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In my most recent OWS claim, I claimed leighi123 for fingerless mitts and little stuffies for her two-year-old. Here’s what I made:
Just a ribbed tube with a thumb hole. Very simple, no shaping. I used US 2 dpns and Trekking XXL (the same yarn I used in my last baby knitting adventure).
Gator! I love him. If I didn’t use up all the Lion Brand Cotton-Ease that I had (the yarn I made him out of), I would make another for myself cause he’s SO CUTE. LOVE.
Armadillo! I used Lion Fisherman’s Wool. I love him too! It took me a couple of tries to get the right head shape (I had the same trouble with the gator shape too), but once I got it, it worked out really well. He’s stuffed fairly lightly, so he’s super squishy and wonderful. Although, I will say that when I was sewing on his legs, I misjudged the placement of one and it turned out… unfortunately:
It’s all fixed now though, and it no longer has an unfortunate appendage.
Cute little turtle! I love this picture. Glamor shots. Hella cute. I used Lamb’s Pride Worsted.
A little bird made of various label-less stash wools. He’s a little sad looking. I love him though.
A little mouse out of Knit Picks Palette and a tiny bit of Brown Sheep Nature Spun from my gigantic cone.
Most of them came out a bit bigger than I intended, but I still think they are super cute. I can’t wait to Leigh-Ann to get them because I know her son will love them. : )
So, I finished my Summer Cardi reknit, which I have named Seafoam, for the lace at the bottom:
Pattern: My own, which I have written and am getting test knitted. Will be available… sometime in April, maybe. Maybe not til May. Some time.
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, EXACTLY three skeins (like… less than a yard left over)
Needles: US 6/4 mm Knit Picks Options Circ and Susan Bates dpns.
So I like this sweater a lot. It’s very comfy and perfect for throwing on over a tank or cami if it’s not quiiiite warm enough. I also love my ribbon closure. I originally planned for an open front, but I didn’t really like how that looked, so I added the ribbon (which is actually bias tape, but it works). Also, I’ve raved about the yarn before, but I’ll tell you again: I love Cascade Sierra. I have a serious passion for the yarn, I’m not going to lie. Soft, comfy, sparkly in the right light… LOVE.
Here’s a close up of the lace bit of the sweater:
As I said, I’ve written up the pattern for this, and it’s currently with test knitters (the pictures will be better for the final pattern though, I promise). I mathed out seven different sizes (and I messed it up completely once but then I worked it out and it was HARD but now it WORKS), and I’m so pleased with myself.
I’m also working on various swap things, including an OWS claim and the Yarnie/Sewer swap. I’ve also started working on Featherweight again, so apart from the swap stuff, the next FO might be a while out (you know, unless I get seduced by a new project). I kind of just want to get through Featherweight though. I know it’ll be really useful in the coming months and it’s sooo wonderful and light and soft (wool/silk lace weight… YUM) but it’s sooooo boring and tedious to knit. I want the cardi though, and I’m not currently in the mood to knit anything I can’t use in the spring/summer, so we’ll say. Maybe I’ll actually just get through it.
So remember when I posted the Shetland from Spunky Eclectic I’d spun and I told you how much I liked navajo plying. Well… I like it a lot. So much so that I’ve since navajo plied all the extra singles I have from other plying projects and the singles I spun when I was learning and never plied because I had yet to figure out how long it took to spin anything on a spindle and I wanted to stretch the yardage because I only had so much fiber.
Anyway, I plied what I had lying around (don’t worry; I haven’t been spinning long, so it isn’t much):
Originally a messy lace/fingering weight single, now a messy light sport to bulky (mostly around dk/worsted) weight chain ply. Roughly 68 yards. Domestic wool top that I dyed with kool aid back in the summer (In the Clay Pits).
Originally Kool Blue, also Kool Aid dyed. 20 squishy yards of rough rough bulky wool. It was one of my first spinning attempts, so the single is all rough and gross, resulting in a yarn that is rough and gross. Probably I won’t knit anything with it but instead look at the pretty pretty skein.
Left over singles from A Splash of Citrus, navajo plied into 9 yards of rough, squishy goodness. Also an early spinning attempt, so quite rough. But squishy. Something else I will probably only ever look at. But it is kinda pretty. Yellow and springy.
So now I’m resisting the urge to navajo ply everything I spin. The spinning I’m currently working on, some CMF superwash merino, is going to be cable plied into what will hopefully be around worsted weight so I can use it in a sweater yoke. Although once I finish that, I might look into navajo plying some corriedale I have… Hmm….
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.)
Hey, hey, remember this cardigan I made?
Well, now it looks like this:
Or more accurately, some of it looks like this:
I decided I needed a light spring/summer cardi that actually fits (since Hey Teach came out way too big for me, comfy though it was). I’m thinking short raglan sleeves, scoop-ish neck, hip-length. I will almost certainly have enough yarn, and I’m considering doing the button bands and ribbing in a darker blue that I had left over from knitting Lelah in July.
Anyway, it’ll be cute and lightweight and perfect for summer.
I finished my handspun Swallowtail!
Pattern: Swallowtail by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: My handspun superwash merino. Pretty.
Needles: US 4/3.75 mm Knit Picks Options circ
Mods: 19 Budding Lace repeats.
I love this thing, guys. It’s wonderful. It’s soft and light and warm and I SPUN THE YARN. I love this pattern (this is my second, and I don’t really repeat patterns often), and I love the yarn. The colors are gorgeous, and they worked really well with the pattern, which sort of surprised me since I knew it was going to stripe. But it worked out so well.
WONDERFUL. I really love it. It’s the perfect light layer when my arms are a little cool and it’s SO PRETTY.
Okay, I am going to stop gushing now.
Coming soon: swap things (Tuesday probably) and some fiber. I’m also knitting swap things, but I’ll probably post those all at once. Oh, and I’m starting a new sweater. More on that later. : )
Today, I’ve got one small FO to show you and a couple of wip’s. First, the FO:
Pattern: None, just a square of linen stitch
Yarn: Handspun Miss Babs BFL
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
My lining is sort of shoddy and it’s not wide enough, but it fits my phone and ID card fairly easily, and that’s what I use it for. Plus I get to look at my pretty pretty handspun even when it’s not cold enough for Saroyan. : )
Currently, I’m working on a hat that will probably be finished today or tomorrow. Currently, it looks like this:
(it’s rather difficult to photograph a half-finished hat, by the way)
Almost done. I’m using the same orange vintage Grants Wool I’ve had for ages and am slowly making my way through. The color is a lot less obnoxious than the bright orange it originally was, but I still don’t love it. This hat is for a swap. The swap is called “Yarnies Vs. Sewers” and is partnered based on craft, a yarnie (spinner/knitter/crocheter) with a sewer. Sign ups aren’t technically over until next week, but another person and I decided that we needed to be partnered based on the (probably rude) thing I wanted to make for someone. So we insisted, and the mod complied, and we’ve already gotten started (even though the send out isn’t until Mary). I’m making a total of five things, none particularly complicated, and will probably be finished quite early.
I am also sort of working on spinning this:
Or half of it anyway. I got 8 oz. of Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino in a Ravelry destash, and I’m spinning 4 oz. into what will hopefully be a 2 ply worsted that I’ll knit into the yoke of a sweater.
Also, I am waiting on some mail–an OWS swap which I am incredibly excited to receive, and some roving I ordered which is RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME and gorgeous, and I’ll definitely be showing it off here. I expect to get both things on Monday or Tuesday, so stay tuned for that.
So for my lastest OWS adventure, I claimed JodiLynn85 for slippers. Fast and fun to make, and now I’ll probably make some for myself. Take a look:
Pattern: Mary Jane Slippers
Yarn: Bernat Alpaca Blend
Hook: H8/5 mm
Mods: Worked an extra toe round, only used one color.
These came out pretty well, I think. And they were SUPER fast to make. Less than an hour per slipper. Probably close to an hour and a half for the pair. Yeah. FAST. They fit me, which means they should fit her pretty well too. I used a Bernat alpaca blend that everyone on Ravelry seems to despise, but I really don’t think it’s that bad. I mean, yeah, it sheds a lot, but so do cats and the shedding wasn’t really too bad. And I personally don’t find it that itchy, but I seem to be immune to all but the absolute itchiest of fibers. Like, I have no problem whatsoever wearing Cascade eco next to skin, and people bitch about that one all the time.
Pair two:
Pattern: Same as above, Mary Jane Slippers.
Yarn: Vintage wool that I over dyed and now instead of obnoxious orange is just blood orange colored.
Hook: H8/5 mm
Mods: One color. I left out the extra round I added above.
These were also super fast to make and probably took less than two hours total. There was a small hiccup when I realized I’d sewn the strap and button on backwards on the second one (I have a tendency to mix that up a lot), but that was easily fixed. And they came out pretty well. Ignore my purple feet; I didn’t feel like taking my socks off.
The reason, by the way, that one of them is two different colors is that I overdyed the yarn, and it didn’t take up the color evenly at all. The darker color is how I wanted the whole yarn to come out, but it didn’t. Boo. Oh well. That just means I have plenty of yarn for making swap things.
So I finally finished the shetland I was spinning. It took a while, but it came out totally awesome and I love it to pieces. Here’s what the fiber looked like:
(Side note: Someone pm’d me on Ravelry to tell me she thought this looked like a pile of ferrets at first glance)
And here’s what it looks like now:
Fiber: Spunky Eclectic Shetland top in Winnipeg
Weight: Fingering/sport (it’s a bit uneven)
Ply: 3 ply/Navajo plied
Yardage: Total of 460
Spindle: Schacht Hi-Lo, also ordered from Spunky Eclectic
With a coin for scale:
Okay, so I love this yarn to pieces. It’s the thinnest and most even thing I’ve ever spun, it’s reasonably soft, and I got an awesome yardage out of it (this is mostly because of the thin bits, but still). I love it. I’m planning to make socks with it, but regular size ones, not just the ankle socks I’ve been making. I’ll probably do a stockinette foot and ribbed leg, but I haven’t decided yet (but I’ll definitely be working them toe up). One of the skeins has a lot more pink than the others, and I expect that’ll show up in the socks too, but I don’t really have a problem with mismatching socks, so it’s alright.
I have a few projects on the needles currently (a shawl, that damned Featherweight, and some swap stuff), so it might be a bit before I actually start on the socks, but that’s what this yarn will eventually become. And they will be awesome.
I’ve decided, by the way, the Navajo plying is awesome. It’s fast, simple, and results in a lovely round yarn. I had heard that it was a little tricky, but I think because I crochet I picked it up rather quickly. There’s a yard or two of messy plying in the beginning of my sample skein (the tiny one in the first picture), but seeing as I’ll start my socks there, it’s alright since it’ll mostly be taken up in the figure 8 cast on anyway. Now I want to chain ply all of my yarn for socks, but the stash I have currently of fiber is mostly merino, which I wouldn’t want to use for socks. Clearly this means I need to buy more Romney/Jacob/Shetland/other fibers suitable for socks. I think my bank account just groaned in pain.
So as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I am participating in a Futurama-themed swap over on Craftster.org. For those of you not familiar with the show… it’s awesome. It’s a cartoon that takes place in the year 3000 in the city of New New York, and it’s full of clever math and science humor. Hilarious. Anyway, there were an odd number of people in the swap, so I was part of a round-robin with myself, Tygermane, and the organizer, Staar84. I sent my package on Thursday, and here’s what I sent to her:
First: a brain slug, as she requested:
Pattern: My own, made up based on various pictures of knitted and crocheted brain slugs.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Serendipity Tweed in Waterlily Leaves, left over from my Watermelon Cardigan.
Needles: 4/3.5 mm dpns
Hook (I know, how dare I combine both knitting and crochet!): G?
Cute, right? Super fast to make. The white part of the eye is quilt batting, and the black part is a button. I crocheted the tentacle/wavy bits because it’s easier to create odd shapes on the fly in crochet over knitting. It’s like, a round of single crochet, a round of double crochet, and a round of sc, hdc, 4dc, hdc, sc shells, which seemed to work pretty well. It sits flat and it’s nice and squishy. I finished it like, two weeks before I sent off for this swap and I’ve become kind of attached to it. Maybe I’ll make another one for myself. I have enough yarn left, I believe.
Next, a seven leaf clover necklace:
Pattern: Uh… none.
Yarn: Serendipity Tweed, same as above
Hook: The blue one? G? I don’t actually know about hook sizes.
I like how this came out a lot. : ) That’s really all I have to say about it.
Next: A coffee cozy!
Pattern: None, my own, but I can write up the chart if anyone’s interested.
Yarn: Undyed wool from a thrift store sweater and purple Lion Wool
Needle: US 7/4.5 mm
I loosely based the design for this off of a cozy I spied on staar84’s wists, but can no longer find. I couldn’t decide how I wanted to close it and I didn’t have any coffee shop sized cups to test it on, so I just made it adjustable with the ribbons.
ALSO, in case you were wondering, folded hems look fantastic but they are a PAIN IN THE ASS. The top and bottom do look all nice and neat though.
Lastly, I made a set of notecards:
Now, if you know anything about me, you know that drawing is NOT my forte. So you know that these were SO MUCH WORK and I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF. Seriously. I can’t draw a lick, but I’m pretty decent at looking at a picture and drawing it myself (a skill I probably picked up from my mother, who is also really good at it). I looked for pictures of the characters, studied them, and drew them on white paper. I am so unbelievably pleased with how the professor especially came out cause he ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE THE CHARACTER. Leela is also good, though not as good as the professor. I’ll admit I traced the clover cause I didn’t feel like fiddling with it. I’m not as pleased with that card, but I do like how I sandwiched the clover in clear tape, just like Fry does in the show. : )
All in all, I say a successful crafting venture. It’s always a good sign when you desperately want to keep the crafts you make for someone else in a swap, and I definitely acheived that here. God, I love those notecards. Maybe I’ll make some more for myself. Or maybe I won’t seeing as they took like four hours.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 