berroco – Yards of Happiness

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.

These are the three patterns I want to make all the time for summer, what patterns do you love for summer knitting? And what yarns top your list?

April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Berroco, Knitting, Tees & Tanks, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, berroco, berroco modern cotton, Berroco Versa, summer knitting, summer tee, summer yarn 6 Comments

FO: North Fork x 2

Happy Finished Object Friday, Folks! Today I’m sharing two versions of the same shirt – one of my favorite patterns, North Fork.

I made one for my cousin Safia who will be coming to visit next week. I’m so excited to see her, she’s my absolute favorite and we always have so much fun together.

For Safia’s North Fork I used some leftover Berroco Weekend I had from my first Madigan sweater and I had 2 skeins of Weekend in black that I picked up from a clearance table at Fibre Space a long time ago. It was the perfect stash busting project and I liked that it’s a bit of a heavier weight than my Modern Cotton version. Since she’s in Chicago I always opt for heavier than lighter.

I did my best to lighten the image to show the split hem on her version. For hers I followed the pattern to the letter and finally did a stretchy bind off for the hem, arms and neckline. I’ll snap a pic of her when she wears it to show off the fit and share it here too. I modified my version a bit more to suit how I wanted it to fit me now. So if you don’t remember what last summer’s North Fork looked like you can read last year’s post.

I didn’t do any stretchy bind offs on my previous version and my arms always felt a little snug. I also knew that with the Modern Cotton didn’t get true gauge since it’s thinner than the yarn she created the pattern with so my version was more fitted than the pattern but it’s still a great tee that I love to wear. So this time I incorporated a line increases to the body every 5 rows in the stripes. I believe I added about 7 increases to get a good swing.
North Fork
I’m also elated at the stretchy bind off at my arms. Talk about not feeling like a sausage LOL! And I added about 8 rows of length to the arms as well. And I didn’t do a split him since I added the increases to the body and just bound off normally.

The fit is definitely loser and I love Modern Cotton and how light it is – plus it washes up like a dream in the washing machine. My only issue is that I always forget to not wear my sweaters when wearing a backpack, so I had a little fuzz on my back this morning when I got to work but it was inevitable. My knits can’t stay pristine forever! Also I should note that I’m wearing a navy blue tank top underneath for work, if it was the weekend I’d probably just wear a nude bra and call it a day. It’s nice and light for these super hot July days we’re having.
North Fork
So those are my latest finished objects from this week, what’s flying off of your needles? What are you working on this weekend?