A Kitten Knits

NY Sheep and Wool

2011-10-16T17:33:00.002-04:00

Warning! Tons of pictures!

We just got back from the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. I didn't buy any yarn this year, but The Llama got to see a ton of his namesakes, and pet tons of sheep and goats.

It was a beautiful ride down (and back) but The Llama missed most of it because he fell asleep both ways.

We arrived just in time for the llama parade. We couldn’t really get close enough to pet any of them, but The Llama enjoyed pointing at them, and there was much squealing and giggling.

After a break for a snack and some time to run around we headed over to the sheep barn. The Llama LOVED petting the sheep, and kept trying to rub his face against them (we have a cat and he has learned from her how to show affection) he was fascinated when they Baa-ed and kept baa-ing back.

Then it was over to the goats. We started to watch an angora goat getting its first shearing, but it was a bit distressed and The Llama started to get upset so we moved on. The Llama enjoyed petting the goats too, but was startled when a few decided to ram at their neighbors. One nice lady let him feed her goats, which was really fun. After that he kept trying to give all the animals bits of hay.

On our way out of the barn we spotted some mini sheep (Shetlands) and we had to stop and pet them too!

After that we wandered around some more, went through the Llama barn (the Llamas weren't very sociable, so no pictures), tasted and bought some cheese, and sat down to eat another snack and have another run around, then it was time to head home. Now we are relaxing after a very fun filled day!

Zentangle

2011-08-14T20:42:00.000-04:00

I think I have a new obsession.

Zentangle its a type of doodling using a step by step process to create complicated looking 'tangles' combined together to create a 'zentangle' only using a simple pen, and no erasing. The step by step and black and white nature is supposed to be very meditative and calming, hence the 'zen'. I had an amazon gift card to spend, so I got Sandy Bartholomew's Totally Tangled, and I LOVE IT! There are so many tangles and ideas, I really want to get her other books now too.

I have gone through pages and pages in my sketchbook already and its only been about a week and a half since I discovered it. I find them so fun, and yes, meditative. I know it sounds kinda woo, but making these drawings really is so meditative and relaxing. and the result is always so nifty. If I'm having a hard or stressful day with TW, I find if I take a few minutes (while he is eating lunch or dinner) to draw, that I feel not necessarily refreshed, but more mellow, and better able to cope whatever frustrations come my way.

I've cut up a sheet of watercolor paper and am working on a bunch of bookmarks now. I think that I will be adding a tangled bookmark to the holiday gifts this year, so much of our family are readers that I know they will be appreciated.

I only just received Sandy's book on Thursday, most of my tangling so far has been done using resources from the internet, so it is totally doable even without all the official accoutrement! Heck you don't even need any of the fancy little squares or expensive pens if you can't get them, a lot of my tangles have been on regular printer paper using a sharpie ultra fine! (Although I do admit that the Sakura pens make a much finer line, with no bleeding like you can get with the sharpie pens.)

For more info in zentangles check out the zentangle blog or thezentangle patterns website and my favorite zentangle teacher/blogger/author Sandy Bartholomew at her blog (seriously, buy her books if you are interested in Zentangle, she is really awesome)

Star Wars geeks will get this

2011-06-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

A little while ago io9 had a little contest to give away a tauntaun sleeping bag they wanted to see some tauntaun related art. This is what I came up with:

I didn't win, but I'm pretty happy with it and felt like showing off.

recabled

2011-05-20T13:52:00.000-04:00

Wow, where does the time go?

No FOs yet.

But I do have a few things in the works, and there is something to show today.

A little while ago while I was working on my toe up Bayerichies I noticed a miss crossed cable!

Oh the horror!

But it's ok! I just dropped back...

And re-knit!

All better!

I have some other things to write about, but no time today, hopefully the next update will come a little sooner than this one did!

Toddler sox

2011-03-14T14:41:00.000-04:00

We somehow managed to loose one of TW's stripy sox at my last doctors appointment, bummer.

But it was a good excuse to make him some new ones!

Pair the first:

Needles: US size 2 (2.75 mm)
Yarn: Knitpicks Felici in Aurora and Knipicks Stroll in Purple

Pair the second:

Same needles
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll in Pumpkin and Dorchester Farms Handpainted in oranges and black

and a cute sock story:

The other day I had put TW's socks on, and he had quickly thereafter taken them off again.
A bit later I needed to leave for a while and when I came back Bill reported that as soon as TW had realized I was gone, he had gotten his socks and made Bill put them on him. He then left them on until I returned, at which point they quickly came back off again.

I'm not quite sure what to make of that! :D

hoo, hoo!

2011-02-18T09:50:00.002-05:00

Remember this from the last post?

Well, now it is this!

owlie mittens for my husband. He's been wearing the squirrel and oak mittens I made him a while ago, but since they are colorwork he sees them as 'special' and has been reluctant to wear them when he needs to do anything potentially messy or that could ruin them, so I decided to make him a pair of rougher, tougher mittens for everyday wear. But you know, I couldn’t jus let them be plain.

Pattern: give a hoot + cuffs from girls and ladies mittens
Yarn: handspun Jacob
Needles: US size 7 (4.5mm)
Notes: this pattern runs SMALL, I mean I should have notices from the schematic, but I was knitting slightly above gauge and I still needed to ass a few extra stitches around, and ended up needing to add a TON of rows after the owl to make them long enough.

Also I've been trying to get back into drawing and painting again, here is a really rough sketch of TW napping that I later filled in with watercolor:

Whew!

2011-01-31T09:02:00.002-05:00

It's amazing how busy life can be with a toddler. Yep I said Toddler, TW is walking like crazy, and it's a full time job keeping up with him.

I've managed to squeeze in quite a bit of knitting and sewing during naps and while wearing him, but I never seem to be able to find a moment to sit down and write a blog post, when I have a free moment I usually would rather be relaxing and knitting rather than typing, but I'm making an effort to get a post our today since I have such a backlog of things to write about.

I finally got around to sewing the last buttons on TW's baby surprise jacked, which I finished months ago. Thankfully it still fins him, and will for a while; all I will need to do is lengthen the sleeves occasionally, which should be no problem since I still have some yarn leftover.

TW outgrew the hat his grandmother made him, so I had to make another.

Stella pixie hat
Lion brand wool ease
US Size 6 (4mm) needles

The original pattern called for a normal cast on with a thin neck band sewn on later, but I wanted something that would cover his neck while we were out walking. I did a provisional cast on and then once the min hat was finished I picked up the bottom stitches, knit a few rows, then cast on 8 more stitches and joined it in the round and ribbed for 2 more inches. I threw in a few short rows along the front for a bit more coverage.

It works beautifully and is so stretchy that it will probably fit him next year too, and he looks so adorable!

I also knit TW a pair of socks, he was outgrowing his old socks, and they were all cotton anyways and I wanted him to have something warmer for the wintertime.

It's just my usually sock patter sized way down. They keep his feet warm, but as little ones are known to do, he keeps pulling them off. I need to make some more, he's already beginning to outgrow them.

Besides things for The Boy I've also been making a few things for me and Bill,

First off I have been sewing some new project bags, my old ones were made way back when I first started sewing and weren't very well put together. It was getting time for some fresh new ones.

the kitty bag on the left has socks waiting to be darned, the big red bag in the middle holds all my hand knit socks, and the purple bag on the right had my latest WIP

toe up bayerische
knitpicks essential (now stroll) in kettle dyed Jay
US size 1.5 (2.5mm) needles
although I think I'm probably just going to do my normal short row heel.

And finally on the spinning front, remember this?

I started spinning this Jacob fiber way back before TW was boon, and only just finally got the time to finish it up.

I plan on starting a pair of plain mittens for Bill out of it. The last two years he's only had his squirrel and oak mittens and he's been worried about ruining them, so he needs a plain 'working' pair of mittens

whew!

catching up

2010-11-08T20:36:00.003-05:00

so what have I been up to these last couple of months? mostly just enjoying my little guy, but there has been quite a bit of crafting as well.

first off, I mentioned the Baby Poonam in my last post. I know I posted pictures when I first finished it, but there was no baby yet to model it.

luckily, TW finally grew into the sweater just as the weather started getting nippy.

Pattern: baby Poonam
(ravelry link to my project page for specs)

as for stuff I've been workign on recently, there is a cute little bunny binky I made to help with bedtime and naps, he sleeps much better with his bunny.

bunny blanket buddy
(ravelry link for specs)

TW loves bright colours the cotton chenille yarn is really soft, yet washable, a plus! there's another one in the works too, but, well, it'll look pretty much the same when it's finished.

on the sewing front, as the weather cools it becomes more important to keep teh boy warm on our daily walks, so I modified one of my old jackets (pack rat for the win!!) into a babywearing coat.

we both stay toasty, and he loves it!

I have other things as well, like some baby socks, a pair of mittens, and the Baby Surprise is done too, but I haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet. those will have to wait until the next post. which will hopefully come in a more timely manner.

oops

2010-11-08T14:05:00.002-05:00

holy crap!

It had been way too long since I last posted.

while i try to put together a coherent post with everything you've missed in the last couple of months, why don't you enjoy these pictures of me and TW at Rhinebeck this year.

(this one was taken by our friend Jess)

his grandma knit the hat
I knit the sweater (baby poonam)
I also sewed the wrap, and the blankie.

Saturday Sky

2010-08-28T09:14:00.001-04:00

pretty sunset 08-27-10
Originally uploaded by alien_sunset

Taken Friday August 27, Frear Park

Teething giraffes and more

2010-07-27T13:44:00.001-04:00

Wow how time flies, TW is seven months, is crawling like crazy, pulling himself up and standing whenever he can, and has two teeth coming in already. At lunch time my husband will take the little chomping terror for about an hour or two while he naps (the boy won't nap on his own) and I will either make baby food to freeze or craft.

Pictures of baby food are pretty boring, but I have a lot of crafty stuff too.

Newest first are some teething giraffes, (did I mention that TW is chewing on EVERYTHING right now?)
I originally hear about teething giraffes from a baby forum I'm on and immediately went looking for a pattern. I found this one but wasn't very happy with my results (it didn't even get stuffed) so I fiddled around and came up with a slightly better model, but I found the body too square and its legs too spindly to be stable, also my first attempt at head gust to give it more umph for chewing was a lopsided failure. But the boy loved it. The plain boring, muslin, lopsided, spindly giraffe hung around for a while, and I got more and more annoyed with it, I knew I could do better. I widened the legs, sloped the back and tried to make a better head gusset. Along the way I discovered starbright baby on etsy. Well huh. After a bit of brooding I tried my third giraffe (the white one) and it was much better, but the head gusset was even worse than before! A little more fiddling, and a crappy attempt at ears and I had the best giraffe of them all, (the blue one). TW loves them all

Obviously since there is already somebody out there selling teething giraffes (at a very reasonable price, I might add) I'm not going to post my pattern. Go buy one of her's, and support a crafty work at home mom.

More of my babywearing madness, I made a narrow bodied wrap strapped Podaegi (Pod for short). It's kinda like if a mei tai and a wrap had a baby.
I really like it, the fabric is a light/med weight denim with bugs, lizards and frogs embroidered al over it that I found in the red tag bin at Jo-Anns. It went together really quickly and easy using this pattern and this pattern (which seems to have disappeared, hmph - still posting link for future reference) as inspiration.

I forgot to se my walking foot, so the fabric puckered a bit, but I reinforced the heck out of the straps, so while not aesthetically perfect, it's quite secure. There are tons of different ways to wear a Pod, a few can be seen here on you tube.

And we love it.

I made another baby block using fabric leftover from my crappy dress to awesome skirt project for a while back. TW loves the bright colours. And it gets manhandled and chewed often.

You can see it on my Grandmother's lap while she plays with the best baby ever.

And finally there is Marmalade the doorstop cat.

Pattern: fat kitty
Hook: J
Yarn: two strands of random worsted acrylic I had lying around

Stuffed with a freezer bag full of kitty litter and fiberfill for padding.

stuff, and lots of it!

2010-06-11T10:13:00.001-04:00

I said I was going to try to post more often; boy did I drop the ball on that one.

I've been crafting a lot, but I've also been super busy with the baby, ah well.

Anyways here is a giant post with everything I've been working on the last two months (oldest first):

Remember the cthulhu embroidered onesie? I finally colored it in.

And then made another embroidered onesie, this one with Godzilla:

DMC#s:
356, 433, 471, 666 (heh), 740, 815, 905, 3787

****

I made myself a new baby wrap, this one out of a tablecloth from Target; just cut down the middle and hem! Its 2.1m and perfect for the rebozo carry, which Tommy loves to fall asleep in.

****

while wandering around Goodwill I saw these really interesting summer dresses, they were the kind that just tie around the neck which DO NOT work for my figure, my boobs are always too big to fit in the top, and I always look bad in dresses. But they were nice and long and had some great prints. So I grabbed a couple and cut the tops off and sewed in some elastic and voila! New skirts!

I got three different colours/prints, red/orange, yellow and blue, but for some reason this is the only one I took a picture of.

****

Baby blocks!!

Bill had these really nifty pj pants with rubber duckies on them that eventually wore out as pjs are wont to do, but I loved the print so I kept them. When we had Tommy I thought it would be awesome to make something for him out of them. My first thought was blocks! But since I had a limited supply of fabric I made a prototype first out of an old worn out pair of jeans. It's a good thing I did; the first block was HUGE! (5" squares) so I made the next one a bit smaller, and that worked out much better (3.5" squares)

Now to get off my butt and make the ducky ones.

****

Whenever we go anywhere I always sit in the back seat with Tommy to make sure he's entertained and happy. (driving anywhere with a screaming baby in the back seat is not fun) unfortunately, I didn't have a bag or anything back there to throw bits of trash into (up front we have a grocery bag hooked over the gearshift) so I made one!

the car trash bag from One Yard Wonders
made from leftover cotton/linen scraps from the baby wraps

so far it's working beautifully.

****

and last, but most definitely not least, a new purse/diaper bag!

it's a mash up between the toddler messenger bag from One Yard Wonders and the onbag

there's a little pocket on the front under the flap, and a bigger one inside:

and like the onbag it can be worn may different ways, I love it!
Since I made it slightly larger than the bag in the book (and made two straps) I used about 1 1/4 yards. I got 1 1/2 so I have a bit leftover which I may use to make a little zippered pouch to put all my little purse extras into so they don't get lost. (you know, note pad, pen, chapstick etc.)

I think if I do something like this again, the only things I would do differently would be to make it from a stiffer fabric (this one is quilting cotton), and make the back loops a bit smaller.

sew sparkly and crinkly and a cutle little dog too

2010-04-16T11:31:00.001-04:00

Teal sparkly wrap is done!

I can now carry TW in a wide number of ways, it's awesome and oh, so cuddly!

I've also finished hemming the new panels for the Mei Tai, but I haven't put the Velcro on yet, so no pictures. The pocket squares are trimmed, but still awaiting pressing and hemming.

My most recent projects have been some embroidery and crinkly things.

Cthulhu:

(right after this picture was taken we had a poo blowout :( )
DMC#s: 895 & 3346

And a cute little doggie!

modeled:

DMC#s: 433, 642, 776, 807, & 3346
And coloured in with crayons.
(you carefully colour in the parts you want making sure to get and even colour without applying too much wax, the put a piece of paper over the fabric and iron it. The wax and colour will melt into the fibers. Too much wax will make the fabric stiff, so you have to be careful.)

and some crinkly things.

The blue and brown are soft flannel; the ribbons were scavenged from the packaging of many of the gifts we got at the baby shower.

I got the owl idea from here

The inside crinkly stuff are just the cleaned off wrappers from some cliff bars. Nice and crinkly.

Tommy likes them :)

Wrap up

2010-03-22T18:19:00.000-04:00

I finished the red sparkly wrap!

Its 30 inches wide by 3.5 yards long. And we love it! So far we've only used it for a couple of different hip caries, the photo above is a Semi Front Cross Carry but it was a bit fussy, so we switched to a Coolest Hip Cross Carry (vid) and like that one much better (the look similar because it's the same general wrapping technique, the only difference is how the baby sits in it)

We also tried a Short Front Cross Carry, but nether of us found it terribly comfortable (I think our wrap might have been bit too short), so I think we will be sticking to the hip carry for now, and TW really likes being able to look around more. Maybe in a little while I'll try the Kangaroo Carry(vid) and see how we like that.

When TW is a bit bigger this wrap will be long enough for us to try a handful of back carries too.

But I haven't finished he teal wrap yet, that one is longer so I'm kind of dreading the hemming process, specifically the ironing, but really that's all that's left to do, as it is all trimmed and ready. And it will be handy for a wider variety of carries.

I also finished a few more pocket squares for Bill:

The weather has been so nice lately that we've gone for several walks, it's been lovely! But it's been very bright too, after our first walk I grabbed some gingham out of my stash and whipped up this quick and dirty hat:

Seriously quick and dirty, I think it took me about 15 - 20 minutes total, because I wanted to be able to use it that afternoon. The edges of the brim aren't finished, and it's a bit uneven, but when we took our walk we got several compliments on TW's cuteness. So it can't be that bad.

After out first walk where the ha nearly got blown off by the wind I grabbed some bias tape I had already made up and put together another tether to pin to it so we wouldn't loose it in a sudden gust of wind. (sheer luck that the bias tape I had on had was a matching fabric!)

When we were in Jo-Ann's the other day to pick up some more suspender clips for paci/toy tethers we kinda both fell down in the fat quarter aisle:

The pile on the left are some I like for Mei Tai panels, and the pile on the right are some Bill grabbed for pocket squares. Its ok, they were on sale...
(I see a lot of ironing and sewing in my future!)

Sew what

2010-03-11T18:33:00.002-05:00

~~Sew~~, um I mean, so, I haven't had as much time as I would like to knit, but I can eek out bits of time to sew, and sewing is so awesome, because even though I don't have a lot of time, I can still get a finished object relatively quickly.

For instance, I made TW's Mei Tai so that I could change out the patterned panels in front; making panels is quick and easy, and fun to pick out the fabrics to match my outfits.

and even more!

I like how I can fold them all up together in a neat little square when I'm not using them.

And one more modeled with cute baby, (I know I said to match my outfits, but sometimes, I can do nothing but clash, I think it’s a SAHM thing)

when I pick out fabrics for the panels, I usually just buy fat quarters, the Jo-Ann's I go to is usually very busy, and while it would be cheaper to buy from the bolt, I would be standing in line forever, I think it's a fair trade off.

So I don't waste any of it, I've made a few tethers...

TW doesn’t really use his paci that often (usually only in the car seat, and when being flown around by his daddy) but it's easier to model the tethers with them. Tethers can be used to attach almost anything to you or something so it can't get tossed or dropped on the floor. like pacis, or toys to keep baby entertained, or even their sun hat in summertime.

They are just strips of home made bias tape with snaps sew on each end to make loops. One loop can be snapped around the item to be tethered and the other used to fasten it in some way. I used a hair tie looped around the handle for his car seat:

or it can be looped into itself around a strap:

or it can be pinned with a safety pin, or you can buy suspender clips and use those to clip it onto items:

I've also been making a few pocket squares/hankies for Bill, he likes to dress up, and is really into the whole male fusion thing, but fancy silk pocket squares are a bit beyond our price range, so while I was picking out fat quarters for the Mei Tai, he picked out a few patterns for pocket squares, they are super easy to make, just trim everything so that it is square (seriously, some of the fat quarters were more like parallelograms hat rectangles, we think our Jo-Anns may have been hiring out the cutting duties to blind monkeys with Parkinson's.) and hem them up!

I have a few more waiting to be ironed, as well as another big project:

I'm going to sew a few wraps for TW and I, it's another way to baby wear, by securing the baby to you using a length of cloth.

I bought two lengths of linen/cotton fabric with sparkles on one side:

I've trimmed them; now all they need is ironing and hemming!

I think I may use the leftover bits I trimmed off to make more panels for the Mei Tai (they are so addictive!)
And I have a few other project in mind as well.

Some FOs and an almost FO

2010-03-02T11:09:00.002-05:00

Wow a month just disappeared. If you haven't guessed by now, having a baby can be a bit time consuming.

I don't have nearly as much time to knit as I once did, but I do have a few FOs for you.

First, a super easy little hat for TW:

no real pattern, I just cast on a bunch of stitches, knit around, decreased and then made a little i-cord and knitted it.

Modeled:

also finished is a knit panel to cover us up when we go for walks:

pattern: seaweed (ravelry link)
yarn: knitpicks WOTA bulkly in coal
needles: US size 9 (5.5 mm)knitpicks interchangeables

I know it doesn't look like much in the picture above, so here's a kinda crappy picture of us in it after we got back from a walk the other day:

it's a bit short on top, the pattern says to stop after two inches, but I think I probably could have gone to 4 for better coverage. Ah well.

I also finally finished the purple bluebell socks!

and a better picture of the pattern:

my usual toe up two at once short row heel pattern, but with the bluebell rib pattern from sensation knitted socks plugged in.

yarn is knitpicks palette in eggplant and clematis heather.

I also have an almost FO:

the Baby Surprise Jacket using my own handspun, all it needs is for the shoulder/arm seams to be done up and for me to pick out buttons for it. But I made it in toddler size for next fall, so I'm in no rush to get it done.

Well hello there

2010-01-30T09:32:00.001-05:00

I know it’s been a while, sorry about that :(
I don’t have much knitting time lately, Tommy wants to eat all the time, and I can’t knit one handed (yet...)

The handspun BSJ is almost finished though, and I've started another knitting project, but that will have to wait for another day, today it's all about sewing.

Tommy LOVES to be held, but my arms get tired too easily, so I began looking into babywearing, and found this wonderful site called The Babywearer with tons of resources.

I researched lots of different types of baby carriers, first I tried him in a stretchy wrap (like a Moby) that I made from jersey knit cotton. But he didn't like it all that much, so I kept looking. Then I discovered Mei Tais when a friend lent me hers to try. Tommy loved it! So I set out to find a pattern to make my own.

I found several tutorials online, some that I liked better than others, I ended up combining elements from this one with interchangeable panels and this one with wide unpadded shoulder straps

I grabbed some heavyweight denim from my stash, send Bill out for some pretty fat quarters and went from this:

To this:
(excuse the bad hair, pjs, and slightly dazed look on my face, I don't get much sleep anymore.)

(no in-between pictures, I meant to take a series to show how I did it, but I ended up only having short little bits of time to work, and I wanted to get it done! Anyways, the two links sites do a pretty good job.)

it has interchangeable panels, so I can switch out the printed fabric in front for lots of different looks and Tommy loves it, if he's cranky I can put him in and he'll calm down and eventually fall right to sleep! I may even be able to take him for some walks soon! (as soon as I finish my other knitting project...)

A few more pictures, because he's just so cute and I can't help myself

merry, merry

2009-12-25T08:58:00.002-05:00

I hope everybody who celebrates it has a wonderful Christmas.

as for me, I got my gift a week early:

Thomas William was born after 30 hours of labor at 9:17 AM on December 18, 2009. He weighed 8 lbs 2.4 oz and was 21 inches tall.

A post to distract me

2009-12-10T13:48:00.001-05:00

Because today is my due date, with no end in sight.

I've been in heavy 'nesting' phase for the last couple of weeks, it's all crafting all the time around here (when I'm not napping)

***

First this little guy:
This is out first dishwasher, and sometimes we don't empty it as promptly as we should, so there have been many days where either I or Bill has needed to ask the other "are these clean?" So I made a little sign to help us out.

It's kind of silly, but I'm way happier than I should be about it.
Stitched on 16 count Aida, three strands over two holes.
'dirty' is DMC 816
'clean' is DMC 3755

***

Of course I've also been knitting a lot too, sometimes I just lay on the couch and knit all day, (when I'm not dozing off) and of course socks make perfect waiting room knitting at the doctors during my weekly visits.

We had better light conditions today, and I tried putting one on a blocker to stretch it out, but it's still difficult to get a good detail shot of the pattern on the dark yarn.
Trust me, it looks really neat.

***

And lest you think I forgot about the baby (HA!) I finished spinning the yarn for his BSJ last night. Now it just needs to be washed and abused a little, and I can start knitting!

The two darker skeins came out to approximately 168 yards and the yellowier skein came out to about 180 yards. Right now it's roughly light fingering, but I tried to spin it rather softly, so it should bloom quite a bit it the wash, and be all sorts of snuggly and warm!

Next up on the wheel:

Some delightful fluffy Jacob top I got in a swap on ravelry. This is going to be a pair of work mittens for Bill. he wore out his last pair before we moved, and he's reluctant to wear his Squirrel and Oak mittens while cleaning the snow off the car, for fear of ruining them.

Happy socks, sad socks, and some embroidery

2009-12-03T11:51:00.001-05:00

Sad socks :(

I blew a hole in a pair of socks the other day.

My first holey socks, I am sad.

It's especially sad, because I was just thinking that these were one of my favorite pairs, I love the colours, I loved the stitch pattern, and the yarn was so squishy and soft. Yeah, I guess that should have been the clue. Not only do I have this hole, but there are sever thin spots in both heels, and the other toe as well.

They are the leaf lace socks, I knit using Autumn House Farm Twist Strideaway.

I'm keeping these around for now because I haven't decided if I want to darn them or not. I feel so sad, because they were one of my favorite pairs.

And now I have another dilemma, because I have another skein of the same yarn in a different colorway. And I really like the colours, and the yarn is so soft and squishy, but I'm not sure if I trust it in socks again.

***

To makeup for the lost socks, (and to have something relatively simple on the needles) I have started another pair of socks!

It's kind of hard to see in the dark yarn (darn overcast conditions!) but this is the bluebell pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It looks really nice, and is super easy to memorize. I'm using leftover Knit picks Palette from my woven and fulled scarf. I only had on ball of the darker, and about half a ball of the lighter, so I'm using the lighter purple in the toes and heels, (and possibly the top ribbing if I have enough when I run out of the dark)

I'm zipping right along on these guys, I'm only about an inch away from the heels already. The pattern is so easy, and lately I haven't really had the energy for brain intensive knitting. (Due date is a week from today!!!)

***

and finally some embroidery:

This is the Colonial Christmas Sampler, a First Friday Freebie from the painted quilt

I used two strands of DMC 321 for the main motifs, and a strand of 321 plus a strand of gold filament for the grid lines, all on unbleached muslin. It's kind of hard to see in the small picture, but if you click though to see the big, you can see how much it sparkles. I really love it!

I'm going to frame this up and give it to my mother for Christmas.
I'm also thinking about taking some of the individual motifs from this piece and making little tree ornaments to go along with it, but I haven't decided yet.

Chilly weather = knitting

2009-11-20T11:15:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we woke up to people scraping ice from their windshields. As Bill walked of to school wearing his woven scarf and knit hat and gloves, I decided it was time to unpack and put up the hat rack.

In our old apartment we didn't have a hall closet, so the rack held our coats, and the hats and other wintry accessories lived in a plastic bad on a table to the side. The new apartment has a nice big closet where we keep our coats, so the rack can finally be used to display our winter accessories.

Everything on the hat rack but Bill's driving cap was hand knit by me. I actually still have a few tams that didn't fit hanging in their old bag in the closet.

In other news, I have a few FOs!

First, TW's baby poonam

I knit this using LB fisherman's wool, and size 7 needles. I did it mostly in the round with steeks for the armholes. This was my first time steeking and boy was I nervous! But I looked up the crochet steek method from see Eunny knit and it was a breeze. It was actually quite fun once I got going!

I didn't really do too thorough of a blocking, just kinda patted it into shape, and after I uploaded the picture I noticed that it was a bit lopsided, I went back and fixed it a bit, but I'm not going to stress over it too much, because really, nobody is going to notice how well a job I did blocking it while my most awesome TW is wearing it ;)

And last but not least, socks!

Knit picks Felici in Aurora, size 1.5 (2.5 mm) needles, toe up, two at once, magic loop

blogging to win

2009-11-10T08:55:00.002-05:00

as you may or may not know, i occasionally like to sew.

so i was very excited to see that Sweet Jessie is having a contest to give away an awesome new book:

one yard wonders
this is by the same people who did one skein wonders which i already have, and love.

why not go on over and enter yourself?

Spinning, Rhinebeck, and a very special hat.

2009-11-06T10:47:00.001-05:00

The last month or so has been really busy around here, there is only about one more month to go before the baby is due, and I can definitely feel it! We've been in a flurry of baby preparations, doctors visits, ultrasounds, and weekend visits from my parents to buy last minute supplies.

But I've still managed to spin and knit a little, and even to haul myself to Rhinebeck for the NY sheep and wool festival

++++

First the spinning:

You may remember this fiber that I bought at the Southern Adirondack Fiber festival.

Well it's been spinning up nicely into a lovely worsted weight two ply which I plan to make a baby surprise jacket (ravelry link) from for little TW. I wanted it worsted to make a slightly bigger jacket to fit him later on, as he will be born in winter, so by the time a regularly sized jacket would fit him, it would be too warm. But I figure a larger size will fit him slightly longer.

I wasn't quite happy with the amount of plying twist so after this picture was taken I went back and added a little more, and I'm much happier now.

I have two skeins finished now and am working on the last.

++++

Rhinebeck:

Rhinebeck was awesome this year; there were so many places to go and sheep to see.

I even bought my first Abby Bats by Abby Franquemont who is an amazing fiber artist. They are 40% merino, 40% tencel, and 20% BFL, and they are DELICIOUS! I can't wait to start spinning them. I only got about 76 grams, whish isn't much so I think I will spin them up lace weight, and see if I can find some green silk in a matching colour to spin up and ply them with for a shawl.

The rest of the festival was awesome, and so was the afternoon Ravelry meet up even if I was a bit too shy to talk to some of the people I wanted too, unfortunately I completely forgot to take any pictures. Luckily, Bill did take a few, and you can check them out at his flikr stream. (there's even a picture of me with Bob!) please try to ignore how big and squishy I look, pregnancy has not been kind.

Specking of pregnancy, I was SO SORE by the end of the day! I missed so many things that I wanted to see because I was just too tired and sore to keep going. :(

But there is always next year, and we can introduce TW to all the sheep and critters!

++++

And the very special hat:

No I did not knit this hat.

A few weeks ago, we got a package in the mail from Bill's mother, inside was this hat.
No she didn't knit it either.

Bill's Grandmother did.

Many, many years ago, Bill's Grandma Bid knit this hat for one of her nieces who was expecting. Unfortunately the baby never got a chance to wear it (he outgrew it before it was cold enough to wear.) but it was a hand knit, so it was kept. Years go by and Grandma Bid passed away. But when the niece heard that we were expecting she immediately thought of Grandma Bid (I have been told repeatedly that she would love me) and she sent the hat our way.

The hat is so tiny! I hope that it will fit so that TW can wear it at least once. I nearly cried when I read the letter and story.

Whew, marathon socks

2009-10-15T12:46:00.000-04:00

Well, marathon sock knitting that is.

This is a commission knit for someone on Ravely, she needed two quick pairs of socks for her mom by the end of the month, and we worked out a deal.

Plain old toe up short row heel two at once, plain 2x2 ribbed socks.
Knit with size 2 (2.75mm) needles and Bernat Sox yarn (pink camouflage and hippi hot)

The first pair only took about a week to do, but only because I neglected almost all the housework and laundry, and pretty much knit on them obsessively.

The second pair took a little over two week, with breaks to spin up some of the yummy wool I got at the Southern Adirondack fiber festival, and to actually do some housework. (my husband is thankfull)

In exchange of all this knitting she sent me some fiber:

8 oz, hand dyed merino wool from CJ Kopec called "love spell" and it lives up to its name, I love it! I'm planning on spinning it up fine lace weight, and knitting a shawl from it.

It's fiber festival time!

2009-09-27T14:50:00.002-04:00

On Saturday Bill and I piled into the car and took a scenic drive to the Washington County Fairgrounds to attend the first annual Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

It was a beautiful day, the temperatures were cool, perfect shawl weather, and it was bright and sunny all day. There were over 80 venders there. On top of spinning, weaving, and rug hooking demonstrations, and a really interesting sheep sheering demo.

we saw cashmere goats, llamas, alpacas,

and Bill got to commune with some sheep:

(I love this picture)

Bill bought lots of yummy smelling hand made soap from Natural Specialties (no web site, but they'll be at Rhinebeck!) and Saratoga Suds 'n' Stuff

We drooled over the shirts from five sheep and a donkey especially the baby's onesies, soo cute!

And finally I gave in and bought 9oz of hand dyed wool from Spinners Hill

I plan on making a baby surprise jacket out of it for TW and hopefully a hat and maybe mittens if I have enough left over.

I wanted to preserve the colors so I split it into three sections for easier handling (my bobbins will only hold about 4 oz each) and when I go to spin I'll split each section in half lengthwise and then ply each half together to (hopefully) get a self striping two ply.

I just love the colours in this roving, it reminds me both of autumn, but also of summer fields, I can't wait to get started on this!

Afterwards Bill and I were talking, and we really enjoyed how small the festival was, unlike Rhinebeck with its huge grounds and huger crowds. It was so calm yet cheerful, we could actually stroll up and down the aisles, and were able to take our time as we perused the vendors, and I never got jostled once! The SAFF will undoubtedly get bigger and more popular as the years go on and it gets more advertising and more activities and such. But for now we are going to enjoy the calm and stress free time wile we can. (Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Rhinebeck, and definitely plan on going, but anybody who has been there will tell you, the crowds are wild, and it can be a bit stressful trying to check out all the vendors and their wares while a massive crowd presses in around you trying to do the same)

Pineapple FO, okie dokie progress, and socks!

2009-09-22T14:17:00.001-04:00

So I mentioned earlier that I had finished some crochet doilies to adorn the arms of my new chair.
Well, I STILL haven’t found my blocking pins, so I figured I would at least show you the unblocked pictures:

Starry Pineapple Doily from Favorite Pineapple Doilies of Rita Weiss from the American School of Needlework.

J&P coats size 10 crochet cotton in Ecru, and #7 steel crochet hook.

(Doesn't Pillow Guy look so happy in his new home?)

I've also picked up Okie Dokie (aka Frosted Ferns by Herbert Niebling) again, and have made some pretty good progress.

It's about 37% finished now, and as you can see I've finished the first acorn, YAY!

And of course, I've got my ubiquitous pair of socks:

Knit picks Felici in "Aurora"
The usual toe up two at a time, short row heel pattern in 1 1/2 Knit Picks circulars.

Unfortunately (ok, not really) these projects are going to be put on hold for a while, since I've just picked up a Commission knitting job through a swap group on Ravelry.

I'm knitting some socks in exchange for spinning fiber. It's win-win-win!
I get to knit socks, I get awesome spinning fiber, and she gets new socks!

Wow, who knew moving would be so hard?

2009-09-04T11:33:00.001-04:00

Yeah, shortly after my last post Bill and I took a trip down to the Capital District of NY to go Apartment hunting. You see, he got accepted into the DSES (decision sciences and engineering systems, it's essentially applied mathematics) PHD program at RPI (yay!)

Once we got back it was a flurry of purging of unneeded stuff, and packing of needed stuff, then there was that whole moving thing, and then a bunch of unpacking (which still isn't finished).

Things are finally beginning to settle down, and I can start knitting and blogging again!

but for now, how about a few FO's and a WIP?

The wip:

The Baby Poonam I'm working it semi seamless. The main body is in the round with steeks for the armholes. I'm just about ready to cast off the front shoulders. Then there will be a bit more knitting on the back, a button tab for the shoulder and then the sleeves!

FO's:

Baby booties! :D:D
Just the Oscar pattern (link is to Ravelry, where the pattern is a free pdf download) in some leftover sock yarn, I think this is my favorite booty pattern ever.

And my first finished knit in the new apartment:

A little knit basket. Before we moved we didn't have a couch, or a coffee table, now we have both, and I have discovered that the coffee table accumulates bunches of little bits and bobs that I use all the time, so it's really annoying to constantly be putting them away and taking them out. so I knit this cute little basket to put them in so the table stays neat.

Yarn is some of my own handspun merino from when I was first learning to spin on a wheel, so it was a bit thick and thin, but I really likes the colours, and I think it worked well here.

No real pattern, just cast on 8 stitches, and knit a center out square until I thought it was big enough, then a couple of purl rows and knit straight up the sides. I then felted it a bit to make it a bit stiffer to keep the sides from flopping over.

I've also just finished a couple of crochet doilies to put on the arms of my new chair, but they aren't blocked yet, so the look kinda funky, so pictures will have to wait until I find the time to block them.

Holy crap, two more months between posts?

2009-07-12T11:42:00.000-04:00

It's ok, I have a good excuse, and some FOs!

First the FOs:

Remember the evergreen yarn I won from Lucia?

Well that became these:

Socks for Bill, I used Cat Bordhi's upstream construction modified by a lot of math to make it work better, and then threw in a simple knit purl pattern for interest.

the next fo isn't quite as exciting, but I had read about the spiral, 9 stitch blanket and wanted to try it out, but I didn't really think I would have the gumption to knit an actual blanket, so I made a bathmat:

it came out pretty nice, but I didn't really like the pattern, I couldn't really get into the groove, there was too much stopping and turning. Maybe next time if I want to do it again I would make it more like 15 – 20 stitches.

as for why I haven't posted in about two months, you see... I've been too tired and sick to knit much let alone put together a post.
I hear that happens to a lot of pregnant women though, so don't worry, I am knitting, I have the baby poonam sweater on the needles right now, and am planning on making up a bunch of Oscar booties once we find out what the sex is. (Those who follow me on Ravelry may have noticed an explosion of baby pattern on my queue, there are so many cute little things to knit, and most of them easy and quick too!)

This post brought to you by the letters F and O

2009-04-17T09:34:00.002-04:00

Yow, sorry about the two week wit between posts. I guess I'm just a bit too easily distracted.

Well, anyways, today is all FOs!

Lest start off with the oldest, shall we?:

Handspun legwarmers: these guys were made with handspun yarn from some beautiful and gloriously soft alpaca/mohair/Marino roving I got from All Strings Considered (weavespinknit.etsy.com) at Rhinebeck last fall. I decided I needed legwarmers with the exceptionally cold winter we had, so I whipped up a pattern and finished them around the middle of January and wore them almost constantly until last month or so. They are so nice and warm, and did I mention soft! I did need to thread some elastic through the top ribbing so they would stay up, but otherwise these are PERFECT!

(excuse the weird cropping and background, Bill took the pictured and managed to get some rather unflattering pictured of my butt in there too)

And what is that under the legwarmers? Why yes! It's another pair of socks!
Just a plain old Jane toe up pattern, but what makes these guys special is that once again, they are handspun! Made from some wool I dyed myself! The yarn for these socks was entirely spindle spun, and is wearing wonderfully. I didn't have quite enough wool for a full pair, so I saved some aside and spun it with some undyed singles, along with a strand of wooly nylon, and I used that for the heels and toes and cuffs. There a bit pilly in the picture, but that’s only because I've been wearing them A LOT since I finished them, but besides a few pills, they show no sign of wearing out any time soon, awesome!

next up, some tatted Easter bunnies that I put in cards for my family this year:

the two on the left are from here, the middle one is my own design, and the one on the right is from here everybody loved them! Yay!

at the beginning of march during knit night a woman came up to me and asked if I took commissions, a friend of her had begun a baby blanket, but had just gotten out of surgery and the pain meds were making her too loopy to knit, but she really wanted the blanket to be done soon, since the baby had already arrived and the weather was getting warmer.

I looked at the pattern, and it looked relatively easy, so I said sure, what the heck!
Slightly under a month later after some pretty seriously monogamous knitting I had this:

The pattern was an old Bernat pattern (at least all the materials, from yarn to needles called for were Bernat brand), but all I had was a photocopy, without any other information besides “style no. 3020-132”

I'm not really sure this blanket is really all that baby appropriate (there are a lot of long strands to make the swags, and the repeated stitch slipping left rather large holes on either side of the purl sections. And lets not even mention the loopy edging) but when I mailed it out, the woman loved it. so I guess that's all that matters.

And finally, a couple of years ago, I crochet and knit up a bunch of pot scrubbies using some old acrylic and cotton yarns, and while they worked well, they also were falling apart! So I went out and got some nylon yarn and made some new ones!

The 100% nylon (Needloft brand, I got it in the plastic canvas section of Michaels.) should make them both tougher, but also, rougher, so they can do a better job at scrubbing. So far so good!

From the top, clockwise, they are: a crochet pattern of my own design, Abigail, from 1870 Pearl's knit tribble and a crochet spiral tawashi from here (the site is in Japanese, a direct pdf link here)

Pattern Palooza

2009-04-01T08:55:00.004-04:00

Part of the isolation over the last two months has been because was working on two new patterns.

The first one you have seen before:
The vacation headband

It is now available as a free download from Ravelry:
here, as a PDF
(Do not worry if you don't have a Ravelry account, you can still access the pattern!)

The other pattern has also made a short guest appearance here:
The shamrock tam, the pattern was originally put together for a stranded colourwork class I am teaching, but I had so many requests for the pattern I finally decided to put it up for sale :

Pattern will be available for the first month for US $3.00
On the first of May I will raise the price to US $5.00 where it will stay, so get it now, while it's cheap!

The Shamrock Tam: ~~$3.00~~ $5.00

Return

2009-03-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

Holy crap, has it really been two months since I last posted?

I totally did not mean to flake out like that, but first I didn't have anything to post about, then I had stuff, but wasn't feeling very motivated, then I was sick, then I felt like posting, but had so much I wanted to post about I didn't know where to start, so I didn’t.

Sorry about that everybody :(
(That is, if there's anybody left?)

I have a bunch of stuff I want to post about, including some FOs and a couple of new patterns.

But fist, a little teaser to hold you over while I try to get my thoughts organized.

Saturday Sky

2009-01-31T11:36:00.000-05:00

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

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

FO dump

2009-01-30T10:53:00.002-05:00

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!

Satuday Sky

2009-01-24T16:43:00.001-05:00

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

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

2009-01-16T11:37:00.001-05:00

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!

Saturday Sky

2009-01-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

taken saturday January 10, 2009, at 4:30pm.

out the front door of the Platypus nest

Saturday Sky

2009-01-03T15:39:00.001-05:00

taken saturday Jan 3, 2009, 3:30pm
platypus nest

Twas the night before Christmas...

2008-12-24T10:16:00.001-05:00

We are actually having Christmas at my parent's tonight so that Bill's parent's can watch Cayenne, and then we can spend Christmas with them tomorrow.

So I guess I should give the final rundown of all this season's craftiness.

First, my mother's handspun mittens:

I hope she likes them; she's been pestering me for a pair for a while.

On the embroidery front we (finally) have my grandmother's pillowcase.
I finished it a while ago, but didn't get around to washing and ironing it until yesterday:

Also on the embroidery front, I've been on a bit of a cross stitch ornament kick:

(tree with cardinals and the deer are from page 8 and 28
Cross-Stitch Quick & Easy Dec/Jan 1991, cardinal is from Crossed Wing Collection and the scrollwork tree is from gazette 94

I actually have a ton more patters that I want to do, but I had to put them aside for next Christmas, because was running out of time!

Then there is Bill's scarf:

No, do not adjust your screens, you se right, that is a woven scarf. I have indeed succumbed to yet another fiber hobby.
This was my first ever weaving, so it is very far from perfect (please, don't even LOOK at the selvages!) But I am incredibly pleased with it. I've already got several ore projects in mind, I can only weave once a week though, because I'm using one of the looms in the weaving room at the hand weaving museum but then do have Inkle looms that you can take out, so I took on home and have been playing around on it a bit:

Some of the belts and bookmarks have gone up for sale in my shop I'm having so much fun playing around with color patterns and pick up designs, I'm making way more than I could ever use!

I'm alive!

2008-12-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've just been super busy with Christmas stuff.

I finished off the merino/tencel:

(click through for a super huge version that I am currently using as my desktop wallpaper)

30/70 merino/tencel from stony mountain fibers
It came out to about light fingering-ish, 520 yards, 4 oz.

Im planning a pretty lacy scarf, but it will be for me, so it will have to wait until after the Christmas crafting is done.

Example: my mother's mittens.
You may remember I posted a picture of the bats last time
The bats became this:

(this was my desktop for a while as well)

Which became this:

(also makes a nice desktop)

166 yards, worsted-ish, 4 oz.

I've cast on for the mittens. Just a plain old boring mitten pattern, no pictures yet.

I've also been cross stitching up a storm, I have a bunch of ornaments ready for finishing, I just need to get to jo-anns tomorrow to pick up some fabric and ribbon. I'll be posting pictures once they're done.

I've also finished my grandmother's pillowcase, but it needs to be washed and pressed before I can take any good pictures.

Holidays are coming!

2008-11-19T12:39:00.001-05:00

And with that in mind I have a few presents already done.

First is a pillowcase I embroidered for my paternal grandmother:

I actually finished this a wile ago, but kept forgetting to post a picture.
I've started another pillowcase for my maternal grandmother and it's almost done.

I also need to make dishcloths for her, but have been dragging my feet, because they are so simple and boring.

Also in embroidery, (cross stitch to be exact) a bookmark for my mother:

(Modeled on one of Bill's textbooks)

I also want to embroider up a few cute little ornaments for other family members, our local library had a book sale a while ago and I picked up a ton of holiday crafting books.

Since I was in an embroidery kick, I made this.
I decided my new wheel needed a tote bag, so I took some denim and made it on, then I embroidered the thumb an planet logo from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on one side, and "Don't panic" in nice friendly letters on the other:

On the selfish knitting front, I took the alpaca/merino/mohair I spun up and knit myself a pair of mittens:

Pattern: Plait Cable Mittens
I love them, so soft and warm. The pattern was pretty good; but I have a little gripe. I hate patterns that are written for 4 (or any number) or DPNs and give instructions as needle 1, needle 2 needle 3, etc.

I knit magic loop and it is a huge PITA to convert everything where there are no actual stitch counts. (ie, knit 5 stitches, purl 2, cable, purl 2, knit 5 stitches, etc.)

I’m not sure if I got the thumb placement just right, and there were a few other bits I had to fudge due to the lack of actual numbers.
but otherwise this is an awesome pattern, and the mittens turned out beautifully.

after my mother saw my handspun hat, and then the mittens she started pestering my for a par of mittens for herself. So I've carded up some wool, 1/2 romney/perendale sliver, and 1/2 louet northern lights in violets, and I'm going to spin it up and knit her a pair of matching mittens.

But first I have to finish my current spinning project:

4 oz merino/tencel from stony mountain fibers.

It's coming along beautifully; I actually have a full bobbin done, and am working on the second half now. I'm hoping for a light fingering. I want to make myself, a nice little lacy scarf or something.

Saturday Sky

2008-11-08T18:12:00.002-05:00

on Wednesday Bill and I went for a hike on the nature trails at the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center on Wellesley Island.

while there we decided to stop and rest at the bench overlooking Eel Bay.

Saturday Sky, taken Wednesday November 5, 2008, 2:30(ish)pm

The great fleece to sweater adventure!

2008-11-05T11:39:00.001-05:00

One of the ladies at my Wednesday weavers and spinners group has sheep, and recently gave me two fleeces.

She said they were washed, and the do look it for the most part. But they are also old.

One of the fleeces has a long staple, good crimp, but is a tad coarse, and in fact, a bit crunchy and dry feeling.

The other fleece is rather short and fine, but also still quite greasy and tacky. The sheep was a male, and the fleece is a bit… um, strong, if you know what I mean.

All her sheep are a mish-mash of different breeds, and there was no note as to the lineage of either of these fleeces.

The crunchy fleece, I hoped, just needed a little hydration, I carded up a couple of ounces and spun them up, and after a nice bath with some kookaburra it seems much better, but still a little rougher than would want for a sweater.

The other I took a handful and gave it a nice hot bath with some Dawn before carding it up and spinning. And not only did it smell better but it came out amazingly soft. When I was picking it to get ready for carding, I had this intense urge to cuddle up into the soft cloud of fibers and take a nap! The spun sample was nice and soft, but not very strong feeling. And if I want this sweater to stand up to a lot of wear, I need a strong yarn.

Also, I noticed a bit of felting at the cut edges of the fleece, and ended up with a ton of nepps because of it. Thankfully, when I went back and looked at the original fleece, I didn't see any of that felting, so I'm assuming I was a little too rough when washing my sample, and I just have to remember to be extra gentile.

After my original samples, I blended up a 50/50 batt of the two fibers, and spun that up.

It came out way softer than the skeins of just the long fleece, but also much stronger feeling than the skeins of the soft fleece. So I think I have found my winning combination.

The next step of this adventure is to dye the fleeces up and get them prepped and ready to spin.

Wish me luck!

Rhinebeck part three: FOs and WIPs

2008-10-30T10:42:00.002-04:00

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging duties; objects have been begun and finished with nary a peep from me, let alone a picture. But I intend to fix that today.

Let's start with the spinning first shall we?

You may recognize this as the swamp gas I was spinning for socks a while ago.
I finally got it all spun up and plied. It's just been waiting for me to finish my current sock WIP.

while I was waiting I started anther spindle project: this is the tie dyed flowers roving I dyed up. I only had 3 ounces though, so I spun up one ounce, and plied it with some wooly nylon along with one ounce of undyed singled from the same base roving. I intend to use that for the toes and heels. The other I spun up and plied as normal.

I'm really happy with the way this yarn turned out, and I can't wait to see how it looks knit up!

As for wheel spun, I have this:

4.5 ounces of merino/mohair/alpaca from all strings considered that I talked about yesterday. This stuff was a DREAM to work with. I hope to make a pair of mittens from it. I got over 230 yards of worsted weight, so I should have plenty.

but that's not all, I've also been knitting!

The most recent FO is this hat:

Knit with my own handspun even.
I carded up three bats, one with mostly white, one with about 1/2 & 1/2 and one with mostly blue, and then split them into quarters and spun each little section one after the other to make the yarn. which I totally forgot to take any pictures of, because I was just that excited.

stats:
handspun yarn, worsted weight, less than 100 yards.
Pattern: Asminah's Hat

Mods: I knit ribbing instead of the crochet edging, the original pattern used a flat version of the stitch pattern, and that left a weird unpatterned ridge at the back, so I altered it to work better in the round. This also let me cast on a few more stitches to make a better fit. I ended up knitting three repeats of the lace pattern. And then completely changed the top decreases to look nicer.

Last week a friend of mine from work went into the hospital for surgery. Before she left she jokingly asked me to buy some yarn at Rhinebeck and knit her a sock. (just one) when I saw the little mini sock blocker I knew it had to be, and I got it right away. This is the result.

I mailed it off on Tuesday, and I hope she gets it soon, and that it makes her smile. She's and awesome woman.

Speaking of socks, for the October sock for the SAM kal I was hoping to finish a pair of Coriolis. But so many things have been popping up that I just haven't worked on them enough:

In order to still get my monthly socks in I dug out the single practice socks I made while learning Cat Bordhi's new architectures and knit them mates.
The green are little sky, and the blue are little coriolis.

Rhinebeck, part two: The loot

2008-10-29T16:13:00.001-04:00

Well I said that I wanted to fill my bag full of fibery goodness, and I certainly did:

lets start with the fiber:

these two are 4.5 oz each color way of a delicious merino/mohair/alpaca blend from All Strings Considered
I've already finished spinning the blue/green, but more on that tomorrow.

starting from the top left and coing clockwise, we have...
silk hankies, some merino/bamboo from Creatively Dyed Yarns (Dianne is totally awesome btw), merino/tencel from stony mountain fibers, and merino/tussah from cloverleaf farms

are you sensing a theme?
I've begun to feel confident enough in my spinning that I really wanted to try out some luxury type fibers.

Next, the yarn!

Once again, clockwise from top left...
Poseidon, Imbas, and the vintage leaf kit from holiday yarns (formerly VanCalcar Acres) and the Tsock Tsarina, a mini sock blocker keychain from stony mountain fibers, and Strideaway Twist in Indigo Garden from Autumn house farms

of course, a visit to NY sheep and wool would not be complete without a visit to the authors tent
Franklin Habit signed a copy of it itches for me, and I got up the nerve to finally speak to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and have her sign her newest two books (free range knitter and Things I learned from knitting) for me as well.

now... the piece de resistance!

My two BIG purchases this year were a new Stauch Finest drum carder. And my baby... introducing, the Hitchiker spinning wheel Heart of Gold!!!!

I eventually plan to paint the large wheel, and to give the rest of the woodwork a good coat of oil. But that will have to wait until the weather is a bit nicer and I can work outside again.

Tomorrow, catch up on my finished projects and newest works in progress.

Rhinebeck, part one: critters and people

2008-10-28T16:54:00.001-04:00

Well I guess I've had long enough to play with my new toys from Rhinebeck, I guess I should make a post about it now eh?

As usual, Bill and I drove down to Albany the afternoon before; we usually get a motel room in Albany, because by the time we know that we can go to the festival, everything closer is booked up. And anyways, it's a pretty ride.

The next morning, bright and early we got up and went to Bruger's for breakfast, and to get something for lunch later on. (ah, Bruger's, I wish we had one up here, they are pure bagely ambrosia) then went to grab Monica and her fiancée Lee. And we were on our way!

On Saturday we had a great time wandering around checking out the vendors and the critters, I got to meet bunches of cool people from Ravelry, including the Tsock Tsarina and I even got a book signed by Franklin Habit! And Sunday there was more wandering around, more talking to people, and more book signing (this time, by the yarn harlot!)

Now for the pictures:
(click on any picture for a bigger version, I'm using the smaller size to save the load time)

there were Suri Alpacas, with shiny, shiny wool:

lots of Llamas:

you may recognize one of the two guys above as the one who was giving me smoochies in my earlier post well, he was quite a sweetie, and also gave Bill kisses:

there were sheep (duh):
(I think these guys are romneys)

(Suffolk)

(Babydoll)

(and my favorite, Jacob)

and of course, lots and lots of vendors, but by then things were getting crouded, and wes getting busy buying stuff, so I only got one picture of my favorite sign:

if you want even more pictures, check out Bill's photo set from the festival he was way better about the picture taking than I was.

Tomorrow: the haul!
Stay tuned!

back, and exhausted

2008-10-19T20:49:00.001-04:00

Abby and Llama Smooch
Originally uploaded by Bill LaLonde

we are back from Rhinebeck!

we had a great time, saw lots of cute critters and my bag did indeed become full of fiberey goodness. But I am TIRED and need to work in the morning, so for now I will leave you with this picture Bill took of me getting llama kisses:

meetup stuff

2008-10-16T16:17:00.003-04:00

It occurs to me that while there is no blogger bingo this year at Rhinebeck, there will still be a ravely/blogger meetup type thing. And if you would like to say hi to me, you may want to know how to identify me!
:)

so to help you all out, I will be carrying this,
which I hope to fill with plenty of yarn and fiber and other such goodness:

and so that this post isn't completely about Rhinebeck, yes, I did sew the tote.
I had a bunch of scraps and stuff left over from making sachets, and I had wanted to make a nice large bag for a while, so I decided to try out an idea and see if it would work.

and it did! although I do have to admit the sewing is not completely perfect.

the pattern is mostly my own, but a lot of the ideas came from various sources throughout the web. there is a plain muslin lining, but even with the lining it is a bit flimsy. I want to make more, and I think I will look for thicker fabrics, or possibly denim for the next try to give it a little more body.

Rhinebeck!

2008-10-15T20:13:00.004-04:00

Yes indeed, I will be attending The New York Sheep and Wool Festival again this year.

If you want to say hi I hope to be at the blogger/ravelry meet up, at least for a few minutes each day. but I also will be going to say hi to Franklin and get a signed copy of his book on Saturday.

I'm very excited, and starting to get a bit twitchy. My parents and Bill (and I was good and saved up all year, so I could pitch in too!) collaberated for a super awesome early Christmas present.

I will be buying a Hitchhiker wheel and perhaps a Strauch drum carder!!! (I'm thinking about the finest, but I'd really like to look at them in person, and if I understand the ad I saw in spin-off they will be at Rhinebeck)

See you all there!

Busy kitty

2008-10-11T12:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of updates but it's been a bit busy around here lately.

I've been working on a big update on my shop.

New items include:

Lots of new sachets:

And some hand dyed tops and sock yarns:

1. aquarius meriono top roll, 2. st lawernce sock yarn detail, 3. mermaids tale sock yarn deail, 4. asters merino top spiral, 5. rainbow candy Romney top spiral, 6. unicorn sock yarn detail

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I still have a bunch of yarn and fiber I need to dye up, but I needed to take a break. I'll probably work on them next week.

Also, this actually happened a while ago, but I forgot to mention. But a lot of my sachets and stitch markers are also now available over at Yarny Goodness you should totally go check it out; she has tons of cool items from a lot of really awesome and talented people.

I've also been spinning a lot. I'm finally gotten happy enough with my spinning that I'm trying for some sock yarn.

This is a hand dyed by me Romney top in "swam gas" (can you tell I wasn't very pleased with my first attempts?) it started out in life looking like this:

It spun up beautifully. I've plied up one skein worth. And I'm waiting until Wednesday weavers to ply the second skein on the wheel. There is just so much yardage, it would take me forever otherwise. Especially as I'm adding a lot of twist to make them nice and strong for socks. I'm really happy with it, even with all the extra twist I put in its still wicked soft, and it will only get softer when I wash and abuse the finished skeins.

Next up in my spinning queue is this:

Romney/Perendale sliver, I'm calling it "tie dyed flowers" both this and the swamp gas were my practice dying. I used Wilton's cake dyes to see if I could really dye fiber without turning it into a felted mess. As you can see it worked. :D

I have been knitting a little too, but I think that post will have to wait until another day. ;)

September socks!

2008-09-19T10:46:00.001-04:00

Stats:
Yarn: Autumn House Farm Twist Strideaway in Skye Sea Garden
Needles: Knitpicks size 1.5 (2.5mm) 4" circulars
Pattern: Leaf lace socks, from Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Sock Book modified to be toe up with a short row heel

I posted a tutorial on how to do the toe up picot hem on my blog yesterday. Most picot hems are done from the top down, but I don't do my socks like that, and I know a lot of other people don't either, but would like the pretty treatment at the cuff, so you can find it here

have a good weekend!

Toe up or bind off picot hem tutorial

2008-09-18T13:03:00.002-04:00

I love the look of picot hems, but I've always knit my socks toe up, and I didn't know there was a way to do it that way until I stumbled upon the fiber fool's entry about that exact thing her swatch # 4 was perfect, so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately even though she does tell how it is done. I still managed to mess up quite a few times before getting it right. And since I couldn’t find any good tutorials on this particular method, I decided to make my own in case other people would like to do it this way as well.
Enjoy!

After you finished knitting the main art of your sock it’s time to make the hem.
Begin by knitting 7 plain rounds, then *yo, k2tog* around, then 6 more plain rounds.
You can make the hem as deep as you like, but you always want the section above the yo round to be one less then the section below.

Once you have knit the picot hem. Place all the stitches on a piece of waste yarn, this will make it easier to sew and to see what you are doing.

Turn your sock inside out. fold down the hem so that you are pleased with the way your picots look, make a note of where the edge lands, this is the purl row you will be sewing into.

Using your yarn tail, which you cut to 2 – 3 times the circumference of your sock, sew purl-wise through the first live stitch.

Then sew through the purl bump on the previously noted row that falls below your first stitch.
You will be sewing from the top downwards.

Pull the yarn snug, but not too tight

Continue in this manner: purl wise through the next stitch, then top to bottom through the next purl bump.

After a few stitches, I find it faster to sew through both the stitch and the bump at the same time.

After you have finished sewing the entire hem. Sew once more through the first stitch and it's corresponding purl bump to finish off.

To make sure that your hem will be stretchy enough to get on, give it a good stretch before weaving in the ends.

Remove the waste yarn, by simply pulling on one end, it should slide freely out of your hem.

and admire your spiffy sewing job.

and there you go. If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask.
Tomorrow there will be more details on pattern, yarn, and pictures of these new socks actually on my feet. But Bill isn't home today, and no matter how I try all my modeled pictures look really crappy.

A good Yarn

2008-08-31T09:32:00.001-04:00

As well as some ok yarns and a fo...

A while back I got dome delicious merino roving from sqhuoosh in the "funny" colorway.

I split it in half and spun one half on my little.8 oz golding tsunami. I then chain plied it on my big spindle. It wasn't perfectly even, and it was definitely better towards the end as I got more comfortable with drafting, and with consistency:

(if you click through, you can get the super huge size of this picture, that I'm using as my current desktop)

the other day while I was surfing Ravelry I found this neat pattern that I though would be perfect for this yarn...

beechwood

I reduced the stitch count, because I didn't want it to be all big and floppy, and then only knit 1 3/4 repeats instead of the 2 1/4 that the pattern calls for, beaus I ran out of yarn.

Over all I'm pretty happy with the results. This is the first time I've knit with my handspun, and I'm pretty happy with it. All the flaws that bothered me in the yarn are barely noticeable once knit up.

I saved the other half of the 'funny' to practice on my wheel spinning on Wednesdays.
I was mostly aiming for something similar to my spindle spun while practicing the supported long draw technique. Because this was only my second and third times spinning on a wheel, there is very little consistency, and it is obviously a 'practice' yarn. Although my chain plying on a wheel is definitely improving, I think I would have had a slightly easier time of it had the lazy Kate been in a different position, but that is easily remedied:

after I finished up the funny I still had a lot of time left, so I grabbed some merino top from Ashland bay in 'snapdragon' and worked on spinning from the fold. And then two plied it.

I definitely like the results from spinning from the fold, very soft and squishy, and by the end I was getting better at the consistency.

The resulting yarn is very obviously 'beginner' but I still like it, it is so soft and squishy and warm. Only have about 50 yards of it, so I'm unsure what to do with it.

(again, if you click through you can get an extra huge version of this for your desktop wallpaper.)

and then I saved the best for last:

remember the chocolate alpaca bon-bons?
this is what became of them.

10 grams, 42 yards of the most delicious soft and fine lace weight yarn.

I know it's not a lot, but the fiber had not been washed before hand so it was really dirty, and spinning it was not all that pleasant. But after a good soak in hot soapy water and a little abuse, this has bloomed into an amazingly soft yarn.

Spun on my golding .8 oz tsunami, Navaho 'ply on the fly'

new socks for august

2008-08-16T20:40:00.001-04:00

Both the river rapids socks (pdf) and the zig zag socks from vogue knitting's ultimate socks book, use the same stitch pattern. Technically these socks are nether though. While I used the same stitch pattern, I did these toe up with a short row heel, as I am wont to do.

I love them, the pattern was super simple and I had it memorized only a few repeats in.

Stats:
Yarn: Knit picks essential, in pumpkin
Needles: knit picks 40" circulars in US size 1 1/2 (2.5 mm)

Little chocolate alpaca bon-bons

2008-08-15T19:24:00.001-04:00

a couple years ago, when I started spinning, a very nice woman gave me a pillowcase full of alpaca shearing.

I was too inexperienced to know exactly what to do with them, so they sat in my knitting room until recently when I became more confidant in my abilities.

I recently got a pair of dog brushes to use as carders, those are what I used to make the little chocolate alpaca bon-bons. I'm spinning it rather thinly, then Navajo/chain plying it all at once.

the fleece hadn't been washed, so I have to stop every couple of bon-bons to wash my hands, because me fingers begin to get black.

Speaking of spinning, Wednesday after lunch I headed over to the hand weaving museum to join the Wednesday weavers. My spinning teachers get together with a bunch of really nice ladies and weave, and they invited me to come and spin if I wanted. I couldn't go last week. But I made sure my schedule was clear for this week.

This is about 1/3 of the squoosh "funny" that I had left over after I spun half up on my tsunami. (I'm Navajo/chain plying that right now too, but It's going slow). Spun mostly long-draw. Next Wednesday I plan on going back and spinning up the rest. I think I'm going to Navajo ply this batch as well; I definitely need more practice with that technique on the wheel.

More spinning

2008-08-12T19:46:00.001-04:00

I recently learned a new spinning technique called "ply on the fly" essentially you spin a length of singles, then Navajo ply it all at once before winding it onto the spindle. If you are interested there's a video here that shows how to do it.

I really like it because plying this way is (to me) about 10000 times easier than doing it the traditional way of winding the singles into a ball from the spindle and then trying to ply it from there.

When some beautiful grey roving came my way from one of the teachers of my spinning class I saw it as the perfect opportunity to practice my 'ply on the fly' skills.

The original bump of roving was about 3 oz. This skein is only about half of that. I decided to save the rest to practice my wheel spinning tomorrow when I go to the museum for spinning and weaving day. (Every Wednesday, a bunch of ladies get together to weave and spin)

( I love this picture, I made it my new desktop for a while.)

stats:
unlabeled roving from Upper Canada Village it’s very crimpy and there was still a lot of grease left in it, but it spun very easily, and while not amazingly soft, made a nice yarn.

Spun on my big spindle, using "ply on the fly" technique.

Fingering.dk weight, about 48 yards.

My spinning skills are getting much better lately, not only was I trying out a new technique, but this was the most even and most balanced skein I've spun so far.

And while we are on the topic of spinning...

I've wanted a takli or support spindle for a while. Then I found a group on ravely called DIY tools and got inspired:

It's made from a heavy lampwork glass heart, and two metal beads from my beading stash. Glued onto a US #1 DPN.
The hardest part was bending the hook on the end. And then I had to file it down a bit to smooth it out.

It spins pretty well. I'm still getting used to the whole supported spindle thing. But so far so good.

The fiber on it in the picture is Chiengora from the resident fiber dog Cayenne, 'carded' using a pair of dog brushes.

After a while I Navajo plied it up on my golding tsunami, and the resulting yarn is some of the softest and finest I've spun for cayenne's fun yet.

wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'

2008-08-03T19:03:00.001-04:00

Saturday I finally got to take the spinning class at the Hand Weaving Museum.

I've been very excited about this for a while. And they did not disappoint.

We started out with several bags full of wool:

Then we picked apart the wool, and fluffed it up:

Then we carded the wool:

My first batt:

I really enjoyed carding, and someday hope to get a drum carder of my own, the possibilities are endless for color combinations and fiber prep.

And the fiber prep it was time to spin:

(we used Louet S10's btw)

I forgot to take any pictures of my yarn on the bobbin. But I can tell you that wheel spinning is very different from spindle spinning. My mantra of the day seemed to be "there are too many parts!" I got treadling down, but it was difficult to get it going in the right direction, the arm never stopped in the right place, and I had to constantly hand start the wheel. And then half the time I would catch the drive band and it would pop off.

And I kept forgetting to stop and change flyer hooks, and I ended up with lumps. Drafting I was ok with, mostly because of my drop spindle experience. But I didn't get as much practice at the long draw technique as I would have liked. Although they all seemed pretty impressed with how thin I was spinning, it wasn't very even and I ended up with a few lumps every now and then.

Another problem I had was that I kept winding on the yarn before enough twist hand gone in. They started us at the lowest ratio, and I think I would have been happier with a little faster speed, so I could have gotten more twist in before letting it on.

After the spinning it was the plying, which is where I discovered my problem of too little twist. My singles kept drifting apart, so I had to send everything back through again, to try and give it more twist.

Because I was spinning so fine I actually used up all my fiber on one bobbin, but I already knew the gist of plying, and I wanted to see how well Navajo plying worked on the wheel. Navajo, or chain plying is my favorite method of plying on the drop spindle, and I was interested to see how it worked on the wheel.

Getting started was a little fiddlier. But I eventually got started. Boy was it difficult! With the spindle, the weight of the spindle pulls everything down, so when you are making your chains it can't kink up very much, and you also can go slower and make a long chain and then ply them together. With the wheel I didn't have enough pull to really keep everything from kinking up, and it was plying as I was making the chains, so it didn't go as evenly as I would have liked. I think turning up the uptake tension may help a little, and perhaps tensioning the lazy Kate next time as well. But I think I'm just going to need A LOT more practice. Which I don't mind! :)

Here's the finished yarn on the niddy-noddy:

And all skeined up:

And finally my two saints of teachers:

Joann and Connie

Now that I've taken the class I can go in whenever I want and use one of the museum's wheels. I definitely plan on getting a lot more practice in. especially before October when I go to Rhinebeck, where I plan to hopefully get myself a wheel all of my own.

How fair!

2008-07-27T12:06:00.001-04:00

This past week, Bill and I ventured out to Watertown to go to the Jefferson County Fair

In order to get from out parking spot to the fairground we had to ride the tram:

once there we went directly to the animal exhibits.

There were cows (no pictures, because I am a bad blogger)

Sheep:

Goats:

Pigs:

And piglets:

Adorable bunnies:

Chickens:

Ducks:

Geese:

And goslings:

then we headed inside to check out the craft exhibits.

Along the way we saw several scarecrows, for the scarecrow competition. This was our favorite.
I think it's supposed to be a bunny, but it looked a lot like our American Eskimo Dog, Cayenne, so we called it an Eskicrow.

Once to the crafts exhibit I had a wonderful surprise,
Socks!

But not just any socks, these socks were knit by one of the wonderful ladies that attended my sock class, and these are the socks she knitted afterwards using techniques I taught her!

How awesome! I'm so proud!

Then, not only were there the above socks, but there were these as well:

Socks she knit using the yarn I gave her for the class!

After all the excitement it was almost time to go home. But not before the traditional fair fare:

Taffy and steaming hot salt potatoes!

Yum!

July socks

2008-07-16T19:40:00.000-04:00

Woot!

Stats:
JL yarns Vinca in colorway #10
US size 1 (2.25mm) knitpicks 40" circulars

So happy, the colour variegation came out weird, but I really like these guys, they are super comfy.

I do have to admit though, the yarn was a bit thinner than I usually like to work with, and gets fuzzy quick. Even with 25% nylon content, I'm not sure how well they will hold up.

A tale of two uteri

2008-07-01T15:53:00.002-04:00

One upon a time there was a nice uterus, belonging to a very nice woman. This uterus lived many happy normal years, and even gave birth to two very smart and handsome boys. One of which grew up to be a very smart and handsome man, who got married to a very nice girl who liked to knit.

Then one day that uterus got sick. A cancerous tumor had grown on the poor uterus's endometrial wall. This made the uterus sad. The doctors said that the uterus had lived a nice long life, but now it was time for it to go. That made the woman and her family very sad, but glad that the cancer had not gone any further.

The woman's daughter in law felt bad for the woman, who would surely miss her uterus. So she knit her a new, non-cancerous, and much cuddlier one, to keep her company in the hospital. And everybody was happy.

(knitty's Womb
size US 8 needles, Red Heart pound of love, double stranded.)

Socks, booties, and bags

2008-06-27T16:15:00.001-04:00

I have a new pair of socks in the works. I really needed something to work on while waiting for PT to start and while my ankle is being iced. And these are working out nicely.

I really enjoy the way the colours are progressing. I admit I prefer the shades on the rightmost sock better. But these are the same colourway, so hey should even out eventually.

One of Bill's cousins is having a baby soon, so I've also been working on baby's things. First up is a cute little pair of booties.

The pattern is Oscar and I love it. I only made one modification and that was to make it so I cold knit in the round. I hate seaming. These guys are so cute that I'm working on another pair in orange. (I don't have very many 'boy' colours, and unfortunately the parents are the type where the pink in this pair will be pushing it)

A couple of weeks ago while Bill and I were out shopping I found this really nice straw bag at Target.

It's been perfect for carrying my knitting around, but it was in the bargain bin for a reason. It sheds little bits of it self everywhere. And I'm worried it won't hold together too well.
We went back last week to see if maybe I could get a backup replacement. But they were all sold out. I was a bit disappointed because, I really liked it, it was small enough that I couldn't over pack it, and hurt myself (my elbow is still quite delicate). Yet big enough to hold a project or tow as well as the sundry notions that I like to have on hand.

Luckily when we stopped in to Michaels to look around I found this beauty on clearance:

It's a little larger but definitely put together better. and I love the colours. Yay!

A gratuitous dog picture: Cayenne was helping as I to photos today

Saturday sky

2008-06-21T14:05:00.004-04:00

Calumet Sky
Originally uploaded by Bill LaLonde

Bill took this picture a couple of days ago for his photography class, and I though it would be perfect for today's Saturday sky.

a knitting notions pouch.

2008-06-20T19:59:00.002-04:00

I had an old beaded "silk" pouch from the dollar store which I kept all my knitting notions in, but it had always been just a tad too small, and it was getting quite beat up, so I made myself a new one. The pattern is similar to my change purse pattern, just bigger. The pouch came out to about 6.5 x 4.5 inches.

I tried a slightly different way of handling the zipper and I'm not quite sure I like it. If I do it again, I use the old way, I much prefer the results.

I added the little charm on a whim, and I'm glad it did, it adds just the right 'sparkle' and makes it easer to use the zipper. (And it can be uses as a stitch marker in a pinch)

And it fits all my supplies with room to spare. Sweet!

(btw, notice the little jar of badger balm I really love that stuff. I highly recommend it.)

I'm thinking of making more of these for my shop but I'm not sure if anybody else would want them (I'm thinking of charging around $10ish) but it's a moot point at the moment as my sewing machine has decided it wants a vacation.

I got a book on sewing machine maintenance from the library, but it seems my problem may be beyond the scope of simple home repair, so I have to call the sewing machine repair place on Monday to get a quote and figure out what to do.

Gimp knits

2008-06-19T11:22:00.003-04:00

Despite a bum arm I still managed to get quite a bit done these last couple of weeks.

I finished my online striped socks Monday:

Stats:
On Line sock yarn in "tropic"
Size 1.5 (2.5mm) knit picks 40" circs
My usual boring old, toe up two at once magic loop pattern.

You can still see quite a bit of swelling in my right ankle in that picture.
(pssst, don't tell the doctor I took of the air cast to take the picture and was walking around without it, my leg gets itchy after a while)

I'm also thiiis close from finishing feather and fan!
(no pictures, because sadly it doesn't really look much different than last time)
I only have one patterned row and five plain knit rounds to go before I can start the crochet chain edging/bind off. (we won't mention the fact that each row contains roughly 1290 stitches...)

Also with feather and fan, it somehow managed to acquire a raspberry stain during its stay in the wip basket, so I was planning on dying it to hide the stain.

I'm thinking a turquoise blue, or deep sky blue or maybe bluish purple. (I'm going through a 'blue' phase)

That plan plus the plan of expanding my etsy shop as well as some other exciting news I have, culminated in my splurging on a ton of dying supplies. I have a big plastic bin filled with the assorted ephemera of yarn dying and the color theory and yarn dying books all read, and I'm just about ready to jump in!

I'm very excited.

Bill's aunt (who we rent our apartment from) has a small summer cottage down by the water, but isn't renting it out much this summer because she hasn't felt up to cleaning and upkeep. And she told me I could use it for my own personal dye studio. How cool is that!?

I'm back!

2008-06-18T17:10:00.003-04:00

A little update on me before I get to the fiber fun:

So what happened to me?
I fell, because I am a giant klutz.
As I was leaving to work I missed the step down and twisted and sprained my ankle, as I fell I put out my hand to catch myself, and the impact dislocated my elbow.

I got a fun ride in an ambulance to the emergency room where I got poked and prodded and x-rayed. The ER doctor couldn't tell through all the swelling if my elbow was broken or just sprained. (It had gotten popped back into place during the move to the ambulance) so I got a temporary cast until I could go see the orthopedic doctor. My ankle also got a spiffy air cast, and instructions no to walk too much, since I really should be on crutches, but since I only had one usable arm, could only use a cane

A few agonizing days later I got in to see the orthopedic doctor and he declared me sprained.
I got rid of the horrible cast and left with instructions to take it easy and a prescription for physical therapy.

My elbow is healing nicely, as is my ankle. The first week and a half I couldn't do much, but I'm finally getting back into the groove of things. And actually have an FO to show you, but not today.

Today I talk about the Stone Mills Fiber festival.

Stone Mills is a little town near where I live, and every year they host a little gathering of some of the fiber producers in the area. And all sorts of fun ensues.

There were sheep:

(We saw some of them getting sheered, but I didn't take any pictures.)

And alpaca:

My husband bought a garden full of heirloom vegetable plants from a very nice gentle man, whose wife I taught in one of my sock knitting classes.

And I bought yarn and fiber:

clockwise from top left: 8oz Ashland bay merino wool top in "snapdragon", 8oz
Northern Lights Spacedyed Wool Top from Louet in "violets" JL yarns vinca in colorway "10" and JL yarns salvia in colourway "19"

all bought from pollywogs

I've already started a pair of socks in the rainbow Vinca. It's a superwash and nylon sock yarn, and was quite cheep but so far really nice. It's a bit thinner than my usual sock yarn, and only two plies. But the really cool thing is what goes on with those two plies. Each one slowly transitions through the colour wheel, and they are spun together slightly offset, so that the combinations make amazing effects in the knit fabric. it's really fun to watch them develop.

I also fondled the fiber, and the so far I can say the Ashland bay feels amazingly soft, and the Louet feels a bit rougher, but probably more hardwearing. I plan on spinning at least half of each of these tops worsted to make some nice sock yarn. not sure what I'll do with the rest yet.

ow

2008-05-30T12:37:00.000-04:00

no knitting content for a while as I seem to have broken my elbow.

Cop out

2008-05-15T19:16:00.000-04:00

I've been spinning almost constantly lately. (Except for short intervals of sock knitting in the car)

I just can't help it... the BLF roving from Squoosh is just delicious!

And it's going so quick.

From this:

Plus this:

To this:

Then a quick chain ply plus a quick wash and I have this:

You can really see how long the colour repeats are here:

This skein is actually about two cops full.

It comes out to 2.5 oz, 232 yards, and 22 wpi after washing (it was 26 before)

It is so pretty and so soft, I'm really happy with how it's turning out, although It's a bit thinner than I was hoping for (I really wanted sock weight, but this is several wpi thinner than I'm used to knitting with) so I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it.

I still have a little under half the roving to work through, but it's coming along swimmingly.

Some finished spinning samples and delicious squoosh

2008-05-04T10:10:00.001-04:00

Bill just got a new camera and has been playing with it a lot recently, this is a picture he took of my Golding tsunami in action.

I've been spinning a lot lately, mostly samples, here's what I got:

a three ply from the same crappy roving I was using in the beginning, this is what was on my old spindle when I got the new Golding, I wanted to practice Navajo/chain playing so I stopped where I was, wound if off and went to town. I really like the finished yarn. (Well, as much as I can, considering the crappy roving it was made from) I over spun while plying and then had to wash and set the twist. I think it may be a little to over spun, but it's still quite nice. And I finally found a good use for my old heavy spindle; its extra weight was perfect for keeping the kinks out of the singles during all the maneuvering required for the plying.

this little gem is a small sample I spun up of Cayenne's fur.
It's sooo soft.
I had been trying on and off to spin her fur for a while now, but I had no way to card or process it, and nothing but a big heavy spindle to use, so the results were far from satisfactory. While out last week I finally picked up some dog brushes (how pithy!) to try carding the fur before spinning, and then using the new lighter spindle. The results were much more satisfactory, but if I want to do more, I will need a lit more practice, the fiber is very light and wispy and liked to drift apart and float away if you look at it wrong. I was thinking maybe blending it with some merino may help keep things together without sacrificing too much softness. Spun on the Golding 2" .8oz tsunami, then chain plied on my old heavy spindle.

And now for the yummiest part:

my better roving finally arrived!

This is BFL roving in the "thicket" colorway from Squoosh it is sooo dreamy!

Look at that! It's like spinning a cloud! I can't keep from cuddling it whenever I pick up my spindle, the colours are amazing, and the BFL drafts like buttah! I should have gotten good roving a long time ago, and Squoosh's colours are so pretty, I can't keep my self away! It's fascinating to sit there and look a the roving, pre draft it and watch the colours meld and then to spin it all up and watch as they transform into shiny happy beautifulness as I wind it on the cop. The last three days at work all I could think about was coming home and spinning. I think I'm addicted!

I got another roving from Squoosh (I just love that name!) too, it's a merino called "fun" and it does look fun! I can't wait to spin that up too.

My new spindle arrived!

2008-04-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

On Friday afternoon I ordered my new Golding drop spindle. And it arrived today! I was so excited I just had to play with it. I felt like I was throwing purls before swine by using the crappy roving I had on had but I just had to play. (I ordered some spiffy hand dyed but it hasn't arrived yet)

Anyways, I have to say I LOVE THIS SPINDLE! It spins for ever and so smoothly! It is so light, I was instantly getting smoother finer yarn that I could ever hope of getting on my old spindle, I can't wait until the good roving arrives.

Stats:
Golding spindle
Micro 2" model, .8 oz.
Purpleheart whorl "tsunami" design.

I know I'm just a newbie, but if you are looking for a new spindle, I cannot recommend Golding enough. It's like a dream to work with, and so pretty!

a comparison with my old spindle. In a post I made to LJ, when I mentioned I wanted this spindle, tashabear said it was one hell of an upgrade. I didn't realize how true that was! I look at my old spindle now, and can't believe I managed to make halfway decent yarn with it.

the whorl

and a crappy picture of just how fine I could spin.
After a little more practice I was getting even finer, and I'm sure it improve even more with the better roving.

Spinning!

2008-04-23T08:55:00.002-04:00

A couple of years ago I bought a beginners drop spindle at Rhinebeck. I spun up a really bad and lumpy bulky skein on it then promptly put it aside for something else. Then a little later I picked it back up and started spinning Fur from our American Eskimo Cayenne. It was difficult since I had no way to properly prepare it, and the staple length was short and the spindle was heavy, so I didn't do it too often and for very long.

Then the other day while I as cleaning out my stash I found a bag of unlabeled bats that I had bought long ago on e-bay, and decided to pull out the spindle again.

The wool wasn't very well prepared, there were a lot of little matted lumps in it, tons of vegetable matter, and it was a little sticky from all the leftover lanolin. But it was all I had and I wanted to spin! I decided that if I was really going to take up spinning seriously I wanted lace and sock weight. So that's what I aimed for.

Here it is on the spindle before I took it off to ply:

And after plying:

With penny:

stats: about 102 yards, 17-20 wpi, unknown breed of wool.

It's not perfect by a long shot, there are a lot of too thick and under spun bits from the beginning but towards the end I was getting really happy with my consistency, but it kept breaking and pulling apart if I got as thin as I wanted. From my research I guess that was because my spindle was just too heavy. So I think I'm going to get a new spindle - I was looking at these specifically the Tsunami in purpleheart.

When we go into town today, I'm also planning on going to the library to take out some books on spinning. Ohh I'm so excited!

A new skirt!

2008-04-16T13:14:00.001-04:00

I hate clothes shopping. It's annoying.

I'm a big girl, and it's always difficult to find clothing that 1) fits me and 2) looks nice.
One of my favorite types of clothing during summer time is skirts. They are easy to take on and off; they cover my flabby pale legs, and are amazingly cool, even on the hottest days. (Way cooler and more comfortable than shorts even, because skirts allow air flow)

I especially like the bohemian tiered skirt look, because they are looser, look better on my figure and allow more freedom of movement and air flow.

But I've had a very difficult time finding many that are both the appropriate colour palate for summertime (I prefer lighter colours during the summer, but not white, I am too much of a klutz to wear white) and that match shirts that I already own (I have more than enough tank tops and t-shirts, thankyouverymuch) AND that will actually fit over my rather large bottom.

My solution?

Make my own!

I've scrounge the internet and library and bookstores for good skirt patterns, and I found a couple of resources that discuss my favored skirt design. And a couple of weeks ago I finally got up the nerve to try it out.

So I went to Jo-Ann's Fabrics and got a pretty fabric, and some elastic, brought it home, cut it out and make a skit!

It was way easier than I expected, and I'm incredibly happy with the results. AND with a coupon, (and not counting labor, since it gave me something to do, and was fun) it came out to WAY less than I've paid for similar skits. YAY!

The skirt isn't perfect, but I'm happy, and already have the fabric to make another one!

if you're interested, here's the tutorial for how I made it

Fnished Flutterbyes

2008-04-14T14:07:00.002-04:00

Yay!

Since the weather is getting nicer around here, I figured it was high time I got off my duff and finished the crochet butterfly top I started a while ago.

All I really needed to do was the sleeves and edging. And since I decided to just do plain Sc around the main body it was a snap. The sleeves on the other hand got ripped out several times before I was happy. See, I have flabby arms, and am very particular about my sleeves. But I eventually got it.

I am so incredibly happy with this top, I just want to wear it all the time, but it's still a bit chilly.
::pout::

original pattern by Proper Trappings and available here(ravelry link)

Bunnies, Bunnies, it must be BUNNIES!*

2008-04-13T13:49:00.001-04:00

I've been up to a lot lately, nut for some reason not up to posting, but I've finally getting all my thoughts in order so prepare for a bunch of posts.

First up? BUNNIES!

*ahem*

I've knit a few more bunnies from this pattern I really like it and think the product is absolutely adorable.

One of my friends just had a baby and I think I'll send one to her.

The first one is from some random Lion Bouclé that was given to me from a lady at knit night. she didn't like it and wanted to get rid of it, and al I could think of was a bunny. I lost my pattern about half way through so I fudged it. and you can kind of tell, it's head is a little too small. Ah well.

The next one is a bunny I started a while ago but ran out of yarn just as I was starting it's second ear. I had a heck of a time finding the matching yarn for it, but I finally found some that was 'close enough' while I was wandering around Jo–Anns the other day.

I think the off colour ear give him a kind of charm, don't you think?

*bonus points of you can name where iI got the title from

change purse tutorial

2008-04-01T10:50:00.003-04:00

as promised, here's the tutorial.pattern for the little change purse I made yesterday.
be warned there are a lot of pictures. (you can click on each picture to get a bigger view)
if you would like, you can also view the tutorial as a slide show from my flickr album

gather your materials
you will need:
2 4x6 pieces of fabric, a short zipper (length isn't too important, so don't worry if all you can get is a longer zipper), sewing machine and thread, scissors and an iron.

fold each of your pieces of fabric in half, with right sides together. Press.

With zipper closed, place the zipper in the fold of one of your fabric pieces. Center the fabric on the zipper, making sure the pull tab is out of the way.

Sew along the folded edge

Unfold fabric and refold wrong sides together, press. (be careful not to melt your zipper!)

Repeat on the other side of the zipper with your other piece of fabric.

press again.

Unzip the zipper so that the pull tab is "inside" the fabric.

Fold the zipper in half so that the teeth are on top and the fabric pieces are together.
Sew each end of the zipper several times along the edge of the fabric.

Trim away the excess zipper, being careful not to cut where you just sewed everything together.

Making sure that the zipper pull tab is in the center of the fabric. Unfold the very top and very bottom piece of fabric so that you now have two flaps of fabric (right sides together) above and below the zipper.

Sew along first one side, then the other side. Making sure the back stitch several times over the zipper to secure it.

Sew along the top edge (the piece that will be the outside of your purse, if you are unsure which end this is, it's the one where you can see the top of the zipper and the pull tab from.)

Then sew along the bottom edge, leaving about an inch gap unsewn in the middle. Trim your corners. And trim the ends of the zipper flush with the fabric. (not shown in the picture)

Pull everything right side out through the gap you left in the inside bottom edge.
Make sure to poke out your corners. And sew up the hole.

Push the lining fabric inside the change purse, making sure everything is neat and tidy, and admire your handiwork!

Some much happier purses

2008-03-31T14:46:00.002-04:00

So after the disaster of a purse from my last post. I got serious. And went looking for a good purse pattern. Then I realized I actually HAD a good purse pattern already, but I kept forgetting about it.

I year or so ago a good friend of mine who doesn't quilt, won a quilt kit. In the kit was a pattern for a really cute purse as well as the supplies to make it. Since she didn't' quilt or sew and I did, she gave it to me.

Here is my practice purse from the pattern:

MUCH better! But the fabric is so not my style. So I dug up the leftovers from my denim tote bag, and made another:

I really like it, it makes my very happy.
Only one problem (if you can call it that) the back pocket is its only pocket. So I have no place to put my change.
Sooo..

DO DO DOOOT!

Change purse to the rescue!

It's my own super spiffy pattern. And once I get all the photos edited and write everything up all pretty, I'll post it for you.

an unhappy purse

2008-03-25T17:07:00.003-04:00

I was feeling out of sorts today, so to cheer myself up I decided to make myself a new summer purse.

I should have know better, but it don't come out how I wanted.

since I'm unhappy with it, I will never use it. and my husband won't let me throw it away. so you guys get a chance at a free purse.

it measures roughly 8.5 x 5, has an extra long strap, and two internal pockets.
the sewing isn't the best but it's free, so if you want it let me know.

just leave me a comment here with your e-mail address. if I get more than one request I'll go ask a random number generator.

What I did today:

2008-03-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

Finished knitting the heels on the striped socks:

Picked up the feather and fan shawl again, it's getting close to the end, I hope to get there soon, this has been sitting in my knitting bag for too long.

And made mocha brownies using my new mini bunt pan

Yummy.

Yesterday I sat down to cut the yellow fabric for the sashings on my quilt, and promptly messed it up. I was cutting the last strips, and somehow lost my mind and measured wrong. When I realized I was upset, but I thought I could still salvage, and I had measured too big, and could easily trim the pieces. And I could have too, if I had measured correctly the second time. But I didn't. I had originally purchased the fabric thinking I was just going to use it on the borders, so I didn't have much wiggle room when I decided to do sashing too. Next time I'm in town I'm going to need to buy more, and until then I can't go any further with the quilt, since the pieces I messed up were the ones that go in the middle of the quilt.

Ah well. Luckily I left myself plenty of time to get this finished before mother's day.

Coasting and smocking.

2008-03-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

After I took the pictures of the blocks last night, I decided to wait until this weekend to cut the slashing. But I was in the sewing groove, so I took some of the scraps left over from the blocks and threw together these coasters. They are very spring-y, and make me very happy. We already have plenty of coasters around here, so I think I will give them to bill's parents for Easter.

Also, the other day I worked on this:

It's my first attempt at Smocking.

I found this really wonderful sitethat gives instructions on smocking, and then while we were in town on Wednesday I picked up a few books from the library.

There are a lot of really nifty applications for smocking; it's not just for baby's clothing (although I do find it appealing... I just need somebody near me to have babies so I can make stuff for them) smocked fabric usually has a lot of elasticity and stretch to it, and one book I got shows it being used a lot on blouse cuffs, and the waistbands of skirts. It looks really nice as an embellishment.

There was even a pattern for smocked Christmas tree ornaments in one of the books I got from the library. Now THAT is spiffy.

Spring!

2008-03-20T15:53:00.001-04:00

In honor of the first day of spring today I started putting together the spring quilt for my mother.

As you can see I got the main blocks done this afternoon. While I was laying them out for the above photo, I decided to lay out the yellow I was planning to use as a border:

And it was lacking in something, so I spaced out the blocks a little...

Perfect!
So in the next few days I need to cut the sashing and border and finish up the top. I'm so excited!

Oh yeah. Yes, I did hand embroider those blocks. I posted one here before. But here they all are together: (click to see bigger size)

A new use for cheap place mats

2008-03-13T10:40:00.000-04:00

can you guess what these are?

Need a hint?

Yep! I just made myself a set of sock blockers, perfect for my feet, and only $1

Here's the original placemat:

(spongebob was all I could find at the local dollar store that wasn't a dead guy hanging on a cross, seriously... wtf? Who wants a placemat with the crucifixion scene on it, and it was gruesome too, just what every person wants to look at while eating dinner...)

The instructions are here at Little Sesame Knits
It's super simple and super cheap!

I think I need to go back and pick up another placemat so I can make another set... and perhaps some contact paper. While spongebob is cute, I don't think he really works on sock blockers.

The coolest part about the new sock blockers? I can now model my new socks:

in the bag

2008-03-11T10:38:00.002-04:00

so besides reading my pile of new books, what have I been doing?

Sewing:

we like reusable grocery bags around here, and we needed a new one. I saw the denim on sale and thought it would be perfect. It came out better than I expected, but not perfect, my corners are horrible. I think next time I do something like this I'll choose a less fiddly pattern.

I also sewed up some more tea towels.

After I was done sewing I went back to embroidery, and embroidered a Hibiscus on the tote:

the pattern is from a huge batch of transfers I got from the thrift store while we were in Watertown on Wednesday. I'm slowly scanning them all in so that I can reuse and resize them as needed. And since I was scanning them in anyways, I'm putting them up on the Hoop Love flickr pool

after I finished embroidering the bag, I finished off a shirt I was working on for myself:

yes indeed, I does match Bill's Shirt, were weird like that.

oh yeah, and I embroidered this towel for my grandmother last week:

I'm going to give it to her for mother's day.
I'm getting better at my satin stitch, this pleases me.

{edit}
the bag got washed today, and the fabric came out about 100 time better than before, and the flower just popped beautifully. the bag holds it shape nicely (but not perfectly, I think I want to add a piece of cardboard or something to give the bottom more structure.) and I wanted to take a full picture to really show how cool it looks, I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Saturday Sky

2008-03-08T10:50:00.002-05:00

Thursday and Friday were really nice, There was hope of spring in the air.
then it snowed last night.

at least the view out our front window is pretty.

Saturday Sky, taken Saturday march 8, 2008 10:40am, front window of the Platypus nest.

and a bonus:

Book haul

2008-03-05T14:25:00.000-05:00

Every semester we put aside a small percentage of Bill's tuition payments for books.
We are really good, and don't buy any books all semester until the money comes in.

This semester his payment was larger than we were expecting.
I got a lot of books.

From top to bottom, left to right:

The Restaurant Manager's Handbook
The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Forms
Selbuvotter
Kitty Knits
New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop
Doodle Stitching
And The Paisley Designs Coloring Book

I don't think I'll be getting much of anything done for a while...

New socks in progress, a shirt and some tea towels

2008-03-04T09:23:00.002-05:00

Now that I've finally finished Tasha's socks I can do some sock knitting for myself!

The yarn is Online Supersocke in the tropic colourway.
I liked the effect I got with the reverse striping on my regia socks, so I decided to knit from both ends of the ball with these.

Then I stitched up some tea towels:

I'm going to give the cornucopia to one of my Grandmothers for mother's day, the other one is for me. We like to bake around here, and I was tickled by the idea of having a special towel just for rising bread. I don't know where those little dogs are going with my pie, but I want it back!

Both patterns were found at hoop love

and last night I finished another shirt for Bill:

We are vegetarians, and when he saw this design he thought it was too funny NOT to put on a shirt. The whole set is like this, with a giant turkey, duck and pig too. It reminds me of the Shel Silverstein poem (which I can't for the life of me remember the name of, and all my books are at my parent's)

Once again, I traced the design onto the stabilizer and ironed that onto the front of the shirt to follow. And again I had trouble seeing exactly where my stitches were going, so it isn't a neat as I would like. I really need to find a better way to get designs onto dark fabric.

I'm not sure where I found this design now, I know it's an old McCalls pattern, and I have the file on my computer with the full set, but I can't for the life of me remember where I found it.

Finally!

2008-02-25T20:54:00.000-05:00

Yay!
I finally finished Tasha's socks!

They really weren't all that difficult. I had a few problems with sore joints, but that eventually went away.
My biggest problem was they just kept getting put aside for more mindless or interesting projects.
And I wasn't all the compelled to finish them, since they weren't for me (oh, doesn't that sound horrible!?)

Here is one modeled on my way too big for it foot:

Pattern is the scrolls pattern from more sensational knitted socks with extra plain rows between pattern rows. Yarn is knit Picks Essential on US size 1(2.25mm) Hiya Hiya's

I started another pair of socks at knit night tonight. But they are just going to be plain vanilla socks for mindless car knitting.

Oh yeah, and I also finished embroidering a T-shirt for Bill tonight.

the fabric was too dark to use my usual transfer pencil, so I just traced to design onto my stabilizer and ironed it onto the front of the shirt.
the lines aren't as neat as I would like, because I couldn't see exactly where my needle was going with he stabilizer sheet in the way, but overall I'm pretty happy.

pattern is from an old Workbasket, and also available on hoop love

Green is his favorite colour, and he likes mushrooms, it's great during the spring and fall he'll go out with his magnifying glass and identification book and spend hours just looking at strange types of fungus.

What I did today

2008-02-24T20:21:00.002-05:00

Today I got up early and made Cinnamon buns:

Then I ironed my new t-shirt:

I forgot to save the peacock image last time, and I wanted to enlarge it, so I went hunting, and found two versions. one specifically for redwork, so it had easier to follow lines, but not all the design elements like the machine embroidery one did. a little time in photoshop and I had exactly what I wanted. I'm very pleased with this.

After that I decided to make some tea towels to embroider:

I came upon some cheap cotton the other day, and I thought it would be perfect for embroidery. I wanted to practice my hemming skills, so it was a perfect opportunity. These are just the first four tea towels. If I like how everything works out I may make more, I certainly have plenty of fabric.

And while I had the sewing machine out I decided to finish up a little girl doll I has been working on:

I think her torso is too long for her legs, but otherwise I'm happy. i enjoy coloring things in before embroidery, I really like the look

and the dachshund ornament for my cousin.

She just recently got her first dog, a dachshund and is completely in love with the adorable little guy.

earlier this week I also finished up a his and hers pillowcase set for Bill's parent's for Christmas:

they have two orange tabbies, and the kitties were just too adorable not to make.

And a Basset hound pillowcase for my father:

I think I'm going to give this to him for his birthday.

kittyyarnshirt

2008-02-18T15:33:00.001-05:00

kittyyarnshirt
Originally uploaded by alien_sunset

just a quickie before I head off too kit night.
this is the shirt I'll be wearing tonight, I got the pattern from the flickr group hoop love

I've been a busy little beaver

2008-02-12T19:01:00.000-05:00

But it's been mostly embroidery.

First the knitting content:
I'm almost finished with Tasha's socks, I have just the ribbing to go and they will be done. I'm hoping to work on them tomorrow on the trip to Watertown.

On the embroidery front:
I like peacocks; I especially like peacock blue thread. So I made a peacock:

I was thinking the other day about Dolls, and I wondered if I could figure out how to make one. So I found a little girl picture and went to town.

I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think I would have liked to have done something with her dress though, that's a lot of blank space. Perhaps next time I do one.

I was so happy with the way the doll turned out I tried another idea that had been running through my brain: Goddess Dolls. They came out better than I hoped and I really liked the way the coloring worked. I'm offering these two up for sale in my Etsy shop if anybody is interested.

With the success of the Goddess Dolls I decided to make children's dolls too, but I needed to draw the design myself in order to sell. So I started sketching. While warming up my drawing muscles I came up with a nifty little design that I though looked cool, and decided to see what it would look like worked up. I was quite pleased:

the success of my first 'art embroidery' got me going and I doodled some more and came up with a pretty heart and vine pattern that I thought would look really nice as a pillow edging. But as I was playing around I realized it would really neat on a shirt too:

(can you tell I like curlicues?)

There are meant to be flowers on the vines too, but I was having difficulty with the stitching through the stabilizer and couldn't get them to work on the shirt.

:: flail ::

2008-02-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

OMG OMG OMG

Mondays are knit night here in Clayton, a bunch of women get together at a local cafe, and knit and chat etc.

tonight while we were all there a gentleman comes in orders a coffee and sits in a corner with his laptop.
I barely noticed him, he looked a bit scruffy, and a little familiar, but I figured he was just some local that I'd seen around town.

after he left, the owner of the cafe interrupted us.

you see... the scruffy guy? why he looked so familiar?

it was VIGGO MORTENSEN!!!

:: flails around like a silly fan girl ::

I swear to god, every single woman there freaked out, and then he came back!! luckily it was getting towards closing time, so we all had to leave or I think some of the women *cough*me*cough* may have exploded.

{EDIT}
Dear Viggo, if you ever find this (or care) we really never would have bothered you and in fact were quite impressed that you did not run scared after seeing our band of motley and slightly raucous knitters.

Embroidery, sewing and dragons, oh my!

2008-02-07T13:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I'm still embroidering, but I'm running out of things to make.

I finished up a redwork dragon, and Bill is going to frame it for me along with the Pegasus I posted earlier. I think they will make a nice set.

then I made this pillow. I saw the pattern on Etsy and just had to make it. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but a pillow seemed perfect. It's so pretty! If you want to make one too the seller is here she's an amazing artist, totally go support her.

the fabric was just perfect too. It was my first time sewing a pillow case though, and I think I made the overlap too deep. Ah well, I'll know for next time.

while I had the sewing machine out I decided to whip up some more sachets for the sop while I was at it. if you want to buy you can find them here

poke ow poke ow poke bleed

2008-02-03T11:02:00.000-05:00

I seem to be obsessed with embroidery.
it's so simple and the results are so pretty!

I have plans for a few pieces to make and then frame up for Christmas and mother's day presents. and I've got this wild hare to put some cute ones together in a small quilt type thing for my mom.

I may just be loosing it.
but to distract you, here have some pictures of what I've finished now:

a redwork Pegasus. I used my new washable blue tracing pencil for this guy, but it got dull before I got to the face, and it's too big to fit into a conventional pencil sharpener, so I lost a lot of face detail. also, the DMC 321 I was using bled all over. it's not as easy to see in the picture, but the fabric has a definite pink cast to it, and theres a few red splotches here and there too. I tried washing in cold water and rinsing a lot, and it helped a little, but not much.

one of the pieces I'm going to make into a quilt for mom.
it's spring themed i think, and this is the first one I finished. I used my heat transfer pencil for this one. much easer to see and stitch. but it doesn't wash out, so if I'm not perfectly careful you can see the lines.

so far so good, my technique is getting better and I'm having a lot of fun.

don't worry, I'm sure I'll run out of steam eventually, then it will be back to your regularly scheduled knit blogging.

A stitch in time?

2008-01-31T11:55:00.000-05:00

I have acquired yet another needlework obsession:
Embroidery.

I blame it all on Kat who planted the seed with her most adorable little tomte

I was recently reminded of those little elves (gnomes?) while browsing through Making mathematics with needlework. And began scouring the web for information.

Two library books, and several web sites later, I downloaded some clip art, got out my needles and floss and got to work:

His was my first piece, and boy can you ever tell. My stitching was awful and uneven.

my second attempt:
Getting better, much more even stitching, but I think I was pulling the stitches too tight, because I got a lot of holes. Also I didn't quite have curves and corners down yet.

third:
made yesterday.
Still need a lot of work, but I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out. my French knots started out horrible, but I finally got them down in the end.

Today were going into Watertown for supplies and I'll be stopping by jo-anns for more thread and a better hoop. Weeee

sock graduation

2008-01-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

last night was the last night of sock class!
everything went so well, I'm so happy and proud of all my students! :D

last time I had given them homework to knit a small sock, and while some people had a few problems, everybody ended up understanding what was going on.
we did the math of gauge, negative ease, and the perfect fit last night, I was most nervous about this part, but everybody got it, quick as lightening and there were no problems! I'm so happy!

And at the end everybody got their certificates of achievement.

here are my socktacular students

the good girls:

the trouble makers:

I'm so happy the class went well, and that everybody learned stuff, and came away knowing how to make socks work, I'm just floating on air today!
I can't wait until next week when everybody comes to knit night, almost everybody was ready to cast on for their socks, and I can't wait to see what they have going next week!

Cracking right along

2008-01-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

The butterfly top is almost there; I finished the main body today, and seamed the shoulder. Now all I have to do is crochet the sleeves and the edging. I'm very exited, it even fits!

Pre-seaming:

Unfortunately, my wrist is starting to crack and hurt badly whenever I crochet. I made bred on Thursday, and them made pizza dough yesterday, and I think all the kneading pushed it over the edge. I'm going to have to take a crochet break for a couple of days so I don't permanently hurt myself.

Luckily, it doesn't hurt to knit! So I'm going to go back to Okie Dokie and get more of that done, but first... an intermission:

Knit lace sun catcher. The picture is from last night, the daytime picture is pretty but you cant see any detail.

I got the pattern from an old Anna magazine, but I bought the wrong sized ring, so I had to knit it with finer thread and needles, and take out a couple of repeats to get it to fit my ring. I'm really happy with the way it came out, but it was a bit of a PITA. I think it would be way easier to make a sun catcher like this in crochet, and I have a whole book full of snowflake patterns that would be perfect, but I need bigger rings for them to fit. (I also need my wrist to stop cracking, ah well.)

(see? No detail)

flutterbyes

2008-01-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

no wonder I'm not making much progress on the okie dokie.

every once in a while I go though a crochet jag. my skills get a little better and I get happier, but they don't often last long, I have a problem with my wrist and if I go too long, it begins cracking and getting very painful to hook the yarn.

I'm in the middle of a crochet jag right now, and have decided to milk it for all it's worth. not only did I make P.Z. but now I'm working on a filet crochet top.

The pattern is
Not So Tiny Tops: Green Butterflies by Proper Trappings (this is another Ravelry exclusive pattern, sorry)

it's my first crochet garment and I’m making some pretty big modifications right off the bat.

the original size wouldn’t fit me, so I upped my gauge so that I wouldn’t have to fiddle too much with the schematic. I'm using Peaches & cream cotton yarn in "peppercorn obre" (soo pretty!) and an "H" hook

I still needed to fiddle though, the increase in gauge made it wider enough to fit around me, but also made it waaaayyy too long, so I had to chop a good 10 rows from the chart, which interrupted the patterning, so I fiddled that around too, not too much, since I really liked the butterflies where they were.

also had to make some minor adjustments to arm holes and neck shaping, but I’m hoping it won’t be too obvious with the finished product.

I'd like to be under the sea, in an octopus' garden in the shade

2008-01-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

Meet P.Z.*

P.Z. is an adorable Amigurumi style Octopus from Octopode Pandemonium

Cat included for scale:

He was a lot of fun to make, it's been a while since I've made any Amigurumi, and well, Cephalopods are just irresistible!

Stats:
Time: about three days on and off, it would have been much quicker, but crocheting at a tight gauge really kills my wrist and I need frequent breaks.
Hook: G
Yarn: random blue/variegated acrylic from my stash.
I thought the variegated yet still blue of the yarn mimicked a real octopus's colour changing ability. (And it was cute!)

Before assembly:

I thought the legs looked like little blue sausages. Bill says the looked more like fuzzy blue tampons.

The body was mad in one piece, because I hate seaming. legs were 15 rounds of plain crochet.

After Assembly, aka the obligatory 'stuff on my cat' shot:

* My Husband named him after one of the bloggers he reads: P.Z. Myers from Pharyngula

By Jove I think they've got it!

2008-01-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

Sock class is looking up.
Last week there were some timing problems and I think I tried to show them a few things that were just over their heads.

But his week went swimmingly! We started on time, and I was able to show them almost everything I had planned for that class. I decided not to show them everything on the hand outs I had prepared, instead focusing on the ones that were absolutely necessary to move forward, and then leaving the option open for them to request demonstrations of the other techniques later. They seemed to pick up the concepts quickly, and while there were a few doubtful comments of "I don't see how this is supposed to work." it all came out in the end!

I'm really looking forward to next week's class, we'll be covering toes and heels, and I'll be asking them to knit a tiny practice sock. Everybody seemed up beat and confident, and that makes me so happy!

Geek du chêne

2008-01-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

While I was working on the Okie Dokie doily yesterday I began to wonder how far along I was.
I mean I could look at the pattern and see how many rows were left.
But those rows were getting bigger and bigger, and I wanted to know exactly what percentage I had left.

So I turned to the resident geek (aka my husband) and asked him how I would go about figuring it out. In no time he had a simple little formula for me. This formula works if you are knitting a center out circular or rectangular shawl/blanket, it works if you are knitting a tip up triangular shawl, and it works if you are knitting a center neck out triangular shawl, essentially, if you start with a tiny number of stitches, and end with a huge number of stitches, this formula will work. (This does not count Faroese style shawls, there's funky shaping involved that the formula doesn't account for.)

(Rows already knit)²
(Total Rows in project)²

all that x 100 = the percentage finished.

So how far along am I with Okie dokie?

55² ÷ 123²=.199

.119 x 100 = 19.9%

yeah... I need to get knitting.

{ETA}
If you want to be extra geeky with this, try typing it into Google.

((55^2) / (123^2)) x 100

Doily head

2008-01-13T10:23:00.000-05:00

I recently met a very nice woman online who goes by the handle "doilyhead" we both share an interest in lace, and she has done a lot of work inquiring about copyright and public use of old patterns. Hopefully you will be seeing some of her projects appearing here as I test knit for her. You can see some of what she has done at her flicker page here

One of the fun things she has done in her spare time has been to convert old doily patterns into berets, this inspired me.

So I decided to try my hand at it:

I call her the Star of the County Down after a song by one of my favorite bands, Emerald Rose.

The lace pattern is not directly from any one doily, but more my take on a common theme that I have seen in many doily patterns. The results aren't nearly as spectacular as what Doilyhead had come up with, but I'm pretty happy.

I am offering up the pattern for free, but, you won't find it here.
I have become so smitten with Ravelry, and I think it has a lot to offer even to the casual knitter. There is still a waiting list to join, but it is moving very quickly now, and they plan to go public very soon. They have recently offered PDF hosting and downloading of free patterns available to all users, and this is where you'll find my pattern. The pattern page is here. enjoy

socks, babies and lace

2008-01-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, I really suck at posting, don't I?
Ah, well. I've been busy prepping for my sock class.

The first class was last night, and boy was it interesting!

Before I even left the house my glasses broke, and we couldn't get them fixed so I had to run around and put my contacts in (I badly need new ones, and my vision isn't as clear as I would like with my contacts) so I got there late, but I was still able to get everything set up, but it meant we got off to a later start than I would have liked.

It was fun watching everybody pick out their yarn, everyone trying to match yarn to folder. I hand dyed all the yarn for the class myself.

I did a short lecture on types of sock yarn, and types of socks, and then we got into the thick of things. Tonight was casting on and casting off. There was a little trouble and it took longer than I had anticipated, so I couldn't show them everything I had planned, but everybody learned something new, and they all especially liked the Sew bind off.

It's going to take a little magic on my end to figure out how to teach them everything they missed last night, plus everything for next class as well, but I think we'll manage, I'm just going to have to overhaul my materials.

I haven't just been prepping for class though, I have been knitting!

We recently found out that Bill's cousin is expecting, so I knit up a little Bunny blanket buddy the picture sucks but he's amazingly soft and cuddly. I used TLC Amore, which was a bit of a pain to work with, but soo cuddly.

And I've also started this:

It's the frosted ferns pattern. It was republished by the Spool Cotton Company, but it's a common consensus that it's a reprint of a Herbert Niebling pattern.
I'm using the chart from the Niebling yahoo group, (the written instructions have you break the yarn at one point, which is just silly, the chart fixes that) but the charts were so unreadable that I re-charted them (keeping my fingers crossed that I did it right).

So far so good, there are few spots where I'm not quite happy with my tension, at one point I dropped a couple of stitches, and ended up loosing almost a whole leaf. I had to go back and re knit up the entire section, and that played havoc with my tension on the edges, and there are two sections between leaves where things are a bit loose from where there were gaps from using magic loop (I'm almost afraid to see how bad it would have been if I were using DPN's!) You can be pretty vicious when blocking cotton, so I'm hoping most of the issues will be worked out then.

Happy New Year's!

2007-12-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

I hope everybody has an awesome night and awesome new years day in the morning.

may all you wishes come true in the coming year, and may all you troubles melt away.

Snow Song (It's Coming Down)
from Striking 12 by groovelily (one of the most awesome CD's ever by one of the most awesome bands out there, go buy their stuff)
© Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin & Valerie Vigoda

Snowflakes fall like velvet
From iron-colored skies
Somehow I can’t help it
I feel my spirits rise
Street lamps aglow
Time to take it slow
It’s coming down

Crystal branches glisten
Like diamonds over me
Frozen in position
A silent symphony
Sidewalks white and clean
Perfect and pristine
It’s coming down

It’s coming down and all my
blues disappear
And this old town is
young again—
Roll back the years
Because the world looks
like new
Or at least that’s the view
from here...

It’s cold here by the river
But I don’t feel it much
The moon’s a silver sliver
Close enough to touch
Storm clouds drift away
A star comes out to play
And it’s
coming down

***

It’s coming down and all my blues disappear
And this old town is young again — roll back the years
Because the world looks like new
Or at least that’s the view from here

Snowflakes fall like velvet
From iron-colored skies
Somehow I can’t help it
I feel my spirits rise
Snowflakes glint and glide
Glad to be outside

On the first day
On the first day
ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE YEAR