afterthought heels & forethought toes

I just finished my first pair of socks with afterthought heels, thanks to this very helpful tutorial by Louise Tilbrook. I settled on an afterthought heel for one simple reason: I knew I wanted to have a contrast-color heel for this beautiful self-striping yarn, but I didn't have the tools with me (read: a long…

tracking sales on Knit Picks

I'm a bit of a Knit Picks devotee. It's hard to beat their prices and yarn selection, in my opinion. I knit my Weekender Sweater, Beekeeper Cardigan, Tegna (pictured below) and more using Knit Picks' yarn, and I keep coming back for more! Last year I placed an order with Knit Picks just before they announced…

ravelry tutorial: yarn database

This post is part of my Ravelry Tutorial series. For other Ravelry tutorials, see: Ravelry Tutorial: Create a Project This tutorial is about using Ravelry's yarn database. This database can help you decide what yarn to purchase for a specific pattern, give you ideas of how to use a yarn already in your stash, and…

2018 year in review

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging, but now that January is almost over I'm ready to post my yearly round-up of 2018! In 2018, I completed a total of 37 projects: 12 pairs of socks, 5 sweaters, 4 hats, 3 cowls, 2 shawls, 2 pairs of mittens/wristers, 1 'other' (a softie), 2…

september & october round-up

projects finished: 5 projects started: 7 projects continuing: 3 It's been a busy few months! Travel, dissertation work, writing a conference paper, two hurricanes... In September I finished the pink tweed Hermione Socks that I began in August, and started two more pairs of socks: watermelon self-striping socks (planned as a gift for my sister) and a pair…

North Carolina state fair

This month was the North Carolina State Fair, and I entered two knitted items -- and won two ribbons! My Mercury Socks (which I haven't blogged about yet) won First Place in the socks category, and my Tegna won Second Place in the Sweaters - Other category. (The main sweater categories are "Colorwork" and "Lace"…

ravlery tutorial: create a project

This post is part of my Ravelry Tutorial series. For other Ravelry tutorials, see: Ravelry Tutorial: Yarn Database For the next few months, I'm planning to write tutorials for my hometown knitting guild (Northern Lights Valley Knitters) to help everyone get the most out of Ravelry. The first tutorial: how to create a Project Page.…

knitting in geneva

I've spent 1/3 of the last year in Geneva, Switzerland, working on research for my Ph.D. dissertation in history. When I'm there, I keep knitting! I usually bring yarn for a large project, like my Paris by Day Wrap and my Goldfish Memory Shawl. But this doesn't mean I haven't checked out the local yarn shops!…

august round-up

Projects finished: 2 Projects started: 2 Projects continuing: 1 active I've been pretty quiet on the blog this month because I've been in Geneva, Switzerland hard at work on my dissertation research. That doesn't mean I haven't been knitting, though! This month I completed my Goldfish Memory Shawl, which required some major pattern alteration at the end as…

tegna

My first summer garment! (And helloooooo humidity with my hair!) Tegna is a beautiful pattern by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks. This is a hugely popular design on ravelry, showing up in the Top 20 patterns seemingly every other week all summer long! I decided to use my prize of a $25 gift card to…