Archive for the Knits Category

This sweater was completed before Christmas, in a deep jewel tone that I think is wonderful for the winter time.  It also goes really well with some patterned corduroy pants I have.

The Pattern

The pattern, called "Sahara" is from Stitch Diva Studios.  I love all of their designs, which are quite stylish and form-fitting.  It’s just amazing the patterns they have for crochet too: who knew you could make something you’d actually want to wear with crochet?  Anyhow, what’s also nice about the Sahara pattern is that you can knit it to fit your body, adding or subtracting the increase/decrease element to suit your taste or to modify the style of the sweater.  You can also adjust the depth of the "v" neck, to make it more or less plunging.

Here are the details:

  • Pattern: Sahara from Stitch Diva, by Wendy Bernard
  • Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple for the body, Disco Lights for the neck and bands (Don’t click if you hate drooling)
  • Totally adjustable: sleeves, neckline, hem length

That’s about perfect! Especially since the pattern (check out the link to the pattern to see), is made-up for a total barbie doll.  (I mean, really, how many women who knit have protruding hip bones, for Pete’s sake?)  And sure, if you have a size A- bra cup, then feel free to plunge that baby right down to your belly button, because nothing’s gonna fall out.  All the rest of us have to be a bit more circumspect, thank you.

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Before Christmas, my husband asked me to knit him a hat.  So, as a way to get him to come with me to Fengari, a great yarn store in Half Moon Bay.  I promised to buy him yarn there to knit him a hat with. The lovely shop is loaded with all kinds of luscious yarns, so after losing myself in exploring for a while, I asked the store owner about a good yarn for a hat.  My husband wanted something warm, but something very soft and not too restrictive on his head. 

The lovely store owner at the shop gave me a free pattern intended to be knit using Crystal Palace "Poof" yarn.  The original pattern (below) is meant for a woman, since it simply uses stockinette stitch from the brim on up, and you roll the brim when you wear it for a "feminine" look.  For a man, you knit the first 2 inches or in a ribbing pattern (K2, P2). 


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The shop owner also explained to me that the "Poof" yarn lacked a lot of structure to it, so you had to use the Poof yarn along with another yarn that had a more firm structure that would act to hold the hat in place. For this, I used Debbie Bliss Cotton yarn and just held both strands together when doing the knitting.  Read on for more!

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