adventures in knitting

Every year I have a small batch of knitting yarn made.

I am a knitter myself, after all. But I also started this farm business by selling our farm raised yarn — so it just feels right to keep that part of the tradition going — even if the lots I make are small these days.

This year I decided to have a fingering weight made because it feels like the most versatile weight with ample patterns available.

I almost always have it blended with merino because that just adds to the versatility. This year I went with a 70/30 blend and the result was about as perfect as it gets.

This was just a few pounds of my fiber and with the blended merino fibers, the overall yield was only 40 skeins.

Despite that, I still couldn’t help myself and dyed up a rainbow — 5 skeins of each color.

A few years ago at our Open Barn, I discovered that yarn sells best in the farm store when someone is actively knitting and/or there are sample pieces available.

So I picked out a colorwork pattern called Herb Garden Cowl from Amy Van de laar that would showcase my naturally dyed colors.

Selecting my colors was easy…

I took the one skein that got jumbled in the dye pot.

And a nice contrasting reddish pink dyed from my 4 year old madder roots.

I started in September, which was cutting it close since Open Barn was in early October.

This pattern was only my second try at colorwork. I was immediately delighted with my color selection.

The yarn was probably the best spun yarn lot I’ve ever had made — with uniformity in the spin and absolutely no defects — kudos to the fiber mill!

It kinda flew off the needles.

I did most of my knitting in the evening in my favorite recliner. Seeing the pattern develop was pretty fun!

As I neared completion, I started to get worried I might run out of the yellow marigold-dyed yarn.

I really wanted to keep this a 2-skein project so I kept on and hoped for the best.

As I began the bind off, I had literally just a few yards to make it happen!

In the knitting world, we call this playing Yarn Chicken!

I’m happy to say I won!

Well…I won Yarn Chicken but I did not win at completing this beautiful piece in time for Open Barn.

Oh well, ya can’t win ‘em all!

I finished it on a bright and sunny mid-October afternoon during what was my post season break.

It was so sunny and warm that I knew I had to get this finished cowl washed & blocked because it would actually be able to dry outside quickly if I did.

Of course I had to photograph it in our big farmhouse sink. We renovated the kitchen almost exactly a year ago and I splurged for a large farm sink.

This was the first knitted piece to get its bath in it and I patted myself on the back quite a lot after taking this picture!

Not only is the sink super spacious, but it’s under a south facing window that gets bright sunny light.

I honestly took joy in the washing process, it was a dreamy scene if I do say so myself.

Without wasting a second, after a 20 minute soak I got it on the porch.

As you can see, I’m also working on washing the sheeps fleece.

This puppy dried in no time!

And it fits oh-so-nice.

This’ll definitely be a cowl I wear when the winds are whipping and the snow if falling. The pattern offered two options, a short and a tall. I did the tall just to see if I could use up all my yarn and I mostly did.

And the alpacas seem to like it as well!

I still have some of this lovely yarn available for immediate shipping if you’re interested in trying it out yourself, or gifting to your favorite knitter.