yarn diet. riiiiight....

Last year I was aiming to be really good and work on projects using yarn from my stash rather than acquiring more shiny new yarn. According to my Ravelry stash page, I did pretty good! I had no new yarn in 2017 until Art Fair weekend in September when I got some more Serenipidye yarn. I was aiming to keep it going in 2018, which was going well until this summer when Dave and I wandered into Fengari on one of our sojourns to Half Moon Bay; and again when my folks came to visit; and again at Art Fair this month. This yarn diet thing is hard!  

To my credit, I notice I've been buying yarns that I don't really have - i.e. the big squishy kind - rather than more sock yarn. Except those couple of hanks from Art Fair - one has sparkles, how do you resist? The other lovelies in that pile are Malabrigo Mecha (top 2 and bottom) and one Madelinetosh DK weight (deep purple) that are just gorgeous variegated skeins that I can't wait to dive into. Apparently I'm in a cool colors mood? 

Also as I've been puttering around the kitchen more I've noticed some of my dish cloths have had better days. Time for some new ones! Mom crocheted me a few great ones that I want to try to make more of,  hopefully I can get the pattern from her to do that. And for that we need cotton! These are some fun and bright colors that will look nice in the kitchen.

It was good to take stock of the newbies and realize that I actually did pretty good this year, too. What this also prompted me to do was take out the stash and reorg a little bit. I now have a separate box that has my leftovers in it nice and neatly arranged. Now when I want to do some stash busting I have all my options in front of me at once rather than having to dig through the basket. This way even if I don't have much of a particular yarn I know what I have hanging around that I can combine it with. I feel some color work coming on! 

even quicker

While my recent cowl and mittens finishes were pretty quick, I sat down today to watch the US Open with something even quicker!

Most patterns call these things "face scrubbies" but I'll just call them cotton rounds. I had some bits and pieces of leftover cotton that have been hanging around forever and I thought I'd try making myself some of these rounds to replace the disposable ones I've been using for my face toner. I'm not totally convinced I will never turn back, but I do love using all the dishcloths Mom has made me in the kitchen, so why not give it a go? 

These little guys were super fun to make, and quite addicting! I managed to work through ALL of my leftover cotton. I even enjoyed weaving in the ends. What is wrong with me?! 

These rounds were made with two SC rounds and one DC round. I like that they are simple and sturdy. Hopefully they'll hold shape well through washes and dry out well between (i.e. not get stinky before laundry day). 

These last three were made using two rounds of puff stitches and one round of SC. I don't think these will dry out quite as well as the others but the puff was too fun not to try. My Ravelry page has a few more details as well as links to the two patterns that I used as guides, and there are a bunch of patterns out there for various sizes and textures. 

All in all these were a really relaxing and satisfying use of time today! True potato chip project -- almost literally -- they aren't much bigger than a chip themselves and I could make a whole bag. It was also fun to get back together with my crochet hooks. Sewing is also making a comeback! More on a quilt top soon.

mittens managed

I took my parents and nieces over to Half Moon Bay on their visit earlier this month. A visit to the coast obviously demands a stop in the yarn store, so we meandered into Fengari so I could show the girls all the yarny fun. While I'm sure we all would have liked to take home everything, I let my nieces each pick out a skein of Malabrigo Mecha to take home and suggested I could make them mittens from their pick. Bonus, I also got to show them how my ball winder and swift work. Fun!

Samara is super into rainbows and dragons right now. It was really hard for her to pick out a color, but I showed her this variegated one because somehow the sooty overtones to the rainbow also suggested 'dragon' to me. She agreed, and I found a simple mitten pattern with some details that remind me of the spikes along a dragon's tail. There is a central knit stitch that is flanked by seed stitch triangles along the back of the hand. I REALLY like how these turned out and am bookmarking this pattern for future reference! The color worked up fabulously and I think they look funky and awesome. 

Pattern: Tolten Mittens (my Ravelry page)

Needle: US 9 dpns

Yarn: Malabrigo Mecha in 'aniversario'

On the other hand (no pun intended), Jasmine wanted a solid color and was positive she wanted teal. Teal, turquoise, blue-green, green-blue, whatever I call it she's into it. It was harder for me to pick out a pattern for her, but I settled on this cool swirly rib. The pattern calls it a "cross stitch 2x1 rib" but it's really just 1x1 cables going up the mitten. They look a little strange off of a hand, but once you put it on the rib stretches out and you can see the whole pattern better. I think the chunky yarn is shown off really well and the semi-solid color makes it not too busy. This one was fun to knit and easy to memorize. I had Mom measure her hand and text me measurements, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I got it right. 

Pattern: Shelburne Mittens (my Ravelry page)

Needles: US 9 dpns

Yarn: Malabrigo Mecha in 'teal feather'

My original plan was to whip these up while they were still out in California, but that didn't happen because we packed a bunch of other things into our evenings. Still, these only took me a couple days each and I'll be able to pack them up with some hot chocolate packets and bookstore gift cards so the girls will be ready for the colder weather when it comes to Chicago. 

trellis, finished

Sometime in early July Dave and I ended up in Half Moon Bay at Fengari, my favorite yarn shop. "I am on a yarn diet!" I said. And then I found some really pretty yarn to take home anyway...

One of those lovelies on the right there is an alpaca/wool/acrylic blend that became this cowl. When I started this the only projects I had on the needles were huge (a worsted weight blanket), tiny yarn (mom's birthday shawl), or both (the never-ending shetland shawl). I was craving fluffy yarn, big needles, and an easy peasy pattern. 

Enter Ravelry filters to help me find something! This cowl uses a neat repeating stitch pattern to achieve this smocked fabric effect. It was easy to memorize and also addictive to knit. Similar to self-striping yarn, I found myself wanting "just one more row" before I put it down for the night. It was a quick knit in the round that kept my interest but was easy enough that I could watch tennis or a movie while working. I love the color and tweedy bits in this yarn. I also have some in yellow that has been in my stash for longer. After working with it on this I'm really looking forward to finding a project for that yarn as well. 

I really like how it turned out! It's quite soft and doesn't suffer from the itchy problem I had with my Lando cowl, but the fabric has a little more drape than I might like, so I'm letting it sit for a bit before I decide whether I should line it or not. It probably depends on who I end up giving it to. I like chunky substantial cowls that stand up on their own. I'm on the fence.  In summary: Hurrah for quick knits!

Trellis Cowl

Pattern: Ziyal, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Monte Donegal in 'ivy'

Needle: US 8

blueberry wine, finished

So excited about this finish! I started this on April Fool's Day and finished just a few days into August. And it is lovely. I recall the feeling of excitement I felt when I cast this one on: new shiny project, super awesome yarn, 'ooh it's not my one-color enormous shetland shawl'. Then somewhere along the way it gets put down amid vacations, house guests, life, all the things, and ack it's almost Mom's birthday! And she's coming to visit! Better finish it up.

I was really good and did not post *any* work in progress pictures or posts or anything while this was working its way off the needles because I didn't want to ruin the birthday surprise. Success! In true me-style, I did block it with her while she was visiting.... but that was just bonding time, ok?

I am really digging the triangle shawl in general. The size seems to turn out great every time and I think this style drapes on shoulders and around necks really nicely and also securely. The center fabric of this Ulmus, which has a bunch of slipped stitches and ribbing, is super squishy and weighty. It didn't even really need the block, but of course the lace border did. The pattern opened up nicely with a good steaming and I'm glad I changed my mind and made the border with this pretty variegated yarn instead of the solid. These yarns were from a lady at the King's Mountain Art Fair and I'm excited to go see her again this year and get some more of her lovely work!

Happy birthday Mom :) 

Blueberry Wine Shawl

Pattern: Ulmus by Kirsten Kapur (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Serendipidye King's Mountain Sock in 'claret' and 'blue denim & blueberry'

Needle: US 5

Size: 52" wide x 26" deep

four legged friends

I have a friend that does shrinky-dinks. That's right, remember those magical pieces of plastic that twisted and turned in the oven as they shrunk down to miniature versions of themselves? I vividly recall a Pound Puppies set I did once as a kid. One of the puppies had a permanent twist to his little neck from a shrinking mishap. Regardless, my friend Cindy does a lovely job with hers. She's even made me several pieces of jewelry - clathrin earrings and a necklace that spells out PhD in amino acids - that I love. Well Cindy came over not that long ago, crafty supplies in tow. She had made a host of adorable sheep and kitten knit markers that needed finishing with jump rings and loops.

Aren't they SO CUTE.  I especially love the little mischievous kitty with the ball of yarn. She also brought along some sheets of polymer, colored pencils, and some printed images so we could make some more. Ever so thoughtful, she found me some super cute horses to use.

I colored them to match two of my lifetime favorites, Henry the mare and Rum the little chestnut that could. One of the coolest things about these, aside from the shrinking magic, is the way the shrinking concentrates the colors. It's obvious when you stop to think about it - all that color is sitting there so it must go along with the plastic as it gets smaller - but it is impressive every time.

Provided you remember to use a hole punch to put a hole in the plastic before you shrink them, these are super easy to make up into earrings, or knit markers, or whatever if you have jewelry tools and findings handy. I made these with a couple of larger hoops so they will fit on my bigger knitting needles. The sheep are probably for mid-size needles, and the kitties are certainly for sock needles because of the size or any crochet project because of the lobster clasps.

I love knit markers. I've made some out of beads and thread to gift, and I use my little bumble bees I got gifted myself all the time. This is a super fun way to continue to add to my collection (and others'!). I see an addiction coming...

shetland in situ

Ahhh, bonny Scotland. It's been a busy month since we've been back, but boy did we have fun. The land of lochs, braes, moors, heather, and wool did not disappoint. For example, this is where we stayed on our second to last night. It is Loch Leven, near Glencoe, and it is gorgeous.

Lando and Punk Rocky Mountain paired nicely with my jumping deer dress

We started in Edinburgh and traveled a circuit that took us through Aberdeen, Speyside, and Inverness, then drove the Great Glen to Glenfinnian and Glencoe, and finally circled back around through Fort William and Glasgow to leave out of Edinburgh. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, my shetland shawl didn't make it as a finished object, but I did decide to take it with me for the flights, the occasional sleepless night (thanks jetlag), and for serendipitous moments like this one:

We didn't get to the Shetland Islands (next time!) but I am confident that the wildness of the highlands we saw is a great stand-in for the landscapes of the northern isles. It was super fun to sit by the loch and work a few rounds. Seeing the country, it's people and places, and absorbing the history has really made this particular project a special one.