Sock Sunday

I love alliteration don't you? Sock Sunday sounded like such a good title even if I don't have a pair of socks to show you every Sunday (man, don't I wish!)  Today's socks are a simple stockinette stitch for the foot and a 2 x 2 rib for the leg.  I felt the self striping yarn would detract from any other pattern.  The yarn I used was Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Mulberry Stripes colorway.  This is a very inexpensive sock yarn made up of 75% wool and 25% nylon that I purchased from my local Micheal's Store.  Normally I abide by the saying "Life is too short to knit with cheap yarn", but I just loved the colorway too much.  I used Wendy D. Johnson's book Socks From the Toe Up pattern called Van Dyke Socks as a starting point and just omitted the lace pattern work replacing it with stockinette and 2 x 2 rib.  I choose this pattern as it was one of the ones knit on size 2 needles and frankly speaking I'm scared of size 1 and 0 needles as they are so delicate.  Lastly, I used Jeny's "Surprising Stretchy Bind Off" to (you guessed it didn't you?) bind off, and it's very true to it's name. 

 

 Here's how they came out - pretty huh?

 

My only problem with them is the little hole I get at the top of the gusset.  Can you see it in the brown stripe?  Is anyone else plagued by this?  Has anyone come up with a solution?  If so, I would love to know.

What sock patterns are you dying to try out?

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Hat and Mitts

It's easy to get caught up in our problems and worries as life rushes past us.  To balance this out I like to "count my blessings" as my mother used to say to me as a child.  I now call it my gratitude list, but call it what you want.  So, I'd like to share with you the things I am grateful for this week:

1. My son finding joy and awe in a thunderstorm even when it woke us up at 5:45 a.m.

2. My knitting as it gives me a focus while calming me.

3. My mother (who lives with us) for helping out more on a week when I didn't feel so well.

One of the items that is always on my list is my friends and how they stand by me with my erratic communication skills and tendency towards holing up in my house (with knitting of course.)  They pull me out of my shell and keep me connected to the world which I so need.  To let them know how much I care I like to give gifts.  I don't usually plan it, but for instance I'll have some yarn left over from a project and think "this would make a great coffee cup holder, or fingerless mitts etc." and the color usually directs me to who it should go to.  

This week I gave a Christmas in July gift to my friend Kelly who is also my son's Daycare Provider.  I had almost a full skein of Malabrigo yarn left after making my Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mobius Vest.  The color is called Sunset and I knew right away it was perfect for Kelly.  The hat pattern I chose was Lotus and what a fun quick knit it was to make, but afterwards I still had a fair amount of yarn left.  Hmm...what to do?  Pull out my 75 Yards Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts pattern that's what.  I just made it with less then 12 inches left of yarn upon completion!  Oh how I LOVE using up every little bit of yarn!  Both knitting patterns are free by the way.  Here's how they came out:

My mother modeled that hat with the restriction of not showing her face.  Oh well, she is a sport to stop what she was doing so I could take a photo before I gave them to Kelly.  The hat just covers the tops of the ears.  I did 4 repeats of the pattern, but maybe could have done five.  I made a mistake that corrected itself over a few rows, but it's hard even for me to pick out so I think it's o.k.  The mitts came out just fine as predicted.  When I gave them to Kelly the first words out of her mouth was "I love the color!" which made me smile all the more.  What fun it is to give gifts for no particular reason!  I highly recommend it.  

What is it you are grateful for this week?

WIP Wednesday - A Vest

Well, I ran out of yarn for my Hobo Bag strap so it has to be put on hold until I get more in the mail from Knit Picks.  Oh well.  After digging through my WIPs I decided it's back to work on the Wall Street Cables Vest I'm knitting for my husband.  It actually was supposed to be a wedding anniversary gift last year, but my fear of cables and making a man's garment in DK weight yarn stopped me.  

 Please excuse the quality of this picture as it's a photo of a Xerox copy from a book.

Meanwhile, Dan's wearing his only vest everyday, (yes, even in the summer as the A/C at his work makes it quite chilly for my tropical blooded hubbie) and he's getting a little bored of it, not to mention it could use a wash.  So, I jumped in and guess what?  The pattern is pretty simple actually, and the cables not a problem.  Yes, the DK weight yarn still means this will take me a while, but I have about 2 months to finish before this year's wedding anniversary.

 

Above is my progress so far and I am pleased with the definition this merino yarn is giving to the cables.  Why was I so afraid of them?  Seems rather silly now. What projects are you working on this WIP Wednesday?

From The Yarn Stash

I am a knitter who tends to always be thinking ahead to the next project.  Do you find yourself doing this?  I'll be in the middle stages of a project, where it lags the most for me, and will start dreaming of what I want to do next.  Then I'll compound the process by looking at yarn at my favorite online yarn stores (love shopping from the comfort of my own chair) Eat.Sleep.Knit., KnitPicks and Etsy.  That will send me over to Ravelry to find patterns to fit the yarn I chose.  Then looking will become buying and hence the "stash" is born.  So, I thought I would share a few of my purchases with you so you too can visualize what's ahead.

Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace Yarn 100g. 800m. / 874 yards 2 ply made in Peru

This beautiful yarn from Misti Alpaca was on sale at Eat.Sleep.Knit., and doesn't that just explain it all to you?  The colorway is called Pink Flamingo which I found a bit off putting, but the hand painted colors of pinks and corals are ones that look great on me.  It's 100% baby alpaca lace weight yarn that is slightly fuzzy.  Alpaca can be SUPER warm, so I think having a light weight yarn will make it not too hot (my 1st sweater was a bulky alpaca pullover and man did I sweat!)  The pattern I have purchased for it is called Chamomile Tunic, which I will alter by adding long sleeves (this is Minnesota after all.)  The knitting looks pretty straight forward, but I foresee needing some help on the crochet band.  Luckily my favorite local yarn shops, Needlework Unlimited, Linden Hills Yarn and Skeins,  all have nights where you pay for help on whatever project you are working on. What are your favorite places to purchase yarn?

Missing Piece Hobo Bag

I mentioned in my last post that we are going to the Philippines over Christmas, which for me means warm weather knitting projects. (Yes, everything translates into some kind of knitting project for me.)  The purses I currently have are both thick felted wool; not exactly suitable for hanging around the equator. So, I started my search for the perfect bag on Ravelry, as many knitters do, and came across this pattern from Nora Gaughan.  She aptly calls it the Missing Piece Hobo Bag as it is a pentagon with one wedge missing.  The pattern was published in the book KnitKnit - Profiles & Projects From Knitting New Wave.  Luckily I found it at my local library saving me from purchasing yet another knitting book.

 

Here's Nora's version from the book KnitKnit

I wanted to do it in Linen, but linen yarn is rather expensive if you get 100 % linen yarn.  So, I looked into getting a blended yarn of cotton and linen and KnitPicks had a very nice and reasonably priced yarn called Cotlin that fit the bill.  I needed 8 skeins for this project making the purse cost about $24.  Not bad for getting a purse exactly like you want huh?  I choose two colors as the pattern calls for knitting with two strands  throughout.  My basic wear everyday colors are navy blue and brown as I tend to look really washed out and wan when I wear black. 

 

The skein called "coffee" is a dark rich brown and the other skein is called "planetarium" and is a deep night sky blue.

You can better appreciate the colors in this next photo of the front and back pieces of the purse.  I took the photo in shaded daylight (if that makes sense), but it still came out a bit washed out.  This pattern was difficult for me not being an experienced pattern reader so it took me four attempts to complete the front piece.  Yikes, casting on 199 stitches four times!  I wasn't aware that you read the pattern one direction for the "right side" and the other direction for the "wrong side", but once I figured it out it was quite easy. 

When the front piece was finished I noticed I made one more mistake.  Agh! went the perfectionist in me.  Apparently I started with row 1 being the "right side" instead of the "wrong side" which made a difference in the center of each stripe's lace pattern.  It still looks good, but I did correct the problem in the second piece which will be the front.  And since you can't really see both sides at once I doubt anyone but me will know. 

Here's the correct version of the lace detail.

Nora Gaughan did her version on size 10 needles, and even though I knit tight (I got gauge on size 10 1/2 needles) I still decided to go down a size needle so the lace holes would be smaller.  Some people on Ravelry lined their purse to escape that problem, but I didn't want to do an extra step you know?

Strap in progress.  Need to get size 9 straight needles as it is a bit award knitting on my circs.

Now, all I have left is the bottom strap section to knit.  It is only 24 stitches wide now, but needs to be 75 inches long.  That's right 6 feet 3 inches long - yaooza!  I'm hoping to finish this week and get back to my Hubbie's cabled vest as he's feeling neglected.  I'll post an update when I finish.  

But for now, Happy knitting everyone!

Time Out

I am taking a break from my Etsy shop Simply Playing for the foreseeable future.  My inspiration is down to nil and it feels more like drudgery than fun.  Which means it's time for a vacation of sorts.  Yay!!! Since I'm not content unless I'm making something I will be posting and discussing my MANY knitting projects.  Yes, knitting projects.  Oh how I love to start and finish them, but sometimes the middle part can lag a bit you know?  Anyway, July is the time I start to think about socks for my mother's Fall birthday, sweaters for my growing son for the Winter, Christmas gifts for everybody,and yes, even a few Summer items as we are going to the Philippines this Christmas.  So, I'm hoping that by posting about my progress I'll stay on task a little better.  Let's see if it works shall we?  What's on your knitting list?

BIG GIVEAWAY

Hello all.  I just wanted to let you know about a big giveaway going on at MyWonderfulWalls.com.  It's a garden theme with handmade items from North American and European Artisans.  

My orange Butterfly Wand is included with some other fabulous items in which the winner takes all.  That's right the winner will take home 16 prizes worth over $675!  Stop over and see how you can enter to win and good luck!

New Ball

If you have visited my etsy shop you may have noticed that I have a "thing" for rainbows.  When I found this knitting pattern on Ravelry for a 12 section ball I just new I had to do it in a rainbow of colors.  It's a very simple pattern using short rows to shape the curve of the ball.  The only change I made was to" wrap and turn" instead of just" turning" so there wouldn't be any holes.  You use small needles, I chose size 5, with worsted weight yarn to create a dense fabric which keeps the wool stuffing from peeking through. 

 

This ball is much bigger than the variegated rainbow ones I make as you can see by the photo below.  It's approximately 5 inches in diameter or 14 inches in circumference.

A ball is certainly not a new inventive child's toy, but it is a classic which is why I choose to include it in my shop.  My version is made with all natural plant dyed wool yarn and natural wool stuffing making it ideal for babies and children.

Venturing in the Realm of Footwear

Fancy title huh?  Yes, I am venturing into the realm of footwear via felted slippers.  Slippers are required in my son's kindergarten classroom as the children leave their shoes and boots outside the classroom door to keep their carpet clean.  And, since I LOVE to knit I decided to make his slippers myself.  I used this awesome pattern by Fiber Trends simply called Children's Felt Clogs (there is an adult version too) in which you first knit the slippers and then felt them in your washing machine.  It's a very easy to follow pattern, but lots of counting is involved so I worked on them after my son was asleep in order to concentrate.

My son picked out the yarn from his school's store where I volunteer two afternoons a week:  Lamb's Pride worsted weight wool yarn in bright orange.  While I was knitting the slippers I realized I didn't have enough yarn to make both of the outer soles and being the weekend I wouldn't be able to purchase any more yarn until Monday when school was open.  So, I decided to make a bold decision and frog (knitter's lingo for rip apart) a sweater of mine that I had knit with Lamb's Pride yarn and reuse it for Sam's slippers.  Strange decision to make, but it wasn't a very practical sweater and I'm trying to pare down my belongings in a BIG way (more on that in a later post.)  That yarn was blue which complemented the orange beautifully.

Now the issue was what to do with small bit of orange and a large amount of blue yarn I had left over after finishing Sam's slippers.  See, it just isn't an option to let them lay around waiting for a future project as I also LOVE to use up every little scrap of yarn from my current project, before moving on to the next one.  It's a just a weird little quirk of mine.  Then I had the idea, seriously it just popped into my head, to make some smaller pairs of slippers and sell them in my shop.  I have no idea if they will sell well, but I thought I'd give it a try since it fits into the Waldorf philosophy that also inspires my toys.   Below is a photo on how they turned out.

 

My son wanted his trimmed of all the fuzzy mohair, but I left these fuzzy as I think it looks so cute.  Have you ever noticed simply shrinking items makes them cute?  Well, they are now for sale in my shop soon to be followed by many other blue pairs.  Now I'm eying a pink sweater I don't wear so much  maybe pink slippers are in order?

New Baby Toys

After I let the month of January and most of February slide by without much notice, I decided it was time to get back to working on items for the shop.  I came up with a few new things for babies, because making things for babies is such fun!  First off I have a new rattle/teething toy.  It is a felted wool ring, in rainbow colors of course, with 5 maple wood rings attached.  It makes a nice quiet rattle sound and provides lots for little fingers and new teeth to explore.  I made one in pastel and one in a bright colored rainbow as who doesn't love a rainbow?

 

Secondly, I have a simple knitted ball stuffed with natural wool.  So far I only have the pastel rainbow, but will be making a bright rainbow as well.

And lastly, I have put these 2 new toys along with a gnome in a packaged gift set.  They come wrapped in a biodegradable cellulose bag  with a piece of tissue paper and a yarn bow.  Again, I only have pastel rainbow at present, but will be coming out with a bright rainbow version as well.  You can currently choose between brown or peach skin for your gnome.  

That's all the news for now.  I'm hoping to make more of a regular appearance on this blog so stay tuned for more.  Have a great week everyone!

Shipping Upgrade and Sale

Are you worried about getting Christmas gifts you order online in time for the big day?  Worry no more!  I am upgrading all my shipping from First Class to Priority Mail for FREE (for those within the United States)!  So, you'll be paying First Class shipping prices, but getting Priority Mail service.  Priority Mail shipping time is 2-3 days so you still have plenty of time to get those gifts for the children in your life.  I will be offering this until December 20th after which time I cannot guarantee Christmas delivery.

New Wooden Baby Teething Ring with rainbow felt chain links

Don't forget the other offer going on in the Simply Playing shop of 10% your purchases by using the coupon code "Christmas11" upon checkout.  This offer will also end on December 20th.  There are still over 50 items to choose from in the shop:  baby teething ring, stuffed cats, crowns, garlands, jewelery kits and magic wands.  Stop in today to peruse the selections!

The Kitties Are Back!

Yes, the classic knit Waldorf stuffed cats are back for sale at the Simply Playing shop.  Why you might ask did I stop in the first place?  Well, these little kitties are a lot of work to make - simple but time consuming.  I felt they were not worth my effort as I couldn't see charging for the time they actually took me to create.  So, the next question logically follows - "Why are they back then?"  Plainly put I just missed them.  They are so charming and bring a smile to my face after I finish each one.  I like that the head always seems to have a "front" side even though each side is the same.  It is the absolute best use for spare lengths of yarn, and I LOVE using up all my yarn to the very last bit. 

I feel I should caption this photo "The Running of the Kitties"

So back they came into my life and shop ready for new families to take them into their homes to love and cherish.  Please stop by and take a peek at them all for they are all very different with their own personalities.  Some are curly from using boucle yarn, some fuzzy from mohair yarn and some just plain old wool yarn (all plant dyed of course.)  Let me know what you think about these little fellows - are they keepers?

Upcoming SALE on Etsy

Starting next Sunday, December 4th, I will be having what I hope to be an annual Holiday Sale in my etsy shop SimplyPlaying.  I'm looking forward to cleaning out all my old stock and starting fresh in the new year.  The sale will be for 10% off anything in the shop; just use the code "Christmas11" upon checkout to receive this savings.  Tuesday December 20th will be the end date for the sale and when I will also close the shop until the new year starts in January 2012.  Please help me earn some Christmas spending money since all "Santa" has purchased so far is socks!

Jewelery Kit

  Making things very often means creating waste too, and my work is no exception.  I have a fair amount of yarn and felt scraps from making my wands and crowns.  I came up with this solution for the really small scraps which I discribe in this post, but what to do with the pieces that were too small for my wands, but still usable?  Having time to bring new ideas to fruition does not come my way too often, but I did get a moment this week to finally finish a project that uses those still usable scraps.  What I came up with is a jewelery making kit containing lots of wooden beads and a rainbow of small square felt pieces to be threaded onto hemp string for necklaces and bracelets.

It comes in a natural cotton bag containing 117 unfinished wooden beads of various sizes and styles, 180 pieces of plant dyed felt (20 pieces of each color) and 4 yards of hemp string.  I mention in my shop's listing for this kit that the beads could be colored with markers, painted with watercolor paints or dyed with Easter egg dyes or simply left plain.  My original intention was to plant dye the wooden beads, but I became a little overwhelmed with the process.  I'm still hoping to try plant dying before the summer is over and just focus on 1-3 colors.  Maybe the kits could contain half colored and half plain beads.  What do you think - would this kit be better with colored beads, plain beads or both?  I wanted to keep this item simple as everything else I make is so time consuming and detail oriented, but then maybe that's just my style.  What do you do with your project scraps?

Swimming

We just got back from a short camping trip to Baker Park.  It's not far from our home, a mere half hour drive, but it feels like getting away none the less.  We camped for just one night packing in a lot of outdoor play time taking walks, running around at the playground and of course going to the beach (a prerequisite in the summer living in the land of 10,000 lakes.)

Sam has surprised me on how comfortable he is in the water as of late.  Dunking his head all the way underwater (on purpose no less), flying in the air after being tossed by Dad and finally floating on his back resting his head in the water.  He hasn't had a formal swim class yet, but I think it's time as he's almost teaching himself!  We've heard good things about Foss Swim Schools so I think we might try there.  It will be good for him to swim confidently before we take our trip to the Phillipines this winter. 

Here's a few snaps of my boy in action!

Looks like fun - yes?  What are you doing to enjoy your summer?

What To Do With Felt Scraps?

Hello! It's been a while since I'd posted so I just thought some sort of greeting was in order. Now that that's done on to my new post.

I hate to throw away anything in our garbage unless I absolutely have to, so we compost, donate and recycle as much as we can. But, as you can imagine there are many things that do not fit into one of these categories. And, being a person who sews, knits, stitches, scrapbooks etc. I seem to accumulate large quantities of material waste. With larger amounts of yarn I came up with the following use you can read about in this post (it's gotten much longer since I posted) but the tiny felt and yarn bits have up until now been sitting around in ziploc bags hoping a future use would arise.


That use came to me when I was making the bed the other day. Our pillows have flattened to the thickness of pancakes. I want to replace them with wool pillows (we have one which I adore), but don't have the money. So, we have just been living with them as is bunching them up as best we can. Then I thought I'd make a wool pillow instead! Yes, I took out the pancake pillow from it's protective cover and filled it with years of amassed tiny, tiny felt and yarn scraps. Figuring they were all wool and naturally antibacterial so why not just try it and see.


Well the results have been good and we are now fighting over who gets the scrap pillow. I filled it about 3/4 full (loosely not packed) and it has the consistency of a down pillow but more firm. I highly recommend it to any of you out there with the same issue.


Now, all I need is a use for all my small fabric pieces and scrap booking waste. Any ideas?

Last Days of April "Set Sale" on Etsy

It's hard to believe that April is coming to a close this Saturday. We are still cold here in MN with rain and even bits of snow making it feel more like March then April. So, with the ending of April comes the end on my "Set Sale" on Etsy. That's right purchase a wand and a crown/wreath you'll receive 10% off your order, but only until the 30th. Take advantage while you can!

NEW Flower and Butterfly Wreaths

I have some new wreaths in the shop today: a pink flower wreath and a lavender butterfly wreath. It's so difficult when you do work involving multiples to find time to create new items as you are always trying to catch up on making the items you already have. But, as sales are slow this time of year extra time found it's way to me - yay! These 2 wreaths have matching wands too so they make great gift sets for a little girl in your life. Take a look below.

I would LOVE some feedback if any you have the time - especially on the butterfly wreath. Now I'm off to make some more butterfly wreaths and some crowns in new colors for boys (we can't forget the boys after all I have one!) Thanks for viewing!

This Moment and Gratitude Friday

This Moment...

a single photo capturing a simple, special moment from the week inspired by Soulemama.

Please share a link to your moment in the comments!

This week I am grateful for:

My husband coming home safe and sound from the Philippines

Heather from Beauty That Moves 30 Day Vegan project that my mom and I are experiencing

My Universal Pants which feel so comfortable on my body - I LOVE stretchy fabric waistbands

All the birds and squirrels coming to our home to be fed heralding in the Spring

What do you find yourself grateful for this week?

WIP Wednesday - On a Thursday, Again

Well, I have been knitting, knitting, knitting! It's what I do when I'm stressed out and need something to keep my focus. And, with my husband Dan flying off to the Philippines, to help his mother sort out the outstanding amount of paperwork that occurs with a death, for 2 and a half weeks stress has lived in our household.

You would think I would have accomplished a few finished projects with all this knitting, but alas that is not the case. Lately, I have been getting bored easily and have now 6 unfinished projects. Yes, you heard right 6! Here's one that is almost finished; just weaving in ends and blocking left.

It's the ever popular Shalom Sweater on Raverly. The pattern was for a size S, which unfortunately I am not. So, I had to modify number of stitches cast on and used bigger needles as I tend to knit tight and always go up a size or two. I'm still not sure whether I like it or not. The yarn I used was Malabrigo Bulky in their Alpine Pearl colorway. It was truly a joy to work with as it's such soft and silky merino wool. After blocking I'll take some shots of me wearing the sweater and you can tell me what you think.

Here's another work in progress. It's called Kay's Tess D'Urbervilles Shawl also for free on Raverly.

This one is still on the needles as you can see so I don't know about the fit yet, but I am digging the pattern and the look of the yarn I choose - Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted in their Happy Valley colorway. Again, this is a really SOFT merino wool yarn so knitting with it is a pleasure to be sure.

I'll save the other WIPs for next Wednesday. Maybe I'll have finished something by then...Hmm. What projects are you working on lately?