Crafty Girly

Review - Shades of Green & Giveaway!

I seriously can't think of a better way of breaking in the Fall Equinox than to review this amazing ebook.  The Shades of Green by Erica Jackofsky is not only visually stunning, with the the gorgeous pictures of the patterns within, but throughout the entire book Erica has included little tidbits about all things green.  Things like the different names for the different shades of greens, the names of green gemstones, where the meaning of the word green comes from, and all kinds of very interesting facts.  

As for the patterns themselves, they are written for any kind of knitter - those who like to work with charts will have very easy to read charts, or those who do not understand charts, the patterns have been written out row by row.  These are very easy to follow patterns and there is a little bit of everything here from sweaters, shawls, to a coffee cup cozy, and it's perfect for the novice knitter and an expert knitter alike.  If you're not sure how to work a certain stitch, or what the abbreviation means, she's included a guide int he back to follow and even step-by-step instructions for how to do the kitchener stitch, which is perfect for me because even though I've done it a million times on several different pairs of socks, I always like to have the instructions in front of me so I could be sure I'm following it correctly.  Most patterns/books/etc. do not include it, which means I have to Google it so I can have it up on the screen while I kitchener.  The fact that it's included as part of the book is so thoughtful and just makes it that much easier to finish off your knitting without having to scour the internet looking for the instructions.

The Peridot Tunic is a pretty versatile top that I think can work for any body type and is a good sweater to knit as a beginner sweater or even someone who has never done lace.  It's a very simple lace pattern, and the sweater construction is also fairly simple.  It's knit in the round, so there is no seaming and the finished product looks anything but simple.

My personal favorite from the book from the book is the Cutting Ferns Shawl.  Firstly, I love shawls, I have a few knit already and one on the needles that I'm trying to finish within a decent amount of time.  This one I would knit as well, even though, like I said, I have enough shawls to get me through the cold season for a long time.  It is absolutely gorgeous and I have it queued in Ravelry and ready to go, once I cut down on some of my other projects that are already on the needles.

All the patterns are nature inspired patterns, which is why I feel a review of them the day before the Fall Equinox is perfect! Take a look at all the available patterns within this book on Ravelry.  If you would like to win a copy of the book, leave me a comment on my blog by next Friday, September 30th to enter to win a copy of your own.  I will pull a winner using a random number generator and will email the winner a Ravelry code provided by Erica.

Finished Sweater & Something New

I have actual finished items to report about, which if you follow me on Ravelry or Google+ you already know about it, but I still felt that I should share my somewhat newly finished item here as well.  I actually finished about a week or two ago, but I've been mighty busy lately so it's taken a while for me to report it here.  

 

It's the Bijou Sweater by Marnie MacLean and it was published at Twist Collective in the Winter 2008 issue. I really love this sweater because it has the perfect amount of warmth to it, but is still pretty breezy.  Perfect for fall weather in Miami, so long as it's not 90 degrees or more out.  Also, it a pretty flexible pattern that I think looks good on any body type.  I'm not the thinest girl around, and I know this, so I'm pretty self-conscious about how certain items look on me, but this really isn't so bad.

• 
• 
• 
• 

After I finished this sweater, I decided to try my hand at designing one of my own.  I thougth of a nice breezy design with some cabling down the center.  I'm using Kidsilk Haze for it on size 5 needles and taking some of what I learned from the Bijou pattern to create this one.  Here's what I have so far.

• 
• 

I have certain design elements in mind that I still need to work through - like do I want V-neck or scoop? Cap sleeves, tank or long sleeves?  Should I make it like an empire waist interrupting the cabling pattern right under the breasts or should I continue it up and split the cables so that I moves up on either side of the V/scoop neck?  If I decide on V neck, how do I continue the cable pattern on the back section of the sweater?

 

As you can see, there are still a lot of questions and there will be a bit of a learning curve for my very first design.

 

• 
• 

There has also been a shop update!  The above yarn is up on my Etsy site.  It's hand dyed knit picks bare yarn and would make an amazing pair of socks!  It's 463 yards, so it should be more than enough to make a regular sized pair of socks.  Beyond the hand dyed yarn, there is still a lot of handspun.  

 

 

Scour Day

I have been putting it off for too long, and yesterday I decided to day would be the day.  Of course, today it decides to rain some, but I'm hoping the weather will hold out for me.  I will be working with this today,

...this gorgeous, mostly white, Icelandic fleece;  58 oz of it.  It easily has a 6-8 inch staple length, and although it is a very dirty sheep, like it smelt like the farm was in my yard kinda dirty, after a quick skirt, it was nicely shorn, and only had two really big mats that needed to be removed because there was no way I was going to be able to get it back to normal.  

I would say that about 80% of the fleece looks like what I'm holding above.  I seriously can't wait to start working with this, because I already see it as being a dream to spin up.  

I'm also finally scouring the chocolate part of the Jacob's fleece I've had laying around.  This is the fun part of my dilema, because I had no idea what I was going to scour all this wool in.  The sink in the backyard really isn't big enough for all of this, and I would hate to be dragging all this wet wool from the bathroom to the backyard to lay out and dry.  I also don't have a top loading washer, so it had to be done in basins in the backyard, that really is the best solution.  So I went out to my backyard this morning and I looked around for something that would make a good scouring basin, and I found my cooler.  It was like a light bulb went off in my head.  The cooler is would be perfect!  It's the perfect size to soak a lot of wool, it would keep heat in and it has a nifty little drain plug at the bottom so I could empty it without too much effort!  

The other problem I ran into was that I wanted to keep the two fleece separate and I only had one big cooler to work with, so I continued to search the yard and all my storage places, and I found some big rubbermaid storage bins.  Perfect!  It's not as good as the cooler, but for what I needed, it would do.  The cooler was large enough for the Jacob's fleece, and the Rubbermaid bin was large enough for the Icelandic!  So I filled up the bins with really hot water and Dawn detergent and in they went.

 

• 
• 

 The dirty sheep are getting their much needed baths today.  After their second pass, they're starting to look a lot better. 

• 
• 

 And finally they are soaking up some sun to dry out.  I think the Icelandic could use another pass with dawn, but I want to dry it out, fluff it some to get some of the debris out of the locks, and soak it some more because it's just really dirty.  It is looking much better, and it's definitely smelling much better, but I think it could use one more soak.  I may be wrong, we'll see once it's dry, but as of right now, I feel there may be a lot of "stuff" still in it.

 

 

To Re-Dye or Not

Yesterday's yarn soup came out looking like this, and I'm not sure if I should redye to fill in the white spots or leave it as is.  It kind of reminds me of acid washed jeans, but is it something that transfers nicely unto yarn or not?

• 
• 
• 

The yarn itself is handspun, single-ply BFL at 14wpi, which is roughly a sport weight yarn, so this would make a nice sweater, shawl, scarf, hat, etc.  Something that doesn't require a whole lot of bulk or strength like a sock would.  

What do you all think: should I re-dye or leave it as is? 

Projects Galore

I thought knitting the sleeve on my Bijou top would be no big deal.  Remember, I finished the body of the top 2 days ago and thought the little lace cap sleeves would be no big deal.  What I didn't realize is that they are knit from the hem to the shoulder, picking up stitches on the armscye along the way.  I'm almost done with one of the two sleeves.  It should actually be done later on tonight, and then I'll start on the other sleeve ASAP.  Afterwards, I still need to do the crochet trim around the neckline, keyhole and sleeves, and sew on the buttons.  It really shouldn't be long know until I'm done with this...it only took me 2 years!

I'm already planning the next project.  I'm thinking a cabled v-neck, long sleeved sweater in kidsilk haze.  I've already swatched the yarn and am still in the design process, but I think the yarn below in a sheer-ish v-neck sweater would look amazing!  It would be perfect for Miami winters, which if you know Miami, that means the whole 70 degrees it'll go down to.  I can't really do bulky or really warm sweaters here because it'll get used once a year if I'm lucky, so I figured kidsilk haze in a nice open stitch pattern would be perfect!

• 
• 

 I also put  some BFL to cook.  More on this when it's done.  

Knitting Skeleton

I have been meaning to blog for the past 3 days.  I even started working on what I was going to write on Sunday.  Sunday people!  It's Wednesday and I am now forcing myself to stop everything else that I'm doing to blog, because it's just not right people.  I've been setting up my home office the past couple of days because I need somewhere to work, and also because I may start a new venture (if all things work out) and I'm going to need the space.  So here I am finally able to blog.  

I have been working on another skeleton in my "knitting that behaved badly" closet.  I dusted of the Bijou sweater from when I started it two years ago!  I can't believe it's been that long since I started to knit it, but in my defense I've been through a lot in those 2 years.  I graduated college, I went through a break up, a move, an engagement, another move, a wedding and now here working on Bijou again and trying to finish it up.  I actually have it pretty much done.  I'm missing the sleeves and the crochet trim, but for the most part the worst of it is done!  

I have already started on the sleeves, and it's a doozy.  It's actually worked from the hem up to the shoulder.  You start working on the cuff (which overlaps because it gets buttoned), then there is a piece where the trim is a little tighter and then you start attaching it to the armscye using a three needle bind off to knit the sleeve to the armscye, while shaping, and while also building it up!  I'm blown away by this.  I takes a lot of concentration not to get the thing all twisted up and pick up a stitch you're not supposed to, and there is needles and cables everywhere!  It's a mess, but once it's done I know it's going to be gorgeous!

Bad Weather and Finished Shawl

Bashful Butterflies

The Bashful Butterflies shawl is done!  I finished it last night and this morning I woke up, put it in a basin with Euclan and started blocking it.  It's blocking as we speak and as I said (and I'm glad I didn't get to eat my words) it was a really quick knit and looks amazing!  I was actually a bit hesitant about the pattern because I wasn't 100% sure I like it, but it is an amazing pattern.  It's very intricate and very nice to look at.  It also taught me a few things, like the crochet center decrease it called for in the edging.  The cable in the middle of the final butterflies was also pretty interesting to knit.  It's a stitch I have never done before either, but it gives the piece a nice feel to it, and keeps the work consistent.  It took me a whole 8 days to knit this shawlette, which is pretty fast for me.  I also love the way my handspun striped up.  It's so subtle and in all the right places.  

• 
• 

Kitty Pi Bed

I think I need to make another Kitty Pi bed.  I had originally made one for Onyx, my eldest cat at 15 years old (human years of course) who spends most her days outdoors because she just refuses to stay indoors with her housemates.  I made it something like 7 years ago and it hardly got used, so I put it away for some time.  I brought it out today, put it on top of a coffee table that I noticed all the cats had been sleeping on lately, and this is what I find.

• 
• 

Socks is aparently in love with it, but is keeping it all for herself so I think if I make another and put it on another table or on the sofa, one of the other cats may get to use it.  She spent the entire day on it, in different positions, rolling around in it and obviously squishing it down and hanging off the side.    

Irene

This is what's going on in my world today.  This is a Miami reality.  Yes, Miami is gorgeous, it's got great weather year round, it snowed once for a whole 5 minutes in the 1970's and the "snow" melted before it even hit the ground and the beaches are to die for.  BUT, we get hurricanes.  Truth is, we get hurricanes once every 5 years or so, and often times they come right up the caribbean where they are weakend by the mountains in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, so if it follows the path of coming up the caribbean, we're usually in the clear, like with Irene below.  

Of course, that's not always the case, and we have been hit with some catastrophic hurricanes.  The last one was Andrew in 1992 and was a category 5 when it made landfall over Homestead.  Thankfully, hurricanes like that hit here once every 50+ years or so.  The one before Andrew that was as powerful was in 1926 and was horribly catastrophic because it was during Miami's boom.  Here's a picture I found after that hurricane with ships toppled on Biscayne Boulevard, which is the main road that goes North-South along the coast of the city, not the beach - the beach is actually a barrier island off the coast of the mainland.

I will keep all the people in the Bahamas in my thoughts as the eye of Irene will be passing right over them, and she is a category 4 storm.  I will also keep the people in the Carolinas and Virginia in my thoughts, since she's projected to head their way once she's done in the Bahamas.  You guys stay safe.

Wordless Wednesday - Miami Summers

Dear Mail Woman,

I know you have a hard job.  You spend your day in the sun, riding around dropping off mail to everyone's houses, but today you have made me your loyal fan.  I love you truly for dropping of my box; my big box of Icelandic wool that I had been patiently waiting for.  This wool will become something special for me and for someone else should they choose to purchase what it will become from my Etsy or Artfire stores.  It will also keep someone warm during the winter, they will snuggle up with it when they need comforting the most, and will cherish it forever.  

I thank you for deciding to do your job, and actually go above and beyond since the box had the wrong address on it, and finding me to give me my package.  Thank you for knowing who I am and where I live and caring enough to know the people who live on your route.  Thank you for being kind enough to deliver it instead of just sending it back like you could have.  I really cannot thank you enough.

With lots of love,

Lissette

Schools is In!

The boy started his first day fo 8th grade yesterday, and it was pretty uneventful.  It also looks like the older the kids get, the less paperwork they send home, which is amazing because the paperwork would take the entire night to go through, sign, sit down with the kid and show him what's needed and what's expected of him.  I guess in 8th grade they figure they should be mature enough to have it all figured out.  Let's hope they're right.

Since it was the first day of school, I decided to try and make something special for him when he got home, and actually he helped me a bit with it.  I made stuffed shells for dinner and we both sat in the kitchen talking about how school went stuffing jumbo shells.  

He told me he has home ec. this year, and I'm am so very excited about that!  That means he's going to learn to sew and will be able to sew his own boy scout patches on his uniform!  Woo-hoo!  I don't mind sewing, but those patches are usually put in weird places on his uniform and I end up poking my fingers a million times trying to get those things on, and ironing them doesn't work.  Rank advancements and things like that are temporary patches that get replaced every year or so, so ironing them on will only make it more difficult for me later, so I have no choice but to sew them on.

As promised, here's my progress on the Bashful Butterflies shawl.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to knit lately with all the chores around the house, and the spinning I've been doing, so it has stalled a bit.  but once I pick it up, I'm sure it'll move right along nicely.

I was working on that amazing handspun I started the day before yesterday, and it's more amazing the more I work on it.  I finished a bobbin yesterday and got started on a second bobbin of the same colorway.  I wish the camera would pick up what it is that I see amazing on it, but unfortunately it can't.  The yarn has this shine that almost makes it look like it silk, but it's not, it's BFL.  

This picture really doesn't capture the shine or the real feel of it.  I wish it would.  It's really amazing to me, and Socks likes it too.  I took it out to take pictures of it, and here she is rubbing herself on it. This is about as close as she'll get to the yarn since I usually keep in locked up in a bin away from animals until it get used or sold.

I also wanted to share with you this amazing photographer I found.  His name is Matthew Price and he takes the most amazing photographs.  Seriously, you should go check out his website and see for yourself.