Anniversary

Last night we marked our 15th wedding anniversary at my favorite Greek restaurant for a family dinner.  It was a very enjoyable meal with joking around and our "Would you rather be this or that" game.  Pretty mellow on the whole.  When we returned home, I went to my knitting while my husband and son did a little computer gaming.  Then right before bed I said "Oops I almost forgot" rushing downstairs to find my husband's gift - a pair of wool socks for winter.  He opened them and gave me a hug, but I felt a bit of something extra under his shirt.  He reached under his t-shirt to give my the yarn you see above.  He's tricky that husband of mine and oh so fun!  It's a pair of matched self striping sock yarn from Turtlepurl in the colorway called "OM".  Of course, I had to quick wind it into cakes, cast on and knit to see how the stripes would play out.  Really a fun rainbow progression.  The violet and indigo are a bit hard to tell apart, but other than that I just love it.  I am a pretty big rainbow fan growing up in the 1970-80's I had many a rainbow shirt and sweater.  I'm knitting the socks toe up as you can see, in a 3x1 rib and will be using a afterthought heel for these to keep the stripes nice and even.  So,that's all I have for you today.  See ya all next week! 

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Another Gift Bites the Dust

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Yup, I'm in a good mood this morning.  I finished my husband's wool socks last night before bed, which means another gift gets crossed off the list.  Happy dance!  The toe up sock pattern is one I used many times before so not much new there.  Cast on with Judy's Magic Cast on 24 stitches, followed the pattern for the large size, and cast off using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  The only bummer about this project is the socks don't totally match color wise.  Not a big deal when you think they will be stuffed into boots while my husband shovels snow this winter and no one will see them.  But, as I've said before, I'm kinda a matchy-matchy gal so it irks me a little.  Probably couldn't be helped when I was working with 1 full skein and 2 partial skeins to create these socks.  Of course the last word on the matter will be my husband's and I already know he won't mind one little bit.  So that's that.

Now, I should go to my YOP list and see what I want to knit next, but I went looking at the new patterns on Ravelry the other day and heard the siren call (think mythology not ambulance.)  Yes, a new Thea Colman Baby Cocktails pattern called Mezcal jumped off the screen and shouted "KNIT ME!!!!"  There is even appropriate yarn in the stash to begin knitting it right away.  Thus, I swatched last night, and yes, I make skimpy swatches and leave them attached to the ball so I can reuse the yarn as I'm pretty frugal (or at least that's what I call it) and got gauge.  Now, I just need to decide whether or not to start a completely new unplanned for project or knit something off my list.  Not quite sure which way I'm going to go yet.  The other main contender is the Blathin sweater for my mother.  If I knit that sweater I would only have 1 more Christmas gift to knit (a vest for my husband) and could do selfish knitting all Fall and most of Winter.  That has an awesome appeal as I have never been that prepared for Christmas.  Maybe another cup of tea will help me decide.

I thought I'd leave you with a picture of my son Sam who turned 9 this past Sunday.  He wanted to go to Bryant Lake Beach with his Dad and me on his birthday to celebrate.  Dad usually only makes it to the beach once during the summer on the 4th of July for the family celebration his mom throws every year.  But, this year Sam had a really bad biking accident the night before the 4th tearing up his knee, hands and spraining an ankle so needless to say there was no swimming the next day.  Of course his wish was fulfilled this Sunday and we all had a great time.  Sam and Dan went swimming, we all played in the sand and the boys finished off the afternoon with a paddle boat ride while mama packed up.  Then later that night we had a Nerf gun battle with a couple of neighbor boys in the park, ate some cookies and took turns swinging on the swing in the backyard.  All in all a pretty great day. 

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

YOP Updare - Christmas is Coming

Yes, I said "Christmas is Coming" or at least you'd think so at the rate I'm knitting gifts.  The fact that they are smaller projects that finish quicker I'm sure has nothing to do with it.  So, on to those gifts.  I jumped right into making a matching hat for my mothers felted mittens that I mentioned in my previous post.  It came out rather well I think even though the pattern calls for a yarn with drape, a quality which my sheepy sticky Shetland yarn definitely does not possess.  The striped brim, that I lined with angora yarn, ended up being a bit over three inches in order to fully cover my ears and is quite snug, then the body of the hat is loose and pulled down in the back.  My mom, most days, wears her hair in a ponytail so having this looser shape accommodates that hair style.  Sadly, I still have leftover yarn, but it's a small enough amount to relegate to the scrap bin.  As an aside, I really wish Ravelry had a "scrap" category for the stash section.  That way you would still have the yarn info. if you ever figured out a pattern to use up all your scraps, and it would free up your active stash yarn list to only full skeins.  Maybe someday...

With the mittens and matching hat now completed, I moved on to knitting another gift, but this time for my husband.  It's a pair of wool socks knit out of DK weight sock yarn from ONline.  It all started last year really when I knit his younger brother a pair of socks with this yarn using up a skein and a half for the pair.  Which left me with, you guessed it, a half of skein leftover - what to do?  Because of course, I had to do something I couldn't just let it lie.  Well, then I got to figuring all I needed to use up this yarn was to purchase another skein of it to knit a second pair of men's wool socks.  And, since my husband admired the first pair it seemed obvious that he should be the recipient.  Knitting a big pair of men's socks could be quite a challenge, but knitting up this pattern in DK weight yarn on US size 3 needles has been a breeze.  They are knitting up so fast I am already done with the first sock and I only started them 2 days ago, which makes me a very happy camper.  The fact that at this rate I will still be able to count them for Stash Dash makes me happy too.

Finishing all these gifts rather quickly, has me thinking about how I downgraded my mom to mittens (and now a hat too) for her Christmas gift.  She'll enjoy them and get a lot of use out of them I'm sure, but she really does need another sweater as many of hers are getting too worn to wear out and about.  So, I will give her these gifts for her birthday in October instead, and I'm going to try and challenge myself to knit her a sweater for Christmas.  I think why I was so quick to cut her sweater from my YOP list was I didn't want to knit the pattern I chose.  Instead of the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern I originally planned on I am going to knit her another Kate Davies Blaithin.  This is a good switch for many reasons:  the yarn I earmarked for her sweater is enough to knit Kate's pattern, I really enjoyed knitting the 1st one I knit her, she loves the A-line styling, I think I can do a much better job on the stranded knitting section this time around (last time I knit it a bit tight and had to block real aggressively to get it to shape) and lastly I'll be using more of Jamieson's Soft Shetland yarn which can take the hard wear my mother puts her sweaters through.  Enough said.

Here's an update to the list as it now stands:

Baby:

Elijah the Elephant by Ysolda Teague Finished 7/29/15

Baby Surprise Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman Finished 7/27/15

Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho (Knit Sweet and Simple Baby Hat) instead Finished 7/28/15

Cowls and Scarves:

Classic Cowl by Purl Soho knit in handspun  Finished 7/6/15

Dudester Scarf by Jana Pihota 

Dryad by Jared Flood

For the Home:

Sock Yarn Braided Rug by Martha Lazar

My Oluffa Doorstop by Lucinda Guy

Cozy Coasters by Joelle Hoverson

Hot Out of the Oven Set by Knit Picks Design Team  (making the square pads) Finished 7/25/15

Out of the Frying Pan by Amy E. Anderson  Finished 7/18/15

Socks:

Taylor's Orange Toe Up Socks by Jasmyn Cunningham

Sweaters and Vests:

Blaithin by Kate Davies

Ground by Veera Valimaki

Glen Moir Vest by Luise O'Neill 

White Russian by Thea Colman

Tops:

Astonish Top by Katy Banks 

Jordan by Wendy Bernard

Mittens and Gloves:

Connnectivity Gloves by Mari Chiba

Nordic Mittens by Beth Brown-Reinsel

Double Knit Mittens by Sue Hedgecock

Felted Mittens by Joan Sheridan Finished 8/4/15

Hats:

Michele by Sarah Punderson Finished 8/6/15

A Family Tam by Beth Brown-Reinsel

Thanks for checking in.  To see other Year of Project participants check here.
Have a great week everyone!

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

Podcasts, Stash Dash and Gifts

Well, I almost didn't get a post done this week as I have been distracted by the discovery of knitting podcasts.  Do you listen to any?  What are your favorites?  So far, I really like The Knit Girllls, Knitmore Girls, Little Bobbins Knits, Snappy Stitches and In a Sknit and have been listening to them in my alone time during the morning before my son wakes up.  It's like sitting a chatting to a knitting friend which really appeals to me as I am looking for more knitting community.

While listening to one of the Knitmore Girls podcasts I learned about a fun "event" called Stash Dash.  It's run by Leslie and Laura of The Knit Girllls through their Ravelry group.  It's a race (with yourself) to finish your WIPs and knit or spin from your stash (no purchasing new yarn or fiber) in racing lengths of 3K, 5K and 10K.  Basically you are counting the meters of yarn you knit or spin from May 22nd to August 14th.  Since I'm trying not to buy any new yarn or fiber until next year this event is right up my alley.  I've committed to the 5K and because you can count the whole yardage of knit items upon finishing or fixing and refinishing them I am already about 1/2 way with Hubbie's 2 vests, a set of coasters and a mobius cowl.  I'm hoping to finish another cowl, a pair of socks that have been sitting around for some time, my Brown Russian sweater, some rainbow yarn, some alpaca yarn and then lastly knit a cowl (or something) for the rainbow yarn I spin.  It's rather a lot but most of these items are about 1/2 way done.

A few of my Stash Dash items are gifts.  I knit the coasters, which should be familiar from here and here (the yarn seems to keep providing and not running out,) and are a gift for our long time neighbor (13 years) Joe.  He got married last year and they wanted a house that they chose together so they moved a whole 5 blocks down in our same neighborhood.  Our neighborhood simply rocks!  It's like a small town with full walkable amenities (and I mean the basics like library, grocery, bank, hardware store etc. not just cute shops) even though we are considered a suburb of Minneapolis.  The next item is also for a neighbor who was a baby when Hubbie and I  moved into our house and now her and her twin (hence the second forthcoming cowl) have graduated high school.  The pattern I used for the one pictured is this one and the second will be knit from this one.  I've got to get moving as the party is this weekend.  The last photo is a pair of socks that have been living in my purse for I think over a year so it's time to get those puppies done.  They use this simple pattern by toe-up-sock guru Wendy D. Johnson and my only mod was to add a one / three rib so that they'll hug the foot.  They will be a gift for my mom's birthday I think. 

And that's it!  Whew!  What are you working on lately?

Joining in late with:

Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Ginny for Yarn Along

Beth for Whatcha Workin' on Wednesday

Socks for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Since I filled my mom's quota for knitted hats I've turned to knitting socks for her.  Who doesn't need more hand knit wool socks right?  I used this simple toe up pattern, using Artyarns Ultra Merino 6 DK weight yarn and US size 3 needles.  They came out quite squishy, bouncy, soft and fit just right.  I gave them to my mom early as I never seem to be able to hang on to a finished gift to the actual occasion (if I finish early that is.)  

So Happy Mother's Day everyone:  to the moms still with us, those that have past and especially to those women who want to be but haven't been able.  I wish you all a wonderful day full of love that lasts all year.

Fresh Off the Wheel - I've Got the Blues

 

Lately, I've been at my spinning wheel finishing up projects like trying to complete my yarns before the plys sit around for too long and lose their energy.  The above fiber is from The Painted Tiger and is New England Wool Top dyed in beautiful shades of blue.  Navy blue is my favorite color, besides orange that is, and I love finding it in yarns and fiber as I know it will go with all the clothes I own.  I also purchased this fiber for it's "type' which is really a region and not a specific sheep, basically a representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States.  It's not super soft, but is rumored to be hard wearing which suited my needs for luscious blue socks.  Now, I am still pretty new to spinning (as can be seen in the tangled mass of plys plied in the wrong direction in the photos above) and I realized I should have given this yarn more twist to make it stronger and more durable.  Thus, I am a little forlorn to have gone to so much effort for socks which might not last as long as I want (which is forever of course.)  The yarn turned out to be a bit thicker than planned which pushed me to use US size 3 needles instead of the US size 1s I would normally choose for socks.  They were knit from a general gusseted heel toe up sock pattern from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up.  Honestly, I have yet to knit any complicated sock patterns as the yarn always seems pretty enough in a simple ribbed pattern.  Which is your "go to"sock pattern?

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

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at: http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf

Fresh off the Wheel and Socks

My spinning wheel is getting some good use this month as once again I come to you with a finished skein of yarn.  I have been trying to do two posts a month (not a very lofty goal), but I'm still making it by the skin of my teeth this October.  Back to the yarn, it's two ply with one being 100% alpaca top (oh this is softness itself I tell you) from Alma Park and the second is a mix of domestic sheep's wool (from the US), merino and silk from Mamajudes.  The grey of the alpaca blends in so well with the soft indigo dyed blues.  The touches of lime green make a fun pop of color without being garish.  Like my last yarn this one also spun up to a DK weight of 303 yards!  I do love my jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel as it really lets me get a lot of yardage in one skein.  Makes finding projects to knit with it so easy.  You can check out this yarn in my shop here.

The one knitting project that I always have on the needles (and in my purse) is socks.  This pair is knit with Knit Picks Felici yarn in the Marsh colorway.  I did a simple 3/1 rib as I like the grip it gives your leg and it's not too distracting for the self striping yarn.  The colors are beautiful, the yarn soft and the fit is just right but...I have nothing the goes with them in my wardrobe.  It's another case of the color overpowering my otherwise rational mind which happens way too often - especially around drab and dreary February.  I'm just one of those matchy-matchy people (notice in the last photos how the stripes are matching up on the toes?  Yup, that's a matchy-matchy kind of thing.)  My guess is they are destined to be a gift for my mother whose feet are about the same size as mine.  I'll let her find something to match with them. 

Joining in late with Ginny for Yarn Along, Linda for  Creative Friday and Fibre Arts Friday.

Cold Sheep and Stash Update - August

 

 

Wow, the summer has flown by me this year!  It's hard to believe it's the end of August and the weather is already cooler.  It wasn't cool on the day I modeled the above shawlettes though; it was muggy and hot!  It made for a speedy 5 minute photo shoot before "the boys" (my husband and son) went to play some tennis at our park across the street.  My son Sam was trying to distract me while Dan was snapping pics, but I think the photos came out alright despite Sam's best efforts.   The first shawlette (not quite a scarf but not big enough to be a true shawl) was a kit that I won from Luna Grey Fiber Arts.  Yes, I won something!  And a wonderful something at that!  I was so excited to win the lovely skein of sport weight yarn  from Luna Grey along with the White Dwarf pattern by Amy Miller.  What  do you think?  The color is similar to one in the Pendulum shawl (also designed by Amy Miller) I finished last month, but being a solid color I'm sure I'll get more wear out of it.  It's asymmetrical which I'm not usually drawn to, but I'm quite pleased with the result.  The second shawlette is a pattern by Ysolda Teague called Marin done in Three Irish Girls Kells Sport yarn in their Solar Flare colorway.  I loved this pattern with it's scalloped edge and center triangle (achieved with short rows), but was pretty nervous while knitting it that it was not going to turn out right.  When I did finish it was small, very small, hardly enough length to wrap around my neck.  But once it took a bath and was stretched and pinned out to dry it shaped right up to my expectations.  While not looking too happy in the picture, I am thrilled with the end product and know I will wear it lots this Fall and Winter.  Though, safe to say I won't be knitting many shawls/shawlettes in the future as my drawer is now quite full with wonderful choices of what to wear.

August is also the month of my son's birthday, so even though I had hopes of completing more projects it wasn't meant to be.  And when you can't finish a project what should you do?  Well knitter logic says "Start more projects!"  Crazy, I know, but that's just what I did.  First up is yet another pair of Taylor's Orange Toe Up Socks, and this time I actually did use a different color for the toe, heel and cuff.  The blue is some Yarn Love sport weight yarn that I over dyed with indigo (I guess you could say I didn't just "love" it - haha.  Sorry I couldn't resist,) while the orange is leftovers from Marin.  They are going along fine, but I'm a little bored so...

Yes, I started another project.  This pattern is a free one from Rowan and it needs concentration which is nice when your other project is simple but boring.  I used more yarn from my indigo dyed yarn stash (Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool which is a bulky weight) for this project along with some yarn I did buy (I know I am so failing at this Cold Sheep thing) from  Knit Picks called "Aloft" which is a lace weight mohair silk blend.  The Aloft really is the key to making this a soft fluffy sweater and is a MUCH cheaper version to buy than the recommended Rowan's Kidsilk.  What do you think about buying yarn to use yarn I already have - is it a good thing?  My team says Yes!

Last up, is what is going to be a very long term project (think years here) - a Sock Yarn Blanket.  Yup, you heard me right I am going to knit a blanket out of thin sock yarn on teeny tiny needles.  To give you an idea each of those squares is a mere 2 inches in diameter.  Uh huh, it's going to take an awful lot of squares to make even a throw sized blanket.  The idea behind the pattern is to use up leftover sock yarn which is a great idea for me as I always have left over sock yarn sitting around looking at me wondering why I don't knit with it (well maybe not that last bit.)  And, if you've read any of my posts before you know I love, love, love to use up every bit of yarn.  I adore scrappy projects, but I also adore balance of color, so get ready, yes, I bought a couple of skeins of sock yarn in oranges to balance out all the blue sock yarn I will be using.  Again, it's buying yarn to use yarn I already have, which is a bit of a slippery slope I'm finding out.  

Well, my going Cold Sheep lasted a whole 50 days before being reset yet again and is now standing at a mere 13 days.  Oddly enough, I think I'll make it through to the holidays without buying anything else as it's the busy season for my knitted toy business Simply Playing plus I already have all the yarn I need for my holiday gifts. Hmm...this was yet another long post so I think I'll try for a least two posts next month.  A girl can dream can't she?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Tami for WIP Wednesdays (but on a Friday)