Dreaming of a White Christmas

I think we are going to get it if it keeps snowing like it has been all day today. I have been super busy putting together the shopping cart for classes for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. (Sign-ups start January 1st!). I have the coding pretty much done and it has been tested. I tweaked it a bit today, so all it needs is to be tested again and then it should be ready for launch! Oh, and for those curious about time, I am thinking Noon PST January 1st, will be the exact time it goes up!

I have been knitting quite a bit more. Only the weather has been so dark I haven't had a good day to photograph in awhile. So, consider this a warm woolly post and catch up!

First up, I finished this scarf for my grandmother for Christmas. It's been blocked and I simply love it. Knot Another Hat has had this pattern knit up in several different yarns over the years and I have admired it for a long time. Now it's my turn to knit one! The pattern is Cable Scarf #112 by Barbara Selesnick (Rav link). The yarn I used was Alpaca with a Twist Highlander in color #0096. There are pluses and minuses to this yarn. On the one hand it is super soft and tweedy, which I really love. On the other hand I wasn't very happy because there was 1 knot in the first skein and at least 4 knots in the second skein. The only positive was I tried out spit splicing (with water) and it worked perfectly, so at least I didn't have to sew in all of those ends!

Next up I knit up an earflap hat and mitts for X. He is definitely going to put it to good use this winter. The hat actually stays on if I loosely tie the ties under his chin too. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in color #9862 Tropical Seas. The pattern for the Earflap Hat (Rav Link) is my pattern Mt Hood Earflap Hat, which is knit top-down.  I find it easier to fit the hat to the right size if it is knit top down. The mitts (rav link) are an adaption from the free pattern by Susan B Anderson for the Spud & Chloe Blog. I had to size them up a bit since the pattern is for a newborn.

Next I knit Blair (rav link) and X matching Turn-A-Square Hats. This was out of the leftovers from the baby hoody I knit X and a ball of Noro Silk Garden Blair picked out while we were in Dublin. I love this pattern so much! It's simple and has been a favorite for every guy I have knit it for. I did adapt the pattern down to a smaller size (specs are on Ravelry) for X, which was really easy.

Lastly, I knit a pair of mitts for Blair (rav link). These are my Hood River Top-Down Mitts. The yarn is my Superwash Worsted in color Columbia River. I actually started and finished the first one at Oregon Flock & Fiber. I started the 2nd one and then got busy with other things. So it was fun to come back to these and finish them off for the cold weather. Blair has been using them while driving to work and he says they keep his hands nice and toasty for the drive.

Production has also slowed down a bit around here since the counter to my skein winder decided to die. After 4 years the little plastic counter arm became brittle and broke. It took some interesting adventures, but I finally ordered one from Fricke and now I am back in business! Look for some updates in the next couple of days (hopefully!!!). I got quite a bit of roving dyed, since I don't need the counter for that!So they should be posted up soon. That's all for now! Happy Knitting!

Ornaments!

This year I really wanted to have a soft tree for the baby. One without delicate glass ornaments. Instead have knitted and soft, unbreakable ornaments. I actually came across this idea a couple of years ago from Yarn Pirate, so it isn't 100% original. I have had lots of fun making ornaments, which knit up super fast. Here are the ones I have completed so far:

 

First up, I received this ornament kit (rav link) from Knot Another Hat at their Holiday Party. It was lots of fun and I enjoyed receiving this little item. It is made from a beaded silk yarn, which was awesome to knit up. Of course X had to add his own touch to it. Does anyone know how to get cookie goobers out of silk?

 

Next up, I purchased this little kit (rav link) last year. It's the Snowman Ornament from Knit/Purl. It was really fun to knit up. I love how adorable it is. The only change I made was I knit my own tiny i-cord nose for it. I was a little afraid that my little guy would accidentally eat the fimo nose that comes in the kit if it was only glued on. This was a quick and easy fix and I feel confident it will stay on with it being sewn on. Also being pretty high up on the tree will help too!

 

Lastly, I knit up these little guys. The patterns are both free on ravelry. It doesn't really give a gauge so I knit mine out of Dale of Norway Baby Ull and Addi #1US needles. They are characters from My Neighbor Totoro. I really love how they turned out. I will say that the little guy (rav link) is a really fun adventure to knit. The bigger one (rav link) is more of a pain that requires quite a bit more concentration than the mother of a 9 month old really has. I do want to knit it again and see if it goes easier the second time. 

I have a couple other things I want to make up, so we shall see if there is time to complete them this year. If not, I have a feeling I'll have a soft tree for a few more years to come, so I can always make them next year!

I have been super busy working on the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. If you would like to help me out with a bit of promotion, check out the thread I started on Ravelry here! Thanks!

Happy December!

It's that time of year again!

Time for FREE SHIPPING! This year I am offering FREE SHIPPING to US & Canada only, since majority of my orders are shipped there. Just my way of giving back for the holiday season!

Also, I have another shop announcement. I have decided to increase the price of my Silky Sock to $32 a skein, however the price change won't go into effect until January 1st. So consider this your blog reader discount! I have also decided to lower the price on my Superwash Sport yarn to $20 per skein. Which has already been changed on the website! So go stock up for the holidays!

Dye Your Own Yarn!

I have put together a little Dye-Your-Own-Yarn Kit!

This is the dye I use everyday for my yarn. It is called One Shot. What makes it so wonderful to work with is you don't have to add anything to the dye other than boiling water. So no vinegar or anything! I love working with it. Each of the kits comes with a set of 1oz bottles of dye in primary colors (blue, yellow, and magenta). Also included is a 1/2 oz bottle of synthrapol (soap) and a skein of yarn of Superwash Sport Yarn. More yarns may be added later. The directions included give a choice of dyeing your yarn a solid color, or (my favorite) rainbow dyeing your yarn! Check them out in the shop! This would make an excellent holiday gift!

New! Copper Leaf Shawl Pin

Plover Designs has a new shawl pin design out just in time for the holidays:

It's a new copper shawl pin with leaf design! I currently have 3 in stock, so if you want this perfect shawl pin for yourself or the loved one in your life, you should act fast! I hope everyone is having fun gearing up for the Thanksgiving this next week!

Baby Hoody

I finished something!

I finished this super cute hoody for X. He has already grown out of the smallest size of the Debbie Bliss Hoody (Rav Link). The pattern is from Special Knits: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies and Toddlers. I knit the 2nd size up, but with the 3rd size length. X is long and skinny, so hopefully this hoody will last him a long time. It sure is nice to just slip it on and go. I started it on our flight to Dublin and I finished a couple weeks after we got back, quick and easy. I knit it out of Cascade 220 Superwash Quattro in color #1929 Long Beach.

Hopefully I will be back soon. I have been super busy signing up vendors for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival!!! There still are a few spaces left, so if you have thought about being a vendor, make sure to get your application in soon! Thanks!

Happy November!

I have decided to extend the $10 yarn sale through the end of November!

There is still lots of good yarn available, like this California Poppy Alpaca Lace! The perfect thing to brighten up those rainy fall days. Also lots of yarn good for getting a head start on those holiday projects! I may be adding more over the next few days, so make sure to check it out!

Dublin, Ireland

I finally got all of our photos together from our trip:



I hope you enjoy looking through them! We had a great trip! We hope to go back again someday! (If you click on the slide show it will take you to the album with captions for each photo)

OFFF & Valencia

Ok, I am going to get caught up a little at a time. First off, here is the booth at Oregon Flock & Fiber:

As you can see it is packed with lots of yarn and goodies. It was loads of fun, as usual. Only Sunday it poured down rain on us, which is a first for this show. Still it was lots of fun to see everyone and hang out with Donna and Chrissy of Gardiner Yarn Works.

The Thursday before OFFF I finished the Valencia Sweater! Perfect timing since setup was on Friday. This is the front as modeled by Maud. It turned out a little big on me. I probably should have stuck with the smaller size, since the ribbing gives it lots of room. I might just need to knit another one of these to find out! Maud is also sporting the Farmers Market Bag also by Gardiner Yarn Works. A perfect accent to the sweater in my opinion.

The back of the Valencia sweater has another twisting cable pattern, which is much easier than it looks. You can see it puckers a little at the top of the cable. That's because I didn't have enough time to block it before the show. Now that I have washed it that part lays flat. I really loved knitting this sweater. I love that it is all in one piece, including the cap sleeves. The pattern is well written and a joy to knit!

As a reminder, the $10 or less yarn sale extravaganza is still going on in the shop! This includes many favorites including Silky Sock yarn, Twist, Wool Singles, and more! It's perfect for the holidays, which are right around the corner. Make sure you check it out!

Big Fall Sale!

So while I was traveling I thought a lot about my shop. I have decided to have a big clearance sale. I really want to try out some new yarns and fibers, but that means clearing out some other yarn. 

So, I thought it would be awesome to have a huge sale, with big discounts! Select Yarn for $10 or less! Patterns for $1. Plus more stuff! You can check it out on the Sale Page of the Shop!

Also, don't forget if you purchase 4 or more items you get free shipping in the US and Canada! 5 or more items for free shipping everywhere else. This includes sale items and patterns. Enjoy!

Home!

I'm home! Just to let you guys all know. I'll write more shortly. Just a quick post to say I am back and as soon as I get caught up on some things I'll try posting about what I have been up to!

Oregon Flock & Fiber

Just a little note to say that they moved the food vendors this year off to the side of the lawn. So if you are looking for me I still have a booth on the lawn, only in a slightly different spot. My booth is next to Gardiner Yarn Works, which is next to the picnic tables.

The booth is all setup and I'm super excited to see everyone tomorrow!

Fabric Dyer's Dictionary

I just got a new book and I'm really excited about it:

 

It is Fabric Dyer's Dictionary. What I love about it is it puts together pretty much every combination of color for dyeing fabric. True it is for dyeing cotton and other plant fibers, but I still can see a use for it as a jumping off point for dyeing wool. At the very least it is totally inspirational. I can tell the author put a lot of work into this book. She gives recipes for how much dye to use to dye a quarter of a yard up to a full yard of fabric. Recipes which she has tried out herself! When I was in college taking surface design classes this would have been a life-saver. As it is, I have it now and can't wait to put it to good use!

For those of you using a reader you probably haven't noticed I changed the layout a bit! Just a bit of a spruce up to make things look a little more stream-lined. I now can use a bunch of blogger widgets, which also makes me super happy!

Also remember this is your last weekend to order from the shop before Oregon Flock and Fiber! For local people, I will see you at OFFF!

Hood River Top-Down Mitts

I have been thinking for some time that it would be really cool if there was a pattern for mitts which went top-down. No more wasted bits of yarn and what a super awesome way to use up every bit of that super special yarn, like malabrigo or something with cashmere. Mmm... After all you can just keep knitting until you reach then end of your yarn or the desired length.


So around Christmas I designed these mitts and sent off the pattern to Gardiner Yarn Works. They were in too late for the January release, so they were put off for a later release. After designing a pattern it has to be reformatted, tech edited, test knit, and then sample knit. These are my original prototypes. The light blue is Malabrigo, which I need to finish up for myself. The black is out of Cascade 220 Superwash and was a pair for a husband of a friend for Christmas. I intentionally made the pattern so it would fit pretty much everyone. The ribbing makes it pretty stretchy! I love how snuggly and warm these mitts are!


Recently I finished these up for the son of a friend of ours. They will be tucked safely away for Christmas. They are a smaller size than the pattern as written, but if there is enough requests then I'll create a child version as well. Wouldn't they be cute for baby X? I think so.

I should also mention that the shorter version is made for a 50 gram ball of worsted weight yarn (about 110 yards) and the opera glove length is made for a 100 gram ball of worsted weight yarn (about 250 yards). Of course you can make them as short or as long as you like! You can find the pattern for sale here in the shop or on Ravelry!

Also available: Plus! Sizes for Sea Breeze and Valencia!

Dice Bag!

I took a tiny break from my Valencia Sweater to knit up a quick gift for a friend's birthday. Since her party was last night, I can now share it with you:


It's a Call of Cthulhu dice bag (Rav link). It was definitely a big hit with my gaming friend. I also got some big hints from some of my other friends that they wouldn't mind being the owner of a similar bag. We'll see...maybe Christmas =). Anyway, the pattern is a free one, which you can find here! I did modify it a little bit. The gauge for the project was a bit tighter than I knit so I knit the body of it on US6s, but I thought that would be too tight for the colorwork so I knit that part on US8s. I would have possibly used US7s, but for some odd reason I don't own any. The yarn was from my stash. I used Nashua Superwash in Olive and Cascade 220 Superwash in Black. I think it worked out perfectly. The only other thing I changed was the top and bottom colorwork border. I had the green go every other stitch instead of every 4th, because I wanted it to end evenly. One of those personal preferences. I'm sure you will see what I mean if you knit the pattern yourself. Overall a very fun and quick gift to knit for one of the gamers in my life. =)

Pansy Patch Revisited

Ok, I have a little backstory to the yarn I am presenting today. A couple of years ago I had somebody order yarn in colors I wouldn't have personally put together. However, figuring that the customer knew what they wanted I went ahead and dyed up the order. Upon receiving the order the customer then returned all of it because they didn't like it, which made me very sad. Thankfully I was able to put most of it in the sale bin and clear it all out. The last bit of it was this lovely Pansy Patch on Alpaca Lace:

The colorway is happy and springy and the yarn is simply wonderful, being 100% alpaca. However, the 2 together are simply awful. No amount of discounting made this yarn appealing. So I was looking at it and I thought what it really needs is to be overdyed. I wonder what would happen if I overdyed it with blue? I figured I had nothing to lose, and at the very worst I could overdye it all black if it came out awful. Here are the results:


Now that is more like it! These colors fit much better with the yarn and would look lovely knit into a lace shawl. There are 3 skeins, which I have kept at the sale price, as a limited edition colorway. They are available here! If they haven't sold I'll have them at Oregon Flock & Fiber.

Speaking of which, between Oregon Flock & Fiber and our trip to Ireland I am going to be pretty busy. So any order made between September 23rd and October 17th will be shipped out October 18th. There is plenty of time between here and there to get your orders in. The shop is pretty well stocked and I'm adding more everyday!

Valencia Progress

I am almost to the sleeves on my Valencia! I am so proud! I love this sweater!


This is the front. I decided not to do the waist shaping, since it is so heavily ribbed. I really want to make sure it fits and this way it definitely will!


This is the cable up the back. I also love that since the yarn is my handpainted superwash worsted each ball is a tiny bit different. So the first one was very purple and the second one has a bit more blue in it. I like that it looks on purpose as it shifts in color.

I can't wait to get it all done and then try it on. I might even get a photo up here with me wearing it, instead of Maud. We'll see, I make no promises.

Summer Sky

Wow! This week has been a busy one. On top of the normal busyness my husband dropped that we might be traveling to Dublin, Ireland sometime this fall. So a slight panic happened as we both tried to figure out details like passports and such. I, of course, have been spending my time looking up things like yarn shops and good place to eat while over there. We won't have the final ok until next week, but I am still pretty excited about the possibility.

Ok, so onto shop news:

I have been able to put baby X into the baby bjorn and dye yarn. There are lots of new additions all over the shop, but I thought I would point this one out especially. This is the Tencel Sock Yarn in Summer Sky, which I knit the Birch Scarf out of a couple of months ago. I weighed the scarf and it came in at literally 2 grams under the weight of a regular skein, meaning that only one skein of this lovely yarn will make one lovely Birch scarf. You can find the pattern for sale in the shop here too.

I also have it dyed up just in time for Oregon Flock and Fiber! I will definitely be there with the lovely ladies from Gardiner Yarn Works. I am so looking forward to it!

4 Looms 4 Sale!

I am finally clearing out my looms! Funny how with opening a yarn dyeing business, taking up a lot more knitting, not to mention having a kid, means there is no time to weave any more. To give a little back story, in college my major was Fibers & Business. A great many of my Fibers classes were in weaving, so of course I had to have a loom of my own and more! These looms have followed me since college, and I think it is finally time to make room for other things. I have up them all up on ebay, with most of them having local delivery, I'll explain below. So here goes:

This beautiful loom is a Lillstina, which was made intentionally for rug weaving. It has all string heddles, which are super gentle on fibers of all kinds. I love that it is tough enough to weave a rug but gentle enough to weave a lace placemat as well. It has 8-shafts and is a table loom with legs. It can come apart in pieces for storage and transport. It and a variety of accessories are for sale here!


Next up is a 4-shaft table loom which belonged to my grandmother. I inherited it when she moved into a retirement home. I can't find a sticker on it anywhere naming what kind of brand or where she got it from, so it is a mystery to me. I do know she wove very nice table runners, scarves, and tapestries on it. It and a variety of accessories are available here!


This was also my grandmother's and I also inherited it when she moved into her retirement home. I actually never learned to weave on an inkle loom. I remember my grandmother trying to show me, but I think I only made a mess of it. I know there are plenty of resources online for how to use one, so if someone had the time I'm sure it would be easy enough to figure out. It also includes a shuttle and hand beater. It is also the only loom I'm willing to ship, because of its compact size. It is for sale here!


Lastly this is a handmade tapestry loom. My grandmother was part of a local weaving guild and they did all sorts of interesting projects. One of them was to make their own tapestry looms. I think my grandmother didn't make one because she already had the table loom. One of her friends did make one. Though she passed away 10+ years ago, when I inherited it. I haven't done any weaving on it. The weaving there is the original it came with. It is very sturdy and well made. It comes with a shuttle which makes the shed for the weaving. Pretty cool overall. It is for sale here.

Dishwasher

So, keeping with the theme of home improvements, we got a new dishwasher!


Not exactly a planned expense, but a necessary one. As my husband put it, we had just settled on getting a new washer & dryer when the dishwasher thought otherwise. Blair was doing dishes on Saturday and realized that the load from the night before hadn't run. He thought at first that maybe the timer hadn't worked, so he started it again. It sounded kinda weird. We could hear the pump, but not any water swishing around. He checked and sure enough, no water. We aren't entirely sure what went wrong with it, but since we had already spent money on a new part for it before, we decided its time had come. So I got onto Consumer Reports (which is worth every penny) and did research while Blair made breakfast. We called up Sears and ordered a new one that needed to be picked up in Portland. We called up my parents, who thankfully were willing to come and help us! Yay!

Oh, and when we went to take the old dishwasher out we learned that it wasn't properly grounded. Let's just say water + electricity = bad. My dad is an electrician, so thankfully the new one is now properly installed. The new one is in the photo above. We love it! It is a Kenmore 1374, just in case you are in the market for a new dishwasher. It's much quieter than our old one and has all the nifty features to keep my techie husband happy. Overall we are much much happier with the upgrade to our kitchen!

Shelves

This weekend we spent some time on a home improvement project:


Blair did most of the work, while I handed him things and carried the baby in the baby bjorn. I am just so proud of these shelves. Neither one of us are super handy, so this was a big accomplishment!

Valencia KAL

So, I have been doing some knitting, in between contacting instructors for the CGFF, putting together promotional items for Chrissy's CSK, and taking care of a 4 1/2 month old who is starting to teeth. Ah, life is exciting. Anyway, on to the knitting!

I started with recovering the yarn from this sweater. I wasn't happy with the sweater from about the time I knit it. I mistakenly knit the wrong size. Also I tried switching yarn back and forth to avoid pooling or stripes with my handpainted yarn. It didn't end up pooling, but it did end up making this line where I switched balls of yarn, right down the front of it, which drove me a little crazy. So, what's the point in owning a sweater you are never going to wear? Well, my solution is to rip it and start over with the yarn! The yarn is my Superwash Worsted in color Sugarplum Fairy.

I decided I wanted to knit the new sweater by Gardiner Yarn Works, called Valencia. Which always reminds me of the song by the same name by the Decemberists. This is the back of the sweater.


This is the front of the sweater. This is one repeat of the cable pattern. At this point I put it on very long needles and tried it on. I found it was too small, so ripped out and tried again. The trick with this sweater is it has a lot of negative ease so it will be form fitting. I somehow lied to myself and thought the second to the last size would somehow magically fit with 10+ inches of negative ease, even though the pattern very distinctly shows it being worn at 8 inches. Silly me, so I ripped this one and knit the largest size, which has about 6 inches of negative ease. I am actually past this point on the second try. This top knits up so fast and so far has been a lot of fun! I just haven't quite had time to photograph it.

Anyway, at this point I came across a couple of other people on the Gardiner Yarn Works group on Ravelry who wanted to have a knit-a-long for the sweater. So I have decided to join them since I'm already knitting it myself. Chrissy even pops in occasionally to answer questions and give advice. So if you want to knit one too, make sure to check out the group on Ravelry. I am sure I'm going to learn a lot while knitting this one!

Plover Shawl Pins

I wanted to share these new Shawl Pins by Plover Designs:

Each one has a completely unique glass bead in the center, making each one a one-of-a-kind piece of art! I had a hard time deciding, but I picked out 2 copper pins and 2 aluminum for the shop! Check them out before they are gone!

CGFF

I have been very busy lately and here is why! I'v been doing a lot of the background work to put this little festival together! I am so excited to say that I now have a website up and a ravelry group! So if you are interested in being a teacher, a vendor, a student, or just adding your input, make sure to check them both out! The festival will be April 16th & 17th, 2011!

Inca Hat

Here is the second hat I knit for my little guy:


This was a really fun knit. I'm calling this the Inca Hat (rav link) because it is made from Organic Inca Cotton. The brim is Ur and the main part is Desert. The pattern is Fiber Trends Becca Joe's Cap. In the picture for the pattern it totally looks like a girls hat, including a big flower for the brim. I just knit it plain and, of course, left out the big flower. I think it is simply adorable and perfect for keeping the sun out of my baby's eyes.

Whale of a Hat!

Ok, I have a few minutes to breath and write a blog post! 4th of July was awesome! It's our first in our new home, so I wasn't sure how it would go. It was great! I already have plans for next year. X was awesome too. He slept right through the big booming fireworks and barely fussed during the whole day!


Anyway, now that the 4th is over and I have mostly recovered from Black Sheep, I can get caught up on my knitting on here. I made this hat for X (rav link) because it was near impossible to find him a sun hat. I used the leftover Tencel Sock Yarn in Summer Sky (from my Birch Scarf) doubled to make this hat. I really like this trick. If you have lots of sock yarn you can double it and substitute it for worsted weight yarn, which is perfect for a quick baby hat! The pattern is FiberTrends Whales & Sails hat. As you can see it is a bit big on him, but that means he can grow into it over the summer. I plan on making him the Sails hat for next summer. I also made him another hat I'll show you soon and finally found one at Old Navy. So he will have lots of options over the summer!

Happy July!

June is such a busy month, I nearly forgot about July's special. However, I did remember! No amount of post-BSG inventory, my wedding anniversary, or plans for a 4th of July bbq could stand in the way! ha ha!


Anyway, onto July's Special! I want to introduce these wonderful New! Infinity Stitch Markers made by my good friend Donna's husband Colin Boyce of Plover Designs. Donna shared the booth with me at Black Sheep, representing both Gardiner Yarn Works and Plover Designs. She got me totally hooked on these new stitch markers.

Want to know what's so special about them? Well, they are duel purpose! One side fits needles up to size 7US and the other side fits needles up to size 10US. How cool is that? I just love them! They come in a wide variety of colors. The ones I got for the shop are black, blue, clear, green, pink, purple, red, and yellow opalescent. Of course I love them all, so definitely check them out!

Black Sheep Gathering

I finally have everything updated on the website post-BSG. It was a busy show! Lots of things sold, which means I need to get back to dyeing to fill the website up again. Also, I need to get ready for Oregon Flock & Fiber in September! It also means I am now taking custom orders again! Yay!


Here is a picture of part of the booth. The weather was intermittently wet and sunny, so I kept putting off taking a picture. Blair finally took about 4 pictures on the last day when the battery died. I'm thankful we got this one! Overall the show went pretty well, but I did manage to get sun burned and have wet feet all at the same time down there. I think next year we will try for a space inside.

X really enjoyed the show too. Didn't manage a photo of him, but there is a photo on The Blue Moon Blog on this post down at the bottom! Really I think it's so cool that Tina got a photo of the both of us! Also carrying a baby around is very good for the pocketbook! I could only look and chat while holding him. Overall we had a lot of fun and I can't wait for next year!

Kirby's Epic Yarn

I just had to share this:

http://e3.nintendo.com/wii/game/?g=kirby

I wish I could embed the video right here, but no such luck. However if you are a yarn fan and a Kirby fan you will totally love this! I definitely am looking forward to it coming out!

Indie Sock

I'm so excited that Chrissy just announced her new book:


Indie Socks! What is even cooler is she is starting a pattern club that will release some of the patterns before the book is even released! You can check out more details on the Indie Socks website! So, why am I so excited about it? Well, if you scroll down on her website, you will see the skein of yarn I designed for the book! I have no idea if the pattern for my yarn will be one of the ones released early or if it will come out with the book. I just saw the picture and had to share! Yay!

Birch Scarf

I'm always amazed how blocking can make a lace scarf go from this:


to this:



All neat and pretty and happy! I love blocking lace! I also love entrelac, and this scarf is where those two loves meet! The pattern is Gardiner Yarn Works Birch (rav link), by Chrissy Gardiner. The pattern features 3 sizes, scarf, stole, or shawl. I chose to knit the scarf size as a booth sample for Black Sheep Gathering. I think it will look really pretty on display.


The yarn is my Tencel Sock yarn in color Summer Sky. It took less than a single skein to knit up the whole scarf, which is 7" x 60". A pretty ample scarf in my opinion. It was definitely a fun knit. I loved knitting it because I could get a square done while X was napping or a triangle done in the evening. A little here and a little there and I have a whole scarf knit in no time!

I actually dyed some oddball leftovers I had to make this. I think I had a skein and a half between 2 balls and this only used up one of the balls. I was so happy to have leftovers of this pretty yarn that I made X a summer hat. I'll post about that next time! Until then, happy knitting!

Handspun: Tulip Garden

I haven't had too much time to knit since X was born. Although I have finished 2 projects in the last week or so! I'll share just as soon as it stops raining long enough for me to get a good picture. What I have been able to do is spin, just a little bit at a time. So I present: Tulip Garden:

It reminds me of bright pink tulips springing up in a mass of greenery. Definitely a happy spring yarn to chase away the winter grays! I know it would be perfect for a hat or a pair of mitts.

The yarn is 100% Blue-Faced Leicester (BFL). It was handpainted by me before it was spun. There is 4oz (112 grams) and 130 yards. Recommended needle size: 6-8US. It is for sale in my shop here!