Ornamental
Everything looks better on the beach. Rocks are shinier and more colorful when they're wet. Shells are too, and they don't have nearly the same risk of funny smells when they're still by the shore (that only develops after you've forgotten them in your trunk for a week). This shameless deception leads me to pocket no end of beach-y treasures. They're always less charming when I get them home. You'd think I'd know better by now, but I still fall prey to the shiny every single time. This most recent trip to Maine was no different. I came home with [...]
Closure
Oh, I almost forgot. While I've already detailed my yarny acquisitions from the Maine trip, I haven't yet shown you my nifty new buttons. I know they're not strictly knitting related, but they will almost certainly get used in some sort of knitterly pursuit, so I'm pretending they're fair game. Aren't they pretty? Now alas, I don't have a website where you can buy them directly. I got them at KnitWit yarn shop in Portland. They're pewter, they're handmade by some sort of super genius in the area, and they were all of $2.00 each. This is a shockingly low [...]
Suspicions
My longstanding love affair with Handmaiden's Casbah sock is well documented. I've knit four pairs of socks with the stuff (Slant, Graupel, Rampant, and the as of yet unnamed socks), which is just about unheard of. I can't think of any other yarn I've used for that many socks. It's on my list of favorite fat sock yarns, and it's one of those yarns I like enough that I just sort of buy it whenever I see a skein I love (meaning there's a fair bit in my stash). Which is why I was a little worried when I was [...]
Book Yarn, Part VIII
Next up, Barking Dog Yarns. I've been using Barking Dog Yarns for just about forever. I think my first pattern with them was Peregrinate, and of course we mustn't forget Inlay or the Loasa lateritia projects from the first volume of Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet. I've loved everything I've made with these yarns and am consistently impressed with the beautiful colors. They were a natural choice when I was hunting yarns for the next book. On the right is Achillies in the color Chestnuts on the Flame. The yarn is a good, solid 3 ply, 80% merino 20% nylon blend, perfect [...]
Brain Teaser
Would you like to have your mind ever so gently blown to smithereens? I promise it doesn't hurt. I further promise that when you're done going 'wait, just how does that work again?' and you move on to 'ok, let's try it' you'll be delighted. Jeny Staiman (she of Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off and the Double Heelix socks) has done something clever. Something with a cowl and buttons and math and possibly a bit of magic. Something I'm more or less powerless to explain properly, so you'll just have to go see for yourself. I suggest you start here [...]
Book Yarn, Part VII
And now, Saffron Dyeworks. I discovered Saffron Dyeworks when I was sourcing yarns for the first volume of Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet. I fell promptly in love and am still helplessly smitten today. The Polypodium vulgare socks, from Saffron Dyeworks' tush are some of my very favorites from that book (shhh, don't tell the others, they'll be jealous). I was delighted to have the chance to work with them again. On the right is Pali Sport in the color Blue Greyonyx. This 3 ply superwash merino yarn is somehow more than the sum of its parts. It's not an unusual fiber [...]
I Shall Refrain From the Obvious Pun
So I must be honest. This this was not the sort of vacation that makes good blog fodder. It might actually be the sort of vacation that looks boring to outside observers. When we left the story last, we were headed out to Maine. We'd arranged to stay at a perfect little cabin, and we had an ridiculous amount of fun playing house for a week (why is it that things that seem like chores at my actual house seem unreasonably entertaining when I'm playing house on vacation). The Boy and I had both been just the wee tiniest bit [...]
Just a Little Slouch
Hat's done! Started by worrying I didn't have enough handspun...then moved onto worrying I didn't have enough of the main yarn (Vally Yarns Sheffield). Turns out I had enough of both, and so now I've cast on a pair of tiny mitts to go with it. And now, of course, I'm worried I don't have enough again. So, I'm thinking it really is reversible. Here it is knit side out: And here purl side out: And here's the crown with the knit side out. And yes, yes you do need to weave the ends in neatly if you want it [...]
Book Yarn, Part VI
This morning, Shibui. On the right is Sock in the color Wasabi. It's a superwash merino, and it comes in an impressive range of semi-solids and a handful of multis (and, in a move I wish more companies would make, the multis list which of the semi-solids they're made with so you can pair up yarns with confidence, even on a computer monitor). I've been a fan of this yarn for a long time and used it for Serab way back in the first book. On the left is Baby Alpaca DK in the color Flaxen. This is a 3 [...]
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