surprise appearance in “Inside Crochet”

A follower of NYAC’s facebook page alerted me today that I am in the 50th issue of “Inside Crochet!”

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I was astonished (not the least because I’d had no idea about it) and immediately bought the issue on my iPad.  Sure enough, there on page 6 was a small blurb about the as-we-go stripey blanket that was the focus of our first crochet along!  I’m sincerely honored.  There’s another CAL going on right now following the pattern (only it’s translated into Dutch), and I believe it’s #crochetalong2014 on Instagram.  The blog for that current Dutch CAL is here.

Of course I’m very excited to be in a magazine, but I do wish the magazine had contacted me first so that I could have given credit to Julie over at Little Woolie — her blanket was the inspiration for mine and they are, after all, pretty similar.  I almost feel like it’s cheating, being in the magazine when she’s not given credit.  Well, she’s getting credit here; her blanket is amazing and she’s a great inspiration (she’s also a really nice person!).

Well, that’s my fun announcement for the day.  I haven’t been crocheting or knitting at all in the past week so there’s nothing else really going on, but hopefully there will be soon.  I’ve actually written up a new little Spring pattern that I will be sharing in the near future!  Hope to see you back soon!

a look back on 2013 here on NYAC

Those were most of my completed crocheted and knitted projects from 2013.  Here’s what’s happened in our household this year:

It’s fun to look back and see what happened in the last year, both here on my blog and also on other people’s blogs!  I love these yearly roundups.

That’s all for now, see you soon!

themed yarn & projects

A few other lovely bloggers have posted lately about getting color inspiration for their yarn colorways/combos from books and movies.  There have been a few projects of mine that have patterns based on books/movies (check out my Hermione hat from Harry Potter, my Harry Potter scarves, and my Luna Lovegood scarf, also from Harry Potter; can you tell I love Harry Potter?), but I don’t think I’ve ever bought yarn in a book/movie inspired colorway before.  Until now, that is.  Check out these beautiful Hunger Games themed yarns from Etsy:

District 12 2-Ply Sock Yarn from BrazenStitchery

District 12 2-Ply Sock Yarn from BrazenStitchery

Effie Trinket Nymph Sock Yarn from supernaturalyarns

Effie Trinket Nymph Sock Yarn from supernaturalyarns

I bought both of these very different colorways and am planning on making a reversible hat with them (probably with this knitting pattern from Purl Soho).  It will represent two very different characters in the Hunger Games trilogy (Katniss and Effie) that come from opposing worlds but who are both good people in the end.  To me it symbolizes cooperation, peace, and the triumph of good, etc., etc…

If you haven’t read the Hunger Games books, I highly recommend them.  They get a little bit teenage-girl-y occasionally but definitely NOT in a Twilight saga kind of way.  The story in the Hunger Games books is about a young girl who is strong in the face of overwhelming danger and misery, and about the horrors of war and fighting for what’s right.  It’s dark and horrifying and moving and inspiring all at the same time.  I also really like the movies based on the first two books (the third one comes out next year, I believe), although they seem to downplay the horror/violence and over-stress the romance parts a bit, sort of diluting the general message a bit in my opinion; if you really want the full message, go for the books!  These would probably be good books/movies to allow your teenage kids to read and then discuss with them afterwards.  I say teenage kids because the third book is super-extra twisted (as if the first two aren’t twisted enough), and I’m not sure I’d want my young kids to read that one, if I had any kids.

So anyway, what do you think of the yarn combo above?  Have you ever made projects inspired by books/movies or bought/dyed yarn that has been inspired by them?  If so, what?  I think it’s a really cool concept and makes projects just a little more meaningful when they are attached to stories you enjoy.

I also bought these beautiful stitch markers on Etsy from the writer of the blog ruth plus two:

Glass/bead stitch markers

Glass/bead stitch markers

Well, that’s all for now, I guess.  I’m making some fingerless mitts for a coworker but I’ll share them when I’m finished — it shouldn’t be long.  Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy holidays to you all!  If you are traveling, please stay safe!

Dye For Yarn Merino/Baby Camel yarn review

The lovely ladies at DyeForYarn/DyeForWool very kindly sent me a hank of yarn to review here on my blog.  They did not pay me for my review, so everything written here is my honest opinion about this yarn.  The yarn is their Merino/BabyCamel fingering weight yarn in the colorway Dyeing Rose (click here to be taken to their Etsy page for this specific yarn, in all the lovely colorways!).

first impressions

The yarn shipped very quickly all the way from Germany!  It arrived in a beautiful hank.

reviewhankIsn’t it gorgeous?  Here’s a close-up of the tags:

reviewtagsYou can see that this single-ply fingering weight yarn is made of 55% Merino superwash and 45% baby camel.  The hank is 100g and 480m (525yd).  These hanks are currently selling for $25.13 USD, which is a very reasonable price for the yardage you get and the fact that this yarn is hand dyed and everything.

Here it is after I used my new ball winder to wind it into a handy cake (and I should mention that there was not a single knot to be found in the whole hank):

reviewcake

working with this yarn

I knitted a hat with this yarn (more details on the specifics in a bit), and I very much enjoyed the experience.  The yarn is soft (a pleasant but not necessarily common attribute in wool yarns), and it has a beautiful, ethereal halo.  There was a little shedding of fibers during the knitting process, but it was not bad at all — it didn’t even make me sneeze and it didn’t get fuzz all over my clothes like some yarns do.  Since I used the magic loop method, I pulled the first/last stitches of each half of the hat tightly to try to avoid ladders up the sides of my hat, and the yarn turns out to be very strong.  This makes it a higher quality yarn in my estimation, since other single-ply yarns I’ve used have been pretty easy to pull apart.

the knitted product

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The hat pattern is called Plume Beanie and it is free to download on Ravelry.  It has a very long ribbed edge which is meant to be casually folded/pushed on top of itself, and a lace pattern that is not too complicated.

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I went up a couple of needle sizes to obtain the correct gauge, although I think I still slightly undershot it and would use one more size up if I made it again (details here on my project page).  Even so, the finished hat is amazing and the pattern was the perfect choice for this yarn.  There’s even over half of the ball left, so I’ll be able to make something else too!

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the verdict

This is definitely one of the best fingering weight yarns I’ve ever used, if not THE best.  The next time I need some more fingering weight yarn, this Merino/BabyCamel yarn by DyeForYarn will probably be what I go for (perhaps in another beautiful colorway, or maybe I’ll try their other yarns, too)!  The owners Nicole and Cordula are so nice and prompt, which only adds to my desire to shop with them again.  To you dear readers I say give it a go — it’s worth every penny!

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I hope you enjoyed my first official yarn review, thank you so much for stopping by!

giveaway winner announced!

It’s time for the drawing for NYAC’s second ever giveaway!  Congratulations to the author of the blog

happytomakeyou

winnerTo the winner: please e-mail me at davish14 (AT) winthrop (DOT) edu and include your full name and address so that I can mail you your prize!  Please do this by Thursday Nov. 28, or I will need to draw another winner.  Congratulations again!

Thank you everyone for entering, and if you were not the winner, there’s always next time!  I love having giveaways so there will be more chances in the future for sure!