Warning: Cuteness Ahead

My Sister-in-law, Amanda, is a fantastic photographer.

Seriously!  Go look at her Facebook Page!  (boy I hope she has some permissions open on her FB page.  If not you'll just have to trust me that she's a fantastic photographer!)

Anyway, me being the fiber artist I am, and she being the photography artist she is, he kindly bought me a pattern for a cute little giraffe hat for her to use as a prop in her photography.

It was a fun crochet, yellow cotton and cashmere accents.  The same cashmere as I'd made into a hat for my niece Ally.  The only part that wasn't fun was the finishing parts, and being all picky about actually having the horns and ears symmetrical. 

The ball of roving I used to prop it open makes it look a little wonky, but it does lay out evenly.

Mailing this off to her on Monday!  These may well end up in my Etsy shop, since the pattern did come with permission to sell.  Anyone interested?

WIP Saturday!

Had I posted WIP Wednesday, it would have looked just like last week, but with more done.  I'm on the last repeat of Citron, and ready to do the final ruffle.  It's been a nice, mindless knit, but frankly I'm tired of purling.  I think the 520 stitches that make up the final ruffle/ruche will be done in garter stitch instead of stockinette.  I don't think that slight texture difference will harm the appearance of the shawl, and in fact, it may be an interesting twist on it. 

What I have been working on, however, is this:
My friend Elizabeth offloaded some of her SABLE stash of spinning materials, and I'm paying it forward.

Take this for example

 

 Beautiful, isn't is?  But this color

 Frankly makes me look ill.  As gorgeous as it is. 

 So what to do, but spin it up,

Ply it

And pass it along!

I can't wait to give this to a friend :-D

Another installment of. . .

WIP Wednesday!

With the vest done, I wanted to have something a little less complicated to work on, and what's less complicated than good old Stockinette Stitch?

It's the Citron Shawl from Knitty, done in Malabrigo Lace.  It's so nice to work with.  Soft Smooth Merino wool. 



I'm also working on spinning up yarn for a friend.  Elizabeth brought in a ton of gorgeous roving, and handed the entire bag to me!  I was floored, and saw one that was specifically perfect for Diana, so am paying it forward!

Fabulous Friday!

I actually got the package on Wednesday, but wanted to wait to share the goodies with friends. . .

The box was full and heavy!

 

Cuppy Cakes and other stitch markers!

Beautiful Glass Beads!

 

Glass orifice hooks!

Some were immediately turned into gifts :-)

Plus wool, straws, and glass craft stuff!

This is what all those fabrics turned in to.  Many have already been or will be given as gifts, but either way, I'm ecstatic about this trade!

If you like the stitch markers, buttons, or orifice hooks, look up Glastonbury Glassworks!


The other fabulous thing was that my birthday yarn vest is completed!  In 42 days, to be precise.

It's lovely, and fits perfectly :-)

Slightly Late, but. . .

WIP Wednesday has been postponed because I am so very nearly done with my Celtic Lattice sweater.   I can almost taste it. . . and snorgle it. . .

I will also have a picture-laden post about how all of the fabrics that I got 5 years ago have been transformed into something WONDERFUL!

Cutting up perfectly good knitting

This week in WIP Wednesday!

Steeking

Scary but fun.  It goes like this:

You knit (and knit, and knit) planning ahead for things like arms and necks and torso openings. 

One yarn in each hand so that you end up with a beautiful tube like this.

In some places, instead of a pretty pattern you just knit with one after the other, making a sort of checkerboard pattern

Then you use your sewing machine and run stitching down either side of the center of that checkerboard.

And then. . .

You cut!!!!!

ahhhhhhhhh!!!

no, actually it's going really well

See how it's not unravelling?   If you look closely you can see black thread where I stitched down the steek. 

When done, you have knitting that looks like something vaguely resembling a vest that you can then pick up stitches around to finish the edges. 

More to come, as the edges are knit! 

Man, I need to clean my craft room.