Homeward Bound
The exigencies of winter travel and the dictates of large group schedules have meant that not only have I not blogged while I've been here, I've even been so unreasonable as to not have any blog-worthy adventures. Today, as I begin my travel home, I will do my best to partially remedy this. After a close consultation with the weather gods, the ferry schedule, a host of maps, and a variety of folks more versed in local traffic patterns than I, I have decided that the signs augur well, and I'm going to attempt to make it over to Orcas [...]
Options
The more I knit, the more I find myself interested in options. I almost never knit something without thinking 'hmmm, I could do it this way, or I could do it this way, or maybe I could try this other thing' and wanting to more or less do them all. Now often, this is a bit impractical. Eventually I just have to settle down and knit the thing. And if I'm writing a pattern (which I do for almost everything I knit), I don't feel good giving you options for variations I'm not showing you pictures of. Doing that would [...]
Modern Colorwork Collection, review and giveaway
[note]This giveaway is now closed, the winner has been notified.[/note] Knitters are a clever bunch. We take very long pieces of string and a pair of sticks and tie giant knots. Beautiful, useful knots that you can wear. It's a neat trick. I really appreciate it when designers realize just how clever knitters are and write their patterns accordingly. Miriam Felton has done just that with her recent Modern Colorwork Collection. The six pieces of this collection (three sweaters, a cowl, a shawl, and a pair of mitts) draw their inspiration from quilting and modern art. The result is projects [...]
Bloom
I mentioned last time that I loved how the Bare Naked Wools yarns bloomed when they hit the water. Then I showed you a picture of them still on the needles where they were totally 100% not blooming. So let's fix that, shall we? I just finished up the second slipper (well, finished the knitting, I still have to attach the strap). The first one has had a soaking, a nice vigorous thrashing, and a good blocking. The second is fresh off the needles. Look at the difference. See how the top one is nice and fuzzy and happy? You [...]
Fitting
I am, for reasons that seemed extremely good at the time, knitting with gray and cream yarn in the middle of a very long winter. Normally, this would be enough to drive a knitter around the bend. But somehow this yarn is so snuggly and cozy and textured and just downright knitterly that it feels right. This is take two of the strappy slippers ( you guys wanted them enough that I've gone ahead and started working on them as a stand alone pattern instead of waiting until the end of next year and putting them in a book you've [...]
Golden
People, it's cold outside. Cold and very very snowy. So I am not going to go outside to try and find a spot with little enough snow that I can take a picture of these. I know I should, but I'm just not. You'll have to settle for a uncharacteristically well-scrubbed kitchen counter and a rare streak of January sunlight. I think it will serve to show off the pretty quite well enough. That's the fat socks (String Theory Caper Aran in Melon) on the right, and the skinny socks (String Theory Caper Sock in Beach Plum) on the left. [...]
Snow Day
The blog is closed on account of weather. Or rather, I'm shamelessly using the weather as a blatant excuse to curl up inside, wear woolly socks, drink hot chocolate, snuggle kittens, and generally laze finish the penultimate round of KCC3 edits. All the schools have had a pile of snow days, I'm taking one too. I'll be back when the frost on my office window melts.
Repeat
The set I've been working on offers a good opportunity for a little instructional aside. You know how variegated yarn sometimes acts very differently from one project to the next? I've got a lovely little demonstration of why. You may recall I'm worried about running short of yarn on this project. So because I'm going to be using every inch of the yarn I have, I'm trying to be reasonably clever. Once the cowl got to be just long enough, I put it aside on an extra needle and moved on to the hat. The plan was to make the [...]
Put a pin in it
Please do not suggest that I have been lazy with my blocking. I may laugh manically and chase after you with a t-pin. Oh, and pro tip, the snow will re-wet your knitting, so be a smart kid and be sure it's cleaned off and dry again before you pull out your pins. Not that I'd know or anything...
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