Category: knitting

  • Treading Water

    Whew. Getting a job outside my house has been pretty exhausting! It’s been pretty good though, lots of nice people, and just a 10 minute walk commute. Finding knitting and crafting time has been hard though. My pile of WIPs (works in progress) has been staring at me from beside the computer for ages.

    But it’s finally September, and although the weather hasn’t cooled down one bit, I’m ready for fall!

    I want to finish up this squish black garter stitch cardigan, which is nearly done the body. I probably should have knit the sleeves first (before the body) so it wouldn’t be quite so difficult to wrangle, but it’s okay. I think I’ll go with elbow or three-quarter length sleeves on this one.

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    I finished up my Snooker Mitts in Mountain Colors’ Crazyfoot fingering weight and I love them! I’ll have to take some pretty photos and add the fingering weight instructions to the pattern.

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    Dug out some Koigu lace weight that I had basically completely forgotten about – I had picked up a few skeins from Shall We Knit at the Knitter’s Frolic in the spring. I started a scarf, then changed my mind and started a sweater. I might end up changing my mind again…

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    And I’ve been hand sewing a little bit! I finished an Alabama Chanin A-line tunic and have worn it a bunch of times. Now I’m working on a longer dress, with princess seams and pockets. I love hand sewing, I really do.

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    In pattern release news, I have a new pattern out with Woolfolk! The fall collection is just beautiful and I’m honoured to be included. You can find my new pattern SPOR on Ravelry or ask for it at your local Woolfolk stockist! The yarn is so so soft and amazing.

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    Photos courtesy Woolfolk. Thank you Andrea for pulling my butt outta the fire on this one – my sample was lost in the mail (SOB) and Andrea knit one up for the photoshoot right quick! You’re the best!

  • KAL Kickoff!

    The Snooker Mitts KAL is underway on Ravelry! It’s a pretty small group right now so join us anytime! Hashtag for IG and Twitter? #snookermittsKAL!

    Marled yarn is all the rage right now, and Mountain Colors Twizzle is an awesome example! The silk plied in with the wool take the dye extra brilliantly for that cool effect. Do you have your yarn ready?

    The Perspectives kits come in adorable mini-hanks (twisted skeins), but you’ll need to wind them into balls before you can get started. Since I knew I was making a pair of mitts, I wound each skein into a ball then wound half of it off by weight, to make pairs of each colour.

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    Make sure you know what order you want to use the yarns in – this is mine!

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    I’m planning to do a few tutorial posts throughout the KAL which runs to August 22 – check out the prizes for joining!

  • new skeins

    I forgot to share my purchases from Verb in Oakland! One of the “reasons” I “had” to buy stuff was to pay Denny for her excellent sample knitting.

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    She got some fancy yarn…

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    And some fancy fabric! Khadi cotton and cotton grown by Sally Fox! I’m pretty sure Denny’s already knit and sewn up all this stuff by now ;)

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    I got just a yard of this wide naturally-dyed linen – I think it’ll be enough for a longish sleeveless top. And a little yarn, of course! I also picked up Sonya Phillips’ Dress No 3 pattern, since she had picked us up from the hotel to go to Verb it seemed like the right thing to do.

    More new skeins, a few that I spun up in July. It’s a good thing I wasn’t reeeeally doing the Tour de Fleece because this is all I managed.

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    Top: Polwarth in Flintstoner from Indigodragonfly
    Middle: BFL-silk in a colour way I can’t remember, also from Indigodragonfly
    Bottom: Polwarth/silk in Reverberate (OOAK) from Pigeonroof Studios

    For all of these, I split the top lengthwise down the middle and spun each half onto a separate bobbin, because mine don’t quite hold a full 4oz. Then once all the singles were done, I used the jumbo plying head on my Lendrum to chain-ply them, joining the two bobbins’ worth and hopefully keeping the colours nicely intact.

    I’m planning to put up some handspun for sale soon so keep an eye out if you’re interested!