Let the drooling begin

Take a look at all the lovelies I got in the mail.

First, some cashmerino:



Even with sunlight to take the pictures by, I still had to lighten the image to get the color even close to what it looks like in person. It's a mauvey-lavender color, but it does look darker and brighter in direct sunlight. The plan is for it to become this sweater:




Man, is this stuff soft! I got a great deal on it on ebay (normally, I wouldn't even think of buying this yarn... way too pricey). It came in a lot of 20 balls, so when I'm done, there should be plenty of extra, and I can either make myself some matching socks (I'm wanting to design a cuffed sock with the cable pattern from the neckline on the cuff), or sell the extra to recoup some of the $$, or both, depending on how much I end up using.

Now, onto the REALLY good stuff. I stumbled onto a fantastic new source for handpainted yarn. This artist has the most incredible color sense. I adore so many of her colorways! Here's what I got:


Byzantine on alpaca


Closeup of Byzantine


Emilie on Alpaca


Closeup of Emilie


Last of the Summer Berries on alpaca


Closeup of Last of the Summer Berries


Briar Rose in alpaca


Closeup of Briar Rose on alpaca


Briar Rose on cashmere


Closeup of Briar Rose on Cashmere

I wasn't originally planning on getting the cashmere, but the artist posted about how the different fibers picked up the colorways differently, and some of what I'd ordered turned out such that it wouldn't work for the project I had in mind. I wanted to do Clapotis in Water Lillies, and I ordered it in merino, because that's the least expensive. On the cashmere, the shades in the Water Lillies colorway look smokey and sophisticated... on the merino, they remind me of bubblegum or a handful of kids candy (cute, just not what I had in mind for Clapotis). So, she offered to let me exchange it.

Now, Axelle is making Clapotis in Water Lillies in the Cashmere. I'm not quite sure whether to be insanely jealous, because *hmph* I want that, and 3 skeins of cashmere is JUST TOO MUCH for my budget; or to be greatful because I can see if it does turn out as great as I thought it would (yeah, and what if it does... then what do I do? I almost wonder if she's doing it to kill what tiny bit of self-control I have); or to scramble around to find the money somewhere because I just MUST HAVE IT. ARGH! (Okay... Water Lillies turned out much better on alpaca than it did on the merino, so maybe I can still do it without being fiscally irresponsible... and, the Briar Rose on the alpaca just happens to look fantastic with the cashmerino... so, maybe more than one Clapotis in my future... and I didn't even like the pattern when I first saw it!)

The colors are definitely the most vibrant on the cashmere, but most of the colorways turn out great on the other fibers, just maybe not exactly as they look on the cashmere. I'm rather happy with what I got, and I'm almost 100% certain I will order from this artist again... because not only does she have great color sense, she's also gracious and gives wonderful customer service.

I know, I know... you're jealous now and you all want some too.

Here's where to get it:



A. L. de Sauveterre hand-painted luxury fibers @ Two Pointy Sticks

PS... I have a confession. I also ordered some yarn for Ribby Cardi. That's another pattern I wasn't interested in to start with, but everybody's doing it, and the colors elann had to choose from were calling to me to do something with them and I couldn't just order without something in mind, AND one of the colors I was liking the best was about to sell out, so you see I just HAD to order it this weekend (the color is gone now, btw, so if I hadn't, there's no question I would've missed out). *PHEW... take a breath, girl!* At any rate, here's the colors I'll be doing it in (I think the blue will make it look great with jeans):



I just love how you can customize the colors of this pattern! If you were to buy it in a retail store, you'd have a choice of maybe 4 or 5 sets of colors... doing it this way, there were hundreds of colors and thousands of combinations possible... there won't hardly be any two alike!

But... I sure feel like I'm spending myself out of house and home! It is just so wrong that making stuff yourself costs more than buying the same thing already made does.

I'm doomed

This morning Bloglines tells me that I have 36 new posts in my Crochet category and 191 new posts in my Knitting category (that doesn't include my Knitting favorites category that I did manage to keep up on, mostly, over the weekend).

That'll teach me to think there would be less posting over a holiday week.

*sigh* I'll never catch up (even if I pretend I don't have children to feed and sleep to get or any sort of life whatsoever).

Do you shave your Booga?

I finally got around to knitting up my little addition to my Booga Bag, so I could put it into the washer to felt it (yeah, yeah... I know it's technically FULLING instead of felting, but I like the way felting sounds better, so there).

Initial size:

8" x 4.5" on the bottom x 11.5" tall

i-cord = (about 72" long, using the vaunted outstretched-arm-to-nose-equals-one-yard method)



1st felt:

8" x 4" on the bottom x 9" tall

i-cord = 55" long




2nd felt:


7" x 3.5" on the bottom x 8" tall

i-cord = 49"



And here's my little additon... it's a tab. The idea is, you put the ball or skein of yarn in the bag, and thread the yarn through the tab and then on to your needles. As you knit and need more yarn, you can pull on it, and the ball/skein can bounce around all it needs to in the bag without escaping, and the yarn will still come up nice and neat through the tab. Maybe I don't really need the tab for that... maybe just having it in a bag at all would take care of it for me, I don't know, because I haven't been knitting from a bag. It was just driving me nuts that the ball/skein is always trying to escape whenever I try to get more.


My tab invention 

And one last gratuitous shot:


Booga blocking

I'm still surprised that I had a box that was the right size to block it with. It's now sitting in front of the fire (gas) with a fan blowing on it. The washing machine did a really good job of spinning out the water, but I've heard lots of people saying how long theirs took to dry, so I'm giving it all the help I can. I want to show it off when our company comes on Wednesday.

OH! I almost forgot to ask... if anyone has made a Booga Bag or other felted bag before... do you shave the fuzz off, or is the fuzz part of the charm?

At it again...

I played around with making some more stitch markers. Here's what I came up with:


Leafy stitch marker 


Butterfly stitch marker 


Bronze stitch marker 

The beads on the butterfly stitch marker read more pink in person, and the amount of pink vs. green changes depending on how the bead is turned.

I'm not very happy with the Bronze stitch marker, and I'll probably take it apart. They don't make the pins or hooks in anything but silver and gold, so I thought I'd try to make them out of wire, since I could get a coppery color in that. There's too much space, though, between the beads and the dangly thing below them (I have no idea what to call it... I just thought it looked neat), and the wire was MUCH softer than I would've liked for the part that goes around the needle. I couldn't get enough stability with just one wrap of the wire, and with more than one, I ran into the trouble of the wraps staying together. Wrapping more wire around those wraps just makes it look messy. I do still like the main bead, though. You really can't see how neat it is from the picture. It's got a black core with flecks of gold in it that's just so pretty. I guess I'll have to give up the dangly bronze thing and re-do them with silver.

Oh, and I got past the increases on the second sleeve... I just need to keep knitting in st st to length. Then I (get to???) start on the finishing. I've never seamed anything or made button bands before, and the only time I picked up stitches was on the Booga Bag, where the amount of stitches to pick up was more intutive than the 3 out of 4 you generally do when you're picking up off of st st. I'm a bit worried about how well I'll be able to do it.

Update on the baby sweater

UGH! I had to re-write this post, as Blogger decided to puke when I tried to publish it before.

I finished:


the front panels

and one:


sleeve

and I cast on for the second sleeve and knit past the ribbing and through the first set of increases I have to count rows for. I had to cast on twice, because the first time I accidentally cast on with the larger needles. I didn't even notice until I'd done all the ribbing and was about to start with the increases.

I love the way the front panels look... they remind me of a mosaic, and they have and interesting raised texture, too. I know I still have to add the button bands, but they seem too narrow to match the back. The sleeve, on the other hand, seems huge. I know that's just because it's all layed out flat.

I'm really impressed with myself for sticking with this when I want so much to get to work on other things.

I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me. Take a look at this:


Closeup of ribbing

Does anyone know why the ribs seem to get smaller as they go up? The ribbing as a whole gets larger as they go up, and the ribs on the reverse side look a lot more straight from top to bottom. I don't like how uneven they look, but I don't know what to do about it... it looks the same on all of the pieces I've done so far. I used the knitting on cast on method, if that makes any difference. Is there anything I can do to make the ribbing look like it's supposed to (with this that's already done, hopefully, but even if there's something I can do different the next time to make it work, I'd appreciate the info)?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Christmas is coming... gift giving idea

I have been thinking about Christmas giving for a while now. I'd like to knit or crochet things to give for Christmas, but I really don't believe I'll have enough time to finish most of the things I would do, especially since I alredy have a bucketload of things I want to make for myself... and I know for sure I'll be happy to have something homemade... I don't even have to guess about me.

So I've been toying with this idea:

I'll make up a whole bunch of things that I want for me (like these or these or this or this or this or these or this or this or this).

Then I'll put them all in a box (or post pictures, for those that don't live near me). Any of the ladies in my family can pick one, or ask me to make one in another color. Anything they don't pick, I get to keep, and anything they do pick, I can remake for myself. Or if they don't like anything, they can just tell me that, too, and THEN I'll go hunting for something appropriate in the stores.

What do you think... would it fly?

I finished the back of the baby sweater...

* Aye, but it be a curly beastie! * There really isn't a bump
on the side of the fabric in the lower left... I just could only get
it to lay so flat.

I'm even less pleased with the pooling now... it travelled:



Where the lime green and light blue alternate, it reminds me a bit of
the optical illusion with the sillhouetted faces and the vase in
between.

I'm not changing it, though. I doubt it would be any less weird no
matter where I started in the color pattern (especially since it
travelled... either my guage changes from row to row, which I can't
see, or the colors are not exactly the same length each repeat.

About an inch from the top, I split the yarn on a stitch and didn't
notice it until the end of the next row. WHAT A PAIN!!! I had to rip
it out more than once, because I was not getting the stitches back on
the needle right. I finally ended up purling knitwise (I think... I
could be just making up a new stitch for all I know) in order to get
the stitches to go the right way. If I never have to do that again,
it'll be too soon.

Now the neckline stitches are sitting on my biggest cable needle. You
think that'll get me to finish this off before I start on that poncho
I SOOOOO want to make? Maybe if I can convince myself that there's
nothing else I could possibly move thm to to free up the cable needle.
Uh-huh... I'm that gullible, especially when I'm the one telling the
lie.

I started on the ribbing for the left front. And then just about the
worst thing that could've happened as far as knitting goes happened.
My needle fell down the side of the couch. Now, you have to
realize... this couch is designed as a trap for stuff. It can fall
down in their easily, but it's impossible to get it out w/o removing
some of the staples holding the fabric taut on the side: There's a
board placed just so as to keep it all away from where you might be
able to reach it. So, my DH and I tipped the couch over, and he
pulled out a bunch of staples so that I could just snake my arm in and
grab at stuff. OH, WHAT I FOUND IN THERE! The instructions for
caring for my new cookware, pens and kid necklaces, the needle I knew
I lost AND one of the ones for the set I have to use for the regular
knitwork on this baby sweater (I didn't even know that one was
missing)... oh, and that pink crochet hook that came in my Crochet for
the Cause scarf kit. I owe my 4 year old an apology. And, I
scratched up the back of my hand and my arm on the plywood. The skin
on my hands is not tough... I have eczema, and they do not need to be
beat up like that.