Dare I Crop?

Posted on October 23, 2019 by atangledyarn84

When I digging around in my yarn stash the other day I came across something unexpected and yet spectacular. I found three skeins of DK weight superwash yarn all from the same indie dyer. I had picked these up at different times from her over the past year when I had the money saved up around the time of her updates.

The dyer is Moonstone Dyeworks out of Acadia California and she has an amazing podcast that enables me all the time. I realized that the skeins really blended and coordinated quite well as I stared at them in my drawer. Almost, dare I say, a really fantastic fade? From left to right they are Falling, Hard Cider and Wild Honey.

I did some pattern searching on Ravelry and found that I might be able to eek out a Party Top by AbbyeKnits in my size. I would JUST have enough yarn if I managed my fade very precisely. This is a cropped sweater and I’m not sure I’ll like it but I can’t put it out of my head. I can just feel this pattern wanting to jump on my needles. I even went so far to research the pattern comments on Ravelry and found a knitter who made a similar faded option in a bigger size than I.

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I literally have two other sweaters quantities wound up and ready to jump on my needles for a Weekender and a Radiate. Why am I so drawn to this when I haven’t even cast on either of those sweaters? My wishful knitting is just on overdrive lately!!

What is a knitter to do!?

Knitting and Pumpkins

Posted on October 22, 2019 by atangledyarn84

It’s fall in Kansas and finally starting to actually feel like it. On a recent trip to my hometown area we went to the local orchard/farm for their fall festivities. It was a bit nippy in the morning so we all pulled on the woolies.

I was wearing my Kindness KAL 2019 shawl and Jellybean took my Kindness Double Cuff Hat because he was “too cold”. They only lasted about 45 minutes before the sun made it too warm but it sure felt nice to be cozy for a bit!

We had a BLAST at the Depot Market. We ran the corn maze, the hay bale maze, picked out pumpkins to carve, rode the hay rack ride, ate homemade ice cream, drank apple cider slushes and pretended to drive an antique truck. We barely made it home for lunch before the grandparents and the tiny humans needed a nap!

It feeds my soul to get out of the city once in awhile and plant my feet in some real dirt. The air may be filled with allergens but it sure smells good on a fall morning. And pumpkins as far as the eye can see doesn’t hurt either!

Almost There

Posted on October 21, 2019 by atangledyarn84

By the grace of a three hour car trip with the hubby driving and a minivan with a DVD player….I have a finished hat! (It really did take me all of 2.5 hours to do crown decreases because the tiny humans kept demanding snacks, toys and other nonsense.) This is my Modified Barley I started for conference knitting last week. I took the tiny humans to see the grandparents and to attend my hometown Fall Fest. It worked out well for my knitting.

This blurry awkward car selfie is the best I have right now. I finished the decreases and it promptly got sorted to the bottom of my knitting bag. I’ll see if I can dig out some better FO photos this week.

I did snag a pretty awesome sunset knitting photo. I was working the last few decrease rounds as we rode off into the sunset. It’s fall harvest in Kansas so the air is full of dust and dirt. Makes it REAL hard on the allergies but the most gorgeous yellow and orange displays of mother nature.

Happy Knitting!!

Growing Zen

Posted on October 18, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I reached the next checkpoint in my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket. I finished up the stripes and got into the solid red chunk that will be in the middle. I’m feeling pretty proud considering I had knit a partial blanket that was too small, ripped that back and started again, just to get back to the point I was at when I pulled it all back.

This bright pop of red is just SOOOO much and I love it. It really livens up the neutral quality of navy and black.

The semi-bad part is that I’m now solid on red section island. No stripe changes to keep my interest, its all just knitting until I run out of red yarn. We shall see how well this goes…..

Cast On: Modified Barley

Posted on October 17, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I recently attended an annual conference for one of the professional organizations I belong to. It was two solid days hanging out in ballrooms listening to speakers. I have been knitting a lot on large sweaters lately and didn’t have a ton of “grab and go” knitting available to me. I had to do some stash diving and get something going just for “travel” knitting.

The night before the conference I hand wound a skein of worsted weight yarn and grabbed a set of interchangeable needles. This was a recent purchase of Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash in the Lipstick colorway. I managed to establish the ribbing before walking into the first day of lectures. And then I quietly knit in my lap or under the table and this was my progress at the end of two days! I used the basic stitch count and sizing of the Barley hat from Tin Can Knits and just omitted the garter section.

It’s kind of hard to see squished up under the conference table but that is two inches of ribbing and about five inches of hat. I had a new-ish coworker with me and she was duly impressed. I think just a few more evening of knitting time and I will have a hat for my gift stash!

I also attended Schmancy cocktail event on the first night. I couldn’t help but snag a photo of the most grown up thing I have done in a dozen fortnights. I got to enjoy a good glass of red coupled with tasty hor’dourves in a proper bar. And no one wiped their cocktail sauce on me or threw asparagus chunks at me. It was non-mom heaven!!

Happy Knitting!!

Winding Frenzy

Posted on October 16, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I was on the receiving end of a day off work Monday. This coupled with the Grandparents corralling the kids for a portion of the day led me on a WINDING FRENZY. The cooler fall temperatures have set in and I’m absolutely craving more hand knit sweaters.

So obviously the only logical thing to do was wind two sweater quantities of yarn!? The top lot is my Treasure Goddess Yarn DK Treasures and some newly aquired Hedgehog Fiber Merino DK in the Deep End colorway. I hope to turn these skeins into a Radiate by Jojo Locatelli. My expanded ramblings on this obsession can be found here.

The second lot is the Malabrigo Rios I purchased on Local Yarn Shop day. Its the Fresco and Seco colorway and I hope to turn into into a Weekender by Andrea Mowry.

I know some knitters don’t wind up their cakes until their cakes until they ready to knit it. But in this house I just don’t have that time luxury. So I have adopted a technique to try and negate the “stretching” that happens to yarns under the tension of sitting in a cake.

I hand wind the skeins into a loose ball (right) and then use that ball to wind on my ball winder into a cake. I use my free hand to monitor and keep consistent but gentle tension on the yarn as it goes into the cake. So far this this has worked for me and none of my yarn seems worse for the wear even after *cough* years *cough* of sitting in a cake.

Do you have any idiosyncrasies about winding yarn?

More Radiate Options

Posted on October 15, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I have this sweater I can’t get out of my head. I think I talked about the pattern when I was stash diving awhile back. It’s Radiate by Joji Locatelli. After letting my options marinate for awhile I decided that none of them really made my heart sing. So I swung by my LYS the other day and they had a few skeins of Merino DK left from Hedgehog Fibers.

I ended up gravitating towards a variagated speckle kind of color. Its called Deep End but the jewel tones just CALLED to me. And I thought they served as a nice pop with a black background.

And it passed the contrast test in a black and white photo. Yay!!

I of course didn’t know how much I would need of the contrast color because I haven’t swatched to know my gauge. So therefore I bought both skeins they had of this color. Only logical right? I mean extra Hedgehog yarn can’t be a bad thing?

I have a few things I need to clear off the needles and then this sweater might jump my arbitrary and only in my mind knitting queue!!

Happy knitting!!

Dad’s Last Heel

Posted on October 14, 2019 by atangledyarn84

By the grace of the knitting gods I an FINALLY nearing the end of my Dad’s socks I planned for his Christmas present. I only started these in February….

The second sock leg is complete and I have started the afterthought heel. I think the last I wrote about this I had just put in waste yarn for the heel. That gave me some motivation to really get cranking. I’m 14 rounds from being done done done. Can you tell I’m a little excited??

One thing I was super pleased by was the clean color transitions at the heel. I managed to get the waste yarn exactly in between the stripe changes. And I managed to start the heel at a point in the color progression where no same colors will touch. My OCD was very pleased indeed.

I’m off to finish this sock, fingers crossed! Happy Knitting!!!

FO Friday: Progression Shawl

Posted on October 11, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I finished a beautiful thing and I’m just busting at the seams to share it. The yarn did most of the work but the pattern and yarn just went together so well. Jellybean helped me style some FO photos of my Progression Shawl.

Pattern: Progression Shawl by Carin Risinger

Yarn: Frabjous Fiber and Wonderland yarns Cheshire Cat in the Mad Tea Party color

Needles: US 5s

Mods: I faded in the color changes between my five mini skeins

This shawl/scarf is MASSIVE. I took out an actual tape measure and the blocked dimensions are 90 inches by 13 inches deep. It fills our king size bed from corner to corner. I was really pleased with this pattern. It was straightforward and easy to hack to fit my yardage. Not to mention it is just plain lovely because garter has a special place in my heart.

I have decided that this will be going in the gift pile. This beauty will be wrapped up under the Christmas tree for my mom. Meanwhile, I am wishful knitting and stash diving for my next shawl cast on. I can’t have empty shawl needles!!

Happy knitting!

Back to Autumn

Posted on October 10, 2019 by atangledyarn84

I’m feeling the fall creeping in! The temperatures around Kansas have dipped below 85/90 degrees Fahrenheit and the leaves are turning. On a whim last night I pulled out my Autumn League Pullover and knit a few rounds while catching up old episodes of Squirrel Pie Productions podcast. All I have left to finish is the body and the hem but several inches of both.

It’s nights like these that I’m really missing my knitting buddy. Everyone around here has taken the loss of Dex really well, especially the tiny humans. But I find myself very melancholy at night when I sit down to knit and I can’t hear his snores. This project matched his fur color and it’s making it very hard to want to pick this WIP up.

But I’m choosing to continue this project in his honor and so that I can have a wonderfully cozy Dex colored sweater to keep me company.

My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures

Ramblings from an obsessed knitter

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