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!

knitXmidwest!

Hey hey! I'm teaming up with my girls at Hill Vintage & Knits to host our first annual knitting retreat right here in Des Moines, knitXmidwest! And it's only two weeks away. So if you want to be there, you should sign up now. So I know how many cupcakes we'll need.

But really! There are a zillion reasons why you won't want to miss this.  For $25/day, you will enjoy:

• Devastatingly good lunch catered by Tacopocalypse.
• Lots of uninterrupted time to knit + crochet, perfect for finishing up that big project you've been wanting to work on.
• Relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. Wear your hand-knits and your sweatpants. We don't care.
• We'll be knitting and crocheting in the beautiful Walnut Woods Lodge. Have you seen the leaves changing colors this week? It's gonna be gorgeous out there.
• T-shirts!
• Photobooth. There will be a photobooth, people! (Or ...  Jess and I with cameras and a backdrop, but same difference.)
• Fun times with friends.
• Knitting and crochet show and tell. Show off the coolest things you've ever made! Bring your stuff. We want to see it.
• Knit + crochet doctor. In case you need help with something.
• Meet our speaker (and my friend) Robyn from SheMakesHats. She's writing a book about her mission to knit and give away 10,000 hats to 10,000 people in her lifetime.
• Stashbust. Calling all hoarders: bring yarn that you want to trade/get ride of. Anything left over will be donated!
• Yoga. Which will be easy (and optional.)
  
• Mimosas! And cupcakes.
• After-hours shopping and wine + dessert at Hill Vintage & Knits in the East Village.
• Fantastically cool door prizes. 

You seriously won't want to miss this. Sign up here, right now. You can register for one day or the whole weekend. It's up to you.

I really hope to see you there!

nyc twenty thirteen

Over the weekend, I met up with these two in Brooklyn once again. Jamaica. And Kristi. And like we've done before, we hit the streets of nyc incredibly hard. Urban warriors are we. But we also made sure to carve out enough time to relax and catch up and talk a lot. When we meet up for these weekends full of girl time and wandering, the time goes fast. We intend to make the most of it.

Every time we meet up, it's just what we all needed. I'm back home now and feeling grateful for my friends. We know each other well despite the physical distance that separates California from Iowa from New York. When we're together we talk about everything; each of our personalities collide into one magnificent entity and it's oh-so-good, each and every time.

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, Day 2: the lazy knitter

I know I'm doing it wrong, but I don't always knit gauge swatches. Even when I'm knitting sweaters. (Gasp.) Unless I'm designing something and even then, I usually just make a teeny-tiny swatch, which probably doesn't even count. But for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge, you get to design your own sweater using your own measurements so you really, really have to knit a swatch. Mine is still kind of wrong because I didn't make the garter stitch border but I did soak it and block it and then measured/counted my stitches with a ruler. The whole process didn't take long at all. It wasn't a huge pain. I'm glad I had a really good excuse to swatch because now I've reminded myself that it's not a big deal and I know swatching will absolutely save me a lot of time in the future if I become a 'good' swatcher and do this each time I knit. I know it's hard to resist diving right into a new project but I can definitely see the value of a swatch. Now that I know my gauge, I can plug those numbers into a formula that will become my own personal sweater pattern. And that is pretty cool.

We are on Day 2 of the 30 Day Sweater Challenge, which means we've all made our sweater-making plans and swatches and I'm almost ready to cast on. I'm going to be knitting Bowie's sweater in Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted in three colors – Brushed Silver, Sapphire and Orange Peel. (I know ... even the color names are cool.) Wooly Worsted is incredibly soft 100% merino and it's washable, so I know it will be the perfect yarn for a child's sweater.

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 month of October to get 15% off Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn! Use the code: 30DAYSWEATER at checkout.

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.

hello, Stitch.

Have you stopped by Stitch yet, Des Moines friends? It's a brand new fabric, yarns, and needlecrafts shop in the East Village. You need to go because it's amazing. Last week, a couple of friends and I stopped by to check everything out and we were pretty excited about every single thing we saw. Take a little tour with me.

 

Tonight at 6 p.m. is Stitch's official grand opening party, which makes it the perfect time to go and see everything for yourself. The shop owners are so incredibly nice, so be sure to say hello. And go ahead and check out their website, Facebook page and Instagram feed while you're at it, because you'll want to see what they're up to in the months ahead. Brand new fun and exciting crafty things in our city – thanks ladies! I know a lot of people are pretty excited about this.

a new sweater for Lo

Over the weekend, I finally finished knitting this sweet fuchsia owl sweater for Lo. She picked out this awesome pink Malabrigo a few months ago (and pink buttons for the owl eyes) and I'm loving the way it turned out. The pattern is Owlet by Kate Davies and you can read all of the other knitterly details here. (What's on your needles these days?)

music monday

Tomorrow marks the release of Nine Inch Nails' new album 'Hesitation Marks' and I am absolutely obsessed with this song. Can't get enough. Check out their entire live set from Lolla this summer right here, too. So incredibly good, so worth your time. (Happy Labor Day - hope you're enjoying yourself!)

nine

Nine years ago today, this was us. Who were we? A couple of kids, it seems. We had just bought a house. We didn't have children. We were fun; so happy and carefree. Little did we know that we were putting down roots in good old Des Moines, right then and there. We probably guessed where we'd be living and what we'd be doing in ten years, but we didn't have a clue. We didn't know how good it would be. We're still here. Us. Plus two children. In the same house, in the same city. And life is a new kind of fun. Happy and carefree. Happy nine years of marriage, my friend.