Sunday, July 12, 2015

YOP Update - All Over the Place





It's Sunday and time for a YOP update.  I finished 1 item on my list, yay!, and added 5 more. What?  Yeah, I was a bit all over the place this week for knitting because of a decision that's been a long time coming.  You see I've had a little knitted toy shop on Etsy for some years now, but I've decided to stop making toys and to change the shop over to something new - plant dyed yarn.  It's not too much of a stretch because all my toys are knit with plant dyed yarn (dyed by the wonderful Judy of Mamajudes also on Etsy) which is a passion of mine.  In my zealousness last Summer I purchased a good quantity of yarn for the shop, but with dwindling sales I have a lot of yarn leftover.  Since I don't want to knit toys anymore, all of it needs a new purpose.  Judy uses Lamb's Pride Worsted yarn for her base yarn which I love for making toys, but not so much for wearing as it's a rather stiff.  The great thing is that I have come up with a bunch of ideas on how to use it up, the bad news is I seem to be trying them out all at once!

So, I added a "Home" category to my YOP knit list with the following patterns: 


For the Home
Sock Yarn Braided Trivets by Martha Lazar 8 of them 
Sock Yarn Braided Rug by Martha Lazar 
My Oluffa Doorstop by Lucinda Guy 
Cozy Coasters by Joelle Hoverson  
Out of the Frying Pan by Amy E. Anderson

 
With the exception of the Cozy Coasters which uses some Frog Tree alpaca yarn (that never seems to run out as seriously I've made 3 sets of 4 coasters using the yarn doubled and still have yarn for more) they are all knit with my toy business yarn.  They Trivets I mentioned in this post, the rug you can see about halfway done above (it's basically a big trivet), the doorstop will be more of a pillow as it will use some other toy knitting yarn that's angora, and last are felted oven mitts which I'm making for use when dyeing and handling the hot pots.  Felted projects are really perfect for this yarn so I'm hoping to come up with a few more ideas along those lines.

Oh, and the finished object for this week was the Classic Cowl I knit with my rainbow handspun yarn which you can see here.  So, as you can see I didn't go with last week's plan to finish spinning my alpaca/angora yarn, but I'm pretty pleased overall.  Now I probably need to tweak my list a bit by removing a couple of items to make up for the additions I made this week.  Decisions, decisions, decisions...

15 comments:

  1. Well done on finishing the Rainbow Cowl, it looks super and the mat your making now is looking good. Sounds like an even better idea to find uses for the yarn for handy around the home items. Ruth.

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  2. Congratulations on your first FO for Year 5! The coaster (or it could be a mat) from the first picture looks cool. Will you be posting about how your plant dyeing will be going? It would be interesting to read about.

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    1. Yes, I do plan on posting about my adventures in plant dyeing. I'm still in the getting supplies stage, but hopefully I'll get started before the month's out.

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  3. Exciting times changing to the yarn dyeing. I hope it goes well for you, would be lovely to hear more about the process.

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  4. I absolutely ADORE that rug! If you have any of that yarn you would like to sell so I could make a rug like that I would purchase it! I am definitely going to order the Interweave mag the pattern is in and make some of those. Are they washable in the machine? I'm a pretty practical knitter and love my washing machine too. LOL!
    Your toys are adorable too.
    I also love the rainbow cowl. That would be a great gift and looks like it works up fairly quickly. That is how YOP goes....you just keep adding as we introduce each other to new projects. So fun though isn't it? Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks so much! Sadly the yarn is not machine washable. If I were purchasing yarn I think I would go that way as I am going to use it as a throw rug. It's made of a strand of a bold/darker rainbow colorway, a lighter rainbow colorway and a dark purple. I add a little bit each morning and I'm surprised at how fast it's going. Definitely give it a try. Oh and I used worsted weight, not sock weight as the pattern calls for.

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  5. Looking forward to seeing where this takes you.

    I've looked at that braided trivet! it's awesome but I'm not sure I have much use for a trivet as I don't have a dining room :) The doorstop is also amazing! WANT!

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    1. Yeah, when I saw the doorstop I just had to make it. It's in an Interweave Press book which they have on clearance on their site, although I think lots of libraries carry their books too.

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  6. The colors in that rug are just amazing! What a fun accent piece that will be. I will very much look forward to your post(s) on plant dying yarns. I think that will make some fascinating reading.

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  7. The colors in that rug are just amazing! What a fun accent piece that will be. I will very much look forward to your post(s) on plant dying yarns. I think that will make some fascinating reading.

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  8. I love the idea of dying with plants. A local farm had a class earlier this summer and I had hoped to go but we ended up having to be somewhere else at the same time. I do hope they'll run another. I was processing Beets for canning this weekend and as I was dumping out the water, I kept thinking I should be doing something with this great color..lol. The crafter side never gets turned off! Can't wait to hear about your new adventures in dying.

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  9. I love the idea of dying with plants. A local farm had a class earlier this summer and I had hoped to go but we ended up having to be somewhere else at the same time. I do hope they'll run another. I was processing Beets for canning this weekend and as I was dumping out the water, I kept thinking I should be doing something with this great color..lol. The crafter side never gets turned off! Can't wait to hear about your new adventures in dying.

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  10. What fun it will be to follow your journey into yarn dyeing. I have no idea what is involved in the process, but am glad other people dye so I can buy! I sure do love Lucinda Guy--and your doorstop is my favorite of your new projects.
    Have a lovely week....
    xoxxoxo

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  11. I love the idea of natural dyeing. There Is a shop near me that offers a natural dyeing workshop. Sadly, I have not been able to take it yet. I look forward to hearing about your adventures in plant dyeing.

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  12. That doorstop is amazing! A great addition to the list for sure!

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