WIP

I am working on an XS pair of WonderPants from Wooly Wonder in Bartletts. So far they have a light brown waistband and the body is red. With the light brown I also put an intarsia "W"(for our last name) on the butt. I think I need to add more light brown intarsia things because I might run short on red. I will do the cuffs in light brown, but those will only be about an inch long. The pattern estimates 6oz of yarn needed. I only have 4 oz of red! I thought about stripes, but think that might look a little silly just on the legs. I have seen it done, though, and it isn't too bad. Thinking maybe just a couple basic shapes. I don't know! Stripes would be easier! I sort of wish that I would have done cables from the waistband down the sides of the legs with the brown, but now that I am just about to split for the legs, I think it is too late.

Finished a Giving Pixie hat from Little Turtle Knits around Thanksgiving, will post a pic soon! The hat is so cute! I used incredibly delicious yarn. Noro Kochoran, 50% wool, 20% silk and 30% angora. I think I am going to get some to make myself a hat next time I'm at the shop. I love this pattern and it knit up in a day!


Just about finished with the simple baby cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. About 5 inches of an arm and 4 ties left. I am using awesome yarn on this one. It is for the new baby. I made the smallest size and it looks like it should fit 0-6 months! The yarn is from Schaefer's Laurel line. Mercerized Pima Cotton in the Judy Garland colorway. I try to stay away from yarn that has been processed too much, but Dale from Twisted Warp and Skeins and I read about mercerization and it really didn't bug me. Basically mercerization is a simple process where the cotton yarn is held at a certain tension and soaked in a 20-23% caustic acid (lye) solution for ten minutes. Then it is burnished, I think that is the right term, basically all the fuzzies are burned off the yarn leaving it super smooth. The mercerization helps the yarn to hold dye better. One look at the Schaefer mercerized cotton and you won't doubt that! This stuff is bright and beautiful.
I still have to finish the Knucks for my step-dad. I am almost done with one and I just don't want to work on them! We are having a late Christmas, on the fourth, with my mom and him so I got a break from Christmas knitting. I started baby knitting and now I don't want to switch back. I am already doing a plain ribbed cuff on his knucks unlike the neat chevron one that I did on my little brother's pair (see post below for picture.) I am tempted to skip out on the "Hunt, Fish" embroidery, but we will see what happens when I actually get them done. I have until Thursday. It is a great pattern, but dammit it's boring and I want to knit stuff for the new baby even if those patterns aren't super intriguing either!
I think that is all that is on and off the needles for now. Pictures soon!

Adam was very proud of the first turkey that he ever cooked, so I thought I would put it up here!
The turkey was a free-range organically fed and raised turkey from Grahams in Mount Pleasant, MI. We bought the turkey fresh a couple days before Thanksgiving, but decided to stick it in the freezer and wait till Christmas. After the brining, Adam rubbed the turkey with butter and freshly ground pepper and stuck it on the charcoal grill with lots of yummy smoking chips. We also stuck a baking dish full of vegetable stock in with the coals to steam and baste the bird with. This was absolutely the best turkey that I have ever had in my life!

LTK Pilot Cap.

Thick and Thin Magallanes yarn from Lily Lane Knits.
I am making a matching pair of Stripey Slippers from Little Turtle Knits to go with the hat. I initially made the hat for Taso, but it came out too small so it should fit the baby next winter.

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs

Here they are completely finished. See post below for unfelted version.
Grandpa absolutely loved them! He opened them and thought they were great. Somehow one started to get passed around and he looks at me and says, "Hey, you made two right?! Where is the other one?" I got it back to him, he put them on and had yet to take them off for even a split-second when Adam, Taso, and I left a few hours later!

Shedir!

This is the hat from Knitty that my sister picked out for her Christmas present. Taso likes to model her hats.

Comments?

Hey! Is anybody out there? If you stop by, leave me a comment. I want to see some footprints.

More X-mas FO's

Cigar! These are for my brother-in-law. My sister-in-law said they would be great for hunting as well as outside smoking.
















A dog leash for my brother-in-law. He is taking care of our dog now and I wanted to give him a special gift. Crappy picture, but you get the idea. It turned out really nice!
















Evan, my brother-in-law, requested a hemp necklace for christmas this year. Beads from Purple Sage. The hemp projects were nice because they didn't take longer than two-three hours combined. I have some nice blisters on my fingers from weaving it, though. It has been quite a long time since I have worked with hemp.

Stitch Markers

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I knit my sister-in-law a pair of Pedicure Socks for xmas. Scroll down to see. I made a few stitch markers to attach to the outside of her package. She is a new knitter, doesn't have a lot of faith in herself, so I thought these personalized markers would help! She loves horses and has been in and won many competitions. The bottle says "Wine" on it. I bought the beads at a wonderful bead store called Purple Sage. It was my first time in there and it was terrific! They had an area for small children to play and the owner and her husband were very friendly. We found out that the husband makes silver rings and Adam and I are going to have him make us some wedding rings! Pretty excited about that.

Knucks

Here are the Knucks I knit for my 8 year old brother for xmas. I think he will love them. I am making the same ones for his dad (my mom is re-married) and they are going to dig them so much! They are both huge sportsman, so it hit me to embroider them with "Hunt" & "Fish." I used Peace Fleece for the Knucks and plain old cotton embroidery thread (4 strands) for the words.

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On another note, I am now the proud owner of a first production of Louet Victoria spinning wheel! One of a hundred! More on that later.

Blanche hat for little sister

Here is Taso modeling Blanche, a hat that I made out of handspun alpaca for my sister's birthday. Pam at Twisted Warp and Skeins in Merrill spun it for me a couple months ago when I was working on Adam's Swell hat. See below for a picture.
As soon as I find a stockpot, I will be dyeing Blanche black. I have a nice stockpot, but I can not use it with acid dyes. Any one have an old stockpot? I figured I would find one at a thrift store, but I have been to multiple stores multiple times with no luck.

Felted Rose Pin

Felted Rose Pin for my grandma. I started off with a pattern from Nicky Epsteins "Knitted Flowers", but the yarn I used was too thick. I was determined to not have to knit such a plain old piece again out of sheer desire to not want to snap my needles in half! I went online looking for pictures of other knitted roses and saw one on the Plethora of Petals pattern on Knitty. I ended up cutting my felted (glad I decided to try felting it to make it work before I gave up!) piece and then using yarn to gather the bottom, rather than just rolling it up. Basically before I cut half of it off and used the yarn to gather, it was pretty much a cinnamon roll! So, having the rose looking decent, I went ahead and knit the leaf Nicky called for in her pattern. She suggested doing two leaves, sew them together and make 2. I opted to knit one leaf double-stranded! I used Bartletts for the flower and Lite Lopi for the leaf. Now I just need to pick up a pin back and sew it on. I do think it turned out alright!

Wine Cozy

Wine Cozy from Knitty.Knit with a double-strand of Lite Lopi in various colors. Yay stash-yarn reduction! This was harsh to knit as the pattern called for #4 needles. I was a little worried when I first tried it on the wine bottle. I think I should have used #5 needles, but never bothered to check my gauge! After wetting and blocking it, I have to say it looks alright. The seam shows a bit more than I would like and the rim around the base doesn't quite stick out from under the bottle as much as it should, but oh well. This was my first time doing stripes. It is crucial to just let go and not try to form a pattern, I think. Thank you, Lisa, for helping me figure out how to block it to get that extra bit of stretch I needed! I am busy trying to figure out what is approx. the size of the wine bottle that I could stick in there while it dried and she pipes up, "How about you just wrap the wine bottle in a plastic bag and stick it in?" DUH! I had been worried about the labels on the bottle being ruined from the water. Lisa is so smart. Oh, one other thing. I set the wine cozy on top of a prefold diaper to dry because it was the closet thing in reach (of course it was clean!) that diaper sucked all the moisture out of the cozy! It was seriously amazing! The whole diaper was damp even though the cozy only touched a small circle of the diaper. I changed the diaper when I noticed it was wet and stuck a new one under it. It was dry in less than 12 hours! Awesome!

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. Knit with a double-strand of Lite Lopi. Mens size Medium.

















Too big for Taso!





















After felting and embellishment. My first time needle-felting. I love it and can not wait to do more! The leather bottoms will be here soon, after sewing those on, these kicks are finished!

Christmas FO's

1. Pocketbook slippers and hummingbird dishcloth from "Garden Dishcloths to Knit"for my grandmother. Both knit from Cream and Sugar (or whatever it is called) cotton yarn. The slippers seem true to the real color, but the dishcloth came out looking a lot darker, it is actually a light blue.
2. Extra Superwash Merino Panta for my momma!
3. Hand-dyed thick and thin Panta for me. Really pretty yarn, can not remember the name of it and it is so much better in person.
4. Pedicure socks. Patons craperino.
5. Felted Bowl. Patons.
6. Felted Bowl. Regular Lopi.

Store Sample Baby Sock

Knit from Interlace Sock Yarn as a sample for Lily Lane Knits.
Colors of the yarn were okay, but not a big fan of the feel of the yarn. It is superwash merino, but felt like acrylic.

Mostly WIP, some FO

I finished 2 1/2 pairs of mittens. I was making a pair for Taso and the first one came out too big, so I set that aside to do the second one later and promptly lost it. The second pair came out too small, but I finished the pair and will donate it to the mitten knit-in at www.twistedwarp.com. The third pair came out just right! No pictures right now, camera is downstairs...
I started a pair of pocketbook slippers for my grandma for x-mas, I will also be making her some felted slippers, hopefully! I used dishcloth cotton for them so she can wear them year-round.
I started a pair of Jaywalker socks from magknits.com for my mom for x-mas. First project on size 1 needles and second project with sock yarn. These seem like they are going to take forever! Everytime I start to knit on them, I finish one round and then I have to go do something else! Maybe I will work on them Friday at the knit-in at Lily Lane. lilylaneknits.com
I have only one sock left to finish of the pedicure socks. I am making a pair for my MIL and SIL. SIL's are done, just the one left from MIL. The pattern said that I could make two pairs of pedicure socks from two skeins, but they forgot to mention that in order to do this, you must switch the ribbing color on one pair. I am going to have to buy more patons merino. Not a huge fan of patons. Oh well!
I am going to start a pair or two of legwarmers for Taso soon. I know I have yarn I could use, but I want something really fun! Keeping my eyes out.
Waiting for yarn and a cable needle to start on a cabled hat for my lil sister's birthday. First cable project!
I think that is all for now. I really want to make something for the new baby, but have to get christmas things out of the way first. I will be making two pairs of the Cigar gloves from knitty.com for my two BILs, also.

Little Turtle Knits Pilot Cap

Here it is. It is a bit big, but works alright. I used leftover handspun alpaca from Adam's Swell hat. That yarn is so buttery-soft!

The Great Everlasting Wonder Pumpkin Soaker

A couple quick shots. I am going to attempt for better pictures later. It is too early in the morning for Taso to stay still for long!
This is the yarn that I recycled and dyed from an old sweater. See post below.

Babywearer

This is a poncho that I knit awhile back and finally got around to taking pictures of.
It is knit from a hemp/wool yarn that I love!

Adam's New Hat

I made Swell from Knitty.com for Adam. I subbed handspun alpaca for the Cascade wool the pattern calls for. My gauge was a few stitches and a few rows off, but somehow the hat turned out perfect! I didn't add any stitches, but I did add about 8 rows. I probably would have had to have done that anyway because Adam has what is commonly known as a large head. Without further ado, here is my first venture into beautiful alpaca and stranding work.

Recycled Yarn Fun

I finished unraveling this sweater


and dyed three of the five hanks with kool-aid and food coloring.


I'm going to make Taso a pumpkin soaker w/ the orange and green. Not sure (nak) what I'll do with the undyed hanks. Maybe something for the baby?

SnB was good last night. Glad to have Lisa back!!

WIP, FO, and more...

My first ever yarn, well not counting the yard or two I did on the drop spindle before moving to the wheel.

This is what I am working on now, a M/L pair of Wooly Wonder Pants with a really pretty shade of Peace Fleece that just looks like black because I took a quick picture.

WW Pants Finished. They are so cute on Taso!


One of the three Pedicure socks that need to be done by Christmas...

Kool-Aid dyed roving. Tropical Punch and Orange. I think I am calling this color scheme blood orange. Blood Oranges are tasty and they look just like this!

The yarn from the dyed roving that I have spun so far.

I took a spinning class!

Last night I went to Twisted Warp and Skein and had my first spinning lesson. It consisted of a short fiber overview where I got to feel a ton of different fibers. Then I was taught how to drop spindle. Don't hate it, certaintly didn't fall in love with it. Then when I had the hang of that (minus the dropping part, I'll hold it between my knees/feet thank you very much) Pam moved me on over to the spinning wheels. She had me pedal all of the wheels in the store to see which I thought I might like the most. So far, I like the two treadle (pedal?) ones the best. The one I picked to start on, I didn't end up loving. But I shouldn't blame the machine, huh? I did alright. I made yarn! They had me start out with "craft roving" which they also call "cheap-cheap." I thought it was okay, but I could see how nicer wool would be more satisfying. I did get into the groove for a foot or two here and there, it felt so calming and nice! I am hooked. Who's going to give me a wheel? Can you imagine if I woke up and checked Freecycle and bammo "Who needs a spinning wheel?" Like that would happen! Anyway, so I took home the rest of the roving and today I dyed it with Tropical Punch and Orange Kool-Aid. I am not up for putting pictures on now, but you better believe they are coming. I finished a pair of Tiny Birds longies for Azalea, I finished a pair of WW pants in Ancient Fern Peace Fleece, the latter (and the former is good, too!) came out so cool! The buttons I put on the cargo pockets fit the pants perfect. I also tried the No Strings Attached waistband and it seems to be working great. My only complaint and it may be because I put the elastic on tight because Taso has a small waist, is that the ribbing is flaring out and down. The pair of WW pants I just started for Taso I am doing less ribbing. Usually I add an extra inch for the rise in the ribbing, this time I guess I will just put it in the body. SnB tomorow evening folks! Pictures soon, I promise!

Kool Aid Fun

Why do I always draw flowers? I always do it and they do not even look neat! Stop the insanity. I need to branch out, like into trees, maybe? Here are some pictures from the fun Adam and I just had painting on a cut up felted wool sweater that will soon be a new wetbag for us.

Adam painting with Taso on his back in the Ergo.

All done. Adam's looks way nicer. We had a blast and can not wait to share painting on wool felt with Taso!