Inspiration - Alpaca Hemp Yarn & TGIF

This week I stopped into A Tangled Tale yarn shop to check out some intriguing yarn just in - a blend of un-dyed alpaca and hemp.  

This 400 yard, 180 gram hank has a really interesting texture and lovely drape.  The natural alpaca colors include flecks of brown, black, rust and tan, plied with the natural hemp, and I love the heathery, tweedy effect.  It will be fun to try out some ideas I have.  

What a busy week it's been for our family.  It seems I've flown from one thing to another with little time to knit or even take photos of stuff I've finished. I have; however, been busy at work on bits and parts of lots of projects and patterns for fall, including one that will be available as soon as I work out one or two more details and it's been test knit; it should be ready in the next couple of weeks.  

This weekend is Labor Day holiday in the US and I'll be taking a few days off from posting in this blog.  Part of that time will be spent visiting with relatives and part visiting some new yarn shops.  I hope to finish up a bunch of little projects I have going during this time as well and be back early next week with lots of photos to post.  

It was just one month ago that I took this photo of some blooming thistles.

And now, they look like this.  Still lovely, and food for the Goldfinches, but their life cycle is at an end. 

Time flies, and none of us is guaranteed another moment on earth, so I encourage everyone to make each day count for eternity and share love with someone else.  

TGIF, have a safe and fun holiday and weekend!  Peace and blessings to you my friend.

Powerless

Sorry it's been quiet around here, our power and phones have been out for a couple of days and we've been scrambling to buy ice to try to salvage our food, rustle up candles and flashlights, etc! At least I got a little knitting time in. 

 

I've made some progress on two of my lace projects, one a floral/ leafy pattern, another is a slanting eyelet combination and I'll share more about those in another post eventually.  I'm cooking up two more lace jacket ideas, and a shawlette or two, or three...   If I like them I'll eventually post about those here too.  Also planning to cast on for some hats and maybe a mohair top soon.

Several people have written to ask me if I plan to write up a pattern for my blue Hempathy summer top.  The answer is...

Maybe.  I am currently focusing on cooler weather projects for upcoming fall, but I will likely play around with some ideas for this during the winter.  Probably it will not contain crochet however, as it seems many people do not do both crafts or at least, not enough to want to include them both in a single project other than for trim, binding off, etc.  So if I do this pattern I would consider an all-knitted variation, but I'm open to ideas on that.  

Another project I worked on this week is a wool version of a linen cardi-shrug I made this summer.  It's a texture piece and I'm swatching this in a copper-colored Malabrigo, but also considering a soft gray (I love gray!), and a wool/ alpaca blend in sky blue.  This will be extensively test knit before it is released (as all my patterns are), so look for it hopefully around October.

My husband and I are going on a yarnie adventure this weekend so I will have details to share about that soon.   Have a great weekend!

On the Needles

Trying to keep up with regular life duties in addition to the added activities of summer, plus swatching and working out some new ideas for patterns is keeping me from doing as much personal knitting as I'd like, but I have managed to make some progress on my summer top mentioned in an earlier post.  

So far the crocheted blocks have been arranged and joined, a contrasting crocheted  band has been inserted, and the bodice has been picked up and knitted down to the hem.  

When I picked up knit stitches around the yoke, I added some gathers for a bit of soft fullness in the bust, and added gentle waist shaping to allow for a comfortable, but  body-skimming fit that remains figure-flattering.  

Two rows of crocheted edgings have been worked around the inside of the neckline and I am now beginning the crocheted edging around the hem.  

I was considering adding more blocks to the hem, but decided against this as I want the skirt of the bodice to have a lot of flow and drape, which blocks would have ruined.  I do, however, wish the hem to have a bit of visual weight and some continuity with the yoke, so I'm experimenting this week with more contrast edging matching that in the yoke.  

I like this little top as a camisole style as-is, but I don't know if I will wear it much this way, so I'm considering various sleeve options.  For now I plan to finish the hem edging and add some sort of closure to the keyhole opening in the yoke, but I might leave it sleeveless just for now to see how I like it.