January projects
I have a lot of yarn going every which way.
Crochet
For Christmas I received the book Blueprint Crochet by Robyn Chachula.
This book is filled with beautiful motif garments and the patterns are done through symbols. I'm hoping this will help me get over my fear of sleeves. I selected the Katie Bolero project and bought a bag of Lana Gatto New Alpaca yarn in burgundy (885). So far I've completed 5 motifs but I think I'm going to start over with a bigger hook. I'm a slightly tighter crocheter than most gauges allow for so I have to adjust.
I also finished the Seraphina Shawl that I started in the beginning of January. I used the Wollmeise I was lucky enough to purchase for the 5 minutes it was available.
Knit
Yes, I'm knitting now. During the Christmas run around weeks my 8 year old niece taught me how to knit. She is a very supportive and encouraging teacher who kept telling me if I dropped stitches it was okay because it didn't matter :) . Every so often she'd look over at me and say, "Aunt Julie, you are doing so good!" Mostly I just needed her to show me a different way to cast on than the long tail cast on. That just gets my fingers all tied up in knots.
I now know how to do knit stitches, purl stitches, and slip stitches. The temperature the last few weeks has been below zero and my husband finally requested a scarf. He looked pretty silly with a purple scarf he borrowed from the girls so I knit him a black one. My first knit project was then complete (I crocheted him a hat to go with the scarf).
At work a young lady does knitting and was working on a baby blanket that was a basic knit, purl with some increases worked in because it is done on a bias. I looked up her project on Ravelry and started my own. Its going pretty well. I decided to use some Cotton Ease yarn in lime (194) and Lake blue (110) that I picked up on sale a few months ago. At that time I thought I'd use them for hats. I have a feeling this is going to take some time to finish but that is okay because I really don't have anyone to give it too. maybe I'll send it to my niece to thank her for her lesson.
Dye
I've already posted about my Kool-aid experiment. Last night I took my last skein of practice spinning yarn to Black Locust Farm yarn store for their monthly dye night. There were four of us and we had a lot of fun. The colors I picked are Mountain Aqua and Kiwi. My intention was to make a cowl with it to match the hat and fingerless gloves I crocheted back in November.
Spinning
Unfortunately I haven't been able to get much done on the spinning front. About a week or so ago my back decided to go out. Two chiropractic appointments later and I finally feel like I can sit at the wheel. (Note to self, don't lift the Christmas tree boxes or move furniture by myself anymore). I got some lovely alpaca/silk roving for Christmas but I don't think I'm quite up to spinning it yet. I don't want to screw it up and need some confidence.
Before my back issues, I did start spinning some lovely BFL roving that I purchased from Whorling Tides on etsy.
I'll finish that up and move on to something not so luxurious as the alpaca/silk. I joined some fiber clubs to try different small portions of different sheep fiber. Hopefully by the time the fiber festivals start up in the spring I'll know what I like and how much it should cost.
Crochet
For Christmas I received the book Blueprint Crochet by Robyn Chachula.
This book is filled with beautiful motif garments and the patterns are done through symbols. I'm hoping this will help me get over my fear of sleeves. I selected the Katie Bolero project and bought a bag of Lana Gatto New Alpaca yarn in burgundy (885). So far I've completed 5 motifs but I think I'm going to start over with a bigger hook. I'm a slightly tighter crocheter than most gauges allow for so I have to adjust.
I also finished the Seraphina Shawl that I started in the beginning of January. I used the Wollmeise I was lucky enough to purchase for the 5 minutes it was available.
Knit
Yes, I'm knitting now. During the Christmas run around weeks my 8 year old niece taught me how to knit. She is a very supportive and encouraging teacher who kept telling me if I dropped stitches it was okay because it didn't matter :) . Every so often she'd look over at me and say, "Aunt Julie, you are doing so good!" Mostly I just needed her to show me a different way to cast on than the long tail cast on. That just gets my fingers all tied up in knots.
I now know how to do knit stitches, purl stitches, and slip stitches. The temperature the last few weeks has been below zero and my husband finally requested a scarf. He looked pretty silly with a purple scarf he borrowed from the girls so I knit him a black one. My first knit project was then complete (I crocheted him a hat to go with the scarf).
At work a young lady does knitting and was working on a baby blanket that was a basic knit, purl with some increases worked in because it is done on a bias. I looked up her project on Ravelry and started my own. Its going pretty well. I decided to use some Cotton Ease yarn in lime (194) and Lake blue (110) that I picked up on sale a few months ago. At that time I thought I'd use them for hats. I have a feeling this is going to take some time to finish but that is okay because I really don't have anyone to give it too. maybe I'll send it to my niece to thank her for her lesson.
Dye
I've already posted about my Kool-aid experiment. Last night I took my last skein of practice spinning yarn to Black Locust Farm yarn store for their monthly dye night. There were four of us and we had a lot of fun. The colors I picked are Mountain Aqua and Kiwi. My intention was to make a cowl with it to match the hat and fingerless gloves I crocheted back in November.
Spinning
Unfortunately I haven't been able to get much done on the spinning front. About a week or so ago my back decided to go out. Two chiropractic appointments later and I finally feel like I can sit at the wheel. (Note to self, don't lift the Christmas tree boxes or move furniture by myself anymore). I got some lovely alpaca/silk roving for Christmas but I don't think I'm quite up to spinning it yet. I don't want to screw it up and need some confidence.
Before my back issues, I did start spinning some lovely BFL roving that I purchased from Whorling Tides on etsy.
I'll finish that up and move on to something not so luxurious as the alpaca/silk. I joined some fiber clubs to try different small portions of different sheep fiber. Hopefully by the time the fiber festivals start up in the spring I'll know what I like and how much it should cost.