Knitting Update: Works in Progress – Page 4 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

The Best Knitting Retreat

Posted on October 2, 2016 by elliebelly

I'm on the way home from The Plucky Knitter's "Glamping with Plucky" retreat. It was great fun and I've got lots to share with you.

On the way home I'll be working on this complicated looking, but simple to knit hat from Feralknitter on Ravelry. It was a great class!

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Postscript: Shortly after taking the picture, above, I realized I had been knitting for three rounds with the wrong background colors (so much for knitting fairisle while chitchatting on the ferry with everyone leaving the retreat). After lots of wasted time tinking back, I've reknit to where I was before, introducing the correct change in background color. It's rather hard to see in the photo at the moment, but this is a traditional fairisle piece, knit in only two colors per row, with the background color changing to create a three dimensional effect.

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Slow Progress

Posted on September 22, 2016 by elliebelly

Some weeks just aren't knitting weeks. Unfortunately, this is one of them for me. The Paint by Numbers had really is not as slow of a knit as it looks like if you're following along on the blog. It's a straightforward pattern and a couple of days worth of knitting. But I've been inching along, knitting a row here and there when I have a moment to pick it up. Saturday soccer mom status is the key to finishing this one for me. I'm looking forward to wearing it next week.

New Yarn & A Bad Old Toe

Posted on September 18, 2016 by elliebelly

I came home from a rather interesting week away to some really great yarn mail. My week was spent in the phenom beautiful landscape of New Mexico, which was dotted with beautiful cacti and pretty little desert flowers.

The yarn I came home to, in total contrast, was full of rich colors from The Plucky Knitter's most recent update.

I'm planning on knitting some striped, speckled & solid hats for Christmas presents and think this yarn will be perfect! Two of the sets are worsted and one is fingering. I can't wait to start looking for patterns.

There's another project I need to take on. I had some unplanned, minor, but very annoying toe surgery done last week. I spent the whole week wearing Birkenstocks with my business suits, probably not the greatest look of all time. I'm hoping to graduate back to grown up shoes this week, and am wondering about knitting a "big toe sock" for a little bit of extra padding until it stops hurting every time my toe comes into contact with anything firmer than a hand knit sock.

I'm continuing to alternate knitting (I actually knit through the whole toe mess much to the doctor's amusement) between Grannie Annie, one of my favorite knits of all time, the Paint by Numbers Hat, which I'm trying to avoid knitting too quickly as it's a very fun knit, and my Sjølingstadkofta Sweater (no worries about knitting this one too quickly — it's going to be at least a year). You can tell I'm on a bit of a Plucky binge — all three of these projects are knit in the Plucky knitter's yarn; Cachet, Scholar, and Oxford, respectively.

There's a reason for all of the Plucky knitting. I'm looking forward to spending the end of the month at the Plucky Knitter's retreat. This will be my second year and I'm looking forward to classes on fairisle and the mechanics of knitting, but most importantly to seeing some wonderful friends and making new ones. I can't wait to get away and knit, while hanging out with people who understand the making dinner doesn't trump finishing those last few rows in a chart! The retreat is going to be spectacular and a much-needed few days away!

Progress…

Posted on September 13, 2016 by elliebelly

I'm progressing on my Paint Brush Hat, which is now well into the colorwork.

And, my Sjølingstadkofta sweater is also breezing right along. I'm a bit further along than in the photo, below. I've finished the collar ribbing and the portion of the collar that is knit flat, and have now joined in the round and added stitches for the steek that is in my future. I'm knitting on new-to-me needles that my LYS recommended, Hiya Hiya Sharps, and although I didn't like them at first, we are now BFF. They make immaculate increases and wrap & turns (especially when it comes to lifting the wraps to hide them, which I do this way).

Packing for travel is always a huge challenge for me. I'll sacrifice just about anything to get my yoga mat and my knitting into my small rollaboard and carry on bag. But, my current three works in progress all contain multiple, large balls of yarn. The hat has five, and they are all still huge at the point. I can manage just two along with me for the sweater, as it's fingering weight and they'll last. And my Grannie Annie has four balls of yarn, although at this point, they're all about 1/3 of their original size.

I've been negotiating with myself over who comes along with me this week. I've got too very long flights. I'm frankly a bit nervous about running into trouble with Sjølingstadkofta, so I don't want to travel with just one project. I think Grannie Annie, which takes up less room, likely gets to come along, while I leave the hat at home. I hate to do that as it's a wonderful pattern and I could finish it on this trip, but it's just too large at this point. Hopefully I can knit a bit more of it at home and take it along to The Plucky Knitter's retreat, Glamping, at the end of the month.

This Weekend In Knitting

Posted on September 10, 2016 by elliebelly

Look, they made a meme just for me!

I don't really think it's accurate, at least not all the time.

This weekend, I'm definitely not crabby, because: good knitting.

Leuntje's gorgeous Winter Blumen hat, knit in Elliebelly Talia Sport, showed up in my mailbox from Holland this week. It's a gorgeous fairisle pattern, and I love it knit up in this yarn.

This stunning beautiful aran weight cashmere from The Plucky Knitter arrived too. I don't think it will last in stash for very long. I'm itching to cast on with it. The color is stunning and the yarn is the proverbial to-die-for spin.

And, I am ever so slowly, knitting ribbing on 1.5 needles and looking forward to moving on to short row shoulder shaping for Sjølingstadkofta. It's a beautiful, almost-fall weekend, and I'm going to sneak in as much knitting as possible.

Good Knitting Mojo

Posted on September 7, 2016 by elliebelly

You know it's going to be a great week, despite needing to be out of town for work, when this is around the corner from you hotel.

I cast on two new projects in one day, my Sjølingstadkofta sweater and the new Paint By Numbers hat from Plucky. I haven't made a lot of progress so far, but it feels great to have them started.

And, I'm especially happy to be using a favorite new stitch marker.

For the next few weeks, I'll be knitting three projects at once, the Grannie Annie shawl I've been working on for several weeks, along with the two new ones.

Did you laugh when you read next few WEEKS? Sjølingstadkofta is a fairisle, fingering weight sweater. I'm knitting the ribbing on size 1.5 needles and it's a slow, but very enjoyable, slog. I'm guessing it will be months (if not years) before I finish it, but I love the pattern, so I'm going to soldier on. I hope to finish the hat and the shawl in the next month or so, alternating between the three projects.

There won't be any knitting for me tonight, though. I polished off this guy, along with a bunch of mussels and some corn on the cob for dinner. I'm so full that I'm not sure I can keep my eyes open any longer! So, knitting will have to wait for tomorrow.

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Swatch Fail

Posted on August 31, 2016 by elliebelly

This is the swatch for my Mason Dixon Moss Grid Hand Towel and it is, sadly, a fail.

I'm a loose knitter. I know this. I routinely go down two needle sizes from what a pattern calls for. Routinely.

For some reason, I thought I could get away with this one on size 4 needles. The pattern calls for 5. I convinced myself I would tighten up a little. And clearly, that didn't work. I can't even see the pattern in the swatch. It's just a loose mass of yarn.

Swatch fail. I hate that.

But it's so much better to acknowledge it now and swatch a size or two down than end up with that bad feeling in the pit of your stomach midway through the project. You know, the one where you put the project down, knowing you will never pick it up again even though it was once your beloved.

I had hoped to get a start on this project later this week, but I'm going to have to wait until I can get my hands on some size 2 needles and swatch again.

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