Fall Run Cowl.

So check out the pretty cowl that I knit - the Fall Run Cowl:

I LOVE it.  It's big and drape-y and so very very FALL.

I've been wearing it constantly since I finished it a couple weeks ago.

cheesy with a z picture of me in the cowl.  It's tough photographing yourself!

So the backstory... I dyed up a batch of yarn using the same stipple dye / layering technique as my wildly popular "Color Run" colorway with a palette limited to autumn colors:

I snagged a skein for myself directly from the dye pots b/c MINE.  MINE.  ALL MINE.

SERIOUSLY, THOUGH.

I knew I wanted to knit a big cowl that I could wear all season... but I wasn't sure that one skein of DK would be enough.  And the rest of that dye lot sold out before I could steal another skein for myself.  So I dug through my pile of yarn that I can't sell for whatever reason (knots or tangles or weirdness with the dye) and came up with this combo:

YEEEESSSSSS.

Then I spent hours on ravelry trying to find the perfect pattern.  I knew I wanted something that showed off each color individually because they are both beautiful on their own:

I definitely did not want stripes.  After knitting two Chasing Rainbows shawls in a row I'm OVER stripes.  However I'm lazy and didn't want to do any intense colorwork or follow any charts or any of that.  So I wanted to only knit with one color at a time... but NOT have the result be stripes.

Seems Legit.

I also wanted it to have some texture - like the woods in the fall.

I wanted it to be big enough to wrap around my neck twice.  But not so crazy big that I couldn't wear it only looped once:

In the end I came up with my own design.  Because nothing was exactly what I wanted.  I'm so, so, SO happy with the result:

Yay fall!

Anyways I just put the pattern up on Ravelry and I"m offering it free through this Friday.

FALL RUN COWL

(edited to add - to get the pattern for free just click that link and add it to your Ravelry store - when you check out it will ring up as free!)

The yarn to knit this is also available in the Destination Yarn Shop. My cowl is knit out of the Fall Run and Pine Forest colorways although I think just about any combination would look great.  The texture and the not-stripes really works well with variegated yarns:

Yay for a new cowl and a new pattern!

PS - if any of your are in the Pittsburgh area I will be at the Indie Knit and Spin there this weekend.  Come and say hi!

Hi.

Mom's can do it all, right?

So!  First of all.  I AM NOT PREGNANT.  Just had to put that front and center because it seems like the last two times I talked about a vague "big thing" and then disappeared it was because there was a baby involved.  But no.  NOOOOPE.  NO.  To the point where because everyone I know is pregnant I am in the awesome/slightly painful process of purging all of the baby things.  ANYWAYS.

The big thing that caused me to disappear for a bit was that Destination Yarn - my hand dyed yarn company - was a vendor at STITCHESmidwest:

It's one of the biggest knitting shows in the country and is held at an actual convention center.  It was awesome and amazing and I learned SO much about knitting and business and vending and dying.  It was refreshing down to my core and also exhausting.

My "I can't believe I"m doing this!" face

Because of Stitches Destination Yarn has taken off in ways I couldn't have imagined.  Turning this little hobby of mine that was basically just bonus into an actual business and an actual for real job is amazing.  And overwhelming.  And awesome.  And insane.

And I"m going to work my butt off and make sure it really happens because THIS.  This is what I have wanted.  This is the goal I've been vaguely (and at times in a very crooked path) working towards for years now.

But that means that there has been NO balance.  I am all Destination Yarn all the time.  So everything else - with the exception of my kids/husband - has disappeared into a world of non-essentials.  However, I'm learning that there HAS to be balance.  And a balanced version of my life absolutely involves this blog.  I've been doing this for almost a decade now and I missed it sorely.

Plus having creative outlet that isn't all Destination Yarn is healthy and fuels creativity in other areas.

I'm just not sure what that looks like yet.  Honestly, probably like this.  An old school web-journal.  With stuff about my kids that isn't all click-baity (part of my break was fueled by some serious disgust with the world of parenting on the internet.  I may or may not get into that later but suffice it to say you will find no Listicles of Judging here).

There will always be knitting and yarn and travel and Cleveland and whatever is fueling my creative engine at the moment.  I may separate out the business stuff... I might not.  I'm working on figuring all of that out.

But yeah.  Baby steps toward balance.  Baby steps towards doing it all.  By opening up a browser window and writing something today I have at least taken that first, tiny step.  BOOM.

Road Trip Prep: PACK ALL THE YARN.

So!   Very soon we leave on an epic road trip.  The kind that Google Maps laughs at you when you type in and just gives you the time it would take to fly there.  Because noone in their right mind wants to drive 1300 miles one way with 3 kids in the car, right?

Shut up, google.

Yes.  We are taking the kids to South Dakota.  By way of Chicago (because our daughter begged us to stop there).  It's going to be epic.  I've never been to this part of the country before so I'm really excited. We've been planning/organizing/practice hiking/packing for what feels like months.  SO MUCH PACKING.  The big question is... how much yarn does one bring for 40 some hours in the car?

ALL THE YARN.  You bring ALL OF IT.

I suppose that isn't realistic (although I have been known to sneak yarn in the car under the seats in case of emergency).  So I'm focusing on projects.  Obviously I have to bring my #ALLINCLE socks:

Don't even talk about the fact that I will be in South Dakota when Cleveland brings home it's first championship in my lifetime.  I CAN'T EVEN.

But a pair of socks is not going to be enough.  So I dyed up a shiny new colorway that I"m hoping will match a good part of our trip.  Introducing, PRAIRIE:

greeeeeeeen!!!!

It's a kettle dyed / stipple dyed colorway.  So it is mainly a total green with a few tiny flicks of dark green throughout.  It is swatching up beautifully:

An epic trip deserves an epic project.  So I'm going to knit this:

Photo from the Ravelry pattern page linked below.

It's the Feather and Fan-tastic pattern that I found while stalking everything knit in fingering weight on Ravelry.  I think it's beautiful.  The lace is enough to keep it interesting without taking away from the yarn.  Plus the wavy-ness of the pattern will mimic the wavy prairie grass.  I like that.

Photo from the Ravelry pattern page linked above.

Also the pattern is based on something that Lady Edith wore on Downton Abbey and she's the bestest so.... yeah.  Had to knit it.

Yay for epic adventures and epic projects!

PS all of this yarn is available at Destination Yarn.

End of the Year Teacher Gifts

So!  SO MUCH has been going on with the girl lately.  Like the very last day of Kindergarten ever:

SHE DID IT!  We survived!  The first kid in all day school is a BIG adjustment.  To say the least.  But we're on the other side of it now.  And she did fantastic.  And the boys adjusted to spending the day without their girl.  All good things.  As her teacher put it "she is SO ready for first grade!"

Her teachers were awesome.  I can't say enough good things about them.  She really blossomed this year.

Also they are knitters!  No, really.  New knitters becoming obsessive knitters.  At one point during the year I pointed them at Ravelry.  MWAHAHAHAHAHAH.  And during her conference - after the conferency things and important stuff was over, of course - I answered knitting questions for them.  YEAH.  When you're an indie dyer and your kid's teachers are knitters end of the year gifts are easy:

Campus International colorway.  BOOM.

My daughter actually designed the colorway.  She did a sketch of her school colors to show me what colors to use.  I mixed the dye and then she did this:

 SO PROUD.

It was very fun.  To complete the gift I packaged the whole thing as a sock kit.  This is their first time knitting socks so I figured they needed a pattern and needles as well:

The kits are leftover from way back when I set them up to sell at Joseph Beth Booksellers.  I had 3 different kits of Destination Yarn, pattern, and needles and used to sell them at all of the Joseph Beth stores across the midwest.  But then Joseph Beth went out of business.  So I have a few leftover.  Perfect teacher's gift!  In case you still need a teacher's gift - or need something for the sock knitter in your life - I have the kits for sale at any of my shows.  Look for an upcoming list - BIG things happening soon!

Seriously are we done with this photoshoot now?  It's really early in the morning.

  Yay for the official start to summer!!!

Cheers! I'm 35!

So!  Today is my 35th birthday.  RIGHT?

Although I think I used up all of my I AM SO OLD angst last year with 34 because this year really isn't getting to me at all.  I'm feeling like... I'm 35.  What up.  Sure I'm another box on forms and such but I'm also really happy with my life.  We've had a lot of very hard, very sleep deprived years to get to this point.  And finally we are on the cusp of a whole bunch of awesome.  Both for this year and the foreseeable future.  So yeah.  35?  BRING IT ON.

And what better way to celebrate a birthday than with a shawl named Cheers!

Cheers!  By Laura Nelkin

I'm knitting with this very happy yarn:

"Color Run" by Destination Yarn

 The yarn  is one of  my new, speckled dyed colorways.  They are SO FUN to dye and possibly even funner to knit. (Available now from Destination Yarn!)
(btw @DestinationYarn is now on instagram and I tend to post dying behind the scenes stuff there if you are interested). 

I'm using a dark grey for the border (Storm Clouds semi-solid also by Destination Yarn) and I had some woe about the beads.  The only size 8 beads I could find at craft stores were lame.  I tried to make them work but my swatch said NOPE:

Can you even see the beads?

Not really.  Blah.

So I ordered some online and am so glad I did.  They came yesterday and BOOM:

It's going to be awesome.  It took so very much will power to fold the laundry last night instead of stringing these beads on immediately.  But!  What a nice birthday treat.

So yeah. With that I"m going to spend my birthday knitting in the sunshine.  At least until a kid needs me (so for like 5 minutes).

Pic from Easter.  B/c this wouldn't be a real post without a picture of my kids.  Also Tiny is wearing an Owls Sweater I knit for the Dude way back in the day.

Shalom for a Little Girl.

So!  I knit my girl a Shalom Sweater:

But... wait.  I have to start at the beginning.  See for the March installment of Kate and Jeanne's Road Trip Yarn Club we wanted a bulky yarn with pops of colors.  The inspiration was Wildflowers on the Great Plains.  I love how the finished colorway/pattern turned out.

 There's a couple of extra kits for this pattern up on the Destination Yarn Etsy Shop along with some other colorways on the new bulky base.

But!  It was a new base for me.  And a completely new dye technique that I had never tried before called stipple dying.  It was SO FUN to experiment with.  But it took some serious getting used to.  And after I screwed up one skein... and then another... and then another I threw my mistakes in the dyepot with a bunch of leftover dye and was all FINE.  YOU WILL JUST BE PURPLE.  STUPID YARN.

However my fit of rage lead to some really gorgeous yarn.

I figured it would end up as a cowl or something.  But my daughter claimed it.  And I had just enough to make her this:

It's the Shalom Cardigan pattern that everyone, myself included, knit a few years ago.

It knit up crazy quickly.  Then on one of the MANY snow days we had she asked me to make a skirt to match.  So we dug out some fabric and cranked out a Lazy Days Skirt.  Easy.

Literally that morning by 9:30 we had made a skirt and the boys had watched a movie and IT WAS ONLY 9:30 WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOO.  There were a belligerent amount of snow days in a row this year.

The finished outfit is just darling.  A photoshoot after her art class at the CMA was necessary.

I love LOVE the yellow buttons.  She picked them out herself from the button box I inherited from my great-grandmother.  I'd guess the buttons are older than I am. 

90cents for buttons?!

The yellow against the purple is just so kicky and perfect.

As far as modifications go it was pretty easy to take this down to a kid's size.  I started with 51 stitches on a size 10.5 needle.  I only did 3 knit stitches on either end because the 5 the pattern called for was a bit much on a little kid.  Other than that I knit as written until the divide for the arms.  After the 2nd increase I had 101 stitches and after the third I had 129.  When dividing for the arms I K23, BO21, K43, BO 21, K23.  Then cast on 9 under each arm.  I omitted all of the waist shaping and just knit straight down from there.

I actually had to do the divide for the arms twice.  The first time she didn't like how tight it was across her back.  So I ripped it out and adjusted my stitch counts.  That's one of the best things about knitting.  Make a mistake?  Don't like how it fits/looks?  Rip it out and use the yarn again.  No problem.

Overall I'm just thrilled with this.  The whole thing started as a mistake and turned into something really beautiful.  She's worn it to school often since it was finished.  I think that's about the best compliment I can ever receive.

Also she turned 6 this week.  Which.  DUDE.  It goes so fast.  I'm actually writing this because I'm procrastinating getting the house ready for her Frozen Birthday party tomorrow.  It's amazing how much festivity you can create with a few streamers and some balloons.  Anyways in honor of her birthday here's a side by side of Shaloms from when I was hideously pregnant with her:

Yay for Shalom Sweaters!