Tag Archive | fade knitting

Just a quickie

I’m about halfway through the Fade now! I started melting in the third color last night and I love how the change is so subtle. This is just a couple of rows but I’m loving how the yarns are playing together. See that bit of red at the top? That’s really the only change from the previous yarn, and it’s just popping up here and there right now. I was so happy to get that color started, too, because this project is fading in enjoyment for me. It’s just not my happy colors. But I have to admit it looks cool and it will be a pretty nifty shawl when it’s done.

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Beyond that, things are looking up, at least today. Sometimes I just need to remember to force myself to get out of my house, out of my head. After resting my strained calf at home on Monday, I went back to work yesterday, even drove myself, and it was good to be around people, good to get my mind off the negative things it’s been dwelling on. The muscle is improving quickly, though I’m still being careful and taking the meds, so that helps my mindset too. I even got a little excited thinking about some new review yarn coming my way, instead of feeling stressed about it. New yarn for the win, as always!

Happy Hump Day, friends! Hope the rest of the week flies by!

When it rains, it pours

Jun10

Because I wasn’t stressed out enough lately, the fates decided I needed another challenge. Yesterday I stepped down weird off a step stool and heard a pop in my calf, then felt extreme pain. SUPER. I am so lucky and grateful to have good health insurance and I was able to go to the ER to get checked out for breaks, tears, and blood clots. They decided it was probably just a bad muscle strain and prescribed an NSAID, rest, ice, and elevation. Plus, since it’s my right calf, no driving for a couple of days to give the muscle time to rest and avoid straining it more. And since I took time off last week for my MIL’s service and some mental health time, now I’ve got the guilt from being home again. The sister pointed out that I had a good reason last week, and I have a good reason today, and of course logically I know she’s right. Yet there’s the guilt, still hovering. WhatEVER. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Let’s distract with some knitting, shall we? Here’s my Fade progress.

I went through so many project pages on Ravelry and didn’t find many helpful notes for a 4-color fade, but I got enough to give me confidence to move on. Rather than frog back to fade in the yellow garter section, I was a rebel and did the color melting in the lace section, and I think it looks fine. I did a longer melt than in the pattern, to use as much yellow as I could, and now I’m halfway through the second skein. This shawl is going to take forever, I think. As much as I love the look, I don’t know if I’ll want to make another one for myself once this one is done.

Hope you all are having a better start to the week than me!

Stupid Fade

May28

This is not going well. My Fade shawl is currently in time-out and maybe you can help me. I’m using 4 colors instead of 7, and I thought I had a good plan for the color switches, but when I got to the first planned switch, I still had half the first skein left. If I switched then, I was afraid I’d run out of the other colors before I got to the end of the shawl. (I have ~1700 yards; it uses anywhere from 1500-1800 depending on which project page you look at.) So right now I’m at the end of section 5, out of 13, with 37 grams of the first skein still left. I have several choices that I can see.

Be risky and frog back about ten rows to fade in the second color as I’d planned. If I run out at the end, I would have to end early or finish with the first color.
Do section 6 (lace) in the yellow and start fading at the beginning of section 7. The downside I can see is that I might end up with a very large yellow section, compared to the other colors.
Start fading in the second color in section 6, even though the pattern recommends doing the color melts in the garter stitch sections and not the lace.

Please help me. I know this really shouldn’t be this difficult, but there are some other things going on that are sapping my capacity for thinking and stuff. Thank goodness I have good dogs to snuggle with.

And look at my new stitch markers! Those are MY DOGS! They’re from Jill’s Beaded Knit Bits. I sent her a photo of my dogs and she made these and I love them so much!

All about that Fade

May23

Somehow I have turned into a monogamous knitter. It’s the weirdest thing. But it means that I’ve been working solely on my Find Your Fade shawl and as of last night, I am in section three. Here’s how it looked at the end of section two:

Weird, right? Like a thong, or a uterus, or ram horns. But I am assured that this is how it looks for everyone and it will grow up to become a normal Find Your Fade shawl. I’ve even planned out my fade sequence, thanks to the little graphic at the end of the pattern.

I had to color it twice to get the sequence I liked best, which is the one on the left that will allow me to use as much yellow as possible. But I have a confession to make: the Fade is a little…boring? I hate to say that because it’s such a popular pattern. Maybe it’s just because it’s not a color I like that much and I’m in a big garter section. Surely it’ll perk up once I get back to lace and start fading in a new color.

And in other news, Duncan has not reached the point of not chewing things up.

In his defense, this bed already had some holes from a few months ago when I tested Duncan the first time, so he might have just expanded on his earlier work. Still, he’s back to his beach towel on the floor for now.

Ready to Fade!

May21

My new yarn arrived yesterday, a set of four skeins from Bumblebee Acres Farm in a Game of Thrones-inspired fade. My colors are Lannister themed but they have plenty of other choices. This is for my commissioned shawl and even though these aren’t my colors at all, I’m excited to make it for her. The yarn is called Butter Sock, with 70% Merino, 20% Silk, 10% Cashmere, so it’ll be a treat to knit with and cozy to wear. (I’m pretty sure she’s never going to see this blog, so hopefully it will be a surprise when it’s done.)

I chose the Find Your Fade pattern so she’ll have a big squishy wrap to keep her warm, and because I’ve been wanting to make one for ages. I cast on at first with the recommended size four needles, but quickly decided I wanted a tighter gauge and started over with size three. Warmth is key, and I think it will still come out plenty big! I haven’t gotten very far, maybe 15 rows in, and I haven’t planned out the color changes for my four-color fade yet. I need another weekend to spend with my Fade!

We’ve had days and days of rain and gray skies, which makes me just want to curl up and knit even more than usual. Hope you’ve got sunshine where you are!

Am I crazy?

Mar30

Yeah, I think I might be a little crazy. After thinking about fade sweaters recently, I was idly going through my stash to think of other yarns that might make good sweaters. And it hit me that I have a large quantity of yarns that all go together beautifully:

Now, maybe you’re thinking, Hm, I think I’ve seen that combination of yarn before! You have! This is the yarn for my Mermaid Shawl, which has been on my needles since September 19.

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And that’s pretty much where I still am. I’m on row 18 of the first color. That’s slow progress for me. I worked on it last weekend and only managed about three rows. I’m not sure I like enormous shawls that start at the outer edge. Each of these rows takes an eternity, and clearly I’m not loving this project or else I’d be itching to work on it.

What if…I frogged it?

Eek! Scary! This mermaid shawl idea has been in my head for ages, but…what if it was a Mermaid Cardigan instead? I think I’d wear it more often, and it would be the same gorgeous fade of colors. I’m thinking something like Gelato, though mine would have to be a little shorter, but I suppose I could find any cardigan pattern I like and make it a fade.

Tell me: Should I frog? And if so, what’s your favorite fingering-weight cardigan pattern?

Planning a sweater

Mar27

I loved wearing my new sweater so much yesterday that I’ve decided I need more handknit sweaters in my life. And since we’re heading into spring, I thought it was time to try a lighter weight sweater. All my others have been worsted weight. I’m a little worried that it will take forever using fingering weight, and that I’ll get bored, but I won’t know until I try. I also figured it was time to make a sweater out of really good yarn, a fine merino instead of a rougher wool or an acrylic. Unfortunately, I don’t have the budget to buy a sweater’s quantity of yarn at the moment, and I haven’t bought with sweaters in mind. It looked like I was stuck and wouldn’t be able to plan a new sweater for a while…but then, I had a brilliant idea: a fade!!

This set of four yarns came home from Colorado with me last year, and it’s been in the queue for a fade shawl. But what if it became a sweater instead?? I could find a solid purple, which I wanted to do anyway, if I need more yardage. Plus, when I knit stripes or fades, wanting to get to the next color keeps me motivated, so this might help with the boredom issue too. I’m leaning toward Drea Renee’s So Faded, but if you have another fade sweater pattern you love, let me know!