Joyce Makes Art – Page 16 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Monkey Has A Head!

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Look at Monkey's cute (although sort of creepy since it's disembodied) head. I decided to stuff it, even though the pattern doesn't direct me to at this point, because it seemed like it would be easier now, without having to navigate up the body through the tight neck.

There are a lot of comments about the Monkey Jacobus pattern from people who had difficulty knitting it, I'm finding it to be very straightforward and easy to follow, at least so far. It's also a lot of fun.

The purl ridge across Monkey's face is the starting point for picking up stitches and adding on a big sock monkey-esque snout. And the little bars on the side of the head, I am guessing, are where the ear stitches will be picked up. Can you see the vertical ridge of purl stitches below?

You can follow along as I knit my "March Monkey" project here, as part of the Malabrigo March Knitalong.

Although Monkey is my first knit stuffed animal, he is not going to be my last. There has been an outbreak of stuffed animal ideas on the Elliebelly Ravelry group as we discuss our Adventurous April KAL. There are cats and bunnies and all sorts of wonderful things, and I don't think I'm going to be able to keep myself from knitting all of them. If you're interested in joining us, we would love to have you. It's always a fun KAL in April.

First Finished Object — Malabrigo March KAL 2015

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

It's my first finished object for this year's Malabrigo March Knitalong. Or does it count as two? Tardis Blue mittens, knit from Malabrigo's Bulky weight Rasta yarn.

This is a great last minute gift project, as they knit up in just a few hours at this weight. The yarn is so soft! This is the kind of project that makes you glad you're a knitter.

Malabrigo March KAL Begins

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm not sure what it is about Malabrigo March — the idea that you're up casting on in the middle of the night with knitters all over the world? Whatever it is, I stayed up past midnight and cast on my projects.

I want to go to Marz – Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Sweater

It's going to be a finicky knit, alternating three skeins (because these skeins look nothing alike!) in a light fingering yarn. But I think it will be worth it in the long run. The very long run — because who am I kidding? This is going to be a long slow knit. Do the tight little M1R and M1Ls in this yarn slows me down!

March Monkey – The Monkey Jacobus Pattern

I'm already in love with his cute little Intarsia in the round face, and I've got eyes (I hope they're the right size) coming in the mail next week. The body is in my favorite Malabrigo colorway, Arco Iris.

Blue Mittens - Super Bulky Mittens by Diane Soucy

I knit a pair of these last year for Malabrigo March. They were quick and fun, and I've worn them a lot. I thought a solid colored pair might be a good addition to the family stash of mittens. Here is last year's version.

I'm looking forward to all the good knitting support, inspiration and fun that always comes along with this knitalong.

Malabrigo March KAL

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Do you remember the 2014 Malabrigo March Knitalong? I amassed stash, cast on all the things, finished two cowls, a hat, and a sweater, went to Iceland, knit a lot while hiking, and finished one last hat just in time for Ellie to wear it home. All in all, it was a wonderful month. Knitting in Iceland! Knitting with Malabrigo!

This year, my goals are a bit more modest. I have two projects to knit and a longer term project to cast on and get started with, and then finish up later this year.

First up, Blue Mittens. Because it's surprisingly cold for Alabama in February. I plan to cast these on right at midnight on March 1 and have them knit up in time to wear for the Selma march anniversary the following weekend, because I hate having cold fingers and this bulky Malabrigo Rasta yarn is an amazing chill chaser.

Next up, Monkey Jacobus. He's going to be my first knitted stuffed animal. He's going to be adorable – you're just going to have to trust me on this one. And, I get to learn a new technique, intarsia in the round, along the way.

My last project is Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Sweater. Yes, that's a sweater knit in a fingering yarn, Malabrigo's new Mechita. I love their single-ply yarns, and I fell hard for Mechita in the Diana colorway. I'm willing to accept that this one will take a while. I'm calling it "I want to go to Marz," a goofy homage to the fact that Marz means March in Icelandic and our tour guide in Iceland played the John Grant song of this name over and over while we were in Iceland last March.

I'm looking forward to this year's Malabrigo March KAL festivities, which are hosted here on Ravelry.

Cast on All the Things!

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Sometimes that mood hits! The perfect new pattern comes along. Or an irresistible yarn. That happened to me this week — times two. Both the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn came along. So despite an impressive array of works in progress, I'm swatching for two new sweaters.

First up is Isabell Kraemer's Criss Cross Sweater. This one went into my favorites as soon as I saw it. But when I swatched with Plucky Scholar for a vest (it wasn't going to happen, the miles of twisted rib would have killed me) and realized my gauge was spot on for Criss Cross, I knew it was meant to be. I'm in love with this Bohemian Blue colorway, and the minute I opened the yarn two days ago, I knew it had to be knit with right away.

Then there was Katya Gorbacheva's Winter Weed's sweater pattern. Its difficulty level is clearly over my head, but how could I resist?

The pattern is written for Plucky Primo Aran, and although I don't have a sweater quantity on hand, I have been hoarding the December Classics Heartstring's colorway on snug worsted. I didn't get gauge on my first try.

But I'm not horribly far off — only 1.75 stitches over four inches, so I'm going to go up a needle size and see what I can do. I love this colorway and think it will be perfect for this sweater. The verdict is still out on whether I have the skills to knit it, but I have good knitting friends to rely on in a pinch.

So it looks like I'll be casting on all the things in the next week or so. I've also got a couple of projects I want to swatch for ahead of the start of the Malabrigo March KAL. I expect to be doing a lot of prep and set up work for the sweaters as well as for Mal March, so there won't be a whole lot of knitting progress this week, but I do love having a number of projects in the works, which makes it easy to pick one up to carry around or travel with.

A little progress on Drachenfels

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I wanted to share the introduction of color onto Drachenfels. It's so much fun to knit!

I've deviated a bit from the pattern to have all three colors show on each of the ends, so the green bit is my own addition. Knitting with cashmere is awfully, awfully fun. This project is more guilty pleasure than work.

The whole carrying the yarn along the edges to avoid weaving in all those ends thing is a challenge for me. I'm only going to be able to carry where there is a two row change in color. I'll need to spend some time looking for a better way to do it on longer runs, but for now, I've decided to be old fashioned and weave in my ends on those pretty pops of color!

Yarn. Dyeing. Adventurous April.

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

It has been a while since I've shared yarn dyeing in progress with y'all. That's because I haven't had any time to dye lately. But, over the long holiday weekend I did a little work that I can't wait to share with you.

This is a new, still unnamed, blue. It's a dusky cousin of one of my favorite colorways, Betsy Blue. Blues are hard to photograph and this one isn't quite as teal as it appears on my monitor. It's lovely in person and I can't wait to knit with it (and name it!)

These two colors are not new. They are long-time Elliebelly base colors that I often mix to use in variegated colorways. (The golden yellow is one of the colors that makes Marble Angel one of my favorites — I was tickled when I googled for a quick picture and found this 2008 post on the old Diaperswapers forum with photos of it, along with Katie, the colorway that first forced me to think about gray in a serious way and led to the color on the left.) I thought it would be fun to see them on their own for a change. The gray on the left is actually a two-bath colorway, first dyed a pale gray and then over-dyed the deeper gray. When I use this color in a mix, I dye it all at once. I'm really pleased with the glazed approach I used here.

The mustard color — the color of mustard blooms in the garden, not the stuff you slap on a hotdog, is one of my favorite base yellows to dye with. It has just enough brown to build a hint of character. I like this color on its own as well, but I'm sure I'll be unable to resist overdyeing and glazing some of the skeins from this batch. This is one of those colors with so much potential to play with!

I've been making time to dye because, although it's only mid-February, I'm thinking ahead to April and the Adventurous April Knitalong on the Elliebelly Ravelry Group. If you joined us last year, you know it's going to be lots of fun. And, although you can't buy Elliebelly yarn, in the lead up to the KAL, my co-hostess Shelley and I will come up with fun and clever contests so you can win some in time to swatch and be ready come April 1.

Since the group has settled on at least one pattern for the KAL, Antarktis, I've made a headstart on dyeing some yarns that will work for that pattern. Like always for our KALs, you'll be welcome to join in with any yarn you want to knit with, Elliebelly or not. If you haven't joined is in the past or aren't a group member, you're welcome to come join and make some new friends while we start organizing for this year's KAL. It's going to be a lot of fun!