Knitting – Freckled Girl Knits

I am still trying to figure out how to wear an asymmetrical shawl. I can’t stand to hide the beading!

Okay, let’s just say it. I suck. I have been an off-again-on-again blogger for so long now that, according to many folks, blogging is really no longer a thing. But since I just graduated with a shiny new English degree with a focus on creative writing, I am yearning to put my recently learned skills to work. So if you are the sort of person who likes to read about things and not rely solely on Instagram Reels for knitterly fiber arts entertainment, I welcome your eyeballs to my blog, out of fashion though it may be. (Just in case, I also do IG Reels because I am a sucker for pretty, fast-moving things)

I also have gone a little wild with knitting and crochet since I turned in that last Writing Portfolio in December, 2023. The tactile sensations of wool and sticks in hand, the joy in the fiber arts community, returning to stocking my already-overstuffed stash that is leaking into yet another closet … all these things fill my creative well like no other. I know you all know what I mean.

Has anyone every approached you and said, “I heard recently that you knitters are very…” their eyes diagonally scan the ceiling as they search for the word … “tactile people … you like to handle yarn in shops … ” that same speaker now slides his eyes diagonally to you and hesitatingly says, “I heard that some people, uh, well … smell yarn … ” They stop short of asking you if you personally do this.

The side-eye steepens sharply as they wait for your reply, though the way they begin to slightly shuffle backwards tells you that they don’t really know if they want to hear it.

But you! You beam, undaunted, as you gleefully jump at the chance to speak about something so magical as the smell of yarn. “Oh, yes, of course! We all love to shove our nostrils into that fresh wool and vinegar mixture.” Maybe you punctuate this with a sniff.

This is where I am, friends. My hands and nose are in the wool. And I am beaming.

My life gained some space just in time, too, for the #100dayproject led by Lindsay Jean Thompson and friends over on IG, and the RCYC or Rose City Yarn Crawl, an annual event that provides a framework (e.g. an excuse) to intensely investigate eight of the finest yarn shops in Portland, Oregon over 4 short days.

I highly recommend both — and if you don’t live within reasonable distance to Portland, Oregon, you might want to check out your own local yarn crawls so you can join us in spirit, as we “crawl” with hundreds of other wool freaks for yarn. There’s something that feels a bit insectile in that word, “crawl…” or like it is meant to characterize an uncomfortably, densely packed Spartan competition that may or may not involve slogging through mud to get past low-hanging barbed wire to reach yarn … or like the exhaustion we experience as crawlers run out of gas literally and figuratively by the end of the yarn crawling weekend … but I digress… I always, always join this event.

“Chloris” by Makenzie Alvarez of Hanks & Needles has a very Elysian Fields/Hadestown vibe.

As for the #100dayproject, it is a boundless — no, limitless — DIY frame for any creative who wants to grow their art, share their art, develop it or explore new artistic endeavors. I always join this event, too, but I never feel like I generate enough focus to take me anywhere significant.

So this year, I am combining the two.

I am committing my 100 days (it started February 18th, 2024) to finishing things. For a start, I began and finished the RCYC MKAL this past month. I even knitted it out of my stash, which, in some way, feels like “finishing” something, in that I am using yarn I purchased any number of years ago — that stripe? It’s from Lorna’s Laces, “Bravery” from the old the Harry Potter line of sock yarn. Of course, now I have some little puny leftover bits of sock yarn in three colors, but that’s another finishing issue for another time.

I am allowing myself to wander through my stash, my notes, journals, my unfinished designs, lists of patterns that I have meaning to make for myself but never have. I am giving myself grace to complete what I find, or admit that I never will and pass it over or pass it on to another who might enjoy it.

My next project will be the 2021 RCYC MKAL that is no longer a mystery. I put it down back in 2021 when I became frustrated with the final Brioche edging. The instructions for “Meditations” by Theressa Silver were fabulous, the pattern was complex but clear, but I was listening to the 30+ hour Audible version of Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho at the same time I was knitting. Turns out you can’t successfully learn new knitting skills while simultaneously listening to the very first gothic novel filled with the most entertaining types of melodrama: damsels trapped in towers by villainous men who were just pretending that they wanted to marry damsel’s older aunt for love; young men in the spirit of D’Artagnan or Wesley (aka The Dread Pirate Roberts) overcoming all odds to save their maidens, conquering all with True Love; and the ever-popular, dark haunted castles that provide terror and intrigue for all, Dorian Gray style.

The Mysteries of Udolpho, with all its bodice ripping, supernatural fun and fainting, and this persistent nagging in the back of your mind, wondering how a woman published this novel under her own name in 1794, does not go well with trying to learn Brioche on US1 needles and fingering weight yarn.

Now that I have fresh interest and a little more shawl- knitting experience, I have unearthed my 2021 from the stash graveyard, flicked off the maggot

dust, ripped back the ruined Brioche, untangled the mess, pulled out the dog hairs, read the notes and realized that this shawl had more mistakes than just the Brioche. So, in gothic fashion, I will be reassembling this shawl monster from its disjointed parts, calling it good, and hoping that no one else notices its reanimation.

Oh, and I am hoping that part of this finishing business will also bring some new, finished, never-before-seen patterns! Stay tuned … we’ll see if I write another blog before 2026.

This year was a year to plan ahead. It has been a more optimistic year, as I am feeling better than I have in a long time, getting back into better shape, eating right — getting out of the pre-diabetic zone … all that stuff \”they\” tell you to do, but you take forever to get around to it.

So I made a bunch of stuff. Well, mostly for Christmas, but it was more than I usually make! The planning started in September with this idea that I would make something for everyone. At first, my brain went straight to knitting, but then I remembered how that went in years past. The thought was lovely, but hand-knitting slippers for 15+ people was — at the least — daunting. Especially since I didn\’t usually start the work until December due to a very long string of excuses to procrastinate: \”It\’s not even Halloween yet!\” \”It\’s not even Thanksgiving yet!\” \”The day after Thanksgiving is a much better start date!\” \”The weekend after the day after Thanksgiving is a better start date. Then I can get up the tree!\”

Etc.

While I pondered these things, I was partaking in another favorite procrastination pastime of mine: looking at other people\’s crafting ideas online. I came across a blog called \”It\’s Always Autumn.\” Well, Autumn, the blogger, has a fabulous post on polar fleece blanket-making, which you can find here. I thought this would be a great way to make everyone in my family something and not epically fail, for once, at total Christmas-making! Autumn\’s blankets were not the usual edge-tied type, and I was intrigued by how finished they looked, not to mention that the edge-tied way always seems to diminish the useful part of the blanket.

To prepare for making Autumn\’s sewn blankets, I used a zillion Joann\’s coupons and did a lot of shopping (online — duh! Okay, I am cheap and didn\’t pay for shipping. I picked the orders up in-store to cut costs) and cutting and planning, but the blankets truly did not take more than 2.5 hours each to complete. I made 11 blankets that way, finishing them with jumbo rick rack or bias tape.

Then, I decided to go off on my own a bit. Instead of using a trim of some ilk on a single fabric, I tried sewing two pieces (planned and cut with the same rounded corners as the originals) of fleece together most of the way, flipped them right side out and top stitched them together, holding the open area of fabric together, closing the hole I left to do the flipping. This actually created a very nice blanket, double thick! And I didn\’t do any quilt-style tying; the polar fleece fabric sticks to itself pretty well and they worked just great as they were. This style of polar fleece blanket took a little longer, like 3 hours, but it i worth it! I made four of these.

Here are mine:

A couple of thoughts if you decide to try this:

1. When using two pieces of fabric for a blanket, it gets a little tricky closing the hole while topstitching. Be very careful to fold the pieces in together to match the seam allowance you created when sewing them together in the first place. But also remember that polar fleece is a bit stretchy and, as such, is forgiving; you can pull a little and stretch it in place as needed to make it work for you.

2. I didn\’t get super picky about my two pieces matching. I did my best, laying them out on the floor together and using quilter\’s safety pins to hold them together for the initial sewing, starting my pinning from the center and working out. But I didn\’t freak out if during the sewing the edges sort of went a little askew. Life\’s too short and they looked fine — better than fine!

3. When using bias tape on a single fabric: As Autumn the blogger tells you, the single-piece blankets do take up to 3 packages of double-fold bias tape, depending on how big you make it, but your mileage may vary. My large blankets took about 2.5 packages a piece, using 2 yards each of 59\” wide Luxe Fleece.

I ironed my bias tape to get the kinks out of it, you know, where it bends around the cardboard in its little package? That annoys the crap out of me. Ironing it super hot with steam worked really well. And, after getting the hang of how it goes with sewing and connecting the new pieces of bias tape, I even pre-folded the successive pieces and ironed the fold into the new piece to save time. To make the new piece less bulky, I also cut the new piece into a point before folding it.

4. When using Rick Rack: BE CAREFUL IRONING IT!! I tried to treat it like the bias tape, not testing it, not thinking … it melted to my iron. Maybe try washing it and laying it flat to dry. Or read the package for care — I sure didn\’t.

5. Finally, I used a stretchy fabric needle in my matching and I had to lower the tension to handle the blankets with double thicknesses.

Let\’s circle back to the slipper in the first pic. I made 6 of them for Christmas when all was said and done (When I took this photo, one was still on the needles!). The pattern I used is \”Duffers Revisited\” by Mindie Tallack. I am in love with this pattern as it uses less yarn, and is thus less time-consuming than the lovely (and also slightly more expensive to make) \”Felted Clogs\” by Bev Galeskas. Other differences include a slightly less complex construction and \”finished\” feel to the Duffers finished product, including a single, instead of a double, sole as in the Felted Clogs pattern. There is also no rolled top on the Duffers, but if you are seeking a simple, solid, predictable pattern and need to make several, Duffers may be for you!

I used Fisherman\’s Wool and Cascade 220 wool for my Duffers and would consider trying Lamb\’s Pride or Ella Rae, too. I suspect I will need to remember that Lamb\’s Pride doesn\’t felt quite as far as the others. Things to keep in mind!

I also made my 9-year-old daughter Amy Rose a pair of fat socks using Red Heart\’s new Hygge yarn!! What a treat! It is a bit hairy, but not too much unlike some other eyelash yarns, and although it has the potential to split, my Size 9 Clover Bamboo dpn\’s worked out just fine. I haven\’t washed them yet — I\’ll keep you posted.