Hi everyone and happy Wednesday! This week, as I have been knitting away on my Tea Leaves Cardigan in Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage, I have been contemplating hand dyed yarns and how they can be a bit tricky to work with as a novice knitter. I am not what you would consider a novice, but I am a staunchly lazy knitter in that I rarely (until recently) give much thought to how a garment will turn out when working with hand-dyed yarns. I often find myself blissfully knitting along without a care in the world and paying no mind to how the colors look from one skein to the next. Some knitters might find this appalling, but not me--I am pretty laid back about the whole thing.

I realize though, that this isn't the case for many knitters and I completely understand why. You put all of those hours and hard work into your knitted garments and you want them to turn out as close to perfect as possible. Hand-dyed yarns, although beautiful, can sometimes foil this plan. They don't have to though, and these videos: Hand Dyed Yarn 101 and 102 starring our very own Jeanne Giles of Battle Born Knits are super helpful in preventing a project meltdown. Take a look:



I hope you found these videos as useful as I did. I may actually decide to stop being so lazy with my next hand-dyed yarn project and try some of these out! Also, if you have a second, leave us a comment and let us know what you think about working with hand-dyed yarns! Do you have any helpful tips and tricks to share?

Hope you all have a great rest of your week!
Kristen

PS. Have you seen our latest catalog yet? It’s 48 pages of pure, 100% Rowan.
Visit jimmybeanswool.com/catalog to sign up for your free copy!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you've all had a fantastic first week of the new year! We've been busy this week; off and running with all of our big plans for 2012!

This week's FO is actually two in one. I knit two of the Buttoned Neckwarmers from Malabrigo Book 3 as Christmas gifts for my sisters-in-law this year and they really loved them! The pattern is a simple elongated seed stitch pattern with button holes on one end, resulting in a super stylish and chunky cowl that knits up quickly! Since we were out of the Malabrigo Rasta that the pattern calls for, I used the super warm and cozy Cascade Magnum instead. I think they turned out lovely, and the girls really liked them. I Raveled the project here.

"Amethyst Heather"

"Purple Jewel Heather"

They love getting hand-knit gifts!

As for this week's WIP, I present my Tea Leaves Cardigan! I wrote about wanting to knit this in my Resolution Knitting post and I was so excited that I cast on last weekend. I just love the way that the Tosh Vintage Tart color is knitting up! At the rate I'm going, I'll be wearing this cozy knit by Valentine's Day! Follow my progress on Ravelry here.

Tea Leaves in "Tart"

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy knitting and crocheting,
Kristen

PS. Have you seen our latest catalog yet? It’s 48 pages of pure, 100% Rowan.
Visit jimmybeanswool.com/catalog to sign up for your free copy!

Tea Leaves Cardigan

1. Finish at least 5 of the WIP’s on my Ravelry Page: I’ll be happy with 5, but more would be nice. Priorities are the 2 blankets on the needles (Umaro and Hemlock Ring) that were meant to be wedding gifts. These will get done first!
2. Knit a sweater for my husband. I've started and stopped this process once or twice already with various reasons befouling my progress: not quite having enough yarn, making too small a size, and getting bored with the pattern to name a few. I have now decided on a pattern (Jared Flood’s Cobblestone Pullover) and acquired new yarn (Tosh Vintage in Stovepipe) and will be making it happen this year!
3. Knit myself a Tea Leaves Cardigan. I’ve longed for one since I first saw it a couple of years back. I have some Tosh Vintage in Tart that is ready to be knit into my pretty red cardi!
4. Write up and publish the patterns for the 6 or so designs that I’ve made over the last year for Marinade Designs. This sounds pretty easy, but I am a total slacker! Although I love the creative process and knitting of the garments, I often procrastinate at the drudgery of the number crunching and writing part, especially when I don't have a deadline.

Cobblestone Pullover

5. Put some of my design ideas out there and submit them for publication in knitting magazines and periodicals! I’ve been meaning to start this process for a long time but frankly have been a bit scared to try. This is the year I make an effort!

Visit jimmybeanswool.com/catalog to sign up for your free copy!