Knitionary: KAL

memories of juneau giveaway

Perhaps you're like me and think the best kind of travel souvenir is a skein of yarn. While in Alaska last week I visited Seaside Yarns, a pretty knitting shop in the historic town of Juneau. I went in specifically to purchase locally produced/dyed yarn and man, did I hit the jackpot! Upon entering the store, I was faced with over a dozen cubbies filled with Northern Bee Studio yarn grown and milled in the lower 48 states and hand-dyed in Juneau, Alaska. I was so excited and exclaimed to the sales lady that this was exactly what I was looking for! I told her I was interested in making Joji Locatelli's new Mystery Wrap and she said she had just been playing with some colors for that herself. While she helped me with my selection I admired her keen sense of color and praised the hand-dyed yarn, then asked her if she had ever met the dyer. She said yes, that it was she! The adorable Melissa Highfill is the owner of Seaside Yarns and the resident dyer of Northern Bee Studio. Meeting her and visiting her yarn store gave me a wonderful memory of Juneau I won't soon forget.

If you visit Juneau this summer, Seaside Yarns is a must! I promise you'll love the store and I hope you are lucky enough to meet Melissa. Her shop is a quick walk from the dock and right in the center of the charming little town.

Giveaway

Melissa was kind enough to give me a Taste of Alaska yarn kit as a giveaway for my readers. The kit contains 5 mini skeins with a total of 425 yards of her hand dyed 100% superwash Merino sock yarn, enough to make Melissa's free pattern, Memories of Juneau scarf, or anything else you fancy, like socks! Colors include Dirty Glacier, Juvenile Bald Eagle, The Madam's Velvet Couch, Sitka Spruce and Mineshaft, colors reminiscent of Southeast Alaska's rich landscape and vivid history.

To enter the giveaway, become a follower of this blog, then leave a comment at the end of this post. For a second chance to win, like the Knitionary Facebook page, then leave a comment under the post that has the picture above. You MUST leave either your Ravelry name or your email address. If you don't leave one or the other, I won't be able to reach you if you win! This is open to international readers. Good luck!

Below is what I took home for me. Five skeins of Northern Bee's fingering weight Little One for Joji Locatelli's Mystery Wrap KAL. Right now is not the best timing for me to dive into a big shawl but I was wooed by Joji's promise of lots of garter and texture with a little bit of lace, plus I couldn't wait to try out my new yarn. Little One is a soft 100% merino wool and has the warm, buttery feel of a fine wool. The tonal highlights seem to make each stitch dance with color. I love it. I was able to finish Clue 1. Spoiler alert, pictures below!

We love the magnificent scenery and the friendly people of Alaska and if you ever have a chance to visit this beautiful state, you should! Another highlight of Juneau was the Alaska State Museum. It is located in a beautiful new building and is also within walking distance of the dock. Inside you'll find the most magnificent and perfectly preserved artifacts of early Native Alaska history, including everyday and ceremonial clothing, weapons, and religious artifacts--all beautifully displayed. It's true I tend to love most museums but this has become one of my top ten.

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May 28, 2017
115 Comments

Marie Wallin's blanket extraordinaire KAL

KAL

What are you doing for the next 10 months? If you have some spare knitting time, and you love to knit fairisle, or would like a supportive forum in which to hone your fairisle skills, why not join my friends Marie Wallin (knitter and designer) and Cindi Brumpton (knitter and blogger) in this new blanket knit-along. There can be no doubt this blanket will become a treasured heirloom--plus it looks like great fun with a dedicated Ravelry page that Cindi will moderate and in which Marie will participate. Ravelry is the perfect forum for a KAL--it's where you'll meet like-minded people, get support, share triumphs, all the while making virtual friends from all over the world and have the joy of creating one gorgeous blanket.

The blanket, designed by Marie Wallin, is inspired by Nordic and Scandinavian fairisle design and uses just 11 colors of the very beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed. The blanket is made up of 10 sections, each worked off the other except for sections 1 and 2. These sections are knitted separately and are sewn together, then section 3 is knitted off the joined sections. This means that the only sewing up is the seam between sections 1 and 2.

Being Nordic inspired, the fairisle patterns are more graphic. Contrasting colors makes this blanket easier to knit than Marie's Fairisle Club 1 blanket and has easier repeats to follow. It's quite spectacular, isn't it?

DETAILS: Booking is now live and the club will be limited to 500 members only. The knit-along will start on the 1st November and will run for 10 months. (Please note, as of this posting, the email and printed options are now sold out. There are still places available for the DIGITAL membership only.)

Digital membership - £87. The Digital membership is for the 10 digital patterns and the digital version of the HOW TO booklet, including a link to the HOW TO fairisle video.

FINISHED SIZE: The blanket measures 148cm wide x 170cm long.

YARN USAGE: The blanket uses Rowan Felted Tweed. The quantities below include an extra 10%.

Carbon 159 2 x 50g balls (73g)

Barn Red 196 4 x 50g balls (195g)

Stone 190 6 x 50g balls (263g)

Celadon 184 2 x 50g balls (61g)

Ancient 172 4 x 50g balls (175g)

Avocado 161 1 x 50g ball (22g)

Phantom 153 5 x 50g balls (211g)

Ginger 154 1 x 50g ball (20g)

Camel 157 4 x 50g balls (198g)

Cinnamon 175 3 x 50g balls (125g)

Boulder 195 1 x 50g ball (32g)

Due to the difficulty in getting Rowan Felted Tweed in some areas, Marie recommends Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift in the following colors as an alternative.

Slate 125 3 x 25g balls (sub for FT Carbon 159)

Moorland 195              8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Barn Red 196)
Lichen 1130               11 x 25g balls (sub for FT Stone 190)
Laurel 329                    3 x 25g balls (sub for FT Celadon 184)
Woodgreen 318            8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Ancient 172)
Granny Smith 1140      1 x 25g ball (sub for FT Avocado 161)
Birch 252                     9 x 25g balls (sub for FT Phantom 153)
Paprika 261                  1 x 25g ball (sub for FT Ginger 154)
Camel 141                    8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Camel 157)
Burnt Umber 1190       4 x 25g balls (sub for FT Cinnamon 175)
Steel 320                      2 x 25g balls (sub for FT Boulder 195)

Now, even with the beautiful color option, I imagine more than a few knitters will go rogue and change the colors up. I'll be looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

I'd love to know if any of my readers have joined or are considering joining this KAL. Please, let me know!

Helpful Links

Club info on Marie's website is here.

Purchase the digital club version here.

Join the moderated Ravelry KAL forum here.

Please post your comment here.

xoxo from me, and as always, happy knitting!

October 27, 2016
7 Comments

KAL progress

KAL

February 17, 2016
8 Comments

my Options KAL is finished: Wardrobe Basic

Amy Herzog

My Amy Herzog Options KAL pullover was finished weeks ago, a few weeks ahead of schedule. I've been wearing it and washing it, all the time thinking that I should employ my photographer to take some modeled shots and get this FO validated, because it's not really finished until it says so on Rav, right? But my photographer is elusive and usually disappears when I mention the idea of a photography session--we both get crabby about that prospect, it's true. However last week I came home from a luncheon feeling very jolly and saw my photographer putting up the Christmas lights. He agreed to take a wee break and the pictures are done!

Now for my wrap-up on the KAL, the pattern and the yarn--I loved all three! It was so much fun being a part of what turned out to be my favorite knit-along. I love knitting sweaters and love to learn other knitters techniques. With any knit-along, the knitter hopes to find a few tips to keep and incorporate into one's own knitting, and I did learn some great new skills.

Amy Herzog is adorable. Her knitting and fitting tips are easy to understand and clearly explained in her videos and written on her blog. The pattern was very well-written and easy to understand. It's a free pattern that you should download while it's still available--all links are at the end of the post. Whether you are a beginner or advanced, it's a good, basic pattern to have in your pattern library. It has several options for pullover or cardigan, v-neck or crew, textured or plain fabric and sleeve length.

The yarn, Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK is a favorite of mine, and while it's not the first time I've used it, it is my first adult garment made with it and I'm very happy. The yarn is an absolute joy to knit, and practically snaps into place with the slightest of needle action. Not slippy nor needle fussy, this is a great yarn for beginners or for those who like to touch-knit. A bouncy, non-slippy yarn translates into easy knitting and no tired hands! I could knit this literally for hours, which I did on a car ride. The fabric is stable yet stretchy. It easily handled the washer/dryer, kept it's memory and has resisted excessive pilling. I like to give non-knitters gifts made with machine-washable yarn, it's safer, don't you agree? As soon as I was half done with this, I purchased some more PWDK to make a striped easy-care vest for my son for Christmas. It's going to be fantastic. I always have to share that while the ball band says do not tumble dry, I do. Here's how I care for my PWW and PWDK superwash knits: Turn inside out, place in a mesh sweater bag and machine wash in cool water on gentle cycle. Next, pop in the dryer on low and take out before it's fully dry and finish drying flat.

This pattern and KAL was less of a KAL and more of a tutorial on knitting a sweater and making it fit. I think everyone learns different things from different patterns. Here's a few new knitting skills I've added to my skills set: I loved Amy's waist shaping darts. In the close-up picture above you can see how the decreases begin at the hip, with increases ending right below the apex of the bust. These darts are on both the front and back. I will be using them again and may also include some traditional waist shaping to get a more defined waist. Amy's formula for making a v-neck on any sweater is exceptional. If changing a neckline is daunting to you, she clears up any questions. But the big thing I learned was how to measure myself. Not that I did it correctly, but since I goofed, now I know not to repeat my mistake again. But hey, I was happy to make that mistake so you don't have to! Amy has you measure under your arms, not at your bust (her first video describes this in detail). This measurement will be smaller of course, but will give you well-fitting shoulders and back, THEN, you add stitches on the front to accommodate your bust. For some reason, I just couldn't get this through my head, and made a size I thought would fit, and ended up with a sweater that has too much excess in the back, see above. My bad, and while I still love the sweater, it's not the perfect fit it could have been if I'd just believed Amy and followed the directions. I'm going to try this on a future fitted sweater and see if I can eliminate the excess fabric that so often happens on the back side of sweaters.

So all in all, great success, learned a lot and got a great wardrobe staple in a gorgeous color.

Here's all those links I promised:

Download the free pattern here, but you must log-in or register first, it's free.

Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK can be purchased at your local Rowan stockist or online at

Black Sheep

Jannette's Rare Yarns

Jimmy Beans

Webs
FiberWild

Here's my Ravelry project page with all the details.

I found Amy's videos and blog posts to be educational:

The first video has advice on measuring.

The second video deals with shaping and fitting.

This video shows if your fabric is sweater-ready.

More info here on neckline shaping.

Amy's waist shaping blog post.

Download Amy's Neckline Shaping Worksheet.

Here's the chatty Rav. forum thread.

Knitionary

Turn inside out, place in a mesh sweater bag and wash in cool water on gentle cycle. Next, pop in the dryer on low and take out before it's fully dry and finish drying flat. I have to admit I've missed that last step and dried it fully in the dryer and they were fine. - See more at: http://knitionary.blogspot.com/#sthash.zVnoS1lV.dpuf

December 07, 2015
3 Comments

options KAL progress and a V-neck tutorial

Amy Herzog

I'm more than halfway though knitting Amy Herzog's Options Sweater KAL. I've enjoyed learning Amy's techniques and have also incorporated my own fit and easy-knit techniques which I'll share below. This post has the details about how I shape a V-neck and how I put in sleeves. I hope these tips will be helpful on a sweater you're knitting now, or on the sweater you'll be knitting in the future.

These pictures show un-blocked fabric. A luke-warm swish in water, or even a steam-iron will work wonders on uneven stitches. I went far with just one skein with the Pure Wool Superwash DK--137 yards got me almost half way up the back. PWDK has quite a bit of life on the needles, but not too much, just enough to make it behave and snap into place. This makes it great for touch knitting. It is not needle fussy and I've found my Knit Picks Caspians are perfect for this project. The color is a heathered, pale sea-green called Marl. Do you see the two sets of decreases just off the center? Amy places her waist decreases and increases here rather than on the sides. This gives a much more flattering fit and is going to be my waist shaping method from now on.

I was finished with the back in no time and made no mods. Working on the front now and I'm almost to the armhole shaping. The completed back is underneath and has been blocked. You can see how a light blocking evens out the stitches.

This photo doesn't show the color very well, but here I'm finished with the front and back. I pinned it together and slipped it on and it fits like a dream. Yay! Amy has not yet posted directions for the v-neck option for the pullover, but I have a confession: I rarely follow the pattern's v-neck instructions anyway. I do my own thing. Here's how: You have options when you are creating a V-neck. If you want a low V, start the V-neck decreases one inch before the armhole shaping begins. If you want a medium V, start the v-neck decreases at the same time as the armhole shaping, and if you want a higher V, then start the shaping about a 1/2" or 1" after the armhole shaping begins. How simple is that? This is a simple customizing technique that will further help you create the sweater you want to wear. I wanted a medium V on this sweater and so began my neck shaping at the same time I began the armhole shaping. See more below.

Here's what I do: The neck shaping decreases and armhole shaping decreases are usually happening at the same time, but at a different rate. To make this part simple to follow, on a separate piece of paper, write out row by row what decreases are to be made. Keep this paper with your pattern. When shaping the V-neck, start with an uneven amount of stitches (prior to the beginning of this shaping you may have to alter your pattern one stitch to achieve this) and knit to the center stitch, mark it, then complete the row. You will have the same amount of stitches on each side of the center stitch. Next row, with WS facing, P to 1 st. before marked stitch, and turn, now working one side at a time. (You can now put the stitches for the other side of the neck on a stitch holder if you wish, but I don't bother.) With RS facing K2, K2togTBL, K to end. Repeat this neck decrease row every RS row 7* times, then 7* more times every 4 rows AND AT THE SAME TIME, make your armhole shaping as per pattern. *These numbers may be different for you and can be adjusted. This particular neck shaping was appropriate for my gauge and my size, yours might be different, but don't be afraid, read on! There are several factors that will change this number: your gauge, the depth of your neck and/or the size you are making. In general, the first 1/3 of the V shaping will have decreases made on every RS row, and the last 2/3 of the V shaping will have decreases made on every 4th row. This is just a general guideline, and not etched in stone. Every pattern and size you are making is easy to adjust: Before binding off, just make sure your front shoulder has the same amount of stitches as your back shoulder so they will match up when you seam. Depending on the sweater, you might have to slow down, or speed up your neck decreases. Often the neck shaping is finished several inches before you will bind off. That's fine, just work straight until the front arm scythe length matches the back. Work your second side exactly as you have done the first, but this time, with RS facing, knit to 4 sts. before center stitch, K2tog, K2 and turn. That center stitch is left alone until it's time to pick it up for the neck ribbing. This type of decrease is called a "full-fashioned" decrease and is my favorite type of decrease for a V-neck. Before we move on to the ribbing, can you see how, by fudging the rate of decreases, you can also make a very open and wide V shape, or a long, skinny V neck opening? Now, on to the ribbing!

(The picture above is unblocked so it looks a bit lumpy.) When your front is completed, seam both shoulder seams. You will be knitting the neck ribbing in the round. With short circulars, and starting at a shoulder seam, pick up and knit 1 st. for every back neck st. Down the front, pick up and knit 2 sts. for every 3 sts., pick up the center stitch, then pick up the other front at the same ratio as before. Make sure you have the same amount of stitches on either side of the V fronts: if you have 30 on the left side of the V, you should have 30 sts. on the right side with the center stitch in the middle. Begin your ribbing, it can be any ribbing you like, but here I have done a K2P2 rib to match the rest of the sweater. You may have to add or remove a stitch or two to make the ribbing work out--I like to do this on the back neck. You will be knitting in the round. Round 1: rib to 2 sts. before center st., K2tog, K center st., K2togTBL, continue with rib. Round 2: Rib, knitting the knit stitches and purling the purl stitches, always knitting the center stitch. Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until your ribbing is a scant less than 1" (or whatever depth ribbing you prefer) and bind off. If you are binding off on a round 1, make your decreases as before, binding off at the same time. I know you've tried on your sweater many times since you've started, but now is a good time to do it again, as it's really starting to look like something! Now, on to the sleeves!

The next few pictures show how I put in sleeves. Rather than knit a separate sleeve and sew it in, I knit top-down, set-in sleeves. This is a simple technique and is my preference for knitting stockinette sleeves. You pick up stitches all around the arm scythe and starting at the very top where the shoulder seam is, knit short rows to complete the "bell" shaped top. When the bell is complete and you are down to the bottom of your armhole scythe, you simply knit the sleeve down to your desired length, making decreases every 2", and finish with the ribbing or your desired cuff. I've written a post that has the complete tutorial here to show how you can make top-down, set-in sleeves. You'll also find a PDF that you can download and print out. It's an easy sleeve method and I love the results as they always fit well. I'd love to know if you try it and please tell me what you think.

I'm almost finished with the short-row shaping of the bell.

I'm pinning it together and just ready to pop it on to see how the sleeve fit is. (It was perfect, so yay!)

This picture makes my sweater look super long, but it's not really. I did add 2" to the length, and it falls to just below my hip and right where I want it. This simple, straight-forward pattern allows for many opportunities to learn new techniques for fit. Once you get the fit right, keep good notes and I imagine you'll come back to this pattern again and again, making different sweaters choosing the different options. I highly recommend Amy's pattern, especially if you are new at sweater making or new at customizing your sweater to fit well. You will learn a lot! If you don't have time to knit it at this time, download the free pattern and save it for when you do have the time. If you're thinking about joining the KAL now, it's not too late. Many people have just started swatching.

As for the yarn, I've enjoyed the Rowan Pure Wool DK so much that I purchased more to make the Floyd vest for my son for Christmas.

Here's the links!

Download Amy's free Options KAL pattern here.

Hopefully you can find Rowan Pure Wool Superwash DK at your local yarn store,
but if not, it can be purchased online at most online shops including:
Webs
Jimmy Beans
Black Sheep
Fiber Wild

Here's the post that explains the sleeves.

Lots of discussion on the KAL Ravelry page.

Amy Herzog's blog

You'll be happy you've watched these excellent YouTube videos:

Amy's first video, how to choose the correct size.
Make sure you watch Amy's second video with more details on fit modifications.
Is your hand-knit fabric sweater ready?