A Touch of Rebellion

It's a busy week in North America. Monday, our neighbors to the north celebrated Canada Day, and today, Americans are celebrating Independence Day. 

In the US, red, white and blue are the unofficial colors of summer, so through the years, I've managed to build a rather substantial collection of coasters and cloths suitable for these occasions.

It's been quite awhile since I've added to this collection, so this seemed like a good time to rectify that oversight, plus the prospect of a quick FO was difficult to resist. The simple color-block heart from several years ago has always been a favorite, so I knit another to keep it company, using the Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots pattern. 

Has my gauge radically changed? Did I grab the wrong needle size? Was the yarn simply feeling quixotic?

I truly couldn't say, but there's no denying the new heart (foreground) is noticeably larger than its siblings. And that's okay. A tiny touch of rebellion seems perfectly appropriate for Independence Day.

Merry & Bright

This has been one of those years where work and life demands have filled every waking moment. Nonetheless over the course of the past week, I've gradually begun pulling out decorations and hand knit items from seasons past, so it's beginning to look a lot more like Christmas around here.

Meanwhile, in spite of every promise I made to NOT get sucked into a flurry of last-minute knits, I finally succumbed to temptation, and cast on a fresh crop of Christmas trees.

Destined for my exceptionally knitworthy godkids (ages 14 to 24), they have a decidedly contemporary flair. Between the simple, streamlined design, vivid colors and super-soft bulky merino yarn, these fast, easy last-minute knits have grown from one lonely tree-to-be into a small cluster of WIPs.

To add a bit of holiday dash, I've made plush pompoms to attach as fuzzy, festive tree toppers. 

Who knew pompoms could create so many tiny little snippets?!

As you can see, some assembly is still required. There are ends to weave and pompoms to attach ...

but with a bit of luck, they'll be ready in time for our family celebration tomorrow. With that in mind, I'd better get cracking!

UPDATE
I managed to finish them with a bit of time to spare, and they were a big hit. Here they are in their final state, minus the hanging loops, so they can be dangled on hooks, knobs or the Christmas tree, or used as a mug mat.

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays and a Christmas that's merry and bright!

Crunch Time: Last-Minute Knits

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but all of a sudden, Christmas is just a little more than a week away. If you're at all like me, your to-do list is way too long, so you're scrambling to find fast and easy last-minute gift solutions.

With that in mind, I'm highlighting a handful of patterns that are quick, compact and easy, and am running a holiday sale.*

I'm a slow knitter as you well know, but even I could complete several of the following projects in time for gift-giving. Let's take a look.


Christmas Trees
Worked from the top down, these classic reversible Christmas Trees are ideal as ornaments, mug mats, hotpads, table accents and more. As an added plus, they can be knit in any gauge, any yarn weight, and a wide range of sizes from extra small to extra large. 

To buy the Christmas Tree pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


Graefen Cloth & Towel Set
This fast and easy pattern produces a set of reversible cloths and towels. They work up quickly in DK weight, but you could speed things along even more by using worsted, aran or bulky weight yarn for a single towel, set of cloths, or both.

To buy the Graefen pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.

Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots
Designed to function as coasters, hotpads, placemats and decorative accents for your table or tree, Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots are ideal for gifts. Celebrate the season by working them in holiday colors, use rainbow hues for a range of recipients, or get a jumpstart on Valentine's Day using rose, pink and red.

To buy the Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


Whimsy Owls
Know someone who loves owls? This design works up quickly, and the pattern includes instructions for three different sizes, so you can create an entire owl family if you wish.

To buy the Whimsy Owl Family pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


Kintra Mitts
Kintra is not only fast and easy, it features a versatile unisex design. Choose soft and sumptuous yarn for a woman, or something sturdy and tweedy for a man. As an added plus, the pattern is written for sport weight but readily adapts to any yarn weight, so opt for heavier weight yarns to quickly work up several pairs. 

To buy the Kintra Mitt pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


Wyndfael Mitts
A combination of classic two-stitch mock cables and ribs make Wyndfael fast, easy and versatile. Because the pattern is written for worsted weight yarn, these mitts work up very quickly. Simply follow the pattern as written, or use the tips, tricks and easy modifications to tailor each pair to suit its recipient.

To buy the Wyndfael Mitt pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


Dojeling Shawl
This is a bit more ambitious, but if you choose to use large-ish needles, you could easily create this reversible triangular shawl or scarf in time for gift-giving or holiday wear. The pattern readily adapts to any gauge and yarn weight from fingering to bulky, while the innovative construction keeps work in progress manageable for knitting on the go.

To buy the Dojeling pattern now, click here.
To read more about it, click here.


From afghans and accessories to holiday and home accents, the sale applies to every pattern in the lineup. Each pattern includes a range of sizes, detailed yardage breakouts, and handy tips, tricks and easy modifications. For many of you, this means you can dip into stash to make the most of yarn in hand, which will save you time, money and headaches.

It's crunch time, fellow knitters, so let's get busy. Christmas is coming!

Want to buy several patterns? Click here to go straight to my Ravelry pattern store.



*Thank you, all! The sale has ended.
Crunch Time! Flash Sale 
Save 30% on every pattern through midnight Tuesday, December 19 EST.

Swatch Stories

As a dyed-in-the-wool swatcher. I love experimenting with new stitches, testing different types of yarn, and playing "what if."

What if I:

• Change the yarn or fiber? 
• Change the needle size?
• Use a different yarn weight? 
• Work alternating rows in different colors? 
• Twist a stitch or slip it instead?

          Test Swatch: Drumlin Reversible Afghan

My fascination with reversible stitches helps fuel these what-if scenarios, and there are weeks where I happily devote every hard-won knitting minute to the soothing task of swatching.


          Test Swatch: Breidan Reversible Afghan and Wyndfael Reversible Mitts


For better or worse, this obsession has existed for a very long time, so through the years, I've compiled an extensive list of reversible and potentially reversible stitches.

       Test Swatch: Tikkyn Reversible Afghan

Lately I've had little time for anything but the projects and patterns already in progress, so recent swatches have been practical rather than experimental. The sole purpose of these was to illustrate how yarn weight affects scale (cream is sport, grey is worsted, red is bulky):

         Test Swatches: Lucben Reversible Afghan


Frankly, I miss the fun of experimental forays.

          Test Swatch: Which is the right side?


It's time to mend this hole in my knitting life, so periodically I'll be spotlighting some of my favorite stitches in varied yarn combinations.

          Test Swatch: Twegen Reversible Afghan

We can examine them, discuss the pros and cons, explore their best uses, play with fiber and needle combinations, and see how these variables influence the end result.

          Test Swatch: Dojeling Shawl

        Test Swatch: Alaris Wrap

Along the way, we'll have a chance to share our best go-to stitches and perhaps discover some new ones to add to our personal lists of all-time favorites.

So what's your swatch story: Do you avoid it altogether? Swatch for fun? Swatch only for upcoming projects? Do some mix of the three?


Wishing you and yours a very Happy Father's Day!

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In the Pink

At one time, I had a fair amount of pink yarn safely ensconced in stash. Some still remains, but as I was casting on a quick pair of mitts destined for the ombres and gradient series, I realized how limited my current options had become.

Naturally, I began to wonder what had happened to all those pink, rose and fuchsia skeins, and this is what I discovered.


ACCESSORIES

Colsie Mitts Rose Gradient, which feature shades ranging from red to medium pink.

Dojeling Blackberry, which looks red in some lights and decidedly pink in others.




AFGHANS

Breidan Baby, which features a strip worked in a muted antique rose.

Breidan Berry, which incorporates a range of medium and bright pinks coupled with berry and plum.

Color Check, which incorporates pinks ranging from pastel to fuchsia.

Drumlin Bright, which includes a strip worked in two shades of pink.

Lucben Rose, which illustrates a gradient moving from pale pink to deep wine.

Tikkyn Rainbow, which has five rosy blocks marching on a diagonal across the front.

Rainbow Vivid, which has flashes of bright fuchsia and magenta.

HEARTH & HOME

Graefen Bright, which incorporates an intense pink for contrast.

Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots, which has been worked in wide range of pinks from pale to saturated.

That's a fairly respectable lineup, and there are even more examples for which I don't have photos. They range from countless charity hats, scarves and blanket squares to coasters, cloths and a lovely rose gradient sweater for my dog, Stella, which I managed to shrink in the wash, so it's long gone.

I've had pink on the brain for one simple reason. Every spring, these wool-silk lace weight and rayon metallic yarns surface on my radar screen, but I have yet to find a suitable project.

Undaunted, I've come up with yet another plan, and if it works, I'll once again be in the pink.

What colors are captivating your attention right now? 



Connecting with the linkups in the sidebar.

WIPs: What's Your Magic Number?

Facts are facts. I'm a slow knitter with limited knitting time, so achieving a reasonable WIP balance is essential. Otherwise, I quickly become overwhelmed, which prompts frenzied flurries of knitting followed by bouts of indecision, where I simply can't decide which project to tackle.

When this happens the results are completely predictable. I find myself facing a daunting lineup of WIPs in various stages of half-doneness (that's a word, right?), desperately seeking signs of progress. But because my time and energy is spread across so many projects, progress is difficult to spot.

Which brings me to my point. Around Thanksgiving, the last time we took a serious look at WIPs (COAT Weather Returns), there were 10 projects on the needles, far too many for me to handle comfortably.

To restore some semblance of sanity, I adopted a ruthless focus, finish, fix or frog strategy. With the holidays on the horizon, I focused first on finishing these:

Christmas Tree Ornaments
This is just a sprinkling of the many trees knit in the final weeks leading up to Christmas.

Holiday Home Dec
These were fun, whimsical projects, and the finished pieces can be used as placemats, serving mats, wall hangings or pillow covers. They're completed, but I've not yet taken photos.

Kintra Mitts 
I'm diligently working to replenish my fingerless mitt supply, so these were a priority. As an added plus, they've quickly become favorites because they go with just about everything.

Wyndfael Mitts 
In worsted weight, these mitts are wonderfully cozy and perfect for winter, plus the combination of turquoise and purple always makes me smile.

Once the holiday and mitt projects were safely off the needles, I turned my attention to larger things:

Tikkyn Afghan
The first FO of 2017, Flagstone is light, soft and warm, so it was the perfect start to the New Year. At the time, there were three afghans on the needles, so it felt especially good to finish one. It's still unblocked in the photo, but I promise to get better pics if and when the sun ever comes out. (Unfortunately, the skies have been relentlessly grey and overcast.)

Finishing these projects brought the WIP tally down to five, a much more manageable number. I'd promised to be ruthless, however, so I decided to take things to the next step and frog these:

Mitts
This yarn (Champagne by Grignasco) is luscious and soft, so I'm going to save it for a shawl or scarf and hat set.

More Mitts
I love this stitch but not in this yarn, so into the frog pond it went.

Multi-Color Afghan (bulky weight)
Here, I loved the colors, but not the stitch, so I decided to face facts, frog it and swatch to find a more appropriate combination.

Whew! Between finished and frogged projects, the number of WIPs clamoring for attention dropped from ten to two. As you can well imagine, my knitting world was beginning to feel much more balanced.

In fact, it felt so good, I had to cast on something new, a cozy shawl in soft worsted weight wool:

Why? Because for me, three is the ideal number for active projects. Which brings us to the critical question: Where WIPs are concerned, what's your magic number?


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Seeing Red

Not long ago I wrote about my blue streak, because it seemed as if every project that was planned, in-progress or recently completed was blue or featured blue flashes. That torrent of turquoise and blue was followed by a spate of colorful knits incorporating a range of rainbow shades.

Winter has arrived, which around here means cold temperatures, cutting winds and grey skies. To counter this, I long to wrap myself and everything around me in heartwarming red and all its variants from rose and ruby to berry and burgundy.

Over the past few years, you've watched me slowly but steadily build a collection of rosy items, so when these longings hit, there are plenty of options from which to choose. While I've left out many examples, it seems everywhere I look, I'm seeing red:


Scarves, Shawls & Wraps

Alaris Mixed Media

Dojeling Blackberry

Dojeling Wineberry

Plumberry Scarf (pattern in development)

Fingerless Mitts

Kintra Mitts Blackberry

Kintra Mitts Wineberry

Wyndfael Wine

Afghans & Throws

Angletyn Vivid

Drumlin Gemtones

Drumlin Nearly Neutral

Flashpoint Bold

Lucben Rose

Tikkyn Flagstone

Hearth & Home

Cloths

Christmas Trees

Sweet Hearts & Soft Spots

Apparently in my world, there's no such thing as too much red. Add in Valentine's Day which is on the horizon, and it's easy to understand why ...

These swatches jumped onto the needles:

These mitts are in progress:

And this yarn is clamoring to be cast on.

Do you, too, crave warm colors when the weather turns cold? Or do you have a favorite color that helps you battle the gloom of winter?



The embedded links take you to WIP and FO posts. If you're interested in any of these patterns, you can opt to read more about them or buy them here: Patterns.