Headwind

A friend of mine, Rachel, the lovely lady behind Arbor Twist yarns and designs, was featuring a new hat pattern and needed test knitters.

The hat comes in Beanie or Slouchie, and she was in desperate need of Beanie testers, so I signed up in a heart beat, and was able to use some deep-stash yarn from way back in 2013 when I went to Tennessee.

I'm very happy with it, and it's warm, comfy, and beautiful - what more can a girl ask? I love the pattern - it's so simple to follow but beautiful - and I love the result!


Ravelry Project Page

Stained Glass Blanket - Second Pyramid!

Another pyramid was made for my stained glass blanket! The whole is really coming together, and I couldn't be happier!

Farmer Saffron Socks

Last year, I bought some "Firefly: Serenity Class" yarn in Bounce and Stomp from Nerd Girl Yarns for a pair of Firefly Weave socks for my brother! Well, I also bought a second skein at the same time, for my husband, and I finally got around the making them!

I used the Farmer McDonald socks from Socktopus, which was a pattern well-worth purchasing! I turned it into a toe-up sock, and didn't carry the pattern on to the back because it wouldn't fit over the Mister's heel.

I absolutely love the way the pooling turned out! It was completely un-intentional, but I'm so in love! It's completely different from the other pair!

These will be given to him for Christmas, since he doesn't actually know I finished them!

Ravelry Project Page

Stained Glass Blanket - First Pyramid!

I finally decided to bite the bullet and jump on the cozy memories blanket train.

For those of you that don't know, the "cozy memories" blanket is a fad that is sweeping the knitting world, and the term is a catch-all for mitered-square scrap blankets.

In my case, I decided to make my squares about three inches, and use fingering weight yarn. I also decided to add a little black border between the squares to off-set them, and set them on the bias. I've decided to call this my "Stained Glass" blanket, and I'll be updating you every fifteen squares or so!

Soon, I plan to come out with a tutorial for the process that I'm using, but I'm planning to get through all the steps before I start releasing it.

So far, I have used scraps from:

• Firefly Weave Socks
• Eisregen
• Pickle Harbor Socks
• Waimakiriri Socks
• Birthday Moss Socks
• Accidental Socks
• Rose and Thorn Socks
• Gallifrey Sunset Shawl
• Inara Wrap
• Sweet Nuttins Socks
• Marin Hat
• Razzleberryfest

Ravelry Project Page

Home-made Sponge!

Around the same time that I made the facial pads, I made this sponge.

It uses the same yarn, but it's just a triple layer.

It was a quick crochet, but honestly, I haven't found it to be particularly effective. It just gets really water logged.










Has anyone else had that problem? How did you fix it?

Ravelry Project

More Facial Pads

I wanted a few quick-finish projects, and in an effort to do so AND use up stash, I pulled out some deep stash (almost a decade ago) and whipped up these two cotton facial pads.

I use them for removing my makeup, and I have to say, so far, they're far more soft and comfortable than the ones I made before.

I have definitely become a fan of using cotton for things like this. I'd never used it before, really, and I always thought it felt crispy in my fingers, but (especially after washing) it's so soft once it's worked up.


Ravelry Project: Without Border

Ravelry Project: With Border

Gallifrey Sunset Shawl

There was a Doctor Who themed Knit-a-Long a few months back, and I almost didn't know it was happening until it was over. But as soon as I knew it was happening, I immediately tried desperately to think of something I could do.

That's when I remembered my orange and burnt brown yarns. These are both subtly variegated, and they're beautiful together.

And they remind me of a Gallifrey Sunset.

It's so comfortable. I wear it all the time.

Ravelry Project Page

Portland Plaid Socks

These socks were a quick knit near the middle of June - Portland Plaid socks. The yarn was thicker and sturdy, and I thought they made the perfect summer socks.

These were a free de-stash yarn as well!

I made them in time for my trip back east, and even got to wear them at the Portland Airport Carpet!












Ravelry Project Link

Heather's Mitts

A co-worker of mine saw my October Mitts when I wore them to work, and she asked for a pair of her own, but picked out new colors.  

They turned out very well, although my tension got more even (and therefore smaller) on the second mitt.

Ravelry Project Page

Tuscarora

This was a linen tank that I rushed to finish before I left for Cape Cod at the beginning of the summer, and would you know I left it at a transit point? My parents were able to ship it back to me, but it never even made it to Cape Cod. Ugh.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this top. It's Linen, and it sticks to anything I wear underneath in unflattering ways. It kinda just looks like I'm wearing a bag.

Maybe it'll grow on me? I did knit it from some free, de-stashed Linen that I dyed.

Ravelry Project Page

SM4 - Sweet Nuttins

And Round Four is here! I absolutely love love love these socks! These were my fastest knit in the whole competition, and the pattern was so well written and so beautiful!

This was also deep stash - some leftover yarn from Becca's Shawl.

I knit this in a bigger needle size, because initially I was trying to make them to fit my mom, but they definitely weren't big enough. However, they're a little loose on me. I'm thinking about frogging the toe and increasing the length to give them as a gift for someone else in my family, but I haven't decided. I also haven't worn them, just in case!

Ravelry Project

PS: Round Five will be on hold until December, since it's a gift!

Ben's Birthday Moss Socks

Between rounds three and four of Sock Madness, I somehow had the urge to...knit more socks.

Well, I guess that's a little misleading. I had already knit these socks for my brother, and I had knit them with exactly the same construction of the Firefly socks I had knit him, and then I got a call, literally the night they were blocking, saying he had a few fit problems with those socks.

Don't get me wrong - I'm really glad he called. I would much rather knit him socks that he'll wear, especially since he likes them so much, but the timing was...non-ideal.

Well, during Round Two, I had gone to my Uncle's party, and while there, I tried the socks on his feet for heel alignment. I had already knit toe-up, and the problem area had been the heel, so I tried (for the first time) a toe-up heel flap. I frogged the cuffs, finished the two heels, and then headed home.

In April I got the bug to finish them. They were, after all, supposed to be a March birthday gift. So knitting back the Ramen Yarn, I finished them up and sent them off!

And the best part is? This was deep-stash yarn!

Ravelry Project Page

Yarn Dye Extravaganza!

Image 1

Wanting a distraction from traditional knitting between rounds, I decided to take some old yarn I had, but knew I would never use, and dye it up!

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I honestly can't tell you what dyes I used, since it was essentially me throwing things in a pot and seeing what came out, but I can show you what came out!

Image 3

First, I dyed some white linen yarn (image 3).

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When it first came out of the pot, it looked very red (image 1), so I put it back in for a bit, but it didn't make a difference. However, after the dye dried, it was more of a peachy color (image 4).

Image 5

Image 6

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Next, I dyed four batches of some wool and cotton blend I had gotten from a kickstarter. These were pink (image 5), purple (image 6), blue (image 7) and green (image 8).

Image 8

They turned out much warmer in tone, and more deeply saturated (images 2 and 10). I especially like the green and blue.

And yes, all of these are in Ravelry:
Linen Page
Pink Page
Purple Page
Blue Page
Green Page

Image 10

SM3 - Waimakiriri

Round Three of Sock Madness was tough for me. Really tough. It almost knocked me out. The pattern required a tiny cable to be created for the toe. It then asked you to pick up stitches around, and then continue the cable up the sides of the foot as you knit, and then around the heel and up the leg.

I used Tipsy Sheep yarn in the White Russian colorway, and I can barely get them over my heels! But they do get over the heel, and I did finish them, and I did make it to Round Four!

Ravelry Project

Stitches West 2016 - Haul!

Once again, I spent a wonderful weekend in February at STITCHES West - the local festival for all things fiber related. While I was there, I took a class on custom fitting a sweater, which I really loved. I also hit up the market pretty hard core.

Pictured to the left:
-Amish swift (in bag)
-Ball Winder (in box)
-Black Trillium Fiber Studio Gradient Set in Lilt Sock: Olive
-Black Trillium Fiber Studio Gradient Set in Lilt Sock: Gingersnap
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Russett
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Naked
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Stonewashed x4
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Raisinette
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Romy
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Oyster
-Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply: Taurus
-A Hundred Ravens Iachos: Lothlorien
-Miss Babs Wowza: Corset

MMMHH I CAN'T WAIT!

Bathroom Accessories

While we're on the topic of the bathroom, I thought I'd show you another quick project set I whipped up. Right next to my bathroom sink is a little ledge, and this is where I usually set my makeup brushes to dry after I've washed them. I had some fuzzy yarn to use up, so I crocheted up a quick liner for that area to help the brushes dry.

Ravelry Project: Brush Liner

While I was at it, I also made a little hanging basket. I roll my clothes instead of folding them, and then I put a rubber band around them to keep them rolled. What I love most about this is that I can rustle around in my drawer looking for the exact tank I want without messing up all of the others and leaving it a mess. However, I also end up with a pile of rubber bands as I take them off the clothes I wear. In our current apartment, my closet is right next to the bathroom sink, so I hung the matching basket there to hold those unused rubber bands.

Ravelry Project: Rubber Band Basket

Face Scrubbies

Before I headed off to Christmas, I really wanted a quick project that I could call a success, and so I knit up these cute face scrubbies. I use them at night to take my makeup off, and they're quite useful. I would definitely do this again - but for now, I'm on a rush to get next year's Christmas gifts off the needles, so these are sitting on the wayside.

Ravelry Project

French Braid

As the holidays approached, I was panicked and overcome with the need to finish all of the gifts, but when I noticed that this was the November KAL pattern on the Ravelry Mega-KAL group, I could not pass the opportunity up. I was even able to use stash yarn from my Brantingham Tree Rings blanket!

I was not that difficult of a knit, and I even managed to get through most of the body before we left. After taking a break from it to finish up my brother's Christmas socks, which I had put on hold to do a heel-sizing test on the first one, I got right back on it, and I managed to finish on Christmas itself.

It wasn't blocked, of course, but I still wore it the next day, and while we were grass-sledding, it came in handy for my cousin Anna (very front - and yes, those are sleds being pulled by an ATV). I blocked it the minute we got home, and I've been wearing it ever since.