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Grey with a bit of blue

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Rain. Grey clouds. These three words sum up one of Vancouver’s two seasons pretty well. And it makes it hell for photos when you only shoot with available light, like I do.

I really do have a backlog of knits to talk about, but it’s no fun to post without photos. Christmas gifts, given and unphotographed. Even a Hallowe’en costume – ok, I’m sure we had some sun in the last two months, but now I’ll have to wait for more. Little fingerless gloves of my own design that are as grey as the sky, and therefore hard to shoot; now I’ve worn them so much that they’re all fuzzy and I’m thinking of knitting a second pair to be photo-worthy.

But I have this.

It’s a nest! From a kit we’re selling in the store. This must have taken two hours from start to finish, not including drying time. The nest is knit and then felted; the eggs were to be needle felted. Not having a needle felting tool, I just wet-felted them by rolling them around in my palms and giving them egg-shaped squeezes from time to time. Even the little quail feather came in the kit! Such a weird idea, a bird making a nest from alpaca fibre (although, when the family dog gets a haircut outside, the birds collect her locks and make little schnauzer fur nests. So maybe not that weird).

 

Pattern: Felted Woolly Nest Ornament (kit) by Marie Mayhew (Ravelry link here)
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Sportweight (100% alpaca)

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Rosebud

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

When I got my first skein of Shelter yarn in the mail earlier this year, I was disappointed. It was rough and plain, for some reason not what I expected. When I finally cast on for a Rosebud hat in December, I had doubts that anyone would want to wear such a bristly fabric.

But as I knit, I began to see a lovely, rustic fabric emerge. And I thought about things that are important to me, that I even went to school to learn about: supporting local farmers and manufacturing, using low-intensity materials, appreciating uniqueness and variety, loving the handmade and old and rustic, and appreciating good design – and I started to really appreciate this yarn. After all, one of Jared’s goals in creating Shelter was to support and promote American sheep breeds and wool, not to mention to stay true to his love of simple and beautiful tweeds. Amanda, Michael and I had a Christmas party conversation about this very thing, and I think we’ve come to a similar conclusion – this yarn feels like real yarn.

So the Rosebud hat turned out to be a success, and the yarn softened to a squishy and super-elastic fabric after washing. Not silky soft, but real. It reminded me that wool is such a rad fibre, and how it always disappoints me when people claim to be allergic or just flat out don’t like it. Renewable, relatively low input and non-toxic*, biodegradable, warm, insulating, waterproof, and just plain beautiful in its variety. I mean, really, you couldn’t design a better fibre, could you? Down with poly-whatever, recycled plastic bottle fabrics, and NASA franken-creations: go for WOOL!

Pattern: Rosebud by Jared Flood (Ravelry link here)
Yarn: Shelter (100% Targhee-Columbia wool) in Nest

*I know, I’m not considering various dyeing methods here. And sorry, superwash wool, I’m not talking about you either, you little freak.

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Out of the fog

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

The last few weeks are half lost in fog and now that I’m feeling better, I’m also feeling so removed from the world. When I finally went into work they got all teary eyed like they thought I would be gone forever; I became so behind in my Spanish class that I dropped out (because if you can’t kick ass at something, give up! I always say); and without television or contact with the outside world, it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all. Being holed up at home has gotten old – even the cat’s giving me resentful looks, as if she needs a holiday from me.

Drama aside, I’m back and knitting. I’m relying on some great designers to do the heavy lifting for me, so that I can just knit. Not think, just knit. And here’s what I’ve been up to.

Thanks, Jared: when I’m not seething with envy, I’m having fun knitting Rosebud. With your yarn. Yes, the one that you created with all that natural business and design talent.

I like my knits to match the furniture.

Dark and Stormy is a great knit but man, that shawl collar: almost an entire 100g skein of Madelinetosh DK! But I still love it.

A little look at someone’s gift…this one isn’t fun to knit but it’s fun to pet and squeeze.

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All twisty

Monday, November 14th, 2011

I’m in twist collective! Even though it’s been in the works for months, I’m actually mostly speechless and have been staring at my monitor for going on 20 minutes, trying to figure out what to write. I mean, what can you say when you want to design knitwear and your pattern is picked up by twist?

© James Brittain & Twist Collective

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Samara

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

So now we can finally catch up on stuff that it was killing me not to blog about on Anniesue. Not much to talk about on a knitting blog when you can’t talk about your knitting, right? But I knew the Caribou Knits website would be skinny on content at first, so I wanted everything to be fresh and new, and not previously seen on the old blog.

 

This is Samara, which was inspired by a few things, notably biker vests, shoulder details, and my desire to use super bulky yarn so that I could knit the sample quickly! Not a romantic design story, really, but it worked. The design is actually from over a year ago, when it was carefully knit, edited, photographed…and rejected by a knitting publication. I wasn’t too disappointed; I had learned a lot about technical editing and designing, and I moved on with plans to eventually self-publish. And here it is.

How about the name? Now, I’m no Jared Flood. Naming and branding does not come easily to me. I can’t remember how many ridiculous names I went through for this vest, from literal to cute to complete nonsense. Finally, I went with ‘Samara’ because it described the wing-like shape the vest makes at the neck front.

As for the actual knitting, it’s easy but not boring: seamless, except for the two small shoulder seams, and worked from the bottom up with nifty slipped-stitch side panels. The little cap sleeves are worked with short rows, and the whole thing is finished off with single crochet edging. The yarn is so bulky that I actually did the crochet edging with my fingers instead of a crochet hook! A good layering piece – I hope you like it.

Pattern: Samara by Ann-Marie Jackson (Ravelry link here)
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool (100% merino wool) in Madras & Smoky

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Welcome to Caribou!

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

 

© 2008 Michelle Connolly

Well hello there!

You’ve arrived at my new little corner of the internet, Caribou Knits, where I’m excited to share with you some new designs inspired by beautiful northern landscapes and amazing yarns. I’ll be posting about each design right here over the next few weeks, and I hope you’ll stop by again to have a look. If you’re impatient, you can head straight to ravelry.

This year promised to be a big one for me, primarily because I moved on from my landscape architecture career and started my little Caribou venture. I haven’t always been able to put as much time into it as I would have liked, and when I have, I’ve had a few false starts and not-infrequent procrastination. But if you love wooly knits, handmade things, natural fibres, and the outdoors as much as I do, I think you’ll be happy with this slightly new direction.

For my faithful Anniesue subscribers, I’d love it if you would like to continue following the events of my little knit world. I didn’t presume to transfer your subscriptions; if you are interested, you can do that yourself at the bottom of this blog.

See you soon!

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Chair guy

Friday, October 21st, 2011

Last year at this time, we were in a hipster restaurant when a group of people in Halloween costumes came in. One guy was wearing what looked like my grandma’s armchair; his face peered out of a hole cut into the back of the chair, and his arms and body were puffy with upholstery. As his friends sat at their table, he reached under his bum, tipped out two hinged wooden chair legs, and leaned back and sat. He *became* a chair – I don’t know if my description has done it justice, but it was brilliant. The rest of the restaurant broke into applause at his Halloween cleverness.

I love Halloween, but I’ve come to two realizations over the years: 1. I want to be chair guy, who goes all out with a great costume every year; and 2. I’m too cheap and too introverted to ever be chair guy. So this year, I’m keeping it small and simple, and doing what I do best: knitting!

It’s Max. From Where the Wild Things Are, less the 2009 movie and more the 1960s book. It’s just a toque/beanie with big wolf ears, and (soon to come) a felted crown; pattern by tinyowlknits. I may go all out and draw some whiskers on my face. And if people don’t know Where the Wild Things Are, that’s ok because I’ll just say I’m a crown-wearing goblin.

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Swappin’ bag

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Are you knitters shocked when you go through your stashes? I was. I thought I might have two or three skeins of yarn to take to the upcoming Knit Social Yarn Swap, but I found a lot more than that.

Should be fun – and I was happy to see that Alexa from Gourmet Crafter has a table and will be selling her lovely hand-dyed yarns.

As a teaser, for the really hardcore: that bag contains quince & co, Jared Flood’s own Shelter, a few Sweetgeorgia fibre club offerings (will I ever have time to spin again?), Cascade, undyed knit picks yarn, and unique hand-dyes from various North American destinations.

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The best cardigan

Sunday, September 25th, 2011

You know I love a good cardigan, right? Well, I’m really excited about this one.

I wanted to design a solid cardigan with a shawl collar and a big cable up the back. It would be cozy, not too fitted, medium length, and knit out of dk-weight yarn. A quick search on Ravelry found almost exactly what I had been thinking of…already designed by Thea Colman.

That’s just life, I guess, and never one to turn down a good cardigan, I bought the pattern and cast on.

This cardi’s going to be awesome!

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Hat time

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Ok, it’s not that cold here yet. But I’m ready. Last winter, ears cold, I had the shocking revelation that I only have one toque/beanie/winter hat. It’s a ratty old crocheted thing that I bought in the university SUB about, oh, five years ago. I’m almost embarrassed to write this. For all my knitting, I’ve never managed to produce a hat for myself. And then, in that way we tend to overcompensate, I had visions of dozens of hats to choose from, one for each winter outfit! That’s not going to happen, but at least now I have one.

I owe much of the inspiration to start knitting again a few years ago to Rowan (and to Felicia at Sweetgeorgia, but that’s a story for another time). The first pattern magazine I bought was a Rowan. It was in 2007, I don’t know where I got it, and I was totally shocked to find that people were writing fashionable knitting patterns. Really amazing patterns. Despite an early slip-up buying a gross railroad yarn (which I still inexplicably have in my bottom desk drawer, and which I find every few years and am still surprised that I would have spent any amount of money on), I was quickly hooked on Rowan Felted Tweed before I was much of a knitter at all. And then Kidsilk Haze, and Kid Classic, and etc. For all my support of artisans, tiny companies, slow movements, and locally made…big ol’ Rowan is my desert island yarn, the one I would choose if I could only have one.

So, I bought a ball of the new Rowan Drift about two minutes after it went on the yarn shop shelves. You saw the start of my Rapunzel hat here, and now it’s done. It’s a little large, but not at all unwearable. I hope we get four feet of snow this winter!

>>You should know that this pattern included long braids – not my thing, but go for it if your mom always cut your hair before it got past your shoulders, and you’ve always wondered what long princess braids are like.

Pattern: Free Rapunzel! by Tiny Owl Knits (Ravelry link here)
Yarn: Rowan Drift (100% merino wool) in 908 Shore

Also, I’m excited to go to Knit Social’s yarn swap next Thursday evening in Vancouver, and have been going through my stash ruthlessly. Hope to see you there. I have some railroad yarn to trade.

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