Pumpkin Patch Pickins'

Fall is FINALLY DANG HERE!

Cool weather, crunchy leaves, ACTUALLY GETTING TO WEAR MY NEW SWEATER, I'm embracing it all. Especially the pumpkin part.

I finally took the time to knit myself a new Fall basaur since I gave the original away.

And yes, you can just see it poking out there, but he also has a tiny scarf. too.

I'm also particularly proud the pumpkin. I wanted one of those knobbly ones that always get left behind at the pumpkin patch, so I used bobbles to give this one some texture.

And if knitting one pumpkin wasn't enough, I also had to make one for a special neighbor's birthday.

And OF COURSE it had to be pink.

I used up the last skein of the pink bulky yarn I had used for her sweater. And I mean I USED it. There's nothing left.

The leaf is completely improvised (like, I grabbed some needles and just went full free-form on it) and felted. I thought it'd add a nice little contrast to all the pink.

And if that wasn't enough pumpkin for you, we ALSO added this dude to the front porch.

And because I had to clean off the table anyway, I thought I'd snap a few pictures of the yarn I'm planning on using for a Knit Along.

Yu Ra, the amazing person who hosted the Quiet Queers Craftalong, has been releasing so many new and amazing patterns lately.

Her newest, Bojagi Shawl, is just lovely. I've been eagerly awaiting the release date AND IT'S HERE!

Even better? She's offering it for FREE!

A KAL is being hosted from now until December 14th, so y'know, you should totally join us for that.

And make sure you donate to her Ko-Fi account as a thank you for such an amazing pattern.

Now I'm sure you're ready to see the yarn, right?

Guess what, though?

It's NOT GREEN!

This is Valencia from Destination Yarn.

Jeanne had a trunk show at Harps & Thistles over the weekend, so I HAD to stop by for a visit.

This was like THE COLOR that jumped out to me.

(I don't know what the sudden obsession with pink is, either...)

BUT lest you be worried that I am forgoing green entirely, I'm pairing this with a deeply muted sage that is IMPOSSIBLE to photograph.

I tried in bright sun.

And pairing it with the pink.

NONE of them even come close to capturing it.

Oh well.

All you need to know is that:
1. It's pretty
2. It's stash yarn
3. It's lace weight held double

So, now that we have that out of the way, I'm going to go knit, okay?

"BUT WAIT!" you yell. "WHAT ABOUT THE VOW RENEWAL SHAWL?!?!?!!?!?"

Listen, I HAVE been working on it.

I'm through the first chart. And I've estimated that I have roughly 15 working days left on it. So it WILL get done in time, I swear.

Look, I'll even show you my progress!

Aww, dangit, seeing this makes me want to work on it right now, too.

Maybe I can do a two-at-a-time shawl?

Hey, it works for socks...

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? You can help support me and future writing projects directly by donating through the links below!

Ko-fi link: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

Purchases and Plans

This weekend was the annual Great Lakes Fiber Show in Wooster and, like always, I HAD to go there to surrender to the wool fumes.

Caitlin and Mikayla joined me on my quest for wooly wonders, and did we ever have fun.

And by fun, I meant that we were all practically melting from the heat.

I broke Mikayla's rule of no buying until we see everything, but I HAD to snag a skein of Destination Yarn's show exclusive colorway, County Fair.

Yes, a single skein. Not my usual two-for-big-shawls.

I had a limited budget this year, and I knew a big chunk of that was going to go towards the yarn for my ceremony shawl, so I mostly bought single skeins.

But rather than let them just languish as "stash yarn," I did something rather clever. I went ahead and paired it up with some other stash yarn and picked out a pattern. In this case, I grabbed my new Leon Alexander yarn and a skein from Bare Naked Wools that I purchased like 3 or 4 years ago.

The 3 skeins are all put together in a canvas drawstring bag and the pattern has been recorded in my bullet journal. Makes for easy project planning!

The next thing I bought were a couple of minis from Redbird Studios.

And these were paired up with the skein of speckled pink Three Irish Girls and some Shepherd's Wool fingering that I had laying around. In fact, the Shepherd's was one of my first purchases from Harps and Thistles FOREVER ago.

Speaking of Redbird Studios, remember the blue skein I bought last year?

Okay, you probably don't, but that's okay!

Anyway, I decided what I was going to pair with that, too!

The pattern I have in mind for this combo I'm so ridiculously excited about. I'm going to get to try mosaic knitting for the first time!

It's another colorwork technique, but you only use one color at a time. It uses slipped stitches to create the designs.

Like I said, really excited to try that.

My last purchase before we get to ceremony shawl yarn (yes, I actually did find some) is the only thing I haven't paired up with anything yet. Mostly because I think I want to just buy a second skein and make something spectacular out of it.

You can't really tell from the above picture, but the yarn is *sparkly*.

You can kinda see it a little bit here. But in person, it's just *shinyshinyshiny*.

I mean, I guess one stash yarn out of everything I bought really isn't that bad.

But let's move on to the purchase we've all been waiting for.

I give you...

The Ceremony Shawl Yarn!

*fanfare and trumpets and glitter and confetti*

I ended up buying these three skeins from Bewitched Pigments in their Magic fingering weight base. The color is called Into The Woods.

It was love at first sight, really. I tried looking at other yarns, but this color just completely captivated me.

Now I guess I need to sit down and actually design the thing.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

I changed my mind again.

But now that I have the yarn, I have a solid plan in front of me and just need to dive in and get working.

Oh, I also picked up my first dyer pin!

Now I just have to find one of them fancy canvas bags that everyone has and start placing my badges of honor on there.

Well, that's all I got. Catch you later and all that!

"WAIT!" you yell. "Did or did you not get Teroldego done in time to wear to the show?"

Listen...

I did.

It was really easy to finish, surprisingly.

But...

I...

Didn't wear it...

I KNOW!

But I didn't have any good outfit choices to compliment it.

So I ended up wearing Celestarium.

And I was stopped every other booth by someone wanting to see it, which is great and fun and totally ego-inflating.

But lest you think this was a unique thing, Mikayla wore that gorgeous purple Boo Knits shawl of hers and was stopped just as often as I was.

Caitlin was the only smart one and didn't wear wool in nearly 90 degree heat.

We stupidly waited until we were about dead from heat to take a picture together, so I'll spare you from that sight.

Instead, I'll leave you with some new flower pictures from around our yard.

If you'll excuse me, I have some yarn to play with.

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? Why don't you buy me a coffee!

You can do so through my ko-fi link HERE: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Or donate directly through my paypal HERE: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

Frustration Station

You ever have one of those mornings (okay, well, it was after noon when I woke up, but the point still stands) where you just get flooded with frustrating/overwhelming/upsetting news all in one go?

Yeah, that's how my day's started off, so instead of the more thought-provoking and serious topic I HAD wanted to talk about, you get a list post instead.

1. First and foremost, the guy who was fixing my phone has entirely disappeared. Kiosk is gone. The mall office can't even find him. So... we're out the $160 we paid for the part. At least he didn't have my phone, right?

2. I don't think I ever showed off the second Destination Yarn subscription color I got.

It's called Carnival in Venice. It's hard to see, but there's gold sparkle in it.

2. We went to Local Yarn Shop Day at Harps and Thistles yesterday and my makeup was looking pretty dang good,

3. I came home with two skeins of Malabrigo Mechita in Carnival.

Look familiar? It should. It's the same color from Carnival in the Castle that I made last September.

4. I also went out with Bethany yesterday for a bit of shopping and by far my favorite find was a washi tape organizer.

5. One of the very first cactuses I ever got, Prickles, ended up getting blown over from wind. When I went to put him back into the pot, the plant separated, so now I have Prickles and Pickles.

6. My snowflake aloe are looking super happy and healthy, which makes me so happy. I was worried about them when we first brought them home.

7. All my babies in the bedroom also seem to be pretty happy.

8. I started on the shawl I want to wear to Great Lakes Fiber Show.

Yes, it's something lacey and beaded. Because that's all I know how to do apparently.

9. I really don't have much else to say, so have a pet picture to take us out.

10. Wait, no, I lied. I redid my shrine to Henry, so have a pretty picture with all the candles lit up.

Okay, NOW I'm actually done. Toodles!

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? Why don't you buy me a coffee!

You can do so through my ko-fi link HERE: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Or donate directly through my paypal HERE: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

A Fade-bled Project

Some patterns tend to take the knitting world by storm. The Bee Keeper's Quilt, Hitchiker, Wingspan, Jaywalker Socks... all things that everyone seemed to be casting on at once in the thousands.

In late 2016/early 2017 THE THING to be knitting was a shawl known as Find Your Fade. Minimal lace work, almost no purling, absolutely massive, AND it was written using 7 different colors. Dyers everywhere started making Fade kits in droves and ravelry was just filled with people's projects.

At the time, I didn't really want to make one. It didn't really appeal to me. Not to mention the very real concern that my loose knitting would mean I'd end up with a finished object that would better be served as a sail rather than a shawl. So I gave it a hard pass.

Well, until this year at least.

After finishing Mojito and wanting to sob from all the intricacy, I needed something plain to soothe my poor battered soul. I started pulling skeins out, looking for inspiration, and loved the idea of using a bunch of colors, but didn't want to do actual color work. My brain snapped to Fade and I decided why the hell not.

It was intended to be a long-term, travel project. Instead, it became the only thing I wanted to work on. I was also deep into planning for the D&D campaign and my character ( a tiefling bard named Aralith) had a whole fire and water thing going for her, so this shawl quickly became Aralith's shawl.

It took me quite a while to finish it, as I've said in a previous post. But last Wednesday (at 3 in the morning, mind you) I finished my bind-off and finally laid Fade out.

And...

Well....

I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

When I measured it before blocking, it was already 112 inches wide.

I really shouldn't have been all that surprised since I really should have been using something like a size 2 needle instead of my usual 4's.

But could you imagine doing a large scale fingering weight project on the knitting equivalent to toothpicks?

Blocking itself was a total nightmare, with nothing going right, and a frustrating lack of room. It was the closest I ever came to having a total meltdown and just throwing a whole damn project out.

It's final measurement was a whopping 12 feet and 8 inches wide.

At first, I was angry and upset and just so damn frustrated. How the bloody hell was I supposed to wear this thing?! But as I kept playing around with it, draping it in different ways, I figured out exactly what this was.

This was FUN.

Listen, this thing is absolutely ridiculous. It's never going to function as a "proper" shawl. But it IS just so dang enjoyable to toss around me in various dramatic ways.

It's great for tossing around multiple people, too. Especially ones you like to snuggle with.

And I just absolutely ADORE the way all of the colors work together.

Especially because this shawl was 5/7ths stash yarn.

It also fits my character perfectly, but alas, I can't say too much since my party reads my blog.

So thank you, Fade, for being as ridiculous and over-the-top as your creator.

Stars know we could use some levity in our lives right now.

P.S. Isn't my new letter board totally awesome?! I can't wait for the various shenanigans that the possibilities of this board holds.