Spring!

Check out the tulips I cut from our yard due to a pending snowstorm that was supposed to lay 6-12 inches of snow on us today-didn't happen. The vase is a beautiful hand blown piece of art made by my husband (I assisted!)


And yet another diplay in a hand blown vase created by my husband.

Bumble Bee pouch

Here is the Bumble Bee Pouch I made today. This one and the Frog Pouch are perfect for putting a gift card in and giving to a friend for birthday's or whatever.

Side View

Early Spring Socks Finished!

Here are the Early Spring Socks, shown with early spring flowers. I love the heel in this pattern. It doesn't require picking up any stitches and it fits and looks good. I used a the tubular bind off which I liked the results but it took me forever to do.
Here again, in the tulips. These socks were done in Knitpicks dancing, with the pattern Early Spring Socks. I used the Turkish cast on but otherwise followed the pattern.

Next MAJOR project-Heere be Dragone shawl

(picture from Aurora Alpaca website)
How about this for a project?! I am not sure how I ran across this pattern but I knew I had to knit it! The pattern chart is 12 pages long and I guess every row is different. You can get your pattern from the designer Sharon Winsauer at Aurora Alpacas. The pattern wasn't on her website the last I looked but you can e-mail her at web2@aurora-alpacas.com . The pattern costs around 12 bucks and she responds right away. She can send it to you in the mail or you can get a version to download.

Anyway, to find the appropriate yarn on a budget. Knit picks shimmer is almost the exact yarn in make-up - alpaca and silk, and weight. Problem is I am afraid the variegation in the yarn will distract from the pattern. So I tried my hand at overdying. I had some left over shimmer from

making my Mother in Law's Clapotis in Turquoise Splendor. I gave the yarn a soak in vinegar and water for about 6 hours then the first batch I dyed with Wiltons food coloring paste. I did it in the microwave similar to the Kool-aid dying but it took a lot longer and the water never did really run clear. The second attempt after the vinegar soak went into the crock pot with some powdered food coloring. I can't really tell much difference but I preferred the Wiltons past to the powder because it mixed into the water better. I am going to knit up a couple of swatched to make sure the more subtle variegation won't detract from the pattern.
More to Come!

Early Spring Socks

I have been knitting these socks appropriately named Early Spring Socks. I am knitting them in Knitpicks dancing. They are coming out nice. I used the turkish cast on that I always use but I did try the heel that is written in the pattern. I'll have to see comfort wise if I like it. It did knit up good. I am doing them at the same time on 2 circulars instead of on double pointed.

Finished Fuzzyfeet!

Here are my finished and felted Fuzzyfeet! I think they turned out great.

On the foot.

A shot of the back. I am going to write up the changes to the pattern so that I can make another pair and will post it when I get done.

Fuzzyfeet almost there

Here are the Fuzzyfeet after turning the heel and a close-up of the heel flap. Even after all the planning the length is 13" as opposed to the 14" I was striving for. I still think they'll be fine.

This is how much yarn I had left after binding off. This is the reason I love to knit socks toe-up!!!

Finished Fuzzyfeet!!! Before felting. I will now throw them in the wash at 175 degrees with a couple pair of old jeans.

stay tuned......

I love Spring!

Here are some of the lovely flowers that have come up in my yard. They make me happy!

Last night my friend Jennifer brought me this wonderful birthday gift! She has a friend that handpaints the sweatshirts and another friend that makes the fleece slipper socks. They make me think of spring. What a great friend! Thanks Jennifer.

Here is a picture that my beautiful daughter drew for me for my birthday as well. I guess it will just be my birthday all week!

Here is the cat in one of her many sleeping spots. I think we live in cat heaven. We often have cats just sleepng in the back yard and then of course there is this one.

Fuzzyfeet update

Well after some more excellent advise from the Knitty coffeeshop, I knitted a test swatch of some undyed yarn and felted it so that I would know exactly what this yarn would do. Ingenious! Why didn't I think of it?

The swatch was 22 stitches by 15 rows and measured 7" by 3.5". I washed it with a load of towels at 140 degrees for an hour and a half and I got the swatch on the left. It measured 6" by 2.5". I was concerned by the fact that there was still stitch definition, so I put it back in the washer with towels at 175 degrees for the same amount of time. I got the swatch on the right. Very little difference.
So now I know that I should make the fuzzy feet 14 inches long from heel to toe and not to really expect to felt away the stitches. By the way I have a front loading washer that I can control the temp. of but it is a real pain to check it every few minutes because it drains out all the soap & water and then has to refill & heat the water. When I did the Kitty Pi beds I found that the agitation of putting some other clothes would felt the knitting just fine.

So after frogging I of course ended up with tons of loose yarn which I wound around my hand, stuffed back in the middle of each ball and contained in yogurt containers. This yarn was way too bulky to fit in my normal bottle cozy container system.

This is where I am as of this morning, at about 7". I will go 1 more inch then begin gusset increases which should be another 3" then the heel should be another 3 inches.

Have to frog

Well look at my lovely heel turn! I used Diamante after several unsucessful attempts at using Widdershins. Too bad the slipper is only 10" long. After consulting on the Knitty board, thanx fellow knitters, I found that my fuzzyfeet should be about 13" long.

I guess I get to frog back to where the gusset increases start so I can add 3 more inches. At least now I know my heel equals 3", my gusset increases equal 3" and I need to start the gusset increases at 7". Knit and learn!

Fuzzyfeet continued

Casting on for the Fuzzyfeet. I am going to knit these 2 at a time on 2 circular needles toe up.
I like the Turkish cast on. It works wonderfully for 2 socks at once. I will be starting out with 12 stiches for each sock. It looks like only six but you knit both sides. This is how the Turkish cast on toe looks (but not so blurry in real life!)

I am using my Denise needles. I do not have 2 sets so I have the 10.5 on the sides that you knit the stiches with and a 9 on the side that holds the stitches. I use a fine sharpie marker to define the 10.5 needles so that I know when I am done with each round, and also so I don't get confused when I start the gusset increases.

Here are finished toes as of last night.

Here is how far I've gotten today, about half way through the gusset increases.

To be continued............

Yarn Porn

Now for a little break and som yarn porn! Received this package yesterday for my birthday from my husband!! Enough to make 9 pairs of socks. As you can see my kitty is very interested. She is hoping I will turn away for just a sec.

Thrift store sweater to fuzzy feet

I bought this sweater (this is just the sleeve)at the Thrift store for $3.00. It was 100% wool and in very good condition. My enabling husband and I took it apart in the evening while watching T.V. I will end up with enough yarn to do several pairs of Fuzzyfeet. I had been wanting to try Kool-aid dying so I thought this would be a great project. Here is my adventure in both Kool-aid dying and Fuzzyfeet

First I wanted to make 4 skeins of continuous yarn so I felted together enough pieces to make 4 1-1/4 oz skeins. I just pulled off a couple of inches from each end that I wanted to felt together then wet the ends and rubbed them together between my palms for heat and friction.

Like Magic!!

Then I wrapped the yarn around the back of a chair and tyed them loosely with acrylic yarn. Each wrap is about 1 yard. I end up with approx. 200 yards of recycled wool.

Then I put it all in very hot water from my steamin hot dispenser-about 165 degrees. You don't want to agitate it because it could felt and that would be bad. I just kind of pushed it down into the water with an old wooden spoon.

Meanwhile I got my Kool-Aid ready. I used 6 packages of Berry Blue. My total yarn amount is about 5 oz.

Mixed the Kool-Aid thoroughly in a very large glass bowl with about 2 cups hot water. You don't want to use anything reactive like aluminum, or that would stain like plastic. It has to be microwave safe. You can do this on the stovetop as well. You can see more about Kool-Aid dying on Knitty.

Then I added the hot water that the yarn had been soaking in, and added the yarn, pushing it down into the blue water with the spoon. Still being careful not to agitate. I zapped the whole thing in the microwave in 2 minute intervals until the water was clear. For this batch it took about 5 times at 2 minutes each and the final water temp was about 175 degrees.

I drained off the Kool-Aid water and put fresh water and a little mild dish soap. I let that soak for a while then rinsed it thoroughly.

I carefully squeezed the water out of each skein,

I layed them out on a towel to absorb as much water as I could. After that they went onto a couple of plastic hangers and outside to dry.

Here they are all dry and ready to wind into balls.

After felting the ends together so I would have only 2 skeins I used my ball winder to wind them up. All ready to make the slippers!

To be continued.........

lace beanie for my daughter

I knitted this hat in just a couple of days of free time from a pattern at Lion Brand called Lace Beanie It used about a half a skein of "old" cotton ease in black. I have no idea what the "new" cotton ease is like but I had to knit several extra rows of ribbing to make it fit properly. If I would have known I would have done 2 extra rounds of the "grunge lace pattern instead of the extra ribbing. My daughter liked it anyway and it looked cute on her so I guess thats what matters.

Another Kitty Pi

Here is a secomd Kitty Pi for my pie filling cat. She really loves them! This was done with 3 skeins of Lion brand wool and some fun fur for the edge.

Unfilled shell