Tag: shetland

All in for Shetland

Posted on Posted in fiber love, field trips, free patterns, knitting, yarnTagged , , , , , 9 Comments

When I was at my LYS a week or two ago I lunged at this yarn in colorway mossbank. I bought 10 hanks. At first I thought I might make yet another sweater but now I think I might knit up a throw blanket. This is the first yarn I’ve purchased in a long time without a pattern in mind. I was thinking maybe a gansey patterned throw but this yarn is so pretty I might stick with something simple. Maybe this Hip to be Square blanket?

I am feeling a little better but I tire easily.

Who wants to go on a knitters trip to Shetland?

2020 might be ambitious, but maybe 2021?

New Sock Yarn!

Posted on Posted in art, fiber love, socksTagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I decided to embrace being an “over the pond” knitter and buy my sock yarn from over the pond. This blog post explains why long fiber, tightly spun wool makes the best 100% wool sock yarn, so I went for it. Plus it’s such a pretty blue!

I’m still working on my WHW club hat. I’m almost to the crown. I may need to redesign it so the pattern works with the decreases. I may not be able to enter the contest, but that’s ok. It’s been a good exercise.

I signed up to participate in an art show. It’s the first since 2015. I’m planning a felted piece. I’ll blog about that later.

New Year’s Day Round Up

Posted on Posted in art, design, hats, inspiration, sweaters, what makes me tickTagged , , , , 1 Comment

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I finally get to hang up my Goats of Anarchy calendar. I’ve had it since September!

I didn’t blog every day between Christmas and New Year’s, but I did knit almost every day. Here are some project updates.

My J&S swatch is coming along. It’s time to experiment with the cables. I was pleased I could jump right back into 2-color stranded knitting, although my tension was a little off on the purl row back. Luckily the sweater should be knit in the round.

Here is a tip. If you want to manifest something into your life, put it on your blog! Look what I got for Christmas!

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One of my presents from Bob was also to sign me up for Kate Davies’ West Highland Way Club – patterns only, but I will certainly be saving my pennies for some yarn as well. I’m very excited about it and can’t wait for it to start!

I did swatch the J&S Shetland while watching Shetland a second time. (I had to for tongue-in-cheek purposes.) I tried to take a photo but couldn’t get one worth sharing. In the first episode, one of the characters is wearing Kate Davies’ Peerie Flooers hat. When I saw that, I remembered I was introduced to Kate Davies Designs through the show the first time I watched it. I think that moment was the spark that rekindled my love of knitting last year. (Hmm… that hat is knit with J&S jumper weight… Hmm…)

Although, I will probably knit the Goats of Inversnaid hat first. What can I say? I really love goats. And so does my youngest. He might get a goat hat, too.

I’m off to make a digital vision board for 2018 full of knitting hopes and dreams.  Happy New Year! What are your aspirations for 2018?

Swatching Shetland for Christmas

Posted on Posted in design, sweaters, what makes me tickTagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

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If the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a sign of things to come for 2018, I’ll be working on a lot of new projects next year!

I was very excited to get my hands on some J&S Jumper Weight yarn. I’ll admit it. I became fascinated with the idea of knitting with shetland wool yarn after binge watching Shetland on Netflix. I couldn’t order it directly, or find it online, until Ravelry pointed me in the direction of Lost City Knits. The fact that she is in Oklahoma City (I’m a displaced Okie) sealed the deal for me. I only ordered enough to swatch, though.

My first idea was to knit a simple navy blue pullover for myself. That is the type of thing I enjoy wearing: basic and neutral. It’s a gorgeous yarn, a little smaller gauge than I normally like to work with, but the fabric is perfect.

Now I have more ideas, and this swatch will hopefully help me flesh some of them out. I ordered an additional color to experiment with, and will probably introduce some cabling as well as 2-strand color knitting. Hopefully I’ll be able to work on both sweaters in the coming year. The big question is, of course, funding for yarn.

I see some bingeswatching Shetland in my immediate future.

We had a nice, low-key Christmas with mostly-grown kids coming and going. My Christmas cactus bloomed again because I locked it in the root cellar for a month. It is beautiful but it bothers me that I have to deprive it of sunlight to bloom. Why is it that some of us only perform under pressure? I’m hoping to change that for myself in the coming year and become the kind of person who can succeed without trying too hard.

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