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Category: Finished Knits (page 1 of 9)

Frosted Cranberries

January 19, 2015 / / 1 Comment

As a new year starts & I begin my 9th year chronicling life here at Amy Artisan, it seems appropriate to start with a finished knit – it was discovering knit blogs in the fall of 2005 that set the wheels in motion for me to hang out the shingle here.

Always fun to wear a new hand knit!

Always fun to wear a new hand knit!

While knitting isn’t as prolific recently as it used to be, one thing is for sure…. as the holidays & associated travel approach I’m always reaching for a simple project to have with me.

In October, I pulled yarn from stash & found a cowl pattern that I thought would be the 2014 fall/holiday travel project. But, when given the option to knit during my TX & WI trips I didn’t – I just wasn’t feeling the yarn & pattern combo. So, the day before I flew home for Thanksgiving I ripped back the project & cast on for a simple favorite.

In detail

In detail

That Thanksgiving week at home in the ‘Ville ended up being prime for knitting. The majority of the knitting in this is basically built on my “go to” dishcloth pattern. By the end of the week, I was ready for the “lace” border which was Packers knitting early in December.

Blocking

Blocking

Once Christmas presents were wrapped & shipped, I spread out the blocking foam, dug out the blocking wires & in no time this piece was ready to wear. Over the Christmas holidays, this scarf saw plenty of wear – the reds and greens are certainly festive; however, I know the colors will serve me well throughout the year.

(Raveled here)

Flax Pond Farms - September 2013

Flax Pond Farms – September 2013

The yarn colorway name is “Christmas Candy” and that is definitely an apt description. But, I also thought of another name as I knit…Frosted Cranberries. The combination of reds and greens reminded me of the pallet of color I saw when I visited a cranberry farm and watched a dry harvest 2013 and the hint of silver thread provides a bit of frost to it all.

What’s on your needles these days?

Simply Green & Gold!

December 22, 2014 / / 2 Comments

A long overdue post about a knit that has been well worn this year…

Casting on...12/19/13

This time last year, I cast on for a simple holiday knitting project with a single skein of yarn I picked up when I met up with Vicki at her farmer’s market in July 2012. This colorway pays homage to a key ingredient of life in Northeast Wisconsin: Green + Gold = Go Pack Go!

I was deep in the project in Marinette when the Packers won their last Super Bowl. In fact, I can say that it was that season when I “finally” became a football fan – and indeed became caught up in the fun that is being a Packers fan. Along the way, the whole Artisan Family has become Packers fans, too.

The Simple Things Shawlette was the perfect pattern for an easy knit to highlight the yarn. In short order, a finished knit was off the needles and then stalled for a bit before I blocked it. It was blocked in time for spring and saw lots of use this year. A fun punch of color against my light aqua spring coat. A frequent travel scarf with many of my flights and trips. A bit of Packers spirit in the office. It has truly been a “go to” piece in my wardrobe. (Raveled here).

As I prepared to celebrate my birthday by attending my 1st Packers game at Lambeau Field last month, I hoped the weather would cooperate to allow this shawlette to make an appearance. And thankfully, it did! It was a cold weather game so there were many layers – but I planned “right” so that this one didn’t have to get hidden in the mix (yes, I had another handknit cowl in my gear to layer on top of this if needed). It was so fun to cheer on the game with this green & gold handknit.

And, since I enjoy this knit so much, another Simple Things Shawlette is off the needles, blocked & in use these days – stay tuned for another knit debut in the coming weeks!

Simple Stitches

January 30, 2011 / / 3 Comments

My yarn stash is overflowing with lots of yarns of different fibers, colors and textures. My Ravelry queue is filled with many different projects – hats, scarves, socks, sweaters and more. So how have I started off my 2011 knitting? A return to the basic – the simple dishcloth that first brought me to knitting in 1997.

After a flurry of holiday knitting & a Christmas break knit for me (must blog it) I was wondering what I would knit next. As I was formulating plans for larger projects, I got started on 1 dish cloth and just kept going. Simple knitting while watching bowl games…while waiting for friends at coffee shops…while waiting for weekend events to begin…while watching the playoffs (Go Pack Go!)…while decompressing in the hotel in the evenings…Before I knew it, here I sit at the end of January with a stack of 16 new dishcloths to put into rotation in my kitchen and also gift to friends – well, after I have a “weaving ends session” later today. Next up, I’m starting a new shawl project to be my hotel knitting for the coming weeks – the combination of a good pattern and some beautiful yarn I picked up with a birthday gift card. Sometimes, a return to the simple things is what is needed to recharge & provide new inspiration.

Babe in a Bag

April 27, 2010 / / 3 Comments

Once again, I am in a cycle of baby knits for friends.  In early February I cast on this project anticipating that it would be for a May baby; however, the recipient ended up being another cutie – baby Grady, a sweetheart of a little guy who made his debut on Valentine’s Day. In March I had the opportunity to meet baby Grady as I dropped off a gift bag and some treats for his Mom & Dad. My Sunday afternoon was delightful as Grady snuggled onto my shoulder and snoozed as I listened to his parents share the story of how he came to join their family. I was definitely smitten with this little cutie and have offered to babysit whenever they need.

What a treat to check email this week and see pictures of Grady snug in his kicking sack – I never tire of receiving pictures of babes in/on the hand knits that I’ve made for them!

This was a great project to knit & I definitely plan for more of these bags to come off my needles this year – what a fun way to use sock yarn. The details are on Ravelry.

(By the way – lovin’ the new “share” links on Ravelry that don’t require signing up to access.)

On the Podium…

March 2, 2010 / / 8 Comments

Back in 2006, I was just dipping my toes into blogging when the Yarn Harlot announced the first Knitting Olympics event. Since the Artisan family has frequently crafted during the Olympics, I was game for it. I attempted my first lace project with mixed results…yes it was completed in time but it now serves as a table cover instead of a shawl. In 2008, I went for a do-over & selected the same lace pattern in a different yarn. This time, the results were wearable!

Late last year, I started to think about what my winter Olympic knit challenge would be – since I’m currently on the road for work with plenty of evening knit time in the hotel room, I thought grander than before…what about knitting a cardigan? The pattern was selected, the yarn was ordered, the perfect buttons were found…I swatched and was ready to go. As the opening ceremonies began, I cast on for the sweater & quickly got going. Before long I was at my first roadblock…umm, I started with the larger needle & it should have been the smaller…so I started over again. By the end of the opening weekend, I was about 3/4 of the way through the yoke of the sweater & feeling pretty confident.

I figured that I would make great progress on the body of the cardigan that first week in the evenings. Work had different ideas & I think I knit maybe 10 rows by the time I came home. At this point I seriously questioned my choice of knit for the Olympics & was already preparing for defeat…seriously, why would I think I could tackle this? However, once I was back home my focus for that weekend was knitting on the sweater and by the time the weekend was done I had finished the body of the cardigan and starting on the first sleeve.

Once again I headed north with grand plans for evening progress. On Monday night I was making great progress…until I realized that I had completely misread the decrease instructions for the sleeves & had to rip back about 30 rows. Because I had picked up more stitches for the arm I then had to do a bit of scribbling on the hotel notepad to rework my decrease approach would be. On Tuesday evening I had recovered from the rip back and on Wednesday evening I thought I was ready for the final edging – but I held off till Thursday to confirm that I liked the length of the sleeve. On Thursday evening I finished off the first sleeve.

On Friday, I was up early to drive home & then had a bit of work that I needed to do. Just before 4PM I started on sleeve #2 and was finishing it up at 11PM. On Saturday morning I quickly got started on the button bands. Then the cardigan took a bath (Soak Celebration seemed appropriate) & overnight it dried with a fan on it on the dining room floor. On Sunday morning I sewed on the beautiful buttons & had a lovely sweater. (An overcast day & a temperamental camera remote make for few modeled shots.)

The details: Green Tea for the Gold!

Tea Leaves Cardigan in GoGo Grassy Dream in Color Classy with Buttons from Jennie the Potter

(Journal of the event in Ravelry)

Artistic Points: I went with 3 buttons instead of 2; I knit the body about an extra inch; I centered the buttonholes in the middle of each gathered section of the yoke; For the sleeves I ended up with 78 stitches on the needle – so I did the decrease row every 5 rows for a total of 10 times; I went with about 3/4 length sleeves

Technical Deductions: I’m very dissatisfied with the yarn – I have knit with Dream in Color in the past & have made some great smaller items. The color contrasts among the skeins of this “non lot numbered” yarn were vast & not always evident until the skein was wound up. Most of the body of the cardigan is striped because I had to alternate 2 skeins of yarn every 2 rows. I think this is a single skein project yarn only from here on out.

Overall Score: Wow – I can’t believe I knit this in 2 weeks!

Now that the Olympic torch has been extinguished, I’m still a bit in awe that I knit an entire sweater (with sleeves) in 2 weeks…and after so much knitting time in such a short window it is time to rest the needles for a bit & switch gears – evenings in the hotel are for reading this week…but the needles are calling & I plan to cast on a “reward” project this weekend with my Olympic Medals yarn…

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