Page 50 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

New Year’s Knitting

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

I wanted to catch you all up on the knitting I have planned for the month of January. I've joined The Plucky Knitter WIP Wrangling KAL, the goal being to finish Plucky projects that were started before the new year during the month of January.

I started Olivia at the end of November, but promptly set her aside to get some final holiday knitting done. Fisherman's Rib has been slow going for me, but I really like its plump, cushy effect. I'm hoping to spend some quality time with Olivia and conquer the short row technique necessary to finish her off this month.

Because I'm like this as a knitter, I hit a Cast-On-All-The-Things streak the last two weeks in December and set up a number of other projects to include in the KAL:

I'm knitting a second Nevermind Hat in Plucky Snug. This one is for me.

Vodka Lemonade is a sweater I've wanted to do forever. I've cast on in Plucky Crew — a cotton/merino blend. Although there is about zero chance I'll finish this in January, I'm hoping to get a good start.

I'm in love with Paddle Mitts and am doing mine in Plucky Scholar. The stripes on the hands will be in a different weight Plucky yarn, but I'm optimistic that it will all work out.

Some of my precious Plucky cashmere is going to become a Lina Hat. I'm not overjoyed with my cable cast on, but I've decided to assess it tomorrow and rip it out for a fresh start if it sucks as bad as I think it does seems to need a little help.

Wish me luck, ok? January is always a busy month at work for me, so this may be my knitting for several months, rather than just January. I'm really happy to have it all on my needles and ready to carry with me for delays and lines.

Finally, a sad note to the start of the year. Longtime blog readers (that would be you, Mom), know that we have four cats. Our beloved black cat Squirt, the oldest of our cats, passed away peacefully but suddenly. I'm going to miss his affectionate nature and loving support for my knitting — he enjoyed the holidays and was especially fond of having me sit on the couch for hours at a time and bat balls of yarn around for his pleasure. I'm going to miss him a lot, but am really glad he sat for one last family photo shoot a couple of weeks ago.

My Cables & Lace Capelet: Not A Success Story, At Least, Not Yet

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Joyce Makes Art

Cables and Lace Capelet was a pattern I wanted to knit as soon as I saw it. It had this Outlander/Scottish Highlands vibe and looked like it would be great to throw on as I walked out the door for yoga or coffee with friends. The pattern photo looked great.

(c) Berroco

I walked into this one with my eyes wide open. There were a couple of red flags: The pattern was an older freebie and of the 15 finished projects besides the sample, virtually everyone commented on size problems, as in the finished project was way too small. One commenter said it fit her 10-year old.

When my gauge swatch, properly blocked and all, revealed that I was going to have an extra 10" or so around, I figured that would make the fit just right. And, of course, I was wrong.

It looked good finished and blocking. (Blocking tip: I no longer weave and clip my loose ends before blocking, they will stay in place more firmly and look neater if you wait until after you block. So you can see my tails hanging in various places).

I was still a bit worried about the length, but I was delighted by how the lacework opened up and how good the stitch definition on the cables was. The biggest worry, though, was the collars. I had carefully knit them to pattern legnth, but upon wet blocking, the weight of the yarn seemed to urge them onward into expansion. They looked huge. I carefully patted them back into shape, but they insisted upon growing, no matter what I did.

As it turns out, they're at least twice as long as they should be. And the shoulders too are overlarge. As you can see below, they slip off, instead of giving a nice snug fit.

And I mentioned that the collar had grown ridiculously long, right? It's a horror show.

Despite these flaws, I love the capelet and I love the yarn (Madeline Tosh). And, I'm incredibly glad I didn't do the finishing work on the collar before blocking so that I can try to fix it.

My dilemna is choosing among the two potential solutions I see. The yarn is superwash, so I could just pop it in the dryer and hope for the best. I've never done this before, but I know that it works in theory. My biggest concern doing this is that I'll lose length, which is perfect right now, as opposed to circumference, which is the problem. And, really, does anyone think that donkey ear collar is going to shrink enough? I should have known that a yarn this bulky would expand beyond what the swatch predicted.

My Second option is ripping back to before the start of the collar, faking another lace repeat with reduced stitch count to give me a better fit in the shoulders, and then knitting a collar that is about half what the pattern calls for, knowing it will block out. This is probably the safer option and I'm leaning that direction.

So what would you do, gentle knitters? Any advice about superwash yarns and the folly of knitters who don't trust the pattern and listen to what their gauge is telling them? At least future knitters for this pattern will know that in my case, the pattern was written perfectly and the proper gauge, properly blocked in the small size would have produced a perfect fit for my size medium body.

Yarn Things That Are Happening In My House Today

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

Although I need to clean up for New Year's Eve company and make myself presentable, there is a lot of knitting/fiber related activity in my house at the moment. It's a good summation of my knitting year, covering all of the bases.

There is blocking. More on this one to come as soon as it's dry. Suffice it to say, it's lovely and I'm very pleased with it, although a bit nervous about how the superwash collar seems to be growing exponentially as it blocks.

There is also (successful) swatching. Dead on gauge. It's a Christmas miracle.

And finally, there is dyeing. Wow, that's very pink isn't it! It's the first dye bath in a three step process, so look for the final result later this week.

Whatever you are up to today, I hope you have a happy yarn/knitting/fiber-ful New Year's Eve and on into the New Year! Happy 2015.

Gadabout: Knitting That Is So Much Fun I Can’t Wait To Do It Again

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I liked knitting Gadabout a lot.

I like knitting cables and these were unique. And somehow, although I was able to memorize that pattern on the first repeat — something that almost never happens with me — it never got boring. Gadabout is one of those patterns where you want to do "just one more repeat" before you put it down for the night, so you keep going until it's done.

It does not hurt that this is in cashmere. It does mean that I haven't taken it off since it finished drying after a good wet blocking, which really brought out the pattern.

This is a go to pattern. I'd like to knit it next in The Plucky Knitter's bulky Snug — a cashmere blend. But I'd also like to do it in a gently variegated yarn, perhaps a Malabrigo Mecha version. I think it would also look great in Elliebelly Basilisk, a silk and merino blend, and I may need to dye some of that up in a wheat color to use as well.

Knitting The Cables And Lace Capelet

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

I finished up my Cashmere Gadabout last night. It's blocking and there will be photos later on this week. Once it was drying, I picked back up with my Cables and Lace Capelet, which has been languishing for weeks while Christmas knitting got finished. And I'm so glad that I did! This project has a lot of virtues.

First is the yarn. I love Madeline Tosh. Sometimes, I cherish her skeins so much I become hesitant to knit with them while waiting to find the perfect pattern. But this yarn, her Super Bulky ASAP in the Weathered Frame colorway, was ordered just for this pattern and went straight onto my needles when it arrived.

The second virtue of this pattern is that the yarn knits up fast and pretty in the super bulky weight. I'm not a huge fan of knitting on large needles, and the size 11s are at the outer edge of comfortable knitting for me, but still within it. And overall, they are worth dealing with because it is so stinking fun to watch this pattern take shape, so quickly.

The third virtue is that it is making me feel very accomplished. If you've looked at this pattern before you know that you knit the bottom band and then, after grafting the ends together, pick up stitches to knit the body of the capelet. I'm notorious for avoiding picking up stitches, but have been gently encouraging myself to do so over my last few projects. I'm happy I've been doing that, as last night, I picked up the 133 stitches around the edges of the band without a hitch and went onto the lace. Success!

My gauge is good, even in the round. But I'm aware of pattern notes that say this project comes out too small for an adult, even though the sample project is beautiful and clearly adult sized. It's difficult to get a sense with it all bunched up on the needles, but I'll likely take it off on some waste yarn once I get a foot into the body to get a sense of whether I need to make some adjustment. Hopefully once finished, my notes on sizing will help anyone who wants to knit this down the road to get a sense of how it fits. It's such a beautiful project and this is an ideal yarn.

What Did You Knit This Year?

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Joyce Makes Art

[Click on the photo collage to see the larger version]

This is my knitting year in review, or at least most of it.

2014 was a really good year for knitting in my house, likely because our Iceland trip spawned the need for lots of warm things early on and once my hat and cowl mojo got into gear, it never left me. It was also the year I conquered lace, starting with Pale Pink Shells, knit during the Olympics, and continuing onto Rainbow Fish and Lida. I started Lida during a trip to South Carolina in May and didn't finish her until September. She became my constant companion, knitting a row here and there in the carpool line or the doctor's office, and I love wearing her as much as I loved knitting her. I also knit a Citron, the oldest unknit pattern in my queue, from my favorite yarn of all time, Elliebelly Moth and Goat, a silk/cashmere blend that I dyed into a sunshine-y color, just when I needed some sunshine in my life.

Speaking of favorite yarns, late in the year I discovered The Plucky Knitter's yarns and fell in love. Some people got up early to shop on Black Friday. I sat in front of my computer and bought Plucky. Lots of it. My first project was a Nevermind hat in the Plucky bulky cashmere blend called Snug. My second project, which I only speak of with great difficulty, was a pair of beautiful merino mitts that were almost done when I stupidly left them in the Atlanta airport, never to be seen again. I've got an Olivia shawl in the works in a worsted Plucky yarn and plan to cast on several more projects this week to get me through January and February in Plucky yarn. Because I am in love. Plucky has great yarn, beautiful colors and the most incredible customer service.

2014 has been a great knitting year. Looking at my collage, I've decided I need to up my photography game in 2015, so my poor knitting models darling children can all have that to look forward to. 2015 will be a year filled with cashmere, sweaters, happy knitting, and it will, of course, be the year I start my Christmas knitting early. I'm starting in January this year. Really.

Knitting Gadabout

Posted on December 24, 2014January 3, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

My Gadabout cowl started out as an experiment. I had some aran weight Debbie Bliss cashmere yarn in a natural color, leftover from a hat I knitted years ago. I had just under 300 yards of it left and it was so soft that I wanted to knit something to wrap around my neck.

So I dyed it blue and went off in search of a pattern. I swatched for a simple scarf, but didn't think the yarn had enough structure. I tried a Black Death shawlette. It was a great pattern, but I wasn't feeling the love. Then I saw , cowlThe Plucky Knitter's Gadabout and fell instantly in love. I adore cables, and these are clever but simple to knit. Best of all, you can memorize the pattern during the first 16 row repeat, making this the perfect portable knitting project.

This is a pattern that whispers to you "just one more repeat, your bed will wait." It's almost impossible to put down.

I'm about half way finished — my six 50 gram skeins limit how large I can make it. The pattern itself has three panels of cables running up its length, but I wisely cut back to two out of fear of yardage and think this should work, as my gauge indicates I'll still be as wide as the pattern calls for, given the bulk of my yarn.

I love this pattern, and let's face it, I live for cashmere. This is one of those rare patterns I feel sure I'll knit a second time. If you're looking for something to cast on for this new year, this is it!