Blog – Page 10 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Cables And Cables

Posted on November 25, 2016 by elliebelly

I've been working on Rob Roy this afternoon. The cables were hard to figure out for the first few rows, but now they seem to be making sense. I'm a few rows shy of halfway through the first repeat of the cable pattern, and although it was hard to get a photo that shows much of anything, I did want to capture how pretty the yarn, Elliebelly Lyric in the Catherine, Are You Weeping? colorway, looks in progress.

This yarn is incredibly soft and the finished hat is going to be lovely and squishable. Like all of Thea Coleman's patterns, Rob Roy has just enough of a challenge to it that you feel good about conquering it. The quirk here is that on a few rows, the cable crosses start at the end of the last row, which sounds somewhat confusing until you get there, but her directions are so well written that all you need to do is trust the pattern and follow them precisely.

Elliebelly Paintbrush Yarns

Posted on November 23, 2016 by elliebelly

I have always believed that some of my best dyeing techniques, like many life skills, come from learning to fix mistakes. Overdyeing, for one. I have very well-developed skills in that area. One of my favorite techniques is dyeing my Paintbrush Yarns, a technique that evolved out of a disaster many years ago. As far as I can tell, the earliest Paintbrush Yarns I sold were in 2007, although the technique started as a skein-saving measure several years earlier when I discovered playing with a toddler and silk ribbon painting were two things that shouldn't be attempted at the same time! Typically, I consider my paintbrush-style dyes to be one-of-a-kind because of the way they are created, although there are some dye color pairings I like and repeat with results that resemble each other, particularly when skeins are alternated during knitting. This week, for the first time in a long time, I set up my process table for Paintbrush dyeing and had at it.

This is "Feeling Frisky" dyed on Elliebelly Big Blue Bulky, a 100% Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) yarn. Although multi-colored yarns can require thoughtful project selection, I've had good luck with them and am going to start with a pair of Melissa LeBarre's new Bearberry mittens with a skein of this yarn.

One of my all time favorite Paintbrush projects is this Lente Cowl, which I knit during the annual Elliebelly Knitalong, Adventurous April, in 2014. Monika Sirna's brilliant pattern was a perfect choice for this style yarn.

These yarns are all Paintbrush Colorways using variations of the same base colors. The cashmere on the left became this gorgeous Liebevoll shawl.

On Ravelry, there are only a few Paintbrush Colorway projects and stash uploaded. I'm looking forward to dyeing a few of these yarns and seeing what new projects I haven't envisioned that people will come up with for them.

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Rob Roy Hat Pattern, Paid Forward

Posted on November 22, 2016 by elliebelly

I haven't made any progress on Rob Roy since last you saw it (because: Jimmies and Two Track).

But, I did want to do the pay it forward part of this project, so Eva, check your Ravelry inbox. You should have the Rob Roy pattern waiting for you! Thanks to everyone who commented. I really appreciated the chance to help Thea, the pattern designer, with her charitable project and at the same time being able to help someone else get started on knitting this lovely hat.

Knit Socks!

Posted on November 21, 2016 by elliebelly

I'm knitting Jimmies! These cute little low socks are so adorable that even the fact that I'm knitting them on size 0 needles isn't dampening my enthusiasm.

Part of my enthusiasm is the yarn, which is Elliebelly, pulled from my deep stash. This is Ella, a paint brush colorway, dyed on BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) Cash-Silk Sock. I love the subtle color transitions.

So far, so good. I'm about halfway through the flap on the first sock and looking forward to making good progress during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Although I'm typically a very loose knitter and struggle with getting gauge, often going down two needle sizes, I'm knitting these more or less as written. The pattern calls for size 0 for the cuff and size 1 for the remainder of the sock. I'm knitting everything on size 0 (mostly because I couldn't find my size 1 DPNS). The cuff opening looks small, and I'll be interested to see if I end up with a kid sized sockie. No problem either way — this project is so manageable I decided to knit the first sock as my gauge swatch, as I have plenty of yarn, and I'll take it from there.

A Bit Of Elliebelly Knitting History

Posted on November 21, 2016December 19, 2016 by elliebelly

Here's a bit of vintage Elliebelly ephemera! This banner is from my long ago life, when Elliebelly yarn was sold on Hyena Cart as part of a "Congo" called Midday Faire with a few other work at home moms. The banner surely looks dated, but I couldn't stop from laughing when I found it in some old computer files. We had a great time together at Hyena Cart. This was all long before Ravelry and at the very, very earliest start of knitters finding each other online.

In this pre-Ravelry era, I had an online group of Mom-Friends who used brightly variegated colorways to knit diaper covers for babies. The earliest notes I can find from selling hand dyes on line is in 2001. The hand knit colors made cloth diapering seem like an easy and obvious choice, and were lots of fun. I always liked to sneak in some muted and semi-solid colorways, and these, along with solids, became useful as trim. And in seemingly no time, but probably more like a couple of years, everyone was knitting baby sweaters and then scarves and shrugs for themselves until we evolved into full blown knitters.

(c) camdensmom

Even though I've evolved as both a knitter and a dyer in the many years since then, and have not knit more than the occasional diaper cover for a friend in the last few years, I really honor my beginnings as a dyer. Although my Grandmother taught us to dye and batik fabric as kids, this was really the first time I had worked with yarn as an adult. In addition to the scientific approach my Grandmother took, I added in some intuitive techniques from my collage art hobby, layering and glazing color onto skeins of yarn as I would on a canvas. Trial and error was always the way I worked, taking copious notes and learning to view failures as opportunities — to this day, one of my favorite techniques is the result of what I viewed as a disaster in the moment.

My family speculates that I have Tetrachromacy and see more conditions than most people. In reality, I just love color. I love it's mix and play and the way it varies when dyed on different fibers. And it turns out that is the perfect passion for a lifelong knitter, because it lets me bring my love of color, fiber, and finished knit projects together.

Elliebelly is coming back in January of 2017 with a new look, a new logo, and base yarns and colorways that have the benefit of several years of intensive dyeing and test knitting while I've been away from the business of selling yarn. I'm looking forward to it and hope you'll sign up for the newsletter in the box at the top of the page, so I can be in touch when we reopen.

Early Morning Knitting

Posted on November 19, 2016 by elliebelly

It's finally fall here; cool and crisp. Which means perfect knitting weather.

I took advantage of the opportunity to knit the ribbing for yet another hat. This is Thea Coleman's new Rob Roy pattern, knit in Elliebelly's Lyric Worsted in the Catherine, Are You Weeping colorway. I'm ready to start the cable charts and really looking forward to it!

Thea is using pattern sales to make donations to a charity that serves girls. The pattern was gifted to me by a Ravelry friend and I'd like to pay that forward, so leave a comment below if you're interested in knitting the pattern and I'll randomly pick someone to gift it to at the end of the weekend.

I was grateful for the company of my knitting buddy, Wingus The Cat, this morning. He loves my project bag from Fringe Supply and tries to climb inside every chance he gets. But he's still good knitting company and I'm glad to have the ribbing finished. Happy Saturday y'all!

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Knitting Quick Christmas Gifts

Posted on November 18, 2016December 19, 2016 by elliebelly

Over the past few weeks, Amy Miller, one of my favorite knitting pattern designers, has released four patterns for low socks. They're adorable, and they're quick.

I love all of them, and intend to knit them, but was particularly take with the pattern for It's a Gansey. Ganseys are hand knit woolen sweaters, worn by fisherman in Britain. They were knit on tiny needles for warmth and to be waterproof, with shifting patterns that identified their village and family, so their bodies could be returned home for burial in the event of an accident at sea. These cute little socks change in patterning across the foot, mimicking the traditional approach to knitting a Gansey. I'm going to follow Ravelry knitter MStephanie2's very clever idea, and knit each patterned band in a different color.

From left to right, that's Muslin, Lost Coast, Dear Theodosia, and Lady Mary, all on Elliebelly BFL Constant.

All four of Amy's little sock patterns, found together here, are just right for some quick gift knitting. I'm envisioning Jimmies in a variegated Paintbrush Yarns and perhaps a quick pair of Netties because the cables (or are they faux cables?) are so sweet. I'm so glad I found these sweet little patterns and can't wait to cast on!

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