What to Do With That Leftover Yarn

After making my Zuzu's Petals cowl I had some leftover green yarn.  I really hate leftovers.  My favorite thing is when a knitting project uses absolutely ALL the yarn (o.k. so there are always some little trimmings, but I'm talking all useable yarn.)  Not only was this bright green yarn leftover, but it was some of my handspun yarn too!  What to do?  

Well, we have a "Nature Table" in our house like those used in Waldorf School classrooms to designate the change in seasons.  It's on the top of our little studio piano which belonged to my grandparents who purchased it in 1936.  The piano is the one my dad learned to play on, me and my brother learned to play on and now my son Sam is learning to play on it too.  Usually there is a playsilk laid on top with some wooden figures, nature items that pertain to the season like driftwood, stones, crystals, leaves, flowers etc., craft projects and a seasonal postcard.  I thought maybe I could knit some trees to add to the winter collection.  

After searching on Ravelry for a while and not finding what I envisioned, I found this pattern of gnomes made out of a wine cork.  I thought I could just make the hat portion, knitting it longer, and voila you have the trees I made above. The tree tops are stuffed with wool and simply slipped them over the wine corks (on the smallest tree I cut the cork in half first.) They measure a scant 3 - 5 inches tall and took me all of a hour or so to knit.  What do you think?  I was really pleased with how they turned out and they add a little color to our mostly white winter display.  And color at this time of year in Minnesota is a valuable commodity let me tell you.  What do you do with your leftover yarn?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Copycat Cowl Part 2

 

 

Well, here's the cowl blocked and on me (please excuse the qualities of the "selfies" I'm new to taking them and obviously need some more practice.)   What do you think?  I love how the colors turned out, the lace and the edging.  My only knitting mod was to repeat the last two rows with the exception of increasing on the last row if that makes any sense.  This allowed me to include the final color change of the lighter spring green along the edge.  If I had one wish about this cowl it would be that I read the pattern's yarn choice before I started and used yarn with some silk content to achieve more drape.  But, alas I did not.  Now I wonder it if is a bit too "baby bib" like as I wear it today.  Any thoughts?

Joining in with Nicole today for Keep Calm Craft On.

Copycat Cowl

I was inspired to spin this yarn by The Yarn Harlot's post "One for you, one for me?" on this past January 21st.  She spun this beautiful gradient yarn that shifted from purple to pink to a greenish gold.  Those are not my colors, but the long color change, instead of my usual self striping, was so intriguing.  She knit the pattern Zuzu's Petals, a cowl that gives the impression of a draped lace shawl, with a few mods to use up her large skein of fingering yarn.  

Searching for a gradient roving of my own led me to Friends of Fiber's shop on Etsy.  There I found this beautiful BFL combed wool top in blues, teals and greens which are very much my colors.  It was delivered on Saturday early afternoon and by dinner time it became the skein you see above.  Same as Stephanie McPhee, I hate to wait until the next day for my singles to relax to ply my yarn.  Instead, I just jumped in and finished.  I am so thrilled with the results which amounted to 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn.  It' now had a bath and is currently drying on the back of my spinning chair so I can admire it.  And let me tell you I'm trying ever so hard to be patient and not wind it into a ball until tomorrow morning.  But you can bet  will be winding it as so as I wake up and will cast on while sipping my morning cup of tea.    

Joining in (late) with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Pastel Rainbow Dreams

 

Winter is long here in Minnesota and I am just craving color like my black lab Easy craves raw hide bones.  I turn to fiber to find the color I desperately need at times like these so fresh off the wheel this week is more rainbows of the pastel variety.  I thought a photo progression would be fun: fiber, single ply on the bobbin, double ply on the bobbin, finished product close up, wound and finally skeined.  The rainbow fiber was special ordered through Judy of Mamajude on Etsy and is a mix of domestic sheep's wool that has been naturally dyed with plants.  The gray ply is some heavenly fiber I purchased at last year's Yarnover event hosted by the Minnesota Knitters' Guild of baby lama.  It was so soft and drafted with such ease that if it wasn't for the price I would spin it ALL the time.  Lama is a weighty fiber with a lovely drape giving the rather plain jane sheep's wool a little more character.  That said, it took twice as many ounces as the rainbow fiber to make the skein which turned out to be a whopping 6.3 ounces/180 grams at 216 yards/197 meters of Worsted to Aran weight. All in all a rather expensive hank of yarn, but oh isn't it beautiful?  It's listed for sale in my etsy shop, but I must admit I'm tempted to keep it for myself to just look and touch when I need a fix.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Rainbow Jewelry Kits are Back in Stock!

Yes, Rainbow Jewelry Kits are back n stock at Simply Playing on Etsy!  I dragged my feet for a while as the beads are a bit of an investment, all coming in packs of hundred, but you've been asking for them so I made the plunge.  The all natural new wooden beads are of a much higher quality and are made right here in the USA.  I also upgraded the hemp twine to a much softer, flexible 3 ply hemp twine made in Romania and added 2 more yards for a total of 6 yards per kit.  The plant dyed felt pieces are in the same lovely colors as before with the exclusion of lavender which was hard to keep consistent and often came out looking much too blue.  This DIY kit makes a great gift and with all the options for coloring your beads it can keep your child occupied for a long, long time!  Enjoy!

Rainbows on a Dreary Winter Day

Winter can start to get you down for many reasons, but it's really the lack of color that gets to me.  So, I turned to my spinning wheel this weekend and spun out this self striping rainbow yarn.  The rainbow ply is from plant dyed domestic wool that I purchased through Mamajude on Etsy and the oatmeal ply is from some left over Shetland wool I purchased locally.  It turned out to be a healthy 230 yard skein in a lightweight DK thickness.  I was thinking of selling it just as a skein, but I wanted to knit those colors and absorb their beauty while watching the simple magic as one colored changed into another.  I settled on knitting a very simple garter stitch bordered doll sized blanket and I very pleased with the result.  It is now for sale in my Etsy Shop Simply Playing and it's twin is currently on my needles.  I tried spinning another yarn on my wheel this morning, but it wasn't quite cutting it like this one so I simply stopped.  I guess you can never get enough of rainbows.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Yarn Along - Homeschool Reading and Cold Weather Wear

 

I seem to start too many blog posts with "Well, it's been a while since I've written..." I just don't seem to be able to push through and post when life gets busy.  And living by all of my family as I do, life gets super busy around Christmas time.  We are now into the lull and deep freeze of January here in Minnesota a great time for reading and knitting as far as I'm concerned.  January is also my month "off" from knitting for my Etsy shop Simply Playing.  So, I am knitting things for myself after all the gift knitting of December.  A new hat and mittens seemed the perfect project with the ultra cold temps we've had here as of late.  I used some bulky Icelandic Yarn from Lopi called Alafosslopi in teal heather.  It is a bit scratchy but very hard wearing which is a good quality when knitting a pair of mittens.  I used the pattern Spruce Tree Mittens.  It was very easy to follow and was knit at a dense gauge for the yarn I used making the fabric nice and thick and warm.  For the hat (please excuse the pic as it is my first "selfie") I picked this pattern modifying it only slightly by jumping up two needle sizes after the ribbing to make it more slouchy. 

As for my current book,  I am reading Leadership Education - The Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel DeMille.  It's about the phases of learning in the Thomas Jefferson Leadership model of education.  A good read, but I'm not totally sold on the theory.  Coming from a Waldorf beginning, which focuses on educating the whole child, head, heart, hands as they say, it comes across as too 'head" for my kinesthetic learning son.  I think there are very valuable elements to the philosophy which we will integrate into Sams' homeschooling, especially reading aloud classic literature, but it will be just that an "element" and not a "foundation" for his schooling.  Do any of you have thoughts on TJed or are using it with your children?

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Cookie Making

 

Taking a break from knitting and made cookies last night.  I shied away from rolled cookie cutter cookies for years, but really they are not as laborious as I thought.  I made the dough one day and divided it into four balls to chill in the freezer.  Then on the next day I rolled out one ball, cut out the cookies and baked them and repeated the process once using up the scraps for a second tray of cookies.  (Hint: just bake those cooky scrap shapes as is after the second rolling instead of tossing them out.  They taste just as good and then you can save the pretty shaped ones for company.)  Two trays of cookies is enough for a few days and then I just grab another dough ball from the frig when we need more.  This way I spend only about a half hour a time making cookies and don't get burned out on the process.  As an extra bonus the cookies are always fresh.  Happy holiday baking everyone!

Solstice Sale at Simply Playing

Hello Everyone!  I am having a Solstice Sale in the Etsy shop and Zibbet shop this week from December 15th - 22nd.  For 15% off your purchases on Etsy use the coupon code "SOLSTICE15" upon checkout.  For Zibbet the prices are already discounted so you just shop as normal.  Thanks for all your support this year and have a happy holiday season!

Fresh Off the Wheel - Baby Alpaca!

Hello!  I have a new skein fresh off the wheel this week that I'm quite pleased to show you.  It's a 2ply with the first ply being spun from a mixed batt of planted dyed merino, silk, BFL and domestic wool in beautiful shades of blue with a hints of lime green and purple from MamaJudes down in Georgia.  The second ply was spun from Baby Suri Alpaca in a beautiful natural charcoal grey color from Sunrise Suris in Iowa.  It was my first time spinning Baby Suri Alpaca and man it practically spun itself it drafted so easily! 

I only got about 100 yards of worsted weight yarn out of the Baby Suri Aplpaca since I could only afford a small 2oz. package. See, I am trying to stick to my fiber budget.  Do you have a budget for fiber?  Well, I found out I needed one since I overspend at every single fiber festival/show/store I go to.  But, to really make my budget stick I have to remove my debit/credit card and checkbook from my wallet and bring only what I can spend in cash.  I have no will power you see and am very skilled at talking myself into purchases I don't need.  This trick works like a charm though, and I highly recommend it if you have overspending issues.  It's sad that I only got a little of a fantastic fiber, but then I have already spun it and it's not just languishing in my stash (this happens to so much fiber and yarn when I overspend).  

Hmmm... this post was supposed to be about yarn not budgets.  Well, I do tend to go on tangents.  I listed this skein in my Etsy shop so stop by and check it out if you are looking for a silky soft squishy yarn treat!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Large Gnomes are Huggable!

I thought I'd introduce you today to what is new in my shop - large 14 inch tall gnomes!  They are from a pattern written by myself which I hope to have available in my shop in the next few months.  I really hate seaming so I went about devising a pattern for gnomes that would be knit in the round.  It has a smoother look to it that I adore.  The pattern will be in 3 sizes - mama, child and baby.  So far, I have the mama and child listed in the shop with the baby on it's way.  I need to dream up a knitted sling for the mama to carry the baby in first. Here's a look at my samples below.

 

 As well as trying out a new pattern I am also trying out a new online venue to sell through called Zibbet.  You can see my shop here.  I have put everything on sale for 20% off to celebrate the grand opening.  Why a new shop you may ask?  Well, Etsy has been good to me, but it's gotten so large and their rules for what is considered handmade includes just about anything now that I feel I'm not being represented well.  Please let me know what you think about the new pattern and shop and if you would be interested in test knitting in the future.  Have a great weekend!

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Rainbows

You might have guessed by now how much I like rainbows if you have visited here or my shop, so today's post should come as no surprise.  Fresh off my spinning wheel this week is a self striping skein of a bright rainbow yarn.  I completely geeked out while making it and seeing the rainbow appear on my bobbin that I stopped to take a picture.

I then plied it with a ply of BFL wool/silk blend in a cream grey color.  Above are the results.  I would like to learn how to mix two rainbow ply together matching up the colorways so they don't overly bleed into the next color, but I'm not sure how to make each color strand the same length.  I see some experimenting in my future.  This skein came out at 148 yards and is available in my Etsy shop for purchase.  I have more of the rainbow wool so what do you think I should ply it with next the next time I spin?  I'm thinking a light blue might be really pretty, but I am up for suggestions.

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Finished Project - A Teddy Bear

I've been wanting to knit a teddy bear for some time now, but just haven't been able to find the right one.  The patterns are either too complicated, take too long to knit or are simple enough, but I don't like how it looks until I found this pattern.  I knit it with some of my earliest handspun yarn (very lumpy bumpy thick thin) that I just dyed with avocado skins.  The resulting color of the yarn was a warm pinky tan which, oddly enough, was about the color of my first teddy bear Fred.  Hmm...do you think that's where I got the idea? 

Please excuse the dark pictures as we have been having some truly gloomy days here in Minnesota.  The only thing I did not like about this pattern was the very thin neck so I gave him a little red garter stitch scarf to ward off the cold.  I'm already knitting another version out of my black walnut dyed yarn.  This time around I'm knitting the neck thicker and the head bigger (my mom's request) and will see if he"ll need a scarf or not.  This first one in now available in my Etsy shop if you think you can provide him with a loving home please purchase.

   

For books, I'm still reading A Thomas Jefferson Education.  With the darker days and earlier evenings I'm finding it hard to read at night and quite frankly, I keep falling asleep.  My guess is I just have to find another reading time while it's light out, but then what to do with Sam?  When do you find time to read?

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Fresh From the Dye Pot

I've had the itch to dye some yarn this week and because of the season I decided to use black walnuts.  My friend's yard gets littered with the walnuts each Fall so I knew right where to lay my hands on some. Her daughter kindly collected a large bagful for me and I paid her a little something for her efforts - a win win!  I placed the black walnuts in my large 5 gallon dye pot along with enough water to fill it within a few inches of the rim.  They simmered for about 2 hours at which time I strained off the walnuts leaving a lovely dark brown dye bath.  While the pot was simmering on the stove I soaked some previously mordanted (I use alum and cream of tartar) handspun and machine spun yarn.  Then I placed the wetted yarn in the dye pot and simmered them for  about 1 hour.  The results were a lovely warm medium brown color.  I wanted to see what other shades I could get from this dye bath so some of the yarn went back in to see how dark I could make it and I added a couple of fresh skein to create a lighter shade.  You can see the processes below.

Black walnuts simmering away.  I kept this covered as it can be a little smelly. 

 Yarn soaking in sink.  If throughly wetted the yarn will soak up the dye evenly with no splotches.  Some skeins were previously dyed with osage orange wood chips or annatto seeds but I didn't just love the color so I decided to over-dye them.

Here are the final results drying in the sunshine outside.

The black walnuts were such a success I wanted to dye more yarn.  Dyeing is just as addictive as knitting and spinning for me, but thankfully I go in waves so I don't permanently overtake our tiny kitchen.  I have been collecting avocado skins for some months as I heard they are used as a dyestuff  and really, since we were eating them anyway it makes them free (just like the walnuts - are you seeing a theme?)

Here is the surprising color made by avocado skins.  I found out later I could have used the pits as well as the skins.  Which would have helped dye more yarn as it's a 1:1 ratio by weight.

Here are my single plies drying outside.  I spun them last spring and it has been satisfying to see I have improved quite a bit since then.  Practice, practice, practice as they say.   

Here is a closeup of the peachy tan color.  It kind of reminds me of dyeing with tea by how the yarn looks more aged than colored.  I think it would make a great skin tone for gnome doll faces.  

I will spin more singles to ply with the walnut and avocado skeins.  I've already made this skein with a confetti colored ply (also plant dyed, but with exotic plants mainly) which is already available in my etsy shop SimplyPlaying.  It's twin skein is still drying, but will probably be listed by tomorrow.  The really lumpy bumpy slubby yarn I will knit with myself probably into some more toys  for the shop.  I'm off to clean up my mess in the kitchen now.  Just on a side note, black walnuts contain a toxin that prevents other plants from growing so it is best to throw it in your garbage rather than composting.  

A Giveaway!

Hello.  As I mentioned in my last post I am having a giveaway this weekend.  You can find it at the lovely Small Things blog where I am a sponsor.  I will be giving away one Small Things reader the below pictured 70 yard skein of worsted weight rainbow handspun wool/angora yarn along with one of my jewelry making kits (also pictured below.)   There is also a coupon code that can be used for the month of October for 15% all items in my Etsy shop SimplyPlaying. 

Head on over to Ginny's blog Small Things and find out how you can enter to win these two items and for the coupon code to be used in my shop.  Good luck everyone!

Yarn Along - Knitted Chickens

Well, I have been flipping from knitting project to knitting project this week.  Not quite sure why I am so unsettled and unfocused.  Maybe it's the darkening days here in the North which are leaving me with the feeling of having to hurry and finish knitting everything (and let me tell you I have quite a few works in progress) before it gets cold.  As I said last week, many of my knitting projects are big ones so the end is not in sight for most of them.  This "hurry up" attitude makes me want to complete something, anything really.  So, I've turned to making toys for my etsy store instead of working on my personal knitting.  I settled on chickens as they are quick to knit and let's face it - so cute to boot!

These chickens are stuffed with a wooden egg for the body with just a bit wool for the head.

Here is my array of chicken body colors; all will have red feathers and beaks.  Some use my own handspun yarn and the yarns are either in the fiber's natural color or plant dyed. 

As for reading, I haven't done much this week; again trouble with focusing.  But, I did at least start A Thomas Jefferson Education : Teaching a Generation of Leaders For The Twenty-First Century by Oliver Van DeMille.   A homeschooling friend of mine recommended it and so far as the first 20 pages go I am intrigued, but feel it pertains more to older children (my Sam is just 7.)  Maybe by next week's Yarn Along I can tell you more.

Be sure to check back here this Saturday the 13th for another Giveaway!

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Leftovers - An I-Cord Necklace

Left over yarn drives me nuts.  I love using up every little bit on a project, but rarely does this happen.  Then, what do I do with the leftovers?  The little itty bitty bits go into making pillow stuffing like I mention here and the longer yarn scraps I use to continue my snail like progress on my I-Cord Rug, but this time I thought of another I-Cord idea - a necklace.  I usually don't wear necklaces because the weight pulls on my neck and gives me a headache, but a knitted necklace weighs almost nothing so I gave it a try.   

Here are the results below.

Thanks to Sam's pumpkin for modeling.

I knit all my leftover bulky weight yarn from my cowl and mitts into a long 3 stitch i-cord.  Then, I wrapped all three loops with a piece of plant dyed felt in a light orange also a left over but from toy making.  Finally, I snugly wrapped some sport weight yarn in dark orange and brown around the felt.  All this wrapping keeps the loops in a fixed position and gives a nice color contrast as well as a focal point to the necklace. 

   

Remember from this last post how I was debating on whether or not to embroider the backs of the mitts?  Well, I decided to stitch some very simple randomly placed orange flowers with brown french knot centers to coordinate with my new necklace.  What do you think?  I am really quite pleased with the overall look even if it limits their wear-ability to certain colored clothing.  

Orange, turquoise and brown just really jibe I think.

Here they are together.  Honestly, I like them both better than the cowl which was my original intention with this yarn.  Funny how limits, like short yardage, really can inspire your creativity.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm and Craft On.

Stashbusting - A Cowl and Mitts for ME!

I've been knitting a lot for my etsy shop lately and feeling like all my personal projects are backing up and stalling out.  That afghan I was knitting on earlier in the week has already been put aside to make some knitted chickens for the shop (I'll post on them later) as they are small and easy to finish.  All my other knitting seems to be big and long in process so I decided to stash bust a few bulky skeins from Luna Grey Fiber Arts.  Something quick and easy seemed just the thing to give me a sense of accomplishment and some much needed forward movement.  Below is what I came up with a simple loosely knit ribbed cowl and some matching fingerless mitts.

The cowl was knit with size 13 needles and took me a mere 2 hours last night to knit.  And for the record, I am a slow to average knitter so this was really fast for me.  As you can see I already have it blocking and this morning I knit up one of a pair of fingerless mitts.  Hopefully this afternoon I will finish the other of the pair and that will be two skeins out of my yarn stash knit into useful items.  I will still have some leftover yarn, which drives me nuts by the by, but maybe I'll knit some kind of bracelet/cuff  just to use it up.  What do you think about doing some embroidery on the backs of the mitts?  I was thinking an orange flower/s might be fun as almost everything in my wardrobe (if you can call my collection of clothes that) is solid colored, but then it might also limit their wear-ability.  Any thoughts?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday on a Saturday.

Yarn Along - Fair Isle Dreams and an Afghan

Taking a break from serious reading this week as I find myself perusing a knitting book called Fair Isle Style over and over.  Do I need another knitting project?  A resounding "NO!" can be heard echoing throughout my house, but dreaming is always fun.  I especially like the Reeva Hat in a traditional tam beret style.

On my needles is an afghan I began last Spring using this pattern with a mix of Lorna's Laces worsted weight yarn.  The pattern is so simple and a really fun knit as you really could just stop at any time.  You start from the middle and work you way out in consecutive squares (the designer also has a circular version.)  So, you could stop right away and have a coaster or a hot pad, then maybe after a little more a chair cushion or pillow, next up a lap blanket or wall hanging, my destination - afghan would be next or finally a bedspread.  Really, a low pressure pattern.  I left it over the summer as, let's face it, wool is hot when draped all over you.  Now, with the cooler temps it has been calling my name.  I'm hoping to knock it out quickly so I can move on to my holiday gift knit list.  Oh, if I would only start on that list in July.  Sigh.

Joining in with Ginny on Small Things for Yarn Along.