plucky – Page 2 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

New Yarn: The Plucky Knitter’s Cachet

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Cachet is The Plucky Knitter's brand new 100% cashmere yarn. Although it's listed at an aran weight, it knits up in the worsted range for me, with 18 stitches/26 rows to four inches on size 6 needles.

It knits up like a dream: a soft cloud of stockinette. And, the gauge is perfect for some of the patterns in my queue I'm longing to knit the most, including Carol Feller's Portulaca, Thea Coleman's new sweater, Rye, and Mailin and Monte Rosa, both by Isabel Kraemer . Decisions, decisions.

I'm also going to swatch this yarn a couple of needle sizes down to see what the fabric looks like. Originally, I planned to knit Alana Dakos Cabled Leaf Pullover in this yarn. Since its gauge is 20 stitches/26 rows, it seems like that might be doable.

I know it's obvious, after years and years of being a polyamorous knitter who carried a torch for a lot of different brands of yarn, when I discovered Plucky last year, I fell deeply in love with the wonderful custom spun, hand-dyed yarns they produce. All of the yarns I've used so far, from Snug Bulky, to Bello Worsted, to Cashmere Sport, to Primo Aran, to Crew, to Scholar, have made me really happy. Each new project makes me think I've found my favorite yarn of all time. And truly, they are all my favorites. I adore this yarn, and the new heavy weight Cachet cashmere is like knitting with a dream. If you haven't discovered Plucky yet, it's worth the effort. Although the yarn is sold in an unusual fashion, there is lots of advice for newbies here and a very nice group of helpful knitters on the Ravelry group. You'll be glad you took the time to figure it out!

A New Start & A Near Finish. And Something in Between.

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

In this week's knitting:

A new start. The Forest Park Cowl in The Plucky Knitter's Primo Aran in Heirloom Green. With all of its bonny cables, this pattern feels like it fell right off the pages of Outlander. I've started this as an easy project to carry around, but plan on finishing a few in-the-works projects before I get serious about it.

An "almost there." Frostline is all done and just awaiting its lace edging. And I'm in love!

Vodka Lemonade. Will it ever end?

Just kidding Vodka Lemonade. I really do love you. The 7" of seed stitch in the collar on all 300+ stitches was sort of a bummer. And then keeping the various columns of seed stitch and ribbing straight, along with the right side increases, as I worked from the top of the shoulders shoulders down to the point where the sleeve stitches can go on a holder and the body be worked alone was a bit of a challenge for me. But I'm almost to that point, and it should be quite simple from here on out. I'm looking forward to the lace bits at the bottom.

Fit is still a challenge for me with sweaters. But I'm going to work on that. In September I'm going to a knitting retreat and taking "Knit to Flatter" with Amy Herzog. In the meantime, I'll give Vodka Lemonade my best effort, because I love the pattern, the yarn, and the color.

Cast on All the Things!

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Sometimes that mood hits! The perfect new pattern comes along. Or an irresistible yarn. That happened to me this week — times two. Both the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn came along. So despite an impressive array of works in progress, I'm swatching for two new sweaters.

First up is Isabell Kraemer's Criss Cross Sweater. This one went into my favorites as soon as I saw it. But when I swatched with Plucky Scholar for a vest (it wasn't going to happen, the miles of twisted rib would have killed me) and realized my gauge was spot on for Criss Cross, I knew it was meant to be. I'm in love with this Bohemian Blue colorway, and the minute I opened the yarn two days ago, I knew it had to be knit with right away.

Then there was Katya Gorbacheva's Winter Weed's sweater pattern. Its difficulty level is clearly over my head, but how could I resist?

The pattern is written for Plucky Primo Aran, and although I don't have a sweater quantity on hand, I have been hoarding the December Classics Heartstring's colorway on snug worsted. I didn't get gauge on my first try.

But I'm not horribly far off — only 1.75 stitches over four inches, so I'm going to go up a needle size and see what I can do. I love this colorway and think it will be perfect for this sweater. The verdict is still out on whether I have the skills to knit it, but I have good knitting friends to rely on in a pinch.

So it looks like I'll be casting on all the things in the next week or so. I've also got a couple of projects I want to swatch for ahead of the start of the Malabrigo March KAL. I expect to be doing a lot of prep and set up work for the sweaters as well as for Mal March, so there won't be a whole lot of knitting progress this week, but I do love having a number of projects in the works, which makes it easy to pick one up to carry around or travel with.

A little progress on Drachenfels

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I wanted to share the introduction of color onto Drachenfels. It's so much fun to knit!

I've deviated a bit from the pattern to have all three colors show on each of the ends, so the green bit is my own addition. Knitting with cashmere is awfully, awfully fun. This project is more guilty pleasure than work.

The whole carrying the yarn along the edges to avoid weaving in all those ends thing is a challenge for me. I'm only going to be able to carry where there is a two row change in color. I'll need to spend some time looking for a better way to do it on longer runs, but for now, I've decided to be old fashioned and weave in my ends on those pretty pops of color!

Fisherman’s Rib

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm still knitting Olivia. For the record, that's almost seven inches of fisherman's rib. It has taken me just about all of two skeins of Plucky Primo Aran (more like a light worsted weight that an aran) to get to this point.

It has been a long slog, as you all know, because it's just about all I've blogged about for weeks. But it is so worth it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is as cushy as fisherman's rib and I can't wait to wrap Olivia around my neck. That is, if I ever manage to finish.

Works in Progress

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

The week I go back to work after the holidays is always a bad week for knitting (as much as it is good to be back with good friends and getting the job done). I manage to get in a bit of knitting when I wake up and a bit at night, so this week wasn't a total knitting loss. But progress was slow.

Thea Coleman's Vodka Lemonade pattern is my most challenging project at the moment. It's a sweater pattern knit in The Plucky Knitter's delicious Crew yarn, a merino/cotton blend. That is the collar that you see above. It's knit in seed stitch. I'm in the decided minority of knitters who enjoy knitting it. It's slow going and time consuming, but it's very pretty. At this rate, it will take me quite some time to finish the collar before I get on with the body of the sweater, but I don't mind at all.

Paddle Mitts are a Tin Can Knits pattern. Like the other patterns I've knit from this designer, the pattern is straightforward and the finished item is utilitarian. And I have managed to create a small disaster with what should have been a simple project. I decided to use my favorite skein of yarn, this beautiful skein of Plucky Scholar, which is a worsted weight blend of cashmere and merino in a rustic spin.

That would have been just dandy, had I seriously contemplated the fact that Scholar was a bit heavier than the yarn the pattern was written for and sized down, but no, I did not. That was okay in the body of the hand, where the ribbing made it work. But there was drama with the thumb and I overcompensated with rapid decreases after picking up the stitches for it. I've pulled that all out and am starting over for a thumb that works with the rest of the mitts. This will go into the man-sized pile for gift giving, darn it. I hope I have enough yarn to do a second pair for myself.

When The Plucky Knitter introduced her first collection of patterns, All Bundled Up, last weekend, I enjoyed looking them over and admired several enough to add to my Ravelry queue of patterns to knit this year. I even contemplated buying yarn for one of the sweaters in the near future. But then it hit. The Sugarloaf Infinity Scarf pattern was so tempting. It was written for my favorite yarn, Snug, and it just so happened I had the perfect colorways for it in my stash. So on my needles it went, and it's unusual little rib was an enjoyable knit while we watched a move on TV last night (The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou, which you should watch if you haven't seen it and like slightly snarky, self-indulgent humor).

I have plans this weekend to work on my Olivia wrap, and I wanted to get in more work on Vodka Lemonade's collar, but I'm afraid Sugarloaf has captivated me, and may end up as the attention-getter in whatever time I have this weekend. Fortunately, it's cold outside and there is a lot of appeal to sitting inside where it is warm and this is hot tea and I can knit.

What Did You Knit This Year?

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

[Click on the photo collage to see the larger version]

This is my knitting year in review, or at least most of it.

2014 was a really good year for knitting in my house, likely because our Iceland trip spawned the need for lots of warm things early on and once my hat and cowl mojo got into gear, it never left me. It was also the year I conquered lace, starting with Pale Pink Shells, knit during the Olympics, and continuing onto Rainbow Fish and Lida. I started Lida during a trip to South Carolina in May and didn't finish her until September. She became my constant companion, knitting a row here and there in the carpool line or the doctor's office, and I love wearing her as much as I loved knitting her. I also knit a Citron, the oldest unknit pattern in my queue, from my favorite yarn of all time, Elliebelly Moth and Goat, a silk/cashmere blend that I dyed into a sunshine-y color, just when I needed some sunshine in my life.

Speaking of favorite yarns, late in the year I discovered The Plucky Knitter's yarns and fell in love. Some people got up early to shop on Black Friday. I sat in front of my computer and bought Plucky. Lots of it. My first project was a Nevermind hat in the Plucky bulky cashmere blend called Snug. My second project, which I only speak of with great difficulty, was a pair of beautiful merino mitts that were almost done when I stupidly left them in the Atlanta airport, never to be seen again. I've got an Olivia shawl in the works in a worsted Plucky yarn and plan to cast on several more projects this week to get me through January and February in Plucky yarn. Because I am in love. Plucky has great yarn, beautiful colors and the most incredible customer service.

2014 has been a great knitting year. Looking at my collage, I've decided I need to up my photography game in 2015, so my poor knitting models darling children can all have that to look forward to. 2015 will be a year filled with cashmere, sweaters, happy knitting, and it will, of course, be the year I start my Christmas knitting early. I'm starting in January this year. Really.