Category Archives: knitting
The Corner of Knit & Tea: Episode 142, Prepping for TDF.
Welcome to episode 142! Today I have way too many WIPs and I also show you all the spins I have planned (I hope!) for TDF. Also this is the last week to enter the Sock-a-long so finish your socks and get them entered. There’s still time to joint TeamCKT for TDF – come join us!
Please come and join the Ravelry group.
You can also find me on Ravelry as Fluffyk, Twitter, Instagram as Fluffykira, and in my shop The Corner of Knit & Tea.
Tea:
Knitting:
- Finished: Shirestones Hat by Mina Philipp, Kraemer Perfection in Puddle
- In progress: Mercury Socks by Kim Drotar, hand-dyed yarn from a swap partner
- In progress: Vanilla socks, On the Round Everyday Fingering in After the Storm
- In progress: Hitofude Cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu, Wollmeise Lacegarn in Petit Poison No. 5
- On deck: Camp Loopy Project #2: Playful Stripes by Alana Dakos, Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in Alaskan Sky and The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in The Very Quiet Cricket
Spinning:
- In progress: Falkland in Bomb Pop, dyed by me
- On deck: 2+ lbs of fiber for TDF!
Extras:
- This is the last week of the Sock-a-long! Be sure you get your photos in the FO thread and I’ll be doing the prize draw next weekend. Come visit the group thread for details.
- I am once again hosting Team CKT for Tour de Fleece 2017. Come spin with us from July 2 – July 23 in celebration of the Tour de France. More details in the group thread.
Knittea: High Tea Collection
This past week I became smitten with a gorgeous sweater called Assam. It turns out it is the newest release from Tabetha Hedrick and is part of the new Sweet Georgia collection of patterns called High Tea.
Assam pattern by Tabetha Hedrick, available on Ravelry for $9.00 Canadian (approx. $7.04).
The full collection which includes an additional sweater, a shawl, and a hat (for a total for 4 patterns) is available for $15.00 Canadian via Ravelry.
The Corner of Knit & Tea: Episode 141, All the socks.
Welcome to episode 141! Today I have my finished Camp Loopy project to show you as well as more socks! Also some spinning and a quick discussion of the events going on in the Ravelry group.
Please come and join the Ravelry group.
You can also find me on Ravelry as Fluffyk, Twitter, Instagram as Fluffykira, and in my shop The Corner of Knit & Tea.
Tea:
Knitting:
- Finished: Camp Loopy Project #1, Appia by Hilary Smith Callis, Knerd Fingering in Fired Up!
- In progress: Vanilla socks, On the Round Everyday Fingering in After the Storm
- In progress: Mercury Socks by Kim Drotar, hand-dyed yarn from a swap partner
- In progress: Shirestones Hat by Mina Philipp, Kraemer Perfection in Puddle
Spinning:
- Finished: Hello Yarn Polwarth/Silk in Pebble
- On deck: Falkland in Bomb Pop, dyed by me
Extras:
- I am currently hosting a Sock KAL (knit or crochet) from May 1 to June 30. Come visit the group thread for details.
- I am once again hosting Team CKT for Tour de Fleece 2017. Come spin with us from July 2 – July 23 in celebration of the Tour de France. More details in the group thread.
Camp Loopy 2017 – Project 1
Even though summer doesn’t technically start until the Summer Solstice later this month, I measure my seasons by crafting milestones. Summer has arrived when Camp Loopy starts and Tour de Fleece looms on the horizon.
This month I completed my first Camp Loopy project in record time. The theme this year is dinosaurs and the criteria for the first project were to select a yarn or pattern with some texture that might mock the kind of texture you find on dinosaur skin. So you could either choose a textured yarn (speckles, stellina, etc.) or you could choose a pattern that would give your fabric texture.
I originally thought that I would knit socks for this project, but given the yardage requirement (400 yds) and my small feet, those would have had to be knee socks! So I started looking for something else with texture. I settled on a shawl/cowl combination, Appia by Hilary Smith Callis, and used a single skein of Knerd Fingering in the colorway Fired Up!
Overall, I loved this knit. I knit the cowl per pattern, only modifying by adding some extra pattern repeats at the end to use up all but about 4 grams of the yarn (~440 yards). I think this style of cowl is super wearable and I love the bright, fun color. I would highly recommend Hilary Smith Callis’ patterns, and she has several in this style in both fingering and worsted weight.
The Corner of Knit & Tea: Episode 140, WIPitis
Welcome to episode 140! Today I have mostly WIPs – Camp Loopy, my next pair of socks and my ripple scrappy afghan. Also some spinning and a quick discussion of the events going on in the Ravelry group.
Please come and join the Ravelry group.
You can also find me on Ravelry as Fluffyk, Twitter, Instagram as Fluffykira, and in my shop The Corner of Knit & Tea.
Tea:
- Mint Green
Knitting:
- Finished: Shirestones Hat by Mina Philipp, Cascade 220 Superwash in Turtle
- In progress: Camp Loopy Project #1, Appia by Hilary Smith Callis, Knerd Fingering in Fired Up!
- In progress: Vanilla socks, On the Round Everyday Fingering in After the Storm
- In progress: Neat Ripple by Lucy of Attic 24, scrap sock yarns
Spinning:
- Finished: Hello Yarn BFL in Hummingbird
- On deck: Hello Yarn Polwarth/Silk in Pebble
Extras:
- I am currently hosting a Sock KAL (knit or crochet) from May 1 to June 30. Come visit the group thread for details.
- I am once again hosting Team CKT for Tour de Fleece 2017. Come spin with us from July 2 – July 23 in celebration of the Tour de France. More details in the group thread.
SOCKS!
Lately I’ve been a sock knitting machine. Part of it has to do with the fact that I’m running a sock-a-long over in my podcast group on Ravelry. Part of it has to do with the fact that I have a bulging stash of sock yarn that I need to use!
A few of the recent pairs:
I call the first pair “The Walkers.” These are The Avenues Socks by the Knitting Expat, knit in Spun Right Round 80/20 Sport in The Walkers. I love this yarn so much I bought a sweater quantity of it for a lovely speckled sweater. The pops of purple are so much fun, and the 80/20 sport base is so squishy and lovely. I also particularly like the slip stitch detail of the pattern. It creates a really pretty sock!
Next I finished on a pair of pretty plain vanilla socks in Opal Best Friends (Attachment 8863). However, I did decide to try a new heel and used the Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. This created a short row heel with some more room than the standard short row heel. I haven’t gotten to wear these socks much yet, but I look forward to testing out this heel.
The third and final pair I’ve knit in the last month or so are the Union Square Socks by Mina Philipp in Another Crafty Girl Strong Sock in Ponkie Brewster. This was the perfect marriage of yarn and pattern. The pattern itself is simple and elegant, and the yarn color is just beautiful. I love those jewel tones and even though the yarn is variegated, I think it works perfectly with the texture in the pattern.
On the needles now is another pair for me, and then I’ll be recreating some of these socks for my mini-me for the fall.
My sock-a-long ends at the end of June, but I’m also participating in Summer of Socks so there will be more to come!
The Corner of Knit & Tea: Episode 139, Summertime
Welcome to episode 139! Today I have almost all FO’s and some ideas for new projects. I’m also excited that summer activities are here: Camp Loopy and Tour de Fleece!
Please come and join the Ravelry group.
You can also find me on Ravelry as Fluffyk, Twitter, Instagram as Fluffykira, and in my shop The Corner of Knit & Tea.
Tea:
- Adagio Teas, Grapefruit Oolong
Knitting:
- Finished: Buccaneer by Justyna Lorkowska, O-Wool O-Wash in Barn Owl and a gradient on Iachos from A Hundred Ravens.
- Finished: Union Square Socks by Mina Philipp, Another Crafty Girl Strong Sock in Ponkie Brewster
- Finished: Classic Cuffed Hat by Purl Soho, Mrs. Crosby Steamer Trunk in A Sweet Race
- On deck: Camp Loopy Project #1, Appia by Hilary Smith Callis, Knerd Fingering in Fired Up!
- On deck: Mercury Socks by Kim Drotar, On the Round Everyday Fingering in After the Storm
Spinning:
- Finished: Wound Up Fiber Arts Organic Polwarth in Cupid
- On deck: Hello Yarn BFL in Hummingbird
Extras:
- I am currently hosting a Sock KAL (knit or crochet) from May 1 to June 30. Come visit the group thread for details.
- I am once again hosting Team CKT for Tour de Fleece 2017. Come spin with us from July 2 – July 23 in celebration of the Tour de France. More details in the group thread.
Buccaneer
Last fall at Rhinebeck I acquired some beautiful yarns and was eager to put them to good use. One particular acquisition, a mishmash of gradient sets from A Hundred Ravens, set me on the hunt for a good shawl pattern where I could make the best use of the yarn.
I also acquired some O-Wool O-Wash, a fingering weight yarn, in an off white colorway, Barn Owl, to go with the gradient set.
After a bit of deliberation I settled on Buccaneer by Justyna Lorkowska. Buccaneer is a great garter stitch shawl with two striped sections of feather and fan lace. The construction, as it turns out, is very similar to the Find Your Fade shawl I just knit.
Buccaneer by Justyna Lorkowska, pattern available for digital download via Ravelry, $6.00
The first garter stitch section flew by and before I knew it I was starting the feather and fan stripes:
I should say that I loved knitting with both of the yarns. The O-Wash is super soft and squishy, and I love knitting it in garter stitch. It makes such a cozy fabric. The Iachos from A Hundred Ravens is a slightly tighter twist yarn than the O-Wool, and I found it great for stitch definition in the lacy section. Once I blocked it the yarn opened up beautifully.
After I sped through the striped section (just one more row, just one more color!) I moved on to the second garter section. This one kept growing, but took longer as the rows were longer.
Then I got to the second striped section. This is where I diverged from the pattern somewhat. The pattern calls for the second set of stripes to be narrower than the first. I didn’t find that as pleasing aesthetically, and I also had fewer colors than needed for that section, so I got a bit inventive and changed it up a bit. Of course, since I got inventive with it, it also means that I ended up ripping and re-knitting this section repeatedly. This was no fault of the pattern; it was totally my own fault, but it made for a frustrating portion of the knit.
Can you spot the mistake?
Finally I was to the final garter section! That flew off the needles and I was ready to block.
For this shawl, I opted to steam block the lace sections so they would open up and leave the garter sections alone so they wouldn’t get stretched out. I find unblocked garter stitch to be squishier and more fun to wear than when it has been blocked.
Overall, this was a fun project to knit. I will say that the pattern is written for two versions, one with the stripes as feather and fan, and one with the stripes as chevron. When writing the pattern, the designer opted to put both versions in and sort of interspersed the directions for each version throughout the pattern rather than keeping each version separate, so I found that kind of difficult to navigate and I think it could have been done better. Otherwise, any frustration that I felt with this project was pure of my own making.
Now I just need to figure out how best to wear it!
The Corner of Knit & Tea: Episode 138, RIBBIT
Welcome to episode 138! Today I have a few FO’s, a few WIPS and one RIBBIT that’s driving me crazy.
Please come and join the Ravelry group.
You can also find me on Ravelry as Fluffyk, Twitter, Instagram as Fluffykira, and in my shop The Corner of Knit & Tea.
Tea:
- Rishi Tea, Moonlight Jasmine
Knitting:
- Finished: Vanilla Socks in Opal Best Friends (Attachment 8863)
- Finished: Impish by Kathryn Folkerth, Squoosh Fiberarts Ultra Worsted in Pucker Patch
- In progress: Buccaneer by Justyna Lorkowska, O-Wool O-Wash in Barn Owl and a gradient on Iachos from A Hundred Ravens.
- In progress: Union Square Socks by Mina Philipp, Another Crafty Girl Strong Sock in Ponkie Brewster
Spinning:
- Finished: Southern Cross Fibre South African Superfine Merino in Boil and Bubble
- On deck: Wound Up Fiber Arts Organic Polwarth in Cupid
Extras:
- I am currently hosting a Sock KAL (knit or crochet) from May 1 to June 30. Come visit the group thread for details.
Wood Sorrel
I initially unveiled Wood Sorrel a few weeks ago when I wrote my review of Mountain Meadow Wool Alpine but I am delighted to report that my it is now available for purchase on Ravelry.
Wood Sorrel is a squishy eternity loop cowl that I was inspired to knit after I found a beautiful leaf chart. I wanted a simple lace that would show off the hand-dyed yarn, and a style that would be fun to wear.
Many thanks to my test knitters and to Laura Chau for technical editing.
Please check out Wood Sorrel on Ravelry!
