Socks, Suspense, September 2017! Part 1

Hello Everyone!

This is an exciting month! We have a wonderful free class with yarn purchase for easy roll-top ankle socks using pattern Rose City Roller by Mara Catherine Bryner. This sock project is portable, has some different stitch techniques to make it interesting, and helps us prolong the warmer weather as we transition into Fall. And they make great yoga socks!

We are also working  on the What the Fade?! Mystery FADE Along by Andrea Mowry, www.dreareneeknits.com. Everywhere you look, local yarn shops, knitting groups, and individual knitters are participating in Andrea Mowry’s first ever FADE Along where six different gradient colored yarns “fade” into each other as each clue is revealed. There are eight clues in all, with the first clue dropping on August 31^st and the eighth clue coming out in October. Here, at Yarns by HPF, we are using Mrs Crosby’s Fade Kits, which includes six individual colors of her Satchel yarn chosen to play off of one another.

But first, here’s a little bit about designer, Andrea Mowry. Who is this tattooed, engaging, prolific and talented, beautiful designer? She literally burst onto the knitting scene with great force and has been designing unique and fabulous-to-wear knits since 2014. In an interview on the Woolful podcast when it was new (2014), Andrea said that she wanted knitting to be her life and she was taking the leap to do just that. Now she’s arguably one of the most popular pattern designers around. Taught as a child by her grandmother, she says it is rarely a day that passes without yarn in her hands. She also bakes and embroiders, as well as sews. She says on her website that she believes in enjoying every stitch and wearing at least one hand knit everyday – which she obviously does! She emphasizes style and quality, focusing on designing accessories and garments to fit the modern wardrobe. Her patterns are fun to knit and stylish to wear with clear directions for every level of knitter. Her patterns’ embedded videos are fantastic. By her own account, she greatly loves learning new techniques and skills and luckily shares with knitters through her patterns. She believes that one of the fabulous aspects to knitting is the multitude of ways you can end up with the same result. Andrea creates and supports a handmade life through knitting and sewing garments for herself and her family. A stay-at-home Mom, she cooks from scratch and tries to shop locally and support small businesses. She says that when she began designing, it was very important to incorporate her feelings into her work. She is definitely the real deal! Knowing a bit more about Andrea Mowry makes knitting her designs even more special and fun.

Now onto knitting The What the Fade?! Mystery FADE Along. This is my first MKAL and first fade project. I am someone who reads a pattern through a couple of times before I begin knitting a project. To knit in “installments” is a bit outside my comfort zone. But, I really like Andrea Mowry’s designs, I learned Brioche in August, and Mrs. Crosby’s yarns, www.mrscrosbyplays.com, were calling to me to come “play”, so there was nothing stopping me. In this blogpost, I will talking about starting the Mystery FADE Along and my progress so far. I am in the middle of Clue Two, working towards finishing it by the time Clue Three comes out on September 14^th. To set up for this project, I picked out my yarn - I chose Mrs. Crosby’s Speckle Fade Kit. The colors are also outside my comfort zone. They are bright and pronounced, not my usual dark neutrals. I have my color-coded pens to yarn color to keep track of the pattern rows as I knit. I do write down what I knit from the pattern because I have found through much trial and error, my knitting is better off for it. This is my methodology to keep track of rows. It is a bit over the top, but it works for me. As always, use whatever method makes you comfortable. My tiered plastic containers to stage my yarn helps prevent tangling, which is inevitable in this project where at any one time you can have as many as four skeins going at once.  Yes, it is quite the production!

When I began with Clue One, I decided to go with a color arrangement of a lighter to darker fade, like the yarn is set up in the package.  This is in contrast to what is suggested in the pattern, but like Andrea says, the same knitted project can have different outcomes. At first I couldn't see how the color combinations worked. Colors A & D, B & E? And then, a blinding flash of the obvious or BFO for short - Brioche is reversible, two fades in one project, one for each side! And then it all made sense. I highly recommend viewing the pattern's embedded videos, especially for the Brioche increases. The videos are very well shot and Andrea's sparkly pink fingernails contrast well with her green hand tattoo!!

The pattern growing from the center spine is intricate and magical at the same time. Bringing in two additional colors through Clue Two makes knitting this shawl like reading a good mystery. I want to see where this clue leads and I am anxiously waiting for the next clue to drop! I am also waiting to see if I can reach Brioche Rock Star status?!?! 

So for now until the next installment, I am going back to finishing up Clue Two. Clue Three will be here before we know it! I am thoroughly enjoying decyphering the clues to this mystery. Check out our Instagram @yarns.by.hpf for a look at our wonderful knitters working on their What the Fade?! projects. 
Stay tuned for the next What the Fade?! installment!

Knit On! Lisa