yarnbee

spinning down the stash

2010-01-28T14:36:00.002-05:00

I've been having a lot of fun lately spinning my way though a HUGE bag of lovely batts that I got from Spinners Hill last fall at Rhinebeck:

They are blend of corriedale, finn, and rambouillet wool with mohair. I'm shooting for a rustic, long-draw worsted weight yarn, but I'm trying not to over-think it too much and am just spinning and planning to ply together the first and last bobbins to even things out.

I've been spinning a bobbin a day, and now that I only have one bobbin left it's time to start plying. I still have about a third of the batts left, so I'll be able to knit a cabled jacket or a cozy for my car. Maybe 2lbs, 2 oz was too much? I didn't want to run out...

cottage garden design process

2009-11-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

Last fall I moved into a cottage on a historic turkey farm in western Massachusetts. The cottage is a Sears kit house from 1919 that was delivered on the local train. For the gardener in me, it was love at first sight, as I saw the rambling flowerbeds and beautiful wisteria vine trailing up the side of the cottage. Other bonuses included a beautiful kitchen garden and the resident pet pig next door named Pinky.

At the same time I was exploring the work of a group of New England artists from the 1950s called the Folly Cove Designers. Led by Virginia Lee Burton (who wrote and illustrated many childrens' books including Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel) this group made incredible designs that were hand-block-printed on fabric. Check them out - here and here.

I was drawn to the fact that many of their designs described daily life in New England. It got me thinking about a vintage-inspired colorwork sweater that would speak to my story of falling in love with a little cottage garden. I started sketching a yoke design that was bursting with joyful flowers.

Cottage Garden was originally submitted to the Summer issue and I was thrilled when Kate asked if we could add longer sleeves and move the deisgn to the Fall issue. I had a lot of fun exploring color options for Cottage Garden but settled on one of my favorite combinations: teal and chartreuse (swatch knit in Reynolds Whiskey)

The best part has been seeing how other knitters have made Cottage Garden their own. Look at these beautiful versions!

Kelly's Cottage Garden

Momo's Cottage Garden
Tanya's Cottage Garden

What stories can your knitting tell?

Many thanks to Kelly, Momo and Tanya for the photos.

waterlily socks

2009-09-03T11:52:00.002-04:00

Just a quickie post as I am on my wondrous "staycation" puttering around and trying to stay offline - but wanted to let you all know I have a new sock patter available at Webs. Waterlily is knit out of Franklin sock yarn in the Jade colorway - handdyed by the lovely Kangaroo Dyer.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend all!

cottage garden sweater

2009-08-17T11:02:00.002-04:00

Hey, I've got a design in the latest issue of the Twist Collective! The cottage garden pullover was inspired by my move to a small vintage cottage with a rambling garden.

Do check out the issue as there is a whole pile of stunning designs. It's hard to decide what to knit first!

knitting to show you - and a tomato!

2009-08-10T14:53:00.002-04:00

It's been an odd summer this year, with the weather all strange wet and cold, and I've been working on so many secret projects (one which will be revealed in the Fall Twist Collective - hooray!) that I've not had much fodder for the blog. But finally this weekend I had some time to finish some non secretive knitwear.

Finally finished my eastlake, just in time for some fall wearing.

Details:
Pattern: Eastlake from Norah Gaughan Vol 3
Yarn: 8 skeins of Inca Gold in color 6418
Needles: 5's and 6's
Size: 34" Which I never would have picked but I tried on the 34" at the WEBS trunk show and I'm so glad I did. Normally I would have gone with the 37". I think this sweater does not want any ease to look good and I usually add a few inches.
Notes: Knit according to pattern (note the errata on the website) but not completely happy with the joining of the neck section in the back of the sweater. I may retinker this part if I can do it without ripping out the neckband...

My friend Lucy at A Black Pepper just published this pattern. She is a genius with the cables and I was happy to try it out for her. I wouldn't normally think this sort of hat would look good on me, but I'm really pleased with how it looks. Go make yourself one!

details:
pattern: Anemoon by Lucy Sweetland
yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in color 020 slate grey - 3 skeins
needles: 5's and 6's

And as promised here is a photo of the first tomato. I've really been enjoying the chance to have a real garden this year and to take in all of the rhythms of the farm that we live on. Starting with crocus, daffodils, barn swallows and asparagus in the spring to the current buzz of cicadas and bushes full of blackberries its been satisfying to take in all of the quiet life here. Hope your days are incredibly enjoyable and full of little wonders as well.

hello blog - look at these!

2009-06-19T14:20:00.000-04:00

Look at these georgeous potholders I got in the mail from the potholder swap. I feel completely spoiled! What amazing little jewels!

From left to right: Ardian, Reve, Maritza, Dawn, and Erin

Thanks ladies! And a special shout out to Adrian and Maritza for putting this wonderful swap together.

new sweater pattern and some potholders!

2009-05-25T09:17:00.002-04:00

Hi blog, it's been far too long since we've spent some time together. I've been working on sneaky projects and gifts that I couldn't show on your lovely page and then there were pesky things like work and gardening and traveling that seemed to get in the way. I'm a fickle girl sometimes and have been having more mini updates on Flickr - come on down sometime!

New pattern - Hosta Leaf Cardigan

Pattern: Hosta Leaf Cardigan available at Webs / ravelry link here
Yarn: Northfield by Valley Yarns - which is a lovely squishy silk, merino and alpaca blend and is crazy-soft.

In other news I've really been enjoying gardening this spring. Our new cottage comes with some small beds and borders for planting fun and our lovely landlords offered me some space in their giant kitchen garden. I've also had access to the greenhouse and the manure pile, so I've had a lot of fun starting plants from seeds. At this point I have lettuces, spinach, kale, chard, beets, carrots, radishes, and onions up by the cottage. Dill, sage, marjoram, savory, lemon basil, sweet basil, thai basil, thyme and oregano in the herb garden. And tomatoes, tomatillos, husk cherries, eggplant, fennel, and soybeans in the big garden. That doesn't include all sorts of flowers in borders and containers. It's not the best planned garden, think rambling cottage garden and you get the picture. Speaking of pictures - I need to take an updated photo today with all the greenery.

I also did a potholder swap and sent in my potholders last week. These were lots of fun to make and I got to sharpen up on my crochet skills.

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope you are all having the same lovely weather that we are.

aspen yoke pullover

2009-04-02T15:14:00.002-04:00

I finally took some photos of the aspen yoke pullover by Meg Swansen I knit as a sample last fall for a class I'm teaching at Webs. This was a quick and fun sample to knit and now it's even more fun to teach. We are almost halfway through the class, and everyone is working on their sleeves. In a few weeks we will join all the pieces for the yoke and be on the home stretch!

Knit out of various colors of Lopi Lite for the yoke and Valley Yarns Berkshire for the body. Details on Ravelry.

Not too much else to report. I got the gardening bug and ordered a mess of seeds from Fedco Seeds. I got basil, Amish paste tomatoes, sunflowers, soybeans, spinach, lettuces, zinnias, snapdragons, and so on. Ambitious? Maybe. We"ll see how I do starting the seeds, and maybe plan b will be buying plants from the nursery.

I think spring finally showed up!

2009-03-22T16:52:00.002-04:00

A couple of things clued me in to darling spring's arrival. I haven't been as cold as usual which is always nice. Then we noticed a few weeks ago that our maple trees were tapped! I've seen sugaring going on in the valley, but I've never lived right next to it. To my surprise, the sap is pretty abundant, if you are standing next to the buckets, you can hear the drip drip drip of the sap. The bucket fills up daily and a truck with a big plastic tank comes by to collect the sap. Hopefully we will score a little of the final product.

This bucket just got emptied. Elliott and I also went to the North Hadley Sugar Shack this morning for brunch. You can hang out in the sugaring room and be tortured by the delicious fragrance of maple syrup while you wait for your table. Honestly the best thing about this place is their bacon. I ordered an extra slice of bacon with my french toast.

I've got a couple of finished knits to show off:

Leyburn socks all done; nice and green for spring and st. patrick's day.
pattern: Leyburn socks by mintyfresh
yarn: Madelinetosh sock in the Jace colorway.
verdict: love the pattern and I love this sock yarn - put them together for sock heaven!

I finally finished my scarf!

Pattern: Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronik Avery
Yarn: handspun merino tencel in the colorway "seascape" from the Sheep Shed @ Mountain View Farm. (4 oz.) I got the fiber at the Mass sheep and wool festival.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I had this pattern in mind when I spun the yarn and was excited to get something close to what I was imagining.

I'll leave you with one more bit of spring...

new pattern!

2009-02-22T18:12:00.002-05:00

Here is my latest design for Webs: a tank top with a tiny honeycomb cable pattern. It's knit with Valley Yarns Longmeadow which is a nice cotton and microfiber blend. It was a nice challenge to sort out little details such as how the cable pattern transitions into the neckline. I also learned how to purl 2 tog with a left leaning slant. The colors are a bit out there - I was going to go with my usual teal and green combo, but I decided to branch out.

Web's pattern link

Ravelry link

Thanks for all of the lovely comments last week - I'm sorry I couldn't respond to them but it was another crazypants week at work. Thankfully things are settling down. For those who asked, here is the link for the mitten pattern on Ravelry. Here is the direct link as well. Enjoy!

projects update

2009-02-08T15:41:00.002-05:00

Hey all! Hope you are enjoying this heat wave of almost 50 degrees here in New England or wherever you are. We are able to chip away at some of the many layers of ice and start to imagine times of going outside without being all bundled up...

But I digress. I have a pile of projects to show you, it's been so crazy workwise that I haven't had must time to blog. At any rate, here is what's been on the needles over here:

These lovely mittens were sent off to my mom for her birthday.
details:
Pattern: Norwegian snail mittens by Adrian Bizilia / Hello Yarn from the Knitters Book of Yarn by Clara Parks
Yarn: Tree Frog Alpaca Melange sport weight in colors 910, 921 and 909.
Lining yarn: Bristol yarn gallery Buckingham (alpaca/silk) fingering weight
Needles: 2.25mm (1's) and 2.00mm (0's)
Mods: I was getting a crazy row gauge on these so sadly I had to cut out some of the lovely spirals.

Baby sweater gift for a good friend.
pattern: February baby sweater from the knitter's almanac - Elizabeth Zimmermann
yarn: handspun superwash corriedale from Spunky Eclectic in the orchard colorway and Dream in Color classy (for where I ran out of handspun)
Mods: I did stockinette stitch instead of the lace and added a purl row with eyelet yarnovers where I had to transition to the dream in color classy. Embroidered label for extra cuteness.

I am so sad to say that I cannot find my stranded mittens so I am knitting myself a replacement pair out of leftover fingering weight wool. This is a modified version of the Votteoppskrift mitten pattern (free on Ravelry)

Knitting a lace ribbon scarf from Knitty out of some handspun merino/tencel singles. I am really pleased with the results and hopefully when I'm done it will be spring and I can wear it.

And last but not least, I decided to stop treating all Hello Yarn fiber as super precious and had a lot of fun spinning singles from the latest fiber club installment. Destined to become a 2-ply worsted weight yarn next time I have a date with the spinning wheel.

That's all for now kids! I've got a crazypants work week coming up so it may be a bit quiet over here, but more to come soon. Stay warm!

25 random things

2009-02-04T14:51:00.002-05:00

There's a meme working it's way through facebook that I thought I would cross post on my blog. Essentially you list 25 random things about yourself in an effort to entertain your peeps. I'd love to read your list, so if you're interested, consider yourself tagged! More knitting to come soon - I've got some good FO's for you all and a new pattern at Webs.

1. I love black licorice. The stronger the better. Not that namby pamby stuff that has no flavor but the stuff from Germany or Holland that is somewhat salty and sweet goodness.

2. I won't sleep in a bed with the top sheet tucked in, it makes my feet feel trapped. I rarely wear socks to bed unless I'm really really cold.

3. I always wanted to be a graphic designer, I just didn't know it was called that. I remember looking at my cereal box when I was little and thinking "I could make it look better than that!". My parents made me take tennis lessons which I hated, and the only way the teacher was able to make me practice was to give me one of his tennis balls that had a Merril Lynch logo on it. I thought that logo was beautiful.

4. When I was wee I had white blond hair, which gradually darkened and after college has turned into a medium shade of brown. I still think of myself as being blond and get confused when people refer to me as having brown hair.

5. I got my first car in college, a red Dodge Shadow, a boxy granny car that I lovingly called "the shadow". When I lived in Philadelphia, the shadow was broken into 4 times and one time there was a homeless woman taking a nap in the back seat.

6. My grandma was the most excellent person and I miss her a great deal (she passed away in 2002). When I was little she taught me how to play poker - we played for pennies and she wouldn't let me win. She would also entertain me when no one was looking by pulling off her wig and taking out her dentures - she was hilarious.

7. I love reading in bed and could easily spend all day in bed with snacks and a good book.

8. Eight is my favorite number, probably because I was born on the 8th. It's also symmetrical and a pretty shape. (see #3) When I was 8 I thought that would be the best year ever, but luckily I've had some other good years after that one.

9. I'm a big fan of parrots, I think that have great personalities and a good sense of humor. I have a connection with them that I don't really have for dogs or cats. I got Syd the cockatiel in 1994 and we've had a pretty good time ever since. My favorite time with him is in the late afternoons, when he will sit on my shoulder and sit contentedly with his beak touching my nose. He must think I have a really large beak...

10. The only time I ever shoplifted is when I was about 5 and I went shopping with the parents for my dad to get a suit for work. It took forever, so I got bored and was exploring the store. I found a label on one of the suits that was so beautiful I took it (see #3), and my mom found out and make me return it to the store - oh the embarrassment.

11. Most of my comfort foods are beige expect for chocolate pudding.

12. I have to admit that the original recording of the Girl from Ipanema might really be my favorite song.

13. I sometimes feel like English is not really my first language. I can have a hard time writing (things like this) and I feel like I am stringing beads on a thread. I'm not sure what my first language really is.

14. I adore salt and most things salted or salty flavored (see #1)

15. I have a really good intitutive sense of color and I love to pick out color combinations.

16. When I was little I would go to the hardware store with my dad and I loved the area with the paint chips. I couldn't believe they would give away free color! I always took a pile home and they lived in a shoebox.

17. I really like summer and warm weather best. Give me heat and humidity any day.

18. That seems strange considering how much I like to knit.

19. The summer after college I considered joining the circus as they had an ad in the paper. I wasn't qualified for too many other jobs.

20. Sometimes I flirt with the idea of taking up the accordion. I'm not sure I want to invest the time though.

21. Sushi used to scare me but now I love it. I spent a lot of my grad school stipend on sushi.

22. I am of 100% Polish descent, but I have more of an Italian stomach.

23. One of my favorite letters is lowercase "g" (see #3)

24. When it snowed a lot when I was little I would draw a giant compass in our backyard. I always assumed that North was at the back of the yard, but really our yard faced to the west. My mom was worried I would confuse low flying pilots.

25. One of my first words was "doya" Which I would chant over and over like a mantra while riding my rocking horse.

snow day

2009-01-18T14:59:00.002-05:00

Apparently it's just not going to stop snowing over here, so I've declared my own personal snow day which mostly involves knitting and eating snacks and watching bad movies and reading books. I'm working on some birthday mittens for my mom (hi mom!) so no photos until she gets them, but I will entertain you with photos of snow. How about that?

We got about 7 inches so far of light and fluffy snow. Elliott is shoveling our path while our landlord snowblows. If you look closely you can see a horse butt on the left. tee hee!

Here is Elliott modeling his turn a square hat.

And the general state of snowiness outside of the cottage.

Stay warm and dry wherever you are!

stripe city

2009-01-11T11:13:00.002-05:00

I've been waiting for a nice sunny day to take some photos of the latest knits, but it persists in being cloudy and snowy here in New England. It even had the nerve to snow another 6 inches last night. I was talking with our new landlord, who witnessed Elliott and I trying to get our Ford Focus up the curved hill in the driveway which is now an icy speedway (it took a couple of tries). I commented to him that this was shaping out to be a bad winter. He took a break from scraping snow and ice off of his car, looked at me and said " it's winter." as if every winter was as dreadful. He is probably right, I just forget the cold and darkness in the glory of summer.

So I gave up on waiting on the sunny day and took some mediocre photos instead. And then I realized that everything I've been knitting recently has been striped. What can I say - stripes make me happy.

Basic stripey socks knit from Noro Silk Garden sock s84. I tried striping the heels as well this time just to mix it up a little bit. I didn't realize that the Silk Garden sock yarn only has 330 yards until I used the entire skein for my socks. Usually I have some left over, just enough not to do much with...

I never know how to take good photos of socks. Here I am lying on my back on the sofa waving my camera about with Cena the cat looking at me like I'm nuts. But she usually looks at me like that anyway.

When we were trapped at my parents house for Christmas during an ice storm I whipped out this turn-a-square hat by Jared Flood for Elliott. Malabrigo worsted leftovers in colorways Vaa and Lettuce. Good thing I brought so much yarn along!

You may remember the ripple blanket for my brother who got married this past fall, the one that I really wanted to keep it for myself. I really really wanted it! So since I had a pile of cascade 220 left over anyway, I decided to make one for me. I'm taking the same approach and trying to crochet one stripe a day. I'll probably finish up when it spring rolls in to town.

It's pretty busy on the work front, so it may be a bit quiet over here at the yarnbee. I'll try to post something weekly just to keep you all somewhat entertained.

gifting

2008-12-30T18:21:00.002-05:00

Hello out there!
I hope that you've all had a wonderful break and are slowly easing into the new year. I tried to keep away from the frenetic-to-do-frenzy that Christmas usually sweeps me into. Instead, I made a smaller gift list with handmade items, didn't send cards, didn't have a tree; but had more stillness and tried to spend more time with family and friends. It was good.

Now that gifts have been gifted, I can post some photos to the blog:

Here is the circles yoke pullover I made for my sister. To avoid us being sweater twins, I made her version with Cascade 220 in chocolate brown for the body and substituted the pink-red color in the yoke for orange. She seems pretty pleased with the finished product. Can I just say that I cannot get enough with the yoke sweaters? They are so enjoyable to knit.

I made some socks for my Dad. These are the guitar man socks by Rebecca Mercier knit with 3 balls of Louet Gems in the ginger colorway.

One queen anne lace crocheted scarf for a friend. I used two balls of Noro Taiyo and had a hard time putting this in the mail. I may need one for me...

I also made a couple of Cherry Garcia cowls. Fabulous pattern from Hello Yarn knit with Mirasol Yarn Miski which is so soft and warm. Love that baby llama! I used three skeins to make two cowls.

Okay I think I'm getting caught up on the knit goods. More to come soon including lovely handmade gifts I received. Stay warm and cozy!

now that we've moved in...

2008-12-05T14:19:00.002-05:00

Elliott took some photos of our new place and some of the residents of Holland Farm. I'll give you a quick tour:

These are the "girls". They come over to visit on their daily jaunts around the farm.

Here is our awesome landlady having a discussion with the girls and Pinky the pig.

There are five horses who all like carrots and apples.

Where the some of the yarn and most of the fiber and fabric live.

Our wee kitchen, although Elliott has managed to maximize the storage by hanging things on the wire shelving.

There is knitting going on, but it is of a christmas nature and can't yet be revealed. Soon to show. How are all of you doing with the upcoming holidays and cold weather? I am enjoying my handknits and new cowl especially.

not knitting but still using color

2008-11-09T17:56:00.002-05:00

Elliott and I spent the greater part of this past weekend painting a couple of rooms in the cottage we are renting. We will be moving in a few weeks so it will probably be rather quiet on the blog front. I'll give you the partial tour:

Here's the front side - it's a 1916 Sears kit house. A petite cape cod style with room extensions off on the side like a miniature farmhouse.

And here is the back and the main entrance with the little garden:

And a view of the front yard:

An action shot of Elliott painting:

Both the living room and dining room were this rather drab dark beige color:

This is much better:

How much yarn can I fit inside???

still recovering from Rhinebeck + a new mitten pattern

2008-10-27T14:35:00.004-04:00

Much of blogland has been consumed by the fun that knitters had at Rhinebeck: the wool! the sheep! the friends! the Ravelry party! the parade of knitwear in the cold weather! Ditto all that for me. I didn't take many photos but here are wonderful photos in this Flickr pool if you want to get a taste for the festival. I did get to meet some bloggers in real life like Jody from Javajem Knits:

And I've got a colorwork mitten pattern in the latest Webs catalog...

specs:
pattern: Floral Brocade Mittens - here is the Ravelry link
yarn: Valley Yarns Huntington light blue and chocolate
needles: 1's dpns
size: 8" hand circumference

cinderella can go to the Rhinebeck Ravelry ball!

2008-10-17T09:46:00.002-04:00

because she finished her Wisteria gown! Details when I return... Have lovely weekends all! If you're going to be at Rhinebeck hopefully I'll see you at the Ravelry meetups or in the vendor stands. I'll be wearing some sort of yoked sweater :-)

small updates

2008-10-14T16:13:00.002-04:00

I have been informed that I am seriously remiss on updating my blog - it's true! But I have good excuses like October is slipping through my fingers and we are going to be moving next month and I'm trying to finish a sweater for Rhinebeck and that sort of thing!

Okay when we last updated I had just finished the noni bag to take to my friend's wedding. Here is some evidence that I dress up once in a while:

Oh and my friends had their baby a wee bit early so the super small sweater I made for her actually fits! Isn't she sweet? Her parents both knit and made the cabled blanket and hat - what a lucky girl.

This is a little striped raglan sweater I made up as I went along. The yarn is Cascade Pima Tencel which comes in wonderful colors. I used an I-cord cast on and cast off for the edgings.

And I finally finished my Ironwork socks!

Only took me a year or so to make the pair. Ironwork socks by Kelp . Knit in Lang Jawoll sock yarn. Wheee!

And I've been obsessed with the Wisteria sweater from the Twist Collective. So obsessed that I was happy to discover a big pile of grey Classic AL in my stash that would work perfectly like they were made for each other. Currently, I have the body done and most of one sleeve. My crazy goal is to finish it for Rhinebeck this weekend which might be possible, although I wouldn't get to block it in time - maybe a quick steam blocking would do the trick.

Thanks for reading this far down! Unfortunately for the next month or so, my posts may be even more sporadic as E and I are moving a couple of towns to the east. We found a charming cottage to rent on a farm and can't pass it up. I'm excited as they will let me garden and they have a pet pig named Pinky. squeee!

I've got my bag and I'm ready for the wedding

2008-09-26T13:18:00.002-04:00

I'm not much of a girly girl with accessories and such, which normally doesn't present a problem, except for fancy occasions. I don't attend many fancy occasions, mostly just the occasional wedding, for which I have my basic cute black dress and a few other basic options. What I never seem to have, which I don't notice until the last moment, is a cute little bag to go with the fancy dress to the fancy occasion.

We are going to a wedding tomorrow and finally I am ready with my newly felted Noni bag. Now if only I could find my fancy earrings and pearl necklace....

specs:
pattern: Noni raspberry liqueur bag (#125 Three Confections by Laura J. Bellows ) ravelry link
yarn: 2 skeins of Cascade 220 color 9420
needles: 10 1/2
felted: by hand in bucket

you know it's a good handmade gift if you want to keep it.

2008-09-21T17:44:00.002-04:00

Or at least I think so anyway.

The belated wedding gift is finally done. The bad news is I want to keep it. The good news is I want to keep it and I have a lot of left over yarn and can make another one for me. Anyone want to crochet one for me?

specs:
pattern: Soft Waves stitch in "200 Ripple Stitch Patterns" by Jan Eaton
yarn: lots of colors of Cascade 220 with some leftovers of Valley Yarns Northampton and a few other odds and ends
hook: H- 5.0mm
size: roughly 54" by 48" - I was aiming for a good lap sized blanket

The hardest thing about this blanket was getting a decent photo. Elliott and I did a fun (well fun for me) photo shoot earlier in the week with me running around holding the blanket behind me and me wrapped up like a big burrito in the blanket but the nice sunny day was wreaking havoc with the light meter on the camera. Either everything was blown out and the colors were glowing or it looked like we were shooting with an eerie black backdrop. So when I was up early the other morning, the light was much better, it was bright out but overcast with some mist in the air. Much better for photographing crazy color.

back from touring the midwest with an FO in hand

2008-09-11T17:01:00.002-04:00

That lotus tank - she's all done she is!

Pattern: Lotus Blossom Tank by Sharon Shoji from Interweave Knits, Summer 2006 (Ravelry linky)
Yarn: 8 skeins of Ella Rae Bamboo Silk in color BS-08 Marine
Needles: 6's, 5's, 4's and 3's
Size: 38" bust (tinkered with gauge to get this size - I used the directions for the 39" bust)
Notes: I'm using the brilliant modifications from LicketyKnits to make this a tank that would fit well and that I would really like to wear. Namely, I added one lace repeat, the improved waist shaping, knitting 4" before the armhole, and used a smaller needle size on the neckband to prevent gaping. I did only 2 paired increases after the waist increasing to get the 38" bust instead of the 39". I'm pretty pleased and surprised with how well this fits.

I'm finally back from many adventures in the great Midwest which included a business trip to Nebraska and a side excursion to the state fair, a family visit to rural Wisconsin, rocking good times in Chicago culminating in my brother's wedding. Click on any of the links to see photos in Flickr. I was going to make carefully crafted mosaics for the blog post but that feels overwhelming as I catch up on things, so go take a looksee if you're interested.

on the road

2008-08-25T08:33:00.002-04:00

I'm in Nebraska for some work meetings, but I managed to sneak over to the state fair yesterday for loads of entertainment and deep fried fare. More photos to follow when I return.

odds and ends

2008-08-14T13:54:00.002-04:00

It's been a strange summer in the weather department over here in New England and the continual parade of thunderstorms just won't stop. Today appears to be no exception, but I did manage to get some photos of knitting in before the clouds piled up. Hello clouds! Didn't really miss you, you could take a few days off. Really.

In the category of "making me smile" is this awesome point'n'shoot camera strap that I'm test driving for Caro at Splityarn. It makes my little spy camera so much cooler. And so much more likely that I won't drop it like my last one. Please forgive the dorkolicious photos, I loaned my old camera to a friend and had to shoot the strap with the exciting mirror shot - since that strap is not coming off the the camera. There are some in Caro's shop right now - run over and get yourself one!

In the category of "finished objects" I finished a hat sweater set for a good friend of mine expecting this fall. I've got a pile of friends who are pregnant so I'm trying to keep up with the baby knits!
This is the Pea Pod Baby Set by Kate Gilbert knit out of 4 balls of Cascade Pima Tencel.

In the category of "knits in progress" I started the Lotus Blossom Tank. I am quite smitten with the modifications that Lickety Knit did to hers and hoping for similar results. I am struggling with the gauge so I've ripped back above the lace once and hopefully I can nail it this time. Maybe I can even get it done to wear this fall...

Still cranking away at the crochet ripple blanket, my guess is that I'm maybe halfway done. That's about it for now -

new design and gift certificate winner

2008-07-31T11:12:00.003-04:00

Hey all! Webs was kind enough to publish another one of my sweater designs. This one is called the Harlequin Yoke Pullover and is knit out of Valley Yarns Deerfield. (Ravelry link for the sweater). This was a fun sweater to design, especially sorting out the correct decreases to keep the diamond pattern in the yoke. The idea came when I was knitting while watching a Six Feet Under episode with Elliott, and saw one of the characters wearing this sweater out of the corner of my eye. But when I looked up that's not what she was wearing at all! So I scribbled down a sketch before I forgot the idea and here it is. I had a lot of fun trying different color combinations for the diamonds, and I think you could really change the feel of the sweater depending on what colors you chose.

In other fun news, Jane won the raffle for the Webs gift certificate. Thank you so much to everyone who entered the raffle and supported Emmaus's work with the homeless. I'm thinking I might have to shoot for the 100 mile ride next year...

well it wasn't the tour de france but it was fun...

2008-07-28T12:13:00.003-04:00

Do you all find socks hard to photograph? They look strange without feet in them, but it's hard to photograph your own feet. And it's hard to come up with a good pose for your feet - if only I knew more ballet positions perhaps. Today I tried the self timer and placing the camera on the floor. The only problem with that is you can see how dusty dirty our floors are with giant dustbunnies roaming the plains of the living room. But I digress...

finished socks!
specs:
pattern: your basic 64 stitch toe up recipe with short row heels. I like heel flaps better, but I think the short row heels look better on the stripy socks.
yarn: stripes of Noro Kureyon sock yarn colors 184 and 95
needles: 1's
verdict: Love the fraternal striping action - these amuse me to no end.

In other finishing news, my friend Lisha and I had a great time on our 62 mile charity bike ride. We were part of the amusingly named team, the "pink-yellows" which consisted of us, Lisha's husband Bobby and our friend Nate who both did the 100 mile route. When they left for their ride, an hour before us, the sky was threatening with rain and it looked pretty unpleasant, but when we left at 8:00am the sky had cleared considerably and we all had beautiful weather. I hadn't gotten as much training in due to general work business and super humid weather, but I surprised myself by finishing the ride in good shape. Everyone volunteering and riding were so nice, and the route was beautiful, going through Haverhill, Amesbury, New Hampshire, Ipswitch and Boxford.

As for the raffle for the Webs gift certificate, I'll be holding that on Thursday. If you're still interested in donating to Emmaus and getting a raffle ticket, you can do that through Wednesday. Here is the donation page. Thanks so much to everyone who donated to the ride, I really appreciate your support. I'll leave you with a photo of team pink -yellows.

I'm still knitting - really I am

2008-07-22T11:24:00.002-04:00

It's been pretty quiet on the blog front with general summer outdoor enjoyment and bike rides, but I have managed to sneak some knitting in. I found out that one of my cousins just had a baby girl so I whipped out this cute little bonnet for her this weekend.

you want details?
pattern: Anime Bonnet from Hello Yarn
yarn: 1 ball of Valley Yarns Goshen
needles: 5's
notes: I used heavier weight yarn so I made the smallest size and ended up with a 6-12 month size hat. I also used embroidery floss to stitch up the face with my mediocre embroidery skills.

I'm also making a soft waves ripple crochet blanket for my brother who is getting married this fall. I'm using piles of cascade 220 and other worsted weight leftovers. My plan is to do a color stripe (2 rows) a night and hopefully I be done in time. I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away...

Other than that, I'm trying to sort out what big project I want to tackle next. As always I have more ideas than available time, so sometimes I let them simmer for a while and see what stays on the list. What projects are you flirting with out there?

charity 62 mile bike ride for me & Webs raffle for you

2008-07-11T08:09:00.003-04:00

I'm finally committing and signing up for a 62 mile ride to benefit Emmaus Inc. is a non-profit corporation that provides housing and helps out homeless adults and families in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

I love biking but I've never really done a ride this long before. I've been lucky this year to have nearby friends and upstairs neighbors who road bike and convinced me that I can do this by the end of the month. So I've joined my friend's team - the "pink yellows" - and will be riding on the 27th of July. That's soon!

To raise some money for this good cause, I'm offering to raffle off a $100 gift certificate to Webs from some of the store credit I earn by knitting samples for them. For every $5 you donate to Emmaus, you will receive one ticket. So, for example, a $25 donation gets you 5 tickets in the raffle.

Donate for the ride here:

And then email me at yarnbeeATgmailDOTcom to let me know how many tickets you purchased. I will hold the drawing on July 31st. Email me with any questions as well.

Thanks!

too hot for wool?

2008-07-08T15:58:00.002-04:00

Hi blog! It's hot here. Almost too hot for knitting and too hot to want to have a sweaterful of yarn in one's lap. So for the moment I shifted over to the sewing machine for some crafty fun.

We had a lot of rain this holiday weekend, so ended up staying inside and making a skirt. This is Simplicity pattern #3834 -skirt B. I had a lot of help and hand holding with this wonderful tutorial from Green Kitchen. I have a lot to learn about sewing and it still takes me most of a day to make a skirt.

There is a little bit of knitting going on - I've been making some noro stripy socks from some noro kureyon sock leftovers:

I also finished a store sample for Webs: the Lily Vest out of Misti Alpaca sport weight. It's a little too small for me to model and it's too hot out anyway.

stay cool peeps!

Circles Yoke Sweater pattern

2008-06-25T11:40:00.002-04:00

The circles yoke sweater pattern is now available from Webs. I was quite excited to see it featured on the back cover of their latest catalog. I also found it on Ravelry. I'm so excited to share this one with you all!

blocked and ready to go

2008-06-22T12:24:00.002-04:00

Elliott finally scores a handknit sweater!

specs:
pattern: basic raglan sweater recipe from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns
yarn: 6 balls each of noro silk garden #226 and #244
needles: 5mm
notes:
I ended up striping the yarn like all of those beautiful noro stripy scarfs to try and get a consistent shift in colors across the whole sweater. Because the sweater was "man-sized" some of the colors changed within the striping for a more subtle effect. I tried to get the sleeves to have a similar feeling by striping 4 balls of yarn at different points in the color sequence and more randomly choosing what stripe color would go next. I also used a tubular cast on for the body and sleeves and a tubular cast off for the neck.
verdict:
Elliott seems pretty pleased with this one. It's not too heavy or hot and I think it will get a lot of wear come fall.

hand felting makes your hands baby soft

2008-06-18T09:16:00.002-04:00

or in other words - the cute little Noni bags are finished!

Specs:
Pattern: Raspberry Liqueur Noni Bag
Yarn: 2 skeins of Valley Yarns Northampton
Needles: 10 1/2
Hardware: Lacis snap handles

Specs:
Pattern: Maraschino Cherry Bonbon Noni Bag
Yarn: 4 skeins of Valley Yarns Northampton
Needles: 10 1/2 & 11's
Hardware: Lacis snap handles

These are fun little bags to knit up and felt. The bag hardware is so sexy and it is easy to sew them in and get a decent looking bag. I actually had a hard time giving back the little fushia one and may have to make one for myself since I have a couple of weddings coming up this fall. I ended up felting them by hand in a large bucket with a plunger and my hands. This helped me get them in a good shape and to make sure that the flaps were the correct size to work with the hardware. Hand felting sure makes your hands baby bottom smooth!

Here are a couple of pre-felted shots to entertain you all:

not so much knitting when it's hot

2008-06-14T10:00:00.002-04:00

As I'm sure you may have read from many other east coast blogs, we've had a show-stopping heat wave earlier this week. I generally don't mind heat and humidity, and I used to live in Philadelphia in a third story walk up with no air conditioning, but this was pretty hot and sticky. It also coincided with a visit from my parents so we spent our time in spaces more air conditioned than my apartment.

Of course the best air conditioned spaces are stores, so we went shopping. And I scored a new camera! I got a little Panasonic "spy" camera which is faster, smarter, and smaller than my old digicam. Someday I'd like to get a digital SLR, but I think realistically I would use a smaller point and shoot more often. I have to read up on all of the many settings and features, but it managed to take some nice photos of Syd without any trouble.

I also got a nicer shot of the queen anne lace scarf:

I did manage to finish Elliott's noro raglan sweater and it is blocking on our guest bed. I think it will be cooler next week so hopefully I can arrange a photoshoot soon. Happy weekend to you all!

birthday fun and other catching up

2008-06-08T16:53:00.002-04:00

I've been having fun this weekend celebrating my birthday. I like to stretch the celebration out as long as I can, really making it more of a season. Luckily Elliott and my friends put up with this indulgence. We've had some yummy dinners and this morning on the actual day Elliott gave me a platter of cupcakes and a sweet pile of gifts - mainly little treats I wouldn't get myself. He also gave me a homemade mix CD that will amuse me on my long weekly drives into work. Love the homemade gifts.

Other than that it's fairly quite around here. I did manage to have somewhat of a craft vacation. I had a fun week with crafty social activities in the afternoons and did a little work in the morning. Perfect! Gail the Kangaroo Dyer let me play in her studio and I got to dye some rovings, my favorite is a gradation of greens to blues. I was so excited I could hardly wait for it to dry before I spun it up. I didn't even take a photo! Later in the week I whipped out the crochet hook and crocheted me a queen anne lace scarf. It's a little on the short side but it should make a lovely cowl like scarf come fall.

And gardening happiness! My upstairs neighbor and I are working on an ever growing container garden around our house. This year's addition is actual veges, not just flowers, so we have some cukes and tomatoes and our fingers crossed.

In other knitting Elliott's noro raglan sweater is almost done and once it stops being 95 billion degrees I can probably get some shots...

Have a fun rest of your weekend peeps!

after felting

2008-05-21T14:50:00.002-04:00

Thanks for all of your comments on the Noni bag! I got to felt it a few nights ago in my friend's felting machine or better known as the washing machine. Her washer is great because you can turn back the knob and extend the wash cycle for as long as you need without having use extra water. It took about 3 cycles or 40 minutes for this to felt down to it's proper size. It turned out nice and thick and the handles are very substantial - I was worried the handles were a bit wimpy but I was wrong. I blocked this bag with cardboard boxes cut to size to keep its nice rectangular shape. I know you want to see a pre/post felting size comparison:

specs:
Noni Green Earth Grocery Bag #407
7 skeins of Cascade 220 green 7414
2 skeins of Cascade 220 blue 7418
yarn held double and knit on size 11 needles

miles of stockinette stitch

2008-05-18T10:29:00.002-04:00

Isn't this hilarious? It's an unfelted Noni grocery bag - specifically the Noni green earth grocery bag with recycle arrow (#407). I'm knitting it for Webs and while I got off to a good start, it seemed to take FORVER to reach the top of the bag. I thought I was done when you add extra stitches for the handle tabs and then I realized that I had to knit 10 EXTRA rows - ugh. But when I finally picked it up off my lap I had to laugh, cause look how freaking enormous it is! It's like knitting a giant sweater without sleeves.

I'm going to felt it tomorrow, so I'll let you know how small it ends up. It should be your basic grocery store bag size. I'm using Cascade 220 doubled knit on 11's - colors #7414 and 7418.

In other news I also finished another baby surprise jacket out of leftover sock yarn. It's proabaly good to have some spare baby goods in the gift drawer - you never know who is going to have a baby!

I've also finally started a(nother) sweater for Elliott. You may recall early on the blog that I was knitting Elliott a tiny yarn fair isle extravaganza that I designed. I had loads of trouble with the hem and made it about 8 inches before I petered out. While I would like to finish it someday, I just can't do it right now. I had to admit to Elliott a few months ago that it would be better to make a new simpler larger yarn sweater that I could actually finish before winter. So I took him to the great wall of Noro yarn and he picked some great colors. The new plan is to make a noro striped raglan sweater with a v-neck. And I'm motoring my way up the body at a rapid rate. I'm striping two colors of silk garden - 226 and 244 - and because the diameter of the sweater is man-sized, the stripes are a bit more subtle, sometimes changing color within the stripe. I like the looke very much and am sorting out how to keep this look on the sleeves with their smaller diameter. I might stripe 4 balls of yarn to at least get more colors in the sleeves like the body. Thoughts?

spinning goodness

2008-05-11T18:03:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to whomever that applies to out there! Here are some of my favorite flowers for you to enjoy:

My upstairs neighbor gave me this cute little pot of lily of the valley after we had a lengthy discussion about how much we liked them, and if there were any vacant fields near by that we could steal some from. This have such an amazing fragrant, even this little pot fills this room with it's nice fragrance.

On Saturday I finished the last bit of one of the super huge projects I've been working on. The other one will wrap up on the 21st. Then, my friends, I am going to take a crafting vacation. I think this will involve sewing, gardening, painting some bookcases, spinning, dying roving, knitting, biking and sleeping. Hooray!

In the meanwhile I managed to finally spin some of the amazing fiber from Hello Yarn's fiber club. This is 4oz. of Shetland top in the March 08 colorway - Red Velvet. I ended up with about 200 yards of 2-ply worsted weight squishy goodness. I'm still squishing it, even time I walk past it.

baby surprise jacket and nachos but not together

2008-05-02T15:09:00.002-04:00

Hi all,
Thank you all so much for all of the lovely comments on the handspun spiral yoke sweater. It completely made my week. Unfortunately since work is still convinced that I am it's full time plaything, I haven't been able to respond to any of the wonderful comments. Luckily the end is finally in site and things should slow down in the next couple of weeks. Of course that means not so much time for the knitting or blogging either. I did manage to whip out a Baby surprise jacket for my cousin who is expecting.

This is my first time knitting a BSJ and the construction blew me away - it's like origami for knitting! It's knit with Misti Alpaca hand painted sock yarn - color #07

In other news you may remember that Elliott and I were having a nacho-fest. We each made a version - I of course went the white trash route, but Elliott got all classy with homemade chips, slow cooked pork, layers of real melted cheddar, olives, jalapeños, green salsa, sour cream and cilantro. This was tasty as well, I have to say. Here's what mr. e had to say about it...

handspun spiral yoke all done!

2008-04-20T12:14:00.003-04:00

She's all done! And just in time for this lovely April heat wave.

Specs:
Pattern: Loosely based off of Meg Swansen's spiral yoke sweater from the book Handknitting.
Yarn:
Yoke: five colors of handspun 2-ply romney and romney-mohair blend fiber from Fantom Farms - roughly sport weight.
Body: 5 balls of Rowan Kid Classic in color #846
Needles: 6's
Gauge: 5 stitches per inch

Notes: I knit this one top down so I could play with the yoke design as I went along. I also wasn't sure if I had enough handspun for the yoke, but of course there was a pile leftover. The handspun is pretty dense, and the stranded yoke is pretty bulletproof! I need to work on improving my spinning to make less dense yarn. I added hems to the bottom and sleeves by knitting a few rows in the green handspun, knitting a purl turning row, and knitting a hem with smaller needles in alpaca for softness. The kid classic ended up having a somewhat different gauge than the handspun and I had to decrease the number of body stitches to stay on track. You can guess I learned that the hard way. There was a fair bit of ripping and reknitting, but I'm happy with the final results.

Verdict: Thumbs up!

My friend kindly took these photos for me. I'm certainly not a very good model, I have no idea what to do with my hands and I always blink or have dreadfully worried looks on my face for 95% of the shots. Luckily my friend is great at coming up with poses and making me laugh. Just so you know she must have taken 50 photos to get these few decent ones. The sweater always looked great - but my results varied. Here are some outakes:

I'm calling this the Rowan magazine outake.

And the oh my gosh can we be done with this already outake.

And in other news Elliott and I are taking turns whipping up some nacho dinners. (Elliott insists that I blog about this - even though he has his own food blog). I went the old school "classic" route with cheese from a jar, green olives, jalapeños, sour cream, salsa from a jar, white corn chips, ground beef with taco seasoning - delicious! Elliott will certainly go a more classy upscale route with shredded beef, real cheese, homemade salsa... His turn is sometime this week, I'll let you know how they turn out.

knitting and unknitting and knitting

2008-04-06T09:51:00.002-04:00

Long time no blog, eh blog? Work is trying to squish me - I'm thinking about that Kids in the Hall sketch "I'm crushing your head! I'm crushing your head - flatheads!!" (On a side note I had known that line for years as a cultural reference but thanks to the goodness of netflix, we got to see the original sketch with some friends last week). So brilliant, but I digress.

Here is where things stand on the handspun spiral yoke sweater. I think the last report on this was when I was knitting down from the yoke in the dark blue main body yarn for several inches only to have a reality check and realize that it was at least 4" too wide in the middle. I like a little ease, myself, but it would not be flattering at all to be adding 4+ inches to my waist. Plus think of the yarn I could save. So I ripped out all the blue, did another gauge swatch, actually washed it this time only to discover that the Rowan kid classic grew another 1/2 stitch or so. Yikes! Good thing for that swatch.

I finished the body, the lower hem, the neck hem and all sewing all the ends in and thought I was fairly home free. I knit one of the sleeves, only to discover that my math was way off and I had put in too many decreases on the sleeves too soon, to make a fabric resembling the qualities of spandex. Yikes! I ripped that sleeve out and used half the number of decreases and that seemed to do the trick.
Last night I finished the first sleeve and got the second (third?) one started.

The most exciting thing about this, other than I think I'm really going to like this sweater, is that I've got nothing else on the needles! Think about that for a second. The possibilities are endless and there is a giant sale going on at Webs... What should I make next? What are you all wanting to make?

happy easter!

2008-03-23T15:32:00.003-04:00

Happy easter and spring my peeps! I hope you are all having a good celebration and it is warm and sunny wherever you happen to be.

Work is trying to swallow up all of my time, but I'm managing to stay one step ahead. That said I only have a few things to show for myself craft-wise. I just finished up a pile of knitting gifts for my friends expecting a little chick pea. You know who you are and your baby shower is next Saturday - so if you're reading this, close the browser and step away from the blog...

So one of these friends is descended from the pirate Henry Avery, which of course meant that this baby needed some pirate knitwear:

Ensemble:
-Anouk dress/tunic from Knitty Spring 2004, modified to have pirate pockets and embroidered label.
-Saartje's Bootees
- your basic stripy baby hat with I-cord loops
All knit with Cascade Pima Tencel

I've also been doing a wee bit of spinning:

This is corriedale in the watermelon colorway from Sakina Knits. Worsted weight 2-ply.

I'm going to be swallowed up by work for the next week or so, but I'll be back as soon as I can.
happy spring!

where does the time go?

2008-03-05T17:05:00.002-05:00

I looked under the sofa, in the refrigerator and on top of the yarn stash, but I cannot find where the past couple of weeks have gotten off to. At any rate I need to desperately update you on the current knitting situation. Here is exhibit A:

I've been knitting up a Sylph cardigan for Webs.
pattern: Sylph cardigan from Interweave Knits spring 08 - ravelry link
yarn: Valley Yarns Deerfield Heather Blue - 8 balls
size: 35" bust
needles: 5's and 6's

Exhibit B:

I'm been knitting away at my first sweater with some handspun yarn action. You can see the test swatch where I sorted out gauge and color combinations. Below that is the start of the yoke. I'm staring with the neck and going top down because I think it will be easier to sort out how the yoke design will work from the top. At this point I'm working on the body, and if it's sunny tomorrow I'll post another progress photo. I'm using Meg Swansen's spiral yoke sweater as a formula which has 7 sets of small increases to keep a nice spiral action. So what's new with you all?

not too much excitement around here...

2008-02-15T12:08:00.002-05:00

I guess that's what February is all about sometimes. I've got a couple of big projects in the works, but I haven't had much time to devote to actually starting them. They involve math and measuring and stratagems and such, and my tired brain is unable to reliably solve such challenges on a weekday night. But perhaps tomorrow will provide an uninterrupted expanse of brain power. So I've been knitting small reliable things which don't require much mental capacity.

I've been working on a pair of socks for Elliott as he sprung a hole in the heel of his browny green socks. I fear that made him worry that hand knit socks are fragile and he should ration out the usage. I figure it's better to use them up and make more, so I've been cranking away at a new pair. Photo soon - its essentially a teal, lime, brown, periwinkle variegated affair. Luckily mr. e is willing to be bold with his color choices.

And I finished up some christmas socks for my friend in Philly. I think this is the last of any promised christmas knitting. She really wanted a pair of monkeys and decided on Kangaroo Dyer's Macaw colorway sock yarn from Webs. She is certainly not shy about color either:

I'll leave you with some spinning:

This is for one of the aforementioned large thinking projects. Suffice it to say I'm thinking circular yoke sweater - this handspun would be for the yoke design. Yummy roving from Fantom Farm. Still plotting...

Have a good weekend all!

month of mittens

2008-02-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

Apparently, January was the month of mittens around here. I love mittens! They are like little sweaters for your hands. Happy wool accessories!

I got to test knit some lovely Fiddlehead mittens for Adrian at Hello Yarn. She designed the mitten pattern and handdyed the amazing palette. They are also lined with alpaca which makes them even softer and warmer. I really can't say enough nice things about these, they were a pleasure to knit. Here are some of the other color combinations on Ravelry.

I also have been secretly knitting some mittens for my mom's birthday:

pattern: various charts from Magnificent Mittens cobbled together
yarn: Hifa 2 - various colors
lining yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace doubled
needles: 2.75mm
details: The mittens are lined with alpaca which makes them super cozy and warm - well worth the extra effort. Happy birthday Mom!

So many lovely people listed Yarnbee as one of the blogs "Makes their Day". Thank you all so much, you're making me blush!

If you haven't yet, you should run and visit just a few of the blogs that make my day:

Macoco at Craft Pirate

Mel at Pipe Dreams and Purling Plans

Tomoko the Goodsmaker

Adrian at Hello Yarn

and

Elliott the resident chef at mountain of spices blogging about food

just a quickie

2008-02-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

I've been making friends with my grandma's Singer 600 deluxe sewing machine. I forgot to take a photo, but it looks pretty much like this. We had a casual conversation over this little log cabin pillowcase that I whipped out with inspiration from Denyse Schmidt's Quilts book.

This is a combination of Marimekko fabric and some amazing fabric Lucy at Zebraknits gave me from Africa. Now this girl can sew! If you want to go see some amazing quilts - go visit her blog!

Then the Singer and I had a more serious conversation when I put her through her paces and she whipped out 8 buttonholes in grosgrain ribbon like it was nothing. I think on our next date we'll have to check out all of her decorative stitches. Anyway, the ribbon is for the bunny cardigan who quickly developed stretched out buttonholes. I'm hoping that backing the buttonbands with ribbon will solve my problem.

orange and blue

2008-01-26T15:59:00.000-05:00

Not too much to report over here at Chez Crafty. I'm in the middle of cleaning and organizing my home office and studio. Even though I feel like I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff, or correctly filed stuff and have bags of paper to recycle, my space looks worse rather than better. Probably because I'm only half done. But good things have turned up. I found some great books I forgot about. I took my grandma's 1960's Singer 600 to get a turn up and to fix the thread tension, and I'm back in business today. I can finally sew button holes on ribbons for the bunny sweater and maybe for the tangled yoke sweater. We'll see how crazy I get.

And a bit of knitting going on:

I made some Fetching mittens out of my own handspun. I'm so smitten with them and proud as punch. Like I had a yarn baby or something.

And spinning!

Here is about 2 ounces of Romney wool from Fantom Farms - probably worsted weight.

Here is 3.7 ounces / 360 yards of Cormo wool from Foxhill Farm. Maybe socks? It's so squishy soft!

Birthday mittens for Mom to be revealed soon!
happy weekend all!

photo shoot - finally

2008-01-17T16:25:00.000-05:00

There were a bunch of knitted goods all stacked up waiting for a sunny day and a photographer. I decided to settle for a photographer, an overcast day and a tripod, since it's supposed to snow yet again tomorrow. Anyway I bring you - finished knits!

Hooray! Finally finished the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It kept getting bumped in line for Christmas knitting and store samples, but I managed to finish it up over New Years.

Pattern: Tangled yoke cardigan in Fall Interweave Knits by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool - 7 skeins of color #114
Needles: 3's and 4's
Mods: I made the body about 1 inch longer.
Notes: I think this pattern is a great combination of interesting knitting and elegant design. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, although it seemed to take FOREVER to knit the cable because you add so many many stitches. I'm curious to see how the silky wool will hold up. I'm hoping it keeps its shape - so far so good.

The noro striped scarf is done! Still needs to be blocked though.
Pattern: BrooklynTweed noro scarf
Yarn: Silk Garden Lite - 4 skeins, 3 colorways
Needles: 5's
I cast on 40 stitches for a longer and skinnier scarf. It's about 5" wide unstretched and about 7 1/2' long.

Elliott also scored a Karma Cap for Christmas. He picked out the yarn himself!
Pattern: Karma Cap from www.smariek.blogspot.com
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in burgundy, one skein
Size: Large
Needles: 7's
Mods: changed top decreases like Brooklyn Tweed
brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/10/cap-karma.html

He's also sporting a scarf I knit him for Christmas a few years ago.
Pattern: here and there cables scarf from Scarf Style
Yarn: Renyolds Odyssey - 8 balls - can't remember what colorway
Mods: Didn't change a thing.

I got some spinning for show for next time and some pretty fiber I got with my Christmas money.
wheeee!

odds and ends for $20

2008-01-09T14:14:00.000-05:00

Hey peeps!
I have a finished tangled yoke sweater to show, but unfortunately my photographer is sick. As soon as mr. e recovers, I'll post some photos. Until then, you'll have to make do with the following odds and ends:

I've had a small pile of Noro Silk Garden Lite laying around just waiting to be turned into one of those cool stripey scarves and over the holidays I cast on and stuck it in my knitting bag. It's essentially my vacation knitting, it's so mindless and wonderful to see what color combinations randomly happen. The noro colorways are brillant as usual and I'm excited to wear this one. I'm making a skinnier version that I can wrap around my neck a couple of times for more color action.

On the car ride to Michigan, I whipped out this simple seed stitch scarf out of my first batch of handspun. It's pretty lumpy bumpy but it was fun to knit with yarn I made myself!

I've also been doing a bit of spinning - this is Spunky Eclectic's wool blend in the vineyard colorway.

And this is what's on the wheel currently - cormo wool from Foxhill Farms. So nice to spin!

I'll leave you with a shot of the birds. We had Pedro the conure and ms.b the parakeet staying with us over the holidays. We've never had all three parrots together and pretty quickly it became clear that Pedro and ms.b had a little summer camp romance going on. Syd was clueless about the whole thing. Unfortunately Pedro returned home and ms.b is a bit sad to have lost her man.

happy 2008!

2007-12-31T15:17:00.000-05:00

I hope you all are enjoying the last day of the year. I've been enjoying reading "end of the year" knitting and crafting reviews on blogs such as Lolly knitting around and ZebraKnits. While on a day-to-day basis I can sometimes feel pretty unproductive, it was fun and shocking to see how much crafty goodness I've been up to in the past year. In the past 365 days I made a raglan and a yoke sweater for the first time, designed a sweater, learned how to spin, earned a spinning wheel with knitting, met some bloggers who were more fun than I would have guessed, went to a fiber festival, went to a knitting group, got better at finishing, tried intarsia, learned some very basic crochet and tried to keep the stash to a minimum. I just pretend that the yarn store is my stash - it doesn't need to all be in my living room.

I'm not sure what the crafty plan is for 2008. I'd like to get better at spinning and I'll be teaching some basic knitting classes at WEBS starting in February. I'll be sure to keep you all posted. Have a fun and safe and super crafty New Years!

off to michigan

2007-12-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

It sure has been a busy week over here. Generally my workload slows down in December but for whatever reason, work has been steady in showing up at my desk. This is really cutting into my fun crafting time! But it's all good. On a up note all of my small amount of Christmas knitting is finished and some of it even delivered and can now be revealed in blogland.

Here is a pair of thrummed mittens for my friend Alicia. These crack me up every time I look at them. They are huge plumpy full of soft and squichy wool thrums - see?

I didn't quite mean for them to look like christmas trees with lights, but I had some green peace fleece wool in the stash that I thought would be perfect, and I added some cascade 220 and cashmerino cuffs so would be soft and voila!

specs:
pattern: thrummed mittens by Yarn Forward
yarn: Peace Fleece worsted weight - color 7470; I think this is Shaba
and some Cascade 220 and Cashmerino Aran for the cuffs
needles: 6's and 8's magic loop
thrums: from Hello Yarn

I also spun up some BFL wool for my friend Tomoko. I'm not sure my spinning is good enough to present as a gift, but she graciously received it.

specs:
yardage: 270 yards of sportish weight
roving: Spunky Eclectic BFL wool in Autumn Girls colorway

More gifts to be revealed soon! Elliott and I are off to Michigan to visit my family for the holidays. Catch you in the new year if not sooner and have a wonderful celebration yourself!

homestretch

2007-12-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

We are snowed in today with a lovely mixture of snow, freezing rain and ice. And I'm happy as a clam to be inside the house of yarn with all outdoor plans canceled. I'm almost done with holiday knitting and soon I can show you the results once everything is gifted.

But in the meanwhile I finished a store sample for WEBS in record time. Here she is:

got your specs right here:
pattern - Henley Perfected by Connie Chang Chinchio from Interweave Knits winter 07
yarn - Blue Sky Alpaca Silk color 139 peacock
needles - 2's and 3's
size - 35" bust
notes - No changes to the pattern. It needed one heck of a blocking with the lace work on the top, but then it sewed up quite nicely. It still needs some buttons, but I'll grab some at the store. The alpaca silk is draping quite nicely and is really a perfect fit for this sweater.

More to come soon! I've got a busy week ahead before Elliott and I head to Michigan for Christmas.

oh december, more crafting than blogging...

2007-12-05T14:13:00.000-05:00

It's that crazy fun time of year that I like to refer to as the elven workshop over here at chez yarnbee. Lots of gifts getting made:

New magnolia blockprint cards available at my etsy store.

And gifts received as well:

I won this cute handmade knitting project bag in a contest over at paperclips. What a nice surprise to get in the mail.

And my friend came over yesterday with this strange and fun bag of assorted candy from China.

Happy crafting all - more to show soon!

oh blog

2007-11-24T18:24:00.000-05:00

I know we've been friends for a whole year plus change, and you've been wondering where I've been lately. Not that I've been purposely cheating on you or anything, but with the upcoming holiday crafting and the introduction of miss lendrum I've been spending a lot of time away from blogland. But you're not too upset with me right? I think if anything miss lendrum will add a lot of fodder for future posts. Don't be jealous.

Here she is, the lovely miss lendrum. I've been saving up the store credit that I earn from WEBS for knitting store samples for a spinning wheel, and a couple of weeks ago after I finished the felted louet pillow kit, I hit the jackpot and came home with a Lendrum double treadle. It seems so perfect to earn a spinning wheel by knitting.

I looked at a lot of options and the Lendrum seemed like the best bet for me. It's portable, but not too small, it has a wide range of ratios and accessories, and I like the more modern look as it fits in with our mid-century-thrift apartment aesthetic. So far she spins like a dream and we are having a great time getting acquainted while I learn how to spin. She seems pretty patient and not too finicky, but I can tell that she is not a total pushover and will want to do things her own way.

Here is our "getting to know you" yarn. It's definitely an improvement from the super twisty crazy stuff I tried to pass off as yarn on my first spinning wheel attempt. I think my hands and feet finally figured out how to work together - like riding a bike.

I still have a lot to learn, but I'm starting to spin stuff that could pass as yarn. Now to work on consistency and to figure out what to make with all this new handspun.

But I'm getting better! Here is 4 ounces of Hello Yarn Fruit Flavor Blueface Leicester. I got about 190 yards of sport weight (some areas are thicker and thinner). I love the colors plied together and the ways you can spin the same roving and get different results depending on how you prep the fiber.

Oh and we had a delicious and wonderful Thanksgiving. Luckily Elliott, who is an excellent chef and writer, blogged about our meal. It sounds like he is making recipes available so go visit. We certainly had some yummy treats.

And yes, I'm still knitting. I finished the magnificent mittens and they had their first outing today in the cold. I'm pretty smitten with them, they kept my hands super toasty warm with their alpaca lining.

specs:
pattern: Magificent Mittens by Anna Zilboorg - chapter 5, pattern 1
yarn: Jamieson and Smith 2 ply shetland jumper yarn, some handdyed and lined with Misti Alpaca Lace
needles: 2's and 3's
details: i-cord edging has a knot on one mitten and a loop on the other so you can keep them connected when not in use. The mittens are lined with alpaca which makes them super cozy and warm - well worth the extra effort.

Hooray for mittens!

trying to keep up

2007-11-16T14:13:00.000-05:00

There is a lot of juggling going on over here between life, work, knitting and the upcoming holidays. I need to catch you all up on the excitement next week, and I'll leave you with just a taste of progress for the moment. That's a Louet Felted Pillow Kit, knit up for WEBS. This was in and out so fast I barely managed to get a shot of it! Have a wonderful weekend.

slow but steady finishes the projects

2007-10-31T15:27:00.000-04:00

That's at least what I'm hoping. I've got a lot of projects on various needles and I'm chugging along slowly on all of them, going from one to the next as my tiny attention span wanders on. I'm trying to get some christmas knitting in the mix as well, hopefully soon.

Here is the rundown, in case you're interested:

Tangled Yoke Cardigan:

This is that lovely Eunny Jang cardigan from the fall Interweave Knits. I'm pretty smitten with it so far, but I'm also bored in the vast landscape of stockinette and trying to remember the beautiful cable coming up as a big reward. Still have to visit sleeve island however... next!

Fair Isle Mittens:

A couple of weeks ago, Gail the Kangeroo Dyer who sells beautiful handdyed yarns at WEBS, invited me over to play in her dye studio. It was a pile of fun to watch her work and play around with some color combinations myself. I also dyed some fingering weight shetland wool for fair isle mittens. The pinky red in the photo above is a result of dye fun day - also these crazy colors:

I'm thinking about making a pair of fraternal mittens - purple + red and purple + green with aqua trim at the bottom. Somehow knitting with yarn you dyed is even more fun. This might fall under the christmas gift catagory, but I'm worried that I'll want to keep them... next

Man Socks:

Since it finally decided to be fall and actually cold around here, Elliott has been wearing his handmade socks a lot. I was getting the strong hint that he might like another pair, so I'm whipping some up out of Hello Yarn sock yarn. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have quite enough, so I've knit the first sock up to the toe and started the second one from the other end of the ball. We'll see what happens. Nothing too fancy here, stockinette stitch knit toe down with a fancy eye of the partridge heel for good measure.

Shop Update:

I been blockprinting like crazy and I have some new sets of "hens and chicks" cards available at the etsy store. Check them out!

knitting away

2007-10-24T22:02:00.000-04:00

There are so many great postings about Rhinebeck aka the New York Sheep and Wool festival milling about the blogsphere, I'm not sure what else I can report. I went on Saturday with my friend Rachel and had a really nice time. The weather was stunning, warm sunny and breezy but too hot for the bunny sweater which had to stay in the car. I forgot my camera, but imagine me inserting here pictures of cute sheep and goats, gorgeous wool, some guy standing on the back of two large draft horses with plumes on their bridles, fried pickles, the Ravelry meetup and that kind of thing. I may have managed to bring back a big bag of wool in anticipation of a spinning wheel. Maybe some yarn as well, who can say?

Last week I managed to finish my first ironwork sock. Run, run now and check out this wonderful pattern available at KelpKnits.

When you all weren't looking I managed to squeak out a store sample for WEBS. This is the Clara cardigan pattern knit in Valley Yarns Goshen in color 17 purple haze. That's all of the news on this end. I'll probably stop by the Franklin County Fiber Twist festival in Deerfield this Saturday because I can't resist a local wool festival. If you're in western Massachusetts you should check it out!

fair isle bunnies FO

2007-10-14T17:32:00.000-04:00

All done!

Here are the specs:

pattern: my own, with much help from the EZ EPS system. The lovely bunnies charted pattern is from this site. I knit this puppy in the round from the bottom up with a center steek.

yarn: Cascade 220 plus various leftovers of worsted weight yarn

needles: knit picks options circular 6's and 4's for the folded hems

gauge: 20 sts. and 27 rows to 4 inches

notes: I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. The sizing is right on and I'm really pleased with the color combinations and how the bunnies look around the yoke. On the down side, the buttonholes are a tiny bit too large for the buttons, and the buttonbands are pulling a little bit even though the sweater is not that tight. Also, the stripes under the yoke don't quite align, I think, because I started the rounds in the middle of the steak. Always more to learn, right?

I'll be wearing this one at Rhinebeck on Saturday, so if you see the bunnies stop and say hi! Hope to see you there.

catching up

2007-10-05T16:56:00.000-04:00

There are all sorts of odds and ends to catch you up on, gifts that just showed up in the mail, last week's visit to the state fair, finished socks - stuff! Here we go.

1) Contest winners!!

A big thanks to everyone who entered, I've had a lot of fun reading your blogs. Elliott and I stopped work at noon, put everyone's name in a bowl, and picked out two winners for the blog-a-versary contest. Congratulations go to Linda J. who won the japanese style stab bound book and to Lisa who won the tasty thai green chili spice blend. I'll be emailing you shortly to get these treats off to you. If for some reason you don't hear from me in the next day or so, email me at yarnbee-at-gmail-dot-com.

2) Fabulous gifts

I had alluded to amazing gifts I had received from Lucy at Zebraknits when I got to visit her a few weeks ago. And I finally got my overflow package from Philadelphia today. Check out the beautiful handmade necklace and the stunning African fabrics. It will be a lot of fun to decide what to make out of them. And that's not all, Lucy also gifted me with a vintage knitting magazine from her mother-in-law's collection. A hilarious Spinnerin from 1967. Isn't this centerfold spread the best?! Bring on the parade!

3) The Big "E" State Fair Extravangaza

I'm a big fan of state fairs in general and our own crazy "big E" or more officially the Eastern States Expo. Apparently the new england states are too small to have separate state fairs. Anyways, I love watching the 4-H kids show their prize animals, and the overwhelming amount of deep fried food that is available. I also entered some knitting and won two second place ribbons and a third place. Apparently if I can figure out how to block better I might win a blue ribbon. It's good to have something to strive for :D

4) Finished socks

Here are the finished jaywalkers for my friend Tomoko's birthday. Only a few months belated! I used Kaffe Fassett's Regia sock yarn in the landscape fire colorway. Definitely not a lot of stretch to these puppies, I would try them on as you go. Otherwise fun all around.

Finally finished monkeys, well one monkey. The other monkey is at WEBS having it's photo taken for their new catalog. It's showing off the new Franklin sock yarn colorway by the Kangeroo Dyer called of all things Fried Green Tomatoes. Should be available soon.

And soon to come - the finished big fair-isle bunny cardigan photo shoot - just sorting out the button situation. Okay all up to speed - have a great weekend!

oh steek cutting you're not so scary!

2007-10-03T17:33:00.000-04:00

First of all, I'm so excited to see so many entries for the blog-a-versary contest. Thanks all for visiting and throwing your name in the hat. If you haven't entered it's not too late, you have until noon on Friday the 5th to win one of two homemade treats. Just leave a comment on this post.

And secondly, I cut the steek on the big bunny fair isle sweater. It's really not so scary as it seems, especially with a little planning. Why steek you ask, pulling on your hair in despair? Mostly, in this case, because of the fair isle section. Knitting stranded color in the round is SO MUCH easier (for me) than knitting back and forth. Purling with two colors makes me twitch. And also because I knit so much faster than I purl. Speed and ease can be good.

Here she is ready to go. You can see if you look closely that I've added 7 extras stitches in the center that act as the steek. I'm not going to go into too much depth on steeks as there are a bunch of fabulous sites that cover all things steeks much better than I would, such as this or this.

I decided to use crochet to secure the steek. There are other options, such as using a sewing machine to secure the steek stitches before cutting, but my sewing machine has strange tension issues, so crochet for me. Plus you get such a nice finished edge after cutting. The orange lines are the crocheted steek-securing stitches. Here is my favorite tutorial for this kind of steek action.

If you look closely you can see that I'll be cutting the little red horizontal "ladders" in between the orange crochet stitches.

Here are the first few stitches cut - see how nothing unraveled?

And here is the cut steek. The crochet stitches gives the cut steek a really clean finished edge that naturally folds in on itself. Now for buttonbands!

happy blog-a-versary!

2007-09-28T13:24:00.000-04:00

Yarnbee is a year old today! I've really enjoyed my first year of blogging and getting to meet some of the great crafters and knitters out there. I'm continually amazed by the internet crafting community, seeing what you all are making and hearing your thoughts and encouragements. I'm so excited that I going to have a contest to celebrate. With prizes!

prize no. 1:
a yarnbee handmade japanese bound journal with kotsuzumi paper covers, and a kozo paper bookblock

prize no. 2
A tin of Green Thai Chili spice blend and recipe suggestions made by Elliott - also on sale at his etsy store. This is so delicious you need to have some in the kitchen, although you may get addicted!

How to win you ask? Just leave me a comment with your email so I can contact you, I won't use your email for any other purpose. I'll pull the lucky winners out of a hat next Friday, Oct 5th at noon. Good luck!

so much to report...

2007-09-22T12:06:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a whirlwind tour of Philadelphia which luckily included both work and play. I started off last week with three days of meetings, although I did get to seek off to visit Loop, a great yarn store on South and 19th. I may have purchased The Opinionated Knitter there, but I managed not to have a lot of yarn following me home. I had a wonderful weekend with some old friends, and then on Monday I spent the day with Lucy from ZebraKnits. It was such a treat to meet her in person and meet little and big T! She completely spoiled me with a delicious lunch, a beautiful hand crafted necklace, a hilarious vintage 1960's knitting magazine and a pile of fabric from her incredible collection of african textiles. I'm completely embarrassed to admit that I made so many purchases and got so many gifts, that I had to ship stuff home! So when my package arrives I'll have picts of the treats.

Then I spent the rest of this week going to a conference. The best thing about the convention center in Philadelphia is that it's right smack dab next to Reading Terminal Market, which is a historic farmer's market that started in 1892. They have everything from Amish baked goods and pretzels to sushi and smoothies. I got to have breakfast and lunch at all of my favorite delicious haunts.

And before I left I managed to finish the mitered square blanket. It was raining and sad outside, so I was finally able to photograph it this morning. I'm so glad it's done, mainly because it is the most terribly belated wedding gift for my sister - Hi sister! It's on its way!

More photos here:

Here are the specs:
pattern: a modifed version of the mitered square blanket from the Mason Dixon Knitting book
yarn: various worsted weights of cotton yarn, mainly Sugar n' Cream and Debbie Bliss; about half of the colors were hand-dyed
needles: 8's and 6's for the borders
finished size: approx 36" x 54"
border: 20 rows of garter stitch with mitered corners
started: November 2006
finished: September 2007
notes: While I decided to use cotton yarn since I had a lot in the stash (don't ask), I find that worsted weight cotton is really hard on my hands and makes them ache. I could basically only knit about one square a day, which is part of the reason this took so freaking long. Were I ever to knit a huge blanket again it would be in wool, for sure.

And since you've made it this far through the long post you get a reward. In the category of where are they now, here is gratuitous booty shot of Ella in her baby blu jeans. Hi B + L, I swiped this off of your flickr account - hope that okay!

fair isle bunnies

2007-09-11T13:59:00.000-04:00

Hey - here is a quick update on the Oilily-inspired cardigan for you all before I go to Philadelphia. I had been planning to knit a fair isle design on the yoke, but I wasn't sure what. I wanted something that looked a bit traditional from afar and then when you looked closely you would realize it was something a bit saucy.
So I opted for bunnies. Big fair isle bunnies sitting around the yoke of the sweater. I've got them half knit up and hopefully I can finish their ears tonight. tee hee - bunnies!

progress report

2007-09-07T11:46:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday blogland peeps!
I thought I'd share my current progress on a growing pile of knitting . Hopefully this weekend I can finish at least one, probably two of these projects. I don't usually have this many piles of half knits that I'm willing to own up to, all lying around crying out for attention like baby birds. We'll start off with the most finished:

96% - mitered square blanket

I've got three out of four borders done, the two short sides and one long one. That long 60" border is deceptively narrow looking, it eats yarn and time up like nobody's business. Also, knitting cheap worsted weight cotton yarn makes my hands ache, so I can only do two or three rows at a time. If this happens again (doubtful!) I'll make one out of wool.

47% - green monkey socks

I'm almost done with the first sock here. Your basic monkey sock with an added picot edge for cuteness. Word on the street is that this colorway by the Kangaroo Dyer will be available at WEBS this fall. So many happy shades of pickle green together. This is my on-the-go project, because that blanket is huge and heavy!

38% - Oilily-inspired cardigan
I've been pouring over old Oilily catalogs in search for some sweater inspiration. I'm a big fan of their bold color and pattern combinations, like this, or this or this. Their clothes are waaaaay out of my price range, but I've been working on some ideas for creating a cardigan out of stash Cascade 220 with an Oilily-inspired color palette. Here is my latest sketchy sketch:

I didn't want to lose momentum on this one, so I cast on last week to get the more tedious parts out of the way. I'm doing a seamless yoke cardigan knit in the round with a center steek, knit from the bottom up. It's all rolly at the bottom because I did a provisional cast on so that I can pick up those bottom stitches later when I figure out what kind of hem I want to do. I could knit it back and forth since I'm making a cardigan, but I want to put some fun stranded color work in the yoke and I'm so much slower at purling that the steek makes the most sense for me. Here's where it stands so far:

I'm off to Philadelphia next week for work, then a fun weekend, then more work. I will have some time to visit some local yarn shops, if anyone knows of anywhere I should go please let me know! I used to live in Center City ages ago, so visiting Philly always feels like going home. It's a sweet city and I miss it. I think I'll have my computer so limited blogging will probably happen.

Happy weekend!

shop update

2007-09-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
Happy Labor Day! Just wanted you all to know that I've added some new stamp quilt cards in the etsy shop.

it may look like cat barf but it's yarn

2007-08-30T19:40:00.000-04:00

Last Monday at knitting group, Adrian from Hello Yarn was kind enough to haul her cute little traveling spinning wheel all the way on the subway so that she could show me how to spin. She patently explained all of the logistics about drafting and what my hands should be doing and about staple length and so on while I practiced treadling, and then she put some fiber in my hot little hands and every bit of knowledge I gleaned went right out the window while I tried to treadle, draft and get the yarn on the bobbin all at the same time. Needless to say that didn't really go swimmingly, but I managed to make something that looked vaguely like yarn, yarn-like at least.

I continue to be proud of my tiny yarn-like crazy twisty kinky yarn even though when I was soaking it in the sink to try and relax some of the extreme over twisting, Elliott pointed out that it looked like Cena the cat barfed in the sink.

troublemakers!

squares squared

2007-08-24T12:36:00.000-04:00

I'm really enjoying these lazy hazy days of August. Because I have a flexible work schedule I've been able to fit in a bunch of bike rides and a lot of outdoor time. But don't you be thinking I've been slacking on the knitting! Slow and steady makes the mitered square blanket. Here is where she stood last weekend - all the squares were finally finished:

And this week I've been slowly working my way through seaming all the square together. Isn't this much better?

I still need to seam the two sections together, but my plan it to knit the boders on the top and bottom first, so I'm not wrangling the full blanket on my lap until I have to. I ordered some more knitpicks options needles and the 60" cord to make the border, so now I have to way until they show up in the mail. I'm thinking garter stitch border of random stripes of color to use up as much cotton as possible.

And I've also been knitting some monkeys for me when I tire of the endless seaming:

happy weekend - go enjoy that last bit of summer.

look what I finished!

2007-08-15T16:27:00.000-04:00

I've got a whole pile of almost finished lying around, if you know what I mean, and I finally whipped out the sewing needle last night to put the final touches on this sweater.

bella ella yoke sweater
pattern: my own
size: 24" diameter, should fit a 2 year old
yarn: Cascade 220 superwash colors: 7628 / 9061 / 9416
needles: 8's and 5's
extras: hand embroidered label, grosgrain ribbon woven through yoke

I'm pretty pleased with this design. I wanted to make a sweater for my friends' daughter who is quite the fashion plate, and who likes colors other than pink. It took a bit of scheming to figure where to put in some short rows to raise up the back of the neck without interrupting the striping pattern or making the yoke design look off balance. I finally decided to add an extra stripe in the main body on the back before the yoke - you can see it here:

I was hoping to make a sweater for a girl who is turning one, but clearly I don't understand kid sizing, as unfortunately I ended up with a sweater much larger than she is now, probably something she can wear next year as a two year old. Back to the drawing board!

I got my socks and I got memed!

2007-08-10T14:48:00.000-04:00

Look what I got in the mail today! Could it be?

You bet your pants it is! My socks came in from my sockapalooza 4 secret pal. Well, now not so secret, as she revealed her secret identity. They are from Jennifer over at carolinacrafts. Isn't she an amazing knitter? I am so lucky to be the recipient of these socks! She knit me a gorgeous pair of Monkeys out of Socks that Rock Silkie in the Midsummer Night colorway. You can't imagine how soft and wonderful these socks feel. And not only that she enclosed a bunch of fun treats, a sheepy tape measure, some yummy wool wash, a beautiful little sock knitting bag and even extra yarn for repairs. Thanks Jennifer!

And the fun just doesn't stop there people. I also got memed by Tomoko the goods maker for the random 8. I've never been tagged before so I'm a little woozy from all the excitement. So here are eight completely random bits of info about me:

1) All of my relatives came from Poland three generations ago. In some strange smug way I enjoy being 100% Polish, but let's face it, I'm really just as American as everyone else. I just like having a secret purebred past in my back pocket.

2) I like lots of candy, all candy, especially black salty licorice, but I can't stand butterscotch. at all.

3) I breath through my mouth when I sleep even if I fall asleep with my mouth closed, just ask my dentist.

4) When I was in college, my work study assignment was to monitor the computer lab. Essentially I just had to take student's ID cards and assign them to a computer. So I had three hours to do what ever I wanted, which either consisted of my getting high score on Tetris or making complicated origami forms, like eggplants or seashells and giving them to the most stressed out looking students.

5) Because I grew up in Michigan and regularly visited all of the great lakes, which look like oceans but are freshwater, I still can't believe the ocean is salty. Whenever I go the the ocean I have to taste the water and make sure it's really salty.

6) Speaking of salt, I love salt, a lot. Not just on food, but even on its own. And anything briny like pickles, olives, pickled vegetables, capers, caperberries, I think you get the idea.

7) When I was little I used to go to Frank's nursery and craft store and buy plants that looked like they were on their last legs, take them home and try to save them. I definitely have a green thumb.

8) I'm a big fan of parrots and feel a lot of connection with them in the same way some people are dog people. I like their sense of humor and the fact that often they look like they are smiling. There are some great parrots out there.

All done! Now I get to tag a few people. Let's see, how about

Brent at Defiant Hope
Elliott at Becoming Fire

Happy weekend everyone.

sockapalooza socks: check

2007-07-20T12:13:00.000-04:00

They're done, they're done!

Now to pack them up and not get attached to them...

specs for the curious minded:
pattern: Monkey socks from Knitty
yarn: Spunky Eclectic Skinny Sock in Hot Rod
needles: 2.25mm dpns

crafty goodness is now for sale!

2007-07-16T21:39:00.000-04:00

Hi peeps,
I'm announcing the grand opening of my etsy store. I'll be selling homemade blockprinted cards, quilted paper cards, journals and bath salts. Hopefully more fun treats to come. Please go and and take a look-see:
www.yarnbee.etsy.com

Also, Elliott, my husband has decided to sell his amazing spice blends in his own etsy store. I've been lucky enough to try them all. They really make everything taste better. No really. They do. You can find his store at:
www.emburke.etsy.com

And if that isn't enough excitement for you all, I finished a sweater. I know, I know I haven't blogged about it, but it's a store sample for WEBS and I was racing to get it done in time. My friend Alicia kindly offered to model it as it's a bit too small for me. See what you think.

Specs:
Pattern: #103 Portland sweater from WEBS
Size: smallest 35" bust
Yarn: Valley Yarns Rainbow / color #26 Brick / 8 balls
Gauge: 6 stitches = 1 inch
Needles: 3's
Started: June 22
Finished: July 12
Notes: This is a pretty easy and somewhat mindless knit, which is great for much movie watching. I would recommend blocking the sleeves in shape (stretching out the bottom half ) before you pick up the stitches for the main body.

In other late breaking news, Elliott sent me a photo today of my Gymnocalycium catcus with its first flower! I couldn't be prouder!

Brimfield antiques outing

2007-07-11T08:57:00.001-04:00

A few of us from across Massachusetts decided to meet up at the Brimfield Antique show yesterday. The town of Brimfield is only known out here for a giant, I mean GIANT, gathering of many antique shows for three weeks each year, generally one in May, one in July and one in September. Without fail I always choose the hottest day of the year, even if I go in May. Of course, this year was no exception as it was 95 degrees with full on knock you down humidity. We did make it through a number of dealers stalls with impressive collections of bakelite, fireking glass, oddities like giant display fruit and an entire taxidermy deer statue (who wouldn't want that in their living room?). We probably only saw maybe a quarter of the show before we had to call it quits due to the unbearable weather and sweating. A few finds were made, however. My friends found set of 1950's glass refrigerator containers for a good price and I came home with a huge jar of buttons for $3.00. Here's a shot of some of the treasures hidden in that jar...

babies don't wait for their accessories

2007-07-08T21:51:00.000-04:00

Even though I made a handy list of newly arriving babies to knit for, somehow I am getting a bit behind in my baby gift knitting. I decided to scale back a bit from the baby sweater plan and managed to knit up some fun newborn treats in a couple of movie-watching evenings. If you get the impression that all we do here in the evening at chez yarnbee is watch movies you're pretty much right.

The best thing about newborn accessories is that they knit up so quickly! Like these wonderfully cute baby bootees from saartje knits. They practically fall of the needles. Paired up with a cute stripy hat, you've got yourself a great gift. I think I can get them delivered before the baby comes - we'll see!

specs:
bootees -
pattern: free PDF from saartje knits - see link on sidebar
yarn: Sidar DK Snuggly
needles: 2.5mm

hat -
pattern: made up as I went along
yarn: Sidar DK Snuggly
needles: 2.5mm and 3mm

more making

2007-07-05T13:44:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth everyone!
I hope that you all had good celebrations. It rained here and was somewhat stormy and sucky outside, so Elliott and I hunkered down and watched many movies with much knitting and craftiness for me. Now that it's sunny again, I can show you my latest sewing efforts:

This combines the efforts of making some fun summer clothes while busting through the fabric stash. You can see how wrinkly the linen is going to be, even after I ironed the heck out of it, but its a great material for hot weather. I'm thinking about embroidering some circles or other fun decorations on it. Thoughts?

specs:
pattern :Butterick pattern #3134
fabric: linen fabric from stash, probably purchased many years ago in Philadelphia

Earlier this week I got to help my friend Lisha (aka. Pedro's mom) make some photo albums for her fraternal twin sisters. It was so fun to show her the ropes on some simple book binding techniques. I can't wait to see how they turn out chock full of family pictures.

weekend craftiness galore

2007-06-25T17:07:00.000-04:00

After rummaging through my fabric stash, I decided to make a basic a-line skirt out of some fun vintage linen fabric with giant flowers. I had a basic Butterick pattern, but a little bit of searching on the internets found me this wonderful tutorial from Green Kitchen. It really shows every step of the process and has a painless method for installing the zipper without using swear words. The only swear words I used in the process had to do with not being able to get the right top thread tension on my petulant sewing machine. The thread looked like a straight line while the bobbin thread looked fine - any suggestions?

My friend Rachel and I also dyed two pounds of sugar and creme cotton yarn in a RIT dye extravanganza. Mostly just to see what we could come up with color-wise. I needed some more colors for the mitered-square blanket I've been working on forever and Rachel has some sort of crochet project up her sleeve.

And in plant news, you may remember this little egg with tiny seedings from my easter post:

It grew up into a lovely petunia plant and had it's first flower today! I'm so proud of it and always amazed to see something that starts out as a tiny seed turn into a whole big plant with just soil and water.

giant rhubarb, normal sized sock

2007-06-22T17:15:00.000-04:00

We were invited for a cookout at a friend's house last night and on the way out I was offered some rhubarb from their garden. Now since I've been more of a city girl I didn't know that rhubarb was actually disguised as a huge tropical plant, I've only ever seen the stalks at the store or the farmers market. It's so huge! I may have to attempt strawberry pie part deux - with rhubarb. Either that or fan myself with the leaves.

I've also been working away at the socks for my sockapalooza 4 pal. Here's #1 and the second one is almost at the heel. The monkey pattern is pretty addictive so I think I'll have to knit another pair of monkeys for me. This weekend's plans include yarn dying for the mitered square blanket and hopefully skirt making. We'll see how that goes. I'll keep you posted. Happy weekend!

Pedro and I are BFF for sure

2007-06-20T17:22:00.000-04:00

You all should definitely meet Pedro

Pedro is our friends' green checked conure. We had the great fun of having him stay at our house for a birdie sleep over with Syd the cockatiel while his parents went out of town. Pedro figured out pretty early on in his stay that I was a complete softy since I would give him his favorite treats and pet his tiny conure head whenever he snuggled next to my hand. In no time at all whenever I left the room, he would fly over and land on my shoulder whispering "pedro, hey pey" in my ear. I'm pretty sure we're best-friends-forever. I'm not quite sure how to tell Syd there is a new parrot in my life. But don't worry, Syd will always be my main man. A girl can flirt occasionally with other birds, right?

In other news, I decided to have a fun afternoon. I went to our local farm to pick up our CSA (community supported agriculture) share, and I picked an insane amount of strawberries. Enough to make to two strawberry pies, several smoothies and bags to freeze. I may have been out of control. But it's strawberry fields forever over at the farm and I hate to see any berries go to waste.

Can I tell you how much I love our farm share? Elliott and I split our share with a couple of our friends. Over six months we get weekly installments of amazing produce - whatever is in season. There are also lots of u-pick crops like the strawberries and flowers, beans, tomatoes, and peas. The particular CSA share that we have also raises literally tons of additional food for the local western mass food bank. I think it's the best deal in town and it helps the local community.

I'm not exactly sure what it is but physically being on the farm makes me incredibly happy, actually giddy with joy. On share pick up days there are all sorts of families and kids about, all enjoying the farm. It makes any day sitting in front of the computer so much better. Maybe it's the basic miracle that you can put a seed in the ground and with a little care and water it will turn into a huge plant in no time at all giving you delicious food and more seeds. And pie! Son't forget about the pie.

birthday fun

2007-06-14T17:56:00.000-04:00

Last Friday was my 36th birthday and I had the most wonderful day. I took the day off of work and did a large number of my favorite things:

1) Elliott and I went to the beach. And not just any beach but Crane's beach in Ipswitch, MA. It was a bit overcast and not quite as warm as I was hoping for but it was so nice to lay on the beach reading while hearing the ocean waves rolling in and taking small cat naps.

2) We split a lobster roll and fried clams at Woodmans in Essex.

3) We hit the Crate and Barrel outlet store and got a rug and a bookcase for our apartment.

4) We somehow managed to stop by Wild and Wooly in Lexington and visit the annual sale area. I may have gotten some birthday yarn...

5) We had Ethiopian food with fabulous fun people: blogless Alicia, Tomoko and her husband Jude. A delicious time was had by all.

6) We all had an afterparty involving chocolate ganache cake and more than one kind of ice cream. Again, a delicious time was had by all.

7) There were many sweet presents including:

vintage glass bead earrings made by cat bishop from Elliott.
Check out her etsy store!

knitting po! made by my friend Tomoko

A lightweight photoframe made with paper I designed. made by my friend Tomoko

And many other gifts, but I didn't want to show you all how spoiled I got this year!
I'm off to St. Louis for the weekend to celebrate the grand opening of a project I've been working on for many years and to celebrate my wedding anniversary. See you all soon!

hey look! more knitting!

2007-06-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

I've been scheming for a while about making a striped seamless yoke sweater. Apparently its all stripes all the time around here. I think the stripes need to work their way though the system. There is no stopping the stripes. Hah! My thought is to make a seamless yoke sweater that has larger stripes on the bottom and smaller stripes in the yoke section. I'd also like to add some yarn-over holes and weave some ribbon through at the start of the yoke. I also want to try this out in kid size to see what I think. Mostly because it will take less long to knit and be less of a yarn commitment. Plus this idea might look garish on a grownup but easily be something that some cute kid could pull off.

Here are some quick sketches of what I'm talking about. It's harder to explain what I'm scheming about than I thought!

I got three colors of Cascade 220 superwash to try this out:

My current plan is to use the lightest green for the borders and only in the yoke. So the sweater would have larger alternating stripes of olive and blue, then the yoke would start with the lighter green and have thinner stripes of all three colors. I'm going to have to add an extra larger stipe in the back before I start the yoke, so that the neck shaping is in the right place and the sweater doesn't fit strangely. I could also add some neck shaping at the end , but I like when the seamless yoke sweaters have the rings of colors and patterns decending from the neckline. I realized that most seamless yoke sweaters have solid color bodies so you can hide the neck shaping below the yoke. I'll keep you posted on how that extra stripe will turn out. Here's where I'm at so far. I'm making a sweater that will hopefully fit a 1-2 year old, using Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns

In other exciting news the peonies are out. I picked some up from the flower cart / farm stand down the street. It's the most charming thing you can imagine. They basically have flowers out in a little cute cart all summer and a coffee can to collect the $3.50 per bouquet. What a deal! That buys you about 15 irises and 3 peonies that smell amazing! Of course there is inflation even here in the country. Last year the flowers were only $3.00.

weekly update of fun and fo's

2007-06-04T14:13:00.000-04:00

That's right - I've got your fo's right here - more than one even. Okay so they're smallish, but they're done.

1) Sweet baby cap
I saw this cute little hat that Adrian at Hello Yarn made and I had to make one too. Plus it uses up extra sock yarn and who doesn't have extra sock yarn? Well maybe a lot of you, who knows?

Specs:
Pattern: Sweet Baby Cap
Yarn: leftover regia sock yarn - I have no idea what colorway
Needles: 3's
Size: 6 months

2) stripey goodness happy socks
These socks make me so happy. I love the colors and the chunky stripes. It's almost cold enough to even wear them today - where did summer go?

Specs:
Pattern: basic toe up socks with short row heels
Yarn: Lang Jawoll - leftover green and one skein of blue
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Gauge: 8.5 stitches to an inch
Size: size 8 1/2 foot

Last Wednesday I saw the Yarn Harlot speak at the Calvin Theater admist hundreds of knitters. That's right hundreds of knitters - approximately and exactly, at least 500 knitters came to welcome the Harlot. Her talk/stand up humor was brillant and punctuated by the clicking of hundreds of knitting needles. My people!
I had the pleasure to meet Jessica aka Frecklegirl and to score a Ravelry button. Ravelry is Jessica's brillant new site for knitters. Essentially it is a great place to store your fo's, inventory your stash, keep a list of future knits, research patterns and chat in forums with hundreds of other knitters. I've been trying it out for a few weeks and I have to say it's been extremely helpful in getting organized and deciding what to knit next. It's still in beta form and you can get on a waiting list to join here.

And last but not least, I started knitting some Monkey socks for my sockapalooza 4 pal. More to come!

making, but not so much the blogging

2007-05-28T08:58:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial day to you all. Hopefully you are enjoying the wonderful weekend. It's been incredible around here and I started off the weekend with a long bike ride with my neighbor. I have a road bike and over the years I go from summers of more serious biking to summers of not biking at all. I don't race, but I like to go fast - well fast for me. I've had clipless petals and bike shoes for a few years but never got around to putting the petals on the bike. My neighbor kindly offered to attach them and I have to say, they really make a difference. Of course this was counteracted by my fear of suddenly having to stop and not beaing able to detach from the bike, and riding at least half of the ride with only one clipped in.

Next stop: Massachusetts Sheep and Wool festival
Saturday was again a georgeous day and I had a good time motoring around the festival, petting sheep and yarn alike. There were a number of vendors with anything from alpacas to wheels to fleece to roving to yarn. I had brought a list to rein myself in and I actually stuck to it. I purchased a fabulous skein of skiny sock yarn from Spunky Eclectic for my sockapalooza 4 pal.

I also bought a niddy noddy to measure yarn with - sorry no photo yet. You can see one here. And third on my list - spinning wheel research. I finally tried a spinning wheel - a lovely Louet S10 - and I was pretty bad at it. But I could tell that once I sorted out the treadling and the hand motions, I would really like it. A lot. I also chatted many people up about their wheels which was fun. I'm not quite ready to buy one yet, but I'm moving closer to the black hole.

and Yes I've been knitting
A few things, but I'll show you the current progress on the mitered square blanket and save some material for later in the week. I spent a bunch of time seaming what I had together so it would seem (seam!) so bad later. Plus it makes it easier to sort out the rest of the color decisions.

I think I want a blanket that is 3 big squares by 5 big squares or 60 mitered squares. So I'm a little over halfway. I'm at marathon mile 12 or so - because I need to save some endurance for the borders. yikes!

and last and maybe least...

I did a bit of drop spindle spinning, as I was inspired by the fiber festival, but I'm not much of a drop spindle spinner. Too slow I gues or mabe I'm too much of a prk and draft perfectionist...

I don't have the blues, but a good handle on the turquoises

2007-05-18T14:01:00.000-04:00

Hey I've got a finished object to show you all!

I knit most of this on a work tip to St. Louis last week. Because it was the smallest size (three months) it was pretty quick to make. Here are the specs:

Pattern: baby aran sweater from Knitting for Baby
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted - 2 skeins of 4045 blue (used 1 1/2 skeins)
Needles: 5's and 8"s
Size: 3 months

Notes: I was trying to knit something bright and fun without being too gender specific. A good friend of mine is expecting this summer and she doesn't want to know the gender beforehand. She's also pretty funky and I'm sure any child of hers can pull off a bright turquoise traditional cabled sweater with fashion ease. I added the usual hand-embroidered label and fun buttons because I'm convinced that this sweater will look 100 times better with these little finishing details. Plus they're fun to make. I'm not a huge fan of the Encore yarn since it splits a bit and has some acrylic content, but it's inexpensive and machine washable. And I'm thinking moms of young babies might like machine washable goods.

I think this baby may also require a norwegian baby hat - check out this excellent hat that Hello Yarn just finished.

And I'm working on a stripy sock made with two colors of Lang Jawoll. For some reason this sock makes me incredibly happy and it has become the favored project. Must be the stripes!

I'm thinking I'll be at the Massachsetts sheep and woolcraft fair next Saturday - anyone else going to be there?

pomatomus socks finished

2007-05-10T11:31:00.000-04:00

The socks so nice I had to knit three of them. It's true people, the perfectionist knitter strikes again. You may recall that I knit one pomatomus sock over christmas time. It was possibly the most fun sock I've knit - the pattern is brillant and the end result is stretchy and cozy. My only problem is that I didn't do a test gauge, and ended up with a pretty loose sock - a little too stretchy. So I knit the second sock on smaller needles - 2.25mm. Of course that sock turned out much better leaving me with a perfect sock and a stretchy loose slightly saggy sock. And you can see where this is headed. Yes I reknit the first sock with the smaller needles. And while I thought it would never end I'm glad I did it. Or I will be glad next fall cause it is too wonderfully warm around here to be wearing socks today. Here are some photos - please ignore the horribly ghost pale winter legs!

specs:

pattern: pomatomus socks by Cookie A. - free pattern from Knitty winter 05

needles: 2.25mm dpn's

yarn: unknown handpainted yarn bought two years ago on Prince Edward Island - I lost the label...

notes: This is a wonderful pattern and is my favorite pair of handknit socks to date

weekly update

2007-05-06T17:54:00.000-04:00

Hi all! It's been a bit slim around here, but I thought I would take advantage of the glorious weather to take some photos outside. I've decided that one of the fun parts about having a blog is that it's like being able to hav show and tell whenever you, well I, want. Now's good for me - how about you?

I got the best package in the mail this week. Lucy over at ZebraKnits sent me some stunning pieces of fabric from her Malawi quilt - even though I didn't win the drawing. Isn't that incredibly generous of her. Go check out her quilt - it's really an incredible piece with vibrant color. Her package completely made my week.

Believe it or now I've been slowly knitting away at e's sweater. It takes me most of an evening to knit about 1/2". I'm pretty pleased with the way the design is coming out and how the colors look together. Even the tension on the stranded color work isn't too bad. The hem wants to flip up a bit, but a good blocking should convince it to stay put.

But since it feels like I'm making almost no progress, I had to start something more speedily gratifying. There are a bunch of babies coming up, so I'm making a fun little aran sweater from the Knitting for Baby book. I like the shocking color and think it will be pretty gender neutral.

I'm also in on the sockapalooza 4 action and having fun scheming what socks to knit for my secret sock pal. This involves petting a lot of sock yarn to find just the right one...

back in the saddle

2007-04-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

It's been quite an exciting and busy couple of weeks with only some time to knit and less time to muse about it. There was lots of work, and then a trip to Washington DC to visit my sister and my old college professor, and then lots of work when I returned. My brain is a swirling pool of mush and I can only remember things for a few minutes at a time before I switch over to the next thought that distracts me, kind of like a drunken bumblebee weaving from one flower to the next in a stupor. Elliott caught me going through the apartment muttering "I must remember to feed the sourdough starter!".

Anyway here are some highlights in no particular order:

1) I learned how to crochet a granny square. I love granny squares! My grandma made all sorts of granny square blankets, but she passed on before I realized that I wanted to know how to make one. I'm pretty smitten but haven't had time to make more than 1 1/2.

2) I finished the Noni prism bag.

Specs:
pattern: Noni prism bag - small fair isle version
yarn: WEBS Stockbridge: colors black and Stone Blue - 7 skeins of black and 6 skeins of blue
needles: 11's - 32" circulars
gauge: about 10 sts. to 4 inches
finishing: bag has sewn in zipper, handles, stiffening panels and lining

This is actually a store sample for WEBS so it had a deadline and I had to work on it late at night after my other work. So unfortunately this means I didn't get any good photos of the finishing work. And I can't get too attached to it. My friend let me felt it in her washing machine and didn't even freak out when hairy fibers were emitted in great quantity and were floating about the tub. The bag managed to sneak out of the pillowcase I had it in. The bag has a handsewn chunky zipper, plastic cross stitch mesh panels to give it shaping and a handsewn lining. I think the finishing work takes longer than the knitting, but the bagis so much better when you do it.

3) Elliott and I went to Washington DC to visit my sister, her husband, my old college professor and his wife.

We had a great time! The weather was incredible, in the 80's and not humid, a nice break from new england. The mall and monuments were not crowded - also very nice. We did your basic sightseeing, as my sister and Elliott had not spent much time in the capitol. I also took a break from knitting and didn't even look up local yarn stores. But no fears! I'm back on the bandwagon.

This week promises to be busy but more yarn posts soon.
happy spring!

knitting as giving

2007-04-18T19:04:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about the connection between knitting and gift giving. As far as I can tell, hand-knitting is not a get-rich-quick scheme. The cost of the yarn alone is generally more than any machine knit sweater from the store, and that certainly doesn't account for the hours of labor put into any crafted item. And you know what? I like it that way. I like that fact that when you give away something you knit, you are giving away a priceless gift of knowledge and time. And I like to think about the lifespan of the knitted gift, giving warmth and joy long after you forgotten about it and are knitting the next gift.

We live in this crazy world with apparent immediate gratification. And it is an enormous blessing and a curse. We IM, email, call on cell phones and expect speedy replies. We can purchase almost anything we want online and have it shipped to our door with rush service. And sometimes all of this availability makes me feel a bit empty and lacking in some way. The best way I know to counteract this lack is to knit - preferably a gift.

One of the joys of giving knitting as a gift is that you are giving a gift of your scarce valuable time. The time you take to consider what the giftee would like, what color, what fiber. The actual time you spend knitting (and maybe ripping and knitting), time also to think about giftee, your relationship with them, and time to wish them well. If you are knitting for a charity or a new baby you can knit your hopes and dreams for this unknown giftee right into the piece.

Above is a photo of the mitered square blanket that a bunch of us made for our friends expecting their first baby. It was so fun to give them a tangible warm blanket that represented our hopes and dreams for their new family. It's even more fun to hear how baby Ella is responding to the crazy color combinations we stitched together. I'm excited to see how this blanket will fade and unravel as it is enjoyed. I continue to be amazed that something so small as to knit and purl can make someone's day.

I really enjoy this on line knitting/crafting community. I am incredibly inspired by the beautiful and amazing things everyone is making. There is such an endless treasure trove of creativity posted on Flickr and so many blogs. Even the act of blogging and taking the time to share what you are making is a huge gift of time and I really appreciate it. Go take some time and make a gift for someone.

*Photo by Rachel at decenturbanlifestyle Photo posted with permission.

noni prism bag and other cuteness

2007-04-11T16:59:00.000-04:00

In order to feel like I'm actually accomplishing something, I started knitting the noni prism bag. That's right, if you're tired of your existing projects the best plan is to start something new. At least with this one I feel like I'm making a lot of progress - this bag in it's pre-felting state is HUGE. I'm knitting two strands of Valley Yarns Stockbridge together on size 13's. I think I'm getting about 3 stitches to an inch. Look at it lying on the sofa there - threatening to take it over. I'm almost done with the knitting part - but there is lots and piles of finishing to do. Felting, putting in a zipper, making a lining and attaching handles. One step at a time - right?

I also picked up a copy of the Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo this weekend. Can't wait to make one of the felt mascots inside. Look how cute! I've resisted the cuteness of the Japanese until now, but I think I need to put felt mascots on much of my clothing. Resistance is futile!

happy easter and happy spring!

2007-04-08T14:32:00.000-04:00

finally, the knitting

2007-04-05T16:19:00.000-04:00

While there has been a bunch of knitting going on over here, I feel like I have almost nothing to show. It feels like a Sisyphean task - you might remember this guy from Greek mythology. Paraphrasing wildly here, this guy got punished by the gods for much trickery by having to roll a huge rock up a steep hill but everytime he gets close to the top, the rock escapes and comes crashing down to the bottom and he has to start again. It feels like that.

Elliott's sweater, case in point. I thought the third time on the hem would be the charm, but I was clearly mistaken.

Even though I did math based on the gauge I had gotten, when I started knitting the body of the sweater, and it grew enough to not be constrained by the shorter circular needles, I saw that the hem was flaring out in a ripply dreadful sort of too big kind of way. Sigh. So instead of pulling out the hold thing, I picked up the stitches on the first row of the main body and cut off the hem. I'm using much smaller needles to reknit the hem. I think the problem lies in the fact that the red hem shetland spindrift is just a hair thicker than the shetland wool I got from the warehouse at Webs. So even though it looks like I just keep showing you the same photo - I really have done lots of knitting!

At this point I'm knitting on both ends!

And on more of the same kind of knitting here is the second pomatomus sock. I knit the first on over christmas, but when I finished I really thought it was too stretchy so I'm knitting this on 2.0mm needles instead of 2.75 as the pattern calls for. The second sock seems better - but you know what that means. The first sock has to be ripped and reknit to match.

And I've made more mitered squares with the dyed yarn - and started to seam block together so it won't be a dreadful pile of finishing at the end. I do about one square a day, as doing any more knitting with cotton seems to make my wrists hurt. Anyone else have this problem?

how I know spring is finally here

2007-04-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

Out there you all probably have your own signs of spring's arrival depending on climate. It may be seeing crocus peep up or getting rain instead of snow, but out here in western massachusetts there is one key sign for me. And that is when the Creamy Delights stand opens for the season.

Creamy Delights is on route 47 in the farming town of Hadley. Essentially it looks like the carnival was around for a spell and then moved on but the soft serve stand forgot to go. In the middle of a used car lot, across the street from a cornfield and tobacco barn, it sits.

Run by the nicest people, you can get the best vanilla, twist or chocolate soft serve in a waffle cone with sprinkles, nuts or oreos for two dollars. TWO DOLLARS PEOPLE! That's for a small which is plenty big - trust me. They even put a marshmello at the bottom of the cone so it doesn't leak. So thoughtful! Of course they have other items on the menu like sundaes, shakes, lemonade and even hot dogs and hamburgers, but I can't resist the chocolate soft serve cone. On hot summer nights Elliott and I will go just before they close at 9pm and sit on the picnic bench eating our treats while customer after customer drive up out of nowhere for their after dinner dessert. Good times.

I think this concludes the unofficial week of sugary treats. Knitting tomorrow, I promise!

week of sugary goodness

2007-03-29T17:50:00.000-04:00

Hi all! Apparently it's the week of sugary concoctions around here at the yarn bee. Not quite so much knitting is taking place due to several weeknight social events requiring some baking. Today's fun involved making these super chocolaty cupcakes with chocolicious frosting.

These are from a great recipe over at super eggplant. So easy to make, you're essentially enhancing a cake mix, so they taste somewhat reminiscent of childhood treats, but better. They are incredibly rich, I'm giving as many of these away as possible!

I also wanted to show off the little po's that I got in a barter with Tomoko. We traded for some of the paper I designed, and don't tell her but I think I got the better end of the deal!

The green one on the left is actually a christmas gift from Tomoko, but I'm really glad that he now has some friends to hang out with. I love that she made little tiny super small versions of Syd the cockatiel that sit on top of their heads. But the one with the coffee, the doughnut and the night cap just kills me. Please go visit her etsy shop to see her endless variations on the po's.

And last but not least we've been enjoying our guest - ms. b the parakeet. She is a sweet and saucy little bird who is a lot of fun to have around. The other night we had an end of the season fire in the fireplace and she, who was quiet all day, squawked quite loudly to alert us of the danger! I bet she's never seen a fire before. It's good to have a watch bird looking over your shoulder.

More baked goods and knitting to come... stay tuned

lemony treats

2007-03-28T09:16:00.000-04:00

We had friends over for supper last night and it was a nice excuse to make lemon cupcakes from my Nigella Lawson Forever Summer coookbook. I ended up making lime flavored royal frosting for them as I didn't have any lemon juice on hand. Tart, sugary and delicious!

sugar happy

2007-03-26T14:45:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to gather those creme eggs while ye may. Somehow I can't resist these sugar overload treats, probably because I can't get them all year. Supply and demand - I'm such a sucker!

finished object: february sweater

2007-03-22T14:06:00.000-04:00

I know you've seen it practically finished, but I love that adding a few finishing touches, like blocking, buttons and a handmade label really make this sweater feel complete. Here are the final shots:

Here are the specs:

pattern: February baby sweater in Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman

yarn: RYC Cashsoft Baby DK color 00901: Sugar

needles: addit naturals circular 5's

gauge: about 5 sts to 1 inch

extras: hand-embroidered label

started: February 26th 2007

finished: March 21th 2007 (knitting finished much earlier, but I slowed down on the finishing touches)

notes:
I really enjoyed using this yarn. It is so soft to the touch in a nice wool kind of way, not strange soft like some acrylics and seems perfect for tiny babies. It claims to be machine washable; if that's true it will be my number one baby yarn. This was my first top down sweater and there will certainly be more to follow. I'd recommend the Knitter's Almanac as a must read. I found it so amusing and just as fun and process oriented as reading any blog. I also used the "casting on cast off" on the sleeves and hem and I'm smitten! It's a great stretchy cast off that looks beautiful.

In the yarn department, I ran out of Louet Gem's for the petticoat socks... time to call the store

third time's a charm, right?

2007-03-21T14:58:00.000-04:00

Two years ago I designed my husband a fair isle stranded sweater for christmas. I had an optimistic feeling that this was a project I could tackle. So what if it was man-sized at many stitches per inch? I had time, right? I had math skills and knitting mojo on my side. I gave him the pattern drawing, a sketch of the finished sweater and a knitted swatch. And I waited and waited and knit other stuff, just to make sure he actually was interested and not just humoring his newly wed knitting wife. And then he expressed interest in when would this sweater be made. When could he wear it? Perfect, I thought now I knew he would wear it and wasn't just being nice.

I found yarn, I did swatches, I did math, it looked good, I remained optimistic. And then I cast on. The swatch lied!! Sadly my first attempt was 7 inches too big around. Many stitches were frogged - maybe 3" worth of too big. But I was still in the honeymoon phase and optimistic and I did new math for the new stitch count, rethought the hem design and cast on again. Knit. Knit. Knit. Measure, Still 3" too big! Again with the frogging. Now I am annoyed and also stubborn and a bit forlorned and resigned to my fate. I revised the math and cast on yet again - still knitting and not sure what the verdict is this time. Mind you this is just the hem of a 7-stitches-to-an-inch mansized fair isle sweater. I'd show you a photo, but it looks almost exactly the same as this one. The third cast on is the charmer - right? right!

Moving on people. Here is some more fun times with the cheap cotton yarn and the RIT dye. There is a fun freedom to experiment with the color action when the cotton yarn is $2 for 4 oz or some such enjoyable price. I was able to get satisfying bright cherry red. The lovely mustardy yellow was achieved with dying the yarn straight yellow and then adding a touch of purple to the dye pot. I also dyed some existing light blue in the yellow bath to get the sage green. Now to knit some mitered squares.

In other news where knitting looks exactly the same as what you already did, I'm well on my way for the second petticoat sock, but I'm pretty sure I won't make be able to finish it with the yarn I have left, so I'll have to get another skein from the store in St. Louis. Oh well, you can't win them all!

In other cuteness, I caught Cena sleeping with her nose tucked under her paw. Usually she wakes up before I can get a photo of this cuteness.

back to winter

2007-03-16T14:21:00.000-04:00

It's snowing like crazy out here, and it's hard to see across the street. It's also hard to believe that earlier this week I went running wearing shorts (or mainly that I went running at all, but that is a topic for another post) because it was almost 70 degrees.

Remember that baby sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Almanac? I was worried that I would run out of yarn but look how much I had left:

About 24 inches to spare!

Here she is, just lacking the finishing touch of buttons. I've been playing with different options in my one-of-a-kind button collection (again a post for another time) and I really like the look of the plump pearly pink one shown on the sweater. I'm sort of going for the old fashiony vintage look with the soft pink and all. So now I just need to find a whole set, which shouldn't be too hard. This sweater is so soft to touch, I'm really happy with the way it came out. I'm tempted to try a variation with a different lace pattern - maybe a cable instead.

I finished the first petticoat sock from Weekend Knitting, and quickly cast on for the second one before I lost my momentum. Can't figure out why I don't like making the second sock. I don't mind making the second mitten. Who knows? Now I'm hoping yet again that I have enough yarn. I got this yarn at Knitorious on my trip to St. Louis with this pattern in mind. Since the skein is 100 grams I figured it would be enough for a pair of socks. However when I got home and looked at the pattern in the book it calls for 3 skeins - which is clearly not right, since I just knit the first sock and I still have a bunch left over. I decided to knit the shorter size and see where I end up, which is the other motivation to knit the second sock right away. If I run out I can probably still get a skein of the same dye lot sent to me from St. Louis. Anyone out there knit these before? How much yarn did you use?

And last but not least, a howard johnson inspired mitered square and his neighbor. More knitting to come I'm sure especially if we get all of the snow predicted - 8 - 12 inches!
happy weekend!

weekend activities

2007-03-12T12:06:00.000-04:00

I had fun puttering around the apartment this weekend, cleaning and organizing and such, when suddenly I got the urge to pull out my dye pot. The work on the mitered square blanket has stalled recently, mostly due to the fact that I need some new colors to add to the mix. But in my organizing I found a white skein of sugar and cream cotton, perfect for the blanket, so I wound it into two hanks and routed though my dyes. I generally like using fiber reactive dyes, but they won't work on cotton, so I pulled out my small stash of RIT dye. Using RIT dye is like shooting in the dark, as the color on the package never reflects the you might end up with. But sometimes you can get some fun results. Here's what I got, using a bit of fuchsia on one hank and a bit of mint green (or apparently turquoise!) on the other.

What's that? A bit garish you say? Normally I would completely agree, but let's look at the yarn again in context of the existing squares.

Better, huh? Isn't it fun and strange how all colors change depending on what they are adjacent to? I spent a lot of time in color class in college to learn that handy trick!

But knitting, you ask, did you actually knit this weekend or just mess around with yarn? Don't you worry baby, there was knitting galore.

Here is the start of the petticoat sock from Weekend Knitting. A beautiful pattern, I must say, I love the way the top folded picot edge hem becomes wavy due to the striped lace pattern. I'm in the home stretch and hoping to keep the enthusiasm for sock no. 2.

some of the kitschy signs of St. Louis

2007-03-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

Now that I've finally figured out how to download photos off of the High-Tech-Sophisticated work camera I can post some of the kitschy goodness of St. Louis. I love these old school metal and neon signs, they just make me so happy. Maybe because they are so optimistic and just gosh darn cheerful. And excited. Anyway here we go:

Of course I stopped here for the frozen custard. Not only because it was close to the yarn store and I needed some fortification after all the yarn fondling, but because my friend Tomoko, who lived briefly in St. Louis, would have throttled me if I didn't. It was just as wonderful and delicious as she described. I was surprised at the number of people pulling in on such a cold day for some frozen custard. I thought only people in Boston were crazy enough to eat mass quantities of ice cream in the cold winter.

Of course I had to visit the Arch. I finally even got to go up to the top with my parents who came down to meet me in St. Louis. Here is an incredibly bad picture of them but it was too cold out for more posing.

Doesn't my dad look great in his new goatee?

More knitting soon - what are y'all knitting out there?

I'm back and ready to knit

2007-03-06T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my work trip to St. Louis. I was hoping to have some time to knit and to blog about knitting, but work expanded to fill most of the time I had in St. Louis. I did have some time to knit in the airport and on the plane there and back so that was exciting. Here is the progress I made on the February baby sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac. I also have been enjoying reading through her process on her projects of the month and her very sassy comments. I can see why she has such a large fan club. Sign me up!

While I didn't get to knit much or at all, I did take some time to drive around take photos of kitschy 50's signage. Kitschy signs are high on my list of things I like to collect. When I get those photos off of the work camera, I'll post some and spread the love. I also went to visit Knitorious, a very lovely yarn store. The sales staff seemed to understand my need just to visit the yarn and to pet it. "Did I come home empty-handed?" you ask, mouth agape. Oh no, but my rule was only to get something that I couldn't get at my local yarn stores.

I got some Louet Gem sock yarn to make a pair of socks in the Weekend Knitting book and some Cascade 220 superwash wool for a striped kid's sweater. They also had some beautful Lorna's Laces, but I tried to buy yarn for projects I already had in mind. Definitely a great store - go check them out. More photos to follow soon.
Tomoko - I had the Drewe's frozen custard - some for me and some for you - mmmmm!