Premier Yarns, The Lemonade Shop, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, coordinated knits, dog sweaters, Purl Soho Classic Cuffed Hat 27 Comments

FO: Winston Pullover

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled programming – let’s talking about knitting! Despite school starting last week, January has been a pretty productive month for me thus far. I’ve been working on quick projects. And when I popped in to my local Joann’s the other day to grab some black yarn for a dog sweater, I saw this fun Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick Stripes yarn in cream and red. It immediately made me think of one of my favorite girlfriends because her sorority colors are red and white and their Founders Day was coming up. The yarn was on sale for 25% off, plus another coupon so I grabbed enough to make her the Winston Pullover.

I saw this pattern on Jane Richmond’s Instagram account a while back and thought, that could be a fun quick knit in the future. Super bulky yarn knit on size 17 needles means you can finish a sweater in a weekend or a little more. I’m also asked all the time about good first time sweater projects and Jane’s patterns are always clear and simple and this could be a less intimidating sweater to make as your first sweater.

I knew going into this that the stripes on the arms weren’t going to be the same width as the ones on the body but that didn’t bother me. I wanted to make a cozy and fun sweater for a friend. She’s a fellow professor (really, she’s the reason why I teach) and when she’s home she’s chasing after her two young daughters. This is perfectly paired with leggings and the yarn is machine washable and dryer friendly – which makes it life friendly.

She is slightly smaller than me and shorter, so I made the size 40 and it fits me. But if I wanted a bit more ease and coziness like it shows on her, I’d knit myself a 42. Thick and quick also comes in a bunch of fun colors and stripe patterns (there’s a grey and neon pink colorway calling my name) so there might be more of these quick knits for some of my friends and family in the future.