Note to self

When you have a new pattern and are excited to get started make sure you double check your supplies. In lots of cases your yarn may be missing a ballband which indicate what the fiber content is. When in doubt, check. Having to reknit the entire bottom portion of a soaker because you grabbed acrylic on accident will piss you off. Lots.

Ahh retail therapy!

I never understood the appeal of it until today. :) I got a paypal gift so I decided to spend it. So without further ado...look what is coming to me!

First up is "Tumble Into BFL". Some lovely BFL. I've only spun BFL once and knit with it a couple more times but boy is it lovely! I cannot wait to see what this turns out like. These are not "my" colors but I have someone/something in mind for it so it doesn't matter. :)

This is called "Coi". Some Falkland wool. Again, someone else was in mind when I got this. It seems like a more mature/adult version of the one above. Also not my colors. :) I don't think I've ever spun Falkland but that's ok. It's wool! :)This is "Safari" merino. I have seen varaitions of these tones and everytime I am insanely jealous. It's just a nice colorway and looks well with most things. Again, I have plans for it that don't involve me. Seeing a trend? :)This may be one of my favorites. This is "Black Coffee" superwash. I have some plans for socks that I might keep for myself. Still deciding.Oh I hope shipping is fast. I'm entertaining myself currently with some random stuff I have. I'm already a third of the way through it so I'm thinking I'll need to find more to do until it gets here.

Remember the infernal shorties?

The bum is now oh so purtty. :)

It's been done and waiting on me to get things finished (like weave in ends and lanolize) for awhile. It turned out so dang easy!!! Amazing what following a chart can do for you. ;) I hope it doesn't sit too low on the intended. I tried them on my wee one and it ame down low but there is a year difference between the two. Hopefully that helps. :)

It's been knit: Stealth knitting

These are actually quite old. I started them way back when and only recently finished them up. They were a slower goin project.And sadly you get no details. :) Well some but none that you care about. :)

Specs:

My own pattern (hence the no details)

Catnip Yarns Licorice Twist

Gifted

Now that they are safely in the intended person's hands I can show pictures. She's had them for a bit but ummm....I'm a big ol' slacker. Shocker huh? :)

Up next: A washrag (oooo!), some sock progress (ahhh!), and baby sweaters galore (eeeee! though only one is intended to stay at my house).

Happy Mother's Day..with some oomph

1. I have successfully completed a design in duplicate stitch and it doesn't suck! I think I might once again like the concept. The inside/wrong side of it even looks nice! Hoo rah!

2. I have hit a speed bump in my knitting. I started a sweater (I'll show pictures later...camera needs batteries and it's dark...too dark for the cell phone) for a soon to be born nephew and decided it's bad. I used acrylic due to the recipient and well it sucks. I started another one in a different acrylic and it's a bit better but I hit a point that irritated me so I frogged a bit and haven't picked it back up.

3. I have worked on my 2 at once magic looped toe up socks. I got tired of the two at once and finished up to past the heel on the first one. Note: this does not mean I'm bad or giving up on magic loop. I was just so close to the heel and really wanted to do it so there you have that. Once the second sock is to the same point back on the needle they both go.

4. I have a Christmas surprise. And boy is it a surprise! It's currently a WIP but obviously....will be done by Christmas. Want to see the beginnings? Of course you do. Not all blog posts should be numerical lsits...I know there are plenty on here. :) Before I get to the picture....Happy Mother's Day to all who are mother's and reading here today. :)

I so so so love this set!

It's my first official "set" too. Best of all the yarn was .50 cents a skein (thanks Kim!). They are a bit stiff/dry feeling (NOT rough/itchy...just dry) but I'm thinking after they are washed and lanolized that will change. They remind me of prep school colors. I adore them!

Longies: Picky Pants, Elastic Waistband, Garter crotch, 7.5ish inseam, Seed stitch cuff, Red Heart Knitting Worsted Wool: Grey and Multi Reds, Newborn size, Backside increases and Extended short rows.

Hat: EarWarmer Cap, Infant, Red heart Knitting Worsted Wool: Grey and Multi Reds.

Mods: After the 2nd or 3rd decrease round stopped knitting 2 plain rounds in between and only did one round in order to shorten it a bit.

It's been knit: Infernal Shorties

Not infernal as in firey hot or anything like that. Oh no. Infernal as in "these damn infernal shorties are driving me to my wits end and I just want them out of my house already!" :) That said I am quite fond of them. The colors are pretty (not as bright in real life as they are in these pictures) and the shape is nice. Despite my dislike of the waistband in general and my hatred of it for this stupid project (hehe...just kidding....) I am planning a pair for us in this set up. These are for the same wee one the striped longies and the other blue pair were sent to (yes I know....it should not have taken this long).
Onto the stats!
Stats:
Pattern: Waistband: Curly Purly Body: Picky Pants
Yarn and needles: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes ( Cobblestone Heather and Arctic Pool Heather); US 8's
Mods: The waistband is the Curly Purly one which proved to be an issue if you want to do short rows that will still line up with the Picky Pants. After 3 or 4 times of knitting it and lots of help (I love Ravelry) I got it figured out. I did my short rows per the Picky Pants placement but still within the waistband. Once done I increased up to my Picky Pants stich count and continued on.
Options/Size: Short rows with 2 increases. After the first set of increases (brought me up to the stitch count for Picky Pants small though they were already at a Curly Purly small) I asked the intended if the pervious longies were getting tigght. She said yes so I did a second increase set. These are a small waist with a medium body. The inseam is 6 inches. She wanted shorts but I got zoneing out one night while knitting and just guessed. I apparently am overgenerous in that regard. :) The cuff is just my basic garter stitch one.
Her next, and final pair!, ones will likely be the same set up. (The above picture is almost perfect on the color of the yarn). Due to the waist they seem to pull funny but I'm hoping that will not be the case once they are washed and lanolized.

It's been knit: Easter stuff

Well thing. I had grand plans but only got one thing done. I have an excuse though. I'll tell you later. :)

This is this pattern. Super simple (not sure why it's rated as intermediate...maybe because of the two color ear) and super sweet. I didn't do a gauge swatch so not sure if it would really fit a 3-6 month old but this was intended for my neice. It sort fit her, just a tad short in length. As you can see though it can be squeezed onto the head of a 20 month old with no problem. :) The picot hem on here was fun and so dang cute! I did do it differently by doing 4 stitches and binding off 2 (instead of 3 and 1). The only thing I didn't like was that it has a natural propensity to curl. I think if I make another (without the ears mind you ;) ) I'd do a round or two of garter to help it stay pointing down. I love the look of it and it bugs that half the time you can't see that detail. That's the only mod I made to it though. You could very easily size this bad boy up. It's just a basic hat. I didn't attempt to alter sizing because 1. I didn't want to think and 2. I wasn't reading ahead in the pattern and assumed the ears were done differently. The ears are done seperately and sewn on at the end.

Overall I love this hat. The sister in law it was given to is due to have another tiny one and by the time easter is here next year that one will be the right age group for it. :) This was such a hit the oldest wee one asked for one that would make her look like a "horse! A pink horse!". :)

WIP: The I'm not going to kill it version

4th time is apparently the charm. As you can see the waistband has been completed. The body has been completed. The crotch gussets are done and seamed. All that remains is the legs and they are in the works. I'm actually really liking these now. I tried them on my smallest wee one to make sure they would fit the intended and uh...yeah. They will. With a bit of room to grow. I hope they aren't super huge baggy. Despite my issues with the waistband (that go beyond this infuriating amount of go rounds) I really like how these fit my kiddo. I got some new birthday yarn that is just waiting for me to use. I'm going to do a skirtie and use this set up as the undershorts. I think. I need to finish a different skirtie first. One of which I have not mentioned on here. That's how I roll. :)

An infuriating WIP

THAT is v4.0. It better damn well be the last. Although, as I sit here knitting on it (never having gotten past the total waistband really) its looking too small. I swear if I have to frog this thing and do a whole nother waistband I'm going to be ornry. I may burn the yarn.

It's been spun: Summer Berries

Summer Berries colorway
4 ounces total
2-ply
End yarn is 10WPI/Worsted weight
2 skeins

I think I'll end up doing a felted bag. I think it's the only thing to do with it really. It's a bit rough and lanoliny. I'm hoping washing will help with that. I'm pretty pleased with the way the colors turned out. I need to give it a good washing. Despite it setting thouroughly the lanolin seems to help rub the dye off. While I was winding it up the dye rubbed off on a few things. Not a big deal since the lanolin rubbed off as well making it rub in/off easily but still...who wants red/purple bleeding?

It's been spun: Lochlan

Some of my fleece I've been moving about. :)

Notes
Hand dyed (by me)

Wool

2-ply

About 2 oz. total

A small skein at 47 yds.

Somewhat between a sport and dk weight

Not sure if I'll knit this into anything. It's rather rough and while I love how the color played out it's not "me". I'm currently working on another batch (different colorway) that was processed a bit more. I'm hoping that helps with the overall softness.

There was some knitting recently but umm...it was ugly and was frogged. It took a day or two to knit and about 20 minutes to take apart. Talk about instant gratification. :)

It's been knit: Top-Down Timothy Cap

For me!! I cannot begin to tell you how happy this hat makes me. It's for me. It's my handspun. In a color I adore. It's for me. Fits perfectly....did I mention, It's for me?
I was hesitant to use this yarn. It's just so pretty and I didn't want to "waste" it on something like a hat. I wanted to horde it forever and ever but wanted other people to see it as well. I really liked the way this hat fit when I made it for the husband and have been trying to sneak off with his hat for the longest time.

He is on to me though and every time I picked it up he would casually say, "Make your own.". The other night on the way home from the store the wind was whipping in such a way that my ears burned. I knew I needed a hat. I decided to just do it and started that night. I got through the increases and went to bed. Worked on it all day yesterday and then finished it up this morning. It took less than a skein.

Stats:
Top down Timothy Hat

Size 6 needles

Fire Gorge handspun (less than one skein)- sport weight

Yarn held single
LOVE!

I noticed the other night when I went to grab the pattern from my projects page that I had used size 6 needles on the first one. I grabbed mine as the pattern downloaded only to see that the pattern writer actually used 8's with the yarn held doubled. Not sure how I missed that the first time around but it makes sense as to why I needed to block it severely. I decided to stick to my unintentional changes and do the same for my hat. After all I love his hat so much why change it up? I'm glad I did. It fits perfectly! Mine is a slightly heavier weight yarn than his was so it won't need blocking. Makes me happy since I want to wear it right now. :) With his hat I much prefer the "wrong side" (the side that shows the knit portion of the ribbing as the thicker part). With mine though I love them both. I do like the wrong side a bit more but only because it's easier to see the color transitions due to the overall smoothness of the fabric. (Picture 1 is the wrong side..the other 2 are the right side).

WIP it.....

Into Shape/ Shape it up/ Get straight/ Go forward/ Move ahead/ Try to detect it/ It's not too late/ To WIP it/ WIP it good....yikes. You havin' flashbacks? I am. On bad songs and bad word play. :)


Two socks, toe up, Magic Loop style. Don't know what type of yarn it is (blogged here). 56 stitches and perfectly fitting (so far!).

Another Top Down Timothy Hat, this time for me. Out of my own lovely handspun (named Fire Gorge). Almost done! Started it last night. I noticed while looking at the husband's hat on my Ravelry page I used size 6 needles. I don't know why. The pattern calls for size 8's with yarn held doubled. I didn't do that either. I like his so much I'm continuing with the unintentional (though now intentional) alterations. This is a thicker yarn than his so hopefully it'll be as nice fitting. It's lookin awfully small.

A hybrid. Curly Purly waistband+Shoaker pattern+Picky Pants pattern (for leg portion). This is on pause as I have yet again had issues with it. Yet again? That lovely waistband has been redone three times. THREE (3). The first time I misread or miscounted (not sure which) and had 70 stitches. I needed 72. I realized this after 2 inches of 1x1 ribbing and a couple short rows and a needle change. Second time I had a hole. Not a small hole. One large enough to fit my thumb in BUT I had 72 stitches. Third time....well if I frog it it will be due to my not reading ahead and appropriately planning my project (read: short rows not lining up with the rest of the pattern details). I'm waiting to hear back on this though so we shall see.

It's been spun: Red Merino

Stats:

Merino 2-ply

12 WPI/sport weight

2nd skein- unsure of yardage as I haven't checked it yet. :)

Used: Dragon Lady Designs

I love these little sttch markers. I was sitting here knitting with a friend one night and lost yet another stitch marker. One of my favorite ones has gone missing and it's mate was washed and fell apart. I can put it back together but haven't yet. Frustrated I thought to myself, "I should check the PhatFiber box!" Sure enough I had a few. I picked these for the bright colors. I love them! The cherries broke (the green circle part of the stem) but I was able to fix it. Note to others: don't accidentally step on these!

My favorite is the pepper. It makes me happy. I thought the yellow one was a lemon but I'm not sure. Neither is my friend. Despite being rather substantial these are quite light weight. I normally dread having to use stitch markers. They seem fumbly and get in the way etc. but these oddly enough, don't. I actually look forward to needing to use them. My friend really liked the cherries. I think I may get her some as a gift. She's a newbie knitter and just finished her first item! She deserves some loveliness. :)

It's been knit: Striped longies

Project Specs:
Size small
Backside increases and short rows
9 inch inseam
Purl round before bind off
I-cord bind off
Garter stitch crotch
This is another pair for a friend. This is pair 2 of 4. The third is in the works. The yarn is Wool of the Andes in Pampas Heather (the green) and Cobbleston Heather (the grey). I wasn't sure I was going to like how they turned out but they're growing on me. After the first leg I was ready to frog them and try to get something....with more....oomph.

Lucky for me they aren't for me. :) I like them but the intended mama loves them. They are bigger than the first pair (the blue ones) but that's ok. She's happy about that. The rest of the pairs are going to be the same sizing.

Just gotta finish up the rest of the pairs and get them mailed off!

Melissa's Kre8tions

**This first pic is borrowed from the PhatFiber blog...I started spinning this up before I started taking pictures. I loved her simple packaging and wish I had gotten some pics of it before hand.**

Pretty huh? I spun this little bit up on my drop spindle. I was having issues with my wheel so I pulled it out and got to work one evening while waiting for a friend to show up. There's not much to say about this fiber except that it ROCKS! The colors are lovely and the fiber is soft. There was no dye transfer or shedding. It drafted easily and I got a nice little mini skein from it.

I made it into a small two ply. Not sure what I'll make it into. A ball? Another heart? Nothing? Leave it on my mantel since it seems to gather plenty of ohh's and ahh's all by itself? I love that she got some grey in the colorway. Grey that stayed. Hard to see in my pictures but once spun I thought it was going to dissapear. Not so! Once I plied it, it popped back out and provided a nice complimentary contrast (oxymoron?) to the blue.

**I know I said there was a bunny coming up....I got distracted by the fiber though. And some other knitting. Soon, I promise.**

My give away package

My give away package has made it to the winner! She chose the Modern Spots Spindle Bag. The little blue one in front is a sample of fiber. Hope she likes it!

I just got a message from her over on Ravelry. She blogged about her prize so I thought I'd share here. Who doesn't love a little bit of a self promo? :) Really though, who doesn't love a new knitting blog to add to the list? DawningDreams .....definitely check her out....if you scroll down you can see she has an Etsy shop! The shop...I'm not normally a costume type gal but I am lovin' the gold mask!

I dream of a Harlot

**I have knitting (though not a bunny) and I have spinning (samples) and I have reviews (of accessories)...however this is their only mention today.**



I stayed up late last night. The husband was on a trip and would be back in the wee hours of the morning so it gave me an excuse to. When I did finally fall asleep I dreamt a dream so lovely that my sister could see the cool factor. And she's not a knitter. Nor does she care about knitterly things.



I dreamt of the Yarn Harlot. This is my first dream of her. I don't own any books sadly, I've never seen her tour, but I do read her blog. So on to the dream!



It starts with me sitting here with my family in the morning. The phone rings and someone on the other end asks if I'd like to have the chance to have a photo shoot with her? Like they need to ask! I throw on some shoes, tell the husband to watch the kids (even he understands the awesomeness of this int he dream) and to the store I fly. Once there we get to talking and she's showing me her displays, one of which is a very limited idea of her stash. Naturally my eyes are popping out of my noggin. She asks, "Would you like a skein?" I say sure (really, who would turn that down!) and walk towards the table. Now when I say it was limited it was only a couple rows (of mostly sock yarn) and only one layer. By the time I start picking skeins up it's suddenly her whole stash on this table. She encourages me to climb on the table and "really get in there! You'll be amazed at what you find!". I was on the hunt for something autumnish. Soon she is on the table with me trying to help me track it down. I am near having a heart attack at the idea of diving through HER stash with HER when it dawns on me. No one is going to believe this. Not without proof. I have an A-Ha! moment and she asks me if I found my skein. I turn and politely say, "No. Would you mind taking a picture of me in your stash though? This would be an awesome picture!" she obliges and hops down to ger her totally awesome and highly technical (in a completely dream state fashion) camera. It's proving to be a pain though. Her settings are off and it's not wanting to take pictures. So we browse through pictures. She's explaining them to me and as she does i notice text appearing below them. Then it dawns on me! All she does is talk about them and then upload them. She never really has to blog because her camera does it for her! I'm in awe. I'm sitting there in disbelief when she tries to take another picture. I look down in an attempt to compose myself and that's when I notice. I'm wearing two different socks. I point it out to her and she says it's no biggie. I say yes it is and to look. I am wearing one red hand knit sock and one red and white striped sock. Two totally different looks. In fact the striped one is in real life not a sock but the pattern of a shirt. She sort of groans at the very obvious mis-match and we decide to abandon the picture (of me in her stash and of us together...I was very sad about this). That's when she tells me we are running late and out the door we go. We are part of a production! Production? She takes me to this old school telling me this is where her kids go and hands me my costume. Turns out we are doing a traditional Scottish dance in traditional Scottish clothing. We all get dressed (theres lots of people at this point) and get in line to march down this old hallway. We start marching but I am still so star struck I march backwards so I can continue talking to her. I finally turn around as we near our destination and she grabs the tails of my costume and gives them a good shake (like you would a rug) and I think to myself, "I feel like a giant leprachaun".

It's at that point that one my chitlins woke me up so I have no idea if we all danced well or not. :)

So thank you Yarn Harlot. I had a blast. :)

bwahahahaha