knitting – Page 13 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Afghan Love

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

My Afghan is done.

I am very happy with it. Very.

I started this project after falling in love with a cheap acryllic afghan in a high-end design store, and thinking, "I can knit that. And not in acryllic either!"

I could not have done it without the help of my Cousin Ann, who turned me on to a wonderful book about cables, that made it possible for me to write a simple pattern that gave me exactly what I wanted.

Sitting on this chair, it reminds me that I've always wanted to knit this.

It would be just perfect in our bedroom! Perhaps my next big project.

This yarn did everything I expected of it. It's soft, it's warm, it holds its shape. I love the combination of silk, alpaca, and merino. There is definitely an advantage to dyeing your own yarn, writing the pattern, and getting exactly what you wanted – a sort of soup to nuts approach to knitting.

A Little Bit of Interior Decorating

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

I haven't blogged much about the conversion of our house from World War III battleground (where small children, dogs, and cats fought for territory) to a decently presentable, comfortable living space since last summer. But, work has been progressing. What started as a new floor in the kitchen turned into a kitchen redo, with living room and study updates done to on the ground floor.

We then turned our attention to a much needed basement redo. This involved removing a whole wall of windows, because the temperature in our "playroom" was about 25 degrees for much of the winter, and absolutely unuseable. Now replaced with thicker, double glass and with windows repaired, our intrepid decorator, the wonderful Miss Sarah, has begun installing all of her wonderful finds, after turning the walls from a sickly shade of terra cotta to a perfect oyster white.

I am so sorry I didn't take before pictures. Suffice it to say, it was hideous. The difference is so incredible that it's as though we added a whole new room to the house. I'll have to add in more detailed photos when the work is complete, but will leave you with this snap of the cute shelves outside the door to my studio, which is just off of the playroom. I decided to fill them with yarn and knitting projects in progress, as a little taste of what is inside the door.

Finished: Little Copernicus. Started: Dream in Color

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

Little Copernicus is finished. Down to the sweet little Mother of Pearl buttons. Very cute. All it needs now is a baby!

I have knitting work to do. I'm about three skeins away from finishing the endless black hole afghan. And, I should be knitting it over the weekend as it's so big it can only be worked on at home.

But no. Write it off to knitter's ADHD or spring fever, but I put the afghan down for the weekend. I also bypassed two charming projects I've purchased pattern and yarn for, Norie and Laar by Gudrun Johnston, but not yet started. And I even let the hat I'm knitting for my snowbound eldest child in some incredibly soft Eco Alpaca from Cascade Yarns sit swatched, but not started.

Instead I picked up the shrug I've been meaning to knit for my Mom for quite some time. I have four luscious skeins of Jade Sapphire 6-ply Cashmere in the Blackberry Fudge colorway and I had selected the Dream in Color Shrug Pattern. I selected that pattern after seeing this Shrug knit up last fall — one of the dancers at my daughter's ballet school was wearing it, and it was beyond-words-amazing. I always have lace anxiety (really, you keep count with kids chirping about homework, the Judge whining about "where's my dinner," and a Blackberry that goes off incessantly with work) but decided to tackle it and see what happened.

Things are always much more manageable after you start, right? The 30 rows of ribbing zipped by in the dentist's chair (the pattern is knit from cuff to cuff). The yarn is just fabulous. It's soft, the knitted fabric is squishy, it's everything I like best in Cashmere. And the lace is a simple 11 stitch 20 row repeat. With only five sets of 11 stitches and a few extra on each end to the row, this pattern is very do-able, even for someone tackling their first lace project. So much for the anxiety!

I'm midway through the second lace repeat and finding this to be lots of fun to knit. But, I'm going to set it aside to pick up the afghan for the next few evenings. It now has the benefit of being large enough to snuggle under while knitting. And it's so soft and inviting that the time has come for me to finish it off and make it available to the whole family.

Drum Roll Please

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

And the winner of the silk hankies is…….

……#10 – Kathy.

You have Ollie to thank for pulling your number.

Please email me with your shipping address and I'll put your silk hankies in the mail to you. We'll all look forward to seeing what you knit with them.

And if, like me, you are curious about how silk fibers are worked from cocoons, here is a fascinating (and quick) video showing cocoons being stretched over frames in a store in China.

Little Copernicus is Done

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

I just finished knitting the Little Copernicus sweater, and I'm so excited that I can't wait for daylight and the chance to take good pictures to share it with you. I need to show it to you now. Right this minute. It is so tiny and cute!

Here it is, all done, and in need of a good blocking. I'm hoping it's small enough to dry overnight, because I can't wait to sew on the tiny mother of pearl buttons I purchased for it.

The yarn is Elliebelly Pixie Merino, dyed in a Paintbrush colorway. Here is a close up shot, so you can get a better idea of how the yarn works in this pattern and how nicely the picked up rib edging contrast with the stockinette body.

Knitting with Silk Hankies. Who Wants to Try It?

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

Silk hankies anyone?

I've had so many conversations with people about knitting with silk hankies since my original post on the topic, which piggy-backed on Stephanie McPhee's project, that I decided to share some of my hand-dyed hankies with a lucky reader. Post in the comments below (make sure I have an email address so I can contact you if you win) and I'll pick a winner next Friday night.

To get everyone started, here's a YouTube video that's very helpful. It has very cute cats as an added plus.

Hermione Loves Ron

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Joyce Makes Art

This might be the cleverest pattern ever for a knit hat. It's a simple ribbed watch cap, but the knit rows are cabled and the purl rows contain a simple lace pattern.

The pattern is available as a free download on Ravelry and its called Hermione loves Ron because it was inspired by the hat Hermione wore in the Half Blood Prince movie in the Harry Potter series.

The yarn I'm using is Classic Elite's Princess, a blend of 40% Wool, 28% Rayon, 15% Nylon, 10% Cashmere and 7% Angora. I was intrigued by that blend when I saw the yarn on sale at my LYS. It has been really nice to knit with, although it is not as soft as I would have expected with the Cashmere and Angora content. I'll be interested to see how it feels after it washes up.

I've completed three of the four and one-half repeats the pattern calls for before going to decreases. Although this is meant for my oldest child, it looks like he is going to have to fight off his younger sister to get it, and really, it is a bit more of a "girl pattern" than I anticipated when I began it. I'm starting to think about a more teenage boy friendly version that omits the lace pattern on the purl portion of the rib.