This year I’ve been a bit of a selfish knitter. While most of my knitted items usually end up as gifts, since fall rolled around I’ve only been knitting for myself. It’s been great fun, but alas, Christmas is fast approaching and I’ve decided that I need to break that trend. So, here it is, my first selfless project of the 2012-2013 knitting season.

Once again, this pattern came from http://www.purlbee.com (if you haven’t already noticed, I love love love them!). Originally designed to fit a baby or toddler, there are instructions in the comments section on how to knit this hat for an adult, and that’s exactly what I did. As per usual, I used Japanese yarn – “make make” by Olympus, you’ve gotta love these names! – for this project. A wool (90%) and mohair (10%) blend, this yarn is sold in cute little 25gm, 62m skiens, which makes it perfect for small projects. While purl bee’s pattern uses a bunch of colours for the fair isle pattern, I stuck to two. For the main colour, I chose ivory (colour #1 for this brand), and for the branch pattern I chose a variegated yarn comprised of fall-esque reds, oranges, and browns (colour number 12).

This was my first attempt at fair isle knitting, but I quite like the end result! Overall, I’d have to say that it was a great starting project. I’d also have to say that fair isle isn’t nearly as scary or difficult as I had always imagined it to be. Instead, I found it to be a fun (albeit addicting) little challenge. It’s going to be hard to let this project go – I might have to whip up another one for myself!

originally posted on March 5, 2012

Back in December some friends of mine welcomed their first son, Kai, into the world. During the months leading up to his arrival, I had been racing to finish my first eved to send it off to them just in time

For this project I chose a basketweave pattern off of ravely and modified it a little. For the yarn I chose RichMore Soft Smart, which is 74% wool and 26% nylon.  To make the blanket nice and thick, I knit two strand of yarn together for the entire project. The little colour bobbles (I’m not sure what else to call them) are built into the yarn and end up creating a really cute and interesting texture. Or, as the yarn label says in perfect Engrish, “You can get The Colorful Nep are inlaid into Knitting. Please! Be Feeling that Light.” Oh, Japan.

After I finished my cap sleeve lattice top, I wanted to indulge in some instant gratification knitting. I had seen these tube sock leg warmers on http://www.purlbee.com months ago and loved them, so I decided to whip up a pair!

For these babies I splurged on some lovely Filatura Di Crosa Zarina yarn, and it was definitely worth it! This stuff is 100% lana extra fine merino superwash, so it knits up really really nicely. It also doesn’t have any sort of halo, which was perfect for imitating tube socks. This Filatura Di Crosa is sold in 50g, 165m skeins, and I ended up using three. I used two white skeins (colour 1401) as the main colour, and only a little bit of the dark grey skein (colour 1469) for the stripes. My leg warmers ended up being a few centimeters shorter than the original pattern (I’m not exactly tall…), but, had I wanted to follow the pattern exactly, I would have needed an extra skein of the white yarn. For a perfect fit, I’d recommend measuring the project against your legs as you go.

I can definitely see myself making more of these in the near future. The pattern is a fast & easy knit, but it yields great looking results – if you ask me, that’s the perfect recipe for last-minute knitted gifts! Also, they’re just really nice to wear and perfect for lounging around during lazy autumn afternoons.

As I mentioned in the last post, the case that came with my Knitpicks interchangeable needle set is basically useless.  Originally I had planned to buy a case online, but the ones I found were all pretty pricey. Luckily, in my search for a cute and affordable case (an impossible combination, apparently), I came across this blog. The blogger had fashioned a case out of a cheap wallet and some elastic, and it inspired me to make my own!

The hardest part of this little project was finding something suitable. Most wallets were too small, too expensive, or much too ugly, and I really wanted to find something that zipped up completely. I was about ready to give up when I came across this passport case from Muji.

I can’t really put my love for Muji into words. I’m always finding cute/useful/delicious items whenever I go into one of their stores, and this was no exception. Not only was this case the perfect size, but it also featured the right amount of pockets and zippered pouches inside, zipped all the way around, and came in purple.  Basically, it’s perfection made of nylon.

The only modification I needed to make was sewing on a thin elastic band to hold my needles in place (since the pockets are made of mesh, this was a piece of cake). The rest of the case was perfect just the way it came – my cables fit in the pockets; my measuring tape, stitch markers, and end caps fit into the zippered pouch; and my thread cutters even fit into the pen holder in the center! For only 1050 yen (plus a couple hundred yen for the elastic), it sure beats dropping $40 on etsy or knitpicks!

I finally did it. I bought myself a set of interchangeable circular needles. YAY!

After what seemed like hours of scouring the internet doing needle research, I finally settled on the Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set from Knit Picks. Technically, my set is the Knit Pro Symfonie Wood set (same company, same product, but they use  different branding outside of North America), but I figured that most of you would be more familiar with the first name. If I’m being completely honest, I would have preferred a Takumi bamboo set by Clover – I’ve been knitting with Clover’s bamboo needles since I cam to Japan, and, on a less relevant note,  I have a bunch of students named Takumi –  but they were almost double the price and the Knit Picks set seemed to be pretty popular online. I had also given a friend Knit Picks needles for her birthday two years ago, and she was still really happy with them. All things considered, I was sold!

The set I ordered from a Rakuten store came with eight needle sizes (Japanese sizes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11) and four cables (60cm, 80,com, 100cm, and 120cm). Because I occasionally knit hats, I also bought a 40cm cable along with my set. I’ve only started to check the gauge for my yellow cardigan project, but I’m really happy with them so far!  I’m not a huge fan of their colour scheme, but these laminated birch needles knit really nicely. They seem to be a perfect weight, there’s a good amount of grip, the ends are the perfectly pointy, and the joins are super smooth – what more could you ask for? My only complaint is that the case they came with leaves a lot to be desired (it’s made of clear vinyl and pretty big), but that can be fixed with a simple etsy purchase. In the meantime, however, I’m pretty much set for whatever project might come my way!

One last thing about this set – I’ve read a lot about the needle size numbers wearing off over time, so I’d recommend putting a coat of clear nail polish over the numbers to preserve them. I did this last night with mine, and it doesn’t interfere with the finish at all. Just a heads up!