In the world of knitting, there is a special kind of magic that comes from creating something beautiful with your own hands, especially when using yarn that has a story of its own. Today, we delve into the enchanting journey of crafting the Thistle Shawl using yarn sourced from our very own farm.
Using yarn produced on our farm added an extra layer of significance to this project. The design of the Thistle Shawl was carefully thought out to reflect the intricate patterns found in nature. Drawing inspiration from the thistle’s spiky leaves and delicate flowers, the shawl features a combination of lace and textured stitches that create a harmonious blend of softness and structure.
The Thistle Shawl reminds me of the beauty and value of slow fashion. Handcrafted with love and attention to detail , this shawl isn’t just an accessory but a statement of individuality and sustainability. By investing time and effort into creating something unique, we contribute to a more conscious approach to dressing and living.
This project has been a labor of love, weaving together elements of tradition, nature and sustainability into a single piece of exquisite craftsmanship. As we wrap ourselves in its warmth and beauty, we are reminded of the power of creativity, connections to our roots and the joy that comes from creating something truly special. Let this shawl be a symbol of our commitment to honoring tradition, embracing nature, and crafting a more sustainable future, one stitch at a time.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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My friend, Chris, did it again. She knit up the Trinus Shawl by Ambah O’Brien. Chris chose the colorways and true to form created a beautiful work of art. I am grateful for both knitter and designer. The shawl has received a lot of compliments.
The shawl is knit up in our sock weight yarn, using a size 5 long circular needle ( shawl is worked flat). Chris chose playful, mindful and Cabernet.
There is subtle variation in playful and mindful. That is what the designer was aiming for. What really draws your eye is the pattern laid out by the rich Cabernet.
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I enjoy weekend projects especially ones that are crocheted during a snowstorm. That’s how perfect the timing of this pattern came. We had a crazy February storm blow through after having a week of 40- 50* weather. Yes, that’s crazy, but that’s PA for you.
What texture, color, weight or category of yarn do you like to knit or crochet with during this month? I am not out of the fall/winter mode yet, so tweed, DK weight and worsted weight are my go to’s.
With is shawl I am using DK tweed in wanderlust. The repetitive scallops create a fun texture and makes it so easy to finish it in one weekend.
It’ll look great coupled with a dress, jeans and a cool t-shirt and other styles.
The choice is up to you.
Are you ready to create your own?
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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I have been looking for just the right sweater pattern for my daughter. Her stature and style are quite a bit different from mine, so I was looking for a pattern that was similar to the sweater styles that I’ve seen her wear.
I spotted this sweater pattern floating around Instagram and I snatched it. Of course, I made sure that she liked it first. She agreed. I agreed and the deal was done.
My first impression of the pattern wasn’t great. I enjoyed a lot of pics and this didn’t have any except for the top photo of the sweater. But as I ambled through the directions and knitted it out, the directions were written very well. I could follow through without any problems.
It stretch my limits with some of the construction techniques. I was so happy to learn so much more and build my knitting repertoire.
An I-cord was used to construct the back and the shoulders then you joined the entire body once you hit a certain length. I absolutely love that detail.
Another new to me detail was the construction of the v-neckline. I am so used to doing it a certain way of overlapping the v-neck area that I have never knit one flush. Also, extended the neck longer so that you fold it over to create a beautiful collar.
Here is the finished sweater.
If you are on the fence about the pattern, jump the fence. It is well worth it.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Last month I posted a picture of my hand knit socks. So many of you wanted to know what heel pattern I used.
Let me back things up a bit.
There are so many heel patterns for socks out there. I have tried the Afterthought heel, but there is also the Short Row Heel, Fish Lips Kiss Heel, Shadow Wrap Heel, and Forethought Heel. These are only a few examples.
Like I said, I have tried the Afterthought Heel. It was okay, but I wasn’t happy with the feel of the heel. It was tight, too short and I did the directions exactly like they were written. It doesn’t really show in the pic, but it wasn’t a very clean construction. I don’t know if it has to do with me using DK weight farm yarn.
My go-to, tried and true heel and will forever be my heel construction pattern is the Classic Sock pattern by Renaissance Yarns. I have knit all my socks, except for that one pair (BTW I gifted it to my hubby), with this pattern.
As you can see this pattern is used so much that some of the words are worn off the paper. I had to tape the lettering to protect it. Also, the pattern started to tear, so tape came in handy again.
I am going to play around and try other heel constructions, but I this is the one I will always turn back to .
What heel construction do you use? I would love to know. What heel construction to you suggest I try next? Challenge me =)
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Well, Elton was one of those projects. (There are 3 more on queue, but I keep finding other beautiful ones that bump the other projects out). I had my yarn, pattern and knitting needles all set in a see through project bag.
When I finished the Ciottolo (crochet) sweater, I went over to my stash and pulled out a project bag. I will say, it was fun to pull one right off the shelf and not have to run around trying to pull a project out of a hat. I had everything I needed all in one bag. My bag is so prepared that even my skeins are wound into cakes.
This leads me to the sweater I knit from one of these pull the rabbit out of the bag tricks.
Let’s visit the Elton Cardigan by Joji Locatelli. I enjoy the mixture of mohair and sock yarn used singularly in each row. It creates a fun texture and a nice medium to play around with monotone colors, or solid and variegated colors mixed.
For this Elton version I chose Gun Metal grey and September. A mixture of solid and variegated.
I will say that initially the construction threw me off. You start at the shoulders and work toward the back. Then you hold those stitches and start construction on the front shoulders. It’s so important to count to make sure your front neckline is in alignment. Ask me how I know. I had to frog the whole thing 3 times before I got it right. Thank you knit stitch markers.
Once I got through the initial construction it was almost smooth sailing from there. There were a few hiccups, but they were mistakes on my part and not the pattern.
I encourage you to try the pattern. The sweater is wonderful for the spring and summer months to throw something on that is perfect for those chilly evenings.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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You heard me right. I cheated and I don’t feel guilty. The only part I feel guilty about is that I wished I did it sooner.
I have had this shawl in queue for a long time, but never had a chance to make it. See, there is a stitch used in this shawl that I have never done before. It’s the brioche stitch.
Is it time for me to learn? I do think so, but I had a wonderful opportunity to have my friend,the designer of this shawl, knit this up for me. (Heart emoji!!)
Chris Snellman designed and created this shawl. She is a teacher in real life for the blind and a teacher at heart. She loves to watch her students grow and learn.
Chris also has extended her talent to helping other yarn vendors improve their booth with beautiful samples of knitted shawls, or sweaters. I am so grateful for her help.
She created my Books and Bridges shawl from the combination of dark denim and soft ripple.
As I said before she was so considerate to knit up one of her designs for me. I encourage you to check out her Books and Bridges Shawl on ravelry.
This is Chris and I at the Frederick Fiber Festival in Frederick, MD.
Side note: The Frederick show was a wonderful show. If you have a chance to visit it, come in and say hello. The show dates for this year are spring show is April 27 and the fall show is October 26.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/books--bridges
I use dark denim and soft ripple for this shawl. The contrast really brought out the colors of the soft fade.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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The Tendril shawl graced my eyes when I went exploring and eventually going down the rabbit hole of crochet shawl patterns on ravelry.
This is a fun, easy pattern by Carmen Heffernan. It requires 1 skein of weight of your choice yarn, a size 4 mm or proper size hook for yarn and a basic knowledge of chaining, double crochet (dc) and treble crochet (tr).
The shawl is set by starting at one end and increasing each row on one side and decreasing every 4 rows on the other. It gives you an asymmetrical styled shawl.
What’s great is you can use that precious single skein of indie dyed yarn you’ve been waiting to find a pattern for.
I recently dyed up this fun colorway called wild phlox and tested it out on this pattern.
The combination of this pattern and colorway did not disappoint. It took me about 2 weeks to work up 463 yards of fingering weight on a size 4mm hook.
I think the next one I’m gonna crochet will be using DK weight yarn in my pile of leaves colorway.
What are you working on?
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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The weather for wanting cozy sweaters, socks, shawls and other knit projects is in full swing. Nothing beats non-superwashed wool in the crisp air of fall and cold, snowy winters.
I’ve decided this year to go full fledge homesteading(or at least try) and that includes my winter wear. I almost have my hands on the entire process of our farm yarn. I feed and shear, but then take our fleece to a fiber mill.
From the mill I have the privilege of dyeing up my skeins. You would think that I would be content with this much of the process, but recently I discovered the satisfaction of spinning my own yarn. It is joy on a completely different level.
I’ve played around with spinning yarn through the years. I never had a project attached to anything that I spun and that’s where I fell short. My personality requires a project.
Are you built that way?
This year I am going to dye up, play with our roving and spin up some of our Coopworth sheep yarn.
I have such an appreciation of wool when involved with more of the process. The pioneer part of me was showing its true form when I spun 1 ply with my dropspindle and the other ply with my wheel.
Choose your weapon. It doesn’t matter what you use, like a dropspindle, spinning wheel or e-wheel.
The end product is the same. You are left with a warm, cozy feeling of accomplishment.
Here are my sock slippers. I used a size 4 needle where I wrestled between sock weight to bulky in my homespun. I loved every minute of the process.
Are you ready to spin up your own yarn? Comment below. I would love to hear from you.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Do you plan your summer wardrobe out? I have to admit that I do. I get tired of some of the items from the previous summer, so I spice things up a little.
I am a true participant of slow fashion. So, in staying with my slow fashioned ways I plan out tees and shawls to knit up for the summer months.
One of those sweater-like tees was the Love Note Sweater which you can find here. Another one that I have on queue is the Marettimo and Soldotna sweater tees. Right now I am working on the Misurina tee. Love, love, love!
I will say that the color work does take a bit of time and you have to make sure your floats don’t have far to swim. I would highly recommend this sweater for the intermediate knitter. A second one is definitely on queue after my other tees are done.
The pattern gives you 2 options for the texture of the body. Of course, you can go with plain stockinette stitch, but I went with little pops of purl texture. The other option creates eyelets and makes the tee even more feminine, but I didn’t want to worry about wearing a camisole underneath.
As you can see, I went with yellow. Yellow isn’t a color that I wear often, but I am slowly introducing it into my wardrobe now that I found the right yellow. This is our evening primrose and the color work is done in Do It Again.
Another fun knit tee ready to be worn this summer.
Would I knit this up again? Yes, I would in a heartbeat. I have been planning out other colorways to be used for this pattern. I can’t wait to share, but first I have to work on my ongoing projects and ones in queue.
I feel that you completely “get me” when it comes to those projects. Lol!
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Here is my latest video on Yarn Talk.
Grab your drink and join me. I discuss finished and unfinished projects, my reviews on the latest patterns I have knit up, new assigned pooling color ways and what dye project I have in queue.
https://youtu.be/06RtP17k_EQ
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>I have been itching to work with mohair and the first pattern that my knitting friends suggested to me was the “Love Note Sweater” by Tin Can Knits. I immediately went and purchased the pattern and held it in queue for a year. I knew it was time to pull this baby out of the lineup. I chose one of my favorite purples, aubergine. (This is the link to my aubergine mohair)
I had at least 10 projects that I needed to finish up before I made my way to this one. I finished at least 3 of them. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to knit this new project.
To say that this is a great pattern is an understatement. I loved every step of it. I was able to knit it up in 4 days. Yes, you heard me correctly - 4 days. There was not one dull moment. I enjoyed the feeling of the mohair and sock yarn in my hands.
The only thing I would suggest is use knitting needles that are pointed at the end. My go to needles are Addi Turbo. It will literally drive you nuts to use dull needles.
Here is the link to the pattern. Love Note Sweater.
Happy Knitting,
DawnAurora
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I found the ultimate snuggle sweater.
Now, always that hardest part of the project; choosing the right colors. Even though it’s spring, I can’t get away from fall colors. It is quite a struggle to accept my fall mood. I want spring and bright, but my eyes are saying burgundy’s and brown.
Once I started to knit I knew that I was on the right path.
The directions on the pattern are simple and straight forward. I would highly recommend it to a beginner and intermediate knitter. There are a couple areas where the directions that you need to do are overlapping. Meaning that as you are working on a certain portion of the body you’ll also be working on another portion at the same time. First, read through the directions and get a good idea of what is happen then you should have everything under control.
I made one small adjustment to the pattern. Because of body style (smaller back) I shortened the length of the sweater. If you choose to make your sweater shorter, make sure that the body part at the end has the correct amount of stitches.
I am using my DK weight farm yarn with 250 yards in each skein.
Here is the link to the pattern. Douglas Cardi.
Happy Knitting,
DawnAurora
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I think I found a shawl pattern that you would love. You don't have to count stitches or rows, switch colors. The color transition is contained in your skein.
There is a dye method that I use that leans towards pooling. Some people like it and some don't.
I am more of a random variegated person myself. I don't use a lot of pooling dye styled yarns.
But, at a show my friend, Sharon, was wearing this unique shawl. She said that it used an assigned pooling dye method to create the florets in the shawl.
I thought it was so perfect. I had quite a few colorways that were perfect for this shawl.
After the show I immediately set out to start knitting up this pattern.
It is called the Float Shawl Pattern by Chasing Rabbits Fiber.
Here are my colorways that work perfectly with this shawl pattern.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Can I be honest with you? There are some things in knitting that I avoid. I said it. Yes, I avoid these things in knitting. It's a rare occurrence because I love it so much.
I am built with certain hang ups and the enjoyment of simplicity. My character flaws and conative styles dictate the direction of my knitting projects. I do wonder off into the unknown to give myself a little variation, but as soon as I wonder I quickly turn back.
Here are the three things I avoid in knitting:
What are 3 things you avoid in knitting or even crocheting? I would love to hear what you have to say.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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I have knit 4 of these sweaters so far. I can see more on the horizon.
I blogged about this pattern before and if you are looking to knit up your first sweater and want an easy pattern to read, this is the one.
I have knit up one with the waves and the other 3 without. Two of these sweaters were gifts and stripes aren't their thing.
I personally love this sweater both ways.
Here are my 4 .
This first sweater is a gift for my daughter. I am a bit reluctant to give it up because this Midnight colorway to gorgeous. I am going to have to make myself a sweater in this color.
This sweater is in the colorway coral. Coral is not one of my normal colors, but I took a chance at going out of my color comfy zone. I love this color now.
This is dark rose. This is another color that I wasn't sure of. I wanted to break out of my normal again and here she is. Another color love.
And last, but not least is this beauty that I knit up for my mom. This color is perfect on her and she was so happy to receive it.
(My mom wouldn't pose with her sweater)
You won't go wrong with this pattern. If you are looking for a more relaxing simple patter, this is one for you. I will definitely be knitting up more in the future.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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What are you in the mood to knit?
I am in the mood for a lightweight, brightly colored shawl with some lacework or different texture. After getting some help from my IG and FB friends, I decided on a shawl pattern, Albuquerque Sunset by Casapinka.
It has the right amount of everything and I am so excited to cast on.
The next step is to choose the yarn. This is my favorite part.
Are you looking for the perfect yarn combo for your shawl?
Let's get started.
Confetti and Platinum
Magenta and Lay Up
Aubergine and Run Wild
Are you already working on a shawl project? Let me know below.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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I am so excited to share this with you.
I knew what I wanted to knit, but I was having a hard time figuring what designer to check out .
Well, my IG and FB friends really came through.
I did make my choice and it was hard.
Here is a huge list of shawl patterns for you to check out.
Kline- Jennifer Dassau
Phi- Jennifer Dassau
Yorkshire Meadow- Jennifer Lassonde
Love of Spiders- Melanie Berg
Summer Camp- Laura Aylor
Felicitious- Alyssa Coffey
Ebbas Garden- Joji Locatelli
Pure Joy- Joji Locatelli
Daybreak- Stephen West
The Girl from the Grocery Store- Joji Locatelli
Therapy- Laura Aylor
Bojagi- Knitboop
The Drifter- Tamy Gore
Match and Move- Martina Behm
Cladonia- Kirsten Kapur
Newletter- Shannon Sq
Teroldego- Caitlin Hunter
Frozen Wildflower Shawl- Hand Knit by Kam
Happy Knitting,
DawnAurora
]]>Oh Christmas list, you are so full of projects that are enthusiastic. My hands are bulking at the list, but wait I have a solution. Bulky weight yarn is your new best friend.
You can whip up and quick hat, fingerless mitts, cowl, and comfy sweaters with bulky weight yarn.
I am knitting up one for my 11 year old son. I started Saturday night and probably have about 5 hours into it. I already have his body and 1 sleeve done
I am at a standstill because I need his body to measure out the length of his arms and make sure the torso length is where he wants it. Since, I am planning on knitting him up another one, I need to write the directions down.
This is a bottom up sweater with raglan sleeves and a u-neck. It has a couple racing stripes. He wanted the blue incorporated in the sweater, so I went simple. Racing stripes fit his personality.
Details- You need
Cast on 80 sts on the round
Row 1- (Ribbing) K1, P1 around to the end.
Keep repeating this k1, p1 pattern for the next 6 rows
Row 7- Knit plain on the round for the next 22 rows.
Row 23- change colors for 2 rows of the other colored yarn.
Row 24 & 25- Knit plain in contrasting color
Row 26- 29 - Knit plain using main color
Row 20- 43- Knit plain in contrasting color
This sleeves start with a snug cuff. If you want a larger cuff, add a couple more stitches.
Cast on 18 stitches on the round
Row 1- (RIbbing) K1, p1 around to the end.
Keep repeating this rib pattern for the next 6 rows.
Row 7- Knit plain around.
Row 8- (Place marker- this helps to establish point at which you will start increasing stitches. ) Knit 2 m1 left. knit around to 1 stitch before the marker. M1 right and knit last stitch.
Row 9- 11- Knit 3 rows plain and repeat Row 8.
Keep repeating rows 8 and 9 until you have 36 stitches on your needles.
( I had to frog some of the yarn in the sleeve because I forgot the stripes)
Now it's time to attach the sleeves to the body. Leave 5 sts on the sleeve and body for the seam. Choose the 5 sts on the sleeve where you made the sleeve increases. Line the 5 sts on the body with the 5 sts on the sleeve and put the rest of the stitches on your circular knitting needle.
Lets get started with the raglan.
Row 43- Next row knit plain.
**Place a marker in between the first and last stitch of the sleeve and body. This is where you decrease knitting up your raglan.
**Make your first stitch marker a different color so you can tell the beginning of the row.
Row 46- *K1, ssk2tog knit to 3 stitches before the next marker, k2 tog, k1, sm; repeat to first marker.
Row 47- Knit plain all the way around. Make sure to slip your marker.
You will have 11 decrease rows. Total of 44 decreased stiches
Repeat row 46 and 47 until you have ___ stitches left on your needles.
Sleeves 7 sts left on the needles
Front and back 13 sts left on the needles
Neck Shaping is next.
Knit to the middle of the back stitches and place a stitch marker. I had 6 stitches on one side and 7 on the other.
R1- knit 4, wrap the 5th stitch, turn.
R2- Slip the wrapped stitch to your right needle. Purl 4 past the marker., wrap the 5th stitch, turn.
R3- Slip the stitch to the right needle, knit 4 past the wrapped stitch, wrap the 5th stitch and turn.
R4- Slip the wrapped stitch to the right needle, purl 4 past the last wrapped stitch, wrap the 5th stitch and turn.
R5- Slip the wrapped stitch to the right needle and knit to the beginning row stitch markers.
From the stitch markers start your ribbing.
Ribbing- K1, P1 for 6 rows and bind off.
Seam under the sleeves and weave in the ends.
Happy Knitting,
DawnAurora
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When I first started knitting I never paid attention to counting my stitches, counting my rows and I never used a knit stitch marker. One day I decided to knit up a sock and I soon realized that I had to use a marker. It was the only way I could keep the pattern straight.
I never turned back. Once I started using them I also started counting my stitches and rows. All of a sudden I took my knitting very seriously. It was like I up-leveled my game once I acquired these tiny things. They were that powerful. Who knew!
Well, I have a video for you. Through my many years of knitting I have discovered ways to use these markers that have literally transformed the way I knit. They've made my knitting life to much easier.
Are there ways you use your knitting markers that are different than mine. I would love to hear. Comment below.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Christmas is right around the corner and I haven't even started tackling my Christmas knitting list. I always mark September as my month to start, but that ( I noticed) is my pipe dream.
Let me share with you my WIPs and also my ambitious Christmas list. Help keep my accountable. lol!
Are you interested in the Christmas list that I use? Here is the post where I share with you my graph that I use to keep my knit presents in check. Free Graph template for your Christmas Knitting List. Feel free to copy and use.
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Spinning has become my newest go-to hobby along with knitting. I enjoy how the colors play out as they are spun. So many color combos are right at your fingertips and you can put anything in the mix that you want.
I spin mostly with my drop spindle, but I also do have a wheel. The wheel is fun, but not as movable as a drop spindle.
What do you use to spin your roving?
I am slowly adding to my stash and this is what's in it. I do have a project in mind with all of them and I do intend wholeheartedly to collect more roving.
This roving is 100% alpaca. I plan to spin it up as a single ply and then add cream colored Coopworth roving as the other ply. These will be Christmas socks for my daughter, Ossi.
In my eyes, this is a perfect color combo. I enjoy mixing greens, blues and grey. The green pops while the blue plays. I have a lot of this spun up as a single, but I don't have enough to make a complete bobbin. So, I will probably spin up some cream and ply it together. I don't want to drown out the other colors.
This is another gorgeous color combination. I have 2 ounces of it and I should have bought more. I don't have a game plan yet, but I do know I will find something. Yes, i have enough for socks, but I could also see it used for color work in a sweater.
This roving is beautiful. Creative shades of red and some sparkle of the right balance engages my eye. It's super soft and I bought enough to make a sweater. Oh boy! Can I get the job done? We shall see.
I am so happy to say that this roving and the next are from our farm.
Last, but not least is our cream colored farm yarn. This is the neutral colored roving that I plan to ply up with the alpaca and the green, blue and grey roving. I think it's going to look great.
What do you love to spin with? wool, alpaca, cotton or another. Drop spindle or wheel.
I'd love to hear from you.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Leesport fiber festival decided to go forth with their plans and allowed us to meet one on one with our fiber friends. It was truly an honor to be able to meet with everyone. I definitely don't take it for granted.
I normally cruise around all the yarn, pretty shawls, and fiber tools. This year I found gorgeous, soft alpaca roving, pin cushions from my son and a knitting journal.
I love seeing the talent that people bring to these shows.
This is my gorgeous alpaca roving. It is super soft. I plan to spin this is up as a single ply and then combine it with another single ply of my Coopworth roving. They will be knit up as Christmas socks.
This was the best find ever! I love to journal and keep records of things, since my organizational skills are subpar. I love how this knitting journal will has a needle inventory, pattern directory, notes, shopping directory, WIPs time log, yarn inventory, and a projects page.
It was an amazing time that I sincerely miss. I hope 2021 will bring more festivals back and a great time to connect with other fiber enthusiasts.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Do you have your Christmas list together?
It's one week before Thanksgiving and I am finally finalizing my plans. I don't know why I procrastinated so much on that. It's just so hard to finalize ideas and put them into stone. I see so many more that I have a difficult time deciding.
Some of the presents are on my list are a no brainer. They consist primarily of socks, socks and more socks. You can never go wrong with socks. They are a sure winner.
Here is a simple chart that I use to keep everything in order. Plus, you can keep it to record what you have made in previous years. This is for you to copy and use as your own record keeper.
Name Project Yarn Used Start End
Mom | Flax Light Sweater | Gun Metal & Pink Elephant Sock Weight yarn | ||
Dad | Socks | Dk weight farm yarn Marled | ||
Hubby | socks | DK weight farm yarn Marled | ||
Oren | Sweater | concord and sky blue farm yarn 3 ply bulky | ||
Ossiana | socks | Spicy sw merino yarn sock weight |
You can add as much detail as you want or as little. It depends on what you want to remember your projects by.
You also have a start date and an end date. These will help you stay on track.
How do you figure out those dates?
This is how I do it. I have a pretty good idea how long each project will take. I also look at the amount of time I have before Christmas. I take my projected time and I work the calendar dates out according to the time allotted. Remember it normally takes you longer than projected. Make sure you keep that in mind.
I hope this helps you with your Christmas knitting or crochet list.
If there is another method you use, please let me know in the comments. I would love to hear about it.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>The thought of the pandemic was daunting, but my knitting projects got me through. After 6 months of knitting I started to slow down.
This couldn't be happening. September to April are my given knitting months. I have so many sweaters, shawls and socks I want to get done.
My mojo decided to fly the coop. I wanted to figure out how to get and back and with some experimentation, I did.
I came up with 6 tips to help get you mojo back and here they are:
I hope this will help you out.
Share your ways on how you get your mojo back.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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I have always been fascinated with the art of spinning. From the time I was in elementary school until now, I have dabbled with creating my own yarn. It was never anything serious and my yarn was always simple and straight forward. I didn't do any huge play on colors and the color potential.
Well, I am about to break this bleak string of spinning events and try something new. Because of the newness of the adventure, I couldn't put it down.
I hope that this adventure will spark a newness in you to try something different. It gives you a perspective that helps broaden your fiber world.
I spun the coral with forest green thicker than the taupe with Aubergine.
We are going to marry these 2 single plys together and see how they work.
I love how it turned out. The waves of taupe, Coral, aubergine and forest green make me so happy.
Now to see what it looks like knit up.
I used a WIP tool to gauge what weight the yarn is and it is .
What do you think? What other colors would you like see dyed up?
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>It's one thing to find an amazing pattern, but it's another thing to find the perfect colors that show off your uniqueness. Color in my book is where it is at. I am all about it.
The first one I knit up I used magenta and layup. Those colors fit her to a T. She is a breast cancer survivor and so her color is pink. This is the perfect pink for her. I was so happy to make this for her that it took me a week to knit it up and she loved it.
Here she is with her 2 of her 4 grandkids.
It’s an easy pattern to knit, but you really have to concentrate on making sure that each row has the correct number of stitches. I know.. I know.. That is a norm, but not for all patterns. Some patterns I can fudge my way through. This one I couldn't especially if I wanted to create that amazing texture the way it's supposed to be.
I will say honestly that counting is not my strong suit.
I am thinking about doing a third one but I definitely need to wait one more year before I do it. I get bored pretty quick. Well, I couldn't help it with the Hug Shot shawl. This pattern is so much fun and so easy to knit up.
The 2 colors used for the second shawl are dark denim and soft ripple. They pair up so nice.
I started this shawl in August and I am finally getting done with it. I thought for sure I’d have it done at the end of August beginning of September but my knitting mojo left me in the dust. (here is a post on how to get your mojo back)
Here is the final countdown.
And there she is.
If you enjoy the color combination here is the direct link. Dark Denim and Soft Ripple.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Let's go through the whole pattern together and I hope by the end of the pattern we will have this timeless style cardigan to wear for the fall and winter.
Are you ready to join me?
Here are the details:
Videos will follow. I will let you know when I post the next set of directions.
Happy Yarning,
Dawn Aurora
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The only thing I would change is to make the sleeves a little bit longer. I enjoy a 3/4 sleeve for my summer sweaters, but I think I made this one too short. Maybe with blocking I can increase the sleeve length a bit
I am choosing to sew instead of crochet the steek area. I heard that it works better with slippery yarn like yarns with nylon and superwashed.
FYI- I am still working on my version in DK weight farm yarn.
Happy Yarning, Dawn Aurora]]>
Well, after knitting up the Wave of Change Jacket I had this urge to create a fun crop or long cardigan in bulky or my 2 ply worsted weight yarn.
I never was one to use a lot of worsted and bulky weight yarn because they don't have a lot of drape. I have sold a lot of this yarn to customers wanting to knit or crochet up hats and handmitts. But with the right ply, softness of yarn, and size of needle you can create something drapey and feminine.
For this sweater I chose 3 ply superwash merino yarn in Coral. Coral has been my summer color of choice. It's so pretty and the yarn is super soft.
It's a seamless, top-down design and the neck and body ribbing is done in one sitting.
I am pretty excited to share this simple pattern with you. I am creating a private Facebook group to work on each section. This group with critique my pattern verbiage and help me make the pattern even better. If you want to be part of the group, message me with the messenger icon on the homepage and I will get you in.
This shows the easy progression of the pattern.
Happy Yarning,
Dawn Aurora
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