I See Rainbows

I love rainbows and what better month to make a rainbow cowl than the one where gay marriage is (finally) legal in every state in the United States.  It's Purl Soho's Classic Cowl knit with my own handspun yarn.  You can see the details here.  It's a pretty fluffy cowl and it makes me want to either cut my hair short or grow it out so I can pull it up.  Seeing this pattern makes me want to knit a pair of matching socks, which makes me want to plant dye the yarn myself and learn to make self striping yarn.  Oh how crafts can build on one another!

Actually, I am planning on doing more in the way of plant dyeing this summer.  Unlike the previous times I've ventured into plant dyes, this time I tend to make many samples trying out different mordants/modifiers and in general learn before I leap.  Last time I leapt into indigo dyeing, accidentally making my vat double strength (which meant I was rinsing the residual indigo out for days upon days) and tying the yarn too tightly (meaning little bits of undyed yarn remained under each tie.)  It took over our tiny kitchen, as I did it in January, and left me with lots of full skeins of not so great looking yarn.  So, this time around I'm making mini sample skeins with this absolutely adorable sample sized niddy noddy, dyeing in summer when I can do it outside, and using superwash wool so I can rinse vigorously without having to worry about felting.  I also plan to document my process better thus I'm sure you will be seeing my results here on the blog.

This cowl puts me at 4391 meters toward my 5K goal for this year's Stash Dash hosted by the Knit Grillls.  I've got until August 14th to knit a mere 609 meters, but to be on the safe side I better get cracking and start a pair of socks or something.  Hmm...

Joining in with:

Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Ginny for Yarn Along

Lots of FO's!!!

Hello All!  Well, I have been busy actually finishing projects this week.  It has been amazing.  I am so motivated by participating in The Knit Girllls Stash Dash that I've completed no less than 6 projects this week!  My goal is to knit/spin 5K of yarn by the end of Stash Dash on August 14th.  With finishing the above projects I have only 1075.33 meters to go, which should be no problem with over a month and a half left.  Now on to the projects...

First up is a pair of socks you've seen from an earlier post.  They are Wendy D. Johnson's Gusset Heel Basic Socks with an added 3 x 1 rib and using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  The yarn is some Stroll from Knit Picks in a discontinued colorway that I don't have the name for anymore.  They have been on the needles since last year and I am so happy that they are finished that I am giving them to my mom today instead of being prudent and saving them for her birthday or Christmas.  I have such a hard time waiting to give gifts once they are finished.

Next, is another pair of socks this time using Wendy D. Johnson's Short Row Toe and Heel Basic Socks pattern with no added ribbing and using the same cast off as the previous pair.  What makes these particularly fun is that they are knit using up lots of sock yarn scraps from other projects in 5 different colorways.  I tried to make them match up as best I could and am quite pleased with the results.  The only downside to them is weaving in all the ends.  Next time I make scrappy Frankenstein socks I will make a sock yarn magic ball instead I think.  Really the same amount of work, but it's on the front end of things which I prefer.

Now these next two projects were really fun.  They are trivets made out of knitted I-cords from this pattern in the latest Summer issue of Interweave KNITS.  I used this little I-cord knitting "machine" which made the actually knitting go pretty fast.  Then you braid the cords together pinning the end bits.  Next, you then sew up the braid as you wind the braid around (braid itself hides the stitching under the I-cords.)  Lastly, you unwind the cords until they are all the same length, tie them together and weave in the ends.  I used the thick plant dyed Lamb's Pride yarn I use to knit my toys instead of the sock yarn recommended in the pattern.  The resulting trivets are thick and stiff and should sufficiently keep hot pots from burning a table.  My guess is I'm going to give these out as Christmas gifts this year so I'll be making a lot more.

The last two are spinning projects that I've been working on and off on for about a month.  I was only planning on making one skein, but being still pretty new to spinning I didn't spin the plies the same thickness and had a lot, 42 grams, of the white leftover.  So, I wound what was left on the bobbin into a center pull ball and plied it to itself plying from both ends of the yarn.  Thus 2 skeins:  one a rainbow gradient from plant dyed wool and angora/romeldale wool and the second all white angora/romedale wool.  The rainbow came out to weigh 181 grams with 410 yards in length and the white 42 grams and 100 yards long.  I'm going to knit this cowl from them.  I am short about a 100 yards according to the pattern so it will be a bit shorter, but still lovely I think. 

I always skip the part of Yarn Along where you tell what it is you are reading as I haven't been reading.  It just cuts into knitting/spinning time which is my first love.  Then it finally dawned on me that I could listen to audio books while I knit or spin.  Yeah, took me a while didn't it?  I've heard lots of buzz about Outlander by Diana Gabaldon from all the knitting patterns, project bags and yarn colorway inspirations that I've started listening to it this week.  I'm mainly of Scots heritage so it's particularly interesting to me being set in Scotland in the mid 1700's.  Some of my ancestor names have come up like Dougal and Duncan (in fact most of my male ancestor names start with the letter "D" or some Gaelic version of John.)  Anyway, it's good so far, a little more on the sexy/romance side than I like being more inclined to historical fiction and mysteries, but it has a lot of those elements too which are keeping me interested.

Well that's what's been keeping me busy this week.  What have you been up to?

Joining in with 

Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Ginny for Yarn Along

Beth for Whatcha Workin' On Wednesday

A Fun Experiment

 

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

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

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

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

Fresh Off the Wheel - Rainbow Gradient

 

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

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

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

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

Rainbows on a Toy Ball

If you've read more than 3 posts on this blog you've probably noticed I like rainbows A LOT.  Today's post is yet another about rainbows.  Most of my toys in my shop Simply Playing feature rainbows because I believe children should have bright and cheery play things.  Here is a very simple ball with rainbow coloring in wedges moving around the surface.  I use Judy's 12 section Ball pattern found on Ravelry for free, and as with all my toys the yarn has been plant dyed by Judy of Mamajudes on Etsy.  It's rather a time consuming knit, but I love the end result and it's a very popular item so I continue to knit them. They have been out of stock for a few months so I'm busy this week making some to add to my growing inventory - yay!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Completed: An Earthy Rainbow Cowl

 

Sorry there are no photos of me wearing this cowl.  I'm not the best with "Selfies" and my husband works long hours during the week so if I don't catch him on the weekend to take photos they just don't happen.  Anyway, I am very very pleased with this finished cowl and have worn it quite a bit.  My neck is always covered at this time of year with either a turtleneck or cowl or both (you can never be too careful you know.) I used the Honey Cowl pattern which is free and has a perfect blend of a "thinking" while you knit row to a "non-thinking" row.  Give it a test knit if you haven't already.  What made this project absolutely fabulous was the fact that I had less than a yard of yarn left upon finishing.  Yup, that photo above is all the yarn that was leftover - my kind of project!

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Tami for FO Fridays.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Earthy Rainbow Yarn

 

 

Rainbows are my favorite colorway to spin into yarn (maybe you've noticed?), so when I saw this roving in Friends in Fiber's shop I just had to purchase it.  It's a lovely BFL wool blended with a small amount of silk.  Blue Face Leicester is an easy wool to spin as it drafts so effortlessly; good for us beginners.  It spun up into a DK weighted yarn with about 215 yards total.  When I purchased the roving it was definitely an impulse buy (have I mentioned how deary this winter has been?) so I had no plans for what pattern to knit.  I use cowls more than any other knitted item I make so I decided to go with my favorite cowl pattern by Antonia Shankland "Honey Cowl."  This will be my 4th one to date( I did at least give one to my mother.)

Since, I'm joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along (late again, sigh) I thought I would show you my current book: Pam Lariccha's Free to Learn: five ideas for a joyful unschooling life.  We've been on quite a roller coaster ride this first year of homeschooling my son Sam jumping from curriculum to curriculum.  With each switch we'd start out strong then run into a wall were cooperation wasn't happening.  Then I started hearing words I dreaded like "I hate math" and "I don't want to read".  Ack!  Slam on the brakes!  We weren't sure where to go to next until we ran into Sandra Dodd's Unschooling website.  She talks a lot about how learning really happens everywhere and going with your child's interest will teach them what they need to know for their life.  So, we've backed off and are "deschooling" right now while Dan and I read, read, and read about this new to us philosophy.

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.

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.