Sparkly Scarf

I just finished a scarf...it's 2 yarns held together - the one with the metallic sheen is Lion Brand Mohair Magic (I think that's the name? It's mohair something...) Anyway, it's so soft and cuddly...kind of wish I were keeping this one for myself, lol! It just makes me happy :)

Oh and the bias knit stitch was very easy and gives a nice finished end...I was very happy with it.

Right now I'm working on a sweaterdress for my daughter...I'm hoping to have enough yarn leftover for something to match. I'm using Knit One Crochet Too's TyDy sock yarn, and I have 200 grams to play with. I don't know what I'll have leftover - enough for a hat, socks, or maybe a matching dress for dolly? That would be super cute!

Checking off the list

I've been very busy of late!

Here's a Christmas dress, size 8.

The finished wooly warm shawl

Christmas nights longies and matching hat

And the start of a sparkly black scarf

Busy busy busy! I'm still finishing a few Christmas gifts and have some ideas taking shape!

Booties, Mid Shawl, and Penguin

Here is the start of a commissioned shawl:

A penguin for Toby for Christmas! I'm totally psyched about this considering I didn't think I'd have time to finish him up :)

Booties for a friend of mine expecting any day now. Aren't they cuuuuuuuute? Things that make you go awwwwwwwwwww.

I am working on the shawl, a couple Christmas gifts, and have some new orders coming in right now. It's a busy November - and busy is GOOD!!!

Still chugging along on my list of projects! I've had a lot come and go this month!

Finsihed Longies Sets

Despite the lack of posts, I have been busy! These longies and hats have been the project forthe last two weeks. I love them!

I was able to try a new technique on the American Girl Hat...Needle Felting! It's awesome and I'm in love! It was easy and I think once I have some more practice under my belt the possibilities are endless!

Busy little bee

These are two custom knits. Both are size mediums.

Dolly Dolly

I am so thrilled with this project! This is a knitted doll for DD for Christmas. It was sort of a last minute project...as in, I was bored with what I was working on, so I found a distraction for a week!
Here she is before hair (I was really nervous about the hair, so I made sure to take pics before in case I messed everything up!) And the after, with loads of hair and a hat to boot. I ended up sewing the hat on so it doesn't become lost in the alternate universe that exists under the couch.

Next up I have a pair of socks and a stuffed penguin for Toby, and a slew of other projects just getting started!

An Important PSA

If you have ants in your backyard, it's probably not a good idea to let your yarn hang out with the ants to dry. If you do this, there's a good chance you'll being a small colony of them back into the house with you. And find them the next morning while trying to fix breakfast.

Not pretty.

There's More than One Way to Cook your Yarn

Today I tried my hand at multicolored yarn! This is another skein of the KnitPicks Bare sock yarn. I used Jacquard Acid Dyes in Chartruese and Sapphire and cooked this puppy in....a crock pot!

I suppose I should have taken the step by step photos but I didn't have time today so let me see if I can explain for future reference.

First I put my yarn to soak with a drop of vinegar. I have an old crockpot that I don't ever use so it is now my designated dyeing pot. I mixed my dye up (1/4 tsp dye powder with 1" of water and 2 Tbsp vinegar) in plastic bottles, thenplaced about half the yarn in the bottom of the crockpot. I poured half the blue dye on one side of the pot and the green on the other, then layered on the rest of the yarn and poured the rest of the dye on top, keeping the sides seperate.

I know it sounds like it should all mix and muddy up, but I had two distinct sides - green and blue. I covered it and turned it on low and let it sit for a few hours. The blue exhausted rather fast, the green never did totally exhaust. I turned it off and let the yarn cool off until it was room temperature. Then I rinsed it and hung it to dry.

Notes - I need to get a different type of bottle...a small squirt bottle or a few eyedroppers would work well to get the dye on the yarn. Also, to avoid the white patches I need to overlap my colors some. The white patches don't bother me on these colors at all, but if I don't want them I need to push my colors together more.

Dyeing to dye

Wanted to bookmark a site for further reference...I am going to try crockpot dyeing next!

http://www.kaleidocherry.com/dyeing/crockpot.htm

Sock Yarn and More Sock Yarn!

First up, I finished this hat and matching socks last week. I sadly ran out of yarn and the very tip top of the hat and had to substitute with another color - could be a better match, but it's ok. And DD won't leave the hat on for anything - of 20 attempted pic, this is the only one where the hat stayed on.



Today I tried dyeing for the first time! I started with KnitPicks Bare sock yarn (merino nylon mix).
Here it is soaking before immersion in the dye
My pot of yarn! I boiled it for almost an hour and still not all the dye was exhausted, so I went ahead and pulled it. I hope it didn't hurt anything to do so, but that's why this was my first run!
Finally, drying outside. It started threatening rain soon after so I pulled it in the house to finish. I love the shade of blue!It's still pretty wet - I have no idea how long yarn takes to dry! I will update more when I have more to update (ummmm.....stating the obvious?)

Vine Lace Scarf

My finished lace scarf! This is my first attempt at knitted lace and I found to be thoroughly enjoyable. Knitting the lace was soothing, and this pattern was super easy and really repeated the same each row so once I had the pattern down, it was nice and repetitive.

This is a ME project (yay!) and while I don't see it being super warm, we don't get super cold so I think it will even out.

Last night I blocked and thought I'd share the process...

First a soak with a drop of baby shampoo to wash the wool. This is NOT superwash wool, so it must be gently handwashed. After the initial soak I rinsed two times, then squeezed out the water with a towel.

Luckily this fit on my ironing board, so I pinned and pinned and pinned and finally had it all stretched out on the ironing board- it just barely fit!

And here is the finished product! I love it :) The color is a little different, but I like it.

I have tons of this yarn so I think I will make at least another scarf, maybe a tiny one for my DD too. Although I'm not sure I want to dress a one year old up in a handwash-only scarf. We'll see.

On the needles now....socks! I have some sock yarn and am working on a pair for DD now, have skeins marked for myself, and this weekend I hope to try my hand at dyeing yarn in manly colors for my husband.

So what have I been up to, you ask?

Longies! Yes, September is here and while we're still waiting for a certain crispness in the air (which just simply doesn't mesh with 94 degrees, what we have today), it is getting to be longies weather!

These are my two newest creations -




The first are a small pair for a friend, made with Berroco alpaca - a DREAM to work with! The second pair are size mediums for my daughter, made with Ella Rae wool - affordable and cute! Ah, I am in longies mode now!

Earflap Hat

I let Mr T pick out the colors for his winter hat this year. I think it's cute, but I need to manipulate the earflaps a bit so they lay down instead of straight out!

I used Lion Brand Jiffy yarn and perused the Lion Brand site to find an appropriate pattern...found this one for Jiffy yarn! It is snug on him, so I hope it fits all winter, but the yarn seems to have a lot of give. Oh the pattern is for the Helmet Hat on Lion Brand's site, and I used size 11 straight needles for it. It only took about an hour, start to finish.

Ok, we're ready for snow now! LOL!

I'm working on a commissioned pair of longies right now...well, sort of. I'm doing a practice pair first for Luci so I can see what I'm doing before I try one for someone else! But I think it's going to be super cute!

Purplicious Bonnet

One sweet bonnet down! It's a tad on the big size, but I would like it to fit her this winter, so I am ok with that :) I love it, and think it's just sweet! I used Patons Grace with my beautiful, gorgeous, new-favorite Addi-Turbo size 1's. I never thought I could love a needle so much.



Next up on the needles - I am working on a lace scarf with my Purewool lace...I have started it and am working in little bits. I bought the yarn this week for my DS's winter hat and mitts - LionBrand Jiffy in blue and green (he got to pick out the colors - I was so excited that he's finally old enough to pick his own colors!), and I'd also like to work out either a pair of soft shoes or socks with the Paton's Grace.

A Knitted Dress, Finished at Last!

I'm so excited to have finally finished this dress! It took a couple weeks, but was well worth it!

The pattern is Mabel Dress, from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. I used Patons Grace, and loved the yarn so much I bought 5 more skeins for...something! I'm thinking a bonnet and working on pulling some patterns together tonight. Anyway, it was knit on size 2 needles, and used size 1's for the ribbing on the sleeves. Apparently it's very hard to find straight needles in size 1, so I bought my first pair of Addi Turbos. OH MY GOSH are they fantastic! They are circular needles and the joints are so smooth...definitely new fav's!

The dress fits very loosely, so I think it will work for this fall, and next year could probably be paired with a pair of pants as a long top...very chic, yes? Well, I try anyway.

Ok, off to work on a bonnet!

My first try at ScrapBlogging

Stocking Time at Haute Tot!

Just an FYI that Haute Tot is stocking on Wednesday at 11am! Previews are already up, check out the t's (from 6 month size up to 18 month) and the NEW Nursing Pillow Covers (designed to fit your boppy cover).

www.hyenacart.com/hautetot

Update on the dress (knitted)

Boy, this one is throwing me for a loop! Twice now I've misread the directions...I'm making hte larger size and twice now have caught myself making mistakes by following the smaller size! Grrrrrr. I don't know what has gotten into me. The first time I frogged back to the mistake and fixed it but by the time I caught the second mistake it was almost a week's worth of knitting! The second time I managed to start the back opening WAY too early, so the slit is huge. I'm not sure yet whether I'll just sew it together to where it needs to be, or if I'll play around with options. The closure is a ribbon tie, so I thought about making 2 or 3 ties down the back...might wait and see how it looks done. Still, very frustrating to make such silly mistakes!

I'm slmost halfway done now!

Knitting a dress

I'm turning a new leaf...knitting a dress! I have a very cute pattern, and soft cotton yarn...and a pattern that will take me years to complete :O I'm knitting on size 2's, if that tells you anything! I think it wll be very sweet, and I'm knitting in shades of orange so it should be a cute fall dress, if I ever finish it...or if she hasn't outgrown it by the time I'm done! I'm actually almost half done with the back, so it is moving, albeit rather slowly.

But in good news, I need size 1'a for the sleeves, so I am now the proud owner of a pair of Addi Turbos! I have heard such great things about them for ages, and couldn't find my trusty Boyles that small; in fact even my LYS didn't have straights that small! I can't wait to try them out, they have such rave reviews.

I will take an in progress pic later, although it is a rather boring straight piece right now...it will get interesting later!

Windy City Dress

Luck was definitely on my side this weekend. After a week of things gone awry, I was almost afraid to touch this fabric for fear I would destroy it before even starting to sew. But albeit one small catastrophe that turned out ok (well, not visible would be a better term), the dress was done in record time! I finished cutting out on Friday morning, and sewed Friday night and Saturday afternoon and it was done before dinner (the machine sewing, anyway). I hand sewed the lining down last night and sewed the flower on the bottom last night and this morning. What a relief to be done!

Front view

Back view
Front view on the model
And back view on the model
I am just so relieved to be done with it...it was a huge weight on my shoulders that this needed to be done this weekend. And now it is finished and I still have the rest of the day today to start other things.

I did finish the knitted beanie hat...lordy, it looks awful. I don't know if it was a bad pattern or a bad knitter, but it is just...laughable. So no pics to post, because frankly, I'm going to throw it out and I don't need photos floating around to remind me of it.

I am in search of my next knitting project. I have some wool I need to dye, but I won't start that until we're back from our trip. I might start a bonnet with some leftover sock yarn...that would be easy, and maybe I can work on it in the car!

Until later,

Me

Many apologies

I am in progress on a new dress for Luci but the needles have been strangely empty lately. If I can finish this dress in the 2 days necessary, pics will come soon!

Mama Made

I have been sewing lately! I have been perfecting the boppy cover and am happy with what I have so far - havent' taken pics yet though.





THIS is what I've been hard at work on lately though

This was by far the most complicated dress I've sewn. It is taffeta, and fully lined (bodice and skirt) with a petticoat of tulle to give the skirt some lift. ADORABLE but a real PITA, especially when it came to the zipper, which is still not the way I really want it but it is at least functional now. I love the trim around the front (it's tiny but if you click on the pic to view larger you will see it) and the giant bow...love it! This one is for Luci to wear to a wedding we have coming up in a week.

The real fun comes in that I'm making another for our Chicago trip this summer....except that one will be white with red accents.

I also need to hem Toby's dress pants as they fit in the waist but hang three inches too long...I hate how companies have such different sizing!

I am knitting a beanie hat right now...cute! The a/c has been out of whack the last few days so it's been too hot to do any knitting or sewing but now that it's cooled off in here I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things!

TTFN!

Toddler Socks

I finally got around to making a pair of toddler socks! I thought these were way cute. I do think they were a little big around, and a tad short, so they may not last until fall when pants weather hits (they really aren't socks to wear with shorts, although the little man decided they worked great with a tshirt, jean shorts, and his brown loafers yesterday, LOL! What can I say, he has daddy's fashion sense, or lack thereof).

These were from a partially used skein of sock yarn, so I'm seeing if I can get a newborn hat out of the rest of it. I'm trying to destash a little...ROTFLMAO, yeah, because that happens. More yarn! More yarn!

Diaper Mania!

I finally put my hands to a task I've been putting off for too long - sewing diapers! I had all the material - the waterproof fabric, the inner lining, the snap press, the polyester thread...everything. In fact, I had everything long before DD was born (maybe before she was conceived...), but I have never made a decent diaper...until this weekend!

Success!


These are all the diapers I have sewn - there are 2 more cut and snapped, waiting to be sewn. The bottom open one is actually chocolate and hot pink, but the flash made it look more maroon.

I also finished these cargo pants tonight - they are a baby gift, knitted with cotton yarn - I love them! I used the Knitty Cargo pattern, which I've used before and really enjoy.

Up next? Not sure. I have undyed yarn on it's way. I have some merino here waiting to be made into shorties or soakers, but I may offer those as customs at the store. So I'm sort of between things right at the moment. I need to learn to make Boppy covers for a friend and I may have an alteration on a toddler shirt, but I haven't looked at that yet.