Stitch Every Day in May!

It's time for our annual challenge--Stitch Every Day in May begins this Friday! 

It's a super accessible way to build (or reinforce) a great habit, get a little reward for completion, and maybe win a prize. 

You can find all of the details here, and if you're a returning participant, there's no change to the rules, other than dates. There's a link to a printable tracker, and if you were at either of our big events this month, you had one in your favor bag.

Stitch on!

We are introducing a new line to Yarn Folk, and while we are (impatiently) waiting for two more yarn bases to arrive, we are very taken with the three that are here.

My Fine Wool is a 100% extra fine Merino wool fingering weight with great yardage--255 yards in a 50g ball. You can machine wash it on gentle (a laundry bag is recommended) and lay flat to dry. Use it by itself for lightweight tees, held double, or held with a coordinating carry-along.

Speaking of fluff, we also have ten colors of Kid Seta, which I attempted to coordinate across the palettes of the other yarns, where each color of Kid Seta works with a color from more than one of the other yarn bases. We'll see how well I did when it's all here!

Last but not least, Woolia has a special place in my heart. I've been on the hunt for a non-superwash 100% Merino, and Woolia delivers that, plus a great price point, good yardage, and resistance to pilling.  Did I mention fun colors? The fabric isn't slick, like a superwash Merino--it has a dry hand, and has an airy feel, even though it holds its shape on a range of needle sizes. (More on that in a moment.) I hope you'll give it a try

…to inspire

 

If you're new here, here's fair warning that at least every couple of months or so, I am going to ramble on about SWATCHING. I'm not talking about making endless swatches to precisely match a pattern's gauge. The kind of swatching I recommend is knitting or crocheting enough to know what kinds of fabrics your yarn can make, and what kind of modifications you might need to consider if the gauge of the fabric you like best is different from the pattern gauge. 

 

 

Above is a swatch I made yesterday with Woolia in color 590, Anthracite.  The ball band gauge is 15-20 stitches = 4" on US 6-10 needles (4-6mm). I tried each size in that range, and my knitting with my needles resulted in a range of 16-21 stitches = 4". I liked the fabric best on the US 6, 7, and 8 needles, but I could also see that the two loosest gauges might be great with a mohair or other carry along fiber. 

A couple of things about the swatch itself: lately, I've been using broken rib for the borders (needed so that the fabric lies flat). Garter stitch keeps the swatch from rolling toward the purl side, but it distorts the row gauge. Broken rib (one row knit, one row K1P1 ribbing) is faster than seed stitch, but doesn't change the stockinette it borders. (I didn't do a lot of pinning on this swatch, so the edges aren't straight.)

When I remember, I do a row that has a number of purls to designate the US needle size. And I divide each section with a garter ridge. Usually I'm not testing out five needle sizes, but given the ball band recommendations for this yarn, I was curious.

 

I'm working on finishing up two samples that we featured on Saturday. Ideally, I would have been done prior to the event, but that's not how things shook out.

The Golden Hour Shawl is one of the two patterns included in the Factory Girl Designs Kits. The yarn is a merino/cashmere/nylon fingering weight, and it is as soft as that sounds, in a pretty spring color combo.

Then for the Ellington Bandana, I'm using two colors of Malabrigo Rios--Belinda and Celestina from the Rosalinda's Friends collection. The edging takes much less than a full skein, so I'll go stash diving for that.