A Very Bright Baby Blankie!

It’s a pattern from Wooly Thouhts, available on Ravelry. Best of all, it’s based on math and really easy to improvise as you go, once you get the hang of it 🙂

I used some of the shetland lamb, dyed it in a multitude of colours. I use the Dharma Trading Co. acid dyes and they are excellent! I blended the dyed locks on hand cards and added a pinch of targhee cross to each rolag – each rolag was split in half so when spun, the plies pretty much lined up and created the blending of one colour to another. In total, 1060 metres of handspun two ply went into this blanket.

Opening A Little Internet Yarn Shop!

Good morning!  It’s TRUE.  I’ve finally decided (and worked my way through most of the steps involved) to sell my extra handspun yarn via webstore.

ok, well, I had decided but then discovered it is acceptable to sell handmade items via wordpress and so have, instead, set up a sister site – Handspunyarn.wordpress.com

My little shop is called ‘HandspunYarn’ and will offer a variety of hand spun yarns from laceweight to bulky.  Since I love a good fiber, there will be lots of unique blends and all offerings are one of a kind.

All my my wool is prepared in an environmentally friendly way using safe Dawn dish soap in most cases, sometimes purex naturals, vinegar and occasional hair conditioner in the rinse.  All dyes are food safe unless noted (for example my superwash merino is predyed)

I prepare my fiber by hand, carding/combing and blending with other fibers.  A favorite of mine is silk – sari and bombyx at the moment – and I also blend with camel, alpaca, llama, mohair, angora, yak and even cashmere and cotton, on occasion.

For a great selection of unique, knittable yarns, please visit my shop.

Have an excellent day!

Lisa

The Little Summer Lace Socks And The Pattern

NOTE: In the pattern, where I say to disregard row 1, I mean row one (the ‘no stitch’ row) of the charted pattern – I made the chart one row too long. The written pattern is correct as written. Sorry for any confusion! 🙂

Hello 🙂

I’ve been working on a little personal challenge – my socks are wearing out (they’re handknit so they are all a few years old) and I needed some more.  The socks I like, however, are little.  Ankle socks.  With lace….lots of lace!  Of course, as it usually is when one has something definite in mind – I couldn’t really find a pattern I liked for it’s style and pattern.

So – I decided to design some.  These are the first and I’ve made the pattern available as a pdf;  The Little Summer Lace Socks

They fit really nicely since the lace gives them stretch.  The edge sits just below the ankle.

I designed the lace by modifying an existing pattern, “String of Beads” from the book “Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls” by Martha Waterman.

Enjoy, I know I am 🙂

If you are interested in my handspun yarn for sale, please have a look at my HandSpunYarn site.

 Have a fantastic day!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – DIY Lazy Kate

Hello 🙂

I have (as you may already have read) just recently acquired a beautiful CPW (canadian production wheel). One of the things with an antique wheel is the fact that one usually only gets one bobbin. Of course more can be made BUT I thought up this solution to the dilemma…

I bought a lot of quill bobbins (from ebay) – 25 of them for a mere $4 + shipping!! They are a good size and quite beautiful actually. Of course, I have a real weakness for antiques/old wood and these have brass AND old wood – HOW could one NOT love them…

They obviously needed a home (or as they call it, a ‘kate’) so that once I’ve wound the singles onto them, I can easily ply off of them.

I found a piece of scrap wood. For real, lol – it was sitting on the porch, an old abandoned piece of a long dead dresser. My son thought it was hilarious that I thought I could make something out of it. I showed him 🙂

I cut two pieces about 12″ each, for the cross bars and split the remainder (about 8″ each) for two supports/legs. I sanded the wood and let it breathe again! (it was happy) I marked holes about two inches in from each end, on each piece – making sure the drill holes were going through the solid part of the wood, not the grooves cut into it from it’s last life. I used a small drill bit to drill most of the way through the base pieces and all the way through the cross bar pieces, used a larger bit (the size of the dowel – I think it was 5/16) to make countersink holes in the cross bars and the dowel holes in between them.

Put her together, waxed the heck out of her (wow did that wood ever soak up wax!) and sanded the tops of the dowels to a roundish shape. (oh yes, the dowels were cut to be about 4 inches tall)

I love how she turned out. Bonus! My Kromski bobbins fit on her perfectly too 🙂 Now I just need a little bit more dowel, to fill in the empty spots 🙂

But She Wanted To Be A Real Girl!

So, in my spinning wheel collecting adventures, I once bought, in total error, a wheel which was made only for display – NOT FOR SPINNING!

(without her flyer – presurgery)

(her flyer/shaft and bobbin – the whorl is there somewhere too)

(another pic)

I know, ridiculous. Like a dresser who’s drawers don’t open, like a fridge without coolent, like a car that won’t drive. It boggles my mind how much fine wood and how much effort has gone into making these almost-wheels. And, they’re everywhere!

So, I did what I could. Nothing. Just looked at poor pathetic pinnochio in the corner, wondering what in the world she was good for. (my daughter seriously suggested the garden) I call her pinnochio because she really, really, REALLY wanted to be a real girl and spin!

So, in the interest of quieting pinnochio and satisfying my own curiousity and need-to-work-with-wood – I thought ‘Why Not?!’ and here are some pictures of what I’ve done and how she looks now….

I call it “The Pinnochio Project” 🙂

She came with a rough (really rough, not even rectangularly cut – an actual parralellagram) homemade flyer. The arms looked ok (so ok, I suspect they came from a REAL GIRL) and the centre (where it goes through the shaft) was very rough cut. The flyer shaft was seperated (or had never been attached) and had a huge hunk of sauter? or something where the orifice area was attached the straight shaft of the flyer. The shaft itself was threaded from the end past the whorl, up under the bobbin a ways (and not reverse threaded) so I presume they sautered an orifice shaped object onto a normal bolt or something like that, to create this flyer shaft. The orifice itself was very small, shallow and rough. Just a show orifice, not to really use. Ok, just a thought BUT – IF one is making something ‘for display’ then WHY the h*ll would they not make it display worthy?! As she was, Pinnochio was ashamed of being displayed!

(the tiny orifice)

(the hideous parallelagram shaped thing)

The bobbin was rough (as can be, not sure yet if that will really work well, ever) and it appeared that the original ‘display’ idea might have been that the bobbin and whorl were not made seperately but as one piece and someone in Pinnochio’s history had cut through them to make a seperate bobbin and whorl. (why, oh why, mysterious repairer, did you not notice the hideous state of the flyer?)

The wheel itself seems in excellent shape. I hesitate to say it’s well made, considering where it started but to my eyes, it looks good.

(the wheel)

The table, legs, mother of all – all good. The tensioner? NON EXISTANT. That’s the major idiocy of these wheels, if you ask me. The fact that someone did everything to make a spinning wheel and then bailed on creating a tensioning device. WHY? Something for the stupid files. Pinnochio had a fake medallion thingie to look like a screw tension but nothing that moved or worked.

So – to fix her. I decided to work on the flyer first. I sanded down the parallelagram. I sanded down the hunk of sauter around the orifice join as well. I did most of this with the favorite tool – the wood file. I love files! I also filed off all of the threads on the flyer shaft that I didn’t need and smoothed down the ones under the bobbin without totally removing them. (I didn’t want the flyer shaft to have a ‘small’ spot there). I used a nail file (best sandpaper in the house) to smooth a spot on the flyer arms where the bobbin rubs, to sort of widen the flyer a little at that spot and then used epoxy to attach flyer to shaft, once I had things sitting level and looking as pretty as possible. Pinnochio wants to be pretty….

The next thing was to figure out the best way to create an easy tensioning device. I decided on a tilt tension system (of course, with my current canadian production wheel obsessionn) using a u-bolt and a carved groove. Really, very simple! I thought about doing a screw tension (which would suit this little wheel better) but decided against the adventure of trying to figure out how to make or where to get screw boxes. I’m a simple girl – I work with simple tools!

I first removed the mother of all – had to take out stupid staples but at least it wasn’t glued or nailed), removed the medallion (with a putty knife I managed to loosen the glue on that piece), cut off the dowel, flush with the table (to keep the table bed kind of solid instead of having a random hole that I would have to fill or plug anyway) and then marked my groove and used my wood carving tools to chisel out a groove for the moa.

I bought a length of threaded rod at the hardware store and bent it into the U shape. This transpired because there are no suitable sized U bolts (or at least not that day, at that store) and the ones I saw were so clunky and thick that I though the rod was better anyways. I used a similar size table leg to bend the rod around, by hand, and then filed down the threads in the section that will show. Because the rod becomes very weak once all the threads are off (I know this from cutting through it with a file), I left a bit of them there. The roughness actually helps it grip the wood nicely and with a project like this – there is NO WRONG. Two wing nuts and two washers attach underneath the table to secure the U bolt and the MOA.

And, YAY! She spins. Not well, lol, but she does. I need to super grease her up and open up a little more space for the wheel axle in the uprights, to see what she can really do. The tensioner works perfectly!

And here are her ‘after’ shots…

I also need to trim the U bolt, underneath the table. Oh yes, and add a flyer hook nearer the beginning of the bobbin (and take one away at the end – I suspect these flyer arms and this bobbin ran away together since they certainly don’t really belong together)

Yes, I Have Been Slacking

I haven’t blogged in SOME TIME….wow, too long, really.

My beautiful daughter had her beautiful baby!! He’s the most beautiful boy in the world…of course, I am a little bit biased…just a little 🙂 She says I must ‘blog’ him, so here is a picture of cuteness itself….

So, perfect, right? I’m one proud grandma, though that’s something to get used to — I’m so NOT used to being a grandma!

Certainly the excitement of new babies explains my blogging-slacking behaviour, doesn’t it?

I’ve done some spinning, some knitting and some beautiful fleece purchasing – all since I’ve been on the blog last and some of which I’d like to share here since I’m really thrilled with some of the results 🙂 I’ve been on a bit of a yarn/fleece diet this year, and trying to use up the fleeces and fibre I already have rather than buying more. IF you could see the yarn closet you’d definitely agree that the diet is necessary. It’s that or we have to expand the yarn closet, lol, or trade it perhaps with the children – their room would really make a good storage! 😉

I spun some navy and royal blue superwash merino fibre which I had bought last year at the Black Lamb (www.theblacklamb.ca), from Laurie, who is wonderful. I plied it (two plies – I’m a lazy spinner with two bobbins) and knit it up into the Gooseberry Cardigan pattern. I’m more than happy with this sweater – it’s comfy, it’s soft, it’s quite possibly my new favorite all time sweater!

Not the best picture and I can’t believe it BUT, it seems I forgot (?) to take pictures of the spun wool or the spinning itself. I must be losing my grandmother mind!

Bonus! Found a picture of the spun yarn…

I made a little crocheted top – the Avalon Top by Doris Chan. Love how it turned out too….

I also made a little pair of socks, from my handspun superwash merino sock yarn…three ply this time….

I prefer ankle socks so when I made up this design, they seemed the way to go!

Seems like forever and like I’ve got too much to say for one day. Instead of jumbling it all together we’ll have to finish this up tomorrow – when I’ll show the new alpaca fleeces I just washed and the beautiful shetlands I’m processing!!!

Have a great day! 🙂

Update Time!

I finished the handspun sweater I’ve been working on…

It’s the 97-18 Tailored Cardigan by Drops Design – a free pattern which I modified only slightly in my version. I worked without seams and used a three needle bind off for the shoulders. Also, I used small size but medium length throughout. I think in the body I could have gone a little longer still.

I ended up with a little more yarn than I needed, even!

The grandbaby isn’t here yet but should be here any day now. I’m so excited! I’ve made a little blanket – probably the last in the ‘baby collection’ for now.

It uses the ‘curve of pursuit’ idea though not the pattern (since I don’t have it). I like it very much….

I am now working in spinning some beautiful GREENS – again, superwash merino from The Black Lamb in Port Hope.

I was mixing up the colours in a certain-yet-random-way and NOW I’ve run out of some of them. So, I’m working on making a coordinating yarn to go with the 770 metres, or so, of the first yarn. There is a tunic I want to crochet. Badly.

We’ll have to see how it goes….

Turning It Into A Wallhanging!

Good morning 🙂

I managed to back my latest crochet portrait on the weekend, and thought I’d share how I did it.

I wanted to build a back with a ‘bare’ frame around the outside, which wouldn’t show but which would cause the picture to hang flat, square (in terms of 90 degree angles – it is a rectangular picture) and stretched. I also wanted it to allow for cleaning and storage. I think I’ve accomplished all of what I wanted!

Materials used : unbleached muslin (for backing) – prewash in HOT and machine dry, to preshrink the fabric – pressed
measuring tape
lengths of dowel – 1/2″ diameter is what I used for the side(s) and bottom dowels
– something a little heavier and longer than the picture for the top dowel – mine was 7/8″ approx.
sewing machine and thread
tissue paper
sewing pins (quilting pins work well since they are longer)
iron/ironing board to press backing fabric nice and flat before cutting.

Ok, now – how to do it!

I measured my picture – it is 22 x 25″ (approximately – I round up if it’s in between inches because there is room in this picture for a little stretch and I want it to be pulled tightly.

I then cut a piece of muslin, leaving 1″ seam allowances all the way around. In my case I cut 24″ x 27″. Press the seam allowance down towards the ‘back’ of the backing, all the way around. I then folded out the corners, trimmed them and folded them back in as mitred corners.

I then (because I’m a little bit overly careful) pinned it to the portrait, just to see how it would work. This is just a ‘check’ and will be immediately unpinned to begin constructing the frame.

You can see that the backing appears bigger than the picture. That’s the ’round up’ factor and will be fine in the end. To pin, have someone help you if possible and, while holding the two edges, ease the fit by stretching the portrait evenly as you pin — begin pinning on the corners, then the centre (of whichever edge you are working) and then between pins. This will spread the ‘extra’ out evenly to prevent distortion or lack of squareness.

Now, unpin your backing from the portrait and set the portrait aside. Cut 4 strips (for dowel holders to create our frame) from the muslin about 4″ wide (less if you’re comfortable) and about the same length as the top, bottom, and the sides. Depending on your dimensions these may or may not be the same length.

I began with the sides. Turn under a narrow hem and use your machine to sew this down (it will be a problem in time if it’s just pressed down) on one end of each piece of muslin for the side dowels. Be sure, for each side, that when the piece is folded (with the turned down seam at the top) that the fold is toward the outside of the backing, and the raw edges are toward the inside of the backing. The bottom end of each of these will be a closed end (at the bottom edge of the side dowels – to prevent the dowel simply falling out!) You should press under a bit at the bottom (approx 1/2″) and this fold will be to the inside of the dowel sleeve and also stitched down to create the closed end of the sleeve (later).

Wow, I hope that made some sense!

Next, I place, fold and pin the sleeves at the side, ONE AT A TIME, with the dowels inside them (for a close fit) and sew them using the zipper foot on my machine. This worked great for the 1/2″ dowel but not with the larger dowel (unfortunately). I checked the amount of space needed on top (for the larger dowel to fit behind the backing) and bottom, marked these with pencil and measured to mark them identically on the other side. You can see the larger space left on top compared to the bottom in the following pictures. Near the bottom of the backing, at the bottom edges of the side sleeves, you will need to pull the dowel out at least a little (or all the way if you like) to sew across the bottom of the sleeve to create the ‘stop’.

A picture of the top of the side sleeve;

The bottom (with the dowel removed) of the side sleeve;

Once done the sleeve, pull out the dowel and trim the underneath piece of the raw edge to 1/2 the width of the top piece. Use the top raw edge to fold around the bottom piece and press and sew in place. Make sure, as more sleeves are added, that you don’t catch a sleeve in this seam treatment. Treat all of the sleeve raw edges like this – it is strong and neat/tidy looking.

After completing the side sleeves, create the bottom sleeve in a similar way but WITHOUT any ‘stop’ or closed section. If you sew it with the zipper foot, snug against the dowel, you shouldn’t have any trouble with it coming out unless you want it removed to wash or store the portrait. Don’t forget to do your seam treatment to eliminate raw edges.

Now the top dowel sleeve – This is created the same way but with a wider dowel. You may wish to prepare the sleeve (narrow hem on each end) and then pin it tightly as we did before and then use a pencil to mark that crease/seamline – pull out the dowel and then sew along the line with a basting stitch (longer machine stitch), check the fit and then secure with shorter stitching once you have it right. I did not do this and ended up going a little tight in spots and having to rip parts of my seam out and redo it.

Cut your dowels, if you haven’t done so already – a tiny bit bigger than their sleeves (the three smaller ones) and the larger should be long enough to extend and work as a hanger with the correct hardware or hooks of some sort.

To attach the portrait to the frame, remove all dowels and set aside. Pin the portrait to the back, stretching and pinning evenly as described above. I sewed it with my machine, regular foot – using tissue paper between the portrait and the feed, to prevent it beign sucked into the machine and RUINED. (My machine and I have trust issues) I sewed it with about a 1/4 – 1/2″ seam, making sure the crochet extends a TAD bit more than the backing and going slowly to prevent catching any of the sleeves!!

Insert your dowels – sides, bottom then finally top – and VOILA

It’s a wallhanging!

With the added advantage of being easily taken apart for washing or storage!!

Freeform FUN

Happy Friday!

I have something new to show today 🙂 Or at least the beginnings of something new…

I was inspired by a picture of the stained glass window blanket (for which I don’t have the pattern) and thought the technique looked fairly straightforward.

I am just working this freeform for now and waiting to see what it wants to be when it grows up!

Bringing Baby Home

Good morning 🙂

I’ve finished my latest crochet portrait…created from a photograph from 20 years ago, of me holding my eldest daughter on the day we came home from the hospital…

The original photo…

A bit closer up….

Perspective makes a huge difference with these fibre creations! Up close, they look so much like nothing but when you step back a few feet, the picture is so clear.

I’ve also finished the first pair of crocheted and felted baby boots. It’s a pattern of my own which I’m working on, off and on, here and there. They are fastened with velcro at the sides/backs of the booties.

I attached the velcro with the same wool (fishermens), sewn on by hand. The velcro is sewn along the back of the ankle section and the edges of the front flaps. I’m unsure, at this point, if I chose correctly when I put the ‘hook’ section on the fronts and the other section on the back.

These have been given to my husband’s friend for his new baby boy. He’s going to be my first test wearer 🙂 On a side note, his little daughter has a pair of my felted slippers (the pattern I made late last year and am still working on) and she LOVES them…they are the only slippers she’s ever worn!! 🙂 She calls them her ‘ballerina shoes’ and was QUITE impressed with them! I single stranded my ladies medium size and felted them down for her little feet.

I also made the grandchild to be a couple things…

Some braided balls to play with;

I found the pattern, free on ravelry. It’s called the gevlochten bal.

And, a little improvised sweater, in sock yarn, on 3.25 mm needles;

I have a few ends to weave in and some blocking to do before it’s completely finished.

A Change Of Pace!

I needed a change of pace – was going CRAZY with the repetition of the portraits (though I DO love them) and needed a nice continuous project to clear my head and let the creativity flow a little.

My grandbaby is due in a short while – only 2 months to go now!! I went looking at all the felted baby booties/slippers that there are on ravelry and I really like the sort that look like little boots. I noticed one pair had a genius idea of making the ‘tongue’ (which tucks inside) be at the back, from the heel up with the front sections tying in the back, around that ‘tongue’ type piece. Genius! And also a pattern I don’t have.

So – being me – I wondered why I cant make them up in crochet?! (I’m a little caught up with the crochet hooks at the moment)

Here is my first attempt – I looked at the shape, noted some foot sizes from a good baby size chart, calculated how much bigger they should be to felt down to a newborn size and then WENT FOR IT.

Here is my first attempt;

Obviously pre-felting 🙂 I made the pattern to be constructed as one piece with NO sewing up whatsoever. I think in the end I will use velcro as fasteners though – instead of any sort of tie.

Post felting;

Pretty cute, huh?

I’m trying a second pair with a slightly smaller hook and no other changes except using doubled fingering weight wools instead of fishermans wool (as I used in the first pair)

I’m starting a baby pullover/sweater as well. I wanted something for a tiny new baby and there isn’t a lot out there, free pattern wise. I ended up using the Cirrus pattern from petit purls but I’m modifying it somewhat.

So far;

I’m letting the colour do the ‘design’ work and skipping the textured pattern though it does look great in the pattern. Also switched to sock weight yarn and smaller needles for a smaller sweater. I think 18 to 20″ should be more than wide enough.

Off with me – ’tis my daughter’s birthday and I have a cake to bake!

I’m Hooked!

Another portrait to show today…and I do apologize, since it was done on the 16th, but I’ve been so busy with the NEXT project in the row!

My parents in law…a picture from 45 years ago…

Not bad, considering that I accidentally made the pattern with seven shades of colour rather than the 8 I planned on!

I’ve found out that choosing the ‘right’ picture means choosing one with good contrast between the subject(s) and the background. Too much of a similar tone results in a lot of ‘blend’ between subject and background, like in the Luke portrait which I did first.

I’ve learned that I’m likely going about pattern making the super slow way, since I use photoshop and a good old pencil and paper to create a pattern – along with hours of work. I looked at the ‘knitpro’ site and though it looks like it makes things easier, I’m just so comfortable with my ‘hands on’ approach. I believe, for now, that I’ll stick with it since I like the results and I (at least now) can spare the time.

I’ve been wondering about the whole ‘pulling through the ends’ thing that I’ve seen people who are working on these patterns mention. I’ve always been taught to place an end where you want it BEFORE you move on which eliminates all that pulling through business.

Like this;
-you are working on the wrong side and are ready to change colours-

-I attach the new colour with a slip knot-

-pull the slip knot tightly down to where it meets your work and cut the original colour and tie a square knot to fasten-

-now, pull the knot to the back and hold it, down and out of the way while you work the first stitch. The knot will be held by the first full stitch and you won’t have to pull through ends, anymore!-

I have my own (possibly used by many others though!) way of dealing with the frog pond. I’ll take some pictures of that and talk about it in the next post! I’ve found a way to waste very little wool and very little time when mistakes happen. And, inevitably – they do! 🙂

Have a great day 🙂

So Much Fun!!

This is my latest portrait in crochet – and I love it!

It turned out awesome 🙂

Here’s the original picture;

I was nervous until the eye appeared…and then ‘voila!’, it looked like my girl. I like how it looks in the blue palette too – as always, I agonized over the colours for about three quarters of the project, lol. This was another of my own patterns and I always worry about how they’ll turn out. I think I’ve got it pretty close to perfected though and I’m getting faster and more accurate at pattern making.

Next up is a picture for my inlaws – actually, their wedding picture. I do believe they’re on to me, lol. I did try to have the picture stolen secretly from the house and put back but that’s nearly impossible. Also nearly impossible was explaining why I suddenly needed that picture!

Ok, must go – my crochet hook is calling!

Some Last Minute Knits…And A Pattern

I’ve been busy, trying to finish up a few last things for Christmas. Today, I finished three hats (yay, me!)…gotta LOVE bulky yarn and how quickly it knits up!

Two ‘shroom’ hats; (pattern by Lee Wood Juvan and available free at knitty.com)

and another in ‘flint’ grey/black which I’d be happy to show you except for the fact that my camera takes THE most crappy pictures after dark! Alright, so pictures asap, lol.

Isn’t the texture in that pattern fantastic? I think it’s a great pattern and definitely worth knitting. With the bulky yarn, it can even handle our winters!

The yarn I used is bernat ‘roving’, an acrylic (80)/ wool (20) mix which is really nice to work with and, I feel, much safer left in the hands of forgetful machine washers than a wool alternative. It’s no fun when you shrink your Christmas hat!

I made a little ‘textured scrap hat’ with the leftovers. It’s nothing fancy but I’m planning to write up the pattern. I think it’s kind of cute and definitely an easy, fast knit which takes next to nothing in the bulky yarn. I had two balls of the roving yarn and after making the two ‘shroom’ hats and the scrap hat, I still have some of each colour left!

I’ve completed the pattern and you can find it here;  supersimpletexturedscraphat 

Lets hope this works.  If you have any trouble with it, please let me know. 

Oh, something I realized I should mention…the gauge for this hat is about 3 sts/4 rows per inch in stockinette.  The finished hat measures 8 inches tall but could be made larger by adding rows to any section you wish or adding another section entirelyl.  I could totally see this hat in a few different colours mixed together, to use up little scraps.

I’ll show you a couple of the night pictures of it and promise to take better ones soon…

Happy knitting 🙂

My Hands Hurt!

But….it’s well worth it!

I’m almost done the quilt. It’s turning into a masterpiece of beads and buttons and my daughter is already worried about washing it!

Secrets are hard to keep if you want to work on a project for 10 hours a day, lol.

I must get to it – Christmas is only 8 days away! (yes, I know, technically nine but we’re having our celebration with the family on Christmas Eve this year so I only get eight…)

We’ve got ourselves (and two kids at home), our daughter with her boyfriend, another daughter (with boyfriend possibly), my cousin and her family, my brother and step father. If the list stays as is; 16 people total for Christmas Eve dinner.

I haven’t even done the proper menu yet. I think turkey (of course) and a nice spiral cut ham, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato carrot cassarole, roasted onions, turnip (nice and sweet with brown sugar), mashed potato/OR potato balls (these are awesome!), brussel sprouts, peas, corn, fresh bread and rolls, gravy and maybe the white chocolate cranberry cake for desert. I’m going to need to find a nice diabetic desert as well – something to look into yet. Ah yes, and I have to buy a mountain of pickles, especially those little pickled onions (love those!).

It’s going to be a lovely feast and visit! 🙂

Have a great day 🙂

The Snowdrift Sweater!

Check it out 🙂

I had this idea in my head for a while and finally felt like spending the time to make it. It’s seamless (my favorite) and bottom up. I didn’t use any exact ‘method’ to shape the sleeve caps — unless ‘guess-as-you-go’ is a method, lol. A little bit of raglan shaping, a little bit of set in sleeve shaping and a few short rows to make it all work. Not bad, if I do say so myself. It’s my very first sweater design 🙂

The slippers were driving me nuts!! You can really only knit about 18 pairs before you want to run screaming down the street. You may have guessed, I’ll be putting off the rest of my slipper-test-knitting until after Christmas (…if then, the way I feel right now). The slipper pattern itself seems to be excellent but I’m trying to test knit every size in different wools for a true pattern test. I’d hate to say that something works if I haven’t tested it myself.

Happy knitting! 🙂

Knitting Like Crazy For Christmas…

Yes, it’s almost here.  Or so it feels like, anyways!  I have so many things I want to finish up and a few things finished, so far…

These are my ‘Inspired By Colour’ mittens using Marks and Kattens ‘Trend’ (party colourway) and Patons ‘Kroy Sock’ 4 ply (black). They knit up to a medium woman’s size with a snug, cozy fit and a longish cuff to keep your wrists toasty all winter.

I’ve made sweaters for two of my girls…the first is ‘Amused’ by Jordana Paige (from knitty, winter 2008). I knit this with Patons ‘Classic Wool’ (where did you go merino?) in Jade Heather.

The second is ‘Egret’ by Norah Gaughan, available as a free pattern from Berocco.com. I knit this one also in the Classic Wool, in Cognac Heather.

The buttons were just perfect!

Off to knit a pair or two of slippers…the list is far from done! Happy knitting and have a great day 🙂

Felting Slippers For Christmas

I was totally inspired by a really popular pattern on ravelry’s pattern list. Built like a shoe, looking like a slipper. So. I looked very carefully at all of my daughters ballet flat type shoes. I tried to wing it. It came out not-so-good, lol. I used version one to see what needed to change in version two and decided the top heavy peanut of the sole probably had to change to a proper foot shaped sole. I also elongated the heel and made it meet in a ‘v’ with the body of the slipper, raised up the back of the heel from what I originally thought it should be and added a couple more sts into the toe.

 

Voila!

Two washes in the front loader, with tennis balls, on heavy duty cycle and they came out looking like the shape of a foot. No stretching or fighting – just the perfect shape. I was thrilled 🙂 Now I have to make everyone a pair for Christmas!

The needle felting was an extra touch, to pretty them up a little more than they are 🙂

Inspired!

I’ve been working on a new pattern – for stranded mittens – for my daughter for Christmas. The pattern was inspired by a really beautiful yarn. It has everything stranded mittens need (in my opinion of course!) – great colour, fingering weight, a bit of ‘grab’, superwash and wool. For what more could I ask?

I’ve paired it with Paton’s ‘kroy’ sock 4 ply in black – to give it a chance to do it’s colourful thing. Oh yes – the yarn – it’s Marks and Kattens ‘Fame Trend’ in the colourway ‘party’. I found it at the Knit and Quilt in Barrie a week or two ago. Beautiful! I will definitely be back for more!

I’ve finished the pattern and have knitted the first mitten. I’ve posted the pdf pattern, if you’d like to use it –

The pattern;
InspiredByColourMittenPattern

My mitten (unblocked)…

Please let me know how it works out for you!
Have a great day 🙂

Designing And Stuff

I’ve been searching the web, looking for lace designs/patterns/charts. I’ve found a couple of great resources!

One is Yarn Over. Another is Knitting Fool.

I’m still working on the coat, sort of ‘off an on’ lol, but yes – working! I’m more than half way through the first sleeve and have, of course, to finish the upper body once the sleeves are done. It’s about now in the pattern where ALL the numbers are wrong, because of my different gauge, so there’s much more work to figuring it out. I’ll get there 🙂

I’m also dreaming of a pair of really fine lace socks. Hence the web search. I’ll likely use little tiny needles and lace weight yarn (I’m thinking the handspun rambouillet). I’m looking for an itsy bitsy lace pattern which fits…

Oh, yes – I made a little lace hat for myself, for when the weather gets cooler this fall. It was a free pattern (available at the canadian living site) but is from the book Runway Knits. Very cute! Sideways lace and cables…

The ‘Ingenue Hat’ (by Berta Karapetyan)

The silk I used is ‘shire silk’ and it’s as light as air. I may have to find some time and make the matching scarf – also free on the site and also beautiful!

The Pattern!

Click here; Knitted chain maille helmet pattern

I hopefully did this correctly…it’s my first pdf!  Enjoy 🙂

Must Catch Up…

Wow. I’ve been really really busy lately! I feel like I’ve been neglecting the blog, lol…

The puppy is doing fabulous. He’s learning so much, so fast!! Really amazing. And he’s settled in nicely with the other two – has even learned some manners 🙂

I’ve been asked to knit chain maille helmets for a theatre production which is coming up later in the year. Rehearsals start in July though so I have to get them all done by then…

I was pretty happy — I made the pattern up and it worked out the first time! It was a happy, happy day 🙂 Now hopefully the rest of them knit up fast, and I’m praying to the wool gods that the wool stretches impossibly far.

I also have to knit sets of 3/4 length chain maille sleeves, for each.

AND!! I’ve been asked to appear in a play as a spinner, with my wheel. Coolness, I thought. It should be fun! I’m not clear on the details of when and where yet. Later this year, I understand.

I’m planning to post the pattern for the helmet, when I have a bit of time.

I’ve been working on quilting the baby ‘fishie’ quilt. That is nearing real deadlines too – the reletive it’s for should be visiting in July. I’d say I’m about 1/3 done the hand quilting and then there’s the binding to be sewn on by hand as well. I’m pretty sure I’m on track.

I was given some canadian unspun yarn – the kind they make the cowichan sweater out of and decided to use it to experiment with dying roving. The sweater needs to be frogged to claim all the yarn so I just started with half a ball of the natural/white mix.

I skeined it…

Placed it in a pot with near boiling water mixed with almost a cup of vinegar and some wiltons ‘violet’ icing colour (dissolved in boiling water first and stirred). I didn’t soak the roving first. I want to accentuate the ‘breaking’ of the colour and allow the roving to soak the colour at an uneven rate for interesting variation in the colours.

I soaked the roving in the dyepot, simmering without agitation, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until all the dye was exhausted and absorbed.

After cooling a little, a soak in hot, hot water with a drop or two of dishsoap, a hot rinse…

It looked fantastic! Check out the colours! I think I maybe should have used a little more dye – see how the centre didn’t really lose the beige/natural tone. On the other hand, when spun up it might look really good so I’m reserving judgement 🙂

It’s drying and I expect the colours may fade a little.

I made my daughter a pair of ‘sockettes’ for her birthday last month and forgot to post them here…here are a few pictures. The pattern is improvised, toe up, using the free white fleece I got a little while back.

She likes her socks low on her ankle. The best part of hand knit is the perfect fit factor 🙂

Oh yes…almost forgot…I’ve also been knitting the grotto wrap from interweave knits with my handspun rambouillet lace yarn…I’ll post pictures when it’s done…it’s turning out soft and really nice (I think it’s my best handspun yarn ever).

I have two skeins of sock yarn which I spun from the free white and black sheep – my son and I’ll work on dying those tomorrow….

Spring!

Today, I’m dying my handspun, hand prepped, rambouillet lace – just over 2000 yards. I admit, I was afraid!

The good news? It turned out beautiful! It makes me think of spring flowers, perfect for today since it’s pouring rain outside. 🙂

The second batch is ‘cooking’ in the pot on the stove as I type. I’m quite certain it’s going to be a perfect match for the first.

My recipe?

1/4 teaspoon of delphinium blue wiltons icing colour, dissolved in one cup of boiling water

Just a bit more than 3/4 cup of vinegar mixed with boiling water on the stove in my dye pot and stirred

–add the dye solution to the pot and IMMEDIATELY add the dry, loosely skeined yarn. Push down with a wooden spoon, keeping agitation to a minimum.

–allow pot to simmer for 20 minutes, remove from stove, cool to a comfortable temperature and place in rinse water (same temp as yarn) again without agitating.

–roll in towel to remove excess moisture and lay flat or hang to dry.

–admire the beautiful yarn you made yourself 🙂

I repeated this exactly for the second skein, in order to minimize differences in the two skeins. I suppose I could have done both together in a larger pot – we’ll see 🙂

I really like this 🙂

Fishie

Yay! The top is pieced!

The process…

Started!

I’ve started the quilt and LOVE how it’s turning out…