Darning Mushroom

Never used one of these before, but a hole in the bottom my my husbands sock meant I had to try. I think it went pretty well - I opted for the woven technique since the edges were pretty frayed. The repair has been holding up nicely and doesn't seem to bother him too much - success!

Socks for my Niece

Last spring and over the summer my knitting/sewing/crafting went on the back burner.  No particular reason, just other things happening (like, we planned and took an epic RV trip out west!)  But my needles are humming again and I made a couple pair or socks for my nieces.  One pair is shown here, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the other pair, but maybe one day this winter if I can catch her with them on.

I also recently went to the WI Sheep and Wool Festival and was newly inspired.  I picked up the yarn below to make a pair for my Packers and Badgers loving girls.  I think the socks are crazy looking - but in the perfect sports-crazed, pre-teen sort of way!  With any luck there will be four surprise pair complete by Christmas for their stockings!  The other two pair are not sport inspired, but will suit each girl well I think.

FO: Another too big sweater!

 

 

Such is the curse of the impatient knitter - or at least the one that casts on without regard for gauge.  No matter, she will eventually grow into it, just like this one.  I also realized there is another vest I finished and never blogged about that is too big.  I'll save that one for when it fits, and claim my work then (smile).

 

 

This lovely hooded wallaby is knit up in Peace Fleece in the most amazing blue-aqua color, Kamchatka Sea Moss.  The Kamchatka Peninsula is in the far eastern reaches of Russia, near the Bearing Sea.  You can read a bit about what makes the Kamchatka so special here.

 

I knit this wallaby to the 2yo measurements and added an extra inch in length at both the waist and arms.  I also modified the design details - based on the other two I knit years ago - and should have remembered that without the ribbing the fit is always bigger anyway.  My modifications include rolled hems at the waist and wrists, with seed stitch detailing on the pocket, placket and hood.  I just prefer that look for some reason.  I also seamed the hood using a mattress stitch at the end instead of trying for the kitchener stitch.  I can barely handle that exercise with 16 or so stitches on a sock toe.  The 30-odd stitches for this hood was just too much for me to deal with, although it would have made a nice seamless hood.

 

While the yarn is still a bit rustic to work with (which I personally love), I am really happy with how soft it became after a good soaking and blocking.

 

 

The sweater took about 2.5 skeins and I'm using the last bit for a thank you gift for a friend.  She was over one day and admired it on the mantle straightaway, commenting on the lovely color. She's in the midst of a kitchen remodel and this gift will be perfect for her.  She is a very talented local graphic designer/sewist and she volunteered her time and expertise to help me print some custom Spoonflower fabric.  More on that fascinating project in the near future!

New Yarns

This winter I got to a few more yarns to add to my basket!

 

This gray skein came from my husband as a Christmas gift.  There are times when he travels across our state for work, and this skein came from a short stop during one of those times.  He happened across a small knitting shop and purchased me 390 sport weight yds. of the most lovely of natural, undyed gray yarn.  I dont' know what makes me smile more: dreaming of what to make with this yarn, or the thought of him browsing through skeins of wool in a yarn shop?!














This cream yarn (again, undyed) is from a friend-of-a-friend.  She used to raise sheep and had all their fleece processed into yarn.  Now she lives in our city and no longer has her sheep, and she is in the process of selling off her remaining yarn.  When my friend pointed to the clear garbage bag full of skeins in her corner I was giddy - I picked out three skeins, one to gift and two to keep.  I think I have approximately 500 yds. to work with.

 

Lastly, I picked out three skeins of Peace Fleece from my LYS with gift certificate from my uncle.  I have always been curious about this yarn company - ever since I saw some of their yarn knit up by a friend for a February Lady Sweater.  I have three skeins in Kamchatka Sea Moss, an amazing blue-green heather colorway.  I have already cast on for a wallaby for my youngest.

I think I have enough to keep me inspired for the rest of our winter!

FO: Red Fiona

I finished this sweet tunic the day before Thanksgiving - and actually sewed on the back button while in the car, on the way to the hike we took on Thanksgiving day.

This top could not be nicer: the fit, patterning and style are just about perfect for a little girl.  But the pattern is all written (no charts), and there's no schematic either.  So the pattern is a bear to follow, but once you settle into the groove it begins to make sense.

Also the sizing is off in my opinion.  The size I knit is labeled in the pattern as 3-6 mos.  Granted I was likely a bit off with my gauge, but not by much.  And while my youngest daughter is on the small side for a 20 mos. old, she isn't THAT small.  So if you endeavor to knit up this pattern go by measurements, not age range.

 

The yarn, which I've mentioned before, is a fantastic locally sourced alpaca/nylon blend.  It took just about 600 yards to knit this up, which seems like quite a bit of yarn, but the great thing about tunics is that they can be worn for a long time.  These photos are also pre-blocking, and given that it's an alpaca hand knit, it will grow quite a bit once we give it a washing.

 

The beauty and ease of construction for this top is something that I admire and I'm thinking I may just have to knit another, in a larger size - maybe size it up to an adult?

 

ps.  Don't mind the crazy wardrobe on my youngest - she gets the leftovers from the other three with regards to clothes/sizing and any hopes for matching outfits have sadly been lost.

FO: Shawl

 

 

 

I completed my second SYES shawl, knit up with my handpainted yarn, about a week ago.  Post-blocking it turned into a fantastic size - wide enough for a true shawl, and scrunchy enough to be wrapped as a scarf.  This FO is tucked deep into my knitting chest, waiting for the right recipient.  I have my own SYES that I use often and love.  This one will go to someone else to enjoy.

WIP Wednesday

After a string of too big garments for Daughter #4 (which is a good problem to have), I am determined to make her something that will fit for the winter season.  I cast-on for the beautiful Fiona's Top tunic and am excited to already be half-way done.  It is moving quickly, however the pattern would benefit from a small description of how the garment is knitted and schematic drawing.  I am digging into a small stash of locally-processed alpaca that I purchased last year, and am excited to see it come to life.  It's also one of my favorite fibers to work with - so easy on the fingers and cuddly soft.

The second photo is of a pile of fleece, felted wool, cashmere and other assorted fabrics all working their way into mittens.  There is a surprise buried in that pile too, so I have to wait until the project is finished to share more.  It is going to be a tear-jerker.

And in a search for contrasting yarn for the tunic, I came across this amazing skein of orange sock yarn I had tucked away.  Not sure what it will become yet, but I retrieved Socks from the Toe Up from the library, and might just be brave enough to give a pair a whirl.  I am a top-down sock knitter, but Judy's magic cast-on may win me over yet.

There is still that pair of un-finished handpainted socks, un-finished silk mittens and those wintergreen mittens waiting in the wings.  They have a reputation for being my patient projects.

WIP's and Local Yarns

 

Three of my current WIP's: a vest, mittens and shawl. 

 

The vest is the 18 mos. sized Milo - one of my truly favorite baby/toddler knits.  There are so many ways to customize it - I went back and forth on whether to include a stranded color pattern (elephants! flowers! polka dots!) but in the end decided on a simple cable.  I hope to have this one off the needles, on on daughter #4, by tonight.

 

The mittens are a work of art - Wintergreen by Kate Gilbert.  I am making a few modifications to the pattern, however.  Adding a thumb gusset on the side and I'm not twisting the leaf stitches.  I don't think it matters much with such contrasting colors (and makes the knitting go just a hair faster).  They are a labor of love and probably won't be complete for some time.  They are a concentration project - one that I need space and quiet to work on.  It is the second mitten pattern of Kate's that I've knit and I am pleased, yet again, with the intricate design details (first project here).

 

Last is another Simple Yet Effective Shawl, knit up with my own hand dyed yarn.  I have to confess that I had this shawl in mind when I dyed the yarn so I am excited to see it knit up.  I am happy with the colors/striping and hope that it will find just the right recipient this holiday season.

 

Note: the colors in the photo are not very true - it has been gray and rainy these past few days.  Perfect for knitting, but sucky for indoor photography.  That vest, while pink, is more a peachy-pink.  And the base color for those mittens is actually a deep purple.  The shawl colors you can see better in this post about yarn dying.

 

And speaking of WIP's, I just cast-on for a hat last night and owing to the bulky weight of the yarn, am already half-way done.  I am in love with it and will find it hard to part with.  But I know a lucky girl that will get this for a holiday gift (pictured next to it is the yarn to make a matching one for her sister!).  This is a superwash wool, hand-dyed by Liz Avery at The Sow's Ear. 

 

 

Lastly, I am REALLY, REALLY excited because this morning I placed an order for truly local yarn: Finewool Yarn by Five Green Acres.  Mary Jo stewarded this wool from pasture to skein, and has lived the entire process from shearing to cleaning to dying to spinning.  Her First Harvest: Backyard skeins have amazing colorways such as Sugar Maple, Blue Jay and the like.   Check out the yarn for yourself - it has an amazing story.  And Mary Jo?  She's an amazing woman. 

WI Sheep and Wool Festival

I was lucky to get a day away this past weekend to attend the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival.  I attended the festival last year and enjoyed myself.  A lot.  So this year I expanded on my festival experience by taking a class taught by the very talented Mo Brown (owner of The Cat and the Crow yarn shop in Mount Horeb, WI).

This was another dying class.  And while the basic process was the same as the other class I took in the summer, the techniques we used were very, very different.  This was specifically a sock yarn dying class, and we went from undyed, superwash wool, machine knit sock blanks to skeins of hand dyed yarn.

Some contrasts to the other class include: using syringes instead of brushes to apply the dye, using a microwave instead of steam heat to set the dye, and working with a knit fabric instead of loopy skeins of wool.

I am really happy with the two skeins I brought home - one is an experiment in gradation, going from dark purple to light and back to a dark red-purple again.

The other is (hopefully) full of long color repeats of blue, green, gray, black and orange.














I found the class very inspriational, and was quite taken by the approaches of the other students.  A few treated their sock blanks as canvasses, painting elaborate pictures on them.  What is amazing is that work become hidden once the yarn is wound, and then knit up into a project.  But the artists' intent remains: a secret wish, or hidden message, if you will.  Like a whisper, those 'paintings' were utttered and then will disappear into the wind.

I didn't make any elaborate paintings, but I did find myself fantasizing about hidden messages in a hand knit project.  Don't you think a yarn blank could (literally) be printed with messages about love, peace and joy and knit up into something beautiful?  What about including messages of social justice or protest?  Civil disobedeince as public art!  Craftivism!

I did some browsing after the class, but came home with only one kit - the Pippa and Poppy dresses by the talented ladies at Ewetopia.  They are absolutly adorable!  I've cast on for a first dress, with hopes of completing three more (one for each of my girls) by next spring.  

p.s.  I'm also in love with Ariana and Roaslind and might have to splurge in the new year.

Yarn Painting



my four hand-painted skeins.

This past weekend I was lucky to attend a yarn painting workshop given by Sandy Jones of Sandy's Palatte at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI.  What a fantastic afternoon! 

[Mineral Point, an old mining town, is worthy of its own photo shoot.  Many of the original Cornish-built, miners' homes have been restored and there is thriving arts community to round it all out.]

Yarn dying is a dirty, hot business.  And one best not done at home with curious hands about.  For this reason alone I am excited that I was able to get away and try it in a space where I didn't have to worry about anything (except for what colors I wanted to try!)

undyed worsted weight wool

We started with skeins of wool and roving.  Dipped in a bucket of warm water, they are soaked to prepare them to take the dye.  


empty dye jars.
dye will be shelf-stable if not used for up to a few months.

We started mixing dyes (vinegar, dye, and boiling water) in mason jars, and practiced mixing colors on coffee filters.  They bleed nicely and let you guesstimate how two adjoining colors will blend.  Then the fun began.  We painted to our hearts content, completing as many skeins as we wanted.  It was hard to start - the fear that I would create something that would simply turn out brown was high - but once I began I didn't want to stop.  The possibilities are truly endless.


last skein (sock weight) in bright colors.
 what's going to happen with all the white space?

After painting, the skeins are wrapped up in plastic wrap and steamed for about an hour.  Then they are removed from their casing, rinsed (being sure not to agitate, lest you felt them!), and hung to dry.

three of four skeins after steaming and rinsing.

In a mere 3.5 hours I created 4 one-of-a-kind, non-reproducible skeins from which to knit two pairs of socks and two hats. I am so excited to start knitting a project using my custom-painted yarns!!  I can see how custom painting yarns is addictive.  But given the little people in my life it is not something that I will begin doing at home.  I am, however, interested in taking another class and painting more yardage in a particular color blend.  Lucky for me Sandy has said that she's open to hosting one or two day-long dying workshops in the fall and next spring too.

Over the weekend I also bound-off the bottom edge of my Current cardigan!!  Now...on to the sleeves.

WIP's



new local yarns

I recently made two yarn purchases for myself. 

The teal is a locally spun and dyed fingering weight from Blackberry Ridge (photos from my tour of the mill are under the photos link on the left).  It is a wool/silk blend in the most stunning deep teal imaginable.

The green, a gorgeous merino/cashmere/nylon blend from Sun Valley Fibers, is purely a stash acquisition - but a smart one.  I got 1600 yards to be certain I have enough for a cardigan or sweater, once I find the right pattern.

Getting those new yarns spurred me to cast on a project for myself.  I picked out current, by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  A lovely fitted cardi, with great trim and button details.  In a lightweight wool/silk I trust it will be a good lightweight sweater when paired with a long sleeve t-shirt.




current

My other work-in-progress is the aforementioned Versa.  The tunic is coming along nicely, but I am letting it sit while I really get into my cardigan.  I hope to finish it up by the end of the month.  The yarns for this top are all from the stash.  The blue worsted wool is left over from knitting up the tiny tea leaves for my 4yo last summer.

versa tunic (from the stash)

After finishing up these two projects it might be time to re-visit my stash and figure out what to keep, what to use up, and what to give away.  It has been well over a year since my stash challenge ended and while I feel I have a good handle on my current and recent yarn purchases, I still have a lot of left over yarn that is not being put to use.  And as my tastes and preferences for knitting evolve, I feel myself pulling farther away from projects that would suit the sitting yarns; the ones that I haven't picked up in a couple years.

I recently had a friend give me some fabric 'scraps'.  But let me say that these are not scraps (at least not to my mind), but lovely pieces of left over fabric from her collection.  And I am happy to have them as inspriation for myself and my future sewing.  And this gesture showed me that while it's admirable to use all that you have, sometimes letting it go to another creative person can be even better.  

FO: Milo Vest (long time coming)

I started this vest a long time ago.  I'm talking almost two years ago.  And I finally pulled it from the bottom of my knitting basket to finish it up.  I was on a knitting high from finishing my Vitamin D sweater - which is perfect in almost every way - and I just wanted to keep on knitting. [I'll post photos soon, but need to get someone else to take them while I wear the sweater.]

I was too tired mentally, and creatively, to think about starting a new project.  But there, at the bottom of the basket was this long-neglected vest.  Now is the time I thought.  And I went for it. 

Now that it is done it's a blessing it took me so long to finish it.  It's quite big.  Almost too big for my older girls, but with spring/summer here I should be able to tuck it away until the fall without too much protest from them.  And then, in four months time, it might fit just a little bit better.

The yarn was a gift to me from my Mom - she picked it up during her travels in Ireland.  The yarn is called Blizzard and was made for Tivoli Spinners (manufactured in Turkey), Ireland's leading distributor of yarn.

Yarn (and book) love

Looks like someone loves yarn almost as much as I do.  I had better move that basket up higher for the foreseeable future or else I'll be in trouble.

On a different note, our family was at the public library in Skokie, IL over the weekend and I spied this amazing playhouse, constructed from old books. Now, I have been known to create shelves using horizontally stacked books, but a fully free-standing playhouse?! Now that is cool.

 

As I had all the kids with me I didn't get a chance to get too close and look at the construction.  It is quite possible that there are supports bars running though the books, but maybe it is also constructed by gluing the books together?  And if you want your mind blown, just google "new uses for old books" and check out the images.  My goodness.

WI Sheep and Wool Festival

One of two vendor barns


Sun Valley Fibers booth

A couple weeks ago I attended the WI Sheep and Wool Festival. Given that I have been knitting for nine years, and living in Wisconsin for seven, it's a surprise to me that I've never attended. I was able to slip away from the family for a few hours and I loved every moment I spent shopping, asking questions and taking in all that goes into the wool/sheep/yarn/knitting industry.

My yarn purchases were restricted to local WI vendors -



400 yds of fantastic red alpaca/nylon sock yarn from Alpacas of Prairie Station, and

a sage green merino/nylon sock yarn from Sun Valley Fibers. Can you tell I'm getting ready to knit up some more socks?

I also couldn't pass these lovelies up when I came across them. They are crafted by Jennie the Potter who is located in Minneapolis, MN. This set of stitch markers could easily double as necklace charms don't you think?



And these buttons will be perfect on a toddler sweater for my youngest.

Yarn Binge

Alisha Goes Around - Colorway: Pavement - 400 yds.

Over the past few weeks I quelled my "when are they going back to SCHOOL?!?!" moments of frustruation with yarn. Lots of it. I picked up what you see here, plus a bit more. I have at least two projects planned. There are three FO's to share too - once we work out the bus/sack lunch/preschool/new teachers/upcoming holiday weekend kinks.


Local Handspun - 95 yds. Blue Face leicester Wool


Noro Kureyon - 2 skeins

Goldenrod

This is amazing yarn. I love working with it. I just finished transforming it from the skein into a 1 yo sized cardigan vest. The color changes are subtle, the yarn is thick and warm and it will make a great layering piece next spring (or this summer if it doesn't warm up around these parts).

The yarn was a gift and the label simply stated, "4 ozs. 100% wool. Goldenrod." I wonder if it is dyed with goldenrod plants? I know that you can't see the yarns true beauty in this photo. You'll have to trust me on this one.





And oh the knitting fates are tempting me these days too! I've got this, and this (needs rav sign-in) and this pattern on my mind. Have any of you knit these yet?

p.s. For someone the considers herself 'crafty' I have the lamest collection of buttons. The ones pictured here are only placed for effect. I need to get myself a decent stash going. There's a Trash & Treasure sale at the local church today...maybe I'll stop over to see what can be found?