Tag: Brooklyn Tweed

Fiddlehead Mittens

I’ve caught the mitten knitting bug! As I write this the temperature here in Florida is 88 degrees (says the app on my phone) but it feels like 101…! What? I don’t think that is correct, but the humidity here can really spike the “real feel”. My AC is not on, so I don’t think it feels like over 100. It does feel like 88 though.

Even so, I am knitting on my second Glissade mitten beneath the ceiling fans. Once it is done, I will begin the Fiddlehead mitten pattern. Because it will be knit in the same DK yarn (Brooklyn Tweed Arbor), I have an idea of needle size to use.

fiddle leaf fern
Fiddlehead fern

Fiddlehead Cast On Changes

The suggested needle size sounds quite big for such a large cast on number of 60. The Fiddlehead mitten pattern calls for a lining to go inside the mitten, and I want to avoid that. So I went down to a size 2 needle, and I am a tight knitter.

Fiddlehead Mitten knitting
A different cast-on

I tried the suggested i-cord cast on – which took forever – and I didn’t like it for my purpose. So I began over, and used the Latvian Braid. The i-cord is probably used because stitches will have to be picked up inside the cuff to add the liner. Since I am not knitting a liner, I changed things.

Mitten gauge is hard to judge unless you’ve knit a lot of different mittens and know which sizes works for each yarn weight. I recently knit the Glissade pattern and used a size 3 and 4 needle, but the cast-on number was only 48, not 60. I knit with this exact same Arbor yarn, so I knew if I used a size 3 or 4 with a 60 stitch cast on, these mittens would be huge!

Now that I’ve knit this far along, they still seem slightly large, but should be okay.

DK Yarn and Colors Used

I loved, loved, loved the yarn I used for the Glissade mittens. It was my first time using Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor yarn and it’s a new favorite. Need some nice DK yarn? Check it out. The link takes you to Wool and Company, and they ship free to US locations, with NO minimum order! Arbor comes in many colors, but I knew I wanted greens, because this is a fiddlehead pattern after all!

For the background color I chose Degas, which is a light tan. Then I chose five shades of green for each section of the pattern. Color names are: Dorado, Treehouse, Wreath, Lovat, and Parka, with Degas as the light color for the background. Very pretty yarn and colors, and a few are now discontinued.

Arbor yarn in shades of green
Five green shades

Whenever I put stitches on hold, I always have a tough time picking those stitches back up again. This time I put the thumb stitches on hold using two different strands of yarn. I’ll use a very small size needle to pick them up, which may help. Then I can slip them onto the correct size DPN.

Fiddlehead mittens being knit on DPNs with thumb stitches on hold
Thumb stitches are put on hold
Fiddlehead mitten knitting
Finished the hand, and it fits nicely

I have now reached halfway on the second mitten without doing the thumbs. I will do both thumbs last. These will not be done in time for the KAL with The Woolly Thistle, but I have already finished Glissade for that.

I am very happy with this pattern and the colors I chose – Dorado, Treehouse, Wreath, Lovat and Parka, with . Even without a liner, the knitting is quite dense and should keep hands warm.

Fiddlehead mitten pattern
Working on second mitten
top of mitten hand
Brooklyn Tweed Arbor DK yarn

Got some pictures today of my finished “Fiddlehead” mittens. I love the way they turned out. Fantastic yarn, good pattern (although chart printing is small – and the called for cast on takes forever – I didn’t do it), and best of all, they fit me perfectly! Those thumbs took some patience, but I am not used to doing colorwork. I’m also very happy with the colors. Possibly I will knit a hat in the future to match in order to use up the rest of the yarn.

hand knit pair of mittens in Fiddlehead pattern
Washed and drying

Knitting (Nope) the Complicated Oxbow Cardigan

I had informally decided to give sweater knitting a break, along with shawl knitting. Then I changed my mind when I saw the Oxbow Cardigan pattern.

The pattern is by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits and I have never knit any of her patterns although she is everywhere and is very popular with knitters. She seems to have patterns that are above my skill level (this one has only reinforced my belief), but it looked simple enough, with big yarn and big needles. Heck, she made them for the whole family!

Ha! Fooled again…..I have not found this project to be easy at all AND spoiler alert – I frogged it (ripped it out to save the yarn) on April 28th. I feel very good about that too.

How It All Began – My History With This Project

The yarn is bulky so I figured knitting the sweater would be quick. In fact I finished ONE Oxbow sleeve in two days, but man did I struggle, and it didn’t look all that great. But I learned from my efforts and the second sleeve went better.

The Yarn

Brooklyn Tweed Quarry yarn in color Geode
Brooklyn Tweed yarn in color “Geode”

I am using Brooklyn Tweed Quarry in “Geode”, which is a gray-lavender color. My first impression with Quarry yarn was a year or so ago when I bought dark colors to knit warm hats for my kids. As I tried to cast-on, the yarn suddenly came apart! I was very unhappy. I’ve since used this same yarn to knit a hat and have had better luck. I think I just came across a weak section of yarn and didn’t know how to deal with it. It cannot be pulled tightly, so you do have to take care and twist the strand if necessary.

Quarry yarn is bulky, yet very light weight – surprisingly so. Because of this it dries quickly when hand washed (don’t put it in the washer or dryer) and will not weigh you down as a garment. I bought mine at Wool & Company, and they wound all 7 skeins for free! (US shipping is free too, for any order!)

I was interested in this yarn because it is spun in Harrisville, New Hampshire, near where I used to live! The wool comes from Wyoming ?, is spun in NH, and then dyed in another part of the US, so it is totally American made.

trying on the Oxbow sweater sleeve as I knit
Oxbow sleeve knitting in progress

Knitting the Oxbow Sleeves

This is only my third sweater knitting project, (see Fine Sand and Umpqua) if you don’t count the little Popover for a child (I didn’t like that one either). So I am nowhere near being a sweater-knitting expert.

My first mistake was at the beginning, when I used the larger needles to cast on and knit the ribbing. I was supposed to use the smaller size.

Because my gauge swatch was telling me to go up a needle size, and I couldn’t find (and didn’t really want) larger needles, I decided to knit the sweater one size larger. Is that a good idea? I don’t know.

So I began my sleeve. Once the increases happened I got confused. Other knitters had questions too. I know because I saw them on Ravelry. As I knit along trying to figure out what to do with the pattern as the increases were made, I finally figured it out, but not before I made the underside of the sleeve look icky.

knitting the sleeve notes on Oxbow sweater
Making increases on the sleeves

Figuring Out The Sleeve Increases

This information may help you, if you decide to try this pattern. The problem arises when you come to the increase rows.

I added markers to show where the increase area was. The orange marker shows the BOR. Each time I would work a round I would count backwards – in pattern – from the original beginning (where I also placed a marker) to start the pattern from the BOR. Nothing in the directions advises this! You have to wing it.

I didn’t figure this out for a while, so my underarm of the sleeve is a bit messed up. This part will be towards my body and not easily seen. (The pattern simply says to make increases and knit in pattern. Ya, the directions are not impressive.) I did do better on sleeve #2.

finished sleeve
Mistakes are apparent on the underside of my first sleeve

Sleeves Get Long!

My sleeve also began to get really long before I was done with making my increases! So I decided to go back and follow the next smaller size directions. If I had tried to get all the increases made my sleeves would have been way too long! (I saw comments on this same problem from other knitters). As it is, the sleeve is still a little longer, which is always better than too short!

Finished sleeve knitting for Oxbox
One sleeve finished

The Oxbow repeat pattern is nice and makes a fluffy texture, but it’s not all that easy to follow. It’s an easy enough pattern with 2 row repeats, it’s just not easy to keep track of the rows. What I did was use the orange clip marker to give me reference for inches (length) and then I could pay attention to the pattern better.

On To the Body and Decreases

Now I have knit the body of the Oxbow sweater to the decrease section. Wow, all I can say is really read through all the info before you begin. Basically it comes down to knitting in the pattern, but adding decreases at each end of the row (every so many rows, depending on size).

I am knitting the size “Women 42” for a good bit of ease. Once I got to the body and neck and yoke decreases, I faltered. I set the sweater aside until I could concentrate and really figure out what to do. THIS IS NOT AN EASY KNIT! Also not something to set aside for long in fear I will forget what I was doing and have to re-read it all again!

The directions are not easy to understand and I can only hope I will finish this and have it be wearable. The designer talks like this is the simplest sweater ever to make ….. and gee, why not whip one up for every family member? NOT! If I get through this one, I doubt I will ever make another. I’m just being honest here, whereas I have my doubts about some reviews I’ve read.

Knitting the Oxbow cardigan sweater
Knitting progress on the Oxbow

For now, this sweater is on hold. I’m partway done with the body and have two sleeves completed. I do plan to finish it, but currently I’m on a mitten-knitting kick. So I’m publishing this post and will update it when I finally finish this hellish sweater knitting project.

Oxbow Frogging Complete!

Every time I would pass by the knitting bag holding the Oxbow sweater, I would feel pressure to get working on it. But I didn’t want to. When I did get it out, I had difficulty finding where the heck I was in the pattern. I was at a decrease every 5 rows, while doing the 4 row repeat with knits and purls done at such and such and P2tog or SSK done at here and here…. Just reading it was mind boggling. Sorry, but I think it was a very lazy way to write a pattern.

I contemplated all my work – 2 sleeves done and about halfway up the body. But tearing it out made me feel calmer than pressing onward. So I frogged it. Now I have tons of Quarry yarn and must find another sweater to knit. (Eventually I knit one by Espace Tricot). But today I feel good, and will no longer see this sweater sitting around driving me crazy!

Year-Round Camping in Florida; Enjoying Nature While I Knit

The peaceful days of camping in the wilderness go perfectly with knitting. What could be better than having coffee outside, with knitting on my lap? We camped twice in the last month and here is a look at the knitting projects I took along.

Pam's avatar by Pam

Knitted Black Winter Hat in Quarry Yarn

I want to say right off that I knit this hat for myself and did not use a specific pattern. I did take notes as I knitted, which I can’t seem to find.

The two skeins of Quarry yarn I purchased a while ago were meant to be used to make warm, winter hats for some boys I know. I bought Brooklyn Tweed Quarry in Obsidian (black) and Slate (dark gray), but when I tried to start a hat and join in the round the yarn came apart! I was so disappointed.

The Quarry wool was put away until I read something somewhere about how to work with it. Apparently it does tend to have this splitting problem which can be remedied by twisting the yarn to make it stronger before putting stress on it. Because I didn’t want to have to deal with this when beginning a hat, I made my brim from other yarn, with the plan to attach Quarry for the top only.

The Hat Cuff

To begin the hat at the cuff I held two leftover (stash) yarns together and knit a K1, P1 rib for about 6 inches. The yarn here is Miss Babs “Coffee Break” and Madelinetosh sock in “Arch”… I believe.

hat brim
Fold up hat brim knitted in two yarns held together

Although I now live in Florida, in New Hampshire my favorite winter hats had thick cuffs. Making an extra long brim to fold up gives an extra layer of warmth for the ears.

double-brim hat in Quarry and other yarns
Extra ear warmth with roll up brim

After I finished knitting about six inches of ribbing, I changed to the Quarry yarn. Right away I discovered that I needed to use larger needles and have fewer stitches to work with. I also want to say that I had none of the previous problems with the yarn coming apart. I don’t know if I simply had a bad section of yarn before, or if I just never had to pull on it as much.

I did take notes when I was knitting, and here is how I began, but I didn’t figure out the decreases like this. Also my hat was getting too tall so I didn’t do the knit rows between the decreases at the top.

  • Cast on 110 and K1, P1 around for 6 inches (not sure about the needle size because I didn’t write it down, but probably a size 5 or 6)
  • Attach Quarry and use size 11 needle to knit around (size recommended by Quarry is 10 or 11)
  • Here is where I had problems. Quarry is more bulky than the two yarns held together. The rest of the “pattern” notes are what I should have done – I have no idea what I actually did – until the top decreases.
  • Reduce to 80 stitches: K4, K2tog around = 88 stitches first round, then K10, K2tog around, for 80.
  • Knit around for about 2 / 2.5 inches then begin top decreases
  • Crown: K8, K2tog, Place Marker – around
  • Next row Knit around (I didn’t do these knit rounds because my hat was becoming too tall)
  • Next decrease row: Knit to 2 stitches before marker and K2tog, around
  • Continue by alternating a knit row and decrease row – using DPNs for last few rounds.
  • Once there are only a few stitches left, finish as you do any hat.

Anyway, the hat is not perfect, but it is somewhat how I planned. The warmth of the wool on top will keep my head warm when the temperatures drop to 60 around here… Haha…

But seriously, this hat will be nice to wear when I visit NH in cooler months.

Hand knitted winter hat in a tropical elephant ear plant

You may be able to see the tighter and smaller stitches just above the brim. Then, I switched to a larger needle and decreased stitches somewhat evenly around. I still ended up with too many stitches so the top of the hat is a bit puffy. It looks okay, and overall I am happy with it.

Hand-knit winter hat with roll brim
Warm wool on top

The hat was hand-washed and laid flat to dry and the Quarry wool is very soft – not at all scratchy. In fact I look forward to using it again with the gray color I still have. Not only does it finish nicely, this type of wool makes excellent cold-weather items. Now I understand why it’s chosen for sweaters, mittens and hats.

Skittle, my cat, came out to watch me try to take my selfies and hat pictures. It was a little warm to be wearing a hat like this one!

Not Happy With Quarry Yarn

Recently I purchased two skeins of tweed Quarry yarn from Harrisville Designs.  I’ve been looking for tweed yarn in dark colors to knit hats for my boys.  The company is located in New Hampshire.  The tag notes that the yarn is “sourced” in Wyoming, “spun” in New Hampshire, and “dyed” in Pennsylvania.

Black cat and Quarry yarn

I purchased “Obsidian” and “Slate”, which are black and gray.  The colors are nice.  The yarn is not very soft, but I had hoped that it would become soft after washing.  However, I can’t even get this yarn onto my needles without it coming apart!  I’ve tried twice to start a hat in the round, and any pulling on the yarn (unless you are super careful) will cause it to come apart.

Quarry yarn splits easily when tension is added
This is what happened when I tried to tighten the yarn on my needles.

So I finally had the cast on figured out and had just joined the yarn in the round.  I went to tighten it up, and it came apart.  I can’t knit with yarn like this!  Apparently this type of yarn does this, but I wish I had known.  I spent a good amount of money on this yarn and I am not happy.  UPDATE: I have found this PDF about Quarry yarn and it recommends twisting the yarn before putting stress on it. That should strengthen the strand so it won’t split.

I’m happy to support home-grown yarn, and I used to live near Harrisville in New Hampshire, so I was excited to buy this product. Once I give it another try, I will post updates here.

I’d love to hear suggestions from knitters who have used Quarry yarn, but in the meantime I did find this post by someone who knit an entire cardigan sweater using Quarry. It came out lovely, and here is the link to her sweater page.