Tag Archive | yarn

Color Tipped Scarf

As promised, I finished something from my list of lingering WIPs and have a new FO to show off! This is Purl Soho’s Color Tipped Scarf. I started this in November of last year, so it took about three months to make…because of that big boring stretch of gray! Overall it’s very simple and quick to make. I used Berroco Maya, a worsted weight cotton/alpaca blend. It used 2 skeins of gray, and about half a skein each of the teal and purple. I’d love to do another one in some softer, thicker, squishier yarn, maybe some Baby Alpaca Chunky. As it is, the cotton makes this a great crisp, lightweight spring or fall scarf.

Once this was done, I turned to my next WIP: my Hitchhiker! It felt so nice to get that back out, even if it is small needles for me (size 3). I’m still loving the colors and the dense fabric it’s creating. I’ve still got a ways to go, but if I focus on it, I should be wearing it within a week. But I have a distraction from my Hitchhiker. My mail carrier delivered a bit of yarn I ordered last week, a gorgeous super bulky skein of blue/purple/fuchsia from Vice Yarns that I’m itching to cast on: Isn’t that luscious?? Yum yum yum. 85% wool, 15% alpaca. A cowl for me, yes, it will be.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’re experiencing some unexpectedly warm weather, and I need to go outside and watch my puppies frolic. Happy knitting!

Frogged Sweater

Feb16

Way back in April 2104, I started knitting a sweater. It was to be a cardigan for me out of some lovely purple variegated cotton. It went well, if very slowly, but then the miles of stockinette bored me to tears. It got relegated to a project bag, then a drawer where it hibernated for a very long time. I thought maybe someday I’d get back to it. I really do want to be the person who wears hand-knit sweaters; I’m just not sure I’m a person who can *make* hand-knit sweaters.

Recently, if you remember, I discovered I’ve been purling wrong ever since I started knitting. Why is this relevant? Because of those miles of stockinette in that cardigan. ALL of it had been done with the wrong purling. So for me to work on it again, not only would I have to conquer my hatred of miles of stockinette, but I would have to deal with the unusual texture of the stitches. I could either do it with my old purling style, which made the knitting rows harder, or I could switch to the new and have two completely different looks on the sweater. Neither were good alternatives in my mind.

On Saturday at the craft show, I was talking about it to my Knitting SIL and she mentioned I could just frog it and make something else with the yarn. It is, after all, truly lovely and soft yarn. Frog it?? Frog the sweater that I spent so much time on?? Was she crazy?

Nope. It made complete sense. I wasn’t enjoying the knitting of the sweater. I would enjoy it less going back to it now with a different method of purling. There simply was no good reason to keep it.

So yesterday I pulled it out of the drawer where it had been hiding for months and months. The colors aren’t good in this photo but you can see the great expanse of stockinette. I’d even already divided for the sleeves. But there was no going back. I pulled out the cord, attached the end of the skein to my ball winder, and started winding. In a very short time, especially compared to how long it took to KNIT all that, the yarn was wound into pretty cakes, ready to become something completely different.What will it be? I’m not sure yet. I have six skeins of it, so the options are wide and varied. For now it will go back in the stash while I ponder.

Surprisingly, I’m not sad. It felt good to let go of a project. I don’t want to feel compelled to knit things because I feel like I “should”. I’m not a sweater knitter, and I’m not a sock knitter, and that’s okay. That’s the wonderful thing about knitters: we can all do different things and appreciate the differences without judging (at least most of us can).

The craft show is over, so the pressure is off for now, and I’m going to enjoy the selfish knitting time. The goal is to work on some older WIPs; here’s hoping some things can cross over onto the Finished Object list!

Oh Yeah, Knitting

Feb10

I’ve been distracted from my knitting the last few days, but I came back to it yesterday. While in a waiting room, I knit up some Yoda ears and completed another Yoda hat. It looks a little long, doesn’t it? Hmm. I used a different hat pattern this time. I might modify it a bit next time. I’ve got another Yoda waiting for one more ear, and then it’ll go into the For Sale pile too. I also finished the pink and gray hat last night. Now I need to make one in the reverse colors, but I don’t know if it’ll happen before Saturday. You may remember, I have a small craft show on Saturday, and I’m focusing on hats for this one. I’m trying to get a good variety of price points, and acrylic kid hats seem to be popular. Anyway, once I finished this one, it was time to get everything tagged and priced. I turned up Adele and got to work. I added 17 hats and 4 cowls to my inventory! With any luck, I’ll come home from the show with a lot fewer. Now, let’s see how many more hats I can knit before Saturday…

Doing it Wrong

Feb1

Guys, I have something crazy to say: I have been knitting wrong for the last three years. More specifically, I have been purling wrong. Remember I was working on a greyhound snood and my two sections of stockinette looked so different? The top part was done in the round on DPNs, the bottom flat on straights. Well, another knitter mentioned that the alternate rows, the purl rows, on the flat section looked twisted. She was very kind and said it didn’t look bad, it wasn’t wrong, just maybe that’s why it was different. Well, I went to Youtube and looked at purling videos and behold! I have been wrapping my yarn the wrong way from the beginning! This is the video I watched, just because it was the first one, and they even show the “incorrect” way later. So yes, my purl rows were twisted. I’m sure it happened because I taught myself to purl from a book and never had anyone watching to say, oh hey, that’s different!

This was a huge Aha! moment for me. Why? Because from the beginning, I’ve found it harder to knit into purl stitches, and it made me dislike stockinette knit flat and garter stitch in the round. This is why! So if I can train myself to do it correctly, it will make my knitting easier. It also explained why so many people dislike purling. I never understood it, because for me it was as quick and easy as knitting. But this new way isn’t as easy, and partly that’s because it’s new to me, and I have to retrain my fingers, teach them new muscle memory.

The other cool thing is that my Knitting SIL pointed out that if I really want to keep purling the way I do (which is a bit faster and easier than the ‘correct’ way, I think) I can remedy it on the next row by knitting into the back loops. I probably won’t use that as my regular method, because I do want to get into the habit of using the right techniques, but it’s nice to know I have options.

Now, I know, there’s not a “right” or “wrong” way to knit, and I agree that my twisted stockinette section looks pretty cool. I like it, and it can be a technique in my tool kit. But there are traditional, accepted forms of the knit and purl stitches, and I was bucking tradition. I want to be a proper knitter, and for me, that means learning to do it the traditional way. Then while I’m knitting, I can make the choice to do it however I want! And I might just want to keep knitting in the round so it’s not much of an issue. 🙂 This is another Yoda hat. I made three this weekend (base hats only, no ears yet) while I was watching the finals of the Australian Open. We’re testing Sling TV for a week, and the sports part is great because I can just use the ESPN app on the Apple TV. But the Sling TV app itself is kind of terrible. It crashes A LOT and I have a lot of problems trying to use AirPlay to show the video from the iPad on the TV. It’s pretty disappointing. We probably won’t sign up; for $20 a month, I want consistency and reliability. So I guess we’ll go back to just having Hulu and Netflix. It sure was nice having tennis to watch again though!

Purple Beanie

Jan28

I worked on a WIP yesterday. It was boring: all gray, all garter stitch. But I made some progress and I have hope that someday I will be able to switch to the third color (teal).I guess this is good TV knitting. I don’t have to think AT ALL. But that’s also why it’s boring. So mostly I worked on a hat, and today it’s done! This is the Purl Swirl Beanie, and I love it. You can make it as slouchy as you want, so I knit to about 7″ before starting the decreases. The pattern is extremely simple but gives the hat a really interesting look and texture. I used Dream in Color Classy, a superwash merino that might be one of my favorite yarns to knit with. It’s not soft in the same way as alpaca; it’s more…crisp. That makes it behave well on the needles and have great stitch definition. The funny thing is that when I went to update the project page on Ravelry, supposedly I had two skeins of the same yarn. This is what I found: They have the same label on them, same color code and everything. But that’s a HUGE difference! I guess this is why they say to make sure you get skeins from the same dye lot! Still, I’m delighted to discover I have more Dream in Color yarn than I realized. Before I can cast on with it, though, I have a new commission: a greyhound snood! It’s a fun pattern, one with a hood, and it’s for one of my daughter’s teachers. (The teacher’s dog, that is.) And of course I don’t have the right yarn, so a trip to Michaels is in store for me today. Might even hop over to Office Max while I’m out there. Yarn AND office supplies? That’s a great day!

I bought more yarn

Jan24

This proves it: I am weak. I couldn’t even go a month without buying new yarn. I lasted 23 days. Then I made the mistake of going to Michaels. I was just going to get some Yoda green yarn to have on hand, and darn it, all the yarn was on sale. Even with that, I resisted until the very end, when I found some lovely variegated bulky skeins. Mostly acrylic but with a nice wooly feel to them. Then I found a display with these value packs, two skeins (1060 yards total) for $5.99. That seemed like too good a deal to resist. Sure it’s all acrylic, but they’ll make great inexpensive pieces for kids and my craft shows. The bags were sealed but someone had torn one open so I made sure to get a feel for the yarn before I bought it. Aren’t these awesome colors?

That wasn’t too terrible, but then yesterday we took a day trip to northwest Missouri. The girl was in an all-day honor band at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, which is about an hour and a half away from us. At first we figured we’d stay in Maryville…but even the lone Starbucks inside the library was closed, and the biggest attraction in town was Walmart. So instead we drove to St. Joseph for the day, where we toured four antique malls and a real live yarn store! The Red Barn Yarn Farm was small but had a fantastic selection of yarns, and the staff was super friendly and helpful. Of course I needed some souvenir yarn, right?Malabrigo Worsted in Periwinkle. Malabrigo Worsted in Pink Frost.This Lustra isn’t the softest yarn against my cheek but I adore the color and the sheen. It won’t be something for me but I had to have some to play with.

I did have a bit of knitting time too. I wanted to work on this hat but forgot to bring the bigger needles for when it was time to switch to the body, oops! Fortunately, I’d brought my black scarf commission with me and I made good progress on that. I forgot! I found buttons at the antique mall too! Most of the time they’re loose in jars and I don’t want to pay $15 for a jar of tiny random buttons. But I love it when I find the cards of vintage buttons for a good price.So yeah, I broke my streak big time. But it sure was fun! And I’m back in the mode of “Knit all the things NOW!” I’ve got so many WIPs on my needles and so many ideas for new projects that I think it’s the tiniest bit overwhelming. Today I might focus on the scarf; that’s the highest priority and getting done will ease my mind. What do you think, can I knit 3/4 of a scarf in one day?

A Knitted Mug & a Bulky Cowl

Jan12

Yesterday the mother and I went to Hallmark to investigate the after-Christmas sale, and though it was pretty picked over, I found one thing that made the whole trip worthwhile: It’s a mug that looks KNITTED!! Isn’t that so cool? It was the only one left, and it came with this nifty napkin too:with a “knitted” snowflake design! But wait, there’s more that makes this an amazing find…IT MATCHES MY TEAPOT!! This is the teapot I got for Christmas a year ago, and now it’s a fabulous set. Plus, I only paid $4.25 for the mug. Sighhh. I love sales, don’t you?

After the shopping, I came home and finished the red bulky cowl during Jeopardy. This one is definitely kid-sized. I now have a backlog of 5 items that need to be photographed and added to my Etsy shop. I guess that should be my agenda today…once I remove the dog hairs. Oops! There is clearly much shedding going on in my house right now. Oh, who am I kidding? There’s always much shedding in my house. Note to self: buy more lint rollers.

Yarn Day, Yarn Day!

Oct20

Today was Yarn Day! I placed a Knit Picks order recently for the yarn I need for the mermaid blanket order, and of course I needed to get free shipping plus there was a discount, so I ordered a few things for myself. And today I found it on my porch…as I was leaving to go to Costco!! Argh. I had to WAIT to open it, but finally the moment arrived. It just never gets old, diving into a box of yarn.This is Brava Worsted, and it will become the crocheted Mermaid Blanket. It might be a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to doing some crochet again. I get awfully knitting-centered sometimes. I absolutely love these colors.This was my splurge: six skeins of Preciosa Tonal. Pretty, eh? I love the subtle color variations. They feel more…roving-esque? than I expected–I think I was expecting something similar to a MadTosh feel–but I really like them. Very soft, should be marvelous to knit with. My goal is for them to become more slouch beanies; I think I can get two hats from each skein. But sadly these little beauties will have to wait. First I need to finish some orders. I got one pair of KC Royals fingerless gloves done this morning, and during this afternoon’s game I aim to knit the earwarmer. Tomorrow is empty right now, so maybe I can get the other pair of fingerless gloves done. Here’s hoping! These gloves were a fantastic knit, extremely fast and I love how the ribbing keeps them nice and snug. Now if I could just keep track of how many rows I do in the first mitt so I can replicate it more easily for the second! The pattern is called 220 Fingerless Mitts.

Thank Goodness for Grandmas

May4

Not my grandmas, though. Mine both died when I was quite young, so I don’t remember them very well. And I don’t think either of them were knitting grandmas, either. No, I’m talking about benefiting from other people’s grandmas. When I first started knitting, my Crochet SIL shared some of the metal needles she’d inherited from her grandmother, and it was a wonderful way to start my collection. Then yesterday, a friend of mine is preparing to move and is cleaning out her stash, all needles and yarn she got from HER grandma that she doesn’t need. These weren’t free, but the price I paid was ~~ridiculously cheap~~ very fair. How lucky am I? I snatched up this collection of circular needles.I counted 20 circs in there, including 8 Clover bamboo and even one Knitter’s Pride Nova! The rest are vintage plastic (I’m guessing that’s what they are. Or resin??) and Bernat aluminum-nylon. Those I won’t use as often, but they’re there if I need them. Plus I got that nifty case! Maybe not the fabric I would have chosen, but I do appreciate functionality as well as appearance. With all these needles, only two were duplicates, and they’ll go to my Knitting SIL. She’ll also get these two skeins of sock yarn, which I don’t use. 10 BALLS of Rowan Biggy! Craziness! Hello, my new fall blanket project.And 10 balls of Berroco Chinchilla in this bright purple. I typically don’t care for the fuzzy, textured yarns like this; I find them hard to work with. But they are so soft, and this was purple! So now I have over 700 yards of it. What the heck am I going to make with it? Teddy bears? Chemo caps? I could knit it with another strand and make a wonderfully soft, dense blanket. Hmmm, that’s tempting.I didn’t get a bit of knitting done yesterday so that’s first on my agenda today. I did manage to make my homemade bitter apple spray. I used apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, and a touch of cayenne pepper. Then I coated my kitchen chairs with them, and we all turned up our noses at the horrible smell permeating our house for the day. And after I did that, my Knitting SIL came to borrow our kitchen table (long story) so the chairs will be put away for a while and I didn’t even need to spray them. Sigh. The puppies now have a little bedroom of their own.Of course, that’s only for nighttime. During the day, puppies must sleep where mom is, right?

Craft Room Organization: Phase One

Jan24

I was hit with a little wave of inspiration today. I’m sure you’ve all seen the blog post from Repeat Crafter Me about her yarn storage. And using that type of shelving isn’t anything new; in fact my woodworker husband has been wanting to make them for me for a while now. But what struck me today was how she put her buttons into little glass jars, separated by colors. Brilliant!

Previously, I had two button boxes. One held all my loose single buttons, the other held button cards with 2 or more of the same buttons. When I need multiples of the same button for a project, I knew which box to grab. But what was frustrating was digging through the boxes looking for the right button in the right color.

So while I watched my tennis this morning, I separated all my buttons into piles. I kept most of the button cards intact, since they’d still fit into the jars that way. Then I gathered up the several empty glass containers cluttering up my craft room. Some I’d bought intending to use kind of like a yarn bowl, and some I just had because…well, because they might come in hand someday. Today, they did! I didn’t have enough, but thankfully my husband happened to have three Ball jars just taking up space in his workshop, and he donated them to me.Yay! I love my new button jars.

Now I just need to get him to make those dividers so I can make my yarn look all pretty. But I can’t help but wonder if by color is the best organization. I’ve got my yarn by fiber (alpaca, felting wool, superwash, soft/merino wool, cotton, silk, acrylic). That way when I need a certain fiber, I know what colors I have available. But it does look so much better by color. How do you organize your yarn? What do you like/not like about it?