Knit Night: What I've been working on

Sooo, it’s been nearly a year since I sent a yarn-related newsletter. Oops. I know some of you are here for the yarn. (If you’re not, you can adjust the emails you receive here. Just click the toggle by “knit night.”)

Well, okay. Let’s see some photos of things I’ve made since the last time this segment landed in your inbox!

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I went through a bit of a hat phase. I don’t have photos of them all, but trust me, for about three or four months straight, I was knitting hats. Most of them have gone to their forever homes, though I did keep a few for myself.

Here’s . . . some of them.

When I tell you this is only a fraction, please believe me. I was really going through a hat thing for a while. And a colorwork thing.

Here’s some of the patterns I knit:

Passerine Hat by Erica Heusser (I knit a bunch of these)
Artifact Hat by Erica Heusser
Featherlight Beanie by Erica Heusser
Folia Hat by Erica Heusser
Lilienstil Hat by Erica Heusser
Snow Bunny by Kathy Lewinski
Meandering by Josh Moll
Citrus Hat by Laura Treadway (I made a ton of these!)
The Stare by Katie Pomper
Swirl Hat by Mandie Harrington

WHEW! I knit many of these patterns multiple times and gave them away as gifts to family and friends. I actually just knit another Passerine Hat (if you hear me refer to a “bird hat,” this is the one) for a friend who agreed to put up with me for a shopping trip. The Citrus Hat turned out to be a really forgiving pattern, great for a lot of different gauges, and it works up so quickly that it’s the perfect last-minute gift. I need to make a few more and add them to my “oh no I need a gift!” stash.

I also knit a pair of fingerless mitts for myself, using some super soft and squishy cashmere blend yarn. The pattern is Callie’s Braids by Mary E. Rose. This was a really pleasant — and quick — project.

And ooooh the coffee cup sleeves I made. There were . . . way more than these. In the last few months, I’ve made dozens.

I started knitting them ahead of a librarian conference, thinking of course librarians need coffee and their coffee cups need reusable sleeves. I took about 40-45 with me. They cleaned me out. I made another handful ahead of a book festival I had the next week and gave them out. Then more ahead of another book festival — and at the festival — and once again, cleaned out. They are seriously the perfect small project to be able to give away immediately. You don’t even have to block them.

They also helped me use up a ton of my leftovers. Since I knit with a lot of sock-weight yarn, and therefore have a lot of sock-weight leftovers, I held two strands together to keep my gauge, and there were some fun results from that.

Ahead an upcoming conference, I told my publisher I’d knit some coffee cup sleeves to give away to the booksellers; but my publisher asked if perhaps I’d make a bookmark in the cover colors for BYE FOREVER, I GUESS, so I switched gears and started looking for the perfect pattern.

Rather than try to figure out a way to put all the colors in one little bookmark, I chose one color and knit Cupid’s Arrow Bookmark by Brian McGuann.

I knit the first one as written, and it’s really cute, but I realized I wanted the arrow shaft to show up more, and I wanted the curves on the heart to be a little rounder, so I made a few modifications and tried again.

I’m really happy with the change! (The new one is longer because I lost track of my row counts and just kept going.) And I’ve (of course) knit a few more for future giveaways, so keep an eye out if you feel like you need a knitted bookmark to go with your copy of BYE FOREVER, I GUESS.

I also did some weaving! I really wanted to try a twill pattern, and I’d seen Hens-n-chicks’ diamond twill tutorial before, so I gave it a shot. I’m really happy with how it turned out! This side is cheerful and bright, while the other side is a much darker rainbow.

For the warp, I used a handspun rainbow gradient. And for the weft, I used some charcoal/black yarn I got after disassembling a sweater that doesn’t (and will never again) fit me. That yarn wasn’t strong enough for a warp (it would need to be able to withstand extremely high tension without snapping or drifting apart), but it made a nice weft! And I have a ton of it now.

I also wove this shiny thing (which, months later, still needs to have its fringe braided and ends trimmed off, so it’s only mostly finished).

I went through several different ideas for this project: originally, I wanted to pair the warp with some of my own handspun and make a very fine twill fabric, but the handspun was sooo fine, and the way I’d already dressed the loom, meant that the handspun would get lost. I tried a few different ones before I decided to make the weft the same silver-gray as most of the warp, and do a plain tabby weave (rather than the twill).

The finished item is pretty and shiny! And even if it’s not what I originally thought it would be, I’m happy with it. I’ll try the handspun thing another time.

Holy moly, we’re still going. I know. As the one typing all this out, I know.

ANYWAY, I also test knit Dragon Tale Cowl by Mary P. Hunt, which was a lot of fun. The dragon pattern is very cool and eye catching! The purple is some of my early handspun, while the gray is Urban Girl Yarn, from a Virginia-based dyer.

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And finally, I spent some time with my blending board!

. . . But I just started to add the next photo and got a message saying I’m nearing the limit on email size. So I’ll send those another time.

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So what’s next?

I need to start thinking about holiday knitting, but after a thousand coffee cup sleeve and a bunch of bookmarks (what I have been doing for the last few months), I want to knit something for myself — and add a little challenge because why not.

So my next for-me project is going to be Sudden Down Pour by Mary E. Rose. I haven’t decided what yarn I’m going to use yet (but I’m positive I have options — I love to spin a lace-weight yarn), but I do know I’m going to try the beads!

I haven’t knit with beads yet, though several years ago, I bought some at the local fiber festival. So I have what I need, and as long as my cats don’t decide to help, this seems worthy of a first-bead project. It’s going to be gorgeous.

Okay, it’s telling me I have to stop. Have a good weekend! <3