TL;DR right up top for folks in a hurry: The metal tool cards are coming back! I've been getting constant requests for these since the summer, and I've finally found a place that can make what I want! In a day or two, I'll open a preorder. We're doing a preorder because production takes several weeks, and I want to be sure I get enough for everyone. I'll have a pack of two for $50 or a pack of five for $100. If you preorder in the first week, you'll get free bonus gauge cards (one with the two pack, [...]

Riiiight, so earlier this summer I played with indigo, dyed some napkins, dyed a bench, had a good time, made a big mess, and just sort of left everything set up in the garden and would give things another dip every time I wandered out there. And then events, as they so often do, occurred. And I got distracted. And so this was no longer the uppermost thing in my mind. And I completely and totally forgot it the bench, the napkins, and the dye existed. For a solid six weeks. While they sat out in the sun and the [...]

Ahem...please consider this a demonstration of why you need to swatch to figure out your needle size. A friend and I knit these swatches on the Exact Same Needles from different colors of the Exact Same Yarn, and look at the difference in the gauge. The yarn label says "Needle Size 3mm (US 2-3), 28sts to 36 rows = 10cm square" (that's 7 stitches and 9 rows per inch for those of us who think in inches). We both used the exact same US size 2/3mm needles (not just the same size, the actual same needles from the same set [...]

Were I to knit a sweater (which I certainly won't be doing until I learn how to use a knitting machines, an undertaking that is in and of itself far from certain), which set of colors would be the most fun? If (again, I emphasize the if of it all, no promises anywhere in sight) I were to do such a thing, I'd want a cropped, fitted sweatshirt in a pretty color with tiny bits of contrast at the edges. Think something like the insides of the cuffs, hem, and collar in the contrast, maybe something amusing where the bits [...]

Ok so the overwhelming consensus was that I absolutely must return to the thrift shop immediately and obtain every last bit of that yarn. So, um, I did. Here's the whole pile. And I'll confess, I feel sliiiiiiightly overwhelmed by this. If the scale and the yarn company's website are to be believed, this is something north of 20 MILES of yarn. This is a fairly staggering thought and not one I'm going to dwell on right now. Instead I think I'll go watch some youtube videos on how to use a knitting machine. Because winter is coming, and I [...]

Ahem (clears throat theatrically) *~*~*This Is Why We Wash Our Swatches*~*~* I knew this was going to change dramatically after I washed it, but this is even more of a change than I was expecting. This was enough of a change that I knit (and then didn't block) a second, identical swatch, just so I could show you the difference. The unwashed fabric is curly (as one would expect from stockinette) and a little crunchy (rough enough that I wouldn't want to wear it next to my skin, and I have a pretty high rustic wool tolerance). The stitches are [...]

The thrift shop gods have smiled upon me!⁠ That purple caught my eye first. Then I petted it, and it had the feel of that sort of slightly rustic wool that will transform beautifully when given a proper dunking. Then I looked at the label, and it seemed encouraging. Then I looked at the price, did a little math, and realized all this cost less than the last skein of fancy hand dyed I bought. So I said yeah ok why not.⁠ The plan was 'I like pinky/purples, I know someone who would take those tealy/blues off my hands if [...]

The slipper phase continues! This time Abeyance is joining the current Rotating Collection. This pattern originally came out in 2019, and it was absolutely fascinating to go back and completely revamp and update it (don't fret, if you had the original, there's already a copy of the new one in your library/inbox). One of the things I've really worked on over the last five years or so is making my patterns thorough enough that a confident beginner who doesn't mind learning new things can make them. That usually means lots and lots of step-by-step photos (like this pattern has seven [...]