Well

I was going to announce winners in my anniversary word games yesterday. But with no entries, I don't have an announcement to make!

I hope the games were enjoyed even without entering. 

Wow, over halfway through January already!

I spent an overnight trip in Town this past week (went in Thursday morning, home again Friday afternoon) for a doctor's appointment. Unfortunately it was the worst weather day of the entire winter so far, especially when paired with taking the Metrobus around. Brr.

I did manage to get to Michael's and pick up some beads for Roomie that she asked if I could get there for. And I got a few colors of embroidery floss since I'd like to explore cross-stitching again. Cross-stitch and plastic canvas needlepoint are where my crafting journey began when I was 6, so a little return to roots exploration happening. I have a sampler I need to finish that I started in 2020 (self designed), and would like to stitch some smaller bits just to change up my creativity a bit.

Sadly I was in too much pain, and didn't feel up to fighting the wind, to make it to Chapters. I did wander the Coles in the Av for a bit but oddly no books found their way home with me. Any I saw that were interesting were ones I either already have or read via the Libby app/NLPL and don't need to own. 

Oh, and I indulged in something I never order out here simply because of my history with the business. I went to the Timmies in the Av and had a large white hot chocolate with 2 cream and an Earl Grey tea bag. Yum. Haven't had that in ages. It's similar to a London Fog but thicker/creamier, which appeals to me. I need to try the microwave jar method of frothing milk and see if I can make a semi-decent London Fog at home. Lots of anti-inflammatory properties in Earl Grey that would be beneficial to me if I got in the habit of one a day. It's sodium I need to cut out not anything else ;)

The anniversary celebration is over so what's next for Knit Dance Repeat Designs, you may be asking. Good question! I'm really hoping to have a pattern release announcement soon. Hand sewing and back spasms aren't really conducive to one another so I'm afraid I can't be more specific than that. I don't like not being able to give hard deadlines but these are the cards I hold, fiber friends.

I'm trying to finish up Roomie's cardigan before I start the swatches for my next two large samples. These are a pair of double-knit wraps; sister designs, really. One is 3 color double-knitting, the other is 4 colors. I need to swatch for usage so I can estimate the yardage I need to acquire to knit the samples. So much math! So much yarn!

The other thing about these swatches is they'll be perfect for getting the photos for my beginning double-knitting tutorial that I've been putting together. This tutorial will include all kinds of tips and tricks to help knitters on their double-knitting journey. The things I learned the hard way lol. Much of it is my preferences though; I've tried to be clear on that, and include links to other methods that may suit you better too. I'm nearly done writing it, then photos need adding before I hit publish. I'll let you know before it comes out. I'm aiming for late spring, May-ish, for it to be ready, but that's a moving target for now.

Alright! That's my catch up this week. What's on your needles and/or hooks, fiber friends? Anything new? In my personal projects alongside Roomie's cardigan, I'm working on clue 1 of the Common Thread's Keep It Secret Keep It Safe (KISKIS) mkal. Clue 3 came out yesterday lol :) While the mkal is going on, it's only available on R@v due to sending out updates; Ko-fi isn't set up with functionality for them but Nicole has mentioned releasing the finished pattern in her Ko-fi shop when it's complete. You might be interested if you like large worsted weight shawls full of yummy textures inspired by Middle Earth and Tolkien. Common Thread's Ko-fi shop, and all of their existing patterns, can be found here: Common Thread Ko-fi Shop🔗

This time I really am done! lol

Yours in yarn and semiorganized chaos,

Síle

Cruel Summer

I don't know where you are in the world but I think a lot of us are experiencing uncomfortable temperatures and/or conditions this year. The town I live in, on the island of rain drizzle and fog (aka RDF) has had to implement some low grade water retention measures. Never thought that would happen here.

Those measures might be lifted soon. Or not. We had rain yesterday and this morning; unfortunately both times it turned into sauna conditions very soon afterwards. To quote Jakey, or rather quote what I interpret Jakey's grumpy face to be him saying, "I no like, Auntie!"

Speaking of the fluffy furry nephew, he's been miserable from the heat and humidity, and really letting me know about it. Between him passing along his discomfort all night, my getting a bright idea at 3am, and the continuing indoor/outdoor sauna conditions, I'm functioning on caffeine, and ice water today.

Oh, and a spritz bottle of water! Roomie picked up each of us one at the local dollar store a few weeks ago, and between those and the giant 2.3L/78ounce water jugs with handles she got on the same trip, we're trying to keep cool and hydrated.

Needless to say, I haven't been knitting a whole lot this past bit. Thanks to last night's bright idea, I've got another new design in the "once I have the right yarn I can cast-on a sample" stage though! I have to confess I'm on quite a shawl kick this last while.

Speaking of my shawl designs, a new one will be going on my needles this fall. When I was in Town last month, I got to pop into The Artisan's Loft downtown on Water Street, and I met Pam from Windswept Fibers & Designs🔗 (link to the WSFD website). She dyes some of the loveliest colorways, and she just happened to have several hanks of the one I've been eyeing online, and on her Best Kind Sock base (75% superwash Bluefaced Leicester / 25% nylon; 100g / 3.88 oz = 388m / 425yds). I don't think I need to ask if you want to see it:

Isn't it gorgeous?! This is the Sea Glass colorway, and I'll be using it to bring my shawl design, The Butterfly, to life. I'm really looking forward to casting this one on!!

That's all for today, fiber friends. My photo tutorial for double-knitting should be up soon. I need to finish up the photos; kind of important in a photo tutorial ;) Expect that to be live here fairly soon.

Yours in yarn, and humidity,

Síle

Swatching Experiments: a behind the scenes look at a future idea

Now that I'm pretty much back to my usual knitting pace (with breaks; I don't want another 6+ week hiatus!), I've been doing some swatching for some ideas I'm sort of toying with, and I thought you might like to see what goes on at this stage if my process.

Ok, to be totally truthful my process rarely if ever follows the same path twice. Not how I function lol. But what does stay the same is swatching happens. 

Do I like this yarn on this size needle? What does this decrease look like? Can I work this and this on the same row and have it not look cluttered? The best way to answer these questions is to cast-on 50 or 60 stitches and start knitting whatever is going to answer the important question in front of me. Luckily I love playing with yarn. I see swatching as extra play time, which *really* makes it feel like less of a boring chore. I see you in the back shaking your head and hating on swatching. And I used to think it was pointless too. Joke was fully on me because now I cast-on a swatch at the drop of a new ball of yarn.

I digress.

So this week, besides the photos for the tutorial I mentioned on Monday (it'll be up late tomorrow or on Sunday), I had an old idea pop into my head. I had started, back in... I really want to say 2008? 2009? Possibly earlier. (Canadian retail yarn trivia: what was the craft store that was in at least one mall in most larger cities in the late 90s - early 2000s? For anyone in Regina, it was in the Southland Mall across from Safeway; where M&M Meats was in 2012. You know the spot.) Ok, I had gotten some cool teal/blue/purple variegated mohair yarn at that store probably 6 months or so before they closed out, and I was designing with it to make a triangular shawl starting at the point and working up. Between the cross country move in 2012, and a bunch of other events, that on the needles proto shawl (and any notes I had taken) no longer exists. 

And of course at around 2:30-3:00 in the morning the other day it popped up big and bold in my head. Clear as day. And that prompted me to wonder if I could at least recall how I was shaping it. Which led to a swatch. And me being a much more experienced knitter now means I have a few more tricks in my shaping knits repertoire than I did back then. 

I started by trying to just chart my idea out, and I got a good 30 rows into it with everything looking good. Look at that, I said to myself. That's looking how I remember it. Cool. 

There are times when something on paper, or a digital chart program, looks really good. The proof is when it works in a swatch. 

Well, fiber friends, it started off well. The first about 12 rows or so were great. And then I noticed it sort of looked like it was developing a bubble. I persevered, and kept knitting (because that always goes well, right? Yeeeeeaaah) until I couldn't deny what was in front of me:

You see it, don't you? It's almost forming a mitered square back in on itself. That is very much not the look I was going for. Now, of course one has to consider if something like this will block out. Which isn't an answer I can give because I just grabbed any old yarn close to hand and a circular needle that looked about right to go with the yarn (my needle gauge is still MIA). Of course the yarn closest to hand on my end table was a leftover ball of acrylic of indeterminate age and brand.

And after getting the above photo, I promptly frogged the little swatch with a mind of its own. 

What have I learned? Stacking right side rows of 1-into-3 increases upon right side rows of 1-into-3 increases causes rows of garter stitch to bow out and almost turn square. 

I've adjusted the chart and sometime in the next week or so I'll see what happens with that one. Should be interesting to see.

Yours in yarn and lingering ideas,

Síle

Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘

Hello!

It's about time I popped back over here to let you all know what's on the go here at KDRD!

And what better day to write a post than today? So let me get you updated :)

Sadly, Ma Nature continues to be a bit of brat, and photos for the Hornpipe Bag haven't happened. The town where I reside "welcomed" no we didn't! 20cm (about 8 inches) of heavy, wet, sloppy, slushy snow yesterday. Talk about putting a damper on things! So gross, and heavy. Blech. I would hope that's the end of the white stuff but this being Newfoundland, I'm not going to hold my breath. Blue might be my favorite color but I don't think it's a good skin tone for me! ;)

While I wait for the dear lady to sort out the weather for us, I'm getting another tutorial or maybe two ready before the pattern comes out. My way of doing things in double-knitting are just slightly different than what others do so it just makes sense to show you how I did something, doesn't it? I think I'll have one out before next Friday. If the photobombing furry people ever quit with their interruptions ;) Ah, life with cats :)

I'm happy to report the Four Hand Reel, a tote bag pattern drawing inspiration from traditional quilt blocks and céilí (kay-lee) dancing, has been sent to my techeditor. I've tentatively penciled in test/preview knitting to start next month. This would be a minimum 10 week time frame, based on the yardage, so publishing would happen in later June-early July. As always, my timeline is pretty flexible. Definitely out this summer!

The other pattern I'm going over and tweaking before sending off to be edited is my Planxty Hap, a lace shawl with traditional Shetland elements as a base that I've added my own spins to. My aim is to have that through techediting, test/preview knitting, and publishing before winter returns; October/November-ish ideally. We'll see how that timeline comes together.

Countess Cathleen, my hooded cabled cloak design, is at a bit of an impasse at the moment. Charting, and knitting, a knotwork motif based off of the main cable panel I designed is proving a bit of a headache. I will prevail, eventually, but that particular project is in a bit of a timeout right now. I have a couple of other double-knit ideas swirling: a cowl and scarf set, a blanket in three sizes, and a 3 color shawl/wrap with different designs on each side. And there's another lace shawl in the future as well. Plus my usual cable heavy ideas, of course. I have more than a few of those knocking about! 

In my personal crafting I have a few things on the go.

I'm completely charmed by Lyrical Knits' 2023 MKAL shawl, Who Ya Gonna Shawl? (Link to the Pattern listing in Lyrical Knits' Payhip store🔗). I treated myself to this gem and some lovely yarn as a birthday present (Aside: how the heck did I turn 45 last month?!?!), and it's definitely fit the bill as a treat. The mkal, mystery knit along for those not familiar with the abbreviation, is a lot of fun. Check out Mary's previous mkals and her lovely sweater patterns in her Payhip store as well. I have a few in my 'must make' list. You can see my in progress shawl on my notebook blog (link in the sideboard). I'm using 4 colors of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 Ply, which is really lovely, both in colors and for knitting with. Really super happy with choosing it!

I finished these lovely Talamh fingerless mitts for Roomy/Sis. These were designed by Liz Corke, and I started them during the 2022 FOYAL. I used Briggs & Little Sport in "mauve", and I think they turned out just perfect. And I have more than enough left of that ball to make something for me too. I love when that happens :) You can find the Talamh pattern here (link to Pattern listing in Liz's Payhip store🔗)

I've got a couple of gifts on the needles for special little people in my life right now. I confess, between my Who Ya Gonna Shawl? and these cute projects, that's where my personal knitting/crafting time has been going. No pics until these are delivered as they're as much a surprise for the little people as their parents ;) I love making surprises, especially cute ones!

How are your knitting projects going? Have you been using precious gems from your yarn horde? Or found a new-to-you yarn that's becoming a go-to? Are you crafting for the coming spring and summer months, or getting one more cold weather favorite finished? Plans for larger projects this year? I'd love to hear all about what you're at :)

Yours in yarn and a shamrock covered hair scarf, 

Síle

Did you think I was kidding? ;)

Wanna See a Swatch?

No, really. I was playing around with double-knitting and texture the other day and I made this little bit:

I think it's kind of cute and also interesting. I've been toying with a double-knit blanket idea for a bit, and I think this might create the effect I was looking for in part of it. Possibly. I'll have to try a few other things out next.

What do you think? Something you'd like to try maybe?

Speaking of double-knitting, I should have a double-knit eyelet tutorial up later this week. And yes, it ties directly to the Hornpipe Bag pattern.

Yours in yarn and double-knitting experiments and photo tutorials,

Síle