Quince and Co.'s lightweight linen yarn Sparrow has been calling my name all spring. I finally gave in and cast on for this pretty little shawl, Lida by Bristol Ivy. More details later, but this one is so pretty and I can't wait to see the yarn soften into linen's beautiful drape once this is finished and washed.
I love Antler.
I am easily amused and still new enough to the sweater construction of knitting the sleeves, then knitting the body, and then knitting them together in one massive all-the-way-around row during which, magically, the sleeves align leaving you with just a few stitches in the underarm to graft together at the end of the knitting, that I find the whole process enchanting. And I love cabling, even these simple little cables. They are delightful as they blossom in the yoke with repeats all around.
As for the nitty gritty basics of this sweater, I am surprisingly in love with the baby camel yarn, which has a hairy aura and is very soft. I'm hoping to have enough left over to do a sweet little hat. This is my first knit on my new Darn Pretty knitting needles. I will rave about these needles at length, in the future.
The actual color of othe yarn is darker than in the picture above. This one is more accurate and shows the darker accents (low lights?) in the yarn as they appear in the WIP.
I can't wait to finish it and send it on to the new mom who it is intended for, with lots of no-rinse wool wash included in the package. This sweater is in the 1-2 year size, which is generous, and here in the south, it's heavy enough to be outerwear for at least the fall and perhaps on into winter.
I've been doing some dyeing for myself, as well as some for prizes at the close of the Adventurous April Knitalong. I thought it would be fun — and helpful too — to show off the yarn and ask what you would knit with it if it came to live with you. You can respond in the comments here or in this thread on the Elliebelly Group on Ravelry.
The first yarn is BFL Silk Sock — It’s a 55% superwash Blue Faced Leicester/45% Silk yarn with 438 yards to the skein. It’s a fingering weight, and I’ve dyed two skeins of it.
The colorway is Strawberry Roan — inspired by our trip to Iceland and the “Little Horses” (we were told it’s an insult to call them ponies) that populate the island. The Strawberry Roan horses were so pretty and particularly sweet.
Also inspired by our Iceland trip, this is the Gullfoss colorway on aran weight Blue Faced Leicester. There are 183 yards in a 100 gram skein, and again, I've dyed two skeins.
Panda is a silk and bamboo blend, roughly 50/50 that has 150 meters to a 100 gram skein. This is a new-to-Elliebelly yarn that I'm testing out for the first time. I am very fond of the sheen so far — the yarn seems to glow from within. There are two skeins of this and I wish I had dyed more as it would make a lovely large summer weight Clapotis for wrapping up on the beach at night or for movies in the park!
Pink Loves Brown is a classic Elliebelly colorway that I've dyed here on 8-Ply Coventry Cashmere. Each two ounce skein has 130 yards, and I've dyed two in this colorway.
As yet unnamed, this new colorway was my effort to replicate some of the rich blues and greens we saw on our Iceland trip. The three dye bath process was definitely worth it. I've dyed four skeins of this colorway on 8-ply Coventry Cashmere, again with 130 yarns per skein.
Finally, another classic Elliebelly colorway, Lakehouse. This is on aran weight BFL, with two skeins of 183 yards each. It's been a long time since I dyed this colorway, and it took all the strength I could muster to avoid casting on with it immediately. I love how the golden strands peak out from between the variety of blues and greens in this colorway.
So, friends and knitters, what would you knit with this yarn? What patterns have you been dreaming over? Inspire me. Motivate us all. It's so much fun to see different knitters' take on the same yarn!
Malabrigo March is almost over and it has been a whirlwind! I've been out of town almost as much as I've been in town, which has been bad for blogging but rather interesting for knitting. Before each trip, I cast on several projects and then negotiate with myself over space in my suitcase. I have been known to turn two changes of clothing into a week's worth of outfits, just so I can take four knitting projects along as well.
I'm getting ready to head out of the country for the rest of the month and, predictably, I'm taking four projects along with me.
The first is so new that I've only just cast on and will be working on the brim during the flight. The pattern is Fuego and I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Worsted in Fuschia.
I'm also taking along my Lutz Jump hat. I'm midway through the first of three pattern repeats and I highly recommend this pattern. It zips right along and has clever little stitches in it, like one reoccurring motif that depends on a slip one, knit one, make a yarn over and pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch and the yarn over. It's fun and fast, and I love it in this Damask Rose colorway. I've never made a pom pom before, but I think this hat will need one!
I haven't gotten far with my Steam Punk Cowl. The pattern is called Metallurgy and I adored it on sight. But, it hasn't been my favorite knit so far. I'm hoping that under the influence of very cold weather on this trip, I'll get more excited about knitting it. (and yes, for those of you who follow my Maine Moon Cats, that's Hermione guarding my knitting). I'm knitting with Silky Merino in Smoke.
Last, but not least, I'm taking the current quilt square in progress for my Barn Raising Quilt. My goal for this year is to knit one a month while doing other projects and to finish up knitting squares by the middle of next year so I can put it together before my darling daughter goes off to college. It's nice to have a child who knits and appreciates knitting, and I'm hoping the quilt will be a piece of home she can take with her when she leaves the nest. I"m knitting the quilt from Malabrigo Sock in Piedras.
That's it for me for now, although I will try to do a couple of quick posts or at least photo updates while we travel. Please keep my house in your prayers as it is in the hands of our two twenty-something children while we head off. This could be interesting!
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!
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.
Colorwork, stranded knitting, fairisle — whatever you call it, knitting with more than one color of yarn has always seemed like a big challenge to me.
I tried it once. It was 2009 and I decided to knit a very simple winter hat in a Spud and Chloë yarn for my oldest child, then 19, who was going to school in Connecticut. It was the simplest of fairisle patterns, involving just a few blocks of squares.
In the end, it was pretty much an epic fail. I sailed right into knitting, without realizing I would need to carry the strands loosely along the back of the work. Instead, I pulled them tight and the finished product barely fit my then-six year old. As it turned out, he was the only one who was happy about the project!
But I've been thinking about trying knitting in color again this year. The lovely Teeniebean on Ravelry showed me her mittens and I fell in love. Yes, I may be setting myself up for failure, but I've got to try them.
Not only do they have that beautiful exterior, they have a full lining. I'm planning to dye a riotously colorful skein for the lining, since I'll be the only one who knows about it.
A local knitting friend turned me onto a blog full of knitting know-how called TECHKnitting. It is truly the most amazing resource for knitters. There is a whole series of pieces on colorknitting, which I'm hoping to work through this week in order to get myself in shape for the project. In addition to a piece on the basics, there is a discussion of knitting with one color in each hand and avoiding the color jog when knitting in the round.
This is my challenge for the new few weeks. I'm looking forward to learning about it and am hoping I'll be able to conquer colorwork this time.