As the weather gets warmer… April 26, 2009

…I’m more in the mood to work with wool! How strange is that?

I’ve been doing a ton of dyeing lately. It’s finally warm enough that I can dye my wool outside, then bake it in the oven to set and hang it out on the back porch. I love dyeing when it’s nice enough out to do it outside – no worrying about dye spills!

Here are some recent dye jobs. I am totally obsessed with the yellow and gray! That’s my new favorite color combo.

I’ve also started knitting with some of my handspun. It’s kind of weird that I’ve never done this before, but ever since I started spinning I very rarely knit! I’m working on turning this yarn into a pair of handwarmers.

As far as yarn goes, I’ve been spinning tons of soft, bulky singles lately. These yarns are some of my favorites because the colors always come out gorgeous, the spin up super fast, and since I can price them lower, they tend to sell faster too.

I also spun up a really cool yarn the other day, called Fireworks. It’s super unique and I love it! I spun a single out of black superwash mill end merino wool while holding two of the metallic rainbow threads I bought a few weeks ago. The bright colors really stand out against the black, and one of the threads formed random loops that stick out of the yarn and really look like fireworks!

Busy Busy… October 1, 2008

I’ve been knitting like crazy the past two days! My yarn for the Hooded Baby Blanket arrived on Tuesday, and my cousin’s baby shower is this Sunday. So that gives me five days to knit a whole baby blanket! I’m hoping I’ll be able to finish – so far I’ve got about six inches done.

Here are the colors I picked out. Both blankets are going to be pink, one with green edging and one with white.

I’ve also been tossing around a few ideas for art yarns lately. I found some pretty fake flowers in the clearance aisle the other day, so I bought them and stripped the fabric flowers from the stems. I’m thinking about spinning them into a green yarn with little green felt or ribbon leaves.

And last but not least, here are a few new yarns I’ve listed in my Etsy shop over the past couple of days.

Nice Melons (because it’s got all the colors of melons in it – gosh, get your mind out of the gutter!)

Candy Girl (another bulky single ply)

Keen (this one is my favorite!)

Grapes of Math (I know, it’s a dumb name. If you can think of a better one I’d love to hear it!)

Babies! September 22, 2008

I feel like everyone in my family is having babies lately! One of my cousins just adopted a baby last week (she named her Rebecca Aubrey – how sweet is that!) and another is due in November. I’m planning on making both of them the Hoodie Baby Blanket by the Thrifty Knitter.

Seriously, could this be any freaking cuter??? I ordered some Lion Brand Cotton-Ease online – pink with green trim for one blanket, and pink with white trim for the other. I can’t wait for it to get here – I want to cast on now!

My goal is to list one new yarn on Etsy each day for the next month. I know I won’t do it every single day, but that’s what I’m aiming for. I did get one done today though – the deliciously refreshing Orangina.

Yummy. And it’s 120 yards!!! I love how much yardage I can get out of a 2-ply yarn with my wheel – it’s almost twice as long as what I could spin on my spindle! The wheel makes it sooo much easier to spin thin yarns (thin for me at least! worsted weight is about as thin as my yarns get!).

Oh, and make sure you check out my updated blogroll on the right side of my page! –> I’ve added a “Blogs I Read” section. These are some of the best spinning/fibery blogs out there! I don’t read many blogs, but I check the ones I do read every day, and I love these ones.

Hope your week is starting off wonderfully!

Lorna D. February 21, 2008

I’ve finally managed to get pictures of some of my latest yarns! Here’s the first to be listed – Lorna.

The name was inspired by the main character in November of the Heart, an excellent book (if you like sappy, somewhat improbable love stories) by LaVyrle Spencer. Lots of pastel colors – pink, lavender, yellow, and baby blue – in a squishy two-ply merino yarn.

By the way, here’s something I found while I was looking for that book over at Amazon. Have you heard of the Kindle?

What a cool idea! I was a little bit skeptical of the idea at first, but watching that video made me really want one! Being able to keep all of your books on something so small so that you can read them whenever you want, and letting you download new books wherever you are? Genius. And the idea of having the newspaper electronically delivered every morning is so futuristic and cool that I can’t get over it.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Sick! November 30, 2007

So, after a few weeks of low-grade sickness and total lethargy, I finally got around to dragging myself to the doctor this week. And…I have mono! Perfect, a college student’s worst nightmare – several weeks of debilitating illness right before finals. Actually, strangely enough, I’ve felt a lot better ever since my diagnosis. At least now I know that there’s actually something wrong with me, so I’ve given myself permission to rest and I’ve actually had more energy. The doctor said that I’ve probably already had it for a few weeks, so the worst is most likely over. I’ve actually started spinning again, I have 2 new yarns that just need to be photographed and one half finished on my spindle.

Since I’m sick, I’ve made up a list of everything I need to feel better:

1. A good book – I’m currently reading Alias Grace and The Age of Innocence.
2. A super soft blanket to snuggle on the couch with. This one by eblankies looks very cozy.

3. Lots of minestrone soup and hot chocolate with marshmallows.
4. Lip balm. I don’t know why, but for some reason I seem to go through it twice as fast when I’m sick!
This stuff by spacemonkey looks super yummy!
5. Movies!! What could be better than hanging out on the couch and spinning while watching Marie Antoinette and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Hmmm…I’m pretty sure the answer is nothing!

6. Knitting. I’m currently working on a blanket to give to my mom for Christmas.

Wish me luck in getting better, and have a wonderful weekend!

New Roving! November 22, 2007

I came home from college today for Thanksgiving break, and to my excitement there was new roving waiting for me. It’s superwash(!) merino/viscose mill ends from shpherder and it’s GORGEOUS! It’s just about the silkiest, softest stuff I’ve ever felt in my life. I’m so glad I spent the extra 4 bucks and got the roving rather than the uncarded fiber, this stuff is going to be sooo much easier to spin. The only problem is, I realized today I have no idea what kind of dye viscose takes or even what it is! I posted in the craftster dyeing forum, so hopefully someone will be able to answer my question. I figure if worse comes to worse, the roving will just have bits of white in it where the viscose didn’t take the dye. I hope I can get it to work though, because I have looots of ideas for this roving. I want to spin some of it white and then ply it with metallic thread (silver or gold, what do you think?). I also want to try dyeing some of it in an ombre style, maybe a dark pink that gradually changes to light pink. I’m excited to get some dyeing done this Thanksgiving weekend!

In knitting news, I was looking at the patterns on Knitty today and I completely fell in love with this hat -

Isn’t it gorgeous? I want like 10 of them. I wonder if I could make this pattern out of handspun…

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

I get by with a little help from my friends… November 5, 2007

Midterms are over! I survived! And I’m pretty sure I passed everything with flying colors, with the possible exception of astronomy (also known as the bane of my academic existence). Man I hate astronomy.

Anyways, in spite of midterms, I’ve managed to get a little crafting done lately. I finished a scarf that I’ve been working on for a while – and by finished, I mean I finally wove in the ends on a scarf that had been done for about two months.

Doesn’t it look nice though? I think I’m going to take a few better pictures and then list it in my Etsy shop.

Speaking of Etsy, I looked back at my October goals that I set at the beginning of last month, and I don’t think I was too successful in achieving them.

October Goals
*List 20 items – nope, only listed 6.
*Create 4 new yarns – spun two yarns, but only got around to listing one.
*Sell at least one yarn – nope.
*Sell at least 4 items total – nope.
*Blog at least 8 times – only blogged 4 times.
*Write a bio/shop announcement – hey, I did do this! Hooray!
*Keep up with 30 Days to a Better Shop – partially, I’m a little behind but I did OK.

I know I’m not selling a lot on Etsy, but I realize that’s because I’m not listing/promoting enough. I’ll try to work harder at it this month, so my November goals are going to be the same as my October goals were (minus the bio/shop announcement thing). Hopefully this time I’ll get closer to achieving them.

November Goals
*List 20 items.
*Create 4 new yarns
*Sell at least one yarn.
*Sell at least 4 items total.
*Blog at least 8 times.
*Keep up with 30 Days to a Better Shop

On to happier things – here’s a not-really-new yarn. I spun it a long time ago, and I’m pretty sure that I posted it a while back, but I took new pictures of it and listed it on Etsy so I’m going to blog about it again. It’s called Sea Glass.

This is actually one of the earliest yarns I spun, and I’m amazed that I created such a balanced, lofty single with so little practice! I’m not even sure I could do that now! I haven’t spun many singles lately, and I’d forgotten how much I liked them. I’ll have to start doing more. Anyway, I love this yarn a lot, and I’m hoping it goes to a good home.

I’ve spun up two yarns from some superwash merino mill ends that I bought a while back, but I think I’m only going to end up posting one because I really don’t like the color of one of them. I’m setting the twist on the pretty one tomorrow, so I’ll hopefully be able to take pictures and blog about that spinning experience in the next few days. I also have a brand new method of making paper beads that I’ve been experimenting with, more on that coming soon!

Have a wonderful week!

Infatuation October 29, 2007

I just posted a brand new yarn in my Etsy shop – Infatuated!

I just looove this yarn. It’s all different shades of pink, from some roving I dyed ages ago, plied with sparkly silver thread! This was my first time plying with metallic thread, and I love the way it came out. I have some gold thread too, so I’ll have to find a way to use that soon. This picture shows the sparkliness of the yarn a little bit better.

Love it.

In other news, I’ve actually made some progress on the Saturday Market Bag, following these modifications.

I really like how it’s working up. It’s a fast knit – don’t be fooled by how long it’s taking me to complete this, I’m a pretty slow knitter and I don’t spend very much time doing it. The body of the bag is done, so all I need to finish is the top edging and the straps. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done in the next week or so – I’m so excited to go shopping with it and whip it out when the clerk asks if I need a bag!

This week is going to be fairly awful, since it’s the second-worst time in a college student’s life – midterms. Blech. I’ll try to keep crafting to relieve the stress, and I might even have some new things to post in the next day or so.

Enjoy your week!

Happy October! October 1, 2007

Fall is in the air! Brrr. I’ve decided to use the fact that it’s the beginning of the month to set some goals for October. There’s another Etsy seller, ChristinaPurdue, who has organized a “30 Days to a Better Shop” series on her blog. Basically every day she’s going to give a tip on how to improve your Etsy shop, so that by the end of the month your shop is well, better. Today’s assignment was to set both monthly and long term goals. So here goes!

October Goals
*List 20 items.
*Create 4 new yarns
*Sell at least one yarn.
*Sell at least 4 items total.
*Blog at least 8 times.
*Write a bio/shop announcement.
*Keep up with 30 Days to a Better Shop

Long Term Goals
Hmm….I guess I don’t really have any long term goals. I don’t aspire to make a living doing this or anything like that. I guess my long term goals are to just have fun, be creative, and send some of my stuff out into the world!

In other news, I finally cast on for the Saturday Market Bag that I bought the yarn for so long ago. I’ll try to get pictures of that and the two yarns that I still haven’t posted about tomorrow.

Hope your October is wonderful!

knitting! finally! August 9, 2007

I’ve just been out of town for six days visiting friends, which was quite a lot of fun but very tiring. I did have a lot of time in the car for knitting which was nice, especially since I haven’t really done any knitting in like a bajillion years. Or a couple months, whatever. Ever since I learned to spin I hardly ever knit. Anyway, I did actually get a lot done. I’m working on a blanket for my mom, which was supposed to be her Christmas present, which I’ll hopefully finish pretty soon. I also started a scarf from the Patons SWS that I bought a while back. I really like how it’s coming out, the colors are so pretty and the yarn has a really pretty sheen to it. Here’s the scarf all stretched out.

And a close-up, which for once actually came out looking pretty nice.

Now that I’m back home, I should have plenty of time for crafty activities, especially since today is my last day of work! And that’s a good thing, since I’ve got a ton of fiber I need to dye before I go back to school in a few weeks. Speaking of school, check out these super cute boxes I got at Ikea the other day. Only $12 for all four! I love Ikea. They’re totally going in my room this fall.

Have a happy Thursday!