The Season for Scarves

So it's that time of year again, where I occupy my weaving loom (Miss Bennet) with a whole series of quick and fun and colourful scarves for donation.  This year I inadvertently started out with a bit of a Disney theme, since my first inspiration was to weave a scarf for all the little girls who want to be Elsa, from Frozen.  I just picked a handful of representative colours and did the warp randomly, and the weft in little stripes of two colours.

Then my next thought was of a recent favourite Disney lady of mine, Merida, from Brave.  I did a tartan-ish design (she's Scottish, so duh) and used the colours of her dress and hair to weave it.  I really love how it turned out, particularly since I was lazy about it and just used two of the colours for weft, when there were so many more in the warp.

My third inspiration was Maleficent, from the recent movie version with Angelina Jolie.  I used a bunch of darker colours in the warp (and again two in stripes in the weft) but this time did an inlay technique with a couple of shades of green (like green misty magic.)  Well, the two shades of green turned out to be a bit too close, since they look pretty much like the same yarn, and the mist might look more like PacMan, but I still think it's really cool how it turned out.

I have another scarf on the loom right now, but am always looking for inspiration, if you have any ideas...

Celebratory Towels

So it's just another photo-heavy post to show off the completed, washed & dried & ironed towels, because I'm so delighted with how they look, both individually and as a set.

More Twill Towels

For the fourth towel, I changed to a different set of weft colours.  This one had less contrast again, with a blue and black weft.  What a change in tone from the previous three towels!  All the colours are still there, but much more muted.

Then I brought in the brightest colour of them all, the light green, and made the fifth towel with all the contrast, in black and green.

Then I did the last one in green and blue, a little less contrast and tonally more similar.

But wait!  I finished the sixth and final towel only to realize I had tons of warp left on the loom.  When I initially planned out the pattern, I thought the magazine allowed for an unnecessarily long warp, and upon getting to this point in the weaving, I realized that I easily had room for another towel.  My first thought was to use the last of each colour to do a really variegated stripey weft, but I was sort of done with swapping shuttles and winding bobbins.  I couldn't bear to waste such a pretty warp, though, all ready to go.  I decided I'd use some spare 10/2 cotton I had, in white, without any stripes at all.  This made something completely different and a bit unexpected and I really really like it.  The colours are softened a bit, and the blocks look like changing transparencies of glass over the stripes of colours.

Now to finish them up!

A Set of Twill Towels

I don't know if it's just because of the change in the weather, but I got a real case of startitis this week, and began a second pair of socks for gifting, an out-of-the-blue artsy knitting concept, and I really have my eye on a new slouchy hat for fall... maybe some fingerless mitts... not to mention this baby from the new BrooklynTweed collection.

But before I get to any of that, I should catch you up on my weaving.  I did get the skully napkins off the loom (seemed like they took forever) but I haven't gotten to hemming and finishing them yet.  Instead, I got really distracted with these babies, a set of dishtowels using a bit of colour and an irregular twill weave to add interest.

There are six colours in the warp, and I chose two of those for the weft of each towel.

The first towel had a red and pink weft.  The two colours didn't have much contrast, but it still looks quite nice:

Then came a towel with an orange and red weft:

Then one with a pink and orange weft.  It looks quite similar to the last one, again since there isn't much difference between the red and pink, but there is still a different tone to it:

That last shot shows the design most clearly, since it's nice and close.  There are warp stripes in six colours, weft stripes in two, and the overall pattern is an alternating 3:1 and 1:3 twill.  The places where the twill changes is offset from the colour stripe changes, which makes the whole thing much more interesting and gives more colours to the eye.  I can't wait to see how much better they all look, once they're washed and ironed.

Next time I'll show you the other weft combinations!

Little Skulls All in a Row

I decided a while ago that something I need in my life is a set of fancy cloth napkins.  It's all because there was a cool project in a recent issue of Handwoven (Mar/Apr 2014) for some napkins with an allover mini-overshot design, and I really fell in love with them.  Of course I had to change everything about the project to make it more 'me' and thus the skully napkins were born.

For non-weavers, "overshot" is just a type of weaving where you weave a base cloth in plain weave (in this case, grey) while making a design within that fabric with another yarn (in this case, black.) The base cloth holds it all together, while the pattern makes it fancy.

I took this particular design from Bertha Gray Hayes' book of mini overshot designs.  She called this one "Gone With the Wind" but when I look at it, I see stacks and stacks of little skulls, like the catacombs of Paris.

Using the Leftovers - Oranges & Pinks

Once I've made a few of these scarves, I have enough leftovers from the colours used to make a new scarf with the combination.  This time I added a bit of Galway wool in Natural and a bit of Custom Woolen Mills wool in Red, to round things out and give a bit more contrast.

I kept it in hopsack, which for some reason I thought would end up looking different than just a fat plain weave.  Live and learn.

I do love these crazy plaids, and I'm betting some of the kids do, too.

Another year, another pile of scarves

I got a bit of a slow start on the Kindergarten Scarves this year.  I've been meaning to weave a set of towels and even wound the warp to make them, but just never got inspired enough to put them on the loom.  Eventually I decided I'd have to make the scarves first, since time is ticking away, so I set the towel warp aside and started to wind some wool.

The first one I made is a fabulous pink and black houndstooth for some fashion-forward kid.  I kind of love this one a lot, and would gladly keep it for myself.  One can never have enough scarves, after all.

I definitely found my scarf mojo with this one, and have been diligently weaving since then.  I'm pretty excited about how things are going!

Winter Knitalongs

While many knitters are probably tearing their hair out trying to finish all their knitted gifts for the holidays, I'm not one of them.  There are a few reasons for this, including my general assertion that the holidays should not be about gifts so much as about spending time with loved ones, and the fact that I don't knit a lot of things for other people, being quite unabashedly selfish about how I spend my limited knitting time.

The end result, of course, is that I have time right now to join some knitalongs.

The first one I decided to indulge in is one at Hazel Knits (ravelry link) - this one is a Mystery Sock knit, with the option of knitting other patterns by the same designer if you don't want to knit the mystery sock.  I was excited about the mystery, so I started that sock cuff, but decided I didn't love it by the second clue.  I ripped them out and picked another pattern by the designer (called Lambda socks) and began that one instead.  This is the toe of the second sock - it's a really quick knit and the socks are quite lovely, too.  I'm using Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in an old club colourway called Twilight.  It's a very dark teal, nearly black, and very difficult to photograph!

Once I was doing one knitalong, it seemed easier, somehow, to fall into a second one.  This one is over at Tanis Fiber Arts, and is simply a chance to knit some accessories from TFA yarns.   I could always use another hat to brighten up my winter doldrums, so I decided to do Tanis' Cabled Canuck pattern.  Ever since I knit my Colour Affection shawl, I've had a hankering to knit something else with the Lilac colourway, so I used this chance to do it.  The pattern calls for two repeats of the cables before closing the hat at the top, but I think I'll try to squeak three out of this skein.  That will make the hat longer, to cover my ears (the project photos make it look a bit short for that) and also give me a chance to fold the ribbing up to double it up over my ears.  Get the feeling that I'm planning for some cold weather?

There's still time to join either or both of these knitalongs, if you're feeling inspired...

Lil' Punkin

When I recently saw a friend of mine, who is about to have a baby, my mind went where a knitter's mind invariably would: wee little baby knits!

Since she is due in a week or two, I didn't have time for something big like a blanket, so I settled for something adorable.  EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket is one of my standards, because it is so quick and simple to knit and ends up so darn cute.

I chose a semisolid black (technically Victorian Gothic) for this one because of the mom's style, and also her colouring (which one can assume will have an effect on the baby's colouring.)  I went with Madelinetosh Sport, rather than a fingering weight, because I wanted the jacket to be a bit bigger - unlikely a sweater will get a ton of wear over Edmonton's hot summers, so hopefully it will still fit the baby in the fall.  Unfortunately I ran out of the yarn with only two rows and the bindoff row left to go.  Sigh.  Thank goodness I had some Sweet Georgia DK in Charcoal left over, which was a very close match.  Finished and seamed it and topped it off with five very cute pumpkin buttons, to commemorate the parent's wedding, which took place in a pumpkin patch.

Maybe it looks a bit Hallowe'eney, but that's ok, too.

Pretty in Pink

Last winter, I made myself a pretty blue hat from SweetGeorgia's superwash worsted yarn, and I've worn it a lot this year.  It has a great drape, and hasn't lost its charm one bit.

With the holiday season coming, I had an idea to knit another one, as a gift for someone who would look great in a cool slouchy hat.  I thought that pink would be a good colour for her, so this time I chose SweetGeorgia's Orchid colourway, in the same round and lovely yarn.

I didn't change a thing about the hat, since I think it's pretty perfect as it is.  Once again, it was a super-quick knit and I had it done in no time.

Perhaps it's going overboard, but then I decided to make a cute pair of matching mittens, in Orchid and Charcoal.  I wanted to do this herringbone mitten pattern (free on Ravelry) for years, and now was my chance.  I chose superwash dk for this one, and somehow got gauge and made the loveliest mittens.  I have tons and tons of this yarn left over; I bet it's even enough to do a second pair.

I think a chevron might have been more aesthetically pleasing (especially since chevrons are so in, this year) but with chevrons, the floats in back would be up to five stitches long.  With this particular herringbone, they are never longer than two stitches long on the front or back of the mitten.  This means they will be super warm stranded mitts, but not so snaggy as something with longer floats.

I love the look of the thumb, the most - especially the way the stitches grow out of that center black column.  If it wasn't so awkward to get a photo of the inner thumb, I would show you how they disappear into a black column on that side of the thumb, too.  The biased knitting makes the thumb nice and snug and comfy.

The only thing that makes these less-than-totally-perfect is that the two yarns took the Orchid colour slightly differently, so the hat looks just a bit more red and the mittens a bit more pink.  Even so, they're beautiful, and I think the giftee will agree on that.

Fiji Mermaid Socks

I'm over my cold, now, and back to knitting some more complicated projects, but I did manage to finish one more pair of stockingette socks, first.

This is another pair from leftover Knit Picks Stroll Sock - the toes, heels, and cuff are in Midnight Heather, and the stripes are 5 rounds each of Tidepool Heather and Sapphire Heather.  Yes, the yarn was all left over from my Anthro 101 cardi, and yes, I will make sure we get some photos of it soon.

I played a bit with the sizing on this pair, adding a few increases on the instep, then a handful more along the leg.  It gave a bit of ease which I think makes them fit better on me than a straight tube.  The stripes helped to make it easy to match the second one to the first.

(If you're wondering about the name, I took it from one of my favourite X-Files episodes: Humbug.  It seemed to suit.)

Warm Plaid Blanket

I've put off blogging this finished object for a while, until I could come to terms with it.


I finished the weaving and sewed the panels together - it was huge and wooly and lovely. Then I took a couple of days to twist the fringe at either end, which took a while since there are so many ends. Having done that, I was left with the question of how to finish it. Back when I made my series of Kindergarten Scarves, I would wash each one by hand as I finished it, using friction to lightly full them. Well, this blanket is far too big for that sort of thing, so I decided to use technology to aid me. I soaked and washed it in the bathtub, and then put it in the dryer.


I know, I know - the dryer?! Well, to be honest, I've had a couple of felting projects that I've tried to felt in the washer/dryer in my building, and have had little success with it, even when running the item through the machine two or three times, so I was quite confident that it wouldn't be a problem. Well, okay, only confident enough to leave it for a few minutes before checking on it. Fifteen minutes in, I opened the dryer, and was disheartened to see that it had already felted further than I'd intended. Sigh. Lesson learned. So it ended up a bit narrower and a bit thicker and a bit fuzzier than was my intention. I was pretty upset about it, but friends and family have reassured me that it isn't actually a total failure on my part (as I had initially worried) so I am learning to enjoy it. By the time I use it on some bright spring mornings on the balcony, I think I'll even learn to love it.

A Year in the Planning

Okay, not really. I had it planned out and ready to go, way back when, but sometimes things just fall behind in the weaving queue, you know? So after making numerous showy towels and scarves and whatnot, throughout this whole year, I finally feel like this project's time has come. (I laughed when I read the bit in last year's post about "one more project before this one." A textbook example of the best laid plans, I think.) Perhaps the best impetus of all is that it's been a bit chilly of late, so why not prepare for the winter by weaving a toasty blanket?


I mentioned in that first post that I'm weaving it in two panels. This is the beginning of the first one, six repeats across and eighteen long. When I finish the second panel and attach them, the finished blanket will be twelve repeats by eighteen, which should be somewhere around 45 inches by 60 inches, the perfect size for napping on the sofa.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

Does anyone want to hazard a guess regarding what this portends?

Busy Bee

I've been AWOL for a bit because I caught a case of finish-itis. Unfortunately not also a case of taking-photos-itis.

Hallowe'en came and went and I'm particularly pleased with this year's costume: the adorable and beloved Bee Girl from Blind Melon's No Rain video.

Obviously I knit the armwarmers and the hat (from KnitPicks Palette), and just altered a yellow henley t-shirt for the top. Most of the effort went into sewing the tutu, which entailed me nearly drowning in 6 yards of black netting and yellow ribbon. Having never made a tutu before, it was a bit of a hack, but certainly good enough.


A lot of people didn't get the reference, and just thought I was a bumblebee, which was okay, because the people who do remember Bee Girl loved it and I made people giggle happily all day, and feel a warm golden glow of reminiscence.

B&B Cardigan

I suppose I've made you wait long enough for photos of my Black & Boysenberry cardigan, and since I finally managed to throw together a few half-decent photos, today is the day.

I'm sure I've laid out the details before, but in case you don't remember, I used EZ's percentage system to knit the cardigan entirely in the round on circulars, with a steek in the front that I cut to add the buttonbands at the end.


The sleeves were also knit in the round, two at a time, and then attached at the underarms so that I could continue knitting the whole thing in the round. I used a set-in sleeve shaping and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think I had knit the shoulder width a bit small, according to my knitting gauge, but it blocked out pretty wide when it was wet, so it actually turned out just about perfect.

I also did v-neck shaping with a steek, which made the work-in-progress look pretty weird, but after cutting, the shape is just right. I am really happy with the depth and angle of the v-neck - it really pays to measure and get out the calculator and a pencil. With an eraser.

The sleeves lengthened a bit more than I anticipated, with blocking, as well, but they are still a comfortable length. I fold the cuff back once if I want to keep them out of trouble, but otherwise, they are cozily down around my hands, keeping me warm.


As you can see, I couldn't pick just one type of button at the fabric store. It's not entirely my fault - the store didn't have eight buttons of either of the styles I wanted. It was my mom who suggested that I get four different types of buttons and mix them up, two of each. I agreed that it was just enough to give the otherwise simple cardigan a bit of personality.

The only thing I don't love is the corner where the buttonband turns to the v-neck. It is a bit floppy - I guess I did too many increases there, since I was guesstimating how many I would need. I could try to reblock them flatter, but I'm not sure it would work, anyway, since they were pretty flat while blocking the first time. Having the top button a bit higher would probably help with that, too. Live and learn.

I'm super happy with this one - it is just the size I wanted, comfortable and warm. I've been dreaming of a wide-stripe v-neck since forever, it seems. (At least since then.) I finally have one.

Almost a Cardigan

I put a lot of time into the striped cardigan this week, and it's paid off. I attached the sleeves to the body on Monday, and this morning finished the shaping and got ready to cut the steek. As you can see, it ended up looking a bit weird, since I did decreases for a v-neck on either side of the steek, on the upper half. That way I could keep knitting in the round and do all the shaping at once. The set-in sleeves worked really well and look good, although you can't really tell in the photo, since they are all squished together by the neckline shaping. I loved having a chance to customize where the seams sit, even if it meant doing a bit of math last night when I was planning it.

This afternoon I sat down at the sewing machine to stabilize the sides of the steek, so none of you have to worry about my sweater unravelling. Then I carefully cut it apart along the dotted line, and picked up a million stitches for the collar and buttonband. I should have the knitting done by tomorrow (dare I say tonight?) and then lay it out to block for a day or so.

The scariest thing about knitting with steeks isn't even the cutting; it's not being able to try the sweater on to see how it fits. You have to rely on your gauge swatch, your skills with a measuring tape, and knitting math. I'm not gonna lie -- I tried it on right after I cut the steek, since I was pretty nervous about it, and I'm really excited about the fit. Hopefully it will look even better with buttonbands and a good blocking.

Getting Somewhere

The problem with having so many projects on the go at once is that progress moves slowly, overall. I've been plugging away at several of them, but only really getting anywhere on one or two, this week.


I decided to pick up the socks and do some more work, since socks are fairly quick to finish, and I would be able to get one project off the roster. (Let's not point out, just now, how I always start knitting a new pair, having completed the old one.) As you can see, I have one completed sock toe, which means one completed sock. The linen stitch suits this yarn, I think, and the star toe is not my usual, but I like it, too. The second sock is moving along, as well, but this week, I have started putting more time into the stockingette cardigan.


I cast on some sleeves on Tuesday (two-at-a-time, to make sure they're matchy) and have been going around and around since then. Having stripes helps me to keep going, since I get that "just finish this stripe" feeling while I'm knitting. Then I get the "maybe one more stripe" feeling, after that. I am really loving this cardigan, and can't wait to see the finished project.

On the Needles

I noticed that I've been getting lazy about showing things that I'm working on. A few of them are big projects, and I always try to wait for them to be photogenic before I post something. Sometimes they aren't really photogenic until they are finished, though. Here are a few candid photos of what I have on the needles, right now.


The latest shawl in progress, the Bridgewater shawl by Jared Flood. It has a garter stitch square for a center (very meditative and enjoyable) that is knit diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner, with increases and decreases along the sides to shape the square. Then you pick up a border around the edges of the square, and knit a lace border. I'm at that part of the pattern, which is why it looks like an amoeba. I admit I haven't been working on it much, of late. There are a couple of other things that are taking up my attention.


One of those is a plain stockingette cardigan in black and boysenberry stripes. I had some black worsted wool in my stash, but only half what I needed to make myself a sweater. Of course I immediately thought of using it with another colour, doing a nice wide stripe on a basic cardigan, and got some yarn in this beautiful boysenberry colour to cast on. I'm using EZ's percentage system from Knitting Workshop, and making a steek up the front to cut apart into a cardigan after knitting the body. I am also going to use her formula for circular set-in sleeves to see how that works. And I'm "complicating matters" with a v-neck, as she puts it. "The techniques are simple, but would gum up directions for your first circular set-in sleeve to an intolerable degree." I do love complicating matters.


The other large project I'm working on is another cardigan, the Traveling Sweater that all the Blue Moonies are in love with. This one is a more interesting construction: short row wedges that form a circle of ribbing, with sleeves and upper-back knit separately and attached. I am just past one-fourth of the circular ribbing. It's simple enough, and the yarn is soft and lovely wool/bamboo. I'm still enjoying it, but I might be cursing 2x2 ribbing in another week or three.

Well, those are the big projects. I will show you the smaller ones, too, one day soon. Maybe even a finished one. Well, I can dream, anyway.

Limbo

I am in a strange state, right now, where I feel like I'm making no progress with all the various things I've been working on. I've been reading the same books for ages, and working on the same projects. In fact, it might be the sheer number of them that is keeping me from getting anywhere with any in particular.


Take my knitting, for example. I am still working on the leg of the second Knetted sock, as you can see on bottom left. I have doubled the amount of completed ribbing for the Honeybee Cardigan but still haven't quite felt motivated to start the more-complicated lace pattern. The best progress I've made is on the little stripey mohair scarf -- that piece you see is the second half of the scarf, for the record. The two halves get grafted together in the middle when the knitting is done, to allow the lace at either end to be identical.

Then there's the sleeves for the black yoke pullover. They are truly the black hole of my knitting. Not only have I been working on them forever, but now, as I finally near the underarm seam (the point where I can put them aside on stitch holders until I knit the body of the sweater and then join everything together) they are somehow making no progress at all. I tried them on a few nights ago, and decided they were about 10 rows from the underarm. No matter how many times I knit 5 rows and try it on again, they are always 10 rows from the underarm. They are defying the laws of physics. Maybe just 5 more rows will do it...