Why did it have to be black yarn?

Bright Axis (RAV LINK) has been an excellent pick up/put down project. And I’ve been doing just that for almost a year and a half.

This statement tee was included in Stephanie Lotven’s Knit Happy with Self-Striping Yarn: Bright, Fun, and Colorful Sweaters and Accessories Made Easy. I’ve professed my adoration for this designer’s patterns before, and buying this book when it was released in 2021 was a no-brainer. I fell instantly in love with Bright Axis and just needed to decide on what yarn I was going to use to make it.

And, I thought I had made that decision…

The body yarn, well, that one I’m set on (and after 11+ inches of stockinette, it’s well set). I had two skeins of Cascade Heritage Sock in black, and I had planned to use skeins of Felici Time Traveler as the contrast, the stripes along the shoulders.

The thing is, when you plan out a sweater, and almost 18 or so months pass, tastes have a funny way of changing.

After hours of dedicated knitting, I thought I reached the point of being ready to start the shoulders, but the more I thought about it, the less happy I was with the Felici. The black felt like a grounded colour, while Felici was too whimsical. Now, don’t get me wrong, a little whimsy is always a good thing, but it didn’t feel right for this sweater.

Instead, my mind started wandering to TurtlePurl Yarns in their trenchcoat colour. This Burberry inspired colour with the solid black sweater was feeling more and more like a better fit.

Well, it was all a moot point anyways. After the body is knit, the work is divided, and there’s short row shaping before starting with the CC.

I decided I wanted the body to be longer.

And that meant ripping back my short rows and carefully putting 132 stitches back onto the needles.

132 stitches. In black, sock weight yarn.

I’ll never know how I managed to get them all back onto the needle without dropping any.

Finished Birthday Socks

A few weeks ago, I shared socks for which the plans changed once I finished the cuff. Well, the pair is now finished and gifted, so I can post about them!

The yarn was hand dyed using some kool-aid packages, which created this interesting swirling effect.

The pattern was super simple:

Rounds 1-3: Knit
Round 4: *YO, K2Tog, K6* rep to end
Rounds 5-7: Knit
Round 8: *K2, YO, K2Tog, K2* rep to end

I had originally thought of making a pair with a textured pattern, different knits and purls forming the design, but the swirling of the colour lent itself better to a design that would let the colours shine.

Happy knitting!

When plans change

Some time in 2021, I was able to get my hands on kool-aid packages, a feat here in Canada where the flavour packages are unavailable in most stores. I was then able to get skeins of bare yarn and had fun dyeing. One skein got the speckled treatment, and the other was dip dyed, and it looked like this:

After more than a year, I decided this yarn was going to be used for socks. I had a pattern in mind, I cast on, and I started ribbing. And then I noticed this:

Do you see that pooling happening? The darker and lighter portions were doing this interesting, swirling thing that I knew would continue once I got to the leg. The pattern I originally chose had texture created by knits and purls, but once I saw the yarn and the pooling, I didn’t want anything to interrupt or take away from it.

So, my plan changed. Instead of patterns with knits and purls, I’ve gone with a simple eyelet pattern, so it’s letting the yarn do its own patterning/pooling thing with a little interest with simple yarn overs and knit two togethers.

So, sometimes, plans change. And that’s ok. Because sometimes, you’ll end up with something even better.

Socks in October

I suppose I got bored working on the sleeves for my Fezziwig cardigan, so what have I been focusing on instead? Socks. Lots of socks.

One pair is stalled after finishing sock 1 – it doesn’t have a hard deadline, so sock #2 can take a bit of a break

Two pairs I’ve made good progress on over the last week or so, and I’m working on the foot of both. These pairs will likely get their own posts in the coming weeks… They both have hard deadlines, so I’ve really been working away at them.

And, finally, I haven’t cast on the fourth pair I want to make, but the yarn is bought and the pair has been promised to my mum. For that pair, I simply need to cast on, get past the cuff, and decide what pattern I want to make. It’s a self patterning ball of yarn, so I won’t be looking for anything too complicated, but a little interest is always nice.

So, what have I been working on? Socks. Rounds and rounds of socks.

Icefall Update

I didn’t think this could happen, but I found myself enjoying colour work!

I’ve made really good progress on my Icefall sweater which, Ravelry reminds me, I started over a year ago. After working on it on and off throughout the year, I finally got to a point where the sleeves were joined on the body and the colour work on the yoke began. It was a simple 12 stitch pattern repeat, and I used a colour changing yarn as my contrast colour, so with absolutely no effort on my part, it looks like I’ve slightly changed colours throughout.

I did run into a few, let’s say, challenges while working on the sweater, namely my dog who thought the best time to crawl into my lap for some attention was while I was in the groove of colour work knitting.

Since taking these photos last week, I’ve finished the colourwork rounds and am starting the decreases for the yoke. If I have some dedicated time and, well, a dog free lap, I might have this finished in a week or so. Only 13 months for a sweater to get finished. That’s nothing at all.

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And here’s when I blogged about this sweater for the first time, last July

The art of using two yarns at once

I am incredibly impressed with continental knitters. I’m right handed, so when I taught myself how to knit all those years ago, I never would have thought to try a technique using my non-dominant hand. I’m right handed. I should hold the yarn in my right hand. That’s how I knit. I never thought twice…

by Lisaterech July 26, 2021July 25, 2021