Up next: Kangaroo Dyer and a pattern

If you read the PhatFiber blog you've seen the post for Kangaroo Dyers. It is sooo pretty! The one in the corner is a superwash wool (75%) and nylon (25%). The colorway is Flower Garden and that "sample" is 100 yds.! The others are (from left to right) green 70%/30% Kid mohair and silk, blue 100% silk, and brown 80%/20% alpaca/silk. I had a hard time coming up with my packaging. I had lots of ideas but none really panned out. I love hers. Simple but straightforward. I plan on using the smaller 3 for more hearts and the main one for the pattern below.

A Joey's House "Bartlett Bunny". Perfect for the samples in the box (the pattern even states that!). It uses a tiny amount of yarn. When I opened it up the oldest wee one tossed it aside (she was ripping through it like mad!) and then once she relaxed she saw what it was. Intrigued she asked a million questions and then stated very clearly: "You can make this for me. I want it in pink.". Good thing I had already paired it up with the yarn from above which has passed her pink inspection...just enough to be counted but not enough to burn the corneas out of my eyes.

I'm actually looking forward to this one. I have been avoiding doing anything due to dissapointment in my longies. I have been eyeing these for days though. I even pulled them out and set them in plain site so I'd get going. The pattern seems like a perfect extra for baby gifts. There are loads of baby bearin' ladies in my family so I'm sure I'll make many of these over the next little while.

A giveaway!

Clicky!Clicky!

Check it out. PhatFiber has been doing mini profiles of everyone involved. That link there is me. I'm doing a giveaway so go check it out and leave a comment.

Oh and........


I made my first sale! I'm totally thrilled! It's been the kick in the pants I needed to get the rest of the fiber into some bats. I have one more to do and then am done with this batch. I need to get some new (and better!) pics tomorrow. I'm having an issue with the Chocolate Brown and Summer Berries bats since they both have a good amount of reds in them.

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!

:)

The last of the Christmas knitting

I know I said sewing pics but this is a knitting blog and I do have knitting pictures so it only makes sense that they would be posted first. :)

Here is my mom's mug cozy. Exact same as the other two but in a random brown acrylic. No idea if she likes it yet as I haven't been able to get out to her house to give it her. Hard to see detail I know but brown and black and red yarn are not very camera friendly.

This is the Top Down Timothy Hat. I found the pattern on Ravelry. This is the top. And why, yes, yes that IS my handspun. :) I'm rather fond of it. I used size 6's and did everything as written except for the cast on.At first I thought it was too snug. Heck, it fit me rather nicely and I don't have nearly as big a head as he does. :) I blocked it out and while it ended up being a bit over blocked (in my opinion since the ribbing flattened a bit...but not too much as it goes back to shape with some stretching) it ended up fitting him well. It was a bit snug at first but as he's worn it, the fabric has relaxed a bit. He took it snowboarding this morning and said it was great. Warm, long enough to cover his forhead and ears, and not too snug on the band at all.This is the "right side". Out of bordeom I threw in a couple cables though they are tiny (1 stitch ones) and short. Hard to see amongst all the color anyhow.This is the "wrong side". I much prefer this one. I like the majority knit stitch look going on. Only drawback is you loose the cool top one this side. I do have a bit leftover in this and the entire small skein of the solid brown. I might make something out of it but I don't know what. I'm interested in what my yardage was. I really need a yardage counter!

I'm feeling rather productive lately. Not sure if I really am or not but the feeling is definitely there. First up. the first skein from my Freyalyn's Fibers sock bats! It's another 14 ply/fingering weight yarn. It's currently BACK on the wheel though as my plying sucked horribly and it was a mess. Well not really but the parts that were spun tight enough to actually stick needed to be washed while the parts that weren't overspun didn't. Meaning when it did get washed some stayed and the rest sort of fell apart. I wasn't too pleased with it. I'm naming it "Cherry Glen" after the iris with the same name. Hard to tell in this picture but the colors remind me of it. I started this on my drop spindle and then transferred it to my wheel. Not sure I should have done that. I got to impatient to be done so I spun faster on my wheel than I was on my spindle. As a result the wheel spun portion is less even, the second ply (which was totally wheel spun) wasn't as long as the first, I have more slubs and more overall fuziness. Quite irritating. Let this be a lesson to take your time. Just because you can whip through something doesn't mean you should. :)

These are cabled mug cozies from here. Super fast and easy. The second one is a bit smaller (these were for my dad and his lady friend ;) ). I started the second one Friday night and brought it with me on Saturday when we drove down to see them. I finished it in the car but had forgotten to grab an extra skein (I didn't use a whole skein...just grabbed one that was floating free in the closet) and was cutting it close. I happened to have some size 6 needles in my bag and bound off with that (instead of a size g hook like on the first). Both cozies have about 6-10 rows less of the final 4x1 ribbing near the top and neither have i-cord ties, instead they have a 20 stitch crochet tie. The second one has 3ish rows less of the garter stitch topping and a regular knit bind off (the first has a crochet one). I much prefer the first one but they both turned out nicely and fit the mugs they were intended for. I have one more about to be started for my mom (in a brown). They are super fast and an enjoyable knit. My dad got his on Saturday and since Im lame and forgot the bag for them he got to "open" them then. He really liked them. They are nice and squishy too so it'll be nice on the hands.

Stats:

Lion Brand Wool Ease

Size 6's, 8's, and a g hook

Less ribbing at the top

Less garter on one cozy

Ok, off to work on the last one.

New to do list:

1. Finish mom's cozy

2. Finish the husband's hat (looking awsome by the way in my handspun)

3. Finish fiber bags and fiber (stupid blasted machine that won't work!)

Coming soon: some random sewing pictures. :)

Trade longies are done...

and well on their way to the intended home!

I hope they fit. I tried them on the youngest wee one since her and the recipient are about the same size and they fit her pretty well. I tried them on over a larger prefold and the body stitches stretch a bit but not too bad I don't think.

Stats:

Size medium

Short rows

10 inch inseam

Hand dyed yarn by me (I think I'm calling it Ireland...it just makes me think of there)

Cat Nip Yarns Licorice Twist

Garter stitch cuff

Elastic waistband

As a result of hand dying the yarn the legs are very much different from each other. I originally dyed the yarn for us. It was an experimental idea and it turned out quite well. I had thought I had enough but when I reaized I didn't I dyed the solid green for contrast. When I started up on the trade they are for I decided this yarn was much more them. I took it with me to my sisters house and started knitting. Split for the legs and split the ball in half (to ensure the same amount of yarn). Only I had forgotten how the yarn had taken the dye. See the darker leg up there? That's actually the outside of my ball. The other leg was closer to the inside. The way I dyed it made the outside much darker. Not a big problem really. When I split though the darker leg had a large chunk of much darker spots. Very little of the lighter stuff. I ended up cutting off a good chunk for that reason. I think they turned out ok. The mama said she likes them. The yarn changed patterning on the entire thing. Despite my own personal ocd tendencies I do like that and wish they were ours. Even the husband was dissapointed that they aren't. :)

New down to the wire list:

1. Finish S's coffee cup cozy

2. Start on Mom's

3. Finish the husband's hat (yup, found a pattern and think it'll work)

4. Sew G's stocking (the next couple posts as a result are going to be sewing related...I have some things I finished I want to share).

I'm pretty sure that's all I need on that list. I have to finish another hat but that's not for Christmas. It is on the list though. We are travelling tomorrow (weather permitting....please oh please!) so maybe I'll bring that and the husband's hat to work on.

Coming down to the wire...

1. Finish bags and fiber samples (through the drum carder...more on that later)- 70% done
2. Trade longies- 10ish rows and a quick washing/lanolizing before mailing. Finish by Tuesday.
3. Hat for the husband- Hmmmm.

More yarn and some knitted stuff

Just plain ol' washrags. Bottom one is dark brown (there are actually 2 of those but one was in use at the time of the picture) and the top one is "Shaded Brown" or something like that. It's in the bathroom. It wasn't meant for there but it is and it's lovely. Both were done on.....8's? Yeah. That sounds right.

The remaining lavender BFL. Hard to see but there is a penny in there. Again, 15 WPI. It's currently on the needles as a hat. Because the first hat sucked ass and looked ridiculously stupid on my head. Lavender is not my color nor are hats my "thing". Le sigh.

Version 3.0

Once again. My shorties turned longies. While at K's house I grabbed the newborn pair I had done, frogged all the other stuff I had done on the legs, frogged the newborn pair, and reknit the legs. Again. But this time they actually match the body and look good. :) I did the cuff a bit different this time. Well sort of. I bound off in the tiny bit of body yarn i had left. Gives it a little punch. I like them a lot this way. I'm glad I did it. I'm surprised I had enough for the legs. I have so little left of the newborn pair I couldn't even do another drawstring. I'm so so glad I did it this way though. I actually like them now. :)

Warning: Spnning, not knitting, content

Last weekish I took my wheel down to the only shop that deals with wheels in an attempt to get my maintenece kit. I had the forsight to call ahead and see if they had it in the first place. The lady said she had a half kit and to bring my wheel with me and what they ddn't have we could figure out. So glad I did! I got t all fixed up and working and came away with a lazy kate (bobbin holder) and some merino. Today's pictures brought to by the awesomeness of a working wheel (how many of you instantly heard Seasame Street voices with that sentence?).

Lavender BFL (blue-faced leicaster): part of the fiber swap I did (from flapjack on MDC).

15 WPI (wraps per inch)

2-ply/light fngering weight

Currently becoming this hat. I have about 5 more ncrease rounds left to go on it. It's knitting up nice and evenly and looks great (in my opinion). can't wait to wear it. I'm not normally a hat person, much less a slouchy beret/tam type but I think this will work. Especially with the new hair cut coming up. :)

"Sand Dunes" (my name) Merino bought from the wheel people.

16 WPI

2 ply/ light fingering weight

Next up to becoming a hat (for the husband)

I love how this turned out! It was black ,grey, white, yellow, a darker orangy yellow, and brown. I seperated out allt he chunks of color and then divided them into twog roups. I wanted even singles! The BFL had one single that was longer (hence the two skeins) so I was hoping to avoid that. I did a bit. I didn't have much left over and it was all one color (I plied it and am going to use it as a solid coordinating color). Once spun, I wound off each ply and plied them together usng one end from inside a ball and one from the outside. I like the barber pole effect. I did a swatch the other night and it knts up nicely. We shall see what it looks like in a pattern though.

I have another skein (red merino I bought last year) drying right now. Another 2 ply though I don't know the WPI yet. once I get pictures of that I'll post it/them. I do have some knitting content (with pictures though nothing to amazing) so stay tuned. I'll try and get them up n the next day or so.

Shop update

Forgive me for not posting this last little bit. I've been on vacation. There has been knitting and there are pictures to prove it (though not much..redid the shorties turned longies again, did a washrag, and completed all but one leg on some trade longies).

Today's very brief post is brought to you by the power of an updated etsy shop! Everything is on sale!! Fibers and bags alike have had their prices cut! Go check it out. :)