Archives for November 2013

Before I begin, I want to remind you all of my Craft Friday promotion, just use coupon code CRAFTFRIDAY to receive 20% off of all of my independently published patterns. I'm extending the sale to Monday to give you all a little extra time to pick up patterns for your holiday knitting.

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. Along with the 5 usual suspects, we had several of my kids' college friends, the mom of one of those friends who was visiting from New Hampshire, and our upstairs neighbor (who saved the day by kindly offering his oven for extra cooking space). We all ate too much, and enjoyed spending time with each other.

Today we're having a low-key Craft Friday. I've decided to put my other WIPs on hold for the day and cast on a special project using a skein of my own handspun.

This yarn is spun from a braid of Into the Whirled superwash merino/cashmere/nylon that I purchased at Rhinebeck in October. The color is Vegetable Medley.

To prepare the fiber, I broke up the roving and sorted the pieces by color. Next I divided each of those piles of color into roughly equal portions and filled two bobbins with single plies in the same color order.  When I plied them together the color sections ended at slightly different spots so that there are short sections where two different colors are plied together. I like this effect since I find it helps the color transitions. I ended up with 300 yards of roughly sport weight yarn.

And now I'm off to turn this handspun into a Kildrummy Cowl. This pattern is very adaptable to different weight yarns. I designed it using Plucky Knitter Traveler Aran, then knit a second using Malabrigo Chunky. Now my third will be made with this handspun sport weight.  Since it's already a gradient I woun't need to do the color changes as written in the pattern.

Happy Craft Friday!

I’ve been enjoying a bit of mindless knitting with a pair of stockinette fingerless mitts. Below you will find a recipe where I give you the details on how I made my mitts, but before I do I want to tell you about a few things going on elsewhere in the knitting/crafting universe that I think are worthwhile. Be sure to read through the post. There might just be a coupon code somewhere in there!

First up, my friends at The Seamen’s Church Institute are  asking knitters to make tiny mariner’s caps and “hide them in plain sight” to get the word out about the contributions of mariners. Head over to The Seaman’s Church Institute’s website to learn more, including instructions on how to get the pattern. Also check out the other work they do knitting for mariners with their Christmas at Sea project.

If you’re like me, and have an aversion to the Black Friday frenzy, join my buddy Beverly at PoMo Golightly and have a Craft Friday instead (follow that link to read more and to tell Beverly you’re in)! I personally would much rather give thoughtful handmade and avoid mass produced gifts whenever possible. I’ve already started my holiday knitting, but look forward to digging through my stash and planning projects to work on that day. Right now I’m leaning toward making gifts with handspun on Craft Friday. That way even my yarn is handmade! To help you with your own planning I’m offering 20% off of all of my independently published patterns between now and midnight on Saturday, November 30th. Just use coupon code CRAFTFRIDAY at check out. Then you can follow up Craft Friday with Small Business Saturday, and support an independent business person, like your local yarn shop, indie desigers, and indie yarn companies with your holiday craft themed shopping!

Now, for the curious who’d like more details on the mitts, I’m using Manos Alegria in Butia that I purchased at Trillium Yarns. Here are the basics on how I did it (let’s call it a recipe, rather than a pattern):

Kirsten’s Fingerless Mitts Recipe

Cast on 56 sts on a US 3 (or size to get gauge see my ‘note about gauge’ below). Work in (k1tbl, p1) rib for half an inch or so, then knit in the round for about 7″.

Next up add a gusset: round 1: knit to one st from end, pm, m1, pm, k1. all even rounds: knit. odd rounds 3-17:  knit to marker, slm, m1, knit to next marker, m1, slm. you’ll  end up with 17 sts between the markers.

Knit one more round, then on the next round place all of the 17 gusset sts on scrap yarn and continue working the remaining 56 sts in stockinette st in the round for another 1″. Finish the top edge with another 1/2″ of (k1tbl, p1) ribbing. Bind off. Finally place the thumb sts back on your needles, pick up and knit 3 sts in the gap, and knit 4 rounds. Then finish the thumb with 1/2″ of (k1tbl, p1) rib and bind off.

A note about gauge – my gauge is 28 sts = 4″. This will give you a finished mitt that is 8″ in circumference – these mitts are a bit slouchy on me. If your gauge is 25 sts = 4″ your mitts will measure 9″. If it’s 32 sts = 4″ your mitts will measure 7″. Adjust your needles accordingly.

On Ravelry

page for the coupon code. Sale ends on Monday, November 18th.

 

that I made using Malabrigo Twist in the Zinc colorway.

wrap for me yesterday in the Hudson River Park. By the end of our photo session she had declared my Laight Street hers, and told me of her plans to take it back to her dorm with her. Nonononono! There might be trouble brewing in the Kapur household over the ownership of this knit. 

wrap exactly as in the pattern instructions for the wrap size, except I added one extra repeat of the lace since I had lots of yarn, and I love a gigantic shawl.

and Ravelry.

Now available from Penguin Random House.