Tag Archives: dk

Arya Shawl Update

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My Arya shawl has been seeing progress in fits and spurts. I am through the third slip stitch color change. And if memory serves this is where the shawl starts getting smaller? I am going to challenge myself to keep working on this so I can have a new shawl before spring gets here!

This fabric I’m creating has a lot of stretch to it so I can see where I might end up with a lovely and huge squishy shawl. I’m going to have more than enough yarn in each color to finish. But I don’t think I have enough leftover to do much of a second project. I just love how these yarns are playing together. I am really hoping this becomes a wardrobe staple for me.

Happy Knitting!!

Boxing Day

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I fell down a bit on Boxing Day. Now I live in the United States and it’s really not a thing here. But you know where it is a thing? The UK where the wonder dyer from the The Corner of Craft podcast Chromatic Yarns lives. And she had an unprecedented 20% off sale. And I was flush with Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket..

All of her yarns are Dungeons and Dragons themed. I have never played and know next to nothing about it. But what I do know is that I LOVE this purple speckle madness. I picked up three skeins of her Sturdy DK in the Eldritch Blast color.

And Hannah tucked in a small package of tea from Bird and Blend Tea Co. It was Dozy Girl, a chamomile bedtime blend and it was AMAZING.

As for the yarn it is going into my stash. I’m feeling like I want to track down a solid contrast color in DK and make striped sweater or shawl/blanket thing. For now I’m content to admire and pet the pretty skeins while feeling glad I supported an independent dyer who busts her butt to make a quality product.

Just curious, did anyone else score any kind of Boxing Day deals?

Arya Colors

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As promised, here is the second color section of my Arya Shawl. I have found this to be my “reward” knitting of late. It is busy season for this accountant at work so I come home pretty much wiped out. And so in the quiet of the evening I have been reaching for this project to work on. I may only have time for a few rows before I fall asleep but with DK weight yarn it shows the progress quickly. The shawl looks less thong like now.

I’m super late the party with the grellow color combination. But I’m really loving the grey and yellow contrast. But with this Chubbs and Squeak yarn also being a tweed yarn there is a consistent element flowing throughout. I’m still not 100% proficient on my CCD or centered double decreases and I have to fudge them sometimes to keep my stitch counts correct. But hey, this is garter stitch so it’s very forgiving!

My favorite of favorite parts so far? The mosaic slipped stitch color work portion that transitions between the two colors. it just makes my heart happy!

Happy knitting!!

Cast On: Arya Shawl

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I have been knitting for at least two weeks now and I haven’t even shown you my Arya Shawl that was my self indulgent cast on for Christmas Eve! Christmas was a lot of work this year and so I found myself in my childhood home at 10 pm on Christmas Eve having just played Santa.

The fire was roaring and The Woolslayers had just dropped a new episode on YouTube. In hindsight knowing how Christmas morning turned out…I should have been sleeping. But I pulled out my project and poured myself a glass of wine. I knit for a full hour and fifteen minutes and enjoyed the hell out of every minute.

I managed to get the first chart done in one sitting. I’m using my Chubbs and Squeak DK from my visit to Twisted in Portland. It really is a joy to work with so far. And I honestly had to sit down and really learn the centered double decrease. I have never truly worked it correctly until now. The pattern is amazingly detailed and while it took me a few tries I managed to get on board.

I couldn’t help but take one last photo before bed in front of the tree. It was the calm before the storm and I am continually glad I have knitting. I’m pretty sure I would be a basket case by now without it. I’ll try to get my act in gear and take updated photos of this project. I have worked through several charts and have added the second color in by now.

Happy Knitting!!

Preparing For Christmas Eve

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Christmas is almost upon us and I am once again preparing my family’s Christmas eve boxes! Mostly I get everyone in the family a new set of pajamas and special treat for Christmas eve. I like being able to open an early present. So I wanted to give you a sneak peak inside mine. (My box includes a special Christmas Eve cast on!)

I have a brand spanking new pair of Christmas pajamas, a bottle of wine, and brand new knitting project to start. This year I chose the Arya Shawl by Ambah O’Brien. It’s a two color shawl worked up in DK weight. And I just so happen to have those two coordinating skeins of Chubbs and Squeak in tweed DK from my Portland trip. It seemed just like kismet. Now I just have to wait for Santa to get here!!

Happy Knitting!!

Twisted Project Plans

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Alrighty….let’s talk some wishful knitting! I have had some time to think about my purchases from Twisted in Portland, OR and here is what I’m thinking….at least for now. I reserve the right to change my mind as many times as I want.

Hazel Knits Lively DK in Acquarius, Paisley and Sea of Tranquility

Chubbs & Squeak Tweed DK in Colonel Mustard and Scabbers:

This might be the next shawl on my needles because I literally lay in bed thinking about this beautiful tweed yarn. And how gorgeous it would be with a black or grey tunic top…

Knitted Wit Smarties in assorted colors: I picked these up to add to heels, toes and cuffs stash for my hand knit socks. I tried to get colors I didn’t have in my stash but that matched the color palette of my stash.

Twine. Sock in the Wild Abandon colorway:

Knitted Wit Sock in Unicorn Giggles. I think this will be just a fun pair of blueberry waffle or vanilla toe up socks for me. The rainbow colors just make me happy!

I have dutifully logged all these ideas on Ravelry and in my stash pages lest I forget. Do anyone of you have an patterns to suggest with these beauties? I’m always open to suggestions and falling down the rabbit hole that is Ravelry!

Happy Knitting!!

Dare I Crop?

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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!?

Emotional Purchasing

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I am normally a pretty even keeled person and I can let stuff roll off my back fairly well. I really do have a very good life in the grand scheme of things. However, my work life has been more stress and less success lately. I had a professional opportunity get postponed at the last minute that left me kind of bummed. Jellybean got me flowers which made did make me feel better. But later that same evening I got an email notification that a local to me dyer was having a 40% off and free shipping sale. I caved like a house of cards….I succumbed to emotional purchasing.

The Treasure Goddess Yarn shop sucked me right in. I am feeling the sweater mojo here lately so I picked up five skeins of her DK Treasure yarn in the “Gunpowder” colorway. It is black without being all black so that I can’t see to knit with it. It is hand dyed yarn so I will have to alternate skeins not matter what pattern I pick. But I feel like this should make a staple wardrobe kind of sweater.

Now I find myself slowly cruising Ravelry to find my next sweater pattern….but I’ll save that rabbit hole for another day. Happy Knitting!!

(Re) Cast On: Dad’s 2019 Christmas Socks

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I put my big girl pants on and re-cast on my Dad’s christmas socks. This time I’m working a 64 stitch count sock.

The yarn is standing up well to re-knitting as I can barely even tell it has been kinked up. I’m finished with the toe increases and ready to zoom through the foot. I am still kicking myself that I have to re-knit this. Always listen to that voice that keeps telling you that something is off with your knitting, sigh….

I am slightly cheered by the fact I’m using my 19 stitches project bag. This project bag has been floating around in my purse for weeks and really has stood up well to a lot of abuse. I like that in a project bag!

Happy Knitting!!

A Heel For Dad

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I made really good progress on Dad’s socks while on vacation. I finished a good chunk of the leg and weighed my skein. I was already dangerously close to using 50% of the skein and I hadn’t put in the afterthought heel yet!

So in an effort to stave off knitting disaster I split the skein in half by weight and looked at my remaining ball for sock number one. It was tiny! So I broke the yarn and inserted the heel. I managed to finish the heel but I wasn’t going to have enough yarn to do a decently tall cuff.

I did a quick Ravely search of my stash and found a single skein of Berroco Vintage DK in my stash that would be about right. It was plain black and coordinately decently with this stripe colors. And it has a relatively close fiber content so the washing instructions would be the same. I am still periodically holding this sock up against previously knit socks that I know fit my dad. And this sock matches the measurements but it still looks to my eye to be crazy big.

Dad will be here for a visit in a few days. I might break down and have him try this first sock on to see if it fits before I start the second sock. I risk having to re-knit the first sock but that is better than wasting a whole skein of perfectly good sock yarn that won’t get worn!

Happy Knitting!!