New Yarns for the New Year Blog Contest!

The moment you have all been waiting for, I finally am announcing my blog contest!

For the new year I want to try out 10 new yarns! I have picked out some of my very favorite yarns, but I want to know if you like them too! So here is the plan. Everyday for the next 10 days I am going to post up a new yarn here and list them in my etsy shop. All you have to do is comment on the post and let me know if you like it or not. Would you buy it or do you see absolutely no practical use for this yarn? You can't hurt my feelings, so give me your honest opinion!

So what is the prize, well, any skein of yarn from my shop! I will send you anything you choose free of charge and free of shipping! This includes any of the new yarns (think silk, think lace, think alpaca)!!!

The only catch is that there is only one entry available per post per person. Though you can get an additional entry for each skein purchased from my shop during the contest. Yarn will be added January 1 - 10 and the winner will be announced Saturday, January 13th, which also happens to be my blogiversary! I will decide which yarns that I am going to carry by January 31st and let all of you guys know what I have decided!

I will have the first yarn up tomorrow and they will be in no particular order, so stay tuned!

Note: If you are interested in what I am knitting during this time, please check out my Ravelry page! If you aren't on Ravelry, then sign up already!

New Colors!

I have 3 new colors to show off!


The first color is Mountain Sunset Blaze. I first had this color requested through my order form. After I created it I had another person that loved it so much that she requested it too. I figure with that much interest that I should add it to my permanent collection of colors. You can request it through my order form!


The second color is Lemon Lime, which I have been meaning to dye up for awhile. It is also secretly known as the Duck colorway, since I went to U of O. I really like how it turned out. It is so tangy and filled with school spirit. You can request it through my order form!


The last color is Bordeaux. This one was a color mistake. I accidentally dyed it while trying to dye another color. I just loved how it turned out, so I decided to keep it and name it. Woolgirl should have it in her shop very shortly!

I actually did a count and I have over 50 colorways right now!

Monday I am going to announce a very special contest, so please stay tuned!

Mystery Project Revealed!

So now that it is after Christmas I can reveal the Mystery Project!


Well, it is a sweater that I knit up for Sarah's daughter for Christmas. It is Sandy's Cardigan for Zylie from The Twisted Sisters Sweater Book. It is the sweater on the front cover, only with my own take on the colors. Just think that the whole thing started out as white superwash roving! I dyed it, spun it, and knit it. I am also feeling quite proud of myself for knitting it. It was a lot of fun. Anyway, on to more pictures:

Here is the front

The back

Left Sleeve

Right Sleeve

Believe me I tried to take as many photos as I could, because it is so pretty It was a lot of work and it needs a couple of corrections to the pattern, like the BO for the sleeve opening should be 25 sts, not 51. I ended up emailing Lynne Vogel, who was more than happy to answer all of questions and corrections! I also kept running out of yarn, but that could be because I decided to use 6s, instead of 8s. However, I did love knitting it. It was fast (as long as I had yarn) and was exciting to see how the colors changed and mixed together. I could see myself knitting it again someday!

Merry Christmas!

I had a very Merry Christmas for the past 2 days. I got a lot of gifts, so I thought I would share my knitting related gifts:


My dear Blair got me Stupid Sock Creatures and Dyeing to Knit. He got them off of my Amazon wish list and I am so thrilled. I first saw Stupid Sock Creatures on the Blue Blog and just loved it. With all the kids around I am sure to put the book to good use. Dyeing to Knit is one that I have wanted for awhile. I like how it has all sorts of colors, color theory, and even patterns. I definitely think that I will get some inspiration from this book

My parents got me a the first set of the new Miss Marple series. I am totally addicted to this series. Geraldine McEwan is definitely the best Miss Marple ever. I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie. I am sure that these dvds will get me through plenty of knitting. Not to mention that her knitting is quite inspirational too.

I also got some awesome things from my friends down at Knot Another Hat. I just forgot to take pictures of them while I still had daylight. All I can say is that the ladies down there rock and I am glad to be friends with each one of them!

I also have a couple of projects that I finished up in time for Christmas:

These socks I made for my mother. I just love the color combination! The yarn is Skinny Duet, though I can't seem to find the color name anywhere. The label disappeared too quickly!

I also finished up this baby surprise jacket for Destiny and her surprise baby. I went with neutral colors, because when I picked it out I didn't know the sex of the baby. Of course that changed as soon as I was working away on the project. So I will need to knit something specific in the new year. I also know 2 other ladies that are expecting this next year, so I see quite a bit of baby knitting in my future. This baby surprise jacket was knit out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in color Lakeview on size 8s. I adjusted the gauge so that it would be a newborn size. So, other than ripping it a couple of times, because I don't seem to "get" the patterns quite as easily as everyone else, I think that it was a great knit. I might even try it again.

Last Minute Knitted Gifts

I have a few things to show today and a couple of finished projects to show off today and I will have a couple more following Christmas.


I knit up these two hats for a couple of our friend's kids. Both of them are boys and around 2. I pretty much made up the pattern. CO 75 sts on #8US, knit 3, purl 2 for 7 inches, quickly decrease. It makes a hat in no time! I think less than 2 hours. I knit the bottom one out of Malabrigo and the top on out of Cash Vero in colors #020 Ruby & #008 Light Blue. If the colors of the top hat look familiar that is because they are actually the leftovers from the cat that I made back in September.

Next up I finished another pair of felted clogs. They aren't completely, completely done, but close enough. My plan so far has been to felt them a bit and then have the recipient try them on and felt them down even further to fit. I didn't want to gift them unfelted, but yet I didn't want them to be too small. They are knit with Eco Wool color #9012 chocolate/taupe, Cascade 220 #8555 Black, and Cascade 220 Tweed color #602 Evergreen.


Lastly, here is a sneak peek at the mystery project. If you know what it is, please don't put it in the comments. Let me just say that it was a lot of fun to knit, even if the pattern had a couple of wonky spots. I'll share full details after the holidays!

Coming Soon: More Yarn! More Colors! and a Blog Contest!

Good News

I have been rather busy lately!


On top of all of the Holiday rush, my husband's brother had his wedding on Friday. I was very excited to go and be there for the ceremony. They have been together for as long as Blair and I have been together, maybe a bit longer. What can I say the guys in this family are definitely one woman guys. Well, at least this generation...


Our other happy news, is that Blair and I got a car on Saturday. This is the first car that we have bought together. We have had our '94 Camry (background) for around 6 years now and we thought that it was probably time for a change. We will be selling the '94, which runs pretty well. It has a few quirks that come with age, so if you know anyone who would be interested, send them our way!

Lastly, I have a bit of sad and good news. I have been reading lately about the Black Sheep Creamery. Apparently in the recent flooding they have lost just about everything including sheep, fences barn, etc... Tina has a much better explanation of it on her blog. The good news is that a group of people are holding an online auction to help raise funds to help them rebuild. There are a lot of really good things, so please go and check it out and help out these poor people in their time of need. I know I have my eye on some of the spinning fiber...

Magic Bag of Holding

So, my gaming endeavors led me to make an adorable little bag to hold my dice.


I thought it was such a cute little bag that I had to share it with the rest of you. It is available in .pdf in the sidebar. I decided to name it a magic bag of holding because in the D & D world that is a magic bag that holds more on the inside than it appears to hold on the outside. Now if I only had one of those for my knitting!

I have also updated the website:
-Added a wholesale page for anyone wanting wholesale info
-New Patterns including the new Magic Bag
-New Projects in the FO Gallery (thank you Ravelry!)
-New Pictures of the Sport and Sock yarns

Girl Mitts

The weather has been looking a little like this:


Which makes it the perfect time of year to knit a pair of these:

I have just finished up a girl's version of the man mitts pattern. The picture was provided by my very first test knitter, Charlotte in the UK. I don't think she has a blog, but she is an awesome knitter! If she does have a blog, I'll make sure to share it with you guys. I have been trying for some time to get these knit up myself and I do plan on knitting up a pair just as soon as I get my holiday knitting done. My hands could sure use a pair about now!

Christmas Tree Hunting '07

On Saturday we went out into the wilderness to cut down our tree. We invited a group of our friends to join us. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the group of us, but thankfully Amy and Amy did.Here is my dad cutting down our tree. Look at how perfect it is! My mom actually found it. We always pick a small one, since we don't have a lot of space to put one in. It probably is only about 6 feet tall.

We took it right home and decorated it all up. It was covered in snow, but because it fit in the backseat of our car it was all melted and ready to go by the time we got home.


I am using my tree topper from last year. I still feel like a genius for coming up with a yarn ball tree topper. It just is so pretty, and completely non-traditional. Not to mention the Yarn Harlot would be proud of the unconventional yarn stashing.

Here is one of my favorite ornaments. There is a local lady in town that is close friends with my grandmother. Every year I have bought a couple of her ornaments. They are just incredible and always make me smile. I will be very sad when she stops making them.

I hope that everyone out there is safe and sound during the winter weather. A happy Hanukkah to those that are celebrating it tonight. I also hope that those that go out tree hunting have a safe trip out there in the snow and have as much fun as we had!

It Felt Like the Holidays!

I know, bad blog post title, but what can I say I just love making felted things!


These are 3 felted bowls destined to find their way under the Christmas tree. I made mine from the One Skein book using #15US needles, which is what makes it super fast. I knit them by holding 2 strands of Noro Kureyon together. I just picked randomly from my stash from balls that had lost their tags, of course! I just love how the colors change and work so well together! I also managed to get 2 bowls from 2 balls of yarn, which made me very happy.


Here is just a single bowl, that only took one ball of Noro Kureyon in Color #149 Naturals. I took a strand from the outside and a strand from the inside and just knit away. The pears inside are from Interweave Holiday Knits 2006. If you can't find a copy of the magazine noni has just come out with their own pear pattern in their Fall 2007 collection. The pears are a whole lot of fun to make. They are super fast and take only a little bit of yarn. I managed to make all of mine from stashed bits of yarn, except for the yellow one, which came from my friend Jill's stash.


My last finished felt project is actually a birthday present. This was given to the very special Kbear for her 4th birthday. You can check out a better post about her party here. Check out her hair! Blair usually gets asked at work get togethers if she is his child because of her curls.


One last felt project is another pair of felted clogs. This is made mainly from stash-dived yarn. I had 1/2 skein of Eco Wool in color #9012 chocolate/taupe and a skein of Cascade 220 in color #8555 black. I had to buy a skein of Cascade Tweed in color #602 evergreen . I love the cascade tweed. I really want to make a sweater out of it. This project is fun, though I'm not sure of the colors. It is very manly, which is what it is supposed to be, but it just isn't my colors. I had a lot more fun knitting the blue ones a couple of months ago.

Oh, and just to make you feel good, I am almost done with all of my Christmas knitting. There is a slim chance that I might be done before December starts, but I'm not holding my breath for it.

Happy belated Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a very awesome Thanksgiving. Mine went pretty well.


I cooked up quite a bit, but only managed to get a photo of this really awesome Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Streusel center. It is so easy to make, it looks gorgeous, and tastes absolutely scrumptious. I also made my first aspic salad from my grandmother's recipe, but I didn't get a photo, so I will try again for Christmas and share it then.


The really special thing about this Thanksgiving is that my grandmother came to dinner. This is the first Thanksgiving since my grandfather passed away. Last year we had a big family gathering with both of them. This year all of the family was going in different directions, so my parents invited her to dinner. I think she had a pretty good time. I just couldn't stand the thought of her sitting all alone in her room for Thanksgiving dinner. Hopefully she will come for Christmas too!

Holiday Wine Bottle Bag!

I finished the Wine Bottle Bag!

It was so fun to knit. The wonderful part is that it only took 1/2 a skein of Venezia Worsted. That means 2 bags for 1 skein of yarn. The Venezia Worsted is 70% Merino Wool and 30% Silk and absolute heaven to work with.


It is currently for sale in my etsy shop or you can take my class Last Minute Knitted Gifts!

Getting a Little Twisted!

It is now official! LavenderSheep yarn is now available at Twisted!

I hand delivered the box of yarn yesterday. That is 22 colors each in fingering and sport weight yarn. I was really impressed with their shop and their selection of sock yarn. It is definitely worth stopping there if you are a sock-a-holic like I am. Currently they have a website, but they don't sell anything through it yet. Still, if you are in the Portland area make sure to stop by and check it out.

Look! Knitting!

So, business is good, but busy busy busy! Thankfully I have had a bit of time to knit!

I have finished a 2nd square on the Great American Aran Afghan. I definitely have lost my motivation for this project, but maybe I will get it back after the holidays. I am planning on casting on the next square, just to at least get those garter rows started. I am knitting it out of Cascade 220 Color#8010 Natural and Garnstudio Glitter Color #01 Gold.

Next up I started a cable headband in Jennifer Hagan's class. She is an incredible knitwear designer. This pattern is only available in her class, which is well worth taking. I highly recommend if you get the chance to meet her to go and do it, she is a lot of fun. Her pattern line is Figheadh. I am knitting this out of Cascade 220 in color #9404 Ruby.

Sticking with the cable theme, I started this cable mitten in my mitten class. This is technically the 2nd mitten. I knit the 1st one in my 1st mitten class way back in January. You can tell that this one is the 2nd one because the thumb is on the other side. I just looked at the old picture and it is the exact same spot as this one. That is sad, but funny too. Well, when I get them both done I'll show you the completed pair. These are intended for my Blair, so hopefully I can get them done soon since the weather has turned a little chilly. I am knitting these mittens out of Nashua Superwash Color #0034 Olive.


Ok, so something not cabled! I am knitting pears for my grandmother for Christmas and stash busting at the same time. I got the red one done and I had green in my stash, but I didn't have any yellow. I put out the word that I needed just a little bit of yellow to make one bitty pear and my friend Jill came to the rescue! Now I will have the perfect set of pears! I'm also going to make a felted bowl to put all of them in, I just need to experiment first. All three of these are knit out of Cascade 220, with some odds and ends I had on hand.


Lastly I have started these adorable socks. They are knit out of duet sock yarn. I just love that the heels and toes are going to be solid! It is giving me ideas of dyeing up solid color yarns for my own shop, maybe in 50gram skeins...Maybe even semi solids...so many ideas so little time =)

Hanukkah in November?

Around here at LavenderSheep it most certainly is.


Back in September Woolgirl ordered a bunch of Candy Cane Lane for the upcoming holiday season. It is one of my favorite colorways and I always look forward to this time of year so that I can dye it up again! She was so excited about it too that I had to tell her about its counterpart Happy Hanukkah!


Happy Hanukkah is my other seasonal favorite. It is just so festive. I have friends that are Jewish that have told me that it is hard to find Hanukkah things (especially in yarn), so what could I do but accommodate them? Woolgirl now has up Happy Hanukkah in fingering sock, sport, and dk/worsted. Go and check them out! Either one is perfect for the knitters on your holiday list or for yourself for a pair of holiday socks!

Website

I have updated my website!

I have added and changed and rearranged just about everything throughout the website. Some things to check out:

• New About Me page
• New colors in the Yarn Gallery
• Now you can click on the photos in the yarn gallery to see larger photos of the colorways
• New projects in the FO Gallery (remember if you have knit something out of my yarn I'll post a pic of it up in my project gallery)

As always, my site is a work in progress. If there is anything you think should be added let me know. So, check it out and let me know what you think.

Applesauce Time!

When it starts to look like this outside:


Then it is probably time to pick apples:


I just love this time of year. These are the culls off of the big apple trees. They make excellent applesauce.

All of those apples made all of this applesauce. That's 7 quarts for the freezer and a bunch more for some friends of ours. We'll have applesauce all winter long. I especially love to use applesauce as pie filling for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I just thicken it a bit with either flour or cornstarch and add a little more cinnamon and it is perfect for apple pie. After this photo, my kitchen received a thorough cleaning and looks much better than it did here.

I have been knitting a little bit too. I just finished seaming the Debbie Bliss Baby Hoody. I knit it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in #603 Dusty Pink.


I am almost done with this quick little holiday project. It is a wine bottle bag. I just have a few more rows to go and an i-cord draw string and it will be perfect. I am knitting it out of the brand new Venezia Worsted in color #101 Cream. It is 70% Merino and 30% silk, what more could a knitter ask for? I just love it! I'll have more details when I get it all done.

News!

Well, I have some interesting news. It's both good and bad, I guess. I have decided to quit my day job and work full time for Lavendersheep! Now this is exciting news for me. I'm really looking forward to all of the new opportunities it will give me. I am already planning on dyeing up more yarn for my shop and taking on a couple of new accounts. In fact if you want your local yarn shop to carry my yarn, send them over to the website: www.lavendersheep.com or have them email me at: lavendersheep (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm also taking custom orders. I am hoping to get the website up to date and some new things in my Etsy shop very soon.

The sad part of it is that I really loved my job at Knot Another Hat. It was awesome seeing how a yarn shop worked from the inside out. It was a really hard decision to make, but I feel good about making it. Lavendersheep is growing so much and I have such awesome dreams for it that I had to make that tough decision. Though don't think that I will just drop off from the shop scene. You may still see me hanging out from time to time. I still have to get my yarn fix occasionally! Also, I have a bunch of really neat classes that I am going to be teaching down there this fall.

First off is Mitten Class. It is starting this next Tuesday October 23, 5:30-7:30 and goes the next 2 Tuesday nights. I teach it from my own pattern that is on 2 circulars and has 3 different pattern options: plain, colorwork, or cable. It is a great intro to 2 circs because it is on 8s and goes super quick.

Second is the Felted Clogs Class. This class was so popular this summer that I not only filled the class, but had to put people on a waiting list. These clogs are super popular and make great Christmas gifts. There are still a few spots left, so sign up today! This class is November 13th, 20th, and 27th from 5:30 to 7:30.

My last class is Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It is a fabulous class that runs the last 2 Tuesdays before Christmas (Dec 11th & 18th) from 5:30 to 7:30. I like to give 3 different options of quick knits that will make great gifts. The Rosepath Scarf is one option. I am also working on a simple cabled wine bottle bag for the class. I have the yarn, I just need to sit down and knit it. It will be so pretty! The bag (.pdf) that I did last year was modified by one of my students to be a bag for her daughter's ballet slippers, which was an instant hit. The last project is just a simple hat, a holiday classic!

Of course I will be there just about every Sunday for Knitting 911! Bring in your help questions from 2-4 and I will be happy to help you out.

To sign up for any of these classes or any of the other great classes available at Knot Another Hat, call the shop at 541-308-0002 or come on in and visit.

One Last Thing: Knot Another Hat is also going to have a yarn swap October 27th from 11-1. I have been cleaning out my yarn stash in preparation. I'll be offloading some pretty neat yarns. I may even give them away to good homes. Only whole or nearly whole balls allowed and no cash, yarn trades only. RSVP for table space.