Crafty Chicky
I've been a very Crafty Chicky of late, although I haven't posted about it much. Mostly, I've been doing things that were gifts for family, and things that just weren't very exciting. I've also been trying to use up some stash. There will be more coming, when I take more pictures, but for now, here's an update on my stash-using list.
1. Calorimetry for me. This is in a heathered blue wool blend that's been in my house for at least a year, probably 2 or 3. Since it's a worsted-weight, I only cast on 80 stitches. It fits perfectly, was a quick knit, and I wear it every day. LOVE it. I normally steer clear of doing what everyone else is doing, so I avoided the "viral" knits for a long time. It turns out that sometimes there's a reason a pattern becomes viral. It's because it's a darned good pattern.
2. Slipper socks for my dad. The previous yarn was actually purchased as a contrasting stripe for these socks, and it was used accordingly. The main color was a very dark blue. Again, worsted weight Wool Ease, in stash for a loooong time. I gave them to him at Thanksgiving and forgot to take a picture, though.
3. Meandering Vines scarf. I bought this yarn last year for a project that never got off the ground, so I turned it into this scarf, which I gave to my sister. The pattern is actually part of a Knit-A-Long on the Ravelry group Obscuriosity. It's a Michaels yarn, Cashmere Blend or something like that - it's 95% acrylic, 5% cashmere. Very soft with a nice sheen, although I think the cashmere labelling is kinda deceptive, and as I've become more of a fiber snob, that bothers me. Still, it wasn't bad. Again, I forgot to take a picture of the finished article.
4. Felted potholders for my mom. I did a combination of red and green - the red has been stashed for over a year; I bought the green "fresh" for this project, but I'm still counting it. Patons Classic Merino, I think it was, and it felted nicely. I did one solid red, one solid green, and one red/green quartered, and paired them with 2 red cotton dishcloths. Yes, my mom's kitchen is red with green accents. It's the kind of thing that could only have happened in the 70's, but it was different enough to have stood the test of time a lot better than the avocado green and brown stuff. I generally dislike giving "housework" items as gifts, but my mom seems to be into that - she's always giving me things like this. I think she liked it. I really fell down on the picture-taking this holiday, though.
NOT on the stash-busting list are these next few things -
Calorimetry and Clapotis for my daughter - 2 great virals that go great together! Cascade 220 Superwash - the headband is solid lime green; the scarf is lime green and black striped. That Clapotis pattern is really neat - it went a lot faster than I expected, while simultaneously feeling like it was taking forever. I think that's because I was working on Christmas presents at the same time, so I wasn't giving it a lot of knitting time. Clapotis is written as a shawl pattern in (I think) fingering-weight yarn - I used a worsted and sized it down to a scarf. This pattern is really cool, because it's knitted on the diagonal with columns of dropped stitches - fun to do and cool-looking!
St. John's Wort scarf for my mom - I fell in love with this yarn in the LYS. It's Mirasol yarns Sulka, and it's a chunky singles in a delicious wool/alpaca/silk blend. Not cheap, but I only needed 2 hanks for this scarf. My mom doesn't like big long scarves, so I got away with 2. A more typical longer scarf length would take 3 or 4. I picked a stitch pattern out of one of my books for this, based on what would look good and be easy to remember and easy to knit - St. John's Wort, from Traditional Knitted Shawls. I really love this stitch - it lays pretty flat, and creates kind of a thick texture that reminds me just slightly of thermal underwear, so I think it'll be really warm, and did I mention how easy it it? Seriously, super easy.
I liked that stitch pattern so well, I've used it again on another project. That one will be finished tonight, so I'll post about it tomorrow.
In other news - I officially bought a spinning wheel yesterday. Well, the sale was rung, although it's only halfway paid off. I've been helping out in the yarn store, and I'm using my pay to buy the wheel. I think this is a Good Thing for both the store and for me. I'm getting a nice wheel that I've had a chance to test-drive, and I've gotten lots of help with it (which I needed!). And while I can't justify spending money out-of-pocket for a large purchase right now, I can totally justify this because it's not coming out of my regular income. From the store's perspective, it's like having an employee work for half wages, I expect, since she only ends up "out" what she originally paid for the wheel.
As a side result of the spinning, I started making orifice hooks that I'm going to put on consignment in the shop. I have this brilliant idea to put together "Spinner's Gift" sets that combine a nifty hook and some hand-dyed roving. File that under "We'll See". I'm percolating on some similar sort of "Knitter's Gift" sets, but I'm a little stalled on it. I'm thinking of hand-dyed sock yarn with pretty beaded stitch markers, but I think it needs something more. Anybody have thoughts on these?
1. Calorimetry for me. This is in a heathered blue wool blend that's been in my house for at least a year, probably 2 or 3. Since it's a worsted-weight, I only cast on 80 stitches. It fits perfectly, was a quick knit, and I wear it every day. LOVE it. I normally steer clear of doing what everyone else is doing, so I avoided the "viral" knits for a long time. It turns out that sometimes there's a reason a pattern becomes viral. It's because it's a darned good pattern.
2. Slipper socks for my dad. The previous yarn was actually purchased as a contrasting stripe for these socks, and it was used accordingly. The main color was a very dark blue. Again, worsted weight Wool Ease, in stash for a loooong time. I gave them to him at Thanksgiving and forgot to take a picture, though.
3. Meandering Vines scarf. I bought this yarn last year for a project that never got off the ground, so I turned it into this scarf, which I gave to my sister. The pattern is actually part of a Knit-A-Long on the Ravelry group Obscuriosity. It's a Michaels yarn, Cashmere Blend or something like that - it's 95% acrylic, 5% cashmere. Very soft with a nice sheen, although I think the cashmere labelling is kinda deceptive, and as I've become more of a fiber snob, that bothers me. Still, it wasn't bad. Again, I forgot to take a picture of the finished article.
4. Felted potholders for my mom. I did a combination of red and green - the red has been stashed for over a year; I bought the green "fresh" for this project, but I'm still counting it. Patons Classic Merino, I think it was, and it felted nicely. I did one solid red, one solid green, and one red/green quartered, and paired them with 2 red cotton dishcloths. Yes, my mom's kitchen is red with green accents. It's the kind of thing that could only have happened in the 70's, but it was different enough to have stood the test of time a lot better than the avocado green and brown stuff. I generally dislike giving "housework" items as gifts, but my mom seems to be into that - she's always giving me things like this. I think she liked it. I really fell down on the picture-taking this holiday, though.
NOT on the stash-busting list are these next few things -
Calorimetry and Clapotis for my daughter - 2 great virals that go great together! Cascade 220 Superwash - the headband is solid lime green; the scarf is lime green and black striped. That Clapotis pattern is really neat - it went a lot faster than I expected, while simultaneously feeling like it was taking forever. I think that's because I was working on Christmas presents at the same time, so I wasn't giving it a lot of knitting time. Clapotis is written as a shawl pattern in (I think) fingering-weight yarn - I used a worsted and sized it down to a scarf. This pattern is really cool, because it's knitted on the diagonal with columns of dropped stitches - fun to do and cool-looking!
St. John's Wort scarf for my mom - I fell in love with this yarn in the LYS. It's Mirasol yarns Sulka, and it's a chunky singles in a delicious wool/alpaca/silk blend. Not cheap, but I only needed 2 hanks for this scarf. My mom doesn't like big long scarves, so I got away with 2. A more typical longer scarf length would take 3 or 4. I picked a stitch pattern out of one of my books for this, based on what would look good and be easy to remember and easy to knit - St. John's Wort, from Traditional Knitted Shawls. I really love this stitch - it lays pretty flat, and creates kind of a thick texture that reminds me just slightly of thermal underwear, so I think it'll be really warm, and did I mention how easy it it? Seriously, super easy.
I liked that stitch pattern so well, I've used it again on another project. That one will be finished tonight, so I'll post about it tomorrow.
In other news - I officially bought a spinning wheel yesterday. Well, the sale was rung, although it's only halfway paid off. I've been helping out in the yarn store, and I'm using my pay to buy the wheel. I think this is a Good Thing for both the store and for me. I'm getting a nice wheel that I've had a chance to test-drive, and I've gotten lots of help with it (which I needed!). And while I can't justify spending money out-of-pocket for a large purchase right now, I can totally justify this because it's not coming out of my regular income. From the store's perspective, it's like having an employee work for half wages, I expect, since she only ends up "out" what she originally paid for the wheel.
As a side result of the spinning, I started making orifice hooks that I'm going to put on consignment in the shop. I have this brilliant idea to put together "Spinner's Gift" sets that combine a nifty hook and some hand-dyed roving. File that under "We'll See". I'm percolating on some similar sort of "Knitter's Gift" sets, but I'm a little stalled on it. I'm thinking of hand-dyed sock yarn with pretty beaded stitch markers, but I think it needs something more. Anybody have thoughts on these?