We're here to help you stitch sustainability into every aspect of your making.
With our carefully curated selection of non-superwash, plastic-free yarns and notions, we have everything you need to get started on your next project - and the one after that.
Here's to a wardrobe of knits we love and want to wear for years to come!
Queue Check
Hello friends!
It's Claire here, and I'm back with a very woolly post! Knitting season is in full swing, and though we're year-round knitters here at Making Stories, there's something about Winter knitting that just feels special. Snuggling down under a cosy blanket with a new WIP and a hot mug of something steamy, that is our happy place.
Lately, Hanna Lisa and I have been knitting all the things, and we were so happy to find that our newest team member, Elsa, has been exactly the same! I thought it was the perfect time to do a little Making Stories Queue check so we can share our current projects with you all.
So without further ado, let's take a look!
On Hanna Lisa's Needles
Bindweed
Since we release Issue 5, Hanna Lisa has been dreaming of having her own Bindweed to wear this winter, and she's got it off the needles just in time!
Bindweed was one of our most popular patterns in Issue 5, and it's not hard to see why. With its cloud-like fabric and show-stopping sleeves, it manages to be a statement piece while remaining super wearable. Knit top-down and seamlessly, it's also a super intuitive knit making it a really enjoyable knitting process.
Bindweed is knit using Knitting For Olive Merino and Silk/Mohair held double. The original sample combined colour Powder (a very pale pink/beige) for the Merino and Plum Rose (a dusky pink) for the Silk/Mohair. For Hanna Lisa's version, she chose to invert the colours so the Merino was the dominant colour. She went for Plum Rose in the Merino and Rose Clay for the Silk/Mohair.
Orage
Being an avid sock knitter, Hanna Lisa couldn't resist casting on a pair from our latest issue, Issue 6. The Orage socks are knit cuff down, with a heel flap and French heel. The pattern features a cable motif that works as the ribbing and represents lightning.
This pattern was a bit of a deviation from Hanna Lisa's usual sock knitting, as she's a devote toe-up sock knitter, but that gorgeous cuff was tempting her too much! To her surprise, she loved knitting these cuff-down, and was super happy to find they fit her perfectly, one of her usual concerns with knitting cuff down.
Orage flew off her needles, and though much of the credit goes to the lovely pattern, I think the yarn choice helped too! Hanna Lisa used the original yarn, Mominoki Finnwool, a fantastic allrounder, sourced and produced entirely in Finland from Finnsheep. The original colourway we used is Curry, but Hanna Lisa used Sage for hers, a beautifully soft blue/green shade.
On Elsa's Needles
Cuddle Blanket
It's been so lovely having Elsa join the team, and as soon as we spotted this FO, we knew she was going to fit right in. Elsa recently knitted the Cuddle blanket from our Kid's Collection for her cats! This is definitely something I'm on board with, our furry family members are knit-worthy too!
Aside from the adorable recipient, I'm also loving the yarn choice. The original sample was knit using O-Wool's O-Wash worsted, which is perfect for children's knits as it uses a GOTS certified organic compound to create washability. It is really lovely, however, to also see this pattern knit using a more 'rustic' yarn. Elsa chose Istex Lettlopi in colourways 9420 Blue, 1701 Fjord Blue, 1700 Air Blue, and I think it works beautifully!
Macara
Another project from Elsa is the Macara Beret from Issue 5. It’s a classical worsted-weight beret and worked up in a gorgeous jewel tone like here it reminds us of the wonderful shapes and forms of nature in its prime.
I've also knit this pattern before, and it's so much fun! It just flies off the needles and would be a particularly good project if you were looking for some gift knitting inspiration.
The original yarn for Macara is John Arbon Textiles, Harvest Hues Worsted, a blend of local Devon farmed Zwartbles with organically farmed Falklands Merino. I love the stitch definition of Harvest Hues, but it's equally lovely seeing Macara knit in something with a little more halo. Elsa used Isager Highland Wool in Wine and the matching Silk Mohair and I'm obsessed! What a lovely colour for combatting those grey winter days.
On Claire's needles
Vitrail
In contrast to Hanna Lisa, I'm not an avid sock knitter. I'm usually drawn to sweater knitting, or if I'm in the mood for something a little smaller, I love casting on a hat. So when I found myself suddenly stash diving for the Vitrail socks from Issue 6, I was a little surprised, but I just couldn't help myself. That texture was calling to me!
These cosy slippers were inspired by the small windows of light peeking through the sky as the fall season unravels. They are comfortable house socks with a cabin in the woods feel, keeping feet warm for walks amongst tall trees. In other words, right up my alley.
The original yarn for Vitrail is woollentwine's Corriedale sock, a high-twist lustrous sock yarn spun from 100% Corriedale wool. I would have loved to use this yarn, but being in Nova Scotia I don't have easy access to it, and as I said, they were calling to me! So, after a little stash diving, I settled on Retrosaria Modim in the brightest yellow you've ever seen. So far I've only completed one, but I'm a notoriously slow sock knitter, so to reach this point is quite an achievement for me.
Do that's what is on our needles right now! We'd love to know, what are you working on at the moment? Let us know in the comments below!
3 Responses
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Also in Blog
Thoughts on closing down a knitting magazine
As a lot of you might have suspected I have, at last, made the decision to definitely close down Making Stories Magazine after Issue 14, our 2025 Fall & Winter issue. This means we still have two issues to go - Issue 13, coming out in March (Confetti & Rainbows!!), and Issue 14, coming out in September. I wanted to share this decision with you bright and early as I don’t feel like holding this in when we publish our last Spring and then our very last Fall & Winter issue. I want to celebrate those issues, and the work that we have done over the last eight years, and I want to be able to share the bittersweet feelings that will inevitably come up when the list of “lasts” still do be done gets shorter and shorter.
Read More
All the knits I finished while recovering from surgery
About three weeks ago, I had surgery. Nothing major, and it was planned - but it was my first time undergoing general anaesthesia and facing an uncertain recovery period, both of which made me quite nervous. I knew that I was going to be in the hospital for two days, if everything went well, but then it was between one and three weeks of recovering at home, depending on how fast my body was going to heal.
Needless to say, I packed knitting for the hospital, but I didn’t feel like picking up my needles until my second day in the hospital. And then I knit. I knit, and knit, and knit. Curiously enough, I always get the urge to clear off my needles this time of the year - something about the weather changing, sweater season approaching, maybe? And this year, this urge coincided with me wanting to do something while watching copious amounts of Netflix without having to think very hard about what I was going to knit. Win win!
Art Nouveau Sample Preview Video - Issue 12, Fall & Winter 2024
Let’s wander the streets of Brussels and Paris, searching for the hidden architectural Art Nouveau gems – houses, doors, windows, street lamps. Let’s explore Berlin’s Jugendstil tile art, marvelling at the colors and shapes taking form. Let’s get lost in the work of water color artists, glass blowers, jewellers, embroidery artists, and myriads more, who dive into the shapes and curves of plants and flowers, moving, flowing, mirroring.
Read More
Britta
November 24, 2021
I knit Orage socks with Mominoki Yarn Finnwool in Steel Blue. The First one is finished.