Tag Archive | purple

Feeding the stash

The happiest days are when yarn comes! (Just don’t tell Melanie Hamilton.) I got some good mail today from the Periwinkle Sheep. They were donating 50% of their sales to Fair Fight, an organization fighting voter suppression and systemic disenfranchisement based in Georgia. That was a good reason to buy some pretty yarn!

The two skeins are merino single in fuschsia agate, and I’m pretty sure they’ll become a shawl. The highland wool is purple foxglove, and I really don’t know what it’ll be. It’s a little more rustic so I don’t think I’d be able to wear it against my neck or face. Right now it’s there to feed the stash.

I’m hoping to finish my Dissent Cowl this weekend. It’s zooming along and is so fun to knit. I’ve got a good tennis match to watch tomorrow that will allow plenty of knitting time. We recently watched Defending Jacob on Apple TV+. There are eight episodes and we sped through them, loved it all except the ending. It’s based on a book so I might need to read it now!

Happy Saturday, friends.

Color Quiz

Sep19

I’m late to the Color Quiz party from Nothing But Knit but I thought it would be fun to play along anyway!

What is your favorite color? How is this color reflected in your crafting?
Is there anyone reading this who doesn’t know it’s purple? The bulk of my projects are purple, my blog has a purple background, many of my craft accessories are purple…
Do you prefer bright colors or more subdued shades?
Bright colors for sure! Purple, pink, turquoise.
Does your color mood shift with the seasons? Do you carry one color all year and just change the accent color?
I think there is a bit of shifting, with bright, vivid colors for spring/summer and jewel tones for cooler weather, but there’s always some shade of purple in there.
Is there a color you avoid? Or maybe it’s underrepresented in your crafting?
I don’t like yellow at all. I don’t buy yellow yarn unless it’s for a specific project. I’ve used it in a couple of Wonder Woman-themed projects but not on its own for me. And since I dyed my hair purple, I don’t wear red, so I don’t knit with it much.
When you pick out your crafting supplies how important is color to you? Is it the first thing you consider or is it a bit further down the list?
Color is the number one factor, followed by feel. Even if it’s purple, it has to be soft!
Do you ever consciously choose a different color palette just for the change?
Nope. The few times I’ve made things in less-than-favorite colors, the projects drag and I don’t enjoy it as much, so I just embrace the purpleness!

FO: Faded Boxy

Mar9

Six months. Six long months. That’s how long it took me to knit my purple faded Boxy sweater. But you know what that means? IT’S DONE! I wove in a ridiculous number of ends yesterday — it took two and a half episodes of E.R. — and now I just need to block it! But will I wear it once first? YES. Yes I will. I have to wear it to work tomorrow to show it off to my knitting group!

8f3593f5-525e-450e-8d40-e5f1d16578f6 This used up five gorgeous skeins of yarn from stash. Well, I have enough of the solid purple left over to be sock accents for a couple of pairs of socks. And I had to dip into an extra skein for the top when I lost at yarn chicken with the last color. Thank goodness I had two skeins of a variegated purple from my last trip to my own LYS! It wasn’t a perfect match but it blended well enough.

I have slipped it on and I think it’s going to be perfect fit. That might be easier to achieve when it’s a loose, big, boxy sweater like this, but still. I’m quite pleased with it.

I’m sure I’ll share more photos later, with me wearing it and after it’s blocked. Happy Monday, friends! Hope your weekend was productive too.

Boxy Issues

Jan26

Yesterday I turned on the tennis and settled in with my Boxy fade sweater. I was ready both to split for the sleeves and to start fading in the last color. I knit across the stitches for the front half and hit a roadblock: I needed one row per color, but there wasn’t an easy way to do that when you’re knitting back and forth with two colors of yarn. It works perfectly when you’re going round and round, but I didn’t even think about how it would have to switch to back & forth later. So, I was in a pickle. Now, I’m sure there are smarter knitters than I who have a good answer, but my answer seems to be working for me: I knit one color across, then I knit the other color across. Then I purl color one across, then purl color two across. Whatever works, right?

My second issue is one of color. When I chose my five colors for this fade, I alternated variegated with solid. The first solid was at the bottom and it’s fine. But then I have the second solid up here, separated by variegated/fades, and it’s just this stripe of lavender. I can’t decide if it stands out a lot because I’m looking for it, or because it’s obvious.

Maybe it will calm down once I get the rest done. I sure hope so because I am NOT interested in frogging 22 miles of stockinette just to switch the order of the last two colors.

And that’s as far as I got yesterday, because of Issue #3: my elbow. I had a bad case of tendinitis several years ago, and every so often it’ll flare up a bit if I’m not careful. Apparently I’ve been doing a lot of knitting during Duncan’s recovery, and they’re longer stretches of knitting, and now I’ve got this pain in my elbow that says “Hey! Time to take a break!” So instead I caught up on some TV and read a book, like a real book with pages and stuff, and that was nice. I’ll give it a couple more days with limited knitting and all should be fine. Maybe switching to my worsted weight cowl will help too, since I hold the bigger needles more loosely than the smaller ones I use for fingering weight. And really, it will work out all right because I’m getting my purple hair refreshed today, so that’ll be about five hours with little to no knitting time!

Enjoy your Sunday, friends!

Yarn is my therapy

Aug29

I haven’t decided for sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I have a perfectly lovely yarn store less than 10 minutes from work. Maybe it’s both. Today it was a good thing, as I needed a bit of yarn therapy. Spoiler: I found it.

Both are sock yarns, one by Mudpunch and the other from Goosey Fibers. I’m totally casting on the Mudpunch self-striping tonight!

I had to, it was purple

Jan31

I have an unexpected day off today. That darn polar vortex hit us yesterday, but it wasn’t until this morning that we discovered our hot water pipes had frozen. Yes, we should have left water dripping. Alas, we forgot, and I am not a fan of cold showers. In trying to get the pipes warmed up, we redirected a duct from the kitchen, which made the kitchen and dining room pretty cold. And that’s where the dogs stay when we’re not home. So not only did I feel unshowered and gross, I would felt guilty leaving them in the coldest part of the house all day. So! Day off for me, and I hope to have knitting to show for it tomorrow!

Today, I’ll show off my new yarn. Yep, I bought yarn recently. But I say it without guilt or shame, because it was just one skein, it was carefully considered, and we’re doing really well with our budget this month. I knew I wouldn’t go that long without buying any yarn; I just wanted to get away from the mindless, retail-therapy, “buy it all because it’s pretty” mindset. And I have to say, so far it feels really good to break out of that habit.

This skein is a colorway I’ve had my eye on for at least a month or so. It’s from Lolodidit and it’s her newest purple colorway. She teased us with it on Instagram before it was available, asking for name suggestions, and eventually decided on Prince. Her first photo sold me, but I waited a while after it went on sale, just to make sure I really wanted it.

Spoiler: I did.

It is STUNNING. My photo doesn’t come close to doing it justice. I bought it on a basic sock base but when I saw it, I knew I couldn’t just put it on my feet. No, this needs the perfect shawl pattern so I can wear it all the time and show it off.

So this is my call to you: what’s your favorite one-skein fingering weight pattern?

Purple Leather Pen Case

Jan6

A while back, I read a blog post on the Well-Appointed Desk that featured a beautiful wooden letter box sold by Galen Leather. A few clicks later, I was drooling over all the gorgeous leather goods on their site. (You too can drool: find their site here!) Aside from the stellar letter box, they had leather pen cases in a wide variety of colors and sizes. When I saw the purple one, my admiration kicked into desperation, and since it was still before Christmas, I immediately sent the link to the husband as a gift ~~demand~~ suggestion. He soon replied that they’re based in Turkey, and there was a long lead-time for the case, so having it by Christmas wasn’t an option. Oh well, another occasion would present itself. I couldn’t be bereft, given all the lovely gifts that I received.

But then! HaHA! Husband confessed that he had fibbed slightly, and the case was available, and was supposed to have arrived before Christmas, but had been delayed. Yes, I had another present on the way, and after several long days of waiting, it finally arrived this week. And it was truly well worth the wait, friends. Just look.

fullsizeoutput_ed8 First out of the bubble wrap was the sturdy cardboard box with the beautiful logo. I love that they included a ruler/bookmark.

fullsizeoutput_ed9 I lifted the lid and immediately fell in love, the color was so gorgeous. Just look at that purple!! Again, I was impressed by the packaging: a heavy paper label circled the case.

fullsizeoutput_eda Before sliding that off, though, I explored the other items in the box: an informational card with care and cleaning instructions, and my own little handmade Evil Eye charm! I haven’t decided if it’s going to become a stitch marker or a pendant. I love it.

fullsizeoutput_edb Finally I slid off the label, sniffed the yummy leather, and unzipped the smooth zipper. The interior is also a stunning purple, with purple elastic loops and a slot to slide in a notebook. My favorite purple pens immediately went inside.

Even though I had to wait a little while, I would definitely order from them again. Everything is extremely well-made, with incredible attention to detail. They created a wonderful experience from the very beginning, wowing me before I even got to the product. The case is gorgeous but also sturdy, and I know it will protect my pens well. I’m in love with this case, and it’ll be going everywhere with me.

Not a Good Day

Sep27

Today didn’t start out so great. I snoozed a bit too long and got up to a puddle outside the bedroom door (Duncan isn’t great about going very long stretches without a potty break). I confess I cursed a bit as I let the dogs out.

Then when I came down for breakfast, I spotted a knitting needle on the floor. A thin size 1 DPN that should have been in a zipped project bag holding a sock WIP. Oh, that bag? Yeah, it was on the floor, says the husband. Sure enough, the bag had suspicious dog hair on it. I unzipped it and pulled out the sock, and discovered that the rogue needle had been on live stitches. This bag was my Yarn Pop bag, the one with the handy grommet in the side you can pull the yarn through. Apparently, you can also pull a needle through.

I got the stitches back on a needle, a different needle because the first had a splinter and few tiny tooth marks, and it seems to be fine. But OMG this dog. I know, I know. It was my idea, and I found this dog, and blah blah blah. I had clearly forgotten what it’s like to have a young dog in the house, and we got really spoiled with the first two dogs, who never had accidents in the house even at under a year old. So it’s a new problem for us to deal with. Like I said, not so great.

So in the hopes of turning that frown upside down, let’s look at yarn, shall we? I have marvelous friends who give me marvelous yarn. First up is my birthday yarn from a couple of work friends. It’s Madelinetosh Euro Sock in the color Daenerys. I think it might grow up to be a Miso shawl, a simple, versatile staple for my wardrobe.

Second, I have a new skein from an indie dyer, Canon Hand Dyes, in Portland. This was a gift from another friend at work, a thank-you for covering while she was on vacation. The yarn is Oscar Sparkle Fingering and the color is called Isobel Crawley (Downton Abbey inspired, as I’m sure some of you could guess). Isn’t it beautiful? I do love sparkly things, especially sparkly purple things! I haven’t decided yet what it wants to be, but I’m pretty sure it will be another shawl/scarf, something I can pet and admire while I wear it.

There. I feel better now, don’t you? I mean, I’d feel even better if I was at home playing with my new yarn, but we can’t have it all, I suppose. Here’s hoping your day is brighter than mine has been!

Orbit

May27

My FO this weekend is the Orbit scarf, which I’m totally in love with. It’s a loooong scarf with tons of squishy garter stitch, and in a gorgeous purple/fuchsia yarn.

The pattern was wonderful and it knit up super quickly. I’ll definitely be making more of these. I did two extra repeats because I had plenty of yarn and I like long scarves. It’s easily 6′ long.

Those little eyelet rows make it interesting to knit, and interesting to look at!

And just look at this yarn!! *swoon* It’s my handspun from Fluffy K and it was all crisp and yummy in my fingers, and the colors made such beautiful subtle stripes. The color is called Sinister Foxy, which I think suits it perfectly. This piece is just the perfect combination of all my favorite things in knitwear, and I think I’ll wear the heck out of it. I’m not sure I even want to take time to block it!

And last night I finished another pair of socks, and they were snatched up by the girl before I could take proper photos.

fullsizeoutput_b88

She was delighted with them, though, and that was better than any photo I could have taken. She’s had a couple of big disappointments the last several days, and one of the hardest things as a parent of a teenager is when they struggle with things that you’re helpless to fix. So, I’ll make her socks if they make her smile.

I’m outside on our deck right now, watching a big storm roll in and looking forward to it because it suits my mood right now. I can totally use a rainy day spent completely indoors. I know I’m not the only one who loves spring thunderstorms sometimes!

Silverleaf Complete

Oct22

I just finished it this morning and had to share it right away because I’m so excited!

It’s nice and long, and the garter stitch sections are squishy and soft.

The leaf pattern is gorgeous. It amazes me how people can take a relatively simple lace pattern and make something so beautiful. I love knitting designers.

The color is also perfect for me. It looks predominantly gray, so it should be nicely versatile, but in person it’s got a hint of purple.

This might be my very favoritest knit of all time. So much love for my Silverleaf! If you don’t have it already, go buy it and make it. You won’t regret it.