knitted: handspun shawlette (Damson)

for Rav: Handspun Damson, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is nothing like knitting with my own handspun! It is an exquisite pleasure that I cannot adequately put words to. Suffice it to say: I loves it!

I started with 4.4 oz. superwash merino hand-dyed from Pigeonroof Studios, in “Damson Wine.” This was an impulse buy when I was first learning to spin, my first chance at some Pigeonroof.

When Ysolda Teague began releasing her Whimsical Little Knits 2 collection, the first pattern was Damson, and I am just geeky enough that I immediately wanted to make Damson out of my Damson Wine fiber.

I spun it up in early September and ended up with this:

456 yds. 2-ply, 20 WPI

It made me pretty much ridiculously happy.

I cast on almost immediately for the shawlette. As is the standard with Ysolda’s patterns, this was a delightful knit with very clear instructions. I did run into trouble though – two rows from the end, I ran out of yarn! I freaked out a bit, trying to figure out what to do. In the end, I found some sock yarn in my stash – Louet Gems, “eggplant” (won from Dave, now a fellow Schacht Ladybug spinner!, roughly 3 years ago). I wasn’t sure what I would think of how it looked, but I ended up being quite pleased.

pattern: Damson by Ysolda Teague
yarn: 456 yds fingering handspun plus some Louet Gems for contrast
needle:3
cast on: September 12
bind off: October 15
mods: none needed
raveled

This is probably my favorite thing I’ve made so far this year. I love it so so much.

knitted: chapeau! (Mondo Cable Cap)

YIP.10.13 – Mondo Cable Cap, originally uploaded by earthchick.

Growing up Southern, I never had to wonder what sort of hat would suit me. The weather simply didn’t necessitate a winter hat (though I did wear a fancy Easter hat the year I was 14, oh yes I did). When we moved to Michigan in January 2001, I didn’t own a single hat (or pair of mittens, or pair of snowboots, or a sufficient winter coat), and I tried to keep it that way. Hats mess up my hair! Hats don’t fit my huge head! I don’t want to wear a hat! I spent that whole first winter hatless. Yeah, I can be ridiculously stubborn. And stupid.

When fall rolled around, and the stores began stocking their cold weather gear, I suddenly realized the error of my ways. Winter gear was not a burden to be endured – it was a whole new fashion opportunity! I happily ensconced myself in a camel-colored coat, a matching bucket hat, and a Burberry scarf (on sale at the Burberry outlet!).

I have to admit I’m still not a huge hat person. Though they provide a grand opportunity for accessorizing and also for using up a special skein of yarn in a cute and quick way, they still mess up my hair. I love that old bucket hat – a lot – but it still smooshes down my hair.

The wee Francophile in me has always wondered if I could pull off a beret. I’m not sure if this cap I’ve made qualifies as a beret or not, but I believe that my answer is Oui!

It doesn’t fit me the way it would most people – my hair pretty much fills up the slouchy part, and it’s not as flat on top, again, because of the hair. You can see in this sideview that it’s more like a big loose hat on me than like a true beret.

But friends, I’m am pretty thrilled with it. It’s a totally different look for me, but I think it works. I love the color, I love the cables, and I love that I can pull it over my ears without having the brim too far down over my eyes. AND: it doesn’t smoosh my hair! Two thumbs up for that, y’all.

pattern:Mondo Cable Cap by Bonne Marie Burns from Chic Knits – this was a free Mini-Mystery Knitalong that ran from September 26 to October 10. We got three clues spread out over those two weeks – fun! The pattern was officially released (no longer free) on Monday. The Mondo Cable is featured in other patterns this fall, including one I have been itching to make: ( Mondo Cable Cardi)
yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, in Marron Oscuro, less than 1 skein – I’ve had this yarn in my stash for awhile. (I used a skein of it a couple of years ago to make My Old Man a Ribbed Watchcap – so, woohoo! Now the hubs and I have matching caps)
needles brim was done in size 5s, the rest was size 8s
cast on: September 26
finished: October 11
mods:none
notes: If you make this (which I highly recommend – it would make a great super-quick gift), do make sure to block it on a dinner plate for the full slouchy-effect. The blocking completely changed the look of the hat.
raveled

Merci, Chic Knits! Merveilleux!

obsessed: yellow (the new black)

for Rav: STR Mediumweight, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I am always hard-pressed to name a favorite color. Growing up, I went through my pink phase, my blue phase, my purple phase. I even had a peach phase. Green was my favorite color for a long time after that. And then at some point in my early adulthood, I realized I could no longer name a favorite, because I just love color (all of them). I can’t even decide whether I like “warm” colors or “cool” colors better. They are all delicious.

I have to admit, though, that yellow has never been up there with the other ones. It’s not relaxing like blue or green. It doesn’t have quite the energizing power of red or the earthy comfort of brown. I’ve never liked the way it looked on me. I don’t think I’m alone in my opinion of yellow – I’ve never known anyone who called yellow his or her favorite color, except one. That was my dad, when I was a kid, and I thought he was strange for it!

Well, all that has changed, my friend. I don’t know what has happened, but I find myself drawn to yellow like never before. It started earlier this year, when I found a skein of Malabrigo in “Pollen” had ended up in my shopping basket, inexplicably.

It was such a cheery little burst of color in the midst of a long grey winter. I made some happy mittens out of it.

Or maybe my new affection for yellow really started two years ago, with this golden knit:

At the time, I viewed my love for that yarn as an aberration, but perhaps it was a foreshadowing.

Regardless, it wasn’t long after the mittens above that I found a use for the leftover Malabrigo, and I made a fistful of stars.

These are little Christmas ornaments that I gave to a bride-to-be who loves all things Christmas.

Then in June, I pulled out a gorgeous skein of laceweight naturally-dyed yarn I had won from Mel the previous fall, and I ended up with this:

(Whisper Cardigan)

Along the way, I also banged out some jellyfish and some granny squares that featured yellow prominently (along with a delightful combination of purple, fuschia, brown, orange, and white).

It was around the time that I cast off for the Whisper Cardi, that I began receiving fall clothing catalogs and noticed something interesting. YELLOW. There is a lot of yellow out there all of a sudden. Did I anticipate a trend? Or did I somehow respond to subtle advertising along the way? Who knows? I’m just glad I’ve finally seen the charms of this humble color.

Actually, I suppose by this point I should call it what it is – a full-fledged obsession. When Kirsten announced that she would be doing another Mystery Sock Knit-along, I knew immediately that I had to knit along – and in yellow. I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out which yarn, in which shade, would fit the bill. I could see the shade so clearly in my head, but I struggled to find exactly what I was looking for online. I consulted with Heather, whose knowledge of all available yarns and colors rivals the Ravelry database. She was amazing. And then she amazed me more, by offering up the perfect skein of yarn from her own stash. That’s it up there at the top of this post – Socks that Rock, Mediumweight, in “Olivenite,” which from what I can tell is a color that doesn’t exist any more. Heather rocks so hard. Also, she understands obsession like few other people I know.

So now I am working on my Socktoberfest socks, in a perfect fall yellow, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Okay, don’t look any further if you don’t want the Mystery to be spoiled. Here is how mine look after Clue #2:

I love them so much. And they have only made me love yellow all the more.

knitted: little gifts for a little girl (Child’s Play Crown and Valentine’s Wand)

for Rav: Child’s Play Crown, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I didn’t get a shot of the adorable little girl wearing this crown (and if I had, I wouldn’t use it anyway – I have a personal policy about never using another child’s photo without permission, and I feel ridiculous asking for permission to post pics of other people’s kids on flickr/Rav/my blog, so I never do it), but LIttle Buddha graciously modeled it for me. (the crown could’ve stood a nice blocking, but I was out of time)

Recently, the boys were invited to a friend’s birthday party. I had just enough time to whip up something small, and had just received the free pattern via Amazon for the Princess Crown from the book Fairy Tale Knits. It looked pretty cute, and I had this leftover Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in "Tickled Pink" in my stash. The crown turned out pretty adorable, but it ended up *way* too large. Because I was using smaller yarn and needles than the pattern called for, I added an extra repeat (an extra point). If I hadn’t done that, I think the crown would’ve been perfect.

After that fail, I found this pattern for a simple crown. I made the same stupid mistake again – added an extra repeat b/c my yarn and needles were smaller than called for. It ended up a bit bigger than preferable but not ridiculously enormous, so I decided it would work all right.

pattern: Child’s Play Crown
needles: size 3
yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, “Tickled Pink,” much less than one skein
dates:September 25-26
raveled

I wanted a little something to go with the play crown I made. I found this cute little pattern and made this wand.

pattern: Valentine’s Wand
needles: size 3
yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, “Tickled Pink,” and Socks that Rock heavyweight, “Tanzanite”
date:September 26
raveled

These were fast and fun to do, and I would recommend both patterns (actually, I’d recommend all three patterns, including the one that I made way too large). I think they make a great little set for kids who like to play dress-up.

knitted: autumnal mitts (Toast)

YIP.10.1 – Toast, originally uploaded by earthchick.

How can something so simple be so deeply satisfying?

I knit these up with my own handspun – Funky Carolina Superwash Corriedale in “Autumn’s Fire.” The pair only took about half of the yarn I’ve got, so maybe I’ll make another pair for a gift. The colors are so perfect for me, and so perfect for fall.

Carrie has such wonderful color sense. I loved the flashes of red in this, mixed with the golds, browns, and light greens.

I spun this in early July, after I’d only been spinning for a few weeks. It’s underplied, and in a few places it’s overspun. But mostly I love it. It’s 176 yards of heavy worsted Superwash Corriedale. The mitts took about half (or less) of the yarn.

pattern: Toast by Leslie Friend
needles: size 7 dpns
cast on: September 29
finished: September 30
mods: Because I was knitting with heavier yarn than the pattern called for, my gauge was off. To compensate, I reduced the cast on number from 34 to 28. They fit perfectly!

I’ve made mitts before, but never thumbless ones, and I love these most of all. The way they function as a sort of extended part of my sleeve is just perfect. The fact that they’re made from my own handspun makes me even happier. I know I’m late to this bandwagon, so pardon me for gushing about what everyone else already knew.

I see more of these in my future.

knitted: for fall, apparently (Whisper Cardigan)

YIP.9.3 – Whisper, originally uploaded by earthchick.

After feeling a little iffy about the last two sweaters I’ve knit (actually the last three, but I totally changed my mind about the first of those three), it’s so nice to have finished one that is undoubtedly a winner. I love it so much, and I feel so good in it!

I started this cardi in June with thoughts of a summer sweater to be paired with a cute little sundress I was planning to make. I finished the sweater at the end of August, just in time for fall weather. In the end, tht’s all right, because I think this is a nice color for fall.

pattern: Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig, Interweave Knits Spring 2009
yarn: Earthly Hues Vines (laceweight) in “Butter,” a gorgeous soft yellow, dyed with natural extracts and plant fibers (if I remember correctly, this one was dyed with osage orange). I won this yarn in a breast cancer fundraiser from Mel last fall, and I love it so much. Because of how I received this yarn, when I wear it I feel close to Mel and to my grandmother and my friend Sara, who I donated to Mel’s walk in memory of.
needles: size 7, size 4, and size 2. Doing three inches of ribbing on size 2s nearly did me in, but now that I’m done it was totally worth it!
dates: June 29-August 29
mods: none
verdict: LOVE. lovelovelovelovelove. Did I mention that I love it? Yellow is not a characteristic color for me, so it feel like a nice change. And I love the way it feels to slip something this weight on. It almost makes me want to knit a whole lot more sweaters in laceweight. Except not.
raveled


Love that ribbing, even though making it made me want to cry.

Love those floaty sides.

Hello, Fall! Welcome back!

knitted: for summer, supposedly (Liesl)

for Rav: Liesl detail, originally uploaded by earthchick.

Well, hello there, blog friends. Has it really been over a month since I’ve written? Why yes, I suppose it has. In that amount of time, my whole world has pretty much changed – the day after Labor Day I took two little boys to kindergarten and myself back to work. So you can probably imagine that things have been in a bit of upheaval over at my place.

And, per usual, I have a backlog of bloggables. Like this little number, finished back in June.

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pattern: Liesl (rav link) by Ysolda Teague
yarn: Sundara Aran Silky Merino, in “Tulip,” 400 yds
needles: size 10 1/2
dates:June 21-July 13 (funny that I started this on the first day of summer and finally got around to blogging it on the last night of summer)
mods: I made the sleeves on the short side, which wasn’t really what I wanted, but I ran out of yarn. No, I mean, I really ran out of yarn.

There’s what I had left after splicing repeatedly for the last several inches of binding off the second sleeve.

raveled

I loved the yarn, of course. And this is a fantastic pattern for this yarn. In fact, I have three more skeins of it in “Crushed Cherries” to make the same sweater, but this time with longer sleeves.

Between the pattern and the yarn, I had high hopes for this sweater as a cute little summer number to wear with sleeveless dresses and such, but the sleeves hit right at the least flattering point on my arms. So it got only minimal wear during the summer. But I tried it recently over a 3/4-sleeved chocolate brown top, and I was pretty pleased with the effect. So I think I’ll be enjoying it after all.

stitched: for Father’s Day (self-portrait bookmarks)

YIP.6.18 – collaborative crafting, originally uploaded by earthchick.

(Yeah, I realize Father’s Day was two months ago. I’m behind on my bloggables, okay? And I still have a birthday party – from May – to blog!)

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Amanda Blake Soule’s second book, Handmade Home , every since she announced it was in the works. It came out last week and looks great (though I don’t own it yet, since I might’ve blown my book budget lately on Sookie Stackhouse – yo, a girl deserves a few guilty pleasures on vacation, doesn’t she?). Before the book was released, Amanda offered a free pdf of these self-portrait bookmarks on her website. I thought they were a perfect Father’s Day idea.

The above bookmark was a gift for my dad. That’s Little Buddha’s self-portrait (drawn directly onto the fabric, then embroidered by me, and then sewn into a bookmark), with his name written on the left (from top-to-bottom). My stitching skills leave something to be desired, plus I am crazy-slow, but otherwise it was a great project.

We also made one for My Old Man.

You’re supposed to mark the edges off with masking tape so that the child leaves a half inch border inside the rectangle. I didn’t do that, and not only did Little Buddha fill up space within that half inch border – he drew beyond the original rectangle. So this is a super-wide bookmark. Still, I think it’s a great little memento.

Tiny Dancer didn’t want to make any. He hasn’t demonstrated near the interest in drawing (and arts and crafts in general) as his brother has, and I didn’t want to pressure him. But while we were on vacation, he did finally draw his very first stick figure.

I kind of love it.

knitted: a little bit of whimsy (jellyfish)

for Rav: jellyfish, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I knit stuffed toys about as often as I knit baby blankets, which is to say not very often. I need only point you to the great dinosaur-knitting disaster of aught-six, for you to see why.

I don’t mind the fiddly-ness of knitting toys. It’s the stuffing and the seaming that always causes me problems (the same holds true for sewn toys – which explains the unfinished Big-Footed Bunnies that were supposed to be for the boys for Easter 2008; those bunnies still stare at me from my craft closet. Except that they have no eyes. Because sewing on buttons and embroidering face details are also things I don’t like to do). Enter Hansi Singh. This jellyfish pattern of hers is genius! Seriously, y’all, it is one clever little pattern.

You start with knitting the tentacles. Each tentacle takes hardly any time at all. You whip up all six, and you’re practically done with the jellyfish.

Then you start on the top, and you knit from the top down. The most fiddly part is getting things started, and from there, it’s easy-peasy. The brilliance lies in how she has you finish things off – no seaming. You just knit till there’s only a little hole left, and then you stuff it, and then you draw it closed.

Then you sew the tentacles on and add the little string things, et voila! – you have yourself a jellyfish.

They are pretty addictive.

pattern: Jellyfish, by Hansi Singh, [raveled]
yarn: the yellow is a Cascade 220 Painted, the orange and brown are both Cascade 220, and the white, purple, and fuschia are all leftover Wool of the Andes that had been sitting in my stash for a long time.
needles: size 3 – I have finally learned my lesson. With something you plan to stuff, knit at a much smaller gauge than the yarn would otherwise call for.
dates: July 20-25
mods: none needed

I made these for Susie, our friend who hosted us at her beach house last week. Her house is decorated in such a great, funky, whimsical style, I think these jellyfish will fit right in. One of her bathrooms is a bright blue with huge orange jellyfish painted on the walls. Those inspired me to find a knitted jellyfish pattern, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with these. There are a lot more Hansi Singh patterns I want to knit now.

hooked: what I did on summer vacation (granny squares!)

YIP.7.30 – hooked!, originally uploaded by earthchick.

I have been wanting to crochet for a long time. But apparently, I just never wanted it badly enough to stay focused and finish something. A couple of years ago I bought The Happy Hooker and dabbled around a bit, but it never “took.”

When I was 8 years old, my Aunt Bonnie tried to teach me how to crochet once while she was visiting. She brought me a hook and some orange acrylic yarn and showed me how to make a foundation chain. I really enjoyed it, but then her visit was over, and she lived far away, and I had no one else to show me what to do next. I kept that orange chain in my desk for years and always wondered how you could make something like an afghan starting with a small chain like that (my grandmother cranked out ripple afghans for the whole family on a regular basis – in fact, it was really the only thing I knew about crochet, was that you did it to make afghans).

When I was on vacation, my Aunt Bonnie died suddenly and unexpectedly. When packing for my vacation, I had packed one crochet book, on a whim. After my aunt died, I found myself compelled to start crocheting. For days on my vacation, that is the only craft I did. It helped me feel close to her. And also – it is completely addictive.

I had some yummy colors to work with, left over from a knitting project I had just finished (soon to be shown). I finally made the one thing I’ve always wanted to crochet – granny squares. I love it that there is orange in each of them, a little nod to that orange yarn Aunt Bonnie tried to teach me with 30 years ago.

(This and the square at the top are both Block #117 – Granny in the Middle – from 200 Crochet Blocks)

(also Granny in the Middle)

(Block #18 – Traditional Granny)

These make me ridiculously happy. The colors are sooo juicy, and I can hardly believe I’m finally crocheting after all these years. I just want to make more squares. And more!

I have no idea what I’m going to do with them.