First, these sweet, tiny crocheted hearts from Kristen TenDyke; these puffy little hearts made me smile.  Pattern Here.

Julie Kundhi has these flat crocheted hearts, which would make excellent gift embellishment, or glue a pin back on for a quick brooch.

And for a non-knitting, non-crochet, but all yarn-love option, try these wrapped yarn hearts from Woolywotnots.  Wouldn’t they be great on a small scale glued to cardstock for a sweet crafty valentine?

So in my excitement and KAL inexperience (it’s my first time as a KAL organizer), I realized that while the Pavo Real KAL began yesterday on ravelry, I completely neglected to post about it HERE.  FAIL*.  Hopefully, it will sound like so much fun, some of you will still want to join in and forgive my gaffe.

So without further delay, here are the details:

The KAL’s homebase is in the KSD group on ravelry.  The only real rules are use KSD yarn (because it’s a KSD knitalong, right?) and check with me if you have any major pattern issues before freaking out mid-forum (I’m not expecting any real problems since the pattern’s been knit by several different knitters, but you never know.).

If you’re on twitter, tweet with the hashtag #PavoKAL to join in on the conversation there.

The KAL’s flickr group can be found HERE.

This is a month-long knitalong for February, so join in at any time and share your projects.  I can’t wait to see them.  We’ll aim for finished shawls by the 28th, but since life sometimes has other plans, just show us what you’ve got along the way.  It’s the journey, right?

And again, not to plug it too hard, except I think it would help new laceknitters, but if you love the look of these lace shawls but are intimidated by hole-y knitting and charts and markers, consider signing up for my online Pavo Real lace class.  I promise to make you more confident and capable with lace knitting, and you’ll get a lovely shawl to boot!

*I could blame it on the groundhog.  He is awfully compelling.

Wake up woodchuck chuckers, it’s GROUNDHOG DAY!!  Reports are in that the official groundhog meteorologists have seen their shadows, but not so much here in Alabama.  Desmond is recommending Keens and t-shirts in coming weeks.

I wrapped up this amigurumi project or the Groundhogalong in the nick of time, sewing up the last of the pieces and giving him a little embroidered schnoz just after lunch.  This project was a blast!

The details:

Remnants of two colors of KSD Merino Fine, dye-test skeins (available current colors-Dram and Mycroft).
Yarn was held doubled, two of the light brown for body, one of each for ears, tail, and limbs.
Size E hook
button eyes, embroidered nose, stuffed with wool roving

Desmond will be hanging out with me tonight on the sofa as we watch Groundhog Day on Blue-ray.  You can also see his cousins Phil over at Sister Diane’s, and Ned Ryerson over at Kim Werker’s, and if you want a cute little groundhog of your very own, head over to Planet June for patterns for the groundhog and a menagerie of amigurumi crochet critters.

And one more thing…BING!

Are you ready for the Pavo Real knitalong? We’ll be casting on for our shawls tomorrow, Feb. 2nd, and I’m super excited to see what variations y’all are working on!

The knitalong’s home will be on KSD’s ravelry group, and I’ve also set up a flickr group to share photos of your projects.

I’ll start a fresh forum thread tomorrow morning for you to post your progress, photos, questions, and ideas. And, because this everyone loves prizes, there will be random prize giveaways for KAL participants during the event!

Get out your needles and KSD yarn and get ready, this is going to be awesome!  Want to participate but feel a little out-of-your-league?  This project is much easier to learn than you would think! CLICK HERE for more information on the Pavo Real online class, where I’ll teach you step-by-step from cast on to bind off how to knit this fun (and addictive) lace project.

Bow Headband pattern from Sweatshop of Love

It seems everywhere I look right now, I find another sweet, clever headband (Or maybe I have them on the brain because I’m growing my hair out.).  These are easy accessories to make with a bit of scrap yarn and a small amount of knit or crochet time, and they’re lovely and flattering with almost all hairstyles, from buzz-cuts to Rapunzel locks.

Allyson Dykhuizen of Sweatshop of Love has just released a sweet, beginner-friendly bow headband that uses scrap sock yarn and would whip up quickly on size 5 needles as gifts or a last minute finishing touch for your wardrobe.  The one above was knit in Luxe Merino Fine in Trafford.

Feather headband from Mimi Boutique (want!)

These gorgeous feather headbands are also an inspiration.  Maybe try a simple knit or crocheted rosette with a few strategically hot-glued feathers?

Travel Headwear has a fun selection, some for free, of crocheted headband patterns, both skinny and wide, with a fun bohemian style.

And, if you love the look and want to treat yourself to some handcrafted love, check out Broken Hallelujah’s etsy shop for some lovely flower headbands (and cute mary jane slippers, too!).

So last week when I posted about traditional knitting gone modern, I had no idea where it would end up. I swatched a bit and played around, and had a really unexpected, funny, and useful idea!

You may look at the swatch above and think, “sock”.  So did I.  But then I thought about this-

That would be a pint glass from my regular Friday afternoon hangout, The Bottletree.  It’s one of those deals where you buy the glass for $10 and get happy hour prices on beer forever and ever.  Which is, in my opinion, totally awesome.  But I have to make sure I can get the glass from point A to point B without breaking it.  And I’m clumsy.  And I like to knit odd cozies.  And sooooo….

This is going to be fun!  I’m probably going to rip back and start over with doubled yarn, and probably switch up the color selection a bit (those two browns are melding).  I think I’ll do a reversible “cuff” for the top to tuck in to protect the rim of the glass (stealing this idea from my friend Kristin, who crocheted a cozy for her pint glass a couple weeks back) , that way I can fold it over and out of the way for drinking.

This video shows a variation of the two-yarns-in-the-left-hand I use when I do stranded knitting, using the adjacent fingers to tuck the unused color back and out of the way while working.  I don’t tension my yarn much, so I just lay both yarns over my index finger, separated my my 2nd knuckle.

Another great resource for fair isle knitting are the great folks at Philosopher’s Wool, when I was first learning this video helped a lot (you can tell it’s been up for a while, because they warn it’s “not for dial-up connections”).  Ann Bourgeois uses a two-handed method that really clicks with a lot of knitters.  If you get a chance, check out the companion book, Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified, for more great tips and techniques.

I’ve had traditional knitting on the brain this week; project ideas that revolve around updated versions of fair isle stranded knitting, richly cabled texture patterns, and modern silhouettes in gansey patterns.  A natural fit to bring these type of patterns a modern look is to use a classic but modern yarn, like a hand dyed semisolid.  Texture patterns can still “pop” with a subtler handpaint, and fair isle patterns gain a richer palette.

Currently, I’m knitting a rich cable pattern with Eco DK, a mid-weight three-ply yarn.  This pattern has non-stop cable twists on each right side row, so I’ve been using the “cabling without a needle” technique.  Having a smoothly plied yarn makes life sooo much easier while doing this, as single ply yarns and loosely plied yarns tend to collapse and separate without the structure of the needle holding them up.  I have a tutorial in the works for this technique, because it’s a lifesaver!

I’ve just opened enrollment on the Pavo Real online class, which will run from Feb. 2-22 to correspond with the Pavo knitalong next month.  I’ll show you how to knit a beautiful one-skein lace shawl from start to finish, with step-by-step instruction and support.  It’s all the fun of a group knitting class, but you can stay at home in your jammies!

Here’s the details:

What you get:

3 week class, includes PDF copy of Pavo Real pattern, video tutorials that you can refer to at your convenience any time during the duration of class, PDF handouts for you to print out and keep for your reference after class, chat and e-mail support for the three week class period, plus an additional 2 weeks of access to videos and PDFs after class.

Standard Enrollment= $65 ($59 if student has previously bought copy of the Pavo pattern)

Special Intro Price!= $45 ($39 if student has previously bought copy of the Pavo pattern)

What you’ll learn:
-lace knitting stitches, including yarnovers, decreases, and increases
-chart reading
-“reading” your stitches to tell where you are in the pattern repeat
-tips and tricks for lace knitting
-blocking

What you’ll have:
FUN!!! Oh, yeah, and a beautiful finished shawl.

Students who have previously purchased the Pavo Real pattern will receive a $6 PayPal refund on their class fee.

Questions? Contact me at mail-at-kitchensinkdyeworks-dot-com.

$45 Early-bird Enrollment

I just packed up a little gift box for a Valentine’s day swap on Ravelry, with this little nugget of a birdie inside (I’m pretty sure my swap partner doesn’t read this, and that it should be delivered by now, but if you’re reading, doll: SPOILER ALERT!!).

It measures about 2″ high, with little striped pipe cleaner chicken legs.  I modified a little bird pattern from one of my Japanese amigurumi books (isbn# 4-309-26670-3, bought from the fab Saucylouise) with scraps of Luxe Merino Fine in Peabody on a size C hook.  I love that little tail nubbin!

Now it’s time to gear up to work on some new patterns that have been clunking around in my noggin.  Fun ideas that I just can’t stop thinking about, so they must begin!  So knitters that may have been feeling neglected in this crochet lovefest, stay tuned over the next few weeks.   At least two new knitting patterns are on the way, including the full version (headband, cowl, mitts-So excited!) of the Snakehandler pattern featured back in autumn and a SWEET new embellished cardi!

Tara over at Blonde Chicken Boutique got sucked in a couple of weeks back (check her post on granny squares for some great links), which got me thinking about it again, which got the ball rolling on my current sock yarn scrap granny project.

Now Amy over at The Hook and I has a great post up about granny squares, including some basic charting and construction options, and a book in the works by she and Julie Holetz on granny square projects. Can’t wait to see that!

And my pile of granny squares just keeps on growin’.  I have a glut of sock yarn, so they may go on forever!  There are worse things, to be sure.  It feels like a guess the beans in the jar game, how many squares are in a basket of sock yarn scraps?

Want to start your own granny square project?  Start with this great tutorial over at the Purl Bee.