It's cold outside. Go knit a sweater. Or two.

Last year, I wasn't a garment knitter. I was all about the socks and mitts and hats. 2012 was also the year of shawls for me.

Then this year? Bam! I got hit by the garment hammer of Cast On All The Things!
I can kind of see what it is. When I started as a knitter, I could only afford single skeins of anything.  You can make a whole project out of one skein of exquisitely beautiful sock yarn. Your investment was much smaller.
Even if you screwed it up, you hadn't invested a lot of time or money.
Instant gratification.

But really, how many shawls can one girl need? Especially with the weather we're having.
I love shawls, don't get me wrong, but I might have reached shawl saturation. For now.

Side note: I still don't have enough socks.

So I was going to try it. A nice transitional pullover, knit out of cotton. I fell in love with the way Sazerac was modeled, and I had to have it. So I made one. And I love it. It's fabulous, and the cotton yarn is fingering weight, light enough to not be bent out of shape yet.

Then I made another cotton pullover, this time short-sleeved.
Then a Wollmeise cardigan. Then one with all-over lace. And a mystery sweater. And a lace cardigan.

Then I cast on a big, cushy pullover out of Tails DK, the squishy, cloud-like singles yarn I stock in my shop, in a colour I've been trying to create fora  while, a deep red with black overtones.

And then I cast on Sambuca, my latest obsession. It crept up on me. I bought the yarn in the backroom of Bendigo Woollen Mills, just to play with it. It's just a grey DK wool, non-superwash, how good could it be?
Pretty great, actually. I love everything about this wool. I'm going to add Noro to this project, because knitting with Noro pretty much guarantees I will love this pullover forever.
I'm even adding some shaping to it.

How will all of this turn out? Who knows? But I'm loving the journey.

Are you a garment knitter? Or do you prefer accessories? Or something else?

Shop Update 11th September

Super Deadly Kawaii

Today's shop update had to fight last minute Sock The Vote work and a four-day gas outage (resulting in no stove and no hot water, and thus, no dyeing).

Shipwreck Coast

But it brings several new colourways, including one inspired by a souvenir from Japan, and two that showcase Australia's coastal beauty.
Of course there's some self-striping, too.

Lacy Loligoth

Have a look, I hope you find something you love!

Swap-tacular

 Today, a squished-up but well-sealed box arrived. All the way from Colorado.

Oooooh! inside were some lovingly wrapped parcels.

 Six, to be exact, and cards to go with them.
It's my Loopy swap package!

 My wonderful swap partner chose travel & stories as her theme. For those who know me, you know this couldn't be a more perfect theme for me.
She started off with a handmade card featuring maps, explaining her choice of theme. I'm loving this already!

But let's get to package number one.

 Each parcel contains a little sheepy note, explaining why the pressie was included. Number one states that all journeys start with comfy feet. So I got Heel cream! The best foot-pampering cream in the world. This is so coming to the snow with me.

 Next up, some adorable stitch markers (a unicorn, a mushroom, a wizard and a rainbow) and tab markers in an awesome little case. These reminded my partner of stories and the sharing thereof. As a writer, I never have enough tab notes. And as a knitter, I never have enough adorable stitch markers.

 Next was a big, squishy parcel.
It's socks!
Not just any socks. Firefly-colored socks knit into the "Intrepid Traveller" pattern. Gorgeous and comfy. I'm wearing them as I type this.

 But wait, there's more! There is Colorado chocolate with a fridge magnet (I love travel magnets, don't you?) and Jolly Ranchers, which I'd heard of, but had never tried. Until now. They are so good!

 Of course, swap packages come with yarny goodness. The photo does not capture the fabulous glow of this gorgeous madelinetosh sock yarn.
How much do I love MadTosh? Oh yeah, it's lots. And lots. This is a wonderfully complex pink-and-purple. LOVE!

And finally, because Australia can be difficult to send tea to, my wonderful swapper sent me a tea mug to put my own tea into.
I've been coveting my colleague's awesome tea travel mug (exactly like this one!) every time she brought it to work.
This is beyond fabulous!

 So here is the fantabulous package in all its glory.
Am I spoilt or what?

Oh yeah. Lucky, lucky me.



Win!

Life is perfect.

Bumblebee Socks

 It's getting cold here, and I have a ball of my first-ever overdyed DK yarn sitting here begging to be thick, squishy socks.
Bumblebee socks!

They knit up super quickly at just 48 stitches around, and I thought I'd try something new. An afterthought heel is de rigueur for striping yarns to keep them in sequence.
After my first attemt, I must say I'm not a fan. Sure, it's convenient. but they just don't fit.
Maybe I need to try these again in a less straight-forward way, but for now, they just didn't work out.
Still nice socks though.

Grand Opening!

Grand opening of my Etsy shop today!

Come check out the goodies at http://www.etsy.com/shop/yarnvszombies.

I've got self-striping sock yarn, variegated BFL, some luscious cashmere-blend sock yarn and even a rustic DK base going up.

Peachy Keen - MCN

It was a dark and stormy night - BFL

Stormy Beaches - BFL

End Credits

You're in my spot!

Life Is Like A Grapefruit

Sometimes, it takes someone else to tell me to knit something. Hitchhiker is an incredibly popular shawl/scarf pattern by talented German designer Martina Behm. There are spinoff hat and mitts, variations on the slanting theme, and over 5000 Hitchhikers knitted on Ravelry. Then sillyfru of the Sassypants Knitter podcast started a KAL. I had this fabulous Sweet Georgia yarn in my stash that I've been wanting to use, so I went for it.

And I love it!

It's a quick, addictive knit and very rewarding in lots of ways.

You start at one corner and knit back and forth, increasing until it's time to make your first tooth (of 42). Achievement! Reward, please.

So you make another one. the rows gradually get longer.

You make another one. And another.

And before you know it, you're happily knitting endless rows just to finish one more tooth. Fabulous.

It also doesn't hurt that this is an immensely wearable scarf with its long, tapered points and squishy garter stitch centre.

I love looking at it all layed out, seeing the variegated yarn move around as the rows change how the colours pool.

All in all, one of the great wins of knitting. There's a reason why this pattern is popular. Go knit one. You'll love it.

Snow Forest Mittens at last!

Remember how back in February, I had grandiose plans of knitting myself mittens for and in Japan? And then I only knit one, finishing the thumb just in time to rush out the door to the taxi?

Well, thanks to Nerd Wars, I finally finished the second mitten.
It went much more easily the second time around. I knew what to expect of the Latvian braid (a lot of very tangly, grabby yarn), and how to read the charts.
Easily doesn't mean quickly though. But the finished result is gorgeous.

The yarns are alpaca for the light and possum blend for the dark, two happy, fuzzy yarns that are just glorious after a quick spin in the dryer. So fuzzy and warmerific.
Of course, it's not cold enough here for mittens... Guess I'll have to go travelling again!
Where would you take mittens, if you had them?

Swedish Chef Hat

 The Swedish Chef is not just a Muppet, he's also the inspiration behind one of Another Crafty Girl's cuter colorways. She's got a whole series of Muppet-inspired yarn, in case you're curious.
But it was the wild colors (and fond memories) of Swedish Chef that spoke to me.
So much so that I custom ordered a skein to have it right NAO.

And it's adorable. Very Skittles in the sun, it's a pastelly yarn with tan to tame it a bit.
It had to be a hat.
I've made a hat from ACG's yarn before and loved how it turned out, but this time, I wanted to combine one of my favourite yarns with one of my favourite designers and some mods.
So I was going to take Stephen West's recently released Dustland Hat (originally written for worsted weight yarn) and modify it to work with fingering weight yarn for a lighter, slouchier transition weather hat.
After all, we still have quite a few warm days ahead of us, and hats are more fashion than function for a few months yet.

I cast on 120 stitches, going up from the largest size provided, but keeping my total divisible by 8, since that was relevant later in the pattern (well, ok it didn't really matter, but all the other sizes were divisible by 8, and I just wanted to belong).
After that, i did the ribbing to the same height as specified, then did each pattern repeat roughly 1.5 times to keep a similar height each time.
I did the crown decreases over two rounds to get me to the specified stitches, then worked the rest of the hat as written.

It turned out just like I thought it would. okay, it's a little bigger and slouchier than I expected, but it's all good. It works.
I couldn't quite decide whether I loved it or hated it at first, but I think it's a very fun, cheery hat, and I can't wait to wear it out and about.

Chubby Chirps

You know how it is. Or maybe you don't.

Some days it feels like all knitting is going your way, the next, stuffing is coming out of your head and you hardly know which way is up.
Well, chubby chirps, those tiny, squishy yarn birds that love to live deep in your stash of leftover no-longer-loved balls, feel that way every day.
To show some love to the squishies, I decided to take them on a trip.

They seemed excited to be taken along and were happy to pose in the airport, but then they became suddenly camera-shy.
I caught one quick snapshot of Electric Blue frolicking in the deep powder pockets of Nagano, but they've been shy ever since.
Will we see them some more on their holiday?
Or will they prefer the homely life?

Friday Photography: Daring Hexiblanket

Hexipuffs can pop up in the most unexpected places.
Being primarily of a yarnie persuasion, you would expect them to be highly afraid of running water.
not so! in fact, especially groups of hexipuffs sometimes crop up lichenlike on rocks and cliffs and riverbanks, perching precariously close to a soaking.

We should all be as open-minded and daring as those little hexipuffs.
So this week, try something you thought you aren't suited to, and see where it takes you.
As always, keep your camera ready and your eyes focused!

Friday Photography: Travelling hexiblanket

 It is a not very well known fact, but hexipuffs love to travel in groups. They are social creatures that enjoy the great out-of-doors.
They enjoy bike rides, picnics in the grass and climbing trees together.
Have you ever seen hexipuffs in the wild?
Keep an eye out and as always, have your camera ready.

It's a Ninja! Mask.

shapely nose

upside-down chin

 When the going gets tough, you need to protect your face.
Whether it's to hide your identity, block out the wind of an icy snowboarding mountain or protect your gentle features from the guts and gore of decimated zombies, a ninja mask is the answer.

As soon as I saw this pattern on Ravelry, I knew I had to knit it. It had everything, a cool name, a practical purpose and just enough shaping to keep me interested.

Ninja!

It wasn't the smoothest start as the pattern is rather... verbose. You wouldn't think something knit in the round would require this many instructions, but it does.
it took some mathing, some trial and error and some outright discarding of instructions, but the finished result speaks for itself.
It's fabulous!
I couldn't love it more, and I can't wait to see how warm and cozy this mask will be when used for its intended purpose, as a snowboarding scarf/face mask that will stay in place and stay warm from first lift to last.
Expect snow photos of the mask in action next month.

blending into the environment