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?

a little for a monday

This picture of a butterfly has nothing to do with knitting/spinning/sewing. I've just been weirdly seeing a lot of gorgeous butterflies lately and wanted to share!

Well,  we've made it through another weekend! This week mine included a bunch of car knitting en route on a day trip, and spinning on Sunday. Right now I'm spinning some BFL/Silk from Walnut Farm up in Pennsylvania and finished the first 2 oz this weekend for making a 2 ply fingering weight. It's taking forever, but the colors are gorgeous. The weather here is starting to hint at fall and I couldn't love it more. The Mr. and I have coffee on our porch swing often and my first soup is already in the crockpot, thanks to some butternut squash from Benevolence Farm . I am going to miss tomato season, but wouldn't trade a million tomatoes for what the trees are about to start doing around my house. (This is where I would insert all of the fall-related emojis I could find, if I was typing on my phone.)

Monday often comes with a lot of wishing for the weekend, but a lot of promise for me, these days. Here are some things I am loving and looking forward to this week: 

• I knit a hat this weekend and I love seeing everyone's Laurus hats pop up on the #fringehatalong tag on Insta. Hopefully I can take pictures of mine soon and post!
• I'm deep into spinning wheel research and comparison right now. What I wish I could find is a huge chart with all the major spinning wheel brands & models and direct comparisons of their major functions and capabilities, but this article, this video, and this class have been a good place to start. 
• Rebekka Seale has a beautiful Pinterest. 
• The most perfect pink yarn I've ever seen. 
• I spun a little alpaca so far I got from my trip to Asheville and I would love to make something simple like this with it. 
• Thinking about upcoming travel and I love this idea for a travel blanket by A Girl Named Leney.

Happy Monday everyone!

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!!

organizing anew

They have a really specific walk about them when they're doing something they shouldn't. The kittens, that is. They have an extra spring in their step, a bouncy sort of mischievous way about them when they're carrying a toy, an ice cube, a ham sandwich they've pulled off the counter (ugh), but my least favorite of all was when they skipped lightly away with my yarn. And they do it a lot.

At our previous home my stash was all stored in our closet of our guest bedroom, which was almost always closed. But in our new space we began storing it in a set of stacking bins that were open-top, and this led to many trots away and ravaged skeins. 

This hopefully is a new and better solution. An old and beautiful filing cabinet we lined and cleaned and brought home. It's a little rusty and we'd still love to do some work on the exterior, but I love how it sits in the corner of our guest bedroom/office. Karen Templer recently talked about her new yarn storage solution in her studio and it's evolving state, and I think it's so fun to think of how everyone does it. Right now each of my drawers are divided up by weight (fingering and DK, sport in one drawer, worsted in another), by type of project (spinning and dyeing materials in one drawer) and tools (in the last drawer). I am pretty proud that it all fits in this one cabinet (except current projects in my rice basket and special yarns, hanging above). Felicia of the Craft Sessions really inspired me last year to think about my yarn purchases and about a move towards having less of a stash. So now I'm trying really hard not to buy any fiber without a project specifically in mind that I'm ready to do or that I know I'm going to be tackling in the near future. With a few exceptions of course! I'm not superwoman :)

What are your favorite ways to store your crafts in a way that is safe (and pretty!)?

P.S. - I think they're going to get over their disappointment just fine. 

love list: a little lace

1/2/3

There are a few things I've learned since I've become a knitter. Hats are fast and making up decreases as you go is a bad idea. The ribbing on a sweater always seems slower than you think it will be. Don't pull your colorwork stitches too tight unless you want a hat that sits on top of your head (or fits a child). Always. Always. Always. Check. Your. Gauge. (I'm unfortunately still working on this one). And I've also learned that some of my favorite patterns are simple, but beautiful.

Carrie Bostick Hoge really gets this, I think. Her designs are beautiful, classic, but interesting. She never over-does it when it comes to techniques and special effects in her patterns, adding just enough to every pattern to keep things interesting, but not stressful. Two great examples are some of her designs that include just a LITTLE bit of lace. I love the Sibella pullover with its classic shape, lots of stockinette, but lots of visual interest and lacy design around the yoke. Another great one is her Lola shawl, which is totally a shawl I could see myself knitting and wearing. I also love cabinfour's  Morning Light socks for this same reason, visual interest on the top of the foot but easy knitting everywhere else. 

I'm not even sure what I'm doing rounding up knitting patterns right now, dreaming of new projects when I have something close to seven projects on my to-do list! But sometimes it's just fun to dream. :) Lace, I love you - a little. 

a little giveaway

Hey friends!

I've been feeling a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings since the blog re-launch and connecting with so many wonderful fiber friends, so I thought I'd do a little giveaway. This is some 100% alpaca that I spun from Echoview Alpaca Cloud back this spring. It's between DK - Worsted weight and is a little thick and thin, just as handspun should be. It would make a wonderful hat or mitten project, since it is so soft and squishy, definitely something next-to-skin!

If you'd like me to send you this lovely in the mail, leave a comment below and I'll pick a name on Friday at 5 PM EST. I hope you love it!

Happy Hump Day!

UPDATE: Congratulations Vicky! I'll send you an email to claim your prize and I hope you love it!

swatching for timberline

I was talking with sweet Jennifer in Asheville this weekend about knitting, and life, and husbands. And knitting for husbands! The fun (and challenging) thing about knitting for my husband is that not being a knitter, he has no idea what I can and cannot do. He sees a knitted thing and says, "Can you make me that?" As is the case with Timberline. He saw it in my favorites on Ravelry and loved it. A richly cabled, seamed, shawl collared cardigan. Have I ever knitted a cardigan before? Nope. Have I ever picked up for a collar before? Nope. Have I ever knit a seamed sweater before? Nope. And yet, here we are, and I'm swatching for Timberline. 

The swatch that I knit took me nearly an hour, so this baby is going to be a marathon! We chose Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for its huge color selection and affordability (and they answered all of my questions about where their wool comes from, which made my ethical side very happy). This color is "Opal Heather" and it has a lovely variegation and has been pretty easy to knit with. This pattern I took from the back chart, and should have probably knit the whole piece, you'll notice that its uneven as I omitted one of the side cables that frame the center cable. I started down a needle size from the recommended and still came out to 25 x 4" instead of 31 x 4". So I will be going down at least another needle size in a second swatch, if not 2 sizes. After listening to Julie Hoover's interview on Woolful on my roadtrip, I'm thinking it might have something to do with the material needles I'm using. I'm pretty dedicated to my Addi clicks, but maybe it's worth trying another material?

I still have a tumultuous relationship with swatching. I know I need to do it, and I for sure want the garments I knit to fit! But I sometimes just can't wait to get started and swatching for a piece like this takes much longer than I'd like. Any tips from master swatchers out there to help make this process any easier? 

asheville is for (fiber) lovers

Sometimes when I'm visiting a new city, things just click. While on a business trip this week, I was able to take the morning to really dive in to all that Asheville had to offer for fiber enthusiasts, and it totally clicked for me! I would have loved to stay for a whole weekend (or week!), but in a morning I was able to take in so much. 

I started my morning by driving about 15 minutes outside of downtown Asheville and went to Echoview Fiber Mill. (Well, technically, I started my morning at Izzy's Coffee Den. Such a good veggie bagel!) It was a pretty quiet morning there, and I could have spent hours in the storefront looking through all of their naturally dyed yarn, roving and batts. They also carry a great array of wool products, felted wool dryer balls, hand-knit socks and accessories. 

They only give tours of the mill on Tuesdays, but they had a great viewing area above the storefront where you could see the whole process from start to finish, from the bags of fleece to the piles of roving. It was my first time at a fiber mill and it was too awesome. 

My next stop on my trip was to Earth Guild in downtown Asheville. They have every tool you could ever want as a handcrafter, from spinning, dyeing and natural dyeing, carding, knitting, crochet, sewing, and pottery, as well as a selection of yarn and books. I went there specifically to buy some natural dyeing materials, and the woman who worked there was so helpful in assisting me with the materials I would need to mordant and dye cutch and indigo. I was especially taken with their window set up where their floor looms and spinning wheels sat waiting to be purchased. That is a dream I'll be able to fulfill someday, I hope!

My final stop of the morning was to Asheville Home Crafts a few blocks away in the Historic Grove Arcade, a sweet yarn shop with a great selection of yarn and fiber from the Asheville area, including some Romney roving that the shop owner had brought in from her farm that morning! Asheville is such a cool mix of being deeply agricultural and also with a great urban scene (I didn't eat a bad meal the whole time I was there!). 

I have also heard great things about Purl's Yarn Emporium just a few blocks away. Such a dream to be in a city where there are 3 yarn stores within walking distance of each other! 

By far though, the best part of this fiber adventure was meeting up with Jennifer (@jaykay_knits)!! We originally connected early this year via Instagram, where I fell in love with her beautiful knitting projects and life in the mountains. She is even sweeter and more awesome in person and we had so much fun chatting for a few hours over lunch. Be sure to check out her blog and her Instagram for wonderful peeks into her wonderful knitting and life in Asheville! She and a few others were actually planning a crafty meet up on Saturday and I was so bummed I had to leave on Friday afternoon. This little fiber community of ours is so great, and I can't wait to come back and visit with Jennifer and so many others soon!

Asheville has my heart and hopefully the goods I brought back will last me until I get to visit next! :)