Made a Stop at Starlight Knitting

Have you ever traveled through Portland OR before? If you have and you didn't make a stop at Starlight Knitting Society then you are missing out! Starlight Knitting Society is a gorgeous yarn shop on the outer areas of Portland that carries a variety of hand dyed and commercially dyed yarn. 

                                               

We stopped at Starlight as part of our (my Mom and I) trip to Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. We like to make the drive part of the adventure so the whole trip is fun, not just the parts other than the driving. 

Starlight is in a gorgeous building with tons of light and has a very welcoming environment, the workers area always helpful but leave us to explore. 

I think that the shop carries quite a few yarns/brands that I don't find in a lot of other shops. I hope you get to make a stop here soon! 

Knit Ornaments

Just a quick little update on a fun project I just finished up. I signed up for a few fiber holiday swaps and for one I needed to knit an object for someone not send them yarn (which is the usual.) So I dug into my stash of leftover sock yarns and knit an ornament! 

I currently have no pattern written for this as I was just increasing and decreasing around the shape but I think next holiday season I'll have a variety of patterns for these little plastic ornaments! I essentially knit a sleeve/sock for these plastic ornaments I purchased from Michaels. There are a variety of shapes and I think I'll have recipes for a few of the different shapes in the pattern. 

Leannan Shawl

Two of my more popular patterns are the Leannan Cowl and the Leannan Socks, so I'm so happy to introduce the Leannan Shawl! Leannan Shawl is a fingering weight pattern that uses a slip stitch cable that is fun to knit and easy to memorize. The shawl is a triangle shawl that has the cable run down one side and garter across the rest of the body. 

The sample shawl was knit with Western Sky Knits Magnolia Sock, which is a merino/cashmere/nylon mix, so luxurious to knit and wear ❤️ 

The shawl used ~1,100 of yarn or about 2.5 skeins of fingering weight yarn. One of the test knitters knit it in a heavier weight yarn and it came out gorgeous. If you are interested in using a heavier weight yarn then you just need to adjust your needle size. 

I think that Leannán Shawl would be a great opportunity to practice/lean to cable without a cable needle. Cabling without a cable needle definitely makes the cable rows more enjoyable and knit up quicker. I like this tutorial to take a look at how to knit cables without a cable needle. 

The sample yarn is a variegated/speckled yarn so there is quite an assortment of yarns and dye styles that will work for this pattern. As are typical/special about my patterns you only need to pick a yarn that you find comfortable around your neck to knit with, it doesn't need to be special or expensive, just something you enjoy knitting with.

Another New Shop!

Everyone enjoyed my previous LYS (local yarn shop) post that I thought I would share another with you! At the beginning of the month my mom and I ventured over to Whidbey Island for my 30th birthday! 

We stayed over night at a gorgeous historic lodge that sat right on the water and had a fabulous dinner. Along with staying at a fun spot we were able to visit a few different yarn shops, one of which is Skein and Tipple.

This tiny shop carries mostly their own hand dyed yarn and is about to open a ... bar! Yes! Knit nights in a vintage inspired bar, how freakin awesome. 

Skein and Tipple stocks mainly their own hand-dyed yarn and a select few other brands. It was so fun to speak with the owner and hear about the evolution of her business from dyeing yarn to finding the space for the shop and bar. 

Very similar to my bag making, nearly all of her yarns are one of a kind or small batches with few repeats! That made every skein that much more of a jewell because it couldn't be remade. Just being in the shop made me feel special. I would highly recommend if you're in the Seattle area to come and take a day trip to Whidbey and visit Skein and Tipple. 

Lambing Mitts

Designing is fun, super fun actually, but to get a design started is time consuming and I don't always have the brain power to start. At this point few weeks ago I decided to cast on a simple project that I've had planned for years. 

I cast on the Lambing Mitts with yarn I purchased in 2015 on a trip to Ireland! I purchased quite a bit of yarn while on my trip and I've used quite a bit of it but this is a skein that's been hanging around. 

The Lambing Mitts are a free pattern available on Ravelry and super simple to follow and knit. I made the medium size with a US 8 needle; why 8, because that's what I had in my needle collection:) 

This pattern was my preference over full mittens because I can fold down the cuff and have my fingering accessible but then unfold and have nearly all of my hands covered. If you're looking for a quick knit or a gift project this is a great one! 

Check it Out Shawl

I have waxed soliloquies about my love of scrappy projects and designs, so I've decided to present you with another one! 

Check it Out is a top down triangle shawl that uses a main color and an array of leftovers for a fun and graphic stripe design. Check it Out is simple to follow and easy to knit so it's a perfect project for beginners or knitters just looking to play with color. 

I went with a cooler color palette for this design with a grey base, but I think a cream base (which is my favorite) with brights or jewel tones would be gorgeous! Check it Out is definitely a design where it is easy to put your color hat on and play, but if you don't have lots of leftovers or mini skeins (I have some here in my Etsy) you could also use a self-striping or a gradient skein as your contrast/mini skeins. 

The leftovers were a mix of bases for this project but the main color is an alpaca/merino/nylon blend, just comfy enough to wear wrapped around my neck. I used approximately 1.5 skeins of fingering weight yarn for my main color, they were actually leftovers from a sweater project! 

Sock for Fall

Fall was short and fairly warm here in the PNW for 2022. Sooo, I actually finished my socks right in time for winter, whatevs. 

I've had this yarn in my stash for quite awhile and I know it was purchased at my former Local Fiber Fest, Lamb Town. The yarn is from Duren Dyeworks but it didn't have a colorway name on it so I called them 70s fall, mainly because of the goldey contrast color. 

I used my regular vanilla sock pattern which is a 64 stitch cast on with a US 1.5 needle (I use a 9 inch from HiyaHiya) then 1x1 ribbing for 15-20 rows, stockinette leg until ~5-6 inches from cast on. I use a modified Eye of Partridge heel flap (all my cuff down sock designs use this heel if you're interested) and this is where I started with my contrast. A traditional gusset for this sock and then ending with a wedge toe. 

I used 46 grams of my main color so I have over half my skein left. If I didn't love scrappy designs so much I would probably knit a pair of shorty socks but this was delegated to the scrap bin, though you may see some of it in scrappy packs on Etsy. So if you're looking for a bang for your buck purchase 100 grams of sock yarn plus a 20 gram mini and you can knit two pairs of socks! 

Did you work on any color specific projects for fall? -- Sierra