The One About Inori

I can barely contain my excitement as I type this entry. It’s 1.35am now and I’ve just finished writing, proof-reading and publishing my 1st sweater pattern for kids!

MOSSY!

This baby sweater is knitted in one piece from neck down. No seams!

Sunshine has a small little toy that she named ‘Mossy’. It’s actually Gonzo the Great but because he looks so much like a mosquito, she’s been calling him Mossy from day 1.

Mossy has been her favourite toy for a while now and since I’ve always loved the texture and look of the British moss stitch, I decided to design a sweater that uses this stitch, just so I can name it after Sunshine’s favourite toy.

I made a mistake while knitting the ‘1st draft’. I used a variegated yarn despite knowing that the moss st will not show up well in variegation.

But, I’ve had these skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in the Oceanos colourway marinating in my stash for a long long time and I’ve been dying to use it!

Oceanos is my favourite Malabrigo colourway (no prizes for guessing why) and I tell you, knitting with this buttery soft yarn and watching my favourite colour change from one shade to another……. woohoo! It’s like knitting on high! (I wanted to say ‘knitting org–m’ but I won’t, on the risk of sounding dorky and rude).

Anyhooo… I made the pattern in 3 sizes. 3 months, 18 months and 3-4 years.

Chubbs is modeling the 3 month old size and Sunshine is modeling the 18 month old size. Apparently, my children run small.

Well, not Chubbs though. He was practically bursting out of the seams. No, wait… there are no seams… hmm… out of the sweater, I mean.

(In case you are wondering why the big grin. I asked her to ’smile’ and she flashed me her dorky-grin-with-no-eyes instead!)

The pattern is easy. If you can knit in the round and do simple increases, you are good to go!

Malabrigo Merino Worsted is a dream to work with. I think it’s value for money as it has good yardage per 100g. It’s one of the softest yarn I’ve ever worked with and have you seen the colours they come in?

(Shameless plug of the day: Visit http://www.yarnandkisses.com to buy your Malabrigo! )

I’m knitting up the largest size now just to make sure my calculations are correct and also trying a summer version of this sweater. I am using Malabrigo Organic Cotton and I’m pleasantly surprised at how light the cotton feels! Cotton is usually heavier than wool but this has greater yardage than the Merino Worsted per 100g!

I am also humbled while writing up this pattern. Now I know how much hard work designers put into creating and putting everything in to words.

It’s not easy, people! I’m saluting to all designers out there, especially those who are so generous to share their patterns for free! (I think I’ve said all these before, haven’t I? But I think it deserves another mention!)

The pattern is colour coded for easy reading and referencing. I hope everything is correct and although gauge and measurements are ‘not rocket science’ (as per Nad’s words), I hope that no one will have problems reading it or ‘getting gauge’.

Whenever in doubt, always knit the larger size for kids. They grow soooo quickly!

I hope to create a page for my patterns in the near future but for now, I’ll link you to the PDF file for download.

Here it is, clikity click!

Comments and criticism most welcome. And before I forget, PLEASE DO NOT SELL OR REPRODUCE THE PATTERN IN ANY FORM AND DO NOT SELL THE FINISHED GARMENTS TOO. This pattern is free for everyone and I’d be very pissed if anyone tries to be funny.

If you wish to knit for charity, please contact me; inoriz88(at)gmail(dot)com or send me a private message through Ravelry (username: inoriz). I am not evil and I certainly will not bite you if you ask me!

I’m also entering the Ravelry Malabrigo Junkies October Stockpile 2009 Malworthy Design Contest (phew! What a mouthful!!!) and if you like my design, you can vote for me in this thread. >clickity click<

Thank you very much!

Name of project: Purple Forest Canopy Shawl

Yarn:Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton

I cannot remember the details of this shawl because it was a quick knit (finished less than 2 weeks and to me, that’s pretty quick!)

And I didn’t have time to record what I did etc… and there isn’t time to model the shawl either! When we had time, it was rainy and overcast. When it was sunny, Nad wasn’t in to take pictures of me modeling it.

So sorry, you’ll have to see it being modeled on a bush.

I used a thick yarn and big needles so that the shawl would go quickly. I made it for my neighbour who is getting married this month! That was why I needed a quick shawl pattern and this was perfect!

The yarn is rather splitty (can’t expect much from a Spotlight brand) but when knitted up, it actually has a very nice drape and is not so warm – perfect for the cooler summer nights.

The pattern is easily remembered as there are really only 3 rows to memorise. It has an 8 row repeat but 4 rows are purl-back rows and the 1st row is a set up (knit) row.

This is how it looked like during blocking:

and how it looked like before blocking:

I created a care sheet for my neighbour as she is not a knitter and I would imagine that she might want to, at some point in time, wash her shawl.

You are most welcome to use this care sheet for handmade shawl gifts. Click HERE for the care sheet (or use the link to the right, under ‘pages’).

Comments and criticism welcome!

Ok, almost 6 months ago when Chubbs was born, I sewed this:

Yukatas are a thinner, more casual version of a Kimono, usually worn in warmer weather and when Japanese attend spring or summer festivals (Omatsuri).

I waited so long before letting Sunshine wear this because it only just begun to heat up. Temperatures are hovering about 25 degrees (Celsius) now in the daytime and yes, I’m COMPLAINING ABOUT THE HEAT. COME BACK MY WINTER!!!! Winter is always over too soon! I wish I lived in Canada/ Greenland/ Iceland/ Antartica. Lucky the nights are still nice and cold at 6 to 10 degrees.

My mum was here for a month when Chubbs was born and she was the one who figured out the Yukata pattern from a Japanese Kimono pattern book.

We did not follow the exact instructions (as we didn’t really understand the Japanese words….) and also used my Yukata (which my Japanese friend gave to me when Nad and I got married) as a template.

My mum, the professional seamstress, taught me to take Sunshine’s measurements and we sewed the Yukata to fit.

And it still fits her now which means she hasn’t grown much for 5 months.

I only finished sewing the Obi (sash) 2 nights ago. I cheated a little a lot. It wasn’t long enough and I had run out of fabric so I attached an extension haphazardly, causing the whole Obi to twist at the end.
But never mind! You won’t be able to see it because it’s tied into a bow anyway!!!!! Shhh!

I learned to tie a Cho Cho Musubi (Butterfly Obi) and managed to tie it on a very very wriggly little girl. She wore the Yukata to Church yesterday and SO MANY people came up to her to exclaim how cute the outfit was. I would then beam and say, “I MADE IT MYSELF!” and their eyelids would flutter in amazement. Hehehe.

What? I can’t help it! Hahahaha!

The Yukata was such a hit that some church members were still asking me about it today and some asked if I sewed the dress Sunshine was wearing today. (No)

I’m thinking of letting her wear it again tomorrow to Church.

On some knitterly news, a very nice lady named Elena from Ravelry had offered to translate my Honeycomb Scarf pattern into Russian!

If you read Russian, you can find the translated pattern here:
http://moreknitsinrussian.blogspot.com/2009/10/honeycomb-scarf.html

I can’t believe so many people like this scarf I created and it certainly has spurred me on to continue designing other knitwear.

I’ve finished knitting the first ‘draft’ of the sweater I was designing and have written up the smaller as well as the bigger versions on paper. I’m test knitting the smallest size right now and will be asking for a test knitter very soon.

Here’s a sneak preview:

Watch this space!

Now we dawk wike dad because we all have a coud.

Nose is clogged and the symphony cacophony of coughing and sniffling and sneezing in our house right now.

My heart aches whenever the babies, especially Chubbs, coughs or has difficulty breathing, as he is still too young to take meds. I refrain from medication too as I’m boobfeeding him.

But we all must try to get better AS SOON AS POSSIBLE as it’s the Feast of Tabernacles right now and we yearn to fellowship with our church. Lots of rest and lots of water for all 4 of us and of course, prayers too.

Just popping in to update on my new design:

I’m left with the bottom hem and the sleeves and then I have to cast on to knit a smaller size as well as one size bigger and then write out the pattern and then save in pdf format and then I can upload it and then I can share with everyone of you!

And because many people asked, here’s a pic of Chubbs in his bathtub today:

Chubby turkey thighs!!!

Anybody lurking around still?

Here’s what I’ve done for spinning:

This is blue merino roving that I bought from the Bendigo Wool show. I had 150g of it and managed to spin them into 2 bobbins of very fine singles- a great improvement from slubby thick/thin singles!

Then I plied them together:

Looks good no? I’m so proud of my first, non slubby handspun!

I wrote down the yardage but misplaced it (whats new?) and will have to reskein it to find out the yardage again. Grrr.

Now for pictures of little Chubbs who fell asleep at the table in Nad’s arms:

He’s into sucking his thumb nowadays and has been very interested in his toes/feet. He would grab on to them and stare at them while gurgling to himself! Very very cute.

And this is what I’ve been doing with myself these few days:

I’m designing some knitwear for kids! This is the first ’sample’ I’m knitting up.

It took many days of planning and rough sketches before I sat down to start knitting this. (Actually, I was trying to finish a shawl as a gift to my neighbour for her wedding before I cast on *yet* another project.)

While writing this pattern this morning, I did the calculations and wrote everything down. BUT, had to rip back 3 times because I couldn’t get the stitch counts correct!

It was when I spoke to Lulu over msn that I realised that I had written;

8 x 8 = 48

on the very top of the pattern.

-__________-

And I am supposed to be one of the top students in maths class!

I must say, however, that I have new respect for all the knitwear designers out there who have amazing designs offered for free. It takes A LOT of patience and calculations to get stitch counts correct! To translate a design from a sketch on paper to a ‘real’ knitted garment takes a lot of brain juice and time. The generosity and ingenuity of these many designers warms my heart and I think one should never take free patterns (or even paid ones for that matter) for granted, let alone breaching copyrights and doing other despicable acts like selling them illegally etc. Doing such things will only discourage designers and jeopardise the availability of these free patterns.

I am trying to give back to this awesome community of knitters by coming up with these patterns which I hope will not cause me too much anguish and time to write. I might have to look for some test knitters but will advertise for it after I’ve knitted up a successful sample.

The yarn in this project is Malabrigo Merino Worsted, one of my favourite yarn (seeing how I’m selling it in my store). And the colourway is also one of my most favouritestestest – Oceanos.

I’ve been winding my skeins by hand into yarn balls instead of using the ballwinder to wind them into yarn cakes. Although I risk having the skein slipping from my knees while I catch falling children/ wipe their snotty noses/ die from a myocardial infarction, I still prefer the feel of a ball to a cake in my hands. If ya know wad I mean.

Besides, a yarn ball is harder and I can fling it in the direction of Nad’s head when he says something unpleasant to my ear. Tee hee.