Update, Catch-up

OK, well... It's been 2 years since I've updated.  Let's do a quick, timeline catch up, shall we?

October 2011, taught myself to knit:
Well, I had help.  In fact a small village from 'Wyrd Sisters Yarn shop' help.  Specifically it was the owner, Cate, who did all the coaching.  My first swatch?  ALL the stitches were twisted.  I yarned over the wrong way...  and Cate's response:  "Oh, that's very even.  The stitches are twisted, which is a design element in some knitting."  See, the best part about that response is that I didn't do something WRONG, I did something just different.  And I was hooked on knitting from that point forward.

(That's Cate in Wyrd Sisters!)

Summer 2012, Wyrd Sisters closes when Cate moves to away.  And I was sad and scared to meet the new shop people.  Mosaic, and its owner Gina, move into the same space. Shortly after I was back to teaching and hanging out at Mosaic, my local yarn shop II.

Facebook Page for Mosaic Yarn Shop

January 2012, I become a first year Hufflepuff student at Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup.  Don't know House Cup?  Ha.  Well, if you follow me from this point forward, you will.  Oh, yes you will, my dear.

 I keep on learning how to do all things knitting until June 2013 and then I was ready for a new craft to add to my arsenal.

June 2013, Kim teaches me to spin and Pam sells me her wheel.  "Frigg" and I are now BFFs and during the summer spend LOTS of time together.

(there's a wedding in April 2014... that's kinda important!)

Here's my Cruciatus Wellwood Sweater that made it to the front page of Ravelry!

May 2014:
Around 15 sweaters later, here I am restarting the blog.  Because I've been asked to by some instagram friends.  So, I'll use this space to update and review  products and patterns.  I'll keep you abreast of yarn trends and anything you might want to keep up with on Ravelry.

Right now: May is MadMay (MadelineTosh Lovers) on ravelry and the beginning organization for 2 Tour de France events: Tour de Sock and Tour de Fleece.

MadMay, FOs: way class'ay!

I must say that Mad May felt way more successful than Malabrigo March.  Here's what I worked on:


First, my bathing suit cover.  It's from the new vogue knitting crochet mag:
And this is the project I chose to do, #05 wrapped tunic.

It was a simple project, crocheted in motifs, joined as I went.  I selected my coveted Madeline Tosh Sock, in Calligraphy, to get the project done and lookin' classy.  I'm VERY happy with it, but still need to find the perfect button.  I want a turquoise one, although red, wood and antiqued silver have been suggested.

Purdy.

On a random side note, my mobile is making that ridiculous line in ALL my pictures.  Doesn't really bother me, but totally has been a bother to others.  #timeforanewphone.

I had other projects up for the knitting part of my MadMay, but they didn't make it through the month:

Both flops.


But, I did have one random success:
Grady's Graduation Cap

There's a dislike on Ravelry for this project.  I get a little paranoid about dislikes, but my guess is that either someone thinks it's dumb, poorly made, or that it's wrong to put a logo on a hat.  I can say that 1) yes, it's dumb, he's a middle schoolers, 2) hat is well made, embroidering is not my strong suit, and 3) have a heart, he's a middle schooler!

Grady was super surprised and happy with his gift, incase you were interested.


Finally, my SCALENE was near and dear to my newly formed knitting heart.  I desperately wanted to do a 10day top, but with SOL tests and May being as stressful as it can be, I decided something a bit simpler would work.  Scalene caught my eye, and was the ONLY one of the KALs I found worthy of my time.
My main problem was that I didn't possess (in my stash) any yarn that I LOVED to pair with my Tosh Maple Leaf, in another Tosh.  After talking to my knitting guru, Aimee, I went with Malabrigo Sock, in Cote D'azure.

Project photoMy scalene (so cute!)

I used the fibonacci math pattern to make the stripes.  And, for once I can say that I would TOTALLY make another one of these.  Ive never duplicated a pattern before.  I love it, and the key tab is the special difference to it that ALLLLL shawls/scarves need.  Next one I make, I'll work the math so that the large solid stripe is part of the pattern.  It's a 16 row chunk, meaning I'll get close to the perfect formula, and it will look more natural with the numeric pattern.


Up next from LarcYarn?

Well, I have 2 personal yarn bombs Ive ever long been dutifully been dabbling with.  They'll be done with when they done.  More on those SOON.

 But, I MUST get 2 projects off my needles in June:
Miriam & Teal Dress

10 day tops

Malabrigo March has come and gone. You can check my projects (finished and not) on my rav page. It was a fun month, but now I'm on to BIGGER and better things.

Knitting friend Aimee and I started a KAL with the Miriam top in January.

But, with Malabrigo March, and just how HUGE the project is, we're still not done.

What Miriam has done for me, though, is gotten me REALLY excited about making clothing. I NEVER made straight up clothes with my crochet. Always accessories.

First, I have volunteered to make this dress for Wyrd Sisters, as a shop sample.

Mine is in lanaloft, TEAL. and was going along quite well until Malabrigo March hit. Then, complete stop. But, I'll pick it up over Spring Break.

But, let's talk about personal project... Ive decided I'm going to do a few rounds (aka Months) of 10 day tops. By a few, I mean I have 8 tops in my que and I want to make them all. But, alas, I have a 8-4 type of day job where the only knitting I can allow myself is during lunch (20 minutes).

Thus, 10 day tops will be monthly in 2012. 2011 was year of the blankets. 2012, year of the 10 day tops.

March 10 day top : Sunset Madigan

ok, I love Quince and Co.'s patterns. I'm not WILD about their yarns yet, mostly because I have no experience with them, but, both Miriam and Madigan are their patterns.

On a trip to http://theyarnlounge.com/ , I found 2 (or was it three?) skeins of Sunset Rios, and I had to have them. Then, Madigan started calling, and knitting friend Aimee said I could have her left over .75 skein from her last project. Then, on rav, a

lovely person was selling 3 skeins. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world, so I made my first EVER gauge swatch (which yes, I washed and dried).

Cast on: March 30th at 7:40 am.

From the picture, you can see that Madigan has a gorgeous cowl neck. Those welts took me a while. I have until Monday at 7:40am to be done. Think I can do it?

10 day tops, April?

Here are the top 3 for April (although, I think I've settled on one of them)

1) Dorflinger 2) Pegboard 3)Xia

But first, to finish Madigan.

Beth Cyr give away--hoping to win for seester!

Ok, so the artist that made our rings is giving away a ring--and my seester NEEDS this ring. Everyone check out Beth!

Decisions, decisions

For Malabrigo March, Ive added a few additions to the original 5 projects. Altogether now I have 8 projects. Seems like a lot, I know, but 3 of them are 1 night projects. It's really 2 which will take about a week...

So, I've added a few and the pictures are where I'm attempting to get the color combo right. There's a wrap, called the Color Affection wrap, designed by Veera, who's becoming my favorite knit wear designer on Rav. This pattern is the FIRST pattern Ive bought on Rav. It's SO pretty. The assymetry is beautiful to me.

Anyhoo, I can't decide which color to use as the main. If I had one more skein of Vertiver, the pale green, that would hands down win. But, I'm having NO luck finding another skein of this colorway. Thus, I'm stuck with either Verde (dark green) as the main color (eh, would be ok) or a smaller wrap. My classroom stays COLD all year long. I'm excited to use this shawl for my day job.The chilly room is also why I chose to make my Color Affection in worsted, instead of sock or lace weight.

So far, I like the Verde as the main, but I'm not in love with it:

Malabrigo March

Ok, if you don't know it by now, I'm ADDICTED to all things Malabrigo. I do HATE the pilling of the worsted, but I can't get enough of the company's luscious texture. I have a ton of Malabrigo in my stash. 6 skeins of worsted, 5 skeins of lace, 1 Rios, 1 skein of sock. And this March, I'm putting it all to good use for some healthy stash busting. Hopefully I'll win some prizes, but if not, I'll have a good time working on decreasing my ever growing bin of 'LUXURY' yarn.

My Malabrigo March submissions are *nearly* finalized. I'm only doing 2 of the specific project offerings in the ^MM12 KALs, mostly because I don't love anything they chose. Well, I do love a couple, but I'm not a good enough knitter yet to do those ones I love (Like this GORGEOUS thing! Damn that's a very convincing project photo!). There were NO specific CAL projects selected, which irks my nerves a bit. I should have submitted one, I guess. The crochet project delimma gets solved a little further down in the post. Double whammy, baby!

For Malabrigo March:

In the category of General Accessory

The Dominion Bracelet which I discovered in the Entrelac digital mag I ordered last week. My plan is to use a doubled SnowBird lace to make this. I'm also thinking about felting it, but I'll really have to see how it comes out before I make that jump.

Last night I received a copy of the Best of KnitScene. Most of the projects I had already seen when I review the book before I purchased it. But THEN I saw the Phiaro scarf and was awed by it's simple beauty. I love this scarf and before I even finished my dinner, had planned to make it of a newly acquire Noro stash. Sadly, the Noro cast-on was TOO sticky and I frogged it before I finished the first row. I'm using Malabrigo Sock in Tiziano. I think it'll be super classy and more a scarf than a shawl. I don't own shawls and don't wear shawls, so thinning this scarf will totally work for one skein.

2 Official KAL entries:

Last night I planned most of my MM entries, but this morning as I was drafting this blog post I saw these beauties and couldn't believe I missed them last night! These are totally me: I LOVE fingerless gloves, and this pattern is just quirky enough for me not to think I'm repeating myself for a third time on the easy mitts. I'm thinking about doing these in Vertiver, but then there is a picture of 2 different yarns being used for the 2 parts. I might go for a combination (and, YIKES!, maybe not even a Malabrigo!). I have 1 skein of Berroco vintage left over from my Boneyard Shawl which is green and the Vertiver is green... hmmmmm.

Hats are fast and give that immediate gratification. I like this one pretty well, so I'm going to give it a go, in a Rios. Paris Nights is a safe, kinda BLAH

color and the only reason I have it is because someone on Rav was selling it for a great price. Rikke hat=safe, fast, easy project.

Probably will gift it, so if you want it, speak up now!

And, finally, my Crochet submission.

My shawl will be my piece de resistance (I know, I forgot my accents on that phrase!), and it will double as the prototype for the Wyrd Sisters Yarn Shop class I'm teaching in April. This shawl is written in Japanese, but charted very clearly. I'm going to make it in Pearl Ten lace, which I'm thinking about doubling. I have 2 skeins of it, which means a thicker, but smaller shawl, than if I was to crochet it not doubled. Another possible problem with doubling would be a different color for the edging. I have 2 skeins of Frank Ochre lace I could use for the edging, but the deep purple-yellow combo is too Sports Team-ey for my wardrobe.

Wanna join the Malabrigo March Madness? You should. :)

Bernat CAL Afghan.

It's week 2 of the crochet asking Afghan Emily and I are doing together. She is making two, which I thought would be easy enough. Then, we got this week's clue. Yikes! These are yarn intense. Still pretty basic.

I want to post pictures of mine on the bernat page...but I can't because I'm making mine from stash yarn (simple soft)  oh well. To ravelry I go!

Published Pattern!

Ok, so I'm beyond thrilled right now. One of my students from a Thursday night Wyrd Sisters class posted these gorgeous pictures online! So, Ive got my act together and created my first OFFICIAL looking pattern. WOOT!

Now, I just have to figure out how to get the PDF out there for others to buy... Right now it's at the shop, but I'd love ravelry members to be able to buy it, too.

Yarn. the verb

This crochet crazy lady can knit with the best of them now.  After months of frogging and building a respectable stash, I'm not only the crochet lady, but I can say with confidence, 'yes, I can knit that'.   Thus begins the endless list of things I want to work on...  between fingerless gloves (check out the present set I'm making for a friend), and scarves, to my favorite, hats!  There's so much to make!  Thank goodness for ravelry's que feature.  Id be in trouble without it.  

Thus, I dub knitting and crochet as one singular verb: "TO YARN".  I'm sure this isn't an originial idea, but I'm going to document here that at least I had the idea.  heehee.

Ive started my first sweater.  I can't believe I haven't blogged about this lovely gem.  Aimee (over at .thefunctionalspace.blogspot.com) and I decided around early December that after the holidays we were going to do a KAL and probably go with a sweater. We pintrest'ed (http://pinterest.com/larc/aimee-leslie-k2tog/) some patterns from ravelry and I picked the miriam cardigan (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/miriam-cardi) .  I'm still halfway convinced that she's doing this sweater because I love it.  Then, we picked yarn.  Ive been fascinated with elsebeth lavold's silky wool since wyrd sisters opened.  I decided to not go with the quince co yarn, but with a very pretty eucalyptus color silky wool. So far it's a bit of a slog, but I'm feeling better after last Thursday's class at Wyrd Sisters when I got an inch done while my wonderful student Francis and I worked on the start of her beautiful prayer shawl/wrap.  

Speaking of wyrd sister, the yarn bombing went beautifully!  google it and you'll see the news has picked it up and everything.  My "ACT" sign got hung right in between the two entrance doors.  Way too cool!  I wish I could have joined in the bombing, but birthday parties are very important!  Happy birthday Cate!

What are you 'yarning' now?

On the first day of crafting...

Christmas being what it is, this year's 'days of crafting' are being designed and presented NOW.

On the first day of crafting, my true love made for me

A woolen bandana cowl!

This Verde Esperanza malabrigo cowl was for sale at urban Gypsy, but it sold!  I based the design off of the famous bandana cowl on purlbee.com. I didn't think their pattern was big enough, so I made up my own, using their same short row idea. I love knitting short rows! They're easy and functional.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's day of crafting!

Knit and crochet pattern

I am doing better at making my own original patterns in knitting and crochet. tonight I designed a half crochet hat. okay, it really is half knit and half crochet. so, for all of you knitters and crocheters out there, here is what I did:

start by using homespun by lion brand.
you will need a size j hook
you will need size 8 circular needles, 16 inches.
you will need four stitch markers
5 Stupid ass double pointed needles
and you will need a tapestry needle for weaving ends, connecting the 2 pieces of crochet together, as well as when you make that loop at the top of the hat.

single crochet a foundation row as tall as you would like the brim of your hat, I did 9 foundation single crochet.
Ch1,turn, 9 single crochet in the back loop.
repeat your back and forth bl sc, creating a ridge until the brim of the hat has the circumference of the person for whom you're making the hat.
fasten off a long tail, and sew the two pieces together, creating a tube. mindfully watch for a flat tube, not twisted.
cast-on 1 stitch per column you created. I made 52 stitches. The math for the rest of the hat is much easier if you get to a number which is divisible by 4 with a remainder of 4. (52-4= 48, 48/4= 12). Knit stitch the entire hat until it is as long as you need it to be. Mine is 11 inches tall before I start the decreases (including the brim)

Let's close this bad boy up! Knit 11, place marker, k2tog, 4 times.
Continue knitting to the marker, k2tog until the hat starts pulling on your needles. Switch knitting over for your stupid ass double points. (I hate double points, can you tell?)

Knit marker stitches together until 7 or 8 is all that's left on all your needles.

Then. Fasten off with your needle and yarn, creating the ring, and sewing in the tails :)

Perfect!

Fair isle! Knitting session 5(?)

Well, I'm chugging along just dandy with my self taught lessons in knitting. Last night I learned how to fair isle, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to learn to knit.  In fair isle, I can create original patterns for the simple projects I make. I can use fun colors together and make super unique items to sell. Fair isle also uses a lot of math, which keeps my brain happy.

for the above patterns, I used knit picks 'wool of the andes' in two color blocking shades. The pattern needed to really pop so I could see what I was doing right and wrong. I choose a 12 stitch repeat and a 6 stitch for the next. What I did,  making this a bit more difficult than it needed to be, was make this on straight needles instead of on circular needles.  Usually circular needles are used because when you knit the pattern, you follow the pattern right to left, box by box then back to the bringing of the line. Just like reading...  Well on straight needles, you can't do that, so I had to read the chart right to left, then left to right when I was on the wrong side of the fabric.  My final product is very pretty, with no dropped stitches nor major chafes on my guage.

I think I'm really going to love doing crazy colors, like a hot pink with a wooden moss, for an entire new line of creations. 

next up, I've got to get focused on xmas presents for everyone. I'd like to make my Co workers coffee sleeves, as well as some personalized hats for family. But, with December around the corner and things getting busy, who knows what will get done.

Productive weekend

Even with a conference in Richmond, I had a really great weekend got creating, inspiration and finishing.

First, crocodile man II is done, detailed, and really for a new owner.heather, at urban gypsy, told me that crocodile man (the first) was bought by a woman who lives in italy. she bought crocodile man to take back home to her grandson. it is a really awesome realization to think that something that I made 1 night is now living in a foreign country.

Seester sent me a few items to add to this week  of urban gypsy goodies. she really does make high quality crocheted items. n 2 of the pictures of love you can see where I have detailed a set of her finger gloves with a mama bird coming to visit her robins nest of eggs. don't ask me why, but I am obsessed with the color turquoise right now. Thus, these  eggs ended up being turquoise and not the traditional white or speckled or brown.

I have made it a rule that I have to complete something of knitting before I can start something new of knitting. Knitting takes so so so so so much longer than crochet.  I genuinely like knitting's final product better right now.  I suspect that once I am  as good at knitting as I am crochet, I will find out how they are equally useful , and I will hopefully lose my present obsession with the final product  look of knitting.

what you also see in the pictures of love is a head wrap with an owl detail. I have added a tree branch so sad mister owl is not just sitting all alone on that head wrap.

my goal for this week is to get ashley her a lot of items by tuesday. then, I hope to start working on christmas presents for everyone  whom I love. I also hope to finish seester's christmas hat this week and start on something for smith family member.  I would really love to make the Barfoot clan a hat each. I think that seester and I could get that done between now and christmas.

Today I taught myself...session 4

if I was to think about all the sessions where I have sat down and taught myself something new in knitting, there would probably be 4 of them up to now.

I first taught myself how to cast-on with the sling shot cast on method. I learned how to do this cast on method this summer during a nasty thunderstorm in charlottesville. this was session 1. I also tried to teach myself to knit, but it really did not work.  I cannot meet with the working hours in my right hand. I blame this on the fact that I have been a right handed crocheter all my life.

Session 2 happened at a yarn shop which is near and dear to my heart. after attempting to learn how to knit and purl on my own,  the owner of the yarn shop showed me that there is a continental knitting method.  then, using a youtube video I mastered how to knit and purl, kinda. my first sample had all my stitches twisted. the owner of the yarn shop said that it was a design element, and that I could keep that like but it would not be right. Thus, I went into doing it right by watching yet another youtube video. viva la youtube!

session 3 is where I learned  that I really should not probably be doing some of the more advanced knitting techniques while I still do not know the basics. I sat down for session number 3 and taught myself how to cable. like my friend aimee told me, it was way easier than I thought it would be.

session 4 was tonight. I bought myself a new book which is knitted gifts from interweave.  the book appealed to me because there are multiple hats and gloves and smaller projects. in particular though, there is this wonderful bag that I would like to make myself. I am addicted to bags.  the book also has is really great hybrid cowl / hat that I want to make.  in the back of the book there were 2 techniques that I wanted to learn because the owner of that yarn shop said she uses 1 of them to cast on. tonight,  I sat down and taught myself how to do that knit cast on and then the I  cord. I anticipate using the I cord for strings that will tie closed bags or for those long cords on the ear flaps.

I am not really good at predicting what I will learn in my next session. there are certain techniques (like short rows, decreases, knitting on circular needles, make one, and binding off) that I just learn because I have to learn them to complete the specific project which interests me. where as during these ' sessions', I am memorizing certain ways of doing things so that they are in my arsenal for future projects.

and did I tell you that I wrote my first pattern? its for a very simple cowl. I will put it on ravelry so that someone can test it for me.

finally, I had a very successful trip to two yarn shops this evening. jj knitting,  which is in stuarts draft,  is where I  bought some berroco vintage, the book, and 1 skein of cascade superwash. there are so many projects using cascade yarn  I thought I would have 1 in case I need it for a ravelry  based project. then in charlottesville, I stopped at the needle lady. before wyrd sisters opened, the needle lady was my favorite yarn shop in virginia. I got to return there today, and being a more informed knitter, I ask better questions and found some really exciting supplies. simply put, she has a large supply of malabrigo. and, if you don't know, malabrigo is my favorite brand of yarn. I got 1 skein of sock, and 2 different skeins of the worsted. 1 of the worsteds   is called turtle. I mean it is called Tortuga, but you know what I mean. I have been looking for it for a while, so I was super excited when I found it tonight.

this weekend I hope to get 1 knit project finished and two crochet projects completed. Hopefully my owl calorimetry will be done!  I can't wait to blog that one...

Cabler! Woot

Guess what?  Tonight I have successfully mastered a simple cable.  Really excited about knitting more this  weekend.  And I have some more patterning ideas for the patterns book,  seester!

Another month, another Afghan

Sadly I didn't get any final pictures of the auction dinner star Afghan. Our was lovely and large!

This Afghan is much different. Brown sheep worsted wool is worked into 4 different geometrically shaped squares. One circle, one square, one set of rectangles, one triangle. Of the afghans I've made I've particularly fond of this one because it's made of classier yarn, and the pattern was a group effort. this was also Emily's first group project and her expertise crochet skills really show through!  She's got the most accurate squares and she wove in the tails. So sweet.

I might be done with afghans until 2012, seeing the holidays are upon us.  I've taught myself to knit, with consult from Cate at wyrd sisters yarn shop. I'll post my bandana cowl finished project soon. Next I'm going to learn to cable!

And, stay tuned for the annual '12 days of crafting' extravaganza! the brainstorming for this year's third annual tradition began a couple nights ago!

Le petit scarf

My friend has requested an anthropologie style small scarf. I'm working on the fabric choice next. Then, it'll be ready for a new owner!

First original slouch!

Ive been so into keeping afloat after the start of school...  Now is the time to focus on holiday creations.  The  most popular hat this winter will definitely be the slouch.  After demoing some cluster, Bobble,  and popcorn stitch patterns, I created this lovely slouch in simple soft Victorian rose colored acrylic yarn, on an I hook.  I'm addicted to my I Susan Bates hook right now.

More pictures, comments, and other goodies to come. I've been contemplating writing patterns...we will see if I actually get around to it.

A busy month

And what have I been up to? blankets!

More to come on those. For now, attached is a freeform lotus I've made for an ear warmer. Now for the ear warmer...

crochet a day september 2011