Fratello Finished and Interweave Knits Review

This is going to be a fairly busy blog post.   1st of all a photo of the surprise blogtoberfest package I won

As you can see there was a red theme.  2 covered buttons, a small thimble, a trowel and fork pair of buttons, a print ribbon, 1 skein of embroidery floss and some gorgeous fat quarters.   It was well worth the wait!   The Crafty Librarian was the blog I won this from.

Next thing is Fratello is finally finished!  George likes it and so do I.  The cable doesn't show well in photo's  but it looks fine in real life.  I did make one adjustment to the pattern, I added some 2x2 rib to the bottom of the sleeve so it won't curl up

Excuse the funny look on his face, I couldn't get a good photo.

In other news the kittens are gorgeous and growing and wanting out!

as you can see, this is both of them attempting to get to the doorhandle to open it.   Luckily they haven't succeeded yet.  Oh, and Ray it turns out is a girl, so we have 2 wee girls

Interweave Knits Winter 2010


Yes, it's that time again.  It arrived earlier in the week and now I'm going to go through and say what I think of each pattern and what changes need to be made to make them nicer.  

This isn't one of their best efforts, if I'd seen it in the shop I probably wouldn't have bought it, but having a sub, I do have it.

The Charvet Pullover:
This has potential, I'm not sure if it's a round neck or V, but it's not too wide.  I think the shoulders are a little too wide on the model they've chosen and I'd lengthen the sleeves and body.  I probably won't knit it even with those ammendments though, it just doesn't have enough 'wow' factor for me.

Zoe Scheffy's Latvian Braid Mitts:
These I like very much, enough texture to be interesting and with a touch of colour.   Might put these in the queue.

Barclay Sweater:
Not really my thing, can't see DH in it, though in black, charcoal and grey he might consider it, there are more suitable patterns out there for him though.  Neckline is a little wide.

Flowering Plum Pullover:
Don't like this much at all, doesn't fit very well under the arms.  I think it might work better in a more subtle colour selection.  The purple and white is a little too stark.

Kinetic Cowl:
Fairly basic looking, but with being bias I'd expect a little more drape, maybe the gauge is a little tight.  I think if it draped more it would be very pretty.

Lollipop Cap:
Looks more like a beret to me, but that's just semantics.  It is a nice hat once again in different colours, maybe navy instead of white.  I would knit it.

Spoked Hat:
I really like this wee hat, it's feminine, classic and sweet all at the same time, this I would knit.   Nicely fitted and should be easy to knit.  Would look good on a guy too I suspect.

Isobel Skirt:
There is potential here, but it needs to be longer, just too short  for me.