Knitting – Page 5 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitting in the Alabama Snow

Posted on January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 by elliebelly

It snowed in Birmingham! We started with ice last night.

porch Swing

By the time we woke up this morning, there was a dusting of snow on the ground. It was just right for putting on all the knitted things and going for a walk, which I did. I managed to snap this picture of my Pussy Hat in progress, although I practically lost a couple of fingers to frostbite. It’s that cold here this morning! The yarn looks über-pink against the snow. I’m worried I may have overdone it a little bit.

Pussy Hat in the Snow

The snow makes everything beautiful. Especially my rosemary, which is blooming.

Blooming Rosemary in the Snow

The big winner in all of this is Bella, our 8 week old German Shepard puppy. She loves the cold and loves the snow. I think she has a lot of growing to do if those ears are going to fit her, though.

Bella's Ears

I hope it’s warm and cozy wherever you are. I’m going to snuggle up with my knitting and a book, and tuck my self in on my window seat where I can look up periodically and enjoy the unusual site of snow in Alabama. Stay warm!

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A Very Pink Hat

Posted on January 6, 2017 by elliebelly

In case you haven’t seen, knitters all over the country are knitting bright pink hats for the march the day following the inauguration in Washington. It’s part of the Pussy Hat Project, which proves, yet again, that knitters can creatively and respectfully voice their views better than just about anyone else on the planet. The verve of knitters has even hit the nightly news. One of my friends is marching and I am knitting a hat for her. I dyed up the brightest, most neon, pink I could muster.

It was promptly claimed by one of our cats, Dingus, who became very possessive about it. I managed to reclaim it and wind it into a ball. Then, while I was distracted, this happened:

Harry is meaner than Dingus and has bigger claws in those huge paws. There was damage done (to me) before I reclaimed my ball of yarn. I did not soak this yarn in catnip tea or anything like that. I have no idea why it’s so attractive. Typically, my haughty little tribe of cats won’t even dignify the leftover balls of yarn I make into toys for them with as much as a swat. But, every once in a great while, a particular skein of yarn or a project catches their attention. I’ll have to be vigilant about knitting this when they aren’t around.

Maybe it’s the color they like so much? Definitely, definitely pink.

We are waiting for snow. Snow in Alabama! Fingers crossed. I think knitting is a good way to encourage it.

Roving. Because Spinners Can Be Scary.

Posted on January 5, 2017 by elliebelly

You know who you are. My friends who spin their own yarn from roving. You are wonderful people, and I love and admire you.

You also scare me a little bit.

“Are you going to dye any roving when Elliebelly reopens?” That was the entire email I received from a close friend a couple of months ago. “I’m not sure,” I told her. I’ve always been sort of picky about the roving I dye. It’s typically small farm sourced or a commercially available, but uncommon or limited availability fiber that I particularly like. I don’t dye it regularly or have ongoing kinds of roving available.

Heathcliff Merino Roving

She emailed me a couple of weeks later, this time with a photo of some of her handspun yarn attached. She reminded me that she REALLY needed some more Elliebelly roving. The next week, I got emails from a couple of other spinners. And a former customer simply demanded “more of that soft merino I got from you in 2005. I need at least two pounds.”

Marmalade Merino Roving

Then, at a Christmas party, I was introduced to a woman who said, “I need to talk with you about something really important.” I thought it was a business matter. We found a quiet spot in the house. “Roving,” she said. “I just got a wheel and am learning to spin and a friend said I’ve got to get my hands on some of your roving.” She was insistent. And, another friend, a teacher at my children’s school and a wonderful knitter, mentioned that she had just got a wheel and was learning to spin.

Posy Merino Roving

The spinners out there have been insistent. And demanding, in, of course, the polite way that all people who love fiber behave when they really need something. So out of fear (not really, actually, out of love for you all and selfishly, because I love dyeing roving), I’ve found some very fine merino roving that I like, and dyed up a bit for the opening. I hope it’s what you’ve all been wanting!

Also, if you’ve been with me on Ravelry or Instagram, you’ve probably seen by now that I’m encouraging people to sign up for my new email list (you can do that at the top of this page). On Saturday morning, I’ll do a random drawing from everyone who has signed up so far, and offer a skein of Elliebelly Luxury Cashmerino Sock yarn, in the Crayon colorway, as a prize. So please sign up. I promise to keep the emails to a minimum – news about our reopening, updates after that, but no spam and I’ll never sell or share your information. Take a second or two and sign up! I’d love to send you this skein of yarn.

Crayon on Cashmerino Luxury Sock

Closing Out The Year In Green

Posted on December 31, 2016 by elliebelly

Happy New Year’s Eve (or day, depending on where you find yourself at the moment). Before I head on out, I wanted to share a few last Elliebelly Yarn projects with you. Photos, compliments of my daughter who took a few quick snaps for me. When I looked at them, I realized I had selected four green projects. Perhaps that’s an omen for the new year, but I can’t think quite what it means, so I’ll simply close out the year with a few last bits of knitting eye candy for you.

Mitts Knit in Elliebelly Tree Wool

The pattern is Falberry Mitts and the yarn is Elliebelly Tree Wool Sport. We love this yarn around here. It’s the replacement for the beloved Elliebelly Sea Wool Sock Yarn, a yarn we were devastated when the mill discontinued it. But now, we like Tree Wool even better and have been knitting with it a lot. These mitts give you a good idea of why it has become such a favorite.

Rob Roy Hat Knit in Elliebelly Lyric

This is the Rob Roy hat I knit earlier this year. It’s the first time I’ve gotten a decent photo of it. The bit of white fluff at the top is perfect with Lyric, one of my newest yarns. You can see the projects knit to date with Lyric here. It’s a new-ish yarn, so there are only six of them, but wow does this yarn have pizazz! This colorway is Catherine, Are You Weeping and it has become the new black in my wardrobe. It goes with everything and it’s a bit of a chameleon depending on what you wear it with. I’ll have this colorway on a number of different base yarns when we reopen. I hope you’ll think it’s as special as I do!

Zigzagular Socks Knit in Elliebelly Juliet Merino

Zigzagular Socks were last year’s Adventurous April KAL choice. Turns out, this pattern is perfected with a variegated sock yarn and is also the boss with our Paint Brush colorways (here’s my sock from the KAL, knit in “Friends,” a Paint Brush yarn). These socks are knit up in the Verdigris colorway.

Heart of Wales Shawl in Elliebelly Angel Fingering

And finally, the Prince of Wales Shawl, knit in Angel Fingering (I really don’t have a favorite yarn, but if I did, this would be it) in “Dido.” It’s such a pretty shawl! If you’re looking for a fun lace project in the new year, this is one that is so wearable that you will find yourself reaching for it constantly. And I think it would be a lovely, functional shawl in one of the merino sock yarns but also definitely worth having in something luxurious like this Alpaca/Cashmere/Silk blend.

That’s my four green pieces for a cold, rainy new year’s eve. Perhaps the green choices must mean that I’m looking forward to a beautiful spring this year and lots of opportunity to sit outside and knit in my garden. It’s a wonderful idea, in any event.

Hope wherever you are, you are going to have a happy New Year and lots of beautiful adventures to look forward to in 2017.

Some Sock Yarn

Posted on December 29, 2016December 29, 2016 by elliebelly

I’ve been dyeing sock yarn. It’s one of my favorite things to dye.

The yarn I’ve been working with, Juliet 3-Ply Merino Sock. It’s a favorite — an incredibly soft, 100% superwash Merino yarn. Although I’ve knit socks from it several times (like this pair of Zigzagular Socks, from last year’s Adventurous April Knit Along), I also love it for scarves and shawls, because of its enveloping softness. And, I’m particularly fond of a machine knit cowl that BeckyU made for me. It’s a lot like this one, with leftovers from her Ashburn Shawl.

Dyeing Juliet is always lots of fun. One of my first priorities was to dye some Crayon.

And I’ve also dyed some in favorite colorways like Lady Mary, the pale blue and Peggy, the burgundy.

Although it will still be several weeks before everything is ready to reopen, I thought you all might enjoy a little peek into what’s going on behind the scenes.

The Kindness Of Knitters

Posted on December 26, 2016December 28, 2016 by elliebelly

There is a legendary kindness among knitters. It is a kindness that lasts year round, but is in keeping with the spirit of the religious holidays many of us are celebrating this week: compassion, thoughtfulness, helping others without any thought of help in return. Knitters specialize in this kind of behavior year round. So it should be no surprise that when I was struggling with finish details on my Glacier sweater, knitters reached out to help me. Finishing really shouldn’t have been an issue for me. Glacier wasn’t the first sweater I knit than needed seaming. But it did have a couple of issues, the one that concerned me the most being my interpretation of the pattern direction to “increase in pattern” on the sleeves, which involved some pretty complex cables. My seam edge wasn’t straight, but rather bugged in an out with the cross of the cables. And it had me worried. So I delayed and delayed finishing, always finding another project to jump to the front of the line.

Jess, a/k/a Fascine on Ravelry (make sure you go check out her finished projects, she’s amazing), volunteered to do the seaming for me. I shipped off all of the pieces to her, with an apologetic note about the “issues.” In record time, I had a lovely box back from her with a perfectly seamed sweater and an incredibly nice note. When I opened the box, which I wasn’t expecting to receive back so quickly, it came as a surprise. It was like having a candle lit in the dark. It was a touching kindness and it came right at a time when I need it and suddenly, I had a path forward, at least with the sweater. Gratitude.

Yesterday was my day. A few quiet moments and a wonderful way to spend the late afternoon. I picked up the stitches for the neck and wove in (ok, endlessly wove in because this was a low yardage/bulky yarn and I used a lot of skeins!) ends. I can’t wait to share the finished sweater with you. I’m super-grateful to Jess for giving me just the nudge I needed. The gift of kindness is a wonderful thing, and one of the special super powers of knitters.

A Little Elliebelly Eye Candy

Posted on December 20, 2016 by elliebelly

Here is a little update for those of you who are interested in goings on towards the January reopening of Elliebelly:

The website redo is in progress, in the very capable hands of the lovely Nicole (who, by the way, has a fabulous shop of her own with hand dyed fiber and handspun yarn, and which you should check out). It’s a lot of work but I’m so pleased with the progress we are making! You will begin to see bits and pieces of the changes in progress and I welcome any comments you have.

The video on this page is a compilation of some of my favorite pictures for the new site. I wanted to share it so you can get a sneak peek at all of the good things that have been happening.

There has been A LOT of dyeing going on here most weekends. As excited as I am about the beautiful solid and semi-solid colorways, I dyed some Crayon sock yarn last weekend and am trying to decide which of the other variegated socks to bring back. Retro Kitchen? Guppy Creek? I love them all and getting to dye them again is like seeing old friends!

Please sign up for the new Elliebelly email list. Mail Chimp, my new host, seems to think I’m a spam lord, because I tried to upload the 400+ people on my old email list. Rather than fighting that battle, I’ve added a new sign up box (over on the right or at the bottom of the home page) and am hoping you all will sign up because I want to have lots of fun along the way to reopening: contests, giveaways, and a ramp up of our little community of knitters.

Whether you celebrate a particular holiday or not, I hope you will have a wonderful end of the year. If you’re like me, the end of the year always seems to close out in a flurry of knitting. I have a lot of projects in the works and some cashmere mittens that need to move past the swatching stage and onto my needles. I’m going to be hanging out in the Elliebelly Group on Ravelry, and I hope you’ll join me there. You’re welcome to knit and chat, whether you’re knitting with Elliebelly Yarn or anything else and there’s talk of a very interesting Temperature Blanket/Scarf KAL going on. Pour yourself a cup of tea, bring along your knitting, and join us!