Spring Has Sprung: "Wave" Is Done!

Over the gorgeous weekend, I spent part of it indoors and finished knitting and wet blocking Spring "Wave." It's much larger than the last two times I knitted this Kristen Finlay FREE pattern. Used more yarn (over 446 yards) than what this pattern calls for because I was knitting with a light fingering, instead of fingering weight. I didn't get to knit an extra repeat as I was hoping last week.  Had only 13 yards left (or knitted 97%) of this skein after the very long bind off (368 stitches)!

My HUGE Spring "Wave"
Wave: Kristen Finlay
Photo and Hand knitted: 
Knitted Candy Diva

It's HUGE -- 80 inches x 19 inches -- light, airy and very drapey. Perfect to wrap around my neck and shoulders.

"Wave" scrunches up beautifully.
Photo and Hand Knitted: Knitted Candy Diva

Loved how the Turkish Lace knit stitch opened up and blended the highly variegated Araucania hand-dyed 100% merino. 

Love the openness and the blending of
the Spring-like colors
Photo and Hand Knitted: 
Knitted Candy Diva

In person, this shawl/wrap/scarf looks like viewing through a kaleidoscope or the rapid brush strokes of Monet's Waterlilies up close. It screams pretty much "Spring" is here. 


To keep or not to keep? 
What would you do?
Photo and Hand Knitted: 
Knitted Candy Diva

Now my big decision for this shawl/wrap/scarf is --  "Give as a Gift" or "Keep for Me" -- What should I do?

Happy St. Paddy's Day: Spring "Wave"

After finished knitting Surprise "Spring is in the Air," I have been knitting more off than on Spring "Wave." 

My knitting in progress: Spring "Wave"
Pattern by Kristen Finlay
(Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Mar 2014)

Since last Thursday, the weather in the Bay Area has been GORGEOUS! Temps have been in the 70s - 80s. Yes, we are going to pay for this in terms of water rationing (aka Drought)! Haven't had much time to blog since I have been running around doing errands and soaking up the sun as much as I can. It's amazing that Spring technically is suppose to start on March 20th, but everything is pretty much in bloom or already finishing blooming as I walk around my neighborhood during the past month.

Crazy Winter 2014: Magnolia in full bloom in mid February! 
Central Park, San Mateo, CA
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva

This is the third time I am knitting this Ravelry FREE pattern by Australian Kristen Finlay. The first two times I knitted this 70 inch x 17 inch shawl/wrap/scarf was in 2012 for a dear friend's birthday gift and my now SIL in early 2013 using hand-dyed variegated purple fingering for both.  

Looking for an easy, fast knit to give
as a gift to a friend or to you?
Wave by Kristen Finlay.
Photo & Hand Knitted by:
Knitted Candy Diva, Sept 2012

This time around I thought I need to get out of my intense purple/pink/orange color rut and knit Spring "Wave" using this springy, light green/mint, lavender, cream and pink light fingering merino combo. This is my tie-in to St. Patrick's Day. Its is a very simple pattern to remember. I have easily knitted this while having some deep conversations with members of my knitting group, watching TV or riding BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) during commuting. The results are gorgeous! You can wear it so many different ways because its large, drapey and scrunches.  The Turkish lace is like a mesh pattern and is a great match with highly variegated hand-dyed yarn, no pooling!

If you are looking for your next knitting project idea and want something light and airy, Wave could be the free pattern for you.

Help Support an Indie Dyer Grow Her Business

As I was doing a knitting news search on my own blog - how cool is that new feature! - last night, I came across this article about Portland, OR-based indie dyer Knitted Wit. It's owned by Lorajean Kelley, a really talented artisan who has a great eye for hand dyeing and is known for her Community Supported Yarn (CSY). Lorajean has so much demand for Knitted Wit hand-dyed yarn and fiber she is moving her business out of her home and into a studio space that will be dedicated to her craft.

Lorajean is holding an online fundraiser to help her purchase the equipment to fill out her new space. For all those who donate certain amounts, Knitted Wit will be giving gifts as a "Thank You." If you have never seen or touch Knitted Wit "yarn candy" in person, you are missing something else.


Part of my stash, Knitted Wit, Binary,
100% Super Wash Corriedale, 150 g, 620 yds
Colors (L to R): Prussian Blue, Cedar, Carbon & French Kiss
(Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Mar 2014)

From my personal experience, I was introduced to Knitted Wit in 2012 when Lorajean came down from Oregon to Dixon, CA and had a booth at Lambtown. I have been a raving fan ever since. There was so much gorgeous stuff to choose from. Had a really difficult time deciding because I was, as usual, getting sensory overload that I ended up purchasing the first four colors of light fingering that caught my eye, and I always say "Go with your gut," and some 2oz. 50/50 silk merino fiber I found in Lorajean's bargain bin for $5 because one of friends said she would spin it for me - Did I mention I don't spin, or want or have a desire to learn how to spin and I am very lucky to have friends who like to spin.

Lucky me! Knitted Wit 50/50 Silk Merino
handspun by a very nice friend.
(Photo:Knitted Candy Diva, Nov 2013)

I still have not found the right pattern yet to knit any of my Binary stash, but I did ended up last Fall knitting the 2 oz. because my friend spun it and I was in a middle of hat knitting craze.  I found Mesh Flower Hat, a really cool pattern by Gretchen Tracy which showcased Lorajean's dyeing talent and my friend's spinning prowess. 


Handspun "Mesh Flower Hat"

Pattern by Gretchen Tracy

Hand knitted and photo by Knitted Candy Diva, Nov 2013

As a woman-owned, American small business, Knitted Wit has raised the inital $3,500 in a day and needs another $1,500 to purchase 3 vertical swifters. In Lorajean's words, this ". . .  will allow me to increase production significantly (I'll be able to wind yarn into skeins more quickly -- which means you'll see more regular shop updates and I'll be able to take on more LYS orders)."  Her fundraising campaign will last till April 24, 2014 if you want to help and support a very gifted indie dyer reach for her dreams.

Yarn Bombs in My Neighborhoods

So what is a yarn bombing? They seem to be happening with more and more frequency and are really cool up close. IMHO, it takes a lot of creativity and ingenuity to create one and then put it up when no one is seeing you do it. They normally make me smile or laugh, or both, when I come across one because these yarn bombs just show up when I least expect it and get me to think.

How did this tree know that I was hungry? 
In front of breakfast place, Christie's
 Burlingame, CA 
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Mar 2014

I didn't realize I started a photo collection of them until I took my latest one last Sunday while I was waiting for my name to be called for brunch and put 2 and 2 together as I was scrolling through my iPhone.

These were taking during a couple morning errand walks to downtown last December. On each corner of the 4-way intersection on 3rd Avenue, each of the concrete barriers were magically decorated with this machine-knitted Holiday festivus (See the red one in distance?). Love the pom pom touch! 

Christmas came early this year in
Downtown San Mateo, CA.
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Dec 2013

And in between this 4-way, trees on both sides and down to the next block were covered in this knitted Holiday wrap. This wasn't a one person operation here and a lot of acrylic was needed to hit these two long blocks filled with trees. It took these "elves" a few nights(?) to decorate everything. Definitely, the city didn't spend $$ on this. 



Love the "elves" who hit these two blocks.
Downtown San Mateo, CA
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Dec 2013

This was left up for the remainder of the Holiday season. You can't tell me that this doesn't make you smile or chuckle. Or get you to think how did they do this? And how long it did it take to plan and get all of this stuff knitted up? IMHO, Some really wonderful, creative people are out there in the world with deep pockets wanting to create street art for the masses.

Knitting in Sochi

While I was doing a Google news search for knitting, I found this recent post on the NBC Olympics site. It's very funny! The Finnish slopestyle snowboarding coach is at the starting line knitting a cream colored scarf. This scarf will eventually be handed off to the Finland Summer Olympic team to then be completed during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Knit for a Great Cause: Keep a Penguin Warm and Alive

Do you have leftover wool or acrylic in your stash? Looking to do some good, and feel good, with your needles? Ever what to say proudly: "I knitted a sweater for a penguin."?

Yes, I am wearing a sweater! Photo: The Penguin Foundation

Read this interesting article regarding penguins in Australia's Phillip Island. The Penguin Foundation has a Knits for Nature program in which they need volunteers to knit sweaters for penguins they find in nature that need rehabilitation from oil spills. To get inspired, they have a really cool 95 year old volunteer who has knitted over a 1,000 sweaters for their Knits for Nature program since the 1990s.

Australians call "sweaters" "jumpers" and the Penguin Foundation has a specific pattern that you can use. There isn't an urgent need at the moment but the Foundation always needs sweaters and will gladly take them throughout the world in case there is one.

Knitted Candy is now on Facebook!

Expanding my media reach. I'm lonely and I like to be Liked. Please friend me -- Knitted Candy -- so we can be connected.



Watch out world, Knitted Candy Diva is on Facebook!!

Suprise "Spring is in the Air"

I believe in karma. Things come together for a reason and either you embrace it and go with the flow or ignore, or avoid, it and usually something not so great happens.

Cosmic Event: Creation of Spring is in the Air.
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Mar 2014.

The title of this post is very appropriate for this shawl and the particular circumstances it took to knit this.  I like finding and owning unique things. I think it's because everything is so mass marketed and consumed that nothing feels special or unique.  I think that is one of the reasons why I knit is to get pleasure knitting one-of-kind things that are made to my specific tastes.

The Perfect Storm

Donna, one of the owners of Black Diamond Alpacas (BDA), raises her alpacas at her Brentwood, CA ranch and hand dyes all of her yarn. As part of my compensation for sample knitting a shawl for her during the Fall of 2012, she let me choose 2 skeins of her vast spectrum of yarn. Shopping at Donna's booth is like being a kid in a candy store, so much to choose from I always get sensory overload and have to walk away, think and then return. 


 BDA Surprise, 250 yds of hand-dyed
Fingering,  100% CA grown Alpaca. 
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, Fall 2012.

Donna had a very small batch of what was her experimenting in her kitchen and that she didn't know how to replicate this color after she dyed this particular batch. She called it "Surprise." I am normally drawn to pinks, plums, fuchsias, reds and purples and like I needed more of the same, but somehow I was gravitating to this because this would be the only batch of it once it was sold. I took 2 and it stayed in my stash till last month.

The Winter Olympics was coming up and I wanted to knit a shawl while watching it live. I normally look through Ravelry and my own library that I have in my Rav account.

If you haven't open a Raverly account, it's a definite must.There are over 4 million members and over 430,000 patterns to choose from. As of today, I have over 6,100 knitting and crochet patterns. Yes, crazy I know! Luckily, there isn't a physical folder or storage for them because I would most likely be on one of those people you watch on those hoarding reality TV shows. Most of them are or were FREE.  I don't crochet, but because they were free what can I say. I will never be able to knit all of these patterns in my lifetime. But I have knitted a few more than once because I loved knitting it and many were and are gifts. OK, so I am now justifying my behavior. Remember the heroine in Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series?!

Anyway, last Fall, Kristi Holaas was very generous to let Ravelry members choose one of her patterns for free for a very limited time. I was instantly attracted to the name "Spring is in the Air," liked the design and picked it thinking I was going to use something from my BDA stash some day.  


Close up: Diamond repeat stitch

Stitches West (SW) is held every year in at the Santa Clara Convention Center, literally in my backyard, and thought since I was going to knit during the Olympics to participate in the Ravellenic Winter Games 2014 and was planning to go, Sunday, the 23rd, which was the last day of SW which also was the last day of the Winter Games what I knitted had to be special to wear. It didn't get anymore cosmically in line than this:

Free (2 skeins of Surprise + Spring in the Air)

= Olympics + Ravellenic Games + SW 

 

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Well, my Surprise surprised me and things didn't completely turned out the way I planned. This relatively simple pattern wasn't that simple because, no fault on Kristi, I couldn't figure out how to K3into2 and I miscounted 1 stitch which caused me to frog this shawl not once, but twice. I can't have any "new design elements" and am a perfectionist by nature. 


My Surprise -- Spring is in the Air didn't turn simple at first.

It normally takes me a week to knit a shawl this size (64 inch x 21 inch) so I thought I had plenty of time to finish and wear and show Donna what I knitted with her gorgeous, soft hand-dyed alpaca fingering at SW.

This shawl was a mess and I didn't finished it until more than a week after the closing of the Winter Games, couldn't enter it in the Rav Games, or wear this to SW. I was bummed, but I moved on and felt there was a reason why I couldn't finish. I did wear another shawl and received the same number of compliments and ladies who wanted to touch it like what happened to me the year before. Overall, I had a great time and was a first time winner at SW.  I am a now a firm believer not to knit past midnight, of counting, re-counting and using stitch markers when I knit over 350 stitches per row to keep my sanity.

 

Would I Knit It Again?

I love how Surprise turned out. Alpaca is warmer than wool, but because the shawl is light fingering and airy it's perfect to wear for at least 3 out of 4 seasons in the San Francisco Bay Area and if I need to go to SF this is definitely a 4 season - scarf, shawl, shrug - accessory. The color is vibrant, very cheerful, goes with anything and makes me happy.


My, oh my. Frustration turned to gorgeous

results. Photo: Hand knitted by Knitted

Candy Diva, Mar 2014.

Next time, I would knit Kristi's small version using highly variegated yarn because the lace stitch would soften the variegation and I think the shawlette would look nice bunched up since I now have the large wrap version.

Nice Gift Knit for Someone Special or for You

Source: Salt, Hand knitted by Knitted Candy Diva, Nov 2013

Some of my knitting tips that I learned from my last Holiday's gift knitting frenzy:

1. Look for 1 skein patterns. Saves time and $$.
2. I love patterns that the results look much more complicated than they really are.
3. I love bulky yarn because it knits so quickly, less than 5 hrs or less with large needle, and is soft and squishy to the touch.
4. Find patterns that keep your interest that you want to knit again and again and would recommend!

Salt fits the build. Andi Satterlund designed an easy, well-written pattern that will make you look great either as the gift giver or wearer or both! I was surprised how great my gift turned out using US15 needles. It made me want to knit one for me when I get a chance.