Letters
Report from the Front: Giftalong 2017
Dear Kay,
Giftalong 2017 is making me knit more. Purpose! Industry! We’re having a fine time over in the Lounge Giftalong conversation, setting our goals and dreams for the handknits we may or may not complete in time to give to unsuspecting handknit targets. Feel free to jump in, everybody—the Lounge’s busted-out corduroy sofa is big enough for every knitter with a yen to finish something.
I set out the ridiculous goal of finishing these three projecks before Christmas. I just put away a stack of children’s books, seeing as how my little children have been replaced by lanky growed-up humans. So here’s the literary equivalent of how I’m feeling so far.
Baby Blanket
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. Four corners, neat and square. Done in a day? I’ve got a way to go, but I’ve got a lot of steam in me.
I can’t quite express how lovely this Fyberspates Vivacious DK is. This is Pebble Beach, a warm gray. The three other shades in our Shop are worth a look for the masterful color sense at play. The pattern is the Little Tern Blanket designed by Tin Can Knits from A Year of Techniques. It was a game changer to learn the provisional cast on for this.
Fluffy Shawl
The Little Engine That Could. I think I can, I think I can. Big stitches, fluffy yarn? We’re going to get this thing over the mountain.
This is Ann Weaver’s Sommerfeld Shawl from MDK Field Guide No. 4: Log Cabin. The yarn is Karida Collins’s Neighborhood Fiber Co. Loft yarn, the juicy mohair/silk flurf that I promise you has surprising insulating power despite its deceptive airiness. We have 16 shades of this glorious stuff. I am almost done, and I will want to figure out something else to make with Loft.
Yoke Sweater
The Story of Ferdinand. The little bull who would rather smell the flowers than fight. Maybe I’m feeling like a long stretch of juicy color from Backyard Fiberworks is the thing. Maybe I don’t feel like jumping into the bull-fighting ring. Maybe I’ll just knit in circles until a sweater shows up.
Caitlin Hunter’s Birkin sweater is a complete joy to make. There are four rows where you have the option to add little bobbles for texture. I did this, knitting into the front and back of a stitch four times, then wrapping the yarn across the front of the bobble to ensure bobble integrity. While my bobbles fall into the category of Charmingly Folkloric aka lumpy and misshapen rather than Masterful, I love them very much.
This is our Backyard Fiberworks Sock, in two of our eight exclusive MDK colors. The yoke is Jamberry. The shifts in color run from deep fuschia to medium fuschia. At no point does this become pink, though I think it wanted to at one point.
The body is Patio, and I find the color shifts here to be really pleasing. I’m never one to alternate two skeins of hand-dyed yarn—I’m paying after-tax dollars for my yarn to be all irregular and unpredictable! I want irregular! Surprise me!
So that’s the lay of the land at the moment. I hope everybody is feeling the longer nights settle in and finding comfort in family and friends. I keep thinking back on Thanksgiving, and how food and making and a laugh can be so delectable.
Love,
Ann
All of your projects are just lovely…and the sweater! (Swoon!) Keep knitting, keep savoring.
Me? I have one more hat (of 3), and the intarsia shawl from AYOT to finish by the magic hour. Should be cake, right?
Thanks for giving me permission to enjoy the variations of hand-dyed yarn instead of having to suffer the fussiness of alternating skeins. I love being able to say or think “but after all, it’s an accepted technique. I got it from Ann on MDK.”
Jamberry and Pun’kin! My two favorite colors. I bet they would be gorgeous knit together! PS love all three projects.
Bobble integrity! Please post a video tutorial! I’ve tried every species of bobble technique (including one with a crochet hook that required no turning), and none is ever really satisfactory.
“Report from the front” – does this mean we will next have “Report from the back” and “Report from the sleeves”? I hope so! Love your humor under fire.
I adore that color combination…Patio and Jamberry! YUM!!
I had forgotten how much fun reading a post from you could really be.
Love that sweater and would love to try it this spring when I get a pair of other projects done. Fingerling weight yarn means that after I got it done I would be wearing it at least 4 months a year. Yipee.
To make the Birkin even better, it’s currently 30% off until
December 30 over at Ravelry. (I checked just now when I read about your bobbles!)
The pebbles on Pebble Beach are intriguing. I always look forward to your posts. Carry on knitting. It looks like you’ve got this.
Love your projects, and the kid-lit pairings!
Even my grandkids have grown out of all those wonderful picture books. Sigh.
That Patio color makes me crave a mint!
These are all SOOO beautiful! I love the blanket. I finished mine and was able to give it at the shower for my sweet new grandbaby!!! I just started an In Threes sweater for her yesterday and what a joy that is to knit! I’m using Madeline Tosh left over from my Toshtrology blanket for it in a beautiful green!!! Carry on! That shawl is to DIE FOR!!!!
I have a three-year old grandson (and also 8 other grandkids) who loves “books about feelings,” according to his mother. (Does the fact that she’s a therapist color his tastes?) Anyway, I read your column with delight, less about the knitting but more about the books. Ferdinand will definitely be among the gifts we send him, and so will Mike Mulligan. I love that you love the books I love!
Your Birkin is beautiful! Think I may have to take advantage of the 30% discount someone mentioned to make one of my own. The reason I rarely make round yoke sweaters is that usually they are designed in bulkier yarn. Birkin is a revelation.
Do not tempt me with the Birkin! I have a baby blanket to finish by Christmas! And two sweaters that I began last winter….