I Haven't Been Blogging, but I Have Been Knitting

School's in again, so while I've still been carving out time to knit, I haven't been as good about blogging. As a sort of apology, here's a quick rundown of what's been coming off my needles this month.

Most recently finished is a monster buddy for my son, knit with partial skeins of wool from my stash. The pattern is Adorkable Monster.



I knit a birthday present for my dear friend Frances, but used smaller needles than called for to get more of a neckwarmer. It's Lion Brand Alpine Wool, which is a lovely and soft roving-style yarn.

Simple Ribbed Cowl (pattern link):

Then there was Turn a Square. I actually made two of these: one for charity, and one for my husband, also in stash wool.

And last but not least, the Little Lebowski sweater has been done for a while, but fall is upon us and my son finally got to take it out for a test drive.

I just ordered more yarn (don't tell my husband), and I think these are on deck.

Tutorial: Make and Dye a Yarn Blank

I bought a great big skein of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in natural cream and decided to play around with dyeing on Saturday. I used Paas Easter egg dye tablets that I bought on sale last April and a lot of vinegar to dye a yarn blank that I handknit.

Before:

After:

A blank like this could be used for a wide variety of projects, but I'm saving this one for a Fair Isle hat: all the color and half the work of a project that would normally call for six or seven colors.

Full tutorial can be found here, through Google Docs.

Quo Vadis

Me and mittens have not been the best of friends. I have cast on at least a dozen pairs over the years and maybe three pairs weren't frogged. I'm a sock knitting pro, so I'm a bit befuddled that mittens are my Achilles heel. After finishing the Quo Vadis mittens (Ravelry link) from SpillyJane, though, I just may be a convert.

Worsted weight is totally the way to go when trying to conquer mittens. Come to think of it, I started my successful sock knitting by beginning with a Christmas stocking pattern (read: bulky yarn and bigger needles), so maybe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Michigan Fiber Festival

The Michigan Fiber Festival, which is sort of in my neck of the woods, was up and running today with two barns full of vendors. I planned ahead and brought limited cash so I couldn't "overspend." I came home with this and could not be happier:

This is Foot Notes by Fiber Optic, and it's a 4-ply, 80% wool and 20% nylon, washable, delicious light blue-purple handful of wonderful.

Aestlight Shawl

I followed this pattern to the letter, except for binding off the large garter stitch triangle instead of holding stitches until the end, and it really paid off.





Interesting construction, delicious yarn, utterly wearable shawl: it's going to be hard keep this for myself! The good news is that this pattern knit up really fast and the color changes prevented a beautiful piece from becoming a boring or tedious project.

Free Pattern: Luxurious Loops Washcloth

This loopy little cloth was designed a few months ago, but since the pattern just got a facelift (read: now available as PDF), I decided I ought to post it here, too.

I seem to recall this project used most of a 50-gram skein of sport weight organic cotton. There is a simple seed-stitch border, a loop to hang it that can be made with a crochet hook or double-pointed needles, and these fun little loops, which I explain how to make in detail. Available from Google Docs or Ravelry.

Free Pattern: Cabled Ice Cream Cozy

This little chill-chaser prevents frozen fingers while eating ice cream right out of the carton. Sadly, it does nothing for brain freeze.




Knit in the round on DPNs with three simple cables and a k2, p2 ribbing. The stockinette bottom is made with decreases on every other row. Pattern available here with Google Docs or on Ravelry.