The Aidez Sweater

I had been stalking the Aidez sweater online for almost a year after I stumbled upon it (and all the beautiful versions) on Ravelry.  Finally, after all of my holiday knitting, I decided it was time for some selfish knitting, and I cast-on for the sweater.  It was such an addictive knit!  It was completed in just 24 days, and now I do not want to take it off. 

I love all the details, texture, and how it turned out to be flattering even though it is sort of a big cardigan.  Here it is!

You can find my Ravelry notes with more details here.

Just Some {More} Basic Socks

Finished some socks for me, finally.  So far, my sock-knitting has been for others, so it's nice to have a treat out of this yarn I had been gifted.  Nothing fancy or crazy, just the same as before.

I'm starting to like always having a pair of socks going as my travel/mindless/in-between project.

My only complaint is I blocked them a bit loosely....they fit better pre-blocking, so I think I need to go back to my bent clothes hanger trick instead of the fancy sock-blocker!

 Pretty colors!

 

Slouchy Hat {The Amstel Hat}

I love a good hat, and I love a good magazine.  When the Fall 2012 Issue of Interweave Knits came out, I knew immediately I would want to make the Amstel Hat.  I could have gotten creative and even changed the color, but I liked how it looked in the magazine so well that I did not stray.  It's made from a different yarn, but I found a colorway pretty close to the same one used.

It is about the perfect amount of slouch for me, and I really enjoyed knitting top-down for a change.  Every hat I've made before this one has been bottom-up.  It's also the first time I've knit from a chart, and I found it to be very addictive.  I finished this thing in 5 days because every time I sat down to work on it, I kept saying "just one more row" to see how the pattern was coming along.  

The only thing I don't love is how the shaping ended up, since the increases were paired to accommodate the chart.  It makes it kind of have 4 points on top, even after I blocked it over a plate.  Oh well, I still love it, and I did this miraculous elastic bind off to keep it from being too tight at the band edge.  This has become my go-to method to avoid a tight bind off edge.  Here is a closer picture showing the chart detail:

Love it!  Subtle, but beautiful details :)

Here is the Ravelry page!

Color of the Year Pants

When Pantone announced the 2013 color of the year, I was already itching to have/make something in the Emerald color.  I'm not really one to jump onto color trends unless it's a color I already like/own/wear.  I do LOVE color, though.  So it is always interesting to see the trends come out with the runway shows, and figure out how I can work something into my own looks.

Something else I really like to do is dye things.  If it is white or light colored, and made of fabric, yarn, or anything else that will take dye, it is in danger if it is in my house.  This is just as well, really, because I'm clumsy and white doesn't last long anyway.  So I had my eye out for something to dye green when I came across these pants:

There is nothing offensive about the boring grey corduroy.  Actually, they went with quite a few things in my wardrobe, but I decided they were too bland.  I looked up the color of the year dye formula, and green pants were born!

They worked pretty well in this cozy outfit.  Not sure that I will wear them tons, but they are fun, and will make me smile when I wear them, so that's all that counts in my book!

A {Grey} Brownstone

Quite some time ago, my husband asked me when I was ever going to get around to making him a sweater.  When I stumbled onto Jared Flood's Brownstone Sweater pattern, I knew it would be a perfect pick.  It had enough details to be interesting, but was not so crazy that Matt wouldn't wear it, or that I would give up making a man-sized sweater.  

I finally got around to starting the project while he was gone for the summer doing his internship.  This allowed me to work on it in secret (for a Christmas gift), and it provided a great way to keep myself busy while I was missing him.  He was out of town from the end of May to the beginning of August, and I had finished the sleeves, and half of the body at that point.  I decided to keep it a secret, and I would knit at my parent's house here and there, or while he was at class.  It was down to the wire, but I finished it the week before Christmas and had it blocked and wrapped just in time.

Somehow, I managed to keep it a surprise, and I think he really likes it.  We finally got around to snapping some photos and he went all J.Crew on me ;)

Overall, it was a great pattern, and really the only thing I changed was that I did one button instead of two, and I did a single crochet chain for the loop closure instead of what the pattern recommends.  I'm just happy that after all that knitting the thing fits!

You can see my ravelry project page here.

A Handmade Yarn Swift From My Sweetie

I hinted at a handmade gift that needed to be shown off, that I received from my husband.  We have been trying to do handmade gifts for each other, and as many people on our list for the last couple of years.  This year we got close (all but one!).  Matt does woodworking, so at my request, he made me a yarn swift.  I'm pretty sure it was made with love, but also with the desire to not have to help me wind yarn balls anymore ;)

I love how it turned out, and it works really well.  The base is made from Walnut, and the arms are from Maple.  Matt looked up some plans online, and then winged it from there.  The pieces are basically scraps leftover from the cutting boards he was making for gifts, so we got by making it pretty cheap.  I think in the $20-$30 range.  The pegs are just pieces of dowels, that can be replaced if they get stained from the dyes in the yarn.

Tigger was intrigued:

 

Here's a closeup where you can see the finish, and how lovely it looks with some yarn on it!  I really love that he made me something I will use all the time!  If I can get some photographs of his sweater, you'll get to see what I made him next!