Alliteration

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alliteration

All of my mitten knitting (72 pairs and counting) has left me with lots of bits and bobs of fingering weight yarn.  Having already crocheted a scrappy granny afghan this year, I cast about for other projects.  Hipknitizer's Fiddly Bits cowl caught my eye.  I loved the fabric, but could not stomach the thought of 90 stitches of Kitchener.  So, I created my own variation - a scarf.  It is still a hollow tube, the better to hide all those yarn ends, my dear.  I worked the two ends in a semi-solid yarn to tie it together, but, again, left them open with the idea that if one were mittenless, one could use the scarf like a muff to keep them warm.  

The other trick I used was to start with a provisional cast on.  As I worked, I drifted from wider stripes to narrower.  By working 2/3 and then working a ribbed band to finish, and them going back and working the other end in the opposite direction, I could make sure the two ends matched.  This is nice since the two ends are usually side-by-side when worn.

And the name?  What else would you call a simple, sock scrap, stockinette stitch scarf?

From Katie's Bag

I've had some learning this spring, thanks to a generous gift and a push outside my comfort zone.

While deep into my sock yarn scrap crocheted granny square afghan, I put out a notice to my Wednesday afternoon knitting group that I would be happy to accept any fingering weight yarn leftovers that they'd be willing to pass on.  I only got one response, but it was a doozy.  Katie showed up with a shopping bag full of yarn.  Some were missing labels, others were still attached to abandoned projects and others were heavier sock yarn.  But, there were plenty of beautiful untouched skeins - all in Katie's colors.

I have a very strong color sense for myself.  The colors I wear are blue, green and gray.  Period.  There may be a few accent pieces in my wardrobe outside those colors, but they represent a tiny fraction of my wardrobe.  Katie's bag was full of her colors - gold, mustard, orange, russet, black - all the autumnal colors.  As I sorted through, I found a number of skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn.
 As I looked at them, they started screaming at me they they needed to be a Westknit's Dotted Rays Speckled Fade.  They was no doubt, no hesitation, but that they needed to be be turned into this shawl ASAP.

It was a little longer than ASAP simply because this is a 1,200 yard shawl.  But it was a fun knit with the colors pulling together beautifully.  I did change out the gold color in the chevron edging because the one I selected originally was a heavier weight.    But the gold really pops.

The surprise in all of this was your response.  These Instagram posts have been my most popular of the year!  And I would never have combined them if they had not been handed to me in a bag intended for scrap.

Encouraged by the response to my Dotted Rays Speckled Fade,  I worked up another littler shawl, Scalene with leftovers of the gold and a green/black Crazy Zauberball from Katie's bag.  Another hit.

There will be a few more knit from the bag, but I am still setting much of it aside for its original purpose, mini-skeins.  I am leading a program on them for my guild (Madison Knitters' Guild) in November, and Katie's bag will allow me to gift everyone at least one.

Holiday Shopping 2016

I am trying something new.  For those readers wholly unrelated to me, feel free to peruse for your amusement the following collection of knitted gift items.  For those readers related to me, it's time to shop.

Below are the assembled items which I am gifting this holiday season.  Rather than in the past when I made the decisions about who got what, I am putting the power in your hands.  Take a look, and make your claim in the comments section.  If you are slow on the trigger and someone else beats you to the knit that makes your heart sing, let me know.  I might be able to do something, but no guarantees that it arrives by December 24th.  Happy hunting.

Kaiya Mei hat
wool
gifted

Dovetail Scarf
knitted in bulky alpaca & wool scarf

Passerine hat
wool, nylon
claimed by Maggie

Another view of Jeweled Cowl

Jeweled Cowl
cashmere, possum, silk

Baa-ble Hat
wool, mohair
gifted

Hermes Baby hat
merino wool
runs large

Coloration Fingerless Gloves
wool
(actually are finished)

Tiger Stripe Mitts
wool, nylon

Nejiri Wrist Warmers
wool

Mag Mile hat
bulky cashmere

PowderPuffs headband
wool

Betsy hat
alpaca
Claimed by Rachel

Lowlands hat
handspun yarn
wool, mohair, alpaca

Zebra striped mitts
wool, nylon

Purple mittens
wool

Eileen Fisher Sweater Save?

In the past I've had great success (and savings) repairing Eileen Fisher sweaters, so when I came across an incredible bargain at my TJ Maxx store, I was ready for another save.

A large hole on the right front of this sweater had driven the price down from $298 to $6.  A quick look at the yarn convinced me that the texture would help hide my repairs.  What I didn't see is that this isn't simple stockinette stitch, but a slipped stitch pattern with two yarns - a hand knitting weight black and tan marled yarn and a heavy black thread.  The thread's breaking was what had caused the hole.

A much longer look still didn't leave me with much more insight into the structure of the stitch.  While it was clearly a slip stitch pattern because not every stitch was worked in a row of the black thread, I could not get a sense of any regular pattern, i.e. k1, sl 1 or k2, sl 1, etc.  So, I collected the dropped stitches onto a size US #7 needle, since that seemed about right.  I thought that the length of the yarn strands from the dropped stitches might give me a clue as to how many of the stitches had been knit vs. slipped, again it didn't seem to be a regular pattern.

So, I just kinda re-knit as many stitches as I had yarn to work and recreated the rows up to the point at which the break occurred.  Then I took two strands of a heavy upholstery thread to simulate the original black thread/yarn and worked a Kitchener seam.

In all this maneuvering, I had not found the other end of the broken heavy black thread.  So I continued with my upholstery thread and ran it back and forth through the back of the thick stitches to anchor my repair.  This resulted in a somewhat stiffer fabric, but less concern over future unraveling.  The finished appearance is not seamless with the surrounding fabric, but, as I had determined up front, the heavy texture does help hide the repair.

To test the success I sent the sweater off to my daughter at college since she (and not I) wears an extra small.  She has had it a week with no comments or  questions, so I think it has passed.  Fingers crossed.

PowderPuffs

Have you ever come across a fabulous designer accessory in a high-end shop and thought, "I am a knitter.  Why would I pay over a hundred dollars for something I could make myself in an evening?"  So you went home and searched Ravelry, certain that there would be many patterns similar to this accessory from which to choose.  Only you discovered that, although this accessory seems so basic in its construction, there was actually no pattern like it.  Which meant that you had to write it yourself.  And maybe other knitters would like it, too, so why not share?

This is the story of PowderPuffs.  To me, the concept of two pompom 'ears' on a chunky headband seemed so obvious that I could not imagine that no one had ever written down instructions to make it.  So I did.  You are welcome.

PowderPuffs is a great stashbuster project.  Designed with super bulky yarn, it can be knit by substituting multiple strands of thinner yarn.

1 strand super bulky = 2 strands bulky = 3 strands worsted = 4 strands dk, etc.

And those multiple strands don't have to be the same color.  Mix strands of different colors for a marled effect.  The brown sample has two shades of brown to give it more depth, and that richer appearance is a better background for the faux fur pompoms.

Of course, it goes without saying this time of year that PowderPuffs makes a great gift.  Sized for toddlers through adults, you could make one for every gal on your shopping list.  Worked in a earthy color, I could also see this suited to the imaginative boy who becomes a bear - polar, brown or black - pick your favorite.

Thanks to my technical editor, Sara Byron, and my test knitters, Katie Carpenter, Katherine Jones and Barb Larson.

And a special thanks to my friend, Mike Lantz, who came up with not only the winning name, but most of the runners up.

Be sure to download your PowderPuffs pattern before midnight on Friday, November 11th while it is at a bargain introductory price - free!  After that date, it will be regularly priced at $3 USD.
Here's the link to the Ravelry page.

The Summer of Yarn Bombing

Over the summer I participated actively in Stash Dash and managed to knit down 10,000 meters of high quality yarn.  At the same time, I was active in two yarn bomb projects which resulted in the accumulation of approximately 5,000 meters of cheap acrylic yarn.  At least I am still net negative on stash acquisition.

The first yarn bomb was a project for the free clinic down the road in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  My Wednesday afternoon knitting group created a tree wrap which raised funds through sponsorship.  I worked up a crazy piece of granny square crochet with dangling pompoms, since, why not?  I enjoy crochet, and when I am in the midst of heavy-duty knitting, it is a nice break for my hands.  Linda and Cherie from our group sewed all the pieces together, and off it went in early August.

The second yarn bomb was closer to my heart and home.  Mary, the owner of Knitch, the LYS where our Wednesday group meets, watched the busyness of the free clinic bomb and mused that she would really like to cover the bench outside the shop.  I replied that I was awfully busy at the moment, but maybe in a month or so . . . . and then my wheels began spinning.  A full yarn bomb would be a wonderful way for us to thank Mary for her generous gift of meeting time and space.  And when her staffer, Sally, suggested that we incorporate the yarn bomb into Knitch's tenth anniversary celebration, it was a done deal.

Everyone in both the Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening groups contributed a bit of knitting or crochet.  Some, like Sue, Katie and Linda, contributed a lot.  And the Thursday night group lent some muscle to both assembling  and installing out bomb.  We covered not only the seat, back and arms of the bench, but the stair railings and building front.  My favorite contribution is the crocheted banner running below the windows.

Surprisingly, we managed to keep this a surprise, and Mary was thrilled.  Now we need to remember to take it down before the first freezing rain of winter . . .

Lessons from Stash Dash 2016

The handspun yarn for these Lowland
hats was a prize at Stitches MW
back when it was in St. Paul, MN!

This past Sunday evening at midnight was the closing of Stash Dash for 2016.  It was thoughtfully timed to conclude with the closing of the Olympics so that any Ravellenics projects could count towards both goals.  For one of these goals, I raced ahead of the pack to the finish, while for the other I didn't make my (secret) goal, but still achieved a personal best.

So what did I learn from my busy summer of knitting?

1.  Stash Dash is about clearing out stash.  This year I dug deep and pulled out some yarns that had been moldering in stash for a decade or more.  One hat I knit from 20 year old stash!  I had less success with a sweater's worth of yarn from a long-ago Michigan Fiber Festival, but maybe inspiration will strike again.

All that was found was a cuff,
but it became a charity hat
 and mitten set.

2.  Stash Dash is about clearing out UFOs.  On a rainy Saturday a few weeks before the start of SD, I pulled out all my UFOs (un-finished objects).  There was quite a pile and some projects were so old they had never been entered in Ravelry.  There were also several that had been 'in progress samples' for classes I had not taught in years.  If they had been started, even just a cuff of a single mitten, my goal was to get them done!  I was very successful in this, generating a big pile of FOs towards #4 and #5.

Only a few stitches left in the bind off
of my Ashburn shawl.  

3.  Preparation is key.  Once I assembled that pile of UFOs, I pulled out the close-to-finished items and got them to very-nearly-almost-finished.  Since to count for SD an item must be actively knit (or crocheted) and not just finished, I made a pile of items awaiting only a few more bound off stitches.  This was the key to hitting over 2K by the end of the first week and 3.2K by the end of the second.

4.  Charity knitting can be used to introduce fun, quick patterns.  I knit two full sweaters during SD and since I am not model sized, they do take time.  Mixing in some charity hats didn't slow my sweater progress too much, but were a nice break.

My pre-Stash Dash pile of UFOs.

5.  Summer is a great time to get a jump on holiday gifting.  I now have several hats, a few mittens/fingerless mitts and even some shawls set aside for presents.

6.  Yarn bombing creates a new stash of Red Heart Super Saver.  This summer I've been working on two different yarn bomb projects.  Since I think a yarn bomb should be all about crazy color, I've purchased more than a few skeins of Red Heart at my neighborhood JoAnn's using the weekly 40% off coupon.  I think that next summer I will set a goal to knit down this new stash, perhaps by working up a bunch of charity Mother Bears.

So what was my final Stash Dash 2016 total?  11, 703 meters.  Pretty respectable for just knit and crochet projects with no spinning or weaving.  But . . . perhaps I'll start now on that scrappy sock blanket with a deadline of next Memorial Day?

Are You Ready for Stash Dash?

It's the time of year where the avid knitter (or crocheter or spinner or tatter or weaver) gears up for Stash Dash. " What's Stash Dash?" the uninitiated might ask.  SD is the brainchild of Leslie and Laura, and their very popular video podcast, The Knit Girlls, Laura works as a middle school librarian, and so with summers off work, she needed to go a little insane with knitting.  And to quantify that insanity, they started SD.  The objective of SD is to clear out some stash and finish off some lingering projects.  All projects completed during the summer are totaled by the number of meters and entered into a category - 3K, 5K, 7K, 10K or 15K.  (See the full rules here.)

My one linger large project - Skyliner crochet skirt.

Unless you have hands that move like lightning and no fear of carpal tunnel, the way to get high meterage is by finishing projects.  Even if you only knit one row and bind off, all the meters for the project are included towards your total.  This is great for the procrasti-knitter with piles of UFOs.  For the more devious, it's an excuse to work your projects almost to the end and then put them aside until May 27th.

Last year I made it to 10K, but that was with the advantage of a crochet afghan which was well underway.  This year I only have one large lingering project, so I will be burning my wrists to get to that total again.

Here's a review of the smaller projects which will jump start my total:

My Passerine Hat which was worked up to the last row just this morning.  It desparately needs blocking, but will wait until the 27th.

These fingerless mitts were almost done, and then, for an unknown reason, yanked from the needles and set aside.  They are knit a little loosely for my taste, but with a little time investment they will be a good contribution to both charity and my SD total.

I've also got a couple mystery projects.  What?  Who?  Why?  I'll make a guess and finish them off.

 I've got some design work to do this summer, and for the first time in years I am going to knit a sweater for my husband.  Since this is my year to conquer sock knitting, I should have a few of those in the pile, too.

Goo luck to all the contestants in this year's race.  To the starting gate, ladies and gentlemen.

My New Favorite: Modified Swing Cardi

Drape Front Cardigan
from Noro Silk Garden
copyright sixth & spring

Last week two of my designs were published in the Noro Silk Garden 20th Anniversary book from Sixth & Spring, the book publishing arm of Vogue Knitting Magazine.  I am very excited about the cardigan, because it's a new shape which is very flattering.  It is also a modular design, so it is joined-as-you-go with no seams to sew at the end.  The knitting is rather simple, as the angled front pieces are just simple rectangles with no shaping.

The key to this design is the shaping of the back piece.  It begins with a narrow bottom edge and increases rapidly up to the armhole.  That armhole is extra-wide as it incorporates both the back and the front armhole bind-off stitches.  To add some interest, I changed texture across the upper back and carried that down the front shoulder piece.  Did I mention that the back continues over the front and decreases down to two stitches in width at the front armhole depth?  Or that you then attach the tip of the piece to the point of the armhole bind-off?

It gets a little more straightforward from here.  After connecting the points, the stitches for each arm are picked up and knit in the round to the cuff.  Then the front are worked by pickup up stitches along the edge from the side neck down to the back hem and working a big rectangle.  The cardi is finished with a little continuous ribbing along the upper edge of the rectangle and back neck.


Have I confused you?  The design and construction are non-traditional, but not difficult in execution.  And, the result is a flattering sweater.  The angled edge forces the front piece into a deep v-neck, which is a slimming line.  The overlap of the front pieces also helps disguise any wobbly bits in the tummy area.





I love the design lines so much, I've also worked this shape into one of my reinvented sweaters.  The base is a man's cashmere cardigan with the front pieces worked in a slip stitch pattern using recycled cashmere yarn.  It is the center piece of my Thrifty Knitter/Sweater Reinvention class.