You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘stash’ tag.
Seeing as I don’t have anything finished to show you (yet), I thought I’d show everything I’m working on. There are several things, none of which are particularly close to being finished, unfortunately.
First, there’s a cross stitch project:
I’m working on filling the background with a million little black x’s, and they’re taking forever.
Next, there’s a knitting project:
That would be a beautiful turned hem (god, I love turned hems) for a pair of Lakeside socks for a trade on Ravelry. They’re knit in Fleece Artist Nyoni and in return I received:
a skein of DIC Knitsophy (bottom) and a skein of STR Silkie (top).
Last is an embroidery project. Just a little teaser of this one:
It’s for a Battlestar Galactica swap I’m doing over on Craftster. I’m really pleased with how it’s coming so far, and I can’t wait to show you all when it’s finished.
Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I’ll have pictures of a finished sewing project to show you. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway!!
Mich, of Mich L in LA is currently having a challenge/contest. She, like Heather of Dollar Store Crafts filled some envelopes with random supplies, had a drawing for names and addresses, and mailed off her packages of doom, challenging recipients to make three gifts from the contents.
As you can see, I’ve got an interesting bunch of stuff here. A bunch of beads, some weird pink things that look like mustaches, and some jewelry findings. I’ve got some immediate ideas, like earrings or a necklace, and I’m definitely going to do something with that notebook as well as the drawstring bag. Stay tuned over the next couple of days to see what I come up with! I’ve already finished one item (but I still need pictures of it, which is why it’s not included today). And don’t forget to stop by Mich’s blog!
Today, the boyfriend and I journeyed to Alexandria to visit Fibre Space:
The shop is lovely and bright and full of pretty, pretty yarns. Mostly stuff that’s a bit out of my price range, but I was pleased to be able to fondle things like Malabrigo and Blue Sky Cotton and MadTosh, which I hadn’t previously seen in person (they’re all lovely). The staff was wonderful and my non-knitting boyfriend even managed to strike up a conversation with another woman in the shop about knitting styles (I knit continental and noticed when the woman (who was throwing) was knitting differently than I do).
Anyway, I came away with a couple of things (and sorry about the flash photo, but the colors are basically accurate:
That’s a skein of Cascade Fixation (I love me my Cascade) in a lovely teal, which will become socks, two skeins of Malabrigo lace in black, which will most likely become another Featherweight (provided I have the patience), and a 4 oz. braid of BFL in “Ledroit Park” from Neighborhood Yarn Company, which is based in DC. Pretty pretty.
I’m in DC until Thursday (which is earlier than I intended, but the reason for my early return is partially my sister is graduating and partially very long and sordid, so we won’t get into it), and after that, I’ll have some big news about the blog (don’t worry; nothing bad).
So I recently did some dyeing. With Kool Aid. Cause I had some yarn from some sweaters I frogged but I didn’t like the colors. First this, which was originally pastel pink (yuck):
This is a wool-acrylic blend (50/50 I think) from a cardigan I frogged. I’m still not thrilled with the color, but I figure with the high acrylic content, this is as good as it gets. And anyway, the dye took much better than I thought it would. I used… several packets of grape, I think.
I have a sweater quantity here (as it came from a sweater), but I think I’ll use about half of it in a striped pullover with some grey woool. It’ll tone down the pink, and I have a random craving to knit/have a striped pullover.
Next, there was this ugly yellow color that came from a zipper hoodie:
Again, a sweater quantity. Probably a light sport weight. This is 100% merino wool, so it took dye much better:
I wasted a bunch of blue Kool Aid before I figured out it wasn’t going to take up more dye without heat and then I got the hang of it. I dyed the base red and did some grape variation. Not sure what this will become (probably a sweater). I’ll let it marinate in the stash. I’m not complaining–the sweater was probably under two dollars (the thrift store where I bought is 1.59/pound for clothes) and the Kool-aid was probably about two bucks. making the total cost of a sweater quantity of yarn in a color I like about four dollars. Win.
While I have in fact been doing some knitting and spinning for me (sort of–the spinning may eventually turn into a gift), I have also been knitting for other people. Sort of. Like the mittens I made, I am working on socks for Will Work for Yarn trades. The first is a pair of Skew socks in Regia Nation Color. I finished one sock:
and started the other. In return for knitting them, I received three skeins of Aslan Trends Santa Fe (two in Jungle and one in World’s Ocean):
It’s pretty pretty–squishy and wonderful. : ) It’s a two-ply so I might have to do contrast heels and toes, but it does have nylon in it.
Once I finish the Skew socks, I have another pair lined up. I received these two skeins
of True Love Fiber hand dye in Further Under the Sea (for the trade socks) and Happy Lipstick (for me).
I’m not really sure what socks I’m going to knit for this trade because of the variegation in the yarn and because the person I’m trading with didn’t have a specific pattern in mind. It’ll be a couple days because I get to them because I have to finish the Skew socks first, so I have some time to think about it.
I received a couple more swap things this week! First, from leighi123:
Two pretty zipper bags and some very pretty cotton fabric that will most likely become a skirt or summery dress. She also sent a sheet of shrink plastic, some pretty sparkly thread, and some chocolate (which I gave to my brother as I’m not a fan of dark chocolate). Yay! The bags are lovely and large and while I’m not really sure what I’ll put in them yet, I’m sure I’ll think of something. The thread will probably be used to ply handspun, maybe.
I also received from bkrenning4
I like it a lot. It fits and it’s pretty and will be perfect for wearing over less-than-presentable pj’s. So win!
Recently in the mail I also got some yarn for some swaps, but more on that later. : )
I finished spinning this a bit ago, but KnitCroBlo week delayed my posting it. Look: pretty handspun!
Fiber: 4oz. Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino in “In the Skies” purchased from a Ravelry destash
Weight: Sport to worsted-ish
Ply: 3 ply/navajo plied
Yardage: 174 yards
Spindle: A maple one I bought off Etsy. Half was plied on my Schacht Hi-Low
Soo…. I’m completely in love with this yarn. It’s soft and squishy and wonderful. I didn’t get as much yardage as I had hoped, but that’s alright. I’ll have enough for the project I’m intending to do with it (eventually), which is to knit it into the yoke (and hem) of a round yoked pullover. I’m thinking it’ll be super cute. Plus the colors: I love the colors.
I have four more ounces of this fiber, which I’m highly thrilled about. If you’re a spinner and you’ve never used CMF, ohmigod, GET SOME. It’s so soft and light and smooth. It drafts like butter and the colors are amazing. I got mine in a Ravelry destash, and I’m always trawling the ISO/Destash board on Ravelry for more (I’d order from CMF directly, but the shipping is really high–like $10 to ship 8oz).
Yes. Love this stuff.
Now that we have returned to our regular schedule of me showing off awesome things, it is Mail Call day! I received some swap things and some other things that I will talk about as I get to them.
First: I received an OWS claim of supplies from hngoodlett, who COMPLETELY SPOILED ME:
That’s a ton of zippers, stamps, ink pads, sewing thread, glue gun sticks (I’ll have to steal my mother’s glue gun, probably), yarn, kool-aid for dyeing, and some plastic sheets that I’m not sure what are. Also: candy! Yum.
Here’s a close up of the stamps:
I also received an OWS package from Lucinda879:
It has a hummingbird quilted in! I didn’t even know you could do that with quilting! I love this thing. It’s so pretty and squishy and wonderful. : )
Next, I received some things from Knit Picks:
PIC
I have a screwy cord in my interchangeable set, so I wrote to customer service, and they sent me a new one! I love Knit Picks–they have such great service! The yarn I got on sale, and I wanted a metal US 8/5 mm 16″ circ to replace the bamboo one I currently have.
Next, I got a skein of Plymouth Colornep, a lovely pink tweed that I don’t have pictures of from a Ravelry destash. It was up for free as half a skein and a mitt, so I claimed it! I’m highly pleased. It will probably became a hat or something for my gift stash I keep meaning to start.
Last but not at all least, I received from MissDolly for my Yarnie/Sewer swap, and she totally spoiled me:
A nice purse (I have to shorten the strap though), a drawstring bag for my spinning, a cool zippered wristlet, a little wallet, a skirt, (*deep breath*) a tank top, and velcro bags for snacks.
Plus a whole load of extras!
Candy and a bracelet and magnet hearts, and cute little ice cube trays.
I would much rather have stayed at school than come home for summer (the reasons are long and somewhat personal), but coming home to like six packages did make it better. : )
So the LYS in Fredericksburg, Knitter’s Cottage, is going out of business. I’m only very vaguely disappointed because it was kind of a high-end, over-priced, snooty kind of place and I mostly buy yarns and things online anyway. They’ve had things 20% off for a week or so, and I stopped in on Friday to check things out and see what I could find that would fit in my cheap-ass college student lack-of-budget. And score I did.
That’s a half-pound cone of Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in “obscure teal” (I know; it’s bizarre) with which I plan to knit some sort of tank combined with two skeins I have in “Emperor’s Robe” (a blue-purpleish color that may or may not match but at least has a less bizarre name and even if it doesn’t match, I’ll have enough of the teal for a tank). That’s also a POUND of Nature-Spun fingering weight wool. I mean, yes, it’s that lurid hot (burning hot-hot-owie-hot) pink, but seeing as I’m fairly competent around a dye pot (read: I can pour kool aid or Dylon dye into a bucket of hot water) I’ll be able to turn it into a more pleasing magenta or possibly mauve. I intend to make Thermal with about half of it, and then I will have half a cone of fingering weight wool in my stash. Which will be AWESOME.
I also scored this magazine for $3:
I don’t crochet nearly as much as I knit, but I did learn it first and I’m pretty decent at it. I know all the stitches and can follow a pattern, at least (though I can’t really read a chart/diagram properly). There are several cute cardigan pictures in it, but I mostly bought the mag on my DEEP DEEP desire to knit this:
Cute, right? Probably I’d do it in a solid color (probably still in some kind of sock yarn though–probably Knit Picks cause it’s HELLA CHEAP) but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tall buttoned waistband and the flowy skirt bit. LOVE. So that’s happening for summer.
Also, I’m living in a university-owned apartment next year with my friends Sarah and Michelle. I’m considering convincing them to let me hang these in the kitchen or possibly balcony window:
What shocked me most about this, by the way (as if there’s more than one thing) is that the suggested yarn is a Red Heart acrylic (I mean, not SuperSaver; they’re not crazy, but still). I didn’t think Interweave liked to suggest anything but $45/skein fairy fart yarn. WHO’DATHUNK.
(Also: my teal cardigan is done and blocking but I need the weather to warm up before pictures happen, so on Wednesday you get more spinning efforts.)
So I’ve gotten a couple of packages in the past couple of days. Yesterday, I received an OWS package from StephanieGravatt:
First: Ravenclaw wall art:
I didn’t want to just tape it in the frame, so I think I’m just going to save the frame for something else, but I do have the cross stitched bits up on the wall (next to Bender).
Next, my favorite thing ever:
Team Tyler’s Van shirt! (I’ll add in an apostrophe with contact paper or something.) For those that don’t know, in the first Twilight movie, Bella (the whiny main character) almost gets run over by Tyler’s van after school, and Edward runs to her rescue and pushes the van away. I hate Twilight and can’t stand Bella, Edward or Jacob (except in a mocking this-is-so-bad-it’s-good sort of way); ergo, I am on Team Tyler’s Van. In addition to LOVING being able to show my support for Tyler’s Van, the tee fits perfectly and is even long enough for my abnormally long torso (it’s true… I’m really short; I just have really short legs).
I also got a package in the mail from YarnOrATale on Etsy. I ordered 6 oz. of Romney roving (which I haven’t tried yet) in her Melon Balls colorway.
There’s a bit of a story to this order, since I was trying to not buy any more fiber (I can only spin so much between all of my knitting projects). I’d been following this thread on Ravelry, looking at all the pretty fibers and yarns and wishing I were better at spinning (it took me most of a month, but I got through all of the nearly 600 pages), and Leah (YarnOrATale) is a member of that group on Ravelry. Her ravatar is a picture of that roving (Romney in Melon Balls) and I COMPLETELY fell in love with it. Every time I saw her ravatar, I wanted it a little more. : ) So I tracked down her shop, messaged her about it, and custom ordered the colorway (she was out of it at the time).
She was totally fantastic about the whole thing, so if you happen to be as in love with the roving as I am, you should totally check out her shop and order some (or something else… she has lots of other lovely colorways, but I’m on a fiber diet). ALSO, she was recently running a promotion for St. Patrick’s Day where if you ordered something with green in it, she’s throw in a bar of handmade soap also:
So, yes, wonderful. Not sure when I’ll get to spinning this up or what I’ll make with it, but whatever I do, it’ll be bright and springy and wonderful. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 