Try Three: Piney Warmth Hat

In this chaos of moving, I impulsively tossed an old notebook. I forgot that, scribbled on a page lost somewhere in the middle, were my directions for the Piney Warmth Hat that I designed. So, I pulled out a piney warmth that I still have. I am knitting another one and paying attention to the old one. I am knitting this piney warmth out of Merino Style, my favorite yarn from KnitPicks. Unfortunately, it was discontinued a few months ago.

I am making great progress on my Union Long Beanie. I'm almost ready to start the decreases! It will have a button tab on one side. I should start thinking about a button before I leave for school and don't have access to my button collection.

Happy Knitting!

DownTown Knits

Last Saturday I visited another local yarn shop in Apex, NC called DownTown Knits.

The owner, Michele, has arranged the shop to have a spacious sit and knit area with lots of room for the knitters that gather on Friday for Knit Night.

I've enjoyed her variety of hand-dyed, natural fiber, locally produced, and designer yarns. I had never knit with Malabrigo or Manos before coming to her shop, and I now quite enjoy them.

I really like the knitting bag above: Keep Calm and Carry Yarn. The table above also features DTK's own line of yarn, Gather, a beautiful hand-dyed merino wool.

Michele has creatively grouped yarn, knitting bags, and knitted samples together throughout the shop.

There is a scarf-tree in the front window with several lovely, ruffled, variegated scarves.

Michele has a great baby knitting section complete with machine washable yarn, baby knitting books, like Itty-Bitty Nursery, shop samples of baby garments, and even a few baby hats and booties for sale.

I have really enjoyed admiring and gaining inspiration from the hat table. I think I might even venture to try entrelac (the hat pictured just above with the sunflower-like pattern) for this adorable tam.

I purchased Manos Maxima, a fair trade, kettle-dyed merino wool. Because East Carolina University's colors are purple and gold, I knew I would have to get this skein. I thought it would be fitting to knit a little scarflette, like the one in this post, to go with my purple dress for the fall. 

Please visit Michele's website at www.downtownknits.com! Happy Knitting!

Green Fingerless Mitts with Buttons, a Scarflette, and a Headband (finishing up Christmas gift posting)

I knit these fingerless mitts from the cuff up. I made the pattern up as I went based on a few proportions from other patterns I had. These mitts were knit from one of my favorite yarns, Merino Style, from Knit Picks, in the Moss colorway (probably my favorite of the colors I’ve used from Merino Style). It does have to be gently hand-washed (as it’s 100% Merino wool), but it is very soft.  It also gets fluffier and softer after washing, technically called blooming. 

I added a unique button from JoAnn’s to the cuff. It reminds me of lace, except in plastic. It’s a lighter green than the mitts, but it coordinated nicely. I made these mitts for a friend of mine who loves buttons. Have you ever spent time making something specifically for that person really hoping they love it, and you don’t really hear back from them? It’s like the item has disappeared forever. I don’t know how much she likes them, but hopefully she’ll enjoy them. 

I got these pictures a few minutes before packaging the mitts up to give to my friend. My sister is modeling. I think she was secretly hoping that I would decide to give them to her. 

In this second series of pictures, I’m wearing the fingerless mitts with the buttons (it was freezing outside, okay? and I was just wearing my pretty Christmas dress) and another triangular scarflette. I loved how the scarflette and the mitts pretty much match (both from the same company, though slightly different fiber content influenced dye adhesion). The scarflette was knit from another beautiful yarn, Gloss DK, also from KnitPicks. It is 70% Merino wool, 30% silk. The yarn is dyed after the two fibers were mixed (I don’t know if this was before or after it was spun), which resulted in a bit of sparkle. Silk does not accept dye as readily as wool does (wool just drinks it up) so the silk is a slightly lighter green and gives the yarn color more dimension and vibrancy that a 100% wool yarn.

As of yet, the scarflette has not found a new home. I’m hoping to sell it if I can figure out how to set up the business logistics and PayPal. If you're interested in purchasing it, send me an email and we'll discuss details.

In these last pictures, I’m modeling another Christmas gift for a friend. She saw the blue flowered headband for my sister and told me she wanted one in red. I was so excited. I can follow directions and I love knowing that she'll actually probably wear it. The one I made for her was smaller than my sister’s; it’s flower is smaller, more elegant, and more appropriate from a teenager than huge flower. Plus, my sister’s flowered headband is starting to flop around from the weight of the flower. My sister had literally stretched out her headband from trying it on too many times before I even gave it to her. I designed this little red headband with i-cord tails so the fit can be adjusted to fit the wearer’s head and if the headband stretches a little, it won’t be a big deal. 

So yes, I know Christmas is over, and school has started again, but I’m still catching up with posting the picture of all my Christmas knits. What have you been working on? Did you finish all your Christmas knits in time, or are you still finishing up the IOU projects? You can put your answer in the comments. 

Happy New Year!