Queued: Hakusa

There's a shawl in my future... In the interest of full disclosure, it's likely Rock Island, and it's likely going to be done in Schaefer yarn's Audrey base in this color.

But I have a ton of queued/planned projects. I still have all that black alpaca and I have a sweater design I need to swatch and crank out sooner rather than later.

But there's this:

It's called Hakusa and it's by Kirsten Johnstone, who might very well be my new favorite person, ever. Seriously, click on that link and look at her designs. So cute, contemporary, and simple. Perfect perfect perfect.

I love how feminine this is without resorting to lace. Even the ruffles are edgier- like torn chiffon- than deliberate. The sheer vs opaque parts set up an opportunity for experimenting with tonality. This is probably my favorite recently-found queued items.

Other colors, you say? OKAY:

Kirsten Johnstone, you are adorable. We need to be friends who meet up at a PoMo coffee shop and talk about Rem Koolhaas between cups of extremely strong tea. You are the best.

Know what else is great about this pattern? It's a scrap magnet. The small version is like 170 yards and the big one is 330. I have tons of leftover lace that could work with that. In fact, I have leftover qiviut that would look excellent.

Love her.
- YX

(Get some yarnnnnn!)

FO: A giant honkin' cowl

During the re-graft shuffle I was doing on my Pinktada, I took a brief break to address the Araucania Liwen I had in my stash:

Back in January, I wrote about this yarn and how I felt kind of sad that I had nothing to do with it. It's pretty enough, but just so thick and thin that the fabric was going to be difficult. I thought the answer was possibly a bulky shrug, and I had a few options. 

I pulled the yarn out of my stash again and began looking at it. It seemed kind of odd, after all, to do such a warm shrug with no sleeves. When I get cold, my arms are the first thing to respond, so maybe it wasn't so smart to make a whole garment that would only be wearable when I could go sleeveless. I guess I could layer it over a long-sleeved tee, but it somehow seemed an awkward prospect. 

So I did what pretty much anyone else would assume to do with the yarn: I started a cowl. 

This is the Mid-December Easy Knit Infinity Scarf by A Crafty House. The pattern's free, and very simple. Although it looks like a straightforward rib in the photo above, it's actually a broken rib that gives a different texture to both sides. I love the versatility of large cowls like this... Most people think to wear them as shown above, but what about as a shawl?

Worn this way, you also get a great stripe of texture across the back:

I love the coloring of the yarn... No pooling, emphasizes the texture of the yarn, and reminds me of seaglass. Or Easter eggs. I loved the yarn in the skein, so this was a great way to retain the handpainted feel of the yarn, which tends to get lost on more complex stitch patterns. Here's a close up:

The pattern calls for a 24", #19 needle, which I happened to have laying around thanks to my mother-in-law, who gifted me with a bunch of large needles on her last visit. I knocked this out in one tv session, and it was a glorious therapy to recover from the frustrations of ripping out the Pinktada graft (woven-in ends and all). Sometimes you just need the satisfaction of finishing something. 

I'd pair this cowl with a white tank or boyfriend tee and black leather pants. For the dissonance. It'd also make a great companion for the plain little cocktail dresses I tend to accumulate. It'd give them some much-needed visual interest. 

There's enough fabric that I can make the front and back both drape without it falling off my shoulders, which is kind of pretty, too: 

- YX

(PS: bulky stuff not your style? How about some socki maki?)

Throwing caution to the wind

I've been threatening to do this post for awhile, but talking to my group at Knit Night yesterday really solidified my resolve.

A quick perusal of my finished objects on Ravelry shows me that I've knitted one project in the pattern's suggested yarn. (It's Caliper, for those of you playing the home game) I love the finished samples in a pattern, and I appreciate the time and effort required to choose a yarn that compliments the design. That's awesome.

I also appreciate the issues that some people, especially beginner knitters, have with gauge. One of the best ways to get a great product is to follow the pattern instructions exactly. The result is more likely to resemble the sample.

But I find that tracking down the exact yarn for a pattern doesn't work with my impulsive desires. Sometimes, a suggested yarn line doesn't have a flattering color. Perhaps I'd rather use superwash, or something with a smaller halo, or something with a twist for durability, instead of the delicate singles specified. Maybe (and this is usually the case), I want to use stash yarn.

The first step toward throwing caution to the wind is simple: subbing similar yarn. Something of a similar weight and fiber is guaranteed to end up alright.

Next is to stay in the same weight family. You have to consider the implications of the fiber types, and number of plies; the fabrics can drape differently. In my experience, the "silkier" a yarn is, the drapier the fabric will be.

Then, you get bolder. I've found that sport, worsted, DK, and fingering weight yarns tend to swap out reasonably well. Fingering yarn held double is supposed to equal worsted, so it's a likelier match than just subbing one for the other directly, but as long as the fabric's openness isn't of ultimate importance, it doesn't seem to make a bad product. Using a bulky weight on a lace shawl is probably a bad idea, but the sport weight that I subbed for the suggested DK in my Texelle had no effect on the project.

Now, my frequent subbing does come at a price. Sometimes things look funky. I usually whip out a ruler and try to determine if I'm close to gauge. If I'm not, I may have to frog the few inches of the project that I've finished. Gauge swatches? Baaah, I just go for it. I figure no one's grading me based on accuracy.

I'd love to hear your favorite stories of subbed yarns- good and bad. And links to the project pages!

- YX

(Get some free yarn for all of your yarn subbing needs here!)

FO: Pink-tada

Woohoo! Happy 4th of July, friends in the USA! Today, I celebrated my independence from the neverending Pinctada I've been working on!

Now that all is said and done, I'm pretty happy with the final product. I've found several ways to wear it. There's the crossbody vest  shown above, as well as a cowl vest:

I can also just wear it as a doubled-up cowl, too, which is closer to its original design:

It was a guess and check situation for the length. I just kept wrapping the fabric around until it finally seemed long enough to fit... I ended a little short because I knew it'd block out a bit longer. I'm glad I did! It grew a little bit. 

I'm so happy with how it turned out.  For those who follow my Twitter, you know I had quite a rough time at the end, when I grafted the whole thing together, put it on, and realized it needed a twist in order to be worn as a vest! I had to pull out the entire graft, twist the cowl, and re-graft it. I wanted to cry!

The graft is so ugly-- it looks like a craggy scar running down the piece. I blocked the whole thing before grafting (so it could be blocked flat), and grafted afterward. I'm going to block it again on the grafted area, and I'm hoping that will clean it up a little. Ah well, new skill!

Have a great 4th! I've enjoyed reading the comments on this month's giveaway! Keep 'em coming!
- YX

July Giveaway!

Well, hello there. It's my understanding that you may enjoy some yarn. Indeed, some free yarn.

How about this month's giveaway?

It's two GORGEOUS little rolls of Play At Life Fiber Arts Revelous Sockie maki in "dogwood"!

60% Merino, 30% Bamboo rayon, 10% nylon: this stuff feels ridiculous to touch. Soft and beautiful. I love the variations in the green, too. Two separated cakes means easy sock knitting, too. Since this yarn is a slow gradient, having matched cakes makes it easier to match items, whether it's halves of a shawl, individual socks, or gloves/mittens.

It's beautiful and I'm seriously jealous of the winner! Luckily for the rest of us, Play At Life is also offering 15% off all orders in the online store, with the code "YARNSPLODER"! So don't worry if you don't win something!

To enter this month, visit the Play At Life Fiber Arts online store, and come back here to comment with your favorite!

Good luck!
- YX