Twinkle Big City Knits - Tuxedo Jacket

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished this Tuxedo Jacket and it came out great!!!!

I promise I will get hubby to take pics of me wearing it so you can see what it looks like on!

First off... sorry this took so long. It's not that this pattern is hard or that it takes forever to work...

It's that I am in school and school is kicking my butt!

But my time there is (hopefully) almost done and then I can get back to my knitting!

So, I used Lion's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Cranberry.

I was hoping it would be ok enough even though it's only 20% wool (80% acrylic) instead of the full 100% wool.

One skein of Lion T&Q is 6oz/170g... After doing some research, it seems the Twinkle yarn is 7oz/200g.

Not that I'm avoiding buying the Twinkle yarn... just that I'm an "instant gratification" girl...

I don't wanna order yarn to sit and wait for it to come...

I wanna just have it! :-P

Anyway, overall, it came out great and it fits well! YAY!

Again, thanks to the great folks on the KnittingHelp.com forum. I wasn't figuring out the whole yo, k1, yo mess til I went to them for help! :)

I sewed up those holes which really bum me out. If I do make this again (and I totally would) I'm not sure how I'd get around the holes. But sewing 'em up works just as well.

No more holes! Yay!

Looks better, right?

Always a cable with Twinkle! ;-)

Definition: Alpaca

So what is Alpaca...

I see it all over in pattern books and knitting mags.

According the wonderful Wiki:

Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an Alpaca. It is light weight or heavy weight, depending on how it is spun, soft, durable, luxurious [1] and silky natural fiber. While similar to sheep’s wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic.[1][2] However, this lack of lanolin also prevents Alpaca fiber from being naturally water-repellent. It also has less crimp, thus making it much less elastic.

Yay! Soft and not itchy!

Cute!!! Here's a fluffy guy! (an Alpaca)

He's tooooo cute!!!!

Twinkle Big City Knits - Tuxedo Jacket

Third time's a charm?

Have you ever had a pattern just fall into place? Like, one day, it just makes sense and works out fine.

I've finally reached that day with this pattern. This is literally the third time I've re-worked this sweater.

I'm not sure if it's that my skill has improved or what, but all of a sudden I get it!

And thanks to my new friends over at KnittingHelp.com, I have gotten past that ridiculous (yo, k1, yo) into next st that was giving me such grief!

I still dunno why they included the words 'into next st' but feel free to ignore it!

It is just as simple as yo, k1, yo... twice! That's it!

Anyway, I can't even tell you how happy I am with this sweater. It's looking sooooo good!

Now my only beef with it is... how do I get rid of those holes created by the yo, k1, yo? Is there a different/better way to increase 2 sts without getting those holes?

See these holes... they really bum me out...

Vogue Knitting Winter 2008/2009 Issue

Yay!!!

The new Vogue Knitting is out!

Love, love, love the cover and am always excited to see anything with "Twinkle" or 'chunky'!

As you know, I love my Twinkle and that sweater below looks like fun.

I'm also particularly excited about this Tom Scott!

He was featured in the Vogue Knitting before (in the Holiday 2007 issue iwth Paulina Porizkova) and I was curious back then!

Am excited now and will definitely be trying that sweater below.

I have a bag full of gorgeous taupe yarn (Lion Thick & Quick in "Taupe") just waiting to meet it's perfect project!

Twinkle Big City Knits - Twinkle Hoodie

Well... Back to the Twinkle Hoodie.

I think I've burned myself out on the hats and scarves so much that I'm actually really into the Hoodie now!

I think also it helps that I'm actually headed towards the end!

I just need to sew the sleeves together and the hood. Then just need to add the border, and then just add buttons! Yay!

This is coming out really cute and I do kinda sorta wish I'd added the pockets like the pattern calls for but I'm thinking maybe it wouldn't be too hard to still do anyway? I dunno...

I also still think that I don't need more attention drawn to my tummy with things like pockets. ;-)

From the Twinkle book...

Twinkle Weekend Knits - Urchin Beret

I know these are a lotta pics but I like 'em all... :)

This had was sooooo easy to work!

Again, unfortunately, this had was made with size 17 -19" circular needles and pattern calls for size 19 - 16".

I did make a 2nd hat with my 19 - 24" circular needles and it came out even better and even cutter! Double, unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of it before giving it to my sis-in-law. :)

I'll make another and put the 2 together for comparison between size 17 & size 19 needles.

Used Lion Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Fisherman (not even a whole skein!)

Twinkle's Big City Knits - Aspen Hat

This hat came out soooo cute and it's soooooo easy!
I'm lovin' these quick projects! They help me get thru my random yarn and they're a quick fix!

:)

I'd like to make another one with 2 different colors (ie - white brim and pink crown, etc)

I will say tho... I'm getting (really getting) the importance of gauge and checking it before making ANYTHING!

Also, importance to sticking with pattern rules (which I think goes back to gauge). This pattern calls for size #19 - 16" circular needles.

As far as I can tell, they don't exist!!! :-( (I've looked everywhere, called everywhere, online searched everywhere and nothin'!)

Anyway, so I made this hat with my size 17 - 16" circulars and it came out cuuuute but small.

I've pulled out my #19 - 24" circulars and am gonna try it again. Hopefully it'll come out correct (size-wise) but I worry about reaching a point in decreasing where the 24" will be too big for the hat!

Used Lion Wool Ease Thick & Quick in Fisherman (about 1/2 a skein).

Twinkle Weekend Knits - Wisteria Scarf

Another Wisteria Scarf, this time in Raspberry (Lion Wool-Ease Thick & Quick).

I LOVE this pattern.

It works sooooo fast and it's easy!

The BIG size 36 needles help!

Twinkle Weekend Knits - Wisteria Scarf!

I can not believe I was so intimidated by this pattern and how easy it turned out to be!

This pattern worked so fast I finished this in like 2 hours while waiting for hubby to come home!

It could be the huge size 36 needles and the chunky yarn too! ;-)

This is from the Twinkle Weekend Knits book... Now the 2nd thing I've made from that book and no signs of errata yet... YAY!

Yes... those are my PJ's!

I like to be comfy!

Made with Lion Wool-Easy Thick & Quick in Black.

Snowcap Hat (Twinkle Weekend Knits)

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished that hat tonight! My first project from the Weekend Knits book!

Wear-wise, it's fine. It's the type of hat I'd wear on a day when I'm trying to hide my 'bad hair day' hair...

Knit-wise, it was easy! And, as far as I can tell (at least in this pattern anyway) there's no errata!

This is a pretty basic k2, p2 rib pattern with decreasing towards the top and then sewing a left over strand of yarn thru stitches at top, pulling it tight, etc. etc...

So my hubby is sitting here telling me that this hat can't really be the gauge for if this 2nd Twinkle book will be chalk-full of errata like the first one.

Um, thanks hubby...

I know, I know...

This was an easy one. Maybe (after I finish the Twinkle Hoodie) I'll try a tunic or something a little more involved that k2, p2 on circular needles...

But in the meantime... YAY!

hee...

Twinkle Weekend Knits Snowcap Hat

Ok... So I've pended the Twinkle Hoodie (from Big City Knits) to start a hat from the latest Twinkle book...

I can't help it! It looks easy and...

a little part of me is just curious to see if this book is written differently (ahem... Better) than the Big City Knits book.

I just did a little Google for errata on this new one and didn't find anything... yet... :)

So far, the Snowcap hat is pretty basic.

I've worked up to the 38 rows in just a couple of hours.

Yarn: 3 strands together of Paton's Classic Wool Merino (Winter White)

Needles: Size 17 - 16"

Etc: one marker, pen & paper to keep track of rows

Twinkle Hoodie

Blah blah, blah blah...

I dunno why I'm having such a hard time getting into this one...

Esp since this one is fairly easy!

I think I'm a bit intimidated by the pockets.

The sleeves have been easy. And the rib (k2, p2) on the body is easy... Hopefully the rest will be too...

And I checked out the errata and it's definitely got some errors in the pattern. Ugh...
I wonder if I can leave the pockets off...

They are cute, tho.

Arg... :-/

Yarn: Lion Wool-Ease Thick 'n Quick in Fisherman (2 strands held together)

Needles: Size 17 and 19 - 24"

Etc: Marker, tape measure