off the needles: sweet magnolia handspun

"Sweet Magnolia" by Susan Gehringer, narrow long cowl

Started: September 2015

Finished: October 23, 2015

Fiber: Aztec handspun

Notes: When I finished spinning this braid of BFL/Silk I just wanted to keep working with it, so I went and searched my Ravelry favorites for a short pattern that would fit with the yardage I got this time around. The Sweet Magnolia cowl had been in my list since it debuted last year, and the narrow, but longer version fit the bill. The stripes in the colorway came out beautifully with the length of the cowl, but I kind of feel that the beautiful pattern got a bit obscured by all the color changes. It was fun doing the picot hem and all in all, I think it will make a lovely gift this Christmas. Just make sure to read the pattern carefully! The different version starting points tripped me up a bit at first but wasn't ultimately hard to read. 

I feel like it has been forever since I've completed a knitting project, with lots of shop prep and spinning (both wonderful), so it felt so good to finish this. Only a few projects left before I take on the winter beast that is Timberline!

off the needles: laurus

"Laurus" by Dianna Walla

Started: August 28, 2015

Finished: August 29, 2015 (yay!)

Fiber: Quince and Co. Lark (main color: peacoat, contrasting color: malbec)

Notes: Yay for quick knits! This hat was a total whim. I don't even like colorwork that much but with a car ride in my future I thought I would just try and see what happened. And I'm happy I did! I had some leftover Lark yarn from some projects I did this winter and had just enough to knit this project. The colors aren't super contrasting, but that's kind of my style, so it works, and it was so simple it literally took me less than a day. I made the middle size in the fitted version and it was perfect. The Mr. tried it on and it was way too small, so if I was knitting one for him I'd go with the largest size, and the slouchy version. 

Best of all, Laurus is a free pattern through the #fringehatalong series that Karen is hosting on her blog! I also knit the L'Arbre hat from this series earlier this summer. It's a great little series that would be great for beginning knitters looking to expand their skill set. All in all, I would say definitely knit this little hat and feel happy about a day well-spent. 

Still spinning BFL this week and kind of avoiding swatching for Timberline. I'm excited to knit the sweater, but the swatching? I think I'm mostly afraid I'm going to have to do it more than once. That's silly, typing it out, but there it is. Any thoughts from people who love swatches?

off the needles: trellis scarf

Trellis Scarf by the Purl Bee

Started: July 22, 2015

Finished: August 23, 2015

Fiber: Purl Soho Flax Down, 2 skeins in "Desert Blue"

Notes: This scarf was originally never supposed to be. The Mr. bought me these two beautiful skeins of Flax Down when he went on a trip to NYC in March, and I knew that they were destined for a shawl of my own design. I restarted the design twice, but two months later it was still sitting barely touched. (Maybe that design will come to fruition someday.) When we were getting ready to move, I found it again and just decided spontaneously to rip out the whole thing. It was too lovely to sit there unfinished, and I have heard knitters describe this phenomenon as being able to feel what pattern the yarn was supposed to be destined for. And now, I have a scarf that is lovely, and that I can't wait to wear. Flax Down is single ply and has a great halo, on top of being so soft. It almost has a natural, kind of handspun quality to it that is a little hard to describe.  I would love to someday knit a whole sweater with this yarn. The pattern is wonderful as well, one that was on my list for a while, and uses the same technique that I had just knit in the L'Arbre hat! After a few repeats it was easy to memorize, which is my favorite type of knitting these days. Interesting and beautiful, but simple.

The only modification that I made (outside of the yarn substitution) was to do one less repeat in the total width. I almost wish I hadn't - it is plenty long but I can wrap it around my neck a few times for extra warmth, so I'm not too worried.

Now Fall - please show up!!

Off the needles: Dotted Rays

"Dotted Rays" by Stephen West

Started: June 28, 2015

Finished: July 11, 2015

Fiber: Madelinetosh Pashmina DK in "Holi" - 2 skeins

Notes: 2 countries, 2 weeks, one shawl. My sweet friend Virginia gifted me this beautiful yarn back in March and when I decided to go with my O-Wool Local for my Pure shawl, I knew this would be my next yarn to use, but couldn't find the right pattern. This yarn is loud and bright and beautiful so eventually I landed on Stephen West - all of these things describe his style and his patterns. I knit the small version of Dotted Rays and it was almost exactly 2 skeins. The pattern took some concentration at first, and I found that it was really helpful to place stitch markers every time I turned a short row, it made keeping track of where I was in each row so much simpler. There's also a great little tutorial over at Odette-DS's ravelry page that helped me get started! 

As the project grew, it became more and more of mindless garter which was just what I wanted on my vacation in Mexico. The I-cord bind-off took a while, but I think it's worth it, the piece looks so finished and I even wore it to a coffee shop yesterday, couldn't resist. :) It'll be hard to wait to wear this until the fall, the colors are just so summer-y. 

I'm really glad that I knit this, it stretched my color palette and my ideas about shawl construction! And to top it off, there's this awesome video. :)

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer! I'm excited about my next two projects, one spinning and one which is going to be a massive undertaking. I can't wait to get started and am swatching this week!

Off the needles: Pure

Pure|Worsted by cabinfour

Started: May 30, 2015

Finished: June 16, 2015

Fiber: O-Wool Local, one skein each of Gingko Nut and Steelhead

Notes: After much debating I decided to go with a yarn I knew I would love for a pattern I had a feeling I would love. Now that I have knit a few large shawls, it's really fun to compare the construction techniques and how it affects the overall shape of the finished piece, and how it grows on your needles! Pure starts with a stockinette section, a textured stitch section, and then straight garter for the border. I picked up these two skeins of Local in the 2nds quality section of O-Wools website a few months ago and really wanted to use both of them up, so I did the stockinette section as normal, did 1.5 sections of the textured stitch, and then a little less than the garter section originally called for (because I ran out!). I love the versions of Pure that I saw that were only one color, so to unify the two colors in this one I decided to add in a stripe of the yellow before finishing the textured section, too, and I think it came out really lovely. Towards the end of that section, I was quite ready for it to be over - after knitting miles of stockinette in my Gable I forgot how slow pretty much every other stitch pattern is! 

The only other modifications I made were to go down a needle size to US 7 so it would be nice and dense (and because I'm a loose knitter generally). As expected, this yarn was a delight and I highly recommend it to anyone who has never tried it! Jocelyn's dedication to fair pricing and good relationships with her farmers is very much what I'm about, and I just love the way that my hands feel so soft after a long session of knitting with it. 

The background for these photos is a bit different, you may notice, because the Mr. and I moved this weekend to a little cottage in Chapel Hill. It has been a crazy week of unpacking and organizing, the little moments of "this used to go here in our old space, how does it go here" that happen as your belongings get accustomed to new surroundings. We are really loving it more every day and can't wait to spend time on our front porch and back deck soaking up some summer sun. 

In a week we leave for Mexico for family vacation and I'm sure the next 7 days will move by as if in standstill. My biggest question right now is, will the security guards let me take a drop spindle on an international flight?? Thoughts and experiences are welcome :)

Have a lovely Friday afternoon, we are headed to go see "Inside Out" in a few minutes!

Off the needles: Gable

It's done! It's done! It's done!

Gable by Hannah Fettig

Started: March 18, 2015

Finished: May 28, 2015

Fiber: O-Wash Fingering in color "Barn Owl", 3.5 skeins

Notes: This was SUCH a great first sweater. I've admired Hannah's classic and beautiful designs for a long time and knew I wanted to knit one, and this one is just great! The twisted rib was simple but just different enough to be interesting, and I even took on short rows. Only somewhat successfully, but still. Like I mentioned in my first post about this sweater, I was a little nervous about not alternating skeins with this yarn that came with instructions to do so, but even now looking at it I can't tell even the slightest variation or pooling of color, so I'm glad I didn't go through that process for this project. 

I knit a size 38" to accommodate for the intended 1-2" of ease. The only real modifications I made were to knit the sleeves about a half inch shorter, and when I got to the collar I got a bit impatient and only knit about 1.5" instead of 2". :) And the only real panic moment I had (aside from the short rows) was when I blocked the sweater and laid it out flat to dry. The weight of the water, even after I dried it with a towel, stretched the garments' gauge out significantly. Even though the yarn is an organic superwash, I was afraid to throw it in the dryer. However, when I did put it in the dryer for about 10 minutes, it went right back to the gauge I had swatched and was perfect. How great is that? One of my favorite things about this piece is that I don't have to worry about accidentally shrinking it, but also that the fiber was made organically. And it is so soft. It's been such a bummer that I finished it right as summer is really kicking in here, because I just want to wear it all. the. time. 

I'm not going to lie, I definitely got a little bit sentimental finishing this sweater, as I thought about all that knitting has brought to my life over the past few years and all the ways that I'm excited to grow. If anyone is looking for a fun, slightly challenging first sweater, I highly recommend it. Thank you to Jocelyn for making this awesome yarn, and thank you Hannah for this beautiful pattern! I cannot wait to knit more. 

And just for kicks, here's a picture of a sleepy kitten :)

Off the needles: Husband socks

My husband LOVES socks. It must be a family thing, his youngest brother has two full drawers of them, and in our house, there's a pair of socks to coordinate with every bow tie. So when we went to our LYS a few months back, I was totally not surprised when he picked out this yarn and said, "Can you make socks out of this?"

"Husband Socks"

(Based off of "Basic Toe Socks")

Started: January 2015

Finished: March 12, 2015

Fiber: Lana Grossa Multieffekt (Purchased at Hillsborough Yarn Shop)

Notes: I knitted these socks from the top down on DPNs. This is my third pair of socks ever, the second using this method, and so far I think I prefer it to using magic loop and knitting two socks at a time. I definitely got a case of second sock syndrome with these, and tried to counteract it by starting the second one in the same sitting that I finished the first one. That way, it was on my needles, and harder to ignore. It worked fairly well ;). I didn't even really attempt to get the striping to line up from sock to sock, and all things considered they came out pretty close! And most importantly, they fit. The foot of the second sock I knit about a half an inch too long, and when B tried them on, he tried to be a sweetheart, but I could tell he wanted it a little more snug. So I ripped out the toe and shortened it, and it turned out great. 

The one awkward element that I found was that this pattern was written for the magic loop method, so I had to keep reminding myself of where I was in the pattern in a few tricky areas. But as a whole, I felt like it was a pretty good basic sock pattern, and I'd probably knit it again if I needed another pair. 

So there they are, in all their wool glory, just in time for spring. Ha! I know they'll get lots of use eventually. 

Off the needles: Hansel

World, meet Hansel. Hansel, meet world. You two are going to get along swimmingly I think!

"Hansel" by Gudrun Johnston

Started: December 25, 2014

Finished: March 7, 2015

Fiber: Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in Black

Notes: Hansel was a true labor of love, and it taught me so much. I loved the technique for creating yarn overs at the end of the rows of the middle garter section, had a study in yarn overs and "feather and fan" lace, and was taught patience and a deeper love for knitted-on edging with the triangles that go all the way around the border of the shawl. This piece is far from perfect, though, and if I were to go back and make another (which lets be real, I probably will!), I would pay more attention to my stitch counts at the beginning. I didn't pay attention to the number of rows and number of yarn overs for the edging until the entire garter section was complete, and unfortunately my counts were off by a stitch in a few of the sections (meaning I had forgotten to yarn over at the ends of a few rows). This caused me a lot of trouble trying to get the spines of the shawl to match up with each of the four corners of the square, and some creative finagling to get into the correct stitch numbers for the border section. I've also decided that when I'm knitting lace, I prefer reading it from a chart. Isn't that crazy? A year ago I didn't even know how to read charted lace and now it's my favorite thing. Ha! Just goes to show how accessible so many things in knitting are if you're willing to be adventurous and do a bit of research. Although after blocking this lace, I might say blocking is my new favorite thing. It just keeps amazing me how lace just opens up so wonderfully when you take the time to block it. Ah!

So my first hap shawl is off my needles and has been on my shoulders or in my lap for the past week. I even brought it with me to a conference earlier this week, it was the perfect thing to wear to keep warm in the car, although spring seems to finally be arriving here in Durham, so I'm not sure how long I can keep that up! I'm writing this post today in my apartment, where the sun is just streaming in so beautifully through the open windows here, and Nash and Melo are in heaven, completely stretched out in the warmth. It's nearly six o'clock and the world is still light outside, what a miracle. Even as a die-hard winter lover, there is something really special about the first taste of spring's arrival to the world. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely, lovely, spring day. Happy knitting.