The new kid on the blog

Greetings, earthlings!

I'm Kim and I'm the newest voice on the Anzula blog- so if things go from 0-Quirky real fast, you can probably pin most of that on me. I've been a pretty huge fangirl of Anzula for about 5 years now, and have had the pleasure of traveling with Sabrina on a few cross country road trips (The delirium is REAL) so I'm pretty familiar and obsessed with Anzula's line of luxury fibers for those of us who like the super-fancy cast-on. 

I started out as many of us did, by bugging my poor grandmother relentlessly to teach me how to crochet. Finally, she gave in and pacified me with a hook and teeny-tiny ball of leftovers from a baby blanket or flouncy toilet paper roll lady and I was, ahem, hooked. Well, at least for that afternoon. 8 year old attention spans, whaty'gonnado?

I picked the hobby back up in college while I worked a receptionist job that had a lot of downtime and not enough work to fill it with. Instead of sitting up front with a gossip mag I crocheted my first afghan. I tweaked it as I went, based off of this Skullholders pattern, then found historical pirate flags and mapped them out on graph paper with pencil. I didn't use much math- which accounts for the edges not really matching up and there being a pretty major difference in the gauge between the first square and the last one. 

I've gotten better at gauge since this photo was taken... and photography. Yikes! Hello, bare mattress?

Crochet was my jam, I was a machine. Oh, it's Christmas? Congrats, you all are getting coasters that look like lime wedges. Hey! It's your birthday? I hope you like the taste of amigurumi cupcakes! 

Sabrina and I at TNNA in 2011.

Then I met Sabrina while standing in line for a food truck, and got sucked out of the world of Wal-Mart yarn and down the rabbit hole of Anzula. I learned to knit in the truck with Sabrina on a trip to Ohio, she dictated what I should do next from the driver's seat and I would do it. I was successfully doing entrelac before we were out of Utah. 

Entrelac on the road. And the yarn is Haiku in Poppy. How I remembered that, I'll never know.

Eventually, I moved onto another job- cause a writer's gotta write, write, write, write, write, but the surprisingly glamorous world of indie yarn has stuck with me. It's been 4 years since I worked full time at Anzula, and the growth the company has experienced has been awe inspiring. Even though I wasn't physically helping to produce the product and get it out the doors anymore, I still had this very strong sense of pride for Anzula.

Three across in the truck all the way to Portland. You gotta love what you're doing to get that snuggly with each other!

So fast forward to two Tuesdays ago- picture this. I'm actually sitting on my bed, my baby asleep for the first time in what feels 12 months and staring at my long abandoned collection of hexipuffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt. I'm thinking "Ugh, I wish I had time to actually finish projects and get some more one-on-one with my real true love- cashmere." when I get a text from Sabrina asking if I'd be interested in blogging. 

Show of hands, who else has a billion jars, vases and other receptacles around their house filled with their WIP hexipuffs?

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, of course I said yes! I can only sneak in so many hours a week to knit and crochet, but writing is different! I can do that without worrying about a tiny baby pulling the needles out of my project and having to pick up stitches. There's a lot less cursing involved in holding a skein of yarn and harnessing its power to share with the world. Game-changing opportunity.

So you'll be hearing from me, hopefully frequently, and I'm excited to be able to get a toe back into the waters of the knitting scene again. Is there a topic you're interested in hearing about, a yarn you want to know more about, pattern ideas, close parallels drawn between worsted weight and your high school crush- hit me up in the comments and I'll do my best to make it happen!

xoxo!

Featured Project: Spring Garden Tee in Cricket

As a new-ish member of Team Anzula, this past February was my first experience at Stitches West. Because we only work directly with our yarn shops, Stitches West is our opportunity every year to meet directly with you, the knitter/crocheter/spinner/weaver. It energizes us to see the projects you make and to talk about the craft with you.

​© grandmastatus 2013

After meeting so many wonderful people and seeing all the Anzula they took home, I found myself wondering what amazing items everyone worked from their skeins. Thanks to Ravelry I was able to meet Cecilia, a Stitches West shopper who created a beautiful Spring Garden Tee from Cricket.

Cecilia was originally shopping for Oasis, but when we didn't have a sweater's worth of the colorway she wanted she shifted her focus to Cricket. Unable to choose between 1 Red Shoe and Madam, she says she chose Madam because it is “more of a rich subtle color” rather than “bright and outstanding.”

​© grandmastatus 2013

With Cricket in hand, she had to find a new pattern. She chose the Spring Garden Tee from Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. It's a lovely delicate tee with lacy cap sleeves and a lacy detail around the bottom. It's elegant alone, or also fabulous styled with a simple ribbon or other thin belt.

Visit our website to find a local or online Anzula retailer. ​If Cricket is not available at your LYS, you can place a special order through any store that carries Anzula. 

Casting On the Little Cable Knee Highs

​We have started our Little Cable Knee High knitalong, and we hope you've chosen to join us! If you haven't cast on yet, don't worry. We are all at different knitting levels and speeds so we'll be continuing the discussion for a while over in the Anzula group on Ravelry.

​Sylvia's Chiva sock is off to a great start!

The Purl Bee's pattern is written for double pointed needles. Most of us here use circular needles, so a few stitch markers are helpful for following the pattern to mark where Needle 1, Needle 2, and Needle 3 start.

Becca chose to start her sock like she starts hexipuffs!​

This sock pattern starts with a provisional cast on. On this count, we were divided. Some chose to do this, starting with a crochet chain as explained here on the Purl Bee, or shown in a video here at New Stitch a Day. This method from Knitty was also used. Some chose to do Judy's Magic cast on instead of a provisional.

Meg used the provisional cast on technique from Knitty to start her sock.​

One of the most important things to do before you get too far into the sock is to make sure that your gauge is correct. If you aren't sure, you can measure your gauge to make sure that it is the recommended 8 1/2 stitches per inch. Here's a little guide to measuring gauge from the Purl Bee.

Rather than make a swatch for these socks, we all jumped in and started knitting the pattern. More than one of us had to frog and restart to get the proper gauge. Gauge will vary a little when knitting in the round rather than knitting flat, so make sure that if you decide to swatch, to do so in the round.

Or just try the socks on. As you knit, the socks feel so luscious that it's hard to resist trying them on, anyway. Charlie made several modifications to her sock by trying it on frequently and adjusting as she went, so it is a perfect fit!

​Charlie used the provisional cast on for her Petunia sock.

Have any other questions about knitting these socks, or any observations or tricks? Come join our thread on the Ravelry group.