Looking to make a pair of mittens? Or two, or three? Right now through October 10, 2017, all of Virginia’s self-published mitten patterns are 30% off. Check out the selection here! Be sure to use the coupon code: Mittens.
Knitting
Shoe Polish, Superwash and Strawberry-Rhubarb Goodness
Virginia has a new sock pattern available knit with Madelinetosh Twist Light. It’s an asymmetrical pattern that incorporates both cables and lace. Simple, but elegant.
Pattern can be found on Ravelry.
And, my spinning has yielded about 230 yards of 3-ply (using the chain-ply method) yarn from 4.5 oz. of superwash merino. It’s a little thicker than what can reasonably fit through my CSM (another thing to be shared later), so this yarn might have to wait to become something else.
In the meantime… we enjoyed “harvesting” some fruit when organizing the freezer, yielding a super simple strawberry-rhubarb crisp. So simple, that a written recipe is hardly needed. Essentially pile the frozen strawberries and rhubarb into a big bowl, defrost for a bit. Add some honey (1/4 cup, more or less depending on desired sugar load), a sprinkling of flour (I use a gluten-free blend) and cinnamon. Spread that into a 9×13 pan, top with some ground-together pecans, oats, olive oil (just a drizzle) and molasses (another drizzle). Bake for 50 minutes at 375ºF (more or less until the bubbling is on the thicker side).
If you’re feeling a little more decadent, top with a little vanilla ice cream!
Finger Painting Mitts
Made to be worn with some negative ease for a nimble fit, these textured mitts highlight the gorgeous colors of Finito, like a painting for your fingers!
Pattern can be found on Ravelry.
The saga of the linen towels
When Quince launched Sparrow it just came in natural and I fell in love. I ordered some, and when it came I thought about how beautiful linen towels would be, so I bought some more…
Then I realized how insane it would be to knit towels on such tiny needles, so I decided I would try to weave them. I had done some weaving in college and with the help of a refresher private lesson or two I thought I would be good to go. So I rented a floor loom for a couple of months. That first lesson revealed I would need to buy a lot more Sparrow, so much more due to the loom waste that it was just too excessive.
So, I did what any fiber lover would do, I bought more linen, much, much finer and more suitable to weaving. And I wove a set of towels…
But I still had my Sparrow..
I thought it would be cool to knit them after all, but approach it like a meditation, to knit just a couple rows a day, or about 20-30 minutes. I started on a Winter Solstice… I actually stuck with it through both bath towels and into the hand towel but somewhere about October I got distracted and lost my mojo, so the project marinated for over a year.
I finally dug it out this winter and finished the hand towel and one wash cloth. All seed stitch, all on 3mm needles. This is by far the craziest project or pair of projects I have ever done, but I love both sets!
Brego
This time of year the garden is a great source of pleasure and pain! The weeding seems never-ending, the creeping things creep, the spreading things spread, but there’s also plenty of blossoming and blooming and plants beginning to bear fruit.
When we’re not stuffing our faces with the vegetable and fruit bounty, I have been knitting a bit. I have a new pattern, Brego, which is 25% until July 5 (no coupon code needed). I had the chance to use the lovely 4-ply sock yarn from Ancient Arts in the beautiful color Chocolate Lab.
Even with the darker color, this yarn shows the stitch pattern pretty nicely.
Since I last posted, I also finished my version of Hane in Shibui Linen.
Hope you are enjoying the bounty of the season as much as we are!