Month: March 2020

knit swatch with the word love on it

quarantine knitting update

Published by fairfaxhill

It’s so silly, but one of the highlights of my day has been getting an email from Paradise Fibers saying that my order is on its way. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve been following Arne & Carlos’s Quarantine Knitting Mystery KAL to try to keep my mind off the coronavirus and to help manage my ever-growing anxiety. This is one of my blocks so far. I love this green, but I’m craving red or pink! I am truly amazed at how many people have joined this KAL (short for knit-along and my first one ever). The work that some of the knitters are sharing is just wonderful. Quite a few of them were lucky to have many different colors stored away in their homes to make each square different. Or, they had lovely palettes to choose from. Others, like me, had fewer color choices, but still, it’s fun to see all the possibilities. I like the yarn I’m using, but as I kept knitting new pieces, I started longing for some red, pink, …

worsted yarn wpi

what to do with yarn that has no label

Published by fairfaxhill

A good friend sent me a message this morning asking for some advice on what she could do with some yarn she had gotten as a gift, to which I answered, “Join the Arne and Carlos knit-along!” But she said she had other plans, like knitting a poncho or a kimono. That sounded fun! I recommended signing up for a Ravelry account to search for poncho patterns. There are so many patterns on Ravelry.com — not only that, you can search by yardage, by the exact brand of yarn you have, by type of project. It’s really a fantastic tool for knitters and crocheters alike. Unfortunately, she said that wouldn’t work, since she had no idea where the yarn labels were. From the picture she sent me, it looked like a medium weight yarn, but it was hard for me to tell from the photo alone. My first recommendation was to knit up a swatch. Cast on 20-24 stitches and knit until you have close to a square. Measure it and see how many stitches …

two knit swatches

knitting during quarantine

Published by fairfaxhill

Hi! I’ve been working away on the Arne and Carlos Quarantine Knitting project. So far I’ve managed to knit up the first two clues. I really loved the first one — both the pattern and the blue I found in the basket full of yarn I have in the studio. It looks nice with the white. I would like to try knitting the design with a thicker yarn. The yarn I’m using is a sport weight, so my “squares” are turning out to be rectangles. But I figured, if I just keep using the same yarn, they should all at least be the same size in the end. That is if that even matters! We have no idea what we’re making and that’s what makes this project so interesting! I’ve also been getting new ideas on how I might use these designs in the future. I was thinking of some cushions for our TV room. We need some color in there. But first, I want to figure out how to make these into true squares. …

an open laptop

joining the arne & carlos mystery knit-along

Published by fairfaxhill

It was announced this afternoon that Marin County residents will need to shelter-in-place starting at midnight tonight until at least April 7. (That’s a long time inside our homes!) Thankfully, we have creative people in the world to help us through this stressful time with projects to help reduce our anxiety. Today, Arne & Carlos have surprised knitters by launching the Quarantine Mystery Knitalong. If you’ve never heard of Arne & Carlos, then you really should check them out. They are two pretty well-known Scandinavian knit designers who have published books like “Norwegian Knits with a Twist” and “Knit-and-Crochet Garden” (which seems to be out of print, unfortunately). I first learned about Arne & Carlos on YouTube some years ago. Of course, I was interested in their Scandinavian point of view and aesthetic and I really liked how they successfully made traditional motifs feel new and fresh. Their shows are funny. Carlos does most of the talking, while Arne, who doesn’t speak English as well, seems to be the faster knitter of the two. It’s …