30 Days of Handknits

A comment on an Instagram photo of myself in a shawl I'd knit got me thinking...  They said I should post pics of all my knits and at first that seemed like a huge task, but the more I thought I came up with a way to do it in a manageable way.  

A quick pic every day for the next 30 days of me wearing at least one of my handknits.  So starting today and going up til Christmas Eve I am going to (try) and post these pics to Instagram with the hashtag #30daysofhandknits.  Maybe a little explanation of the item if I have the time or remember much about it.  There may be days where I'm wearing more than one item.  

Will you join me?  Either by participating or following me, I'd love it!  You can find me on Instagram as denmoma or become a fan of Denknits on Facebook...  I hope to see more handknits or maybe some 'love' or 'likes' :-)

Knittin' in the Mitten Retreat

I had the opportunity to attend the Knittin' in the Mitten retreat hosted by CoggieTM from the High Fiber Diet Podcast up in Grand Haven, MI last Saturday as a 'day tripper'.

I'll start with the good stuff, enabling with my market purchases!

A little more enabling in the form of the goodie bag that was given to each attendee...

And I have done some knitting over the past month, so a couple of finished objects (FOs) and a few works in progress (WIPs) are discussed.

Enjoy!

All the Things - Video Update

I had some spare time to do a video update of 'All the Things'...  Lots of FO's, WIP's and acquisitions covered along with some knitting talk.

Thanks for watching!

A Darn Good Affiliation

As you may have noticed, I now have a small ad on my blog for Darn Good Yarn.  As you may have also noticed, I've been a little bit in love with them lately :-)  

I don't even remember how I first found them, but when I did I make a purchase of some Recycled Photon Rainbow Sport Weight Recycled Silk Yarn.  While waiting for it to arrive I thought about what I could make with it.  I didn't find anything on Ravelry that went with this kind of yarn so I figured I would make something up myself.  Once I got my hands on it I got to work.  The idea in my head translated fairly well and I thought it was pretty good, so I submitted the pattern into a contest Darn Good Yarn was running.  I ended up a winner with a little spending money for more Darn Good Yarn.  

Of all my purchases, I was most intrigued by a Banana Fiber yarn and thought it could use a good pattern.  I had picked 5 skeins in colors that resembled a sunset and started thinking of how this one would work up while I waited for the shipment.  Once again, the idea in my head worked up nicely with the yarn and once it was bound off and blocked I was amazed at how warm and cozy such a silky fiber could be.  I sent in the pattern to the Darn Good ladies and in a day heard back that they were interested in it also.  

In between designing patterns for Darn Good Yarn I decided to join their Affiliate program.  It doesn't amount to much, but if anyone clicks through to their store from my blog ad, they will give me a small percentage of the sale.  I want to be upfront about that, but also let you know that I wouldn't do this with just anyone in hopes of making money.  I like to think of myself as caring about the planet and such, however I do tend to be fairly lazy...  I recycle and like to bike, but with Darn Good Yarn I really feel like there's some good being done.  They utilize a whole range of recycled materials in their products and also help out women in countries where they can't get a job that makes the money needed to support a family.  I also love the unique yarns they offer that I haven't seen anywhere else.  

If you are as interested in Darn Good Yarn as I am, please check them out...  You can find the "Cowl Neck Poncho" as a kit on their site right now (it's even on sale!) and the 'That Sunset is Banana's" kit should be coming soon.  You may also like a Sari Silk Wrap skirt (I've bought two!) or maybe some notions, they sell needles and pouches to name a couple.  

Darn Good!

Videos are up for your viewing pleasure...  Darn Good Yarn pattern contests discussed, yarny goodness from DGY and some LYS, podcast winning, storing yarn and projects.

Hugs and Love Cowl

I wanted to make something special for someone who is dealing with a very close friend's poor health.  I knew I wanted to use the XO cables somehow but couldn't find a pattern that included those and was just right otherwise so I set about making my own.

The Hugs and Love Cowl was designed using two sets of 14 XO cables with knits and purls in between and at the beginning and end.  Created using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Flamme it has beautiful drape and is long enough to loop around your neck twice on cold days.

 This item has since been gifted but in the spirit of the gift I wanted to keep on paying forward the love and am offering this pattern for free for a limited time.

It's only been knit the one time by myself so if there are errors or questions they will hopefully be found and answered while it's free.  Then after I knit the second one I can make any needed corrections and upload the revised version for purchase.  I plan to make variations available in the pay-for version including different lengths.

Go to Ravelry and get the download or contact me if you aren't on Ravelry.

Michigan Fiber Fest

This weekend was the annual Michigan Fiber Fest which is held at the Allegan County Fairgrounds.  It was my second year going, but my first year hardly counted.  I had gotten the weekend mixed up and only realized late on Sunday, but decided to drive down and check it out anyway.  It was an hour or two before the official closing time so many booths were gone or packing up.

Anyway, this year I really planned it out.  We got to see a sheep shearing :

The rest of my adventures at the fest, including acquisitions, as well as other knitting talk can be found on these videos: