Keepsies (plus giveaway)
Every now and then you stumble across an opinionated skein of yarn…a skein of yarn that wants to be knit in stockinette and simply will not take no for an answer. I happened upon a skein like that, and Keepsies is the result!
So I’m not going to lie. This is more or less just a tube of stockinette. Yes there’s ribbing at the bottom to make it behave, but after that, you just settle in and knit every stitch until it’s tall enough. No fancy business at all.
But then? Then you come to the top. And that’s where all the fun bits happen! First you have to decide if you want the knit side or the purl side facing out (in these pictures, the lighter hat has the purl side facing out, the darker one has the knit side facing out). Then you do a little bit of magic (nothing hard…no grafting, no seams, no sewing, no extra ends to weave in), and you have that adorable bit of business you see here.
Well, that’s not quite true…you have an adorable hat in need of a good blocking. But blocking this one is ridiculously fun (yes, I totally got out my childhood marbles to do it…hence the name and the photo shoot theme), and the pattern walks you through it, so there’s no reason to be scared.
I think you’re going to have way too much fun with this. The knitting itself is dead simple. You can use a huge range of yarns (anything from fingering to light worsted). And you get to do what is more or less a knitting magic trick at the end that will have you feeling ridiculously clever. I suspect you won’t be able to get away with making just one. But don’t worry, it comes in five sizes, so you’ll be able to fit pretty much anyone who is asking you for one of their own!
I’ve got a skein of the lovely, opinionated (and that’s compliment, not a complaint!), yarn from The Lemonade Shop that started it all to give away (and they’re doing kits with the pattern, yarn, and even some marbles for blocking). If you think it should come live with you, just leave a comment telling me about the most outspoken yarn you’ve worked with. Tricky speckles? Fuzzy bits? Bright colors? There’s no right or wrong answer, I just know we’ve all encountered one along the way and I want to hear your stories!
And for everyone I can’t send yarn to, I’ve got a coupon for Keepsies. You can use the code MARBLES to get 10% off between now and Saturday. Just put Keepsies in your ravelry cart, click on the ‘use a coupon code’ button, and type in the code MARBLES. You’ll see the change in price reflected right away.
Comments left between now and the end of the day (eastern time) Saturday, July 8, 2017 will be entered to win. I’ll pick a winner, contact them to get their addresses, and arrange to send yarn their way. Be sure to use a real email address so I can contact you if you’ve won (I won’t do anything with those email addresses besides notify the winner). If I do email you, I need to hear back from you within 72 hours or I will pick a new winner and contact them. Sorry, but I can only ship physical prizes to US addresses.
I have yet to work with an opinionated yarn as this but I’ve surprised myself with some selection and combinations of colors I’ve knit with. I’ve never really liked yellow but am finding I love it and pink!? when I knit. I’m currently obsessed with a yarn by camel city Dyeworks called circus peanut-I love it. This is an amazing hat that is perfect for the yarn!
I don’t have an outspoken yarn i’ve worked with because i’m fairly new to knitting. Hopefully i will spend lots more time knitting & find such a yarn or even yarns!
My most outspoken yarn is speckles! Sometimes they work, and I am very happy. But sometimes they turn out not to be the speckles I needed for the project chosen and I am forced to frog and try again. I guess that’s why I am so interested in them and like trying them.
My most outspoken yarn was one that was basically a bright/dark rainbow. It looked *amazing* in the skein and like clown barf when I knit it up. That was back in 2000 or 2001, and it was my introduction to hand-dyed yarns. I’ve kind of tended toward semisolids ever since, to be honest!
I do have a skein of 2 ply possum yarn that I’ve tried to knit several times. It is rather fuzzy and at two ply the stitches aren’t very round and even, so the fabric always turns out a bit wonky. I haven’t found the right at term for it yet but some day I wil, that is, if I haven’t made a complete fuzzyess of the yarn If you have any great pattern ideas I’d love to hear them. Thanks.
A student brought me a skein of yarn from one of her trips. It was very bright! Acid greens, dark greens, hot pinks, teals, bues. It was very opinionated. Even tho I picked a pattern that looked good with it I had to give it away at the end – just was not my colors. Love the new pattern!
I bought a very opinionated yarn that is blues, a strong yellow, and a hint of white, it is so highly verigated! I loved it in the skein and now all I see as it is wound up is a “Michigan State University” colorway *sigh*. It is beautiful and I think it insists on being socks, so I will break up these seemingly team colors with contrasting cuffs, heels, & toes- and everything will be ok 😉
I Loooove Keepsies❤️❤️❤️ I have some adorable people in my life who require this hat!
The yarn I am working with now is very opinionated!! It’s very tweedy 4 color yarn, but instead of stripes I am getting big blocks of tweedy patches! It’s turning into quite a crazy looking sock!!
I love this hat… Can think of multiple family members who would love to have this hat!!
My most opinionated yarn was colorway called “Spumoni”. It was basically hot pink with a few other speckles of color. It waited for quite a while; then, I ended up using it as the contrast color with black in a shawl called Lightning Bugs.
Years ago I was just starting to knit again and bought a skein of lime green “fur” yarn to make a scarf. It tangled, it knotted and when I got it finished, it tickled when I wore it. I gave it to my 7 year old niece who loved it.
The most opinionated yarn I ever worked with was Lorna’s Laces “Zombie Barbecue” for a pair of socks. All it wanted to do was “pool” and I wanted to bend it into submission. Tried four different sock patterns, finally found one that worked my way — and now if I remember correctly, I never finished them.
I love this hat and yarn! ❤️
I think the most opinionated yarn I’ve worked with is Wollmeise in the Sutan colorway (VERY colorful). I must have frogged it three times (luckily the yarn held up) before finally realizing it wanted to be a Hitchhiker. There was enough yardage to make 42 “teeth” and a genuine tribute to the genius of Douglas Adams.
I have two skeins of Socks That a Rock in Sherbet that are also very opinionated. I’m trying to listen to them and understand what they want to be.
I haven’t used any “opinionated” yarn yet but if I would it probably would be speckled!
This is so awesome and that yarn!!!! Thanks for the opportunity.
I have a beautiful forest green tweed that refuses to be anything but a sweater, and yet I’ve tried to knit it into a sweater twice, each time using a different pattern, and it’s still not a sweater. I guess one day it will let me know when I’ve found the perfect pattern. Until then, I keep petting it on a regular basis.
I love this yarn, and your quirky hat!
Oops forgot to mention the yarn…I don’t know that I have worked with an opinionated yarn…the most opinionated would be self striping so doesn’t really apply.
Oh, lovely!
I think the most opinionated yarn I’ve worked with was some Mini Mochi in the rainbow colorway. I’ve learned I just don’t like singles, and man that yarn did not want to be anything. I finally just made a garter square and will be sewing it up to make a colorful pillow cover.
Cute pattern…can’t wait to see the trick. Perfect hat for the grandkids! My most opinionated yarn was handspun so I can’t blame anyone but me. It finally settled into a simple cowl.
Aside from the stretches of grey, the rainbow colors in this yarn look like the yarn I learned to knit with when I was a child. I loved it then, and still love the combination now, decades later.
I’m currently knitting a very opinionated yarn bought years ago. It was supposed to be a sweater for my husband, but the radically thick and thin nature of the yarn fought every stitch pattern I tried with it. It marinated in the stash for awhile until I discovered how well chevron stitch works with stubborn yarns. I paired the thick-and-thin with a smooth yarn from the stash (that I had accidentally purchased in 2 dye lots), and now they’re becoming a blanket.
Right now I’m making a shawl with my most opinionated yarn so far. It’s a bright neon yellow/green from Hedgehog Fibers and it’s paired with a speckled yarn that has the same bright yellow, blue, green, and black. Not my colors at all, but it kept calling to me until I finally bought it. I tried about five different patterns before settling on a shawl that mixes garter stitch (speckle) and lace (neon).
I had some chunky alpaca yarn that I think I frogged 4 different projects before I finally found what it wanted to be! A beautiful cowl in a simple seed stitch pattern.
I’m spinning a very opinionated yarn right now. It’s Noro roving and it really wants to be spun long draw at a heavier weight than I want to spin. We are currently in negotiations.
I’ve had a few arguments with variegated dishcloth cotton that still grind my gears, let me tell you.
Highly variegated yarns fall in that category for me. Usually I end up pairing it with a solid and a slip stitch pattern. I have used Lemonade Shop Sock yarn before and lived it.