Middle of Nowhere Knitting is Moving....

Or rather, Grey Poodle Designs just opened it's very own blog!

Middle of Nowhere Knitting will stay "open", so you can view the archives if you wish, but there will be no new posts.

Please visit Grey Poodle Designs and Liz over at the new blog. Thanks!

Liz :)

Raffle to Raise Money for Japan

After the horrible news that a Tsunami had hit Japan, knitters all over Ravelry started auctioning off yarn, knitting notions, and beautiful knitted items to raise money to help the people of Japan. One of the groups I'm pretty active in on Ravelry decided to do a combination of auctions and raffles to raise money to help Japan recover.

I offered up a skein of handspun yarn and a project bag to be raffled off. The raffle starts 4/10 (Sunday) and the end date hasn't been posted yet, but it will be sometime that week.

Yarn is handspun Merino/Cashmere/Nylon dyed by Two if by Hand 

Approximately 240 yards of light worsted weight. 

It's super squishy and soft. 

You know you want it!

We've raised about $2,000 so far, just in our little group on Ravelry!

So.....if you want the chance to win some awesome handspun yarn with a lovely hand sewn bag, here's what you do:

First, click here and read all the guidelines. There's also a list of a bunch of other really fantastic items up for raffle. 

Second, donate to one of the charities linked in the forum posting. There is a $10 minimum, which buys you 2 raffle tickets. There is a 2 ticket minimum for each raffle item. 

Third, forward your donation receipt to YH.japan.fundraiser AT gmail DOT com with a message stating your ravelry name, and which item(s) you'd like to use your raffle tickets for.

I'm not sure if they are e-mailing the winners, but you will receive an "earburn" on ravelry notifying you if you win!

Just wanted to let everyone know of the great chance to help a great cause and win some yarn in the process! 

Love,

liz 

Blair, finally.

Sometime last winter I was looking for another sweater quantity of Madelinetosh Tosh DK, and Purl Diva was expecting a shipment. I had originally been looking for something in an earth tone of some sort, but when Ellen told me that she had the colorway Lapis, I couldn't resist. My plans for this yarn has changed at least half a dozen times over the last year. But then the Winter edition of Twist Collective came out, and I found the perfect pattern:

Pattern: Blair by Thayer Preece

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in colorway Lapis

Modifications: My modifications somewhat stem from my inability to follow directions. I had planned on following the pattern as written for the size 35 1/2". Well, apparently I skipped over the section where the yoke increases only on the front and back and not on the sleeves. So, the body of my sweater ended up having the same amount of stitches as the next size down once I split the sleeves. Since it was knit "top-down", I was able to try it on and realized that it would still fit just fine...the neckline would just be a deeper V than the pattern calls for. I actually think it worked out perfectly. If I had not made that mistake, the body may have ended up being too big and baggy. The only other modification that I made was my sleeves are slightly shorter than the pattern calls for. 

Back.

I love everything about this sweater. The fit, the color, the eyelet detail, and the overall style. 

Buttons from BeadFreaky on etsy.

How about one more picture?

Seth made me climb the pear tree. This was the only halfway decent picture of about 20.

I have another, not nearly as exciting, finished knit.

Pattern: The Big Easy by Vivian Aubrey 

Yarn: Handspun MCN dyed by Two if by Hand

Modifications: None

The yarn knit up really, really lovely. It's amazingly squishy!

So, after I finished my Blair sweater I went a little crazy casting on new projects. I have another sweater on the needles (more on that in the next post), a shawl, and a baby sweater. 

What's that you say? You want to see pictures of the new projects? Okay, okay....twist my arm.

Saltwater Taffy Baby Cardigan in Wool Candy Fondant Merino DK. 

Scalene in Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merino 

I have some new handspun to show you, too....but I think I'll write up a separate post for that later in the week. 

Love, 

liz