Finished Project Pics!

 

Not sure why I look crabby, must be my reaction to something my Hubbie said.  Ha!

 

See the change in the color variegation?  I didn't blend the 2 skeins of Malabrigo Lace as I should have.

 

Here's my Hubbie Dan.  Isn't he handsome in his Shetland Vest.

Just a quick post today to show you some of my finished projects.  Up first is my Gemini Summer Top pattern by Jane Richmond.  It fits really well, but the shoulders do slip a bit.  I knit a few rounds of garter on the neck edge ( not done in the original pattern) to help prevent this, but I think it needed to be a tighter gauge altogether (for the lace part that is.)  So, if I were to knit this one again I would go down a needle size for the lace and keep the same size needle for the body.  The Hemp yarn I used has a lovely weight to it and feels really good next to my skin.  Now, if it would only warm up enough to wear it.

Next up is my Hubbie Dan's Shetland Vest.  I was only lengthening this sweater about 2 inches in the stockinette body portion and re-knitting 2 inches in the ribbing.  I talked about how I did that here.  It fits him very well now and he can reach upwards and not expose his stomach.  I am very pleased I did not have to re-knit this whole sweater.  Shetland is a grabby yarn and doesn't like being frogged much.

Dan's cabled vest is almost done too!  My oldest WIP by far - 3 years if you can believe it.  I have the ribbing around one armhole to do today then block it.  I didn't run out of yarn either and in fact have leftovers.  All that worrying for naught.  What's coming off your needles?

Joining in with Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday
 Linda for Creative Friday
Jenna for Freshly Finished Friday 
Beth for Flash Your Finishes Friday

Shetland - Yes Please!

First off, a wholehearted "Thank YOU!" to all you commented on my last post.  I usually respond to each comment, but there were so many I thought I'd thank you all at once.  You all made my day with your sweet kind words.  I read them all aloud to my husband who commented "Knitters are so cool."  How right he is!

Speaking of my husband, he brought home one of his knitted vests (he keeps them at work so they're on hand when he inevitably gets cold) that he stopped wearing because it was too short.  It's knit out of the first yarn I ever spun.  I used MN Shetland fiber as the Scots in me loves the heritage connection we have and well, it's super easy to spin too.  Needless to say I did not want to frog this sweater vest, but it was knit from the bottom up making me unsure on how to lengthen it.  The internet came to my rescue and with a video no less!  Seriously, the internet is wonderful for all the knitting information and videos you can find.  Following the Knitting Daily video I picked up a row of stitches just above the ribbing of the vest and then, gulp, cut the row just below and removed the ribbing.  It was very slick, not messy and I was able to save the handspun yarn from the ribbing to reuse.  Yay!  So, I've knit the 2 inches that was the ribbing in stockinette and just started on the new ribbing thankful that I had extra of this handspun yarn on hand.  I'm thinking I will finish it today and block it over the weekend.  There is a bit of a "ridge" from the old to the new knitting, but hopefully that will block right out.

In the Shetland theme of today's post I'm showing you the latest (and probably last for quite a while) addition to my stash - Clara Yarn Shetland 1.0.  Have you heard of this company?  They have a great story which I found so compelling that I bought a sweater's worth amount of yarn.  It came in the mail yesterday and man I am in LOVE!  The color, texture, feel it's just all so perfect for my taste and it's destiny is this sweater.  In my knitting schedule for the rest of the year (don't you have one of those?) I have it blocked off for December for a from me to me Christmas gift.  Thus, all the Christmas knitting I'm planning on has to be done by the end of November, which works on paper, but we'll have to see if I'm biting off more than I can chew as the saying goes.

Joining in with Amanda for Fibre Arts Friday and Linda for Creative Friday.

Revisiting an Old Project

No, I've not finished the second mitten, or the navy and white summer top, but yes, I have moved on to another project.  I think I have a knitting specific ADD.  Well really, it occurred to me the other day that Father's day is about a month after mother's day and maybe I should make something special for my husband (especially after not knitting him anything for his birthday - for shame Ann.)  When given the option of this spiffy hat or another sweater vest he opted for the vest (he gets very cold at work even in the summer as he doesn't care for AC.)  It just so happens I have one halfway knitted from over 3 years ago.  Yup, you heard me right 3 years ago I started this vest, finishing the backside only to then panic that I would not have enough yarn to complete it so I promptly stopped knitting.  Because if you don't knit you won't run out of yarn and everything will be fine right?  Fine, but no sweater vest to wear.  Sigh.  So, I decided to get back to it for Father's Day and it seems to me I'll have enough yarn and if not, well then there's always contrasting trim right? 

The only bummer is a mistake I made in the middle of the back all those years ago - can you see it?  I made one whole grouping of cables tighter than the rest all the way across.  It's right smack dab in the middle of the back too.  Now, my quandary is do I replicate this mistake on the front panel so the seams match as they should or do I knit it correctly for the front and side seams be damned?  Notice how I don't mention re-knitting the back to fix said mistake?  It's just too much for this faint heart to unravel that much knitting.  What do you think?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Amanda for Fibre Arts Fridays. 

A New Project!

Casting on for a new project - yay!!  The Summer Top is currently blocking and though I have yet to wear it, it has turned me on to knitting even more summer tops!  Thus the above project has begun and will be the Astonish Top from Knit Picks Golden Morning collection of patterns.  It's knit on the bias and has a lovely drape.  I'm using Valley Yarns Charlemont fingering weight yarn (the other yarn I got for Mother's Day last year - see the theme?) which is mainly merino wool, but has 20% silk in it's makeup.  The silk should really add to the drape of this pattern as well as lending a lovely sheen.  I chose my favorite classic color combo of navy blue and white (which is starting to take over my wardrobe.)  My only trepidation to this project is the fact that it is fingering weight yarn knit on tiny US 2 1/2 - 3 mm needles.  This is making progress slow, but oh, do I love the look! 

Joining in with Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Loss, Illness and Hats

I have been absent from this space at first because I left for a trip to visit a friend, then because I was getting ready for a craft fair and lastly because of a large loss.  We lost a wonderful neighbor whom we known for over 18 years to suicide.  She was a woman who always had time for a chat and a chuckle and was the glue that held our little city block together.  Up and down our alley way she would walk and check in on people working in their yards or tease the kids riding their bikes.  She didn't mind the neighborhood children filching her delicious raspberries out of her garden and was always generous sharing plants and her love of gardening.  I still can't believe she's gone and keep expecting to see her in her yard weeding or watering as I pass by on my way somewhere.  It hurts to know she was suffering and none of us knew she needed our help.  It was a total shock to us all.

To deal with my sadness I've turned to knitting hats for cancer patients who have lost their hair to chemo therapy.  I just have this need to give comfort and help someone since I can no longer help my neighbor.  My friend Amy lost her mom to cancer a couple of years ago, and to deal with her grief she organized a group called Team Yarn to knit chemo caps.   She then personally distributes them all over the Twin Cities metro area here in MN.  Sadly, their is a large need for these hats as many people come here from all over for treatment.  It's really helped her process the loss of her mother.  I have knit hats for her here and there over the last 2 years for fun and to support her, but now I am knitting in earnest.  In fact, I've gone through my entire stash and scraps of yarn and knit up everything that is soft enough for a chemo cap.  I'm up to a dozen so far, knitting about one hat per day.

I have the time for all this knitting because a week after the news of my neighbor I had an onset of Vertigo that landed me in the hospital.  Vertigo is extreme dizziness that then causes nausea and vomiting.  After a lot of tests the doctors told me it was brought on my an inflammation in my inner ear and that I just have to wait it out until it goes away in some 2 - 6 weeks.  Now, I'm much better than I was in the hospital and the nausea has past, but I'm still dizzy and I can't drive.  The first week my husband stayed home and took care of me as I couldn't walk around that well, but this week I'm on my own and am managing ok.  Except now, my son contracted Strep Throat and is out of commission as well.  Thus, my poor husband is working his regular job, caring for us, doing all the driving to Doctor appointments, washing dishes, cooking, laundry and cleaning.  And what's amazing is he does it all with a smile.  We may be down and out, but I sure feel very lucky.

Joining in with Andrea for Fiber Arts Friday.

Mid Winter Funk

 

Sorry for my absence.  I am in a funk of sorts:  not being able to focus on much, not settling on what to knit and ignoring my house's needs.  Time seems to be slipping by without much happening.  But, while I've been moping, my friend Emily has been busy finishing the layout/design of two of my new knitting patterns.  The first is the bunny pattern I mentioned here and keeps in the vein of my toy making, but the second is something completely different for me - a knitted hat.  

The pattern is called A Dab of Neon as the neon colored bobbles reminded me of dabs of paint on canvas.  You've often heard me talk of the lack of color here in Minnesota during the winter, well here's a blast of color to keep you going, but not so much as to overpower.  I thought of the hat being a dark grey stormy sky with flashes to vibrantly alive color dancing about.  My friend's beautiful daughter Maisie modeled it for me, and while I should have taken more pics/views I think the photos I did get turned out well. 

The yarn I used was Madelinetosh tosh dk 100% superwash merino in Dr. Zhivago's Sky and Fluroro Rose colorways.  Now oddly enough I don't wear neon colors myself, but I just had this idea and wanted to give it a try.  You can purchase the pattern either here on Etsy or here on Ravelry.  Emily gave it a lovely layout in colors that match the hat.  In fact, the pattern is so visually beautiful that I have been admiring it on and off all day long .  So, yeah I'm pretty excited as well as quite nervous about it being available and out in the world for all to see. 

Joining in late with Ginny for Yarn Along, Linda for Creative Friday 

 and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.    

 

Distractions form Distractions - Startitis Has Struck!

OMG!  I'm getting completely distracted from my distraction blanket knitting this week.  First, yarn arrived from eat.sleep.knit (don't you simply love that name for a yarn shop?) which had me casting on for this shawl/scarf immediately, then more yarn arrived in the mail and I found myself casting on and knitting another cozy coaster.  All the while my blanket is looking at me saying "You just have to knit one last ring Ann.  Finish me please!"  I can feel myself justifying the switch to the scarf as I "need" it for my trip at the end of the month, then the excuse to switch to the coaster is that it is small and wouldn't it be great to actually finish something.  Indeed it would, now if I can only focus!  

Both new yarns are golden yellow and super soft so I'm thinking that has something to do with it.  Minnesotans really need bright color in February, or at least this Minnesotan does.  The first yarn is from Handmaiden and it is a lovely blend of half wool half silk.  The best part about this yarn is that it was free.  Yes, free!  Eat.Sleep.Knit sends out a scratch off card with each of your orders and you can win lots of lovely prizes.  Now, I never gamble but yarn scratch off cards - yes please!  I've won a skein of yarn and a couple $5 store credits before, but this time around I won a $50 store credit!  It's been sitting in my account for almost two months as I schemed and planned what to purchase.  I pretty pleased with my choice and there's still leftover credit for something else in the future.  The second yarn is from Frog Tree and is a sport weight 100% Alpaca.  I'm holding the yarn double for the pattern and using larger needles as the original coaster I knit last year was so tiny it didn't even cover the bottom of my mug.  It's another double knit pattern like my mittens, but knit straight back and forth on a double pointed needle so much easier on the mind as well as the hands.

So, you can safely say startitis has come to roost at my house, but with no more yarn coming in the mail I'm hoping this next one will have me settling down to at least finishing one project.

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Distractions - Blanket Knitting

 

The double knit mittens I'm making have my fingers cramping (my needles are very pointy too leaving my finger tip sore from pushing the stitches off - angora yarn can be "sticky") so I started looking about for a distraction.  Well, knitting distraction that is, as there is plenty of housework needing to be done I'm just not of a mind to do it.  But, being productive is important to me, which had me turning to my WIPs hoping for something simple and a bit mindless.  This blanket fit the bill even though it's technically not a WIP, as it was finished and has been in use for some months, but I decided a few weeks back that it was too small at only 45 inches square (it doesn't really wrap around the body enough when cuddling on the couch).  

I began searching for some yarn on Ravelry looking through people's stashes of Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted and Green Line Worsted, as those were the yarns I used previously, to see what was available in the sell or trade category.  This is a good way to find great yarn at discounted prices.  Although, really this blanket is not an economical project even having purchased all the yarn in this manner.  The afghan was knit using 8 1/2 - 225 yard skeins and now I'm looking to add 6 more - yikes!  Tallying up the cost officially is something I'm not ready to face up to, but in for a penny in for a pound and I might as well end up with a blanket in a size I'll regularly use.  See, I never really thought this project through and I think that's the problem.  It began with a lone skein of worsted weight yarn along with a bad case of "start-itis" (you know when you want to start a casting on a million knitting projects at once?  Oh yeah, it's a disease all right which comes and goes like the common cold, but leaves a devastating wake of partially knit projects behind) and thought "Hmm an afghan knit with only ten stitches - that sounds like fun."

Back to searching for those 6 more skeins of yarn.  I found 2 skeins of a Navy Blue which I loved, and I thought would make at least one ring around but I still needed even more yarn to get the 60 inches square blanket I desired.  As luck would have it I found 4 skeins of the exact same yarn, same colorway (Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted in Edgewater) that I began with in the blanket's center.  Yay!  It will now look like I planned the colors out instead of buying random yarn as I went along.  The messages were sent, money changed hands and in a manner of days 6 skeins of yarn arrived in the mail  - easy peasey!

The navy ring was completed yesterday and I'm hoping by next week I'll finish the last 2 multicolored rings.  Then the blanket will be complete and the distraction will have passed and maybe, just maybe I'll get back to those mittens. 

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - I've Got the Blues

 

Lately, I've been at my spinning wheel finishing up projects like trying to complete my yarns before the plys sit around for too long and lose their energy.  The above fiber is from The Painted Tiger and is New England Wool Top dyed in beautiful shades of blue.  Navy blue is my favorite color, besides orange that is, and I love finding it in yarns and fiber as I know it will go with all the clothes I own.  I also purchased this fiber for it's "type' which is really a region and not a specific sheep, basically a representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States.  It's not super soft, but is rumored to be hard wearing which suited my needs for luscious blue socks.  Now, I am still pretty new to spinning (as can be seen in the tangled mass of plys plied in the wrong direction in the photos above) and I realized I should have given this yarn more twist to make it stronger and more durable.  Thus, I am a little forlorn to have gone to so much effort for socks which might not last as long as I want (which is forever of course.)  The yarn turned out to be a bit thicker than planned which pushed me to use US size 3 needles instead of the US size 1s I would normally choose for socks.  They were knit from a general gusseted heel toe up sock pattern from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up.  Honestly, I have yet to knit any complicated sock patterns as the yarn always seems pretty enough in a simple ribbed pattern.  Which is your "go to"sock pattern?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Amanda for Fibre Arts Friday.

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

His and Hers Finergerless Mitts

These mitts might look a bit boring after the last pairs I knit, but they will match all my clothes and sometimes you need something that will do just that.  The yarn is my own handspun using the same merino fiber from Ashland that I used in the aforementioned mitts.  It's colored a rich navy blue, called "Midnight", and was originally part of my first plan to spin scrappy yarn.  But that idea went horribly wrong producing yarn that was too ugly to even photograph (really you have to trust me here it was UGLY.)  I'm afraid I was rather wasteful too and threw the yarn in the garbage can.  I hardly ever do that so I'm trying not to feel overly guilty about it. 

Well, after that crash and burn I decided to just ply the navy blue fiber with itself for an everyday pair of mitts for myself.  I picked out this pattern on Ravelry which was free (as I'm still trying to cut down on my hobby  spending) as well as having a nice nubby texture pattern I thought the single colored yarn would show off well.  My only modifications were to go down to a US size 4 needle (I like my mitts snug) and add a couple of pattern repeats to make them the length I wanted.  They came out just as I anticipated, which is a win in my book.

What made them even more winning was my son Sam's admiration of them and his request for a pair for himself.  A couple of years back, when he was 6, Sam put the kibosh down on my knitting anything for him much to my dismay.  I mean really what knitter doesn't want to knit for their children?  So, I was over the moon with his request and quickly whipped out a pair for him using the leftover yarn from mine.  They are a little funky as I only glanced at the pattern thus missing some key points, but of course that's what happens when you relax and get cocky.  You can see my notes on them here.  Sam still thought they were great and put them right on and began making punching jabs in the air such as a Boxer would do.  This made me laugh because I thought of the mitts as keeping his sweet hands warm and he thought super action hero costume.  My son is such a boy.  Ah, I love him.

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

A Fun Experiment

 

It all started with my seeing this yarn from Folktale on Etsy; I instantly fell in love with the "scrappy" nature of the skein and the "pops" of color.  Color, if you're in a cold climate like here in MN, is hard to come by during the dark winter months and I simply crave it on a truly physical level.  Thus, I thought I'd try my hand at spinning some of my own scrappy yarn with lots of colors to fed my need.  Friends in Fiber's shop carries  Ashland Bay merino wool in a plethora of colors, which are also pretty inexpensive, but the quantities were much too big if I wanted to purchase all the colors I desired.  So, I inquired if they would sell me just 1/2 ounces of each of the 28 colors I wanted and they happily agreed much to my satisfaction.  Really they are lovely ladies and I have been so happy with all of my purchases from them, they have unparallelled  customer service skills.  You should give their shop a try.

Well, the fun began when all the colors arrived in the mail and I began sorting them out and matching them up.  In my first attempts I tried for a random look, but I wasn't really liking how my colors got muddied and diminished in brightness.  Which brought me to the colorway you see above that has more of a gradient/rainbow effect (Me liking rainbows - shocking I know.)  The colors stayed bright and flowed nicely into one another just as I wanted.  I used 16 colors total per pair of mitts and with 14 ounces of wool I got almost 7 fingerless mitts (I'm missing just 2 colors for the last pair.)  They are all listed here in my shop for you to peruse.  

I focused mainly on the colors I like blues, greens, yellows, oranges and browns, but if they sell well I'm going to try my hand at mixing in some reds, pinks, purples and greys.  You would think it would get boring to make the same mitts over and over again, but the color changes really make it so fun for me and the surprise of how it all turns out upon completion is wonderful.  

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Finished!

Yay!  My Amber sweater is finally finished!  My husband took a day off from work on my birthday this week so I could have a little time to myself while he took care of Sam, and it was just what I needed to complete my sweater.  I added sleeves as this is Minnesota and we need sleeves here no matter how cute the pattern is as a vest.  Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out and it's feels pretty comfy too.  The best part was that when I gave it a bath before blocking more indigo dye came out in the water.  So hopefully I won't have blue dye rubbing off on my arms and neck as I did on my hands while knitting.  It feels great to get another WIP off the needles.  Of course, you'd think this would translate into my wanting to finish another WIP, but you would be mistaken.  It makes me want to reward myself by casting on a new sweater! Oh, knitting logic is hard to follow isn't it?

Joining in with Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday and Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Sunshine on a Cloudly Day

I'm not really a big fan of yellow, but when I saw this plant dyed yellow batt called "Daffodil" in Judy's shop I felt compelled to purchase it.  Something about it really called out to me and I think it was that it reminds me so much of the warm bright sun of summer which I sorely miss at this time of year.  It also reminded me of this post I read a while ago on Tonya's blog about how there are so many plants which give us yellow dye and her thoughts that maybe wearing yellow sweaters would help us think of the warm months to come.  Well, I really liked that thought of wearing yellow to cheer oneself through the darker months here in the north, thus for a change this yarn is intended for me and not my shop.

Now, I only had a few ounces of the yellow wool so I needed to ply it with something else to make a good sized skein.  I've been wanting an angora hat for a while and found I still had some angora/wool roving that could flesh out the yellow nicely.  The angora is a soft dove gray which got me thinking about how the roving looked like a fluffy gray cloud waiting to be spun as it sat pooled at my feet.  Then I thought what a nice juxtaposition of clouds, which are the mainstay of winter, and sunshine, the mainstay of summer.  Needless to say I'm happy with my lumpy, fluffy, squishy "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" skein of yarn.  Oh, in case you were wondering it came out to be 250 yards of DK/worsted weight.  I've already begun knitting this hat making just a few modifications, but more on that in another post. 

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Fresh off the Wheel and Socks

My spinning wheel is getting some good use this month as once again I come to you with a finished skein of yarn.  I have been trying to do two posts a month (not a very lofty goal), but I'm still making it by the skin of my teeth this October.  Back to the yarn, it's two ply with one being 100% alpaca top (oh this is softness itself I tell you) from Alma Park and the second is a mix of domestic sheep's wool (from the US), merino and silk from Mamajudes.  The grey of the alpaca blends in so well with the soft indigo dyed blues.  The touches of lime green make a fun pop of color without being garish.  Like my last yarn this one also spun up to a DK weight of 303 yards!  I do love my jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel as it really lets me get a lot of yardage in one skein.  Makes finding projects to knit with it so easy.  You can check out this yarn in my shop here.

The one knitting project that I always have on the needles (and in my purse) is socks.  This pair is knit with Knit Picks Felici yarn in the Marsh colorway.  I did a simple 3/1 rib as I like the grip it gives your leg and it's not too distracting for the self striping yarn.  The colors are beautiful, the yarn soft and the fit is just right but...I have nothing the goes with them in my wardrobe.  It's another case of the color overpowering my otherwise rational mind which happens way too often - especially around drab and dreary February.  I'm just one of those matchy-matchy people (notice in the last photos how the stripes are matching up on the toes?  Yup, that's a matchy-matchy kind of thing.)  My guess is they are destined to be a gift for my mother whose feet are about the same size as mine.  I'll let her find something to match with them. 

Joining in late with Ginny for Yarn Along, Linda for  Creative Friday and Fibre Arts Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Rainbow Gradient

 

My focus has changed some since I last wrote in this space.  During the previous month my world was all about making toys for selling in my shop as well as at a few holiday fairs.  Then while knitting a gnome mama doll I suddenly stopped mid stitch and realized that toy making is usually fun for me, but at that moment it was anything but fun. It felt like a chore; something to cross off a list and not in a good way.  Usually at this time of year I really get into making lists of what to make, ordering yarn and knitting, knitting, knitting lots of toys.  This year it wasn't jibbing for some reason so I decided to stop knitting toys right then and there and take a break to spin some roving into yarn.  My husband was thrilled with the idea of no holiday fairs by the way.  As he is my support for caring for our son, dog and house before (I always seem to need more knitting time) and during these fairs it can a lot of stress for him too.  This year I will only sell toys in my shop on Etsy and hope my inventory can keep up with sales.  It's a big relief.

Spinning is a great relaxer for me.  If I go too long I can tense up and get sore muscles, but usually it really sets me in a good mood both body and soul.  Compound that with rainbows and you 've got a heck of a Ann feel good combo going on.  The rainbow wool is a blend of domestic (to the US) sheep's wool and is plant dyed by Judy at Mamajudes and the undyed brown Jacob sheep's wool comes from Almapark also on Etsy.  The yarn came out to a DK weight with a whooping 328 yards!  It will make a long rainbow gradient from red to purple and I'm really hoping whoever buys it will send me a picture of their completed project.  You can see the yarn's listing here.  

In the last photo is a view of my new yarn labels designed by my fabulously talented friend and graphic designer Emily.  She made them as stickers for me to attach to whatever paper I like to create the label; since my skeins very in thickness it's great to have the flexibility this allows.  I'm also exited to use them to seal wrapping tissue on gifts - oh the versatility!  As you can see I'm still working on my photo taking and they still look a bit dark, but I don't seem to have a good location in my house for picture taking.  Where do you take your photos of your creations?

Joining in with Fibre Arts Friday and with Linda for Creative Friday.