Knitting Pipeline Retreat 2015

 A few weekends ago I attended my first real knitting retreat, Knitting Pipeline in Washington Illinois. I've done a few fiber getaways with friends but it's a whole different way more exciting (and nerve wracking to introverts) thing.

I attended with my good friend and knitting buddy Julie. We arrived Thursday for the yarn crawl, starting at Peddler's Way in town. This shop is really first a fabric store and second a yarn shop. That being said I happen to also collect fabric. I didn't end up picking anything up but it was a great fabric collection, lots of great ideas.

 

 

We then carpooled to another yarn shop. We rode with some great ladies and I have to say I love social media for the fact I could instantaneously connect with all the great women I met this weekend. We went to dinner with lots of retreat attendees and made even more friends.

 

 

Friday we got ready early and were off to visit the farm! Heritage Hill Farm to be exact. We were lucky enough to make it on shearing day. Not quite as exciting as last year when apparently some new lambs were being born but still great fun to see. Of course I had to buy some yarn. Grown on the farm and spun by hand locally I ended up getting a sweaters worth of DK. I found out later in the weekend that the sheep my yarn came from is named Piper. He is named such because he was born on farm visit day last year, how fun!

 

  The one thing Julie told me as we were driving up was that the chicken coop was the cutest chicken coop she'd ever seen. She was not wrong! I totally got Beetlejuice vibes with that house.

Julie and I at the farm, taking selfies as one does...

 

 

After the farm we headed to Ewe-Nique Yarns which happened to have an awesome 3D sign. I ended up spending a good portion of my yarn budget for the weekend at Ewe-Nique. It wasn't just in one purchase though. I bought two skeins of High Prairie Fibers "Odd Balls" handspun at the store, then we spent so much time in the shop I found a pin and sheep shaped needle gauge for my second purchase. Then I bought the retreat specific yarn at the retreat and then in one final purchase an adorable sheep shawl and a "beggars bag" of roving.

 

We then went to lunch at a local place on the square with some new fiber friends. I was totally influenced by Jen (daizieknits) to order pie as a totally acceptable meal, I regret nothing!

 

I should add that sock is Lollipop yarns in the Kodachrome colorway which was graciously sent to me by the Knitmore girls for their #operationsockdrawer. It's my first time trying 9" circulars and it is...an experience. they are going wicked fast but I'm not sure my hands are cut out for it.

 

Now what does one bring to a knitting retreat? Hand knits of course! I couldn't decide which ones so I ended up bringing lots of choices. Five sweaters, two shawls, a hat, fingerless mitts, and of course socks. Obviously I did not wear all of it but you can never be too prepared!

 

The retreat itself was awesome. Lots of new friends, great food, and new skills. I learned how to make t-shirt yarn, needle felted a cup cozy, and learned to spin. Jenn (as mentioned above, obviously an enabler! :P ) had Turtle Made 3D printed Turkish spindles. I've been interested in these for months but had never made the jump. Seeing them in person I just HAD to get one. We had an impromptu spinning 101 class and I've actually stuck with it and spun a little every day.

 

 

 New friends

 

 

And here I present my yarn bounty. I am unashamed! I should point out I took full advantage of the free table and generous knitters who cleared out their stash by giving it away. 

 

On our way home we stopped for gas and found this gorgeous old fire truck. Of course whilst Julie filled up I ran across the road with my knitting and my phone to sneak a pic. Awesome end to an awesome trip.

Knitting Pipeline was a wonderful experience. It really helped me reset my mind as to what I'm passionate about and where I want to go in my life. Making things with my hands has always been a huge part of my life and I'm so terribly thankful that I am right where I am and able to indulge in my passions. The retreat helped me iron out some new ideas for Freckled Crafts that brings together my past and present and I can't wait to get to work on what hopefully will be a successful next chapter for Freckled Crafts.

Until next time,

Michelle

Project Rewind: Farmer's Market and Dahlia Cardigans

You know all those projects that don't quite make it onto ravelry? Yeah, I have a lot of those. So I'm starting a new series on my blog called Project Rewind. I'll be sharing a project or two and a quick little bit on the yarn, pattern, and anything else notable. This is also an exercise in getting back to regular blogging. So...here we go!

 

Project Rewind: Farmer's Market and Dahlia Cardigans



My Farmer's Market Cardigan is one of my most worn sweaters. It has everything I love in a sweater. Warmth, shaping, an interesting collar detail, and pockets! It's also brown, a color I can wear all the time...and as you can see in this picture, I'll even wear it with black!

 

Pattern: Farmer's Market Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio from Interweave Knits Fall '09 (I've been an Interweave Knits subscriber since 2005!)

Yarn: Good old Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool. Not something I'd knit a sweater with nowadays but it's a great workhorse yarn, as long as you don't mind a little scratchy wool.

 

I think this sweater back in 2012. The collar was knit almost exclusively when I threw my back out and was couch bound for a week. I'd say that three years later this is still one of my favorite sweaters for just throwing on over just about anything!

 My Dahlia Cardigan is a love hate. I used to hate the construction of the long hanging fronts. Knit at the end of 2012 I feel as if this sweater has somehow become more my style, which I totally would not expect. This was the first really interesting construction I'd ever knit. You start with the back, knitting the lace panel from the center out. You then knit the top and bottom back panels, then pick up on the sides and knit vertically around the body, leaving armholes which you pick up later. I learned a lot about fit and construction with this sweater.

Pattern: Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zoppetti from Interweave Knits Fall '11
Yarn: Shady Havens Fiber Designs Prime Alpaca which I bought at a fiber fair I helped a friend vend. The yarn always reminds me of the fun we had that day. I attribute a good portion of the reason I love this sweater to the soft drapey fabric the alpaca creates.

More Project Rewinds coming soon!
Michelle

New bags in lots of shapes and sizes!

Just a quick post to share a crop of new bags in the shop. Still playing with sizes and shapes and just added are a few drawstring bags. I know not everyone likes zippers with their knitting.

 





 

 These bags and a few more fresh in the shop!

Come along spring! New art inspired project bags in the shop.

I was overwhelmingly excited when I found this fabric. A black background with windows of color, all feeling very springy which is just what I've been yearning for in this extended winter. Each window featured a different Claude Monet inspired image. My art history heart started beating faster as I grabbed it as fast as I could! I knew EXACTLY what it would be!

I took each window, fussy cut it, and sewed strips of black fabric around each window. I then cut a back, handle, and made them into project bags. Honestly I think the sky is the limit with these bags as to what you could use them for!

 

 

 

The photo of each bag will take you to the corresponding listing in my shop or feel free to just head on over to the shop! 

Podcast Episode 1: THE BEGINNING

Show Notes:

Hello! Thanks for watching my first...very rough episode. I was super nervous but that's what firsts are all about right?!

 

 IT'S MY BIRTHDAY SO I STASH IF I WANT TO!

• Debrah Norville Serenity Sock Yarn in Surf and Burgundy

Current WIPS:

• Valentines Dragon kit from Elgin Knit Works
• Sock Yarn Blanket
• Eastwood Cardigan out of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Garnett Heather and Indigo Heather

Recent FOs:

• Vanilla socks out of discontinued Bamboo and Ewe Pattern

What I'm reading and watching:

• I rant about the final season of X-Files
• Peaky Blinders (Netflix)
• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• The Secret Garden audiobook from Librivox

The fastest way to find me on the internets!

Until next week,
Michelle

Freckled Crafts is back...in a BIG way!

For months I have been wanting to do so much more with Freckled Crafts than I ever had before. Freckled Crafts has changed so much over time.

my first logo, hand drawn and scanned...I am certainly not the next Picasso

 It started just as a blog which at times was totally neglected I admit. Sometime after that I started an etsy with the same name. I wanted to try my hand at selling little handmade things. With no clear mission I sold little Doctor Who jewelry, stitch markers, and little sewn purses and bags.

 

ALL TARDIS EVERYTHING!!

As you may have guessed with no clear goal or idea of what I wanted to do I was never terribly successful. Eventually this too fell by the wayside. I was a sometimes blogger with an etsy of two or three items. But I was busy with school and work and life.

the person who has given me strength and support through it all

 Life changed. I finished school, I got married, and I got older. I began sewing up my own cute project bags for my knitting (a constant companion through it all). I saw others were selling project bags and thought maybe I had something to offer to this community. I made my first project bags for sale a year ago and I had lots of fun selling these little boxy project bags.

The original bags, many of which I'm still making!



 I met lots of great people through ravelry, instagram, and my new knitting group. I was working at a job that was fun but certainly did not pay what I deserved and I learned an important lesson of just how awful corporations can be. I had a longing to take Freckled Crafts to the next level but time and everyday stress left me tired and without the passion to move forward. I was complacent.

Last week a wonderful thing happened. I was fired! It was a totally stupid reason, an asinine way for the new management to assert their power. Just another drop in the bucket of why corporations can suck. But I realized very soon after the fact (as in as I was walking out the door) that I was free and now I had nothing holding me back from following my dream.

So now I am here, organizing how I want to run Freckled Crafts and what exactly I want it to be. I'm back to blogging, I updated freckledcrafts.com, added new project bags to the shop, and I'm excited to finally start podcasting (seriously I've been yearning to make video podcasts for over a year!!!).

Do my new photos make you want to sit down and knit with me? I hope so!



So all of this is to say Freckled Crafts is back in a BIG way! I want to be a more active part of the knitting community and really see what my creative side can do when it gets free reign. So I hope you'll join me in this exciting journey and hopefully what will be an extremely fulfilling chapter of my life.

See you all soon,
Michelle

NaKniSweMo 2014: An exercise in preparation

If you know me you know I knit on the fly. I get the inspiration, find the yarn and pattern and jump in head first. If it's a sweater I start at the sleeve and count that as my swatch on the go. But for National Knit a Sweater in a Month I wanted to join my friend Julie (of Happy-Go-Lucky, also known as juriface on instagram) in a new annual knit along event at our local yarn shop String Theory in Glen Ellyn. The requirements are that you get your yarn from String Theory, your sweater follow all the NaKniSweMo rules and that you can swatch but not cast on until November 1st.

 

Julie helped me to pick out yarn for a pattern I've been wanting to knit up for quite a while, North Shore by Tin Can Knits. After some debating and pulling from the great yarns at String Theory we decided on Shepherd's Wool Worsted, both because Julie highly recommended the yarn and because I love the colors. This means that I am knitting a DK weight sweater using a worsted weight yarn. Definitely a time for some serious swatching!

 

North Shore, a colorwork pullover by the amazing duo at Tin Can Knits

 

Shepherd's Wool  by Stonehedge Fiber Mill, I'm so in love with those blues!

 

This past week I finally sat down and decided it was time...TO SWATCH! But how does one swatch for something knit in the round? If you start by knitting the sleeve arguably you have a good swatch. But the rules stated I could not start before November first. Time to sort out how. Julie suggested Ysolda Teague's blog post on swift swatching in the round. GENIOUS! To sum it up if you knit a small swatch in the round it's very difficult to measure because it is in essence a small tube. BUT if you knit it flat yet only knit the front, never flipping your work and carrying your yarn behind you achieve a flat swatch in which you never purl, thus obtain the gauge you will have when knitting in the round.

 

It's like MAGIC! A messy, weird looking magic!

 

The pattern called for a US 6 for the body of the sweater and 4 for the ribbing. Since I am using a bulkier yarn I took a stab in the dark and cast on my first swatch with a US 4. SUCCESS! It makes for a dense fabric but it still has drape and in my opinion it makes a lovely knit fabric. I felt like I won the knitting lottery with that much luck! 

Cast on party! (photo from String Theory's Facebook page)

 

Saturday was the NaKniSweMo launch party at String Theory. It as a fun way to get started on the project and meet some new people, because although I've been in to buy yarn I've never hung out and knit in the shop. It was fun to compare and see what everyone is knitting and the yarns everyone chose. I'm really excited to see how everyone's sweaters emerge!

 

I decided to follow the pattern and cast on with a sleeve, partially because I thought it would be easier to cast on 48 stitches than 216 when I'm socializing and meeting new people. I left that morning with a cuff, went home and kept working on it, starting the increases. I haven't been my usual fast and furious self but I've still managed to get 6,402 stitches done as of the time I decided to take a break to photograph and write up this post! The increases are done so it's just smooth sailing until I put the sleeve on holders and start the next (or perhaps I'll start on the body, you never know!)

 



My progress as of...NOW!

 

I also took the time last week to sew up a special project bag just for the occasion, something I've done for some of my major projects of late and have really enjoyed doing. I'm debating embroidering NaKniSweMo 2014 onto it, but more on my sweater project bag next time!

 



The necessary tools, not shown? A calculator to keep track of my stitch count!

 

Signing off for now,

Michelle, the Freckled Crafter