Finished Object Friday!

YarnTowers.comYes, really :) I can happily announce a finished project.

My Finola is off the hook! :) And I love how it's turned out. Now I need an occasion to wear it. Those sparkles say "Dress up, girl!" to me lol

And of course Jakey decided to photobomb. Little cutie.

(Finola was designed by Aoibhe Ní and can be found on her website YarnTowers.com along with all of her other clever and beautiful designs.)

Are you close to an FO? Or maybe you just started a new WIP? I'd love to hear about what you've got on the go

Yours in yarn and sparkles,

Síle

A Knitter (and Auntie of Felines) Goes Through a Hurricane

Sept. 10, 2021 - 12:43pm NDT (Newfoundland Daylight Time)

This post is going to be a bit different. You can guess from my title, t's not overly knitting or dance related but it is me related so here goes:

Will be knitting to calm my nerves tonight; I'm within the Tropical Storm Warning area for Hurricane Larry, which is set to hit the island of Newfoundland roughly 9pm tonight. Could have winds up to 115km/h here! And we're not in the actual Hurricane Warning area!! Town and pretty well the entire Avalon Peninsula can expect up to 130km/h gusts. I think it's gusts. I hope it's gusts. If that's sustained winds the island's going to become unmoored!

I plan to update this post as things happen. So I'll be time-stamping each bit.

So right now it's partly cloudy and a bit breezy. Pretty normal September day really. You'd never know anything were brewing for later on! According to the Weather Network app on my phone, it's currently 21°C, feeling like 23. Humidity is at 63%, with winds from the south at 25km/h, gusting to 38km/h. This is a very standard day here.

My roommate has gone out of town for the weekend; these plans were made long before Larry was a thought. That leaves me here by myself with the three cats. Jakey, who you know so well, is absolutely terrified of high winds. Luckily Silver is very calm. I don't know if Jade will panic or not; she's quite high-strung. 

Ok, I'll check in with you all later on :)

4:55pm NDT:

Sky is very cloudy but still bright. Looks like a normal "about to rain" moment. Current conditions: 22°C, feeling like 26. Humidity is at 77%, with winds from the south at 20km/h, gusting to 30km/h. 

I'm about to start the gauge piece for this lovely crocheted blanket a dear friend sent me as a surprise. Here's the yarn photos:

The kit is for the Aria Blanket by Lucy of Attic24. It's such a glorious riot of color!!! It's a join as you go, granny style afghan which I just love. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, 322yds/295m = 100g

I have extra water bottled and put in the fridge, plus in the tub for flushing the toilet if needs be. I have food that doesn't require stove or microwave in case of power outage. The feline family are well stocked on food, and the above mentioned water in the fridge. 

So that's it for this update! Talk to you in a bit :)

7:58pm NDT:

The latest from our NTV weatherman, Eddie Scheerr, is that we have a bit yet before things start. Due to time, it's already black outside but I took this picture from my living room window about 7:40pm; the window faces fairly much due south:

That might be the only photo I get tonight.

I can say the feline members of the household are all calm. No signs of weather wackiness. The winds are also not bad so that's probably why. Until later! 

11:58pm NDT:

The rain has started, but it's very calm. Current conditions: 19°C, feeling like 21°C. Wind is E 12km/h, gusting to 17km/h. 

Sept. 11, 2021 - 4:06am NDT:

Been a very quiet night here. Not so other places on the island, especially the Avalon Peninsula. K has reported that our friends' fence is partially gone along with the door to their greenhouse; this is where she's spending her time in Town. Wind is picking up now. Current conditions: 19℃ feeling like 20℃, with the humidity at 89%. Wind is from the south-west at 36km/h, gusting to 54km/h. This is the highest the wind's been here all night.

I've managed to swatch for the blanket (took 3 tries!), and have crocheted the first two squares :) It's a small start but a start nonetheless. Here's how it looks:

5:38am NDT: It seems like the wind has increased but according to the Weather Network app on my phone the gusts have actually gone down by a km/h since I last checked it. All of my temps and wind speeds have been with this app. Jakey and Silver are a bit jittery now that we have noticeable wind. We still have power so I'm watching Bones reruns and crocheting. There honestly can't be a much more me thing to do during a storm :D 

6:34am NDT: Judging by being able to see the sun coming up, I think it's safe to say Larry has left this part of Newfoundland. I took this panoramic photo of my street from my living room window:

The current conditions here are: 19°C feeling like 20°C, with winds from the south-west of 31km/h and gusts up to 47km/h. The humidity is at 88%.

I think this is my last update post. C'ville appears to be in one piece, my furry nephew and nieces are calm and happy (they also just got some Temptations treats, so that's where the happy is coming from :D ), and I've got nearly 4 squares done on my blanket. For the record the blanket consists of 144 squares plus a border.

Time for a nap!

Thanks for following along :) 

Yours in yarn and calmer weather,

Síle

A Look at Double-Knitting

I've been doing a lot of swatching and playing with double-knitting the past few years, so I thought it might be fun to look at it in a bit more depth.

For those not familiar with it, double-knitting is a method of knitting that produces a fabric with no wrong side. Your finished product has two right sides, making it excellent for blankets, scarves, shawls, and even hats. This can be accomplished with one yarn/color by knitting and slipping alternating stitches, or with 2 yarns/colors (or more!) by knitting with one and purling with the other.

Designs can be knitted in by altering which color you use for the knits and purls. This produces a mirror image of the design on the other side, in opposite colors. For example a red flower on a blue background on side A is a blue flower on a red background on side B. This is regular or standard double-knitting, and it produces fabulous results.

Of course, there's always the desire to push the envelope. Standard double-knitting's mirrored image "back" side is problematic for words and numbers or other non-symmetrical elements. Which brings us to 2 pattern double-knitting. This method allows you to knit words that read the same front and back, handy for personalizing scarves for example. Or you could be like me and want two completely different images on either side like this heart and house square I knit last fall:

Completely different yet knit at the same time.

Last week I was playing with 3 colors in a regular double-knit. Because of the third color this method is approached, and charted, the same way a 2 pattern double-knit is done. Here's what I was playing with:

In my scarf pattern Rínce Fada (you can find all of my patterns at the pattern tab above), I used both standard and 2 pattern double-knitting. I also delved into double-knit cables and textured stitches. I bordered the long sides of the scarf with simple rope cables on reverse stockinette panels, you can see in this close up photo:

That small bit of cabling in a double-knit project has led me to other experiments with cables. I'm currently working on a swatch of 2 XO cable panels in opposite colors, on reverse stockinette stitches done in the opposite color. That sounds very confusing so here's what it looks like currently:

The reverse side is identical to this side. Because of the way I structure my cables in double-knitting, I could knit the opposite side completely flat in the same stripe sequence or even in only one of the colors. Even a third color! Oh the possibilities!

How am I doing this? By employing 2 short cable needles (I used toothpicks with the fingering weight yarn of Rínce Fada! Yes, really. Wooden toothpicks are grippy, and easily found in the house) I'm able to work my cables on only one layer of the fabric rather than twisting both sides of it together. So while the swatch in my photo is destined for a blanket pattern, I have other ideas where non-reversible cables may form a large part. Fun! 

Looking for more on double-knitting? Visit Alasdair Post-Quinn's website (linked in the sidebar; Fallingblox Designs) or YouTube channel (search for Fallingblox Designs). Also on YouTube, look for Lattes & Llamas; they release the annual Geek Along Afghan blocks which are double-knit.

Yours in yarn and double the stitches ;)

Síle

(All photos are of my own projects and patterns, some not yet published.)

Something a Little Different

Quick post today :)

Do you like trying out crafting techniques that are just a bit different than the usual? For example, Tunisian crochet instead of standard crochet. I like changing things up a bit, sort of testing my skills, stretching my craft muscles.

As you know, I've been working on the Finola shawl (by the talented designer Aoibhe Ní; her website is YarnTowers.com🔗), which is stretching my crochet muscles to Tunisian crochet. It's coming along great and I'm really enjoying the making. And it got me thinking about my knitting muscle. How can I stretch that? What step up can I reach for?

Have you ever seen 3 color double-knitting? I hadn't until I saw the Waterford Wrap by Alasdair Post-Quinn (link to his website, double-knitting.com, is in the sidebar). Revisiting patterns I own lately got my mind to thinking that's something I'd like to try. So I started on a little test piece/swatch the other day, and I'm really pleased with myself for how it's coming along. Here's a collage photo, so you can see both sides:

You might find my "flowers" familiar. They're the same ones I used on the sides of my Rínce Fada scarf :) So that's my little experiment right now. And yes, there's a reason for my playing with 3 color double-knitting, but that's for a later day!

September 1st, the unofficial first day of Fall. This year is zipping by for me. I hope you're ready to dive into sweater season! I know I am :)

Yours in yarn and the tangle 3 color knitting puts me in,

Síle

Summertime...

 And the knitting has been slow and not all that steady. 

Like many of you, we've been experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, (remember, I live on an island in the North Atlantic Ocean known for its stunning views of icebergs) with the addition of very wet, muggy air. I don't mind a bit of heat, part of my prairie dwelling past, but humidity does me in. 

And humidity doesn't make blocking a very easy process when nothing wants to dry. This has impacted the finishing of Hap-Hazard the worst. Lace requires a good stretch blocking to show at its best. As of right now, it's still looking quite rumpled in that unblocked lace way that makes a knitter question if they've made a horrible mistake or several.

I have managed to, slowly, start work on another new design. This will be a tote bag I'm dubbing the Four Hand Reel. I have one main side finished, and the other is about half done. Then comes the bottom/sides/strap piece, which is joined as I knit it. I chose bright colors (it requires four) which makes it a very cheerful knit. So that's coming along really nicely, and it might be possible to have the pattern out later this year. I hope.

Waiting on news of my Hornpipe Bag? It's in a minor timeout right now. I was so confident what I wrote would work but that was not the case! I'm in the midst of simplifying and reworking the drawstring eyelets. I'm still aiming to have it released this year and (finally) bring "All the Jigs and Reels" to a close. Stay tuned!

I hope the summer weather hasn't impacted your crafting too negatively this year. I'm "behind" on my personal projects as well, but there's joy in not having deadlines on those at least. I'm on the neckband of my Finola (by Aoibhe Ní; her website is here) which has been an excellent intro to Tunisian crochet for me. Here's a photo I took of it on a much sunnier day when I took it out on the back deck for some outdoor crafting: 

It should be finished in not too long! :)

That's it from me on this cloudy Saturday!

Yours in yarn and unreached deadlines,

Síle

Underestimating

Happily, I've been getting some design work done the last bit. And I'm oh so close to having my next pattern with my techeditor! 

But first I've got to get it cast-off and blocked. You wouldn't think casting off would be an issue, but when you're doing a bit of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants designing it really can turn out to be a thing.

I'm at work on a shawl I'm calling "Hap-Hazard", and it's one I've worked on, off and on, for nearing 6 years. I knit the original in an acrylic yarn and wanted to see if it was better in a blockable fiber. That plan took a small detour as I worked on other items. Finally I was able to acquire 5 hanks of my go-to wool from Briggs & Little, Heritage, and get to work. I don't work on only one thing at a time though so the shawl got put aside more than a few times.

This spring I've needed that comforting knitting though, so Hap-Hazard has been added back into my rotation of in progress projects. And it's nearly done. I posted a photo to my Instagram today showing just the small ball of wool and some of the stitches on the circular needle. Here's the photo:

(And before anyone asks, the stitch marker is by a clay artist in St. John's who sells them as Dawn's Creations; website: Dawn's Creations. I bought a set of her Jellybean Row Houses from Cast On Cast Off (lys in St. John's; website: Cast On Cast Off); this is the green one. I like green and purple together. You've seen my Rínce Fada scarf, right? Sorry for the tangent lol)

So I got the photo posted and returned to the cast off. I hadn't gotten too far when I realized that I was going to lose at yarn chicken by a large margin. sigh I did the only thing I could: removed the shawl from the needle and frogged back 4 rounds of lace knitting, tinked another as I replaced the stitches on the needle, and now I'm in the process of tinking the last round. My pattern has a 6 round repeat. More than enough wool to cast off properly now!

When I started working on this pattern, I had 3 charts adding up to 144 rounds of the border. I knit 70 when I realized that 1) it was going to be far bigger than I thought, and 2) I didn't have enough yarn to get much finished beyond the 70 rounds. Oops! Time to cast off! And then the aforementioned yarn chicken occurred. 1075 yds/ 5 hanks of my chosen wool seemed like the right amount to get for this design. Next time I go for the even half dozen! An extra hank of worsted weight is always handy for a hat or a pair of mittens. And then I don't need frog/tink more than normal! 

I've adjusted the charts and the written instructions already so once it's blocked and final measurements are added to the pattern, and photos are taken, I'll get the pattern off to be techedited and figure out how to run the test knit once it's done there. If anyone has any tips on holding testknits off-Rav, I'd love to hear them! I'm looking into YarnPond as a possibility but I'm open to anything except R*velry (for obvious reasons, like not being able to use it very long myself), and via email. I used to hold them over email but found it difficult for my testers to share with each other. That was a benefit of my R*velry group; everyone could see how each other's project was turning out, and could ask questions that were seen by everyone participating. Much more fun! Leave me a comment if you've had success with a certain platform or if you've participated in a testknit with another designer that you enjoyed where it was run. 

In Jakey news, the floofy boy is happy and healthy. The fur isn't quite fully grown in on his tail, but you'd never guess all the troubles he had these last few months. You can still use code Jakey to get 25% off any of my patterns (tab at the top of this blog), with monies after fees going to the remaining bill. Thank you to everyone who has bought patterns this spring! 

I think that's all the news around here for now.

Yours in yarn and chart revisions,

Síle