WIP: Mint Edie

I love the Little Edie Top I made earlier this summer. It is a super easy to wear summer top that can easily go from the beach to the office. This pattern (and FO) were too good to not make another one.

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So far everything is going well. I am using a cotton yarn that I bought at my local Chinese yarn store. The yarn is a two tone twist of mint and white so the knitted piece looks marled. I am planning on making this top to the full length and adding a pocket to the front.

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Check back to see how things are going!

Until Next Time,

-Whit-

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Growing Yarn Stash

Is it me or is a large portion of the knitting community working on something with amazing colorwork? All over Instagram and the blogs I keep seeing a rainbow of color in everyone’s knitwear. It got me thinking it has been a hot minute since I have knit anything that wasn’t a solid color.

What to make? What to make? Well the first thing that popped into my mind was the Blue Snowdrop Sweater by Life is Cozy. The yoke looked challenging enough, but not too tough and I loved that the sweater fits snugly through the torso. So I headed to my LYS to procure some wool goodies.

From Life is Cozy website

One of the LYS I go to in Guangzhou is a little hole in the wall shop inside of a fabrics market (Highsun (Haiyin) Fabrics Market- Donghu stop Exit D). They sell mainly Chinese brands and are pretty affordable. My biggest qualm with going to this store is all of the yarn is in plastic and stacked from floor to ceiling. However, the sales lady is really nice and tries to be as helpful as possible considering she speaks very little English.

So what did I get? Well too much really. My colorwork sweater will be grey (main color) with navy, hunter green, and white. I can’t decide on the fourth color. I am between the fuchsia and the pink. I also found this lovely cotton yarn (green and white yarn) that I think I will use to make another Edie top. I also found bulky yarn! This can be pretty rare in China. I don’t know what I will do with it but I just loved the color so I had to have it.

All and all I am happy with my purchases. I spent 410RMB or $61USD. All of the yarn is predominantly wool. Not bad right? I CANNOT buy yarn for the rest of the year. I am not one to keep a lot in her stash and I have about 4 sweaters worth of yarn in addition to other random yarn that I need to handle. I better get knitting!

Until Next Time,

-Whit-

Work, Work, Work

Today is my last official day of summer vacation ( I don’t count the weekend) and I decided to sit in my pajamas, watch old episodes of Project Runway, and knit. It was wonderful. I know that on Monday there is going to be a lot going on so I needed to get my rest in while I could.

In June, I started the Vita de Vie sweater from Pom Pom Magazine’s Issue 24. This is a really interesting sweater pattern. It is worked by starting at the sleeve cuff and knitting in toward the middle. I have never done this before and was really intrigued by the process. So far I have the right side completed and 2/3 of the left sleeve.

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I also am working on Roanoke which is a short sleeve top with a really pretty neckline. The lace detail is worked using a mock cable pattern. This top is taking a really long time as I keep messing up the neckline. It took me about 4 tries to finally get it looking right. Now I am having problems with the sleeves. The edge where I picked up the stitches is looking way to loose and sloppy. I am going to try and wet block it to see if anything changes. Otherwise, I am going to have to frog it.

What are you working on right now? 

Until Next Time,

-Whit-

If you would like to read more about our summer vacation in Australia please visit Smithberrys Abroad.