This week I started my linen Different Lines shawl, finished and blocked the Holden shawl, and spun up some pink yarn that I’m going to use as an accent on a vest. It was my best handspun yet (which is not saying that much), made with two plies spun on a spindle and plied together on my wheel. It’s a worsted weight–how people manage to handspin two ply fingering weight yarn, I really don’t know. I’m still on a bit of a spring cleaning kick with knitting and other craft projects and trying to keep the knitting projects to about three or four at a time.

May 13: I dyed up some of my favorite colorways–reds and oranges, of course.

May 14: The Quince and Co Sparrow (100% linen), skeined and ready to go. I added paper cores to the cakes because of the way yarn with no elasticity tends to become a tangles mess.

May 15: Polishing up the spinning wheel.

May 16: Yellow irises in the park.

May 17: The Different Lines shawl, moving along! I’m having fun working with the linen.

May 18: The Holden Shawl, finished and blocked!

May 19: My new handspun–not perfect, but certainly an improvement on anything I’ve done in the past!

I’ve been on a huge finishing kick lately, polishing off projects I’ve had on the needles for a while, sometimes years. Once a project gets stalled, I find it can sit for years when all it really needs is a concentrated burst of effort to get it done. In the past week or so, I finished my Cognoscenti shawl for Looped, finished a moss stitch pullover that’s been on the needles for two years, nearly finished my Holden shawl, and started working on a fair isle cardigan that I started in 2011 and have worked on very little since. Over the past few days, I finished the first sleeve of the cardigan, which had been two-thirds done for a long time. Fortunately, my stranding technique had improved a lot over the past two years–unfortunately that means my gauge changed a whole stitch per inch somewhere in the middle of that sleeve. I went up a needle size and I think I’m back on track to have the sweater turn out the size it is supposed to, but the sleeve is a little wonky. I’m going to knit the second one and compare before I decide whether the first one had to be redone.

May 6: Making progress on the Holden Shawl, knit in Crazy Zauberball. Great mindless knitting, which I seem to need a lot of these days.

May 7: Boy did it feel good to finish this pullover, started in early 2011. It’s not knit with my own yarn…because I barely even dyed yarn in January 2011! It only took about three days, a couple hours each night. Why did I not do that in 2011? I’m lucky the recipient still wants it.

May 8: I was feeling so self-congratulatory about finishing the sweater than I bought myself new yarn. It’s Quince and Co Sparrow, a 100% linen fingering weight yarn that has a really interesting feel and shine. I’ve been eyeing this at Looped for weeks and talking myself out of it, because I have so much yarn. The colors are Vibernum and Truffle. I’m going to try making Different Lines with it and see how it works out.

May 9: Trying to snatch some moments outside before the summer heat arrives.

May 10: The fountains in the park are back on, and not green with algae yet. My own little fake waterfall.

May 11: Tea and fair isle. This is my other sweater I started in 2011 and have sorely neglected. But this one has a long way to go.

May 12: At the National Harbor, enjoying the nice weather and, can you believe it, not knitting…

This week I dyed a bunch of yarn (including lots of Saranac Fingering), did some knitting (including reviving a project that’s been languishing for years), and went to Maryland Sheep and Wool, as a shopper for a change. It was fun to actually get to walk around at a fiber festival for a change and see all the booths and the animals, instead of always being stuck in the booth! It was another perfect weekend for it too. I also reached my 1000th Etsy sale this week, which was an exciting milestone, just in time for Wandering Wool’s two-year anniversary! The anniversary sale is still going on for another week, so there’s still time to stock up on anything you’ve had your eye on.

April 29: I worked a little on my quilt to commemorate hiking the 46 mountains in the Adirondacks over 4,000 feet. I started sewing some of the patches on–three down, 45 to go.

April 30: Dyeing some yarn!

May 1: Skeining up some new Saranac Fingering (single ply sock yarn).

May 2: New colorway, Green Lantern (after the comic book super hero) coming to the shop soon. The photo doesn’t quite do it justice but it’s a bright olivey green layered with black that I really like.

May 3: Working on Cognoscenti shawl with some Rowan Summerspun.

May 4: Angora goats at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

May 5: Reviving a long dormant project.

This past week was all about filling some wholesale orders and getting ready for Powhatan’s Festival of Fiber on Saturday. The festival was great–it was the first year for the event, but I’ll definitely be back. I got to see some old friends (customers and vendors) and meet lots of new ones. Plus, it was a perfect day for an outdoor festival. I also finished a few projects–the aprons I meant to make for my first fiber festival last April, which I got to try out at Powhatan, and the Inspira Cowl, which also went to Powhatan with me.

April 22: Azaleas–my favorite! I’ve been trying to enjoy spring a bit before it’s gone.

April 23: Working on Inspira–trying to finish it in time for the festival.

April 24: The aprons are done (I made three, for when I have extra help at shows). They have pockets for cash, pens, and phone or tablet for credit cards. I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of them (especially because it took me over a year to finish them and sewing is not really my forte). I added an iron-on logo too, because the colors matched the striped fabric so well.

April 25: Dogwood blossoms.

April 26: Inspira Cowl, finished! I used one skein of Heights Worsted in Rainbow and one in Gray Matter colorway. I used the whole skein of the main color (gray) and about 80g of the rainbow.

April 27: The booth at Powhatan’s Festival of Fiber.

April 28: Home from the show and relaxing with some mitered squares. The blanket is growing!

It’s been a busy week, and there’s another busy one ahead. First there was a last minute tax time crunch to deal with. Then, with that satisfactorily resolved, I headed out to the Western shore of the Chesapeake for two days to visit my mom, who rents a cabin there every April, to look for some fossilized shark teeth on the beach and just relax a bit. Then it was back to work with a vengeance to dye some yarn, fill some orders, and get ready for my yarn dyeing workshop at Looped for Metro Yarn Crawl. This week, I’ll have even more yarn to dye and Powhatan’s Festival of Fiber to prepare for on Saturday. After that, maybe I’ll have a chance to slow down a bit and go to Maryland Sheep and Wool the following weekend (as a shopper).

April 14: Fossil hunting on the Chesapeake!

April 15: Getting some knitting done–the Brioche Scarf is finished!

April 16: My basil is sprouting!

April 17: Dyeing up some more yarn.

April 18: The gradient socks are finally done (all ends woven in too).

April 19: Planting some more seeds (from strawberries to my Giant Joshua Tree). Let’s hope they sprout in my little window.

April 20: Working on a new project with my worsted weight gradient yarn–Inspira Cowl. It’s moving along quickly.

April 21: Gearing up for the week ahead–a mountain of yarn.

I’ve actually finished a lot of projects in the last two weeks, which feels good, because I’ve been working on way too much at once lately. Last week I counted my WIPs (works in progress) and there were eight of them. And that’s just knitting—that doesn’t include any kind of sewing, gardening, block printing, or of course yarn dyeing that I might be working on. Eventually it gets hard to focus on anything when you’re working on that many things at once (let alone find a place to sit on the couch).

So, I decided to buckle down and finish some things. A lot of them were actually almost done. Here they are:

The Dark and Stormy sweater! This was over a year in the making, and really shouldn’t have taken that long. I finished it in time to give to my mom for her birthday, only a year late.

The color changing brioche stitch scarf. I used four 50g balls of “test” colorways for my worsted gradient yarns (most of which have become permanent colorways). This was fun and relaxing, once I actually sat down to work on it.

My color changing socks. I started these back in December with my first test skein of gradient yarn and finished the first one fairly quickly, but then put them aside for a while. Now that they’re done, both of them, with all ends woven in, I can stop faking it by using only one as a sample at shows! I actually want to wear them—the Helvellyn Sock is really soft when it’s knit up—but I think I should keep them looking nice for shows. Maybe I’ll have to make another pair for myself.

Block printed napkins. These aren’t knitting, obviously, but I had a lot of fun with them in some bright spring colors. These were for a gift, but I’m tempted to make some more for myself.

There are a few more things that are close to being done, but not quite. Back to work!

A bit early this week, because I’m actually taking a day off tomorrow, but here are some pictures from the past week. Spring is in full force now (actually much of the past week felt more like summer) so I spent a little time enjoying the nice weather, dyeing yarn on a 90 degree day, and working on a few craft projects. There is plenty of new yarn in the shop this week, including new gradient worsted weight yarns.

April 8: Checking out the cherry blossoms, Capitol Hill, and all the tourists!

April 9: Playing with bits of color!

April 10: A hard day’s work on a hot day.

April 11: More gradient yarns! (worsted weight this time).

April 12: Carving some lino for block printing.

April 13: The finished prints!

Spring is here in Washington DC! (Actually, today feels more like summer). I finished my Dark and Stormy–photos soon–dyed some yarn, and even got outside a bit to enjoy some of the nice weather.

April 1: This month’s Phat Fiber samples–Udaipur Fingering (50/50 merino silk) in Azalea colorway. The azaleas aren’t blooming here quite yet, but soon.

April 2: Working on my brioche stitch scarf in two different color changing yarns.

April 3: Lace yarns! I have plans for these four skeins together, plus a gray. Time to get some spring and summer projects lined up!

April 4: Knitting up some blanks for more gradient yarns. I’ll be making some in worsted weight this time.

April 5: Spring flowers!

April 6: Since it’s feeling like spring outside, I decided to plant some basil inside (because I don’t have an inch of outdoor space). I’ve had the seeds for a while, so I’m hoping they sprout.

April 7: Playing tourist at the Botanical Garden. Maybe this would make a good colorway inspiration?

I’ve been posting a lot about gradient yarns lately, but more about making them than about how to use them. Gradient or color changing yarns can be lots of fun, but you need the right project to show them off to their best advantage. So I thought I’d post a few ideas for what to make with color changing or self-striping yarns.

1. Socks

A color changing or striping yarn can turn plain stockinette sock from boring to a fun, simple knit.

2. Simple Shawls

This rainbow version of Ashton is a personal favorite. It has a little bit of a lace pattern, especially along the bottom edge, but not so much that it distracts from a fun yarn (or vice versa). If you’re not into knitting with skinny yarn, Zuzu’s Petals is cowl/shawl combination using worsted or sport weight yarn that looks great in a gradient yarn.

3. Pairing Solid and Gradient Yarns

A pattern with stripes can really pop when you mix a solid yarn with a color changing one. Stephen West’s Daybreak is a great example (thanks to Dana for this idea). You can also use two color changing yarns together, like the simple brioche stitch scarf pictured below or the Inspira cowl.

4. Modular Knits

There are lots of patterns for modular blankets or other projects that look great in color changing yarns. Pathways and the Mitered Crosses Blanket are two I’ve had my eye on.

5. Colorwork

A solid and a gradient yarn can make really stunning colorwork without having to juggle lots of strands! Fair Isle Rapids is one example, but the possibilities are endless.

What’s your favorite way to use color changing yarns? Feel free to share!

It’s not just the week of a show that’s busy–it’s amazing how long it takes to catch up afterwards. Even more than a week later, I still have a few things to put away and some odds and ends to finish up from Homespun Yarn Party. This past week also marked one year of full time “yarning”. I still find it hard to believe that it’s been that long and that I’m actually making it work. Thanks again to all my wonderful customers who make this possible! I’m looking forward to even better things in the coming year. For now, here are a few events coming up in April:

April 20: Yarn Dyeing Class at Looped Yarn Works (two sessions, here and here)

April 27: Powhatan’s Festival of Fiber in Powhatan, VA

And here’s a look back at the week:

March 25: Just when I was sure spring was here, we got probably our largest accumulation of snow in two years (which is still not much).

March 26: Here’s a sewing project that didn’t get done in time for Homespun Yarn Party, but will hopefully be done for the next show. Stay tuned.

March 27: Some spring knitting.

March 28: Finally getting to sit down with some tea and knitting after two long days of dyeing yarn.

March 29: Some of what came out of the dye pots this week.

March 30: A small design project for Looped.

March 31: Another day at the office…