I discover the delights of Skinny Bugga!

I admit, I am late to the indie dyer party, but I finally ordered my first skeins from Cephalopod Yarns, and wowzers, I am hooked!  Not only does the yarn come wrapped in the most lucious color of teal tissue paper but it is very soft and smooth in the skein (I can only imagine what it will feel like after washing, swoon), but it even smells good!  Kind of like when you got a new textbook in school and the first thing you;d do after getting it was to crack it open and sniff...wait, that was just me?!  How about mimeographs (oh dear lord, did I just show my age?!)?

I got only 2 skeins, but yum, the first is one of their regular line of colors called Oleander Nymph, a truly lovely shade of buttery yellow.  The second skein is a new color that will only be available for a limited time called Leafy Seadragon (although after another Raveler posted a photo of Sully from Monster's Inc. as being what the colorway looked like that is what I will always think of when I see it).  I am not sure what I will make with these skeins, although the yellow in all likelihood will make a pair of socks from the soon to be released Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet, but regardless they will be something for me, me, me!

Now that I have seen the quality of their products I am really wanting some of the Traveller line of yarn they sell, a dk weight, in another limited edition color, Blue Ringed Octopus, so pretty!  Wouldn't a Drambuie pullover look fabulous in that?!

Here's my 15 seconds...

Check it out, my Straightforward Mitts got mentioned on the WEBS blog today!  Apparently they liked them so much they asked me if they could include my picture in their feature on socks and mitts using the Valley Yarns Charlemont yarn.  They also did features on Charlemont for sweaters and for shawls over the weekend, check those posts out too for some great ideas.

I will say it is a great yarn, very soft and easy to work with.  It is a little splitty, but what yarn isn't that has silk content?  That silk content gives it a really beautiful sheen too.  After a good wash and block the yarn really softens up and develops a nice soft sproingyness (is that even a word?).  I do wish there was a greater range of colors, they are all in the dark jewel tone range and I am more of a spring colors girl.  But at 439 yards for $12.99 this is as really affordable merino/silk fingering weight yarn.

As for the mitts, a great pattern with lovely results.  It does require some concentration at first to get the angled ribbing set up but I found once I understood the pattern it was really easy to work along.  I loved having a chart to follow but the pattern is also written out for those who don't work with charts.

The boxes are in the building

I thought I'd share my birthday haul since the boxes have all arrived, finally.  I do still have some gift cards to spend but I am a bit of a hoarder so it might be awhile before I spend them.  I got a box from KnitPicks, one form WEBS, and one from Amazon, I love that smiley face!  I really wanted to pull all the yarn out and roll in it, but I managed to resist the temptation.  I certainly petted it all and rubbed my face in it though!

First to arrive was the KP box with 10 skeins of Comfy worsted in a gorgeous color called sea foam.  It is not as bright as it appeared on my monitor but I love it nonetheless as it definitely has the feel of the ocean to it.  This was my birthday present from Grumpy and Chatty Cathy that she helped me pick out on my birthday after we went out yarn shopping.  One of the reviews of this yarn said when knit up it feels like your favorite t-shirt and after feeling this yarn I can certainly believe it!  Maybe this is the answer to my issue with the current availability of decent t-shirts at retailers, maybe I should just knit my own!  Anyway, this yarn is destined to become a Lilas cardigan designed by Hilary Smith-Callis, a truly lovely drape front cardigan that I think I would get a lot of wear out of.  I am debating about lengthening the sleeves to 3/4 length rather than the short sleeves as written in the pattern.

Next up came a box from WEBS, I went a little crazy since they are currently having their annual anniversary sale and the prices are fabulous!  I ended up ordering Classic Elite Classic Silk in the princess pink color, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in persimmon, and a lonely skein of Madelinetosh sock in fragrant.  It is all gorgeous!  The silky wool is the perfect shade of dark terracotta, it has a subtle pink tone to it and will be perfect for a Dark & Stormy (Ravelry link) cardigan designed by Thea Colman (I adore her designs, classic and simple, but very modern too, just my style).  For the classic silk I'll make a Nantucket Red (Ravelry link) cardigan, it'll be another great layering sweater for spring and summer.  The pink color is a bit lighter than I expected but still quite acceptable for me to wear (sorry Lil' Miss, you don't get this stuff!).  The madelinetosh, well, I have no plans for that yarn as of yet.  It is unbelievably beautiful though, I now understand why people love this stuff so much the colors just don't photograph nearly how they look in person, I do believe I'll be treating myself to this yarn on occasion in the future.

Lastly I got some books from Amazon, of course some knitting books and one just to enjoy reading.  I am delighted to have The Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger, I have admired her patterns for awhile but just couldn't afford to pay for them individually.  Now that there are 20 available in a single book for less than $12 through Amazon, well it was kind of a no-brainer!  I also desperately wanted the Silk Road Socks book by Hunter Hammersen once I saw the first pattern, they are all incredibly gorgeous and although I haven't had a chance t read through the book yet it appears that there was quite a bit of research that went into it on the history of the silk road and how the rugs are different in each region and then how all this went into the design of each sock (I can't wait to get started on one of these!).  Lastly a work of fiction, New York by Edward Rutherford.  I think I have read just about every one of his books and love them!  His approach is unique, he follows a few families through a very long period of time and thus depicts the changes that occur in a community over such a long period of time, quite interesting.

It's my birthday, let's go buy yarn!

Just like the title says, I convinced Chatty-Cathy and Crafty Auntie (who is to blame, since she taught me to knit in the first place!) to meet up at my place and go to a couple of local yarn shops with me.  I may do a lot of shopping online but I need to support my local merchants too!

First up was Knit Schtick, a very cute shop that just happens to be located a few doors down from where I bought my wedding gown (so, immediate happiness when going there beyond the whole I get to buy yarn thing).  Not only is a great little store but they also have a great online presence and send regular emails informing their customers of upcoming workshops, knitting gatherings and new product arrivals. Unfortunately I didn't double check their hours before we left, whoops!  We drove into the parking lot and I said 'Oh no, why are there white blinds drawn over the windows?!'  Yup, they were closed, bad on me.

Next up was The Sheared Sheep, a bit difficult to find but worth the search.  They don't have quite the grasp of new technology as the other shop but nice to go feel and buy the yarn regardless.  Since shop #1 turned out to be closed we drove over to make sure this one would be open and it would be, in about 40 minutes.  So we went off to a bookstore to kill some time before coming back to the yarn store.  When we did return they were happily open with a group of ladies gathering around the table for a knitting class.  It was a rather small selection of yarn, but it is always great to go pet the lovelies instead of just buying online and hoping it'll work.  They had some Rowan Kidsilk Haze knitted up and I must say, that stuff is gorgeous!  However, I just don't know what I would do with it, so none of it came home with me.  I ended up getting a nice palmwood crochet hook by Brysun and a skein of Cascade Venezia in turquoise (it will become a Brambles beret, so pretty!).

Then my dear friends took me out to lunch at Todai all you can eat sushi and seafood, yummy!  We had a nice leisurely lunch, although Chatty Cathy was saddened to discover the crab legs are only available on the weekend and not during the week.  The sashimi style sushi was the best, some of the rolls had some really weird stuff in them.  Maybe it is just me but raw fish does not go well will cream cheese!  The desserts were delectable and served in bite sizes so one could easily try several guilt free.

After lunch we went back to my place to sit, talk and craft for the afternoon.  Since Chatty Cathy hadn't gotten anything for me at the yarn store we pulled up Knit Picks and she bought me some Comfy worsted in seafoam that is destined to become a Lilas cardigan to wear this summer.  Doesn't that look wonderful!  They even helped me decide on some colors of Elsebeth Lavold silky wool (I got the persimmon to make a Dark & Stormy cardigan) and Classic Elite classic silk (the princess pink for a Nantucket Red cardigan, I certainly hope it's not too 'princessy'!) that I was having trouble deciding on.  Then I horrified Chatty Cathy by ordering some madelinetosh sock yarn, she really couldn't quite believe I was spending $26 on yarn to make socks, I just told her it was my birthday and the yarn was pretty and I wanted it, so there!  With all the online ordering my birthday will continue for the next week or so as the boxes begin to arrive, hooray!

WIP: Wine Rib Scarf

 I don't know if you recall my brief post about a gifted yarn that I received right around when I had my wisdom teeth out?  It's a lovely skein of Fleece Artist baby alpaca in the wine/burgundy colorway, a boucle yarn that really had me stumped as what to do with it.  I was practically tearing my hair out trying to figure out what to do with this yarn, as it is a boucle yarn it really would not work for a complex stitch pattern but I did not want to do some basic pattern, I wanted something with a bit of interest to it.  I fell in love with the Truffle cowl, but after giving it a go the stitch pattern just wasn't showing up through the fluff of the yarn.  Then I found the Short Rib Row scarf and it is working beautifully!

As much as I love the colors of this yarn, a wine red and purple blend, it is not really my color, I am more of a spring colors kind of girl so to someone else it shall go.  Thus it will be a Christmas present for the lovely Missus Gordon, for whom I had originally purchased another yarn but after showing the freebie yarn to Chatty-Cathy and Auntie T was persuaded that this would be much more to her liking (which turns out great for me because guess who gets to keep the tropical sunset colored Araucania Itata I bought with her in mind?  That's right, me, me, me!).  I certainly hopes she likes it, even though it isn't really my colors, I do love how the handpainted yarn is looking with the patterning in the scarf, so are the kids as they keep stopping to pet it as I am knitting this project.

Boxes of Happiness: part 2

Remember when I complained about that awful Impeccable yarn and said Mister Vonkysmeed agreed for me to order some new yarn?  Well, it got here the same day we returned from our mini vacation to the mountains, hooray for WEBS!  I think the box may have been handled by Ace Ventura however as the top and side were completely crushed, so bad the UPS delivery person asked me to open it to verify the contents were alright before he would leave.  Upon opening it the dear Mister Vonkysmeed informed the hapless delivery person he thought one of the skeins of yarn was broken, showing the guy the contents of the box who actually broke into a smile for us. 

Almost the entirety of this box is intended for others, but I get to knit with it so it's all good.  Starting at the left and moving clockwise here's what I got:

• Sugarloaf by Valley Yarns, rose pink
• Encore Tweed by Plymouth, hunter green
• Soya by Sublime, ginseng
• Amity by Elle Rae, aquamarine
• Lamb's Pride Superwash by Brown Sheep, shane's red
• Itata Multy by Araucania, tropical sunset
• Itata Solid by Araucania, light orange
• Select Worsted Merino Superwash by Plymouth, lichen
• Itata Multy by Araucani, green/gold

Best of just about everything was on sale so I got it all for almost half of the regular price, yea!  I just couldn't resist the Itata being half off so got enough to make two small shawls for gifts and two shawls  for myself.  I'm thinking Aeolian for me with some of the tropical sunset Multy (and beads, must have beads!), and Saroyan with some for Missus Gordon, Annis with the solid for the Momster, Gail for me of course with the green/gold Multy, they are all gorgeous patterns.  You have no idea how hard it was to stop there, the colorways of this stuff is gorgeous!  And it feels lovely too, can definitely feel the crisp dryness of the silk even though there isn't much in there.

The Amity will make a cardigan for Lil' Miss, probably the Mi Escuelita by Rosi Garmendi  from Knitty: Fall 2009.  The color is lovely, it does have a bit of a scratchy feel, the 25% wool content coming through I guess.  I hope it washes up a bit softer, but the price is great, and I may be ordering more to make a Tomten (Mister V just ordered Knitting Without Tears for me so he could get free shipping from Amazon, hooray!) for Destructo-boy.  Lest you think he got the short end of the stick he did get something out of the box, the Encore Tweed will be used for a Pembroke vest by Kristen Kapur from Petite Purls: Summer 2009 that I intend to have ready for Thanksgiving.  I just love that pattern and think he will look adorable in it!  The Soya is also for him, I am thinking the Gentleman's polo by Kate Oates for next summer would be prefect out of it.  I will wait a bit before starting this one to verify his size a little closer to the season.

The Select Worsted, Lamb's Pride, and Sugarloaf are all to make hats for family members this Christmas.  I have not completely decided on the patterns yet, but am leaning towards the 3AM cable hat for the Barbarian Lord, Palindrome for the StepPops-in-law, and Brattleboro for the Momster-in-law.  Boy have I got a lot of knitting to do to be ready for the holidays!

Impeccable is not flawless

As a matter of fact this yarn has made me veer directly into yarn snob territory.  The yarn I speak of is the newish Impeccable line by Michael's craft stores sold under their Loops & Threads label.  I am using this crap yarn to make a Fresh Picked Color cardigan for Lil' Miss to have for her first day of school in a few weeks.  We picked this yarn (I say we meaning I pointed out colors I liked and she hugged those she liked as well) because it was the best color in a worsted weight yarn that Michael's had in stock the day we went shopping.  I don't think I can quite find the words to express my dismay at using this to make an actual garment but I shall try.  Don't get me wrong, each yarn has it's purpose in life, I have used it successfully for a hat and a few amigurumi toys (most notably my crochet fortune cookies), I just don't think this yarn is a good match for clothing.

the buttons are my favorite part of the sweater

It is so stiff and unyielding it is like knitting with crafters cotton which I normally only use for crochet work as it is just so hard on my hands.  There is no give to it as there is with wools, blends, or even the nicer cottons I have used, it doesn't seem to stretch at all when you hold the yarn between your fingers and give a little pull.  Thankfully it isn't 'squeaky' for me as other Raveler's have complained of, I think because I use only wood needles (the clicking of metal needles is kinds like nails on a chalkboard to me, not soothing at all!).  The fabric coming off of my needles seems rather stiff as well, not the soft, flowy feel of a little girl cardigan I was going for.  Here is to hoping this softens up a LOT after washing.  One positive thing I can say about this yarn is that the stitch definition is quite nice so far.

Someone is happy with it at least!

 After getting only about 2 inches knit over a few days (I kept abandoning it in favor of other wips just so I didn't have to touch that yarn) I decided to put on my big girl panties and just work on the darn thing to get the misery over with.  Lil' Miss wanted her sweater done in time for school so I better get cracking right?  Much to my surprise I got it done in just a few more days, apparently using yarn I don't like makes me work faster, who would have guessed?  Happily after being run through the washer and dryer it has softened up considerably, I am actually rather surprised at how soft it came out.  Now the garment flows and moves like I had imagined the fabric for her finished cardigan should.  I still will not use it again for garments due to the experience of knitting with it.  I knit to relax, so I don't kill people or yell at my rugrats so using distasteful yarn doesn't really augment the experience of knitting for me.

Working with it did convince me of one thing, the act of knitting should be fun and enjoyable for me so even if I am making something for the kids I will no longer buy the cheapest stuff I can find.  I realized that my favorite sweater for Lil' Miss cost $25 from Carters three years ago, so it would make sense for that to be a guideline for the cost of the yarn to make them something (we won't even go into labor costs as that would just be silly!).  Thus I won't get the uber fancy stuff like say, Madelinetosh Tosh dk (will drool damage my keyboard?) but I can afford to purchase good quality yarns from Knit Picks or fancier yarns that are on sale or clearance instead of the bargain yarns at the local craft superstore.  The best part of this decision is that Mister Vonkysmeed is on board with the idea and already approved my recent spending spree at WEBS (ooh, can a virtual credit card melt!?).

While I recuperate...

from having a pair of wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday ( thank gawd Mister Vonkysmeed can stay home to help with the ankle-biters!) why don't you enjoy some yarn p*rn!  This was a pleasant surprise from The Momster who won it at her Bible study group last week and gifted it to me.  Thanks Momster!

This is a skein by Fleece Artist of hand dyed baby alpaca, in the wine colorway I do believe, it is a 50/50 blend of alpaca and merino wool fibers.  Now what to do with 360 yards of bulky weight boucle yarn?!  Hmmm...

On the needles

What am I currently working on?  Well, not losing my mind mostly!  Knitting-wise I currently have two projects going on, a Central Park Hoodie for me, and a Woodland shawl for me, notice a trend here?  I really should start something for someone else soon so I don't feel guilty about all the me me me me me that's going on!

The fronts and back knit in one piece

The second right sleeve

I am really enjoying knitting the hoodie, it is my first time making a larger, long sleeve sweater like this I have only made a short sleeve cardigan and a short sleeve pullover before, Hey Teach! and Silken Scabbard.  I can't wait to get it done, especially with the weather going the way it is!  With it being August and still chilly in the morning half the time I actually could wear it in the mornings and possibly in the evening despite it being summer, and this in spite of the fact that it is made out of Wool of the Andes!  The only problem I have had so far is having to knit 3 sleeves, yes 3.  I decided to do them in the round so I don't have to seam and my first attempt was both too tight and too short so I frogged that sleeve and tried again.  Luckily the second time seems to be working well so far, and the yarn has held up really well to being knit, ripped, and then knit again. 

The shawl is my first attempt at beading, I am using a bloody tiny crochet hook to get the beads onto each stitch which is extraordinarily time consuming, but well worth the effort in my opinion.  I hadn't know what I was going to do with this yarn, I ordered it on a whim just to try out the Palette yarn you see.  Then on one of my crafting get-together days with friends Chatty-Cathy brought her beads and she had some that perfectly matched the color of the yarn, so she insisted I take them and use them with the yarn (they had been purchased by her on a whim as well while she was shopping in Little India).  I had to order a third skein of the Palette yarn as I think just the 2 won't be quite long enough and at $1.99 per skein I'd rather have too much than not enough!  Now of course I envision wearing this with the perfect summery white/ivory dress so will have another project of sewing a dress for myself next...

Hey Mom cardigan's done!

Only took me 30 days, but I got my Hey Teach! done, and the weather is still appropriate to wear it!  Unlike my scary scabbard that I finished just as the weather warmed up to the point where the alpaca yarn made it much too warm to wear, sigh.  My new cardigan should get a lot of use over the summer in the evenings when it gets cool outside from our ocean breezes (I have thin California native blood, I even got cold in Hawaii of all places!).  Have I mentioned yet that I love Knitty, their patterns are fantastic and they provide them free of charge to us all, hooray (just gotta remember to click on their advertisers to keep the good stuff comin')!  I am still kind of surprised that I was able to complete this so quickly, for me at least!  I think I still have the summer of the ice blue bamboo shell in my head, that sucker took all summer to finish and it was not that complicated of a pattern.  It was however, the first thing I made that was more complicated than a scarf or an afghan.

For my cardigan I used Knit Picks shine worsted in the serrano colorway on US 8 needles.  I cast on all three pieces at once as I detest sewing seams and for this garment it didn't seem that necessary as it was cotton and would stretch (hopefully) as I wear it anyway.  It came out a little shorter than I'd like but as I think it will stretch some while being worn I'm not too worried, I can just block it out a little bigger if wearing it doesn't get it to grow.  I didn't have much trouble working the lace pattern over the decreases as some knitters have commented on as being troublesome on the Ravelry forums.  For some reason I was able to wrap my head around it fairly easily with the help of the handy dandy lace chart (I am beginning to think I really, really like charted patterns!).  Overall it was a fairly easy knit, just enough difficulty to keep it interesting but not so much that it required my undivided and total concentration.  If you are looking for a nice summery cardigan, look no further this one is great!  I was even able to get the buttons for my cardi on sale at Jo-Ann's, as all their buttons were half off, yea!

I really liked the yarn, nice and soft with a really lovely sheen, gee that's why they named it shine!  As it is mostly cotton,  60% cotton and 40% Modal (beech fiber), it didn't give a whole lot but it was light years better than Sugar n' Cream (which I like for washcloths but not much else).  I don't know how it will wash up and wear yet, but to knit with it, it does give off some fuzz that will end up on you, your hands, and unfortunately up your nose.  I spent some time sneezing while knitting this sucker let me tell you!  The finished garment does have some weight to it, I used approximately 8 1/2 balls of yarn so that is about 420 grams, just under 1 pound of fabric.  It is pretty and soft and I'm thinking I will be enjoying this creation for years to come as long as I take good care of it.

Isabella: a tangy tank for summer

When I first saw the images of the Stroll Tonal yarns from Knit Picks I knew that I had to have some.  Yet, I don't knit socks (yet!) so what would I do with beautiful yarn like that?  A quick search on ravelry yielded the lovely Isabella pattern that was in Knitty a few summers ago, I remember admiring it last year but felt it was beyond my abilities.  Well, no more!  I decided to further the difficulty by knitting this in the round, and not just in the round but using the magic loop method.  It took about 5 tries to get it cast on right, but now that I am about 7 rows into the project it is getting much easier.

Casting on was fine, it was the whole dividing the cast on stitches in half and pulling the cable into position while ensuring the stitches didn't twist or get super tight that was a total bitch.  I had actually given up after my first try, thinking maybe I should just stick to the pattern as written and not make things too hard on myself; but after another failed start I thought that if Granola-Mama can do the magic loop for two at a time socks, than by gawd I can do it for one bloody shirt!  Destructo-boy assisted a little in this decision, I had foolishly left my knitting on the couch where he could reach and he pulled all the stitches off one needle after I had started to knit the back piece back and forth rather than both front and back together in the round.  After that I decided to try the magic loop method once again (did I mention that I am also much slower at purling than knitting?).  I waited until the ankle biters were in bed and was able to get it started with a little bit of patience and a lot of luck.

Since the hem will be a picot edge I realized that is okay for the first few rows to look hideous as they will be folded under to be hemmed in place, which really allowed me to relax as I started working through my fear of this project/technique.  I don't know why, but whenever I attempt anything new it seems I have to work my way up to it, giving myself little pep talks just to get over the hump of getting it started.  For the record this is my first time working with fingering weight yarn and my first time using US 3 needles, and using the magic loop method of knitting, a lot of firsts for one project.  It will take forever (maybe I'll get to wear it by next summer!), but I am loving how the colors of the hand dyed yarn are flowing from one to the other so far. Maybe with a lot of luck and patience I'll even get it done in time to wear it by the end of this summer!

Boxes of happiness!

My mailman brought me two boxes of happiness this week, both came from Knit Picks.  They were the results of my shopping with gift money from Christmas and my birthday as I mentioned in a recent post (thanks Pops-in-law!).  Inside were the makings for a Hey Teach! cardigan, a fall cardigan (probably Central Park hoodie), a very warm and bulky Josephine jacket, also were four skeins of the new Stroll Tonals (I must have more, one in each colorway preferably!) two for a Isabella shell, and one each of two other colors for Haruni shawls, some Palette (I have no clue what for I just wanted to try it out!) and a few more skeins of Swish dk weight.  I wanted to spread it all out on the floor and roll in it all, throwing the skeins up in the air with my hands and feet like a cat hopped up on catnip.  What?!  Haven't you even had that urge when you get a whole lot of something that makes you feel good?

Lil' Miss was fascinated by the fact that I was photographing everything as I removed it from the boxes (I have to add photos to my stash list on ravelry!)  she thought it was such a great idea she even went and got her camera to take pictures too.  She was most disappointed when I was finished and hid all the yarn away in storage boxes.

So now I have to finish one of my several projects in progress so I can break out some of the new goodies.  I currently have a half finished Clapotis scarf/shawl, an Elenka dress for Lil' Miss, and a Capitan hat for Destructo-boy on my needles.  I have decided three knitting/crochet projects at a time is a reasonable number if I want to have any hope of getting anything done.  And no, not all of the yarn I got is for me, just most of it.  There are the making for at least two Christmas presents in there, but I'm not disclosing what as the people who get them may be reading this!

I think I need to join a Yarnaholics Anonymous group or something because I have already been perusing more yarn to order, sigh, I think I might have a problem!  Darn you Knit Picks and your lovely budget-friendly yarn!