Playing with Color: Eucalipto

April 27, 2016

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was browsing Instagram earlier this week and came across this with no warning:

#makeitmonday with Eucalipto by @manosyarns! This gradient open cardi is created by mixing two colors of Lace. The end result is gorgeous! #kitterlykits #knitting #handcrafted #knitstagram

A photo posted by Kitterly (@officialkitterly) on Apr 25, 2016 at 1:07pm PDT

Yahoo! Kitterly's enthusiasm for this design, and their fun color combinations, inspired me to create another installment of the Playing with Color series.

Like the Gilt Sweater, Eucalipto mixes two colors of laceweight yarns to create a gradient effect. You can always travel back to the Gilt Playing with Color post to see those color combos as a jumping off point, and to read my original points about how to best choose colors for this type of project. TLDR for those of you not interested in reading that older post: Easy approach is choosing 2 color similar to each other, hard mode is choosing 2 different colors & seeing if they will blend.

Here are a few easy mode palettes in Manos del Uruguay Lace:

Getting a little spicier:

Supa dupa spicy!

There you have it! I hope these color palettes inspire you to pick out a fresh and exciting color combo for your very own Eucalipto. I look forward to seeing them!

Yarn Porn: Destash Edition

April 23, 2016

Time to come to terms with some of my stash. These babies need new homes! If you're interested, follow the links to see more details on my Ravelry destash page. If you're not in the market for new yarn, just enjoy the pretty pictures.

Madelinetosh 80/10/10 MCN Worsted in Flashdance

Yarn Porn: Chester Farms Pride of the Flock

April 07, 2016

One of the many perks of working in a yarn store is we all put our destashes up for grabs in the kitchen, which is how I wound up yesterday with 9 skeins of this:

Oh HELL yes! That beauty is Chester Farms Pride of the Flock. According to Ravelry it's discontinued, and Chester Farms rebranded to Cestari. It's made in the United States which is an extra bonus! I'm finding as time goes on, I am appreciating more and more these natural, woolly, old school yarns. Of course I still love me some hand dyed superwash, but this type of yarn just FEELS like sheep. I like sheep.

The label only gives the weight of the skeins, but if Ravelry's database is correct I have 1890 yards to play with in color Dark Opal. I'm thinking a gorgeous cabled textural oversized sweater from Brooklyn Tweed. Going clockwise from top left: Cordova, Larus, Stonecutter & Ondawa.

Fall sweater goals! Just got to finish my Tinder before I can allow myself to cast on for another selfish sweater project aka professional development.

Billabong Tee

April 02, 2016

I've got a new design in Knitscene Summer 2016, the Billabong Tee! Side note: I hate that name. My working title for it was 'Chlorine' which I like a whole lot more, but such are the sacrifices when working with third party publishers! It's still a great easy summery knit, no matter what the heck it's named.

*All images by Harper Point Photography for Knitscene.*

The tee is knit flat in two pieces and seamed. Small V's of dropped stitches adorn the front and back neck, with the V in the back going down lower than the one in the front. The neck edges are unfinished to allow it to roll, while garter stitch trims the sleeve openings.

The simple eyelet lace edging on the hem is worked from the cast-on edge before you proceed into the bulk of the garment, so no picking up of stitches required! The only place you pick up stitches is around the armhole edges.

Rowan Panama was my suggested yarn and I'm happy that Knitscene agreed. It has a great texture from the linen so it looks super interesting in stockinette, no fancy stitch patterns needed.

This is the quintessential Knitscene garment--easy, fast, fun and really wearable. Check it out on Ravelry and add it to your queue if it strikes your fancy!