The Power of Rainbows

I kept on with the rainbow theme and made a headband.  I wouldn't normally make a steeked headband but it's actually the perfect size for a steeking sample. I should also be able to put together kits really easily for classes, so that's a plus.  I'll do another one soon in 2 colors for the more traditional crowd.  It's drying now, and it needs buttons but it should be ready to go to Greenwood in time for Roving Indiana as a shop sample.  Huzzah!  I also had a shop in Ohio contact me about a trunk show and a Fair Isle class because I had posted this on Instagram in several stages of completion- so Huzzah again!

Below the rainbow headband you might recognize....another sock. I did finish the second highly ribbed sock and have already worn it several times.  It's in the wash now with it's friends.  I assure, it looks just like a sock.  This particular sock yarn is more of the stash that's growing vintage. The brand is called Cheval Blanc and it's 75% superwash merino, 25% nylon.  It is a lovely melange of blues and I picked it up on my most recent trip to Paris, which wasn't recent at all (Maybe 5 years? 6?).  Anyhow, it's working up a lot like Regia and I look forward to my new blue workhorse socks. I mostly casted them on because I needed a small project for....

My trip to Florida!!! Tomorrow afternoon Bike Boy, the Spawn and I are jumping on an airplane here and debarking in warmer weather. My parents live in Sarasota so it's a wonderfully low-key trip and the only real planning is the plane ticket purchase. Hubster is actually coming back a few days earlier than I am since I work remotely and he doesn't, but the baby will stay with me in FL for the extra time where she will be spoiled rotten by my parents.

My other Florida project is this!  The picture isn't ideal.  It's a handpainted (by me) navy blue lace yarn and the pattern is called High Desert or something- it's a Romi Hill design.  My bestie picked it out as her wedding gift, which is in October but I'd feel better finishing the shawl closer to April. I have several other big wedding gifts to do this year, and probably several big baby shower gifts to do next year since that seems to be the pattern lately.

I really don't have a lot else going on.  I'm working a lot.  Bike Boy is working a lot.  Tia is drooling excessively and has started pulling up on the storage ottoman and kind of walking around it a bit.  I dread the day that she discovers that it opens, and I will find my good quilting fabrics all over the living room.  Oh well, as long as it's fabric and not bleach or something, it's really not that bad.

Oh! Part of my "working a lot" is finishing up some old patterns that are stuck somewhere in the editing and documentation process.  The first is Tormund, named after one of my very favorite Game of Thrones characters since he's redheaded and always covered in snowflakes. Here it is!

And if you want more information or would like the pattern, you can find that here.

I have a cowl and hat kit that was designed for Wooly Workshop, and that will be available after Wooly Workshop is finished (the week of Feb 12th).  I have a shawl in 2 colors that's in the final stages of test-knitting, and I'm extremely excited about that one, and I have a colorwork baby cardigan called Wee Celt that needs a tiny bit of tweaking on the yoke math and then a nice photo session, but that should be available too sometime soonish.  It will be so nice to have these off my desk and out in the world!

Ciao for now! 

The Dawning of the Gauge of Aquarius

Ask, and you shall receive. 

Two days ago I had a minor heart flutter as I realized I was about 2 inches of sock away from having 1 knitting project.  I have so much respect for monogamous knitters (only one project at a time), but guys- I just can't do it myself.  I need to feel needed by the masses. 

Okay, it's more like having a project for every situation.  There's a purse project.  A low light project.  A brain tickling project.  Those back burner projects. And I'm down to 1 back burner sweater and a nearly finished second sock.  But there's nothing I love enough to start right now.

So I asked the interwebz what I should make.  I had several legitimate suggestions, but still no inspiration.  

The next day I got a call from a yarn shop here in town asking if I would teach another fair isle + steeking class.  And that got the wheels turning.

I won't give too many specifics, but I swatched.  I've had this concept bumping around in my brain for about a year now, but I always envisioned it as a sweater.  Last night, it spoke to me in a shawl form.  Well, a very small swatch, but if the shop owner is on board, then I'll make it a shawl.

If she's not on board, I'll make a shawl anyway but not teach in her shop. I think it would be super fun to have as a kit for sale at yarn shows.

At this point in time, it is called the Gauge Of Aquarius and it is rainbow fabulous.

And socks.... nearly there!

I took today's Tia nap opportunity to finally weave in those whopping 3 ends on Brooke's shawl and take it outside for some glamour shots.  It's not -10 like it was all last week, but I wasn't hanging out too long, so there's only a couple decent pictures.  But it's done, and I will give it to her tomorrow or Thursday and have it off my plate forever. 

Do you remember those stretchy bands that came in potholder kits?  I believe those were my very first craft obsession and they paved the way for life as a capital K Knitter. I was at a yarn show last year or the year before- I think it was somewhere in Texas- and they were selling the metal potholder frames and wool bands that had been dyed by hand.  I must have been feeling nostalgic, because I bought enough to make 5 potholders. I made 1 right away and was kind of over it- the wool bands are much thicker than the acrylic ones and it was a bit of a struggle to get those last few rows in there. But I made one.  And then Gavin made one when he was in the hospital for ACL surgery. And then the other 3 kits got thrown in with the sock stash for some reason.

Then I was snooping around on Ravelry and I saw someone making potholders with the Sugar & Cream cotton on a potholder frame.  And then I remembered that I now own a nice metal frame.  And then those 3 kits were hanging out with it...and I made a potholder.  And then I made a second potholder, but the yellow bands keep breaking and I'm highly annoyed with the second.  There is one more kit, but I'm just really annoyed that I paid $8 for a potholder's worth of wool bands and they keep breaking. Argh! But here's the one I made the other day before things started snapping mid-weave.  Kind of cute, huh?

All for now.  I have a knitter in England who keeps e-mailing me asking about an unpublished pattern.  So I should probably work on that....

Toodle-oo!

 

2018: I made it!

Hello and happy 2018.  I hope yours is happy, healthy, and prosperous. I hope the same for mine.

Our Christmas was excellent.  Both of the knitted gifts were well received.  This is somehow the only photograph I got though...
It is a Red Wings hat that my hubby doodled in my scribble book a couple years ago and even named the yarns and colors he wanted, and then totally forgot about.  So, drawing short on cash and ideas, I knitted him this hat while I was in London in October. Totally stealth.  He loved it.  It's something I made up and those damn charts were nearly the death of me- at least they finished off my sanity. But after 4 false starts it turned out really well and he and I are both happy with it.  He immediately asked if I would make another for Tia. No. Never again.

My mom seemed to like her feather and fan scarf I made her, but I didn't get any pictures of it.  I really didn't take that many pictures, I spent most of the day trying not to let Tia eat the wrapping paper.  We all had a very merry Christmas and woke up 2 days later with a nasty cold. All of us.

So the past few days we've quarantined ourselves at home to be kind to the not sick people out there, and because it has been extremely cold and I just don't feel like leaving the house. Which has been really awesome for my finished project count!  I'm starting 2018 with the lowest project count I've had in years.  I actually feel a little naked.

So there's been....

A quilt for Project Linus. It's a bunch of 4" square scraps that are mostly leftover from my king sized quilt on my bed, but there's a few other random project scraps in there too.  I had no idea what to back it with, so I found some fabric that looks like it belongs in a comic book, and I bought the whole bolt.  It was on sale, and I'll use it to back several other baby boy quilts.  No regrets.  I've contacted the lady who organized drop-offs for Project Linus in my county, but it's been several days and I can't get her to return my calls.  I have another, smaller quilt to go to Linus too.

The Noah quilt. I've been slacking on this one- I think Noah is  like 4 months old now. It's a bunch of random Dr. Seuss fabrics.  No measuring (though I probably should have), just quick piecing.  I put the top together during a long Tia-nap, and then pieced together a bunch of scrap batting to fill it with.  Then I got side tracked and put it to the side for a couple weeks, but I finished the binding yesterday, threw it in the wash today (because I had lots of feline assistance) and will mail it to Noah's mom tomorrow.  Done!  I keep Dr. Seuss fabric on hand and buy a little every time I see it (which hasn't been in a while come to think of it) because it's so fun for little boy quilts.  I need to make 3 more for upcoming baby boys, and a little girl quilt too.  If I haven't lost steam by then, I'll try to make one or two for the gift stash pile.  I even added Noah's name in the upper right corner on this one- one of the perks of crafting for babies that are already here and named!

I finished the red wedding shawl!!! Okay I still need to weave in the ends, but I'm thrilled to have this beast done with. I ended up adding triple the border than I originally intended, but I'm glad I did, it looked too small after the first border section and I had tons of yarn left- it felt sinful to waste yarn I paid retail for.  It's blocking on my crazy guest room quilt right now, but I'll try to get outside and get some pictures of it in the snow before I give it to the bride.  Wedding is in March- so I'm golden. Now on to the other 4 wedding gifts for this year...oyyyyy.

And lastly, I finished a cowl that I'm designing for Winter Wooly Weekend next month.  I made the hat a few months ago but I felt like it should be part of a set, and I'm hoping to sell twice as much yarn since there's a matching cowl to go with it (fingers crossed!). I have the pattern written on paper, but need to get it in a document and then test-knitted and have the cowl photographed before the workshop, which is February 9-11.  By the way, if you're interested in attending Winter Wooly Weekend- holler! It's in southern Indiana and there's a few spaces left.  It's $250 for the weekend if you're staying on site, or $180 if you're staying elsewhere at night.  It's really fun, and it's a really great deal for all the food, lodging, classes and supplies you get. Definitely my favorite knitting event of the year. Bags are little stitch marker kits that go with the hat pattern. Need to make 40 more of those soon. 

So with all the finished projects of the past few weeks, my current projects list includes...

1.  Knitted sock (part 2)
2.  Gramps cardigan (need to figure out where I left off)- also knitting
3.  Kraken cross stitching
4.  Tia's baby quilt that keeps getting bigger

I think that's it actually.  I have a couple projects in deep hibernation, but they'll probably stay that way until I get all the wedding and baby gifts done.  I can't remember the last time I could count ALL my projects on one hand.  Frankly it's unnerving.

And here's the list of design projects that I would LOVE to finish by the end of January to get them off my desk...

1.  Tormund- fair isle baby sweater. Needs oodles of resizing math.
2.  Wee Celt- fair isle baby sweater.  Needs something, can't put my finger on it.
3.  Vicissitude Shawlette- needs math on part 4 and total reformatting. I designed it for a knit-along organized by some local yarn shops.  They NEEDED it done a year ago.  So it's done...and has been...but they won't return my calls or e-mails on when this knit-along might be happening.  If I can't get an answer by March, I'm putting together kits and going rogue.
4. Cable Me That Cowl- the reddish cowl above.  Hat pattern is done and proofed and good to go.

I might be escaping the cold for a bit towards the end of January and visiting my parents in Sarasota.  In which case I will have to finish a bunch of designs and Wooly workshop projects BEFORE I go (not unreasonable) and then start a fresh project! Because hey- vacay knitting means I get to play with something new.

Happy New Year!!!!