I’ve made some progress on my cowl/capelette in the past few days despite fighting a cold, working on new yarns for my Etsy shop, and performing the normal daily grind of activities that we all have to face. I love the colors in this yarn but I’m still worried that it obscures the stitch pattern a bit. I’m on the “bee stitch” portion of the capelette and I’m really enjoying this one! The bees are created by increasing YOs that are dropped on subsequent rows. Then, when you have 4 stacked sets of dropped YOs, you knit under them all which separates the wings and creates the little bee body. You can find the basic bee stitch on knittingfool.com. Although, I’ll share my modified version when my cowl is completed.
As I mentioned, I’ve been working on new yarns for my Etsy shop (and my personal stash!) 🙂 This time, I’ve dyed yarn blanks in a variety of colorways and methods. Some are semi-striped, some have more of a gradient effect and some are just randomly splashed with bold spots of color. While I’m going to enjoy knitting my cowl/capelette, I’ve got my mind going over ideas for my next project that will incorporate one of these new yarns.
If you are new to yarn blanks, they are basically machine knitted fingering weight yarns. (It’s much easier to dye yarns in gradient colorways using the yarn blank instead of tying off sections of a skein.) You can knit directly from the sock blank and unravel it as you knit or you can unravel it and wind it into a ball and then knit from the ball. The end result is a beautifully unique garment. I am envisioning a shawl knitted from one of the all-over dyed blanks and some socks from one of the stripe-ier blanks. I’ve named the new line “Watercolors” because they look like watercolor paintings to me. 🙂
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Great color!!
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Thanks Missy!! 🙂
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Your capelette is lovely! I do think it would also be fabulous in a solid yarn, where the pattern could really pop. And the yarn blanks are so cool! I’ve never heard of them. Do you make them in other weights, or just fingering?
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🙂 It’s such a struggle because I love variegated yarns and lace but they don’t always play well together.
The yarn blanks are typically found in fingering weight yarns. However, if you have a knitting machine, there isn’t any reason you couldn’t make them in worsted weight yarns! 🙂 I buy my blanks pre-knitted but one of these days I’m going to invest in a knitting machine.
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Haha, if I have a knitting machine! Nope. I’ve only been knitting two years so I’m still relishing the hand-knitting stuff. 🙂
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I can empathise with your concern about a variegated yarn obscuring a lace pattern. Given a choice between a variegated yarn and a plain, I’ll almost certainly go for the variegated, with mixed results – a friend once described a pair of my socks as looking like a horrible skin disease! However, I think your quite subtle yarn works fine with that pattern, and in general I find that choosing a yarn you really like, even if not an obvious choice for the pattern, gives a result that you’ll be happiest with. Looking forward to seeing the finished object!
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I love honest friends!! 😀
And, I love variegated yarns! Sometimes, I’ve had great luck mixing the colorful yarns with lace patterns and other times, not so much. Thanks for the reassurance that it’s not too much of a clash! If the cowl/capelette fits well, I may make another one in a gradient yarn. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference the yarn makes in the overall effect.
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It was just as well I loved the effect of horrible skin disease more than my friend did! I like the idea of a gradient yarn – I’d like to find one in my favourite colours and graduating over the perfect length for a shawl without repeating. It would be really interesting to see your capelette would work in a gradient. 🙂
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Your cowl is coming along beautifully. And the “Watercolors” line is stunning! I’ve seen those “blanks” in my LYS, but never really knew what to do with them. Now I know ;-). Seems like they provide a more convenient way to color or maybe just a different way. I assume they come to you like that or did you machine knit all that yarn?
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Thanks Grace!! 😀
I purchased the bare blanks already knitted. One of these days I’m going to invest in a knitting machine. I occasionally browse them and love to read the blogs of machine knitters. It’s amazing what some of them can do!
The sock blanks are the easiest way to dye gradient yarns that I know of. I intended to make subtle gradient yarns with these blanks but then threw caution to the wind when I got out all my dyeing supplies. 🙂
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I came across a knitting machine at a garage sale several years ago. It was in beautiful condition and all they wanted was $75. I REALLY regret not getting it.
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I understand the regret! That sounds like a great deal!
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Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!! Especially those watercolors!!
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Thanks Jennifer!! 🙂
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I think your cowl is coming out beautiful. I love the soft colors.
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🙂 Thanks!!
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