Category: Knitting

This morning, I purchased four skeins of Fishermen’s Wool in Brown Heather from my local AC Moore stores. I say “stores” because I hit two different locations. I normally don’t purchase wool from big box stores so this is a first for me, however, I’ve heard about Lions Brand Fishermen’s wool. It’s been classified as a ‘sturdy’ wool. Since I wanted my second afghan to be durable, I thought… why not give Fisherman’ s wool a try? Towards the end of last year, I purchased two skeins of the yarn. 

But back to AC Moore… I printed out four 50% off coupons and paid a little under 6$ for each skein. Yes, you can only use one coupon per person, which is why I brought my daughter along. The stores were about 15 minutes away from each other and I had errands to do near each location, so I didn’t go out of my way to take advantage of the coupons.

I used my Boye electric winder to rewind my yarn. The good news is, there weren’t any tangles or knots! I did have to wind the last few yards by hand since the winder was unable to hold these jumbo yarn hanks. I now have eight center pull yarn cakes.

Each of the skeins of Fishermen’s wool holds 465 yards, which means I have 1860 yards of yarn. I’d already knit about 300 yards before I purchased this yarn. With today’s purchase, I should have more than enough to finish my garter stitch afghan, but I do believe I’ll purchase two more skeins later this week just to be on the safe side. I’m positive there won’t be any complaints about having an extra long afghan to curl up under during cooler months.

Since the yarn has been rewound, I’ve placed all of them in the storage container that I’m using for my knit in progress afghans. This container smells heavenly since I placed bits of raw wool fiber that I scented with lavender and lemongrass essential oil.

I’m really enjoying knitting my afghan in progress with Fishermen’s wool.

The color of this yarn is brown heather. This yarn is affordable. On Amazon, this particular brand/color costs $9.76 for 465 yards. However, I’m able to purchase it for about $6 locally. I take advantage of the 50% and 55% coupons and snap them up at A.C. Moore. Quite a few of my purchased wool skeins cost much more and for less yardage! Fishermen’s Wool by Lion Brand Yarns is a new to me yarn. Yes, I’ve seen it for several years, however, I never purchased it until the end of last year. I haven’t completed anything with it yet… it’s currently being utilized in two projects.

Besides its affordability, I would also classify it as one of the ‘sturdier wools.’ I have found bits of hay within the yarn, which adds to it’s ‘rustic’ appearance, but I just fish out those pieces and continuing to knit with the yarn. Finding the occasional bits of hay reminds me of the random pieces of straw that I occasionally encounter when spinning my raw fiber into hand-spun yarn.

This wool is also 100 virgin wool and so some of the lanolin remains within the yarn. I like that since I can feel the lanolin on my hands as I knit.

How am I using this yarn? Well, this knit in progress is destined to be another garter stitch afghan. It’s the simplest stitch to make and since I’m using my Hiya Hiya circular needles (size 11) it’s just knit stitch until I stop.

Well… I do slip the first stitch so I can create these neat rows, but other than that it’s just miles and miles of knitting. 😉

But before I rack up the miles, I’ll need to stock up on the yarn. Why? I’m down to my last skein of yarn, see? Which means that I’ll have to purchase more tomorrow. AC Moore has this in stock and so I’ll be stopping by there to purchase a few skeins. When I have some downtime, I’ll rewind each skein. That’s the perfect way to discover potential knots and then place them in their storage container that has scraps of raw wool fiber scented with lavender essential oil and lemongrass and pull the yarn cakes out as needed.

Small Blessings

Because the needles are so large, I’m finding that I’m not experiencing any wrist pain. Lifting items with my left arm are still not to be done and lifting above my head will bring on the pain. I’m not rushing anything and am thankful for what I can do. As a Christian, I’m reminded to give thanks for all things, but even if I wasn’t, staying positive sure beats complaining. I’ve been around people that seemingly always have a negative cloud about them and at times it can wear upon you.

Today was cool and so I was able to utilize the blanket that I just finished. It’s draped over my legs.

What are my knitting goals for the year? I want to have knit three afghans before 2019 rolls around. After this one, I have one more to complete. My third afghan will be knitting a log cabin afghan.

The above blanket is a colorful inspiration for myself. This one was done by Staci Perry of Very Pink. More on the log cabin afghan that I’ll be knitting, the book I purchased specifically about these types of afghans in a later post.

Resources

1. Learn to knit a log cabin blanket – Staci Perry
2. How to knit a log cabin blanket

Last evening, I was able to complete the crocheted border for my knitted afghan. I’m really liking it a lot. While making this afghan, I was undecided on what type of border I would create, even though I knew it would be crochet, I didn’t reach my decision until yesterday on what I would use.

What stitch did I choose? Well… first I did a single crochet stitch completely around the blanket. It was very neat and I could have left it at that, but I decided to add another row of crochet only this time I crocheted a border that had a scalloped edge.

Do you want to know something? I attempted to crochet that scalloped edge several times before I got it the way I envisioned it to be.

Results? I really like this handknit blanket a lot and so does my daughter.

I’ve included a video so you can see a tutorial for crocheting a scalloped edge.

However, I did deviate a bit from her instructions.

What’s next? I believe I’ll be adding a handstitched lining to this blanket (think Alabama Chanin) and sew an embroidered label (to the fabric) that features one of my daughter’s designs and the start and end date of this project.

By the time this handknit blanket is finished, I do think this will qualify as an heirloom blanket! 😉 I only work with natural fibers, this afghan is 100% merino wool.

My daughter loves this afghan and so do I. It’s large enough to fit on top of a full-size bed, however, it doesn’t hang down on the sides. When not in use, this afghan is being stored in a storage container. I’ve added small cotton swatches of fabric that contain lemongrass and lavender essential oils. Also, in that container are my knit in progress blankets.

Knitting another Blanket

I’m still knitting that king-sized blanket and I just started working on a fisherman’s wool blanket in brown heather. Fisherman’s wool is 100% Pure Virgin Wool. It’s a sturdy yarn and I love that it still contains natural lanolin oil you can feel it when you’re working with the fiber. Fibers that don’t have the lanolin removed are great since it weatherproofs the fabric that’s created.