I was about to jump on Facebook to share my latest project when I stopped myself. I really must stop neglecting my blog. I'm getting so lazy!
I now have four knitting projects in the works. I'm pushing myself to become a confident knitter. It's rather amazing to go on Ravelry and look up free knitting patterns. What a world! This my latest and I'm enjoying this pattern so much. I love the look of it and the stitches have a fun rhythm. It's called the Lava Lace Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark if you want to look it up. Mine looks a little less open as I am using a DK weight rather than a lace weight yarn.
This is the first time I've used TOSH DK by MADELINETOSH hand dyed yarns. It's 100% superwash Merino and comes in a nice 225 yard skein. This colorway is called Ophelia which I think it a pretty cool name for yarn.
The scarf itself is a short neck scarf that ties in the front. The shape is basically a trapezoid which I find to be a clever way of shaping. I also like the edging. Each row begins with a yarn over creating a pretty open loop edge. I'm sure with every comment I reveal myself to be the novice knitter than I am, but that's part of the charm of learning something new. Everything seems interesting and even the simple things delight!
Blogs are a wonderful form of procrastination. I have company coming tomorrow and I really should be tidying mi casa, but here I am blogging. ¡Lo siento casa!
Earlier today, the sun was my excuse for not doing chores. It is freakishly gorgeous here in the Phoenix valley. It's almost 80ยบ, breezy with wispy clouds dancing across the blue. How can one be expected to make a bed on a day like today? I grabbed my knitting and went out to cop a squat in the middle of my grassy backyard. My cat, who is also a sun worshiper, followed me and the two of us soaked up the sun together.
This ribbon is a painted, 3/4" nylon fiber with gold thread running through. It's so pretty out in the sun where the light sparkles off the thread illuminating the colors. The dropped stitches are forming these fabulous bubbles and I love the way the colors are moving across the piece. Sometimes it's hard to know how variegated fibers will turn out. A slightly different width and I could have a scarf where the colors are split down the middle. I like this so much more. It's like they are traveling in waves to compliment the pattern.
I should tell you what ribbon I'm using. The truth is I pulled it from my stash and I had already removed the label. I believe it is Segue Yarn in the color Peacock. I linked to the free pattern in my post entitled Knitting Waves. Okay, I guess I can't avoid my house any longer. I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!
I'm getting a little sleepy, but I thought I'd pop on and show you my dyed infinity scarf. I was planning to make the teal and pewter colors darker, but then as I was dyeing, I decided to go with a more muted look. I literally had all of the colors painted and in place and then I poured a couple cups of water right over them, my own version of white washing. I like that the colors look weathered as though this is an old favorite scarf rather than a newly knitted one. It seems a little summery, like something you would throw on for a walk on the beach one cool morning.
I've started working up this same pattern in a painted, wide nylon ribbon. The look is completely different, sort of whimsical and fun. I want to get a few more rows done and then I'll share. As for now, I wish you a good night!
A novice knitter, I experience waves of enthusiasm toward the craft in which I immerse myself utterly. Then, at some point, I get frustrated and go rushing back to crochet. At the moment, I'm playing in the waves again. I would love to be as comfortable knitting as I am crocheting, so to keep myself inspired, I've been on the lookout for fun little projects.
I happen to be on Facebook last night when a page I follow posted Spinning Daily's Free eBook offer. The book includes five free scarf patterns, so I thought, why not? Among the designs was a wavy scarf pattern. I've seen similar ones and have always liked the look. Plus, I have this chunky thick and thin yarn that I spun and I've been wanting a pattern that would show it off. Inspired, I grabbed my size 9 needles and set to work.
I probably shouldn't admit this, but I struggled with the yarn overs at first. Basically, I was trying to wrap the wrong needle. After scratching my noggin' for a few minutes, I realized my error. After that, it was easy to yarn over along one row and drop the stitches on the next. Actually, it was more than easy, it was fun. I have to say, this little scarf is the most fun I've had knitting so far. The pattern was easy and the resulting waves and bubbles so satisfying, that I was a happy little knitter last night. I woke up anxious to finish off my skein this morning. I had just enough yarn to make a short infinity scarf.
I spun the yarn out of a wool/silk blend. It feels so cozy, that I started to fantasized about making an entire afghan. That would be a lot of spinning! For now, I'm going to focus on giving my scarf a little color. I have it soaking at this very moment. Instead of just one color, I thought it could be fun to dye stripes that run the length of the piece. I'm thinking 3 colors with the outer stripes being wider than the center. Committing to colors is hard. Right now I have teal, chartreuse and pewter on the brain. I like the idea of a thin band of chartreuse separating the darker colors.
Can you picture it? The top half would be teal, the bottom pewter with just a thin line of chartreuse. What? How can you be silent at a time like this? Color choice is critical you know! Okay, this is me, walking away to dye my scarf... I'm going now... really I am...
I'm getting back to my series on home fibers today. My next stop was a visit to my mom's. My mom is an avid knitter and always has a project in the works. Here's the sweater she's currently making. I love the beehive pattern. As a novice knitter, I look at this and consider how hard I would have to think about what row I was working and the stitch counting, not to mention the inevitable goofs. My mom, however, knits right along.
I said it before and I'll say it again, it's fun to go exploring for fibers in people's homes. As this was my mom's, I could snoop rather freely. Cuddling together in her closet I found Raggedy Ann and Andy. These dolls have been well cared for as they still look brand new. In truth they are probably closer to 30 years old.
On display out in the open, is a more recent addition to my mom's doll family. She looks a bit like a prairie doll with the apron and long braids. Growing up in Yorktown, VA, prairie/colonial type dress is part of my childhood and has a nostalgic affect.
My mom has also done quite a bit of needlepoint. Above her bed is the angel holding the world and I even found a creation of my own propped up on a chair. Years ago I made little quilted pillows for my mom and her two sisters. I printed a favorite picture of the three of them onto fabric and then pieced it together with classic cotton prints and lace.
These posts are almost starting to feel like a time capsule. It's interesting to see what people cherish enough to keep and it's touching to revisit the memories that coincide with the fibers in our homes.
I'm adding handpainted sock yarns to my inventory at Wind Rose and these are the first two! Crimson Wine has two shades of crimson red contrasted by a deep burgundy. Turquoise & Spruce ranges from a deep spruce to a light turquoise with shades of pewter grey.
All the yarn details are on their listings, but I wanted to explain why I'm calling them "Great Skeins". I gave them this name because of their yardage. Each skein comes with a bountiful 500 yards which is enough for a lot of sock patterns not to mention all sorts of projects.
To you, my blog readers, I'll share my inspiration. It's rather self serving. You see, maybe about a year ago, I got the idea in my head to spin a bunch of yarn and dye it so I would always have whatever I needed at my fingertips. Months later, it has become painfully clear that I just don't have enough free time to do all of that spinning. Well, I figure the next best thing is to at least paint my own yarn. I use fingering or sock weight yarn all of the time so I decided that it would be a good place to start.
So why am I selling my stash? I guess just because I enjoy making things and selling them. I also figure that there is no reason for pretty skeins of yarn to have to wait until I get around to using them. If someone buys one of my favorites, I'll just paint some more. I guess it's first come, first serve!
It was the turn of this century when I began my own crafting business and became a real customer of commercial yarn. I had yet to begin spinning my own, but I was designing my own products and selling at craft shows. After a few years, I felt like I had sampled every yarn on the market. This can't really be true, but I bet I came close!
After a few years, my world turned to spinning and dyeing. I went from yarn snob to serious yarn snob. At one point I even decided to eliminate commercial yarn altogether. Then, a couple of years ago, my focus began to shift again. While my business had become a dyeing enterprise and still is, I began to focus more on design and pattern writing.
When I create a new pattern, I usually end up making several run-throughs of the design before I'm happy with my finished product. I found myself turning back to commercial yarn because it saved time and I could work up my first prototypes with inexpensive fiber. I also decided that I wanted to make my models out of yarn that was affordable and readily accessible to everyone. This meant going back to the big chain stores. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Commercial yarn just keeps getting better doesn't it?
So I opened my heart back up to commercial yarn and began to visit my old haunts. They are probably your haunts too, like Webs and Yarn Market. Not only has the variety of natural fiber yarns expanded, but the acrylics too. Once more, the acrylics are becoming more sophisticated and softer than ever and don't even get me started on the blends. There are so many wonderful blends! Here are some of my recent purchases.
The thick and thin on the left is by Universal Yarn. It's called Bamboo Bloom Handpaints in a colorway called Koi Pond. It's 48% Rayon from bamboo, 44% wool and 8% acrylic. It comes in nice 3.5oz, 154 yard skeins. I was looking for a variegated worsted weight to make up my Regensburg Scarf, and I think this is going to be very pretty.On the far right is a sock yarn by Wisdom Yarns called Poems Socks in the color Aurora Borealis. I'm so happy that sock yarn has become as popular as it is because I love this weight for so many projects. The beefy skeins are nice too. This one comes with 459 yards which is plenty for me to make my City Scarf. I'm working on Christmas projects and these colors are just perfect for someone on my list!
Now I have no idea what I'm going to do with the crazy acrylic in the center. I first saw this Triana yarn by Katia when I was in Germany earlier this year. Sadly for me, the woman ahead of me got the very last skein in the little shop in Uberlingen, but the store owner showed me a scarf that had been knitted from this novelty fiber. I should have guessed that this style of yarn would become all the rage as it seems to be popping up everywhere. Even Patons is launching their own version tomorrow called Pirouette which is selling out practically before it hits the stores. There are YouTube videos demonstrating how to work with this style of yarn. So far all I've seen are a bunch of ruffly scarves. I'm sure over time, the creative community will come up with some cool designs for this new, funky yarn. I hope I do too!
The last time I posted about my 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf, things weren't going so well. My lacy handspun yarn was making the project a challenge and it didn't help that I was reading one row of the pattern wrong at first. I was getting frustrated with myself.
Not long after that post, things clicked into place and I was able to navigate through the pattern with much less of a furrowed brow. No I can happily show you my finished Infinity Scarf. I haven't blocked it yet, but I just couldn't wait any longer to take a picture.
My light and lacy version is much more appropriate for the climate in which I live, however, if I make another, I'll reduce the length by a couple feet. It's a six foot scarf which means it easily wraps around my neck three times. I think I'd prefer something closer to four feet. Of course it hardly matters. I'm just happy to celebrate the completion of my third knitting project.
One of my goals in choosing the Infinity Scarf was to get comfortable with circular needles. The first pair I bought was made by Clover and the stiffness of the plastic cord really bothered me. Then I happened to do some shopping on Amazon. One pair of Clover needles at Michaels cost $8.99, but I noticed I could buy a whole set by StichBerry for $19.99. I just linked you to the 40" set so you can check them out, but they come in different lengths.
With this great a price difference, I knew that I was taking a risk. Perhaps these needles would be hopelessly inferior in some way, but for $20, I was willing to try. I have to tell you, it was a risk worth taking. I love my circs from StitchBerry. They are still bamboo needles and they are each marked with their sizes. The main difference was a more relaxed plastic cord. Hooray! They are just what I was hoping for. My collection didn't come with every size, but to get 15 sets for $20 and like them better than the one pair I bought for $9 says it all. I'm a happy shopper!
Okay, I know this post is starting to sound like a product endorsement, but when you find a good deal, it's hard not to share. So what's next for me and knitting? Well, I want to make a little baby something of some kind because I have a friend with a little boy on the way. Aside from that, I kind of want to finish up a tatting project I have in the works. I'll have to tell you all about it in my next post. Bye for now...
I haven't posted in the past couple of days because I've had nothing to show for myself. If you're new to my blog, I've been teaching myself how to knit and my latest project is this lovely 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf. This is my first time working with circular needles and only my third knitting pattern.
I had to take a close-up of my handspun yarn that I'm using because I don't have much of a scarf yet. In fact, I'm on row 2... again! I have started over with this project, um... well it's got to be at least three times. Who knew that what would keep me from being a knitting success is my ability, or lack thereof, to count! So maddening! It feels utterly ridiculous to lose count and I've only made things harder on myself by using a lace weight rather than a worsted. The thread is fine enough that sometimes I mistake two stitches for one and I have to keep going back to correct myself.
If that weren't bad enough, yesterday afternoon I realized that I've been misreading one of the rows and therefore have been doing the pattern wrong all along. So here I am, starting all over again! My stubborn nature won't allow me to switch to a thicker yarn because I think this yarn is going to be really pretty if I ever manage to make it happen. You can see I've resorted to using multiple, colorful stitch markers. lol! I'll do anything to at this point to get myself back on track. So that's what I've been up to. I like to keep it real here on my blog. It's more fun to post about my successes than my frustrations, but it feels cathartic to let them out. Hopefully, by sharing my challenges, I can bond with my fellow beginners. Solidarity!
Last night I made one more Mixed Up Merino blend. To tell you the truth, I think I was putting off starting my next knitting project, but I'll write more on that in a second. First let me tell you about this Mixed Up Rainbow. Pretty fun huh? it's a blend of hand painted merino in a rainbow of colors to which I added extra yellow an green to make it very bright. I also threw in some sparking green Firestar. I love the Firestar! I have just 4oz of this one and it should be loads of fun to spin or felt!
Let's get back to the subject of knitting. Now that my shawlette is done, the next thing on my knitting agenda is to get comfortable with circular needles. I have chosen the 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf by tentenknits. This pattern looks very pretty, but it also looks a little too warm for even the coldest days here in Phoenix. I'm thinking about using a lighter yarn and maybe the next size up needles just so its a little bit more of a loose knit. I'm also thinking 10" wide is more than I need. So with these few modest changes, I'm off to start my next knitting adventure!
I'm very excited to share my first ever Continental style, knitting project! I finished it around 10:00pm last night and everyone in my house was already asleep so I didn't even get to share it with anyone. So sad! I actually put it on, went downstairs to show my husband, only to find him and my oldest son fast asleep on the couch. Very unsatisfying end to a project. Thank goodness for this blog!
Since I had no one with whom to share my shawlette, I ended up just playing in front of the mirror. The pattern basically creates a half circle, so I started to experiment with how many ways you can wear a half circle. Are you ready?
I even left a couple ways out. *giggle* I think my favorite style is the very first photo at the top of this post. I hope I'm not detracting too much from my project by using the world's silliest brooch. What can I say? That's just the sort of thing I have laying around. It says a lot about my jewelry collection, doesn't it?
Here's a little picture of the shawlette stretched out. It looks like a handspun rainbow. You can see how it bows a little at the final increase row. It's actually nice that it does that because when you wear it as a shawl, it adds a soft curve to the front.
After I completed knitting my shawlette and before I finished off the yarn, I switched over to a crochet hook and did a row of single crochet across the diameter or bottom edge of the half circle. When you bind off in knitting, the result is a stitch that looks just like single crochet, so by single crocheting across the end rows, I was able to give the whole shawlette a more polished look. That's one of the reasons I wanted to learn to knit. So I could enhance my crochet projects with knitting and my knitting projects with crochet.
I still have a lot to learn when it comes to knitting. There are so many tools compared to crochet and I have a new vocabulary list to learn as well. As a beginner, my plan is to pick projects that will help me to familiarize myself with new tools and new stitch patterns each time.
If you like this pattern, you can find it here: Storm Cloud Shawlette.
Hi. I just wanted to share how my shawlette is coming along. It's been going really well and I'm getting exciting because I should have it done in just a couple more days.
If you look at the photo, you can see how the stitches double after the first few rows and then about half way up you can see more obviously where it doubles again from 49 stitches to 97. (I guess I should say nearly doubles.) If I were using circular needles, as the pattern suggests, I could splay out the fabric so you could see the half circle shape forming.
This leads me to a confession. I tried using circular needles and found them so annoying that I switched back to straight ones. I realize that I need to make peace with the circs at some point, so I have picked out a pattern from Ravelry and it's next in my cue. I'll be making the 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf by tentenknits and I will force myself to get comfortable with circular needles!
As for my Storm Cloud Shawlette, I think I'll be making the straight edge rather the the ruffled edge design. I like the ruffles, but they would mean doubling my stitches one more time and I don't really have room on my needles. If it looks too plain I can always crochet a scalloped or ruffled trim on later. I don't think I'll need to because my handspun yarn is textured and colorful and can probably stand on it's own.
Every row I knit, I'm becoming more and more confident. I really love learning something new. I've been having a great time looking through the free knitting patterns on Ravelry. It's like a new door has been opened and I'm ready to skip on through!
A couple days ago I was perusing the blogs I follow and stumbled upon a pretty knitting pattern. Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have paid much attention, but now that I have committed myself to learning to knit, I paused to take a closer look at the Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz. I'm finding that I'm much more likely to practice my knitting if I have a fun project. This shawlette seemed like a good way to get used to Continental knitting.
I'm getting more and more comfortable with picking instead of throwing. I love how efficient it is and even as a beginner, I'm working at a nice pace. I don't know if I have completely solved my tension issues. I'm starting to accept that a little less tension control may just be something with which I have to live. I've tried wrapping the yarn every possible way and have settled on the following: The yarn goes behind my index and middle fingers (I have found that as long as it's behind at least two fingers, I can still purl without dropping it), then it goes down between my middle and ring fingers, then back up between my ring and pinky fingers and finally, I loop it around my pinky once. By weaving it this way, I have gained a decent amount of control.
I'm pretty excited about this project. I think it's very pretty. It's also light enough to wear as an accessory here in the southwest. Well, maybe not in the summer, but definitely the winter season. The Storm Cloud Shawlette Pattern is also available as a free download on Ravelry.
It looks kind of like a pineapple, doesn't it? Actually, it's the result of my first practice session with Continental knitting. I just goofed around going from knitting to purling. I threw in a little two stitch ribbing and even tried increasing and decreasing.
Having the yarn back in my left hand feels good and my fingers have quickly adjusted to their new responsibilities. What I'm struggling with most is tension. When I crochet, I don't wrap the yarn around the outside of my left fingers. I allow it to drop through my hand and then I curl in my ring and pinky fingers to control my tension. I know there are more ways than one to wrap your yarn even as a crocheter, but this is how I've held mine for years.
I totally get why you have to have the yarn on the outside of your fingers when you are knitting. I find the continental method of purling very comfortable and I love how easy it is to switch between the knit and purl stitches. What I'm not loving is the pinky wrap tension. If I wrap the yarn around my pinky once, I feel like I don't have enough tension and the yarn has even slipped of my finger a couple times. If I wrap my pinky twice, it's too much tension. What's a girl to do?
Here's what I did. I looked online to see how other knitters were holding their yarn. I found one video where the knitter wrapped the yarn completely around her index finger. I tried that is it does work. You can still purl without the yarn falling off your finger. I think it looks a little funny though and it's still not quite the tension control I want.
I have noticed that in the demo I shared on my last post, her stitches are very loose. She even comments on this and says that she will often use needles two sizes smaller than the gauge suggests. So maybe this means that Continental knitting is just much looser and I have to get used to that. Mainly, I think I need to keep practicing!
Hey, look! I finished! I actually finished a knitting project! That feels so good. Here's my hat on Windy, my Wind Rose Fiber Studio, lifelike baby model.
Mine is a little smaller than my mom's hat. That's because you're supposed to switch to the next larger needle size after you complete the leaves. I don't own knitting needles in every size just yet, so I just stuck with the ones I was using. I measured the diameter which is 6 inches, so when you multiply times pi, that's just about a 19 inch circumference and that's not counting the stretch factor. I think a newborn baby noggin could fit in there. It would make a cute baby picture. It sort of has that Anne Geddes thing going for it. Oh, I should mention, if you like this pattern, it's called Knit Lace Leaves for Baby ~ 8 Designs by Jeannine LaRoche.
Okay, now that I'm just getting comfortable, I'm going to switch things up and try out continental knitting. I have a feeling I'll be happier in the long run if I learn to knit in this style. I don't have a pattern in mind. I think I'm just going to knit and purl back and forth until I get the swing of it. Wish me luck. :D
I've been showing my mother a few crochet stitches while she's been teaching me to knit. Today, with her new understanding of crochet, she said she wished she could show me how to knit continental style because it would probably be so much more natural for me as a crocheter. So I jumped on YouTube and found this demo. I'm definitely going to try this style of knitting on my next project.
My mom is a knitter and I am a crocheter. She's visiting from Virginia this week and so I have decided to take this opportunity to get a few knitting lessons. She in return, is getting a little crochet practice. More and more often, we are both seeing patterns that combine the two crafts. My mom is making a sweater that calls for a finishing of single crochets and picots. As for myself, I just hope to one day feel as comfortable with knitting needles as I do with a crochet hook. That would be amazing.
So this is the pattern that I'm using as my learning tool. It's a very sweet baby's cap and I'd love to be able to knit something like this to give as a gift. Now, in the art of knitting, I'm a beginner. I'm not being modest. I have actually never completed a knitting project in my life. I have started a few, so I have a little experience, but not enough to get me to the finish line. Well, now that I think about it, I guess I have made a couple scarves, but that was just straight knitting. I wasn't reading a pattern or trying to create an interesting design. So that's the knitting background on me. 
Here's my cap in the darker green. This is the farthest I have gotten without making a mistake. Okay, I feel doomed now that I just typed that, but I'm feeling very proud. This is probably my fourth attempt. I ended up frogging the first few. With this leaf design, getting off by even one stitch ruins the pattern, so it's been a bit of a challenge. Now I have one more row to create the leaf points and then it will be 24 rows of plain old knitting. If I can just get through this last row!
I think one of the most valuable things I have learned is how to go back either knitting or purling so that I can fix a mistake. That is what used to make me crazy. I could identify my mistakes, but I couldn't fix them. I have probably spent even more time studying that and the way the stitches look than I have learning new stitches. Really, I feel fairly natural knitting, purling, increasing and now I can add SSK to my list.
The next group of mystery letters are PSSO. I feel a little like I've joined the military or some radical group. The PSSO will be protesting the new administration. See? It works! I'm a radical!
