Tag Archives: yarn

Squishy cable love

Posted on January 19, 2024 | 7 comments

I had forgotten how much fun it is to knit cables, especially with bulky yarn.

It’s mesmerizing to watch the cables develop. I just finished Row 50 of the back. Yes, there are two row counters because the center cable has a 32 row repeat, and the side cables have a 24 row repeat.

I put the charts inside a page protector to give it some body, and I’m using my ribbon covered magnets from a Slipped Stitch Studios pattern keeper to keep track of which row(s) I’m on. Why not just use the pattern keeper? Because the magnets only work if the chart is printed in portrait mode, and I can read them better printed in landscape mode!

The next step in the sweater process is deciding if I want to modify the drop shoulder for a better fit for DH. I modified this favorite sweater for him (Sky Lights from North Island Designs, not on Ravelry because it’s THAT old), so I put it on the floor to measure it.

I’ve measured all the important bits: Length to armhole, cut in at armhole, armhole depth, neck width, overall length of sweater and sleeve. Now to translate it to the current knit…

We’ve had an ice storm on top of a snowstorm, so we’ve been cooped up inside. Perfect weather for knitting, and for baking.

Calvin helped me make blueberry muffins. He can smell melted butter from the other room.

The birds are puffed up against the cold, and hungry, so I put out bird seed.

I’m ready for the ice to melt. And I need to start getting ready to go to VKLive NYC next week. Must. Stop. Knitting. Sweater. For now at least! How are things where you are?

7 Comments

Posted in cat, KAL, Knit, yarn

Tagged cabled knitting, crochet, helpful knitting cats, knit picks WOTA bulky, knitting, sweater, sweater knitting, when harry met lucy, when harry met lucy kal, yarn

Sock it to me

Posted on January 11, 2024 | 8 comments

It’s chilly here! I decided to sew in the ends on the mismatched (design prototypes) orange/purple bed socks so they can be of use. But when I pulled them out of the drawer, I noticed the stripe pattern and the dotty pattern resulted in two very differently sized socks. Not okay!

I never published the striped socks; the slip stitch stripes were too variable gauge-wise, and the pattern was too fussy to write, too. So the striped sock needed to be frogged back to the cuff, and the dotted sock needed to be frogged back to the instep to get rid of the striped sole. But I like the dotted instep better than the striped instep. (They are both options on the Dotty Bed Sock pattern, see below.) It wouldn’t add much knitting if I ripped out the gusset, too.

If you’re wondering why the bottom of the gusset is striped, here’s the designer’s secret: The gusset decreases would complicate working the dotty stitch pattern on the bottom of the foot. I wanted the pattern to be easy knitting! So those are just 2 row stripes where the decreases occur, no thinking.

I’m almost done…

Halfway down the second foot. You can see I’m using magic loop here, which I like, mostly. I think I prefer my Flexi-Flips, but I didn’t think of them until working the toe of the first sock, and I don’t want to change needles mid-project for fear of changing my gauge and having 2 different sized socks again. Next time!

Dotty Bed Socks are worked cuff down with a slip stitch pattern, so there’s only one color used per round. And they’re worsted weight, so they’re pretty quick! My socks are 44 stitches around in Malabrigo Rios.

Do you sock? How do you sock? Cuff down? Toe up? DPNs? Magic Loop? Two circulars? Flexi-Flips? Do tell!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, yarn

Tagged Dotty Bed Socks, knitting, Malabrigo Rios, sock knitting, socks, yarn

Introducing: Whale Conga Line

Posted on January 3, 2024 | 7 comments

I thought a lot about whales last summer, while on the Zodiac Schooner trip, and on the Vogue Knitting Alaska cruise. I didn’t see a single whale, but they were definitely on my mind!

The Whale Conga Line cowl is the result of those whale-centered expeditions. It’s knit flat from the bottom up and seamed, using 2 skeins of DK weight yarn in contrasting colors. I used Anzula Luxury Fibers Lucero, which is a sparkly blend of superwash merino, cashmere, and stellina. So pretty!

If you’re not into whales, choose a different color and you’ll have migrating birds on the wing, or Jack’s beanstalk reaching for the sky.

The pattern is available through Ravelry, link here, and Payhip, link here. Use coupon code FLUKE for 15% off through January 10, 2024.

Thanks to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, and Erica Erignac, and model Sharon Hsu. And thank you to newsletter subscriber Shauna, who came up with the winning name for this pattern! I’ll be sending her a copy of the pattern.

Whales, birds, leaves…what speaks to you?

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Anzula Lucero, anzula luxury fibers, anzula yarn, Knit, knitting, patterns, Whale Conga Line, Whale Conga Line Cowl, yarn

Starfall KAL update

Posted on December 26, 2023 | 2 comments

We’ve added Pooling is a Cinch to the Starfall KAL, so now it’s a PDXKnitterati Assigned Pooling KAL!

We’re kicking off the knitalong on January 9 via Zoom. I’ll be there to demonstrate some techniques and give you pointers on how much more you can do with Starfall and this fabulous yarn!

The Starfall pattern is available through Ravelry, link here. It is also available through Payhip, link here.

Check out Keith’s colors here; choose a color that works for assigned pooling in 100g fingering weight for Starfall. There are a lot of pooling colors to choose from. Your yarn purchase will get you on the Zoom invite list. Order your yarn by December 27 so you can knit with us in January!

Convertible hat/cowl knit using assigned pooling technique — Pooling is a Cinch in Times Square colorway

UPDATE: We’re adding Pooling is a Cinch to our KAL; if you order this yarn (it’s worsted weight, so an even quicker knit) from Keith, you’ll get the Zoom invite, too. Wednesday Dec. 27 is the last day to order to get your yarn on time for the January 9 Zoom. Jump into the pool with us!

AND! I’ve opened a thread in my Ravelry group so we can discuss both of these projects and the KAL. Here’s the link. Hope to knit with you in January!

2 Comments

Posted in events, KAL, Knit, yarn

Tagged assigned color pooling, assigned pooling, kal, knit-along, knitalong, knitting, Pooling is a Cinch, starfall cowl, starfall kal, starfall knitalong, yarn, yarn snob yarns

Qiviut Cowl FO

Posted on December 18, 2023 | 5 comments

Well, I didn’t get my swatching done for the When Harry Met Lucy KAL, but I have a good excuse. I went on vacation and couldn’t fit bulky yarn into my luggage!

Knitting on the go with qiviut and POG mimosa

But one ounce of laceweight qiviut, 200 yards, doesn’t take up much space at all. And yes, that’s a tiny yarn scale because I didn’t want to have a yarn chicken issue when coming to the end. I wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible.

I ended up with just over half a gram left, which was less than one round’s worth of yarn. Perfect.

I gave it a light steam blocking. The top edge doesn’t wave as much as the bottom; that’s the nature of this stitch pattern (Old Shale). It doesn’t matter; the whole thing will collapse around my neck. I began and ended with a garter stitch edge to give it some heft, and to avoid curling.

I’m glad I chose this stitch pattern; it has just enough going on to make it interesting, but I was never fighting with not being able to see the stitches with this dark and fuzzy yarn.

I’m really happy with how this souvenir qiviut cowl turned out. I didn’t have much use for this cowl on vacation in Hawaii, but I put it on right after we landed back in Portland. I was so glad that I had it with me in my carry-on bag! 36 degrees F which was quite a shock to the system. This cowl is so lightweight, soft, and warm. I love it.

Is it worth writing up a pattern, or should it just be one and done? It’s great for any precious souvenir yarn. This particular yarn began in Alaska and ended in Hawaii, the 49th and 50th states. It’s been a good knitting year.

I did bring some fingering weight yarn with me for a design project, too. It didn’t take up too much room!

Knitted Wit Summer Slubbin’ yarn — Knitted Wit Summer Slubbin’

I’ll tell you more about it in a separate post!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged cowl, hawaii, Knit, knit design, knitting, kona, qiveut, qiviut, qiviut cowl, yarn

When Harry Met Lucy KAL

Posted on December 9, 2023 | 5 comments

I knit a sweater for DH in 2021.

It’s a lovely sweater, but I like it better on me than on him. I think it’s because this yarn (Berroco Vintage) is soft and drapey, and the sweaters that I like on him have more body to them.

I want to knit another sweater for him, and when I saw Paul Haesemeyer’s sweater in Knitty, I was smitten. Bonus: He’s having a KAL and it’s opening weekend right now!

The sweater is knit in bulky weight yarn, which should be relatively quick. The sample was knit in an alpaca blend, but I ordered Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Mineral Heather, which should have more body, and be less warm.

why yes there’s a cat hair on it already…

I think I’ll make it with a relaxed fit, but not as oversized as Paul’s. DH is not a large person, and I don’t want him to look like the sweater is wearing him! I could knit it in the round up to the armholes instead of in pieces. Does it need the structure of the side seams? My favorite sweater that I knit for him was knit in the round to the armholes. I altered the drop shoulder construction to cut in at the armhole, and picked up the stitches at the shoulder and worked downward, instead of knitting the sleeve and then sewing it in. Hmmm.

On the other hand, knitting it flat would make it easier to swatch for gauge, and I could avoid the “keep knitting and figure it out” debacle that I just did gauge-wise on my recent Starfall sample. (Knitting in the round takes longer to figure out that your first instinct was a bad choice…) I don’t have to decide about the sleeves until later. And I could knit it with or without cables on the sleeves…

Anyway, I’m dreaming of how I want to modify it, and I haven’t even swatched yet. Stay tuned.

5 Comments

Posted in Blogging, KAL, Knit, yarn

Tagged knitpicks wool of the andes bulky, knitpicks yarn, knitting, whenharrymetlucyKAL, yarn

More Starfall

Posted on December 8, 2023 | 8 comments

Remember these two beauties? I last posted about them, wondering which color I’d use to knit a Starfall sample. I have now knit three cowls with these two skeins. (You’ll see why/how in a bit.)

At first glance, I didn’t think there was enough going on with Wine Mom. And the color run was longer than in my previous Starfall cowl, so there was a lot of color on each side of the star. This swatch was knit on a US5.

This colorway called my name. I was knitting on a US4.

I knit this over the Thanksgiving holiday, but I wasn’t really happy with it. The stars are pretty small, and the fabric is a bit firmer than I like. There’s a lot of color at the sides of the stars, too. I wondered if it would be better on a US5, even though I thought that looked a little puny with this yarn. What if I made 6 stitch stars instead of 5 stitch stars? Would there be enough yarn to finish the cowl? I didn’t want to frog the whole thing and reknit it, if it could mean losing at yarn chicken.

Of course that meant that I should knit an entire cowl with Wine Mom, just to make sure the yardage would work out. Behold, 6 stitch stars on a US5 needle.

I love it. Which meant I had to frog and re-knit the first cowl. And that’s how I’ve knit three cowls with these two skeins of yarn. I re-knit the Irresistible Orchid cowl in 3 days. Don’t try this at home; my arms are definitely feeling some tendinitis. Oops. But I did binge watch the current season of Virgin River on Netflix, so that was fun.

The stars are bigger and there’s less color leakage at the sides of the stars. And the fabric feels right, too. Winner! I also added one more 4 row repeat of the old shale lace at the bottom edge, because there was enough yarn left to do that. I would have added that to the end of the Wine Mom version too, if I had thought of it. It all depends on how much yarn you have left.

Blocked photos coming soon. And I’ll figure out if kits are happening with Keith, the dyer of these gorgeous yarns.

Oh! While I was knitting, I realized it would be easier for me (and you, the knitter), if I gave row numbers throughout the triangular increase section, instead of just telling you to repeats rows 2 and 3, 39 times. So I edited the pattern. If you purchased it through Ravelry, the updated pattern is available to you. I’ll get the Payhip version updated today, too.

Now I need to finish my qiviut cowl, and think about a sweater I want to knit for DH, and design something with some fun new yarn from Knitted Wit. Never a dull moment, right?

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Knit, knitting, knitting-blog, ravelry, starfall cowl, Wool, yarn, yarn snob yarns

Pink

Posted on September 16, 2023 | 11 comments

The pink of this English Rose by Malabrigo is so hard to capture with a camera.

But adding more colors to the photo seems to help! Vogue Knitting sent me flowers and get well wishes. Feeling pretty good over here! Still testing positive for Covid, though. I’m glad tomorrow’s class is via Zoom!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, yarn

Tagged yarn

Done and undone

Posted on July 1, 2022 | 8 comments

I finished my assigned pooling hat with the sunbursts/flowers. It’s cute! I tried it on, and it’s a little snug on me. It measures 17” around; those sunbursts do pull in the fabric a bit. The hat in the above picture isn’t blocked; blocking will make the sunbursts prettier.

Calvin’s already good-looking enough!

I haven’t blocked the hat yet because I also want to knit a hat using this criss cross stitch I used in my Criss Cross accessories and Tilt Shift Wrap. I needed to know if I have enough yarn to do that.

Now that I’ve started, I’m pretty sure I don’t have enough yarn to knit both, and I think I’m more likely to wear the criss cross stitch, so I’m frogging the sunburst hat while I knit the criss cross version.

I don’t mind re-knitting; the yarn is ridiculously entertaining. I’ll knit a sunburst headband with the yarn that’s left from the skein. It’s been fun figuring out how big (how many wraps, how many stitches) I need to make the sunbursts and criss crosses look their best. This will vary depending on your yarn! I’m teaching this very fun class at Knit Maine in September. We’ll be using this exact same yarn in class; it’s Wonderful Worsted from Yarn Snob yarns in Cabana Boy.

The winner of 3 months of Knit Camp from Olive Knits is…Quite a Yarn Blog! I’ll contact you for info to connect you with Knit Camp. Congratulations!

And finally…

Who ever thought we’d be set back by 50 years? Outrageous. Women’s rights are human rights. Dissent. Protest. Effect change. Let your voice be heard.

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Cabana Boy colorway, Knit, yarn, Yarn Snob

Lobelia shawlette pattern and yarn giveaway

Posted on November 4, 2015 | 47 comments

Thanks for the warm welcome for Lobelia! I love this shawl and shawlette, and I’d like to share the love.

As you can see, Lobelia looks great in both gradients and semi-solids. I have these two lovely semi-solids from Knitted Wit from my stash. Both are 4 ounce skeins of fingering weight 100% superwash merino. I’m not sure of the yardage, but I’m guessing that there is at least 437 yards in each skein (label is for 100 yards, but these are heavier than that).

Sooooo, the giveaway. One skein of yarn in the color of your choice, plus a pdf download of either Lobelia, or one of my other single skein shawl/shawlette patterns. Which color speaks to you? Mint Mojito? Or the purple, whose name I’ve forgotten? Huckleberry, maybe? Which pattern? Leave a comment and let me know which color/pattern combo is calling your name!

To make this easier, here are links to my single skein shawls/shawlettes. You can also click their names on the sidebar.

Lobelia (bottom up crescent)
https://pdxknitterati.com/patterns/garland-shawl/ (sideways)
Webfoot (bottom up crescent)
Filigree (bottom up crescent)
Ooh La Lace (botom up crescent)
Fern Lace (sideways)
Zen Rain (top down, wide, shallow, fun!)
Pacific (top down extended wingspan triangle)

I’ll choose a winner at random for each color on Monday, November 9. Remember, you need to name both a color and a pattern for your entry to be valid. Have fun and good luck! And remember: The Lobelia pattern is still on sale for 20% off with coupon code GRADIENT through Sunday, Nov. 8.

ETA: Winners posted! Congrats to Noreen and Emme.

47 Comments

Posted in giveaways, yarn

Tagged community supported yarn, giveaway, knitted wit, Lobelia Shawl, yarn