A few new things to chat about this week. I finished by Color Frenzy cowl and you can read all the details on that fun knit in my post from Friday (2 days ago).
I’ve been working on a new colorwork project. This is the Cinnamon Stars cowl, designed by Baroque Purls. The original was knit using 2 hand-dyed tonals but I wanted to try out a slightly different approach. I started with a very dark variegated yarn from deep stash, Northern Lights from The Cyborg’s Craftroom, on her sock base, and then pulled 8 light colors in a sort-of gradient from Miss Babs Yummy Sock minis in pale purples, grays and dusty blues. I have 24 repeats of the star pattern in the cowl to knit, so I’ll repeat the color sequence 3 times in total. I’ve knit the first repeat of 8, plus one more to get started on the middle set. I’m loving how this looks already!
I’m still working on the cabled socks test knit (so unfortunately no pictures to share) after a bit of a hiccup with the numbers, which the designer had to rework to make things fit better. So I frogged what I had done (down to the top of the heel) and restarted those with her new numbers, which improved the fit immensely. I will also have photos this week of the big cabled wrap I preview knit for Brooklyn Tweed when that goes live on the 15th.
I’ve also been doing a bit of spinning, and completed the two bobbins of singles in my Finnsheep spin. Original roving was from Two If By Hand in the Quick Quotes Quill colorway. I’m hoping to get the plying done this week!
I have fallen down the rabbit hole that is crocheted blanket squares and felt confident enough with my basic skills to start a Battenburg Blanket (design by Cherry Heart in the UK). I’m using sock yarn scraps for mine and working on the colorful blocks right now. These will be interspersed with plain off-white blocks to join everything together – when I get that far.
Finally, I’m in the home stretch in the current page of the pattern I’m cross-stitching for my Winter’s Encounter piece. I think 1 or 2 short stitching sessions will get that partial page down at the bottom finished and I’ll be just about at the 50% mark for this project!
Finally, this upcoming week I’ve got two new cast-ons planned. One is a simple eyelet cowl in Aran weight that should knit up quickly, and the other is a Misurina Tee that I’m knitting as part of a KAL. I’m looking forward to both of those – details to come next week!
Knit One, Spin Too 
The cowl is gorgeous! Love all the bright cheery colors in it. The cinnamon stars cowl is also great. Like the way it looks gradient. Your crocheted squares look perfect. Theyy are such a nice take along project too. That cross stitch is breath taking. I had never seen or heard of a cross stitch like this. Just beautiful.
Thank you so much! I’m really enjoying the Stars cowl and love the little extra the gradient look provides for it. I didn’t think I’d take to crochet, but I’m really enjoying it!
The cowl looks amazing. I’ll look forward to seeing the finished product. Spinning, I know nothing about as well as crochet, but I’m impressed that you are feeling ready to tackle a full project with it. And that cross stitch is going to be stunning. But I may be biased. I have horses and tend to favor seeing them in any format.
Yes – pretty much any project is a favorite of mine too if it has horses. This one reminds me quite a bit of my long-gone but still-loved endurance horse, Bhen. 🙂
Hmm, good example of a designer using her test knitters as tech editors. I would not test knit for your sock designer. I would have to say that the errors found in my baby sweater test knit falls into more of a typo error than truly an error. Your cowl looks terrific.
Thanks – I’m really enjoying working on the cowl. I feel for the designer – she wrote a good pattern, had it TE’ed and then most of the testers have either a high arch or wider feet (or both) than she does, so while they fit her, it was a struggle for most of us to put them on. I appreciate that she tried!
Agree. If she tech edited then she did all she could to make the pattern be ‘knitable”.
Your Battenburg Blanket – What a great way to use all those yarn remnants that we just cannot seem to part with. Good luck!
IKR? I have gobs of odds and ends of sock yarn, but each square only takes 9 yards so I can use ALL of those!
Love love love the star pattern and the colours you chose are perfect. Your spinning looks great and makes me want to get some coloured fibre. All my stashed fibre is natural grays/browns/cream. I so would like to be spinning something more interesting – I guess I could dye some before I spin it – now there is an idea (but buying more fibre is more fun).
It is fun to treat yourself and not have to do all the work, start to finish. I love natural-colored wools to spin but sometimes you need a little color injection in your life too. 🙂
Cinnamon Stars is gorgeous…I know you explained how you did it but to me it’s magic! The yarn you’ve spun looks so tiny…is it going to fingering weight or do you join it with other yarns/plys? I know nothing about spinning but it fascinates me. The blanket squares are lovely. Cherry Heart does so me beautiful patterns. The XS horse is so beautiful…..it’s awe-inspiring. Have a great week.
The singles are pretty light – when plied together, they’ll be sock-weight-ish. I don’t use singles much so I will almost always ply them to make a better-wearing yarn that has a balanced twist. I have several of the Cherry Heart designs I’d like to tackle…. someday!
These look great! I love the colorwork cowl – that’s a really striking design!
Thanks! I am in love with how the cowl is shaping up!
All such lovely projects but that cowl… well it’s gorgeous!!!
Thank you so much 😀
The Battenburg Blanket is gorgeous. I’d love to make one, but the sewing would leave all the squares in my closet for years, lol. Your squares are great. Can’t wait to see how your project goes. That cowl is amazing! The design looks great with the colors you chose.
Thank you – FWIW, the blanket is a join-as-you-go technique, so technically not any sewing beyond ends! It will still be a slow one for me. I mostly plan on just making squares until I’m tired of making squares. 😉