Elza Sweater

Zanete Knits has a new pattern. The sweater is beautiful.

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

Use code RAV_ELZA to get a 15% discount. Code is valid until 8th February 23:59 GMT.

Introducing the Elza Sweater, the first garment in a new collection inspired by motifs I have seen on traditional Latvian mittens. 

The design is a raglan with simple shaping and all-over stranded colourwork so you can enjoy the process of savouring every stitch. It is worked top down seamlessly in the round, although the neckline area is worked flat. 

The chart is a simple, repetitive symmetric motif with predominantly short floats. It has a very intuitive rhythm and makes for a relaxing project. 

Using a colour-changing gradient as the main colour adds to the intrigue and makes the project more addictive. I recommend using colour combinations with high contrast so the intricate motif stands out. Any sport weight yarn that gets the gauge and works well for stranded colourwork will be a perfect choice for this project.

I worked from home yesterday and placed orders including a restock a Soak. All scents should be back in stock next week.

This was my set up yesterday and this afternoon. 

My Nightshift has been cast off. It needs a good blocking.

I pulled out a part finished Traveler Cowl to work on. This is Eleventh Hour Dyed in the Wool.

I wind all my skeins before I start and plan the order.

Then I put each ball in a Ziplock bag and mark the ball number. I also mark if I’m going to work from the inside or the outside. This makes my colours continue in the same order when I join a new ball. It isn’t perfect, sometimes the colours are a bit off but you’d have to look very closely to find my colour changes.

Now back to paperwork. 

Finished Jaunty

Alex dropped by on Saturday with my blocked Jaunty.

Pattern: Jaunty (pattern purchased on Ravelry)

Yarn: 5 skeins Spincycle Dyed in the Wool

Colour: Poppy

Needles: 3.75mm

I love this pattern. It is mindless but not boring. I will be making it again.

This could be my next Jaunty. It’s a brand new colour coming from Spincycle within the next two weeks.

Yesterday afternoon I finished my Ooey Gooey Cowl. It needs to be blocked and then the ends grafted together.

Then I picked up my Nightshift. I wanted to blog last night but I was trying to get the stitches cast off first. I had about 20 stitches left when it was bed time. I’ll get it finished later today.

This was about 6:30 last night. It didn’t look too bad outside.

This morning I went out to get dad’s newspaper. I had to dig a path to get it.

Mike came from the workshop this morning to get the driveway clean. Sending thoughts to those who got slammed.

Nightshift # 13 or 14 or 15?

Alex brought my finished Nightshift in last week but it’s been so cold I haven’t taken it outside. Today it was snowing like crazy so I took a picture in the store. Blocking does make all the difference. The shawl looked good when the knitting was finished but now it looks amazing!

Yes I love knitting the Nightshift. I’m not sure if this is my 13th, 14th, 15th or a number even higher.

Pattern: Nightshift by Andrea Mowry (purchased on Ravelry)

Yarn: 2 colours of Noro Ito - 1 ball each

Colour: 76 & 91

Needles: 5.5mm

Today’s shipments. Two large boxes of Cascade and the third box has Noro Ito, Patagonia and Lykke needle sets. Lynn is coming tomorrow in her running shoes to put yarn away.

It’s a great evening to be inside and knitting. I’m working on my Ooey Gooey Cowl. A few more rows and I’ll have repeated the pattern twice. Then I have 62 rows until finished.

Ooey Gooey Cowl

Today’s kit is the Ooey Gooey Cowl from Andrea Mowry (pattern purchased on Ravelry).

I love this style of cowl for colorwork, as it is perfect for when you don’t want to have to weave in lots of ends, and you always have the right side facing you! Plus, it happens to be one of my favorite accessories to wear thanks to its easy styling - just pop it on! I was craving the coziest cowl ever, so I reached for some Suri Alpaca, which I held double, and then paired it with a color- shifting yarn to make it extra dynamic.

The kit includes 2 skeins of Emma’s Suri Silk (you are holding 2 strands together when knitting the cowl) and 2 skeins of Dyed in the Wool.

Photos © Andrea Mowry

See all the Ooey Gooey kits online. I’m all over the place with my combinations so that everyone should be able to find something they want to wear.

My knitting is growing. It’s hard to put it down because you want to see the next colour. This time I’m knitting from the center of the ball which makes it harder to see what is coming. As you can see my balls are starting to collapse. I know better than to knit from the center of such a large ball but I did it anyway. It won’t be too long before I need to rewind them.

Low Hanging Wire

Stephen West has another free pattern - this time a hat. You can download it on Ravelry. Photo © Stephen West

Choose one color of DK weight wool and hold it together with a coordinating strand of lace weight mohair silk. The mohair adds a frothy halo to the hat while you work the beautiful lace and cable pattern. This quick-to-knit hat makes a perfect gift!

You can knit this hat without the extra strand of mohair for a simple DK weight wool version. 

My shawl has grown and I should have it finished by the weekend. I would like to say that I’m going to knit tonight but my bed is calling. Thank you to everyone who visited today and shopped online. Lynn and I had a great day. We’re both tired. Mr. UPS picked up a lot of boxes (a lot of boxes) and the rest should go out on Friday.

Yesterday afternoon Janelle sent me pictures of a low hanging wire in the parking lot. She had pulled in and luckily they saw it before driving through it.

I blocked the driveway this morning and we emailed our electrician to come and see if it was a live wire or if it was a cable line. They were off this week. Then I tried Alectra (Beth suggested playing the helpless card) but they were busy and couldn’t come for 6-8 hours. Beth called in another favour to get an electrician here. Alectra came almost right away and they informed me that it was our Fibre line. It was safe to touch but they said not to cut it. The electrician came half an hour later and tacked the line for us. We can use the parking lot but it’s a mess. Normally the lot is plowed but my landscape company couldn’t get in the driveway last night because of the hanging wire.

Don’t forget that we are open from 11am-2pm tomorrow (Wednesday December 31st). 

Happy Family Day

We had lots of family time today. I hope you had a good day as well. There was lots of knitting time as well. My Nightshift is almost finished.

I was emailing with Hedgehog Fibres today and our order should be here by the beginning of March. The order will include new colours, a new yarn (Oh So Fine), colours we are missing as well as Fade Packs. These will be 5 skein kits - perfect for Joji’s La Prairie. I don’t know the colours that are coming but the packs could look like these.

I can’t wait to see Oh So Fine. The yarn sounds amazing. Here are a few of the colours that are coming.

The softest cloud of dreamy softness 18.5 micron merino, spun into a lofty and supple 2ply yarn. Light fingering weight at 425m/100g. Great for accessories, baby patterns, anything that requires soft and delicate hand. This base feel luxurious and decadent.

Gentle hand-wash recommended.

Colours shift beautifully from one to another. Randomly dyed to prevent striping or pooling, as much as possible, our yarns create variegated effect that looks good in plain stockinette or advanced stitch motifs.

Custom spun exclusively for Hedgehog Fibres and 100% mulesing free. Gentle hand wash recommended. Approx. 425m/100g, 100% Merino. Please note, although we take great care in photographing our yarns, colours may vary slightly from monitor to monitor.

Dad made banana bread muffins. Jackson had fun helping.

It’s hard to be a dog.

I have time for a few more rows and then off to bed. There are lots of orders to pack up and ship out tomorrow.