easy knit – Daily Fiber

Back to my Stash: Boring Baby Yarn

Posted on June 3, 2024June 3, 2024 by Laura Kate

It’s cast-on Monday. Having finished my latest knit project, I am ready to continue the stash reduction campaign by starting something new. The acrylic section of the stash is pretty well depleted since I finished up the Abstract Rainbow lap blanket. Left behind is a giant ball of yellow sport-weight yarn, intended for a baby blanket I suppose. I was given it along with a few bits and pieces of pale blue and pale variegated yarns. The pale yellow doesn’t inspire me.

….and there’s so much of it! The skein is about 150 grams.

But wait – I came across a pattern for a baby jacket that requires two strands held double. It is written by Franklin Habit, a designer with impeccable taste and reliable patterns. This baby jacket can be knit quickly. And it’s a free download.

But wait – what if I hold the pale blue yarn with the pale yellow yarn?

Suddenly an interesting texture and color appears. The blue is warmed by the yellow and the yellow cooled by the blue.

I like what I see, so let’s cast on.

I even see a suggestion of green emerging in the fabric.

5-Hour Baby Jacket is sized for a newborn and is knit from the top down in one piece. It is a soothing knit that makes for a peaceful morning, as copious amounts of rain fall from above. The sound of drops on the skylight is mesmerizing. Maybe I will sit here and knit all day long.

knitting

Friday Finish: UFO Transitioned

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Laura Kate

A few months ago, I wrote about my plan to assign unused yarns in my stash to potential knitting projects. Among those plastic bags hanging in the yarn closet were some UFOs (unfinished objects) including this one.

It had started life as a vest project, which involved knitting garter ridge triangles in strips, then sewing the strips together, adding shoulder seams, etc.

To make a long story short, I discarded that plan, partly because I really didn’t have enough yarn and didn’t want to buy more. Plan B involved making the strips longer and sewing them end-to-end to make a scarf.

This scarf is today’s Friday Finish

I enjoyed working on this project. It was basic straight knitting and made a good mindless project. It’s easy to pick up stitches along the triangle’s edge – one stitch per garter ridge. And the color play is gratifying to watch.

The final project is about 54″ long and 5″ wide. There is almost no yarn leftover.

Presto! Another Stashbuster crosses the finish line!

knitting

Cast-on Monday (and hopefully cast-off too)

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Laura Kate

Spring is in the air and on the ground! Although we had frost on the roof this morning, it is warming rapidly. I was in St. Louis for the spring equinox. When I got home last Thursday, there were hundreds of grape hyacinths blooming in the yard and the flower bed.

While in St. Louis, we visited a LYS located in a suburb. We had promised Lu that she could pick out the yarn for her next sweater. Many thanks to the tolerant staff at Yarn Com while the little one whirled through the shop, looking at and picking up every skein that attracted her attention. She carried this on while talking softly to herself. Finally, she triumphently presented me with this hand-painted merino wool skein in her favorite shades of purple and pink.

Alas, the label was torn off and lost, so I don’t know the maker.

I paired it with some lavender Cascade 220 and a soft pink blended wool in Elysion by Cascade, quickly and quietly moving to the register before she added to the stack.

The washed swatch is very soft.

On Friday I searched Ravelry and chose a pattern that fit this yarn quite well.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweet–simple-cardigan

C2013 Coats & Clark http://www.redheart.co.uk

The other item I’m working is a scarf. It has many attributes, including travel knitting, mindless knitting, stashbuster and quick knit.

The brown yarn is a wool-acrylic blend leftover from Christmas sock making. The gray and white yarns are 100% alpaca. I was given the multi-hued natural colored skein from knitting buddy Kathy. The source of the white is forgotten and unknown.

To keep from being too bored I played around with different striping patterns. To achieve the diagonal stripe, you decrease at the end of the right-side rows and increase at the end of the wrong-side rows. I’ll knit until I run out of the shortest yarn. That could happen today.

Do you have a project in process that is inspired by Springtime?

knitting

Christmas Knitting Reveal – Stash Yarn

Posted on December 24, 2021 by Laura Kate

This Christmas I gifted my daughter’s family with adult booties, aka Dorm Boots.

https://auntekristy.blogspot.com/2016/09/better-dorm-boots-lace-edition-free.html

I was determined to complete all three pair in yarn sourced from my stash. Fortunately, the pattern does not require much yardage. The trickiest part is getting the right sizes for people with vastly different foot lengths.

The fun part was choosing yarns that mirrored my loved ones’ tastes.

First the soles. In the waning days of Bluprint.com, they were trying to unload all of their product, including yarn. I bought two skeins of a blended yarn – part wool, part acrylic. It turned out to be a disgusting color and very rough. So it lanquished for a year in my stash closet.

Eventually I tried it out as the sole section of a pair of dorm boots I made for myself, where it revealed itself as made to be crushed under foot.

With a proto-type complete, I moved on to the Christmas knitting. First up was a pair for 13-year-old grandson, H.

This yarn selection was dead easy. In my stash was a half-complete shawl knit from bluish color-changing acrylic blend that I had purchased in Milwaukee. It was incomplete because I had run out of yarn. With no more available, it was evident that unraveling the shawl was necessary. It yielded more than enough for the boots. And blue is H’s favorite color. He also likes multi-hued garments. Win-win.

Next came my son-in-law. A tall, slender guy, he wears pretty big shoes. The challenge here was getting enough length.

I chose to marry together two cotton/acrylic yarns. Both of these had been purchased to make things for their new baby, who arrived in 2018. I had used the white to make a stuffed toy in the form of a snowy owl. The grey had been knitted into a bunting. Lo and behold, the boots fit and SIL was delighted.

Finally came my daughter’s pair. I was running out of obvious choices in the stash. Would I break down and buy yarn? Nay, make it be not so! Adjusting the pattern by adding more stitches to the upper section, I was able to use some dk weight yarn leftover from a top-down sweater knitted for myself.

She is fond of warm brown shades. In tribute to her bohemian nature, I added some beaded ties at the ankles. She loved them!

Thus all is well that ends well.

Warm feet in Wisconsin and a happy heart in Oklahoma.

knitting

Here I go again: Cast on Monday

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Laura Kate

I am in need of easy knitting – especially for evening TV watching. Here is my latest cast-on.

The multi-color yarn was purchased at the Madison Northside Farmer’s Market. It is made from Tunis wool, spun and hand-dyed by the lady who raises the sheep. The light green is a Cloud-born fingering weight. (Former Craftsy yarn line.)

I chose a pattern called Rose Window