Blocked

Alex stopped by this afternoon with my finished Hug Shot. She blocked it and sewed the ends in. Thank you Alex - it made all the difference.

I received an email that our Hedgehog order is leaving Ireland on Monday. We will have new Sock Mini Skeins in the order. What colours? Lots of brand new ones. Hedgehog hasn’t even photographed this set yet.

Plump, Phoenix, Potion, Gossip, Crush, Insomnia, Rosehip, Heron, Bijou, Melon, Deja Vu, Ozone, Danube, Orion, Firefly, Graphite, Hawk, Boa, Wish, Cedar, Deep End, Beach Bunny, Matchstick, Comeback, DRK, Beatle, Macaroon, Guppy, Fools Gold, Pollen

A great pattern for minis is Squared.

Simple modular poncho design with an applied i-cord border. No need to pick up stitches all the way around, yay! You will be holding two strands of different colours for a marled effect. The poncho is knitted in sections that are attached as you go. Easy and fun project, incorporating lots of different colours of fingering weight, so go dive into that stash! 

The pattern is free on Hedgehog’s website.

Julie Ann knit Squared a few years ago. It is stunning in real life.

Also coming
Kidsilk Lace
Skinny Singles
Sock
Twist Sock
Merino DK

There is a brand new yarn coming as well.

Tweedy skeined

Fresh from the mill :) I'm really excited about this new base that I've been working on for a while. It's a tweed yarn and the coloured bits are our own hand-dyed waste - the ties that we take off the hand dyed skeins. We save them very diligently and it's a labour of love. 

We have been collecting the ties for a while and I finally found a mill that could process these, which means re-carding them, blending and spinning into yarn again. We have a batch of this lovely grey-ish tweed yarn with colourful speckles. I love how neutral it is with a colourful bit here and there. It comes in one colourway only and I think it's just calling for sweaters and cardigans. 

We are always looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly and to minimise waste. On top of our thread waste we are using recycled wool, making 50% of the total content recycled. I love the result! It's soft, yet wooly and not superwash. It blooms beautifully after washing. 

I'm making a chunky lace shawl with it, which will be a free pattern very soon (hopefully as soon as this base starts hitting stores!) I've included an unblocked sneak peek in the last photo :) 

Andrea Mowry has swatched and there is a pattern coming late summer/early fall.  

The composition is: 50% Falkland Merino Wool, 37.5% Recycled wool, 12.5% our Thread waste 

I don’t know the thickness right now and Hedgehog is now closed for the weekend. I’ll share as soon as I find out.

Gorgeous and subtle, but still fun 

Blooms after washing 

Raw material

Shawl design in the making

I can’t wait to see this in person.

Now it’s time to knit a few rows on my Botanic Shawl.

Happy Father’s Day

I finished. Now blocking and sewing in ends. I was cutting it a bit close on getting pictures tonight. The sun was setting and it was almost too dark.

Pattern: Hug Shot (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: Smooshy Cashmere Hug Shot kit

After I finished the cast off I picked up my Fading Point and completed the first triangle.

There is a bit of a colour theme happening. I need to step away from purple for my next project 😘

Beth had cupcakes ready for dad to decorate. After dinner we played a game of dice. It’s hard to explain but we play it a lot. I was texting with Aunt Rene while playing and she told us to let dad win. Not a chance. Not in our DNA (Aunt Rene agreed to that). Dad did end up winning and won big. We play for ‘money’ but everything lost goes to Ancaster Community Services. We total up every few months and send money or food.

Almost Finished

My Hug Shot is almost finished. I knit after taking these pictures. 6 rows and the cast off to go.

I would definitely recommend Smooshy Cashmere. The yarn is a dream to knit with.

I received an email from Biches & Buches today and they are introducing new colours of Le Petit Silk & Mohair this week. As soon as they are available online I will place my order.

The latest Knitty.com is available online. Our friend Kate Atherly has a must see column - How To Actually Knit the Size You Want. There are three videos to watch. Don’t forget about the great patterns.

Someone had a hard day.

Walking a Beagle

There was a lot of knitting today and my Hug Shot is growing.

Our friend Kate Atherley has a new pattern. Walking a Beagle Cowl can be purchased on Ravelry.

A quick-knit two-colour brioche cowl. Ideal for a second brioche project, it uses some fundamental brioche increases and decreases, and provides a gentle introduction to brioche chart reading (although it’s all written out, too). A full explanation of the Brioche stitches is provided as a refresher, along with tips to make it easier. 

The variegated yarn used in the sample is leftovers of a skein that was custom-dyed as part of Knitted Wit’s Designers’ Dogs fundraising project. The colourway was inspired by our rescue dog, Dexter. He’s a mostly black-and-tan beagle mix with a splash of white, who wears a jaunty red collar. The motif represents the winding path that beagles like to take when walking – weaving back and forth, sniffing everything in their path. The three ribs represent our family: me, my husband, and Dexter. 

This yarn, sadly, is no longer available, but any combination of solid with a wild variegated yarn would work well. It would look just as good in two solid colours, as long as there’s lots of contrast. 

The basic design is very flexible; I’ve included suggestions for using other yarns, or making the cowl wider.

Pretend TNNA Day 2

There were a lot of booths visited today.

I met the ladies from Spincycle Yarn. The yarn is gorgeous and you will love it. It is handspun and hand dyed in Washington State.

I had to order these amazing Pom poms. The patterns are by Amy Opie and you can purchase them on Ravelry.

SweetGeorgia Yarns has introduced Party of Five kits. These are 5 mini skeins of Tough Love Sock. This shawl is Magmatic Boom and was knit with one kit.

You know that there will be a lot of colour in the Prism Yarns booth.

I love knitting bags and the Atenti booth did not disappoint.

Beth visited the Natural History Museum today. She also visited the National Archives but photographs aren’t allowed.

Both of us did a lot of walking today. We’re calling it a night so we can get an early start in the morning.

Section 5

I made it to section 5 on my Hug Shot. This is going to be my ‘trip’ knitting.

Pretend Trip
No, I am still in Ancaster. This is just a bit of fun since this is the weekend I would normally travel to TNNA.

We couldn’t decide if Boscoe was pleading with us not to go or asking us to hurry up because he is spending the weekend with grandpa. He is going to come back to us and we are going to have to retrain him. Dad will let him sleep on the bed. He’s very generous with treats - way too generous. He’ll let Boscoe do whatever Boscoe wants to do.

We arrived safely in Washington. The drive was uneventful. Here are pictures from the last 15 minutes into Washington.

The trip took us 9 hours and I drove the whole way. We’re going to have a quick dinner and then a quiet evening. I need to be ready for yarn shopping tomorrow.

Mini Lesson

Yesterday was spent knitting. Section 4 is finished.

This shawl is from Rowan Mode #2 and is knit with Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Rowan Summerlite 4ply. We just received a restock on the 4ply.

The finished shawl is 18” wide and 89” long.

I looked up the pattern on Ravelry and it is currently a free download. 

Here are a few colour suggestions from Rowan.

You need 5 balls of Summerlite 4ply and 2 balls of Kidsilk Haze.

I took this from the Modern Daily Knitting website. You might recognize the logo. Mason-Dixon Knitting has changed their name.

We want to thank everyone who let us know how they felt about our name. We are deeply sorry for the pain we caused by having a name that did not communicate a warm welcome to all knitters, including Black knitters and knitters of color. We apologize for taking so long to realize that our name could not and should not stand.Changes to the site and printed matter will be made as soon as we can make them.Response to our new name has been overwhelmingly positive—a huge number of emails, texts, DMs, and comments. We’re grateful to you all for letting us know that you think this was a change for the better.

You will find the Field Guides on our website under Modern Daily Knitting.

Now I’m going back to my knitting. I am enjoying knitting the Hug Shot - the yarn is great and the pattern is mindless.

Don’t forget that you have until Sunday (June 14) to purchase a kit and get the pattern for free.

One thing to remember when reading the pattern.

This is in the abbreviations and it can be confusing. Yarn in back does not mean the wrong side of the work. It doesn’t matter if you are working with the right side facing you or the wrong side facing you - take the yarn away from you behind the needles. The same goes from yarn in front. That means towards you. It doesn’t matter which side of the work is facing you.

Mini Lesson
If this is still confusing to you, take some scrap yarn and cast on 21 stitches. Knit one row and then purl a row. Then
Row 1: *K1, slip one like a purl wyif * to last stitch and K1.
Row 2: Purl across.
Repeat these rows 4 times for a total of 10 rows.
Row 11: Knit across
Row 12: *P1, Slip one like a purl wyib * to last stitch and P1.
Repeat these rows 4 times for a total of 10 rows.

Your swatch should have floats on the right side.

You can see the floats on my shawl. My floats are offset - I didn’t do that in the mini lesson. Sorry. I want to knit 😘