A Kitten Knits: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday Sky

taken overlooking the frozen St. Lawrence river from the veterans' memorial on riverside dr. Clayton, NY

taken Saturday, January 31, 2009, at 11:20am

Friday, January 30, 2009

Ok, so um, like I said in my last post I've been busy lately, but I finally have something to show for it all!

First up, the parade of headbands:

Like the last headband, these and just test knits by me while I prefect the pattern. I plan on posting it up on Ravelry sometime this weekend. (a link will be provided here for everybody who wants it)

Then there were fish...

I got a commission order for some catnip fish, and then I was on a roll, so I made a bunch more
Most of these are for sale up in my etsy shop if you are interested.

I also finished up another design I've been working on, the shamrock tam:

This is for a class on stranded colourwork I'll be teaching at the hand weaving museum. Once the class is over I'll be putting this pattern up too.

Speaking of the hand weaving museum, I finished another scarf, this time for myself:

Yarn: knit picks palette, pattern from Hand woven magazines web site.
It was woven relatively loosely (10 epi) and then felted once it was finished.
It's wonderfully warm and squishy, I love it.

And if all that wasn't enough I've also been embroidering:

These are from some sketches of my cat, Esme. I really enjoyed them, and have several more planned. I think once I get everything worked out, I may offer the patterns up as a block a month type thing, but I haven't decided yet.

Now that all the FOs are out of the way, I've also started a pair of socks using some handspun yarn. But I don't have any photos of those yet,.
What I do have is a photo of some lovely Mountain colors barefoot (in evergreen) that Lucia sent me for winning one of her contests.

The picture doesn't do it justice, this yarn is so deep and lovely with dark greens and blues and just a touch of violet. I love it, but Bill has already claimed a pair of socks for himself out of it. (once I finish the socks I have going right now.)

Thanks Lucia!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Satuday Sky

saturday sky, taken Saturday Jan 24 2009 4:00 pm
outside the Platypus nest

Friday, January 16, 2009

Oof, a lot going on but not much to show.

I am alive, I promise, its just I get all ready to sit down and do a post, and then I get distracted and by the time I get back to it I just don't feel like posting anymore.

A couple of weeks ago a lady that frequents the coffee house where the local knit night meets approached me with a very old and raggedy knit headband. She had bought it many years ago while on vacation and it quickly became her favorite. Unfortunately it was time to get a new one, but the place where she bought it no longer sells them. She was wondering if I could make her one.

Of course I said I would, and immediately set out to figure out a good pattern, and this is what came of it:

She loved it and immediately ordered one in read, which I am just finishing up. I'm working on getting the pattern written up and as soon as I've gotten all the kinks worked out I'll post it for you.

I also finished some spinning:

This is a test batch from the two fleeces that I received a while ago; these four skeins are about 4 oz each. I carded and blended half of each fleece, and then spun them up soft and woolen. I got a bit of a fright when I washed them. I really wanted to make them bloom and hold together so I washed it in alternate hot and cold and abused them quite a bit. When I pulled them out they had felted almost solid!! I was crushed; I hung them up to dry and then tried to figure out what to do.

Once they were dry I took one skein and kind a roughly picked it apart. Thankfully it wasn't quite as solid as it had appeared when they were wet, and the strands pulled apart with some work. I reskeined one, and then just rolled the rest into balls. This yarn is quite soft and has the most amazing halo. (most likely because of all the abuse and then having to pull them apart after they felted together) I'm thinking about knitting this up loosely into a sort of shawl/lap blanket.

I've also been doing a little bit of sewing!

Bill and I love our local library and often take several books out at a time, but carrying them all can be a bit awkward sometimes, so I sewed up a denim tote bad to carry our books in:

On top of all that I've been weaving.
I just finished my second scarf, and hopefully will have pictures for you all in my next post!
See you all then!