2 more hats!





Ok, really, I am going to go work on my sister's scarf. You know, the one I was supposed to give her for Christmas and which is still not done? That one.

another scrap hat

You know how when you finish knitting something you have just a little bit of yarn left and you can't bring yourself to throw it away? No? Hmmmm.... Well, in any case, I have this bag full of yarn odds and ends, and have finally started putting them to good use. So here are a couple of my latest adventures in knitting:





I have a few others I finished this week but haven't photographed yet. Now if I could just make myself finish my Christmas knitting.

New yarns

Have picked up spinning again after a little bit of a hiatus. Must be the change of seasons - summer doesn't feel like "spinning" time to me.

Have a few new yarns to share:


so far these are unnamed, so if you have suggestions, I welcome them.


merino yarn in purple, teal and white.


merino yarn in navy, purple, teal and magenta


cashmere, silk, merino yarn in smokey lavender, gray, and slate


llama, mohair silk yarn in blue, black and white


llama, mohair, silk yarn in brown and teal

My So Called Hat

One of the things that people ask me all the time when they visit my studio is why they should shell out money for my handspun or handdyed yarn, instead of going down the street to Michael's or whatever and buying a commercial yarn for a lot less money. I try to talk to them about the quality of the fibers that I use, and compare prices with commercial luxury yarns. I talk to them about the joy of knitting something that is going to be truly unique. But more often than not, they look at me like I am completely insane.

So, one of my current projects is to make up some sample items to show how using a handspun or handdyed yarn can increase the beauty of a knitted or crocheted item.

To start off with, I have so far knitted up 3 versions of the same hat. In case you are interested, this is an adaptation of the My So Called Scarf pattern, which I worked out to knit in the round.

The first is made from some Red Heart, TLC Heathers:



I think it's a perfectly good hat, but nothing to write home about.

The second is made from some hand dyed sock yarn, using the yarn doubled:


I love the variegation on this one, it's still a superwash yarn, and it is much softer to the touch than the red heart one (not that you're surprised by that, I am sure).

The third is a handspun yarn.


This particular yarn was spun from fiber dyed by my friend Lynne, and navajo plied to produce a fun stripey effect. This is also a superwash merino, and is super soft and warm. Although I personally like this one a lot, I think I might do another handspun version with a funkier yarn, just to see what it looks like.

I am pleased with the results of my project so far, and hope that it will help people to better appreciate what I do.

Baby Viking Hat

I learned how to make bobbles this week!
Took a test drive of the baby viking hat pattern:

Tiny things

In expectation of some new additions to my family, I have been knitting baby things. Knitting for babies is awesome. Everything is tiny and adorable, and the projects work up really fast. See what I mean?

Had a good weekend at open studios. Sold a few things and got to visit with Annmarie and Amber stopped by for a yarn shopping expedition to the Classic Elite store ('cause clearly we all needed some more yarn).

I finally got my Kitty quilt pieced together. Now I just have to figure out how to add the backing and it will be done!

Yummy Sushi and other things

I like to call this the "yummy sushi purse". Yes, that is a Buffy reference. No, I don't like sushi, but I thought this fabric was too cute to resist.

In other sewing news, I also decided it was time to replace my koi fish wallet/ purse as it was practically falling apart. So I made this:


I have just a little bit of this fabric left, but was able to make one more purse/wallet, and can probably get at least 1 more scene from it.



Here's a few other new purses:

Kitty in the Patch - update

All the pieces have been arranged and heat set to the backing fabric. I started doing some of the edging this morning. I have to admit I was a little scared to start edging the individual applique pieces. It's not something I have done before and I was sure I was going to totally mess up my project. But it turns out to be not so bad. So far I have all the kitties done and have started on the pumpkins. Then I had to go to work. Stupid work.

Kitty in the Patch

Here is what my first quilting project is supposed to look like when I am done:



And this is what I have done so far:


You will, perhaps, notice that I put the kitty on backwards. 'Cause I am awesome that way. The lesson to learn here is, of course: Don't attempt new crafts at 5:00 am.

Trying something new

I started my very first quilting project this morning. I have wanted to try quilting for a while now, and I finally worked up the courage to start. The project is a pretty simple applique wall hanging, with four squares featuring a black cat and pumpkin design with a block border. I got all the border pieces cut out this morning and one black cat cut out and attached to the background.
Whee!

Thought I would share some more experiments in dyeing. Here's a bunch of roving that I have done up over the last few months:

I actually dyed these a few months ago, but never got around to posting them. I had scored a huge cone of this horrible mustard yellow mohair yarn from the classic elite factory store, and promptly set about overdyeing it to much less horrible colors. Well, in my opinion anyway.







I had 2 other colorways that I did from this yarn, which were mostly reds and oranges, but I managed to sell them before I took a picture. Whoops.

This one was from a different cone of natural white mohair yarn:



From that same cone, I made the following:





For the pink/red neckwarmer, I kettle dyed the yarn, and then knit it up, while for the second one, I knit it first, and then dyed it. Good times.

I am still on a sewing kick and have a bunch of stuff to share. Lately, I have been using my insomnia to my advantage. When I wake up at 4:30 and can't go back to sleep, instead of staying in bed and wishing I was sleeping....I've been dragging my butt up to the studio and getting some work done.

Here's what I have been up to:

More aprons:











Knitting needle cases:











And purses:






So that's pretty much what I have been up to lately.

In other news, I have changed studio mates. Amber left our space this month, which makes me a little sad, but I totally understand why she needed to do that. My friend Jaime is going to be moving in with me, so I am looking forward to playing around with our space. I am finally putting up curtains! (or at least, I will be as soon as I can get someone who is not afraid of heights to come over and help).