Firefly July KAL with Prizes!

I know my Firefly July sweater has been out for a couple weeks but I am turning it into an official knit along.

Dani from Sunshine Yarns (the amazing yarn company that was used for the design) offered a few prizes and who would say no to yarn? So here we go!

The KAL will run from now until October 31st. Everyone who'd like to participate must cast on and share some sort of photo with us in the thread on Ravlery. Let' be real honest, we love the casting on part but sometimes life can get in the way of knitting. You don't have to finish this pattern to participate just get started (at least!).

Barley (Merino Sport), Avocado, and Mandarin

All who participate  (cast on, share photo in thread, and create project page) will be entered to win a skein of either Ultraluxe Light or Merino Sport. Winners will be chosen randomly from those who post in the thread so be sure you don't miss that part.

The first three finishers will still win their choice of one pattern from my Ravelry store and be entered to win one of the skeins as well! 

There are so many ways to win! Come check out the thread for more info or to join in.

Organik

My initial plans yesterday consisted of frogging my Audrey and reskeining the yarn. However, those plans were thwarted by this:

Notice something missing?

Oh yeah, that would be the handle.

I've been following the Rocky Coast Cardigan knit-a-long in the Coastal Knits Group on Ravelry and finally decided to wind some yarn and swatch. Mid-yarn winding, snap, and the handle was off. I had a "what the?!" type of moment and called Knit Picks customer service. My new winder will be on its way tomorrow morning. Crisis averted. This of course means that I haven't frogged Audrey yet because I don't care to do that without the winder. 

In the meantime, I swatched for a couple projects and eventually cast on for the Rocky Coast Cardigan. This is going to be an open front, cabled cardigan knit out of The Fibre Company's Organik yarn in Magma.

At this point, I've knit through two skeins the Organik (pattern calls for nine) and it is working up beautifully. Once this project is done I don't know if I'll be able to sing the praises of the Organik enough! Not only is it soft, it has a really lovely sheen that kind of makes the whole thing glow. Over on the KAL forum, a lot of knitters were concerned that because this is a single spun yarn there would be a fair amount of pilling (oh, the dreaded pilling!). The designer, Hannah Fettig, recently posted on her blog information about the yarn and why this luxury yarn is also a workhorse. I was definitely sold but in case you haven't had the chance to see this yarn in real life (I know my LYS doesn't carry this) I thought I would offer you a quick comparison between the Organik and some Malabrigo Worsted.

I think it's easy to immediately see that these too are not as alike as one might initially think. Although the Organik is very light and full, you can tell that it holds together better than the Malabrigo.  I also gave both yarns a few twists in the opposite direction and the Mal unspun pretty quickly while the Organik sprung back into place.

Don't get me wrong, I love Malabrigo with the best of them but if you're considering the Organik for your sweater, it will be well worth it and I bet it will last for quite some time.

I've already divided the sleeves for my sweater and am working my way down the back. This is a cable heavy pattern (although an easy cable) and being able to cable without the cable needle makes things go much more quickly. I'm sure I'm not the only person doing this but I thought, for those out there who are interested and unsure how to go about it, tomorrow I'll post a little tutorial on how I cable without the needle.

Spring Garden Tee Progress

This week I really cracked down on the Spring Garden Tee. I pretty much worked on this project only for the last four days. What do I have to show? Half a tee! Since I'm helping to moderate the KAL on the Never Not Knitting group, I wanted to try to stay a step ahead of everyone in case help was needed. I also knew I had a bunch of swatching and other smaller projects that I would need to focus on towards the end of the month so I wanted to get as far as I possibly could. 

The knitting looks a bit wonky right now but I have faith that after a good blocking, this will grow up into the beautiful tee with lace trim that it is intended to be. 

California Camisole

My California Camisole is finished. I decided on this name for the project because the yarn came from my last trip out west to visit my parents. My brother bought two skeins of this yarn (a total of 440 yards) for me as an early birthday gift. Since I was making the smallest size, which called for 460 yards, I figured I would be fine. However, as I was getting to the end of the body, I started to realize that I was going to come up short. I knit as far as I could, did the hem rows (consisting of a purl row and six knit rows) and bound off. I tried it on. Too short. I still had a bit of yarn left so I ripped back and knit a couple extra rows before the hem rows and instead of the six knit rows after the purl row called for, I only managed two and the bind off. I tried it on again. Better but not great. So I blocked it. I used the "whap" method in which you soak the garment, then whap it on the side of your bathtub with it soaking wet. I finished with squeezing out the excess water, laying it out, and whacking it with a wooden spoon to even out the stitches. It seems to have worked.

I'm happy with the final outcome. It's a bit shorter than most tanks I wear, but I'm also not very tall so regular tanks can have a tendency to be too long.  I bought matching thread and sewed the hem today. I'm not sure what kind of stitch most would use for this but since I'm no seamstress I just did the best I could. 

Pattern: Aran Necklace Camisole by Caroline Bautista

Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Linen in Teal (2 skeins)

Needles: #4 for yoke, #7 for body

Began: May 1

Finished: June 4

Ravelry Linkage

In other news, I've joined a knit-along for a new pattern from Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. It's her new Spring Garden Tee for adults! 

The pattern seems relatively easy and looks gorgeous! While it calls for a 100% bamboo yarn, I'll be using Panda Silk DK (52% bamboo, 43% wool, 5% silk). I've knitted and blocked my swatch but it's drying so I'll just share a yarn picture instead.

Join the KAL too! The more the merrier.