Author: Sarah
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Alternating Skeins for Sucessful Knits
One of the glories of working with hand dyed yarn is the subtle changes in the color of a skein – even in non-variegated yarns. Often, the color across a skein is not uniform, even within a carefully dyed lot. Indeed, some indie dyers intentionally choose a process that accentuates some of this variability. It…
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The Care and Feeding of a Passion
Does knitting ever get old? How many shawls, hats, socks, fair isle sweaters (ever) does one really need? Or is knitting about passing the time and keeping idle hands busy, or dressing the grand kids and keeping the local clinic stocked in chemo hats? My knitting is about all these things. Yes, I need the…
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Ten on Tuesday: 10 Ways to Wish Someone Happy Birthday
The Ten on Tuesday topic from Carole’s blog is 10 Ways to Wish Someone Happy Birthday. Here’s my list: a hand knit hat hand knit socks hand knit mittens a hand knit scarf home made cookies a hand knit throw pillow a hand knit sweater a really good book a skein of hand dyed yarn…
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Turning Cartmels
Jeannie Cartmel is one of my favorite sock designers. I think of her work as “Cookie A lite.” Jeannie’s designs are often asymmetrical and always bold, but they usually don’t take quite as much brain power as navigating a Cookie A pattern. In other words, they’re just my speed. Sock #1 – Aphrodite The sock…
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Sock Knitting Madness
I’ve just discovered the world of competitive sock knitting. The tip of this iceberg – at least, the tip that I found – can be spotted on Ravelry in the Sock Madness Forever discussion group. In keeping with March Madness, their big sock knitting event kicked off in March. And though it will run a…
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Multi Colored Yarn Talk
Last Saturday I’d been asked to talk to the Salt Lake Knitting Guild about the best ways to use multi colored, or variegated, yarn. Because I live with the stuff, it’s easy to forget the details of its confounding effects on so many knitters. I mean, I know it can be intimidating, and it takes…
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Strandwanderer: Variegated Yarn Cleverness
I’d been eying the Strandwanderer pattern of Lea Viktoria’s for some time before I finally cast on. Having cast on, it then took a bit of knitting before I had anything to show for it. In and amongst all the knitting, I had plenty of time to think about the pattern design, (along with watching…
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New Lace Yarn and a KAL
Alpaca Lace is here! Alpaca Lace is a 2-ply lace yarn spun from 70% baby alpaca/30% silk. It’s fantastically soft and glows with color. Denser than wool, alpaca has more weight and it’s own lovely drape and hand. Silk adds durability and luster. The two-ply construction opens knit stitches up gorgeously to flatter lace patterns…
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Ten on Tuesday: 5 Favorite Patterns, 5 Favorite Yarns
The Ten on Tuesday topic from Carole’s blog is 5 Favorite Sweater Patterns and 5 Favorite Yarns to Use. Here’s my list: 5 Favorite Patterns Nitza Coto’s Jardin Ruffled Cardi . This sweater was just plain fun. Veronik Avery’s Weekend Pullover. Stylish, cozy. I want one! Cecily Glowik MacDonald’s Breakwater. Simple, elegant, easy to tweak.…
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Knitting Stitches for Variegated Yarn
Several months back I presented a modest three-some of knitting stitches for variegated yarns. Here are a few more. Once again, let’s assume your goals are like mine: avoiding obvious pooling, barber-polling, or striping of colors. If you were to knit a stockinette swatch from your variegated skein, it might look like this first photo.…