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.