Two Shawls

Well, I didn't get everything done this weekend that I wanted to, but I got a lot done, and there's still half a day left. I'm sitting here with my cup of coffee trying to decide exactly what I want to get done today. I did a lot of layout work on Saturday, and I'm working on a logo(!!), but it's not quite ready yet. I have a pattern ready to go out but for want of a photoshoot, so hopefully we'll get some good light later this afternoon.

The yellow and green shawls are progressing nicely. Green is going exactly as planned so far, which is a relief. Yellow is just as much fun as I planned, but right now it's making me pause and think a little bit (by "think a little bit," I mean "double check my math and decide if I want to trust it"). But I'm loving them both, and I can't wait for them to get sent off into the world. As far as non-design work knitting goes, Top Sekrit is still half done and the vintage medallion shawl is exactly as it was a few weeks ago. I did finish a pair of fingerless gloves that need blocking and photos, and I've gotten some work done on a Shrowl I'm making for Anemone (no, it's not Top Sekrit).

In non-knitting news, I finished reading Jane and the Damned this weekend, which was a romp and a half. Seriously, it's a lot of fun, and very well-written for a book that doesn't ever take itself seriously. I'm planning on tracking down the sequel through inter-library loan-not because there are any loose ends that need tying up, but because I want to spend more time in that universe. I also finished re-reading The Hobbit, which I'd intended to do before the final movie came out, but didn't get around to. Still just as good as it was the first time I read it, and now I think I want to re-read my way through all of Middle Earth. 

Busyness and Balance

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all have had a good week. I have a three day weekend here, and I am really looking forward to it. I have several things in need of a photoshoot, a pattern to finalize for release, and another one that needs to get written up. I've had a running to-do list for a few weeks full of things that are a bit more behind-the-scenes, but still need to get done, and it'll be nice to have a few days to tackle most of them.

I've had this yarn for a couple months, destined to become the Flower Market Shawl. The pattern was very generously gifted to me this week by the amazing Andi of My Sister's Knitter, and I can't wait to get started. This yarn is more Road to China Light, in Agate, and it will make a beautiful shawl. Which means I'm especially eager to get this shawl done:

My only set of US6 needles long enough for a shawl is currently in use, so I need to hurry up and get this done so I can start Flower Market! I'm almost ready to start the fun part, and this should be a relatively quick knit. But I've got this, another design in progress, some Top Sekrit knitting for Anemone's birthday next month, and another couple of things I'd like to get done in the next few weeks. But it's the best kind of busy, and I'm loving all of it.

Speaking of Top Sekrit, here's a little peek. You won't get more than peeks until Anemone gets them, but I promise it's good. I'm safely on schedule and well on my way to being done with this with time to spare. I'm trying to prioritize and keep a good balance of design work, gift knitting, and fun knitting, which is a bit of a challenge right now, but so far manageable :)

New Stuff

It feels like forever since I've worked on a new design. I have a couple things coming up in the queue, but I haven't have any concept "in gestation" for a few weeks, and I really missed it.

This little guy is so tiny that he barely counts as more than a cast-on. I love this color, and I can't wait for the finished shawl. It's a variation on a submission that got rejected a few months ago, but I've improved on the initial concept and am more than ready to get it out into the world.

I also have this absolutely delicious ball of yarn to play around with. It's pretty secret for now, so you won't be seeing much more of it until it's finished, but I am having so much fun with it for now. I love all the specks of color, and it's got 10% cashmere, so I can't keep my hands off it!

A Somewhat Unproductive Weekend

This isn't the post I intended to write. I did have a good weekend, but I was not quite as productive as I'd hoped. Exhibit A:

Some knits, without proper photographs, and not in the mail to their new owners. I intended to take pictures on Sunday, but it started to rain before I got the chance to, and continued until dark. So that remains on the to-do list.

Exhibit B, the vintage medallion shawl is in the same condition it was a week and a half ago. I'm hoping that continuing to post about it here will shame me into getting some serious work on it done.

It's not as though I haven't been knitting, though. as demonstrated by Exhibit C, a blanket that is noticeably larger than it was on Friday. It's so cozy, and going so quickly, and I can't wait for it to be done. But I really ought to be working on other stuff, too.

There was also a very successful trip to the library on Saturday. I'm really enjoying Jane and the Damned so far, and I've been wanting to read Kraken for ages.

Hope you all had a good weekend as well!

Stashbusting

Oof. It's nice to finally be back into my normal rhythm, after all the fun of last weekend. I did end up bringing a lot of yarn home from the retreat, so I had to do a quick stash evaluation and figure out what to do with it all.

All of the yarn on the right is stuff that I've had in my stash for a while. The blue was intended for a blanket project that never happened, way back in my first year of knitting, and while part of it has gotten eaten up over the past several years, there's still quite a bit left. The grey was on clearance a few years ago, and aside from one or two random projects, I never really figured out what to do with it.

All the yarn on the left is yarn from my best friend from college. She used to work in the craft section of a major retailer, and during a stock clearout she offered me "a bunch of random free yarn." Since there's no such thing as bad free yarn, I took her up on it. There's a bunch of different stuff there, but in weird amounts for attaching them to projects. There are a few skeins not pictured here that I've assigned to projects in my head, but for the most part it's all here.

I'm a firm believer in letting yarn sit until it's decided what it wants to be, so I packed all of this stuff up in the stash and let it think for a while. I don't know where the idea to try to make it into a blanket came from, but once the idea took hold it stuck fast. Of course, I already have a couple of blanket projects in progress, but who doesn't need another blanket?

So far this is knitting up pretty fast. It's still going to be a pretty big time investment, but it is going to be so nice to finally knit up all this friend yarn, and it will make the stash a little lighter.

Our Common Thread Retreat, Part Two

As promised, the rest of my weekend.

The first dyeing workshop was on Friday, and we just played around with liquid and sprinkle dyes. I did three skeins, each one with a base of one liquid dye and layered with three different sprinkle dyes. The first skein is a 50/50 blend of superwash merino and tencel:

The next one is 100% corriedale, which is one of my favorite wools to play with:

Isn't that a fantastic orange? I'm really pleased with it, and oranges are really difficult to dye well. I rounded out the evening with a 75/25 superwash merino-nylon blend:

The Saturday workshop was on snow dyeing. Dyeing with snow is unpredictable, but I always have a lot of fun with it. All three of my skeins came out much more saturated than I expected, but I'm really pleased with the colors that resulted. The first skein was a 60/30/10 superwash merino-bamboo-nylon blend, and it used up the leftover dyes that were in the pan after my wool-nylon blend from Friday was finished, and topped off with a sprinkle dye:

The next two skeins were both 100% corriedale, and each used three different sprinkle dyes:

Both of these were much more intense than I anticipated, but I absolutely love the finished skeins. The dark one is a sort of deep indigo-purple that looks almost black, and it's incredibly difficult to photograph. I'm hoping that it will be easier to capture the color once I knit it up, whenever that is, because it really is gorgeous.

Our Common Thread Retreat, Part One

Oh my goodness! It's been a whirlwind couple of days: I'm exhausted, I have weird acne, and I forgot to wear a mask during the dyeing workshops, so now I have weird colored boogers. But it was so much fun. So without further ado, here's the recap:

First of all, I got lost three times on my way to the lodge, so what should have been a three-hour drive ended up being about five hours. But I got there at about 8:00pm on Thursday. The next few days looked a lot like this, with very little variation:

Beautiful, right? It was a total blast, And very productive. I finished two projects this weekend, and got another one 30% done.

Both of these are for good friends of mine from college. The hat was about 25% done when I got there, but the entire scarf was knit in two days (that was some intense knitting). They both need a good blocking, and better pictures, and then they should both be in the mail to their new homes next weekend.

There were also dyeing workshops on Friday and Saturday, and I always look forward to those. They're led by Tara from The Dyeing Arts, and I love getting to play with yarn and color in that way. I did three skeins at each workshop, so there's a lot of dye stuff to go over, and I will share all of that with you on Wednesday. But until then, here's a sneak peek:

Pattern: Vera

As promised, a new pattern for you all. Vera is a super warm cowl-stranded colorwork in a bulky wool/alpaca blend will do that. The colorwork pattern is easy, and every row is exactly the same-great for people who want to try stranded knitting but are intimidated by keeping track of a pattern.

And, of course, stripes! I've been on a bit of a stripes kick lately, although I think I may be getting over it soon. My sample was done in neutrals (apparently I've been on a neutrals kick too?) but I can't wait to see what color combinations people come up with.

$5 on Ravelry

Preparing for Launch

I leave tomorrow for my knitting retreat, so I'm a bit all over the place today. I'm still not packed (surprise) but I do have at least most of my knitting for the weekend picked out (no surprise), although I still need to wind some yarn for the weekend (and find my spindle, and make sure I have clean laundry, and get snacks for the road).

For those of you holding me accountable to my vintage medallion shawl, may I present medallion 7/16. Yes, it's the same one I showed you last Friday, but there are a few more rounds done on it now. If I'm especially productive, I'll get it done before I leave tomorrow, but it can wait until I get back if I don't.

I'm also trying to get things pulled together for a new pattern on Friday. I know they've been coming out pretty quickly lately-I got a whole bunch done back in November and never got around to releasing them, so I'm just trying to get caught up. After this one, I have one more, plus a special one. But more on all that later.

If you're not already checking out my Instagram or Twitter, those are the best way to see what I'll be doing this weekend. But if that's not your thing, I'll have a whole big recap post for you on Monday. Hope you all have a good rest of your week!

FO: Purls and Seaweed

Remember last week when I said I had something blocking that was either absolutely perfect or laughably messed up? Fortunately for me, it came out exactly how I intended.

My Purls and Seaweed scarf, inspired by Cory's. I was nervous about the length of this-I wanted it short enough that I wouldn't mind wearing it as a single loop, but long enough that I could still wear it doubled. It's a fine line for me, and I was nervous that I'd been overly cautious and made it too short.

Hopefully I didn't use up too much of my knitting good mojo on this, but I couldn't be more pleased with how it came out. The Road to China Light is sport weight instead of fingering, but I didn't size up the needles at all. I love how it came out-perfectly soft and just the right thing to wear against my neck.

Ravelry Page: Purls and Seaweed

Pattern: Purls and Seaweed Wrap Scarf, by Jennifer Chase-Rappaport 

Yarn: The Fibre Company Road to China Light, "Ruby"