I have completed my test knit for RUST by Gabrielle Danskknit. It was a surprisingly quick to knit pattern with interesting and simple changes in the fabric as you go along, such as color changes and eyelets. It only took a total of 170.30 yards and/or 104grams of worsted and heavy worsted weight yarn to complete the single loop cowl.

I was using what I had on hand (at first–who doesn\’t end up using a test as an excuse to hit the LYS?) and thought it might be cool to use some different textures. I started out with a base of Knit Picks City Tweed in Habanero, heavy worsted weight. Then, I decided to pull out the fleck colors in the tweed besides the main rust color: black, cream and brown.

For that, I added Lamb\’s Pride Worsted Weight yarn in Oatmeal and Wild Oak and Lamb\’s Pride Bulky Weight in Onyx for the center piece.

The piece is designed symmetrically in stitch count from top to bottom, with evenly spaced eyelet rounds and a central garter stitch band, so I did the same with the colors.

I am modeling it with my Fuego hat (new) and my 1980\’s Stratojac Coat (Old….Goodwill but vintage find!!).

I would recommend this pattern to newish knitters who are looking to learn knitting in the round and/or some yarn overs/eyelets. It is VERY fast to knit. All of us testers were surprised, and at only 3 stitches to the inch if you use the right yarn (mine was smaller at 3.5 st/inch), you can be even faster than I was.

It is not \”live\” yet, but should be for sale soon in Gabrielle\’s Ravelry shop.

Happiest of knitting to you all! 🙂

(Does anyone else notice how we all say that? \’Happy knitting?\” It\’s like the knitter\’s version of the Vulcan salute: \”Live Long and Prosper.\” Just sayin….)

….to make.

The sweater took one year to complete, nearly to the day. Why? You say? Or, if you are a knitter, you may have maybe just a few ideas why this would be. No, it is not a complicated sweater. In fact, just the opposite.

First, the entire sweater is stockinette with 2×2 ribbed edging. In pieces. That you have to assemble. There is no colorwork and not a single stitch of any other type besides stockinette–did I mention that already? There is no shaping, and the funnel neck simply extends up from the front and back halves of the sweater. I just couldn\’t bring myself to keep working on it when distracted by so many other tempting and yummy things that wanted to be made. So it sat, sadly in the bottom of the knitting queue (figuratively and literally) for a very long time.

Then recently, upon picking it up again, I realized that this sweater had potential. It was something that I would probably buy if it were on a store rack. It might not even have to be on sale. It had a boxy shape (one of my personal favorite shapes for sweaters and tops) and a turtleneck. In fact, that piece was even in the name! What was I waiting for? I picked it up and took a second look. (Okay, a 55nd look…)

This sweater, from The Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits, is called \”A Tempting Turtleneck.\” It is a curious, and really, to be fair, interesting combination of techniques. For the person looking for a first sweater pattern, this may be for you as it truly does not have any shaping and is really straightforward construction-wise.

And though I am joking about stockinette, let\’s face it: when it is done right and in the correct yarn, it is very nice indeed. It looks nice on just about everyone as far as a fabric goes. And in this case, you have absolute control over the length of the body of the sweater and the arms. (My arms are extra freakishly long, according to off-the-rack clothing.)

The challenging parts of the sweater include seaming and the construction of the turtleneck.

Yes, I said it has no shaping, and it is knitted straight up from the front and back, then the two pieces are seamed together at the shoulders and continued up said neck to the end. Wait a minute, you say, If I seam the turtleneck right up the sides, that creates a seam selvage on the inside. If I turn down the turtleneck (which you are \”supposed\” to do), the seams will show.

My solution to this was to seam the shoulders together, NOT break the yarn, poke the needle into the inside of the turtleneck and seam it from the \”inside,\” the part you see when turning the collar down. That way, the seams were formed on the \”outside\” of the collar as it is seen when it is unfolded.

I like how it turned out, and when the sweater is worn, collar turned down and all, the seams are not seen.

The sweater was knitted in Marble Chunky by James C. Brett. Here it is at WEBS yarn store, I bought mine at Craft Warehouse locally on sale.

And since I have been wanting to become more proficient at seaming, I used very light purple yarn, sport weight, on the chunky weight sweater. I thought it might be a good way to reveal any seaming issues. But to be honest, I would do it again as it was very easy to see and actually made the whole process easier.

The Yarn Girls, in their books, say that, in theory, you should be able to seam a sweater in highly contrasting yarn and, in theory the yarn should be invisible to the observer.

This experience showed me the theory is sound; it played out just fine in real life. Now…if only we could try that with wormholes….

I love working with Gabrielle Danskknit. She is my neverbeforeseen friend to the east and north in Montreal, Canada. She is a knitwear designer there who is about to enter medical school. She designs cute and simple patterns that are easy to follow and are friendly to read. That is, her very agreeable personality comes out in them, even in abbreviated fashion. How she does that, I don\’t know.

Currently, I am doing another test knit for her, and here is my swatch to intrigue you:

\”RUST\” is a cowl with her signature simple construction and fun feel. I will keep you updated as to its progession and release. If you are interested in her other patterns, you can find them here in her Ravelry store.

And even as spring threatens warmer weather, don\’t forget to get your cozy on once in a while.

After all, cozy is a state of mind, not a temperature.

Lacy&The Leaves Baby Blanket, Gabrielle Danskknit

One of the things I have tried out over the last several months was test knitting.  I joined the group \”Free Pattern Testers\” on Ravelry back in the late fall of last year and promptly spent too much time looking in from the outside, believing that I would probably not be of very much help to anyone writing new patterns.

Once I got over my irrational fear of failure, I grabbed a pattern from the long list in the group called \”Lacy& the Leaves\” baby blanket. I took a deep breath and dove in. After all, how hard could a baby blanket be? While the pattern was not hard to knit (and the instructions were just fine, even though it was a test knit), I did not do a good job managing my time on the project. We had planned a camping trip not long after I accepted the test knit and I wound up knitting madly most of the trip, to my family\’s chagrin, since I am the one who cooks all the camping meals.

After several family meals of granola bars and Capri Suns, I finally finished the blanket at Fort Stevens in Warrenton, Oregon and took some photos of it. My family, who had no pictures of their own from that trip, looked on during the test knit photo shoot, munching on the now barley palatable Nature Valley Oats n\’ Honey bars in silence and dreaming of a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon that may yet come even if only on the last day of the trip.

The camp ground had wi-fi, which I had mostly been using to apologize to the designer, whose test this was,

for my tardiness in finishing the test. I finally was able to finish up and post photos and fill out the paperwork for the project and head out with my family on my bicycle and into the camping activities sunset.

Since then, I have test knitted a few more projects, including some hats and socks, seen here in this blog post. (Links to my project pages and to the patterns are provided under each photo where available)

Test knitting is a really good learning experience for anyone wanting to know more about design, or even just about knitting. It can be eye opening and even affirming; like in school when you are asked to \”grade\” another person\’s paper and you realize just how much you know about commas after all.

I currently am about to test another pattern for a lovely cowl for Gabrielle Danskknit of Montreal, Canada. Look out for another new pattern soon and I will keep looking for fun ways to learn more about knitting!

John\’s Aviator Hat, Gabrielle Danskknit

Jules for Aviators and Explorers

Embrace the Socks, Gabrielle Danskknit

Beatrix

Alpine Flowers Fair Isle Hat

Tiptoe Slippers, Hanna Tjukanov

Hello again!

I, like so many other bloggers, have been quite remiss in my posting frequency.  I will not say that I am making a New Year\’s resolution to remedy this ( I also get out of that since it\’s April and nearly, really, May, right?) but I do have a recently created \”to do\” list for the blog down on actual paper (does anybody use that stuff anymore? I love it….am I the last one?) in pencil (so as to account for changes) and have the best of intentions to provide you, the reader (and I realize there really may be only, literally one reader…I am okay with that) with hours and hours of upcoming semi-riveting reading and amusement.

And no, I have not–for a single moment–stopped knitting, sewing, cooking and otherwise crafting for one second. I do love it all so 🙂

Since I last visited you, I had completed my first for sale pattern, which I developed for a class I was asked to teach last fall in Lyle, Washington at the Homesteading Fair. Well, they have called upon me again for this upcoming September and I have been thinking about what to teach this time.

Last year, I taught an all day class on toe-up socks which was fun and informative for me as well as I hope it was for the participants.

This year, I am thinking of something a little less difficult skill-wise, but still at a sort of intermediate level. I am thinking right now of teaching how to knit a hat with simple stranded color work on bulky weight yarn. After all, most knitters have at least tried knitting a hat and, with Christmas not all that distant following the fair, it might be nice for people to have a quick pattern with a new twist (the colorwork) to make simple, fun and what will be well loved gifts.

I will keep you informed as this notion develops!

Anyone interested in the fair here in Washington State can follow their blog here, or their facebook page here. Anyone interested in finding out what homesteading is, can google it or start here. You will be surprised at what you find!

fairislerona: A week on the Isle of Mull: We have just had a week in Mull and stayed at the gorgeous  Treshnish cottages  in the North West of the island.  We had fabulous weather – …

Hello, all!

Just a quick note to announce that I have posted a new free pattern, available as a downloadable pdf on Ravelry. It will remain free until January 1, 2014.  That way, everyone who would like a quick, sockish Christmas pattern can take advantage of it at no cost!

The pattern is called \”Slipperish Socks\” and was created for the workshop I taught a couple of months ago. It is a toe-up sock pattern that works up quickly in worsted weight yarn. For extra usefulness, I have created the pattern to include sizes from older baby/toddler to large man–this naturally includes a wide variety of foot circumferences, from 4\” to 11\”.

You can find the pattern here in my Ravelry \”store.\” (I say that in quotes since all 4 of the existing patterns are free so far!)

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope to be back writing more soon!!

This is only one of the marvelous photos from the Homesteading Fair website. Check it out to see a complete slideshow!

Hello, all!

I hope this finds all of you well and healthy, and full of knitterly joy and creativity! It has been a very nice summer here in the Pacific Northwest–excepting the peculiar humid and stormy days as of late, which are very foreign to our region.

Even as the calendar suggests it is time to start winding down into cooler days, it is not. It looks as though we are going to have some continued sunny and warm days around here. This might not be as much fun as some early, crisp fall mornings for those of us who long to wear woolen shawls and sweaters and socks, but it is nice weather for late summer activities like concerts and fairs.

Speaking of fairs, I have been fortunate enough to have been asked by the good people over in Lyle, Washington to teach a sock knitting workshop at their second annual Homesteading Fair this year. My class will be on how to knit socks from the toe, up and will include Judy\’s Magic Cast-On and a short row heel. It will be my first time teaching others besides my friends to do this, but I am very excited to try and have been working hard to prepare! And I am only one part of a very fun event.

The fair takes place on September 21st and will be from 9a.m. to 6p.m. and will include lots of workshops and events like sausage making, soap making, a pioneer living museum, and goats, chicks and alpacas. There will be a gal there spinning alpaca and selling her own handmade, hand-dyed yarn, too. There is so much fun that I cannot list it all! Please check the fair out on their website/blog or on Facebook! There is even entertainment too!

As one who loves the idea of pioneer-style living, I am very excited and honored to be a part of this. Anyone else out there like me? You read the entire Little House on the Prairie series, were sad that it ended, picked it back up and started all over? After my second or third time through, I sought out some of Rose Wilder\’s books, just to keep that good feeling going, as if I could somehow find a way to climb into the stories.

My husband thinks I should have been born on a farm, but since I cannot live on a farm right now, I can do my own bread baking (though for me it must be gluten free now), canning and jelly making, sewing, gardening and sock knitting.

If you are going to be in the good ol\’ Pacific Northwest where we love our pioneer heritage and feel like one those folks yourself, or if you just want to knit your own toe-up socks, plese join me for a fun filled day in Lyle, Washington out the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, one of my personal favorite places on the earth.

Admission is free and so are many of the workshops. My workshop is free, but each participant must bring their own materials, see the Homesteading Fair website for details and R.S.V.P.! There will be about 15 spots in my class.

Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Janelle, The Knitting Muse

Rememeber, all those months ago when I made a big deal about winning a first prize spot in the Martha Stewart knitting contest for Lion Brand? That might seem like ages ago, but the prize just came UPS. That beautiful brown-paper- bag-colored truck showed up yesterday and voila! Here is is!

I received a Martha Stewart Crafts by Lion Brand Knit & Weave Loom Kit, complete with an instructional book on how to use it for some basic knitting and weaving.

I have not been much of a loom user since I was a kid making potholders out of those nylon loops that, if actually used to remove a casserole from a 375 degree oven, would have probably melted onto the casserole dish and into one\’s fingers.  It was a fun activity (the weaving, not the melting), but I have not thought about it too much since then. (You can still buy those here, but with better materials)

The kit came with a nifty little letter of congratulations.

My 13-year-old daughter uses a 3-piece round loom kit I bought a while back out of curiosity to make hats for herself and others, and I myself have made a single hat on it. It was fun and I will admit that this new addition to my knitting arsenal makes me curious.

The parts inside look a little daunting!

In addition to the basics, the little book that came with the loom provides some basic instructions for a knitted hat and scarf and two other cute patterns: one for \”rosettes,\” and one for a woven squares baby blanket.

I once checked out a book from the library with instructions for this type of knitting and weaving. My understanding is that socks also might be made from a loom. Anyone tried that? How did it work? Any other cool things to be made on a knitting loom?

I know there is more to this than potholders!

 I got a free sample of a newish magazine called Love of Crochet. I had a little coupon/post card for it, and I thought, what the heck? I\’ll try this! I sent away for it.

(They also soon have a magazine coming out called Love of Knitting. Guess I need that one, too.)

It turns out the magazine is super cute with some tantalizing pattern recipes, especailly for a pattern recipe junkie (like myself). They also provide a little section in the back of the magazine called \”Learn to Crochet.\” I was, uh…hooked. (Sorry, I couldn\’t resist the pun)

If the patterns cracked a mental door for me, then the learning section flung it wide open. My resistance was futile.

Here, in this blog post, is my attempt at a dishcloth. I worked out the stitches pretty well (emphasis on the \”pretty\”) and, with the help of \”Basic Crochet Stitches\” by Interweave Press, have now got a partially finished, misshapen dishcloth. It was really fun to do and I plan on finishing it soon.

It\’s also good to try a new skill and be reminded of how much we should revere those are really good at it. People who can crochet super fast with precision and an incredible finished product are not to be underestimated! It is not easy

and I am reminded of this every time I split the cotton yarn with my hook, or can\’t find the two stitches I am supposed to be inserting the hook into.

Learning to \”see\” your work, especially \”new work\” is pretty hard, but it is fun and I think I just might want to do more.

Let me at those charts! Even if they all look like Greek to me!

Vive la de beaux-arts de l\’aiguille!

 (I made that up…hope it translates…long live needle arts!)

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