Leaf Lace Redux

Remember my Leaf Lace Pullover for the Knitting Olympics?

You may recall I had some concerns over how the sweater would buckle not far down from the neckline...well, I took the sweater out for a debut, and the buckling (which became more pronounced) simply drove me bonkers.

So I spent several hours over the weekend attempting to figure out how to de-and reconstruct the sweater. It seemed there wasn't enough allowance for the shoulder area, resulting in the buckling - and since I'm so dreadful at Kitchner Stitch (you'd think I'd be an expert after grafting the sweater together!) I decided I'd remove the kitchner, and knit up from the bottom. Unfortunately, this meant a serious overhaul was in order. My limited understanding of set in sleeves (and my desire to not have to rip out and reshape the sleeve caps) in addition to my even more limited understanding of neckline shaping made for a frustrating evening of pattern modification.

Behold! The fruits of my labors! Excuse the color - the photos in the original leaf lace pullover post are more true. I was so pleased when I was finished I simply couldn't wait until I had proper lighting conditions!

The set in sleeves went in fairly well, though it seems perhaps I have a little bit more space than I anticipated in the bust area - the photo is a little unflattering, as it seems a little lumpy - I assure you, I'm not lumpy and neither is the sweater. I don't know what was going on...and I didn't want to wait to post until I had better photos taken. You'll notice some holes over on the right shoulder (on the left side of the photo) and in the center of the v-neck...

The holes on the shoulder were intentional...and if you look more closely, they will resolve themselves into the leaf lace pattern. The holes in the center of the v-neck were not intentional...but they seem to mirror the eyelet lace on the sleeve. The holes are an artifact of twisted stitches in the center of paired decreases. I had initially done the neckline with a regular knit stitch in the center, but later decided I didn't like how that looked and decided to redo it with a twisted stitch, resulting in those unanticipated openings.

A closeup of the neckline shows the little leaves and the center stitches of the v-neck in more detail. In case you're trying to puzzle out how I got those leaves there while knitting from the bottom of the sweater up: The answer is those are actually knit from the top down and kitchnered to the body. If you look closely, you can see a slight line where the kitchnering took place. You might also notice that my nice line of marching "V"s along side of the V-neck are slightly interrupted. This is due to the fact that knitted increases do not make the same detailing as knitted decreases (at least not the kind of increases I was using (M1 inc)). To get the marching V's back, I played around with a crochet slip stitch applied to the border. While not perfect, it's good enough for me, and can be redone if at some point I decide it needs to be better matched to the opposite side of the neckline.

Leaf Lace Pullover

Cast on for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, I'm pleased to say I've finished this sweater within the allotted time, with a week to spare!

Pattern: modified from the Leaf Lace Pullover in Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop. The pattern was altered to work with a worsted weight yarn, lengthen the body and add a touch of shaping at the waist.

Yarn: Southwest Trading Company Optimum in Lilac

Needles: US8

Comments: If you have trouble with Kitchner stitch, this is not the sweater for you - both arms are grafted to the body at the shoulder, and the top and bottom of the sweater are also kitchnered together. Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the sweater, and I do like the leaf details.

The lengthening of the body obviously does result in the hem and arm leaves landing fairly close together - I suppose I could have not lengthened it quite so much, but I really dislike sweaters that land right below my waist, as it typically means I have to remember to keep my arms down or risk baring my non-sculpted middle!

While I'm not minding the placement of the leaves at the neck - through some inconsiderate math on my part, they landed nearly right in the center, rather than being offset - I am still undecided on the neckline with its mock-turtle-like lines. Over the course of time, it has a tendency to buckle a bit. I have been successful in resolving this problem by wearing the sweater with the neck unbuttoned and folded over - though that solution hides the leaf details and is asymmetric.

While the sweater is indeed finished and perfectly wearable, I'm not certain how long it will remain in this state. I may very well decide in some time to pick out the kitchner stitching, detach the arms, and re-knit the top of the sweater with a crew or scoop neck - sans leaves of course....but it's safe for now :D

Spindles for Plying

Behold! A small fleet of spindles that have been created expressly for plying! After completely filling up my Emily Spindle full to bursting (the thing looked ridiculous), I decided I needed a spindle with a bigger whorl.

Instead of going out to purchase more spindles, I decided I'd go head and make my own...more economical, and a bigger whorl too! In this case, size *does* matter (at least for plying anyhow!)

Following the instructions from Interweave and DIY Network, I was able to gather the materials to make several spindles.

As you can see, I put three spindles together, they range in weights from 1.6 oz to 2.7 oz. The heaviest, pictured to the left, actually is made of 4 CDs - 2 pairs of 2 spaced closely together. The medium weight one has a bunch of binder clips attached to the edge to add weight, and the last one is simply a pair of CDs on the dowel. I haven't had a chance to ply with them yet, as I've been engrossed in my knitting olympics project.

Last minute Spinning

With a touch of OC tendencies and a type A personality, I couldn't leave the yarn alone. After filling the bobbin, I couldn't resist taking the spinning to completion and plying it up.

I present "Nighttime Sky" - handblended merino fibers in various shades found in the sky - over a base of midnight blue, there are shades from a bright blue, to a steel blue of an overcast day. To add some fun, there are slight hints of lavender as found during the twilight hours, and a sprinkling of firestar. The handblended merino was corespun over the top of a blue snarl spun commercial yarn and the resulting single was plied with shiny metallic to mimic the twinkling lights of the night time sky.

A closeup detailing the texture can be found at the shop - go check it out :)

Dry At Last!

Skeined up and ready to go to a new home, should anyone care to buy it....

I present Beaded Bumbleberry Pie! Like the rest of the Bumbleberry Pie family, the colors are rich berry colors, and was made from space dyed targhee wool. I was tiring of doing up coils, so I tried my hand at beading singles as I was spinning. It's a bit frustrating, and very labor intensive - and I'm not convinced it's the best thing for my wheel (I'm noticing wear on my flyer hooks!) The sequins on the singles had a tendency to catch on the hooks, though they passed nicely while plying.

If you care to make this yarn your own, it is available from my shop.

More Coils!

Spun up a few more coils over the weekend - the closeups are available at the shop.

In an attempt to get more exposure, I've started posting some items to etsy, and I've changed the shipping to $5- flat shipping rate. We'll see how it works out! I'll probably be taking a break from coils for a while, and work on some other techniques.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

I don't know how it happens, but somehow it seems all those silly plastic grocery bags pile up and start a-multiplyin'! Usually, they eventually get rounded up and recycled by bringing them to a local drop off point. This time, however, I decided to recycle them myself by turning them into a gym tote! I'd had it with my regular gym bag - it wasn't quite roomy enough, things were constantly falling out (because I'd have them piled precariously on top), and it didn't breathe at all! While a plastic mesh tote is not the most fashionable of objects, it certainly seems to do the job well, and I really don't have to worry about it getting wet or dirty.

Not terribly difficult, just a little labor intensive getting the prep work done, this tote was finished in about a week from start to finish, replenishing my plastic bag yarn as I went along.

To prep, I cut the bags into about 1-inch wide strips, then girth hitched them all together to make a continuous piece. For the mottled look, I threw in some white bag strips in with the yellow every now and again.

Using a the largest crochet hook I had in the house (a size P I think), I created a rectangle that was an appropriate size for the bottom...I then started working in the round to make the sides and handles of the bag. The little divider was added after the fact, by picking up stitches in the bottom of the bag, then working side to side, picking up stitches on the sides to anchor it in place.

It's a little roomy, and it does stretch some, but over all, I'm pleased with the result :)

New Yarns!

Picture heavy post! But it is all yarn, so drool away :)


First up is my next skein of supercoiled bumbleberry pie. The first skein went to live with the Luscious Gracious Clan and was turned into a stunning wrap (scroll down past the cool guitar strap to see the photos!). I figured I'd turn the rest of that roving into similar yarn.


Next we have a combination of handblended fiber (why yes, the box o fiber has been moved in, sorted by hue, and the carder has been used :D) It's a bunch of greens that remind me of the surprising variety of green plants here in the desert, and it's been plied with a commercial orange, red and gold flecked novelty yarn. The colors reminded me of a southwestern coral bean plant. I think I'll be gathering a lot of my inspiration for future blendings from my outdoor adventures!


And finally you can ogle what's left of my green yarn - there was just a smidge left over (about 8.5 yards worth), and it's got lovely heathery greens and a little sparkle and shine from the firestar that I blended in.

The two upper yarns are now posted for sale at my shop! A closeup of the southwestern Coral Bean yarn can be ogled there, along with a photo of the plant that inspired it.

Introducing Ilion!

I'm working on growing my design skills - and here is the result!

Inspired by my cat, Troy, and my attempts at stashbusting, the creation of Ilion proved to be a welcome diversion from normal day to day goings on.

The pattern is my own and is now up for purchase! Visit my store to find out more about materials required and to buy your pattern now!

Yar, Matey!

oooh! look! Colorwork!

And Colorwork Guts!

I think I'm addicted to fair isle knitting. The ability to knit both continental and english style certainly sped thing along nicely.

Pattern: We Call them Pirates from hello yarn

Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull*

Needles: US3 & US1

Comments: * before we get too far, yes, I realize that Baby Ull was *not* the yarn called for - and it is considerably smaller in gauge than Hauk, the recommended yarn. In any case, the hat came out lovely, if too small for an adult. Measured flat, it looks like it'll fit someone with a head 17-18 inches in circumference. As I mention above, it seems I adapted to stranded knitting just fine - I didn't seem to have any issues with the floats being drawn too tightly, and the fabric has wonderful stretch. If anything, the hat lining being tacked to the outer fabric might limit the stretch of the hat a little. I used a crochet provisional cast on (much better than the other provisional I've used in the past - the looping provisional, if you're curious), and knit the whole thing on a long circular needle - the same way I would do socks via the "magic loop" method (dpns and I do not get along - they are constantly insisting on sliding out of my knitting and leaving me with loops flapping in the wind - and all knitters know that uncontrolled flapping loops are not a good thing).

New Skills learned: fair isle knitting, crochet provisional cast on.

And now for the cool part: I am offering this hat up for a swap - since I have no children of my own, and it does not fit myself nor my husband (and I don't think my cats would like it if I tried to make *them* wear it), it can be pom-pom'd for extra cuteness, though I think that might clash with the Pirate motif ;) Contact me or leave me a comment if you're interested. (This is being x-posted so I'll be getting back to all interested parties if there are more than one. If you leave a comment be certain to provide your email address so I can contact you!)

Two more for the Herd!

I couldn't help myself. I had lambs on the brain after all that work for Southwest Trading Co, and the response from you readers has been fantastic. I decided I had to quickly create another pattern for those of you who do not have access to merchants that might have the other pattern that was created expressly for SWTC!

Behold, my two lambkins - they are made of Southwest Trading Company yarns, mostly because I have a lot of yarn from them on hand. You can substitute like yarns, of course.

The pattern is my own and is now up for purchase! Visit my store to find out more about materials required and to buy your pattern now!

Sproing!

Behold!

My first attempt at supercoils! Not too bad - though I have a little bit of learning to get through! Big thanks to Marie for providing tips and hints :) I aspire to be like Marie - she's got her handspun for sale at kpixie and the Point!

Anyhow, details:

Supercoiled Razzleberry Pie

Fiber: handpainted targhee wool (not by me) bound with variegated rayon thread - colors ranging from a rich deep raspberry to a gorgeous periwinkle.

55 g /1.9 oz

approx 118 meters / 129 yards

Comments: Soft and Sproingy, for future supercoiling, I think I need to actually put more twist into my singles (that and work on a more uniform twist still :D) - you may or may not be able to tell, but the yarn has very little twist in it now that it's been plied. Some coils are more tight than others. Definitely fun and interesting to look at - it did have some issues on the wheel, as some of the coils got stuck first in the orifice and then on the flyer hooks. Not availible for sale, as it lives with the Luscious Gracious Clan :) If interested, I have more fiber in this colorway ready for plying - leave me a comment!

And now for Something Sewn

Not a recently finished object, but a finished object of a while back - I think I actually sewed this kitty bed up a year or two or maybe even three years ago! Luckily for me, my cat Troy has recently claimed it as his own, after ignoring it all this time! As a result, I've finally managed to get a good photo of it in use :)

The bed walls are just deep enough for him to curl up inside, and not be seen, if looking at it from the side. I simply made it up as I went along.

Materials: Festively decorated (oooh! Christmas lights!) Fabric - cotton print, I believe. Felt or fleece for the lining, and polyfil and batting for the filling.

Approximate method: In addition to sewing this, I sewed up a bunch of circular "tuffets" for the cats - the "tuffet" provides the base for this cat bed.

The circular "tuffet" simply consists of two circles of fabric, the exact same size, filled with a combination of batting and a bit of polyfil to add fluff and stitched in the center with an X to form a divet.

The walls of the cat bed are made of one long tube - it's long enough to just overlap itself when wrapped around the tuffet - I estimated the length required by measuring the circumference of the un-sewn tuffet circles. Once the tuffet part was complete, I sewed and stuffed the long tube for the walls. At that point, I had a round tuffet and one long stuffed tube - kind of like a cat sized body pillow. If you're inclined, pin the tube around the tuffet and sew in place - if you're like me, and dislike pins, grab the tube and the tuffet and whip stitch em together. The way I sewed mine together, it is kind of reversible, so that the felt part is on the outside - but I think the cat prefers it the way it is :)

A second career?

These guys will officially mark the start of my career as a pattern writer!

How exciting! They are the 2nd pattern I've been commissioned to create by Southwest Trading Company - the first was a Trellised Scarf made out of Karaoke. That particular pattern is available from yarn merchants that carry Southwest Trading Co yarns (just ask em to download it for you). These were inspired by my Amigurumi binge over the holidays - specifically by these fellows.

Pattern: Will be available through Southwest Trading Company and Merchants that carry their yarn

Yarns: The white sheep is made of Bamboo Feather and Karaoke, the Blue sheep is made of Twize and Bamboo Feather - incidentally, it's a vegan sheep - 100% bamboo yarn content!

While SWTC is very generous with their compensation, I'm going to try my hand at selling my patterns via my shop. Stay tuned!

Fanciful Fruity Yarn!

Mmmm! Yarn! In all its fruity glory! For details on the dye process, read here. It took several days to dry after dripping dry in the bathroom over the tub....the fruity smell is still there, though it is less noticeable (either that or I've simply become accustomed to it). Each hank is eight ounces of what used to be boring natural colored Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool. I like it much better this way in it's newly transformed fruity form.

Here you can see it as a wall of yarn, fresh out of the dyepot and newly rinsed and pressed dry on a towel. Don't worry, I did spread it out after the photo was taken to try to encourage a more speedy drying. Even with the addition of food coloring and extra KoolAid packets, the yarn soaked up all the dye, as I noticed no dye bleed during the rinsing process, nor was my tub colored as the yarn drip dried. Unfortunately the Blues and Purples batch did not come out fully saturated and may be in need of an overdye.

While the Wall of Yarn was quite beautiful with its tie-dyed funky appearance, I greatly prefer how it looks re-skeined into smaller swift-friendly size - even though rewinding it took a long time (to dye the yarn, I wound it up on a huge niddy noddy). I'll probably leave them as they are until I'm ready to knit with them, at which point I'll bring out the swift and ballwinder.

I think I'm in love with dying, though next time, I'm going to use proper (non KoolAid) dyes, and I'll have to make a day of it and see if I can completely fill the pot!

Brightly Colored Birdies!

while it may look like there are 15 birdies here, I'm not quite *that* productive!

During the week between Christmas and New Years, I did also happen to make good progress on finishing off the remainder of my Lion Brand Microspun, though I still remain with a fair amount of purple and lime left over.

I had a fair amount of it on hand, left over from making several Pashas and Anouk - but not enough to know what to do with - enter Amigurumi Crochet! I'm just about ready to move off from this book - for all my enjoyment of the creative process, I guess I'm a linear thinker at heart - these birds are also from Amigugumi Collection Vol 1 - ISBN 4309265723.

Hook Size: US D/3 (3.25mm)

Comments: Easy and quick to make, without their wings, they look like little eggs - or perhaps not so little, as each stands just under 4 inches tall. I imagine if I downsized them and filled them with catnip, they'd make fabulous cat toys - especially because of how roly poly they are! I found the most difficult part was closing the bottom - instead picking back up and doing decreases as noted on the chart, I opted to draw the loose end of the yarn through the stitches and draw the bottom tightly closed - I simply wasn't liking how things were coming out tension-wise on the fabric once the bird was stuffed. Next most challenging was getting the feet sewn on - they're just little x's on the bird's bottom, consisting of 4 stitches, but like the 3-stitch faces on the sheep, they were hard to get evenly spaced. I'll definitely be holding this pattern in reserve for those random scraps of yarn that seem to accumulate as I finish projects!

Anti Sheep?

I remember reading a long time ago at the Yarn Harlot, that Anti Sheep is an anagram of Stephanie. Well it would be hard pressed to say that this or that Stephanie is Anti Sheep. I'm a big Wool Fan - as my Ridiculous Stash can attest.

So can these guys:



Who could possibly resist those guys?! I have to confess to not following my stash reduction plans - I was at JoAnns looking for something - I don't even remember what (I think it might have been 6mm eyes, but I'm not certain) - in any case, the yarn used for those guys was on sale. And I was between projects. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Details?

Of course, they are more Crochet Amigurumi - from Amigurumi Collection Vol 1 (no, I've not moved off of Volume 1 yet, but I do have plans to). ISBN 4309265723.

Yarn: JoAnn Exclusive - Sensations - Icee and Dolcetto in Off White and Cream, respectively. Incidentally, I've still got plenty of Dolcetto (the non fuzzy part) but I've used almost 2 skeins of Icee to make that small herd of Sheepies.

Hooks: That's right - hooks! Plural! The Dolcetto (for the bottom, ears/horns and face) was crochet using a 3.5mm (US E4) hook (for the small sheepies) and a 3.75mm (USF5) hook (for the big sheepie) - I prefer how it came out using the 3.5mm hook - that and the holes were small enough for me to put some polyfil beads in the bottom (for stabilization) without them leaking out. The Icee was hooked using a 6mm (US J10) hook.

Comments: They come together mighty fast and they are wonderfully adorable - I have to say crocheting the Icee (a feathery chenille-like yarn) was a royal pain (because I couldn't see what I was doing). I recommend putting polyfil or other weighted beads in the bottom of these guys, or sheep tipping may prove to be in your future. The horns were a little challenging on the big guy - I didn't have any white pipe cleaners, so I had to wrap polyfil around the black one I did have, and I had to use 2 since the pipe cleaner (craft variety) was not very rigid and wasn't cooperating in helping me shape the horns. Assembly was fairly easy, with the face being the most difficult - who would think getting three stitches centered and even (for the nose & mouth) would be so difficult?? The collar also took a little bit of time, as I could not find cord similar to that used in the book, and none of the yarns I had on hand looked good as a collar - I opted to go a little fancy and each is sporting a flower trimmed red velvet ribbon...and don't forget the bell :)

In case you're wondering - the big one took almost an entire skein of Icee. The pair of lambkins can be had from a single skein of Icee.

Stashbusting Socks for Sandals or Clogs!

Remember Cozy? Well here's what's become of that last skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease!

I am happy to present Mizar! A fantastically quick knitting pair of socks, even with all those fancy cables (the trick is the worsted weight yarn!). Mizar is from the 2nd edition of Socks for Sandals and Clogs by Anna Zilboorg (and incidentally, they are my first cuff to toe pattern).

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in Loden

Needles: US5 (and no, as it turns out, I forewent the swatching and guess right on needle size. I probably could have knit them on US6s with no problems)

Comments: Well, I must admit I think I prefer knitting my socks toe up - mostly because I don't get that nervous feeling that I might run out of yarn before the sock is "done" - with toe up socks, I can just keep going and then knit the ribbed cuff when it looks like I'm about ready to run out of yarn. In this case, I had to guess how many pattern repeats to do before setting in on the heel flap (I guessed right here too) and though I could probably do with a little bit more length in the sock, they fit quite well as they are - and a good thing too, because I don't think I had enough yarn to do an additional 1/2 pattern repeat before starting on my toe decreases - as it was, I estimated approximately 20-25 feet of yarn remaining out of the skein once both socks were done. These socks were fun to knit, and they look gorgeous. The side pattern actually marches right on down and around the front of the toes - so I got to practice my non-standard Kitchner stitch again (I'm getting better). I admit to still having some small laddering issues, especially at the gusset - and I have problems keeping the ladders away if I switch needles and the next stitches don't match those preceding (for example, if I had a bunch of Purl stitches and then switched needles and went to the side pattern (a modified Rib) there was usually some laddering observed - I also have a little bit of laddering at the toe, where the decreases are right along side the side pattern). The good news is the ladders along the gusset were easy to fix, and the ones near the toes are not terribly noticeable. Ladders and all, I have to admit to a tremendous sense of accomplishment in finishing these socks - they're just gorgeous to look at and plenty comfy to wear!

I have a thing for cats

Can you tell?

This little girl comes from Amigurumi Collection Vol 1, one of my Japanese Craft Books.

ISBN: 4309265723
Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun in Buttercup, Lily and Purple.
Hook: USD (3.25mm)

I've found Crochet to be a welcome diversion from knitting, and the projects I've been tackling are small and seem to go fairly quickly. I'm getting better at assembly, so this little girl was finished faster than Citrine.

Unlike Citrine who likes to scamper about au naturale, this kitty sports a white frock, trimmed with purple, and has a matching slip stitched knit scarf.

Gustaf Glovedog

introducing Gustaf
He lives with Schmeebot. He's a very debonair fellow, made of white gloves and sporting a microfibre knit scarf - apparently these garter stitch long-ways scarves are all the rage these days.

Gustaf is inspired by this book on the left (that is all about stuffed animals made from socks and gloves) - and is decidedly less Snoopy shaped (as the cover model is) and is more Spuds McKenzie-esque. I suppose that's my handling of stuffing for you - and short of tacking his ears down, they were never going to behave as the floppy ears on the book's cover model. Since I don't believe in unnecessary procedures, I opted to leave his ears as they were - perky and excitable looking.

ISBN: 4579110617

Gustaf is made from a pair of nylon gloves, and is handsewn (tho if I was ambitious to make a lot of Gustafs, I suppose I'd break down and do a bunch of seaming using a machine, leaving the finishing to be done by hand). Challenges included getting stuffing into his extremities without making them terribly lumpy (and he is a little lumpy - I suspect Mr. Cover Model is too - in any case this is why Gustaf is photographed from the waist up), getting his head stuffed and seamed (I think I'd baste the cut ends of the knit fabric the next time, as the fabric developed several runs that made seaming a little interesting) and getting his eyes set right. I opted to use stud eyes on Gustaf along with a spare button for his nose - because his eyes were such a challenge to set (and not re-doable once the backings were on), I think I'd go with buttons the next time. Definitely a fun little creation, and not terribly time consuming either!