Knitting – Page 22 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

The Start of Adventurous April

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This week saw the start of the Adventurous April Knitalong. In keeping with the mood, I cast on all four of my planned projects the first day.

1-Lente: I'm knitting a Lente cowl in Elliebelly Premium British Merino. This is a paintbrush colorway I kept a couple of skeins of for myself. This is an easy knit and once you settle into the pattern after a few rows, you need neither look at the pattern nor use stitch markers as it's a simple repeat of two different rows. This one is all about the colors. I'm looking forward to wearing it.

2-Citron: I got a small start on this pattern, but won't work on it seriously until I get the others further along. I expect this to be a long term project that I can work on over the summer. I am in love with the yarn, Elliebelly's Moth 'n Goat, which is incredibly soft. The Marmalade colorway is a bit lighter on this yarn than on other fibers and very pretty.

3-Canadian Summer: This pattern was written by local knitter Susan Barstein. It's a sweet piece of shimmering froth. It is literally shimmering, because this yarn has a beautiful, almost metallic, shine to it. I'm going to finish the Lente Cowl before I take this one up in earnest, because the stitch patterns are just similar enough that knitting the two at once leads to confusion and mistakes. Sadly, I know this now and I know that this yarn is very splitty when you are unknitting it. So, Canadian Summer will wait until Lente is done.

4-Antler: I'm knitting the baby sweater version of Antler. The yarn is a baby camel that I dyed up with dark green/black low lights, and I'm pleased with how it is knitting up. So far, I've knit a big piece of stockinette, which will become the body of the sweater. Next up, the sleeves.

I snuck in one extra project, and casted on a square for the Barn Raising Quilt, that you are all probably getting tired of hearing about. This square is in Elliebelly Juliet Sock yarn in the Provence colorway.

Adventurous April has given me a good stock of Works in Progress so that there is always something to pick up and work on during a soccer game or a movie. Combined with my other projects, I feel like I've got plenty of knitting to get me through the summer.

I Have Sleeves

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I don't knit a lot of sweaters, so everytime I do, I tend to see something new.

Modern Garden is no exception. In this sweater, you knit the sleeves from the bottom row up to about chest high. Then, you knit them into the body of the sweater, keeping up with the patterning on the sleeves and in the yoke (and remembering to place your buttonholes, which has been an issue for me on this one) and complete the sweater.

The sleeves are bulky and I'm knitting them on DPNs, instead of magic loop because I don't have an additional circular needle in this size. They were a little too cumbersome to take along with me on vacation, so I put the sweater aside and worked on hats while I was away.

But I picked the sweater back up last night and am working on sleeves. The first one is ready to incorporate into the yoke and my hope is to have the second one there tonight so I can put everything together and move on to the yoke next week.

And, a reminder. We are starting a Knit Along on the Elliebelly Group on Ravelry on April 15. You're welcome to join us — you can knit with any yarn you choose and there is no official date you have to finish by. We would love to have you, whether you are a new knitter or a more experienced one.

Iceland, The End of Malabrigo March, And, Of Course, Knitting

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This is where I spent the last week of March.

Iceland was beautiful and our time there was everything we hoped it would be. I will surely have more to say about that later, but in the meantime, if you are thinking about traveling there, do.

Iceland was a good place to knit because it was cold but not frigid. Average temperatures were in the 30's unless you got into wind chill. So I finished off Malabrigo March with two hats you've seen in progress before.

This is Lutz Jump, one of the Salchow Trio of Hat patterns.

And this is Fuego. I had a hard time getting a photo of this colorway, Fuschia, that didn't bounce light back in an overbright way, but in reality this hat is just the perfect very intense pink color. I may go ahead and add a pom pom to it now that we're back home, because it is begging to be just a bit silly.

I also finished another square for the infernal Barn Raising Quilt that I will be working on for the rest of my natural life awhile longer.

I finished Fuego while we were out hiking between waterfalls and driving back to visit the Alafoss Yarn Store on the outskirts of Reyjkavik, which seemed particularly appropriate. Who says you can't knit while wearing four layers of clothing, which is what I resored to that day for both the chill and the wet.

I was amused when I saw the photo my daughter snapped of me knitting between waterfalls to notice I was wearing my Douglas Fir Hat and my Simple Cowl (this was one of the colder days), while knitting Fuego. A perfect ending to Malabrigo March.

Recently Finished Knitting

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

At the beginning of March, I queued up a sizeable number of projects using Malabrigo yarn and promptly decided I was crazy to even attempt so much at once. But with the month almost over, the verdict is in, and I think the support and enthusiasm generated but all the knit-a-longs and chits chat.

In my last post, I showed you my first finished project, the ReDeux Hat. SInce them, I've finished several more to share with you.

Douglas Fir was one of the hats chosen for a knit along this March, and I adore the result. Although my youngest has claimed it for his own because green is his favorite color, this hat is really perfect for anyone and the cable motif is fun to knit. Fair warning if you decide to take this one on — the brim is fidgety and takes at least as much time as the remainder of the hat. But conquering it will make you feel incredibly accomplished! There are video tips on the brim included in my pattern notes that may help.

I fell in love with Malabrigo Mecha in the Pocion colorway and ultimately decided to knit a Shimmering in Blue Cowl with it. I've worn it constantly since it came off my needles. It's an awesome pattern.

Finally, I finished a Simple Ribbed Cowl in Plomo Rasta. The red tip at the bottom is the leftover yarn from my ReDeux hat, and the two together are perfect. This cowl is warm, warm, warm and although I had my doubts about it while I was knitting, it gets compliments from total strangers on the street.

I have a couple of projects left on my needles that I'm going to take along on my last trip of the month — a couple of hats, another cowl, and a quilt square. I've reluctantly decided that my in-progress Sunny Garden Cardigan is too bulky now to pack in a suitcase. The body is done up to where the sleeves need to be knit in, and I'm midway through the first sleeve. Knitting them on size 13 DPNS is awkward and I've decided it's not good knitting to take along while traveling, so finishing the sweater will have to wait for next month.

Finally, there are two last projects I planned for this month that I haven't cast on yet. I love them both and am thinking about casting them on so that they get in under the wire for Malabrigo March and then working on them in April. All in all, Malabrigo March has been a great month for knitting!

Knitting with Malabrigo

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

We are twelve days into the source of knitting inspiration known on Ravelry as Malabrigo March — a month set aside for casting on projects to get you through several months, if not a year's, worth of knitting. Seeing everyone's projects has been motivating and fun. Without further ado, here are the projects I have been working on this month.

My first cast on was a Deux Hat, knit from Malabrigo's Rasta yarn in Stitch Red. This pattern has been in my queue for a long time. It was a good quick knit and using Rasta for it means this hat is going to be soft and warm.

Next up was Veera Välimäki's Shimmer in Blue, knit in Malabrigo Mecha in the Pocion colorway. Mecha is a newer yarn base for Malabrigo. It is a single-ply yarn, somewhere between a worsted and an aran weight. I used it previously and fell instantly in love. Mecha was perfect for this pattern, knit mostly in garter stitch with four traveling cables. I finished this cowl up earlier this week and still need to get a picture of it in action, but the bottom line is that this is a clever and very warm pattern that I wouldn't hesitate to knit again.

I've been working on a Barn Raising Quilt for my daughter for a looooong time, knitting a square a month with some long droughts. I need to kick this project back into gear this year, as I'd like to have the finished quilt by the end of 2015 and I want to knit 20 or so more squares. This one, in Malabrigo Sock in the Piedras colorway, is coming along nicely.

In addition to being Malabrigo March, this has apparently been a month of Veera's patterns for me. This is another one, Modern Garden. Modern Garden is a cardigan, knit all in one piece from the bottom up. The sleeves are knit separately and then knit in once you reach the yoke á la Elizabeth Zimmerman. The shaping is cleverly incorporated into othe leaf design.

This pattern has been a challenge for me for two reasons. First, I needed a different size on the bottom of the sweater than the top, so I've worked math magic — never my strong suit — to make that change around the waist. The verdict is still out on that one. I also had a bad encounter with a buttonhole. I forgot to make the second one and was less than thrilled about ripping back six rounds to insert it. With the encouragement of a couple of very kind knitters on Ravelry, I laddered down and inserted the buttonhole over three stitches in the proper place. To my surprise, the surgery was a great success. Although I have used laddering in the past to fix a stitch, this was a fix of a different magnitude and I was delighted that it worked. I'll devote a future post to documenting the method, as I was so grateful to receive help in accomplishing this fix.

Douglas Fir is a hat with a special brim. It has an intriguing twisted rib stitch that took some effort to figure out but turned out to be well worth the time. I'm into the upper part of the hat now and hoping to have it finished for my youngest to wear on spring break, since green is his color.

The last project I cast on is a simple gray cowl in Rasta. The colorway is Plomo. This is the same pattern I used to make a blue cowl last month. The pattern is a 3×1 rib with a twisted purl stitch that. This one is a tighter fit around the neck than the blue cowl and will be taller — more of a cowl and less of a scarf.

As these projects zing along, I've got several others planned. I have two trips planned towards the end of the month, so I'm thinking about portable knitting. In addition to finishing the quilt square, I'm going to cast on some bedroom slippers in Mecha.

Time permitting, I also have plans to cast on an Underwater Garden Shawl in Malagrigo Worsted, a Metallurgy Cowl in a beautiful pewter gray Malabrigo Silky Merino colorway called Smoke, and a Fuego Hat in Worsted. I've been tickled by all of the Malabrigo March knitters with mottos like "Go Big or Go Home" and "Cast On All Things." A little bit of sillyness in life is a good thing. I like my knitting with a side-helping of laughter and Malabrigo March has been great in that regard.

Lace and Remembering About Yarn Overs

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I've been knitting a little bit of lace lately, and the yarn overs can get a bit confusing, especially late at night when you convince yourself you can make it through one last row of 200-plus stitches before you nod off. The yarn overs are easy enough when you are knitting all of your stitches, but where I need a bit of a reminder is when I have a yarn over in between a knit and a purl stitch.

There was a lot of that in Little Shells, which I've just finished knitting, but as you can see, haven't blocked yet.

I made it all the way through the pattern with only one small instance of having to unknit a few stitches to get back to a mistake by using one simple device. I made up a rhyme to help me remember the yarn overs. It goes like this:

Knit to Purl, you swirl.

Purl to Knit, that's it.

What I mean by that is easy to decipher. When you have a yarn over in between a knit stitch and a purl stitch, you have to bring the yarn from the back to the front and then wrap it around the needle completely again, i.e., you "swirl" it. Going from a purl to a knit, your yarn is already in front of the needle and you need do nothing between the stitches, your yarn over is automatic. In other words, "that's it."

As silly as it seems, this little device made my knitting so much easier, that I wanted to share it. I'm looking forward to showing you this shawlette in all of its glory once its blocked!

Adventures in Knitting: Braided Trim

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm knitting Adrian Bizilia's Flocked Mittens as my gateway project into colorwork, or stranded, knitting. I'm not entirely certain this was the best choice for a beginner, but it's a beautiful pattern and after swatching, I think I can pull this off, although it may take me some time.

I originally swatched in navy blue and white, using Quince & Co. Lark (the skein of Tern is for the lining), but decided to knit the project in a pale pink colorway called Petal and an off white contrast skein.

These mittens have a picot edge, and just above it, a braided trim.

I hadn't encountered braided trim before, but the pattern instructions are clear and I included a blue version in my swatch to make sure I could do it. No problem. I also found a Craftsy Class, featuring the wonderful Sunne Meyer, on knitting stranded mittens. It is an awesome class — my first on Craftsy — and I highly recommend it because of her focus on many of the details of mitten knitting. She has a segment on braided trim and her comments helped me find a way to keep the yarn from tangling, which was worth the price of the entire class.

Although the pattern calls for a one color braided trim, I decided to do it using both of the mitten colors, and I'm really glad I did. I like it so much, that I'm afraid braided trim is going to start finding its way into everything I knit. The history of the trim comes from Nordic knitting, so it seems entirely appropriate to have learned this technique during the winter Olympics.

One of my goals this year is to be a more fearless knitter — to assume that the fact that I've never done something before means that I absolutely can do it now. So far, that has paid off with my 198 Yards of Heaven Shawlette and the start of color work. What are you doing to create adventures in knitting for yourself this year?