Knitting – Page 26 – New England's Narrow Road

Starting on My Make Nine Challenge

The Make Nine Challenge is something I saw on Instagram and found more about on this article at Home Row Fiber. Choose nine things to accomplish in the year 2020 that have to do with crafting. Mine will all have to do with knitting, but some people sew or crochet so mixing it up is fine. In fact it is very informal and a way for people to become more focused on their crafts.

I like the idea, because I love to write things down. Making lists is how I accomplish my tasks day to day. Being able to check something off makes me feel good too.

Make Nine challenge with my partial list of knitting goals for 2020 — Quick sketch of my Make 9 projects / lessons to complete in 2020

What’s On My Make Nine List?

The image above is a quick list of some things I want to get done in the near future. You’ll notice I have 2 grids empty, but I bet I will be filling them soon. In fact knitting for the kitchen just came to mind as I added that Key West Karribean Kotten yarn photo (top blue and orange yarn).

First, I have three projects to finish, and I already finished one – the Namu Cowl. It’s checked off… whoohooo! Still to go is the Moon Sisters shawl and the Oxbow Cardigan. I’m not planning to finish them before I begin something else, but I am hoping I will be able to STICK TO THE GRID and not go nuts beginning other random projects.

There is a pair of mittens – Milet pattern (Ravelry)- I want to knit very badly. (Yes, I live in Florida and I knit mittens.) I just bought Rauma Finull wool from the Woolly Thistle to make them, but don’t have the pattern yet.

The Le Pouf cardi caught my eye recently and it’s such a cute little sweater. It’s a free pattern and it’s knit with sock yarn – so not too hot, which is perfect for where I live. I do wear sweaters a few times a year.

My best friend’s son and wife are having a baby – her first grandchild! – and I want to knit a hat with a fun colorwork pattern for the baby. Doing more colorwork is also a general goal.

I also want to knit a pair of socks that I like and can actually wear. I’ve been watching toe-up / magic loop videos on YouTube that are inspiring. I hate DPN’s so I want to get the hang of magic loop. ‘Keep learning’ is what I tell myself every day!

The soft look of mohair combined with fingering yarn appeals to me so I want one project to be made that way. Tin Can Knits has a pretty lacy pullover called “Love Note” which I may attempt to knit for my daughter.

As new patterns from my favorite designers come out, I may change my mind about what to make, but overall these are the projects.

What Are Your Crafting Plans for 2020?

I’m lucky that I am older and my four kids are all grown. I also work from home, and that gives me more time to knit.

One of the biggest reasons I continue to expand my knitting knowledge is to keep my brain moving. I enjoy trying patterns that challenge me to figure things out. Learning about different yarns and what projects they work best for is interesting. As in gardening, you can’t just stick a plant in the ground, in knitting you can’t just grab any old yarn and expect it to work for any pattern. There is more to choosing yarn than by color.

I would love to know what you are planning to knit and which yarn you prefer. Please leave a comment… and fill in your Make Nine grid!

Do the Ravelry Challenge

If you are on Ravelry, go to your projects page and see the “challenge” sign on the far right side. Here you can list the number of projects you hope to complete for the upcoming year. Last year (2019) I hoped to do 5 and ended up with 14 finished projects! I totally underestimated myself! Ravelry keeps track and will give you a rundown at the end of the year (if you load your projects to their site.)

Photo grid of my finished knitting projects in 2019 — Ten of the 14 projects I finished knitting in 2019

Left to right top row then bottom, here are the pattern names with blog posts and links to each.

Scrappy Bias Shawl – free pattern!
Bays Edge Shawl – using Miss Babs yarn
Umpqua Pullover – my first pullover / sweater
Let’s Stripe hat – I must learn to avoid holes at stripes!
Quince Wrap – Emma’s Yarn, lovely aqua colors
Polliwog Popover – Meh…
Woolfolk Cowl (my design) – practice colorwork
Dewdrops Shawl – A beginner might like this one
Greek Key Mittens – my take on World’s Simplest Mittens
Fine Sand Sweater – made with Miss Babs “Tarte” – love it!

For 2020 I chose 20 as my number of items to finish. I think I will do it, because some items will be small and quick, and I’ve already finished one – 19 to go.

I really hope to use up some of my yarn and keep myself from buying more (I ~~love~~ hate yarn sales!) Maybe I need to include stash yarn ideas in my grids too.

Buying Buttons For Hand Knits

Anyone who crafts may eventually need to buy buttons. I’ve been knitting for a couple of years now and recently knit a little baby cardigan that needed buttons.

I don’t know of any local craft stores or specialty shops that sell buttons near where I live, so I began searching online. Etsy is the first place I looked. I searched for wooden buttons and kids buttons.

Wooden Button Sellers

These pretty wooden buttons came from Richland Street Yarns, and I have since found other places at Etsy that sell pretty wooden buttons. You can go to Etsy and search, of follow my links below. These are large, smooth and beautiful.

Etsy Shops That Sell Buttons

Ginger Mint Collection (see buttons below)
Community Crafts UK
The Button Shack
The Eco Path

Buttons From Australia

Whenever I purchase something that comes to me from the other side of the world, it makes me feel good. I love to see foreign postage and open a package that was filled with goodies from far away. This button collection came from an Etsy shop located in Australia (see link above). I had to wait a while for them to arrive – which is understandable… from Australia to Florida is quite a trip. The creator contacted me when they were mailed to let me know they were on their way, but it would take a while. I appreciated that.

I’ve never had a bad experience buying from an Etsy shop owner.

Collection of buttons for kids with images of farm animals, Australian animals, wild animals, tractors and nautical designs. — Button collection with animals, tractors, and nautical designs

Online images are often different from actual products, and it’s funny but the buttons I thought I would like least are one of my favorites. I almost did not order the nautical set, but I am very glad I did.

I’ve already used the set of red fox buttons… see image below. The set of wild animal buttons, with a fox, hedgehog, rabbit, raccoon, owl and bird, are probably my favorite. They will look cute on some child’s sweater – which I will make one day.

Things to Consider When Buying Buttons

I’m new to creating buttonholes while knitting, and then having to sew buttons on through a knitted garment. It’s very different from working with fabric. I left a long tail when I began sewing the button using yarn, and then tied the end tail to that to make a knot when finished.

Come to find out, I was partially correct in tying the knot. The Tricksy Knitter has a post: “Sewing Buttons on to your Knitting” which has good advice.

This blog writer uses back-to-back buttons to give support to her buttons so they are less wobbly. This would work best on a heavier type of knitting I think.

Button size is the first consideration once the right type of button is located. To get a reference for the sizes I ordered, I pushed coins through the holes and measured them.

With all the button choices out there, shop around for savings and look for good quality buttons. Fancy buttons can add interest to a more simple knitted pattern. Rustic wooden buttons, or antler buttons can dress up a casual sweater. Fun and colorful buttons can make children happy.

Throwing away a shirt or sweater? Cut off the buttons first to save for future use! I could kick myself for all the times I have forgotten to do this.

I will admit it was not fun sewing on these buttons. A small eyed needle is needed but getting the yarn through the eye… grrrrrr. I think it turned out looking fine.

Notice the button-seller gave me opposite facing foxes… which was nice of her!

Fox buttons on baby sweater — Fox buttons on the Playdate cardigan

The Playdate sweater, with fox buttons, could be worn by a boy or girl although it looks more girlish to me. I am making another sweater, the Polliwog Popover, which is for a little boy – and there are no buttons to deal with.

For more on buttons, see what Tin Can Knits has to say about shopping for the perfect buttons. The writer takes her finished knitwear to a local button shop… lucky! … and then picks out her buttons.

How do you shop for buttons? Any tips to share?

Just Bought New Hand-spun Yarn

As I was browsing Instagram the other day I saw some beautiful handspun yarn photos. Taking a chance, I clicked the website link and there before my eyes were beautiful, colorful skeins to purchase! It wasn’t cheap, at $38 a skein – see the store link below this photo – as would be expected for good quality yarn of this type – but finding handspun yarn in such lovely colors is nearly impossible, so I jumped in and ordered two skeins.

Pink and tan handspun yarn — New handspun! Beautiful..!

Wound Up Fiber Arts

Wound Up Fiber Arts is the name of the shop where I purchased the bright pink “Fire Starter” and lovely “Toasted Coconut”, and I’m so glad I did. Today – the day I am typing this – they are offering only roving or top (not sure that is the correct term), fiber, to be spinned into yarn. There is not one skein of yarn left for sale. Of course that will change, I’m sure, but it’s hit or miss unless you keep up with the postings of such a site. On Instagram they admit to being “sporadic”. And that seems to be the way. This beautiful type of yarn doesn’t come off a machine. It is painstakingly crafted.

I believe that a lot of people who spin their own yarn use it themselves! It’s hard to get buyers to understand the higher price, so I understand.

Sample Swatches of the Handspun

For my swatches here I used a size 7 needle for the pink, and a size 10 for the tan. Each swatch is only around 25 stitches across, but I wanted to see how the colors looked knit up.

When I look at a skein or ball of this yarn I can’t imagine how it will look in a project. When knitting a hat or sweater using this yarn for colorwork, each shade will carry a longer way so the colors will slowly work their way up the garment.

Bright pink handspun yarn — “Fire Starter” handspun

I always wind my hanks of yarn into a ball because I don’t have a winder. This yarn was easy to wind and I found no knots. I just love the colors of this pink. It’s so soft and quite a big skein too. Both are over 300 yards.

Sample swatch handspun pink — Fire Starter yarn color way knit up

Tan "Toasted Coconut" handspun yarn — “Toasted Coconut”

Handspun swatch in tan variegated — “Toasted Coconut” sample swatch knit on size 10 needles.

I think I’ve found a hat I’d like to make where this yarn could be used. Hats are one of my favorite items to knit. The swatch will be ripped back now that I’ve seen the colors.

I ended up using a little of this yarn to create a little baby hat and it came out so cute!

Three little hand-knit baby hats — Baby size hats

Finding More Handspun Yarn to Purchase

Many types of yarn are hand-dyed, but not all that many are also hand-spun. With any luck you may find a yarn maker who is happy to share how they came by their wool / fiber and explain the process of hand-spinning it into lovely knitting yarn. I purchased a large skein of blue variegated handspun yarn from Clarion Call Fiber Arts on Etsy, where she explained that some of the fiber used in the yarn came from her sister’s bunny! The brown skein below is from her as well, but it is very scratchy.

I’ll admit that after buying Wound Up’s yarn and Spincycle’s yarn, I prefer those over Clarion Call’s, for color and softness. But, Clarion’s yarn is rustic and I decided to knit a hat.

two skeins of hand-spun yarn — Hand spun yarn by Clarion Call shop at Etsy

I ended up knitting this ribbed hat with the blue hand-spun. I love the rustic look with the fuzzy rabbit fur. It will keep my ears warm on these cold Florida winter mornings… LOL.

Bunny fur hat — Beanie made from hand spun yarn

Handspun yarn is time-consuming to create, and that is probably the number one reason it is in short supply. I’ve read articles about how spinners create these lovely collections of color and it’s interesting. It can be done using a drop spindle or a spinning wheel. But there is a lot involved, and I am no expert. YouTube has numerous videos on the subject of hand-spinning.

What to Knit With Handspun Yarn

I now own five skeins of variegated handspun yarn. I need to find a way to show them off in projects!

On Ravelry and Instagram the main knitting project using Wound Up Fiber Arts yarn is socks. Yuck, I dislike making socks. This yarn is too pretty to go on my feet, so I will save it for something like stranded colorwork on a sweater or hat. Although I see why people use this yarn for small, circular knitting. Each section of color will make pretty stripes.

Mill-spun with similar appearance of hand-spun

Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits has a shawl pattern called “Nightshift” that I’ll bet you are familiar with if you knit anything at all. This shawl is all over the internet and has been knit by thousands of people! And she often calls for handspun yarn in her patterns. This is how I came across Spincycle yarn. The problem is that many of Spincycle’s yarns are not in stock, and especially those lovely colors needed for Andrea’s patterns.

Spincycle’s yarn is really lovely, but these skeins contain 200 yards only as compare to the yarn above, and each skein is around $32.

Spincycle yarns — My two skeins from Spincycle Yarns

Here is a pullover sweater named “Shifty” which calls for 4 different colors of Spincycle handspun yarn. If I wanted to knit this sweater I could only buy 1 of the 4 colors named in the sample pattern (at the present time) because the other three are sold out.

Handspun yarn is especially pretty when combined with other colors and used as colorwork. As you knit the contrasting color pattern the variegation of the handspun adds even more uniqueness to the design.

Super Quick Knit Gifts in Bulky Yarn

If you are looking for something to knit up very quickly – like in a few hours time – consider this Winter Morning headband / ear-warmer pattern (link goes to Ravelry where you can download the pattern). Best of all, it’s a free pattern! With the holidays coming, lots of knitters look for quick gifts, and this one would be perfect for any teen, young adult or old lady! (I happen to be an old lady and I’m keeping that gray one for myself and giving the others to my daughter.)

This is how quickly the band can be knit… I finished up the gray one below, and added buttons, then I knit the pink one – all in one day! Here they are drying flat after being hand-washed.

Drying two bulky knit headbands — Drying

Using Wool Addicts “Fire” bulky yarn in gray I knit an “easy” version of the Winter Morning and then finished it off with buttonholes and buttons. **Note here: making buttonholes was not necessary – they don’t have to be unbuttoned to put this on. I should have simply sewn the buttons on through both ends. Now I have to go back and close up the buttonholes because they look stupid – like holes! – when the band is stretched. Live and learn. Otherwise it came out cute and washed up nicely. (Buttons were purchased at Richland Street Yarns on Etsy.)

Buttons cable knit headband — Button ending

To avoid doing the provisional cast-on, and Kitchener stitch at the end, cast-on and bind-off the regular way and then sew on buttons, or stitch the ends together.

Previously I had made this ear-warmer in the pink “cosmopolitan” color only (Mad Tosh yarn) and it wasn’t really bulky enough. See it on my previous post. So this time I held two strands of Madelinetosh A.S.A.P. together and it came out nice and chunky. Colors (below) used are “Cosmopolitan” and “Yoko” and I think they are both discontinued.

Bulky knit cable headband — Soft and bulky

The ASAP yarn washed nicely. Because of the bulkiness this headband took over two days to dry completely. I washed it by hand, but the yarn is Superwash merino, so if it’s put into a mesh bag and washed with clothing, it should hold up.

Well, they say that practice makes perfect, and after doing the Kitchener stitch a few times on recent projects (Playdate baby sweater), it no longer frightens me. My recent attempt was on this headband, and as you can see in the photo below, it looks okay. Where is the seam you ask? I love it… haha…

Double yarn knitted bulky headband — Did the Kitchener here, can you tell?

Quick Christmas Knits – Ideas for using bulky yarn

All this yarn is very nice and because of the bulkiness it knits up quickly. Best of all it is machine washable so gifting to non-hand-washers is okay. I’m thinking a cowl or hat wouldn’t take all that long to knit. Here are some I found posted at Ravelry.

Or make up your own pattern like I did with my bulky Rasta hat and scarf.

Happy gift / holiday knitting!