Y is for...

Yarn!

Back on November 23, there was a contest that was won by Heather. When she was local during New Years she looked through my stash and chose some blue goat that was waiting to be spun.



Just the past week she received her new yarn:




The specs are on Ravelry, for length and weight and such.



I also spun a bit more of the Alpaca, and I'm looking into the possibility of sending the rest off to be processed.



The girls thought taking pictures of the pregnant mommy spinning sounded like fun, that's one that Lily took.



Y is also for YAHOO!!

I finally not only finished knitting the MS3 (Swan Lake Stole), but managed to block and weave in ends...









So now, it is completely finished:




Y is also for Yet another Baby Knit!

I managed to finish the blue hat (to go along with the pink one that WyeSue sent) so the baby is now covered either way.





These first pair of booties is done, as is an light orange pair, and a green pair is about a 1/3 of the way being done.




I have a whole list of things around the house I'm trying to get done in the 20ish days I hopefully have left before the baby comes. (Things like filing away bills, moving my small stash and setting up the craddle, catching up on mending, cleaning the girls closet so they can play with toys again and I can get the baby clothes down from the shelf in there...etc) I have finished all of my big knitting projects that have been hanging over my head, except for the slippers for my husband, which he said might as well wait until next year. These tiny bits of knitting is all that is happening right now, although I really want to start a sock. Maybe before I move my stash I'll pull out yarn for a pair or two of socks and maybe a couple other things to work on later (when I start getting sleep again, but can't move my stash back yet due to said craddle being right there).

Hopefully I'll be posting a couple of times before the baby comes, we'll see. But I will make sure to let you know if it's a girl or boy at some point! ...maybe early April ;)

X is for...

eXtremely eXciting knitting, mail, and projects!

...remember the SP11 package that disappeared? Well, it showed up yesterday. Look at this beautiful stuff that was sent for me (well, and husband and girls).



The yarn is all just beautiful! I am so excited that this stuff didn't just disappear into the mail-black-hole. The sock yarn is for husband, but I am already thinking of what to do with the rest, as it is lovely! I'm also so happy that the handmade items didn't get lost!

...handmade for the baby of course. Look at the cute stuff! I love it!




Thanks so much Sue! ...the chocolate is already open and half gone.


...and look what else got finished!




The stole hasn't been blocked yet (My mom said I could borrow and use her blocking wires and boards - sometime soon perhaps), but I can't believe I finally finished! Once I started working it didn't actually take too long, it just had to wait its turn to be the priority.


I am now down to two projects (my husband's slippers and the yarn for Heather) that I want to get done before the baby is born. Of course, since they are both spinning I need to have a knit project. I'm currently working on these...





I'm planning to make the same booties (smaller) with the other yarn in the picture. I also am planning to make the blue baby hat that Sue sent the yarn and pattern for. Maybe I'll even start a pair of socks, as long as the spinning continues in the background. I'm down to about 5 and a half weeks before the baby is due, and I'm currently going on schedule to finish all the major things (including taxes - now done. Yay!) so I won't have anything big hanging over me afterwards!


My husband brought home a present yesterday also. Someone he works with sent a nice baby blanket home!




It's very pretty! I love this whole getting handmade gifts thing. Usually I make gifts for other people's babies, and make only one or two small things for mine. This baby is already getting spoiled with yarny goodness and I know there's at least a bit more coming, very exciting! Thank you!

Quilts (and no knitting)

I finished clue 2 for MS3, perhaps a picture tomorrow, but it's a bit hard to spread out enough to take a good one. I'm still working on the Melon Shawl Edging ...forever. I'm also about to start another baby blanket and bear, for a little boy who was born last week - I figure with the current weather (we turned on the ac today) there's not a huge rush, but I would like to make them and gift them soon. Other projects, current and planned, hover in the background, calling to me, but I need to keep to a small-ish number during MS3, so that I can work on that every week and not be buried by my current WIPs.


For this dose of old finished projects (I'm showing things that were made before my blog started) it's quilts.

This first one I made while I lived at home (middle or high school?) and is currently used as a nap blanket.



These next two were made out of some fat quarters and a bit of spare cloth. Each used two packs of fat quarters...

...pooh bear


...and princess


I then paired the squares with some I cut from a cloth that went with the quarters (the yellow and the green). Once the top was done I bought a king flat sheet and managed to get both backs out of one sheet. I just quilt them quickly on my sewing machine. These quilts fit nicely on the top of their twin beds, without hanging down. I had four squares left, so I sewed a them up with a big square of the sheet and made two little pillows to go along with the blankets. The girls use those pillows for their dolls.

Those are the only quilts I've made for the girls I think, I made them last year. I have a couple more larger (adult) ones, and one that is in the planning stages (material bought, and pattern chosen, nothing cut yet).

Hopefully I'll finish some knitting soon....

Shawl and Stole

The Melon Shawl is progressing. I finished the center section and started the edge. The colors didn't look great together as I started, and I questioned it again.... but I think I like it now - and more importantly, my daughter likes it.



After working on it a bit, I think I'm picking up approximately the right number of stitches (it's not straight forward because I didn't do the same number of pattern repeats in the center). The numbers are close to being right, and this is after I dropped down a couple of needle sizes so the YO sections would look the same with the new yarn. The truth will come after I do a couple corners, and then really when I block it, but I think it's good.



I'm about half done with one side, after working on it during tv watching for the past couple of nights... 18 repeats done - I'm estimating about 100 around, not counting corners. It is really starting to look nice though, as the edging pulls the lace out just a bit, making it so it doesn't curl at least.




On to the Mystery Stole 3...

This was after completing clue 1 (charts A and B). I wanted to get it done before the next clue came out, but I kept delaying, and then couldn't focus, and then was busy, and then delayed some more. Thursday I sat down and did chart B (chart A was finished last friday night at the cast on party).



Today I printed out clue 2, and started chart C. I'm just a handful of rows in (about to start row 116 - clue 2 has rows 101-150).



...and the center section, so you can see how the beads shine when they catch the light (otherwise they just blend in).


Pretty? The group for the MS3 (6547 members at the moment) closes to new members tonight at midnight. After that you'll have to wait until it's a published pattern in order to get it (and miss out on the Knit-A-Long)

...back to knitting (or putting the girls to bed or something)

Chart A and a Bit of Wire

My purchases for beading purposes:

from the local bead store...




...and from AC Moore.





The group at Creative Fibers on Friday night.

Some of us around the table (with chocolate goodies)...





...and everyone (everyone but Ellen I think) with their current MS3.





I finished chart A that night, and haven't worked on it since - I plan to tonight or tomorrow night - after all, after I finish chart B there's no more until Friday



Sunday night, I broke out the wire, and the extra beads I had purchased and tried some wire knitting. The pattern was supposed to be a bracelet - but I don't like how it came out (at least not on my arm) so I will try again another day. I did salvage the finished knitting though, I gather up the cast on edge, and made a little bowl.




It's a little hard to see (pretty hard to photograph shiny things), but it is a cute little bowl :)



The daily dose of older finished stuff:

I figured I should do these next since I mentioned I had used tigger scraps for the sweater yesterday...

...and yes M, the socks from a couple of posts ago are Tofutsies 'Sweep you off your feet' I believe!

More from Long Long Ago

Friday I went to a local bead store (that's been less than a mile from my house for the past two years and I didn't know about it) and got some more MS3 supplies. I also printed up the chart, and went to a cast-on party Friday night. I also (at the bead store) got some stuff to do some wire knitting. Pictures of those purchases and projects (and MS3 progress update) later tomorrow.

I'm still working on the Melon Shawl - getting many repeats done, almost ready to start the edging (I hope!). I was hoping to finish a couple more projects before starting a new one, but there are some baby gifts needing to be made, and those don't wait... while I decide what and when to start something new you can enjoy these pictures....

Last time I showed you some of my really early sweaters - some that I don't wear so much and some that I'm proud of, but would do differently now - for today's dose of old Finished Objects, you get to see some of the knits for my daughters that I just love (kindof unclear, I love how these projects turned out, and yes I also love my daughters).

A scrap poncho - I really should write this one up, as it was SO easy to make, and ended up with a simple, but pretty, shape.

I had a bag of scraps, I had a shape in mind, and I had a daughter who was walking around in need of just a bit of warmth. I made this ummm... I'd guess 2003 for my older daughter, when she was younger :)


Around the same time, I had a little red dress that I loved to put on my daughter, but, as children do, she was outgrowing it. It was made of a knit material and I thought, hey, I can copy this.... so I did.


...and then of course, I played around with a pattern and made a matching sweater.

The fact that the dress is too short (for my taste) for the child once the sweater fits, is a nice bit of irony - the sizes didn't overlap so well, I think it was worn once (or maybe twice) together.



Last year, I had made a number of things for my younger daughter, and it was time to make something for my older daughter. I used some scraps from tigger (who you'll see soon) and a couple of other scraps, to make this.


I wanted to try something new on this project, and I realized I hadn't done any intarsia. A book was purchased, a pattern was chosen, and the pocket was made (along with the rest of the sweater of course).


Next time, either more crafty-toys, or some grown up sweaters, and more current knitting (of course!)

New Toy and New Yarn

I got a new toy over the weekend...


of course, the yarn on there is left over from a pair of socks my husband made for me... we figured that with the amount left, he'll just need to make me some short (summer?) socks with the next skein and he'd be able to maybe squeeze two pair out of each tofutsies skein.

isn't it pretty?


I thanked my husband (he specifically looked for it and asked about it during our trip to webs this weekend... more on that tomorrow perhaps.)


I swatched for the mysterystole3 project. The bottom is on US3, the top is on US4. There's about a 1/2 inch difference in widths.



Someone on the ms3 group had asked about this yarn (Webs 2/14 Alpaca Silk) - it's very loosely plied in general, and so the first bit (that has had a chance to loosen) I found a bit splitty - but within the first row or two that wasn't a problem any more - and I love the way it's working up! I'm trying to decide which I like more... there isn't a way to increase width in the pattern, and I'd prefer to size of the wider one (6 1/2 for the swatch, plan on three times that). I think I like the look of the smaller one a bit more though... I'll have to let that settle in my mind over the next week and a half until the first clue comes out.



...during that time I will be quite busy knitting. The yarn is done:


It comes in at just over 1000 yards, so that means I have lots of choices for the shawl. Every time I think I've made a choice I become wishy-woshy about it, but I do need to make my pattern selection soon and start knitting.


I also reached the half way mark on the shawl for my younger daugther - well, not half way, that doesn't include the edging. ...but I have two skeins of the yarn for the center panel, and I finished knitting one of them.


I probably won't be able to do the number of repeats specified in the melon shawl pattern (VLT), but I'm happy with the length at half-way, so I'll just need to figure out how to fudge the edging ...math... I'll delay that for a while... at least until I'm closer to being done knitting.

Julie, and others, have asked about the spindolyn. I am very happy with mine - and yes, I do have a couple of tips. I recommend watching the video to see it used by someone who knows what they are doing. I usually sit on my chair and hold the spindolyn between my legs about halfway to my knees. I have to make sure the spindolyn is upright while spinning, and then I like it at a slight angle as I spin the yarn on (this might have to do with the chair I'm sitting on). It's a bit tricky at the beginning, and then again as it is full... similar to a drop spindle. It is not as fast as my wheel of course, but is much faster than my spindles. I do a fairly short draw and can spin pretty fine on it... you just need to make sure the yarn has enough twist so it will hold together...

Hopefully that's somewhat helpful, feel free to ask any more specific questions. I'm not an expert by any means, but I did spin all the angora on it.

No knitting here....

As I said earlier, the blue wool is done...


the white angora is being spun...


Not much has been accomplished today on my crafts though because I went to a cannery today to can for long term food storage...

(I did knit in the car since I wasn't driving, but I now have to undo about 6 rows of the current VLT shawl, won't take too long, and I still made progress today, just not as much as I thought)


...but while I was gone, the mail arrived!


now I just need to swatch for MS3, so I'll know what needle size to use.

Of course, if you need a new project, you can try the sidewinders. I plan to sometime.