Author: Joyce Makes Art

And just like that, it's finished.

My notes say that I started this project on October 6, 2008, which was a lifetime ago.  I had no idea that six months later, I would luck into the job of a lifetime; demanding, wonderful, fun, consuming, and definitely not conducive to turning out an afghan, knit from sock yarn (seriously, sock yarn? what the hell was I thinking?), in a few months. I had several slow knitting years in there where I was lucky to knit a just a cowl or a scarf.  But, my goal all along had been to knit this for my daughter and give it to her before she went off to college, so I knew I had time. I decided to get serious about it late last year, and recommitted myself to knitting squares. The squares were great airplane knitting. I knit them in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Jerusalem.  I knit them during football games.  Roll Tide!

The squares are really the story of my adult knitting life.  The early ones are a little wonky.  I missed a yarn over or did something funky with a stitch in some of those early squares, and didn't notice, so you can see the mistake in the final quilt.  I ran out of yarn in one, and had to do the last couple of rows with a different yarn.  The most recent ones are more technically proficient, but still have the loving look of handmade.  About half of the squares are knit with yarn that I dyed, and others with remnants from favorite socks or other projects.  There is one preternaturally neon square that sticks out.  Some of the others look more beautiful combined together than they do individually.  It is, after all, a barn-raising quilt, meant to be a collection that comes together with meaning, and I hope it will have just that for my sweet child as she ventures out into the world.

One final note.  I don't crochet.  I really don't.  But, I wanted this quilt to have the beautiful crochet edges I had seen on another project years ago.  My sweet local yarn store owner did that part for me.  She took hours, and hours, and hours to do it.  It is beautiful and perfect.  The picot edges are so incredibly pretty.  What could come together in life without friends?  Certainly nothing in mine!

I swore I never would.  I like to pick out my own patterns.  But somehow, I got sucked into the allure of a mystery KAL: Woolly Wormhead 2015.  It started on November 1.

So, I dyed yarn.  It's Elliebelly BFL in the Margery colorway, one of those delicious, deep turquoises that is difficult for me to get a good photo. (Note to self: new year's resolutions 2016, learn to use a camera.)  This was the closest I could get. The hat is knit in three "clues", and the design is a mystery until you finish it.  I'm hoping it will be something I will wear a lot — I dyed two extra skeins for a cowl to go along with it because I fell in love with the Aran-Style Cowl, after seeing it knit up as a Plucktober project.  If the hat is something that will even vaguely work with this cowl, I'm going to be knitting it in my dreamy blue yarn.

© NIHON VOGUE-SHA Co., Ltd

Since it's a mystery KAL, no real in-progress pictures until the end of the month.  Without revealing too much (actually, without revealing anything except what my car's steering wheel looks like), here is my photo after finishing the first clue.

 

It's November.  And even in Alabama, that means fall.

My garden hasn't gotten that message yet.  It's still in full bloom with high summer color.  And inevitably, that impacts my knitting choices.  At a time when I'm thinking about this turtleneck in a fuzzy haze of almost-black and blue and am planning a Marled Hat in these lovely, muted red-browns, held together, my garden is calling out to me to knit, just one more time before cold weather truly hits, with some of my brightest, most flowery yarn.

I have holiday knitting to start and some works in progress to finish.  I'm trying to fight off the urge.  But every time I walk outside and into my door garden, I'm tempted to dig out my brightest pink or my juiceiest green and cast on without a care. My garden is a temptress, and it is calling to me.

There is nothing like picking up a lot of stitches to make you nervous.  Will your stitch count match the pattern?  Will the button bands like flat or pull your sweater into an unflattering shape?  A lot of things could go wrong.

Somehow or another, though, I survived.  Arlo is now blocking so I can set in the sleeves and sew up the side seams.

I had quality help.

Harry, with that typical Maine Coon Cat personality, was deeply concerned about my progress and kept sitting down on my knitting.  To show that he cared, of course.

At the end, he was very proud.  Me too.  Arlo is the most complicated sweater I have ever knit and I wouldn't have gotten to this point without a lot of help from my knitting friends.  And from Harry.

I love fall.  It makes me happy when the trees have that golden glow and the weather turns cooler.  So, I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening here on this first true fall weekend.  

My handsome young man got a hat trick in his soccer game yesterday.  Allow me the Mommy brag.  He's the youngest of four, and doesn't always get the attention he deserves.  He is, however, getting the sweater of his dreams.  He picked out the yarn, the color and the pattern, and the pieces are blocking so I can do some seaming when I get a moment.

Although it looks like a mismatch, it's okay.  Don't panic (that's what I had to tell myself)!  The fronts are being blocked for the first time, while I'm just opening up the side stitches on the back to make the seaming easier.  It should all work out okay as the fronts will shrink back down a bit once they are released.

This reminds me, because a couple of people have asked, to show you how I keep my ballwinder and skein set up so they are ready to be used anytime I want to wind yarn.  I've got them on an old bookcase, with a low stool nearby so I can sit down while I wind.

I also started swatching for a marled turtleneck yesterday.

I'm not a fan of these two colors together, but am going to try and find some black or dark gray yarn to work with the blue, because I want to envelope myself in a huge, soft turtleneck and keep it on all winter!  Preferably in cashmere.  But not these two colors together.  Just not feeling it.

Finally, I dyed a little yarn for the Wooly Wormhead Hat KAL, which starts November 1.  It called for a solid, aran weight yarn, and I didn't have anything on hand.  Since I've been obsessed with deep, turquoise blues for the last several month, I pulled out my notes and dyed the Margery colorway I did last year when Mommajnine  knit these gorgeous socks for me.  Turquoise never seems to photograph well for me, and this color is a bit different that in the photo.  It's richer, brighter and deeper and I'm in love.  I'm really glad I did a couple of extra skeins so can have a matching scarf.

I  hope you're having a great weekend too, whatever you're up to.  Enjoy fall!

 

I keep a lot of different knitting needles at hand, ranging from Clover bamboo to a variety of Addi needles and on into Chia Goos and Dyak Craft.

As with anything else, I have favorites. At the top of my list are my Dyak Craft needles. I was fortunate enough to get two full sets of Darn Pretties before the fire that destroyed their wood laminate supplier, Dymondwood. And more recently, I invested in a set of their Nickel Northern Lights.

I like them both, but have never knit with them in a head to head comparison. This opportunity came up last weekend when I decided to knit both the left and right front pieces of Arlo at the same time and needed two different size 6 needles.

Spoiler alert: I love them both.

I have nothing negative to say here. I expected the nickel needles to be a bit slicker but in reality the stitches slide off of the wood laminate with ease. The tips on both sets of needles were sharp enough to make cabling without a needle a simple and efficient process. The needles stay connected to the cables without any of the annoying slip off I’ve experienced with other needles, although I do tighten them by placing a rubber band in between my fingers and the needles. And best of all the joins are smooth and there are no rough surfaces that snag my precious yarn. My conclusion, and I have no connection to the company other than being a satisfied customer, is that these needles are well worth the price and the wait. Since the waitlist can be lengthy, you may as well go ahead and get on it now!