I had a good weekend at the Knoble Yarn Festival in Greeley, Colorado. More on that in a moment. In this post I will share finished objects, more about that top down sweater with unusual construction and my teaching opportunities.
I have officially finished both the Elephant Promenade hat and cowl from Annie Lupton at Boho Chic Fiber Company. Those patterns were released on Ravelry today. Here are mine, hat and cowl.
I gave the hat to Mom this past week and I know she will make great use of it in the snowy weather we have been experiencing here in Colorado.
I have been wearing my cowl often. This cowl is more my style than some of the others. I looked up the definition of "cowl" and learned that what I like as a cowl isn't the traditional style. Hoods and large collars are more traditional.
I like a cowl that is closer fitting to my neck like this one. This one might be a bit close but it sure is warm.
On the top of Mom's hat I added a pom-pom. It is a 2 color pom-pom and it is removable for when the hat is washed, that way the pom-pom isn't destroyed. I made a video about how I did that and why. You can see it here on my YouTube channel. This is my second video and I am in the process of making more.
I know that there are so many videos on knitting and crocheting available on YouTube, so why make more? To keep things fresh and have newer content. My videos are by no means professional. It's just me and my phone. I have no training and am learning as I go. I love to teach and share what I know and have learned with others and this seems like a good outlet. Also I am a mirror knitter and there might be other mirror knitters who find something I do in a future video helpful.
I also finished my Lupin sweater from Marion Knits. I don't know her timeline for publishing but will share it with you when I find out it's coming. I worked mine in Heritage from Cascade. It is a fingering weight yarn that is 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. This is the sweater with the unusual top down construction. You cast on and work flat for a while. Then you divide and work the 2 fronts separately for a bit, then join them and work some more. Then knit the back until it is as long as the front. While doing this, neckline and shoulder shaping are being done. Then join the front and the back and work the length of the body. Each sleeve is worked by picking up stitches in the front and back and then working a short row sleeve cap. This took me some thinking to know I was working the short rows in the correct place. When the short rows are completed, finish the sleeve to the length and with the cuff desired. Finally pick and work a neckline of some sort. This one was 1 x 1 twisted rib.
To block this piece I decided to try an experiment. The majority of the hand knitted socks that I wear are made of the same fiber content as this sweater. Those socks are washed and dried in the washer and dryer every week when I do laundry. I know superwash behaves best when put through the dryer and not just wet blocked, so... I soaked the sweater in water like I normally would before blocking. I didn't want the sleeves to be stretched out in the washer and it would be the only thing in the washer, no point. After a couple of hours, I made dinner and such, I dropped the sweater in the washer to be spun out. I then put it in the dryer, on regular heat, for 5 minutes. I walked out of the laundry room and announced to my husband that I just put a wool sweater in the dryer. The look on his face was worth it. He is always so careful when he does my laundry not to put wool anything, anywhere but the laundry basket. I explained my theory and asked him to set a timer. The timer went off and the sweater was still damp as I hoped. I need to be able to block it a bit. Here it is on the blocking table.
It was dry the next morning. Here are the pictures we took at the Clarion Hotel and Conference center in Greeley, Colorado.
The only thing I would change for next time is to put a towel in the dryer with it. Just to remove a bit more of the moisture.
A couple of weekends ago I taught a class at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. I was still half sick and ended up very tired by the time I arrived home. Thankfully my husband had decided to go with me and he drove. The class was Crochet for Knitters. It went really well and I got some good ideas too. I know that I've done a good job when the students are coming up with ideas of how to use what they just learned before class is even over and that was happening. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite classes to teach.
The first Knoble Yarn Fest took place this passed weekend in Greeley, Colorado. I signed up early for a class and booked the hotel room at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center. This is where the festival was supposed to take place. In December the venue was changed to the Greeley Mall. It was interesting. The market was set up in a large empty store space that had a large hallway that was used for classrooms. Not at all ideal or as good as the hotel would have been. I am thankful to have been able to take the classes I did with Andre De Castro. I learned a lot and am already using the new skills. The organizers are already planning to do this again but mentioned Brighton, Colorado for the next one. I will sign up later for classes unless it is something spectacular, like Stephen West. I will go to the market, that could be in a barn for all I care and support the vendors. It should have been more organized and advertised better. Knitters who live in Greeley didn't know it was going on until they looked for "something to do in Greeley this weekend" on line. There were no banners or signs in front of the Mall which sits on a major highway. I hope that they do better in future. Thank you to Malabrigo and Urth yarn for sponsoring prize packages.
The progress on my Spicy MKAL has been very slow. I'm still on clue 5. And clue 8 came out this past Friday. It is the final clue. I'm looking forward to having more time to knit on it when the Falling Leaves sweater is finished. Mom has kept up better than she thought she would. She has even kept up with the year long shawl and started another to work on the side. She has 5 days off coming up and has lots of knitting planned.
I have finally finished the color work on Falling Leaves and am working my way up the body. The color work for this piece is around the bottom and the sweater is worked from the bottom up. My goal is to have it completed by the end of this coming weekend, we'll see.
I have updated on the sweater page with swatch info and a drawing you can see here.
In March I am teaching an Estonian Lace class and in April a Dyeing Safely class at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. For more info and to sign up, click the links.
Next time I will share thoughts about items made by machine knitting and my recent experience with them. I will also have pictures of finished Falling Leaves and a sneak peek at a secret test knit. I made a couple of new friends at Knoble Yarn Fest I can't wait to tell you about as well!
Until next time...
Happy making!
