Chrysalis Knits

HHHH Questionaire

2008-07-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself? 4 years, intermediate
2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)? Mostly 2/3 ply, with some of the others thrown in on occasion
3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)? Mostly wheel, but I like to spin really fine yarn on my spindle
4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don't like? I love wool, and wool blends (silk, mohair, angora, alpaca, etc), and like alpaca too, but usually prefer animal fibers. I don't care much for cotton.
5. Who are your favorite fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)? Yarn or Tale, The Good Sheep, Serenity Farms, Susans's Spinning Bunny.
6. What kind of fiber do you want to try? I've never tried any of the "new" fibers/blends like bamboo, or tencel.
7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn? I want to work on long-draw.
8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn? I do, but I'd like to try some new techniques.
9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber? I love to prepare my own, but ready to spin is nice sometimes too. I'm flexible!
10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed? I've made some socks, some baby clothes, but a lot of it is waiting for a project. I'm spinning some for a shawl or two also.
11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)? I don't have a WPI gauge, and my threading hook is the cheap one that came with my wheel. It works, so it hasn't been high on my list, but new tools are always fun!
12. What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand? I'm a big fan of cool colors: purple, green, blue. I don't care much for yellow or orange, and only like pink in smaller quantities.
13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now? My wheel has some Corriedale carded with sari silk, and my spindle has some tussah silk that I'm spinning into embroidery thread.
14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have? I love to knit and sew, and I'm starting to enjoy reading again.
15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about? Jesus, my family.
16. Do you have an online wishlist? No.
17. Is there anything that you collect? Matryoshka
18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have? I subscribe to Spin-Off. I'd like to get a copy of EZs Knitting Workshop, and Joyce William's Latvian Dreams, but can't think of anything else.
19. When is your birthday? January
21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)? Hot, but not unbearably so.
22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself! I don't like different foods to touch on my plate.

Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link): Monet's The White Water Lilies (It is stunning in person!)
Candy: Dark Chocolate
Food: Mexcican-style
Drink: Water, then coffee
Movie(s): My Fair Lady
TV Show(s): Chuck, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Book(s): Doctor Zhivago, anything by Nabokov
Guilty Pleasure(s): Ice cream, chocolate

We're still alive here.....

2008-07-03T14:05:00.004-05:00

I sort of dropped off the face of the earth for a while, but I'm still alive, knitting, spinning, and sewing too. In the time I've been away, my little A turned two and I made him a Percy's Chocolate Crunch cake to celebrate:

Here are all the kids dressed up for Easter. My SIL was visiting us, so they were being extra cute for her!
J is not a little baby anymore, he's already 6 months old and 21 lbs! He rolls all over the place and moves forward by flinging himself, which looks a bit like he's doing the butterfly stroke.

Here are DH, J, B, and A on our way to church a few weeks ago. I had made their outfits for one of my BILs high school graduation. B's dress is McCall's 4006. J and A have curved raglans from Ottobre 2/05, J's romper is from Ottobre 3/07, while A's shorts are just a basic pair from Kwik Sew for Toddlers.

And because who can resist a sleeping baby!

I love Kwik Sew!

2008-02-22T18:42:00.004-06:00

I've started sewing the kids summer wardrobe, and I've liked Kwik Sew patterns for a few years, but I gained a new appreciation for them over the past few days. This outfit for B took one afternoon to make, even with J waking up to eat, and a few other interruptions. It is KS 2596 and is sized from 1-4T. This probably wouldn't have been my first choice in prints, but it was on clearance, and it is still a nice print, and the lavender matches the flowers. It was my first time using twin needles, and I was surprised at how easy it was. I really like how professional it makes the hems look. I used to use a stretch stitch on knits, but I think I like the twin needle method better! And here is B modeling her new outfit (excuse the hair she just got up from her quiet time/nap!).

Here are J's ducky feet, just because!
With a gift card that we had from Christmas, I bought Kwik Sew's Sewing for Baby and Sewing for Toddlers. The pictures look pretty dates, but the styles are really classic and are so easy to update. Here are the short overalls in 3-6 on J. I'll be making the rest of his 6-9 for the summer! He's a super chunk, but we think he's cute!
And because he doesn't have any clothes to model yet but was so cute when painting this morning, here is A.

Sewing for Spring

2008-02-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

I've started my spring sewing for the kids. This is a dress that I began last year (McCall 5416), but was put aside because I cut out the front upside down, so the hearts face the wrong way. I pulled it out again, and then I cut another front instead of a back, argh! But it will be fine for a play dress.
Here's another one that I like (Simplicity 5695). It was not quite as easy as the first one, but it went together quickly. The most difficult parts were the gathers. I like this style because B can dress herself since there are no zippers. I also think that most zippers are too stiff for kidswear.
Here is B modeling my favorite (Simplicity 5118). I used my serger to make a rolled hem, and then I used the scallop stitch feature on my sewing machine to make cute scallops on the edges. I like how it dresses up a fairly plain dress.
I have some patterns for the boys too, but I haven't cut them out yet. I hope to make most of the kids clothes for the spring/summer.

I've also been working on my swap mittens. I love coming up with new designs, but I can't share this one yet!

Munckin Pictures, Sewing, and Knitting

2008-02-04T20:34:00.000-06:00

First, a new picture of the munchkins, taken a few days ago. A likes to hold his brother almost as much as B. You can tell it was still early by her crazy hair! Both of the older kids like to be next to J. A will climb up on the couch and pat his back. B did the same to A when he was this age too.
B loves to help with J, and here she is helping to snap up his clothes after a diaper change.
For the few weeks following the holidays I didn't want to knit anything too complicated, so I made this fluffy little bolero for B out of some Lion Brand Fun Fetti that I found in the sale bin at Joann's. She loves it, of course!
Two weeks ago, I washed, carded, spun, and dyed some Dorset/Romney fleece from a sheep named Maggie, who lives at Ewe and I Farm. It made a wonderfully bouncy and lofty yarn.
The yarn was knit up into soakers, which were auctioned off to help a friend whose family business was lost in a fire last month. The hat ans booties were made with Lion Suede. The hat features an owl cable, but the brown really didn't photograph well. I designed the booties on the fly. I knew that ribbing in this yarn wouldn't work well, so I added the button and strap instead. The diapers for this and the girly set were knit by my friend Rachel from the Darling Diaper newborn pattern. The brown wool for the i-cord and embroidered owl came from a sheep named Maxine at Serenity Farms. Her wool was a dream to spin! It was so soft and bouncy that I had a hard time putting it down, I wish I had more!

Here is J modeling the booties. They are nice because they don't kick off easily!

The girly set has the patterns, except the hat has a scalloped edge, and the booties are mary-jane style. I added croched flowers to the soaker ties.

A and J were needing new soakers to go over their diapers, and I haven't had the time to knit as many as they needed. So I've been shopping in Joann's remnant bin for fleece, and made them some embellished Sweet Baby Soakers. They fit like the knitted ones, but are so much faster to make! I had fun adding the goldfish, and A liked them too!
I have more knitting in the wings, and I hope to have pictures soon!

Baby Hat and Baby Picture Too

2008-01-12T12:31:00.000-06:00

First a new pic of J, in which he happens to be wearing his new longies. Now I need to make him some shirts that actually fit! The 0-3 mo. ones are a bit short, and a little snug around the waist. He's definitely longer than either of his siblings were at his age.

Good friends of our from church had a baby girl on Christmas day. I made this hat yesterday to give to them. I used two repeats of horseshoe lace to give a nice scallop to the edge. I used Wendy Velvet Touch, about 60-70 yds (only half the ball). I love this yarn for baby things! It is nylon, so totally washable, and it is a ladder-like chenille, so super soft, but no worming!

No More Him-Drum Mitten Swap 2 Questionaire

2008-01-12T08:59:00.000-06:00

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? I taught myself to knit in college, so 11 years.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Advanced

What are your favorite colors? Any you dislike? I'm partial to jewel tones (purples, blues, greens) black, grey. I don't really care much for orange, yellow, or bubble gum pink.

Do you like Latvian type patterns? If so, what are your favorite patterns? I like Latvian mittens, but don't have any favorites.

Do you desire mittens for yourself, your "special someone else" or your child? Me! No one else knits fir me, and the kids have some plain ones (they grow too fast for stranded ones!)

What is the measurement from your wrist to the tip of your longest finger? 7"

What is the circumference of your hand at it's widest point? 7 1/2"

What other things do you enjoy knitting? Anything! Lately I've been knitting stranded sweaters, baby things, hats, socks, and lace.

What sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum) I prefer metal, either circs or dpns.

What’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make? Something with my handspun. And the EZ Baby Surprise.

What’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with? Socks that Rock or Kidsilk Haze.

What other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? Cook? All of the above!

Besides yarn, do you collect anything? Matryoshka or anything Russian.

What kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? Anything you hate or are allergic to? I love chocolate, but don't have much that I dislike!

Do you have any kids? Pets? No pets, 3 kids: DD - 3.5, DS1 - 1.5, DS2 - 1 month.

What is your favorite part of Winter? Snow, since we don't see enough of it!

What is your least favorite part of Winter? People who can't drive in the snow since we don't see enough of it!

A few FOs

2008-01-07T13:13:00.000-06:00

I knit this pair of mittens for B during our travels for Christmas. B picked out the colors, Araucania Nature Wool. I used the Grand Plan Mitten Pattern from Interweave Knits Fall 2000. I also made a cabled pair in cream for my sister, but forgot to take a picture before we left!Here are a pair of longies for J. The cream is leftover Paton's Classic Wool, and the multi is leftover Lion Wool. He's growing like a weed, so I need to work on some more!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-20T15:59:00.000-06:00

We are finishing up our holiday preparations here, so I wanted to wish you all a very blessed Christmas!

J is here

2007-12-16T10:48:00.000-06:00

J was born on 12/13 and weighed 8lbs, 7oz. Here he is with big sister B. She just adores "my little baby!" He looks just like his siblings as babies. I'll try to post more pictures soon!

Time Flies!

2007-12-05T10:12:00.000-06:00

I've been busy sewing again! I've been knitting a bit too, but I've been sewing more, since I know that I can knit more easily once the baby arrives.

One of the things that I finished recently was this diaper bag. I like it because it has 6 pockets on the inside, two on the outside, and a matching changing pad. It is also messenger-style, which is easy to carry, and it doesn't look like a diaper bag! The inner is quilter's cotton, and the outer is printed suedecloth. I started sewing for the baby yesterday too. Here is a kimono top made from some penguin flannel. I made the smallest size, knowing that the pattern runs large, but this is even bigger than I thought! What 7lb baby has a 20" chest?!? But I'm sure it will fit at some point! This is one of my favorites so far. The green top is So Soft, which is like minkee, and the footie pants are chocolate brown velour. I made up the pants pattern myself when I couldn't find one that I liked locally. The top has a bear applique on it as well. Here is B in her new nightgown. We both loved the turtle flannel! And A in his car jammies. I made both of them coats as well. I found a great deal on double-sided fabric, and as you can see, they both liked their coats. A's is a Kwik Sew pattern (KS 2545). B picked out her fabric. Her coat is from a Butterick pattern (4648). I had enough fabric left over from both jackets to make one each for the baby, this way we're set either way! B needed some more clothes, so I made this outfit too (another Butterick pattern 3316). I made a red sparkle velour dress from this pattern as well. Like all the Big 3 patterns, these have run large, but I've learned to compensate. B loves Thomas the Train, so when she asked for something with Thomas on it, I came up with this dress. It was one of my first projects on my new serger. I love the rolled hem and lettuce edging! The top was one of my husband's old polo shirts that had a stain on it, but it was perfect for the dress. It will be one of her Christmas gifts.

I found the reindeer fleece in the remnant bin at Joann's and there was enough for two raglan pullovers, once for A and B. the red is leftover from a pullover I made for myself.

Here are more fleece raglans. They are great because they fit well, are warm, easy care, and all came from leftover fleece from making pullovers for my in-laws two years ago. Although it helps that I made 9 pullovers that year!
Lastly, my husband needs a new pair of flannel pants, and this was super thick and cozy flannel. I had some waffle knit to make him a shirt to go with it. And there was plenty of fabric left (have you noticed a trend here?), so much that I made matching outfits for both B and A. B's has the scottie, and A's has the whale. They should keep them all warm during our Christmas travels!

Off to feed my munchkins, cut more fabric, and back to the sewing machine!

Catching up

2007-10-27T17:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been busy, even if I haven't been posting! Mostly I've spent my free time cutting, sewing, knitting, and spinning. I'm working on spinning up enough yarn to make sweaters for each of the munchkins this winter. I have some for the baby done already, and I'm halfway done with A's. B has hers picked out. Now to find enough hours in the day!

One of my many projects has been new diapers for A and the baby. Here is a cover for A, with an inner layer of leftover fleece and an outer layer of Joann's fake Minkee from the remnant bin. It works wonderfully over his fitted diapers, even at night! I used Rita's RRC pattern.
I have quite a few diapers cut out, but have only sewn a few. I know that it is easier to cut now than it will be in a few weeks when my belly gets bigger! I can hardly believe that we'll soon have a baby small enough to fit in these diapers! The orange one is cotton velour and the other three are sherpa, a soft brushed terry. I serged them on my new serger, an early Christmas present from my parents. It is wonderful, and while I lived for years without one, it is a great new toy!
I've also been making the munchkins new jammies. They always love the things I make. It is so nice to have an appreciative audience. Here is A in his first pair. They are quite large, even though I made a size smaller than I thought he'd need. I'm almost finished with a second pair from this pattern (McCall's 5222) and I took out an inch and a half from the front and back, as well as 4 inches from the leg cuffs, and they are still on the big side, but at least the neck fits! I made the bunny blankets (modified this pattern) while pregnant with A. His is green, and B's is purple. He frequently steals his sister's since it is softer. His has seen lots of love and frequent washings! The yarn is a furry chenille type (Paton's Be Mine, which I think is discontinued). Well worth the effort!
Here is B in her jammies. They are a size 2! Everything fits, but they are a bit short. I'll lengthen them a bit if I make it again, since the body fits fairly well. The pattern is New Look 6638. I was going to get a Kwik Sew pattern, but these were on sale. I really should know better, since I've only rarely hat fit issues with KS, but almost always do with the other big names! Oh well, live and learn, and learn, and learn. . . . . .

I haven't neglected my fiber crafts either. I spun a bit of wool from one of Cary's/Alex's yearlings Coryn, and crocheted this little lamb. The kids loved it so much I think that they'll each get one for Christmas. I hope she's happy in her new home!

This is an old project, a corn bunting that I knit for a neighbor's baby a few years ago. It was a pain to knit, so I just borrowed this one for the new one to wear this winter. It is really cute though! I am never happy unless I modify a pattern, and I used intarsia in this to have fewer seams to sew!
With cooler weather coming (although only here for a few days!) I've been knitting longies for A to wear over his diapers. The one with the brown top and the green/blue/yellow ones are his. The other two I knit for several swaps.

I also made a ton of play food for another swap. The munchkins will be getting some of these things for Christmas too. I used a pattern for the strawberries, but made up the rest as I want along. The banana even comes out of the peel, which A loved! I have I more ideas for food, but ran out of time on this one. There is an orange, watermelon, zucchini, cherries, ice cream cone, eggplant, banana, grapes, produce bag, potato, peach, strawberry, apple, lettuce, and pear, in a mix of knitting and crochet.
Lastly, for a play food swap, I made 4 felted tea sets. Each set has two tea cups, a tea pot and lid. Because I was making so many, I kept the sets small. B loved them and will get one for Christmas (do you see a trend here!). I have plans for a creamer and sugar bowl too, as well as a more rounded/traditional tea pot, and I've done some coasters. I designed these on the fly, and am really pleased with how they turned out.

That's most of what I've been up too, but I still have a ton on my plate before the baby is due to arrive. Off to find my sewing shears, pins, and fabric! (And get ready to watch the Red Sox in the World Series!)

Finished Sweater and Summer Fiber Swap Fun

2007-09-19T14:30:00.000-05:00

The weather here ha been so wonderful for the past week! For church on Sunday we broke out some of A's clothes from the spring. His shirt was a bit small, but he looked so cute! He loved playing with the stuffed watermelon slice that I made for a friend.

The parts arrived over the weekend to fix our weed-eater, so the kids have been having fun in the back yard. A was playing with rocks, and B was enjoying the slide.

Over Labor Day weekend I finished the sleeves on DH's sweater. We went to visit my in-laws, so I had 16 hours to knit in the car. This picture isn't the best, but the kids were anxious to get on their walk! I started on it last August, but it got put away for Christmas presents last year, and then the move, but now it's done in plenty of time for the cool weather, and it fits DH wonderfully! And here is my Summer Fiber Swap package from Jennifer. She has an Etsy shop, Colorful Life, with pretty yarns and fibers. Here is a cup of cashmere (which I've yet to try!), some Targhee (which I've also been wanting to try!),luxury batts, and cotton yarn that she dyed/carded, note cards, a handspun key chain, and some chocolate (I ate that already, and even shared with DH!). Everything is just beautiful, and I can hardly wait until I can start spinning! I have a few things to finish first, but hopefully I can get to it all soon! Thank you so much!

Travel Sewing

2007-09-05T07:44:00.000-05:00

We took a trip to visit family over the weekend, and I made these for the munchkins to take with us. It is a fairly long drive and they usually sleep for part of it. The last time they kept falling over in their carseats, so I made these a few hours before we left to help keep them propped up. I used some furry fleece that I got as a remnant from Joann's and just winged the pattern. I was thrilled that I made both of these for under a dollar! Both kiddos also need new bibs as their old ones are getting ratty looking. I was shocked at how expensive the ones in the store were the other day. And I am tired of pulling all of the velcro from the bibs off of the kids clothing when I do laundry. No matter how many times I close the tabs before the wash, they always come undone. So I made this bib with scraps for sherpa (brushed terry) and terry cloth sew onto a backing of flannel, all leftover from making diapers. I make wipes with the bigger scraps, but didn't know what to do with the smaller ones. I'm glad to have some ideas. I used some silver thread and decorative zig-zags to sew the pieces down, and made some bias tape from other scraps for the edging. I like the way it turned out, and so does B! And it is big enough to keep the yogurt off of her shirt at table level, which is her biggest problem!

Finished Bag, Spinning, and Munchkins

2007-08-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago we went on a shopping trip (a very rare occurrence!) since we had a gift card to use. B loves taking pictures, so we bought her her own digital camera. It is very basic, and she just loves it! This is how she can be seen quite often these days! The same day as our shopping trip, we went to a local pick-your-own farm and picked 7-8 lbs. of blackberries. B had fun, but I think that A enjoyed himself the most! It was a beautiful cool day after a week of 100*, and he just sat in the shade and ate every blackberry that he could find, green, red, black, he didn't care! Here he is catching a nap during the ride home. You can see the evidence of his enjoyment!
A has been walking around lately playing with all of the play food, but his favorite is the corn. He made short work of his ear of corn at dinnertime the other night!
When I was resizing the pictures for this post, I came across this one of B at about 15 months, just a bit younger than A is now. There is definitely sibling similarity here!
I finished my bag over a week ago, but didn't have a chance to line it until last week. The lining was actually the most difficult part of the whole bag. I must have miscalculated on my first attempt, because the lining was way too wide! And then I had to stitch the top of the lining to the bag. I love to sew, but not that kind of sewing! But I like how the bag turned out, and it is a bit bigger than the one that I usually use now, which will be nice when out with the munchkins. I also finished my spinning for a swap that I'm in. This is a dyed corriedale top from TheFiberDenn that I spun from the fold into a worsted weight yarn with fairly high twist. There about 275 yds and 4 oz. I liked the top because it had sections of white, and then sections of various shades of green. I like the way it turned out, and would love to try other colors dyed this way, if I ever get the right equipment.

Mindless knitting and piano playing

2007-08-13T20:25:00.000-05:00

I don't play the piano, but hubby does, and the munchkins love to "play " too. When Daddy gets home from work, they will often play for a few minutes while I finish dinner. Seeing them all together just warms my heart! Thankfully both of the kids seem to have inherited their daddy's natural musical abilities! Since we were taking a weekend trip, as much as I wanted to swatch for my Morning Glory project, I decided that it wasn't practical. So I decided to pick something more mindless and started this tote bag, which I got as a kit from Black Water Abbey yarns at Stitches East a few years ago. I love the heathered colors of the yarn! It will be felted when finished, and I'll need to find some nice fabric for the lining. I'm about halfway through the body of the bag, and it is going along well. The socks weren't complicated, but sometimes it is nice to play with some mindless fair isle, which is really just stockinette in the round!

Goldfinches and Zucchini

2007-08-09T08:37:00.001-05:00

We don't have a very wildlife friendly yard, mostly because it is small and we are in a very heavily populated area. And this summer has been so hot and dry that we barely have any weeds growing. So imagine my surprise when I saw a pair of American Goldfinches foraging among my basil flowers. Here's a picture of papa goldfinch perching on the zinnias (they are drooping from the 100*+ heat we've been having) before joining mama on the basil. They were back again this morning. B especially likes to watch them. She informed us this morning that mama and papa cardinal didn't have enough room in their nest for them, so the goldfinches have their own nest! Oh the thoughts of 3-year-olds!
This picture is a few weeks old, but too good not to share! With all of the zucchini talk lately, I thought this was appropriate! They are both eating some zucchini picked straight from Grandma's garden. One of my friends shared a recipe for zucchini chocolate cake that I can hardly wait to try!

Another friend shared this recipe, which I also plan to try soon!

ZUCCHINI SALAD WITH RED ONION
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
4 small zucchini

In a medium bowl, whisk the vinegar and oil; season with the salt and pepper. Stir in the onion and let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, using a vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini into paper-thin ribbons (lengthwise) Add to the bowl with the dressing and onions, add more salt and pepper if desired; toss to combine.

Sockapalooza Socks and Some Sewing

2007-08-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

The past week and a half has been all about sewing and socks. I took a few days last week during the kids' afternoon nap to work on the Roman shades that I've been wanting to make for a few months. Our bedroom had no blinds or shades of any kind when we moved in, so we had an old sheet tacked over the windows for privacy. It was less than attractive! So I found a great deal on some silk dupioni fabric in a nice grey that matches part of our comforter. It took less than 10 hours, so I don't know why I waited so long! And they are self-locking, so no nasty cleat in the wall either! Sorry for the picture quality, it was the best I could do. There are two shades, one for each window. I wanted to make a little bag for my Sockapalooza pal, but knew that I didn't have time to knit or crochet one, so I found some nice fabric, and sewed up this little drawstring bag. It is a lot like a brown paper bag in shape, with a ribbon tie. I used some decorative stitching for the ribbon casing, but forgot to take a picture of that. I have a few more bags planned, so I'll take pictures then.
Here are the socks that I knit for my pal. I was not thrilled with the pooling/striping, but I tried several patterns, and they all had some striping. This is the second pattern that I came up with. I ripped the first sock just before the toe because I was afraid that it would be too snug. It is my first time trying a short-row toe, and it has a short-row heel too, which is my preferred heel style. I like this pattern, so will need to try it in a more solid yarn to show off the stitch pattern better. I used some Knitpicks Memories in Yukon, and it was easy to knit with, and stood up to my frogging well, especially for being merino.
And this is one of my pair of socks from my Sockapalooza pal Rachel, knit in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Jewel. They fit great, and I love the shorter cuff! I've never used this yarn before, so that was a really nice treat! She modified the Cabled Sweatsocks from the Interweave Socks book.
I also had a picture of the American Goldfinches that were visiting my basil plants yesterday, but I can't get it to crop properly. It was one of those times that I really wished that I had a better camera with a higher zoom. Oh well! I'll try to get it resized again later. Now I can get back to all of the other knitting and spinning that I have planned!

More Morning Glory Spinning and Ideas

2007-07-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

Here is my first skein of Morning Glory yarn, 250 yards and 2 oz. I'll be happy if I end up with 500 yards of the blue. It is a little heavier than fingering weight, and it is nice and fluffy! Just what I was aiming for.
Now the rest of this is all Cary's fault. Ever since she said that the blue reminded her of morning glories, it has been downhill from there! I have all sorts of ideas bouncing around in my head for morning glory patterns is lace and in stranded knitting. Since I didn't want to try to match the colors in the blue morning glory blend, I made a leaf blend instead. I used bright green, emerald green, and just a touch of green and yellow firestar, with the same 50% BFL, 25% silk, and 25% alpaca base. I really like the way that these turned out as well! I am trying to decide if I want to use beads in this design or not. We'll see how the swatching goes, and I may need to save some of the ideas that I have for when I have a bit more time to play with them.
I'm also working furiously on my Sockapalooza socks, and am nearing the toe of the first and hope to finish it and cast on the mate this weekend. I'll have a picture of them when I'm finished!

Morning Glory Batts

2007-07-22T20:29:00.000-05:00

Last week I dyed up some fibers to blend on my drumcarder. This is the first full batch of blended fibers that I have worked on, and I'm really pleased with my results. I started with 4 piles of fiber, each one containing 1/2 oz. BFL (blue-faced leicester), and 1/4 oz. each of alpaca and silk. The BFL and alpaca had some purple as well. I had hoped for a bit of a darker color, but since it was my first time dyeing as well, there was quite a few areas that didn't get dyed. It made me glad that I used light grey alpaca instead of cream! I think that it added a bit of depth to it. I also added a sprinkling of blue and bright pink firestar in the last pass through. To blend the three fibers and the colors, I started with one pile of fiber and carded each one in the same way. I started with a thin layer of BFL, then I made a "sandwich" of alpaca, then silk, topped with BFL, and fed that in all at once to keep the silk from bunching too much. I carded each pile into two batts, and then split them in half and carded them with each other. Then I took one of these batts and blended it with half of a batt from one of the other batches to make sure that I had a fairly even blend. I added just a hint of dyed firestar (a few grams) to the last pass to give a bit of depth and shine.
Cary saw a picture of these batts and said that they reminded her of Heavenly Blue morning glories, and I just love those, so the name stuck! I ended up with 8 batts and have spun half of them, and hope to ply what I've spun tonight. They were are dream to spin, and I actually decided to draft from the fold, which I don't do often, to add a bit of loft to the fiber as I was spinning it. Holding the bit of fiber over my index finger didn't work as well as I would have liked, so I placed it over my thumb instead, which worked surprisingly well. I was aiming for a fingering weight, so we'll see how well I did with that tomorrow! I'll be using this to knit one of my shawls for Journey to a Shawl.

Shawl Yarn and Knitted Dollies

2007-07-13T10:27:00.001-05:00

These are my sample skeins of my Journey to a Shawl yarn. It is grey Cormo cross wool blended with green, blue, and purple silk and angora. It spun into a great laceweight yarn, but I liked the fingering weight better because it showed the colors better, even though you can't see that too well in the picture. I finished dyeing the rest of my silk and angora today, and need to dye some more for another shawl. I am sort of in between big projects at the moment, so after seeing a knitted fish here, I was inspired. I will make the fish one day, but for now I decided to make some knitted dolls from a free pattern that is no longer available. Here is my first attempt, which I think looks like she is wearing a clown wig! I think that the fur stitch would look better in a firmer yarn, but I was using up some leftovers. I made up the clothing patterns on my own, but there is room for improvement!
This is my second dolly. I like her so much better! She has strands of yarn individually tied onto her head, and I like that much better. Although if I do this style again, I'll make the head underneath the same color as the hair so that you can't see her "scalp" so obviously! I used some leftover brown wool, and I think fingering/lace weight wool would make the best hair since it is finer and wouldn't be too full if I applied it to the whole head. She has a dress that matches Miss Peach's watermelon dress. I tweaked the basic doll pattern a bit more to my liking, and I think that there's still room for improvement. I may just start from scratch! I'm currently working on some shoes for her too. This kind of knitting is fast, easy, and fun!

Birthday Time Again

2007-07-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

On the 9th, my baby Peach turned 3. I can hardly believe it! When she was born she had peach fuzz for hair so I called her my baby peach, and as she's gotten older, it's evolved into Miss Peach, even though she has long curly hair these days! For her birthday she requested two things, tortellini and spinach for dinner, and a chocolate cake with pink icing. Her cake was so bright that we almost needed sunglasses, but she loved it! It ended up being lopsided, but it was a hit anyway!

Blueberry Picking!

2007-07-13T09:41:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my parents visiting for Miss Peach's birthday earlier in the week, and my daddy spending the better part of 2 days working on our computer, we have a new hard drive and I have access to my pictures again! Two weeks ago we went blueberry picking at a local farm for the second time. We hope to go one more time before the season is over! Here is Mis Peach eating and picking some berries. She usually eats about as many as she puts in our bucket! Munchkin Boy just likes to eat them! If I didn't refill his bowl quickly enough, he would grab the closest branch to pick his own, green ones and all!
B hard at work again!
This time we only picked about 5 lbs (one bucket). The first time we went we ended up with 12, but Daddy was around to help the kiddos out too. We froze most of the first batch since they were tarter and better for baking. I also made 4 pints of blueberry topping for pancakes come the fall and winter.

Dyeing and Spinning

2007-07-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

Last week I received a beautiful Cormo fleece from Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm. The fleece is a beautiful variegated grey, and almost completely free of VM. IT is just a joy to work with! I really wanted to use this fleece for my Journey to a Shawl project. I spun the sample below and it was a bit heavier than I wanted. Then I broke out the dyes for more sampling!
I had some Romney/Dorset wool from Ewe and I Farm on hand, so I pulled that out to dye with the silk and angora for my shawl blend. I really like the way the blues and purples came out, and I know that I want a lot less green! But that's what sampling is for!
Here are the two batts that I carded, a base of grey Cormo, and a handful each of dyed silk and angora (I know, very exact measurements!). I didn't want to over card the blend because I really want some streaks of color in a mostly grey yarn, and it worked really well!

I spun one batt into a heavy laceweight, and the other into a light fingering weight. The Cormo makes a fantastic lace yarn, but I felt that the colors were a bit too muted, so I'll spin some plain laceweight at a later date! The fingering weight is springy and soft, and there were nice streaks of color too. Unfortunately we are having some computer issues, so I can't upload the photos of my samples! So now I need to dye the rest of my silk and angora, and wash up the rest of the fleece so that I can spin up 1200 or so yards of yarn that I'll need for my shawl. I don't have a pattern yet, but I'm sure that I'll devise one before I finish my spinning.

Kiddos and socks

2007-06-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is a dress that I made for Miss B when she was a year old. She'll be three in a few weeks, and it still looks cute. It has shoulder buttons and a cross-over back. I just love this style for little girls! I made the hat too, but it is too small now. The pattern is McCall's Easy Stitch and Save M5353. It was huge when I made it and the bloomers were about 4 inches too wide, but they are perfect now! She loves wearing the things that I make for her. It does a mamma's heart good! (Of course the glasses have to match!)
Since I don't have any pictures of A in his new sweater yet, I thought I'd put up this cute one of him running around outside. Both the kids love to be outdoors, and the love to walk up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.

Melissa requested a picture of the watermelon dress modeled, so here it it. This dress (and purse) garners numerous compliments every time that B wears it! It helps that she is so cute too. Time well spent!
This is the second sock of a pair that I've been working on off and on (mostly off) for a few years. It has gotten packed away during several moves. It resurfaced during our latest move, and I finished it on our trip to CT a few weeks ago. They fit well, and the cuff isn't too long. The yarn and pattern are from the Opal SOTM club that was sponsored by PT Yarn from 2001-2002. It is good to finish a pair of socks for myself, since I only have one other pair. I'm working on th second sock of a pair for hubby, then the sock yarn that I spun here will be next!

Watermelon Dress and Purse

2007-06-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

I finished Miss B's dress last week, but only sewed on the buttons today. I used the pattern for the dress found here. Every summer I feel the need to knit cute things for the warm weather, but I don't care too much for knitting with pure cotton yarns. The dress called for Kraemer Yarns Little Leigh, which has 2 plies of acrylic, and 3 of cotton (55% acrylic/45% cotton) and there was enough give in the yarn to make the knitting go smoothly. I did make the pattern a bit bigger, but didn't make any other changes.

I didn't like the hat in the pattern, and who needs a hat like that in the summer anyway? So since my little B is a girly girl (much to my chagrin) I made her a matching purse. It is just big enough to fit her pocket-sized New Testament (her Bible in which she "reads" about Daniel and the lion's den :) to the amusement of many at church) and her sunglasses. The purse is about 5" in diameter, but can be made larger by using a worsted yarn. I'll also give you some rough decrease calculations on making it bigger too.

Semi-Circle Purse Pattern
Yarn: DK weight cotton blend in MC and CC, about 50 yds each. I used leftovers, so I don't have exact yardage.
Needles: US 4 (or one size smaller than used to achieve ball-band gauge)
Gauge: 6.5 sts per inch, but not really important
Notions: 1 button (opt.), scraps of black yarn for embroidery (opt.)darning needle, 3 dpns in one size smaller than used for the body to knit the I-cord

Using the provisional cast on and MC, cast on 8 sts. Work in garter stitch for 12" or 68 ridges.
Shaping for handles:
Row 1: K1, ssk, k2, k2tog, k1
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: k1, ssk, k2tog, k1
Using these 4 sts and smaller dpns, work I-cord for 16" or until desired length.
Undo the provisional cast on, and work the 3 handle shaping rows, making sure that the right side is facing. Graft the end of the I-cord to the 4 live sts remaining after the shaping rows.

Body
First Side:
With MC pick up 68 sts along one edge of garter stitch strip.
Row 2: inc. 1 sts in each of the first and last sts and purl the remaining sts.
Row 3: decrease 5 sts evenly spaced while at the same time working the first and last 3 sts in I-cord as follows: slip the first 3 sts to the right hand needle purlwise, working the rest of the row as written. Maintain I-cord edging for rest of body.
Change to CC.
Rows 4-8: work as established.
Row 9: 3 sts in I-cord, (k1, k2tog) to last 5 sts, knit.
Rows 10-14: work as established.
Row 15: 3 sts in I-cord, k2tog to last 3 sts, knit.
Rows 16-18: work as established.
Row 19: 3 sts in I-cord, k2tog to last 3 sts, knit.
Row 20: 3 sts in I-cord, p2tog to last 3 sts, purl.
Row 21: 3 sts in I cord, ssk, k1, k2tog, k3.
Transfer first 6 sts to dpn and place remaining 3 sts on aonther dpn. Using third dpn, work applied I-cord on remaining 3 body sts, grafting the I-cord together after eliminating the 3 body sts.

Second Side: Repeat as for first side through row 21. Finish as for first side if an open bag is wanted. If a button closure is desired work as follows:
Row 22: 3 sts I-cord, p2tog, p4.
Transfer first 4 sts to one dpn and the last 4 to a second dpn. Using a third dpn, work in I-cord, knitting the last 2 sts together. Work I-cord until about 2" long, or long enough to fit around chosen button. Graft I-cord to 4 sts on first dpn, decreasing one st while grafting.

Embroider seeds using lazy daisy stitch and sew on button.

If you want a larger bag, knit the garter stitch strip until there are a multiple of 20 ridges. Pick up one stitch for every ridge. Omit the decreases on row 3, and decrease 20 sts every 6th row until 60 sts remain, then work rows 9-21/22 above.

Copyright Carissa @ Chrysalis Knits. For personal use only. Please do not sell or otherwise distribute this pattern without written consent.

Finally a FO!

2007-06-05T08:29:00.001-05:00

I started this little sweater for A at the beginning of May and only just finished it this past weekend! It still needs to be blocked and for buttons to be sew on, but I think it is very cute! Nausea and morning sickness (baby #3 is due in December) have kept me from knitting for over a month now, but they are letting up. Pattern: My own, loosely based on the Open-Collared Pullover from EZ's Knitter's Almanac
Stitch Pattern: Diamond Brocade from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Yarn: 2 skeins (123 yds each) of KnitPicks CotLin in Key Lime. I only had several inches of yarn left!
Size: 20" chest, for my 13 mo A. Hopefully I'll get him to model it after I find some cute buttons!

I'm working on a project for B at the moment. I should have it done by the end of the week. It is good to be knitting again! Then I need to decide what to spin for the Journey to a Shawl KAL. It will be great incentive to spin up enough yarn for a big project! I also have a bit of yarn spun to make B some more slipper socks since she loves the pair that she has.

Spring and Summer Sewing and Almond Blossoms

2007-05-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

We are headed to Nashville for a few days tonight, and I wanted to sew a few things for the trip. So I got out the sewing machine yesterday and churned out a skirt and two dresses. This skirt is Simplicity 5956, and is cut on the bias. I have made a skirt or two from this pattern before, and I like the way if fits. The fabric is some that I found at Joann's on sale last year. This is some more Joann fabric. The flowers are actually more green than blue. The dresses were hard to photograph well. The pattern is Simplicity 5049, and it is an empire waisted, short-sleeved dress. I meant to make the V-neck higher, but it was late when I was cutting the pieces out, and I just forgot.
I have realized that I really like Kwik Sew patterns. They almost never go on sale, but they fit better (on me) than many of the other brands. This is another short-sleeved, empire waisted, v-neck dress (do you see a theme here?), Kwik Sew 3253. They are all knee length, and very comfortable. I don't like to wear shorts much during the summer, I'd much rather wear skirts and dresses since I think that they are more comfortable.
These are a few blossoms from the flowering almond tree in our front yard. This is one of my favorite ornamental trees, so imagine my delight when it started blooming in the middle of April. Our yard is now covered with pink petals, but the tree was gorgeous in full bloom!

Adonienieroschen Shawl

2007-04-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

I've finally blocked my Adonienieroschen shawl. I adapted the pattern from Gloria Penning's Old World Treasures. I am really happy with the way it turned out. It was an easy knit, and I actually used stitch markers, which I rarely do (I only used 1 on the whole Maple Garland shawl, and that was for the beginning of the round!). I unraveled the front of a sweater that I was never going to finish or wear, and then used two of the remaining three balls. I think I'll send whatever I have left to my friend. She is having some health problems, and I hope that this will be a long distance hug. When I told B that it was for a friend who was sick, she wanted to get into our car and drive to see her to give her a hug to make her feel better! She is such a sympathetic little girlie! So I hope that the shawl is well received!
Pattern: Adonienieroschen from Gloria Penning's Old World Treasures
Yarn: between 600 - 650 yards Adriafil Sound, a mohair/acrylic blend in eggplant purple
Needles: US 9 and 10 circulars
Size: 50" diameter

Happy Birthday A!

2007-04-26T15:51:00.000-05:00

Today is A's first birthday. We don't do big parties when they are so young since we don't have a lot of our families around. We had company last night and sang "Happy Birthday." And one of my husband's cousin's live about an hour away and had a meeting a few towns over, so stopped by for breakfast. A showed off by rubbing his plate on his head, and now sports a maple-syrup-gel hairdo! Here is B feeding her brother some of her applesauce a few days ago. Here is A trying to figure out how to ride on his new tricycle.

B and A are in great spirits today, and even let me take quite a few pictures of them.

A started to walk 3-5 steps a few weeks ago. He is so proud of himself when he stands that he starts laughing and bouncing. It is too cute!

I have a shawl that I knit for a friend blocking at the moment and plan to have pictures of it up tomorrow.

Some Sock Spinning

2007-04-24T19:46:00.000-05:00

After finishing my Maple Garland Shawl last week, I decided to do some spinning. These are some luxury sock batts from Abby at Franquemont Fibers. They were very easy and a joy to spin. The batts are 68% superwash merino, 30% silk, and 2% firestar. The sparkle is very hard to photograph, but it is subtle.

I spun a fairly fine single and then chain-plied the singles to preserve the three color gradations. The color is called Orchid, but I think it looks like a sunrise, with the blue/purple, red/purple, and the yellow/pink. I ended up with 212 yards and 2.5 oz. three-ply yarn. I need to find/dye a complimentary colored fiber to spin for some heels and/or toes. I really prefer ankle socks, so I can get by with a little less yarn that average. And I will knit these toe-up to make the best use of the yarn that I have. This will probably be my project for our trip to Nashville for graduation in the beginning of May.

Maple Garland Pictures

2007-04-17T12:25:00.000-05:00

Well here are two pictures of the blocked Maple Garland Shawl. Please excuse the poor quality. The shawl is too big (56" square) to photograph well inside, and we are having gusty wind and generally nasty weather, so these were the best I could manage. I hope that you can get an idea of the size and pattern though.
Vital statistics:
Pattern: Maple Garland Shawl from Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting
Yarn: approximately 2000 yards (~7 oz) of Jaggerspun Superfine Merino in cream
Needles: 3.5 mm dpns and circulars, and a size 5 steel crochet hook for the crochet edging
Size: 56" square

I plan to enter this in the garment competition at MDSW (Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival). I really don't expect to win anything since it is such a huge event, but I still think that it will be a good experience.

Maple Garland is Finished!!!!!

2007-04-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

My Maple Garland shawl is finally finished!!!!!!! I thought this day would never come. I spent about a month on it before taking an extended break from it. It got packed away during the move, and resurfaced while unpacking here. When I picked it up again, I started just after the first row of leaves. Here is the shawl after the final row, before the edging.

I have worked solely on this for the past two months, and I only had 62 of the 220 rows left. I knit at least 2 rows per day. The edging took about 2 days. While using my great-grandmother's steel crochet hook for the edging, I was reminded of how much I dislike Boye hooks and needles. The hook is just too shallow to get a good grip on the yarn, and my yarn had a tendency to split, which made for slow going. I had my husband do some advanced mathematical calculations for me the other evening, and he concluded that there are over 100,000 stitches in this shawl! Here is my unblocked picture. I am getting ready to block it now, and should have some good pictures of it tomorrow!

Easter Pictures

2007-04-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here are two pictures of the munchkins on Easter. B loves her pretty purple dress! She also loves having her Auntie S here with us for the weekend. On Monday, she kept saying that she didn't want her Auntie to back to school, that she wanted her to "stay here and keep me company." They didn't want to pose together, and A didn't want to sit still at all. So daddy caught him examining this egg. He was so engrossed with these! But here is his all dressed up in a little suit. He had a tie, but the collar was a bit too snug on his shirt for it to fit.

Here are the two of them playing the piano, one of their favorite activities! They take after their daddy and his love for music!

Maple Garland Shawl

2007-04-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

So Eve asked for a picture of the Maple Garland Shawl. Here it is, looking like a crumpled ball of yarn. Only because the center is visible, is it even recognizable as the Maple Garland shawl from Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting

I am using Jaggerspun's Superfine Merino in cream, on 3.5mm knitting needles. I've used over 1800yds thus far, and still have 14 rows left, so I figure that I will use a couple hundered yards more. I'll post a picture when I have it all dressed out.

More Sewing, Still Knitting

2007-04-09T13:36:00.000-05:00

I'm still knitting my never-ending shawl. It should be done in another week or two. Plenty of time to get packed up and mailed off to the nice people at MDSW. I'm also knitting a top-secret surprise project too. I really want to finish the Maple Garland shawl because I have aome sumer knitting that I want to get done for the kids.

But I did sew a bit last week. I made another sheet for A, and I made this apron from Simplicity 4282, View E

The apron was actually really easy, and the only finishing was the binding around the edges. I am not the neatest cook, and I decided that I'd rather wear an apron than change my clothes to cook, or ruin them. I though the daisies were fun. I think I'll make a few more over the course of the summer.

I've been busy, but don't have much to show

2007-03-29T19:59:00.000-05:00

I have been doing a lot of knitting, but I don't have any pictures. I've been slogging away on a shawl that I plan to enter into the garment competition at MD Sheep and Wool (my first fiber even outside of Stitches Market!) and I'm at the point where I have 1000+ stitches on the needle, and I am trying to get 2 rows done per day. It is not very kid-friendly, so I tend to work on it in the evenings. I'm also test knitting some patterns for the EZasPi group, and and nearing completion with that. I hope to have some knitting and spinning pictures soon!

I did finish sewing some bags for two dear friends. The first is yellow with ladybugs and a watercolor-like interior.

This one had rainbow flowers and a dot inner. They are both reversible.
And so as not to leave the post too short, here are two pictures of B and A enjoying their new slide. It has been so nice here lately that we have been walking most days, checking on the progression of the daffodils and tulips. The afternoon often involve time in the back yard, with B on the slide, and me trying to keep A from actually swallowing any of the rocks that he like to try to eat.

Swap packages and some preemie sweaters

2007-03-04T20:31:00.000-06:00

I had a busy mail week. I received my package from Kimberly, my A Life Overflowing partner. She sent me a fun mug filled with almond kisses (my favorite!) a tin of mints, some Cafe Godiva coffee (very yummy) , some pretty roving, and a pair of scissors with one of her fobs.

Here's a close-up of the scissors and fob. The fob has a great tea pot and cup charm on it. Thank you so much, Kimberly!

Yesterday my second skein in the Spin to Knit exchange arrived from Sande. She sent this huge skein of romney hogget and some of the roving, plus some from another sheep in the same flock. I was very blessed to have such a generous swap partner! Thank you! She spun this yarn for me to make some hats to keep the munchkins warm next winter. I think it wil be perfect for that!

Two weeks ago, one of the cousin in the family had twin girls, born 6 weeks early. They were 3.5 lbs each. I wanted to make something for them, so I dug out my crochet hooks (which I haven't done in several years) and made these two sweaters. The one with the blue flowers is from this pattern. I modified the pink one a bit, partly because I remembered halfway through the first one how much I dislike double treble stitches, and partly because I really don't like to make two things exactly the same. I hope they the fit the girls when they can come home. I hope to get a few more things made for these babies too. Since I was a preemie myself, I tend to have a soft spot for them!

The only green around here is yarn!

2007-02-27T14:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't been knitting much lately, but I've been spinning and sewing. I did finish knitting the afghan, but sent it off before I got a picture. But is is loved and being used.

I finished up my second skein of yarn for the Interweave skein swap for Julie. It is a mixed fiber batt and I spun it thick/thin. I hope that she likes it! The color is called Godzilla. The snow in background is some left over from our storm this weekend.

After struggling for several years with crib sheets that don't fit after a few washings and rip at the corner seams, I decided to sew a few of my own. I bought the flannel on sale at Joann's and used the pattern at Bundles of Love as a rough guide. Here is B's sheet, which has pink guitars, to match her pink guitar (she's a girly girl!). My mom made the blanket and pillow out of patchwork flannel and chenille. It was her first project on her new sewing machine. B carries the pillow downstairs with her in the morning, and back upstairs for bed at night.

I made A's sheet out of a cute train print. The little blanket bunny is a modified version of the one at the Lionbrand website, but I rewrote it for a different yarn and gauge. A loves it and plays with it before he goes to sleep and after he wakes up.

Since we moved here just over a month ago, we have had some snow every week. The last one froze into a 3 inch sheet of ice. But on Sunday we hat 6 or so inches of wet snow. My husband was shoveling, and B wanted to join him. She made snow angels and played, and he helped her make her first snowman when he was done.

A spent some time outside too. He was my intrepid little explorer, trying to dig out the rocks and pick at everything. He didn't like his mittens too much, but he did like to try to see what the snow tasted like!

Secret Skein Swap and a Hat

2007-02-09T08:18:00.000-06:00

Late last week I received a box in the mail from my Interweave Secret Skein partner. In the box was a beautiful skein of three-ply Jacob yarn, and three ball of the roving that my partner used to spin the yarn. She said that it was once of her first fleeces that she purchased, and she separated the fleece into light, medium, and dark colors, sent it to Stonehenge to be processed, and then she spun this beautiful yarn with it. She later told me that the skein won a blue ribbon at the state/local fair! What a generous partner I have! I can hardly wait to finishe spinning the next skein for my secret partner, so I can play with this!

On the knitting front, I've been working on the afghan that I used as a backdrop in the above picture. I usually prefer to crochet afghans, but I am trying to finish up some UFOs, and this one is for a very special person who is having some health issues at the moment, so I have a lot of incentive to get it finished. I also knit up this hat to test one of Kimberly's new patterns. I used some stash yarns, and some leftover purple handspun. I like hoe it turned out, and B has claimed it, even though it is way to big for her!

A Life Overflowing Package and Snow!

2007-02-01T07:47:00.000-06:00

A few days after moving in to our new house, we had our first snowfall of the season. It was only an inch or so, but it was quite pretty!

A wonderful package also arrived from Kimberly, my A Life Overflowing partner that week. In the package was a beautiful mug, plaque, and some tea, and a gorgeous skein of sock yarn that she dyed herself! It is called Summer Haze, and is all the colors that you will find in a summer garden: yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, and pink. It makes me happy just to look at it!

I haven't had a lot of time to knit since our move, but I started a project yesterday, and should have pictures up in the next few days.

A Long Overdue Update

2007-01-13T21:05:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I've posted. I made a bunch of hats and mittens for Christmas gifts, but I didn't have a chance to snap any pictures. I finished up a few last minute projects, and visited both my extended family and my husband's extended family for Christmas. We had a blessed, if exhausting trip. Here's a picture of the munchkins on the Sunday before we left.

I was working on spinning a grey/purple glitz yarn in the two days before we left on our Christmas trip. I really wanted to get it finished in time to take with me to knit during our long drives, so I worked on it while the munchkins were awake, which I usually don't do. As I was spinning, I looked up to see this from my chair (A was just starting to get into things then, now he is all over!):

And her is one skein of the finished yarn, the purple is a little difficult to see:

As soon as we returned home, we started packing for our move halfway across the county. And that is where I stand, in limbo, waiting for our move to be completed. But I have been busy with crafting too, it has made things seem more normal.

My husband loves to play the piano. He doesn't get to play as often as he would like with the kids around, because they love to play too. Here is a picture of B at about 11 months "playing."

A is more active than B was at his age, and at 8 months, can barely reach the keys, but like to play as much as his big sister!

Currently the munchkins and I are staying with my parents while our belongings are packed and moved to our new place. I've actually finished a few things in the past few days. In the three days prior to leaving our old place (do you see a trend here?) I spun up 2 ox of mohair fluff from Margarett at Running Moon Farm. The picture can hardly do it justice. Browns are not really my color, but there is a beautiful range of browns and oranges. I spun a medium singles and plied it with sewing thread to make a loopy boucle. It was kind of fun to make, but it was a bit labor-intensive, so I don't think that I will be making this type of yarn a lot. I spun this for my Spin to Knit secret pal, and the exchange has inspired me to try things outside of my comfort zone. Here's a picture of the two skeins, although they are much prettier in person.

For Christmas, B received a kitchen set from my parents. It is staying here until our move is complete. So she has been cooking up a storm and "needed" a dishtowel. So I whipped this one up on Thursday for her. She loves it! I found some dishcloth cotton in my mom's stash, and designed it on the needles.
I don't like to carry a purse or a diaper bag, but I do need something to keep my wallet, phone, a diaper, some wipes, and frequently a snack for the munchkin in. I have a lovely bag from Rebecca that I received as a gift in a swap. I like the size, but I really wanted pockets. So I found a pattern for this cute bag in the Winter 2006 issue of BHG Quilts and More magazine. The long strap slides through the shorter one to close the bag and form the carrying strap. I like it so much that I bought some more fabric to make another one today. And I made it in just one morning, which is even better!
Sorry to have gone on so long, but I had more to share than I thought! Wishing you all a belated happy and blessed new year!

Feet to Prayers Package

2006-12-07T12:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the mailman brought this lovely package from Sharon in OH! There is a pretty sock in purple/blue/turquoise, a kitchen towel that she embroidered, a little card with the Footprints poem, and a magazine with some great cookie recipes. How did she know that I am in the middle of my holiday cookie baking! The sock fits perfectly! Thank you so much for your generosity Sharon!

Loopy Toddler Socks

2006-11-29T13:02:00.000-06:00

I have finished my socks for both of my sock swaps. I'll post pictures here after I get the boxes out and my partners receive their goodies! I can hardly wait for the ladies to get them!

B loves to spin with me. I brought out my drop spindle a few weeks ago, and she had to spin too. I have a little one that don't use, so I gave it to her. I spun up a short length of yarn for her, and she had a blast "spinning" her own yarn.

She also loves socks and handknit things, so I made her a pair of slipper socks out of the first yarn I spun on my wheel. It is slightly thick and thin, but was mostly a light worsted weight. I'll give you the numbers that I used, but it is just a basic sock recipe. I did not write out explicit directions and I assume that you are already familiar with basic sock construction. If you aren't you can find a pattern with pictures here.

Size: Toddler size 6
Yarn: 100 yds worsted weight handspun wool
Needles: US 3, (3.25mm)
Loop Stitch: Knit 1, but so not remove stitch from left hand needle. Bring the working yarn to the front between the needle tips and wrap it around thumb. Bring the yarn to the back again, slip the stitch from the right needle back to he left, and knit it together with the original stitch. Another description with pictures can be seen here.

Cuff: Cast on 36 sts. Work these 6 rows back and forth
R 1: Work loop st. in every stitch.
R 2: Knit
Repeat these 2 rows 3 times. The remainder of the cuff is knit in the round. With the loops on the wrong side, join and work 10 rounds in k2, p2 rib.
Heel:
R 1: Slip 1, knit 17, turn.
R 2: Slip 1, purl 17.
Repeat these two rows 9 times total.
To turn the heel, work as follows:
slip 1, k10, ssk, k1, turn;
slip 1, p5, p2tog, p1, turn;
slip 1, k6, ssk, k1, turn;
repeat, working one more stitch before the decrease until all heel flap sts have been worked, ending with a purl row.
Slip 1, knit across heel, pick up 10 sts in slipped stitches of heel flap. Continue across the instep in st st, then pick up 10 sts on the other side of the heel flap.
Foot:
Decrease for the gusset every other round until 36 sts remain. Work even until 1" from desired length (3 3/4")and then decrease for the toe.
Toe:
Decrease eor (every other round) 3 times, then er (every round) 2 times. Graft remaining sts together.

Knit a second sock to match. If you knit a pair of these socks, please consider knitting another pair in some warm wool yarn and sending them to CIC.

Copyright 2006 Chrysalis Knits.

Knitting the blues

2006-11-04T20:14:00.000-06:00

In my last post I forgot to show what else I had finished in the last week. I've been spinning up some blue and green merino to knit into a hat for A. I'll spin up the rest, with added glitz, to make a hat for B. I spun a firm but springy two ply and is 270 yds in the two ounces. I probably won't start the other two oz. for a week or two.

It has gotten chilly here lately, so I took out some fruit hats that I made last fall while I was pregnant. It is a blueberry hat, inspired by several other fruit hats I've seen, but I didn't knit with a pattern, I just used my basic hat formula and added green at the top and a little leaf. I used Wendy/Peter Pan Velvet Touch. It is like knitting velour and, unlike chenille, it doesn't worm. I love this for baby things! It is so soft. So here is a picture of A today, before our walk to the park.

A knitting "snack"

2006-11-03T21:07:00.000-06:00

I've been diligently working on both of my swap socks and some soakers. I am almost finished with the heel of one, and I'm very happy with how it is working out. It is always nice when what you see in your head actually works on your needles! No pictures now, but I'll have some when my partners have theirs socks. I did finish another soaker this week. I love playing around with fair isle patterns and variegated yarns, and I thought that this one came out really well. More Patons Classic Wool since it was close by when I needed it.

As for my knitting "snack".... I was tired of sock knitting for the day, and last weekend while shopping for some fabric for some Christmas gifts, B found this yarn that she loved, Caron Glimmer, a glittery chenille, in purple. She loves hats and has been trying to wear several hats that are too small, so I figured that his would make a nice hat for her. Since I only had 49 yards to work with, I used a circular cast on and arbitrarily cast on 9 stitches. I started increasing at regular intervals and worked from the top down to use every last inch of yarn. After weaving in the ends, I had two inches of yarn left at each tail! I think she looks pretty cute in her new hat, and I enjoyed my "snack" knitting. Now I can get back to my socks!

Harvest Socks cast on and Soaker

2006-10-18T20:22:00.000-05:00

I've finally cast on the socks for my Harvest Sock Swap partner. It's a pretty pattern, but not too complicated. The yarn is not to busy, but nicer than a plain solid. I hope that my partner will like it. But I'm not going to post a picture of my sock until after I finish the sock and my partner receives it. I want it to be a surprise!

But I do have one picture. I finished this soaker earlier today. It is Paton's Classic Merino in leaf green. It is a modification of the Curly Purly pattern. As much as I don't care for 1x1 rib, it does stay on well, and the long waistband covers even the bulkiest nighttime diaper.

Finished Bee Sweater and FTP Yarn

2006-10-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally finished the baby bee sweater. I used about one and three quarters skins of Lion Brand Wool Ease. It's not my favorite yarn, but it is for a mom that I don't think will want to handwash them. My mom fell in love with the bee buttons, and we though they would look cute sewn on to the honeycomb sections. It's my own design, but I don't think that I can write a pattern for it since I just made it up as I went. The hat is my own design as well, but I can probably write a pattern for that if anyone is interested.

I am please with how the hat turned out too. I started without much of a plan, and had no idea what I would do about the decreases when I got there. I think they flow pretty seamlessly, and I really like how the top came out, and especially like the flower-like shape.

I also spent a few days during naptime and a few evenings to spin just under two ounces of rainbow colored Bluefaced Leicester top into a three ply sock yarn. I've never Navajo plyed on such a large scale before, and I really like how the colors maintained their separation, yet blend nicely too. The color is much more true in the picture of the bobbin of yarn. In the skein the colors look a little garish, but they are prettier in person, and I think they will be perfect in the sock I have planned for my FTP (Feet to Prayers) partner.

Feet to Prayers Swatch

2006-10-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

I've been working on my Feet to Prayers sock swap swatch, and I narrowed it down to two patterns. The multicolored yarn is a different color than the one that I will use, but it was what I had on hand. I'm finding that I am spinning a little finer than I'd like, so I'll have to work on that, and it is already a three ply! So, which pattern do you prefer, the top or bottom?

Harvest Sock Swap

2006-10-03T05:56:00.000-05:00

I haven't had too much time for knitting in the past week, but I did get a swatch knit up of the cable pattern that I want to use in my partner's socks. It is a 20 row cable that I don't recall having seen much before. It is not as prominent in the variegated yarn, but I like it anyway! Now that I have swatched the cable, I can figure out my gauge and get started on the sock itself!

Baby sweater progress, and Harvest Sock Swap yarn

2006-09-27T13:05:00.000-05:00

I've been working almost exclusively the honeycomb baby sweater. I finished the body last night, and the sleeves should only take a few more days. The button band is a braided cable with the button holes in between cable twists. Here's a picture of the progress:

I also decided on the yarn for my Harvest Sock Swap sock. It is a variegated blue Sockotta. It should work up nicely and I'm leaning towards more cables.

And here is a picture of B playing her guitar with her daddy. She loves music!

A is getting so big. He is the happiest little guy. His sister just dotes on him. They are so cute together, even when they are threatening to drive me crazy!

CA Feet to Prayers Sock Swap Questionnaire

2006-09-23T09:49:00.000-05:00

When is your birthday? January 12th

Do you spin your own yarn? If so, do you also like to work with raw fleece (washing, dyeing, carding) or only from prepared fibers (roving, top, batts)? I like working from both raw fleece and prepared fibers, but I have enough fleece at the moment. I'm starting to save for a drum carder to process the fleeces I have.

What small projects do you like to make? Socks, mittens, scarf, hat, baby items, wash cloths, doilies, shrugs etc. I love knitting socks, but have been knitting more baby things lately again, especially since B and A are the right size for it!

What are your favorite scents? My favorite it vanilla, but I like anything that smells like home baked goodies, like cinnamon cookies, hazelnut coffee, pumpkin pie, etc.

Do you like stationary and cards? I like both. I've been looking for some plain cards since all I seem to have are "thank you" cards!

Do you like hand lotions or soaps? I like lotion, but haven't been using it much lately since I wash my hands so much. That will probably change though, especially once the cold weather sets in.

Do you like to make/or use stitch markers? I usually prefer to use a piece of yarn/thread for stitch markers since I can move them more easily and they don't snag on my yarn.

Do you collect anything? I collect post cards. I used them as wallpaper in one of my rooms during college.

Do you have any allergies? Smoke, food, fiber, pets, etc. I don't have any allergies.

Do you have any hobbies? (besides knitting, of course!) I've been sewing a lot lately, and spinning, of course!

Do you like scented or unscented candles? I'm partial to scented candles.

Are there any books you are secretly wishing for? I've been looking at Wendy Knits book, but other than that, I don't think so.

Do you have a favorite Bible verse/story or character from the Bible? My current favorite verse is Matthew 18:3-6 (ESV)- "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Seeing B grow and ask questions, this is so real to me, I think that we all need to see the world through the eyes of a child more often.

Busy Week

2006-09-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

This has been a busy week and a half. Last week my husband's car broke down. We fixed it, and not wanting to deal with any more car troubles, we sold it last night! It was only listed for two hours before we got a call. Praise God for the quick sale and the much needed funds! We are now down to one car, but that will be okay for a few months. Fall has also arrived here, so I've been strapping A into the Snugli, and have been taking B for a walk every day. She loves to hunt for acorns, pine cones, bird feathers (because "feathers help birdies fly, Mommy"), and various other things that are such treasures to two-year-olds. It is wonderful to be able to do this again after the scorching summer that we had. Since it has been too cool for swimming, I used B's pool to dry some fleece that I washed last week. It was dirty and I had almost given up on it since I usually wash fleece in the sink, but I decided to try the washing machine method since I wasn't going to lose anything, and it came out pretty well. It really is a pretty fleece, a nice variegated grey Corriedale.

I've been steadily working on my husband M's sweater. I've finished the back and am almost to V-neck shaping on the front. I am looking forward to the color sections of the sleeves again. This isn't the greatest picture, but I wanted some natural light.

My mom is going to a baby shower for her best friend's daughter next month and crocheted a blanket for her. She asked me if I could knit a sweater and hat set. The daughter's favorite color is yellow, and since they do not know the gender of the baby, we went with that. They also have a bumblebee bedding set, so I decided to design a sweater with honeycomb cables. Mom found some cute bee buttons that we will sew on the front. I'm knitting a raglan cardigan from the top down. I just started this yesterday, and am pleased with the progress thus far.

I took a break from knitting a few nights ago and spun up one of the samples that I got from Carole at Twin Brooks Farm. She has such beautiful blends. This blend was my least favorite of the bunch, reds, yellows, and oranges are just not my cup of tea, but my mom loves autumnal colors, so I'll need to find something to combine this with since it is only 1/2 oz. and 41 yds.

This lovely skein of yarn arrived this week from Bear Farm Yarns. It is a heathered burgundy and is a heavy worsted/aran weight. It is from their flock of Corriedale sheep. This skein is destined to become a soaker for a dear friend. I started the pattern in another yarn but didn't have enough, so I am looking forward to seeing if the finished soaker matches the picture in my head. Can you tell that I really don't like to follow patterns and would rather design my own!

I also received my Harvest Sock Swap pal, and have picked out a nice yarn for that, and hopefully will get it cast on this weekend. I just need to spend some time and swatch up some of the designs in my head and see what looks good.

New Blog

2006-09-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well I tried transferring my old blog to Blogger Beta and didn't like it at all, so I am starting over. I am up to the arm holes on my husband's sweater from Family Circle Easy Knitting, Fall 1999. It is an easy knit, but interesting too.

I took some pictures of how I hold my yarn for stranded or fair isle knitting. I hold the background color over my left index finger (I knit Continental), and wrap the pattern color in the opposite direction over the index finger. If there is a third color, I use my middle finger to carry it.

In the photos, the background color is charcoal, the pattern color is denim, and the third color is light grey. When I pick up the light grey, I go under both of the other strands. When working with two (or more) colors, it is important to be consistent when carrying the colors across the back. I always carry the background color over and the pattern color under. Both Ann Feiteleson and Alice Starmore discuss this in their respective Fair Isle books.