Newly Finished Knit Projects – Page 6 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Another Knit Nevermind Hat. Subtitle: Why I Love The Plucky Knitter’s Snug Yarn

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm sure I sound like I have lost my marbles to anyone who is not passionate about knitting. But, I have a new favorite yarn, and I really don't care who knows about it. Snug. I love you Snug. I love you for your cashmere content and for your beautiful, smooth, round, bulkiness. And I love how you take color. All of them. I loved you right out of the box, even before the first time I put you on my needles.

I love you even more, now that I've knit a second hat out of Snug, my second using the Nevermind cabled pattern. It is what you were meant for.

Forgive me for the glamour shot. I'm rather partial to the model as well. But she still doesn't get to keep the hat!

The colorway is Fisherman's Wharf, a neutral with just a hint of a purpleish undertone in the right light. So subtle that you're not even sure it's there. So beautiful that I'm kicking myself for not getting a sweater quantity.

Here is the obligatory cat photo. I was chided, after the lovely photo of our baby cat Juliet earlier this week, for not including our cats in more photos. So here is Harry, who is skilled at photobombing, but agreed to pose just this once.

In case I haven't been clear, if you don't have any of The Plucky Knitter Snug in your stash you need to RUN not walk and get some. You can buy it at her periodic updates or through destash on Ravelry if you're lucky. It's amazing yarn. You need to knit with some now!

Knitting Disaster Averted

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

My disasterous Cables and Lace Capelet is fixed.

Just like that! I ripped off the oversized collar and reknit it on smaller needles and made it shorter. Suddenly, I have a beautiful capelet that makes me think of something Claire should be wearing on the Outlander TV show.

The combination of cables and lace is simply beautiful. Norah Gaughan is a genius pattern writer. The capelet was wonderfully fun to knit and fast too, even with my problem-solving exercise at the end.

The side and back views are as beautiful as the front.

This pattern is fantastic. I can't wait to knit one of Norah's sweaters, most likely Ropewalk, although every pattern she writes is gorgeous.

At the end of the day, Problem solved. I hope this experience will encourage others to be fearless about ripping and recreating. I tend to be rather nervous about doing this type of thing but it was powerful to rip back an entire ball of yarn and lunge straight on in to make it better. One of my favorite things about knitting is that it encourages us to be our best selves and reminds us we don't have to settle for something we aren't happy with. For 2015, I resolve to be more fearless in my knitting!

Gadabout: Knitting That Is So Much Fun I Can’t Wait To Do It Again

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I liked knitting Gadabout a lot.

I like knitting cables and these were unique. And somehow, although I was able to memorize that pattern on the first repeat — something that almost never happens with me — it never got boring. Gadabout is one of those patterns where you want to do "just one more repeat" before you put it down for the night, so you keep going until it's done.

It does not hurt that this is in cashmere. It does mean that I haven't taken it off since it finished drying after a good wet blocking, which really brought out the pattern.

This is a go to pattern. I'd like to knit it next in The Plucky Knitter's bulky Snug — a cashmere blend. But I'd also like to do it in a gently variegated yarn, perhaps a Malabrigo Mecha version. I think it would also look great in Elliebelly Basilisk, a silk and merino blend, and I may need to dye some of that up in a wheat color to use as well.

New Pictures of Old Knitting

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I wanted to share some better pictures of a couple of recently knitted items, as well as one much older project, in hopes that they will motivate or help someone else with their knitting.

First, this is the Nevermind hat, with a much more attractive model and a better idea of what it looks like. Note: I used two skeins of The Plucky Knitter Snug to knit this hat, but I believe I would have scaled back the pattern and done one less repeat and perhaps even knit the smaller size to accomodate the expansion on this yarn when blocked. I love this pattern and will definitely knit it again.

Here is a better view of the cables, with a somewhat less accommodating model.

Next, a better photo of the recent Outlander-inspired Claire cowl (the pattern I used is called The Gathering) that I knit in very bulky yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. This cowl is getting a lot of wear — everyone seems to reach for it as the cowl of choice in colder weather, and I know I'll be knitting at least a few more like this for Christmas presents because they are such quick and easy knits.

And finally, this Tiny Tea Leaves sweater that I knit for Ellie, circa 2011. Somehow, I never took a finished picture, but it is such a great sweater! Ellie has outgrown it, so I'm going to give it a good soak and some new buttons so that my Mom, who is tiny like her granddaughter, can wear it. It's going to look great with her coloring and I'm hoping she'll be delighted with it.

Finally Finished: Antler Baby Sweater

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Finally, I've put the finishing touches on antler. Truth be told, this sweater sat on my desk waiting for buttons to be sewn on for as long as it took to knit the entire sweater. And, I procrastinated over the button bands for a long time too.

This sweater is a lasting homage to the canon of knitting that says you will kick yourself after-the-fact if you fail to promptly add the finishing touches. This is a beautiful sweater and I could not be happier with it. From the camel yarn that I dyed, to the pretty cables, to the overall look and fit of the sweater, it's now baby-ready. But the baby? Oh, the baby. Not this sweater. Not seven months later. So learn from me, knitting friends, and do not delay when knitting for babies. Although another baby will come along to wear this sweater, I'm sad that it will never grace the baby it was intended for.

Nevermind. My First Project With The Plucky Knitter’s Yarn.

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This is the start of my Nevermind hat, which took all of two days to knit. In addition to being a delightful pattern, this is my first finished object using yarn from The Plucky Knitter. The yarn is called Snug. It is a bulky blend of merino, cashmere, and alpaca. And it is heaven.

The finished hat is warm and cozy. The yarn is so soft — it seems to bring out the best of each fiber and produce a dense knit that seems unlikely to pill. Make sure you block this yarn to bring out its fabulous drape.

I've put in my order for more Snug to make sure I have the pleasure of knitting with it all winter. In one quick hat, it became my new favorite yarn.

Outlander Knitting and The Polar Vortex

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

With rumors of another polar vortex-like episode of cold weather headed for the deep south, I decided I needed a quick, but densely warm cowl, to get me through the next few weeks. I've knit several cowls that mimic the look of Claire's beautiful Sassenach cowl, as she works her way through the Scottish Highlands in the Outlander series, and I decided a modified version would be just right.

This pattern is so easy that I knit it during a drive yesterday (I was obviously a rider, not the driver), and had it ready to wear by evening. The yarn is Bulky Blue Sky Alpaca and I held it double-stranded. I used three skeins of yarn for this cowl, dividing the last skein into two even parts. The pattern is very simple: Using size 35 needles, Cast on 16 stitches using your favorite provisional cast on (I like Lucy Neatby's, using a crochet hook, which you can see here). Knit in garter stitch, i.e. knit every row, until you are almost out of yarn. You will finish the scarf with Kitchener stitch, for a seamless join. To do this, you need one length of yarn (no double stranding for this part), that is three times the width of your work. Even if you don't like to Kitchener, you can manage it for 16 stitches, and the result will be well-worth it.

For the larger cowl worn by claire — one that is long enough to twist around your neck a couple of times or spread out along your shoulders, you will want a longer cowl than this one. The modification is simple — this cowl is very bulky because of the double stranding, but using the same quantity of yarn, held single, you can produce a longer cowl that is easily wrapped around your neck.

Finally, a word about the yarn. Recently, I overdyed a sport weight Blue Sky yarn in this same pink colorway for a friend, and got a lusterous result. That yarn had silk in it, and I thought that might be responsible for the sheen of the yarn. I was curious as to whether I could replicate the result in a yarn that lacked the silk content. I tried it with this bulky yarn that is 50% Alpaca and 50% wool and you can see the result in the picture at the top — it's a deep, shimmering blue. I'm as pleased with the cowl as I am with the yarn, and look forward to staying warm through out the coming weather event.