Category: Blog

November is known for many things, one of which is National Knit a Sweater in a Month aka NaKniSweMo. The origins of this is based off of NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month where people try to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. For a knitter, something like a sweater can easily rack up 50,000 stitches.

I’ve had an itch to make several sweaters lately and having the yarn on hand has been torture. I had determined to knit some sweaters this month anyway, so having a National knitting month dedicated to the very thing I want to knit is just icing on the cake. So for November I will be making at least 1 sweater, if not 2. I’ve been wanting to make a Minimalist Cardigan for several years now, and I’ve had the pattern and yarn for just as long. Tonight, I finally cast-on. If all goes well, I’ll have a finished sweater in 2 weeks or less. Then that would leave the other 2 weeks to make a Beatnik pullover.

I’ve been telling myself for years that I live in the wrong state. I love the cool autumn and cold winter months, but those don’t last very long here in Mesa, Arizona. In fact, right now it’s mid-October and we are having a heat wave, with temps still reaching the triple-digits. Sigh. Then one day, bam, the temp will just drop by about 30-40 degrees, and then it will officially be sweater weather.

With summer so hot here, it’s almost as if summer is my winter. Then, when Fall comes, it’s like spring, full of fresh hope and relief from the weather I hate so much. Plus Fall brings so many wonderful new patterns and yarns, that I just can’t help that it’s my favorite time of year. I’m already busy working on Christmas gifts, sweaters, shawls, mittens (oh the mittens! I’m in such a mitten mood!), and hats. I really could use some new socks too, so I think I’ll add them to the list.

To help with all this knitting, I won a bunch of Malabrigo yarn from Mr. Yarn’s anniversary giveaway (pictured above). These 7 skeins of wooly goodness arrived at my house yesterday. After being gone all day at work and Bible study, it was great to come home late last night and open up this package and feel all this glorious yarn. I haven’t made plans for any of it yet, so for now I’m just enjoying looking at it through the giant clear ziploc that it now sits in on my bedroom floor (the stash is overflowing at the moment. Shh, don’t tell anyone).

Happy Fall everyone!

On Tuesday when the new Knitty went live, I spent some time perusing Knittyspin, like I always do. It seems that the past few issues have caught my eye more because of the spinning articles than because of the knitting patterns. And of course, reading about spinning stuff just made me itch to get on my wheel. It’s been over 2 months since I’ve had any time to spin, so finally on Tuesday night I made some time.

My goal recently is to try spinning different fibers. So far I’ve done merino, merino + firestar, alpaca + silk, and domestic wool. I was really excited to acquire some Bluefaced Leicester wool, Cotton + flax, and another type of wool that I can’t remember the name of now. I decided to spin up the Bluefaced Leicester, and this stuff is great! I can see why it’s commonly recommended for beginners, because it is very easy to spin. I don’t have to do any predrafting and it spins beautifully. It’s soft and has a little bit of lustre to it, so I can already tell from the singles that this is going to be a very beautiful yarn.

I’m fractal spinning this fiber (read this post for my first discussion about this technique), so I’m excited to see how the colors mix and match up once I ply. Unfortunately, it’s a Christmas present for someone, so I can’t reveal the colors. But I can say that the colors are deep, rich, vibrant ones that are going to make for a lovely yarn and a lovely knitted item.

I’ve noticed recently that as my social life has gotten more active in the last 2 years, my social knitting has decreased. What I mean by that is I haven’t been knitting/crocheting as much when I’m just hanging out with my friends, or out to a restaurant, or just waiting for something to start. I’m still bringing projects along, but somehow they always get left behind in the car.

It was so good on Sunday, then, to actually bring my knitting INTO the restaurant for lunch after church. My singles group has a tradition of eating Sunday lunch together every Sunday after church, and it’s something I look forward to all week. We usually hang out well into the afternoon, eating and enjoying each other’s company. This past Sunday, I brought along the new sweater project I started, and I was amazed at how much knitting I was able to get done while just enjoying conversation at the table. And I forget how much my friends like to see me doing something I love: playing with yarn.

Especially when I have a variegated skein of yarn, it brings hours of entertainment to both myself and the people watching enthralled as the color changes (“Pink! Oh now it’s Blue! Wait, what’ll be next, oh Yellow! And there’s Orange…”)

The back, the front (pictured above), and Sleeve 1 are done. Over halfway done with Sleeve 2, and then it’ll be time to put the whole thing together. Can’t believe I’m almost done with this epic piece of knitting. Prepare for picture overload when it’s done.

Here is video of sheep in Iceland. If you count the sheep, you will fall asleep. (Don’t try this at work!)

As soon as I saw the name of this fiber I just had to have it: “Just Ducky!” It reminded me of my sister’s love of rubber ducks, so I was excited to get this colorway of yellow, white, black, brown, red, green and shades of colors in between. This was my first time spinning superwash merino, and I have to say that this was the easiest thing I’ve ever spun. It took me less than 8 hours in one weekend to spin and ply this lovely yarn.
This yarn also represents my first attempt at fractal spinning, which is a technique in color theory. Basically, you take the fiber and split it in half length-wise, and then spin the two halves at different color repeat length intervals. The first half you spin in one long color repeat, and then the second half you keep the repeats in the same order, but you split it in half again and then spin in chunks. This allows the singles when 2-plied to line up in a way that allows for a dynamic color explosion! In some places the colors will line up perfectly, and then in other places it will vary, creating an interesting color palette that’s just hard to describe in words.

Mallard

I have to say that this skein of yarn is my favorite one that I’ve spun to-date. It’s also my most evenly spun yarn, with the singles only having about 10 inches worth of difference, which is quite remarkable! This is also the softest skein of wool I’ve ever touched that didn’t have silk or alpaca or cashmere in it! The generous 424 yards that I have to play with now will become a lovely tam and hand-warmer set, hopefully to be knit this Fall.

Whenever I see this yarn, I can’t help but think “quack, quack!”

On Friday night while eating dinner, I got a phone call from one of my best friends saying, “pack your stuff, we’re taking you to Cali like right now.” So within half an hour I was on the road to cooler weather and a much-needed girls’ getaway with my two besties. Unfortunately it was too dark to knit on the way out, but I definitely got plenty of knitting time the rest of the weekend.

Knitting in the morning on the balcony, with a view of Long Beach Bay.

Knitting on Huntington beach.

I have always wanted to knit on the beach, and now I can say that I have. There were plenty of strange looks, but I’m sure it’s not the weirdest thing someone has ever done on a beach. Someday I hope to do it again. I’ve definitely become a beach girl, despite suffering from a sunburn (ultra-white skin and sun exposure don’t mix, even with spf 50 sunscreen). Next time I’ll take a chair and an umbrella, along with my knitting.

It’s no secret that I’m fond of using non-pastel colors for baby blankets, especially when it comes to boys (for example, I think bright red is a great boy color, don’t you?). When my mom unloaded some of her stash on me, I was thrilled when I found enough of this forest green colored yarn to make not just one but two baby blankets. Since most of my pregnant friends are having boys, I thought it would be a great boy blanket color.

Pine Forest Baby Blanket
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Forest Green; 2.5 skeins
US Size 7 needle

I just love when yarn color and pattern name pair up perfectly. How appropriate that this lovely free pattern was called “Pine Forest.” And I’m not afraid of using a masculine lace stitch pattern for a boy, as long as it’s just that: masculine. No frilly ruffles on this blanket.

And I especially love that this color green will offset the new baby’s bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde (probably will be red) hair.

1390 yards worth of shawl-knitting

2312 yards worth of yarn-spinning

Posts to come with fuller descriptions of both projects.