Skyline Chilly

baby bubbles

Emily — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:25:31 +0000

The last in my series of “professional photos of my professional knits.” This hat and sweater set I did for Knit Picks, to show off a classic KP pattern in a new yarn, the dyed and heathered colors of the Simply Cotton Sport. My favorite aspect of this project was probably the cute little “ears” detail on the hat. My least favorite aspect was definitely the amount of ends-weaving. Oh, the drawback of knitting colorwork!

I don’t usually get into purple, but sometimes the fun of these commission projects is working outside of my comfort zone. I get to try yarns/combinations/techniques that I wouldn’t ordinarily pick for myself. All three of the KP projects I’ve shown you recently have been in cotton or cotton-blends, which I rarely if ever knit of my own devises. But, I have enjoyed working with the yarns, and I particularly appreciate the smoothness of the knitted fabric. It’s really ideal for baby wear like this set– no fuss, no muss! Again though, I’d leave out the ends-weaving if I could.

As usual, I’m including that second picture both as a point of comparison between professional and phone photography, and to prove that I’m not just ganking KP images here! I really have been working on secret projects behind the scenes, and the blogging delay means that I get to share the extra nice pictures eventually. Not sure when the next secret project will become available for sharing, so in the meantime you’ll have to look forward to my regular old blog posts to keep you busy.

baby booties

Emily — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:23:14 +0000

I think knitters universally agree that baby stuff is great to knit. It’s satisfyingly quick to knit and it’s just SO darn cute! An item’s adorableness exponentially increases as its size scale diminishes. Knitted grown up slippers? Pretty neat, OK. Knitted baby booties? OMG squee!

This booties and hat set is a sample knitting project I did for Knit Picks back around New Year’s. I finally found it published on their site, meaning I’m free to share the pictures with you! The pattern is from Natural Nursery Knits by Erika Knight, and it has everything you want in babywear- no fuss cotton yarn, adorable styling. The only problem is, both the hat and the booties are knitted flat and then seamed. I don’t mind seaming (I kind of like it actually), but do you know how many extra ends to weave in that created on the striped hat, since I could carry yarn up the inside when the stripes were an odd number of rows? I think pattern publishers (especially British ones, like Debbie Bliss?) always default to “knit flat and seamed” since it requires the least common denominator of tools- straight needles. Personally, I say invest in a set of DPN’s in the sizes you use a lot, and let the knitting options flood in!

I guess there is the other end of that extreme, too. The sample-knitting project I’m currently working on has required no less than 7 sets of circular and double-pointed needles, all in various lengths and sizes. It’s a doozy! Of course I won’t be able to blog about it for several months again, but I’m willing to bet you’ll be impressed when it finally comes out. I know I will be (whenever I finally finish it)!

windansea

Emily — Fri, 14 May 2010 15:23:30 +0000

One thing about all the knitting-for-hire I’ve been doing is that I can’t show the pictures of my work online for varying amounts of time after the project is due. For the projects I do for Knit Picks, I just have to wait until the next catalog cycle or website update when they launch their newest features. For some other publishers I’m working with, the wait is much longer– still in the “to be determined” range! Anyway, since the wait period between submitting my projects and getting to share them isn’t always the same length, I fell a little behind on checking for updates, and it turns out I have a small handful of them to blog about. So pardon me while I begin a series of “professionally photographed knits I worked on months ago!”

The name of this pattern, from the book Knitting in the Sun, is “Windansea” hat. It’s an interesting name that manages to be very descriptive and utilitarian yet whimsical and artistic at the same time! Knit Picks has handicapped it to “Wind and Sea” hat, which just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Their Cotlin yarn is perfect for this type of outdoorsy, summer weight knitting though.

When I share the professional pictures on Ravelry, I always make sure to show my own images of the project as well, so that people don’t assume I’m just ganking the cover image. Those gleaming photos really are representations of my work! –it just happens to be my needlework, not my photography skills! My picture of this hat really dates the knitting project perfectly, since the very dim indoor lighting correctly represents that it was the darkest days on winter, and I can even spy some Christmas-related crafting among the mess in the background!

sneak peeks

Emily — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:06:50 +0000

I finished my spinning project, and here it is in its final glory! Actually, since it’s my creation, all I can see are its flaws, but I’m pretty sure it looks like a bloggable skein of handspun to the rest of you. It’s my first skein after a long spinning hiatus, so some inconsistency is of course forgivable. And then there’s the fact that part of it was spun BEFORE the break, and the rest spun a few months later, and who knows what type of havoc that treatment would imbue… so actually, I’m probably lucky the yarn looks this good!

All the fiber details are here. I’m not going to type them out again, when I already blogged about it twice recently! I will give you readers the benefit of the doubt that you were paying attention. (You were, right?) If not, you can also see the condensed notes here on Ravelry.

When I was spinning this project, I was really hoping to get enough yardage to knit the Aestlight shawl out of it. The colors will knit up subtly, but there will be a gradual striping that I thought would look fabulous in a multidirectional knit like that design. Sadly, I fell about 80 yards short of being able to squeak it out, so this yarn will go to something else. However, I got Aestlight in my head and I can’t get it out! So you should expect to see more about that from me, soon!

Speaking of things you can expect from me, I’ve started publishing “sneak peeks” of my blog content on Twitter. Follow me there if you’d like to be updated about what projects I’m working on, and what’s just about ready to make it to the front page here on the blog. I also post “outtakes” there, of some of the photos that don’t make it into my posts.

truly trivial

Emily — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:51:21 +0000

I hope these photos of the finished Catenary shawl give you the impression of just how much I like it! As you can probably guess, I love wearing red. Well, I also love wearing Wollmeise, I love living in a place where the temperate-yet-changeable weather gives lots of opportunities for accessorizing with scarves, and I love that my latest project matches our new car!

Ever since we got a car that’s such an undeniable color, I’ve been worried about wearing red while driving it. Different reds can really clash! And the Challenger is kind of an orangey red, so I worry about wearing true reds with it. Also, since the interior is black, does it become ridiculous if I wear my black and red striped sweater? Or, is the ridiculous thing the fact that I am worrying about this at all?

Regardless of my truly trivial fashion ditherings, I’m just really pleased with this knitting project. I loved the pattern, and I loved knitting it. It was just the right combination of brainless and engaging. I did make a few mistakes while I was paying a little too much attention to the tv and not quite enough to the knitting, but that’s another great thing about this pattern– The knitting errors I made are hard to spot and only I will ever know where they are hidden!

And no, that’s not an invitation to scour this photo and report back with all the problems you find. Just enjoy this shawl with me, ok? Or better yet, score a great semi-solid out of your stash and start enjoying one of your own– I really think this design has what it takes to become one of those “viral” knitting projects. It’s easy yet pretty, makes great use of sock yarn, and would work in almost everybody’s wardrobe! Spread the word!

fold into gold

Emily — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:16:26 +0000

The spinning bug still has its little fangs lodged pretty deeply in my to-do list, so instead of the work I was hoping to get to this afternoon, I couldn’t resist taking my wheel out into the sun on the porch. The mohair content in the fiber I am spinning is so nice and shiny, that is positively gleamed in the sun, and I couldn’t resist asking someone to snap a few pictures. I hope you can get the impression of just how brilliant the weather is, and how delightful it made the spinning. Forget spinning straw into gold, this was like spinning gold into yarn!

In this picture I am spinning from the fold, which I do a lot. It’s not the only style I use, but it’s one that I had success with early in my spinning career, so I fall back into it frequently. It’s easy for me to do, especially because you only have to manage one little handful of fiber at a time. The resulting yarn is lofty. One of my favorite parts about spinning from the fold is the way it mixes up the colors when working with multicolor dyed fiber. That obviously isn’t a factor here since my roving is nearly solid, but I’m enjoying the process immensely.

terra firma

Emily — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:06:54 +0000

I am spinning again, and it feels wonderful. I’m not really sure what caused me to go “off” spinning this February, probably a combination of the lifestyle changes we made when Rob’s brother moved in, and also the busy-busy I’ve been with crafting deadlines for outside parties. In any case, my wheel sat unloved there for a couple of months, but we are back together and it’s a lovely romance once again.

The first order of business is finishing up the project I was in the middle of when I quit. I was able to finish the first batch of singles in one sitting, during two and a half episodes of NOVA on Hulu last night! The fiber here is part of what I picked up when I visited Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and it was delightful to spin. It’s a merino/bamboo blend in the colorway “Terra Firma.”

I totally love spinning with bamboo (or tencel) blends, which is interesting since I don’t really care for knitting with them. In manufactured yarn, these rayon type blends are shiny and give the yarn a heaviness (drape) that doesn’t really suit my style, but in spinning fiber, I just love them. They are just the right combination of sticky and slippery, and the sheen is usually a nice touch. I’m planning on plying this particular batch of singles with another gem that’s been in my stash for several months:

“Cinnamon,” a BFL/mohair blend by Old Maiden Aunt. I got this with two others in a trade for some leftover Wollmeise, not a bad deal! I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’m spinning with a mohair blend, and it’s going great so far. I am spinning it from the fold, and it’s very soft and subtly semi-solid. I’m really looking forward to plying it with Terra Firma. The finished yarn will have a very unique fiber content – BFL, Merino, Bamboo, Mohair – but I think the colors are going to be smashing. Plying is always my favorite part, since I get to see what the finished yarn will finally look like!

and after

Emily — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:34:06 +0000

Ahh, the magic of blocking. I could not be happier with Catenary’s transformation! All the weird lumpiness from the short rows is gone, showing just a gorgeously curved shawl shape and all the lace detail in the edging. The overall size grew a LOT– I forgot to measure but you can get a sense of the size since the towels are the same in both the before and after pictures.

I am hoping the scalloped edging stays nice and pointy when I unpin this thing. I’m really anxious to get it unpinned soon (the sooner to wrap myself in Wollmeise!), but I’m trying to stay strong and patiently wait until I’m certain the blocking has taken full effect. I don’t want to lose any of the size or those deliciously pointy points.

As much as I appreciate the edging, the crowing glory of this design really is the short row shaping. The concept doesn’t seem to make sense at first, since we knitters are usually using short rows to add 3-dimensional shaping to variously curved knitted surfaces, like sock heels, stuffed animal parts, or bust or shoulder shaping. However, thanks to a good stretch on the rack, the short rows in this piece relax and lie flat, and the concentric arches round out the bottom curve of the shawl without otherwise disturbing the fabric. And don’t they just LOOK wonderful? This is such a neat use for semi-solid, or subtly variegated, sock yarn.

I’ll be getting final photos just as soon as I can after it’s unpinned. The color is making me want to involve our car in the photoshoot somehow! Although I do worry about clashing if I wear a different shade of red while driving it…

before blocking

Emily — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:54:13 +0000

I finished a shawl project on Monday, and I am so excited to block it today, if the rain holds off long enough for me to do it on the porch. It’s going to be one of those dramatic transformations from its pre-blocked state to its final form, so I made sure to take the “before” pictures so you can appreciate the change with me. The reason it will be so distinctive is that the shawl has unusual short-row shaping, which is distorting its current shape. After blocking, though, the shawl will flatten out into a more regular shawlette shape, and the short rows just became a unique visual interest, and will really show off the lightly variegated yarn.

It’s a new pattern, the Catenary shawl by Kiersten Brandt. It was extremely quick and fun to knit, with side-to-side construction, a knit-as-you-go edging, and the unexpected short row detailing around the spine. But the real magic is going to be in the blocking transformation, just wait and see! (And cross your fingers about the weather for me!)

The other amazing part about finishing this project has been the yarn. It’s Wollmeise Twin in Rosenrot, actually the first Wollmeise I ever got! Not everyone likes actually knitting with this yarn (though I do) because of its unique ply and texture, but nobody will be able to argue with its yardage. Can you believe that I knitted the entire small stripes section of this sweater, and this Catenary shawlette, and still have yarn leftover? I was pretty impressed with the size of the ball on my ballwinder at the end of it all. My scale is out of batteries so I can’t give a specific measurement, but this yarn will certainly go onto my “heroic yardage” list.

truly tempting

Emily — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:16:48 +0000

If you haven’t guessed from my blog silence, I’ve been really busy lately. Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff that keeps me occupied and interested, but makes for really lousy blog content. When I’m busy like this, my knitting usually DOESN’T suffer. I *need* it to keep me going! My spinning, however, hasn’t been so lucky. I haven’t touched my wheel in a long time, and I’m feeling terrible about it. My fiber stash is giving me the ugly eye from the closet, and the dreams of awesome projects I’d planned are fading into memory.

Thankfully, nothing tickles my crafting mojo like some pure temptation. KnittyPitty is having a blog charity raffle that’s head and shoulders above the usual stakes you see on these raffles– She has lined up some amazing fiber arts companies as sponsors, and the prizes are truly tempting. She has gorgeous Sundara yarn, but my favorite are the Golding spindles. Not only are they making me want to spin again, but they are making me want to use spindles! There’s a lot of satisfaction in processing fiber through your fingers “the old way.” There’s even more satisfaction when your tools are expertly crafted works of art!

The proceeds of this raffle benefit a worthy cause: animal rescue. As an animal lover, I’m more than happy to spare some cash to this cause in the name of possible stash enhancement. Even if the cause doesn’t trigger your tear ducts, I’m certain that these tempting prizes will. It’s worth checking out and sparing $5 for a chance at the goodies!