Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

Spinnerific

August 7, 2009 in dyeing, spinning | Tags: dyeing, FO, red, spinning, wool, yarn | 1 comment

I finished another spinning project today:

The color is a bit darker than it appears on my (admittedly light) moniter. Sort of a brick red, which is why this colorway is called “In the Clay Pits”. I dyed an ounce of roving with one packet of black cherry and one packet of grape kool aide. I was hoping for a darker, purply color, but I shall have to try that again later with some grape.

I was going to do a two-ply, but the single came out so balanced I just left it as such. I’d say it’s about a fingering/light sport weight with some minor variation. I’m still working on keeping my tension even, but this is certainly a marked improvement. I’m quite happy with it. 🙂 It’s still a little rope-like (I definitely have a problem with over-spinning), but the texture is rather nice nonetheless.

I’m not sure how much I have here though. It’s an ounce, so I would guess there’s around a hundred yards, though I could be mistaken. I think this might make a nice lace cowl though.

In other craft news: I am planning for the Beatles swap and have done most of the inchie backgrounds. I also signed up for another round of Post Secret, so I have to make those secrets. The shorts from last post are almost done, and the scarf I mentioned will just have to wait. Stay tuned!

Wip it. Wip it good.

August 4, 2009 in knitting | Tags: alpaca, cotton, knitting, scarf, shorts, wip, yarn | 1 comment

Once again, I have multiple works in progress on the needles. I usually prefer to only have one at a time, but one will take a while and is less than thrilling to knit (the super secret project), one is almost done, and one I started (once again) so I’d have something to knit at Busch Gardens.

I can’t show you pictures of the super secret project, but here are the other two:

A pair of shorts because I felt like knitting shorts. I have very few shorts beause I can never find any that fit. : ( These are almost done.

I also started a light weight lace scarf in a yummy alpaca yarn in a lovely maroon color. I bought it at the Knitting Corner, another yarn store in Virginia Beach that I hadn’t been to before this summer.

Like I said, the shorts are almost done, so look for an FO post about that soon. I also have inchies and a swap coming up, so stay tuned!

FO: Spring Stripes Shawl

July 31, 2009 in knitting | Tags: FO, knitting, shawl, wool, yarn | Leave a comment

Pattern: My own! A stockinette triangle with a wave lace pattern and a simple edging. I’d love to share it, but I fudged most of the numbers to make the lace fit, so it would be difficult to write directions.
Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole, about a ball and a half in “Spring Stripes”
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm Knit Picks Options circ

(It’s really not wonky, I just arranged it oddly on Elizabeth. It’s not crooked, I promise.)

I LOVE this shawl. It’s light but still warm, perfect for overzealous air conditioning. The colors and bright and lovely. I LOVE how the lace came out. It’s a simple pattern but because of the stripes in the yarn, it makes the colors pop and they don’t obscure the pattern tooooo much. The points didn’t block out as much as I’d hoped, but they’re pointy enough. All in all, the shawl came out almost exactly as I wanted it to.

Here are some more pictures (I really like macro mode):

Currently being crafty: Inchie swap. Soon to be another swap. A cool knitting project. And a super secret project that I won’t be able to talk about in detail until December. Don’t worry though, I’ll have plenty of other things to show you until then. Stay tuned!

Inchie-pallooza!

July 30, 2009 in paper craft | Tags: art, FO, inchies, paper craft | Leave a comment

So I recently discovered inchies. Inchies, if you don’t know what they are, are little 1″x1″ works of art, usually grouped together. More information on them can be found in a very helpful post on Craftster here. My recent obsession with card making led me to think I’d also like making inchies. I was right:

I love almost all of them, though I do have a couple favorites. I love the one with the starburst as well as the one with the argyle pattern that says “Live big”. I’m also quite fond of the one with the big pink b. : )

I used a variety of materials to make these. Some old books I got in a library sale in Fredericksburg in French, German, and Japanese, a magazine, bits of a newspaper, scrapbook paper, some punches, and stamps that I either bought or carved and stamp pads my mother had around (though I did buy a couple for myself).

It’s safe to say I’m completely hooked on making inchies. I even signed up for an inchies swap: you make a total of 49 inchies and send seven groups of seven to other people. Though I did sign up for the swap before I made these. I’d been meaning to try inchies and I figured the swap would give me the push I needed.

I’m pretty thrilled about the swap, both for making and receiving. I think I’m going to mount them all and frame them to spice up my dorm room. : )

Bookmark Swap

July 28, 2009 in crochet, paper craft, swap | Tags: bookmark, crochet, paper craft, red, swap, thread | 1 comment

So I joined another swap, even though I said I wouldn’t. This was a small one: we just had to craft two bookmarks based on the themes our partner gave us. My partner was beeker and she made me some awesome bookmarks:

My themes were knitting, art deco, dinos/animals, and Star Wars/space. The first two were for me, but I aimed the second two at my lovely boyfriend. It was a quick, easy swap and I figured I only read one book at a time so I only need one bookmark (and I have two), and he reads about as voraciously as I do. : ) So the dino one is for him (I told this to my partner, btw, so no surprise handing off of crafty goodness).

Here are the ones I made for her (her themes were Beatles, red, pink, and leaves):

I loooove the red one, and I’m not quite as happy with the Beatles one. But I still like it and I am quite pleased with the dictionary definition of love bit. I shall definitely be making more thread crochet bookmarks as it was quite easy and I scored a bunch of crochet thread at the thrift store. Random stuff at this particular store (Goodwill Outlet) is something like 59 cents a pound and my total (which included a somewhat heavy roll of contact paper/stickable vinyl) was only 74 cents. SCORE! Anyway, the bookmark took literally about 20 minutes to make and they’ll be perfect for Christmas presents for some of the readers in my group of friends. Oh, and to stiffen it, I just dunked it in a glue/water bath, pinned it out, and let it dry. : )

The rest of the gallery is here if you want to check out the rest of the swap.

FO: Lilith

July 26, 2009 in knitting | Tags: blue, cotton, FO, knitting, sweater, yarn | 2 comments

Pattern: My own! This is my first sweater I designed myself! I based it on Lillie, but I didn’t want to do it in pieces and I wanted to make some mods anyway, so I just made it up as I went. It’s top-down, raglan style.
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy in “Marlin”, fourish skeins
Needles: Knit Picks Options US 8/5 mm circ and some Clover dpn’s

I LOVE this sweater. It doesn’t much resemble my original sketches for the sweater, but I love how it came out. The fit is perfect, I love the angle of the fronts, and the cotton makes it perfect for layering over tanks in fall/spring. Perfect for back to school! I could probably wear it on cool summer nights too… Immediately after I finished it, I put it on over a short red dress I had on, and it looked fantastic, so I’ll definitely have to put it in rotation.

The buttons came from a swap (the Craft my Wish Swap, if you recall), and I used four of I think the five i was given. I think they fit quite well. And the yarn? The YARN. I’m in love with this yarn. It’s kitten-soft thanks to the microfiber acrylic and cool and pretty sturdy thanks to the cotton content. Did I mention it’s soft? Plus the color I used, Marlin, is such a lovely deep blue. And slightly shimmery. Amazing. AND, as a bonus, I only used four of the eight skeins I ordered, so I have enough to make something substantial. WIN. No idea what I’m going to make with the left overs, but I am quite happy to have it in the stash. I would definitely order this yarn again, and I probably will with my next Knit Picks order (whenever that will be).

Also: This marks number 12 in my dodecathon of sweater knitting! Since I finished in July, I may well go ahead and make 24 sweaters this year. Maybe. Right now, I’m in the mood for lace. Complicated lace, after the seemingly endless miles of stockinette in this sweater. And I did just buy some yummy alpaca lace in a lovely maroon color…

FO: Razor Cami

July 24, 2009 in knitting | Tags: acrylic yarn, FO, knitting, tank top, white | Leave a comment

Pattern: Razor Cami by Katie Marcus.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, probably less than a skein
Needles: US 6/4 mm circ, Knit Picks Options
Modifications: Using light worsted instead of fingering, cast on 120 for 10 pattern repeats (which turned out to be perfect), divided for the armpits them did some garter in the front and bound off the back, and did two twisted chains for each of the straps. I was going to do icord straps, but by the end of this top, I was SO ready to get it off the needles.

So I like this a lot, even though it’s juuust a tad too short. I keep pulling at it. But worn over a tank that’s long enough, I think it’ll be okay. I got reeeeally bored about two inches from finishing this, but I’m glad I pushed myself through it because I’m quite fond of the finished product. It’s made of acrylic, so it’s rather warm, but I think it’ll look cute paired with a long-sleeved shirt for the winter, when I’ll appreciate the warmth.

And for those of you playing at home, this tank makes the cut for sweater number ELEVEN for the dodecathon. Here’s the monthly break down:

January: Corona/Talia
February: Burgandy (Cable Cardi from Knit Simple)
March: Spring Cardi (Hey Teach)/Lime
April: Lime/Superman
May: Climbing Vines
June: Lelah/Tank Top (Tank Girl)
July: Razor Cami

One more to go!

Adventures in Dyeing (and Spinning)

July 22, 2009 in dyeing, spinning | Tags: dyeing, spinning, wool, yarn | 3 comments

For my latest spinning adventure, I intended to spin enough to actually make something with. Here’s what I came up with:

I estimated the yardage at about 80 at a worsted weight, so enough to make something small, like a hat or a cowl. I say it’s perfect for winter: something to keep me warm while adding a bright splash of color to my usually dark winter wardrobe. Which is why I called the yarn/color “A Splash of Citrus”.

I spun the singles, then dyed them, and then plied them. I probably should have dyed the roving as I ended up with a bunch of the yellow left over, but I may use that to practice chain plying. I won’t be able to make anything out of it, which is unfortunate, but maybe I can over-dye it and add it to some other yarn.

The pictures came out lovely, don’t you think? Perfect for summer.

FO: Baby Blue

July 21, 2009 in knitting | Tags: acrylic yarn, baby things, blue, cardigan, cold weather things, knitting, stripes, sweater, white, yarn | Leave a comment

(Obviously it’s big and awkward on Mr. Frog. Go with it.)

Pattern: Green Zebra Baby Sweater at Dove Knits
Yarn: Nameless sport weight acrylic my grandmother gave me ages ago.
Needles: US 8/5 mm Knit Picks Options circ.
Mods: None, really. Accidentally knit the sleeves on US 6/4mm needles cause I forgot what needle size I was supposed to be using. *shrug*

A good pattern, I say, though it’s basically just a bottom-up raglan cardigan. I like the knit-on button bands, though keeping track of three balls of yarn in order to do it was a little fiddly. I didn’t bother with button holes cause I hate to keep track of them, so I just sewed on little loops for the buttons. It came out great though, and I’ll definitely keep this pattern on my list of knits if I should need another baby sweater any time soon.

It helps that this pattern has a bunch of sizes. I used the 24 month size cause the recipient, my cousin Colin, is just under a year and already in 18 month clothes. Hopefully this will fit for fall/winter! Regardless, it was pretty fun to knit.

Unfortunately, there are no modeled shots cause it’s July and I’m not going to stick a baby in a hot sweater in July for a photo shoot. Also, it’s too big cause he’s not quite in 24 months clothes yet. Maybe come winter I’ll get some from the parents.

In other knitting news: I finished the Razor Cami, pics to come soon. I also started a sweater and I’m halfway through a spinning/dyeing project. Stay tuned!

Ongoing Wish Swap: The Final Battle

July 20, 2009 in other people's crafts/cool things, swap | Tags: felt, soap, stamps, swap | Leave a comment

Okay, probably not. I’ll probably sign up for later rounds. But for right now, I’m taking a break from the Ongoing Wish Swap. I received my package from spectrumsparksie, and she totally spoiled me. She claimed me for felted soaps, which came in droves, and a crafty surprise:

The soaps are a bunch of pretty colors and scents: Olive Oil, rose, sandalwood, “floral garden”, “petal touch”, and coconut.

Stamps! Many stamps! And a little album that I might scrapbook and a book about marbling paper which I will certainly put to good use.

All in all, it was a SUPER AWESOME AND AMAZING package, and I’m so glad spectrumsparksie claimed me. Thanks so much! : )