Sandy Blue | Elka Knits

this one is a bit of a cheat. I cast on Aug 10, 2004 and was finished by Aug 30, 2014. It remains my favorite knit thing ever.

Every fall I pull out all my knitted things and wash them… just as I do every spring before putting them away. The tam served as a backdrop for the lovely mitts I knit as a gift.

But woe! A hole!

my finger peeking through a hole ;-(

But YaY! Repaired:

mended column of golden stitches

I pulled out the pictures from my old blog posts.

In progress…

Tam finished

I purchased the kit from Two Swans Yarns which is defunct. I used the original Autumn that was called for in the pattern and it was very hard to find at the time since Alice Starmore had severed ties with Jamiesons and Unicorn both which made that particular shade, one of her custom colors, obsolete. I believe it has now been replaced by Autumn Mix and the pattern still survives.

It was glorious fun to knit and produces a stunning finished project. I always keep my eyes peeled for more of Sandy Blue’s work. Unfortunately for me she only did two fair isle pieces that I am familiar with and the other is all golden warm sunny colors for a tam. I might just purchase the pattern for that one since I really do love me a tam.

Bonus: I believe mending is part of Wovember.

yarny days and knitterly evenings, Elka

Winter Hats & swap

I couldn’t help noticing that my gift for my Love Bites Swap partner would perfectly compliment my tam collection. I have them set out in a pile waiting a wash and block before winter sets in and would put my knitting down on them before turning down the lights at night. Okay the Neep Heid is still awaiting ends weaving but it is in the winter hat pile nonetheless. Thinking about all those ends has me wondering if I cut my yarn at end of every change when knitting the Midnight Sun Tam designed by Sandy Blue. Midnight Sun Tam remains one of my favorite finished objects ever. Ahem. I digress.

So Hunter Hammersen blogs over at Violently Domestic and I first noticed her work when she was offering free sock patterns on Ravelry. Slant I believe was the first that I noticed. One of her recent projects consists of 3 books inspired by Curiosity Cabinets and the drawings of various plants and animals one would find in illustrated books of such things. I was drawn to the pattern for fingerless mitts called Serpula Contortuplicata. Wow does auto correct throw a fit over that one! It is very organic with the cables going first this way then that. I also liked the open spaces created by the cable crosses–I find it rather gothic somehow.

Things I learned knitting this:

I like having pdfs of my knitting patterns! I believe this is the first time I ever knit something without having a hard copy of the pattern {unless I was designing myself of course}

Knitting laceweight mohair with stainless steel double points is a recipe for stitches slithering off the ends.

I should trust my judgement.

Assuming somebody might read this and be unawares I spent a good part of 10 yrs as a sample garment knitter for yarn companies. It kept me occupied and gave me some extra spending money when the kids were babies. Part of sample garment knitting is, in my opinion, proofing the instructions.

Hunter’s chart for the hand portion begins with a slipped stitch and I decided to follow it despite my feelings that she intended us to slip the first stitch of each row instead of each repeat. I contacted Hunter after I finished my project and mentioned the chart vs row question and she is updating the pattern. BTW I don’t know if it is just because knitters are such a great group but Hunter is another person I have corresponded with a few times in the past and she is always a delight.

Two posts about two different indie knit folks who are very nice to deal with ^5 to knitters.

But Look:

Serpula Contortuplicata

Look Again:

Organic

So seriously pretty. Luckily I have a second hank of the yarn and will reknit this for me. It definitely belongs in my wardrobe since it goes so well with all my hats. I look forward to making myself a pair.

Belongs in my closet

And of course I hope my swap partner loves them. How could she not? Soft, silky, organic with spooky holes for Halloween fun.

yarny days and knitterly evenings