FO Friday: Kismet Clapotis

Lovely, LovELY, LOVELY Project!!!

The three reasons why I LOVED knitting this shawl are:

1. The design is genius and so fun to knit.

2. Since I was able to download the spreadsheet for this pattern, keeping track of where I was and how many stitches should be on my needles at the end of ANY row was extremely easy and helpful.

3. The beautiful yarn that I used was special, not only because it's very vibrant, colorful and oh-so-soft, but because it was given to me by such a special friend, Heather, for my birthday this year.



DETAILS:

Pattern: Kate Gilbert's Clapotis from Knitty.com.
Yarn: Sereknity's DK Merino/Tussah Silk, colorway Kismet. Approx. 800-850 yards.
Needle: Addi Natura circular, size US 8.
Dimensions: Unblocked: 20" by 75"
Alterations: I knitted the stitches somewhat loosely and I also added two extra repeats in the straight section, Section 3. Other than that, I followed the pattern exactly.
Time: Started September 19th. Finished October 10, 2008.
Fun Level: A! I would start another one immediately if I had the yarn I wanted. My next one will be in a finer yarn- in black with either some mohair, angora or silk in it. I loved knitting this and I was able to bring it anywhere to work on it. It's really easy to follow with the chart.



Not much more to say, because the whole project was just simply wonderful from start to finish.

Do you like it as much as I do???

Birthday Yarn for Jackie

Last year, for Jackie's birthday, I had the inspiration to spin her some handspun yarn as a gift. I'd just bought some beautiful alpaca/merino/angelina batts from Loop (in the Lavender Mint Tea colorway) and Jackie had mentioned how much she liked the color. So....I thought, since I had time, and Jackie is totally worth it, I'll spin it up for her.

Come to find out, it was the BEST spinning I'd ever done (probably because I was thinking such lovely, friendly thoughts at the time) and the finest yarn (in wpi - wraps per inch) that I'd ever made. It came out to a fingering weight, 2 ply yarn that was perfectly balanced (that only happens to me 1/3 of the time....I tend to overspin and underply) - it was a MIRACLE!

She loved the yarn (which made me soo happy), knit something almost immediately with it (The Montego Bay Scarf....which made me even happier) and then even wore the scarf a lot (which caused me to have gleeful, handspun-ery hallucinations)!!!

To see this yarn, go here to my Flickr account. It's the last pic in the left hand column.

Fast forward a year....

And Jackie's birthday was coming up quickly. Having recently purchased some Spritely Goods fiber - which was HIGHLY recommended by the Spinning Goddess Cayli - I thought....this is perfect for another Birthday Spin.

So, I frantically used all my spare time (that I wasn't cleaning, cooking, working or with the kids) to spin this yarn. I didn't knit all those days....eeek! The fiber (a luscious mix of soft merino, angelina and firestar) was a dream to spin and the color truly cheered me on....she calls it, "Globe Mallow"...and it's a limited edition colorway. I'm SO glad that I picked it up. It was wonderful.

So, here's what I did:

Step 1: Take pics of fiber BEFORE ripping open.



and a close up:



Step 2: Draft Fibers (30 minutes).



Step 3: Spin on my Ashford Joy (5 hours total...not all in one day)



Step 4: Take WPI gauge before Plying...28.



Step 5: Ply (3 hours), Soak (overnight), and Dry. Take Picture of Finished Yarn (over 300 yards).



And then, I decided to rename the yarn, since it had a different (but lovely) look and color after finishing. It was inspired by jokes I overheard Tim and Ben saying to each other while I was spinning:

"Cantaloupe-I'm Already Married!"

I can only hope that Jackie likes this yarn half as much as last year's. I'm dying to see what she'll knit up with it.

And I'm trying to decide (early) what I'll spin for her NEXT year!

Can I sleep now? (zzzzzzz..........)

FO Friday: Ian's Mug Cozy

Though I'm still in the process of trying to finish up 3 other ufo's at the moment, this one was a "Lovely Interruption Knitting Event"...or LIKE. One of those little knitted items that you just can't pass up knitting, even though you have a deadline of many other ufos.

I knitted this for Ian, who is a caffeine addict and who LOVES his coffee in the morning. Me...I'm more the opposite of a caffeine addict. It's like saying, "Hmmm....I haven't had anyone talk to me at 100 words per second before and I'm horribly bored, so I think I'll give Gina some coffee." Yup...exactly like that. Right, Laurin?

DETAILS:

Pattern: Garter Mug Cozies by Cathy Carron, Interweave Holiday Gifts 2007, Page 88.
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash, colorway Dublin
Needle size: US 7, magic loop
Time: Half a day, on and off
Happiness Level: 4 out of 5 hearts....it was super easy, makes a great cozy, and the yarn is very soft. Ian really likes it.

Here is a close up of the side, where the handle is:



Before I head out to pick up the little guy from PreK, I want to share a pic of him (in his new Spiderman costume and haircut) when I told him how many UFOs I had. He was utterly shocked!



Hope I'll see some of you at Yarn and Fiber Co. tonight!!

FO Friday: Sleepy Eyes "Tipsy Socks" pattern!

So, what do you think? My first REAL Sleepy Eyes pattern in .pdf form. Here are the details:

Title: Tipsy Socks
Yarn: Sereknity Sock Options sportweight, 100% superwash merino, 1 skein (246 yards)
Colorway: Pretty in Punk
Needle Size: US 3 [I used (2) Knit Picks Classic 24" circs]
Price: FREEEEEEE!

How can you get this pattern?

Two ways:

1. Go to Sereknity and download there... and also buying a luscious skein of the lovely Heather's sportweight sock yarn.

2. Click on the picture below:

Here is a close up of the "Tipsy" slip stitch pattern:



Here is the finished sock on my footsie:



When you make a pair, PLEASE email me a pic and I will add you to the Tipsy Sock Gallery. Speaking of galleries, did you see the Radiance Lace Headband Gallery? Check on the right side bar. If you've bought my pattern, you could be the next one up!!

Podcasting Update:

I will be putting out the podcast on the 30th, so please keep an eye out for it. It's called, "Lace Race". I can't believe it's taken me so long to put it up....whew....lots of busy, busy, busy!

Have a great weekend and grab that pattern! Share with your friends! G : )

I DYED! (gasp)

This post is dedicated to lovely Sonya, who has been hoping for a pic BESIDES the darn spinning wheel! LOL!

How is THIS????



Three skeins of goregeous, heavenly soft 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn (440 yards!) that I dyed on Saturday. (eeee....they're so awesome!)

Details:

WHAT- Dyeing class with THE Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill yarns. (tiny scream!) [Here she is getting the dyes ready for the class]



WHERE- Yarn and Fiber Co. in Windham, NH....Cyndi was, of course, wonderfully friendly, helpful and had things pretty well organized for such a big group (over 20) in such a small amount of space. [Here's Cyndi with some of her crew winding up skeins of undyed Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn]



WHEN April 14th, 2007 from 1-4 pm

HOW Well, it's not really a how...but, you know...Cheryl (and her sweet daughter) gave us handouts and she explained a bit about everything...what handpainted yarn is and how many factors together determine what the final product is....the dye itself, the type of fiber and how the yarn is constructed. I found everything extremely helpful and interesting...especially her idea of "inspiration/creation/translastion"...how you think of something that inspires you, use your fingers to create that image and then that, in turn, gets translated into how the yarn comes out. Another helpful tip..."Less is More/Don't make Mud!".

[here she is with her daughter...sorry she's so blurry...a phone pic!]



Before we started to dye, she had 4 of us do a crayon demonstration....(including me, Ericka and Rose!)....she gave us a box of crayons, a piece of white paper and wrote down a colorway. We had to picture what the colorway meant to us in our minds and then translate that into a colorway on paper. Here's mine: It was "Blue Bayou":



[Can I brag here? I was nervous that she made me go first (I had NO idea what to say), but said that my colorway was "perfect", an A+.....that was SOOO cool! Complimented by Cheryl Potter??? I'm in heaven!]

Ericka's "City Lights" was really pretty (the colors gave the point across well) and Rose had "Tangerine Dream", in which she mixed orange and yellow together for a kind of "drink" type color. Very cool.

After we did that, a group of 7 went up at a time and started to dye...Cheryl helped everyone and it was so much fun experimenting and squirting dye here and there....there weren't any fist fights over the dye bottles...but it was close at some points! [here is the first group that went up]

Nichole (who I was happy to hang out with before the class started) and Heather also created gorgeous colorways. Heather's was "Pansy" and, boy, it looked JUST like it! I wish I'd remembered what colorway Nichole created. I was so busy dyeing MORE skeins that my mind went blank. Ericka's final yarn (one of the two) had a pretty Japanese name that I liked and it was a sweet color, too.

All in all, I had a FANTASTIC day! Cheryl was wonderful....and she even gave all of us a Potluck Sock pattern. I got one signed, too! (I am SUCH a geek!)

Now, on to the YARN!!!

The colorways I created are:

Baby's Breath-pale purples, peach, turquoise and pink.



Wild Cherry Love-bright red, deep pink and paler pink.



Handsome Hiker-fern green, blue, grays, and forest greens.



The first two yarns will be on my Etsy shop by tonight....BUY NOW! The other one I'm saving to knit for Ian....since he is the handsome hiker! (I thought the name "Handsome Geocasher" didn't have QUITE the same feeling)

P.S. Two other updates....here is the yarn I spun for Jackie for her birthday (which is on Monday)...called "Endless Bliss"...it's a 50/50 baby alpaca/merino 2ply fingering weight....with 356 yards out of 2.5 ounces. The BEST yarn I've ever spun so far...



AND, speaking of dyed yarn...I got my "Mandy" yarn from Awesome Amy ofSpunky Eclectic for my new sweater and socks to match. I actually got this a while ago and kept forgetting to blog it. The yarn is so soft and the colors are great....can't wait to knit it up!



Any comments??

Ooh, I FELT that!

Ta-da! It's done!!! I've only been working on it since October....! Thanks to the fantastic Jackie, I got remotivated to work on it and now, it's done!

Here is the picture BEFORE felting, where the measurements for the front/back were 20 inches by 20 inches. (Finished size....which felted in only ONE wash...fantastic!...is 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches):



My MOST favorite elements of this bag were:

- That is was VERY easy....all garter stitch with some decreases or increases here and there. Definitely a project you could take to a movie or knitting group.

- The final "quilted star look" is beautiful and I almost (I say, almost), want to make another one in another color.

- The icord bind off....excellent look when finished and kinda fun to do...a nice change from the normal bind off.

- It took only ONE wash on small load, hot water, cold rinse, heavy load setting to felt it...that's all! Love that Patons!

My LEAST favorite element of this bag were:

-The endless garter stitch gusset...ugh!

-And sewing up the gusset and icord, braided handles to the bag. Lots of "busy work".


DETAILS:

Tote'M Bag designed by Suzanne Atkinson

Knitter's Magazine "Light and Shadow" Issue 2006 (unsure....can't find mag...)

Size 8 needles and dpns

2 colors (main color) ofPatons Classic Merino and one each for contrasting colors....(if you use your craft store 40% off coupons and buy them individually, you can make the bag for less than $15!!!

*see Jackie's Blog for her in-progress bag in gorgeous browns and blues. *

What do you think???

P.S. Next post....lots of new fibers, gifts and yarns...and our visit with the awesome Julie at the Yarn Sellar in York, ME. Wooo-hooo!

Sweet Potato Pie

Presenting the Bag O'Bunny fiber that I got from SPA in yarn form!

DETAILS:

Fiber: The Woolen Rabbit's "Bag O'Bunny", hand-dyed merino/silk/angora blend

Spun worsted style

Singles: (1 ply) laceweight 31 wpi
Plied: (2 ply) sportweight 15 wpi

2 oz. of "Bag O'Bunny" made 185 yards of 2 ply sportweight and 29 yards of 3 ply total. Pretty awesome!



The yarn is incredibly soft, silky and oh-so-nice!

Have no idea what I'll do with it yet, but it'll have to be something special.



I've decided to call it, "Sweet Potato Pie". Yummy!