yellow – Yards of Happiness

FO: Saddle Shoulder Striped Tee

I’m giddy.
Striped saddle shoulder sweater
I love this top so much. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE IT. I finished my Saddle Shoulder Striped Tee and am already wearing it. So let’s get into the details on this project.

Here’s my initial inspiration sweater photo compared to what I actually made:
Comparing sweaters
I wanted the following:

A short sleeve tee for summer made using saddle shoulder construction.
I didn’t want a lot of ease and for it to be a fairly fitted crew neck (not too tight) so I can wear it with an a line or full skirt.
COLOR! You guys know me and know how much I love color and so I picked a bunch of Berroco Pima 100 in varying colors I liked and just went with it. I was surprised at how close I was to some of the colors in the original sweater.

In the end I think this was a great finished object. It’s not perfect (few knits are) but I think I did a solid job on this one without really knowing how this was going to all come together. Also the yarn worked up well and wasn’t hard on my hands like some other cotton yarns.
Striped saddle shoulder sweater
For another saddle shoulder style sweater I would run a pattern like an open chevron lace on the saddle so I could carry it all the way down the arm of the sweater. That’s what makes it such a useful design technique. And in regards to how you construct it, thank my friend and reader Lavon for realizing it’s a lot like turning a heel on a sock.
Striped saddle shoulder sweater
The saddle stitches are live and you pick up the stitches around the armhole. Add in some short row shaping for the sleeve cap and then you’ve got a sleeve to work with! It’s not a difficult technique at all. And I’d say the fit is more in line with a raglan style and not as close under the arm as a seamed sweater would be.
Striped saddle shoulder sweater
So I’ve started off my summer staples knitting with a bang. I can’t wait to knock out more tops for myself and I’ve still got yarn leftover from this project so you may see these colors in a striped tank too! So what plans do you have for summer knitting? What projects are topping your list?

FO: I Found My Fade

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Well it took a few weeks and there were several mistakes but I found my fade in the Find Your Fade shawl. Sorry for the grainy pic but I wanted to take a panoramic photo on phone so I could get it all in. This baby is HUGE.

Part of what drew me in to the Find Your Fade shawl was the ability to really go crazy with color. Clearly color is my wheelhouse and I was excited to give it a try. In addition, I got gauge on the project using size 6 needles and not the suggested size 4’s. Anything below a 5 really gets uncomfortable to me so I was even happier to try it when I could use at least a size 6 needle. I had an idea of what I wanted but kind of threw it out the window and popped over to Fibre Space to see what color combos I could create on the fly. I knew I had a skein of highlighter yellow that I’d had for a long time that I wanted to use and the bright sapphire blue from my Mom’s sweater I wanted to incorporate. Everything else was up for grabs. In the end my finals colors were (from right to left):

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Edison Bulb
Hedgehog Fibres in Genie
Hedgehog Fibres in Fly
The Lemonade Shop Mighty Sock in Charm Bomb
Periwinkle Sheep Watercolor Sock in Sapphire
Hedgehog Fibres in Dragonfly
Hedgehog Fibres in Sorry Not Sorry

Find Your Fade finished
I should note that I was not perfect at all with this pattern but it’s super forgiving (…and yes I got new glasses). My numbers were typically off on my stitch count due to the double yarnovers in the lace pattern but it was easy to adjust or do a different row in the lace depending on the amount of stitches I had at the end. I also didn’t do as many repeats because I didn’t have as much of the sapphire blue as I needed to I adjusted and made some places bigger and by the time I got to my last color I was ready to just bind-off. I’ve also noticed where some have a smooth check style I have a little bit of a hard turn near the end by the middle spine. I don’t care. You can’t see all that little mistakes when it’s wrapped up around you. And man, you can really wrap yourself up in this bad boy.
Find Your Fade finished
It’s also so big I didn’t have to hide Jellybean’s crate when I was snapping quick pics before work. LOL
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I finished it on Friday and it was dry and ready to wear on Saturday so I did! I was able to snag tickets to the Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirshorn and wore it there. What an awesome exhibit. Mistakes and all I’m really happy about this piece. It’s a light weight wrap that’s kind of perfect for this time of year when the morning’s are chilly and my office is freezing. I will happily wear this and show of all my hard work.

Has anyone else knit a Find Your Fade shawl? If you did share a link to your blog post or Ravelry post so I can see yours too!

March 20, 2017March 20, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: blue, Color, Cowls & Scarves, FO: Finished Object, green, Hedgehog Fibres, Knitting, Madelinetosh, multi, neon, Periwinkle Sheep, pink, Yarn, yellowTags: #findyourfadeshawl, #InfiniteKusama, #yardsofhappiness, Find Your Fade, knitting, Kusama Infinity Mirrors, Yarn 18 Comments

FO: A Happy Little Sweater

When I was a kid I was slightly obsessed with watching Bob Ross’s painting show, The Joy of Painting. I had an easel, all the acrylic paint an 8 year old could ever want, a palette and paintbrushes. His ‘happy little trees’ and technique made me believe that one day I’d be a famous painter. Clearly I’m not a painter but I find other ways to make my own art, this time with yarn and lots of color.
A Happy Little Sweater
I’m calling this sweater my Happy Little Sweater because this color palette makes me so happy and made me think of the joy I had from painting with Boss Ross as a kid. {The necklace is a hot air ballon from Virginie Millefiori}

The pattern is the Liv cardigan from the Madder Anthology 2 (1 of the 5 sweaters I’ve knit from that book) and was a simple top down sweater with a bit of short row shaping at the bottom. A simple knit I started in December in between projects knowing I’d need something to take with me when I was traveling in January. The idea for this color pairing came from the yarn on the garter stitch border, Indian Corn from Lemonade Shop on Etsy. I love a lot of her yarn colors (you may remember me using her Mega Toxic Oreo colorway on my Caldwell Cape) so when I see a color that speaks to me I usually pick up 2 skeins. I originally bought 4 skeins of Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool Worsted in white for this but I just kept saying that was too basic of a pairing and I didn’t start knitting it. So armed with my BFF Jess and another trip to Fibre Space I settled on the lemon yellow colorway instead and I’m glad I did.
A Happy Little Sweater
I love a good pink/yellow, pink/orange, pink/red combo and this bold yellow with the predominately pink yarn is a winner in my book. And since the yarn has a billion little different flecks of color in it I can throw on a million colors underneath this sweater. I will totally throw on a turquoise tee with this to pull out the blue flecks in this yarn. I absolutely love this combination and couldn’t be happier with this colorful piece I’m adding to my wardrobe.
A Happy Little Sweater
So we all know I love bold color combos, what’s your favorite color pairing?