Saturday, November 19, 2016

Mystery Knit A Long with DenKnits

My Instagram feed has been feeling a little less than fiber full lately...  I'm mostly secret gift knitting for the holidays and that leaves little to show.  I've also been busy getting a new design ready for release and this one is super exciting!

In my D&D Summer Fun Swap package were a set of mini skeins by ATHW yarns.  These were inspired by and dyed in Alaska by my swap partner.  I love anything local so I was inspired to make something with these minis and a skein of yarn by a local to me dyer.  I stopped in to a kinda-LYS, Michigan Fibre Studio and found a beautiful skein by one of my favorite local indies, Fiber Addiction.  This purple sparkly skein looked perfect with the combination of gray, brown, blue-green and pink from the mini's set.

I got to work and finally settled on a shape and concept for how to incorporate all the yarn.  This ended up being kind of like potato-chip-knitting once I got the rhythm.  Just one more row to see how it shapes up!

The design went on to the next phase and was test knit by a few fellow knitters.  I love the variety of yarn selection that went into each project!  There is really no limit to how you can chose yarns for this.  While I created it with one full skein and 5 mini's in mind, it can also be made with two full skeins, one full skein and 5 different colors of scraps or if you're feeling adventurous maybe 9 different colors of scraps!  There is one important thing to know though...  keep gauge or give yourself some extra yardage.  I used almost every last bit of some of the mini's.  They were each 85yds or 21grams of plied fingering weight.  Some of my testers shared their yarn selections in the thread I created in my Ravelry group just for this.  I hope all of these choices are liberating and not overwhelming, but if you need any help, I created a Ravelry thread for that too :-)

The pattern page is currently up on Ravelry and ready for you to favorite or start a project page.  It will not go up for purchase until Monday November 28, 2016.  Between now and November 26 I'll be watching for project pages.  For every 16 created I will draw a name for some lucky knitter to be gifted this pattern on November 27.  When the pattern does go live you will receive a summary sheet to download.  This should contain everything you need to know to prep for cast on.  The pattern will be discounted on a weekly basis until the cast on day.  The first week it will be discounted to a mere $2, and every week after the price goes up by a dollar.  On December 26, the final purchase price of $6 will become effective and the first clue will be released!

Every Monday from December 26 until January 30, 2017 a new clue will be released.  Keep knitting along and the mystery will be revealed!

Friday, November 11, 2016

DenKnits 4.5 A little bit of everything


Spinzilla (not necessarily in the same order in the video) 2,903 yds / 1.6 miles

Boho Chic Fiber Co 114yds
Shay Day Fiber Arts 82yds
Uniquely Yours 82yds
Siobhan Crafts 380yds
Camel sample 35yds
Fiber Addication 194yds
Wonder Why Farm 270yds
Seven Spirits Farm 33yds
Beyond the Fleece 44yds
Hot Flash Fiber Co 116yds

Fiber Stash acquisitions
Siobhan Crafts
Wild Wool Farm

WIPs and FOs (hopefully in the right order but maybe not LOL)
*****I've linked my project page in the pattern name and the pattern page in the designer's name*****

Design shawl out of Yarn Hollow and Bricolage studio fiber that I spun
Large granny square out of leftover and small samples of handspun
Granny squares out of fingering weight leftovers
Flippig by Katrin Schubert
Bulky Brioche Poncho by Lavanya Patricella
Straightforward Mitts by Mone Dräger
Outlier Slouchy Toque by Kristina Olson (Lissome by Susan Pandorf referenced, not shown)
Crochet headband/earwarmer - No pattern or project page :-/
Virus Shawl by Julia Marquardt (I used these written directions though)
Merryall Cardigan by Amy Christoffers

Today I'm wearing my Imagine When shawl by Joji Locatelli

The bag I reviewed is by Sheepy Saks, hand-stamped bags for yarn and more!