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!
Yesterday I introduced my Mixed Up Merino roving. Today I'm back with another new blend. This one is a mix of Violet & Rainbow.
Violet is the dominant color and it has been carded up with a rainbow dyed roving. I also added a little violet Firestar because I just can't resist a that sparkle.
The colors are soft, leaning toward pastel. They look so pretty all swirled together!
Today I'm introducing something new to Wind Rose Fiber Studio. It's soft, it's fluffy and it's all mixed up. It's Mixed Up Merino!
I loved providing solid colors so that people can find that perfect shade, but sometimes I feel the need to mix things up. Mixed Up Merino is the same, hand dyed Merino you've come to know at Wind Rose, only I've blended the colors together with my drum carder. Then I gently pull them into nice, soft rovings.
I'm still selling them in 1 ounce lots so you can buy how much or how little you need. So whether you're making a coat for a little felted field mouse, or creating a nuno felted scarf, you can find the right amount for your project. I will always try to make enough of each Mixed Up Merino blend for anyone with a larger project in mind. You may want to spin 1000 yards to knit a shawl.
I do need to warn however, that these mixes are not part of my staple inventory. If you see a color blend you like, you might want to snatch it up as you may not see it again. Yikes!
I'm starting things off with this Mixed Up Merino blend of Turquoise and Rust. I've added some Firestar in the same colors and a hint of Golden Yellow.
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!
These cute sheep coasters were a gift from my mom. Aren't they fun? I've been trying to decide which is my favorite, but I'm torn. I love the "Hand Wash Only" one with the sheep hanging on the line. I can also relate to the "Bad Hair Day" sheep.
Anyway, they're all so cute I just wanted to play show and tell. Happy Easter everyone!
I'm just back from my first visit to Knit Happens in Scottsdale, Arizona. I've been meaning to check out this shop out for a long time. Today, with my knitting mom visiting from Virginia, we decided to take a field trip.
Knit Happens is a beautiful shop and so nicely organized. When you walk in, the first thing you see is a long table where knitters sit contently with their projects. I love that. I think a good yarn shop should make you want to sit and stay for a while.
My mom and I had specific yarn needs in mind, but first can I just say that I have never seen a larger selection of Noro yarns in one place ever?! Who doesn't love Noro?
The staff was very helpful, and my mom quickly found a yarn to suit her project. I had a great time too. Since it's more fun to have a project in mind when you go yarn shopping, I decided to buy the yarn I will need for a Bruges Lace project I have planned. My pattern calls for around 1500 yards of fine sport weight yarn. I guess I should add that its a shawl. That's why so much yardage. 
I ended up picking out this Tapping Tootsees yarn from Done Roving Yarns in the color Cardinals In The Pine. The colors are gorgeous and it's made of 60% superwash Merino, 30% bamboo (thus the shine) and 10% nylon. Each 4oz skein contains 434 yards. I think it will be very nice.
Then I couldn't resist buying a couple bulky yarns. You know I like to play with my oversized tatting, so I couldn't resist these yummy, chubby yarns.
The one on the bottom of my yarn tower is made by Riviera in color 502. It's soft and bouncy and I love the colors. Then I wanted to get some blue for a piece of wall art I have planned. For this I chose the Cornflower skeins in the middle of my tower. This gorgeous 98% Merino, 2% polyamide was spun in Peru by Mirasol.
Yarn shopping is so fun. I couldn't wait to get home and wind my skeins. Now I can't wait to play with them!
Sometimes when I'm dyeing my wool, I have happy little accidents. I produce a color that's a little different than the one I'm going for, but it's still a very pretty color. This happened the other day and the result was this very pretty light pink with subtle orange tones throughout.
Although this color was not intended, I couldn't be happier with my accidental roving. It's such a soft and lovely shade. I gave it the name Sunset Blush and I wanted to share it with you because I don't plan to reproduce this one. So, For a limited time, you can find Sunset Blush at Wind Rose Fiber Studio.
Yes, it's 2.25 ounces of sparkly goodness! The Firestar Samplers are back!
Firestar Samplers are very popular at Wind Rose Fiber Studio. I have found that I am not alone in my love of this nylon fiber that adds endless sparkle to your handspun yarns or needle felted projects. I sell a few of the most popular colors like Silver and Night Blue by the ounce, but the samplers are special.
When you buy a sampler, you get .25oz of 9 different colors. If you look, you'll see that I've tried to cover the rainbow in my shade selection. I've got Gypsy Wine, Crimson, Burnt Orange, Golden Yellow, Grass Green, Spruce, Night Blue, Violet and Silver. My hope is that no matter what the project, there will be a piece of Firestar to either compliment or match!
