knitalong – Page 2 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Malabrigo March KAL Begins

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm not sure what it is about Malabrigo March — the idea that you're up casting on in the middle of the night with knitters all over the world? Whatever it is, I stayed up past midnight and cast on my projects.

I want to go to Marz – Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Sweater

It's going to be a finicky knit, alternating three skeins (because these skeins look nothing alike!) in a light fingering yarn. But I think it will be worth it in the long run. The very long run — because who am I kidding? This is going to be a long slow knit. Do the tight little M1R and M1Ls in this yarn slows me down!

March Monkey – The Monkey Jacobus Pattern

I'm already in love with his cute little Intarsia in the round face, and I've got eyes (I hope they're the right size) coming in the mail next week. The body is in my favorite Malabrigo colorway, Arco Iris.

Blue Mittens - Super Bulky Mittens by Diane Soucy

I knit a pair of these last year for Malabrigo March. They were quick and fun, and I've worn them a lot. I thought a solid colored pair might be a good addition to the family stash of mittens. Here is last year's version.

I'm looking forward to all the good knitting support, inspiration and fun that always comes along with this knitalong.

Malabrigo March KAL

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Do you remember the 2014 Malabrigo March Knitalong? I amassed stash, cast on all the things, finished two cowls, a hat, and a sweater, went to Iceland, knit a lot while hiking, and finished one last hat just in time for Ellie to wear it home. All in all, it was a wonderful month. Knitting in Iceland! Knitting with Malabrigo!

This year, my goals are a bit more modest. I have two projects to knit and a longer term project to cast on and get started with, and then finish up later this year.

First up, Blue Mittens. Because it's surprisingly cold for Alabama in February. I plan to cast these on right at midnight on March 1 and have them knit up in time to wear for the Selma march anniversary the following weekend, because I hate having cold fingers and this bulky Malabrigo Rasta yarn is an amazing chill chaser.

Next up, Monkey Jacobus. He's going to be my first knitted stuffed animal. He's going to be adorable – you're just going to have to trust me on this one. And, I get to learn a new technique, intarsia in the round, along the way.

My last project is Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Sweater. Yes, that's a sweater knit in a fingering yarn, Malabrigo's new Mechita. I love their single-ply yarns, and I fell hard for Mechita in the Diana colorway. I'm willing to accept that this one will take a while. I'm calling it "I want to go to Marz," a goofy homage to the fact that Marz means March in Icelandic and our tour guide in Iceland played the John Grant song of this name over and over while we were in Iceland last March.

I'm looking forward to this year's Malabrigo March KAL festivities, which are hosted here on Ravelry.

Yarn. Dyeing. Adventurous April.

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

It has been a while since I've shared yarn dyeing in progress with y'all. That's because I haven't had any time to dye lately. But, over the long holiday weekend I did a little work that I can't wait to share with you.

This is a new, still unnamed, blue. It's a dusky cousin of one of my favorite colorways, Betsy Blue. Blues are hard to photograph and this one isn't quite as teal as it appears on my monitor. It's lovely in person and I can't wait to knit with it (and name it!)

These two colors are not new. They are long-time Elliebelly base colors that I often mix to use in variegated colorways. (The golden yellow is one of the colors that makes Marble Angel one of my favorites — I was tickled when I googled for a quick picture and found this 2008 post on the old Diaperswapers forum with photos of it, along with Katie, the colorway that first forced me to think about gray in a serious way and led to the color on the left.) I thought it would be fun to see them on their own for a change. The gray on the left is actually a two-bath colorway, first dyed a pale gray and then over-dyed the deeper gray. When I use this color in a mix, I dye it all at once. I'm really pleased with the glazed approach I used here.

The mustard color — the color of mustard blooms in the garden, not the stuff you slap on a hotdog, is one of my favorite base yellows to dye with. It has just enough brown to build a hint of character. I like this color on its own as well, but I'm sure I'll be unable to resist overdyeing and glazing some of the skeins from this batch. This is one of those colors with so much potential to play with!

I've been making time to dye because, although it's only mid-February, I'm thinking ahead to April and the Adventurous April Knitalong on the Elliebelly Ravelry Group. If you joined us last year, you know it's going to be lots of fun. And, although you can't buy Elliebelly yarn, in the lead up to the KAL, my co-hostess Shelley and I will come up with fun and clever contests so you can win some in time to swatch and be ready come April 1.

Since the group has settled on at least one pattern for the KAL, Antarktis, I've made a headstart on dyeing some yarns that will work for that pattern. Like always for our KALs, you'll be welcome to join in with any yarn you want to knit with, Elliebelly or not. If you haven't joined is in the past or aren't a group member, you're welcome to come join and make some new friends while we start organizing for this year's KAL. It's going to be a lot of fun!

I Have Sleeves

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I don't knit a lot of sweaters, so everytime I do, I tend to see something new.

Modern Garden is no exception. In this sweater, you knit the sleeves from the bottom row up to about chest high. Then, you knit them into the body of the sweater, keeping up with the patterning on the sleeves and in the yoke (and remembering to place your buttonholes, which has been an issue for me on this one) and complete the sweater.

The sleeves are bulky and I'm knitting them on DPNs, instead of magic loop because I don't have an additional circular needle in this size. They were a little too cumbersome to take along with me on vacation, so I put the sweater aside and worked on hats while I was away.

But I picked the sweater back up last night and am working on sleeves. The first one is ready to incorporate into the yoke and my hope is to have the second one there tonight so I can put everything together and move on to the yoke next week.

And, a reminder. We are starting a Knit Along on the Elliebelly Group on Ravelry on April 15. You're welcome to join us — you can knit with any yarn you choose and there is no official date you have to finish by. We would love to have you, whether you are a new knitter or a more experienced one.

Casting On: Ollie’s Crayon Ragman Sweater

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

The Elliebelly Knit Along starts today, and I'm on top of it.

This yarn

is going to become this sweater, Donna Higgins Ragman.

I'm off to a good start.

A very bad swatch indicated I would get gauge on size 9 needles (I've knit with this yarn before so I knew that and was too lazy to do more than just quickly confirm it.)

57 stitches, casted on using the long tail method.

And, on to the set up row for the raglan increases, followed by the insertion of pretty yarn jewelry (stitch markers).

The only hitch in the process involved our large black cat, squirt, who became enamoured with the "new toy" Mom got him, and suddenly wandered off with the ball of yarn, trailing my needles behind him.

He was very disappointed when I took it back. Poor kitty!