Category Archives: Knitalongs

Queue Check — June 2018

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Queue Check — June 2018

I’m back from Portugal with SO much to tell you — and about 2700 photos to sort through. But this morning I can at least tell you about the state of my knitting from the trip! For the first few days, I was still finishing up a secret project, but then I finally got to do the math and get started on my Summer of Basics sweater. This project was cast on in the back of a van on a particularly twisty drive in the Porto region (one epic excursion among many) but caught a foothold on our one and only sit-still day, mid-trip, at a super chic mountaintop hotel called Casa das Penhas Douradas. While four of us went for a long hike that day, the other five made ourselves at home in one of the common rooms, which had half walls of sliding glass so the whole room opened up to the mountain breeze, and I know I’ll remember that day and that room every time I ever wear this.

That is, if it works out — I’m not yet 100% sure about it. To recap: I’m making an aran-gansey mashup, heavily inspired by the traditional Staithes gansey from the whole Daniel Day-Lewis hullabaloo, and its “seeds and bars” patterning. But figuring out the best version of that for an ivory, worsted-gauge, raglan situation isn’t as simple as it might seem. I’ve swatched it a few different ways — different “seeds” and different “bars” — and this yoke is sort of a bigger swatch, which may or may not be the winner. I won’t know for sure until I knit a couple more inches (at least to the next bar), add a neckband, and see how it looks after a wash. But it’s pretty promising, and it’s been perfect company while traveling.

Rosa mentioned while we were knitting that day that Portugal also has a gansey tradition, so you know I’ll be digging into that. And now that my whirlwind June is drawing to a close, I’m eager to start on my other two SoB garments.

• Improv sweater in O-Wool Balance yarn in Natural
• Jen Hewett x Fringe Field Bag from Fringe Supply Co. (available tomorrow morning!)

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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: My Summer of Basics plan

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Summer of Basics: Snapshot, thoughts and the prize plan

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Summer of Basics: Prize news!

I hope this is at least partially remedied by now, but I have been LATE getting started on Summer of Basics! By which I mean both casting on my first project and catching up with all the action on the #summerofbasics feed. There have already been almost 300 posts! (Totally random snapshot thereof above, which is not meant to imply or convey anything other than that.) My crazy schedule has kept me from it, but I’m dying to get into the thick of it all. The yarn for my sweater arrived just before I left for Portugal, and I still had secret obligation knitting to do on the plane, but my goal is to have a significant part of my yoke, at least, done by the end of this trip.

Meanwhile, I’m sure you’re all wondering about the prize plan! As you know, I love to feature work in progress here on the blog during the course of every knitalong/makealong, so that’s how I’m structuring the prize situation this time around:

– At the end of June, I’ll be picking one or more participants to feature here based on their PLANNING and documentation — i.e., how well you’ve told the story, in words and in pictures, of what garments making, how you chose them, whether you’re challenging yourself and in what ways, etc. So share your stories over on Instagram* using the #summerofbasics hashtag.

– At the end of July, I’ll pick who to feature based on PROGRESS made, and how well you’ve shown it.

– At the end of August, I’ll pick based on FINISHES and documentation thereof.

With each set of prizes, I’ll also be picking a few additional random winners from a blindfolded scroll-and-tap.

The actual prizes will be revealed on July 1 along with the first batch of winners!

*Remember that in order for your posts to appear in the feed, they must be posted from a public account. If you have a private account (or are not on IG at all!) and want to participate, create a separate public account for this purpose.

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PREVIOUSLY in Summer of Basics: My SoB plan

Elsewhere: Overlapping make-alongs

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Elsewhere: Overlapping make-alongs

I’m thrilled to see so many people already diving into the Summer of Basics makealong — our leisurely 3-garments-in-3-months challenge — but the world is fully of -alongs, and some of them might either inspire ideas for what your 3 garments could be, as well as affording you the chance to double- or triple-dip in the Instagram hashtags — more chances to make more friends! Here are a few I’m aware of. Feel free to chime in with others—

UNIFORM MAKEALONG
Making and Grainline are hosting a makealong of the cardigan and tunic patterns that comprise their Uniform book, which would give you 2 of your 3 right there. This one officially ends June 26th. (photos, top)
Details / #uniformmakealong

CROCHET SUMMER
… is a very straightforward challenge — crochet one thing this summer — with a mighty panel of prize jurors. This one has the same exact timeframe: June through August. Will one of your 3 SoB garments be crocheted? Think about it! (image, above)
Details / #crochetsummer2018

SUMMER SWEATER KNITALONG
Shannon Cook’s annual summer sweater kal will run the full month of August this year, so if you save a SoB sweater for that month, you could enter it in her contest as well. Watch Shannon’s site for details.

To participate in Summer of Basics, just use the #summerofbasics hashtag on your posts! Remember your account has to be public in order for everyone to be able to see your contributions, so if you normally post from a private account, you might want to make a separate public one for makelongs and such.

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UNRELATED: We’ll have our little Fringe Supply Co. table at the Squam Art Fair tomorrow night, laden with some very big sneak peeks of upcoming goods. If you’re in the vicinity of Squam Lake, get thee to the fair! For more details on the unveils, see @fringesupplyco. And if you’re not in the vicinity, never fear: everything will be online later this month!

Happy weekending to you!

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PREVIOUSLY: Jenny Gordy’s shirt + Elsewhere

My Summer of Basics plan!

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Queue Check = My Summer of Basics plan!

I don’t know how it’s June already but I’m pretty excited about it because today’s the day — the start of Summer of Basics 2018! “Summer of Basics” being shorthand for “3 months for making 3 garments our closets are in need of, in the company of like-minded individuals, and maybe stretching our skillsets along the way!” For the full rundown on what Summer of Basics is all about (along with suggestions!), see the preview post, but that’s really the gist of it. What three things would make it easier and more delightful for you to get dressed in the morning? Identify them, make them, and share your progress on Instagram using hashtag #summerofbasics. (If you have a private account and want to participate — or be eligible for prizes — you might want to make a separate, public account for this purpose. Posts do have to be public to appear in hashtag feeds.)

I’m putting off any talk of prizes for the moment because the very idea of prizes — while they’re obviously fun and motivating — can make people a little nutty sometimes, and I don’t want prizes or categories to influence your planning in any way. Just figure out what you want to make (challenge yourself!), and those finished garments are the real prize! Anything else that might happen is icing on the cake. For now, let’s concentrate on the cake!

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So what am I making this year? I have gone around and around — and of course I reserve the right to alter this plan along the way — but I have tentatively decided on the following three gap-fillers:

1. Cool weather pullover: Improv
This is the most problematic hole in my closet. I’ve done a magnificent job of making myself deep winter sweaters, but we don’t have a lot of deep winter in Nashville. What we have a lot of is cool weather — cool enough that you might crave a sweater, and can get away with it, but not if it’s pure wool. And I have exactly one such sweater: a cotton fisherman holdover from my store-bought clothes life. So I’m making a lighter, more abbreviated, not 100% wool pullover! Haven’t quite decided on yarn yet, but my plan is to make the love child of an aran sweater and a gansey: the “seeds and bars” motif transferred onto a raglan yoke. (With apologies to the historical purists out there!)

2. Frilly white sleeveless top: Alice Top by Tessuti
As previously discussed, I need to replace last year’s white linen shell, and one of my all-time favorite warm weather garments is any kind of slightly frilly white top, especially sleeveless. So I’m taking this opportunity to finally try Tessuti’s Alice top pattern, which has been on my list for a few years now, and the idea is to add some frill in one way or another. This will largely depend on what kind of eyelet (or who knows) fabric I might come up with, so the exact details are TBD. But I’ll almost certainly make a more straightforward Alice in the meantime, with something(s) from my stash.

3. Pajamas!: Carolyn Pajamas by Closet Case
I think a pair of pajamas is a total closet basic, and yet I have never owned proper pj’s like this in all my life. I’ve had lots of pajama pants — my very favorite thing (especially if they’re flannel) — but never a matched set, or this kind of top, so it feels to me like a luxury item! I also love the quite long-lasting trend of a fancy pajama top as street wear, so in considering fabrics for this, I may decide on something that would also work outside the house. I’m excited about the piping — have only ever done that on upholstery — and may even challenge myself to sew with a slippery fabric! Really not sure yet. I have a heap of navy linen in my stash, and the idea of linen pj’s sounds kind of dreamy. So I don’t know — fabric TBD! And will I make pants or shorts for the bottoms? Also to be determined, depending largely on which way I go with fabric.

(Fashionary sketch templates from Fringe Supply Co. And oh, hey, there’s some fabulous paper goods news over there today!)

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I just realized I didn’t manage to do a Queue Check post for May, as I’ve been finishing up my spring make list and my other knitting projects are top secret, but this SoB plan is the state of my queue as we head into June.

(If you missed it last year, I made a fisherman sweater, my first button-up and my first pants!)

So now how about you? I can’t wait to see what you have planned! Remember to use hashtag #summerofbasics when sharing on Instagram.

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PREVIOUSLY in Summer of Basics: Get planning! (introduction and details)

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Get planning! Summer of Basics 2018 is coming!

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Get planning! Summer of Basics is coming!

Last summer, we did one of my all-time favorite make-alongs in the history of the blog, and I’m thrilled that so many of you have been imploring me to host it again. Of course, I’m talking about Summer of Basics! Wherein we each made 3 high-closet-value garments in the space of 3 months, either knitted, sewn, or any combination of the two. It was a season of so much camaraderie, so many people stretching their skills, so many fantastic garments! So yes, by all means, let’s do it again. Same time period as last year: June 1 through August 31.

I’ll have more to say at kickoff — will there be co-conspirators? prizes? tune in to find out! — but for the moment, I just want to make it official that it’s happening, and to re-clarify two things about the event:

1. “SUMMER”
It’s called Summer of Basics simply because that’s when it happens. It isn’t about making summer clothes specifically. You may make whatever you want/need the most, for whichever season! (Last year, I made pants, a button-up shirt and a wool fisherman’s sweater.) And there’s no getting around the fact that it’s winter for our friends in AUS/NZ, sorry!, but please don’t let that deter you from participating!

2. “BASICS”
This is shorthand for “clothes your overall wardrobe will greatly benefit from” — workhorses, building blocks, go-to’s, whatever you want to call them. Things that make it easier to get dressed in the morning. Fundamental pieces your closet is lacking and that you will get a lot of wear out of. Don’t let anyone — least of all me — define what is a “basic” for you! We are all very different people, and that is the beauty of life on this planet. If you will get tremendous mileage out of a rainbow cardigan, please make that! If what you need is a pair of simple black pants, knock yourself out. If you want suggestions for straightforward but highly adaptable patterns — jumping-off points, if you will — see my Make Your Own Basics series. (It might be easiest to browse it on Pinterest.)

So that’s it: The only parameter for this is 3 hardworking garments, made between June 1 and August 31.

Use hashtag #summerofbasics to start sharing your plans on Instagram. And I highly recommend using this an opportunity to push yourself out of your comfort zone, while you’re surrounded by cheerleaders. My clothes-making life was completely changed by last year’s makes, and I know I’m far from alone in that.

SHOP NEWS: We’ve been adding small batches of the rereleased Toffee Field Bag back to the shop as they are completed. (Thank you so much for your enthusiasm!) So if you’ve run into a sold-out situation at any point, please check again! We’ve also got a few copies of the new Helga Isager book K (Knit) back in stock, as well as all of the colors of sashiko thread — among all the other lovelies (including the Porter Bin pictured up top)!

Happy weekend, everyone! See you next week—

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Logalong FO No. 3 : Veronika Jobe

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Logalong FO No. 3 : Veronika Jobe

Our second panelist from the Log Cabin Make-along to make it across the finish line is Veronika Jobe of YOTH Yarns, with her stunning plaid wrap (modeled here by her gorgeous daughter). Dude: I want to make this. For more of Veronika’s endless stream of knitting beauty, be sure to follow @yarnonthehouse on Instagram. With that, here’s Ve—

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Back at the start of all this, you noted that your approach was going to be modular knitting, if not literally or technically log cabin methodology. Without giving away the pattern, can you describe the process you used on this — how you went about constructing the piece?

This wrap idea was inspired by a picture of a lovely gal I had pinned on Pinterest wearing a black and white version of a large-scale buffalo plaid-style scarf. It was definitely commercial and not handknit, but I kept coming back to it over and over again. I knew I wanted to recreate the simple nature of the plaid using a series of tonal and gradient marls. This project spurred the creation of our new small-batch yarn by Abundant Earth Fiber, which was only half the work. The other half was how to put this thought into pattern and once you have the yarn there’s really no going back! It was really a beautiful happenstance when you asked me to be a part of the Log Cabin Make-along, because it really catapulted my method of thinking through the construction. I dove into the MDK Log Cabin Field Guide and knit up Cloth 1 & 5 while looking through the construction of the other cloths as well. Without giving away too much of the “secret sauce,” it’s essentially a mash up of the MDK Cloth techniques and a classic knitted-on edging.

Buffalo plaid is heavily associated with black and red or royal blue, whereas you’ve gone very pale with your palette. It has a sort of oversized gingham feel to it. Has it met your expectations, lived up to the idea you started out with in your mind?

It’s pleasantly surprised me. I was a bit worried about the colors and marls not being strong enough in contrast, but it turned out really great, just as I had imagined. I can at times be let down with how my designs unfold, or if they somehow don’t end up working for one reason or another, but this really loose relation to a buffalo plaid has really made me happy and the best part was the knitting. I’m all about the process! It has to keep my attention or I’m on to the next thing. This one with its constant color changes, unconventional construction and the entertainment of seeing the plaid emerge makes me want to make a blanket version of it.

A fabric like this — any kind of plaid, check, what-have-you — is a neverending goal among knitters. Seems like we’re always trying to find ways to mimic it in knitting. But the solutions are often tedious or complicated, and/or you wind up with intarsia or floats, and it’s not a two-sided piece, necessarily. Do you feel like you’ve solved it here — cracked that nut in a wholly satisfying way?

Isn’t that the truth?! One of my reasons behind knitting this scarf in a modular way was to make it more reversible. I think I’ve made a good pass at cracking that nut and both sides of this lovely thing is pleasant to look at. Plus, I think we as knitters so often get distracted or scared away by certain techniques. We can be a bit judgmental! Intarsia can have some feelings and images come up for some of us… little color bobbins dangling and tangling in the back of your work, cartoon characters knit onto the fronts of sweaters, you see where I’m going with this. I didn’t want my scarf to end up in that black hole.

Logalong FO No. 3 : Veronika Jobe

I know you were excited to use your new yarn for this (coming soon to your website), with the tonality and marls lending themselves to the concept. Again, just as you’d dreamed it?

Oh my gosh and more! This yarn is a dream. I can’t really take too much of the credit. Lydia from Abundant Earth Fiber is really the master here. She took our hand-dyed roving and turned it into the some of the most beautiful, squishy, bouncy, slubby, rustic-in-just-the-right-way kinda yarn. It was such a treat to knit and I’m really sad we only have so much of it, to be honest. I would love to have this as a core base with all the colors, but that’s one of the reasons small, limited-batch runs are so special, right?!

This was your first time venturing into the world of modular knitting, correct? If not all the way into log cabin world. Did it leave you wanting to dig deeper into the ways of log cabin, or have you had your fill? What’s next for you, in this regard, if anything?

In the past, I had done some modular knit garments that came together in pieces and were connected as I knit, but there’s a different wave of thought there. Those tend to look like nothing until some of the final pieces fit into the puzzle, but this project starts transforming before your eyes within the first couple of strips, which is really fulfilling. It makes you want to keep going and see the next color pop up while you are knitting away. Definitely on my list: a tonal Ninepatch Blanket from MDK’s Field Guide.

So I know you’re planning to publish the pattern. Any details on that?

I am! Pattern is in the works and will be available this week, as will the yarn. Follow us on Instagram or join our newsletter at yothyarns.com to be the first to hear.

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Thanks, Veronika! Don’t forget there’s still activity on the #fringeandfriendslogalong feed — so many knitters finishing up so many great projects — and we’ll have the last two panelist’s interviews coming soon!

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PREVIOUSLY in Log Cabin Make-along: FO No. 2 Ann Shayne

Logalong FO No. 2 : Ann Shayne

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Logalong FO No. 2 : Ann Shayne

Our second Log Cabin Make-along Panelist to cross the finish line is the lovely Ann Shayne, whose talent competition entry is her sure-to-be-prizewinning blanket combining Sequence Knitting textures with Log Cabin modularity. (That is, if she’s brave enough to go up against crowd favorite DG Strong at the state fair.) As you’re about to hear, Ann’s blanket is basically a 5-foot-square love letter to knitting itself, and she’s shared the recipe for it and lots more photos over at Mason-Dixon Knitting. Here she is to tell us all about how it came to be, and how it turned out — thanks, Ann!

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You’re the only one of the panelists to knit that most traditional of log cabin projects — the blanket. You’ve knitted a fair number of log cabin blankets before, and yet you found a way to make it completely new and not at all traditional. You’re also the reason we coined the term “Mock cabin,” as you were working from a mélange of inspirations: log cabin, sequence knitting, blankets done in strips, etc. Remind us how this idea came together in your head, and how do you feel about how it came together in 3D?

First of all, you need to know that this has been the most fun I’ve ever had knitting. The combination of a yarn I love, an open-ended set of knit-purl patterns, and a knitalong to motivate me: wow. I’ve never made a blanket in eight weeks. Thank you for this knitalong, Karen! Amazing.

I started with the Ninepatch Blanket (a pattern in MDK Field Guide No. 4: Log Cabin)—I like the play of squares and proportion in that blanket. But having just published MDK Field Guide No. 5, all about knit-and-purl sequence knitting, I couldn’t see making a giant garter-stitch blanket — I wanted to play with sequences. That meant an instant diversion from the Ninepatch pattern, but not from the basic idea of blocks knitted one onto the next.

By the time I finished figuring out the plan, the Ninepatch idea had morphed. I scaled up the squares so that the sequences would read better. I ditched the miters in the corners. I was all about the textures and variety of sequences. And colors — a big part of the fun in the knitting was playing with the placement of the eight colors.

You and I talked at one point about how vast you were originally going to make this beast, and ways you could edit it down a bit. You wound up trimming out a few of the originally planned rows for a large throw size — although it might seem smallish to the uncommonly tall members of your household. Are you happy you scaled it down, or wishing you’d gone all the way? (Of course, it’s modular — you can add on anytime you like!)

Extremely glad to have scaled it down—I believe it was you who pointed out that I could finish faster if I … just ditched some strips. It’s 5 feet by 5 feet, and it seems to be about the same size as my other knitted blankets. The TV room is starting to look like a knitted blanket store.

I love that you’ve used this very traditional Irish donegal yarn for your #traditionalnottraditional blanket. Your original comment on this is one of my all-time favorites knitterly observances: “I want a blanket that will hold up like a Yeats poem.” Happy with how that worked out?

I continue to adore this yarn. I just returned a few of the unused skeins to our Shop, and I was actually sad. Tahki Donegal Tweed has been around since 1968, and there’s a reason for that. This blanket will outlive me, and that makes me weirdly happy.

You also posed some questions to yourself at the outset of this: “Will the various sequences hold up visually and read as squares? Will the colors fall in an amiable way? Will I ever fix dinner again, or will I vanish in the delicious Bermuda Triangle of log cabin sequence knitting?” So … ?

The squares turned out well. Loved seeing the textures emerge. As the strips of squares accumulated, I started to care more about how the sequences would land next to each other. There are definitely varieties of knit-and-purl sequences — some are flat, some are dimensional. Some read really easily, and others are so subtle that it takes 30 rows of knitting even to know what the texture looks like. I’d like a mulligan on a few of the squares—subtle textures on a dark yarn don’t sing, and the pleated sequences need to be surrounded by non-pleated sequences.

The colors landed OK. I did a last-minute 180 on one of the strips, which caused two dark squares to land next to each other, which I had wanted to avoid.

Dinner fixing? Maybe next month?

You’ve been smitten with log cabin for years, whereas this whole sequence knitting thing is a new infatuation. How do you rank them? And what’s it really like to take two highly addictive knitting concepts and meld them into one project? I’d ask if you’ll ever be able to knit stockinette again, but you’ve just banged out a Carbeth.

Sequence knitting is something I’m evangelical about. Find peace through knit-and-purl patterns! Life is so great when you’re knitting sequences! I want everybody to try it, because there’s such surprise and fun to be had. And yes — it works, totally, to combine log cabin knitting with sequence knitting.

You also noted in opening remarks that you didn’t want to include miters in this blanket, which are central to the original Ninepatch Blanket you’ve modeled it on, “because sequence knitting in miters would be a tricky thing to pull off.” Still feel that way, or have you already formulated a new project that does exactly that? If not that, what is next for you and log cabin, do we know?

It’s going to be fun to figure that out.

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PREVIOUSLY in Logalong FOs: No. 1 – My fingerless mitts