berroco – Yards of Happiness

Stitching Status: Anger & Angelina

I’ve felt a bit crappy for the last few days and I realized the other night it was anger and a bit of exhaustion. It’s a hectic time for me as classes begin next week so I’m back to working two jobs, stress then makes my back ache and then on top of that the world seems to be a chaotic mess. I’ve had several moments where I’m watching the news, the President makes a statement and I find I have to abruptly turn off the TV and go walk the dogs or sit and knit in silence with a dog in my lap.
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This has kind of become my normal view point when I want to drown out the outside noise. Knitting and a yawning Jellybean who loves to sit on and walk inside of my knitting. And clearly I’ve wanted to drown out the noise a lot because I’ve made some good progress in a few days.

{Note: I’ve talked about my feelings and the election and my race on this blog numerous times but in all honesty I don’t want to talk about that. So I’m going to talk about what makes me happy when I’m not and that’s knitting.}

I typically don’t do a lot of cable knits because I find them annoying. Plus I usually use such bold color combos I feel like cables would be too much. But in the latest issue of Interweave Knits I fell madly and deeply in love with the Angelina pullover.

Photography for Interweave Knits Fall 2017 by Nathan Rega — Angelina Pullover via Ravelry

The soft cables at the yoke, the curved hemline (a favorite of mine) and a shortened and slightly belled sleeve. It’s perfection. Plus I tend to make a ton of cardigans because I like layers but I know I need a few good pullovers in my closet too.
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So I pulled out the sweater quantity stash of Berroco Ultra Alpaca I was going to use for an Equation sweater (that I now think I want to make in an insanely bright hot pink), whipped up a swatch and cast on Sunday for my Angelina. I finished all the cables in the yoke on Tuesday and separated for sleeves. By the second to last cable I was pretty over cables but I think they turned out beautifully. Mind you there were a few mistakes I was able to correct and I’m pretty sure there are a few knit stitches in between the cables that should be purls but whatever, it looks good to me!
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Now I’ve got 14 1/2 glorious inches of stockinette stitch in the round before I get to the short row shaping for the hem. I’m pretty sure I’ll stop halfway through the body knitting and make the sleeves so I feel like I’m making more progress. I’ve never used this yarn before but once blocked my swatch felt very light and soft. right now this baby is heavy and dense, so here’s hoping the magic that is blocking turns this into a perfect green version of what I saw in the magazine.

So that’s what I’m working on to keep myself sane, how about you?

Stitching Status: Playing Games

I came really close last night to losing a serious game of yarn chicken…
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This was all I had left at the end of a block of purple on my Cosette tee. Did I mention I’m doing vertical stripes? I used leftover yarn from my Saddle Shoulder Striped Tee and even weighed my yarn left to see if I’d make it. I was not trying to go back to Fibre Space to buy a full skein of 1 color when I knew I’d only need 10 yards at most if I ran out. And I did not have to go! WOOHOO! It was pretty tense in my house while I was knitting to see if I could make it to the end.
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The Cosette tee is worked from cuff to cuff, something I’ve never done before and am super excited about. I love new construction techniques. It always makes it a more interesting project. I decided to make a tee with some of the leftover colors from my last tee in the Berroco Pima 100. I used the pale pink and purple and then added in a darker shade of the pink, a light blue with hints of pink in it and a dark blue…get it? Pink to lavender to purple to blue to light blue! A different kind of rainbow but still lots of color because that’s what I like. It’s hard to tell in this pic but I’ve already started the dark blue and will just have the last light blue section and then seaming and picking up the collar and hem. I should be finished this weekend and wearing this baby next week.

In addition to finishing up this project I’m headed to Maryland Sheep and Wool on Sunday. What are your weekend knitting plans?

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Berroco, blue, Color, Knitting, pink, purple, Stitching Status, Tees & Tanks, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, berroco, Berroco pima 100, knitting, summer knitting, Yarn 16 Comments

My Favorite Summer Knits

The other weekend I washed and packed away most of my hand knit sweaters. I like to keep out a few of my favorite cardigans for when the temps dip and since I like a few layers. But it felt almost like Christmas morning opening up the bin and remembering all the great knits I had waiting for me! So it made me think I should share a few of my favorite patterns I’ve knit repeatedly for some summer knitting. Plus there are a billion knitalongs that will start for summer so why not make yourself something nice for the cooler temps and potentially win a prize?

I realized this morning I didn’t actually have a picture of me in one of my favorite tops and had to take it at work since I’m wearing it and add it to this post! I’ve made two Six Point tees (version 1 and version 2) and I really like them both. They’re knit up on bulky weight yarn with size 13 needles so it’s a quick and satisfying knit. This rainbow version is my favorite (of course) because I loved this yarn, Versa by Berroco. And of course they discontinued it. I swear Berroco discontinues every yarn I love. It’s a ribbon yarn with a grey base but has a rainbow running through out. I still have a few skeins left but just don’t know what to make with them.

Another summer favorite is the North Fork tee. I cannot get enough of this one AND it’s easy to modify. I wore this one (I’ve knit a couple) yesterday for Sunday dinner and I had forgotten just how nicely I knit this one. It was pristine and waiting for me to put her on and I made this version with a bit more a line shaping so it would pull away from the body and have a nice breezy effect. I love this top so much. I made this one with Berroco Modern Cotton and it has quickly become a summer favorite yarn to work with. Really most of my summer knits are made with Berroco yarns and I just find that they’re affordable, have a pretty great color selection and the yarns hold up nicely.
Togue Pond for Jess
And speaking of Modern Cotton, I can’t recommend Togue Pond Tank enough. It’s a favorite and since my original grey version has a stain I cannot get out I’m planning on making myself a solid pink one soon to replace it (and to match my super bright pink clogs).
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And over the holiday weekend I figured out what to make with the leftover yarn from my Little Women cardigan! I’m improvising a scoop neck top! I’m so proud of myself for just doing it because I always hesitate on making my own thing when there are a million patterns out there but I couldn’t find what I wanted. So I decided to just make it up myself I’m using size 10.5 needles to help make the light worsted weight yarn go a bit further and to make it a nice light and breezy top to layer over a tank top. I can’t wait to finish this one and it should whip up pretty quickly since I’m already this far along! And did I mention I made all this progress with just 1 ball of yarn? Yeah I think I’ll still have some leftover and still do something else with like make a hat or add to a shawl. We shall see.