Universal Yarn Creative Network

This week I’d like to share an IRL I spotted recently from Jen in our accounting department:

Jen’s sweater was worked in the decadent Fibra Natura Llamalini, a blend of Royal Llama, silk bourette, and linen. Can you say YUM? Here is Jen describing this project in her own words:

“I had an idea in my head of the kind of sweater I wanted.  Top down, deep v-neck and some sort of simple lace.  So I basically cobbled two patterns together to get what I wanted. I really wanted to work with the Llamalini, because its sooooo soft and nice to knit with.  For this project I was actually a good girl and did a swatch in the round, and then soaked and blocked it so that I could determine my gauge.

The only thing I don’t like about the sweater is the way the neckline came out. I used a smaller needle for the ribbing with the idea that it would cinch it up a bit, but it didn’t work out like I thought it would.  If I do something like this again, I’ll definitely do ribbing instead of garter stitch at the bottom because the garter stitch keeps flipping up and its annoying; and instead of ribbing at the neckline I might do an applied i-cord to really tighten it up.  All in all though, it’s a nice, comfy sweater to wear, works good for layering over a tank top or a long sleeve shirt depending on the weather that day.”

Sounds like this project was a good learning experience for Jen. It looks so nice on her, and I love the pop of color from the shirt she has layered underneath. Well done!

Our sales director and my boss, Yonca, is a very enthusiastic knitter. She always has at least a couple of projects on the needles, usually garments. Here is her latest creation, this lovely summery top made in Little Bird:

Yonca always has to put her own spin on projects, and this one is no different. She loved the lace patterning on this free pattern in Garden 10, but didn’t want a cardigan. Yonca wanted something she could dress up or down, and just throw on over a tank top or dress. So instead, she simply knit up 2 rectangles using the lace pattern and came up with this easy to wear piece.

It’s hard to believe, but this shirt really is just 2 rectangles with a few seams, and a little bit of garter stitch at the neck. Yonca knit this with a few inches of positive ease for a nice open and flowy top. I love everything about it!

We are fully immersed in balmy summertime weather here in North Carolina. I look longingly at my heavy hand-knits every morning, knowing I won’t get to wear them for months. But with high heat also comes air conditioning, and we keep things pretty chilly here in the Universal Yarn office.

Many of us keep a lightweight sweater or jacket on the backs of our chairs for when the cold blast becomes too much. Heather, on the other hand, loves to knit and wear hats. She follows patterns sometimes. But Heather has knit so many hats that she is a hat-knitting pro and will often just cast on and start knitting, which was the case with this lovely hat in Poems:

I asked Heather to tell me about her hat, and here’s what she had to say:

“I was going to see Kingsman (loved it!) and wanted a fairly mindless project to work on in the dark, and hats are my go-to.  To keep it a little interesting, I added a right twist every other row.  I liked that technique in my Rocked Knitalong so it seemed like a good addition here.  For the decreases, I did a p2tog every couple of rows in the p3 sections, then did did my best to keep the twists going as I did k2tog for the final decreases. 

This hat will probably be set aside until I see what the Afghans for Afghans charity ( http://afghansforafghans.org​ ) is doing this year.  If they’re in need of hats, that’s where it’ll go.  It gets cold in those mountains!”

Heather’s hat took just one ball of Poems. We don’t have an official pattern for the hat, but Heather cast on 90 stitches with a US size 8 16″ circular and dove right into k2, p3 ribbing and worked a right twist every 2 rounds.

Thanks for sharing, Heather!