Bee All You Can Bee in July!

Hello Everyone!

This month at Yarns by HPF we are all about, “Bee All You Can Bee in July!” We took on the challenge of the Beekeeper Cardigan 4 Day Sweater KAL. This is the second annual 4 Day Sweater KAL for designer Marie Greene of Olive Knits (www.oliveknits.com). Per the Ravelry page, “this cardigan has simple, all-over texture. No lace, no cables. Top-down, seamless construction. 3/4 sleeves with an option for long sleeves. The skill level “intermediate” but confident advanced beginners should be able to knit this if you know how to read a pattern and understand top-down sweater knitting.”

Check out Marie’s Ravelry page and you’ll see last year’s challenge was the Stillwater Cardigan among all her other beautiful designs. This year’s KAL ran from July 1 – 15 and we held our KAL from July 10 – 14. Linda ordered Knitted Wit’s Polwarth Shimmer and Madeline Tosh DK in the most wonderful colors for this KAL. We each chose different colors so the completed sweaters will show a spectrum of how this pattern plays out in various hues. So with needles, pattern, and yarn in hand, with snacks and drinks to fortify us through the day, the KAL officially began! For me, the Beekeeper Cardigan is my first adult sweater and I found following what we were doing in the store and Olive Knit’s Facebook Group, Olive Knits – Knitters’ Lounge, helped this remote Knitter immensely. I definitely felt the sense of community and that I was there knitting along with everyone. I decided to knit my sweater with Knitted Wit’s Polwarth Shimmer in Carbon. The pattern has three to four inch ease. For me choosing a size up let’s me have a looser fitting sweater. I am not a very fast knitter so I started a little earlier in order to blog and follow tips and updates from the Facebook Group. Currently, I am at the sleeve divide.

Coming Up On The Sleeve Divide!

I write down every row so I can keep track of where I am in the pattern. For me this helped greatly when I came to the Little Bee Pattern and especially when I came to adding “Bees”. I used markers because they help me “see” the pattern as I knit and I feel like I have an “audience” cheering me on. I also check the bee p[placement as I knit so as not to go too far when I make an inevitable (!x$%*!) miscount. Checking the Ravelry page, errata, website, Facebook Group Page, and ASKING LINDA QUESTIONS (!!) have proven invaluable. The “scary” part where you come to Rows 43 and 44 are now fully explained and should take away any confusion. I will not finish my sweater in 4, 5, 6, or even 8 days (see www.oliveknits.com, information on the KAL, where the days are adjusted for the size you are knitting; for me it would be 6 days). I am so excited to be knitting my first adult sized sweater that I took Marie Greene’s words to heart and if you’re like me taking more than 4 days to knit your Beekeeper Cardigan,“What happens if I don’t finish in 4 days?  No worries! The challenge is fun – and doing it with friends is even better – but really this project is about the experience. We have so much fun encouraging each other, cheering everyone along and sharing our successes (and pitfalls) along the way. Whether you finish in 4 days or 4 weeks (or 4 months!) – you’ll love the camaraderie and friendship of knitting with friends. Plus, this is a classic style sweater (that happens to be fun and quick to knit), and it’s one you’ll love wearing for years to come.” VERY TRUE!!!!

I will keep you posted on my slow and steady progress. I am looking forward to seeing our Yarns Family’ s completed Beekeeper Cardigans!

Knit On! Lisa

We Are Over The Moon For June! 2018

Hello Everyone,

We Are Over the Moon for June! June is the month where we celebrate our Flag, our Fathers, and the beginning of Summer. We also celebrated with a variety of projects that enhanced our stitching skills and made us smile. We knitted, crocheted, and even incorporated both in our month’s projects. 

We started the month with the Skimmer Socks Revisited KAL. This project’s pattern on Ravelry is by Sheila Toy Stromberg (knitorious S.H.E. on Facebook). Shelia is a self described yarnivore who loves all things fiber arts. Check out her website at www.sheliatoystromberg.com for her “Inventive Designs, A Fresh Perspective on Knitting and Crocheting”. The Skimmer Socks Revisited pattern offers a variety of sizes, uses two yarn colors, and it’s free! This pattern is an updated version to the Skimmer Socks pattern (one color, seamless, some laceworks). We love the low profile/ no-show sock for all our flats and sneakers, including our Converse Chucks. This is a great project for experienced knitters who are new to sock knitting. It uses knitting in the round, Judy’s Magic Cast-On (a fantastic method!), basic increases and decreases, short rows (wrap and turn), and picking up stitches. Although I am an experienced sock knitter, I have only used the Fish Lips Heel (which is great!). I found this pattern challenging even as an experienced sock knitter because of the flap heel. Not that the flap heel is overly difficult, but it was a technique I had not done before. With the pattern’s embedded tutorials, I was able to easily follow Sheila’s clear and enjoyable instructions. I used Madeline Tosh and an Indie Dyer for my yarn. The color combination turned out beautifully. And now that I learned how to do a flap heel, my sock repertoire has now expanded! I will definitely make more of these socks in both the Revisited and Original versions. 

Next, we combined knitting and crocheting with Sheldon Sheep and Friends Get-a-Long (GAL). The pattern is by Amy Gunderson and is a free download on Ravelry. Amy Gunderson works for Universal Yarns and has designed everything from clothing to blankets to novelty items. Check out her patterns on Ravelry under AmyGunderson. Sheldon Sheep and Friends is found under Miscellany and is the first pattern listed. This pattern uses booth knitting and crochet which enhances your Sheldon Sheep’s texture Using the called for bulky yarn, your Sheldon will be twelve inches tall (not including his legs) and fifteen inches in circumference. You can make a smaller Sheldon and Friends by using lighter weight yarns. It’s definitely fun to experiment. The body is crocheted making full use of texture with the arms, legs, and head knitted, showing perfect textural contrast to Sheldon’s body. We love creating stuffies. There is something about knitting and/or crocheting these little buddies that touches our hearts. And we found that when making Sheldon, you may not want him to be an only “child”. So enjoy making his Friends, officially known as Shelia, Sherry, Shirley, and Woolma (!!), in different colors and yarn weights. 

Lastly, we went full on crochet for our Pop-Up Project with the incredible Waistcoat Crochet Basket by Stephanie Jessica Lau at www.allaboutami.com. She explains the Waistcoat Crochet Stitch or Center Single Crochet Stitch in detail on her website’s blogpost (www.allaboutami.com/waistcoat-crochet-basket/). Her instructions are very clear and while I have crocheted a variety of stitches, the waistcoat stitch is a new one for me. I think this variation on single crochet brings the basket into the very special category. Stephanie originally created this basket for her child’s teacher as a gift. We all know how exceptional hand made gifts can be. Not only is this a practical gift, it is also beautiful and can be displayed prominently in a home or office. The pattern has different options for the basket’s handles, using either crocheted or leather tabs. We have a different variation. Linda created a knotted handle using clothesline material fastened onto the basket with large buttons. I personally love the way the basket looks and this handle with oversized buttons gives the basket a unique designer element. This basket is great to make and give to someone special or to keep for yourself, because we all love a handmade gift. 

We definitely enjoyed our Over the Moon for June! projects and we’re looking forward to a fantastic Summer. Come join us in July where we have planned something quite amazing!

Knit, Crochet, & Stitch On! 

Lisa