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Knitting Things You Covet

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We’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to make a Christmas List.  I would like to get some yarn, but I have zero clue what to get or what the cool new popular projects are.  

I tried looking on Ravelry and just ended up overwhelmed.  I’m still working on Gordon’s Ranger Cowl – only about a 100 rows left, pheew – and But I would like to start something new after that, maybe with handdyed yarn.

People always complain about pooling.  I wish my colors pooled.  I really like the gradient effect like this Malabrigo Arroyo.

I guess yarn is a lot about color for me.  

Anyway, what are you working on/wish you were working on?  Any cool yarn you covet?  🙂 

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Comments

  1. You know, every time you talk about knitting, I get the urge to try it out, but I’m terrible at finishing unimportant projects or I take forever to getting around to starting something if it doesn’t have a time crunch.

    So this is me, resisting the urge to get into knitting.

    Must resist… must resist…

    (Have you found a good knitting store near your new house?)

    • I am also a total Freia fan. I’ve been making beanies out of the ombré worsted weight wool for all of my relatives (because I am also a newbie knitter and haven’t mastered the more complex patterns. Someday I will graduate to socks, I swear!). I have also fallen in love with Plymouth baby alpaca grande hand-dye which is amazingly soft and snuggly. And the bulky weight means I can quickly knit up hats for those last minute beanie requests!

      • My first sock (only one as it was a test) was in worsted and flew by. Sadly, nobody in my family wants hand-knit socks, so I stopped making them.

        • So you preemptively don’t make a second one so it can’t get lost in the dryer? Very forward-thinking of you. 😉

  3. I’m currently working on both the Fade Cardi sweater as a Christmas gift for my sister and the Butterfly/Papillon shawl for me.

  4. A favourite in my household is Koigu yarn – I really love the KPPPM (Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino). It comes is lovely colours and knits up beautifully – good for socks, shawls, wristlets (half-gloves with no fingers) and scarves. https://www.koigu.com/kpppm/ It’s smooth and soft yet durable.

    • I love Koigu too! There colours are just fantastic. I am currently working on a fade shawl with KPPPM.

      🙂

  5. I don’t knit, but my mom does. She’s probably the best knitter in the world (yes, I’m bragging ^^) and she does these really intricate and beautiful lace shawls from Estonia right now. If you like colourful yarn, I recently stumbled upon this cool wool for socks. They dye it in a way that makes patterns when you knit it. By itself! It’s going to be a Christmas present for my mom and I hope she doesn’t read this and guesses, because she is also a fan. Here is the link:
    https://www.amazon.de/4-f%C3%A4dig-Design-9801270-09095-Handstrickgarn-Sockengarn/dp/B01M9I5NLL/ref=pd_aw_sim_196_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01M9I5NLL&pd_rd_r=0ac6f162-fef6-11e8-b808-fdb51f2211df&pd_rd_w=8qYvP&pd_rd_wg=QbTzG&pf_rd_p=e3f688b4-3b11-47b9-826b-a47d0220f33a&pf_rd_r=H0F272GRQ8Z0MFSKFYME&psc=1&refRID=H0F272GRQ8Z0MFSKFYME

  6. My Mother was a great knitter. The more complicated the better. She especially loved the Irish/Aran knits. She kept my children in play sweaters that they wore out. I so miss her being able to knit for her granddaughters. But I have a few saved sweaters that are now being used. I do know how to knit but I quilt instead.

  7. I tend to buy yarn because I love the colors as well, with no idea what I plan to do with them. Just finished Moho by Christopher Salas on Ravelry. It’s a good way to show off a single skein of sock yarn. My mother requested a scarf that wasn’t blue or green. Well she’s getting pink and purples even though it means she won’t really have anything to match it to because all she wears are blues and greens.

  8. I have decided to learn to knit fair isle and made a gorgeous hat for my husband (https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/12/06/getting-the-hang-of-it/). I managed to knit some of it while hanging out with a colony of African Penguins south of Cape Town which was totally cool (https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/11/26/knitting-with-penguins/). I also just finished knitting a very nice work-appropriate tank top with lace in a silk-wool blend (https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/11/24/paid-in-full/). Now I’m back home in England and it’s winter so I’m dreaming of warm woolly jumpers!

  10. I second the gradient yarn idea, you can either get a yarn cake with some really fun super long color changes or do a mini skein set which is has more colors closer in tone.
    Color pooling has always intimidated me, to much math. But it can look spectacular! https://www.twistcollective.com/collection/35-articles/features/1537-the-art-and-science-of-planned-pooling
    Is very well written article.
    Enjoy the search for your next project, I always thinks it’s just as much fun as the knitting!

  11. There is a yarn shop here that posts pictures of finished projects. I stopped in to check out their lap looms and they use yarn as warp. The $$ quickly changed my mind but it’s still on the list for “someday.” They had some beautiful yarns, but I had to slap my hands. Too many sewing projects to work my way through first and then there are all those lovely books to read.

    Just finished the new Reacher, Past Tense. It was interesting. A day off so I’m baking fruitcake and possibly banana bread muffins today because not enough small loaf pans.

  15. I love yarn colors, but the texture is the big thing for me. My latest “Oooh, that feels so nice…” project is cratering. The Bernat velvet yarn is too soft for the shawl I am making. I guess I will do a slouchy beret and a scarf, or two. The shawl pattern wanted a lot of yarn. (I am also allergic to wool, so my choices are somewhat limited.)
    I don’t knit well any more. My medications leave me with fingers that feel like they are asleep on a full time basis.
    I knit by sight, not feel – because I can’t feel the yarn well and I drop the needles if I am not careful. It’s no fun looking at an entire row of empty loops, thinking “Can I get all of those back?” My hands often cramp because I hold things too tight, but if I don’t, suddenly the yarn is just sitting there and there’s nothing between my fingers. (That IS better than losing one’s fork at a restaurant, though.)
    Knitting helps me keep my fingers flexible, so I won’t give it up, but, boy, is it frustrating sometimes. Arthritis compression gloves actually seem to help, but make me too clumsy to use while I knit.
    I threatened my children with knitwear this year for Christmas, but only finished the projects for the in-laws. Oh well, surprises are good.

  17. I love Mountain Colors yarn, especially their Berries collection. Right now I’m knitting a sweater in Gooseberry

    https://mountaincolors.com/color-families/wild-berries/

    There are so many great dyers and projects out there. I knitted socks for my family for gifts this year and to reward myself, I’m knitting a sweater. Do you listen to any podcasts? Try the Grocery Girls if you want a good chuckle or two.

    Happy Knitting and Merry Christmas!

  18. I covet yarn from Wollelfe in Austria, they have s Facebook page and sell on Etsy. Their Facebook page frequently shows shawls made from their yarn – which is beautiful.
    Crazy Zauberball also has great colors as does Knit Picks Chroma.

  19. I’m working on spinning a braid of gorgeous magma colorway fiber into yarn. I slowly transitions from a bright deep scarlet to a solid black. I’m spinning it at the smallest end of lace weight so that I can chain ply it to small fingerling weight. I have four of these braids and want to knit it into a sweater. the color changes fascinate me as it fills the bobbin…

  20. I love this bobbly wool (Sidar Sweetie) I made a blanket for a friends baby from it and ordered way too much so I’m making a blanket for the sofa. Or if someone buys it. So easy to knit with and great feeling to snuggle with. I’ve got a batch of yellow I brought as well, so I’ll end up with two blankets ?

  21. I love working with natural fibers- I am knitting baby stuff now with cotton/bamboo blends. I have also crocheted baby blankets with a yarn made of cotton and coffee fiber. It is summer in South Africa and it is too hot to knit right now. Look at the wonderful website of I love yarn – http://www.iloveyarn.co.za

  22. Knitting intimidates me with two needles, but I love crochet! Took me many months but I finally finished a rainbow granny square blanket for a transgender high school graduate. The whole blanket was one big granny square, with no real pattern because so often I start with a pattern and then just kind of do my own thing. My projects right now are dragonscale dice bags, using metal scales from the Ring Lord online. They look so cool! Best of all they’re fairly small so I can actually complete one in just a week or so. 🙂

  24. I love Lazy Cat Yarn, a hand dryer with fabulous colors, especially her Opulence line, a merino/silk/cashmere blend. I want to do the https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/architexture scarf with it, one person has already if you look in the projects. Its gorgeous but pricey, will probably end up doing it in Cascade Heritage (which other people have done also).

  25. i’m working on hats right now. and a pair of socks. hats are a bulky-weight, so i can finish before christmas, and i love the yarn- three irish girls springvale bulky, colorway “fly me to the moon.” it’s a dark blue with pops of lime green, turquoise, and lavender. the socks are for me, and i used hedgehog fibres sock yarn- pollen (deep gold) for the cuffs, heels, and toes; cereal (beige with tiny pops of pink, gold, green, and turquoise) for the body. i love the colorplay.

  26. I can’t knit anymore due to the arthritis in my fingers, but I picked up a child’s loom weaving kit and plan to start that next week since I finished my final exam for this semester and I have a few weeks before I can take the next classes.

  27. I absolutely love it when you post a question like this so I can see what everyone else recommends. I am in mourning here because our local yarn shop has decided to close its doors in January. However, there are several shops not too far away but it won’t be the same as sitting and knitting or taking classes at my local. I recently finished a High Plains Shawl out of Blue Moon Plushy with a solid color for contrast. I am debating whether to start the Starshower cowl or Simplicity cardigan. Either would also be from Blue Moon. The Simplicity (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simplicity-cardigan) would be out of Yaksi–60% Wool, 20% Yak and 20% silk.

    I live in Oregon and we are awash with Indie dyers here in the PNW. Blue Moon is in WA, Knitted Witt in Portland and Despondent Dyes is our local Indie dyer.

    I also find Ravelry to be a bit overwhelming so I sometimes cut it down by searching for a type of project and a gauge of yarn or simply limit to the “hot now” button. Good luck! Perhaps I should take up a project this summer to dye some wool inspired by your characters. What colors would be for Kate, Curran, Nevada or Rogan?

    • If you’re talking about Black Sheep, at least she will still be selling online. I’ll miss the store too, though.

  28. I’ve been tatting snowflakes, working on the Cross Stitch of Doom (234,000 stitches – I might finish it sometime this decade), shiny capes for the grandkids for the holidays, crocheting an afghan out of small skeins of handspun from a yarn swap, and spinning the yarn for a LotR weaving pattern project. Oh, and a horse quilt for my daughter.

    No knitting, though. I don’t know how. Yet.

  29. Heads up. Malabrigo Arroyo isn’t a gradient. It has an overall mottled effect, but doesn’t read resemble the pic. Vivid fiber arts has to-dye-for gradients. My LYS is closing, so I just seriously indulged my knitting bug for 50% off. But Malabrigo does have great colors and anniversairo is one of my favorites of theirs. Good choice!

  30. My mom is on the 3rd? remake of my rager cowl. I am NOT her favorite child right now. I have a crocheted patchwork ends project to make a cover for my bed that I should be working on because I’m on bedrest. But I cannot seem to get interested in much of anything right now. Your tidbits are a bright spot in my weeks.

  31. I am working on the baby blanket which my poodle stole after it was finished and created a non decorative hole with her nasty teeth. I love the yarn, it is 70% alpaca and 30% wool in a slivery blue green color. The design is a cable/ladder pattern. Since the hole was 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the blanket I have to knit in retrograde. I have never done a cable 6 purl back before, kinda awkward. This time the blanket will go straight from blocking to my neighbor’s baby! I think I will stick with hats for a while since they are quickly finished.

  32. I talked myself into getting involved in a knit along called It Takes a Guild Cardigan. I bought lots of yarn, knit gauge swatches, then stalled. I’m not jazzed by the design, although I love cables. This seems to be a different way of approaching the knitting, less pattern-based, so I checked it out. Then I got sick.
    I got my yarn at the Lion Brand outlet in northern NJ. I tend to leave yarn lying around, so anything wool attracts critters. So I tend to get artificial fibers.
    Please post a pic of the cowl when it’s done, hopefully modeled by Gordon.

  33. Up to a relaxing laugh? I saw this one on ravelry and thought: “Rogan!”
    https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bad-santa

    Got a train of thought that went like this:
    Pin-up calendar -> garage
    knitware -> grandma
    => Men in knitware -> Grandma Frida
    knitting The Christmas Sweater
    and because it’s too hot in Texas for knit sweaters, these smaller bits of knitware featured in that calendar are absolutely perfect – and who would want to cover up nice chests anyway?
    A gag-gift for Grandma Frida? You remember Nevada saying something like: “Why aren’t you knitting something for me? When you look up ‘grandma’ in the dictionary it shows a granny knitting…” And Grandma Frida retaliating with bits of knitware for christmas everyone has to wear because thats the way of The Christmas Sweater (substitute)…

  34. I’m cross- stitching a stocking of kitties for my granddaughter. Will probably be done next year. It’s a big project. It’s fun and calming.

  35. I can’t knit to save my life, always mess up the tension, but I can crochet. I’m working on 3 unicorns right now, here is a pic of what they look like.

  36. I just finished making a pair of fingerless mitts for the man using a Madeleintosh. I just tinked out the bind off of a scarf because I wanted it longer. The yarn is a really fuzzy, annoying, and BRIGHT gradient acrylic. I’ve been knitting F-bombs thanks to Devon Monk, and I want to start a pair of fingerless mitts for my mom. I have a pretty periwinkle for that in Cascade wool. Weirdly my pinkie finger started hurting so I’m not sure how I’m managing to hurt it as I knit. I love malabrigo and when I go into the yarn shop I spend a lot of time petting the baby alpaca yarns.

  37. Have you ever tried to dye yarn? For years I did with koolaid to get kids interested in fibre arts. Everything smelled yummy. Recently, I upped my game and bought a set of dyes. It feels like being an alchemist! Also you can overdye ugly yarn from your stash. Warning – highly addictive. This is where I bought dye. There are a lot of great videos and advice available.

    https://www.wandaworks.ca/store/c1/Featured_Products.html#/

  38. I recently finished the Dohne shawl. It was a fun knit and much easier than it looks (there’s no actual cabling going on). I used handspun and made it smaller than the pattern calls for. But handpainted yarn would work well with this. Aerie cowl is one of my free patterns on Ravelry that would work with handpainted yarn, and uses a small amount of yarn. I just finished a bunch of hats for my brother and his kids, mostly using the Grand Plan Hat pattern by Ann Budd, but one was the Jacques Cousteau hat. And right before that I was on a slipper kick. One of my favorites was Amy March’s Slippers by Tiny Owl Knits.

    In addition to yarn, maybe put some fun knitting tools or supplies on your wish list? A Needle Runs Through It has some really cool tools and bags (she’s on etsy), and Chicken Boots has great needle holders and bags.

  39. I tried to post this earlier but it didn’t show up so I will try it again. Hopefully it won’t show up twice. I have just knitted a very cool fair isle hat for my husband: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/12/06/getting-the-hang-of-it/, and a dressy silk and wool blend sleeveless sweater with lace for me: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/11/24/paid-in-full/. I also spent some time knitting while hanging out with a colony of African Penguins while in Cape Town: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2018/11/26/knitting-with-penguins/.

  40. Just cast on another pair of baby mitts for my friends baby. Also about half way done with a ready steady hat made with hedgehog chubby. (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ready-steady)I just finished a Mobius cowl, that has a really cool cast on.(https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bulky-mobius-cowl) I mostly knit hats and socks, although recently there are several cowls I want to try.
    In terms of pretty yarn you really can’t go wrong with anything from this store. http://www.eatsleepknit.com/cshop/yarn/ they have lots of pretty hand painted skeins.

  41. I recently finished westknits’ Texture Time shawl. A marathon knitting project, but fun. Now I’m on the Inspira Cowl, Steampunk version, in Schoppel Zauberball.
    Malabrigo yarns are beautiful and fun to knit. I did Martina Behm’s Smooth Sailor in Malabrigo Lace. I like wearing the shawl, but the knitting was rather tedious. And yes, the yarn did some pooling (unintentionally).
    Also I’m toying with the idea of a fair isle vest in Kauni 8/2 effect…so many beautiful yarns, so many ideas, so little time…

  43. I’ve just finished off a Ravello sweater and current have a couple of sock projects on the needles (one I am enjoying, one not so much). Once I finish one of these, I plan to cast on new projects over the holidays; a colorblock aran-weight sweater, Rakkaus socks or if I’m feeling ambitious maybe even a Stargazing shawl.

    Since we have just a couple weeks to Christmas, have you looked at Ysolda’s Knitworthy collection for this year? https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitworthy-5
    I’ve knitted a Gleði hat from that collection that was a beautiful way to use up leftover sock yarn, and may do a Poza cowl some time soon. I also love the Joy mitts, which have colored dots and a tiny flag (the pattern shows them with Pride, trans and bi flags, and can be adapted for any other three-color striped flag).

  44. When I was a child, my mother was a member of the local weavers’ guild. I remember one GA Day as part of the celebrations they had several demonstration stations set up that went through the process of wool and cotton treatment from carding through spinning, dyining and weaving with various loom types.

    I learned a little bit about using natural dyes and later did some small programs on the topic at a couple of state parks I worked for. I am now trying to review materials and outline a more detailed program on natural dyes for our Master Naturalist program, though I REALLY would like to find someone from my local fiber crafts community or one of the nearby native tribes to come in and do the program.

    That is my current project, though it is not knitting specific ?. On the knitting from, I have a baby blanket I put aside a while back that I need to finish and have several small batches of yarn that I bought long ago because of the color and/or texture and I need to find something to do with those (but I only know how to knight flat things)

  45. I crochet not knit. We are going to be welcoming a new member to the family, and I’ve made the baby two afghans to use when he gets here. I’m going to be working on his christening afghan, hat and booties. I’m all about the color and texture with yarn. I don’t have the patience to do color pooling, or rather the arithmetic to successfully accomplish it! I do like the effect though.

  46. I don’t really knit, I knot. Some day I’ll get it, till then I might just stick with learning blacksmithing and a little woodcarving. I do love colorful yarn though.

  48. I am the dud friend in the crafty friend group. Someone has to help pick colors and ooh and aah when the piece is finished. Love the gradient colors. Colors are the reason for any cool project. Knit up and onward. My admiration and praise always.

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