mecha – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

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.

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