Dans la hotte du Père Noël…

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Ça tricote dur en ce moment! J’ ai fini une série d’accessoires commandés par la maman de Gabe, et je suis maintenant grandement à la bourre pour mes cadeaux de Noël à moi…

Voici donc le résultats des courses pour le moment:

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Crofter's Cowl

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Pattern: Crofter’s Cowl by Gudrun Johnston, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic

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The Boy Hat

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Pattern: The Boy Hat by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: 100% Handspun Mongolian cashmere by Jade Sapphire

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Candle Flame Cowl

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Pattern: Candle Flame Cowl by Julia Allen, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: Malabrigo merino worsted

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Knitted Neck Scarf

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Pattern: Knitted Neck Scarf by Martha Stewart, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Melange (100% baby alpaca)

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Irish Hiking Hat for twin #1

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Pattern: Irish Hiking Hat by Blackhorsefree, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: 100% undyed baby alpaca

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Regular Guy Beanie for twin #2

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Pattern: Regular Guy Beanie by Chuck Wright, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn: 100% undyed baby alpaca

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Knitting marathon: ’tis the season! I finished a few accessories that Gabe’s mom had ordered from me, and I’m now super late to finish my own Christmas knitting…

Trico’Treize: Ze Trendy Châle!

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Le voici le voilà, mon Trendy Châle en Malabrigo bleutée (coloris Alpine Pearl) et… verdict? Euh, un tout petit peu chaud pour la saison je crois! Mais si doux, si dooouuuuuux! Et puis tellement simple; pour mon premier je n’ai pas fait de modif, mais j’ai choisi une laine qui change de couleur pour le fun.

Allez, on clique là pour aller voir les belles créations de tout le monde!

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Sur moi:

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Et sur le fil à linge:

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It’s that time of the month again (um… no not *that* one!)… I’m talking about the Trico’Treize, the monthly rendez-vous where (mostly) French knitters tackle a particular knitting challenge… This month, the challenge was easy-peasy: we had to knit the “Trendy Châle” that Miss Sophie came up with, or any other shawl that we wanted… To see what other people did, check out the Trico’13 website! Yes it’s in French, but there are pretty pictures, too! The yarn I used was the luscious, gorgeous Malabrigo Worsted in Alpine Pearl. (I used 2 skeins).

Spring has not sprung

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Bon ben pour ce qui est du printemps qui arrive incessamment sous peu tout ça, c’est pas encore gagné…

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The temperatures are still pretty much decidedly negative in these parts of the world. So my solution: more softness, more fuzziness, more coziness: a homemade scarflet!

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Ma solution pour tromper le désespoir: un petit cache-cou moelleux bien cozy, patron maison (un peu inspiré par la trendy scarf des unes et des autres)…

Laine: 1 brin de mélange mohair blanc et un brin d’alpaga nèfle (pour faire comme certaines) tricotés ensemble… Le maillage est suffisamment lâche pour se passer de boutonnière (je vais sûrement regretter ma fainéantise quand mon tricot sera tout dépenaillé à force d’être poignardé, mais bon)

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The yarn is actually one strand of white mohair blend and one strand of beige alpaca, held together. No need for a buttonhole! Let’s stab right into the fabric! (gasp…  you know I’ll regret this bout of laziness once this is completely ruined and stretched out…)

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Wham Bam Thank You Lamb: a beginner’s dream

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These self-portraits have GOT to stop! Gabe where are you??

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The Buddha wears it well

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C’est le nom de ce petit chauffe-cou simplissime. Il est tellement simple à faire qu’il serait inadmissible de passer l’hiver sans en avoir un autour du cou. Avis aux débutant(e)s!! Le patron est sur Ravelry, mais bon, honnêtement, on peut s’en passer!

La laine est un mélange laine/alpaga, qu’on peut trouver chez KnitPicks (coloris Neptune).

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That’s the name of this cute, easy-as-pie neckwarmer. It’s basically a rectangle in garter stitch, so there is no excuse not to make one, beginner friends!! In case you need it, there is even a pattern for it on Ravelry.

The yarn is KnitPicks‘s Cadena in Neptune colorway.

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FO: Hyde Park Set

Aaaah. Don’t you just love Fall? I do. (Especially when it’s not raining).

Les châtaignes jonchant l’herbe, la lumière rasante, les feuillages chatoyants… C’est sûr, l’ automne est là!

Beautiful Fall day in Hyde Park

I got inspired to make the perfect set of accessories for this blessed season.

L’inspiration idéale pour se mettre au boulot et pondre vite fait un ensemble de demi-saison:

Flora neckwarmer

Fetching Fingerless Gloves

The Flora neckwarmer pattern can be found on Knitty, right here.

Fetching is also a Knitty pattern.

Contrary to appearances, I didn’t use the same yarn for both. For Flora, I used about 1.5 balls of Bergère de France Ideal in Cendre (and 3mm needles). For Fetching, I used about 1 ball of Cashsoft Baby DK in Smokey.

Both patterns are really quick and fun. I found Flora slightly confusing at times, but I made it work ok in the end.

Le cache-col “Flora” et les mitaines “Fetching” sont des modèles gratuits. J’ai (malgré les apparences) utilisé 2 laines différentes pour chacun des modèles. Pour Flora, à peu près 1 pelote et demie de Bergère de France Ideal (couleur cendre), et pour Fetching, grosso modo 1 pelote de Rowan Cashsoft (couleur Smokey). Les deux modèles sont faciles et rapides à réaliser, la fleur du cache-col m’a donné un peu de fil à retordre, mais rien de grave!

Here are more gratuitous shots – - Des photos!:

Flora and my new hunter jacket

Flora is ready for her close-up

Mystery Scarf unveiled

Ta-da!

Here it is, worn by the happy recipient.

And here it is, poised for its close-up:

This was a fun project, there was enough happening to keep me interested through the many inches, but nothing too challenging either. I found the free pattern here. I decided to make it using two colors, as requested by my dearly beloved, and used a really soft alpaca/merino blend (I forget the brand name, I will have to update this post later).

I did encounter a problem, which was my own fault, not the pattern’s.
As I proceeded to make the seed stitch edge longer – a momentary lapse in judgement: I actually thought it would look better – I realized that because of the way the cables flare out into the seed stitch part, I was getting a “skirt” effect.

Like this.

But even though I was aware of the problem, I kept knitting and knitting, wondering whether I should frog or not frog, knit-knit-knit… until I was too far along into the cable portion to actually frog it and start over. So I took a deep breath and decided to cut the damn skirt and see what happened…

How scary is this?

After the skirtectomy

Removing the little bits of yarn, praying for proper healing of the wound.

Well, this doesn’t look too bad, let’s just bind off in pattern…

Oooh, much more handsome without the skirt.

All in all, I’m really happy with this, and I was delighted to see Gabe departing for work with his new scarf proudly draped around his neck, ready to brave the California weather.