Earth Day: Honeycomb Wrap

Happy Earth Day to all!  I'm sure we all to do our best to reduce, reuse and recycle in our everyday lives and for me, I carry this into my knitting as well!  I'm excited to announce my new Honeycomb Wrap pattern!  It can be purchased here on Ravelry.

This wrap has been made with 100% recycled cashmere/merino yarn.  I do love to knit with recycled yarn but cashmere is such a treat!

It's a lightweight wrap perfect for cooler Spring & Summer nights.  

I love the simple & elegant design of this stitch.  It reminds me of a bee hive hence the Honeycomb name. It can be dressed it up or down use it as a wrap or a scarf.  Very versatile piece to add to you wardrobe!

The wrap looks more daunting than it is to knit.  If you are comfortable with Kf&b of the same stitch and basic increases and decreases you are good to go!  As always, I am here for pattern support and I do respond very quickly most days.  I know what it's like...to be stuck...

What have you made with recycled yarn?  I'd love to see them.

You can do this!  Have a great Earth Day my knitting friends!

A Knit for Moi.

After yesterday's debacle, I decided last night to give designing a rest for a couple of days.  I need my mind to clear and then start anew.   However, since I was not in a great mood last night I decided to go all out rebel with my next project - Aise.

Gorgeous right?  Yeah, I know.  While this pattern is right up my alley design wise, it's completely opposite of what I normally knit.  First, I'm making it in HOT pink cashmere people.  HOT pink.  I hate pink.  I don't wear it, I hate to knit with it but it came with 3 cones of gray which I do love.   

Next, it's lace.  My last lace project landed in the trash.  Yes, I said it, I threw the damn thing out which I never did before or since.  It was a tangled mess and every time I saw it I wanted to cringe.   So out it went.  You also need really pointy tips to knit anything lace.  My last lace project was attempted with Knit Picks aluminum which were not pointy at all and they failed big time.  Each stitch was a pain to pick up.  Now I have my Red Lace Chi's which are much pointier.

Finally, knitting lace is akin to knitting dental floss or thread with 2 number 2 pencils.   Completely slow and very frustrating.  The yarn is so thin, sometimes it splits and I tend to make more mistakes than usual.  These mistakes are not so easy to fix and are easily noticed.  Sigh.  

So there you have it.  I am going against all my normal knitting instincts and so far so good.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  It's simple and mindless. It keeps my attention just enough because I have to concentrate on not messing up.

Have you ever knit something out of your knitting box?  I'd love to hear your stories.

Knit on with confidence my friends.  Knit on!

Allium Fingerless Gloves Pattern

I have a few new patterns that I will be releasing this year and I'm really excited to share my new Allium Fingerless Gloves pattern with you.  It has just emerged from the testing process and it's ready to go.  So without further adeu, drum roll please lol

 What do you think?  

I just love them!  I know I'm biased but they are too cute!  How did I come up with this design, you ask?  During a particularly long and brutally cold winter, I needed something to remind me that it's almost over.  These gloves were inspired by ont of my favorite flowers - Allium.

They are from the onion family and the garlic family.   They bloom in late Spring and each bloom lasts for weeks.  Easy to care for and very undemanding what's not to love?  They are the perfect shade of purple and round in shape.  Adorable and beautiful and I cant get enough.  Okay back to the pattern

I tried a new yarn for me, Spud & Chole Fine.  I have been drooling over their yarns for quite some time but it's spendy, at least for me.  However, my good friends at Jimmy Beans wool added this yarn to their Wool Watcher which allowed me to try a skein or 2.  Loving the copper color and the stitch definition of this yarn.  The gloves are long and the Allium design carries from cuff to cuff with a plain stockinette stitch on the bottom.   The pattern is written and contains helpful links to stretchy BO's and CO's.  I think an advanced beginner could conquer these in no time.  The pattern is easy to memorize and once you get going they are quite fast to knit.  Only requiring 200 yards of fingering weight yarn and who doesn't have that lying around.  Here is the link to the pattern just in case you want to knit yourself a pair Allium Link

It's a New Year

And I promised myself that I would blog more frequently.  As you can see, so far this year, it's been a total fail but the good news is every sunrise means it's a new day.  I'm starting today.

I have no idea why I find it so difficult.  I knit everyday and I can talk for hours upon hours without pause when it comes to yarn and knitting.  But for some reason typing it all just doesn't happen.  Part of me feels like, who cares really, and the other part is I can't wait to tell everyone what I created.  So, I'm going with the later and I hope that you enjoy my rambling writings about my life and yarn.

Another thing that I promised myself I would get done this year is more designing.  I love designing and I have notebooks full of sketches, Pinterst boards filled with pins and an endless supply of knitting books and stitch libraries at my fingertips. ,Lately, however, I tend to enjoy the looking and pinning rather than putting my thoughts into action. I did manage to design AND knit a new pair of fingerless gloves which I love.  The pattern is being tested right now by my friends at Ravelry and I can't wait to show it to you.  I also have another wrap I made last year that has yet to be tested or typed.  It's on my to do list.   It's a beautiful light green 100% recycled cashmere, fingering weight that was a pleasure to in tip.  The pattern is simple, the stitch delicate and the design timeless.  It's perfect for Spring which is why I have to get a move on it.

The rest of last week was not so successful.  At times, designing is frustrating.  There are so many wonderful stitches out there that I find myself lost in too much information.  My mind wanders and wanders, it looks for the perfect yarn and stitch combination that matches the picture in my head, basically, I think too much!  Have you ever had that problem?  Please tell me I'm not alone.  I was so frustrated that I needed to take a break and a few deep breathes.  Breath in and out.  In and out.

Today was another day and after I finished what I needed to complete I whipped out the books once again.  I promised myself not to think too much.  Find a stitch I like and decide what I *think* it would be great for a pillow, a scarf, a wrap, or mittens perhaps and so I did.  This time it worked and not only did I find a stitch I know what I'm going to use it for and I even decided on the trim.  Yeah!  So now I'm off to swatch with this scrumptious light gray cashmere that has been calling me for weeks.

Until next friends knit on and prosper!

On the hunt for new interchangeable knitting needles

Last week I had 3 cables break on my much loved Knit Picks Interchangeable needles and that was the last straw!  It took every bit of my patience not to break them all over my knee and it's a good that I don't a fireplace because I would have thrown them right in!
 
Yes, I am aware that I can call Knit Picks and they will send me new cords at no charge but it doesn't make knitting and dropped stitches any less annoying or frustrating.   This is not the first time this has happened to me it's probably the 4th.  The other issue I have with them is that each needle size is NOT MARKED on the needles at all.  I am constantly have to use my needle gauge to figure out what size it is.  (I have multiples in same sizes)

I think I have given them a very good test and in the end I am not happy.

I know that I want metal and I also know that I want the tips to be pointy.  I have narrowed down my choices to Addi Turbo Lace, Hiya Hiya or ChiaoGoo Red Lace needles.  All will definitely be an investment as they are not cheap by any means.   I was going to order a complete set but after giving it some more thought last night I think the smalls would be best.  Here are some of the positives on ChiaoGoo that I have discovered so far:

1. Set comes 2-8 and they are the only company that has sz. 2 & 3 in interchangeable (Yeah!)

2. The case is beautiful unlike Knit Picks Plastic garbage case which is useless.

3. The red steel wires are covered with red plastic which does not kink, is so flexible and not to mention
    pretty.

4. Points are super pointy and the yarn glides beautifully and seamlessly.  They are metal but have a
    slight amount of grip on the yarn which doesn't even slow me down and I am a very fast knitter.

The only thing that I am worried about is that, for some knitters,  the needle unscrews from the wire even after tightening which results in dropped stitches.

(See this great blogpost by Modern/Vintage Here)

Obviously, I won't know if I am one of those unfortunate knitters until I try them.

ADDI's connect just like the Knit Picks which I already know work great for me and the thought of dropping $90 on a set which may not work for me is scary.  

I did order a Addi Turbo fixed 24" long tip from ebay and I am waiting for it to come.  I will post my review once I've had a chance to knit with them.  One of my local yarn stores does carry Hiya Hiya needles as well as Chiagoo and Addi Turbo but they are out of stock in the size I want to test.  So, I am awaiting their arrival.

A Photo Session at Batsto

This past Saturday my hubby and I decided to go to Batsto Village.  It's a beautiful park in Southern NJ.  The grounds are beautiful and the perfect place to take pictures of my Christmas stockings.  We weren't sure if it was open due to the government shutdown but, thankfully, it was.

Here are a few pictures of all the Historic buildings located at the park.  You can go in each one and sign up for a tour of the mansion.   It's free to roam the grounds.




I have no idea why I never thought of going there to take pictures.  Hubby did the staging and fixing and I just took the pictures.  It was a perfect day working together and we both enjoyed spending quality time together.  Here are a few of the shots we took.