Joyce Makes Art

Elliebelly Yarn: In That Awkward Stage

You know that awkward stage where the ugly little fledgling bird starts to spread its wings and becomes a more confident version of itself?  I'm feeling a bit like that at the moment, as the barebones version of my new website is on its way to being fully redesigned and functional for Elliebelly Yarn's January 2017 reopening.  One side effect is that my blog is in limbo as I learn to blog directly through the new site.  I haven't yet figured out exactly how we integrate the blog, which has been hosted on Typepad for over a decade now, into the new site.

What does that mean for you, Dear Reader? With the exception of today's post, which is "navigational" in nature, the blog should look the same whether you come here to Typepad or go directly to www.elliebelly.com/blog to read it.  The Blog has now been moved to the www.elliebelly.com/blog  I'm sad to be saying good bye to Typepad, which is a great platform for blogging, but no fears, I'll be keeping all of the old posts here so you won't have any issues with bookmarks and such.  All new posts, everything from December 22, 2016, will be on the new site. Please do let me know, through either the comments or the contact form on the website, if you experience any issues.  And, in the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this video, which gives you a glimpse of some of what will be on the new site, along with all of the knitting and dyeing that has been going on ahead of the reopening.

 

Indie Untangled

Have you run across Indie Untangled?  It's Lisa Chamoff's brilliant effort to help you find indie yarn and knitting related swag and I've been relying on it to keep up to date on yarn-world happenings ever since I found it.

Lisa noticed that I was getting ready to reopen Elliebelly in January and was nice enough to ask if I wanted to be part of her holiday giveaway this year.  You can find the details here. She has some great yarn & swag in the works for you!

In non-knitting news, this happened in my house yesterday.

Total and utter madness will ensue.

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Four Elliebelly Projects

Are you looking for something to knit?  Something pretty for yourself or a quick last minute gift? I've got you covered today, sharing four projects that have been knit with Elliebelly Yarn recently.

The project on the top left is knit from handspun yarn -- I dyed the fleece and my incredibly talented Cousin Ann spun the yarn.  But then, it sat around in stash for a long time because it was too pretty, too valuable and I wasn't sure what project would be sufficient to honor it.  The Demiluna shawl turned out to be the perfect answer to that conundrum.  The pattern is versatile -- you can adapt it, even late in the game if necessary, to use your yardage.  And its shape makes it very wearable.  Use your handspun!

Pictured on the top right, the I Want You shawl is knit in Elliebelly Rainey Fingering. This is one of my newest yarns, a Silk/Linen/Alpaca blend.  It's wonderful and the perfect weight for wear all through the year.  I adore the sweet edging on this scarf/shawl, and because it's a one-skein wonder, you can knit one fairly quickly as a gift, or spoil someone (yourself?) by knitting it using a sinfully luxurious skein that you would hesitate to buy a sweater quantity of.

In the lower left corner, Trieste Mitts, knit in Elliebelly Big Blue Bulky BFL.  Quick because they are bulky and really warm, squishy, and pretty.  I'm sure I'll be knitting a pair of these on Christmas Eve for one last gift.

© Pizza-Ghost

Last, but not least, Anticlastic was written for a worsted weight silk blend, but this project used Elliebelly Seasilk DK and came out perfectly.  If you aren't sure what to do with variegated yarns, this pattern definitely has an answer for you.  It's like a fisherman's net made of silk, which, when wrapped around your neck, is stunningly pretty whether you're wearing jeans or off to something formal.  I'm a huge fan of Seasilk at any weight and I think Anticlastic is the perfect pattern for showing off its many virtues.

I hope you find something fun here to help with your holiday knitting.  Elliebelly will be back in January, but until then, please sign up for announcements about that (and perhaps a giveaway or two) in the box in the upper right hand corner.  Happy Knitting!

It's A Gansey (Sort Of)

I'm a little bit obsessed with Amy Miller's new mini-sock patterns, and have been working on a pair of Jimmies in between other projects.

Because knitting Jimmies made me even more obsessed with the other three mini-sock patterns, I sent off yarn to Ravelry knitter, Mommajnine, for a pair  of It's A Gansey, another of the patterns in the set.  Ganseys are sweaters with distinctive local patterning, which this sock pattern mimics, and to kick up up just a bit, I sent four different colors of yarn to use for the sock, rather than knitting it as a solid. 

© Mommajnine

The yarn is Elliebelly Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) Constant, dyed in Dear Theodosia (Green), Muslin (Neutral), Lady Mary (Blue), and Lost Coast (Salmon Pink).

© Mommajnine 

Janine, who is the most amazing of sock knitters, turned the yarn into a pair of It's a Ganseys, quicker than I can turn the heel on a sock!  Here they are in all of their loveliness.  I adore how she aligned the colors.

I'm enjoying knitting my Jimmies and encourage you to pick up some sock yarn and knit a pair of Amy's socks.  They are the perfect quick little knit to make sure that you don't forget yourself in the middle of holiday knitting for friends and family.

Elliebelly is Coming Back

So....This is definitely a thing, and I'm doing it.  Elliebelly is coming back in January 2017.

 

It's exciting and nerve wracking!  There is lots and lots (and lots and lots more) work to do on the Elliebelly Website, which is pretty bare bones at the moment.  The fun part, of course, is the dyeing, which is happening at full speed right now.  And, a little bit of plotting: those of you who remember the old Elliebelly know that it contained a lot of guidance on yarn selection and "What Can I knit With It" kind of help.  I'm going to amp that up.  A lot.  And, I have a special collaboration with one of my favorite designers in the works too. Knitting brings a lot of joy, friendship, and support into my life and I hope the new site will do that for you too!  Please make sure to sign up to receive the newsletter in the box at the top right hand corner of the page, so you'll know when we're ready to reopen. 

One of my favorite parts of the new site is the photography of sample knits. If you're not sure whether you're a yellow person, meet Oryx.  Pretty in the skein, but amazing knit up in this Andromeda shawl.  Oryx also looks great paired with other colors, like Crake and Lady Mary, in Ashburn.

This is Carino, knit in Elliebelly Angel Fingering in the Mystic Tangerine colorway. Angel is incredibly soft, spun from Cashmere, Silk, and Alpaca for the perfect luxury yarn.

The last sample knit I'll share with you today is Isabel Kraemer's Lemmy K Shawl. It's knit here in the heirloom rose colorway in Elliebelly Cloud Soft DK, a cashmerino blend. This is a fluffy scrumptious shawl.

As I work on the new site and prepare to reopen, I'm incredibly grateful to the cohort of knitters who worked with my yarn and supported my ability to select the best base yarns and tweak colorways.  The community of knitters is a wonderful place and each and every one of the sample knits makes me think of a friend, sometimes a new friend who I have never met in real life, but a friend nonetheless.  For me, knitting is all about community.  I'm excited about reopening Elliebelly and helping to give to that community, and I hope you'll come along with me and be a part of it!

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Knit Socks!

I'm knitting Jimmies! These cute little low socks are so adorable that even the fact that I'm knitting them on size 0 needles isn't dampening my enthusiasm.

Part of my enthusiasm is the yarn, which is Elliebelly, pulled from my deep stash.  This is Ella, a paint brush colorway, dyed on BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) Cash-Silk Sock.  I love the subtle color transitions.

So far, so good.  I'm about halfway through the flap on the first sock and looking forward to making good progress during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Although I'm typically a very loose knitter and struggle with getting gauge, often going down two needle sizes, I'm knitting these more or less as written.  The pattern calls for size 0 for the cuff and size 1 for the remainder of the sock.  I'm knitting everything on size  0 (mostly because I couldn't find my size 1 DPNS).  The cuff opening looks small, and I'll be interested to see if I end up with a kid sized sockie.  No problem either way -- this project is so manageable I decided to knit the first sock as my gauge swatch, as I have plenty of yarn, and I'll take it from there.

A Bit Of Elliebelly Knitting History

 

 

Here's a bit of vintage Elliebelly ephemera!  This banner is from my long ago life, when Elliebelly yarn was sold on Hyena Cart as part of a "Congo" called Midday Faire with a few other work at home moms.  The banner surely looks dated, but I couldn't stop from laughing when I found it in some old computer files.  We had a great time together at Hyena Cart. This was all long before Ravelry and at the very, very earliest start of knitters finding each other online.

In this pre-Ravelry era, I had an online group of Mom-Friends who used brightly variegated colorways to knit diaper covers for babies.  The earliest notes I can find from selling hand dyes on line is in 2001. The hand knit colors made cloth diapering seem like an easy and obvious choice, and were lots of fun.  I always liked to sneak in some muted and semi-solid colorways, and these, along with solids, became useful as trim.  And in seemingly no time, but probably more like a couple of years, everyone was knitting baby sweaters and then scarves and shrugs for themselves until we evolved into full blown knitters.

(c) camdensmom

Even though I've evolved as both a knitter and a dyer in the many years since then, and have not knit more than the occasional diaper cover for a friend in the last few years, I really honor my beginnings as a dyer.  Although my Grandmother taught us to dye and batik fabric as kids, this was really the first time I had worked with yarn as an adult.  In addition to the scientific approach my Grandmother took, I added in some intuitive techniques from my collage art hobby, layering and glazing color onto skeins of yarn as I would on a canvas. Trial and error was always the way I worked, taking copious notes and learning to view failures as opportunities -- to this day, one of my favorite techniques is the result of what I viewed as a disaster in the moment.

My family speculates that I have Tetrachromacy and see more conditions than most people.  In reality, I just love color.  I love it's mix and play and the way it varies when dyed on different fibers.  And it turns out that is the perfect passion for a lifelong knitter, because it lets me bring my love of color, fiber, and finished knit projects together.

Elliebelly is coming back in January of 2017 with a new look, a new logo, and base yarns and colorways that have the benefit of several years of intensive dyeing and test knitting while I've been away from the business of selling yarn.  I'm looking forward to it and hope you'll sign up for the newsletter in the box at the top of the page, so I can be in touch when we reopen.

Knitting Quick Christmas Gifts

Over the past few weeks, Amy Miller, one of my favorite knitting pattern designers, has released four patterns for low socks.  They're adorable, and they're quick.

© amymiller

I love all of them, and intend to knit them, but was particularly take with the pattern for It's a Gansey.  Ganseys are hand knit woolen sweaters, worn by fisherman in Britain.  They were knit on tiny needles for warmth and to be waterproof, with shifting patterns that identified their village and family, so their bodies could be returned home for burial in the event of an accident at sea.  These cute little socks change in patterning across the foot, mimicking the traditional approach to knitting a Gansey.  I'm going to follow Ravelry knitter MStephanie2's very clever idea, and knit each patterned band in a different color.

© elliebelly

From left to right, that's Muslin, Lost Coast, Dear Theodosia, and Lady Mary, all on Elliebelly BFL Constant.

All four of Amy's little sock patterns, found together here, are just right for some quick gift knitting.  I'm envisioning Jimmies in a variegated Paintbrush Yarns and perhaps a quick pair of Netties because the cables (or are they faux cables?) are so sweet. I'm so glad I found these sweet little patterns and can't wait to cast on!

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Making A Mess In The Studio

I need a creative day.  One of those messy, carefree, just for fun days.  So, I'm up early, mixing dyes and soaking yarn.

I'm always at my best when I'm playing. And, it seems like a good day for working with a gray I have been wanting to capture on yarn.  Old jeans and a big apron are the attire of the day and I'm listening to the Hamilton Soundtrack.  If you haven't, you really should.  The music is catchy and the lyrics are clever. If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself inextricably drawn to rediscovering the history of the revolutionary era, reading biographies and thoroughly enjoying yourself.  But I digress, back to knitting.

In addition to Elliebelly BFL Constant, which is the undyed yarn soaking above, I'm planning on dyeing some Rainey DK.  Rainey is a yarn I started working with this summer as part of my ongoing search for the perfect linen blend.  Rainey, which is a blend of linen, silk, and alpaca comes in both a fingering and a dk weight, and is a new favorite.  You can read about a test knit project with Rainey here. 

I also need to get  labels on a bit of yarn I dyed last weekend. (If you look closely, you can see I was listening to Hamilton last weekend, too).  If you haven't noticed the sign up box at the top of the right hand column on this page, I'm gearing up to reopen Elliebelly in January.  More on that later, but for now, I'm working on dyeing and implementing some long planned changes on the Elliebelly Website.  I hope you'll stay in touch and look forward to Elliebelly coming back as much as I am!

Rainey DK: A New Elliebelly Yarn In Testing

It's fun to test out base yarns for dyeing.  Fun, and a little bit frustrating at times.  As a small hand dyer, I rely on an unwieldy assortment of sources for base yarns.  It's a pleasure to work with small producers and mills and there are some fabulous, slightly larger suppliers out there who work with hand dyers, as well.  For me, it's been a one by one process over many years of trying different bases out: dyeing them, knitting with them, seeing how they look after they've been washed and worn.  Different bases have their charms and their detractions, so you need some experience with them to come up with your favorites, the ones that are dye and knit-worthy.

The past year has been fun for me as I've been working with a wonderful group of knitters to experiment with the possibilities for some old favorite yarns and play with some new ones. Not every base succeeds, and among those that do, it's a very personal selection of what works for me and which yarns are best for which purposes.  Those of you who've known me for a while know that I have a near obsession with linen.  It last forever and it gets softer every time you wash it.  It's lovely.  It's been around at least since ancient  Egypt (there are tomb fragments to prove it).  And I like to knit with it, particularly when it's part of a blend that softens its feel -- knitting with pure linen can be a bit like knitting with string, although I still adore it in this form.

This shawl, knit in a new base I've been working with, Rainey DK, showed up late last week.  And I'm enthralled with it. Rainey is spun from 50% Alpaca, 25% Linen and 25% Silk.  It's virtues include the softness of Silk, the strength and beauty of Linen and a fabulous halo from the Alpaca.  It has just the right halo, not a "hair everywhere" kind of thing but enough to be soft and a bit rustic without shedding.  Although I can envision shawls and shrugs for Claire Fraser in the Outlander series knit from this yarn, it makes a lovely, sophisticated shawl for today, as well. Rainey, which I'm dyeing in a fingering weight, along with this DK version, is going to be a fun addition to Elliebelly Yarns.  I can't wait to play with its potential some more, but it's clearly a winner for shawls.