Fresh Off the Wheel

I'm in the midst of a summer cold which has settled into my head in these last few days of August.  So, sitting here in my favorite chair (one of those Poang Ikea bent wood chairs in case you're wondering) resting, I look over to my spinning wheel and the half finished yarn being plied and I think "I have enough energy for that".  I then sit and pedal my way through finishing the skein of yarn.  It's a lovely blend of merino wool, which is the white ply, and a plant dyed mixed fiber batt in pastel  tones.  The skein came out a worsted weight with only about 140 yards.  It's destiny will be knitted cats and gnomes I think as I'm just not quite ready yet to sell my yarn as well, yarn.

 

This is the completed yarn wound on my Ashford Jumbo Flyer Bobbin.

 

And here it is wound on to a Niddy Noddy.  I count how many wraps to determine yardage.

  

Lastly you see it wound into a skein form.  Lots of winding in making yarn!

Now the yarn is still not ready to knit with and must go through a soak with a little soap to set the twist and let the fibers "bloom" or puff out so to speak.  Then I'll rinse it and hang it dry.  When it's dry I'll take the skein and place it onto a swift and use my ball winder to wind it into a center pull ball ready for knitting.  After I started spinning yarn I have deep appreciation for the amount of effort goes into each skein.  Of course, mainly machines do these tasks now, but still the amount of steps really is amazing.

Joining Linda on Creative Friday on a Thursday :)

The Naturals Gang

Let me introduce you all to the new cats in my shop - The Naturals.  As their name implies, they are made with un-dyed all natural fiber knit up with my own hand-spun yarn in a variety of fibers.  The cream kitty is made out of Shetland sheep's wool.  Domestic sheep's wool (this mean it's from the USA and is a mix of many breeds of sheep) and Alpaca fiber (the Alpaca's name was Chip - cute no?) make up the cream and caramel model.  While the dark brown cat is made out of Shetland wool too, it's a completely different shade do to the breeds variety of colors.  Lastly, we have a sweet little gray pussy knit in a sheep's wool/angora mix from a lovely local angora rabbit breeder.  So soft!

I am always amazed at the variety of expression that occurs upon completion of this simple pattern.  Some look feisty, some a bit quirky, but always cute don't you agree?  Should I make an all caramel alpaca too to round out the color selection a bit?  What do you think about matching knitted gnomes?  Maybe angora knitted bunnies with little white angora pom-pom tails?  Hmmm...  I definitely have toy making on my mind today!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On .

New Look!

Hello again.  How have you been?  I haven't visited this space for some months now, but as always I am going to try and be more regular about posting.  Here's wishing me good luck!  

So, you may have noticed I have a new look on my blog, Etsy shop and Facebook page.  My amazingly multi-talented friend Emily designed them especially for me.  

Isn't she just the best!  Check out more of her artwork here. 

 Some little ad buttons for advertising on other blogs.

The change began as I learned to naturally dye and spin my own yarn.  Both processes are truly trans formative and so exciting that they have turned the direction of my work.  I will still be making knitted and felted toys for babies and children, but will discontinue making magic wands and garlands.  Instead, I will be offering items made from my hand-spun yarn as well as skeins of both hand-spun and mill spun naturally dyed yarn.

Progress may be slow or fast depending on how this year of homeschooling my 1st grader progresses.  I'm super excited about both endeavors and will be sharing them here in this space for you to follow along.  Have a great rest of your week!

Dolly Blanket

Do you remember this yarn single that I spun a while back?  Well, I finally plied it with some white Shetland-Finn yarn and I am super pleased with the result.  It's pastel Springy, soft and squishy.  All good things in the world of yarn.  Since I'm not ready to sell it as just yarn I started knitting a basic dolly's blanket from it and by being so simple, the yarn really stands out.  As you can see it's just plain garter stitch which makes for nice end of the day knitting.

It will be listed in the shop this week if I can find time to finish it between getting over my cray cold and weeding in the garden.  Don't you love weeding after a rainfall?  The weeds just slide out - so satisfying!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Rainy Day Train Ride

It was a very rainy Saturday morning when we took a drive to Osceola, WI to take a trip back in time on the Osceola Saint Croix Valley Railway.  Along for the ride was myself, my mother Jean, my niece Anya and my son Sam.  Unfortunately, my husband Dan had to stay home due to catching my cold from the previous week.  Although, feeling poorly he was happy to have the house to himself to sleep in peace and quiet while we were gone.  Here is our hour and a half ride in pictures.

 

The train consisted of coach cars, dining cars, box cars with gates over the open doorways, observation car and even an old mail car.  Once the conductor punched our tickets we were free to roam the cars at our leisure.  The ride was smooth and went by quickly and before you knew it we were back at the depot.

The sun decided to shine upon our return giving the children a chance to see the engine up close and play on an old caboose car.  It was a fun excursion with great volunteers happy to answer all the many questions the children asked.  If you are in the area I would recommend a visit to anyone young or old.

Fresh Off the Wheel

I haven't had time in the last week to spin at my wheel due to being sick.  When sick I just don't have the focus I need for spinning.  So, last night I sat myself down and spun up the rest of my "A Wee Garden Path" batts from mamajudes.  That single along with another single of Blue Faced Leicester/Tussah Silk that I had spun earlier made more of the yarn that I used for this project.  Since I'm making mittens to match my mother's hat I thought I too would like matching mittens for my Mother's Day hat.

Here is the yarn on my niddy noddy which is used to wind the yarn from the spinning wheel bobbin into a skein.  Please excuse the dark photo; it's rather gloomy here in MN this morning.

 

And here is the yarn wound into a skein.  Next, I just need to soak it in water to set the twist, hang it to dry and lastly wind it on my ball winder.  Then I'm ready to start knitting this pattern!

 

 I chose a simple plain mitten pattern as the yarn itself is really the focus.  What are you up to on this Friday morning?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday

Yarn Along

Coming in a little late for Ginny's Yarn Along as I was finishing all those teethers and rattles to send off to British Columbia Canada.  I'm so relieved to be done - phew!  Now I get to focus on something just for fun like Mittens in May! or reading from my latest book The Power of Less by Leo Babauta.

I'm making the mittens for my mom to match her Mother's Day Hat as I had lots of handspun yarn left over.  Here is the pattern I chose which is a very simple basic mitten.  I'm struggling a little bit with "ladders" at the intersections of my double pointed needles so any pointers on avoiding them would be greatly appreciated.

The book I'm currently reading is all about simplifying your life so that you can achieve your goals.  The great thing I find about The Power of Less is that it helps you realize very easy "doable" things you can change to calm the clutter in your life i.e. do you really need to check your email 15 times a day?  And that when we calm are minds and environments we can then focus on what we want to achieve and actually do it.

What's on your needles/hooks and what books are you reading these days?

Rainbow Rattles and Teethers

I'm finishing a wholesale order of rainbow baby rattles and teethers and thought some before, middle and after photos might be fun for you to see.  I did forget to take a picture of all the knit pieces before they were sewn together so you'll just have to image that part. 

Here they are freshly knit and all assembled.  

My "before" shot.

 

This is after three cycles of agitation in my washing machine with hot water and olive 

oil soap (do not use detergent when felting.)  

My "middle" shot.

And lastly, we have the finished product with all the fuzzy bits removed and the wooden 

rings rubbed with my beeswax/olive oil finish.  

My "after" shot.

 

For the first time I dried the teethers and rattles in the dryer on low as I am pressed for time to get them finished.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the wood in even better shape than when I let them air dry.  

You can always learn more don't you think?

There you have it natural wool felt and wood toys for the baby in your life!

A Mother's Day Hat for Me

It always comes to pass that I knit a lot on Mother's Day weekend as knitting is my favorite pastime.  This weekend it was especially true since I was, and unfortunately still am, sick and all our plans had to be cancelled or not include me.  So between naps, sneezes and lots of trips to the bathroom (drinking all those liquids you know) I knit a hat for myself.  My Mother's Day gift from me to me.  

I chose the pattern Pup Tent and used some more of my own handspun as the yarn.  For the colored single I spun from a plant dyed wool/alpaca/silk blended batt from mamajudes called "A Wee Garden Path".  It was inspired by the April theme "A Secret Garden" of the Phat Fiber Sampler box of which she contributes to each month.  I have yet to snag one of these elusive sampler boxes containing all different fibers from "Indie" artisans, but I do regularly enter their blog's many giveaways hoping to snag a goodie or two..  For the grey single I used a blended roving of Blue Faced Leicester wool and Tussah silk which I purchased at Yarnover from Sue's Luxury Fiber which can be found on Etsy.  I then plied the singles together and got a worsted weight yarn.

Here is the end result and a close up of the patterning.

The patterning would be clearer in a solid color, but I still like the tweedy look of the handspun.  I'll try and get a photo of my wearing it when I am feeling better.  I modified Pup Tent by increasing the length of the ribbing and only knitting 2 repeats of the patterning section.  It was a pretty simple knit, although I did find myself ripping back quite a few times a redoing sections I assign this to being sick.

How was your Mother's Day?

Joining in with Nicole Keep Calm Craft On

Mother's Day Hat

In my previous post I showed you the yarn I spun for my mother's hat.  Well, I thought I'd show you my progress thus far.  The pattern I choose was slow going at first with lots of  little cables (of course this may be because I was using a smooth and slippery darning needle as my cable needle) but now it's clipping right along in stockinette stitch on size 9 needles.  Maybe I'll even finish it tonight, a whole day ahead of Mother's Day!  Woohoo!

 

Knitting with my own yarn really is a pleasure.  I think this is going to be a new trend for me.  Extending the knitting process by spinning the yarn I find really grounding.  I realized this past year I was consuming yarn at such a rapid pace that I would never get to it all, turning it all into a burden instead of a joy.  Having since sold off most of that yarn I feel lighter.  Now, instead of knitting just to knit and mindlessly consume, I am moving slower, thank you spinning wheel, and more thoughtfully to knit out of need.  This feels like a healthier balance for me.  So, now I want to start dyeing the fiber to stretch out the fun even more!

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Yarn for Mother

I have not been able to stop spinning yarn at my wheel!  The quiet that washes over me as I sit in front of my living room window quietly pedaling away with my bare feet while wool slides through my fingers - it's bliss!  This skein was finished just last night before I went to bed.  It's a blend of a plant dyed mixed wool and silk batt from mamajudes and some lovely gray wool angora roving I purchased at Yarnover from Angora Gardens.  It's intended for my mother to replace a hat I made for her for last mother's day.  She lost that hat at the dog park we think.  I can only hope someone else is treasuring it right now as opposed to it becoming a dog chew toy.  Ouch!  That previous hat was made specially to coordinate with my mom's sage green quilted jacket; a favorite for the "between" seasons.  So, when I saw the color of this batt I knew just what it was going to become - a new hat for that sage green coat.

 

My spinning results have been improving over the weeks, but I'm still not confident enough to sell it yet. Don't get me wrong I'm really pleased with my progress thus far; I just have high standards for myself.  Hopefully, soon I will be able to show you the new yarn tags my multi-talented and long time friend Emily is designing that I will use when I am ready to sell my handspun.  Now, I just have to wait for the yarn to completely dry from it's bath.  This is the hardest part!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Spinning into Spring

Well Spring has been quite elusive to us folks here in Minnesota.  Just last week I sent my son to school in snow pants due to the cold temps.  Today though is a different story of sunshine, soft breezes and warm 70 degree temperatures.  I thought I'd celebrate by spinning some Spring pastel colored yarn from a lovely wool and silk batt (plant dyed of course!) I purchased from mamajudes on etsy.  Here's a peek at my first single.  I might ply two of the pastels together or ply it with a strand of white merino. 

Has Spring sprung in your neck of the woods?  How are you celebrating?

Keeping My Hubbie Warm For Valentine's

It's cold here in Minnesota in the winter and it's even colder in the office building basement where my husband Dan works.  They always stick IT guys in the basement with no windows, fluorescent lighting and lots of computer equipment.  Dan nicknames it "The Bat Cave" after Batman's less than hospitable surroundings.  All this is "normal" in the career of an IT guy, but the problem lies in the fact that Dan is half Filipino and taking after his Filipino mother, he needs it warm, almost hot, to be comfortable.  Seriously, we struggle all the time with the thermostat as I like it cool, Scots as I am, and would love the house at 65 degrees Fahrenheit so I can wear all my wool sweaters and mitts.  On the other hand, he would love the house at 75 degrees or warmer.  We compromise at 70 degrees with me in bare feet and t-shirts and him wearing at least 4 layers - not ideal but marriage is after all a series of compromises right?

Oddly enough my prone to chills hubbie does not like sweaters as he finds them restricting of his arm movements,  Seriously I find this most annoying being a knitter, but I persevered and got him to at least like sweater vests.  My first vest for him was too casual for his work, my second was a tweedy green button down which is a little too noticeable if he wore it everyday as he wants to, so I am on to my third attempt.

I'm knitting the pattern Sal Paradise Vest by Nikol Lohr from her new book Literary Knits.  I wanted a fast knit and Aran weight yarn says fast to me.  The fact that it took US size 9 needles to get gauge also helps make it a speedy knit.  Dan requested black which I hate to knit with as it can be so hard to see your stitches.  But, I got around that problem with using a beautiful hand dyed yarn from Fleece Artist which is variegated enough to actually see what I'm knitting.  It's their Blue Face Leicester Aran in the colorway Ebony - beautiful no?

 

I'm finishing the bottom ribbing today along with the weaving in of ends and then will block it tomorrow.  A post with pics will then be next.  This vest is Dan's Valentine gift and the fact that it will actually be complete and ready to wear on Valentine's Day makes me exceptional happy.  So, I'm bringing my hubbie warmth on Valentine's Day to show my love and concern for his comfort.  What are you making for V day?

Stash Bustin'

Hello All!  It's been quite a while I know, but my 15 hour a week job turned into a 30 hour a week job with my being gone from home for about 45 hours a week.  Phew!  That's a lot of hours for this mama who hasn't worked outside the home for over 8 years.  And let me tell ya it takes it's toll on what you do with your "free" time like doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge and prepping for the new week as opposed to knitting, knitting and knitting.  Well enough on that, now on to our post for today!

Yarn stashes.  Do you have one?  I do and it's becoming a bit on the unyielding side of things.  How so you ask?  Well, I decided to get organized and really map out what I would be knitting this year.  So I went to the basement (which Feng Shui calls your subconscious...interesting no?) and found the large rubber tub and 2 other boxes of yarn I have in addition to the IKEA Trofast storage unit I have next to my knitting chair.  I dumped all the bags (I'm a BIG fan of the 2 gallon Ziploc bag for moth proofing my yarn) of yarn onto the floor and started sorting and matching patterns to yarn and placing them in the bag.  It felt so good to be so organized, but then when I started writing out what I would knit per month I got an entirely different feeling.  One of complete overwhelm and sadness. 

 Turtle Purl Striped Turtle Toes Sock Yarn in Snow White

I had more yarn than I could knit in 2- 3 years!  That meant that I couldn't buy anymore yarn in good conscious.   That new Ursala cardigan by Kate Davies that I am in love with would have to wait over 3 years to be knit.  Now, I know what you may be thinking.  Why not just keep the yarn stash as it is and make the Ursala sweater I am so obsessed with?  The answer is simple - money.  I have spent too much money on yarn, oh such good quality luscious yarn, which we do not have to spend.  We are on a rather tight budget which I seem to forget whenever I see yarn I just have to have, yarn in my favorite colors or yarn on sale - don't get me started!  Sad to say there really isn't a "yarn" category in our current budget so I take money out of things like groceries and entertainment and sometimes - credit.  Yikes! 

Shibui Merino Worsted in Zinnia

This year I felt I really needed to get a handle on this buying and hoarding of yarn and just knit what I have until it's gone.  But the thought of not going into a yarn shop or cruising the online yarn stores for that long seems well, crushingly hard.  So, that leads me to what I did next which was sort out all the yarn I did not absolutely love and start selling it.  It seems a waste to resell your yarn as you will never get back what you spent on it, but I'm trying to make amends somehow and selling seems a good place to start.  I figure if I can get the stash down to what a can make in a year or a little over that might just be doable.  

Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace in Pink Flamingo

So, now instead of perusing through yarns online I'm listing my own yarns on Ravelry and on Etsy.  Now when I get the urge to go out to the yarn store I can look and see if anyone is interested in purchasing my own yarns instead.  I also think I will be reminding myself often about all the beautiful yarn I already have by getting out those project bags and absorbing their beautiful colors and touching their oh so touchable fibers.  Let's hope this works!

Where Have I Been...

After posting so faithfully for about a month you might be wondering where have I been.  Well, to put it simply I got a job.  I am back in the workforce after an eight year hiatus so needless to say it's a bit of a change for me.  What compelled me to make this switch?  My son.  You see the job is at Sam's Waldorf School and it's making it possible for us to afford to keep Sam enrolled there.  Besides that it is an interesting and fun position.  I am called the "Community Development Coordinator".  This translates into that I run the school store, coordinate volunteers for the school's many events and organize groups for knitting and handwork.  It's rather a lot for the 15 hours I am allotted, but I'm chugging along and finding volunteers to help me out.  The only downside so far is it's cutting into my knitting time so I won't be posting as often as I was previously. 

 

Here is the entrance to Sam's school City of Lakes Waldorf School in Minneapolis, Minnesota

So, I'll be back this week in the blogger world and hope to be posting some fun projects soon.  This two weeks off from knitting has put me quite behind on my list.  Time to kick it in gear, get back on that horse, get on the wagon and whatever other phrases you can think of to get me knitting again.  

How are you doing on your knitting list?

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Shawl

Friday snuck up on me this week, hence the delay in today's post.  Why did this happened you ask?  Well, I started a part time job at my son's Waldorf School.  I am now the Community Development

Coordinator, which is a fancy way of saying I run the school's store and coordinate volunteers for our school events.  It's the first official job outside the home that I've had in eight years.  Yes, eight years.  It's going to take some getting used to I think.  So, this week I am grateful for the following:

1)  Being able to contribute to my family's finances in a significant way.  Thus, allowing my son to stay on at his fabulous school.

2)  My husband.  Yes, I could put him on the list every week, but this week was special.  He helped me brush up my resume, references, and write a cover letter and bio - all things I haven't done in twelve years.

3) My new coworkers who have helped me feel extremely welcome and wanted.

I'm at a bit of standstill with my gifts as I am waiting for a delivery with the final piece needed for my friend Emily's gift.  Which means all I have left to show you today is a gift I made myself.  I call it a gift because it was a project I did just for fun with no particular use in mind.  I used the Curatio Shawl pattern designed by the talented Kirsten Kapur.  And for yarn, I used a large skein of Rowdy Girl Sock Yarn dyed with plants by my friend Judy also know as Mamajudes on Etsy.  You can see the finished product below.

I modified the pattern by only doing 1 repeat of the final lace pattern instead of 2, and I knit a larger section in garter stitch along the bottom edge.  Honestly, I made lots of mistakes in this shawl.  I think the multicolored yarn made it hard for me to keep my place.  That and I put this project down and picked it up a lot instead of knitting for long sections of time.  I still think it looks good enough to wear and probably the variegated yarn which gave me trouble also masks some of those mistakes.  

What gifts have you made for yourself lately?

WIP Wednesday - Owl Sweater Part 2

Sorry I missed you all on Monday.  My son Sam had his 6th birthday party with friends and family the day before.  Which apparently sucked all the creative juices from me leaving me with nothing for blogging.  But, fun was had by all and that's the point right?  As you can see by the photos below I didn't listen to my rational self which said "Work on your husband's sweater vest" (a vest that he is so patiently waiting for I might add), but instead I listened to my knitter self which said "Finish the owl sweater - it'll be so quick."  So, I worked on my owl sweater and ran out of yarn with only the collar left to go.  Ack!  I then tried it on thinking of what to do next when I realized it was also too big.  Do I cry now? No (well, maybe a little).  I just frog down to the waist, as the lower torso fits just fine, and switch to a smaller needle size and start again.  Did I say start again?  Deep sigh inserted here.

What went wrong you may ask? Well a very basic thing went wrong.  Something that is so simple to do, but I always hate doing it.  Something you do right at the beginning of a project.  Have you guessed it yet?  Doing a swatch to get my gauge right.  I mean I did do a small swatch on straight needles, even though the pattern clearly states knitting a swatch in the round with circular needles.  What did I find? Yup, I was a a whole stitch off and that can add up to extra inches very quickly. 

 

Will I now go back to Dan's vest you may ask?  Well, to be honest with you all probably not.  I mean I got to see this owl thing through don't I?  

What project are you putting off this week?

From the Stash - Artyarns

My stash is getting bigger with my plans for this years Christmas gifts.  Is this happening to you as well?  Today's yarn is earmarked for my husband Dan's gift of gloves.  I've always shied away from making gloves even though Dan prefers them over mittens.  Instead, I just keep making mittens for him and then he doesn't wear them.  Not the best cycle to be caught up in as it leaves us both disappointed.  It's the thought of all those double pointed needles needed for each individual finger that's kept me away.  But, now I've found a pattern from Meg Swansen called I-cord Gloves which has me thinking I might finally be able to tackle this accessory.  You see all the fingers are made from I-cords, which are then woven to the hand. 
Sounds simple right?

I found this yarn at my local yarn shop Skeins which is about 5 minutes from my house.  Artyarns Ultramerino 6 is a soft, soft merino yarn that is hand painted.  The colors match a hat I made for Dan sometime ago so much so that I'm wondering if it was the same colorway, but done on a worsted weight yarn?  I'll never know as I didn't save the previous label - sigh. The best thing about this yarn though is that it was on sale, and a sale yarn that I actually know what I going to knit with it is the best kind of yarn there is.

What great yarn deals have you found lately?

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Mother's Day

Yes, Mother's Day was a while ago I know, but the finishing of the gifts just happened so I am including them in today's post.  My mom requested a purple and green hat to wear with her sage coat that she wears in the Fall and Spring.  She's a very matchy/matchy sort of person and all accessories must match her many coats.  This is fine by me as there is always something to make for her to fulfill this need.  

First, we glued ourselves to Etsy to find some hand spun yarn (I had made her a previous hat from hand spun yarn and she is now hooked) in the colors she wanted.  Etsy did not disappoint and we were able to find this colorway called "Clover" from Moondogswife.  It was a seductive blend of merino and silk - so incredibly soft!  Into the cart it went.

Next, we headed on over to Ravelry to find an appropriate pattern for the fingering weight yarn.  Hands down we both loved Bellefleur by Wooly Wormhead.  Beret styles are great if you tend to wear your long hair up like my mother; as there is ample room for your "bun" or 'twist" without your hair getting squashed flat.  

This pattern was very well written and was clear and concise.  That said, it was a difficult pattern for me and required ALL of my concentration.  There were many frogging moments when my mind wandered and I made mistakes.  I believe this was exacerbated by the multi colored yarn as it was hard to see where you were in the pattern, but this was what my mom asked for so I plugged away.  Actually, I became a bit obsessed with the hat and wouldn't touch any other knitting until I finished it (this is not at all like the normal me who jumps from project to project.)  When it was finally completed I must say I was mighty proud.  Below is my mom wearing minutes after I was finished.

I choose not to block it as my mother was perfectly content with how it was, and I didn't want to tempt fate and have it stretch out of shape.  My favorite element of the hat is the baby cable that works it's way from the ribbing all the way to the center.  So sweet.  My mother being a gardener likes the leaf motif the best.

There was still a fair amount of yarn left, and as I hate to let yarn bits just sit around I decided to make what I like to call a scarflette.  A scarflette is a narrow scarf that usually only makes it around your neck to tie once much like they wore scarves in the 1950's.  This one actually came out longer then I was anticipating making it around her neck twice.  The pattern was simply a one row pattern I made up.   

It came out rather pretty even if I do say so myself.

Now, onto my Gratitude List for the week:

1) The cooler weather we are experiencing in Minnesota after a truly ferocious July.  I can finally walk our black lab Easy without her panting like she's going to die.

2) My online homeschooling community which keeps me updated on all the great classes and events I can take Sam to this Fall.

3) My feet.  Yes, I love my feet.  There I've said it - phew that's a load off my mind :)  I love the way they look, how they get me places and how they are so flexible after all these years.  I repay them daily by giving them Birkenstocks to wear.  Not the most attractive shoe out there but my feet adore them even more than bare feet.

What are you grateful for this week?  Please share.  I'd love to here them!