For the love of Hempathy

I love Hempathy; it is the best new yarn I've tried this year. For those of you who haven't seen this lovely yarn, it is produced by Elsebeth Lavold and is 34% hemp, 41% cotton, and 25% modal. The hemp provides strength, the cotton provides softness and the modal helps prevent stretching and together they create a yarn with amazing stitch definition. The other great thing about hempathy is that all of the fibers take the dye a little differently which gives the appearance of a light heathering.

I have been casting on swatches with the same ball of hempathy for over a month now looking for just the right project for this yarn. After several swatches I discovered that hempathy's excellent stitch definition and is perfect for lace. That was it, I could finally make the branching out scarf from Knitty that I have been planning forever. Only problem was when I swatched for the scarf, I didn't like the way it looked in the color of hempathy I had. Thanks to Ravelry I was able to look up the yarn and see all of the projects people have made with it. My favorites are the bag from No Sheep for You, a pair of breeze socks from Knitty, and the swallowtail shawl from last fall's Interweave which was already on my things to knit list. Although I liked all of these projects, I was still in the lacey scarf mindset so I decided to consult a few stitch dictionaries and design my own.

For the last week I have been working with a vintage fern lace pattern that I love. It looks better right side up so I am going to make the scarf in two pieces and graft them together. There is also a bit of a problem with the space between the repeats. I have rewritten about 6 times and finally decided to let it be on Sunday. Yesterday I was flying for most of the day and I managed to get about 16" of the scarf finished. I want a 60" scarf, but I only have two balls of hempathy so we will just have to wait and see how long the scarf ends up.

A little odd

Last night I had a dream that I was eating an entire bottle of vitamin c chewables and this morning I woke up with the beginning stages of a cold.

Finishing Friday

This has been a pretty productive week, I actually finished some things.

First up is the Harry Potter themed dish towel I made for my sister as a thank you for fixing my computer.


I also finished the target wave mittens- there are now a pair. These are a sample for the store so they are a child's medium which won't fit anyone I know. I plan on modifying these mittens to make an adult version for myself. I am also planning a matching hat and possibly scarf when the time comes.

My next project will be the Branching Out scarf from Knitty made with Hempathy.

SP11

Just a heads up that Secret Pal 11 sign-ups are up so if you want to join in on the fun, now's the time.

Secret Pal 11 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I am going through a cotton phase and my current favorite cotton is Blue Sky organic and dyed cottons. I also love handdyed and handspun yarns. I would love something that is unique to your area of the world.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
In baskets, in bags, on tables, in drawers- pretty much all over my house. I would love to have a better storage option, but I am a bit lazy in that department.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I learned to knit in college from a book. I always classify myself as intermediate, but at this point the only thing that scares me is steeking so I might actually be advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an Amazon wishlist here.

5. What's your favorite scent?
I like Nag Champa and other muskier scents. I have recently become overly sensitive to fruity scents so I really don’t like those.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I do have a sweet tooth, but not really for candy. I don’t like chocolate very much, but other than that everything is fair game.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I got a spinning wheel for Christmas so yes, I do spin. I also like to sew, crochet, and repair old furniture.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I don’t know why I have so much trouble with this question, but I always struggle to find a concise answer. Right now I am listening to a lot of 1960’s French, German, and Indian pop. I love the yé-yé girl scene.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
My favorite color changes daily, but I can tell you that I prefer richer, more saturated colors. I hate any color that is created by blending pink and yellow (i.e. peach, salmon.) Right now I am really loving turquoise, brown, and pink.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married and live with the coolest doggie in the world.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, well not ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Hats and silly things that have no use. I am really getting into amigurumi crochet.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A soy turtle, a chevron scarf, an amigurumi frog, and a pair of socks.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, please!!!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
It depends on what I am knitting. I love my Addi and Brittany needles the most, but I am not above using some cheap aluminum needles. I don’t like plastic needles (except for my Denise kit) and I hate bamboo needles (I much prefer hardwood.) For crochet, I only like those cheap Susan Bates aluminum hooks.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Both and they rock!!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I hate this question because it makes me realize how many unfinished projects I have in my life. Let’s just say old.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Tiki, vintage cookbooks (1950-1969,) pin-ups, and old craft books.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don’t have any knitting magazine subscriptions. I have yet to find a magazine that doesn’t have dud issues so I just buy what I like when they come out. Saying that, I am pretty impressed with KnitScene and if I was going to subscribe to a magazine it would be Interweave. I love crafting and knitting zines.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I would like to learn Irish Cottage Knitting, but have yet to find a resource. I would also like to improve my lace skills so i can learn to make my own lace patterns. I also want to learn to do hairpin lace, preferably with one of these.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes!

23. When is your birthday?
January 19

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes, and my username is spingirl.

My first target wave

The other night at snb, Jess mentioned planning to make the target wave mittens from Knitting Nature for her son. I didn't think anything of it until the next day when I was purging my magazine collection (I am on my annual simplify my life kick) and I came across the pattern in the Fall Interweave Knits. I loved the pattern and I have enough scrap yarn for a pair so I decided to try these mittens out. They are knitted flat and then seamed up the side.

Thanks to Ravelry, I knew going in that there were problems with the thumb shaping. Unfortunately, no one was specific about how they corrected these problem so I decided to knit the pattern as is. Once I finished it was obvious that there were too many rows at the base of the thumb and that the thumb was too long. I corrected this by removing the first two rows of plain stockinette stitch and by decreasing the number of rows for the thumb. Also, in the row where it says to evenly decrease across the row I put all of the decreases on top of the thumb to make the thumb slant upward a bit and to give it more comfortable shaping.

The pattern was a very quick knit, even with me knitting the thumb sections twice. I am going to finish the second one today and I plan on making an adult pair for me before the winter.

Please help

I am looking for a copy of Unusual Toys for you to Knit and Enjoy by Jess Hutchison. I original saw a review of this book in Knitty a couple of years ago and I always meant to buy it, but being the procrastinator I am, I never did. I remembered it about two months ago and I discovered that Jess Hutchison decided not to print any more copies. Since then, I have been looking all over the place for a copy with no luck. The worst part is that the more I look for the book, the more I want it.

Here's my plea- If you have a copy or know someone who does, I will buy it from you or do a trade. Alternately, if you can convince Jess to start selling them again so I can get a copy I will love you forever!!

Finished!

Here is the finished dishcloth. Picking up the pattern again after a year was a little tricky, but once I got going it was as easy as I remember. I have another ball of variegated cotton yarn in my stash so there might be another garterlac dishcloth in my future.

Surprise in my closet

For years I used the same small green knitting bag, but last summer I decided that the bag was too small for me so I switched off to another bag. Since then I have changed knitting bags several times and I am still looking for the perfect bag. Anyway, the small green bag has been sitting at the bottom of my closet for just over a year and I stumbled across it this morning. Inside I found a long forgotten WIP- the garterlac dishcloth.

The project was sitting on stitch holders and about 2/3 complete. I put the original needles back in and I am taking it with me to snb tonight to try and finish it up.

In other project news, I have been crocheting a bit lately. I have been wanting to do some amiurumi so I started with this super simple pattern for little chickadees. These four little guys are made from straps of three different yarns which is why there is a bit of a size difference. The pattern is quick and easy. I weighted the bottoms with dried beans to make them sit up more easily and I modified the beaks a bit, but other than that I stuck to the pattern.

I am now trying to make an amigurumi octopus. I found a few patterns online, but I wanted mine to be shaped a bit different so I am writing my own pattern. I plan to make her a partner if this one comes out the way I want.