Greenwich

I finished a sweater! Okay, it took way longer than it should have (cough, I started last October) but things come up. I kept putting this on the back burner but no one's keeping score ... no one exactly wins the knitting race, right? This pattern is Greenwich by Martin Storey, knit in Rowan Super Fine Merino DK in a colorway called Zing. (Such a super rad color!) This still needs to be blocked but I couldn't wait to try it on to see how it feels/looks. This yarn is amazing if you're at all sensitive to wool or tend to get itchy. Super Fine Merino DK is smooth, squishy and extremely soft ... it glides through your hands when you knit with it and I swear it almost feels like rubber. In a good way. This is definitely a extra comfy everyday knit!

The side slits on the bottom edges are a fun detail. And that stitch pattern is created with a k1 below rib which takes a bit to get used to, but goes pretty quickly. (Says the girl who took six months to knit the sweater.)

Want to make one of your own? You can find this Martin Storey pattern in Rowan's Easy DK Knits at your local yarn shop or online. You can also find more info on Ravelry and on Rowan's website.

Okay, I'm going to go block this now and maybe take better pics when I'm done. ;)

Happy knitting!

soaking and blocking (and a giveaway)

I've been doing a lot of this lately, which is a good thing. There's nothing like giving your sweet new baby sweater a gentle, loving dunk in the sink. But plain water isn't enough for your sweet new baby sweater. You have to use Eucalan. I have used Eucalan for a few years now and it's a must-have for your soaking and blocking process.

You don't skip this part, right? (Right?) Because you owe it to yourself to finish out these last steps properly on that amazing handmade garment that you spent so much time knitting. A good soak in a bowl or sink filled with lukewarm water and wool wash will do wonders for how your hand-knits look and feel. Really.

Last month at TNNA, I was one of the lucky attendees at the Marly Bird Designer Dinner and received a swag bag of epic proportions. In that bag was a sweet little bottle of Eucalan's new scent, Wrapture by designer Kristin Omdahl, infused with the essential oil of Night Bloom Jasmine. It's as good as it sounds. It not only smells wonderful but also has a ton of benefits. All of the Eucalan scents have natural moth inhibiting properties, and the lanolin and essential oils act as natural fabric softeners that will make your sweater extra soft, also allowing the fibers and stitches to lay really nicely. Wool wash cleans and softens your hand-knits with amazing results ... and you don't have to rinse.



Typically, I use Eucalan the 'traditional' way – soaking my garment in a sink or a bowl of lukewarm water (with one teaspoon of Eucalan per gallon) and then laying it out to dry. However, sometimes I knit sweaters that require a bit more care. Sometimes I'm wary of completely submerging them. With these delicate garments, I add a couple of drops of Eucalan into a spray bottle of water and boom, I'm ready to dampen and block my sweater. Eucalan is a no-rinse wool wash so it's perfectly okay to spray it on your garment and let it soak right in!

So. Would you like to soak your next finished project in Eucalan? I know you would. (Giveaway time!)

THE PRIZE

A Eucalan Getaway Gang pack

Pack includes: 2 each of the individual use single use pods (Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit, Unscented, Wrapture), 

6 stain-removing wipes, 1 pack lint removers, 1 nail file and 1 sewing kit in a re-usable vinyl zipper bag.

HOW TO ENTER

   • Comment below telling me if you're a hard-core wool wash user, or a first-timer!

   • Like Eucalan on Facebook or follow them on Instagram.

THE RULES

    •    Giveaway is open to US and CAN residents only

    •    Giveaway is open until Sunday, July 12, 2015 at 11:30 PM CST.

    •    Comments must include a valid email address or Ravelry ID so I can contact you if you are the winner. :)

    •    Winner will be chosen via random number generator and will be contacted within 48 hours after giveaway ends.

A huge thank you to Eucalan for this wonderful giveaway. Good luck and thanks for reading! :)

Fresh off the needles

Welcome to my wardrobe, new chunky oversized sweater! I just finished knitting this guy over the weekend. This pattern is called 'Ranch' and was designed by the wonderful Martin Storey. I used my favorite bulky yarn, Rowan Big Wool in color 17/Smoky. It's one of those colors that sometimes looks gray and sometimes looks kind of navy. I love it.

I have a weird tendency to accidentally knit things that are a little bit too large for me, and I made this in a size medium. The sleeves are pretty long and the fit is definitely loose. I love big comfy sweaters, so I'm cool with it ... but I can't help thinking about ripping back and knitting a small instead. We will see.

I absolutely love this sweater and pattern in every way; the fit and shaping is really well done. I'm just wondering if I'd wear it more if it was a size smaller. It's such a fast knit that I know I could re-knit it relatively quickly! 

(What do you think? Leave it as-is or re-knit?) 

Also ... photo creds go to Lotus. Isn't she a great photographer? I think she's pretty great. :)

Eucalan winner!

Last week, I finished and soaked and blocked my 30 Day Sweater in some lovely eucalyptus Eucalan. And Eucalan was kind enough to offer up a Gift Pack of their products as a giveaway, so it's time to announce the winner!

This set includes one 3.3 fl oz bottle of each of the four original scents – Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit and Natural/Unscented. These little bottles are about to upgrade someone's soaking and blocking routine forever. In the best way.

I drew a name on Monday night (sorry for the wait) and the lucky winner is Island Jen! I happen to know that she's a pretty talented knitter so I hope she enjoys this gift pack. (I'll be contacting you to get your mailing address, Jen.) Thanks so much to everyone who entered and happy knitting!

30 day sweater

So, here it is! Last month I took the 30 Day Sweater challenge, which means I started knitting this colorblocked raglan sweater for Bowie on October 1st and finished it on October 30th. I took the challenge along with 5,000 other knitters, and one of them was my friend Heather from Ewe Ewe yarns. (You can check out her sweater progress here.) I knitted this sweater using Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn, which is a merino superwash yarn and it turned out to be incredibly soft and comfy. I'm pretty sure that this will be my go-to worsted weight yarn from now on, and it comes in the best colors.

Here's what the sweater looks like when it's laid flat. This was super fun to knit. I was so happy to have found these orange buttons to match my raglan button band, although it took some hunting to track them down. This sweater fits Bowie really well and I made it a tiny bit bigger than his current size so he can hopefully wear it for awhile before outgrowing it.

Here are the in-progress photos I took while making my 30 Day Sweater. It's kind of cool to look back and see things come together, day by day and week by week.

And there you have it. The 30 Day Sweater online course has definitely changed my outlook on knitting sweaters. It has made me more confident in understanding shaping and sizing, and I think I'll approach sweater knitting completely differently now. Which is exciting. That and I want to knit all of the sweaters now. Which could be dangerous but lots of fun. I'll be drawing a winner for the Eucalan gift pack (see this post to enter) tonight at midnight CST. Thanks so much for following along!

finish and soak and block

So, I finished knitting my little sweater for Bowie for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge (more pics soon), which means I've reached that exciting time that every knitter looks forward to. Soaking and blocking!

You don't skip this part, right? (Right?) Because you owe it to yourself to finish out these last steps properly on that amazing handmade garment that you spent so much time knitting. A good soak in a basin/sink filled with lukewarm water and rinseless wool wash will do wonders for how your hand-knits look and feel.

I soaked Bowie's sweater in a large mixing bowl with a teaspoon of Eucalan's eucalyptus wool wash. Which smells wonderful and has a ton of benefits. Not only does it have natural moth and flea inhibiting properties, but the lanolin and essential oils act as natural fabric softeners that made this sweater extra soft, also allowing the fibers/stitches to lay really nicely. Wool wash will clean and soften your hand-knits with amazing results and no rinsing. 

  
Here's the soaking and blocking process I used, adapted from the 30 Day Sweater course.

• Soak finished garment in lukewarm water with one teaspoon of Eucalan per gallon for 15-30 minutes, gently squeezing out all air bubbles.
• Remove the garment and squeeze out excess water, being careful not to twist or wring fabric.
• Lift garment, supporting it from the bottom so it does not stretch and lay it on a clean, dry towel.
• Roll the sweater in the towel burrito-style and push down (hard) on the towel from end-to-end. Remove sweater.
• Fabric should feel damp but not saturated.
• Lay out your sweater in your desired finished shape, making sure to smooth all wrinkles. Pin down if needed. (I didn't this time, but for some hand-knits, I do.)
• Let dry completely, away from direct heat or sun. (I usually lay mine out on a second clean, dry towel.)

 

The absolute hardest part of soaking and blocking is waiting for your garment to dry. But usually (depending on your climate/humidity) it will be totally dry in one or two days.

Would you like to soak your next finished project in Eucalan? I know you would. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win your own Eucalan gift pack. This set includes one 3.3 fl oz bottle of each of the four original scents – Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit and Natural/Unscented. Winner will be drawn on Monday, November 4th at 12:00 am CST. Thanks for following along on my 30 Day Sweater progress and good luck!

30 Day Sweater Challenge, Day 4

Oh my. What is this craziness? It took a little bit of planning but it's a color-blocked baseball-style raglan sweater that I'm knitting for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge. Read more about it on my guest post today on the Ewe Ewe knitting blog.

If you want to get in on the action and knit your own sweater, visit 30daysweater.com to download your free sweater planning guide. And visit NobleKnits.com during the the month of October to get 15% off of Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn! Use the code: 30DAYSWEATER at checkout. Let's get knitting.

30 Day Sweater Challenge

Join thousands of knitters world-wide this October in The 30 Day Sweater Challenge! Today is the first day of this awesome world-wide knit-along and if you were hoping to knit a sweater just in time for fall, I invite you to take this 30-day challenge with me.

To sign up, visit 30 Day Sweater Challenge and download your free sweater planning guide. It's definitely not too late to jump in. You can knit a sweater for yourself or a loved one – adult, child or baby. If you want to go a step further, there is an online course available which is incredibly comprehensive and will teach you everything about sweater construction that you could possibly imagine. Plus it has printable worksheets, gauge/swatch calculators and a sweater planning calendar to keep you on track.

The 30 Day Sweater is the easiest way to design a top-down, seamless raglan sweater that fits in 30 days or less. This flexible framework puts you in control, allowing you to make decisions along the way to design a sweater that's your size in the yarn of your choosing with lots of room for customizations. The 30 Day Sweater online course includes step-by-step, day-by-day instructions, downloadable worksheets, video tutorials, and an interactive forum where you can ask questions from experienced knitters or share your progress. With The 30 Day Sweater you can make an unlimited number of sweaters for any size person, in almost any yarn. 

This month, I will be taking the 30 day challenge and will knit a raglan sweater for Bowie using my new favorite worsted weight 100% merino superwash yarn, Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted. I'll be using three awesome colors and I can't wait to get started. I'll post my progress here and on the Ewe Ewe knitting blog, so check back to see how everything's going.

But in the meantime, visit 30 Day Sweater Challenge and download your free sweater planning guide. The guide will help you choose your yarn and then making a swatch. Knit along with me! This is going to be fun.

a pullover for Bowie

I finished knitting this sweet pullover sweater quite awhile ago for little Bowie and after hunting down the perfect buttons for it, I finally took the time to have him try it on.

The pattern is Basic Pullover by Candi Jensen, from the book 'Knit in a Day for Baby.'

It's a pretty simple and straightforward knit, and I made it a size larger so he can wear it this fall. It think it may fit just right by then!

I used Cascade 128 Superwash Chunky in charcoal and summer sky. It's super soft ... and washable. Which is a big deal.

You can find more project details here. (So, what are you working on these days?)