Love just one thing? I surely do!

So, since I am currently visiting my family in India, my knitting has taken a bit of a hiatus. I am slowly but surely working on my wisp scarf but making very little progress. In the meantime, Im keeping myself busy with my adorable doggy and lovely, entertaining family. Yesterday, my sister was showing me some recent advertisements that have been made in India and I came across one that was way too funny not to blog about. Check it out -

This advertisement totally reminds me of me. And I had to laugh so hard when I watched it. I must say that a majority of Indian advertisements are funny, witty and clever - unlike some ads I have watched in the States. Maybe it is a perception thing - I dont know if a non-India finds this ad funny - all I know is that I surely do!

Ruffled featherweight Cardigan for moi!

I was inspired to make this cardigan thanks to a very dear friend and co-worker, Princess Kevin's Mama. She was making a featherweight cardigan in the Malabrigo Lace weight yarn in a gorgeous red color. I think this yarn deserves its own blog post - but suffice it to say - this wool feels like butter. It just melts in your hand - it is so soft! I had to get my hands on this yarn and make something for myself as well. So, I decided to make the same featherweight cardigan and add my own twist to it.

Unfortunately before I could add my own twist to this cardigan, I would have to figure out how to get the basics right. The first time I made the cardigan - I finished it within a week! I put it on and asked Muh Man for his opinion. He honestly responded that it looked too small. However, I felt I needed more feedback since I thought it looked fine. When I asked the opinion of my more experienced knitting friends at work, they unfortunately said the same thing. I had made a mistake in the beginning of the cardigan itself, and in order to make it bigger, I would have to unravel the entire thing and start all over again....

This was the first cardigan I was making for myself. I wasnt as heartbroken at the idea of having to unravel most of my sweater to remake it. After all, that meant I could spend more time knitting with this glorious yarn. However, as glorious as this yarn is to touch, that's how painful it was to unravel. It was so sticky and kept getting knotted up in itself. Finally, whatever I managed to undo - looked like a big fuzzy mess. So, I decided to start from scratch, all over again, with my leftover, untouched, fresh new Malabrigo yarn.

Oh yes! That was the best part about this yarn. Being lace weight you get about 600 yards from each skein and I ended up using a little over one and a half skeins for this cardigan. Each skein cost about $9 - so basically this sweater cost me $18! Which is a great deal since most fantastic yarns are quite expensive and it can easily cost anywhere between $50 to $100 to just make a sweater. In a size small! So this yarn is quite special in that respect - however, the trade off is  that it pills very fast... *sigh*. I guess nothing in this world is truly perfect...

Anyways, Im glad that I started fresh from scratch. After all, I believe you arent a real knitter if you havent frogged a project and reworked some part of it. It just goes to show that you have put in thought, time and effort into the piece and arent afraid to do whatever it takes in order to make it just how you like it.... OR it means that you are still a rookie and need more experience before you get it right in the very first time! Either ways, that's the beauty of a hand-knitted item - you get to control many aspects of the piece - from choosing the yarn to customizing the fit and adding your own modifications to it - subtle or bold to make it truly your very own.
























So, this sweater was knit seemlessly in top-down raglan style. The edges and collar were knit in 2x2 rib. I found binding off with this yarn quite challenging since no technique seemed stretchy and lose enough. It was making the entire cardigan fit snug by biting into my skin and ruining the fall of the entire piece. Fortunately, I found Jeny's super stretchy bind off and ended up using it for binding off the arms, the bottom of the sweater and the collar. It gave a lovely, ruffly edge which was also quite a pleasant surprise. All-in-all I love the way this cardigan looks and feels. It is super soft and surprisingly warm! I cant wait to get my paws on some more Malabrigo for my next knitting endeavor...

Socky Monkey for Miss Strawberry Shortcake

Im at the point where I love making different things - sweaters, hats, gloves, tops, scarves. Every new project presents a new challenge. For Christmas, I wanted to make something for Muh Man's neice - Miss Strawberry Shortcake. I could have made her another cute hat since she adores hats - but I figured a toy would be really fun. Plus, Olive Oyl, a co-worker and very good friend recently made a lovely sock monkey that she pranced around at work in the most adorable way. Hence the inspiration. Here are some fun pictures -

 Some more pictures of the in progress socky monkey:

For more technical details visit my ravelry page

What is Miss Strawberry Shortcake's reaction to her socky monkey you ask? Check it out on this video!

Felted tote for Miss Cultured Purl - Felting away to glory!

After finishing my red low back lelah top I wanted to make something mindless and easy. Something that I didnt have to keep trying out and ripping out because it was either too big or small. So, I got some Wool of the Andes yarn from knitpicks. (Although I love splurging on lovely yarn, it is not possible for me to do for every project - so knitpicks has become one of my favorite sites for shopping for less expensive yarn). I also couldnt decide what color I wanted to make my tote - so muh man stepped in and helped me make the executive decision that I should choose avacado green. As you can see from the above picture, I wear a lot of earthy, warm colors - so I think green was definitely the way to go for a bag.

So, I followed the pattern and knit the bag in stockinette stitch (mostly). Before felting the bag, it looked basically like this:

And then after felting in the washing machine, the bag decreased in size significantly, and looked simply lovely. I added the wooden handles which I purchased from amazon for a steal of a deal. And I added the flower embellishment using seed beads (after a lot of ugly embellishment experimentation, I fell upon the cute flower pattern by chance and went with it). Overall, I love the bag. I still need to add the inner lining and a magnetic button to complete the bag and give it the right finish - but that will have to wait till the end of the soccer world cup!

Finally, what I absolutely love about this bag is that it is spacious enough for me to sneak in snacks like popcorn and my water bottle into the movie theatres! wooohooo! Also -  I have finally added a lining to the bag and magnetic snaps and am absolutely loving the finish! Highly recommend adding a lining to any bag - even though the felted bag is thick and nothing could poke through it - the lining just makes it so cute and luxurious!

For more technical information about the bag and its pattern, visit my ravelry site

Cables and Lace for Miss Cultured Purl - My first cabled project!

It has been a really long time since I have blogged about my knitting creations - since I have been so so so busy knitting and following the soccer World Cup! Anyways, this is my first project with cables and I have got to say - cables are so much fun and so easy! Also, the shine worsted yarn from knitpicks is surprisingly soft! It falls well too. I Love, love, love this top. Im relieved that it fits around the bust and arms perfectly and there is no bulging anywhere so far... The lower part of the top is probably going to be much easier since it is supposed to fall loosely over the torso. I cannot wait to get started on it!

So, here are some pictures of the progress on the top so far ~ more pics to come as I keep going!

 

Alright, I finished this top at the end of summer, and truly dislike the way it looks on me. For starters, I think it makes me look bulkier than I really am. Basically, it is not flattering. I think the problem is that I used a worsted weight (thicker) yarn than a DK weight. Aaaah, rookie mistake... But I guess that's how you learn. Then I also was not sure how to carry the top off - wearing a tank top / camisole underneath made it look strange and shapeless and wearing just a bra looked incredibly weird especially around the bust. I dont think Im being overly critical - check out the pictures and judge for yourself.





The overall construction of the piece, the lace and the cables are quite pretty. I just dont think the end effect looks good on me. So, now that this top has been sitting around neglected since the longest time ever, it has been increasingly obvious to me that Im never going to wear it whole-heartedly. So, I have yanked out the yarn, unraveled the top and plan on reusing this perfectly, good, soft cotton yarn for a cowl and perhaps a cute shrug!

For more technical details, visit my ravelry page

Fun fingerless mittens for my iphone

Like millions of people, I love using my i-phone. It is just so much fun. However, when it's cold outside and you have gloves on - the touch screen is no longer responsive to your fingers because of the gloves. By the time I would answer the phone, I would have missed the call. Also, I had to rip off my gloves in a tizzy and then my hands would freeze - all this was just driving me nuts.

So, I came up with the perfect solution - fingerless mittens! Although these mittens dont keep the hands super duper warm - like I wouldnt go snow-shoeing in these mittens - they are mighty useful on a daily basis AND they look pretty cool.

I found this super simple pattern online. This was like my second project - so it's wonderful if you are a beginner. I used louet gems sport weight yarn - which I absolutely adore! I ended up using it for my lelah top as well. This is damn fine 100% merino. But since it is a quick project it doesnt need more than 1 skein of yarn. I really like my gloves. Although they are simple - they are functional and all my iphone touching with gloves on woes are gone! 

Pleated ballet slippers to keep Miss Cultured Purl's feet warm

Comfy Socks for Muh Man became fingerless mittens for Designer Zazu

I was knitting projects away for friends, friend's babies, my sister, myself when it hit me that not only have made nothing for muh man, I havent even offered or asked if there was something he might like me to make for him...










So, in an attempt to rectify my oversight, I asked him if there was something he would like me to make for him. When his first response was, 
"Pumpkin Hat", I had to take a deep breath and remind him that that hat is really for children and as much as I love him Im not so sure I would be willing to step out in public with him sporting a pumpkin hat. So, instead he settled for a pair of socks.


He loves to wear socks around the house to keep his feet warm when it is cold outside. So, I wanted to make him a pair. I found a simple ribbed pattern for socks since he didnt want anything fancy with cabling or any other patterns as such. I bought 2 skeins of lovely red yarn in Shibui sock yarn (my current favorite!). I started on the ribbed sock and soon got bored of the way it was looking. It looks so blah. So, I ripped out the sock and neatly packed it into a ball and threw it in my yarn stash.

In the meantime, Designer Zazu (my older, extremely talented sister) came to visit me. I promised to knit her a pair of fingerless mittens. We made a trip to the store and she meticulously picked out this gorgeous Shibui sock weight pink yarn, which shades towards orange. It was a difficult yarn and color pick since there were many other deserving contenders. When we came home, I added the yarn to my yarn stash as I helped clean the apartment.

Designer Zazu was leaving in 3 days - so I had to put muh man's socks on hold. I feverishly started knitting her fingerless mittens - which turned out really cute. After knitting both pairs, she put them on and while we were admiring how cute they were, she commented that she thought that the yarn she picked was more on the pinkish-orange side where as, the gloves now looked more reddish. So, we decided to look at the gloves in the sunlight - still looked pretty red. Unable to explain why the yarn now looked red instead of pink, we both settled for the idea that perhaps the lighting in the store was just simply misleading.

Muh man entered the scene, admired the fingerless gloves just for long enough to remind me that he was still waiting for his socks. Excited about the idea of a new knitting project, I eagerly looked in my yarn stash to show Designer Zazu the yarn I planned on making his socks with. And there in the stash, sat a sarcastic, perfectly pink shading into yellow skein of Shibui fingering weight yarn. Doh!! I missed up the balls of yarn. So not only did I end up making red gloves for Designer Zazu, but now I was left with pink yarn to make manly socks for muh man. All that was left to do was laugh at my clumsiness!

Seeing my frustration, muh man sweetly agreed to wearing pink socks. Perhaps he was afraid that he would never ever get these much promised socks. So, I decided to spare him of the pink and purchased some wasabi green Shibui sock yarn. He wanted simple, ribbed socks - but from my previous trial - I really didnt like the way ribbing was looking - and it can get really boring. So, I found a sock pattern with a rib stitch with a twist - the seed stitch!

I made the first pair of socks with great enthusiasm. It was my first pair after all. It fit him quite well when he tried it on and he was pleased with the way it fit. He loves to wear the socks along with his "russian pants" that have elastic give around the waist and calls it "comfy time", hence the name. So, it was time to make the second sock to complete the pair and I kid you not, this pair took double the time the first pair took to knit. I could have sworn
that his second foot miraculously grew much larger than the first one. Ofcourse that wasnt the case, but I was glad to be done with both socks because it was time to move on to the next!

For more technical knitting information check out my ravelry page