wip wednesday: tessa prototype

Holy unintentional blogging break, Batman!  It's not that I don't have anything to say (guys, I have too much to say!), I'm just too lazy to take pictures most of the time, and what good is a blog post about knitting projects with out pictures?!  This is yet another reason I will never be a serious blogger.  You can, however, look forward to plenty of work in progress posts in the next couple weeks as I gear up for holiday knitting.

This hat is a sort of pre-holiday gift hat.  A friend commissioned it to go with both her jackets (red and purple), and when I couldn't find a pattern that she would like wearing and I would like knitting, I decided to design one!  I'm not quite satisfied with the center cable, so I'm calling this a prototype for the finished design.

I should probably start trying to get all these ideas worked up into some usable patterns if I want to be able to actually call them designs!  Weirdly enough, that's the part I find most difficult.  Maybe that will be one of my resolutions for next year.

#100!

Happy 100th blog post to me!!!

This little blog has served me well over the past two and a half years!  It's also come a very long way since then!

When I first started seriously posting I thought this would be a fashion blog with a smattering of craft related posts, and that's how I treated it for the longest time.  Here is baby blogger Amelia in my first post, and here is my first craft related post (crochet! I really would like to crochet more!).  It wasn't until the beginning of this year that I started keeping track of my knitting here and treating the blog more like a craft blog with a smattering of fashion.  It took a year long break to make this switch, but I'm pretty happy about it!

The photo above is an accidental pile of my favorite colors, so I decided to snap a quick pic.  From top to bottom you see some little cabled mitts, the first finished very warmest mitten, and my zig-zag prototype!  You'll see finished project pictures of them soon as I move on to my next 100 posts!

black walnut

Early last week when I said I was feeling inspired to try dyeing with natural dyes I wasn't just playing around with an idea for the future!  In fact, I couldn't sleep for a few nights just thinking about dyeing and here are the results!

As the title of this post would suggest I used black walnut as the source for my very first natural dye.  I did this for two reasons.  One: black walnut has naturally occurring tannin in the hull, which makes the dye more colorfast than other natural dyes.  This meant I wouldn't be messing around with a mordant on my first try.  And two: the black walnuts were very easy for me to find; I just picked them up off the side of the bike path where I walk the dog in the morning!

The yarn I used is a DK weight 100% wool from Naturally.  The yardage is fantastic at 475 yards a pop!  It was also on sale when I bought it from (can you guess?) Webs.

To make the dye itself (which I didn't take any pictures of, sorry!) I used this article.  It was by far the most in depth and useful source of information on black walnut dye on the internet.  I only used about ten black walnuts, but still got all this great color and have quite a bit left over for other dye experiments!

Speaking of experimenting, that is exactly what I did!  I wasn't sure what to expect, so I split my 475 yards of wonderful wool into six parts (they were supposed to be equal, but that didn't happen) and pulled a skein out every ten minutes.  I was hoping there would be a very large tonal difference between the skeins (more like these) so I could knit something striped, but the saturation differences  are much more subtle.

My other experiment was to add the skeins to the dye bath dry for a kettle dye effect.  This experiment was much more successful, though I hope when I knit these up all the variation won't just look messy! 

With the ten minute skein (left) and mini sixty minute skein (right) next to each other, you can really see the color difference!  I like both colors quite a bit!  Right now my plan for this yarn is to knit a Stockholm Scarf in the round, alternating a few rounds at the beginning/end of each skein.

As for my future dyeing plans?  I have another full skein of the Natural Wool to dye with my leftover black walnut (hand dyed yarn for holiday presents?  You bet!).  But I've also started collecting avocado pits.  They're supposed to make a dusky pink dye.  I was excited to see my first pit oxidize red almost as soon as I chopped it up to keep it in the freezer.  So stay tuned for more dyeing adventures in the future!

lining the very warmest mittens

Today's work in progress post is going to be a bit different than usual. Yesterday I picked up the stitches for the inner layer of my second Warmest Mitten, so I thought I'd show you a little how to.

First, make sure your assistant is standing at the ready.  Just kidding, this is so easy!  You don't need an assistant.  Little Dog just doesn't make it on to the blog very often, so I wanted to show you what she does while I'm working at my desk.  She can't even comprehend what's up there that could be more important than her.

The real first step is to make sure all your yarn ends from the outer layer are woven in.  They'll be trapped between the lining and outer layer with no way to access them if you don't weave them in now!

Next you'll want to find were to begin your row.  The red arrow is pointing to the original first stitch.  You do NOT want to start your lining with this stitch!  Since the outer layer is inside out right now you'll be working in the opposite direction.  You'll pick up your first lining stitch (green arrow) two stitches to the right of the original first stitch.  This way the center stitches of the thumb gussets will be lined up.  Puzzling out where to pick up the first lining stitch is probably the hardest part of knitting a lining into a mitten!

I found it pretty impossible to pick up stitches with my knitting needle, so a small crochet hook is useful for pulling yarn loops through to create new stitches.  Here we are poised to pick up the very first stitch!

And here we've picked up a few.  You'll want to continue picking up stitches all the way around until you have the same number that you started with on the outer layer.  For these mittens I picked up 36 stitches.

Just as a note, the outer layer of these mittens were knit with a US4 for the ribbing and a US5 for the hand.  I used the US4 again to pick up my stitches.  When I started the actual knitting for the lining I switched to a US3 to insure a nice, snug fit.  The original mitten came out far too large for my hand, which is why I wanted to knit them a lining.  You may not need such a drastic difference between the size needles you use for your outer and lining layers.

All the stitches have been picked up at this point and the mitten looks a bit like a dangerous weapon!  So we...

Tuck the outer layer back through the cuff, out of the way and...

Knit a second mitten inside the first!  I had to fudge a little and add a couple more rounds for length after the gusset shaping was done, then again for length in the hand.  This really does create the warmest mitten!

what's in my stash?!: part three

The alternate title for today's foray into What's in My Stash?! is "A Girl Can Never Have Enough Hats."  Over the weekend I visited my beloved Webs with my favorite new(ish) knitter and found myself saying "a girl can never have too many..." about quite a few things.  Hats of course, but also cowls and mittens.  I will have you know that I resisted the urge to buy all the yarn, even though a pink-purple-turquoise striped cowl was calling out to me from the skeins on the shelf!

Back in the realm of never having enough hats, we have a skein of Valley Yarns Charlemont, one of my favorite yarns.  The real color of this yarn is a smidge more green than it looks here.  I bought this at the beginning of May, the same day I bought the yarn for my Sea Green Bias (it's actually the same color in a non-kettle dye variety).  I've had it in my head to finally try Melissa LaBarre's Crooked Paths with this yarn, so that's what it's tagged for at the moment.

This Marine Silk you've seen before in my happy birthday to me post in June.  Since then I have knit with a Blue Moon yarn, just not this one (the shell of my super warm mittens are in Blue Moon Gaea).  I don't have a specific plan for this yarn yet, other than maybe-a-hat.  All I know is that I want it next to my face to snuggle with!

Last but definitely not least is another yarn you've recently seen, the kettle dyed Spun Monkey yarn I got in Vermont!  This is such a pretty skein, I just can't get it to photograph well!  I think I did a better job this time though.  Red in any form is out of my comfort zone, so this is a pushing myself yarn.  Right now my plan is to knit a Hinagiku Hat out of it.  Mmm, daisy stitch!  Before I started seriously keeping track of my knitting here on the blog I created some seamless daisy stitch mittens and a matching cowl for a friend, but didn't write out a pattern.  Silly silly!

Even with all these plans for all these nice yarns I don't think you'll see the hats until after the holidays, because right about now I'm starting to get worried about having time to finish gifts!  It seems early but I have a couple time consuming ones to get out of the way!

wip wednesday: cocoa

One yarn you won't be seeing in my stash posts is the Cascade 220 I picked up at the beginning of last month, because I've already started a sweater with it!  Cocoa has turned into something much dressier than the lounging sweater I first imagined; my inspiration sweater is the Cozy V-Neck Pullover with Deep Ribbing from Fitted Knits, though I'm modding a different pattern.  There's not much to show yet (I haven't even separated the sleeves), but it has been a nice relaxing knit so far.

what's in my stash?! part two

I want to explore a little more into my stash of leftovers today, but I thought I'd also let you know about some exceptions to my "no new yarn" rule.  Especially since I already know I'm going to buy more yarn this week (oops!).  On to how I'm allowed to break the rule!

1. If I need more yardage to finish a project I'm working on, I can buy more yarn.  I already know that I don't have enough of the Sheffield I'm using to line my Very Warmest Mittens.  I'll avoid making myself feel guilty by making an exception.

2. If I'm making a gift for someone and I don't have a yarn they'll like.  I have no idea what I'm making for my brother for a holiday gift, and while he's not super picky, I'd rather make him something he'll like than something I cobbled together because I made an arbitrary "no new yarn" rule for myself.

3. If I find a nice yarn at the thrift store.  Because, come on, dealzzzz!  I've gotten very good at taking home only what I think I'll use, so I'm not worried about going wild on thrift store yarns.

And

4. After seeing some of the yarns from Camellia Fiber Company, I would like to try hand dyeing yarn with natural dyes.  So I I'll allow myself to buy some yarn for dyeing, since there is nothing in my stash that I can work with.

Now that I've re-opened the doors to buying new yarn, let me show you more of my leftovers!

These three rascals I decided to photograph together because they will all become hats for my nephew.  Starting on the left we have the last skein from the Gala Festival that first made Saroyan, then the Baby Sophisticate for my nephew.  My note on when I bought the yarn only says "2012," so all I can say is that I'm pretty sure I've had this yarn for just over a year.  I'll probably make another Basic Baby Hat with it, but extend the decreases at the crown to tie a knot in it.  The yarn in the middle I've only had since June and is leftover from my Fifty-Four cowl.  I'll probably try to wing something like a tiny Boy Hat out of it with less ribs.  Then on the right we have the rest of the Patons Pearl DK (picked up at the thrift store in April) I used for the Tiny Fisherman sweater.  The Otis Baby Hat should complement the sweater nicely!

I should have knit an entire sweater out of this Mirasol Cotanani I got from the thrift store in March instead of just my Girly Grandfather Vest!  I'm not quite sure what I'll do with these leftovers.  I've wanted to knit Ysolda's Elijah for a while so maybe that.  Maybe a tiny sweater when someone I know decides to have a girl baby instead of a boy baby.  We'll see, but I think this yarn will be in my stash for a while until then!

These three partial skeins you might recognize from my recently completed Jayne Hat.  I've only had the yarn since the beginning of July, and I hope to use it up before the end of the year!  It will become an Amish Puzzle Ball for my nephew for a holiday gift.  I guess an alternate title for this post would be "How Much Will I Spoil My Nephew?"

Aaaaaand in the interest of full disclosure, here is the drawer where I keep the odds and ends!  There are a bunch of partial skeins of my beloved Valley Yarns Charlemont in there that will someday become a stripey Sockhead Hat.  Otherwise the rest seem like they should be useful someday, but I have no idea what they may become!

baby sophisticate

My sister absolutely loved this Baby Sophisticate when I gave it to her at her baby shower!  And I'll admit I'm pretty impressed with how cute it is as well!  He'll look like such a tiny grandfather!

My camera decided the present in front was more important than the parents-to-be, but you can still tell how disappointed J is that the sweater won't fit him!

I made quite a few mods to the pattern for gauge and sizing in general since I'd read around the internet that the pattern as written didn't quite fit right.  Hopefully I've made it fit better but I won't know until there's a baby to put in it!

Pattern: Baby Sophisticate from Stockinette (free), my mods on Ravelry

Yarn: Gala Festival, of the non-eyelash variety

wip wednesday: the very warmest mittens

You know how a couple days ago I said I didn't have any mittens?  I might have fibbed just a little, because I have a pair in the works and oh boy, are these ever going to be the warmest mittens!  I've used this pattern before and the mittens I made came out perfectly, but my tension must have changed quite a bit since then because the first mitten came out huge!  So, like the knitting overachiever I am, I decided to knit them a lining!  My little fingers definitely will not be cold this winter!

Here are some of my notes on Ravelry.  When I start the lining for the second mitten I'll snap a couple pics to show you how I managed it.