primo aran – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Cold Snap Hat. And It’s Just In Time.

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Amy Miller's Cold Snap Hat was among the patterns released in in The Plucky Knitter's All Bundled Up Collection. I started mine, with the leftovers from my Olivia wrap, the minute I cast off. I couldn't wait because loved the yarn so much, with its beautiful teal green colorway, which seems to defy capture on film (particularly in late night hotel room photography). And the weather forecast for Alabama was cold. Very cold.

This is how my Cold Snap looked after that first bit of knitting.

If you look carefully, you'll notice the cables are wonky. I misread the pattern and inserted two purls in place of two knit stitches throughout. The mistake popped into focus for me as I was finishing the fourth cable repeat. In my defense, I've been fighting the flu for the last week, and it doesn't seem to do a lot to improve my pattern reading skills.

So, I ripped out back to the ribbing to start over. Yes, that fabulous background is me, wearing my husbands fleece pajama pants. I'm not proud when I'm sick.

A lot of people who have knit Cold Snap mention that it is a quick knit. I thought that those comments must have come from knitters who are not like me — I am a slow but steady knitter, with lots of distraction in my life. But they were absolutely right. It's a stunningly quick knit. I've been listening to one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami's, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World on Audible (one of the guilty pleasures of being sick) and Cold Snap seems to be knitting itself.

You can follow my progress on my Ravelry Project Page for my "It's a Snap" version of Cold Snap. I'll note needle sizes and other notes on the yarn and this project to help those who are starting out. I'm going to sit back down and finish mine now. It looks like I'm just in time!

Olivia At Last

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm done with Olivia! Despite some last minute, late night concerns about finishing the short rows and some early struggles with fisherman's rib, I'm finished and really very please with the result.

I like the color. In case you've forgotten, since it's taken me months to do the knitting, this is the Plucky Knitter's Holloway colorway on her Primo Aran yarn. Lovely.

Let's be candid. Because we are all friends here.

There are mistakes in my Olivia. Mistakes I did not fix. I struggled to fix mistakes in the rib, so I finally decided that the two places with mistakes needed to stay. And I needed to embrace them because, well, Olivia is not perfect and neither am I. Good reminder of my limitations.

I love her despite, or perhaps even because of, her mistakes. She's so warm and scrunchy, even though the yarn grew and softened with a good wet blocking. I'm hoping my model will give her back to me at some point. It's been hours, but she still shows no signs of returning Olivia to me.

I've got almost three-fourths of the last skein left, so I've cast on a hat to match. I love the host of cables. Hopefully with a three day weekend, there will be some time to knit this up.

Knitting Catch Up

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

With apologies — my long lovely weekend with this child

kept me from blogging. But, not knitting. In addition to reporting that she thoroughly enjoyed visiting Georgetown and had a great time auditioning at the Washington Ballet, I have some knitting progress to share.

One thing I have come to accept about myself is that although I can pack a week's worth of clothing in a carry on bag, my "personal item" — the second carry on airlines allow — is exclusively devoted to knitting. For this four day trip, I had four projects along with me.

Top to bottom you can see my newly cast on Tipperary Shawl, the French Laundry colorway portion of my Sugarloaf Cowl peeking out, a wee bit of my Vodka Lemonade sweater in the bag with the green zipper, and Olivia, which grew a lot on this trip.

I'm indulging my inner geek here, and sharing my Da Vinci drawing style Dr. Who meets the Daleks project bag, which is Olivia's home.

My big knitting news is finally finishing the fisherman's rib portion of Olivia, and moving on to the short rows. For some reason, short rows and I have never been friends before, but we are getting along famously this time.

There was, however, the predictable knitting disaster without which no trip would be complete. Forgive the late night/hotel room/bad lighting photo, but it portrays the exact moment at which my lurking suspicion that the game of yarn chicken I was playing with my third skein of Plucky Primo Aran was going to end badly. See the little bit of yarn that trails across the right front side of Olivia? That would be the 12" of yarn left from my last skein. And, at this point, I still have 50 short rows left before I get to the lengthy cast off row.

This was the first project I cast on with Plucky yarn, and I didn't stop to realize that the yardage for the pattern yarn, Plucky Traveler Aran, is different than the yardage for the Primo Aran that I substituted. Several other knitters noted the need to shorten the rib when knitting in Primo to conserve yarn for the garter portion of the pattern, but apparently oblivious, this girl knit a fulsome seven inches of rib and then came up short on the garter.

Thankfully, a kind knitter has already put one of her precious skeins in the mail to me. I'm hoping for a good match and a bit of time this weekend, as I'm ready to wrap Olivia's squishy goodness around my neck. Love, love, love this pattern.