Cognac!

It is up! :D

Just on Ravelry just yet. Etsy +  Craftsy + Patternfish coming soon. Meanwhile: see Cognac in Ravelry.

I am amazed there was no pattern named Cognac in the database! Glad too :)

And now, off to work on my next project. Very excited about it since I love the yarn so. Here my sample:

Yay more orange ;P

Signs of life at innerShelter

Oh yes, I am not dead... yet ;)

Life gets in the way sometimes. I have been doing my internship at Boondoggle, which was great.

I still have projects in knit-land, though. My next pattern is another shawl, one that was inspired by the yarn itself (Lana Grossa Bingo Solid). It will be named Cognac and have big, fat tassels. I am writing it down as we speak, and have already been wearing and enjoying the sample since November. Meanwhile, a teaser :) This shawl features a continuous i-cord all around. A loop of i-cord serves as cast-on, and from these live sts the i-cord edging is knitted at the same time than the shawl. The bind-off is also carried on from live sts, and to end the six sts are grafted together. It is a bit tricky to imagine, but rather easy to knit, really, so I made a video explaining it:

You can view it in HD!

And here is a fat tassel in action. I love fat tassels!

Socks!

And what have I been working on lately? well, some socks :D

I knitted my first three pairs recently:

Bandy Legs

Welsh Country Stockings

Liab

The first pair I knitted for myself for the Ravellenics, and the last two pairs for my dad's birthday. They are modelled by my BF who has slightly longer feet, I await a report from my dad, he is picking them up at he post office tomorrow!

So far then I have tried a short row heel and toe, a Dutch heel (I think both my dad's socks qualify as Dutch heels?) and quite rounded toes grafted at the tip. I have to say I am not a fan of the short row heel or toe (and my flat St st is always rubbish as can be easily seen on the heel...). I really loved Liab's "ribbed" cushy heel. Overall a fantastic pattern (and free!).

I modified the Welsh socks since the pattern was for a rather pointy toe and my father (and I inherited this to an extent) has very, very square toes. I knitted the following toe that I found somewhere on the internets (unfortunately I forget where):

Decrease rnd toe:
Needle 1,3: k to 4 sts to end, k2tog, k2
Needle 2,4: k2, ssk, k to end

Even St st 4 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 3 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 2 rnds.
Decrease rnd.
Even St st 1 rnds.
Decrease rnd, repeat decrease rnd until 7 sts per needle.

So with 28 sts remaining, Kitchener St.

I love this toe and I think I will be using it for myself as well!

Liab has a pointier toe than this but still rather wide, and I really like how it gradually merges the ribbing into the toe. It fits Pim's toes so awesomely (picture above), I should use it for his socks in the future!

The cabling in Liab was challenging. I do not have much experience with cables, and the yarn is rather on the thin side, and I used 2mm needles (I estimated, correctly it seems, that I needed smaller needles due to foot size + my loose knitting), this made for rather challenging cabling, especially since I refuse to use an auxiliar needle, it was slow enough knitting as it was. I switched needles two times and finally settled on wooden needles which worked best with least amount of wrist pain (steel was better for cabling but UGH).

So, have I become addicted to sock knitting? I do not think I will now knit socks exclusively, but I see more socks in my future ;)

Next pair will be for Pim and next I am already envisioning a rather special pair of boot socks I will have to write the pattern for!

Breaking the radio silence...

... with a pattern give-away!

I'll be giving away a Grand Place - Grote Markt eBook to the first 8 people to reply to this thread in Ravelry!

I would love to see some more projects pop up in different colours and yarns :)) what would your choice be?

95th

I stumbled upon a pattern in Ravelry... well more than a pattern it is an idea! The Sky Scarf: "This pattern is for a scarf with narrow stripes of colors determined daily by your local weather."

Basically every day you knit a row with the colours of the sky at the moment/during the day. I think the idea is fantastic! I found myself immediately thinking which yarn I could use and which shape I could knit, a skinny scarf is not for me and it would be a pity not to use it!

I am also glad I am now living in Flanders because honestly I prefer a more grey scarf than the intensely blue one I would get if I would still live in Barcelona ;)

Then there is the question of when to start? I would like to work on it for a complete year. I thought of starting the 1st of January 2013, but then, I really dislike “new year’s resolutions” kind of things (and that strikes me as one?) and am not particularly fond of our calendar to begin with.

So when to start it? I could start right now, or any other moment. But since I want to spend some time planning and dyeing the yarn (so in a way I start now), why not start the 11th of November? it is one of the only two official holidays that mean anything to me, and it is coming soon. As a reminder of it has been this year’s Nobel Prize of Peace awarded to the EU citizens. So the goal is to finish this project on the 95th Armistice Day in 2013, and I am naming it 95th.

Then I started thinking about the yarn. Stash yarn would be nice! And I have two hanks of Drops Lace (70% Alpaca, 30% Silk) which will work beautifully. One is natural/ecru and the other is blue/grey, which perhaps has a hint of green. But I plan of dyeing most of the fibre anyway. I don’t know if it will be enough but I can always buy more!

I also want to knit with several strands at the same time, perhaps 3, perhaps 2, which will help customise the daily colour further.

I could not wait and have started dyeing! (which you have probably already figured out ;))

I still have two balls of the two original colours, and now these shades of grey and blue, and a little purple.

Now to decide what shape to knit. It must have 365 rows, rounds or repeats! and it has to be useful, which means this will most likely not be a scarf. Perhaps a shawl/stole, perhaps a cowl, perhaps a combination of both. I am inclined towards a somewhat wide cowl, knitted rather loosely and with 365 rounds. This yarn should drape nicely! I think some swatching is in order ;)

Grote Markt

As promised, here is my newest cowl pattern:

Grote Markt, this time named after the main square in the town I live. The pictures were taken in the monumental square and modeled by my beautiful friend Anna, also happy recipient of the cowl! doesn't this purple suit her so well? it had to be hers :)

This cowl is also knitted in the round, and I already have published it as an eBook together with Grand Place. The matching mittens are a free pattern!

I decided to add a drawstring to be able to tie it closer if it gets very cold, but of course this is optional:

Fun lens

My boyfriend just gave me this lens for my birthday!

I am not at all familiar with it yet, of course, and the light is gone now (argh!) but I anticipate much fun :)))

A "Fibrehound" fuzzy Molehill

I was extremely pleased when I saw this project pop up in my Ravelry recent pattern activity:

This is a Molehill shawl knitted with the hair of a lovely dog! I cannot say it better than Raveler Karen, aka luvmypony herself:

"This shawl is 100% Turk hair. Turk is my Border Collie x Norwegian Elkhound. He has a lovely, soft coat with little to no guard hairs. I brushed him and saved his hair for spinning. He’s the gift that keeps on giving. I often refer to him as my Fibrehound.

I intended to spin a fingering weight yarn but it came out slightly heavier than that. Then when I knitted with it, it BLOOMED! This shawl is thick and warm.

Fun project, just to see if it could be done and what would happen."

Turk

The shawl looks indeed lusciously warm! :) luvmypony has knitted a second Molehill with mohair. I do think the fuzzy yarns suit the pattern.

And this inevitably brings me to the little story of why I started to knit in the first place... I could simply not bear to throw away my cat's fuzz that I was combing out! thinking of what useful purpose to put it to, the obvious one is spinning it into yarn, then... knitting something with it? of course I didn't want to spoil the fuzz with my first attempts at either, so I endeavoured to, first learn how to knit, then eventually learn to spin. Learning to spin seemed the most daunting, and so I still have not gotten started! I started knitting in March 2009, designing in December 2010, and still the cat fuzz is stored safely away waiting for me to learn to spin and finally figure out what to knit with it! A very special, tiny stash of cat fuzz is that I have of my late cat Mino:

Mino in 2010

Mino was a short hair with very little fuzz, and he hated brushing, which he actually didn't need anyway, so I have a very little amount of it. I do have the greatest amount of fuzz from Iris, she is a longhair with loads and loads of fuzz! she doesn't like brushing very much, but she actually needs it :) and then of redhead Loki, who is also a shorthair but has a little more fuzz than Mino used to have, I also have a little amount. He doesn't mind brushing much, but he just cannot stay still for a second so it is difficult to!

Mino, Loki as a kitten and Iris in 2010

Grand Place

I have recently published my latest pattern, Grand Place, but due to blog mishaps I could not post about it!

It may not be nice of me to say this, but I love this cowl ;) I finished knitting it last March, so I still had plenty of weather to wear it :) and boy, did I wear it! it is warm (so warm when folded down around the neck!), fluffy and versatile. It deals with everything that annoys me in cowls, scarves and hats! No drafts percolating through the gaps of my looped scarf. No gaps between the bottom of my cowl and the lapels of my coat. No drops of rain somehow finding a way between my hat and my shawl, then down my nape... nice :D

I bought the yarn, which I LOVE, on a whim when I saw it at my LYS, and this cowl/capelet/hood/whateveryouwanttocallit is entirely inspired by it. Or, may I say, the yarn reminded me of the stonework you see in the pictures (taken in the same Grand Place of Brussels that gives it its name), and of cobbles, and I took it from there.

Being as I am a little OCD when it comes to matching my accessories, I knitted a pair of matching mittens with my leftover yarn:

I waited all summer to publish this pattern in more appropriate weather, and finally here it is :) available in Ravelry, as Cowl, Mitts or all together in an eBook. Also available in my Etsy store: Cowl, Mitts. I have also just uploaded all the info to Patternfish so it will also be available soon!

And loving this yarn so much... when I saw these 4 balls in purple in a YS in Germany, I could not resist!

And so I am knitting another capelet/cowl, for a friend. It is somewhat similar, but has a turtleneck instead of a hood. 

More colour-accurate

I am planning to also release this pattern soon, and I will probably crete an eBook with everything together, so stay tuned!

Blog back on!

I haven't posted in a while... again, but this time I had a reason not to!

It all started with my web hosting company going rogue on me. Word to the wise: if you are considering dh2.net, run, run in the opposite direction like the wind! if you have your website hosted with them, I would say get your domain name transfered to enom.com and back up all your data! Now researching a little online I also found this which doesn't look good at all, does it?

So shortly after paying for renewal of my domain + hosting for another year, my website went down. Unlike other less fortunate people the domain was still at my name with enom (dh2.net is -or was?- their reseller) so I could transfer it to my account with them. Had to pay for it again but at least I didn't lose it!

Meanwhile my files were apparently still hosted ay dh2.net. They still are as we speak. Once my domain name started working again, I could back up all my files via FTP. Most of my website is working over at my boyfriend's server anyway, so once it all goes down, which I have no doubt it will*, I'll just move the rest over there.

So well, in all this debacle my custom blog domain blog.innershelter.net of course stopped working. Once I got my domain up again, it kept not working, despite me trying various settings and following blogger's instructions. I changed it back to the blogger URL (inner-shelter.blogspot.com), then back again... still not working, and then I got slapped with some blogger maintenance that disabled any changes for days... argh!!.

Today I was able to change it back again, finally! and decided to just give up, at least for now, and update my website with the working URL for the time being.

So well that was my little stressful adventure of the last few days! ugh.

A more pleasant post is coming right away :)

*I run my teacher's website focgallery.com which we also had hosted in dh2.net ... and the same thing happened a few days later, of course. This time I knew what to do!

Woah!

I have been neglecting the blog... shame on me! I tend to get a little lazy over the summer months ;)
I didn't even post about Canicule when it was released... well ok, here it is. Makes for a nice summer shawl and I've been using both of mine a lot! I also used the mittens quite a bit when it was still rather chilly. I am liking the assymetry of them so I'm sure I'll be revisiting that theme and the modular element.

To be found in Ravelry, Patternfish and my Etsy shop.

o0o

My latest release has come with a bit of a surprise to be honest! after a hint-suggestion by my friend Vane on Saturday, I bought the yarn and started knitting a mane for my cat Loki. I finished, photographed and published the pattern on Sunday, which was my cat's birthday. I was pleasantly surprised when Loki posed with it on for a full 5 minutes before pulling it off! I was also more than pleasantly surprised when the pattern made it to the top of the "Hot right now" Ravelry pattern page after just a few hours! Still there with currently 875 favourites (!), with many comments and mentions in the forums.

Beyond that, I am seeing it popping up in Facebook (We Love Wool's post has been liked 882 times and shared... 1124 times!), many blogs (this post totally made my day), pinterest... wow! :D I mean, of course Loki is such a charming little lad (and has his own tumblr!) but I didn' expect such a response! I am truly overwhelmed :D

Oh, and the pattern is free! ;)

Shawl #2 finished!

In a bit of a fever these last days, my hands are sore!

I finished the shawl (it looks orange on the top pictures since it was still wet). I had to run to the LYS to get an extra ball of yarn just for the bind-off, annoying! however I couldn't leave all that leftover yarn lying around. I did not plan to make any matching item this time, but you see, I am cursed. I knitted these mitts too. They are not even blocked in the pic, and the lace definitely needs it. This is a modular design, so the top edging and cuffs can be mixed and matched as desired. I wanted fraternal twins so they are quite different. I am off to block these now and then on to much neglected chores!

I am having these two shawls and the mitts test knitted now so if you are interested let me know!

Chain smoking shawl knitting

I am in a shawl mood!

Two shawls on the needles and one just finished!

The one I finished yesterday and photographed today is this big, big mint-coloured shawl:

With my treasured, beautiful 50's Spanish
nightgown I was gifted long ago.

5 tassels

Loki who must pose in all pictures!

I wrote about this yarn when I got it. I used up nearly all 5 balls! I was considering full fringe but finally went for just the 5 tassels. The central spine divides towards the end so I put 3 tassels at the tips of the "spines" and at the tips of the triangle.

The fabric is very drapey and perhaps the stitches look a little loose, but it really feels very nice and light which is nice for summer, so I am glad I used rather big needles. Even before I finished this shawl, I had already started another! I forced myself to put it aside to finish this one, then picked it up again :) I am using the yellow yarn I bought yesterday, and a variation of this pattern. The mint one is a deep triangle increasing 4 sts every RS row, and the yellow version increases that plus an extra 2 sts every WS row, because I want a shallower shawl. Also smaller. I got two balls of yarn and knitting at a somewhat loose gauge again (also 5mm needle) but this time the stitch definition is pretty good none-the-less:

The yarn is soooooo soft! I really love knitting with it :> the fabric feels amazing and light, and the yarn while knitting it too! very happy with it, we'll see how it wears. Considering writing the pattern of this shawl up! it is rather simple but I am thinking of a more decorative edging for the yellow version...

And yes, I said I have two shawls on the needles. The second is Amanda Muscha's Medusa. I couldn't possibly resist this pattern. Apart from being really pretty, we share name! well, I am talking about my screen name of course, Medvssa (a lot of people seem to have trouble with it and write a variation of "medvessa", I guess the problem is the v, I chose a v due to the lack of the letter u in Latin, I know Medusa comes from Greek but, poetic licence right? ;) same goes for the double s, inspired by modern Italian... in any case my screen name should be pronounced Medusa - that one is just too often already taken and Medvssa never is!).

I am knitting this one for my mother in law. Now let's hope she doesn't stalk this blog, I don't think so ;) I got this silk yarn from Colourmart very long ago, because I thought she would like the rust orange (and she does! made a comment on the gorgeous colour when she saw the cone :)). I have started kerchiefs several times and ripped them. But I think this time it will stick :) I am modifying it though. She never wears anything else than rather small and very thin silk neck kerchiefs, no matter how cold it is! so a deep shawl might be too big even if relatively small. So I did a rate of increase of 4 sts on all rows for the St st version, and now I am doing the lace edging following the pattern, but I will make it rather narrow. We'll see how it looks and I hope I don't rip this one up :)

Rust 100% silk cone from Colourmart

Mustard

Found yarn which perfectly matches my mustard yellow shoes! :D 60% silk 40% cotton for a summer shawl :))) determined to overcome my not-knitting-in-summer curse ;)

Setanova by Lana Grossa 004

Blooms

Miltonia

Phalaenopsis

http://lokibicho.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/Loki_bicho

Phalaenopsis

After a long, long break, three of my orchids are in bloom! The miltonia was first, and one bud on each of the phalaenopsis have just opened, more to follow. Another two phalaenopsis have flower shoots with very little buds which will still take a while to open (left & right). I think those are completely white. I may be a little bit boring but... I love pure white flowers! If I ever had a yard I would be very tempted to have plants which bloom white exclusively. Difficult to stick to that though, I guess ;)

Yesterday I went to Brussels with my man for a little secret photoshoot. I am glad since the pictures turned out rather well! The day was chilly and cloudy which was perfect because the sample to photograph is decidedly for winter, and with the last warm, sunny days I was worried I would not have the occasion to photograph it on a cloudy day (and without discomfort!).