Seriously? It doesn’t get much more fabulous than this:
Project: Fall in Alexandria
Pattern: Alexandra Shawl
Designer: Dee O’Keefe
Available: $6 on Ravelry
Yarn: hand-dyed gradient yarn from A Hundred Ravens
I told you all about making the gradient yarn for this fabulous shawl. The pattern worked out PERFECTLY — I really respect and admire Dee’s pattern writing style and design skills. I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one!
This project was finished a while ago, but I never shared … enjoy!
Project: Aphrodite of the Sea
Pattern: Song of the Sea
Designer: Louise Zass-Bangham
Available: £3.50 GBP on Ravelry
Yarn: Llyr from A Hundred Ravens in an early version of Aphrodite
This is a pretty straight-up pattern — shows off this tonal colorway beautifully. Easy to knit, easy to wear. Make one today! 🙂
Yesterday I took my sixth and final(?) Fiber Factor project to the UPS store in Chelmsford. You can see in my progress video that I’m making a hat, specifically a cloche, out of Leinen Los with a band/bow in softest Kid Seta to set off a pretty little shawl pin from JUL. The hat came together right away, and I love it. I’ve always enjoyed wearing hats, and the cloche shape looks good on me (brim up OR brim down). (In fact I have plans to make the hat again — must have this hat!) It took me a while to figure out the right thing to do about the band/bow. I had SO many false starts … and I ended up pulling a knitting all-night on Tuesday night. I finally landed on a good color combo/design, but I’d had so many wrong turns I couldn’t risk waiting until the next day to finish. (What if it hadn’t worked? Then I really would have been in trouble.)
ANYway, I want to personally thank theoatmeal for introducing me to the mantis shrimp, which helped me settle on a set of four colors for this hat. Those “harbingers of blood-soaked rainbows” rock my world.
The judging for this round is taking place at VKL Chicago. As always, I’ll be interested to hear the judges’ feedback. Results for Challenge 6 should be online at The Fiber Factor on or about November 9th. I’ll post more photos after that.
The other thing that’s happening on or about November 9th is the announcement of the three finalists, who will go on to compete in the two-month-long final challenge of The Fiber Factor. At this point, coming off the last three very-short-deadline challenges, I’m feeling ambivalent about moving on to the next round. Of course if I’m selected, I’ll be thrilled and delighted. The winner of the final challenge gets a trip for two to Germany! Plus it would mean they like me! However, NOT being selected would be cool too. It would mean I’d have a shockingly relaxed holiday season. I could knit on my own projects without feeling guilty or furtive, and I could start submitting to calls without worrying if the deadline will coincide with a Fiber Factor deadline. I could cheer on the final three and have opinions and just enjoy the competition as a “Watcher.” Ultimately I’m too competitive to NOT want to play, and too realistic to be sorry if I don’t get to.
It’s been fantastic. I don’t regret a minute of it. My sincere thanks to Skacel (especially Karin, Cirilia, and Chuck) for putting the Fiber Factor together. Honor and glory to my fellow semi-finalists. Thanks most of all to my friends and family, who have been incredibly supportive over the last seven months. (Oh tiki dog it, seven months! No wonder I’m feeling a bit worn out.)
The 5th challenge of The Fiber Factor was all-consuming for me … lots of new techniques to conquer, and leagues of hand-sewing and hand-embroidery to do before I could rest. My fingers bled, my eyes crossed: my piece was a harsh mistress :). One thing that kept me at my task was knowing that I had not one, not two, but THREE mystery KALs lined up to start right when the project was due. Yippee! Naturally I started them all as quickly as I could. We shall not mention that I already have the specs (and a bit of bling) for Challenge #6.
First up: the RHK Mystery KAL by Sara Elizabeth Kellner. RHK stands for Rabbit Hole Knits — Sara designs adorable stuffed toys to knit, and this seemed like a great opportunity to make one. This MKAL is free — all you have to do is join her forum. I’m using some left-over Tosh Vintage in Rosewood:
Next up: the Autumn Mystery KAL by Susanna IC. Right now the pattern is still $3, but the price will go up as clues are released. Buy now to get the best price! 🙂 I’m using two skeins of Tosh Sock in Mare and the browner beads:
Last but not least, the Morticia Halloween KAL 2013 by Boo Knits. I’ve been dying to do a Boo Knits pattern, and I had this skein of Alfar just begging for a good use. I’m doing the “two kids of beads” option, making the larger shawl:
I’ve been working very hard the last few weeks on my project for Challenge #5 of The Fiber Factor. You can view my mentoring video and my progress video if you’re curious to see more, and I’ve posted a ton of photos of my work-in-progress in the Fiber Factor forums.
Here’s a taste of what I’ve done … I finished the last bit of sewing this afternoon, and tomorrow it ships out! This time around, the pieces will all be in a runway show, and we’re being judged (in part) on runway impact. So, wish me luck!!
Remily Knits 