Chapter 2; 100 scarves

Happy New Year!
Yes, I know it's late on January 9...it may be the 10th already for some of you...and certainly will be when you read this.(Sorry about the delay! I had some technical difficulties). Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! How's 2015 treating you so far? Good, I hope. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, if not I meant to, but I'm going to treat this blog a lot like a podcast. I'm going to (try to) post weekly. It's been a little wonky around here with the minions being on break and then having two days off for the bitter cold. I work in a neighboring district and I was off for three days, but we had pipes burst so that's why I've been home and been busy.  Much like a podcast, I'm going to try to limit the amount of editing and/or deleting and rewording the things I type. I'm quirky like that. I hope you stick around and read everything but if you're just interesting in the knitting/dyeing/general crafting stuff, please feel free to scroll down. I'd really like to hear from y'all too! Tell me what you think. What you like, or what you think I could improve on. I can handle constructive criticism and appreciate any and all feedback. :) So, let's get to it!

On the needles
I am working on a few things:

I'm knitting a Greek Fire shawl by Josh Ryks (who is swordofaknitter on Rav and Instagram) for my bestie, Amy E.  You'll hear a lot about her. She's more like my sister than my friend. Anyway, I'm using two different colorways of Madelinetosh Dandelion; Sugar Plum and Medieval. They are a fingering weight 90/10 superwash merino/fine linen blend, and there are 325 yards/297 meters per skein. I'm also using a skein of Tiara by HiKoo in color 071; which is close to a natural or bare yarn...except it has bling!! It has beads AND sequins!! There's only 188 yards in this 100g skein so it is the accent to bring these purples together. She also asked for a button detail for an option to close it. Not too sure how I'll do this, but I'll make it work.

I'm also working on my Hitchhiker by Martina Behm. I'm using US size 6 (4mm) this time because I'm playing with drape and I want to get the most out of my yarn. This is "Bad Day" by Lemonade Shop on Etsy. Isn't it beautiful! I remember I was having a no good, very bad day when I saw this posted on Instagram and I just had to have it. I originally was going to make socks but then I saw someone post a hitchhiker in this colorway and I knew I had to do that!

And as always. I have vanilla socks on the needles. Right now I'm working with some of my own yarn, Tale, in the "Wit & Treasure" colorway. This is the first pair in my #15pairsin2015 goal.

Finished Objects
I recently made two hats for one of my dads, Papi. Papi is my stepdad. I made him a bomber hat a while ago and never really finished it. I had some adjustments to make on the sizing that involved steeking, cutting, and sewing. I also made a Viking Hat with Beard. This started as a joke. We live in the Midwest. They (Papi and my mom) are in the NW suburbs of Chicago and we (my little family; husband and minions) are in NW Indiana about 30 miles from downtown Chicago. It's cold here. Very cold. Freezing cold, really. It started with a Facebook post from Papi and we all got a good laugh. Little did he know I'd actually make it because he'll actually wear it! Papi is my favorite person to knit hats for. He'll wear anything!! Hats are our thing for Christmas. The latest hat featured deer...doing natural deer like things...to make baby deer. I followed this chart. NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN!! ;)

In My Queue
I have a few things planned, but haven't casted on just yet.

I'm joining Shannon of the Minerva Turkey Podcast and several members of her Ravelry group in making squares for the Barn Raising Quilt. I have some other plans for my sock yarn scraps, but I think this would be s fun project.

I'm also planning on knitting a Rikke Hat out of some Malabrigo I got on vacation last summer that is just sitting in my stash!

The latest item in my queue is a MKAL by Ysolda Teague. She has created another Follow Your Arrow shawl. I participated in her first Follow Your Arrow shawl last year, but it sits in my UFO bin because I broke my wrist halfway through and never picked it up again. It's too pretty to not finish and I only have two sections left.

On The Burner

I spent most of the day yesterday and a good portion today dyeing. I hope to have the shop open in the next two weeks with a few colorways I'm very excited about. There will be two different hand painted/variegated colorways, and one self striping! 

On The Back Burner

Basically in this section I'll talk about future plans and any ideas I have rolling around in my head. So...

For the shop, I am planning on a few themed collections that will be available to all, but only for a short amount of time. Also, I will be doing a yarn club. I don't want to give away that theme just yet, but I can tell you that there will be two colorway options for each of the three or six month delivery options. More information on that will be out next month. Bags and stitch markers may make an appearance in the shop as well. 

There's a few things I'd like to know from y'all:

~What are your favorite yarn bases and weights to work with?

~What would you like to see more of (from indie dyers, in general)

~Thoughts about a Rav group for the shop?

~What are y'all working on? What do I *need* to cast on immediately?

Adventures!

This is where I talk about more of my personal life. There may or may not be knitting/yarn/crafting related things featured (this week there is), so if you're not interested in this kind of stuff thank you so much for checking me out this week! Hopefully you'll come back next week! If you're still here, thanks for sticking around!

I want to start with a story about someone I met at a not-local-to-me LYS. Amy E (the bestie I talked about earlier) and I went to a LYS local to her and there was a man that knits 100 scarves every year and gives them away to children at his former elementary school every year. What's so amazing about this man, and his generosity, is that he's autistic. I spoke with him and his lovely mother for about an hour at the shop. She explained they go to the shop 3 days a week and he works on the scarves. With worsted held double he works on size US 15 needles and makes garter stitch scarves. Although he is 27 years old, he is only at a second grade reading level. His mother explained that he taught himself to knit from pictures! Despite her best efforts to teach him, he did it all on his own. So, we sat. We chatted. He knit. We counted the trains that went by. There were 5. As you may or may not know my little one, Bopper, is autistic and I work with low functioning autistic children in a structured learning elementary school classroom. This man warmed my heart. I loved every minute with him. He told me about his letter from the yarn fairy and how she was so impressed about his 100 scarves. He told me he was going out for pizza with grandma for dinner that night, because it was Friday and that's what you do on Fridays. Although Amy E and I went into that LYS just to check it out, we left with so much more than the yarn she purchased. Knitters are everywhere and no matter how you knit, or how you learned, or what fibers you use, knitters are wonderful people. Meeting this amazing man reconfirms my thoughts that knitters are some of the greatest people in the world. His mom and I exchanged Rav names, so I hope we'll be able to keep in touch. Perhaps I'll run into them again the next time I head out towards Amy E. 

Not too much else has happened around here. I blame the cold. :P 

If you're still reading this, I love you! Seriously! Maybe one day I'll podcast, but for now everything will just be in writing. Thanks for spending some time with me! Remember, you can find me on Rav and IG as wittyknittingyarn.

 Now, go out and tell your own tale. Make every stitch count. ;)