Tag Archive | knitting

Travel Knitting

I understand now why knitters always pack so many more projects than they think they’ll need. The unthinkable happened when I was visiting the girl last week: I was at risk of running out of knitting! *gasp* How did I let that happen, you ask? Well, you see, I finished a second sock on the plane there and cast on another sock the next day, but I had a lot of knitting time so that sock got done by mid-Monday.

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Mostly it’s the fault of the mermaid shawl: I hadn’t realized I was so close to needing the second color, and hadn’t brought it, so I was only able to do two rows on that shawl, which is what I’d planned on knitting when I was hanging out in the dorm by myself. That left one project, my Hogwarts cowl, and I confess I didn’t even finish it. I’m actually a little stuck on it because it’s getting so tall. I was basing it on this pattern which is also a tall skinny cowl and it’s coming out like it should, I think, but I’m not convinced I’ll enjoy wearing it. I’m half tempted to frog and make a wider, shorter cowl. Thoughts?

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But we made a stop at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe on Sunday and I bought a beautiful little skein of Baah! super bulky Sequoia and had to knit that up right away. (See my two-hour cowl.) And after knitting with super bulky, I wanted more, not my fingering weight Hogwarts cowl. So yeah, I made another detour to Joann and used a coupon to buy a $3 skein of super bulky for a quick gray cowl that I left for the girl. It must be getting cold if I’m itching to knit all the bulky yarns! Still, when I got home and cast on a new project (because of course I did), it’s a sport weight, not bulky.

This is my new Manos del Uruguay Feliz and I’m loving it so far. The pattern is Late Harvest and I’m excited to get to the lace section. I’ve also made good progress on my boy socks, once I had him try them on and I measured his foot. The first one is *thisclose* to being done, and the second one should go a lot faster.

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But I swear, the bulky knitting will be happening soon!

Review: Zen Yarn Garden

Oct6

What’s your favorite splurge yarn? Mine is now the Serenity line from Zen Yarn Garden! I got to test a 3-skein kit of Serenity 20 Fingering and OMG I’m in love!!

I made Stephen West’s Dotted Rays – Speckled Fade shawl. This was one of my favorite pieces ever to knit, and I think it will be a favorite to wear too.

ARGH it’s so gorgeous I can’t stand it! I really wanted the chevron edge, but I didn’t plan my yardage correctly and ran out too soon. I even had to use a bit of the creamy speckle for the i-cord bindoff when I ran out of the purple. And yet I don’t care a bit because it’s fabulous as is. I think most of you already know the brilliance that is Westknits, so I won’t spend too long on the pattern. It’s enough to say that I loved it and am already planning to make another.

But the yarn? The yarn I must tell you about! Serenity 20 is a fingering weight that’s 70% superwash superfine merino, 20% cashmere and 10% nylon. I don’t think I’ve ever knit with a cashmere blend before, so I had no idea what a decadent experience it is. Soft? Oh my yes! The yarn was lush and full and squishy, and every time I picked it up, my hands were so happy. This was what I picked up at night as my treat knitting, because the combination of relaxing garter stitch in such a yummy yarn pleased me so much. It wasn’t splitty at all and behaved nicely when I had to frog a bit. It might be handwash only but it’s worth it!

I love this color combination too. This is the Vivid Bundle, with Vivid OOAK, Vivid Splatter, and Scallions. They also offer the Jazzy Bundle with blues, grays, and cream. (Keep reading for a special discount code on these bundles!) But with all the gorgeous hand-dyed colors they offer, you could put together any number of combinations for the gradient and fade shawls that are all the rage right now.

The finished shawl is big and has a comforting heft to it. The size 4 needles I used made it dense enough to be warm but kept the fabric at a soft drape. I find myself reaching for it on those cool mornings when I’m up early with the dogs. I know I say I love a lot of yarn, and I always mean it when I say it, but this yarn truly is special. It’s luxurious and decadent and kind of represents everything I love most about knitting: cool people (like the husband and wife team who own ZYG), soft yarn, pretty colors, and finished pieces that are a joy to wear.

If you need some splurge-worthy yarn in your life, I’ve got good news: you can use the code BONNYKNITS to save 20% off either the Jazzy or Vivid bundle! Just click this little link here to start shopping. The code is good until 12/31/18, and they’re limited quantities, so don’t wait too long.

Many and most sincere thanks to Zen Yarn Garden and Stitchcraft Marketing who so generously provided 1 Vivid Kit ($91.80) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Two hour cowl

Oct1

So I finished the sock on the plane ride here, and the girl was very happy with her new socks. Fortunately I planned for that and still had three other projects to work on. Yesterday on our way to Boulder, we made a spontaneous stop in Longmont to visit the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. And I’m so glad we did–the selection wasn’t vast but it was all marvelous. I had to work hard to restrain myself to two skeins.I also got a super cute pin for my collection.I tucked them into my suitcase and pulled out my mermaid shawl today and understood why knitters always pack extra projects: after two rows, my shawl was ready for color two. I didn’t have color two with me. So mermaid shawl went back in the suitcase and the girl took me to JoAnn so I could get some chunky needles to cast on my new super bulky Baah! Yarn.

While there, she announced she misses knitting and wants to make a scarf for one of her friends. Of course I’m happy to encourage that! When we got back to her dorm, we both cast on. After a couple of hours, I had an awesome new cowl. I’d forgotten the instant gratification from super bulky yarns! Now I want more! Yarn is Sequoia by Baah! and the pattern is because I’m happy, and it’s free, simple, and a breeze to make.

And now that it’s done I guess I’ll go back to my sock.

I’m leaving…on a jet plane

Sep28

I get to go visit the girl!! I haven’t seen her in seven weeks and that is a very long time, I believe. She’s having a marvelous time and we’re doing all right without her, but still, I am excited for the visit. I’ll get to see her in the marching band tomorrow (even if I do have to sit through a football game) and I’m staying through Tuesday so I can see her first band concerts too. She’s playing the flute in the symphonic band and the clarinet in the concert band, and it’s worth every penny to get to see all of that. Music is really important to me, and I love that she gets to create music that generates those feelings and emotions for lots of people.

Of course we’ll go visit the mountains once, and maybe I can hit a yarn store, and I’ll take her shopping and out to eat, and I’m sure we’ll just hang out a lot. She still doesn’t have a roommate which means I get to share her room while I’m there. Maybe I’ll even eat dorm food and relive my college days! I’m a little sad to be leaving my boys and my puppers for five days, but honestly, it won’t suck to be on my own for a while. She’ll be in classes on Monday and Tuesday, and people keep asking me what I’ll do. Um, if I get to hang out somewhere quiet and peaceful and knit and read and eat snacks all day, that seems pretty awesome to me, you know?

I have three projects packed, plus an extra skein of yarn just in case. One project is the second sock of this pair, and I’m halfway through the foot already. Pretty sure I’ll finish that within the first day or so.

So I’ve got my mermaid shawl for my alone-time knitting, my Hogwarts stockinette cowl for game/concert/travel home knitting, and the yarn to start my second Ravenclaw sock if I need it. I probably won’t post while I’m gone, so check back next week to see how much progress I make!

Mermaid Shawl

Sep24

I couldn’t wait any longer–I had to cast on for my mermaid shawl! This is the one inspired by a book which will use a whopping five skeins of yarn purchased at the Loopy Ewe. After pondering several patterns, I settled on the River of Time. I like the massive size, the suggestion of waves, and the mythological inspiration of the pattern. I decided I wanted the deepest purple as that small inner half-circle, so I wound that color first, then found the recommended needles. The pattern said I needed 36 stitch markers (eek!) so I pulled out all the cute little beaded ones I’ve made. Then I started reading.

The pattern starts at the outer edge. Not only did I have the wrong color wound, but I would also need to cast on 426 stitches! (EEK!!) That’s kind of a lot of stitches. I guess the silver lining is that the shawl will be getting smaller as I knit, making it appear to go faster…right? Here’s hoping.

I wound the color I’d chosen for the outer edge, a seafoam color called Ivy Snowbell, and started casting on. I put in a marker at every 50 stitches, which made it so much easier to keep track of how many stitches I had. As I knit the first row, I pulled those markers out and added in the markers specified in the pattern. I got about halfway through that first row and couldn’t help but admire how pretty it was with all the little beads dangling from the cord.

But I also couldn’t help but feel how heavy the beads were making it. One or two of these beaded markers isn’t a big deal, but you get up to about 20 of them and you definitely feel it! I switched to plain plastic circle markers, which aren’t as pretty but also don’t add extra weight and stress to my hands and arms.

The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere and it’s as marvelous to knit with as you might imagine, so soft and warm. But since each row is so long, I’ve only managed to get about six or seven rows done. It’s not much but I can already see the scallops of the border. I’m so excited to knit this shawl! It might take me three months, but I’ll enjoy every minute of it!

Hitchhiker photos

Sep21

I can’t believe I never shared any of the glamour shots of my Nerd Girl Yarns Hitchhiker! It’s such gorgeous yarn that I must rectify that immediately. Behold, this is Nerd Girl Yarns Mutiny in the color The Wise Build Bridges, inspired by Black Panther.

I adore NGY yarns. The colors are beautiful, they’re inspired by and named for clever nerdy themes, and yarn itself is top-notch. Plus it’s made by a small indie dyer who’s a badass chick, so of course I love supporting her.

The pattern is Hitchhiker Beyond by Martina Behm, and I like it better than the original, but that’s just me. This is what I knit for the NGY Hitchhiker KAL during July and August. It creates a longer, narrower shawl than the Hitchhiker, which I find easier to wear. And I also enjoy having the rows get shorter rather longer as I knit! Which Hitchhiker do you prefer?

FO: Twizzlefoot Socks

Sep19

This was a quick little pair of socks for me, because I was so eager to have them ready to wear! The Twizzlefoot is a new yarn for me, and when Stitchcraft Marketing asked if I’d like to review it, I jumped at the chance for two reasons. One: um, hello, I’m addicted to sock knitting and can’t get enough sock yarn! And two: the Twizzlefoot is from Mountain Colors, a yarn company based in Montana, and since the girl just moved to Colorado near the mountains, I thought these would make perfect socks for her.

Except maybe not. Because I love them.

I chose the Harmony Brook color, a beautiful dark blue-green with a bit of gray. It’s a hard color to describe, partly because it has a heathered look to it, with that subtle pale speckling. That heather effect is thanks to a strand of silk plied in with the wool and nylon! I think that 17% silk is what makes this yarn feel so darn good on my feet.

And I’ll be honest, I was surprised that they felt so good, because the yarn isn’t as smooth and silky soft as some sock yarn I’ve used. It’s 53% Superwash Merino and 17% Domestic Wool, and it feels like wool, with that fluffy texture that tells you it’ll be toasty warm. The problem is that sometimes my skin is sensitive to anything less than merino, and I was afraid I’d have that issue here. Thankfully, the blend seems to be well done, giving the sturdiness and warmth of wool, the softness of merino and silk, and the durability of nylon. These are going to be perfect cold weather socks.

I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It felt twisty and springy, and I’m sure there’s a technical term or reason for it, but I just liked the bounce it had. It slid smoothly along my needles with no splitting. I didn’t have to frog any of it, but I’m thinking it might not be the best for repeated frogging; I’m afraid the fibers might stick to each other. The yarn is hand-wash only. I washed these in cool water with Eucalan and there was definitely some dye bleeding, so I’d advise washing them separately. Overall, this was a fantastic yarn, and I was excited to check their retailer locater: one of my LYS carries their yarns!

While the girl may not get this particular pair of socks, this yarn would be perfect for her out there in Colorado, making a warm, soft sock with an earthier look and feel. You can see all the colors, and explore Mountain Colors’ other yarns, on their site here.

A very special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and Mountain Colors, who generously sent me 1 skein of Twizzlefoot ($28) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Brighter days ahead

Sep17

Can I tell you a secret? I’m almost afraid to write it in case I jinx myself but…guys, I feel optimistic, for the first time in a long time. We’ve had such a stressful year, mostly due to way too many big financial emergencies, and things were just getting stretched way too thin. I’m sure most of you have been there, or are there. It sucks a lot. But we made a plan to work forward, and we cut back our spending, which wasn’t fun, and suddenly I can see progress. I can see that our changes are working, are helping, and we might be close to pulling ourselves out of the pit of despair. We are still facing a big, expensive rehab project on the house, but if we can make it wait until early spring next year, it’ll be okay. I feel like we can handle it now. It helped a lot that I had a car repair done over the weekend that I’ve been putting off for months, afraid it would be super expensive, and it wasn’t that bad at all. That’s apparently been weighing on me more than I realized. It’s just been a really dark year in my head, so it’s lovely to feel even this small sliver of hope. (I’m knocking on all the wood that nothing else falls apart in my house or my car!)

Something that never fails to brighten my day is yarn. Last week I got these two beautiful skeins of Manos Del Uruguay in the mail. It’s their new Feliz yarn, a blend of merino and modal, and I can’t wait to find the perfect shawl pattern.

Thank goodness for yarn and dogs!

Shawls and Socks

Sep15

That’s all I’m making these days, shawls and socks! I’m not complaining, though. They’re both pretty fun projects. The boy’s marching band had a football game last night, so I had a couple of hours to work on his sock and I’m past the gusset and into the long foot portion. Before I go too much further I’ll have him slip it on and make sure the cuff and heel fit all right, and then I’ll measure his foot to see how long I need to knit the foot.

This is a very mindless project, especially with the ~~boring~~ solid color yarn, but it pleases me to think of him wearing them and enjoying them.

My current shawl project is the Piece of Cake shawl with my Delicious Yarns. It’s going slowly, and I’m blaming the wrap & turn short rows. Those are not my favorite, you know. But the yarn is indeed delicious.

The photo doesn’t do the colors justice. When it’s done, I’ll work hard to get the colors as true as I can, but this will have to suffice for now.

It has turned hot and muggy again, and the car is in the shop AGAIN, so I’m going to hide out in my dark cool living room and knit the day away as much as I can. Happy weekend, friends!

House Colors

Sep9

This summer, I participated in a knit-along with Nerd Girl Yarns to make Hitchhikers. There would be prizes involved, some just for those who used NGY yarns. I love Hitchhikers and had the perfect yarn in my stash, so I cast on immediately and made my favorite Hitchhiker yet.

The KAL went for over a month, and I kept checking back after it was over to see if I’d one a prize. When the prizes were finally announced, I’d won a gift certificate for using NGY yarn!! That same night I was on Instagram and saw a post from NGY about some new ready-to-ship yarns, including a mini-skein set of Hogwarts House Colors. Well. That was clearly a sign. I immediately went to her website and got the last set on her Binary Sock yarn. And I love it!

I knew right away that I wanted a striped cowl, with the purple “unity” color as the ribbed edges and a thin strip in between each color, and I had to cast on immediately. This might even replace my sock as my lunch break work knitting this week. It’ll be a fast project, for sure. And we’re getting cooler temperatures, so maybe I’ll even be able to wear it soon!

And in unrelated news, I decided I was ready to go back to my fun purple hair! Thanks to my fabulous hairdresser MIL, I got magical purple-blue hair yesterday and I love it!