knitting – Page 10 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

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!

The Best New Knitted Thing in the World

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

With a tip of the hat to Rachel Maddow at MSNBC, I'm introducing a new occasional feature on this Blog — the Best New (Knitted) Thing in the World.

You know how we all stumble across things that are so fabulous that we want to share them with all of our fellow knitters? It happens to me all the time. From now on, when I run across them, I'm going to share them as Best New Knitted Things.

The impetus for this bold move was this yarn, which I discovered in, of course, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky, dyed specially for Serendipity Needleworks in Tuscaloosa in the "Crimson Pride" colorway.

Serendipity Needleworks survived the tornadoes that hit Alabama and decimated parts of Tuscaloosa in April, and it's a good thing. They are a gem of a knitting store with an incredibly nice staff. And yarn that practically screams "Roll Tide Roll" at you. Crimson Pride. Really. Best New Knitted Thing in the World!

New Works in Progress

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm down to knitting sleeves on Ellie's Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan and Ollie's Ragman, but, through whatever quirk of knitting adhd I seem to possess in great supply, I've detoured onto two small projects. I'll get back on the sweaters next week, and finish them in time for the advent of cooler weather.

These cabled gauntlets are a fun, quick knit. Not overly challenging (unless you are totally incapable of reading and then remembering a simple, well-written pattern as I seem to have been on the first one). I love these and the yarn, a lovely blend of Alpaca, Silk, Camel and Cashmere.

This is the start of my Storm Cloud Shawlette. I love the elongated garter stitch, and although I told myself I couldn't start one more project until I finish the sweaters, I succumbed to the allure of this simple, comforting knit and the pretty colors of the Sea Wool that had been at the top of my list of yarns I wanted to knit with. When I stretch it out, as though blocked, the colors look like a cloud of rainbows. It's going to be hard to avoid knitting this one straight through.

Ollie’s Crayon Sweater: Trying Out Trim

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

When last we left our story, I had run out of yarn for Ollie's Ragman, knit in Elliebelly Talia in the Crayon colorway, and was obsessing over how to deal with the trauma. I settled upon a solid color trim, and dyed two: one blue and one gray.

Ollie favored the blue, so I knit it up into cuffs. The 1×1 rib looks oversized to me, knit on the same size needles as the body of the sweater (size 9) and although the color has much to recommend it, I wondered it the gray wouldn't be a better match. So I'm trying out the gray on the bottom of the body, going down one needle size to get a neater fabric.

I think the gray is the winner, so once I finish the body, I'll rip off the sleeve cuffs and reknit them.

The inside of the sweater looks great to me too. At some point, I'm going to have to come up with a reverse stockinette project for the Crayon colorway!

This Week’s Knitting Round Up

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

I spent this week out of town, which was both good (flight delays and hotel insomnia = extra knitting time) and bad (Iphone camera photos of my knitting are very unsatisfactory). Here's the round up:

(1) Before I left I put in a little time dyeing which yielded both this fabulous dye pot

And this choice of trim for finishing off Ollie's Crayon Ragman.

Any thoughts on which color you think will look more like a design choice and less like a screaming "I ran out of yarn" advert?

(2) On the road I got through the better part of two (of four) repeats on the Orchids and Fairy Lights Hat.

This pattern is SO much fun to knit and have I told you I'm knitting it in a thick, soft, buttery cashmere? This hat feels incredible. And the bobbles are fun, the cables are a challenge to keep straight, and all in all, this hat makes me feel good about myself — a pretty big pay off for a little bit of careful pattern reading. Stephanie Dosen is the designer behind Tiny Owl Knits. She is a fabulous designer and articulates a great, clear pattern. I can't wait to knit her Amy March Slippers and her Catching Butterflies Mitts as well. You should really look at every single pattern she has, but if you look at only one thing, check out the incredible Bee Keeper's Quilt. I definitely have a crush on Stephanie and her beautiful patterns!

(3) I've finished (except for a line of crochet trim on the bottom edge I need to teach myself to do this weekend) the Honegart Hat.

I love the pattern. The details are clever and it is a very satisfying knit. Several members of my household are vying to keep this, but it's a birthday present for the oldest child (who doesn't read my blog), so I suspect I may knit a few more. I like the way the skeins of yarn play together — as I mentioned, two skeins were originally dyed together and then I overdyed one of them, so that some of the original color shows through. It's hard to display in a picture, but if you look closely below, you'll see some of the green from the band showing through in the blue "honeycomb" top.

(4) I also got in some time working on the body of Ellie's Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan. I'm well into the "miles and miles of stockinette" part of the body which, while not the most exciting knitting is possible to do while carrying on a conversation or catching up on the news.

I'm hoping to finish up the body this weekend so I can get to work on the sleeves and button bands. I'm knitting this sweater in Madeline Tosh, Tosh Vintage Merino, which is a wonderful yarn. I'm wondering if it would be possible to consider this yarn a collectible item so I could justify buying some in every one of her amazing colorways. It's great to work with and the softly dyed colors are very pretty.

That's the wrap on this week's knitting, and a satisfying collection it is! Usually I'm in varying degrees of frustration, but all of these projects seem to just want to go well. The knitting gods seem to be smiling on me at the moment, which I'm going to try to enjoy, because I'm sure it will be fleeting.

Progress Knitting The Honegart Hat

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm knitting Steven West's Honegart Hat for my oldest child, who goes to school up north. He asked for a new hat a while back, and I had been rather obsessively stalking Ravelry for a basic hat he would like when I stumbled across this pattern.

I'm into the second repeat of the honey comb cable pattern. After one more set of cable patterns, I'll be ready to start on the decreases. It's a simple knit with enough variation to keep you interested throughout.

The yarn is Elliebelly Alpaca & Merino. I opted for a blue and a green, rather than the gray and yellow high contrast hat in the sample. I loved the sample hat, but thought the boy might be more prone to actually wearing the hat knit in these softer colors.

Dye Yarn. Dye.

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

Sometimes a girl just has to dye yarn. Nothing else will do.

I dyed some Blue Faced Leicester for a very sweet girl.

I dyed two skeins of Elliebelly's Eco Alpaca — I guess that makes this an Eco Duo — to use together in a hat for my oldest. The skeins were dyed together and then the skein on the bottom was overdyed. I'm hoping this means I get complimentary skeins that work well together. It's an experiment I've been wanting to try for a while. You can see the richness of the colors a bit better in the close up photo below.

There is a bit more yarn steeping and you would think I would be tired of dyeing, but of course, that never happens.