Splurged on Yarn This Week

Had to have new yarn this week!  I've been using a lot of my stash so I don't feel too guilty. 

A new yarn/quilt shop opened up in Lima, Ohio, and I wanted to check it out.  I stopped by after my dental check up (everything's all good - such a relief after a year and a half of dentist visits to fix my teeth after a bicycle ride that ended in a face plant).

Heavenly Stitches is in an old church on the corner of Greely Chapel & E Hanthorn.  It is really lovely with large windows and wooden floors.  Half of the store is quilting supplies, and the other half is yarn.  My only suggestion would be to add an area to sit and try the yarn out, but there is a good size room in the back for classes.  I bought 2 yarns:  Sublime luxurious woolly merino in a teal and Mirasol Akapana in a deep purple tweed.  The Sublime is a boucle yarn while the Mirasol is a thick and thin yarn.  Both are very luxurious and soft.

I also purchased some Lion Brand yarn Hometown USA.  This yarn is the biggest yarn I've ever used.  It is definitely super bulky.  It is definitely super bulky, and I'm using Size 11 needles because I'm a loose knitter.  The label recommends a Size 13.  

I'm making cowls out of all three of these yarns.  

Look at what I've been up to!

This is what I've been doing all summer long!

Ruffled Baby Girl Hat

 

Oh my, I just don't know where the time has gone lately. 

This is a little baby hat I made out of the left over yarn from the basket weave blanket. I used this pattern, and then added the little I-cord piece at the top of the hat.

Adding a hat to a baby blanket makes a very nice and useful gift.  I love to knit booties, and I do give them as gifts, but I'm not really sure that they are used all that much.  I see babies wearing hats and using blankets all the time so I know my gift will be useful.  

Of course as I write this, I think of my own children.  My daughter loves yarn, and has always had a knitted or crocheted blanket.  When I wash her blanket, she goes and gets one of our living room throws.  She will tell me that she loves the smell of yarn.  My son, on the other hand, won't have anything to do with hand knitted and crocheted blankets.  He likes those really fine gauge machine knit cotton blankets.  His blankets have to be super smooth and soft while she likes the texture of a hand knitted blanket.  So I guess I try to give something functional and beautiful with the understanding that I can't always suit the tastes of the receiver, but no matter what I make, they know that my love and care (and sometimes my blood, sweat, and tears) went into the gift.  Perhaps that is all that is important.

Aqua Endless Scarf

I love this scarf. It is exactly like a cozy necklace wrapped around my neck. It makes a rainy spring day cheerful. This is a great pattern called Endless Sunrise Scarf that I would do again and again. I used some yarn from another project that is a wool-cotton blend in a dk weight.

Wool cotton blends are my favorites to work with because they are light enough to wear in fall and spring, but they still have all the wonderful properties of wool.  Wool has elasticity that cotton does not.  This means that wool retains its shape while a cotton tends to stretch further and further from where I'd like it to be.   Cotton alone can be stiff to knit with, but the wool is much easier on my hands.  Together they make a great yarn that will take off the chill, but won't over-heat.  Hope you like it as much as I did.

Yarn Indulgence

This yummy yarn and pattern was my yarn indulgence over the holidays.  My mom bought me the beautiful scarf pin.  The yarn, pattern & pin were all bought at Yarn Birds in Raleigh, NC.

The yarn is Punta Yarns Meritwist Hand Paint in Colorway HP 60.  It is bulky weight and I used a US 11 / 8 mm size needles.  I love this color because it looks so good with brown.  Chocolate brown is a core color in my wardrobe.

The pattern has a seed stitch border with the large cable  down the middle.  I especially like the way the edges look finished by slipping stitches.  In fact, I've started finishing most of my scarves and even dishcloths by knitting the first stitch through the back loop and when you have one stitch left, pull the yarn to the front and slip it as if to purl.

Rose ZigZag Scarf

I teach a knitting class for an assisted living center.  All of the ladies love Lion Brand Yarn's Homespun. I was out shopping to see what colors of Homespun are carried locally when I came across this lovely Rose.  It reminded me of my friend's rosy cheeks so I made her this cozy scarf.  I found the pattern at Lion Brand Yarn's website.  It was easy to make and it would be fairly easy to adapt to be wider, if so desired.  

Even though it was for Christmas, I wasn't able to get with my friend until last weekend.  She did love it and commented on how soft and warm it was.  

Spring Pullover Scarf

I had some leftover yarn from my Spring Pullover to make a little something extra. So I picked out this out of 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. It is the Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf by Marci Richardson. I modified it slightly; instead of increasing to 32 stitches, I increased to 22 stitches.

Kits & Samplers

I have a confession: I've never bought a kit or tried a sampler. I guess I just didn't trust the yarn in them or the pattern or it was just too expensive. Anyway, I fell in love with this sampler:KnitPicks Sampler. I haven't bought it yet, but I think it is just lovely. What do you think?

Fingerless Gloves

These were a gift for my SIL. She has Reynaud's Syndrome and needs help in the cold weather to keep her hands warm. I just love this colorway on the yarn, and the pattern turned out so beautiful, yet it was fairly easy to knit up.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock Colorway 180

Pattern: Spirogyra by Lynne Vogel

Easy Gift Wrap

I finished this wrap in a little over a week. It is just a rectangle knit lengthwise in garter stitch (knit every row). I used 4 yarns, and changed colors as I felt like it. One of the yarns is a hand tied yarn with many colors throughout it, including some yellow, pink & spring green. I added yellow and spring green cotton yarns and a pink boucle. This knit up so fast and the color changes made it interesting and fun to see how it would turn out. I am very happy with it.

I made this for a friend of mine who just had her seventh child. I thought after bearing seven children, she needed something for herself. I knit this wrap to be a hug whenever she got up in the middle of the night to feed her wee one.

Purple Ravens Scarf

I made this for a friend of mine, and it produces a soft touch of color. The pattern is all garter stitch (knit every row). The novelty yarn (Patons Allure) hides mistakes well although you do have to be careful that you don't drop stitches. Cast on as many or as few stitches as you want.

Finally a Scarf for Me

The last 5 scarves I made have been for other people so I decided to make one for me. Here is the pattern.

I made this with Lion Brand Yarn Jiffy that a friend donated to the cause. It was really easy to work with. This pattern makes a dense herringbone pattern.