Joyce Makes Art – Page 27 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

What to Knit with it? Mulberry Silk, Dyed in the Ember Colorway

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I have never been a red/orange kind of person. Cooler colors have always been my favorite, blues and greens and even purples. Pale colors, not jewel tones. But somewhere along the way last year, I seem to have developed a love of red, and even — perish the thought — orange. I really don't think of myself as someone who loves a blistering orange-red, but there you have it.

To nudge my expanding color sense along, I've been working on developing a colorway right at the point where a brilliant, scarlet red turns seamlessly into a hot-sun-going-super-nova orange. The sort of color we'll see if the Bardarbunga Volcano in Iceland goes on and erupts above the glaciers this week. After several months of experimentation, I came up with Ember, my newest colorway.

Ember looks beautiful on every fiber I've tried it on. It's a semi-solid colorway, so it should work for everything from socks to sweaters. To test it out, I've dyed five skeins of DK weight Mulberry Silk, for a total of 560 yards of yarn, and now I'm off in search of a pattern. Please leave a comment below if you have ideas, help, or advice for me!

Pattern used with permission of Anlin

TienMimi is a wonderful camisole pattern, written for a DK weight silk, and it would be perfect for the yarn. I'm not so sure it would be perfect for me — I'm concerned I would cover it open too much because of the open neckline and lack of sleeves, but perhaps this is just the excuse I need to pull out my arm weights and get back to work! Make sure you check out the designer, Anlin's, fabulous Finnish Blog. I'm also looking at the Liwi Top. It's written for a silk/merino blend, so my silk yarn alone may not have enough elasticity to give it the shape it needs. And Avebury, a shawl by Kirsten Kapur, is also up for discussion.

I would love to hear your suggestions and thoughts for this yarn-in-search-of-a-pattern! Help me decide what to knit with it.

The Official Elliebelly Self-Indulgent September Soxie Knitalong Post & The Winner of Soxie Yarn

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Wow! That title is a mouthful! Try saying it outloud twice in a row. And then, come and sign up to knit with us in September, when we knit for ourselves (that's the self-indulgent part) and end up with a pair of Soxies to keep us cozy during the cooler months.

First off, the winner of the yarn to knit Soxies with from the giveaway post earlier this week is Eileen, StormyMonday on Ravelry. Eileen, pm your address to me on Ravelry and I'll get your yarn on the way to you with plenty of time to swatch before we cast on September 1. Congrats! Take a minute to check out Eileen's projects pages on Ravelry. Among her great projects are some adorable little candle jar covers — I'm just itching to cast on and knit a few. What a great idea! We may need a follow on KAL to use up our yarn scraps, but I digress…

I hope you will come and knit with us for the KAL, whether you are a new knitter or an experienced one. Soxie is a great pattern, and as I look it over, I realize it will let us learn or refresh skills we may not use a lot like the provisional cast on, be a relatively quick knit for a feeling of accomplishment, and yet retain our interest with the cables on the toe. About those cables: if you've not cabled before, this is the perfect pattern to start with as it is a simple and well-explained cable and you will get lots of support from the experienced knitters among us. I typically cable with a cable needle, but because this is just a few small cables, I'm going to experiment with doing them without the needle. And although the pattern calls for a button decoration on the front, I can't wait to see all of the variations we come up with. So join us for the KAL, which starts September 1.

A reminder: in the Elliebelly group, you can use any yarn you would like for our KALs. Because this is a one skein pattern, a lot of people will be using some Elliebelly "deep stash." And, in addition to the skein Eileen has won, there is a bit available beginning tomorrow.

Come be self-indulgent with us!

Self-Indulgent September KAL on Elliebelly! (And a KAL Yarn Givewaway)

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

We are knitting Soxie for our September Knitalong on the Elliebelly group.

Soxie is the perfect pattern for Self-Indulgent September — a quick knit with simple cables and style. And, whether you fly a lot like me or have cold floors in winter, Soxie is something you'll be reaching for all of the time.

It's simple and you are welcome to knit with us whether you are currently an Elliebelly Group member or not. We like newbies and offer lots of support! Join the KAL here. The KAL sign up thread/rules are here. The pattern is knit for a worsted weight yarn, and you are free to knit with any yarn, although we'd like to see this one knit up in Elliebelly!

To make that a little bit easier for those of you whose stash is running low, I'm doing a quick giveaway, for one skein of Elliebelly Pixie, a superwash worsted Merino that is perfect for this pattern. Leave a comment below telling me why you'd like to use this yarn for your Soxie's and we'll have a winner pulled Wednesday evening (yes, that gives you 48 hours from now to enter the givewaway). Make sure you include your Ravelry name and email address with your comment so I can track you down!

There will also be a bit of yarn available here on Thursday and Friday to help those of you with no/low Elliebelly stash, for those of you who don't mind spending a little bit to help defray the cost of the yarn and shipping.

Good luck and happy knitting!

Sometimes, We Dye Things That Around Here That Aren’t Yarn

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

This week, I needed a quick fix of color. But I didn't have the energy for a dyeing session. So I did these pillow cases, in roughly half an hour, using some dye that had been sitting around in my studio for almost too long (anything over six weeks starts to show its age).

These pillowcases start life as a nice, undyed charmeuse silk (you can buy them here). I dyed them using a quick version of the method outlined in more detail here to get a faux tie-dye effect. I soaked the pillowcases in hot water with a bit of vinegar so the dye would strike immediately. I made a weak solution of a base color and swished the cases around for it to take. Then, after squeezing out the excess water, I scrunched them (as the linked article details) and poured the dye onto them. Instead of a more traditional steamed dye bath, I nuked them in a microwave reserved just for dyeing for two minutes, let them cool, and repeated for two and one-half minutes. The liquid ran clear after that, and I let them cool and gently laundered them. You could also do them solid or in a much more muted crackle dye, but we needed a little bit of color around here, so I went bright.

This is the perfect easy pick me up or a great idea for a quick DIY holiday present.

Knitting Nae, Continued.

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Diane, whose beautiful photoblog is well-worth checking out, commented that she wanted to knit a Nae, but was confused by the pattern. It can be hard to visualize before you get about one-quarter of the way into it, so here are some thoughts and pictures to help.

The start is the point on the left in this photo, with the cast on of a few stitches. At this point, you begin work on what will be a 3" band of moss stitch, and it will run across the top of your shawl. To orient yourself, visualize the start of the shawl as the top left-hand corner point of a triangle, where the base edge will be along the top of your knitting, and the point will be bottom center as your knitting grows. This is surprisingly hard to explain — I'm not so sure that helps, so here's a bit more.

The starting point of the project is still on the left. As you continue to knit the moss stitch border, on the top here, you also begin to knit the stockinette stitch triangle below it. You do this, starting on the right side of the project, with what at first is just a couple of the stockinette stitches. See how few stitches are on the row over on the left side? You grow the triangle with one increase, after the first knit stitch on every right side row (every other row). I followed the advice of some knitters who suggested increasing every fourth row, to get a less steep line. You can see my big blue marker, reminding me to increase. From that point on, you continue, doing the stockinette portion first, followed by the moss stitch border, and then you turn your work for the wrong side row.

You get a better idea of it once you see it in progress. This is about one-third of the way in.

And here, you can see the start of the project on the left, with the moss stitch border first increasing to its full 3" width, and then the stockinette portion beginning to increase once the border is in place.

Diane, I hope this makes it all clear. It's a lovely pattern, and although summer trips have cut into my knitting time, I want to finish this up before cooler weather hits.

One-Skein Knitting Pattern Contest Winners

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

We have winners! But really, I think we all won in this case, because we got to peruse all of the great knitting pattern ideas and eye candy we got to see!

Three one skein patterns, graciously offered to blog readers, are ready to send off:

The Fèe shawl by Tabismiles on Ravelry, goes to Angela Shira (FairyBlue on Ravelry), who was lucky enough to dye the yarn the original sample was knit with.

Gunard's Rainbow Trout hat pattern goes to Ericka, Bensgirl102397 on Ravelry, who wrote, "I can see making a family set of these for everyone since we are avid rainbow trout fisher-people."

Liz Corke's Storm Warning shawl pattern is going to Katie, Krgolden on Ravelry, who liked all of the patterns but thought Storm Warning would be perfect for a cold winter or a drafty church. I agree.

Come join us on the Elliebelly Group on Ravelry, and have input into the pattern selection for our self-indulgent September Knitalong, which starts September 1. It will be a great place for new knitters to pick up skills and old knitting friends to have fun together.

Namaste Cowl

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

We'll have winners announced for the one-skein pattern contest by the middle of this week. Some unexpected travel has interfered with knitting and blogging for the next few days. I'll leave you with this post until I get back.

This is my favorite new, quick knit. Possibly my favorite quick knit of all time. It is Saccade Elyse's Golden Tulip Cowl. I'm a slow knitter, but as you can tell from the cast on post for this project, just a few days ago, it took only a few pleasant hours to knit up this cowl in aran weight yarn. And, it's a pattern you can feel good about purchasing, as she asks for a donation to an Epilepsy charity instead of payment.

I'm planning on knitting several of these cowls as presents. Surprisingly, my 11 year old son has asked for one. Despite the hot, humid Alabama sun this afternoon, he put it on and wouldn't take it off. So he's next up.

A word about the yarn. I used it because I wanted to knit something from the black bean-dyed yarns I've been sharing with you all. The results are good so far. This yarn is light and color fast and incredibly soft. In fact, this pattern just begs to be knit in cashmere, a silk blend, or something equally soft and drapey. So go for it.

I used a traditional cast off, but am going to go back and redo it, as it's looser than the cast on edge. I'll substitute my friend Helen's favorite stretchy bind off, which is k1, *k1, slipt the two stitches on the right hand needle back to the left hand needles, k2tog through the back loop*, repeat from *. This should produce a nicer, more finished edge.