Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017

Oh my goodness. I went to EYF again this year and my head just about exploded. I love EYF. This year's festival was fantastic - so many incredible yarns and people! I went on Saturday, which was supposedly quieter than Friday, but it was still heaving.

This year I brought the Bean with me, strapped to my chest in the carrier, and I was exhausted before we even started. In the middle of our day we had a nice rest in the Podcast Lounge where I chatted with some lovely people and he had a nap. (I stupidly left my knitting in the bag I dumped in the cloakroom. Fail.) I found some new podcasters to check out and I gushed awkwardly at Louise of KnitBritish, whose podcast I enjoy very much. It's kept me company during many marathon nursing sessions since the Bean's birth and inspired me quite a lot. (She was very gracious and hopefully not creeped out. I have an introvert's fear of coming across like a weirdo, which I think makes me even more awkward when introducing myself to people I admire.)

But the marketplace! The marketplace!

Long-time readers may recall that last year I was strategic. I made a focused shortlist of things to consider buying, and oddly enough I pretty much stuck to the list. This year? Focus is in short supply. I couldn't come up with a shortlist, although I scrolled through the list of vendors repeatedly attempting to do so. Never mind.

I came out with this:

Travelknitter BFL Supersock in Raspberry Beret and Puddled Iron; Phileas Yarns Wanderlust DK in Tamegroute; project bag from Little Grey Girl; book by Tin Can Knits

Some yarn, project bag, a book. A smallish haul, but I am pleased with it. Normally I am all about the yarn at yarn festivals, but this year I found myself looking at other stuff more. Since I don't have much knitting time or ability to focus these days, my existing stash has been weighing on me. I have so much lovely yarn, but it sits there waiting for me. And as it sits, and sits, my goals for it change. Also I haven't used any of th yarn I bought last year at EYF despite my focus. So it feels good to add a few beautiful skeins to the stash this year but not to go overboard.

I realised that I need to stock up on zipper project bags because The Bean can now reach my knitting table and pull my drawstring bags down to play with them. He doesn't understand zippers yet (I know this will come with time), so I don't mine if he plays with a zippered pouch. Yes, I could sew one, but do I have the time? So I bought one and I love it. My current, largely neglected, sock project now lives there.

The yarn? Apparently I'm into BFL right now, since all the yarn I bought has it. BFL is great. The current plan for the Phileas yarn is His Golden Lair by Kourtney Robinson. I have had this pattern for a long time but never found the right yarn for it. I may have to fiddle with it a bit since it's written for worsted weight and I have DK. No plans for the Travelknitter yet. I could conceivably knit socks with it, since BFL/Nylon will be pretty sturdy. I suspect I'll go for some neckwear, though.

Wheee. What a day. I left the festival incredibly overwhelmed but also inspired to make better use of my limited crafting time. By the way, I finally started a public Instagram for my crafty endeavours: predictably, @goodenoughknits. You will find more EYF photos and enthusiasm there.

EYF round-up

The Edinburgh Yarn Festival happened and I bought many things. Let's see how I did.

Plan: buy buttons for two baby cardigans.
Result: two sets of cute buttons from Textile Garden

I've sewn on the owl buttons and I'm working on the purple ones today. I find sewing buttons so tedious, but the result is worth it. Look for an FO post for these two cardigans soon!

Plan: buy yarn for Liesl.
Result: three skeins of Triskelion Elmet Aran (this particular yarn isn't on Ravelry yet, link is to other yarns from this company)



Triskelion Yarns blew me away and were my favourite discovery of this year. Beautiful rainbow colours in really interesting, gorgeous yarn blends. The one I bought is BFL/Masham. I don't know anything about Masham sheep, but the yarn is fabulous - a bit rustic, but also smooth. Looks to be hard-wearing. The colour is a beautiful forest green that matches some buttons I already have - yay for button stash-down! Can't wait to knit with it and I'd love to try some of their other bases.


Badly lit picture of the fantastic Triskelion stall.

Plan: Wollmeise
Result: So much Wollmeise
I thought I'd go for Lace-garn and DK, but in the end I went for Lace-garn and Pure.


The lace yarn I bought is the purplest I've ever seen. (Do not be fooled if the photo makes it look blue). Colourway: Der letzte versuch. This will be some kind of cardigan, pattern to be determined. It feels heavy for laceweight - more of a light 4-ply.


Wollmeise Pure in the Sabrina colourway. This is actually teal, not grey/blue/green. TEAL. SO MUCH TEAL. Two skeins should be enough for a sweater, and I'm thinking of making Low Tide by Tin Can Knits. (I bought the book containing this pattern at EYF last year, so things come full circle.) I got these skeins wound by my good friends volunteering at the yarn-winding station - £1 per skein, proceeds went to the Teapot Trust, a charity providing art therapy to chronically ill children. Everybody wins!

Browsing the Wollmeise stall was certainly an experience.



So much colour! Gaaah! I stopped there first just because of the location, and I almost didn't leave... I'm excited to knit with the yarn I bought since it's beautiful and feels so different from other merino yarns I've tried. It's very sturdy and tightly-spun. We'll see how it knits up.

Plan: buy a gradient set.
Result: a cake of merino/silk laceweight from Bilum



This is Pukpuk by Bilum, a Hungarian yarn company I'd never heard of. They had lots of gorgeous gradients, as well as solids available. I'm not sure what this will become, but I've had a running list of gradient-suitable shawl patterns, so will look to that first. I don't often knit with laceweight, but I have enjoyed doing so in the past.

Verdict: it's a miracle! I pretty much stuck to my plans, even if I did go over my suggested budget by a little. I didn't come home with any single skeins of sock yarn this time, though there was much loveliness to be seen and prodded around the marketplace. Guess I'm satisfied with the loveliness in my house at the moment. Though I'd better get knitting if I want there to be space for more EYF yarn next year...

Edinburgh Yarn Fest planning

I'm heading out to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival later today. This is pretty much the highlight of my yarn year, and I am so lucky it's local to me. I always find these events a bit overwhelming, though, so I try to plan before I get there... and then I usually fail to stick to my plans and come home with all sorts of unexpected lovelies. Seriously, the vendor list for this year is so insane. Going to try not to hyperventilate when I get through the gates.

Last year I was on stash-down when the yarn fest rolled around, but yarn fest purchases were on my list of exemptions. I still managed to come home with four single skeins of beautiful sock yarn that I have not yet used. (I used a little bit of one of them for a baby hat - and I have plans for the rest of it, but otherwise these lovelies are still waiting for projects.)

Let's take a look at my best-laid plans for this year.

Non-yarn items:

Buttons for two baby cardigans.
My Puerperium and Little Coffee Bean are both entirely finished except for buttons, and typically I have nothing suitable in my rapidly expanding button box. There are a few vendors there that will have buttons - I'm particularly excited to check out Textile Garden - so I'm sure I'll find some great things.

ALL THE YARNZ:

Yarn for Liesl.
Ever since I frogged my old version of this cardigan years ago because it had stretched out, I've been meaning to make another. With my current shape, I think it would be super useful - for the first time in my life I actually think I look good in cardigans that are only buttoned at the top! If I add buttons all the way down like I did last time, it should continue to be useful once the baby is out. Plus, I remember it being a really quick knit, and I would love to make a quick sweater for myself before the baby arrives. As a bonus, I have some great buttons for this already, so I'll try and get some yarn to match so I can work on using my button stash.

Some Wollemeise.
This is my first chance to buy Wollemeise in person. Not going to pass this up. I'd like to pick up a skein of lace, since the yardage on those is amazing and I might be able to make a whole sweater out of it. I'm also considering getting some DK for a second attempt at Evenflow, but we'll see what I can find!

A gradient set.
I'll see what I see, but there's bound to be something beautiful. I've had my eye on several patterns for gradient shawls etc lately, so I'd like to get some suitable yarn.

I'm looking forward to checking out Kate Davies new yarn, as well as Ysolda's, and I'm sure to spend some quality time perusing the Old Maiden Aunt stall.

Notice I have no "single skeins of sock yarn" listed on my shortlist. Will that stick? Unlikely. I'll report back with my success / massive failure later on!

Are you going to EYF? If you see me, give me a shout. (I'm the one in the Raiun cardigan with a 33-week bump!)



Bring on the yarn fumes!

2016 Crafting Goals

I'd like to say that 2016 is the year I'll get back into blogging in a committed way, or the year I try National Sweater Knitting Month again, or something of the sort. However for a number of reasons I think this year is going to be chaotic and I don't want to over commit myself and then feel bad later. It may be I'll have loads of extra knitting time, but it's also likely I will be sleep-deprived and never have any time to myself. There is a lot of unpredictability in one small package heading my way in early May and I'm not sure how anyone in my household is going to cope with it. (This is me announcing my pregnancy, btw. Open-fronted cardigans FTW!)

Me last week at 22 weeks

I’m going to set a few hopefully achievable goals nonetheless.

1. Knit one sweater for myself
I'm already finding it easy to focus entirely on baby knits - So small! So quick! So cute! I want to make sure I take time to make something for myself, even if it is only one thing.

2. Knit socks for my mom
She's due a handknitted gift this year and she requested socks, so socks it is. I think I can manage a pair of socks before the end of the year, but I guess we'll see!

3. Sew something wearable (for myself or for the baby)
I have attempted to sew a few wearables so far in my short sewing career and none have turned out to be particularly useful to me for various reasons. I like to change that this year and maybe even sew something for the baby.

So, there are my goals for 2016. Notice how I didn't say stash down...

Stash Match: Sock Yarn

Last year I set out to match my stash yarn to patterns so it wouldn't languish indecisively forever more. I managed to allocate my 4-ply "Too Pretty For Socks" yarn, and I'm well on my way to using it for its intended purpose. (By which I mean, I've completed two projects and started a third. I'll get there.)

Today I'm finally getting around to my next category: Sock Yarn (aka "Pretty enough for socks," I guess.) The yarns in this category are no less pretty than my un-sock yarn, but probably/hopefully more durable.



Top to Bottom:

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock: I've been holding on to this for a long time, since people keep telling me it is the ultimate sock yarn. I might have put it on a pedestal, just a little, so I've found it difficult to commit to a pattern. Also, it is heavily variegated - fortunately (or unfortunately) there are loads of interesting patterns out there especially for this kind of yarn. After much internal debate, I've settled on Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin. I'll re-evaluate if it pools strangely when I start, though.

Yarn Yard Cairn: I have had this yarn almost as long as I've lived in Edinburgh. (4ish years). It is time that I knitted it up! It's quite dark, so choosing a pattern that would show through was difficult. I've settled on Torrent by Tin Can Knits, since I think the lace will show up even in the dark colour.

Hand-dyed red: I believe this is 75/25% wool/nylon. Dyed with Wilton's icing gel colours, it initially turned out the colours of canned salmon. Eeeeh not really what I was going for. Then I dumped most of the rest of the red dye into the pot and there was much rejoicing. I think it will look awesome as Blueberry Bubbles by Thayer Preece Parker. Or perhaps strawberry bubbles, in my case. I'm looking forward to a sock with a lot of stockinette but a goodly portion of detail as well.

Hand-dyed tea/brown:
Probably 75/25 wool/nylon. I dyed it using a shedload of teabags a few years ago, and it has been waiting for a project ever since. I actually started knitting Hedgerow with this yarn, but I just wasn't enjoying it, so I frogged and thought some more. The winner came upon me suddenly - not from my favourites or queue, but from the new Knitty: Tauriel. ALL THE CABLES. This is certainly not television knitting, but I'm enjoying it so far.



What are your favourite sock patterns?

Stash Match: Too Pretty for Socks

Earlier this year I copped out on on blog week by introducing my Stash Match project. And then entirely failed to follow through. Ooops. It has been very difficult coming to a decision about these skeins! Anyway, here is the first post dedicated to assigning patterns / projects to my Too Pretty For Socks category of stash.

For me the obvious choice for pretty sock-weight yarn is neckwear; however, I always feel like I have too much and should try something else. Out of curiosity, I gathered all the scarves/shawls/shawlettes/cowls I could find and put them together.



The resulting pile is smaller than I imagined! I'd say that is far from an excessive amount of neckwear and I could totally get away with knitting some more. Nonetheless, I would like to branch out to include other accessories, like hats and mitts.

The Searching

I began with my existing queue and favourites. I reasoned that my favourites list already included many awesome patterns I had picked out from the mass that is Ravelry. (I also added loads of things to both of these ists over the course of my searching. But anyway.)

Ravelry's advanced search  / pattern browser function is awesome, and I have used it extensively to prepare this post. Also saved searches on Ravelry have been very useful. Here are a few of my saved searches:

Searching my favourites on Ravelry for shawls, scarves, and cowls, in 4-ply and sportweight yields 102 results, although this includes some that I have already made, as well as some I never want to make but just think are pretty/impressive/awesome when someone else makes them. The same search in my queue yields 7 results.

A similar search for handwear in my favourites has 51 results, and in my queue, 7 results.

And for headwear: 21 results in favourites, and before starting this exercise there were NONE in my queue, but now there are 2 results.

Obviously I'm a serial-favouriter, but I don't think about making hats as much as everything else. As it turns out, I rarely wear hats in the winter here since I'm always expecting it to get colder and it hardly ever does. That doesn't mean I shouldn't wear hats, though - 4-ply hats might be the perfect solution.

The Stash/Yarn Mismatch

A problem I came up against is that my stash doesn't really match a lot of my favourited patterns. For example, my favourites show that I'm obsessed with striped shawls, especially since making Color Affection last year. I also love colourwork mittens. Both of these types of projects require two or more contrasting colours of yarn used together. Unfortunately, much of the yarn I have is too similar in colour-value - if used together, the stripes or colour motifs would get lost. Or if not, the yarns have different textures and I don't think they would work well together. I may yet raid some of my yarn in the Sock Yarn category to pair with this yarn in order to have stripes... or I may end up buying contrasting yarn to maximize stripe / colourwork potential. In the mean time, I am going to make my matches in solid colours for now, and if the stash augments / changes, I will re-evaluate. This decision cuts down my matching options considerably, but there are still lots of patterns to wade through.

Despite this mismatch, I've come up with some stash-pattern matches that I can get behind.

The Matching

As a reminder, here is the stash I am trying to match in this segment:



The following yarns are ordered from top to bottom in the photo.

Malabrigo Sock (402 m) (Stash link)
Song of the Sea, by Louise Zass-Bangham. Gorgeous lacy cowl that perfectly fits the yarn, even down to the colourway "aguas." I previously posted about starting this project, and it is going well so far.


Peek of Malabrigo waves

SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (366 m) (Stash link)
Luna Viridis, by Hilary Smith Callis, 366 m. I'm intrigued by the shape/construction of this cowl. It is supposed to fit like a shawlette wrapped around the neck, except it's a closed loop so it won't come undone or slide off. The Cashluxe Fine is so incredibly soft that it has to be worn around my neck - not negotiable.

Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m) (Stash link)
Catkin hat, by Kate Davies, (160 m). I adore the Catkin sweater, but I may never get around to making it, so I want to make the matching hat just in case. I think the colour and texture of this yarn suits this pattern well: a bit rustic, earthy semi-solid, not tightly spun. Hopefully the cables will show up, but the character of the yarn will also show through.



Rye / Ruista ranteen, by Hanne Katajamäki. I'll have yarn leftover, so I also plan to make matching mitts. This is a simple fingerless mitt pattern that will let me use some of my button stash, as well! The ones shown above I bought at Woolfest a few years ago and they complement the green yarn quite well. It may be a tight squeeze for yarn, but I can always shorten the mitts slightly. I am also considering making mitts that have the same cable from Catkin on them - shouldn't be too hard to modify some plain mitts.

Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m) (Stash link)
I really struggled to come up with a pattern for this yarn for some reason. The yarn is soft and a bit fuzzy and I expect it will only become more fuzzy as it wears. I finally decided on the Ice Storm Mitts, by Louise Zass-Bangham, (125-151 m), and matching Ice Storm Snug Cowl, (209 m). I'm hopeful that the textured stitches will still look good when they get fuzzy. Yardage may be a bit tight; in addition, the patterns call for sport weight yarn, so I may have to do some adjustments for gauge.

Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m) (Stash link)
This is the greenest yarn ever and I absolutely love it. My love for this colour and this yarn has seriously impeded my decision-making. I have been caught in the trap of searching for the one perfect pattern, and nothing seems good enough. Finally, I've made a decision (subject to change, of course).


ZOMGGREEN!

The Cinnamon Stone Shawl, by verybusymonkey, (338-366 m), immediately intrigued me with its interesting textural lace. I keep coming back to it, and it think it would look great in this yarn - plenty of texture, but also plenty of stockinette to let the yarn shine by itself.

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m) (Stash link)
Arya Mitts, by Patti Waters, (343-457 m). I love the neat cables on these. The yarn seems quite sturdy, so I hope it will hold up well as mitts. This is on the variegated end of semi-solid, but I think the colours will show up in short bursts / flecks when knitted up, and so not interfere with the cables. At least, I hope so, but we'll see!

Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m) (Stash link)
Flavia Hat, by Beth Kling (221-250 m). It's been a while since I did any truly complex cabling, and I feel now is the time. The yarn's semi-solid colours should play nicely with the intricate cabling on this hat. I should have some yarn leftover, so may make matching mitts. Perhaps something like Totally Cabled Long Fingerless Mitts by Linda Lehman, only not so long since I won't have enough yarn. Or maybe something based on the cables in the hat.

Shibui Sock (175 m) (Stash link)



Quilted Lattice Mitts, by Jennifer Elaine, (137-183 m). I know, I recently made a pair of socks in this exact stitch pattern. I am not bored of it, though, and it works really well with variegated yarns, so why not go for the mitts? I may change up the pattern a bit to make it more herringbone... or I may not.

So there you have it. Phase one of Stash Match is complete, and now my queue shows it. Allocating yarn to patterns has been difficult but somewhat liberating. It's nice to feel organised. Now, I need to get knitting if I'm ever going to start/finish any of these before I get distracted again.

Stay tuned for the next Stash Match post, in which I will look at my suitable-for-socks sockweight yarn.

5KCBWDAY2 - Introducing Stash Match

It's the second day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and I am already veering off-piste. Apologies to Eskimimi whose well-thought-out topics are about to get re-interpreted/ignored! Rather than write a dating profile for an FO as per today's topic prompt, I'm using today's post to launch a series of posts I've been pondering for quite a while. You see, it's my stash that needs some love, not my FOs. Hence, Stash Match.

Stash Match: What it is
(I didn't intentionally steal the phrase from anyone else, though some quick googling yields it on a quilting blog. I hope she doesn't mind.)

Over the course of an undetermined number of blog posts, I will attempt to allocate all (or most) of my stashed yarn to patterns / ideas for future knitting. I reserve the right to change my mind about these stash-pattern matches, but having a concrete list rather than a nebulous cluster of vague thoughts will make me feel a lot more organised.

Why I am stash-matching

In theory, I prefer to buy yarn with a pattern in mind. For sweater quantities of yarn, this works quite well in practice. For single skeins of pretty sock yarn, not so much - rather than a specific pattern, I end up telling myself "This could be a shawl(ette). Or it could be socks." That is not untrue; however, it is also not helpful! I end up with lots of beautiful yarn not allocated to a project, and when I need something for a particular project, I just buy more - invariably, nothing in my stash at the time seems right.

I try not to let it bother me too much, since pretty yarn sitting in stash is pretty yarn, but I think I have hit the point where I need to go through it all and at least tentatively allocate yarn for specific projects. After all, I have an extensive queue and favourites list to draw from - surely there are some perfect yarn to pattern pairings just waiting to be recognised! I can always change my mind if something even more awesome comes along.

The Candidates 

Most of my stash is in the photo below. Not included are sweater quantities of yarn, most leftovers from other projects, and handspun. (I have some handspun, but I didn't spin any of it myself, so don't get excited). And anything else I couldn't find or forgot about.



After much deliberation, I have grouped it into rough categories as follows:

Green: Too pretty for socks
Cyan: WTF yarn
Yellow: Destined for colourwork
Pink: Alpaca
Blue: Sock yarn
Orange: Laceweight

The Green section is the one that is taunting me the most right now. I have deemed these Too Pretty for Socks because from my perspective they are unsuitable for socks for at least one reason. Some of them aren't superwash, some of them are too delicate, and all of them are so beautifully dyed that I can't imagine hiding them in shoes.



From top to bottom, it includes the following:
Malabrigo Sock (402 m)
SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (365 m)
Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m)
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m)
Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m)
Shibui Sock (175 m)

So there it is. Team Too Pretty for Socks is up first for stash-matching. After blog week, I will be back with a post talking about the matches and how I came up with them. In the meantime, let me know if you have any brilliant ideas for the above yarn. Do you need to do a stash match, or is your stash already perfectly allocated to patterns/projects?

Stashing UP: this month in yarn acquisition

I've never been on an official stash-down - mostly I am fairly restrained in my yarn purchasing, so I haven't felt the need to stop buying yarn entirely just to bring stash down to manageable size. Yet. The last few weeks have really been an exercise in stashing UP, though.

First, I went to the St Abbs Wool Festival at the beginning of March, in the picturesque seaside village of St Abbs in the Scottish Borders. I had never been to this festival before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much awesomeness they managed to pack into the two small venues. It was fabulous. Not only was there yarn aplenty, but there were also loads of amazing buttons, weaving, spinning, and felting. It was also a very sunny, gorgeous day - I managed to forget my camera, but I wish I hadn't!

I came away with a skein of Natural Born Dyers BFL/Nylon High Twist Sock. (And some buttons, but button-stashing is for another post).



As the company name suggests, the yarn is dyed with natural dyes. I am always astounded to see the range of great colours people can get using this kind of dye. My photo doesn't do it justice at all, of course. It is a semi-solid with many different shades of green.

Then, I received some yarn as a fabulous birthday present. When I heard that SweetGeorgia was going to be at Unravel, a wool festival in Farnham, I made a special request to my mother-in-law, since I knew she would be attending the festival as an exhibitor. I've drooled over SweetGeorgia yarns on the internet for a long time without committing to purchasing any, and I'd never seen it in person - MIL got me a skein of Cashluxe Fine, which is Merino/Cashmere/Nylon sock yarn. It is quite possibly the softest thing I have ever touched. Amazing! For once, the colour (Wisteria) is pretty accurate in the photo:



As if that weren't enough yarn for a year, never mind a month, I went on a Yarn Crawl this past weekend with my knitting group. Edinburgh has had an explosion of independent yarn shops in the last couple of years, so why not try to visit them all in a day? Sounds like a plan! (I even brought my camera along to document the proceedings, and then got so distracted by the pretties that I didn't take any pictures. Oops.) We ended up visiting four shops, missing out the two department stores that have yarn, and one of the larger shops - otherwise we wouldn't have had enough time. We also feasted on delicious Malaysian food, ate gelato outside in the cold wind, and ended up in a pub. (As you do.) But! As may be expected, yarn came home with me.

Our first yarn stop was Be Inspired Fibres, a beautiful shop that opened last summer. Shamefully, I hadn't been to visit yet - however, I'm sure I will be back frequently. Despite vocally vowing to stick to my plan for the day, which was to buy yarn for a sweater and not random skeins of pretty sock yarn, I failed at the first shop. Some Malabrigo Sock called to me and I could not leave without it.


The colourway is Aguas - watery blue-gray-greens that are more complex than pictured. (Truly, it is very different than the Natural Born Dyers' skein pictured above, even if the photos deny it.) This may seem like blasphemy, but I've never worked with Malabrigo Sock before. It's obviously incredibly soft, but it seems more substantial than I was expecting, given Malabrigo's reputation for buttered-kitten-softness. (This substantialness is a very good thing, in my books.) Anyway. There is no way I am making socks out of something this soft and pretty, but more on that another time.

I didn't buy anything at the next two stops (K1 Yarns, and Kathy's Knits), although Kathy's Knits in particular is a favourite destination of mine for sweater yarn.

Then at our final stop, I finally got my sweater quantity that I had planned on:



Five skeins of Brigantia Luxury Double Knit, from Ginger Twist Studio, a shop that despite its small physical size manages to stock a huge range of fascinating yarns. (All of us on the yarn crawl fit in at once, but just barely!) I have never used this yarn before, but the colours are fantastic, and it feels sturdy enough for my sweater-knitting needs, so I have high hopes for it.

Phew. It has been a while since I acquired so much yarn in such a short period of time, and it's a bit overwhelming! I'm excited about all these things, and some of them I have immediate plans for, so they won't linger in the stash for too long. Still, these acquisitions have made me realise that a good portion of my stash is just stash without any plans attached. I might need to remedy that soon.

2013 - year in knitting

In 2013 I completed 12 projects - that's more than last year, although quantity isn't what counts! One more and I would have managed 13 in 2013... oops. Here they are in mosaic form.



Left to right, top to bottom: (All links are to my ravelry projects)

1. Almond Comfit by Ysolda Teague
2. Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos
3. Celestine by Norah Gaughan
4. Drachenswanz by Klangsonne
5. Annis by Susanna IC
6. Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froseth
7. Twilight socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
8. Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
9. Magrathea by Matina Behm
10. Noro Striped Scarf
11. Pomatomus by Cookie A.
12. Beekeeper's Quilt by tiny owl knits

(Disclaimer: I didn't so much "finish" my beekeeper's quilt as decide I was never going to make it quilt sized, sew up what I had, and made a wee beekeeper's mat. Not sure what to do with it, but it's as done as it will ever be. eta - I don't even have a picture of the "finished" mat, but it has more puffs than the pic above!)

Before me I see much neckwear! Yikes. I had no idea I was making shawlettes and scarves to the exclusion of all else.

Last January I made some loose knitting goals. Did I accomplish them?

My knitting goals for next year aren't very focused, and are subject to change. I'd like to do some more lace, and make a few cardigans. I'd also like to make some gifts for my immediate family, since I haven't made them anything for the last two years.

Kind of. I made one cardigan--the only sweater I made all year--so that's a partial success. I did a bit of lace, though I didn't really stretch myself in that respect. Finally, I made socks for my brother and a scarf for my mother, so I count my gift quota as fulfilled.

In 2014, I have some more concrete goals, though I reserve the right to change them at any point. I would like to knit at least two sweaters for myself, and aim for 14 FOs in 2014. (I know the numbers don't matter, but I came so close to 13 last year without even realizing it, so I think I can manage 14 this time.)

Whahey! Bring on the New Year.

4KCBWDAY2 - the ultimate project

Yesterday I decided to go off-message and declare the Hebridean sheep to be my knitting spirit animal. It follows that my mascot project should involve yarn made from Hebridean sheep's wool. This yarn tends to be blackish, which is a departure for me - I almost never knit with blackish yarn, preferring bright and deep colours. For this project, however, I will embrace the wool's naturally occurring shade. What should I make in black(ish)?

Given my admiration for this sheep's resilience as detailed in my post yesterday, I though some sort of outerwear would be appropriate. I have no desire to knit with fine gauge black yarn, so I set my minimum yarn weight to Worsted. I am forever queuing jackets and coats on ravelry, though I have yet to make one. So, a black woolly jacket! I started by looking at my Ravelry queue and favourites, and then did some more searching supplemented by my memory of various jackets I've admired in the past and somehow forgotten to put in favourites.

Here is the shortlist, as captured from my pinterest board.



From right to left, Red Oak by Julia Trice; Katrine Cardigan by Cecily Glowik MacDonald; and Everybody Knows by Ann Weaver.

Red Oak drops off because if I make it, I'd prefer it not to be black - those leaves should stand out. Both Katrine and EK are simple and the pattern wouldn't get lost in black. They both would be excellent canvases for fun buttons, also - showing my peacock side, a little? Everybody Knows happens to be an excellent Leonard Cohen song, which is always a bonus. I also think the yarn might suit it better - I've found several options for worsted/aran weight Hebridean yarn. (Not all examples on that list actually contain fibre from the Hebridean sheep, but you get the idea). I would probably lose the drop stitch details because I don't want too many vents to let in the wind. However, I'm kind of drawn to Katrine, despite the fact that it calls for bulky yarn and I haven't found much Hebridean wool at that gauge. I figure I can do some maths, maybe hold some yarn double, and make it work. I like that it has different textures represented: stockinette and seed stitch. The high neck / collar would be warm, but not too tight. I might not want it right neck to my neck due to scratchiness, but it looks roomy enough for a softer scarf/cowl to fit underneath.

That's decided, then. Here's to Katrine as my mascot project. Who knows, maybe I'll even knit it.

holiday yarn

I was given some yarn over the holidays this year.


Fyberspates Sheila's Sock in mixed purples - photo is colour accurate for once! This is meant for some kind of lush shawl to be determined. Possibly Magrathea, since I've wanted to get started ever since receiving the pattern in a summer swap. Or maybe Pear Drop from Saturday Treat, since I received the book for Christmas as well. Or any one of the many awesome shawl patterns out there that I have admired. I need some more scarf/shawls, definitely.


Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran in Midnight - darker blue than appears in the photo. No immediate project in mind for this one, though I might go with Almond Comfit from Saturday Treat, since this is the recommended yarn. It's a bit dark, though - I can't get that bright red out of my head. We shall see.


Noro Kureyon in colours I would never have picked for myself - I'm really enjoying it knit up, though, so stay tuned for the WIP.

gathering wool

I'm at the point in wedding planning where I am so ready to be done with emailing and phoning people to sort out logistics. In all honesty, I've been tired of that since I started, but I'm really sick of it now. Although I still have some more telephone tag to play, I can't do it on Easter weekend, so I'm distracting myself with fun planning.

Yarn planning! The best kind of planning.

We're going on our honeymoon starting the day after the wedding, and we'll be spending many days on a boat. Honeymoon knitting follows logically in this progression, so I've compiled a few too many projects to take with me.


First up, socks for my will-be-husband. I toyed with the idea of making him wedding socks, but that never materialised, so honeymoon socks it is. He requested simple and green, so I'm going to make Mr Pitt's Socks in basic workhorse Regia.

I've also got some socks for me planned. The yellow-orange yarn shown below is now reserved for Pomatomus by Cookie A for me. I have had my eye on these socks for years. I saw a yellow "goldfish" version on ravelry ages ago that convinced me mine should be yellow as well.



Thirdly, I think I'll bring along a shawlette project, to make a change from socks. Annis by Susanna IC has been on my radar since it came out, and I've never made a shawl in that shape before, so I think I'll try it. As for yarn, I have some lovely blue and green Yarn Yard Cairn that I bought soon after moving to Edinburgh and haven't found a project for.

Hurray! It feels good to plan something that I actually have control over and doesn't rely on other people phoning me back or sending me (or failing to send me) necessary documents. (Sorry, does that sound bitter? :P)

Little Red at Last

Guess what I got for Christmas?



It's been described and reviewed all over the internet already, but I'll add my impressions to the mix. As a follower of Ysolda's blog, I'd been looking forward to this book for ages prior to its release last year. (Disclaimer: though I have been an Ysolda fan since before I moved to Edinburgh, I am not a creepy stalker. I feel a bit self-consciously creepy about this it nonetheless.)

Lauriel is the pattern that first caught my eye when I heard about the book, and Angostura is also in my queue for the near future. Although I don't have much use for sweater vests - I'll make a use for them, I'm sure! I have a couple store bought ones from that one summer I had a proper office job, but they hardly fit my unemployed-hermit lifestyle at the moment. Also the dude thinks they are distinctly uncool for some reason. Which has never stopped me, since I'm fairly sure I've never been cool, but anyway. Sweater vests = cool or uncool?

Despite its lovely patterns, the book is actually more interesting to me as a reference for future sweaters in general. I like that in a knitting book - even if I only knit a couple of the sweaters, the other information in the book has lasting value. It will take many hours of perusal and consulting, I'm sure, but I hope to make better fitting sweaters because of it. I've already used the detailed measurement guide and print-out to fill in all my current measurements, though I'm still a bit confused about what some of them refer to - will have to consult with the internet hive-mind on this at some point.

I can't comment on the pattern writing yet, since I haven't tried to follow any of it. However, the first few times I flipped through the book, I got a bit confused by the schematics. Though they are very artistic, at a glance they imply that every pattern is knitted in pieces / flat. Which is definitely not the case. Maybe it's just me, but when I saw them that's the impression I got. However, I can also understand the benefit of showing things like set-in sleeves in the shape of a flat set-in sleeve, even if the sleeve itself is a seamless set-in one. Did that make any sense? Whatever. I get how it works now.

Yay, knitting!

Shawl Angst

A while back I was pretty excited about starting my wedding shawl. When I got engaged I thought I'd use this opportunity to knit something kind of epic that I'd never think of wearing for some other occasion. This is my perfect chance to dive into some ridiculously complicated lace, I thought - I can do it! I have the time, and the skills or at least the cocky stupidity! I have a whole queue of gorgeous lace shawls to choose from, and a skein of exciting yarn to knit with. I'd narrowed it down to rectangular stoles or semi-circular shawls.

Let me confess that I haven't yet started my shawl. I haven't even chosen a pattern. While I've managed to be fairly low key about most of the wedding planning so far, bride madness has struck on the subject of my wedding shawl. I find myself scrolling through all the beautiful patterns on ravelry thinking, "ooh I like this... but is it special enough to be my wedding shawl?" This has got to stop. Who knows, it might be warm enough on the day that I won't even want to wear it - though this seems extremely unlikely for an outdoor ceremony in April in Scotland.

Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace, with my pearls (please excuse re-used photo)

I know it's not worth my stressing about it. I want to make a beautiful object, and I will... but I seem to be waiting to have a "shawl moment" - you know how some brides try on a dress and have some kind of spiritual experience and just know that is THE DRESS? Well, I didn't have one of those moments for my dress, and never expected to. And yet, I appear to be waiting for such a moment while scrolling through shawl patterns.

Talking with a knitter friend about my madness recently, she asked me what I want to get out of this shawl business. Obviously I'm building it up a bit too much. I thought about it and concluded that I want my shawl to be impressive. Impressive to me. I want to be impressed with myself for knitting this object, although I know that non-knitters won't truly understand the effort/time/skill/madness that has gone into it. Many of the shawl patterns in my queue fit this criteria for me, so it shouldn't be a problem. And yet I'm still indecisive.

Here are the other criteria:
-Lace-weight or easily subbed for lace-weight yarn
-Will use up to one skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace (1000 m)
-Rectangular or semi-circular
-Lots of open lace, preferably with more than one lace pattern involved

(Though you'll note that some of the patterns I love in my "maybe wedding" queue don't follow those criteria at aaaaalll.)

What think you, knitters? Can you talk me down from my madness and convince me to just get on with it? Do you have a pattern recommendation?

exciting yarny developments

I bought yarn for my wedding shawl and it arrived yesterday. In fact, I bought a wedding dress a few weeks ago, but more on the dress when it gets here in a few months. (Hint - it's not white/ivory). Choosing the dress precipitated the mad yarn fancying. As if I needed to spend more time ogling pretty yarns.



I chose undyed Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace. I've wanted to try Fyberspates yarn for a while now, and this seemed like a good opportunity. (Fyberspates has such gorgeous colours that I felt a bit silly ordering undyed yarn on this occasion, but there will be more yarn-buying opportunities.) Scrumptious is 45% silk and 55% merino - soft and lustrous, and slightly fancier than the average yarn, in my opinion. I have to say, it's not as soft as I expected it to be in the skein - I think when I heard 45% silk my brain shut off in expectation of something impossibly luxurious. Reality doesn't compare. Nonetheless, it's gorgeous yarn and I'm looking forward to knitting it up.



It goes nicely with my pearls, too. Bonus.

I haven't chosen a pattern yet. As you may recall, I have a lengthy list of possibilities picked out, but wanted to defer decision until after I got a dress. Now that I've picked a dress, I have to re-evaluate. I didn't realise this until afterwards, but it turns out that I was considering my original list of shawls in light of a coloured shawl. Not sure why, since I was never set on getting a white dress, but I had this picture in my mind of a white dress and coloured shawl. Now that I've chosen a non-white dress and decided to do a whiteish shawl, I'm having a hard time imagining those other shawls on me in white. (Even though others have knitted them in white and posted pictures.) I guess I have some sort of mental block about it. Also, I picked a lot of less traditional, more edgy looking shawls in the first round, and now I'm inexplicably drawn towards some more leafy/floral patterns such as the Raspberry Dream Stole or even Spring Leaves. I don't know. Anyway, I've opened up the shawl queue again. I'm hoping that having the yarn in hand will inspire me towards a decision soon so I can get to it!


One more pic of the pretty. :)

Wedding Shawl search

I mentioned before that I'm more excited about knitting a shawl for my wedding than buying a dress. Is that weird? I am dreading dress shopping, but I'm quite looking forward to shopping for yarn and choosing a shawl pattern. I suppose shawl style / colour / pattern should depend on what the dress is, but that hasn't stopped me from queuing lots of options. Here are some of them!

I am drawn towards semi-circular shawls and rectangular stoles, it seems. One that caught my eye was the Vernal Equinox Shawl by Lankakomero. There are so many beautiful versions of this shawl on ravelry.

Photo by Emmuska, used with permission.

Emmuska's Vernal Equinox Shawl, above, shows off the beautifully detailed lace. I like the colour she used, too.

Photo by Orbfa, used with permission.

Orbfa's version is also gorgeous. The colour gradient she got is incredible: this shawl started out white. She blogged about dyeing it here.

In terms of rectangular shawls, it seems I've queued several by Kieran Foley. First up: Sound of Waves.

Photo by Nicolor, used with permission.

Nicolor's Sound of Waves employs amazing colours that completely fit the personality of the shawl. I think I love smooth colour gradients!

Another Kieran Foley design on the list is High Seas. Hmm, sensing a theme.

Photo by Watermel, used with permission.

It's fascinating how strategically placed holes in the fabric can create evocative patterns. Watermel's High Seas looks more like a tapestry than a shawl to me. Beautiful.

Although I don't really need an excuse, this does seem like the perfect opportunity to knit something ridiculously complicated and awesome. (Don't you dare suggest I knit myself a wedding dress.)

oh, interweave

I received the Interweave Knits Summer 2011 issue recently. This is the first I've received as part of a gift subscription. I wouldn't have subscribed for myself, since I tend to buy individual issues that appeal to me, but I'll see how a whole year of Interweave sits with me now.

I rarely find stuff I like in summer issues, since I'm a winter-weather knitter for the most part. However, since there are a few wool items and it is not entirely packed with tank tops, I thought there might be more for me. There are some interesting articles, so I'm not actually that disappointed with the thing, but I doubt I will end up knitting anything from this issue. Still...

Yanked from the Interweave website in flagrant defiance of copyright.

Sorry about that, guys!

I quite like the Dockside Cardigan, above, and it's even supposed to be wool. The sloppy, looseness of it makes me think I'd never use it, since I generally prefer more fitted garments.

The Cumulus Tee also intrigues me. I like the weird thing happening at the neckline / sleeves, and it looks comfy. If I didn't already have a billion other things queued up with a sense of immediacy, I'd consider making this. Maybe I will one day!

win

I recently won a giveaway at Ohdessa Knits.

Not only did I receive two awesome mitten patterns (Regal Mittens and Memento Mori Mittens), but I also won a kit to make some colourwork coffee sleeves.

Check out the adorable mini-skeins! So fun.



I am especially excited about the Memento Mori mitts - skulls! Day of the Dead! I definitely want to use a yarn with long colour repeats for the background colour, like in the original. Hmmm.

Thanks for the generous giveaway, Ohdessa!

Something to aspire to - 2KCBWDAY6

I feel like I'm repeating myself. Almost every time I make a list of knitting goals, I put double-knitting on that list. I've never tried it yet. The possibilities of this technique fascinate me; reversible and double-thick results!

Other than having an overly long queue of other things, and being easily distracted, I can't explain why I haven't attempted double knitting yet. Is this the year I'll finally try double-knitting?

The Four Winds hat by Alisdair Post-Quinn is gorgeous, and might be a good place to start.

2010: a year in knitting

Happy New Year, blogosphere! In 2010 I knit my first two lace shawls, more socks than I ever had before, and a surprising lack of sweaters.

Here is a mosaical round-up, not including the Christmas gifts. Excuse the tacky font - I'm still on holiday without photoshop or anything, so I'm playing with photobucket's silly editing tools.



Left to right and top to bottom:
1. Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
2. My So-called Scarf by Allison Isaacs
3. Norwegian Snail Mittens by Adrian Bizilia
4. Flora by Margaux Hufnagel
5. Sugar Maple socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
6. Skew by Lana Holden
7. Lavalette by Kirsten Kapur
8. Top-down Shoulder Warmer by Laura Chau
9. Delicious Knee Socks by Laura Chau
10. Herbivore by Stephen West
11. Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon Osborn

Plus, three pairs of socks and one pair of mittens that I'll blog about soon!

I don't really make resolutions for new year's anymore, since I figure I might as well make changes as they are necessary, whatever month it is. That said, I do have some knitting plans and goals for this year. First: knit a few sweaters, since I didn't knit any, other than a shrug, in 2010. I also want to act on some of the design ideas floating in my head, and maybe learn some more techniques. We'll see!