It's been knit: Nougat longies

These remind of the nougat you find in candy bars. That's where all my joy in them ends though. I hate the way the legs changed so much. I tried knitting more stitches, I broke the yarn and started in a different spot, I knit from both ends of the ball. Didn't matter. This is what I got. I could deal with that though. Once they were on it wasn't so bad and I'm sure I can find a cute shirt to go with them. They bleed though. Like crazy amounts. The night I washed and lanolized them my sink looked like it had liquid rust in it. The longies faded. I was pissed. Then the wee one got sick and threw up on them. I washed them again and my sink once again looked filled with rust. The didn't fade as much but the peachy color looks greyish now. I'm surprised considering this is/was a commerical yarn...I would expect this amount out of a hand-dyed skein but not out of commerical. It's still bleeding. My diapers have splotches of orange everywhere (and oddly enough some purply/red). Oh well. She needed more longies and these will work. I used up all the yarn on these. I split the ball for the legs an just knit til I ran out before switching to the cuff. It barely is long enough! I was pretty pelased with that amount of luck. When I washed them (both times) I blocked in some extra length so now they are about as long as I would have made them if I had had more yarn.

Stats:

Pattern: Picky Pants

Needles: 8's

Size: Small with increases and short rows

Yarn: Red Heart Knitting Worsted Virgin Wool (don't bother tracking it down....you won't...it's ancient and I got it for .50 at a thrift store back in November.)

It's been knit: A manly cowl

Our car died. Not today or anything but a week or so ago. This means that when the husband has to get to and from work he's most likely walking. We live in a winter state. A COLD winter state. School was closed yesterday because it dropped below -20 degrees. Anyhow, that first night it was broken we were talking and the grim realization hit him. He asked me to knit him a scarf. Which is just crazy nonsense. I hopped on Ravelry and hoped I would find a manly cowl. I did and it's lovely! It's the Tyler Cowl (Ravelry link). I think it turned out very nice.

This is how he intends to wear it (yes I know he looks like he could rob something...I've mentioned he pull it down when he goes into buildings...hehehehehe). Doesn't it look nice with the hat as well? He must be on my good knit list again.This is his, "I'm only doing this to humor you" face. I much prefer the cowl pulled down like this. I think it looks oh so nice. :) This only took a couple days to do. One of the wee ones got sick so I took a day off since she wouldn't let me knit. If I hadn't though it would have taken about a day. I cast on late one night and did about 5 rounds before going to bed.

Stats:

Pattern: Tyler Cowl

Needles: 6's and 10's (pattern calls for 5's and 10's)

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in black....yanked from my Feb. Lady Sweater.

It's been knit: Oh how my heart beats....

Yay for the new camera!!! So here they are. The hearts made from Stash Up Yarn's sample from the Phat Fiber box. The smallest one was done on 1's (maybe 1.5's), the next on 3's, and the last on 6's with the yarn held doubled. I used this pattern. Last year when I made the husband's hearts someone posted that link. I attempted it shortly there after but didn't like the feel of it. I think I may have been using yarn way too big at the time. I pulled it back out for these though and am in love with it! The bigger one is modified. I wasn't sure how much yarn I'd have left after doubling it (I still have some!) so I only increased until I had 32 stitches and when it came time to do the lobes I decreased 2 (down to the 14 stitches) and then went from there. I decreased down to 6 stitches without a knit round in between. I love it.

We aren't here for a pattern review though! On to the yarn.

I love it. You hear me? I LOVE IT. The sea cell is indeed crunchy but this yarn is about the dye job. The colors rock, there isn't any bleeding, the shades compliment each other. I used three different needles size and made various changes and I have PRETTY hearts. There isn't any ugly pooling! Now granted these are a small project so who knows how it would work out on a larger item but the few times I have had ugly pooling on a small item it has been hideous on a large one. I have a feeling the prettiness is there on large items too.

I do have plans of buying some. I really like the sea cell. It makes me want to squish these all the time. I prefer the fabric knit on 1's. This is a fingering weight sample so I expected that but as far as ease and drape and what not I prefer them. I have knit socks on 3's and while you could easily do that I think, for me, the fit will be much better on a smaller needle. I knit tight and like tight knitting though. :)

Oh happy day!!

See that? That, dear readers, is coming to my house! So what right? Not so! This means I will have actual pictures! Pictures that have a smidgen of decent quality. Posts without the phrases, "Sorry for the crappy pic" or "cell phone pic" ANYWHERE. I am very excited. I have things to take pictues of (such as the hearts out of the first yarn sample!) but I am waiting. Waiting oh so very impatiently for my new camera to get here so I can take some pictures worthy of a blog post.

(Isn't the husband such a nice fella'? That was bought as a present for me when I groaned about the injustice of cell phone pics and my etsy store...I think he's a keeper. :) )

Stash Up Yarn

The first of many!

This is from Stash Up Yarns. They do hand-painted yarns. This one is 70% superwash merino wool and 30% sea cell. I'm excited about that. I haven't used sea cell before, though I've seen it mentioned on many a blog. First impression: lovely. It's squishy (I saw someone mention the sea cell can be "crunchy"...not sure if it's due to the amount in this or not but I have no crunch) and the color is awesome! It has spring but doesn't loose it's shape when you pull it. I've had to re-cast on a few times (I was in a mood for fast and was picking needles too large) and it still has it's twist. No color has come off on my needles either! That's kind of important when you dye something. Details. :) I'm going to make a Mochi Mochi heart (or two if I have enough) for the oldest wee one (I want to make a bunch for Valentine's Day). I racked my brain trying to figure out what I could knit with all these samples and that seemed perfect to me. So that'll be my "swatch". Stay tuned! :)

WOOHOO!!!!

My PhatFiber sample box got here today and it rocks! I have patterns and fiber and yarn and lots of little things (like stitch markers). There is a ton in there!

Because I like reviews and I know you like reviews and we all love knowing how an etsy shop's products line up I'll be making my next couple posts all about my goodies. I'll spin the fiber, knit the yarn, and use the rest. Then I'll come tell you all about it. Think of me as an enabler. :)

Oh these are just funny...

The official Etsy packaging

(Four colorways: Jack Frost, Ice Drops, Chilled Forest, Winter's Dusk)

This was very much not what I had planned on nor envisioned but it works. I'm signed up for next month to have a spot and I'm debating whether or not to do it. If I do I need to start now so I can get better packaging. I was very stressed and did not give myself enough time to get everything done. Oh well. It was a good lesson/experience. These were somewhat time intensive in assembling. I was able to stuff and tie one night while I slept in the living room (a throwing up baby in the bed is never good...I'd rather clean it off the carpet). It took forever!

This is almost all of them. I think there were 7 missing at this point and I finished them up the next morning. I tried to get a picture of the actual fiber but it proved to be more difficult than I was willing to entertain. There is not an even number of packages for each color way. I originally started out with just Jack Frost but dying is a fickle thing and I ended up with three different colors. I split them up but only had 39 samples. I really wanted a box of my own so I came up with Chilled Forest for the last and final batch. I really hope they spin well. I tested a small batch of Jack Frost (or maybe it was Winter's Dusk) and it spun very nice and even.

Lime and Violet are getting a box. I'm actually nervous. I have listened to their podcast for awhile now and know they are honest in their reviews of items. I hope they don't think my stuff is crap. :)

A recap

Belated but there you have it. :)

Total items knitted for 2008:
39

Item brakedown:
Mittens: 1 pair
Washrags: 5 (2 idiots dishcloth, 1 ballband, and 2 tribbles)
Diaper covers: 14 (3 soakers, 1 wrap, 9 shorties/longies, 1 skirtie)
Socks: 4 (3 singletons and 1 pair of baby slippers)
Hats: 2 (one beanies and one self pattern)
Toys: 10 (5 eggs, 3 hearts, 1 Sheldon turtle, and 1 Robbie the fish)
Cozies: 3 (all cable mug cozies for Christmas)

Skeins of yarn spun:
9.5 (9 whole plus the one mini skein)

Item brakedown:
1 skein Superwash Sock bat: "Cherry Glen" 14 wpi
1 skein with mini skein of contrasting Merino: "Sand Dunes" 16 wpi (used for hat)
3 skeins of lavender BFL: "Spring Kiss" 15 wpi
1 skein Alpaca/Tussah Silk Blend: "Graham Cracker" 20 wpi
3 skeins of Red Merino: 1 navajo plied, 1 single, and 1 2-ply: 2-ply is 13 ply. Other skeins are not measured yet.

Not too shabby I don't think. :) I replied the sock yarn and am much more pleased with it. It just needed extra stick to it. I'm working on some Cotswold Lamb roving right now but there isn't a picture yet. It's undyed/natural so all you'd see is a blob of white anyhow. :)

I think I am going to keep track of the amount of yarn I use this year. There are various widgets and I think it would be interesting to see what I use up. I have a pair of longies in the works right now which I'm tempted to frog for that reason. That and they are ugly. They look like carpet from the 70's. I have another pair of longies in the works for Allie (where the blue pair went) but I won't frog those. I'll just do some simple math to figure it out based off how much I have left in the end. Oh so scientific I know.

Never before seen stuff

This is a horrible picture I know. This is more of my red merino. The big skein has been done for sometime. The small skein I happened to find sitting in a bowl of potpurri. Not sure why. It's only a 1 ply but I plan on fixing that. No idea how big the ball is weight wise. I am getting a yarn meter in the mail this week and will finally be able to give yardage!!!! I am so damn excited about that. It's a 13 wpi (the main ball). I'm pretty pelased with it. I'm working on the last bit (!!!!) right now. I replied the sock yarn and am currently soaking it. Now that I got enough twist for it to hold together it doesn't want to let go of the extra twist. I'm getting mroe and mroe irritated by it.

This is a creation of my own. I needed to make a hat for someone that was long overdue. This is jsut the back. I'm calling it "Red's Riding Hood" and will be writing out the pattern here soon. Best of all? Chunky yarn. Well that might be the best part. I'm not a fan of chunky yarn and have no desire to knit with it again. :)

These are the first of 4. They are for a friend who had a baby, bought the yarn and had it sent to me, and then waited ever so patiently while I sat on my duff not being nearly productive enough. :) They are a newborn with increases and short rows and an 8 inch inseam. Just some Wool of the Andes in Onyx Heather and Sapphire Heather. I was so sad to send these away. They are just gorgeous!

:)