design

A problem, a solution, a better hat

| eelliottknits

Remember my one piece of Christmas knitting? Well, it’s done. It’s done, it’s off, and thanks to my ability to procrastinate and the wonder of USPS Priority international mail, I didn’t even have to go to the post office. I know people like to complain about the postal service here, but a public service that will come to my door to pick up outgoing packages is a thing of joy and a wonder to behold. A few extra bucks to avoid the aeon in Hell’s waiting room that is a post office at Christmas is money well spent, in my book.

It was touch and go, though. I had a plan, and I thought it was an excellent plan, which should have set off the klaxons of warning right away. Continue reading →

A day of one’s own

| eelliottknits

We’re on day 10 of the Tour de Fleece, and this is the sum total of my spinning so far:

First skein of those Iris Garden cupcakes: < 3 oz. Looking good, though.

This is the most recent colour play experiment, and I’ve got lots to say about it, but I finished it in the wee small hours of this morning, and it’s still a bit damp, so I’ll wait until I can knit some up before I bore you with the details. Continue reading →

Horseshoes and hand grenades

| eelliottknits

Lately, I feel surrounded by the almost finished. The nearly there. The not quite. I suspect that this feeling is largely due to confirmation bias: a large event in my non-knitting life has been so close to done for weeks, and many other tasks must hang fire until this thing is over, which colours how I see everything else. It’s not as though I haven’t finished anything lately, it’s just that the unfinished things loom large, and are niggling at me like an itch I can’t quite reach. For instance:

Continue reading →

Mawata Colossus

| eelliottknits

It all started with the Yarn Harlot.

You see, I had never heard of mawata until I stumbled upon Stephanie’s post proclaiming the glories of her hand-knit mawata mittens. Like eleventy billion knitters before me, I was intrigued by the idea that these stretched silk cocoons, stacked in layer upon gauzy layer, could be pulled apart and just…knit. And the fabric! So nubbly and colourful, humble yet elegant. I had to make such a fabric. It was an aesthetic imperative. Continue reading →