Hooded sweater & cable hat

This set was originally knit for someone else, but unfortunately they (nor I) took into acct that cotton shrinks when washed and the sweater ended up about 1.5 inch too short despite me adding 2.5 inches to what the pattern called for. I assumed hand washing on cold the yarn wouldn't shrink but lo and behold it did. I also did not believe my customer when she told me her 2 yo son had a 21.5 inch head and while the hat did fit the circumference, it was too short :( So I am ordering 1 more skein of yarn (as I already have 3) and remaking the entire set. meanwhile they fit Rhiannon perfectly so now she has them and it's one less item I must knit for the Pixie Pie.

front and back done


all pieces complete, seaming still to do


On the adorable recipient :)

I crochet!! And Dye too!!

Yesterday was a fun day in experiments. I needed a mental break from the ton of knitting I have to do so sat down and crocheted Rhiannon's doll a hat, and then proceeded to crochet a hat for Rhiannon as well. And then last night I crocheted Rory's hat. Xander & Ethan have both also asked for one, but without the "ponytails" lol





And then I also dyed 6 skeins of yarn for socks I am knitting for 2 stores.

A How to tutorial

After having completed Rhiannon's Hip in Hemp I have been dreading doing much with Rory's as I detest weaving in ends, and boy are there a LOT of ends to weave in. And because of the way the pattern is, once you got to the eyelet row increases it was nearly impossible to hide the ends when weaving them in.

So I decided to change the row in which I started the inc/decrease pattern section to give myself a bit more space for better weaving but thought there had to be a better way.

And so it came to be that this past week a fellow craftster posted a blog (sock pron) in which she shows how to weave in ends while still knitting. The catch was it was written for an english knitter, to which I am not, and for a flat piece for which Hip in Hemp is not. And this lead me to coming up with my own method that I am happy with and have been testing merrily on other projects. So perhaps now I'll finish Rory's skirt!

On with the tutorial!


When you reach the beginning of your round, drop the working yarn and pick up the new yarn, knit the first stitch as normal



Now take the old yarn and toss over your new working yarn



wrap the old yarn around new yarn thusly, holding it nice and snug



Now knit your second stitch, being sure to keep the wrapped yarn nice and snug



Continue tossing, wrapping and knitting until you feel you have secured the end, I go about 2 inches.

You can repeat this in the next row wrapping the end of your current yarn around the working end of the yarn as you did previously to secure it. The backside will look like this (though please ignore the thick weave as I thought I would try weaving both ends in at the same time, which obviously did not work! however you should be able to see the deep rose woven with the sage, and then the sage woven with the light rose)

Hip in Hemp

I felt this project deserved it's own blog! I have so many pics of Rhi in this skirt there is no way I could post them all, however I'll keep it to just a few :)

Pics as promised!

Being offline for a month and all that jazz really put a crimp in putting up pi s of finished projects, and I know I am missing some pics that got uploaded at my dads house, so they will be posted when I get them :p



Xander in his RPM sock from Knitty, knit in socks that rocks monsoon colorway, they were my first STR yarn for the sock club but I decided Xander would love camo socks and get more use from them than I so he was bestowed these.





This is Kona superwash I koolaid dyed in self striping pattern to knit my sister some socks as a birthday gift. While I loved the colors I quikly realized it was not her style in colors and so the socks have just the ribbing on the last cuff to be completed and I am keeping them for me ;) lol



My black rainbow socks (dyed by midnight spectrum on hyenacart)I used the shimmer sock pattern on magknits but altered it to fit my narrow foot and made the cuff shorter, which left me enough yarn to make my 2yo DD a pair, which I have yet to get a picture of.


This was my June big mboy from mothering.com. I know exactly what I plan to do with my banana silk fiber yarn, a crescent moon shaped purse, they rest is still being silent on what to do with it LOL

Double licious! I finished Rhiannons black rainbow socks to kinda match my black rainbow socks (yes yes pictures will be forthcoming!). I tried out a different heel, I did a k2p2 ribbed short row heel. I like that it fits her snuggly as he ankle/heel is pretty narrow, however I didn't give the heel enough length so they pull down a little on her. She loves them though and it was an experiment!

I still have the heel and ankle to do on the footie sock that was going to be my sisters, now they are going to be mine and I bought a pretty pink yarn more suited to her style. But those will have to wait as I currently have a hip in hemp (knitty.com) OTN for Rhi and soon Rory, plus I have about 1-2 weeks to knit a pair of knucks for my realtor who is a bad ass bike chick and been so great with our huse buying.

Once I have my computer look for a picture loaded blog!

Independance

Knitting, drinking, and fireworks, what could be better??? I sat outside with my kids, knitting in one hand and a coconut pina colada in the other while fireworks boomed overhead. It was a great night and while we celebrated the US's independance, I also celebrated the completion of Xander's RPM socks. Yet somehow I managed to make the second one tighter on the calf and longer on the foot than the original. Not sure how so looks like I may have to trudge thru yet 1 more at least, 2 if I am feeling suicidal and want to have the odd sock a match to donate. I think I am going to work on something else for awhile though. RPM is easy and the first sock was quik but after that I was BORED. Now is the time to learn the 2 socks on 2 circs to avoid this SSS nonsense.

In Washington and lovin it!

I have been in Wa officially 2 weeks now. I am staying with a friend (who does not get my addiction to yarn in the mail lol) so I can't upload any pictures. However I can tell you of my ongoing projects and FO's :)

So I finally finished my blak rainbow socks and man do I love them. I did have to tweak them bot and increase a few st at the ribbing section, otherwise those puppies were not going on my feet. Guess that happens when you make the socks to fit nice and snug and your foot is more narrow than your calf. I am now on sock #2 of Rhiannons black rainbow socks. It could be done in 2 hours if I could just sit and knit them.

As for #2 socks I am on the foot finally of Xanders second RPM. I have 3 more pattern repeats and then the toe, could be done tonight or tomorow if I just sit and knit.

And lil sis #2 anklet has been put on stitch holders so i could use those circs for Xanders rpm. I do think since I only have a few inches left again would only take me anhour or two to complete but they are going to be mine as I don't feel the pink is the right pink for her, so I purchased pre-dyed yarn in a soft candy pink and white. I am sure I can not only get her anklets but both of the girls a pair of socks as well.

I have grand plans to knit a pair of knucks for my badass biker chick realtor who has been super wonderful in my house hunting/buying adventures. And possibly a hat for my bald loan officer.

And after all of that I will be making the happy in hemp skirts from summer issue of knitty for both girls. Yarn and needles have already arrived which are of course driving me crazy because I want to knit them RIGHT. NOW.

But of course DD1 wants a cute knit pink purse like moms cool knitted purse. And I have still managed to be in the magic BoY swaps so I now have a nice skein of banana silk yarn and patons sws yarn that are itching to be knit right away. I do often wish I had 6 arms so I could be knitting more efficiently LOL

When I am in my own home with my computer I will upload a ton of pics from my adventures in travel knitting and dying and swapping!

May MBOY teaser

I really do enjoy doing this yarn swap on MDC. And despite the upheaval of a cross country move I am still full on participating! So without further ado...my teaser

True sign of a yarn addict

We packed up our house last week to move from CT to WA. I however couldn't allow anyone to touch my yarn stash, or bear for it to be packed away in a moving box and put in storage for who knows how long. So I packed it up in a huge bag, tossed in some cedar blocks and put it in the passenger seat of my truck to ride along beside me! Here is a small taste of my stash, most of it is on the other side.

My April yarn from swap

I really love doing these yarn swaps on MDC and will miss doing it in June. But here is what I received this month. Moda Dea yarn hand painted with kool-aid, size 5 DPN, several chai teas *yum* some bath salts, a handmade case for my darning needles and stitch markers, and the cutest stuffed peeps toy that Rhiannon promptly acquired as her own.

Pictures of Recent work!

I have been busy and forgetting to post. So here is the finished felted Noro Kureyon bag I sent in last months ball swap--unfelted then felted



Here is my very first WarmHeartWoolies soaker. I wasn't sure if I liked it at first as my fingers cramped a lot on the flat sections but the fact that there is practically no finishing and best yet no picking up stitches, it was awesome~! I used irish baby knits merino, so yummy and soft.


My first pair of grown up socks, not the ones I originally blogged about, those both got frogged *sigh* but these are nice. I did ankle socks which isn't normally what I like, in undyed blackberry ridge merino. I may dye them eventually. And man is it hard to take pics of socks on your own feet!


And then my 2 girls, Rory in her Nakiska, which is great for keeping her dreads out of her face, and Rhiannon in Piggle, both from Knitty.com

Teaser for April's yarn swap

This is just a teaser to what I put all the goodies in :o)

Some things I have been working on :)

I have been so busy the last few weeks! I knit a HUGE bowl and felted it to fit around a plant vase for my dad's SOs birthday. That bowl took forver to knit, the yarn was a bit scratchy but it felts so nicely.

Then i have been working on a spiral blanket for my friend Amber's nicu preemie. It's made from MCY superwash merino sock yarn. I love this yarn so much I foresee buying much much more in the future for socks!

I did another project too but it's a secret and partly will be revealed in my next post as a teaser for the April magic ball of yarn swap.

I knit up a panta today for my DD Rory who is in the process of dreading her hair and needed something to help hold them back. I am about to cast on Piggle from knitty for her as well.

I knit an adorable ribbed bag for myself, I just need to put the handles on it and sew in the fabric before i snap a picture.

And finally I am designing a pleated skirt in the round for Rhiannon. I'm not sure my idea will turn out how I want it but I'll never know if I don't get my fingers to work on that project.

OH! And I forgot I have 2 socks for ME OTN. One is a crazy cable pair with yarn from Annie in Canada from my first yarn ball swap. The other is a black rainbow sock dyed by midnight spectrum (she is on hyenacart.com) and I am using an altered version of a magknits pattern called shimmer.

Ok ok enough with the chat here are some pics ;)

Sam's Capri's

Jackson's mama wanted a pair of capri's for Jax's older sister Sam. She picked the best yarn, I am having a very hard time folding these up, putting them in an envelope and shipping them off LOL. Mosaic Moon kettle dyed Targhee is like, it's better than cashmere IMO. I tried a different crotch style, instead of kitchener grafting I did a 3 needle bind off. Aside from the seam inside it looks nearly identical to the kitchener on the outside of the pants, plus required much less thought to what i was doing, which in a houseful of 5 kids, doing kitchener can be harry at the best of times. I made the bottom look to be bellbottoms and added a crocheted picot trim and sweet lil ribbon accents for both the drawstring on the waist and on the bottom of the legs. I do home my friend likes these, ok who am I kidding, who wouldn't kill for these pants? They RAWK!

Take a shot and jump in the pond...

I just recently jumped in to sock knitting, seeing as how I joined Socks That Rock. But I have been too scared to start those socks and potentially ruin some very gorgeous yarn. This weekend I got the itch, said what the hell, and knit 1 perfect pink sock. I only had the yarn enough for one and my sweet 2yo snatched up and proclaimed it hers. Which led to me grabbing more yarn and in 3-4 hours having her a matching pair of socks, which she loves!



So knowing I could do it and trying 2 different techniques out on those 3 socks (toe up, short row heel and top down heel flap) I felt confident I could do ANYTHING!

Being that I had gotten the most incredible black rainbow handpainted sock yarn a few days ago (with some matching black yarn for toes/heels) I swatched. I never swatch but I didn't ant any mistakes on these socks.

After endless searching I found the pattern for this yarn. Shimmer Socks would be great! I followed the directions, thinking from the moment I cast on that this was going to be too big for my foot. But I knit on. I ended up with a toe cap that was 3 inches+ long and at least an inch too wide, but still I knit on into the pattern for the foot. After 3 row repeats I tried it on and nearly cried. It would never fit me! Maybe a man with wide feet but not me :(

I looked at my husband, tears in my eyes and said plainly "I need a shot of tequila" as I slowly, carefully stitch by stitch, ripped out my days worth of knitting. I sat there just looking at the curly pile of yarn, Tequila burning in my stomach. Heaved a deep sigh......and cast on again. My way (crazy 8 CO) to what I felt would be a more reasonable size for me. Now to decide if I try to flub the pattern to fit me or do a regular ol stockinette sock. The yarn is so gorgeous it really does all of the work. The pattern was really just to keep me interested.

I think I'll wait until tommorow to decide.

A dolly for my dolly

My sweet baby turned TWO yesterday *sniff* so I knit her this adorable Dolly from the Jess Hutch book. It was super quik and easy! Happy Birthday sweet Rhiannon!

Jax in his pants set

It's not often I get to see the babes wearing gifted knits so how excited am I to see lil Jax sporting this too cute set? I am working on a cute capri for his almost twin older sister now :)

knitties for sisters

I worked out a trade with a nice mama to get my 2yo some awesome custom made bamboo velour undies. I made her 2yoDD a pair of shorties and her soon to be born DD a pair of longies that will grow to fit her all summer and be capri's. I love how they came out, super cute!

My finished SKB

well I did, it's finished. My first large project! I'm disappointed but so glad I tested the pattern in a cheap yarn so I can see where I need to alter things to fit me better. I made the smallest size and it's fit is too loose, so next time I will do decreases under the arms after the join and knit several extra rows before starting the lace pattern section, then I will not do the waist increases and knit the length longer as following the pattern made it just an inch or 2 too short for my tastes.

SKB--day two

Another day stuck in bed sick leaves time for much progress! One thing I have learned however is that lace probably shouldn't be knit while sick and breastfeeding lol I made a few oops that aren't really noticeable except to me of course. I am working on my 3rd waist increase now but wanted to try it on to see if I need all 5 increases. As it turns out 3 is all I need so after this will just be boring rows of stockinette until I get to the hem.

Changes I made, I left off the purl ridges and instead did 4 rows of seed stitch before and after the lace portion. 3 waits increases instead of. I'll also do the seed stitch for the hem and arm cuffs. The sleeves are already at the length I want so I am skipping the lace on the sleeves and just going straight in to the cuff. I think I should be done tommorow or Monday.

This is the largest project O have knit but by far one of the fastest. And it lives up to its name, it is indeed very simple :)

Simple Knitted Bodice--KAL 1

I joined some MDC mamas do do a KAL for stitchdiva's simple knitted bodice. It's got very pretty details and I couldn't wait to finish up some other projects to get started. Then I got very sick this week, which makes perfect knitting time. So after casting on last nigh and spending today in bed I got a good start on my SKB. I am almost to the lace detail on the bodice. Here is a picture of my progress :)

Rockin' Sock Club!

I'm a freshman this year in what is known as the rockin sock club, enabled by the wonderful ladies at Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I got my first kit in the mail yesterday and really had to restrain myself from ripping open the box and digging in to its contents. Especially as I still have one more pare of longies to knit before my hands are free. But I digress...

I couldn't hold out any longer and opened my pkg. Wowwee is all i can say. The yarn is nice, very soft, squishy and springy. I live the little emergency sock yarn keychain. The pin, the sticker. And a binder to hold all of my new patterns that will be arriving every 2 mths. I have never knit a sock before so this will be a my new years challenge. I can't wait to start! I already did my gauge swatch tho it looks as if I may need to drop down to a size 0 or even 00 to knit as I am still about .5 st off in my guage on size 1's. Ouch! They are so tiny I am afraid I might break them :/

Pants for Jackson

A friend of mine recently had a sweet baby boy. I was so excited to get to knit for him and his mama picked out the softest prettiest yarn. Such a joy to knit with! The legs really are the same size they just need to be washed and blocked so ignore the wonkyness of the pic. I can't wait for Sarah to get these and put them on Jackson :)

Magic Ball of Yarn

This is my second month participating in the MDC magic yarn ball swap. I love doing this as you just never know what you will get. Last month I got custom spun and dyed sock yarn that I am still afraid to knit up. Well that and I don't have DPN's small enough yet. My LYS has weird hours that don't always jive well with my schedule. But anyways on to this months swap.

I got a huge box brought right up to my door today. I really didn't think it could possibly be my yarn, but since I haven't ordered anything I knew it had to be. I ripped into the box like a kid on Christmas morning. I giggled with delight upon opening the box. And then really chuckled as I recognized the "waste" yarn used to wrap my goodies. I had just been knitting with it a few weeks ago, attempting to make a beach bag that I gave up on.

I read the note and knew exactly who my swappee was. And began unwinding the waste yarn. Out came a keychain card of yarn weights, great for a quik reference, a needle sizer perfect for someone like me who always forgets to put their needles back in their case, a yummy chocolate bar, a bag of coffee that I can't wait to drink, a knitting rules book (and lets be honest I never follow the rules so this book is on my must start reading now list lol I cant wait to read a good knitting book!!), and last but so not least this lovely oh so soft rainbow jewel toned mohair/wool/nylon yarn. I haven't yet decided what to knit with it. I know it will speak to me soon and tell me what it wants to be. Until then I am going to pet it everyday. Thank you Alaska :D