vogue knitting live 2016

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a wonderful, relaxing weekend full of all of your favorite things.  I certainly am!  This morning, I woke up early and cleaned my apartment, did some yoga, and headed out to Brooklyn to meet up with my brother.  We had a delicious brunch at The Bounty, which is a completely charming restaurant.  We actually tried to check out a few other places first-- one was closed, one was closed down completely, and one had a very confusing ordering system and there wasn't much seating.  It worked out for the best, though-- both the food and the ambiance of The Bounty were perfect for a relaxed Saturday morning.  Zach ordered the mackerel and scrambled eggs on toast, and I had biscuits with sausage gravy.  Both dishes were yummy, but we both agreed that the biscuits and gravy were hard to beat.  Definitely a good choice if you're looking for a cozy, reasonably-priced-for-New-York option in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The other reason I was in Greenpoint was to meet up with some knitting friends at Gauge and Tension!  I spent an absolutely wonderful afternoon knitting with Jennie and Devon from the Tiny Paper Foxes podcast, Jaclyn from the Brooklyn Knitfolk podcast, Denise from the Yarn Geek podcast, Michael from the Penuin Coffee Klatchd podcast, and Allison, who works at Gauge and Tension.  Jennie, along with Eric from the Sticks + Twine podcast, hosted a meetup after Vogue Knitting Live a few weeks ago, so I'd already met a few of these lovely people, and it was great to have some more time with them, as well as meeting a few new friends!

Speaking of Vogue Knitting Live, today I'd like to share my VKL purchases!  I went to the VKL marketplace with my friend Kristina, who is incredibly fun to shop with.  Our tastes in color are almost complete opposites, so we're never competing for the same skein, and we are both expert enablers.  As Jennie would say, it was a Festival of Woolpiggery.

First is this beautiful skein from Narwhal Needlework.  Look at those colors!  The blush, the raspberry, the deep brown-- the speckles!  For crying out loud, the speckles!  I fell in love with this skein from a few booths away and zoomed right over to purchase it.  This is a superwash merino and nylon blend, fingering weight, and the colorway is called Coffee Date.  Too cute!

Next up is this beautiful tweedy skein, also from Narwhal Needlework.  Every once in a while, I run across a dyer who just speaks to me with their color sense.  Narwhal Needlework is definitely one of those dyers.  There was nothing in their booth that I wouldn't love to knit.  This is another fingering weight, in the colorway Marooned.

These two beautiful skeins are by Hedgehog Fibres, purchased at the StevenBe booth.  Both are in the colorway Opalite, but I couldn't choose which weight of yarn to get, so I decided to get both!  The sock yarn is a superwash merino/ nylon blend, and the merino singles are, obviously, merino, in a worsted weight.

I think I picked up and put down this yarn about five times before finally committing to purchasing it.  There is a lot of tonal blush yarn in my yarn stash, and I wasn't sure I needed another skein-- but I kept picking up this one and squeezing it and rubbing it against my cheek and even sniffing it (it's so sheepy!), and I finally decided to buy it.  After all, the reason I have so much tonal blush yarn in my stash is because I love tonal blush yarn.  This is Mohonk from Jill Draper Makes Stuff, a gorgeous sport-weight Cormo wool, in the Tiny Dancer colorway.

Last but not least are these two gorgeous skeins of sparkly fingering weight from Holiday Yarns, in the colorway Silver Screen.  I purchased these as an option for my Crazed Scandinavian Cowl, but ended up choosing the darker gray from my last post.  I'm so glad I bought these though, because they will look lovely in a colorwork project with some lavender or pale blue-- ooh, or yellow!  Wouldn't these be lovely paired with a mustard color?

Well, lovelies, I hope you have a fantastic Saturday night!  I'll be spending the rest of the evening knitting, snuggling Bucky and Cocoa, sipping tea, and reading the latest issue of Artful Blogging magazine.  Maybe I'll do a little journaling, too.  Getting wild and crazy over here!

♥

gray and blush

 

This weekend has been incredibly cozy.  I came home Friday after work, got into my pajamas (begin as you mean to go on, right?), and settled in for a snowy weekend inside.  Friday night was spent cleaning and organizing, because I can't relax if my apartment isn't tidy, and I guess the organizing bug was still in my system on Saturday morning, because I decided to take on a pretty mammoth task: organizing my yarn stash.  That entailed taking every single skein and braid out of my yarn cabinet-- have I mentioned that I have a lot of yarn and spinning fiber?  I'm hoping to do a little stash tour soon, too.  The up close and personal view of my many, many yards of yarn and ounces of fiber was a little intimidating, to be honest, but it was also exciting.  It also gave me a chance to see trends in my yarn purchasing, and while I have a lot of lavender and a lot of pale blue, the majority of my stash is gray and blush.  

 

Since I have so much of it, and because gray and blush go with pretty much everything in my wardrobe, I decided to cast on a few projects.  The two soft, lovely yarns above are O-Wool Legacy Bulky in Desert Blush and Cascade 128 Bulky in Silver.  The Cascade 128 Bulky was a gift from my lovely friend and coworker Kristina-- she knit a gorgeous fisherman's rib scarf out of it and when I said that I loved it, she passed along her four extra skeins to me!  Kristina, that was so generous of you, thank you so much. These are going to become the Color Dipped Scarf from Purl Soho.  This will be my first try at brioche knitting and I'm pretty excited about it!  

I spent most of this weekend knitting on the Crazed Scandinavian Cowl by Wendy Johnson.  I'm still relatively new at colorwork, as this is only my fourth colorwork project, so I find myself un-knitting quite often and my tension is occasionally a little wonky (which will hopefully even out in blocking).  I'm enjoying it nonetheless, and these yarns make it such a pleasant project to knit on.  The blush yarn is Kraemer Sterling Sock in the Pink Pearl colorway, purchased at Vogue Knitting Live in January of 2015 at the Woolbearers booth.  The gray is from Holiday Yarns, in the Silver Sock base, in the Badger Black colorway--and that color name makes my little Hufflepuff heart very happy.  I purchased this yarn at Vogue Knitting Live 2016, just over a week ago. (I'll be sharing the rest of my purchases with you in my next post, and guess what?  Gray and blush.  All of it.)   These are definitely dyed up on the same base from Kraemer, consisting of merino, silk, and nylon, so the two yarns work perfectly together.  This is an at-home-only project for me, so I've also cast on some socks for my mom so that I'll have something to knit on the train and while watching podcasts, since I need to follow a chart closely for this cowl.  Now that I'm finally finished with my Christmas knitting, I want to cast on all the things!

I hope your week is off to a great start!  

♥

knitting catch-up: purple socks

Hi friends!  So, life got a little crazy and I took an unintentional blogging break.  I'm hoping to get on a more regular schedule soon, but in the meantime, I've been knitting up a storm.  I'm going to break up my projects into a few knitting catch-up post to keep it from becoming overwhelming.  Today, let's talk socks, specifically, purple socks.


First up, these are the Blueberry Waffle Socks  in Paton's Kroy sock yarn, in the Cameo Colors colorway.  I fell in love with this pattern/yarn combination after seeing Dani knit these on the Little Bobbins podcast, and I shamelessly copied.  I've since knit several pairs of Blueberry Waffle Socks, they've become my go-to sock pattern.  The ribbed nature of the pattern makes them fit really well, and it's just interesting enough to be both enjoyable and mindless knitting, perfect for my commute knitting or knitting on while watching podcasts.  I did contrasting afterthought heels on these socks in some charcoal gray Paton's Kroy.


I also knit a pair of plain stockinette socks out of some gorgeous yarn from Black Bunny Fibers.  I purchased this yarn at Vogue Knitting Live in January of 2015.  It's the Belmont base, which is a blend of 55% superwash merino, 25% nylon, and 20% kid mohair, and the colorway is Cracked Pepper.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about the mohair content in this yarn, but I barely noticed it while I was knitting.  If anything, the socks feel a little more sturdy and hard-wearing than usual. Toes, afterthought heels, and cuffs are in charcoal Paton's Kroy.

When I knit these socks, I was using a US size 1 needle, and 72 stitches.  I'm a tight knitter, so I've since changed to using a US size 2 needle and 64 stitches.  The fit is the same, but the socks feel softer because they're not quite so dense.  Honestly, when I first started knitting, I wasn't sure I was ever going to be a Sock Knitter (capital S and K).  I was not even close to correct.  I love knitting socks and I almost always have a pair on the needles.  And that's a good thing, because my stash of sock yarn.... well, let's say it's healthy.  Very healthy.  Robustly healthy.

Oh, and #blizzard2016?  Yup, that happened-- we got about 26" of snow in Bayonne between Friday night and this morning.  Thankfully, I have a vacation day on Monday, so I don't have to venture out of the apartment for a few more days.  I'm all stocked up on the essentials: Lush bath bombs, tea, and Choco Leibniz biscuits.  Oh, and yarn.  So much yarn.

How did all of you weather the storm?  What are your hunkering-down essentials?  

Stay cozy!

♥

knitting catch-up: JDRF mittens!

One of the many things I love about my job is working for a company that gives back.  In August, we had an in-office carnival to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and of course, the knitters of the office were ready to represent.  Here's what I contributed to our booth!

 

These cuties are the Fingerless Gloves With Owl Detail pattern.  I actually knit two pairs of these.  They were quick and easy, and the cable pattern added some interest to the knitting.  The pattern is written to be knit flat, but I modified it to be knit in the round because I am all about avoiding seaming my knitwear.  I knit these mitts (and, actually, everything else in this post) with Berroco Vintage left over from the Never-ending Boyfriend Blanket.  It's a lovely, squishy wool-blend yarn that can be given to non-knitters without fear of shrinking or felting.  Good thing I like it, too-- I still have lots left over!

 

Next up is a pair of Emma's Mittens! These were super fun to knit, and Emma's Mittens will definitely become one of my go-to mitten patterns.  There's definitely a lot going on in this pattern, what with all the cables and the many, many bobbles, but the pattern repeat is short enough that the knitting seems to fly by.  I knit these while sitting on my mom's porch, watching hummingbirds darting around her flower garden.  

 

Another pair of dark gray Emma's Mittens, but fingerless!  These were actually a custom request from one of my coworkers.  She loved the dark gray Emma's Mittens in the knitting club booth, but she felt that a fingerless version would work better for her.  I was happy to knit them up for her-- apparently, this particular coworker always buys lots of handknits from the knitting club's booth at the JDRF carnival.  How cool is that?  I love knitting for other people who work in creative fields or have creative hobbies, because they truly understand how much time and thought and love goes into every handmade object.  

Last up, a pair of Emma's Mittens in a lovely robin's egg blue!  It was a wrench putting these into the booth, because I love this color and thought these mittens turned out particularly pretty.  Lucky for me, they were the only thing I made that didn't sell!  So now they are mine, mine, mine.  Yay!  I also knit a bunch of little mug cozies, and it has been so much fun seeing them snuggled around mugs on desks in the office.  

Happy Halloween!  I will be spending the day curled up with Bucky and Cocoa, watching Halloween movies and knitting away on Christmas presents.  I hope your day is cozy (or spooky, whichever you prefer)!

the never-ending boyfriend blanket

Hi guys! 

Today I'd like to show you the biggest knitting project I have ever done-- a Vivid blanket for my boyfriend.  Now that we've exchanged gifts and I won't ruin the surprise by showing photos, I'm so excited to be able to share this labor of love!  It got its name, The Never-Ending Boyfriend Blanket, because I started knitting on it in early November and kept knitting on it until the end of January!  I guess objectively that isn't a particularly long time to be knitting a blanket, but when you knit exclusively in 4 colors, all of which are shades of grey and blue, for three months... well, it seems like a while.  I went to Vogue Knitting Live while I was in the midst of knitting this blanket, and in rebellion against the grey and blue, I bought oodles of pink and purple sparkly yarn and fiber.  But more on that at a later date. 

I didn't want my fella to have to worry about hand-washing this blanket, so I knit it out of Berroco Vintage.  The fiber content is 50% acrylic, 40% wool, and 10% nylon.  I'm not generally a fan of blends including acrylic, but the Vintage was lovely to work with.  I'm actually planning another Vivid for myself in the same yarn!

 

The Vivid squares traveled with me everywhere, including on the trip to my mom's house in Pennsylvania.  This was a very cozy day, knitting in front of a fire and listening to audiobooks.  

 

In the end, I knit thirty squares.  They filled my entire bathtub when I soaked them in preparation for blocking!  My current blocking board situation only allowed me to block 8 squares at a time, so there may have been some creative drying methods to speed along the process.  A hair dryer was, perhaps, involved, as well as an intricate arrangement of blocking boards around my bedroom radiator.    

 

I finished the blanket the night before Christian arrived in New York.  Bucky became very attached to it.  He was not pleased when I took it away!  It's not like he is lacking for blankets, either.  Every blanket that is supposed to be for me gets claimed by the cats as it is!  But of course, all other blankets paled in comparison to the only one he couldn't have.  

The finishing touch on this blanket was a little copper heart charm, a very tiny one so that only Christian will know where it is.  

The best part of this whole project was Christian's reaction when I gave him his blanket.  He melted my heart by choosing it over a fluffy hotel duvet when we snoozed after a long walk.  Mmhm, he is most definitely knit-worthy.  

Project details!

Pattern: Vivid by Tin Can Knits

Yarn: Berroco Vintage 

Yardage by Colorway: 1302 in Cracked Pepper, 325.5 in Smoke, 271.25 in Gingham, and 271.25 in Tide Pool.

Total Yardage: 2,170 yards total (!!!) 

♥

cozy weekend snaps

Hi guys! 

Today I'd like to share some photos from my cozy weekend.  It was rainy and cold outside, so it was the perfect time to snuggle up with my kitties and stay in.  ...Although I did have to go out once, because I bought all the ingredients for lasagna except pasta sauce.  Duh.  Thank goodness for the random selection of food items at Walgreens.

 

I was all ready to watch a movie on my laptop Friday night... Bucky wasn't super into that idea.

 

 

Even though I was not excited to go out in the rain on my pasta sauce run, the saturated autumn colors looked beautiful glistening with water droplets.

 

Knitting is always more fun when I'm using cute stitch markers, and these are two of my favorites!  They're from beadpassion on etsy.

 

The heat in my building has been a little sporadic lately-- I think it only comes on during certain hours until it gets colder outside (although as I write this, I am toasty).  So two certain kitties have been enjoying getting tucked in constantly by their over-protective cat-mom.  Bucky really likes it.  Look at that face!  I'm almost certain of it.  Heh heh.

Cocoa loves any excuse to snuggle.  This is how they spent the majority of the weekend.

I hope you had a cozy weekend, too!

♥

summer sky citron

There are few knitting-related things more satisfying than planning out a project and having it turn out just as you'd hoped.  Happily, that was exactly what happened with my handspun Citron shawl!  Yay!  I started out with eight ounces of beautiful blue and white roving from Skirted Fleece Mill, in a soft, perfectly prepared merino/alpaca/silk blend.  It came from the mill labeled as 'Snow Angels,' but the colors looked to me more like fluffy clouds in a summer sky.

   

 I debated whether to spin this into a two-ply yarn, for a more barber-poled look, or to chain-ply it to keep the gorgeous, pure colors together.  In the end, I decided to two-ply it to prevent weird color-pooling when the rows on the knitted shawl got very long towards the end. 

  

 

  

After plying, I had 888 yards of a fingering-weight yarn.  It's one of my favorite handspun yarns to date-- the merino kept it from becoming too wiry even though I was spinning thin, the alpaca added some staple length to the shorter-staple merino, and the silk gave the yarn a beautiful sheen.  And of course, the fiber prep was gorgeous.  This is the second fiber I've spun from The Skirted Fleece (this was the first one) and both braids have been a pleasure to work with.  There have been virtually no felted bits at all, and the fiber is dyed consistently through the braid, not just on the outer layer.  

And for all of the above reasons, I bought four more eight ounce braids of fiber at The Skirted Fleece Mill when I went to visit my mom for a weekend.

I regret nothing.

  

I cast on the Citron Grande pattern a few days before my trip to Boston as relaxing travel-knitting, and I finished it in two and a half weeks. The very, very long purl-back rows at the end got a bit tedious, but over all, I really enjoyed this project.  

  

I'm so happy with how the finished shawl turned out!  It's huge and light and airy, and it's very cozy either wrapped close to my neck like a scarf or wrapped around my shoulders like a socially acceptable Snuggie.  It's hard to imagine needing it at the moment, since it's been so hot that I run the risk of actually melting every time I leave my apartment, but when winter gets here, I know I'll be glad that I made myself a hoard of knitwear.

  

 The only modification that I made to the pattern was that instead of knitting my increases through the back loop to close up the holes, I knitted into the front of the increases to create a radiating pattern of eyelets.  I did this by accident on my first Citron shawl, when I was a newer knitter, and I liked it so much that I decided to do it intentionally this time. 

  

As soon as I finished this project, I wanted to start a zillion other ones.  I cast on a pair of socks and a shawl, spun up a four ounce braid of Malabrigo merino (and speaking of felted bits and inconsistent dyeing, Malabrigo roving, I am looking right at you.  Good thing you're so pretty), spun a Loop Bullseye Bump (perfect prep, I want to buy a hundred more of them), and did tons of knitting on a super-secret project.  And I'm having to resist the urge to cast on a hat and another shawl and some fingerless mitts.  I want to knit and spin all the things!  I think it's the influence of those sneaky KnitGirllls.  I want to win Stash Dash!  For non-knitters, that means knitting or spinning a 5K worth of yarn, or 5,468 yards, before August 7th.  At the moment, I'm at 3381.2 yards.  I think I'm going to make it!

What projects are inspiring you lately?  

♥

celestarium

  Sometimes, from the moment you first see a knitting pattern, you know you absolutely-must-knit-it-no-matter-what.  Even if it is absolutely crazy and huge and you're not quite sure what you'll do with it after you knit it.

      For me, Celestarium was that knitting pattern.

     Celestarium is a huge circular shawl with beads arranged to form the constellations as seen from the northern hemisphere, with the North Star in the center.  I began this project on December 21st, 2013, right before I went home for Christmas.  This seems like a pretty intimidating pattern at first glance-- there are 6 sets of charts, and the final chart is 8 pages long.  After I got into the rhythm of count-knit-knit-knit-yarn over- bead-knit-knit, though, it became relaxing and fairly mindless knitting.  It was really satisfying to watch the constellations emerging as I finished each chart. 

 

      I knit my Celestarium with Knit Picks Stroll yarn in the Midnight Heather color.  According to the pattern, it should have taken 1200 yards on size 4 needles.  However, even though I went up to size 6 needles (I am a tight knitter and wanted to keep the shawl light and airy), I only used 1039.5 yards of yarn.  That leaves me a skein and a half of yarn to knit up into little dark blue hexipuffs for my Busy Bee Blanket!  ...Well, eventually.  Not now.  I have had enough navy blue for the moment. 

 

My finished Celestarium measures 48" in diameter, though I expect that will shrink slightly since I blocked the shawl pretty severely.  I'm planning to frame it and hang it above my dresser, with a small, framed constellation chart next to it.  I am so pleased with how it turned out!  Finishing the Celestarium has inspired me to start another huge project-- but that's going to be a present for two very special people, so it has to take a secret for now.  I'll be able to reveal it in a few months-- I can't wait!

♥

tiny owl knits swap: received

Hello lovelies!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Today I'd like to share with you what I received in the Tiny Owl Knits Common Room Swap on Ravelry.  I was very, very spoiled by my sender, who goes by SoEffie on Ravelry.

 

Here's a group shot of everything that was in the swap package I received!  Isn't the tissue paper and ribbon adorable?

 

This is right after I unwrapped everything-- it was so exciting!   The tea is delicious, and the little cream-colored case is perfect for storing my cable needles.

 

This owl card was filled with a sweet message from Effie.  I love the beautiful patterns on the owl's wings!  I'm going to frame this and add it to the gallery-wall I'm working on in my front hallway.

 

The beautiful green flowered project bag in the lower right corner of the group photo is reversible-- the inside fabric has this charming owl print, I just love it!

 

I am in awe of Effie's embroidery skills!  This little owl pouch is so precious.  I haven't decided what to put in it yet-- maybe a little lavender sachet to keep my knitted items nicely scented?

 

Effie had filled the owlie pouch with these beautiful hand-made stitch markers.  They're so delicate and pretty!

 

Isn't this owl stationery set so sweet?  It was so thoughtful of Effie to send a desk set.  I love all things stationery-related!

 

Effie also included this beautiful yarn.  It's Araucania Ruca Multi, a DK weight yarn made of sugar cane in the prettiest pink, pale green, teal, violet, and gray.

Last but certainly not least are these two lovely leaf washcloths!  They're so soft and cushy.

Thank you so much, Effie!  Everything in the package was so lovingly crafted.  I love it all!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

♥

tiny owl knits swap: sent

Hi, and happy Friday!

I recently participated in a swap on Ravelry, in the Tiny Owl Knits group.  A quick explanation of how Ravelry swaps work: One person is the swap organizer, and they post a questionnaire on the message board for the group.  Anyone who wants to participate answers the questionnaire, and then the swap organizer matches up participants.  Sometimes it's a straight-forward exchange, where you send goodies to the same person who is going to send goodies to you, and sometimes it's more of a round-robin situation, when you send a package to one person and receive a package from someone else.  The Tiny Owl Knits Common Room Swap was the latter kind, and it was so much fun!  Tiny Owl Knits is the designer of the Beekeeper's Quilt, which I've been knitting for about a year now, and since most of her patterns are whimsical and foresty, I tried to stay with that feeling for the swap package I put together.

Today I'd like to share the knitted items that I sent to my lovely swap recipient, Robin.

 

Cotton Leaf Washcloths-- these were very quick to knit, and two of them used up less than one skein of Sugar and Cream dishcloth cotton yarn.  I packaged these with a bar of lavender-scented L'Occitane soap and two of the beehive candles I shared in my last post, like a mini-spa in a box.

I also knitted the Damson Shawl by Ysolda Teague in the very, very soft Anzula Cloud.  It's a merino/cashmere/nylon yarn and it truly does live up to its name-- when you put the shawl on, the knitted fabric settles gently around you, just like a puffy knitted cloud.  I definitely plan on making a Damson Shawl for myself, too.  It has a unique, fluttery shape when it's worn that gives it a capelet sort of silhouette.  The pattern was perfect train-knitting.  It wasn't too complicated to knit on in half-hour segments, but it was interesting enough to keep my mind from drifting off during my commute.

I also sent along a hexipuff, since Robin is also knitting the Beekeeper's Quilt, and 10 mini-skeins of yarn for hexipuffs.  Each mini-skein was 30 yards long, so hopefully she will get at least two hexipuffs out of each one, maybe three, depending on her knitting gauge.  

Tomorrow I'll share the amazing package that I received from my wonderful knitting-fairy Effie!

♥