Mommy-Lucy socks

Finished some socks for Lucy and myself this week -


I'm working on lots of projects right now - started a scrap blankie from all my socks yarn leftovers....it's going to take forever, but I'll work on it bits at a time. It's also the season for working on gifts, and those I can't post, but I have been busy!

Alexia Jean Designs

I want to give a big shout out to my friend Lexi at Alexia Jean Designs - she and I had a dress swap for our two year olds - I made a Summerlin for her daughter, and she designed this chic pillowcase dress for my Lucy!

I'm happy that it's plenty big enough for Lucy to wear next year, since we're hitting fall and the end of cute sundresses here in Ohio!

Check out Lexi's site (linked above) - she has all sorts of gorgeous sewn items for babies and kids - the designs and quality are both fantastic :) I wish I had her eye for patterns - she can pair prints like nobody's business!

Thanks Lexi! You're awesome!

The Three Years Dress

I can't believe I'm getting 3 years out of this dress! I knit it when Lucy was 8 months old, and here she is, 3 months shy of 3 years old, and she's wearing it today! Woohoo!




Pretty exciting (to me, anyway). All too often, it feels like I spend as much time making the garment as they spend wearing it before it's outgrown.

Toby is begging for a sweater, and I'd love to oblige him, but I have Christmas knitting yet to do
as well as slippers for the family (our new house floors are COLD in the morning!). I hope I have time to add in a sweater for him, because, well, as long as he's asking, I want to do it for him! I know the day will come when he's no longer asking for these things, and the though alone makes me so sad.

I haven't been as busy on the wheel lately. For one, I want to use up some of my handmade yarn before spinning more - if I don't use it, I don't know what I need to adjust. And getting new things into the knitting queue is...interesting...as you can see from above! Next weekend is the wool festival at Young's Dairy (YUM!) and I will be looking for something new to try there. I love branching out! I bought some silk caps online last week and am looking forward to spinning them. The only problem is I have no idea how much yardage I will get out of them!

Cooler Weather is Crafting Weather!

So I have several projects going on of late. I finally made my Owls sweater, and it's beautiful, but I haven't taken pics yet - need the hubby to get the camera on me! I love it, and will probably make more :)

Since finishing it, I've started two hats as part of a Knit Along (KAL). Here are in progress pics for both Toby's and my hat...the finished version will have a bill on the front and buttons.


I stumbled across another find this week - a $25 wheel in Cincy!
Isn't she beautiful? She's from Germany, and from what I (and another tiny wheel owner) can tell, it's a working wheel marketed to tourists? She's awful tiny, but spins just fine and I think the two of us will get along splendidly.

Here are some of my recent handspuns -
(The dark one of the bottom is what I'm making my hat out of)

This is a doll I made for a 2 year old's birthday. I'm very taken with her!
A close up of a handspun -

What a Beautiful Mess, what a beautiful mess I've made!

In my kitchen, anyway! I've been busy today. We went to the orchard down the road this morning and I bought half a bushel of apples. I really had no idea how many I needed to make some applesauce to freeze, but that seems to be the right amount! It made 3 big batches of sauce...but I will get to that in a minute. First, the dramatic reveal of ...

The Man Sweater!

Ta Daaaaa! I want a picture of it on my hubby, but he is balking at modeling in this crazy heat. Crazy man. Anyway, it fits great, and I'm so pleased! It took almost exactly 2 months to knit...and at least a week of finishing.

Ok, back to the kitchen. So the first batch I sweetened with marshmallows. The second with sugar and cinnamon. And the third...well, why not try peaches? While I cooked the apples on the stove, I cooked the peaches in the microwave until soft, then put them in my Foley Food Mill.

Churn away, and when only the skins are left, look underneath and...
I stirred the peaches and apples...the concoction was sweet, but lacking something, so I added cinnamon -
Mmmmmm! Perfect! I have two half gallon containers full of applesauce, ready for the freezer!

And pumpkin bread is now in the oven - and I am DONE in the kitchen!

If only I could spin spin spin all day

Darn kids, just won't let me lose myself in craft for the day. Well, to be fair, the state of the household would be a slippery slope as well.

Yesterday I pulled out my $1 cards and started playing. It took me about 7 or 8 rolags (the name for the ball of fluff you end up with after carding) to get the hang of it, but in the course of 30 minutes of Food Network I had a whole basket of rolags. Still, I wasn't sure how long exactly a rolag would last - just seconds or minutes? So last night I did spin up one of them, and while I didn't time myself, I would guess it was about 10 minutes of my slow speed spinning to use one of them, so just a little time carding gets me a whole lot of wool ready for spinning.

The wool I've been using is left over stuffing from making Waldorf Dolls last fall. It comes as a batt - just like you would use in a quilt, but it's pretty dense stuff, so I had a feeling carding would open it up and make it better for drafting - and I was right. It's much easier now. And now that I have a feel for carding, I can card together different fibers and colors to make some very interesting spinning!

I spent only a little time spinning last night as I'm getting very close to finishing the Man Sweater, and I'm pushing myself to finish it. I'm to the last bit of knitting now - a band around the bottom.14 more rows and I'm DONE! Well, then there's the finishing - lots of sewing, and weaving in ends, and then the dreaded zipper (which I have never tried and am more than a little nervous about).

And as much as I'd love to spend every free moment with my wheel, Christmas is coming and I'll be darned if I'm sweating it out to the last minute trying to finish everything. I'm not going to make a lot this year - unless I get some very cool ideas - but I always like to make some things for the kids and am now scouting out some ideas.

Also on my short list - I'd love to make the Owls Sweater for myself. I love it, and have yet to make myself a sweater, but I have a feeling that will be once the Christmas things are done.

Not to mention, I know 2 more people having babies now, and I'll want to make something for them.

The list is never-ending, but I love it!

A Fiber-y Weekend

First, this is my merino I have been spindling for-ever. Finally finished it, plied it, and all washed up!

Here are the first two bobbins worth off my wheel, in my homemade lazy kate.
The make shift scotch tension on my wheel.
All shined up! Thank you boiled linseed oil!

I've had lots of fun this weekend with the wheel - we've repaired broken leather and one of the bolts (not an original one, something that's been replaced) has been giving me some issues, so the hubby and I are working on getting it smoothed out. I've been having so much fun though!

I plied up my first skein last night, then kool-aid dyed it. The dye didn't take great, but the skin isn't so great either, so it was more just play. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that loosely plied 65 yards of mysterious wool, but I'll find something!

Meet Grace!

Thanks to an ad in CraigsList, I am the proud new owner of a spinning wheel!


I picked this little beauty up in Cincy this morning for ...wait for it...$20!!! Holy Canoodle, can't beat that! Now I'm off to do some web research on cleaning her up and using her!

Coming along

Still chugging along on hubby's sweater. It's knit pseudo-in-the-round - it's a cardigan, and will zip up the front, but I knit the sleeves, then joined them to the body and now it's just raglan decreases all the way around...forever. Or at least that's how it feels. I love the yarn though, so at least it's nice to work with!

I just finished plying my merino roving that I've been working on since...before we moved! It's a solid lavender, very pretty. I haven't skeined it yet, but I think I got some nice yardage on it. I had a little bit left over and plied it with the little bit of alpaca I had left from last year - it's a very pretty 25 yard skein. Maybe it will be a coffee sleeve? LOL, it has to be something small!

The rest of it will get skeined tonight or tomorrow, then I can take pics!

I've started a sock with the yarn that I bought at the Wool Gathering last fall...they are going to be beautiful!

Also managed to hem up 3 pair of hubby's holey jeans into shorts this morning. Definitely not as much fun as other sewing, but eh, had to be done. Now that that's done, I can cut out the other skirt I bought fabric for. Though I'm thinking about looking for another pattern - I love the other pattern that I've used, but I already have 2 skirts out of it, and am thinking a little variety might be nice. Just maybe :)

I still need to tread Toby's slippers, and need to do a pair for hubby, Lucy, and myself.

It's also time to start thinking about Christmas knitting - I have a couple people in mind for handmade gifts this year :)

Mish Mash

I just realized I haven't posted on here since this Spring! It's not that I haven't been busy - I have - I just have been horrible at updating!

So here are some things I've been busy with:

Lucy got her first Barbie, so I made my first Barbie dress...super easy and quick. I found a basic template online and can use it to make many different things. Has a basic velcro closure at the back, simple for my 2 year old to operate (though she prefers her Barbies au naturale)

A new tee for Lucy - knitted with Patons Grace I had on hand. Very cute and easy, though the neck has a tendency to stretch out through the day and by the end hangs down. Cotton is a tad heavy for a toddler's abuse on clothes.
Not mine. Didn't make them, grow them, nada. I did however take the picture. I thought this color combo was gorgeous, and would love to find some pansies like this sometime. Or make an outfit for DD in these colors.
Lucy's Summerlin - I knitted the top with Lion Cottonease...super easy! Then sewed it to the skirt with some Pooh fabric on hand. Quick and easy - and cute!
Knitted socks
Rhubarb - black raspberry pie I made yesterday. It was a success!
These roses are in my yard - planted them a couple weeks ago. I love how the one plant has two colors of blooms! After planting, I cut away the blooms so the plant would put more energy into rooting at first, but I wanted to document the colors in case I kill it before it ever blooms again. LOL. But, it does have some new buds forming! Yay!
Knitted peas in a pod for the kids' kitchen.
My first needle felted animan - it's a sheep in case you can't tell. Sigh. The ones in the book were much cuter.
I've started a sweater for hubby, with PAtons Classic Wool. This is the cable band around the waist, then the stitches are picked up around the side of this panel and worked up. I'm now working on the second sleeve, then it will be the top. It will have a zip front (the pattern is Avast).
This was supposed to be a dress for me, but alas, I did not have enough yarn to make a dress. So it became a top...but it's not exactly flattering. Sigh. I'm still decided whether to wear it or frog it.
I'm also working on a set of modge podge blocks, covered with scrapbook paper. Need to continue this project!
Well, there is my update. I have a few baby sweaters I've finished recently, but haven't taken pictures of yet....and finished a pair of slippers for Toby last night - just need to get them felted. Next on the list!

March Wrap Up

I finished my shrug in time for Easter - by a couple hours anyway. Don't have pics of me wearing it yet though!

Here's the baby blanket I finished last month. It's ok...I guess what I had in my head just looked better!

I'm halfway through my mini mochi hat, using mini mochi yarn and a fair isle diamond pattern. I love it but it's taking forever!
I found the socks FINALLY at Carriage Hill Farm last month and sewed it up this afternoon. Toby seemed so excited about the process, so I hand him the monkey and he tells me "Nah, I don't really like it". Niiiiiice.

So Lucy's hanging on to it for now, but I'm kind of thinking he may become the mascot for my craft room. Lucy has too many stuffed animals as it is.
My Ravelympics socks
My Malabrigo cabled socks.

Ravelympics socks!

I will have to add photos after I get my own computer and get internet back, but I have finished my new socks! I am thrilled with them, and my foray into lace socks. They are beautiful, and my favorite pair of socks to date. I used Dream in Color smooshy on them and the yarn is fabulous. I have learned that the base yarn is available for sale, so I'm thinking I may have to look it up to self - dye some!

I have cast on sock 2 of my malabrigo socks - the pattern for these is Easy Going, on size 1 needles. I broke one of my size 0's on the Ravelympics socks, so I will have to find another alternative - long bamboo 0's are not for me!

My mom fell in love with my Moebius Cowl (knit from my handspun alpaca), and I happened to have more of the yarn with me, so I knitted that up for her in the last 2 days - super quick knit, and having done the Moebius cast on once, this time went much easier. The cowl came out gorgeous; I am very proud of it. Mom loves it - it helps keep her warm at work! And there's nothing I love more than knowing my knitting is appreciated!

I bought some Mini Mochi at a Richmond LYS last month (my first purchase moving back to OH), and today started looking at some patterns for it. I'm thinking a Fair Isle hat should be appropriate, given the weather up here! I need a new winter hat anyway, and I found some gorgeous uses of the Mini Mochi colorwork on Ravelry. I think that will be my next project after the Malabrigo socks. While I still need a few more pair of socks to make a full stash (and I have all the yarn here ready to go), I am thinking I need a bit of a break from socks!

A moving we will go

Life has been busy lately - fear not, gentle crafters, my knitting has not suffered, but my blogging has.

So what has kept me away from the computer, you ask?

Moving halfway across the country, that's what!

In December, my hubby got a new job in Ohio, back where our family lives. So in January we listed our NC house, spent a househunting trip in OH where we found a house and put it under contract, spent enough time in NC to pack up, and moved in temporarily with family in OH.

Where we have since suffered the wrath of 3 snowstorms.

Welcome north.

We are supposed to close next week (fingers crossed!), and should move in the next week then. Yay! We also put our NC house under contract today, so we're hoping all moves smoothly with that.

In more crafterly news, I have been sock knitting like a fiend. Most of my own socks have developed holes, so I've been stocking up on sock yarns and sock patterns, and am now putting them to good use.

The first pair I knitted in Ohio went to my mom, as she was in love with them and they were a tad short for me anyway. The second pair is with my Malabrigo sock, and I love them, but had to put them on hold while I started my Olympic project - Seaweed Socks in Dream in Color Smooshy (another first!). My first toe up socks, and a pretty lace pattern to boot. I finished the first sock this morning and have already cast on the toe of the second. They are named Olympic socks because I'm working on them as I watch the Olympics...I'm participating in the Ravelympics this year (those crafters on Ravelry know what this is!). I'm participating with a great group who all use yarn from the Dizzy Sheep - if you don't know the site, check it out. It's like woot, for knitters and crocheters (and every once in a while for spinners!) - www.dizzysheep.com.

So I'd like to finish up my Malabrigo sock next, but mom borrowed my 100% handspun alpaca moebious cowl a couple days ago and she wants one just like that. And honestly, what higher praise can I get? So I'm pretty excited to be able to knit for someone who values the product :)

I will be without internet in our new house for a bit - that's taking the back burner to several other things (one being closing on our NC house!), but I will update once we have the information superhighway back up and running. In the meantime, I'd like to post pics while I still have internet - so I will get kicking on that project too :)

Knit on friends...knit on :P