Tag: hearth slippers

some recent FOs

DiannaLeave a comment

I haven’t shared any knit FOs for a little while, so while I’m working away on projects for fall that I can’t show you just yet, I thought I’d share a few! (I’m using the term “recent” a bit loosely, here, since these stretch back to March, but let’s just roll with it).

First up: my very own finished Hearth Slippers!

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These are the slippers I designed for Tolt last year. I knit the three sample pairs photographed for the pattern, but those went to Tolt and I was left without a pair of my own. I cast on for my own pair during the joint Hearth Slipper KAL run by Tolt and Fancy Tiger, but it took me awhile to finish them up since I was traveling in December and working on other projects at the beginning of the year. I finally finished these in March, though, and they’ve been worn SO much since then! They’ve only been set aside in the last few weeks, as the weather’s warmed up here in Seattle. I knit the size Large, so that I could wear them over thick tights – I think I’ll be grateful for that once I get to Tromsø – so over my bare feet they’re a little slouchier, which I also like. I took these photos this morning, so this is what they look like after a few months of pretty regular wear. Not bad, right? That Fancy Tiger Heirloom Romney is sturdy stuff. I used Dark Natural for my Color A, Hubbard for my Color B, and Natural for my Color C. I absolutely love the moody, wintry feel of this color combination. My Ravelry project page can be found here.

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I shared my yarn choice for the second Fringe Hatalong pattern, but I never shared my finished hat! I ended up putting a pom pom on top (hardly a surprise) and I hope the finished hat will see a lot of use once I get to Tromsø – knit up in Quince & Co. Osprey in the Glacier colorway, it’s incredibly warm and cozy and it just hugs my head. The Osprey’s almost a little heavy for this pattern, and I’d love to try it knit up in Lark, which might suit it even better. This is a super quick knit and I love how easy it is to memorize the four-round repeat. The pattern is the L’Arbre Hat from Cirilia’s beautiful Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads, but the hat (and matching mitts) are available for free in PDF format for the hatalong, thanks to the generosity of Cirilia and her publisher. Be sure to check the errata before you cast on. You can find the Raverly project page for my L’Arbre Hat here.

And keep an eye out on the Fringe blog for info about hatalong pattern #3! I think it might be time for another reveal sometime in the coming weeks, and I know I can’t wait to see what it is.

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Next up: OH, how do I love these socks? Let me count the ways . . . If you’re on Instagram, you’ve surely seen this incredible self-patterning sock yarn pop up in your feed in the past few months. I don’t usually go for self-striping or self-patterning yarns, but even *I* fell for this one. It’s the new line designed by Arne & Carlos for Regia, and it’s fantastic. Traditional Norwegian colorwork motifs provided the inspiration for the patterning, and the palettes for the six different colorways were drawn from different Edvard Munch paintings. Last summer when I was in Norway I had a chance to visit Åsgårdstrand, which was where Munch spent his summers for much of his life. His summer cabin there has been turned into a museum, and it was a really fantastic and idyllic place to visit that gave me a new appreciation for Munch, whose style isn’t really what I usually go for. Needless to say, I love this sock yarn. I’m all about it. And I’m super grateful several of my local stores are carrying it (and it’s going like hot cakes, from what I can tell!). This colorway is far and above my favorite: Summer Night (color number 3657). The best part is that these are the simplest stockinette socks, and simple socks are my favorite to actually wear. I worked them toe-up with an afterthough heel and did a picot bind-off. The contrasting yarn used for the heel and picot edge is Soft Like Kittens Noodle Sock in Cloud Watching. The Raverly project page can be found here.

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Last we have an FO I’m especially excited about. I fell in love with Chuck when Andi Satterlund released it in the fall of 2012, and I’ve wanted to knit myself one ever since. I love the simple but elegant cables and I love the cropped length. I’ve also been trying to make an effort to knit more sweaters that I can wear with my high-waisted dresses and skirts, so I decided it was finally time to give it a go. I picked up five skeins of Quince & Co. Lark in Kittywake at Tolt back in March, and after knitting so many fingering-weight sweaters, a worsted-weight sweater on size 8 needles felt impossibly quick (although this project did do some hibernating for a few months). I worked a tubular bind off for all of the ribbing, but otherwise made no modifications. Andi’s a wonderfully clear pattern-writer, so even though this type of construction isn’t my favorite to knit, I’m already looking forward to casting on for another Andi project (perhaps an Agatha?). The Ravelry project page is here.

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Next, I’m trying to see if I can sneak in under the extension deadline for Shannon’s Tops, Tanks, and Tees KAL (which ends tomorrow) with my Dubro. I’ve almost finished the body (one or two stripes left) and then all I’ll have left is the sleeves, so it might actually be doable! What’s on your needles at the moment?

tolt & fringe: an anniversary, a party

DiannaLeave a comment

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This time last week, Tolt Yarn and Wool was busy preparing for it’s one-year anniversary weekend! Since I was in Portland on Saturday, I couldn’t be at the actual party, but I did make it out for Thursday night’s stitch circle, which featured a Q&A with Fringe Association‘s Karen Templer (who was in town shooting the Fringe holiday catalog with Kathy Cadigan, but more on that in a moment). Since Tolt is in Carnation, and depending on traffic, anywhere from a 45- to 90-minute drive from my neighborhood in Seattle, I don’t make it over very often. This meant it was my first time at the Thursday evening stitch circle, but from what I gather, we were a much larger group than normal! Karen fielded questions and talked about her business for near on an hour and a half (she’s a champ!), while we all merrily knit and stitched as we listened. Kathy grabbed a great photo, seen above. Gudrun was also in town for the weekend, doing a book signing on Saturday for the shiny new Shetland Trader Book 2 (which is gorgeous), giving a talk, and teaching a class on Shetland lace.

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Kathy also grabbed a photo of the shop on Saturday (above), during the proper anniversary celebration, and it looks like it was a madhouse. Congratulations on one year, Tolt! Anna has done such an amazing job with her store, creating not just a beautiful and inspiring space, but also a community around it. I’m so incredibly grateful to be a part of it. And I also can’t wait to get my hands on some of Tolt’s new Snoqualmie Valley Yarn – you can read about it on the Tolt blog here.

Going back to Fringe for a minute, I mentioned that Karen was in town to shoot the Fringe holiday catalog with Kathy. It went up today, and man, it is gorgeous. I’m particularly obsessed with the old fiber mill spindles (and I may have already ordered a few; hoping to spice up the yarn storage situation at Paper Tiger HQ) but everything is beautiful and the brand new Fringe Supply Project Bag looks like a dream. You can view the clickable catalog below, or (in case the embedded version isn’t showing up) view it on the Issuu website here.

It’s a joy to have friends who make such beautiful things happen. And one last thing! I’ve cast on for the Hearth Slipper KAL, jointly run by Tolt and Fancy Tiger. I’m trying out some new colors and I’m really enjoying the wintry feel (think ice caves / glaciers / snow at night). Check out all the photos tagged with #hearthslipperKAL right here.

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announcing…a hearth slippers KAL!

DiannaLeave a comment

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Good morning from drizzly Seattle! With the return of Seattle’s more typical autumn weather, and the end of daylight savings time, the days are feeling a lot shorter and the desire to remain inside curled up with a good book is getting stronger every day. Consequently, all I want to do is knit myself a pair of Hearth Slippers to up the cozy factor, so it’s good news that Fancy Tiger Crafts and Tolt Yarn and Wool just announced a joint Hearth Slippers KAL!

Both stores have posted about the knitalong on their blogs – you can read the Fancy Tiger post here and the Tolt post here – but I figured I’d share the pertinent details here as well. So here they are:

– The KAL officially runs from November 18th to December 16th

– Both Tolt and Fancy Tiger are offering 15% off supplies for the slippers before the KAL starts (for the Fancy Tiger store your discount code will be “hearthslipperskal” and for the Tolt store the code is “HSKAL214”). The discount is good for both Heirloom Romney yarn and the Fiber Trends suede slipper soles.

– Progress photos and discussion can be shared on social media with the tag #hearthslipperKAL

I’m going to do my best to join in and keep up, but I’ll be traveling for much of the duration of the KAL, so I won’t be making any solid commitments. I’ll be using Fancy Tiger’s Heirloom Romney, of course, and my yarn is pictured above! On the left is my main color, the new Dark Natural colorway, a beautiful undyed dark grey (a bit darker in real life than it looks in the photo). On the right is my contrast, Hubbard. I fell in love with that blue when I chose colors for the original samples and I’m still in love with it. For the third color, which is really more of an accent, I’m pretty sure I’m going to use some red Tomato leftover from the samples, but I’d like to swatch with it first to make sure there will be enough contrast with the dark grey. I think the dark main color will lend my slippers a different mood than the original samples, and I’m looking forward to getting started in a few weeks.

I would encourage everyone thinking of joining in to knit a gauge swatch (in the round) before the KAL officially starts, especially if you’re planning to substitute yarn. I think the Heirloom Romney is the perfect well-wearing wool for slippers, but I also know that not everybody does wool (and sometimes it’s easier to knit from your stash). If you are planning on substituting yarns: Heirloom Romney is heavy for a worsted weight, and a bit of a sticky wool to knit with, so if you sub another worsted weight yarn (especially something like a smooth merino), you may find that your gauge comes out significantly smaller. I would highly recommend swatching with something closer to an aran weight, particularly if your colorwork tends to come out tight without a lot of stretch. Due to the nature of colorwork fabric there tends to be quite a bit of variation in gauge and elasticity from one knitter to another, so it’s important to always swatch!

I hope some of you will join in and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s slippers!

nordic knitting conference / hearth slippers for tolt yarn and wool

DiannaLeave a comment

It was a whirlwind weekend, but I had such an amazing time at the Nordic Knitting Conference a week and a half ago! It was the biggest conference yet, and it was such a treat to be teaching alongside such a fantastic roster of teachers. I’m incredibly grateful to my truly wonderful students for making such a busy weekend such a joy, as well. My five classes flew by, and nothing makes my day quite like a satisfied student’s sincere thank you on their way out the door. I also want to make sure to say thanks to the Nordic Heritage Museum for having me, and I hope to have the opportunity to work with the museum on events in the future.

One of the funny things about being an instructor at an event like this is that I didn’t actually see very much of my fellow teachers, but I did get to hear Arne & Carlos, our headliners, speak at the banquet. If you ever get the chance to take a class or see these guys speak, do it. It’s difficult to overstate how funny and engaging they are, and I was in stitches all night.

I was busy enough that I didn’t really have a chance to get any photos over the weekend, but you can check out the #nordicknittingconference tag on Instagram to see photos (viewable in a web browser here).

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I also had a new pattern make its debut at the conference. Anna at Tolt Yarn and Wool approached me around a year ago about designing a pair of slipper socks, maybe with a Nordic-inspired design. Obviously, I was in! I started playing around with motif ideas and before too long, Hearth Slippers were on the needles. This was an interesting pattern to design and write, because it’s heavily charted but offered in three sizes (two adult sizes and a child size); this meant, in effect, writing three patterns in one, as each size comes with its own set of charts. I’m quite pleased with how it worked out, though! I’ve heard that the pattern kits Tolt was selling at the conference were a hit. I’m going to borrow a photo of Kathy Cadigan‘s, where you can see the project bag I designed for the kits as well!

These are worked in the round from the cuff-down (which is how I typically work socks), but everything else about the construction borrows heavily from traditional Norwegian mittens. The motifs on the top of the foot, back of the leg, and sole of the foot are divided into three separate sections, separated by borders. The heel is an afterthought heel, worked much like you might work a thumb on a mitten: waste yarn is worked across the row where the heel is placed as you work the length of the slipper, and then the waste yarn is removed and heel stitches placed back on the needles to work the heel after the fact. The motifs are very typically Norwegian, as well. A little bit of duplicate stitch in the center of the Selbu stars adds a pop of color and contrast.

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We used Fancy Tiger’s Heirloom Romney for this design, a cozy but hard-working yarn made from American wool and well suited for winter slippers. The samples also have suede slipper bottoms from Fiber Trends sewn to the sole. I love the color palette of Heirloom Romney and I think there’s a lot of potential for beautiful combinations (and in fact I’ve just ordered some yarn from the new Fancy Tiger online shop to make myself a pair in a new color combination!).

Paper copies of the Hearth Slippers pattern can be purchased at Tolt Yarn and Wool’s brick-and-mortar store in Carnation, Washington, or you can procure a PDF version here on Ravelry or here on Tolt’s website.