How to steam block acrylic knits.

I have to say it.

I'm a sucker for exciting acrylic yarns.

You know the ones you see at Walmart or Micheals, that either have a unique texture, or fabulous colours. And you can still buy a whole project's worth for less than $20.

But sometimes, the finished knit needs a little extra help. And you can't just wet block it the way you could with a wool knit.

Red Heart has a newish line of 'Boutique' yarns, and although I was able to resist grabbing a couple balls of the Unforgettable the first 4 or 5 times I saw them. I eventually caved and came home with enough to knit the Lafayette Shawl (designed by Julie Farmer) featured on the ball bands.

You can find the pattern page on Ravelry by clicking here.

And I went with the Dragonfly colour way, cause I just couldn't say no to those blues and purples. (See all of the Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable colours here).

It took about 1 and a half balls to knit, but the finished shawl looked great. Problem was, it definitely needed to be blocked, all that stockinette just doesn't want to lie flat.

So I got out my handy dandy clothing steamer, and went to town.

Check out how I did it!

Crochet from Molly Makes: Colour Block Slippers by One Sheepish Girl

Here's a project that I finished up last week. Well and started too, because it was a fun and quick project.

Aren't they adorable and super girly!

They were designed by Meredith Crawford, of One Sheepish Girl.

Do you read her blog?

You absolutely should.

Because everything on it is just beautiful, and she does a lot of really fun knitting and crochet projects!

This pattern can be found in Issue 59 of Mollie Makes (came out just before Christmas).

And I featured these slippers in my week 20 #Knitting4Twins pregnancy vlog.

I love a good stash buster crochet project... probably the reason why I have so very much worsted weight acrylic in my stash!

How to overdye your hand knits using food coloring.

So as you might know by now, I'm expecting identical twin boys in June. So of course I'm thrilled to be knitting and crocheting as much as I can for them during my pregnancy. In fact, I'm doing a weekly vlog about it over on my youtube channel.

One project that I recently finished is the In a Pear Tree baby Cardigan. The pattern is available as a free Ravelry download, and was designed by the Barbarian Horde.

I knit it using some yarn that I had recycled and dyed... thinking that since the yarn had both blue and pink in it, it might somehow be gender neutral. (I knit this up before I knew if I was expecting boys or girls).

But yeah... it totally looks like a girl's sweater.

So I thought, why not see if I can overdye it blue?

So I got out my handy dandy dye pot, and dug out all of my blue food colouring and got to work.

Oh I filmed it too!

And I have to say, I think I like the result.

It came out maybe a little darker than I wanted, but that's ok, I still like it. Now I'm off to go knit a second one, and overdye it differently (because twins shouldn't match perfectly, right?)

Let me know if you've had any successful overdyeing experiments in the comments below!

Knitting 4 Twins Pregnancy Vlog!

That's right... Pregnant.... with Twins! And I'm vlogging about it over on my youtube channel.

I'll be posting weekly vlogs, every Monday, as I knit and crochet my way towards my June due date.

Here are week 17-18, and week 19.

Week 17/18 show notes:

I'm starting a new weekly vlog! I'll be posting a video every Sunday for the next 5 or so months. What's the topic?
I'm knitting and crocheting for 3 now!

That's right, I'm expecting twins this June, and couldn't be more excited to wrap them up in lovely yarnny goodness!

Patterns in the video:
Sockabooties: http://mashpitsknits.blogspot.ca/2007...
In a Pear Tree Cardigan:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/libra...

Week 19 show notes:

Sharing my pregnancy progress as I knit and crochet my way towards welcoming my identical twins in June 2016!

This week I reveal the babies's genders, show off 3 finished projects and one new cast on.

For more fun, don't forget to subscribe, and you can follow me on instagram and twitter as @yarnlabcanada and find me on Ravelry as turnerclassic

Mentioned in today's video:

In a pear tree cardigan: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/in-a-pear-tree-the-cardigan

Wet Coast Wools: http://wetcoastwools.com/
Rain City Knits: http://raincityknits.com/
The Loop Kensington: http://theloop-kensington.com/
Knit Picks Bare Roving: http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Wool_of_the_Andes_Roving__D5420200.html
One Sheepish Girl: http://onesheepishgirl.com/