i've been pinned!

This is definitely a first!  I've been pinned!  My Lining the Very Warmest Mittens tutorial made it's way onto Pinterest!

I just set up my own account on Pinterest (I know, I know, I'm so behind), otherwise I probably wouldn't have even noticed!  What a nice feeling, to know that someone found my tutorial useful!

Do you friend people on Pinterest?  Is that a thing?  If it is, you can find me here.

zig zag

Happy holidays to you and yours to anyone reading this!  I staged a last minute photo shoot for one of my "designs" under the Christmas tree a couple days ago, so I thought I would skip ahead and share.

This is my Zig Zag Cowl from back in September.  It was an incredibly quick and fun knit.  I like it so much that I would have kept it if the mysterious white yarn hadn't turned out to be alpaca.  Oh, how I wish I wasn't allergic to alpaca!

For my next attempt I might leave out a pattern repeat.  The cowl turned out just a little bit too long.  The other little issue I have to iron out is the extra stitch that the provisional cast on creates.  I'd like to streamline that so seaming it together at the end is easier.  Then maaaaaybe I'll write up a pattern!

Pattern: Zig Zag, not yet self published pattern

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, left over from my Miette sweater; mystery worsted weight alpaca yarn from the thrift store

miette

Oh that verdant greenery!  Forget about my hand knit sweater, if only it was that lush and warm out!  Right now I am surrounded by a half foot of snow and it is too cold for anything but a full length sweater!  Sigh.

Even if it is too cold to wear this sweater now, I did finish it (back at the beginning of September) and am very proud of it.  I didn't make any mods, but it does have a Ravelry page.  The pattern I used is Andi Satterlund's Miette; it's the first of her sweater patterns I've knit.  The construction of this sweater is different than her others, but I'm hooked on her patterns!

In fact, I fell so in love with Andi's newest pattern Hetty that I was rushing to finish Miette to join a knit along.  I finished in time, but never found a yarn I liked for Hetty so I didn't join in the end.  I wish I hadn't rushed quite so much, but I got a beautiful new sweater in the end!

One of the most special details I added to my Miette was backing buttons!  I was feeling a bit too lazy and a bit too rushed to add the grosgrain ribbon I was considering, but these vintage buttons still needed a little something to keep the stress of being done and undone off them.  The backing buttons came from my button jar.  I've had a button stash for years, but never seem to use any of them.  It was so nice to finally be able to!

I really enjoy having a sweater in the works, so shortly after finishing Miette I started Cocoa!

Pattern: Andi Satterlund's Miette; no mods, 38" bust size

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

wip wednesday: another hat

Are you sick of looking at the large swathes of ribbing I'm knitting?  Me too a little bit.  It's all in the holiday spirit though!  I'm also working on a hat to give to my brother in law (Baby J's daddy) as a gift.  It's the same pattern as the second Brother Hat, but I won't be knitting a fold over brim.  I should be done with all this unselfish knitting soon, so I can get back to my poor left by the wayside Cocoa sweater!

what's in my stash?!: fin

Are you ready for the final installment of "What's in My Stash?!" I sure am!  I know my little collection of yarns is nothing when compared to some, but you have to take into account that I only live in a two bedroom apartment and Don works from home.  His needs for space definitely trump my tendency to squirrel away yarns!

This batch of yarns I have zero plans for, but bought anyway.  That's consumerism for you!  They sure are pretty, so I don't mind having them around.

This first hank is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport.  I bought it back in the beginning of July, when I went on a baby yarns buying rampage.  I initially thought that I would knit a new born sized sweater out of it for Baby J, but it's such a special yarn that I wanted it to be made into something that would be used for more than a few weeks.  Now I'm not sure what to do with it, especially since I already know that I'm just not that into variegated yarns, even it they are beautiful.

This Madeline Tosh Merino Light made me the "victim" of a sale at Webs!  I have absolutely no idea when I bought it, because I seem to have ripped the date off the receipt!  The colors are washed out in this picture, but this yarn is very pretty.  It varies from a natural color to light grey to a milky chocolate brown, and I have no idea what to knit with it.  Me and variegated yarns don't mix well as stated, but I want to love this in a knit form as well as in hank form!

Last, and definitely least in this set of yarns (though possibly most easily used as far as my tastes go), are two hanks of Cascade 220.  It was a closeout in a nice coral-y red, I couldn't resist!  I have no set plans for this yarn either, but it's not hard to use like the other two are.  It can easily become a warm scarf or mittens or hat.  It's also not as interesting as my other yarns, which is probably why I have no plans for it.  A very tame stash yarn.

not where's waldo

This hat was actually a very, very quick project, but hasn't made it onto the blog in it's finished state because of my, ahem, little obsessive problem.  But now we're back on track!

The name "Not Where's Waldo" came from my future mother in law telling me that every striped item looked like Where's Waldo.  I felt a little hurt (Do I look like Where's Waldo?  Am I that silly looking?), but it made for a great hat!  You can find my Ravelry project page here.

The brim on "Not Where's Waldo" came out a little tight, so over the course of a few hours the hat tends to wiggle its way up and takes on a slouched look, but it's so very warm that I can forgive it for this.  The peaked crown issue that I mentioned on Ravelry, and that you can see in the pictures, has been solved by "blocking" the hat over my own wet hair.  Voila!

Pattern: Regular Guy Beanie, free on Ravelry and altered for a fold over brim.

Yarn: Valley Yarns Sheffield, leftover from my Shawl Collared Sweater.  Unfortunately this yarns seems to be discontinued, what a pity!

wip wednesday: swap scarf

If you've scrolled through this blog at all, this scarf might look eerily familiar.  Early this year I knit almost exactly the same scarf for a birthday present and liked it so much - not too girly or manly!  such a nice color!  easy for a non-knitter to take care of! - that I'm essentially knitting the same scarf again as my gift for a Yankee Swap!  It's not very exciting as far as gift knitting goes, but it's quick and easy!

what's in my stash?!: part five

Aaaaand, hopefully we're back to the regularly scheduled programming! I just have to keep repeating to myself, "I can write blog posts, I can write blog posts, I can write blog posts!"

This will be yet another yarns for baby things post.  I can't help it!  Knitting baby things is so satisfying, and did you see how darn cute my nephew is???

These two balls of Cascade 220 Superwash were actually the first yarns I bought to knit cute things for Baby J, way back in April when I found out my sister was pregnant.  My plan for this yarn was, and still is, to knit a baby bear sweater from the Baby Sweater Buffet.  Even though Baby J is so teeny tiny right now, I think I'll knit a 1 year size for him over the summer so he can wear it all next fall!

"Another two balls of superwash yarn?!" you say?  Well, yes.  Because babies.  These two balls of Valley Superwash have a much more immediate purpose, a Baby Vertebrae for the holidays for Baby J!  Hopefully this stash yarn, in there since early July, will be out in the next couple weeks.

My poor little camera just couldn't handle this light yarn + my dark desk.  I tried to take pictures on two different occasions, but this is as good as it got!

Last of this set of stash yarns is some thrift store yarn with no plan other than "for future babies."  Would you believe me if I told you I know a number of people who are expecting babies, but none of them are girls?!  I couldn't pass up this one-dollar-each batch of Valley Yarns Longmeadow at the thrift store back in June though.  Into the stash it went, and in the stash it stays for now!

I have one more post to finish off the "What's in my Stash?!" series.  That's a lot of yarn!  I haven't used any of it yet since I'm knitting gifts right now, but after the holidays it will be stash knitting only for me!  If any of my wonderful readers (all three of you!) would like some of their favorite stash yarns featured here, just comment and your wish will be my command!

stripey loop

Is this what I think it is?!  Yes indeed, it is!  It is a finished object post!!!  Can I let you in on a little secret?  I haven't been posting finished object posts for the slightly (very) obsessive reason of not having pictures of this loop, and wanting my projects to be in mostly chronological order.  Oops!

Anyway, here is my finished Stripey Loop that made its first appearance here on the blog way back in July!  I still don't have a name for it besides "Stripey Loop," but I'm not quite satisfied with it so that's ok in my book.  I think it should be one stripe repeat shorter.  I also might not like the way the linen wrinkles, even though that's what I was going for in this casual spring loop.  Hopefully I'll be a little more fond of it when the weather warms up and it doesn't make me shiver a bit just looking at it.

Pattern: Stripey Loop, of my own devising.

Yarn: Main color: Classic Elite Yarns Firefly (left over from my Firefly shirt)
                Contrast color: Plymouth Yarn Linen Concerto

wip wednesday: laraine

Oh, gift knitting!  I usually don't offer to knit gifts - friends and family get what I want to knit for them, and that's that.  This year Don's mom asked me to knit her a shawl and I agreed, said we'd check out Ravelry together and pick something out.  The next time I saw her she handed me a little bag with yarn and a pattern and told me she'd gotten excited.

So I am knitting a huge lace weight shawl for her, oh boy!  This is the first time I've knit with a lace weight yarn, and while the yarn itself is very nice I'm not really enjoying it.  D's mom took the ball band off, but I'm almost positive it's the yarn called for in the pattern, the Twin Leaf Shawl.  I'm maaaaaaybe half way done with it at this point.  I'll jot down some of the small changes I made to the pattern on my Ravelry project page, but haven't done so yet.  Ok, back to knittng!  This behemoth isn't going to knit itself, unfortunately!

baby j

I'm so sorry that I've been very absent from this blog, I just haven't felt up to taking pictures of finished objects recently!  However, I wanted to commemorate one of my sister's greatest finished objects to date, her son Baby J!

My nephew was born at 10:03PM November 27, at a whopping 8 lbs 14 oz and 21.25"!  My sister had a very difficult delivery, but was so strong through the whole thing.  Her husband stayed with her in the hospital for days before the actual delivery, and they have another couple days still before they'll all be allowed to go home, but Baby J is the sweetest, most perfect little man I've ever seen!  Am I biased?  Of course!

My sister snapped this phone pic of me holding Baby J in the very wee hours of the morning.  I've got the staring in wonder/terrified of breaking the baby look down already!  I'm so, so excited to have many years ahead of me to get to know this wonderful little guy.  This year I am thankful for family, and having a healthy sister and tiny nephew!

wip thursday: the brother hat, take two

Are you ready for the deluge of holiday knitting posts?  Because here they come!

This year my brother gets a hat.  Again.  Last year I knit him essentially the same hat, but in a nice Malabrigo yarn, which he put through the washer and dryer.  Sometimes I just forget that teenage boys don't know anything about proper laundry care.  So this year I'm using Berroco Vintage, and hoping it will last more than a year!

The pattern I'm using is The Boy Hat, and I love it.  The crown shaping is fantastic, everything one could hope for: it looks nice and keeps up the visual pattern until the very end.  Perfect!

what's in my stash?!: part four

Ready for another round of What's In My Stash?!  I sure am after yet another unintentional blogging break.  It's just so hard to get myself to do things as the days get shorter and colder.  Curling up with a book and the dog feels like a great accomplishment these days!

Worst picture first so maybe we'll all forget about it by the end of the post!  I took all these pictures at the same time before I really started fiddling with the settings on my dinky little camera (I had a camera settings epiphany while taking these pictures).

These two skeins of Valley Yarns Huntington are destined to become a pair of stripey socks.  The sea-foam colored skein I've has since August, and the natural skein I've had far longer, though I can't remember exactly when it became mine.  Initially I meant to make a candy-striped set of socks with the natural Huntington and pink Spud & Chloe Fine, but the Huntington wasn't a good match.

These three balls of scrumptious merino are Filatura Di Crosa Zara, bought for four dollars a pop at Webs in the beginning of August.  They will be knit up into a stripey cowl, with a natural-tan, tan-navy, navy-natural kind of pattern.  I'm very excited about this project, but alas, won't be getting to it until all the holiday knitting is done.

The last batch of yarns in this group are my special, I'm-afraid-to-use-this yarns.  I have three skeins of Anzula Squishy that were my holiday present last year.  I'm petrified even thinking about what to make out of this yarn, it is by far the nicest yarn I own.  Do I make a matching set of accessories?  Do I make a cropped sweater??  Do I display it on a shelf and touch it lovingly from time to time???  For now it's staying in my stash until I feel confident enough to use it!

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!