apple valley yarn company

i am at a new job! i love it so much! apple valley yarn company. back with the old crew from lily lane knits. it is such a blessing, the shop in bay city was not a perfect fit.

adam and i are looking at houses to buy. we just looked at a total fixer upper. the upstairs has minimal electric wired to it. a ceiling light or two and two plugs!

upside - i could have a couple of sheep or goats!

current projects:

tomten for taso, socks for taso, socks for abe, socks for my mom, socks for adam, sweater for me, sweater for a lil girl, hopefully that's it!

for the yarn shop, i am working on a baby sweater, the lace ripple scarf, and soon a rug from brown sheeps burly spun.

i am going to start a mochimochi land pattern and a little turtle knits fulled crown for taso's third birthday.

i booked a real live musician for taso's birthday. he is nutso over music. this is a fairly local children's environmental-type folky guy, Joe Reilly. check him out at spiritboy.org

check me out on ravelry "hamadryadmomma"

Boo Bear Buns

Hey knitters, I just entered a contest over at Boo Bear Buns in honor of the new fabrics they are debuting. slingsandsacks.blogspot.com

and it's February...

Two weeks ago I started my new job... at A Piece of Ewe. A local yarn store. This is my second job at a yarn store. So far, it is going pretty well, even the childcare fell right into place.
Lots of fun yarns and people to talk to about knitting. It feels so productive to help people with their knitting all day. It feels good to diagnose their issue and help them through it.

I am just about finished with a Wonderful Wallaby for Taso. I am using Nashua Creative Focus Worsted. It is a single-ply blend of 75% wool and 25% alpaca. I wouldn't pick it for a sweater again, but it will be fine this once. Abe actually has a sweater knit from the same yarn from my mother-in-law. There are a lot of rough and pokey guard hairs from the alpaca, takes away from how soft the yarn should be. This yarn seems to be more suited to fulling projects. I have seen Fiber Trends clogs and a fulled purse knit from the yarn and those look great!

I am stalled on a sweater for Abe because I am not enjoying the way the variegated Schaefer is working up.

I cleaned out my yarn closet to take pictures for my Stash on ravelry.com and found 5+ projects that are now in a bag waiting to be frogged. A skirt, the lace was fun to knit, but I have lost a ton of weight since I started it. A fulled CD box that I lost interest in. I don't even remember what else is in there now! Oh, a Pi shawl that I lost track of where I was and I want to use the yarn for a hat anyway.

the pilot cap from the previous post sold! finished another in bartlett's farm yarn last night and have one just about done (if i could just put on a podcast and start knitting!)
hopefully tomorrow i will be able to take some pictures, update the etsy, the blog, and maybe organize my hard drive as i prepare to welcome a new laptop!
the boys are doing great. taso is growing tall and his sentences longer. abe is crawling and pulling himself up on everything.
besides things for the shop, i am currently working on a knitting pure and simple tunic for abe and a tomten for taso.
i would really enjoy starting a pair of socks for adam soon, although in the time it may take me to knit him a pair of socks (size 13/14!!!) i could easily knit myself two. i have a gift cert. for a LYS, hoping some sock yarn for him pops out at me.
i am going to try to put an etsy mini on my blog now.

Just finished and blocked this merino LTK Pilot Cap. It is a trade for one of Adam's holiday-times gifts.

It is the infant size, but certainly won't fit Abe at almost 8 months. He, along with Taso and Adam, are hard to fit into the standard hat sizes, though. They all have large brains.
Taso said I should embroider something on it, but I think this hat is done.

Chullo

I finished a patterned chullo (pattern: EZs fast cap) . I needed merino to knit it late Tuesday evening, so I picked up some Paton's at Meijer's and went to work.
Finished, lanolized, and ready to be handed over to it's owner tomorow afternoon.
Also included, my Abe and I relaxing on the sofa.

Knit List

Knit list

Not a to-do list, more of a “what have you done” list…

Bold the things you have ever knit
Italics the ones you plan to do sometime
Leave the rest

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fibre yarn
Domino Knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publish a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Entrelac
Long Tail CO
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Sneak Peak of the Pinwheel Sweater

Ronda wants a surprise, but she showed me my pants so I have to post something! Here is the pinwheel sweater, knit from Blackberry Ridge wool, all ready to go!

Knitting Around the Bon-Fire : Rule 1

No matter how long you have been knitting, it is impossible to count to 25 in the dark.
Especially if you are drinking hoppy ale.
This is especially true if you only have to do said count one time and it will effect the entire outcome of the object.

Addendum to Rule 1:

Waiting to work on the object until SnB at the bar is not a wise choice. You will not notice that the count is off until the next day when you realize you are now ready for another drink because you have to frog the "quick-knit" hat.

You may or may not notice that one side is significantly wider than the other. The sooner I rip it all back, the sooner Abe has his new hat.

EZ Bonnet for Violet

A quick birthday gift for a friend who just turned one. Pattern can be found in Opinionated Knitter. Quick and fun knit. Both of my boys modeled it, but neither seemed to catch the simplistic beauty of the hat. The back has a really nice swirl and the shaping lines on the side are cute. I crocheted a border around the entire hat as I added the ties and it really made it look finished and clean.

The sock that wasn't mean to be...

Needed something quick to knit at a family reunion last weekend... Grabbed a ball of Debbie Bliss merino/cotton blend measured my ankle, went with the ball band gauge and cast on. Too big for me! Will they fit Adam? Yes, but then after I am into the foot part, neither of us are so sure. The eyelets were a bit feminine and the top of the sock was a bit stretchy even for his leg.
Thus, rip... Maybe a hat next go 'round?

A new hat for Abe!

Started this early afternoon today and finished it just a bit ago. The shaping doesn't fit his head the way I would like, but it is a hat and a warm one at that!
My handspun Corriedale (kool-aid dyed, Pam's handspun llama, our handspun plied together, and some green Tibet recycled silk and wool.

This hat began life as Spiral Rib Hat found in the Baby Hats section of knittingpatterncentral.com. After the ribbing, I started the spiral rib and didn't like the stitch pattern with the two-tone yarn. I frogged and then knit straight stockinette for 5 1/2". Checked out Susan B. Anthony's book o' hats for some inspiration on a gnome-like cap. I did whatever came out of the needles to the end of the hat and finished off with a short Idiot cord.

For the brim, I just chained on two and crocheted back and forth, sometimes skipping sts to produce a brim. Single crocheted around the entire rim of hat twice.

Viola'!

Hmmm...

Well, the roving was either not wrapped tight enough or just wasn't meant to be. I think Adam and I got a little crazy instead of focusing on wrapping it well. Either way, we took it all off the teepee and will take the roving to the big felting machine at Twisted Warp and Skeins and make an awesome colorful piece of felt and wrap that around the teepee.
It will be fun to cut out a window or two!

teepee!

Adam and I have been musing up a teepee for some weeks now and tada! Here it is...

I can not wait until Taso wakes up!

Socks done!

I finished my plain jane socks. I used the Campfire socks pattern from Cider Moon, but omitted the pattern and just knit stockinette around. I have been drooling over their fibers lately. I'll post some pictures of the finished socks soon.
I have been working on a pinwheel sweater for a trade for some hand sewn winter short pants. Pretty excited about that. I went into the pattern thinking it would be a super quick knit, but simple does not always equate quick. I am doing the garter border, two or so more inches to go, and am getting bored! After that there is the billion stitch I-cord trim and the sleeves. It is going to be a great sweater, but wow, I already have over 10 hours into the thing! A little worried that I might run out of yarn, but I say I have enough, so that is that!
I started to work on the Cider Moon socks this evening at knitting circle and finished them up this evening as I had grabbed my knitting bag, but forgotten the Pinwheel sweater in the van.
Irie's hat is all packed up and ready to be shipped tomorrow. I hope it fits and that she loves it! Taso loves it and I have enough of that chunky hand spun merino left to knit one for him.
Wow, I have so many things that I want to do, things I need to knit, and with two very small children, where does the time go?
Well, the Abe-ster needs some momma milk. I'll leave you with a picture of Abe's very first swing ride.

A hat for Irie.

I bought a pair of handsewn pants and a pair of shorts from this momma. Also see her eBay store.
Well, the pants and shorts never arrived! After much waiting and multiple trips to the post office for both of us, she was kind enough to make me another pair of pants. So awesome of her! I decided to knit her daughter a hat as a thank-you.
Here is Taso modeling Elizabeth Zimmermann's Spiral or Snail hat knit in my own handspun merino top.

My very own socks!

I have knit a few pairs of socks before, but never for me. Some for Taso, a store sample, a pair for my grandma, and a couple of pairs of pedicure socks last christmas.
Finally, a pair for me! The yarn is Nancy by Schaefer Yarns(love their yarn SO much!) and was kindly donated to me for no reason other than she could barely look at, by Pam at Twisted Warp and Skeins. She and another woman had tried knitting and weaving with it and they both just seemed to despise it. The colors were so pretty I took her up immediately when she told me to take the huge cake of yarn home! I started socks that night! With a fiber content of 95% merino and 5% nylon, the yarn just said socks. The nylon is actually a runner thread twisted around the merino, I think that will help keep the socks strong. Kind of like holding nylon with your yarn while knitting the heel, maybe?
The second sock is just about done, a few more inches on the foot and then the toe. I am planning to try some toe-up socks next. Let me know if you have any great patterns for toe-up socks! I would like something a bit prettier, not just a boring stocking stitch!
This is not the best picture, but you sure do get a great view of my unshaven legs!

Alpaca/Corriedale Yarn

Yummy handspun yarn. I love my Louet Victoria!

This will soon be a pair of cozy winter pants for Abe. I will knit it up using the Perfection Pants pattern from Wooly Wonder. It is a great pattern for pants where you just plug in your gauge and the babies measurements and then it spits out a pattern to guide you.

Roving and Yarn!

Alpaca/Tussah Silk roving. It has an incredible softness, strength, and weight to it. I am spinning it lace weight and plan to start knitting a Pi shawl very soon.



After I washed the hanks, I hung it to dry in the bathroom. I had a bit too much twist and thought maybe I could hang some ketchup to straighten it out. Then I started worrying that would cause a kink in the bottom of the yarn. After Adam snapped this photo, I took the ketchup back to the pantry.



This is what I finished at the Tuesday Circle at Twisted Warp and Skeins last night. 325 glorious yards all spun on one bobbin!

Wooly Wonder Shorties w/ Cable

WonderShorts
Bartlett's Fisherman Wool knit on #9 needles. 4 stitch basic cable with purl border. Applied I-cord trim.

Super cute :)