Yarn | Love Is All You Knit

Jun 16 2011

Summer Projects

Ah summer… the time of year when we relax a little bit and have some fun. I’ve definitely felt the need for some fun lately so I decided to try a few new things this summer to break myself out of a rut.

One recent Saturday morning, I woke up with visions of knitting under a big umbrella on a beach while salty waves washed ashore. An appropriately beachy yarn in a light seafoam color was just beckoning to be made into a hard-wearing beach bag. A few hours of Ravelry-perusing later, I decided on the Medano Beach pattern. I coupled in some Debbie Bliss cotton DK in cool grey to give it those fun stripes that are just so popular right now.

Following this inspirational wave to try new things, I wanted something that would be a bit of a challenge and keep me entertained. I also discovered that I’m really enjoying working with the thin Hempathy yarn, so I started thinking of light, airy shawls in laceweight yarn, which is something I’ve never worked with before. I fell in love with Brooklyn Tweed’s Rock Island Shawl, which is spectacularly lovely and word on the Ravelry forums is that it’s not exactly beginner’s lace. I picked up some lovely Anzula laceweight in the Seascape colorway and cast on for this just the other night. I haven’t gotten very far, but I think its going to be great.

Jan 08 2011

1 Comment

knitting, Yarn

WIP: Guernsey Wrap

When Brooklyn Tweed released the pattern for Guernsey Wrap, I knew I had to make one. I love textured knits and the tweedy gray color just made it even harder to resist.

I am completely enjoying both the pattern and the yarn. Shelter is rustic and wooly, and has an amazing lightness to it. I can’t wait to wear the finished wrap.

Nov 13 2010

3 Comments

Antics, knitting, Lace, Yarn

Curse Breaker

Knitting a hat with so many things that could have easily gone wrong has seemed to break the bad luck curse of late.

What could have gone wrong, you ask?

First off, its a lace-like pattern, which (for me) makes it very likely that something will go wrong. And tinking back to fix a mistake in lace makes it even more likely that I’ll mess something else up. AND I didn’t even bother with a lifeline.

And then there’s the cursed yarn I was using (see previous post for that whole story). It’s superwash, so that meant that even though it took five tiny balls to knit up this hat, I couldn’t spit-splice the ends. And of course, starting a new strand of yarn in a lace pattern can be tricky as well. But I lucked out and was able to start all the new strands on the “rest” rows of the pattern.

Then there was the fact that I chose to go down a needle size from what the pattern suggested without swatching. (Tempting the fates!) And of course, the hat was coming out very small. So small, that I was pretty sure I would need to give it to my eight year old niece if I ever wanted the hat to be worn. But then I followed the pattern’s suggestion to block it over a dinner plate to really open up the lace pattern. And lo and behold, an adult sized hat resulted.

Curse officially broken. Now if I could just find my darning needle to weave in the ends! (Uh oh. Hope that’s not the curse coming back to bite me in the ass!)

Pattern: Crooked Paths by Melissa LaBarre of knittingschooldropout.com

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Baltic

Nov 01 2010

4 Comments

Antics, Yarn

When it rains….

Sometimes things go wrong in your knitting. Sometimes they go so wrong that you have to put down what you’re working on and just knit something quick and pretty to restore your faith in knitting. After the ill-fitting cardigan debacle I needed just that so I decided I would knit a cute beret using a stunning skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage merino in baltic that has been calling my name lately. Considering my recent knitting catastrophe, I should have known that the knitting gods had it in for me.

I carefully loaded the unwound hank onto my umbrella swift and snipped the knot to free the two loose ends. Now, if there is a science to choosing the right end to wind from, obviously my hypothesis was WRONG. Almost instantly, I could tell that the end I chose was coming from the underside of the hank, so I removed it from the ball winder and tucked it in on the underside of the hank. I then grabbed the other end, which was obviously on the outermost portion of the hank and began to wind.

But then it ended up that this new end was also somehow pulling from the underside of the hank, and my hank kind of flipped over on the swift. Not wanting to create a tangled mess (oh, the foreshadowing!), I took the hank off the swift and laid it on the table next to the ball winder and decided to wind it without using the swift. This was apparently an even worse decision.

Like a car crash- instantaneously and without fully understanding how it all went down- I ended up with the most tangled skein of yarn I have seen in a good long while. I don’t have a lot of patience for tangled messes of yarn, especially when I’m really just trying to restore my faith in knitting– I mean, a tangled mess of yarn is the last thing you need when you’re in my state— but this skein was too beautiful (and costly) to just toss in the bin.

So the past two nights, I have spent my free time untangling yarn. Yep. Two whole nights of knots and tangles, and having to cut this 200 yard skein into smaller balls just so I could make some sense of the jumbled mess.

I present to you my handiwork:

Eight 25-yard (give or take) balls of yarn. Clearly, my luck hasn’t turned just yet. Perhaps I should just climb back into bed and pull the covers over my head. And then maybe I’ll cast on tomorrow.

Sep 15 2010

2 Comments

cardigans, designing, knitting, Yarn

The Home Stretch

See, I told you the cardigan wasn’t suffering from a lack of interest.

Now we’ll see if my circular needles are long enough to pick up stitches all around for the button band/neckline.

Tagged knitting

Jul 20 2010

2 Comments

Antics, Yarn

Just Drifting Along

Turning these tumblin’ tumbleweeds

Into fabulous felted beads

Jul 03 2010

2 Comments

crochet, Yarn

Waiting For Inspiration

Do you ever have that feeling where you want to create something great, but you just can’t seem to wrap your head around what exactly? I’ve been having that feeling the past month or so. Lately I’ve been too busy apartment-hunting, then packing/moving/unpacking to spend much time knitting. But I’ve definitely been thinking about it.

I’m sort of tossing around the idea of designing my own cardigan. And by “designing” I mean just making up a pattern for a basic wear-with-everything cardigan. Maybe something with a deep v-neck and some waist shaping. Nothing too complex for my first foray into knitting without a pattern. I’m still waiting for that “this is it moment.” Until then, I’m keeping my hands busy with a little warm weather appropriate cotton and a crochet hook.

Apr 25 2010

3 Comments

baby knits, knitting, Yarn

Manly Mitts and Baby Knits

Joey’s 30th birthday was at the beginning of April and I couldn’t let the occasion pass by without knitting something especially for him.

He has been requesting fingerless gloves for quite a while now and I’ve been wanting to try Ysolda’s Garter Stitch Mitts pattern for a while…. so it was a perfect time to cast on. I started on 3/28 and finished on 4/1, knit with Louet Eastport Alpaca which is soft with a bit of a fuzzy halo. Great pattern, pretty yarn.

I’ve also cast on for another speedy project that I am quite enamored with at the moment- the Baby Sophisticate sweater.

I’m knitting this one with Tahki Tweedy Alpaca, which is soft and tweedy and nice to work with. I almost want to cast on a similar sweater with this yarn in my size! I’m so in love with it that I spilled the beans to the parents-to-be last night and showed them pictures of it in progress, and they’re totally thrilled.

Nov 30 2008

2 Comments

knitting, Yarn

Undecided

So I finished the first ball of Brooks Farm Four Play (270 yards!) on my Shredded Wheat scarf last night. Then, I started to think I could squeeze out a pair of mittens from the second ball, as well as finishing off the scarf.

But if I made the scarf to just any old length, I couldn’t guarantee to have enough to make a pair of mittens. So I decided that I could do the mittens first, then use all the leftover yarn to finish off the scarf since scarf length isn’t as crucial as having enough yarn to finish off that last inch of your second mitt.

So I scoured the ‘net and found a pattern for flip-top-mitts and cast on this morning. Now that I’m almost done with the cuff of the first one, I’m having second thoughts.

I just don’t know how well 50% wool/50% silk mitts will hold up. My fingerless dashings are made with a pretty hearty wool and they are already starting to pill. Maybe I should just finish off the scarf and make a hat with the remaining yarn. (Though I don’t know how much I like matchy-matchy hat and scarves…)

Thoughts? I really want to do some knitting tonight, but I just can’t make up my mind!

Oct 15 2008

5 Comments

Books, Dogs, knitting, Socks, Yarn

Books, Dogs, and Knitting. Three of my favorite things.

I went to see the Yarn Harlot’s book reading last night at Barnes and Noble with Erin.

Sorry, it’s kind of hard to take a one-handed iPhone photo!

We knitted, we listened and we laughed. It was a great time and now I have another book to read! Reading is part of the reason that I’m still not finished with these dang socks. (That… and the fact that they’re guy socks which are inherently bigger than the normal sock.)

Yes, I’ve been sucked back into reading a lot and really enjoying myself. Some of my recent reads:

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, all by Stephenie Meyer: I highly recommend these books- I’ve gotten my sister and my mom to read them, and my sister in law just bought the first one the other day. My favorite of all the books is the first, though I didn’t really like the way the series ended. I read all four of these hefty books in the period of about one week- I couldn’t put them down.

Two of the Women’s Murder Club Series by James Patterson: 1st to Die, and 2nd Chance. Both of these are about a group of four women who help each other solve horrible murders and help each other with life’s problems. They also happen to be good page-turners to keep you busy on the train.

Marley and Me by John Grogan: Joey was browsing a bookstore and picked this one up for me. It was definately cute, but it made me miss Daisy and Henry.

Speaking of dogs…. HENRY’S COMING TO LIVE WITH US AGAIN in a little over a week! If you don’t know the story- when we moved to Brooklyn we had to leave the dogs back with my parents in Texas because our landlord wasn’t sure he wanted us to have pets. Well now that we’ve shown him that we’re good tenants he’s allowed us to bring a dog. We’re just bringing up Henry at first cause he’s a little easier to handle: he doesn’t cry or howl when you leave the house and he doesn’t try to bite strangers. Plus I know Daisy is living the life and being spoiled rotten by my parents. Seriously- she and my Dad have bonded and she waits patiently next to him every morning while he eats breakfast and he always saves the last bite for her. Not to insinuate that Henry’s not being spoiled- he definitely is getting the free run of the house and farm. He’s even gone down the road a few times to meet the neighbors (another reason why he’s the one we’re bringing up first.) I can’t wait!

Category Archives: Yarn