Newly Finished Knit Projects – Page 8 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Lente Lente Lente!

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I can't say enough good things about this cowl pattern. Lente is a relatively simple knitting project that even an advanced beginner should be able to manage (and you will find lots of support on Ravelry if you want to knit it, including the Adventurous April thread here.)

The design is a clever one and is written to be adaptable to different types of yarn. I knitted it with an aran weight, but it also looks fantastic in a bulky yarn and would knit up quickly enough in that weight to be the perfect holiday gift for friends and teachers. It also shows off multicolored yarns to advantage, but works nicely with solids or "quieter" yarns as well.

Have you knit Lente? If you have, make sure you add in a link so we can see it!

A Sweater That Fits

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm ridiculously proud of this sweater. It fits. And that hasn't always been the case with my knitting!

Earlier knitters indicated the pattern was a tight fit and to size up. I swatched, I measured, I did the math. I needed a size large on the bottom and a medium on top, with sleeves in an in-between size. So I fiddled with all the numbers, with the help of some very nice people on Ravelry.

The sweater is fitted. and its meant to be worn buttoned up, so it really mattered to get the fit right. And as you can guess from it' slightly loose fit on Miss E, it fits me perfectly. It fits so perfectly that she really can't steal this one from me!

The pattern is incredibly clever — as you form the leaves with yarn overs and decreases you also accomplish shaping for the sweater. I was easily able to adjust the length in the right place for my petite frame by omitting a few rows in between the leaves on the bottom and the leaves on top. As someone who suffers through alterations of everything I purchase, it's delightful to have a sweater where the waist actually hits at the waist!

I love the sweater so much that I finished it was a set of buttons I purchased on our Iceland trip. They look as though I purchased them for the sweater, although I didn't, and make it truly one of the most satisfying items I've knitted.

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.

Elliebelly: The Missing Years

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

2012 and 2013 were knitting dead zones for me. Between work, kids, and moving my Mom across country to live down the street from us, there wasn't a lot of knitting. And there never seemed to be any time to blog about the knitting that did go on.

I'll do a few "missing years" posts this month to catch you up on what I knit while I was away from the blog. Since there isn't a lot of it, it shouldn't take long. But some of these projects are items I'm really happy about and want to share with y'all.

There isn't a lot to talk about from 2012, although I did get a number of squares knit for the Barnraising Quilt I'm knitting as a long term project. It doesn't need to be finished for another three years, but it's making slow, steady progress. The stand out project from 2012 is my Burberry Inspired Cowl, knit in Juniper Moon Farm Wool that I dyed in the Elliebelly Purple Fig Colorway.

By contrast, 2013 was a far better year for knitting, beginning in the summer, when I picked up a project that had been lingering for a couple of years — a baby blanket knit in Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton — so that I could finish it for a friend who was having a baby.

I was so happy I hadn't finished the blanket any earlier! I enjoyed knitting it so much and it was just the right present after it was lined with this happy Japanese print fabric.

I finished the blanket while on a trip to the Gulf Coast, and got a lot of funny looks from people at the pool as I cast off.

After I finished knitting the blanket, I started a light weight infinity scarf for fall in The Fibre Company's Terra Yarn. The yarn is beautiful, although pool side knitting doesn't necessarily make for the best pictures.

The scarf finished up nicely. Perhaps too nicely, since I haven't been able to get it back from my daughter for some time now.

The summer beach trip really jump started my knitting again. Fairhope, Alabama has a beautiful little yarn shop called The Yarn Cottage, that has a really nice selection of yarns. One of the store samples caught my eye. It was a pattern called Summit, by Mandie Harrington. It's an old Knitty pattern I hadn't seen before, and the circle construction was intriguing. The store sample was knit in Blue Heron Rayon Metallic and it was so irresistable, that I grabbed a couple of skeins. I worked on this rather complicated pattern a bit, but after getting a few repeats in, put it aside to get my Christmas knitting (more on that in a future post) done. I'll pick it back up again this spring, but for now, here it is in progress.

Newly Finished Objects

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Cold weather is surely the best time to finish up a few projects. This was my week to finish up four cowls, and it was just in time! Between children and me, they've been in use ever since coming off needles.

This cowl, using bulky weight Malabrigo Rasta, knit up in a day and is very pretty. I love Rasta because of its reliable quality, beautiful colors, and warmth.

My Blue Lagoon Cowl, using the Caera Cowl pattern, took quite a bit longer than that. The pattern was a fun, challenging knit. Not too difficult for a beginning cable knitter but complicated enough that it never dragged.

This cowl was knit for my daughter using an organic merino yarn out of Maine. I haven't encountered this yarn, Natural Colors Merino Bulky from Swans Island, before. I wasn't sure about it at first — it's a round knit yarn and I was concerned about stitch definition. But after finishing this cowl, I'm certain the yarn is a hit. I liked it so much that I'm using it for a hat to go along and I know I will be adding more of this yarn to my stash this year.

Finally, I finished Pam Allen's State Street Cowl in Quince Puffin for my Mom. You will have to forgive the bad picture — I promise to get one of my Mom in it over the weekend. But I was so excited about this pattern I wanted to share it. Although this can be worn as a bulky scarf and it looks great that way, I like it even better pulled down like this to stay warm while drinking tea and talking with friends or watching a game on tv. I've cast on a second one for myself — like all of Pam's patterns, this one is well thought out and fun to knit.

This is probably a high water mark for me: most finished knit items in one week. But the combination of cold weather and simple, quick projects in bulkier yarns made the knitting fast and enjoyable!

2014 Fresh Start!

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

It has been a long time since I was able to blog. Many of you know me in real life, and know I've had commitments elsewhere and although those still exist, I'd like to find time to share some of my knitting with you once again. I've been knitting in hyperdrive since the first of the year — lots of airplane time and doctor's office waits lately — so I thought I would try to share a few pictures.

In no particular order, here is what has come off of my needles recently:

1-This pattern is called 198 yards of heaven. I tried it a couple of years back and the lace defeated me. So I started over and this time, I learned that the secret was to knit it after small children had gone to bed, so I could count correctly. It was a zip to knit. This photo is before it was blocked. I need to get another picture of it post-blocking. It opened up beautifully and has been around my neck ever since.

2-This Chunky Cowl was knit from Malabrigo Mecha. I love this yarn. I could build a whole stash around it and, in fact, I seem to have done that in the last few months.

3-Gloves in Malabrigo Rasta. This yarn is incredible. No wind, no cold, not even the polar vortex permeates their dense fabric. I'm going to try to do a pair of these for everyone in our family.

4-This Agnes Sweater was more like agony to knit. Yes, it was my fault. I didn't use the bulky Quince yarn the this charming pattern called for. But I did swatch and it was good, or so I thought. It was going to keep me warm all winter. In the end, it didn't fit me or my 15 year old or even my 11 year old, but I was able to gift it to a charming 7 year old who seemed most pleased with it. (Pictured here on the 11 year old).

5-Moths Around My Neck is knit from some silk handerchiefs I dyed ages ago. This was mostly finished. I only had to pick it up a few days ago and add on a couple more inches for it to be perfect for a bit of color mid-winter.

6-Tundra is another project I started ages ago, but left to languish. I don't know why. I can't rave enough about this pattern. I opted to leave off the buttons the pattern calls for and use a few big kilt pins to fasten it in the front so I can wear it as either a wrap or a scarf.

7-Grandma's Hug is a wrap I knit from a new favorite yarn, Quince, for my Mom. It's meant to be snuggly for sitting around the house drinking tea or, in my Mom's case, staying up late at night watching football and basketball games. Although it is off my needles and blocking as I type, the selfie I took of it is dreadful, so for now, we'll stick with this in progress photo.

As I look all this over, it seems like a lot of knitting for the first 21 days of the year! But I've had a few days off and lots of cold weather that supported the urge to knit. Still on my needles is a turquoise blue cabled cowl that I am in love with (pictures to come) and I've got a line up of projects to knit for a cold weather family trip in a few weeks.

My knitting goal this year is to learn how to do color work. I'm going to start with a pair of mittens. I'm not sure it's going to go very well, but I do have a secret weapon, as I have a knitting friend around the corner who produces some of the most beautiful stranded knitting I have ever seen. I'm hoping she will give me lots of advice.

I'm happy to be back to blogging, and although I may not be posting every day, I'm going to try and check in at least once a week. It looks like it's going to be a big year for knitting and I've done a little bit of dyeing and have more planned. So stay tuned!