New Pattern - Wee Bunny Rabbits

I'm excited to share with you a new knitting pattern I wrote for a sweet stuffed bunny toy.  It's called Wee Bunny Rabbits and will be available for sale in a few weeks (in time for your Easter knitting perhaps?)  You may remember this post I wrote about searching for the perfect bunny knitting pattern, and at the time it was just what I wanted, but now I think I have an even better one.  This time around I wanted more prominent legs with a body shape that was more true to life.  It is a pattern for an intermediate knitter as it is knit on double pointed needles and has lots of short rows, but I think the end results are well worth the effort.  You can see more photos and read about them here.

I am knitting them using Angora Garden lovely angora yarns in Winter White, Cocoa Bean and Winter Gray colors.  There will also be a softer gray and light fawn available after I receive my new yarn in the post (don't you just love getting yarn in the mail?  It's my favorite!)  The bunnies have the same handspun 100% angora pom pom tails as my older version did and oh are they soft!  Along with releasing the pattern I hope to release some kits for these delightful animals that would include angora yarn, wool stuffing, pom pom tail and embroidery floss.  All you would need to provide are double pointed needles, scissors, a yarn darning needle and an embroidery needle.  You'll be able to request what color bunny as well as the eye and nose color.  What do you think?  I've always wanted to make kits for my shop and if these do well I'll try assembling kits for my Gnome Family, Teether and Rattles. 

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Stash Outing and Going Cold Sheep!

Do you have a yarn stash?  Most knitter's do and I am no exception.  The problem with stashes is they tend to get out of hand.  Mine did.  Yes, yes it did.  Perhaps you remember this post where I sold some of my stash off to make amends (so to speak) to my over indulgence?  Those skeins were good ones to sell and I'm glad I did.  They were all impulse purchases bought mostly for colors that I just loved, but don't go with anything I own or look good on me etc. (you get the idea.)  What yarn I saved all have a workable future project in the planning stages. 

So here goes.  My yarn stash in their containers.  It's a lot:  2 full sized Rubbermaid tubs, 1 half sized tub, 2 large baskets and 1 IKEA tub that fits into my IKEA Trofast storage unit.  The amount surprised even me as all these tubs and baskets are spread throughout our house .  I couldn't quite stomach piling all the yarn together so what follows is a series of pictures grouped by projects. 

 

This is my sock yarn stash.  Enough to make 11 pairs of socks.  I average 2-4 a year so that's at least 3 years worth of sock yarn.  Can you tell I like blues? 

 

Here are my two work in progress or WIP socks.  I hate knitting with that blue yarn as it gets so twisty and tangled.  And even though I am so close to finishing I started on the rainbow pair instead.  But, alas second sock syndrome set in and I still have just one sock.   

Dan's younger brother Bill requested warm wool socks for a Christmas present this year and I did knit him a pair using the above yarn.  The pattern took 1 and a half skeins so I purchased another skein to make a pair for Dan who also get very cold in the winter (it's their Philipino blood I think.)  Hopefully I will have no left over yarn this time around.

 

Here is some lovely Madelinetosh DK yarn whose future will be as thick socks for my mother.  I already knit her a hat and cowl in the wine and a cowl in the pink.  There will be enough of the pink left over to knit this hat which I will give to my friend Amy for her charity.  Her charity "Team Yarn" donate hats and shawls for chemotherapy patients at various facilities in and around the Twin Cities Metro Area.  If you would like to donate a hat or yarn to Amy you can find her information here.

 

I am making the same hat as I mention above and it with the rest of this yarn is earmarked for Amy's charity.  It's a lovely soft merino wool from Artyarns.  

Beautiful blues no?  These skeins of Cascade Paints were supposed to be a Wallaby Sweater for my son Sam, but then he made the declaration that he wanted no more hand knits from me.  Children can cut you to the quick sometimes.  Instead of fighting it and spending all the time knitting him something he doesn't want I decided to knit shawls from this, again for Amy's Charity.  I choose this pattern.  The first shawl blocked out beautifully so I am excited to make a second one and use up this yarn!

These many skeins of superwash merino wool are also destined for hats for chemo patients.  It's just so soft, warm and easy care so a no brainer on what to do with them.

 

Next up is a Shetland wool scrappy vest I am knitting for my husband Dan.  Most of the yarn is left over from a vest I made for him this past Christmas (of which I have no photos as of yet.)  The pattern called for steeking the armholes and v neck which will be new to me.  Maybe that's why I've stalled out on this project?

A cabled vest WIP for Dan.  You can find the pattern here.  The merino yarn is limited in amount (I purchased it a long time ago before I knew to save labels) and should be enough to finish, but I am nervous about it so I have yet to find out.  Besides, the cables take me forever.

 

This lot of Jamieson's Shetland yarn is for a lovely Argyle patterned vest, again for Dan.  Here is the pattern.

I have no pattern in mind as of yet for this heathered gray yarn, but there is enough for a man's vest.  Guess who for?  Can you tell he doesn't like sleeves on his sweaters?  

So, with two in progress vests and two planned vests I have enough yarn to cover Dans' birthday and Christmas gifts for the next 2 years.

Now, on to sweaters for me.  This is also Jamieson's Shetland yarn but this time in a DK weight.  I barely started into Elizabeth Zimmerman's Fair Isle Yoked Sweater which I believe I will make into a cardigan.  We'll see when it comes time for steeking how I feel.

 

This orange yarn is gorgeous!  It's Ella Rae Extra Fine Heathers which was being discontinued at WEBS.   I purchased it on a tip from the Yarn Harlot and I'm glad I did.  I'm knitting Cassis by Baby Cocktails which I have knit before, but this time I'm knitting it with long sleeves.  Short sleeves are cute, but don't keep me warm enough in the winter here in Minnesota.

 

Yet another WIP for me.  Can you tell I like to start projects a lot!  This will be the famous Color Affection Shawl knit with fingering weight yarn.  I think it's going to be stunning, but it takes some thinking to remember where I am in the pattern.  I don't always have enough uninterrupted thinking time so here it sits unfinished.

Sorry for this fuzzy photo.  The light was getting pretty dim when I took it late in the late afternoon.  It's Rowan's Felted Tweed and I planned on making this tunic pattern, but I'm unsure now do to the lack of sleeves. 

 

Here is a redo where the Gap Cowl  turns into this scarf.  It's knit on chunky needles so it should be quick, but it's boring to knit. Hence, it sits waiting for a good movie to knit through.

 

Last up for me is a hat and mitten set which is almost done.  the only problem is I don't like the hat (too loose of weave) and I wish that the mittens were lined.  I'm guessing I will start from scratch on this project.  

Any suggestions?

Two small and four large knitting projects just for me.  I knit about 1 - 2 sweaters for myself a year (although some get frogged as I'm picky) so I have at least 2 years of knitting here too.

 

Next up is my mother Jean.  I knit her a sweater for the first time last summer as all of her sweaters decided to up and die at the same time. I knit it out of Jamieson's Shetland as I wanted it to last forever and I'm Scots and have a yarn bias (there I've said it and now you know.)  I am going to try and knit her another Shetland sweater this year using this Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern.

Here is the leftover yarn from the Blathin Sweater I knit her last year and some 100% angora yarn I spun myself.  The idea is to make angora lined mittens as angora is super warm and the Shetland wool is super durable.  I'm going to try and copy the flower pattern from the sweater too so she'll be matchy matchy which she likes a lot (hmm we must be related.)

I knit Dan a buttoned down tweedy professor like vest out of this Knit Picks yarn and here is what was left over.  I plan to knit mom this beret styled hat from it.

All in all one big project and four little projects (don't forget about the Madelinetosh socks) for mom.  I'm guessing this will get me a little bit over a year as she has 3 holidays where I give her gifts (add in Monther's Day to the usual two.) and I just like making little somethings for my mom 

(she gushes and who doesn't love that?)

 

For the house I just have a couple of projects.  This 10 Stitch Afghan by Frankie Brown has been sitting for a while and gets knit on when I'm cold because I can cover my lap with it as I knit.  It's pretty close to the finish line though with only 2 new skeins to go.

 

I think this project is super cute.  I bought the alpaca sport weight yarn a year and a half ago intending to knit these coasters for a friend, but I had trouble with the yarn.  I knit hers from some thick cotton yarn I had on hand instead and completed them easily.  Now that I found this yarn again I don't know what my problem with it even was.  They do take forever being double knit, but are so pleasing when finished!   

I will make 6 coasters and 3 small trivets from this pile.

Now, we get into the un-dyed yarn.  Yes, you heard me right un-dyed yarn.  As if I needed more steps in the knitting process.  My plan was to plant dye the yarn myself to sell in my Etsy shop Simply Playing.  I hoped to take over dyeing the yarn I use for my knitted toys instead of purchasing it from the fabulous Judy of Mamajude.  Well, let's just say there is quite a learning curve to plant dyeing so that probably won't happen.  I might just sell this bunch, but I'm still on the fence.

Here is a large lot of indigo dyed yarn.  I did it myself.  It was fun, intense and sadly still not over as it all the yarn needs to be rinsed more to get the residual indigo out.  I am knitting a felted yoga bag out of the bulky yarn and hope that the felting process will wash out the loose indigo dye so it doesn't mark up my yoga mat like it does to my hands while knitting.  If I can get the yarn to stop turning my hands blue I will probably give some skeins to friends and knit some into chemo hats.  None of the yarn is good enough to sell.  

Learning curve.

 This batch of yarn was dyed with Black Walnuts  (dyeing with them is a breeze) and one skein was dyed with Annatto seeds (which was ok, but I wasn't wild about the results.)  My guess is the worsted browns will become teddy bears for my shop and the sock yarn I might just knit into socks for my mom and me.

Well, that's the end of my stash and WIPs and if you made it this far into this post congratulations to you!  You must like me or be strangely pulled in to see how much fit into those tubs.  What I'm hoping to do next is check in with all you lovely people about once a month to see what if any progress is being made into emptying those bins and baskets.  I will also update you on how many days I have gone going "Cold Sheep".  If you have not heard the expression fear not I didn't know it either until I read it on another blog of a lovely lady who lives across the pond in England.  It's similar to going off drugs/alcohol or whatever your addiction is "Cold Turkey", but this is about not buying yarn, which comes from sheep, which is why we say "Cold Sheep".  My current day total of going Cold Sheep is a mere 36 days, but I'm hoping to stretch it to at least 1 year if not 2 or 3. 

Next up will be my fiber stash because sadly there is more obsession with wool than you can shake a stick at in my life.

Joining in with Tami for WIP Wednesday.

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.

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?

WIP Wednesday - Owl Sweater

This poor, poor yarn has been through a lot I tell you.  It started out as a Shalom Cardigan which made me look like a line backer for the MN Vikings football team.  Needless to say it was frogged and rewound.  Next, it became the flattering Raspberry Layers cardigan.  Like I said this one was flattering, but cap sleeves during a Minnesota winter makes for cold arms I found out.  Thus I frogged again and rewound into lots of little balls this time around.

 

 Now this Malabrigo Alpine Pearl bulky weight yarn's destiny is the form fitting owl sweater by Kate Davies.  I have just enough yarn to make my size, just enough.  Of course this makes me worry that I will run out.   This worry is exacerbated by the fact that the construction is from the bottom up making amounts more crucial than a top down pattern where you can always just make the sweater shorter.  I mean you can just not do the neck you know?  My solution will be to knitting the length in the middle of the range of  suggested lengths for the torso portion and to make the sleeves 3/4 length instead of full.  Hopefully these measures will leave me enough to complete this fast moving project.  Seriously, this pattern is quick!  If only I didn't have to finish Dan's vest first I think I could finish this up in a couple of days.  

Using size 11 needles doesn't hurt either.

 

What WIPs do you have laying around your house this week?