Flint Knits

There are going to be a lot of warm wieners out there–after just one week of sales, the Wurstwärmer pattern has raised $140.40 for the Michigan Animal Rescue League! I made a donation to MARL yesterday, and will keep making donations at the end of every month, as long as folks keep buying the pattern.

Thanks everyone for your generosity! 

And, as an extra thank-you, please enjoy this new free scarf pattern!

This scarf offers all the élan of a feather boa, but none of the social or professional consequences of wearing one to work. Leda is as light as a feather, with the lofty warmth of alpaca. (For a Spring or Fall scarf, just substitute a less toasty fingering-weight yarn.)

Suitable for a first lace project, the stitch pattern should also hold the attention of more experienced laceknitters. The pattern includes written instructions and two charts. The lace pattern only appears in chart form–there are no written lace instructions included.

MATERIALS:
−    1 skein (450 yards) Classic Elite Alpaca Sox or other fingering-weight yarn
–    US 4 (3.5mm) circular needle, or size needed to get gauge
–    2 stitch markers
–    tapestry needle

DOWNLOAD LEDA NOW

*with many thanks to Mary-Heather for coming up with the perfect name.

I don’t love knitting scarves.

They’re tedious, and long, and repetitive, and there’s no shaping to keep my interest. And unlike many simple knits, they’re usually done back-and-forth with some kind of stitch pattern, so I can’t even easily use them for blind movie-theatre knitting. And while there are a plenty of clever, interestingly-shaped scarf patterns out there, for fashion and function’s sake, I usually prefer the long, flat rectangle.

Enter entrelac.

This was, by far, the least dull scarf I’ve ever made.

The squares of entrelac are, as many knitters before me have observed, like little potato chips. You just have to knit! one! more! before you stop. This thing flew off the needles.

pattern: Entrelac Scarf (PDF) by Allison LoCicero
yarn: 4 balls Noro Silk Garden, Colorway 221, bought at Beyond the Rainforest in Flint, MI
needles: US 7 Addi Turbos
[raveled]

The scarf was a gift for my badass sister Kristy, a music teacher who had worn out her last handknit scarf with several years of outdoor marching band practices.

I should admit that I’m so behind on blogging my knits that “Kristy’s new scarf” was “new” back in December, and has already lived through one winter. So, uh, happy summer, all!

NOTE: Most photos in this post are shamelessly stolen. Click on them to go to the photographer’s Flickr page.

Hi all! It turns out the perfect way to wrap up a Semester from Hell is to hit the road and drive cross-country to get together with a bunch of knitter-friends, drink beers, and swap cowls. Seriously, I’m like a new woman.

Ms. Specs (whose blog you should definitely be reading, and who is in possession of a most wicked, wry, trojan-horse wit that hides behind her quiet demeanor) made me a beautiful cowl, in my favorite bright blue-green, with the sproingiest sock yarn of all time, Colinette Jitterbug.

Thanks, S!! I love it.

And I got to knit a cowl for Ashley. This was exciting because I love her madly (this love has been documented thoroughly on her blog and mine. We do not need to elaborate at this point. Except perhaps to say that I now adore her even more because she turned me on to this dreadful/wonderful story of the sparkly, yummy-smelling, teenaged vampires of Forks, ND). ETA: er, Washington. Forks, Washington. Duh. Because there is no sunlight there.

This was also humiliating because, slacker that I am, I left it til the last minute and had to knit the entire thing in the car with her, while she drove us to Pennsylvania. (You might not know this from her blog, but Ashley has a cruel streak. She was so enraged by my irresponsibility that she forced me to spend a whole day with her 18 month-old nephew, who is, as Caro might say, “like a bee on a string”).

pattern: Mimosa Neckwarmer, by Tarja
yarn: GGH Aspen, from Threadbear Fiber Arts
needles: US8 and US10.5 circulars
button: from Rosie’s Yarn Cellar

Gorgeous photos by Ashley, of course.

The cowl swap has already produced a few patterns. Nova, Elinor, and Caro [Ravelry link] have posted free ones already, and Minty’s stunning cowl-to-end-all cowls pattern is forthcoming.

I cannot overstate how thoroughly awesome the weekend was. Ashley, Caro, Christy, Diana, Elinor, Jennie, Julia, Maritza, Megan, Minty, Nova, and Specs are people with whom I have heaps in common (besides knitting, obvs), and who consistently brighten my everydays with their art, wit, smarts, thoughtfulness, support, pies, and (some of them) unflagging dedication to online competitive word games. I’m lucky to know them and, now, even luckier to have met them.

Meeting folks in person that you already know and love through teh internets is a fabulous and totally unique experience. So go out and organize your own knitter meet-ups! Do it! And the next time you’re in the Flint area (okay, yes, stop laughing, please), give a holler! xoxo

Thanks to everyone who’s moved their subscriptions over to the new site! I’m still figuring out how best to organize and use the space, but it’s all terribly exciting.

And, of course, big thanks to everyone who participated in the Monkey contest. My friend has been given the list of potential Monkey names. (I suspect that, when he agreed to this, he didn’t realize that there would be 198 entries to read. So, uh, it’s unclear when he will get around to choosing one. Will keep you all posted and notify the winner as soon as possible.)

---

Because Lolly is apparently an endless font of clever ideas, this year’s Project Spectrum is organized around the elements: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water.

And, as part of her ongoing search for The Perfect Yellow, Megan has started a Flickr group for yellow handknits. (One consequence of this group is that I’m pretty sure all the knitters on Flickr will soon own some Colinette Jitterbug yarn in Vincent’s Apron.)

This is all leading up, of course, to a show-and-tell of my own recent yellow knits.This summer, Ashley and I met at Threadbear when they happened to be having a massive sale on Koigu Kersti ($3/hank), and I picked up the last 3 hanks of a killer mustard color.

And last month, it became a Bainbridge scarf made from Minty’s clever pattern, with some minor mods.

Instead of having two pieces that tie in front, I wanted a tab-and-button fastening. So first, I made a horizontal buttonhole halfway along the tube.

Then, on the inside of the tube, I made a seed-stitch tab with a buttonhole at the end.

Finally, I sewed a button onto the outside of the scarf.
The scarf wraps around my neck, and the tab pokes through the slot and buttons the whole thing closed.

[Ravelry link]
pattern: Bainbridge Scarf, by Pepperknit
yarn: Koigu Kersti
needle: US6 Addi lace circular

With the leftover yarn, I made some garter stitch mitts from Ysolda’s new pattern.

[Ravelry link] With their perfect little thumb gussets, these have already replaced my former go-to fingerless mitts pattern. Love them, love them, wear them all the time.

So, if I wanted to turn two hanks of the Jitterbug yarn (pictured above) into some knee socks that were warm, and fun to knit, but not so bulky that I couldn’t wear them under close-fitting boots, what pattern would you recommend?

Welcome to flintknits.com!

If you have any feedback or suggestions about the site design, please let me know!

In honor of the new home, I have a (very simple) new pattern to offer:

Tipsy Rib Scarf: The Scarf of the Beast

DOWNLOAD NOW!

I named the scarf “tipsy” because of the combination of the deep merlot-colored yarn and the diagonal rib that looks like it’s leaning just a bit to one side.

Then I realized that the finished product measured exactly 6×66 inches. Clearly, it is the devil’s own accessory.

Appropriate for all occasions, you can wear this simple scarf to séances, shopping malls, and church potlucks with equal aplomb.

MATERIALS:
• 3 balls Artfibers Ming (50% silk, 50% merino; 143 yards; color #17) or other worsted-weight yarn
• 4.5mm (US 7) straight or circular needles