Jenny's Fetching

SIL Jenny finally got her birthday present, and I am able to post all the details about it on my blog without ruining the surprise! Happy Birthday, Jenny.

So DH asks me, about a month out, what I think of making a present for Jenny for her birthday. She loved the Fetching gloves I'd made for myself about a year ago, so I decided to combine that with the spinning I've learned so far, the dyeing I've been playing with, and the knitting I know and love to make her a completely one-of-a kind gift.

I start off with double checking with MIL what her favorite colors are. Black and Green, she says. So I begin with my stash of "black" roving.

Not very black actually, and spun up it comes off as distinctly grey. Not a problem. I'll add 1/4 tsp of Wilton's Moss Green, a dash of vinegar, and let it sit.

After dyeing I abused the yarn, which essentially entails lots of hot soapy water and agitation. I don't have pictures of this because I do it in my bathtub, and I'm not risking my digital camera in such a watery environment.

Afterwards, it's absolutely gorgeous. Here it is next to just a little bit of the grey 2-ply that was left over.

And here's a claustrophobic close-up, showing how well the color really turned out.

Then came the simpler part, making the gloves. I did it on my Grandmother's plastic DPNs, which really work well for these gloves.

And here they are, resting artistically on my white roving. Gently washable, and I just heard from her last night, they're just the right color. Yay!

Not forgotten, just busy

I know it's been a while since I posted, but the main thing I've been working on couldn't be posted, as it's a suprise for my SIL's birthday. As soon as she gets it I'll post the pictures.

So what has been going on around here? How about a simple before and after shot?

Before:

After:

Aw yeah. Love the Granite Transformations. Totally worth it, and totally beautiful. It's a basic black, but in person it's really sparkly, shiny, with hints of blue and copper if you catch it at just the right angle. I'm still waiting on the sink caulk to dry (that was reinstalled today) but as of tomorrow I"ll have a fully functional kitchen again, new and improved.


And, just to prove that I haven't only been sitting around paying others to put in countertops for me. Here is how much farther I've gotten on the Maizy socks:

Maizy!

Progress has been coming along on the Maizy socks. I decided to go with a simple toe-up, stockinette sock, maybe with something interesting once I turn the heel. I started with a figure-8 cast on, but instead of increasing every other row, I increased every row. It gives a very funny shape to the sock, but when its's on, it actually fits my toes really well. Not sure I'd do it again like this, but it certainly works.



I finished up two more skeins of "cherry cordial" for a craft fair this Saturday. It went well, the yarn was much ogled but not purchased. I sold a number of neck coolers, and one of my "oxford skirts" The rest of them are here:





I sold enough to pay for my share of the entrance fee, my share of next year's, and enough for a very nice dinner out with Jeff and friends. It was a very good time, and I hope next year will be just as fun. (and maybe a little more profitable)

Complete and total awesomeness!

So, a week ago I was at the Farmer's Market with Mom, and we decided to make a stop at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop to finally check it out. I bought the sock yarn pictured a couple of posts back, and in conversing with Anne, the owner, she became very interested in my handspun yarn. Well, today before karate I dropped by with the three I had available for sale and we worked out that, at least for this time, I'd trade my handspun for store credit. That way she's still making her profit, and I'm getting some gorgeous sock yarn and other tools I need. So, she took all three skeins, and I walked out with a 40" size 0 addi Turbo, and these beauties! (and I still have more than $20 left in store credit!)


Now the only problem is deciding to keep it for myself or make socks for Jeff.

Oh, and I also now have a label for my yarns!

Simply named, but then again, it's the yarn that should catch the eye.

Random Craftiness!

So the pain in my neck (literally) has cleared up, and I have been on to the crafting!

First up we have the armchair sewing caddy I made for my MIL for her birthday! It was fun to make, and I made another one to sell at the market. The second one is yellow as well, but I think I'll make another in a different color.


Next we have the blue vest! Yes, it is completed! woo hoo and go me! I'm aclling it completed, but I am still going to make a couple of modifications to it, namely I am working on the felted mitten that I'm going to cut in half and use as pockets. It will be incredibly cute, I think.


I also have added to my sock stash! I finally got around to visiting the LYS that's near the farmer's market. They had a LOT of really cool yarns, including this. It's Maizey, and it's made from corn silk and stretchy nylon. I couldn't resist the colorway! I'd also sold enough of the neck coolers that I was able to purchase it just from my market money! hooray for stash enabling.


I also got this. Who is it for? Aw heck, he never looks at this blog except when I'm actually working on it. I'm making them for my husband Jeff for Christmas. I'm going to work on them while he's tutoring or while I'm at market, and keep them hidden. They're a very nice masculine color, and I hope he will like them. I think I'm going to follow the Thuja pattern from Knitty, but do "my" toe and heel. (If you're reading this and know Jeff, please don't spoil the surprise!)

I need to make a video like this of Callay

Yeah, so the couple of days I just spent at home recovering from a work-related RSI, I got to yet again experience the typcial day for my greyhound, Callay. It was very much like this.

Another handspun

This one is also probably going to the market with me tomorrow. I finished it last week, and spun up the Cherry Cordial skeins to help me decided how much to sell it for. It is 63 yards, bulky weight, and weighs 1.75 ounces. It was an experiment in blending with my hackle and with the combs my Dad made with me.

umm, very un-originally called purple and cream.

First yarn for the Farmer's Market

So I decided, in order to continue to support my craft habit and to have more motivation for making yarn, to sell some of the yarn I have spun.

Of course, to do that I actually needed to decide what my time and efforts are worth. I want to send a big thank you to the ladies on the knittyboard who gave some helpful advice, and that this link from Abby's yarn is a great one for the enterprizing new spinner.

In light of the information in that post, and after timing myself on how long it takes to spin this sport-weight yarn, I have decided to sell my yarn based on yardage and material. It makes sense, it will take me a whole lot less time to spin up bulky weight yarn than lace weight.

This particular pair of skeins is spun from Brown Sheep Mill ends roving. The total weight is 6.65 ounces (so a material cost of $4.19), and the total yardage (both skeins) is 270. It will be sold at the local farmer's market or online for $0.20/yard, which with the number of hours invested in preparing it comes to around $7/hour for my work. I think that's reasonable, fair, and is properly respectful of the art that handspinning yarn really is. Check out the Heathen Handicrafts link at the left for more information or to order. More to come.

Oh, and it's name is Cherry Cordial.

Tofutsies done!

Oh so pretty!

I even bought shoes to show them off!


Yes, I do realize what a knitting geek I've become, that I'm buying shoes for the express purpose of showing off my handknits.

The pattern is my own, with my original (I think) idea of doing a crocheted toe and heel. Very comfy. Best thing about it? It used exactly half the skein! I still have about 50 grams left of a 100 gram skein. So you know what? I will be getting a second pair out of it! yay! I think I am going to try with size 1 needles, and I may do a short-row heel, just to be able to say I tried something else. And who knows I may like it even better.

WIP!

So pictures will be up tonight, but I've been making good progress on my Tofutsies socks. They are pooling oddly, and despite a palindromic sequence to the yarn and using it from the center and outside of a center pull ball, the two socks are pooling very differently. That's alright, tho. They look adorable and feel like buttah when I try them on. I have just put in the afterthought heel, but at this point I've only used about half of the cake of yarn! yay!. I may even end them as anklets and make a second pair in the same color.



I've also made good progress on my felted vest. The sleeve stitches have been picked up and purled, and I'm in the process of a 3-needle bind off to finish the edges up. I have about 1/3 of a cake left over in blue, and I'm contemplating making pockets and felting them separately, then attaching to the sides, about where the seam would be if it were a sewn pattern. Hee hee, essentially they'd be knit on mittens! Input on that idea?



Hm, I just noticed that because I have beige carpets and the contrasting color is also beige, that you can't really see the edge on that sleeve. Oh well, click on the image to see it bigger, then the detail shows up.

Big Feet

So, you know what they say about a guy with big feet, right?























They wear big socks!

These are huge! I designed these socks specifically for Eric, who happens to wear 13 wide. In addition to having rather large feet, he has a tendancy to wear socks out, so I made them out of wool that will full slightly. I also made them on very small needles (for the yarn's bulky size) and crocheted the heel and toe, where they will receive the most wear. He really likes them and will be receiving them once he has carded the wool for me. By the way, that is my relatively small size 7 1/2 women's foot in comparison.

I have to say I love the barter system. I would never SELL a pair of handknit socks. Too much work goes into them. But I do like the idea of exchange of crafty labor. Eric and Ana have a drum carder, and Eric cards wool. The socks took me 15 hours to do, so he is carding wool for me for 15 hours. According to his wife, Ana, that should be about 15 batts, which is awesome. I will show off my fiber pr0n once I get it!

Craftiness!

So while Jeff has had his friend Aaron up for the week, I have had the chance to get a bit of crafting done. First was the socks for our friend Eric, which he requested in exchange for carded wool that his wife will be washing for me. Very silly post on them later.

I did more spinning, with that Brown Sheep stuff, and actually made something akin to sock yarn! It's actually sport weight, at 14-15 WPI, so I'm going to abuse it and make it into socks for Jeff. He saw me spinning up the blue and I asked what he would think looked good plied, and he mentioned that blue/silver is one of his all-time favorite combinations of color. So these are for him!



I have done some practicing with my hackle, and produced some lovely purple roving! Pics soon. I did some experimenting blending with the wool combs that Dad and I made and discovered that I get a whole lot more waste that way. I'll keep practicing with my hackle.

The felted vest had a couple of weird spots, like the shoulders being kinda flared, so I stuck it in a sink and did some hand felting until it looked right. And it is! I will begin completion work on it on Saturday, perhaps at the Farmer's Market.

Hackle

So the hackle I made isn't working as well as hoped. It's probably just me needing to practice, so I'll keep at it. The ladies on the knittyboard wanted to see what it looked like, so here it is!



My Dad and I also made a set of wool combs (in anticipation of the wool my friend Ana will be washing for me, at least whatever her husband doesn't card in exchange for the socks I made him.) Of course, AFTER I got all of the stuff together and put together the plastic hackles, did I realize I could probably just use the wool combs for the same effect. Oh well. I guess the hackles are bigger, and if I keep practicing at it I should be able to make long sections of blended roving.

Here are the wool combs. Awesome, are they not? My Dad is so cool.

Project Help

My Mother gave me this sweater:



She never wears it, the style is definitely 80's, and even fixed up so that the sleeves aren't gathered and it fit her, she's not interested in wearing it again. Initially she was thinking of frogging and reusing the yarn (100% Shetland, BTW. Very soft and nice) But with all of the Fair Isle in it, I don't think that would work very well, and she'd end up with a bunch of very small hanks that not much can be done with. She then thought, why not felt it into a small purse. Then I gave her her birthday gift, which included some hand-dyed yarn. Which she is making into a small purse.

So I am stuck as to what to do with this. She would like for me to make something for her with it as a gift, probably for this Christmas if I come up with something clever enough. Ideas? Suggestions? Thanks.

Goals

So, Jeff and I are back from our vacation, and I realized just how long it's been since I posted! I promise some posts tonight, especially one requesting help with a project, but I also am taking this opportunity to put down in type some craft goals for myself.

1. Spin my own sock yarn. With the superwash/nylon blend I got from Brown Sheep, probably dyed and blended on the awesome wool comb my Dad and I made together (Thanks dad!)

2. Make SOMETHING for myself out of my handspun from 2 posts ago. Still haven't decided what that'll be, but probably something to wear at the office during the summer (it gets cold here!)

3. Get rid of all UFOs. I feel like I always have so many irons in the fire, sometimes things don't get finished. I have always had this problem. (Mom, remember the Garfield pillow?) I guess I just like and am fairly good at so many different craft things that I get distracted. As Mom's Needlers group pointed out, I can be like Mary Frickin'Poppins!

4. Design and write up that sock pattern. That's what the Tofutsies were purchased for. As for publishing it, I think I'll see if it sells at the Farmer's Market, or maybe even submit it to Knitty or Magknits.

So I guess now is the time for deadlines. The Spinning goal, well, that may take a while. I'm pretty good, but I don't want bulky novelty socks. I want to spin sockweight. For that, I'll say spinning time is whenever Jeff is playing a video game. I actually have already been doing that, and that'll be pictures that hopefully will go up tonight.

I think I have it narrowed down, what I want to do with my handspun, It's this pattern. Simple, will show off the colors, and be a fairly quick project and a shawl that will stay on my shoulders if I wear it at work. I'll say that I'll cast that on when I'm done with my vest.

The Felted Vest is so close to completion that I think I can tell myself I have to have it finished by August. That way there's no chance of missing out on being able to use it this fall. Same thing for Jeff's hat. I really don't want to make him wait a whole year longer before I finish it. I think the reason why I'm procrastinating on it is because I've come to detest acrylic. I've turned in to such a yarn snob. Maybe I should make the yarn for his hat, but again, it's so close I'd hate to waste the effort put into it so far.

Designing the pattern is a little trickier, but again, I'd like to wear those tofutsies soon! Again, once the vest is out of my knitting basket, I'll put that and the handspun shawl in, then work on it as time permits.

Okay, goals set, I'm off to craft!