Knitting – Page 20 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Outlander. Late & Grudgingly. (But Happy About The Knitting!)

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

My Mom has been a huge fan of the Outlander books for at least a decade. I have to confess that I've feigned polite interest, but the plot has never grabbed me enough to convince me to read it.

One word suddenly changed that: Handknit.

Or rather, it didn't convince me to read the books, but instead, to watch the show, because I was told the knitting was beautiful. And it really is! Claire's ubiquitous and stunning cowl is something I had to knit for my Mom, also named Claire, right away. After searching through the available patterns (clearly, it's just a big ring of garter stitch, but I wanted ideas — should it be a mobius, should there be shaping, etc. etc.) I settled upon The Gathering as a good place to start and cast on.

The lovely purple edge is this provisional cast on, which I prefer to the one the pattern suggests. The yarn is Elliebelly Bulky Merino, held triple stranded to give it the necessary bulk. Although the pattern calls for size 50 needles, I didn't have any on hand, so I'm trying it with my size 35 needles, the largest I own. I'm not sure it will give the loose drapey knit of Claire's cowl on the show, but it seemed worth a try.

My plan is to knit until I am just about out of yarn and then use a three needle bind off, rather than Kitchnering, because I'm lazy like that.

This pattern is the easiest possible knit, and seeing how nice it looks now, part way done, I'm pretty sure the biggest challenge will be giving it over to my Mom when it's done.

Soxies in Progress

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Soxies have gone from this

to this

to this.

And, one more view of the loveliness that is a complete Soxie.

The second Soxie is on the needle. They are a quick knit, and I'm trying to hold back and only knit while flying and in carpool lines so they won't go by too fast. Since I have another week of flying, followed by carpool lines, ahead of me, I think they will be done by next weekend. They seem to have already been adopted by Ellie, who was won over by their comfiness after agreeing to be my model.

This pattern may be the winner for the perfect, cushy, quick-to-knit gift. I want to knit a pair for myself, but could also see doing a few more for Christmas presents.

The Self-Indulgent September Knitalong

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

The Self-Indulgent September KAL for the Elliebelly group on Ravelry started September 1. We picked the Soxie pattern for the KAL and there are a number of projects in the works already.

I'm having an enormous amount of fun with this! At first I wasn't sure a simple pair of slippers would hold my interest, but I love knitting this pattern and especially seeing how this yarn patterns for it.

As you can see, the colors pooled. I don't usually find this to be appealing, and considered ripping it out and starting in a different place in the skein to force the colors to break up differently. But after a few rows I began to like the color placement, and now, despite the likelihood that I won't be able to make the second slipper look the same (I can be matchy-matchy obsessive like that), I'm committed.

One of the great things about this pattern is that it's a quick knit. After the provisional cast on, you do six six row repeats and then transfer the stitches onto DPNs on round 6 of the next repeat to do the toe. Quick and happy!
I'm about to put my first slipper onto the DPNs and can't wait to get the first slipper finished. I'm hoping my love of the color pooling holds up!

What to Knit with it? Mulberry Silk, Dyed in the Ember Colorway

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I have never been a red/orange kind of person. Cooler colors have always been my favorite, blues and greens and even purples. Pale colors, not jewel tones. But somewhere along the way last year, I seem to have developed a love of red, and even — perish the thought — orange. I really don't think of myself as someone who loves a blistering orange-red, but there you have it.

To nudge my expanding color sense along, I've been working on developing a colorway right at the point where a brilliant, scarlet red turns seamlessly into a hot-sun-going-super-nova orange. The sort of color we'll see if the Bardarbunga Volcano in Iceland goes on and erupts above the glaciers this week. After several months of experimentation, I came up with Ember, my newest colorway.

Ember looks beautiful on every fiber I've tried it on. It's a semi-solid colorway, so it should work for everything from socks to sweaters. To test it out, I've dyed five skeins of DK weight Mulberry Silk, for a total of 560 yards of yarn, and now I'm off in search of a pattern. Please leave a comment below if you have ideas, help, or advice for me!

Pattern used with permission of Anlin

TienMimi is a wonderful camisole pattern, written for a DK weight silk, and it would be perfect for the yarn. I'm not so sure it would be perfect for me — I'm concerned I would cover it open too much because of the open neckline and lack of sleeves, but perhaps this is just the excuse I need to pull out my arm weights and get back to work! Make sure you check out the designer, Anlin's, fabulous Finnish Blog. I'm also looking at the Liwi Top. It's written for a silk/merino blend, so my silk yarn alone may not have enough elasticity to give it the shape it needs. And Avebury, a shawl by Kirsten Kapur, is also up for discussion.

I would love to hear your suggestions and thoughts for this yarn-in-search-of-a-pattern! Help me decide what to knit with it.

Namaste Cowl

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

We'll have winners announced for the one-skein pattern contest by the middle of this week. Some unexpected travel has interfered with knitting and blogging for the next few days. I'll leave you with this post until I get back.

This is my favorite new, quick knit. Possibly my favorite quick knit of all time. It is Saccade Elyse's Golden Tulip Cowl. I'm a slow knitter, but as you can tell from the cast on post for this project, just a few days ago, it took only a few pleasant hours to knit up this cowl in aran weight yarn. And, it's a pattern you can feel good about purchasing, as she asks for a donation to an Epilepsy charity instead of payment.

I'm planning on knitting several of these cowls as presents. Surprisingly, my 11 year old son has asked for one. Despite the hot, humid Alabama sun this afternoon, he put it on and wouldn't take it off. So he's next up.

A word about the yarn. I used it because I wanted to knit something from the black bean-dyed yarns I've been sharing with you all. The results are good so far. This yarn is light and color fast and incredibly soft. In fact, this pattern just begs to be knit in cashmere, a silk blend, or something equally soft and drapey. So go for it.

I used a traditional cast off, but am going to go back and redo it, as it's looser than the cast on edge. I'll substitute my friend Helen's favorite stretchy bind off, which is k1, *k1, slipt the two stitches on the right hand needle back to the left hand needles, k2tog through the back loop*, repeat from *. This should produce a nicer, more finished edge.

A New One Skein Project – Knit From Black Bean Dyed Yarn

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

If you are looking for the one skein pattern giveaway, please click here so you can enter! Thursday is the last day

I've been searching for the perfect project for some of the yarn I've been dyeing with black beans this spring and fittingly enough, given my current focus on one-skein patterns, that's where I went. One of my favorite skeins is this Aran weight cashmere, that dyed up into a soft, blue-gray and was just begging to be knit with.

I stumbled across the perfect pattern for the yarn, the Golden Tulip Cowl. The pattern is written with four 16-stitch repeats that creating the leaf or tulip pattern. I used the knitted cast-on instead of my usual long tail cast on, per the pattern instructions, but added an additional 16-stitch repeat so the stitches would move easily on my needles.

The pattern knits up quickly! I was half done the first day.

It's about three-quarters of the way done now, and I'm hoping there is a second skein of this yarn tucked away when I get home, as I didn't think through the fact that the additional repeat would bust the yardage estimate.

And yes, that is my favorite project bag in the photo. I love the creepy knitting ladies!

Citron is done! (Why I love knitting)

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

If you are looking for the one skein pattern giveaway, please click here so you can enter!

Citron is done. The pattern haunted me for years. In the pre-Ravelry era (yes, I actually remember it), I tried it and couldn’t figure out the cast on. Then, I got scared off by the final rows with umpteen zillion stitches. But I finally took the plunge during the Adventurous April Knitalong and finished it up on an airplane earlier this week.
My Citron isn’t blocked yet and I’ll get prettier pictures when I get a chance, but I wanted to do a quick share. Because, if I can knit Citron, anyone can. If you’re on the fence, go ahead and cast on. As I type, my neck is swathed in a cloud of cashmere and silk, perfect for a cool day in the Berkshires. I’m in love with knitting, yet again.