Yarn with a Re-purpose

I've written before about the upcycling & unraveling of sweaters for their yarns.  I haven't done much unraveling of late, but recently, I've been going through my studio, cleaning, sorting and purging to make room for baby's new space.  And I realized that I hoard old clothes.  Whether it's because I think I can alter them because they don't fit quite right (why do I think this?  I'm not a good sewer!) Or I can re-purpose them for something else (for a long time, I wanted to introduce a line of re-purposed, felted sweater garments such as hats and mitts), or I can unravel them for their yarn.  I had quite a few nice sweaters that had been half unraveled.  So, I hunkered down, unraveling some, deciding to just pass on others (acrylic isn't worth my time).

Of course, once I had finished a good round of sorting and purging, I was in the thrift store one day, and I spotted a creamy white, super soft, hand-knit shrug.  No tags or labels, the fiber content of this one was up in the air.  So I added it to my cart and debated whether I should get it or not.  Obviously, someone had spent a fair amount of time knitting such a pretty shrug... but honestly, I don't wear shrugs.  They had also spent a pretty penny on 3 or 4 skeins of what I now think is pure baby alpaca yarn.

So for $6, I grabbed it and came home and unraveled it days later into 3 and a half balls.  I wound off a couple of skeins for dyeing, one in pink (I was hoping for more of a red.. oh well), and an earthy green.  I quickly knit the pink skein up into a pair of Camp Out Fingerless Mitts (pattern by Tante Ehm).  Great pattern, and great yarn!

I'm now slightly addicted to the pattern and decided to gift the first pair to my mom, who is more fond of pink than I.  Maybe the green ones can be for me!  One certainly doesn't need full on mittens with our unseasonably warm weather and lack of a real winter. 

Have you ever unraveled a sweater?  What did you make?

Holiday Stitches

Over the holidays, somehow I managed to get a lot of knitting in.  For the first time I can remember, this year's Christmas celebrations felt a lot more relaxed and less hectic.  We actually got to stay home on Christmas morning!

I finished 2 hats and 3 washcloths in the span of about 10 days.  The first hat was for my nephew who over the last 6 months or so, has been asking me if I can make him a hat "with skulls on it".  After a bit of procrastination and wondering how exactly I would make this hat, it was ravelry to the rescue.  I found this pattern which uses knitted colorwork, which I've never done before, but I really enjoyed.  I had to tweak the pattern a bit to make it smaller for a child-sized head (sizing for children has to be one of my biggest challenges).  The colorwork can be a challenge as following the graph forces you to use a bit of math (yes, it's true what they tell you in school, you do need math eventually) and pay attention.  But I'm glad I challenged myself and am looking forward to doing more colorwork in the future. 

 

Next up were some washcloths for my dad, who really likes the crocheted ones I made him about two years ago.  Since I've been noticing he still uses them AND they are falling apart, I thought it was high time to make him some more.  Usually I just wing it and crochet some squares.  This time, I decided to knit them as I wanted to use up my cotton stash- and only having a bit of cotton left, I thought I'd knit as it uses less yarn.  I forgot to get pictures but I used this pattern that features a basketweave stitch, which I quite like.  Here's the photo from the pattern page:

And lastly, I made my first project for our baby bean.  I've been so excited to start making things for the little one!  The Aviatrix pattern first caught my eye on cosymakes blog.  I loved the style of the hat, especially with the handspun.  One of my goals this year is to keep more of my handspun and dyed yarns for myself to use in projects.  So after Craftateria, I coveted one of my hand-dyes for this hat.  The yarn is from my local wool series and is processed right here in Alberta.  Orange is not typically a color I choose, but since it's neutral and bright, and Cosy's looked great in orange, I thought why not.  

It's actually a bit more orange than it appears in the picture (stupid lack of daylight!)  And gosh, I enjoyed knitting this.  The pattern was interesting.  I finished it off with a funky polymer button I received from Elaine in a Christmas swap from a few years ago.  It did turn out a bit bigger than intended, but since baby is due in the spring, it probably won't be needed until the winter anyhow.

Next up, I'm pondering a little sweater or perhaps another hat or maybe some legwarmers for myself!  Gotta get through some stash as my current yarn studio will be baby's room come spring!

Mod Dogs- Bianca

I recently completed a custom order for a dog cowl for Lizzi and her dog Bianca.
Lizzi was kind enough to share some photos of Bianca modelling her new cowl, and she looks GORGEOUS!
I'm hoping to get busy and start making more of these cowls for the cooler weather ahead.

End of the Line for Angora-Merino for this Yarnie

I am pleased to announce I am now a 'yarnie' on ravelry! 
This basically means my yarns are now search-able in their yarn database, meaning if you've made a project with one of my yarns, it can now be linked to my yarn page on ravelry!  It's a little sparse right now, but it'll be growing!

I recently finished dyeing up the last of my local angora merino for a wonderful customer, Juanita of GenuineKnits on Etsy.  She's already made one hat, can't wait to see what else she makes!

I added all the colorways I did in this yarn to my ravelry page, I loved seeing them all together:

I'll admit, I've been in a bit of a creative slump lately, this long winter is really starting to get to me.  But on the bright side, I've been doing quite a bit more personal knitting and crocheting, and am currently working on a super fun, stash-busting project I'm calling the Spring Ahead (please) Scarf.  You know when you finish knitting or crocheting a project, and then the weather suddenly turns too warm to wear it?  Well, I'm sort of hoping that's what will happen with this one.

The pattern, as you can probably guess, is from ravelry and is called the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf, is fairly easy and a fun way to use up all those smaller quantities of yarn.  It features the linen stitch which I find really beautiful:

 

Pattern Recommendations

I'm growing more and more obsessed with Ravelry; an online knit & crochet community.

There's no better place to browse patterns, network with other crafty types, get advice on how to fix your spinning wheel, and even help plan your next mini-vacation!  Everyone is just really keen to share!

I thought I'd share a few of the projects I've been working on, or had my eye on (you'll need a free ravelry account to access these)

Right now, I'm working on a crocheted soaker for baby diapers by Good Housekeeping (a pattern that's atleast 50 years old!) with some unraveled wool sweater yarn.  The important aspect here, being that you use 100% wool; such as this handpainted, 100% Peruvian Highland wool in my shop:

I also just added this knit beanie by Jessamyn Van Den Elzen to my list of favorites, which would also be perfect to use with a yarn similar to above:

A lot of people who purchase my thick 'n thin handspun yarns make baby hats.  I spotted this Long Tails Beanie by Jen Bartlett that would work perfectly with those yarns:

(wouldn't it look great with this?)

If you are wanting to make an adult hat with some chunky handspun, the First Hat pattern by Nikol Lohr would be perfect:

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Next on my list this Dandy Neckerchief by Ariane Caron-Lacoste:

I love the leafy design!  Not sure which yarn I am going to use yet... hoping to stumble upon an earthy green or brown.  We'll see!!

Operation Baby Snuggle

It seems so many of my friends are having babies these days. 

It gives me a great chance to try some new patterns that aren't too involved because they are so small.  And what a great way to use up stashed yarns!

The latest project was this knit hat for Steph's soon-to-be-born.

 

 

 

The yarn is Malabrigo Twist; colorway plena.  It's leftover from a custom project and it's simply gorgeous yarn.  Some of the softest wool I've worked with.  It almost feels like a cotton.  

The pattern is Cabled Baby Hats by Julie Hentz; featuring lots of fun cables (I love cables!)

 Next up?  well, I can't say, because I don't want to ruin a surprise!

The Laughing Buddha: Now with Scarf

 

Just for fun, I knit this scarf for my statue of Pu-Tai, better known as the Laughing Buddha. He's probably my favorite incarnation of the Buddha- so jolly.  A little bit like Santa Claus, but way less commercial, and more enlightened, of course.  He tends to look a little cold in the winter, or maybe it's just me projecting my coldness on him.  I knit a simple i-cord with some handspun cotton, and added some tassles.  That's better!

The Laughing Buddha emerged from Chinese folktales of the 10th century. The original stories of the Laughing Buddha centered on a Ch'an monk named Ch'i-t'zu, or Qieci, from Fenghua, in what is now the province of Zhejiang. Ch'i-t'zu was an eccentric but much-loved character who worked small wonders such as predicting the weather.

The tales of Ch'i-t'zu spread throughout China, and he came to be called Pu-tai (Budai), which means "hempen sack." He carries a sack with him full of good things, such as sweets for children, and he is often pictured with children. Pu-tai represents happiness, generosity and wealth, and he is a protector of children as well as of the poor and the weak.

source 

New Year = New Mittens

Happy new year!
I hope everyone is off to a good start for 2011.
I had a wonderful time this holiday season.  Lots of visiting family, and it was so much less stressful being back in my hometown.  There's nothing like being able to go home and fall asleep in your own bed after a busy day!  I also got some yummy fibery goodies as gifts, including alpaca yarn, rose wood crochet hooks and a wonderful book of knitted hat patterns.

We had a few family & friends over for new years eve; and new years day was mostly spent on the couch watching movies (Riding in Cars with Boys) and knitting.

Here's Sol, looking a bit hungover:

 

Over the holidays, I was busy working on some mittens for myself using some of my hand-dyed angora-merino yarn.  Since my supply is almost out, I thought I better save some for myself!   I was inspired by Laura from Prairie Peasant and the mittens she knit from some of the yarn she purchased from me:

I forgot to take a picture of the yarn before I knit it, but here are mine:

 

I used one of Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns from my Knitting without Tears book; its a pretty laid back pattern and it was the first project I have made using one of her patterns.  I believe she just calls it "36 stitch mittens".  Luckily for me, they turned out a bit long, which is perfect because I have really long fingers.  It was fun to knit with the yarn and watch how the colors changed and pooled.  On both mittens, a different pattern appeared on the front and back, the front colors pooled more while on the back the colors striped more.. fun!  And so far, the mittens are really warm and I now understand how angora bunnies stay so toasty all the time!

It was also one of the few times I enjoyed knitting on smaller needles.  I have pretty bad eyes and often find my eyes go buggy if I work on really fine projects.  But this was not bad, and now I am even thinking about trying my hands at a pair of socks!

The last knit.. for the year!

Holiday time is a good time to laze about, stuff your face, watch movies and catch up on your knitting/crocheting.  Enjoy this little video called "The Last Knit":

Do you find this somewhat relate-able?  I know I do at times :)

And what to knit while you watching videos, eating cookies and lazing about?  How about this cute Owl Coffee Cup Cozy by knitphomaniac:

(a couple of pics from the project pool- I love how the owl stands out in the first one)

Seasons Greetings Everyone!  Best to you for the new year!

Winding Down..

I'm hoping things are winding down as we approach the last couple weeks before the holidays.  I have been busy keeping the shop stocked, but will be taking a break from making anything new until I get caught up on all my gifts and shopping.

I will also be doing a craft show this year- something I typically don't do... but its going to be a really cozy, fun, non-formal type deal.  If you are in the Lethbridge area, check out Craftateria!  Art and Indie Craft Fair on December 18 at the PARLOUR window downtown:

I'll bring my spinning wheel and some new hand painted yarns, and knit & crocheted goodies.

This year, I'm trying to keep the Christmas insanity to a minimum.  But as I'm sure many artists and crafters will agree, it's a challenge to find a happy balance at this time of year.  On the one hand, its probably the best time to sell your wares- so you try your best to keep the shop stocked, but on the other hand, you've gotta have a life!  I am not complaining as I feel really lucky to have such support for my work, but perhaps this serves as a little hug to all you makers out there- hang in there and keep up the good work!!  We are making a deep dent in gift giving awesomeness!

Here's a few of the projects I've been working on.

I was asked for a custom order for a set of family slippers:

I have also been making some mittens:

 

They are both made out of vintage yarn.  The first pair came from a couple of very pink balls of acrylic/wool buffalo yarn, which I over dyed, you can see the original color here:

The second pair I have already mentioned in a previous blog post, but I over dyed the gray color into purple.  Here's the original color, before dyeing.  This is buffalo yarn too, but 100% wool.  (And no, still haven't made my sweater)

And I made a present for myself (gotta have a little gift to yourself once in a while!)- a kerchief with some of the noro furin yarn I picked up on my last trip to edmonton. 

I like these triangle type scarves because they are bit dressy and you can wear them indoors and outdoors, and also because you only need one ball of noro (or other super yummy yarns) to make.  They are something I'm considering making & selling in the shop- maybe with handspun yarns!  I used a vintage wooden button and it can slip anywhere I want in the knitted fabric, so the scarf can be loose fitting or more snug.  You'd probably get a better idea of the size if I tried it on, but I'm still in my pj's :)

Fall Abundance

We have been fortunate enough to enjoy a long, wonderful fall this year.
Our tomato harvest was the best on record, and we recently harvested our potatoes:

 

There's also a few onions in there too :)

We didn't buy 'seed' potatoes; instead used some of the sprouting potatoes in our pantry- and it seemed to work just fine.  We grew mostly yellow yukon gold, and there were a few red in there too.  Some of them unfortunately turned green- but we'll stick those in the ground now and see if they'll sprout next year.  (green potatoes are apparently toxic)

The flowers and other vegetation in our yard is slowly dying off for winter- but certain plants have become more beautiful in the past couple weeks:

 Chinese Lanterns

the bees love these purple flowers (no idea what they're called)- one of the last plants to pollinate!

marigolds after our first killing frost, Oct 17.

 

The beautiful changing colors of the virginia creeper

I dug into my stash of buffalo wool recently and made this season's first pair of mitts:

My hands are chronically cold, so I think these will be perfect for all the dog walking we'll be doing this winter.  The wool is so lofty and thick, its like a blanket for your hands :)

I think I'll be making more too, its an enjoyable quick pattern.