Joyce Makes Art

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!

Definitely My Favorite Knit Hat

Mendota is definitely my favorite hat that I've ever knit.  When I shared it with you Saturday, it was still in need of a good blocking, which it never actually got, because one of the kids has apparently run off with the glass head I use for blocking hats. Instead, I plopped it over a plastic tub I use for mixing dyes and steamed it, with the result that it has rather a ridge about two-thirds of the way up.

It doesn't really matter, though.  And, I'm not even put off by the fact that the dog chewed on the pom pom some (my darling husband, who sat calmly by while she swiped it off the table muttered something about wolves liking sheep).  I went ahead and used it anyhow. The color was too perfect.

The result is amazing.  So perfect that I haven't seen it since we took these photos, because she won't give it back to me.

It's just a hat, right?  But, sometimes a hat is more than just a hat.  Sometimes a hat becomes your best friend.  But I'm not going to know how that works with Mendota, unless I knit a second one for myself.  And that's exactly what I plan to do!

When You're Really In Love With Your Knitting

I finished this hat last night.  I was so in love with how soft it was, that I put it on immediately.  And I couldn't take it off, even when I went to bed.  It was that scrumptious.

Predictably, I woke up to a sadly crumpled hat.  I'll give it a good steam blocking later this morning and share it with you.  It's a bit sad at the moment.

Details:

Mendota Hat Pattern

The Plucky Knitter Groovy

And in other news, I'll be wearing one of these today.

About That Hat....

The kit for this hat arrived last weekend as you may recall from this post, and I cast on Tuesday evening.  And couldn't stop knitting, because the yarn is wonderful and, of course, the colors.

It's really the perfect hat.  Even Miss Figg thinks so.

And, never one to let scraps go to waste, my daughter already has a project in the works for the tiny snips of leftovers.

The verdict: Sure this is a simple idea and you could put one of these together with your own scraps.  But half the fun of this project was the kit, which arrived so beautifully put together.  I had not knit with Blue Sky's Woolstok before and am so glad I did.  It's a really nice yarn and the colors are beautiful.  I'm sure I'll do another with my own scraps at some point, but I'm so glad I started with the kit.

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.

Key Covers

Do you:

   A. Have lots of key?

   B. Have lots of keys that look alike?

   C. Come home with your hands full of purse/briefcase/knitting bags and other cr@p you cart around all day and struggle to pull out your house key because it's hard to find in the mix  of all of your other keys with about one-half of a functioning hand that isn't taken up holding all the stuff?

Or, do you just like pretty knit things that take no time but brighten up your life?

Ten minutes, and one small scrap of yarn later, I had this cute little key cover.  Thank to Liat Gat for her easy to follow instructions and free pattern. My project notes are here in case you want to make one (or ten) for yourself.  The yarn is The Plucky Knitter's Bello in Small Batch 014.

 

Finished, But Not Blocked

I finished my fairisle hat from Janine Bajus's class at The Plucky Knitter's Glamping Retreat this afternoon.  Kudos to my youngest kid for needing to visit the pediatrician today, which gave me all the time I needed to cast off, while having a nice talk with him.

It is not blocked yet, nor have I committed to the Alpaca pom pom from Toft, which is lightly tacked in at the moment.  But really, I'm so excited that I couldn't wait another minute to share it with you.  I knitted this!  It's fairisle!

The truth is, if you're on the fence about trying a fairisle project, it's just not as hard as it looks.  If you want to be all fancy about it, you can visit this video from the Philosopher's Stone and you'll be capable of knitting fairisle with yarn in both hands before you can say "stranded knitting."  And you do need to know to keep the strand of yarn you are not using while you knit with the other color loose -- if you pull it tight in back your resulting project will be very small and you will be sad.  But once you know this is in issue, you can do some quick googling and your strands in back will be just right.

The inside is almost as pretty as the outside.

This hat is a pretty good fit for me as is, so I'm going to give it a gently steam blocking to even out the stitches and weave in all of those ends when I get a moment.  I'll be back with better photos later this week when it's all done.

 

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I Knit Another Hat

Late last night, I finished up my Paint By Numbers hat.

I love knitting fairisle hats.  They are so much fun and not nearly as difficult as they look.  I'm particularly happy with the colors in this one, which I plan on wearing later this week in Seattle, where it will hopefully be cool enough to do so.  Knitting a wool hat is a bit of an act of faith when you live somewhere with temperatures still well above 90` as September draws to an end. 

A neighbor, who typically knows about such things, told me while out walking his dog last night that he had heard we were going to have a very cold winter.  He didn't seem to happy about it, but, such music to a knitter's ears!

Knitting Slugs & New Hats

After my very sad swatching fail in linen earlier this week, I consoled myself with some silly knitting.

This little guy is a Pacific Northwest Banana Slug.  I'm heading out that direction for a knitting retreat later this month, and the group is planning to leave a rout of snails behind for the retreat facility to remember us by.  I used some leftover yarn from various projects, holding two different worsted weights together for the shell to match the gauge of the bulky yarn I used for the slug itself.  The Banana Slug-Snail pattern I used was a little bit confusing, possibly because I was knitting while watching TV in the middle of the night to see if Hurricane Hermine was coming near us, so instead of following the directions for the shell, I knit a 6 stitch I cord, rolled it up and stitched it in place.

Next up?  Swatching for a new striped hat pattern The Plucky Knitter has coming out early next week.  I have lots of great yarn to choose from.

And then, I've got to search in my studio for some size 1 or 2 needles so I can make a second attempt at getting gauge for my linen hand towel.  I hope I have something in wood on hand, because I find it to be incredibly difficult to run in and out of my local yarn shop just to purchase needles without picking up some new yarn!

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That Wonderful Feeling When You Finish Knitting

I finished Vitsippa.  It now goes into the category of memory-knits, because it will forever be the project I was knitting when I was here. (Glacier Park, Montana)

It is also one of those knits that is infinitely enjoyable -- the pattern is well written and easy to follow for a project that looks rather complicated.  At the end, you're left with a feeling of great satisfaction.  And, it was a skill builder for me as I'm trying to improve my fairisle skills to get ready for knitting this sweater.  I enjoy stranded knitting, but I'm still working on the evenness of my stitches and on feeling completely awkward with the whole knitting with the yarn held in two different hands thing.  Vitsippa helped a lot with both of those issues.

As soon as I finished, I immediately wove in the ends and put Vitsippa on my head.  And didn't want to take it off, even though it's over 90` here.  I had no trouble finding a model for it.  In fact, before I was done, everyone in the house had it on their head.  The ribbing is deep and stretchy (I hate it when there isn't enough ribbing on a hat).  I used a long tail cast on, and it worked perfectly.  The finished hat is comfortable, beautiful and not too tight -- pretty much the hat you're going to reach for every time you hit the trails all winter.