Tag Archive | crafts

A New Craft

Last week my work team went on a team-building outing. We do one maybe once a quarter, where we have lunch and then do an activity together. The first time we played pickleball, which was super fun, but this time we were more crafty and less sporty. (I may have played a part in that, since I was in charge of planning!) After lunch, we spent the afternoon at a studio called Paint, Glaze and Fire. It has all the pottery pieces you can paint yourself, but it also has glass mosaic supplies, and that’s what I thought was cool.

Nine of us descended on this place, where we took over the back of the room and commandeered all the bottles of glass pieces. We may not have been working together, since we each had our own project, but there was a lot of interaction and conversation, and it was nice to spend time with the group in a non-work context. Anyway, I knew I wanted to do something knitting-themed, and this is what I came up with:

Then I had to take all that glass off my square so I could start gluing it all down! It was a pretty tedious process, daunting for a perfectionist, and some of the pieces were tiny and hard to work with, but after a couple of hours, I had an almost-completed project.

I say almost because it still needs the firing process, so it’ll be a couple of weeks before I see the final result. But I can’t wait to hang it up in my craft room…and go make some more glass mosaics!

Testing, Testing

Oct25

I have my selfish knitting, my commissioned knitting, my review knitting, and now I have test knitting! It’s kind of cool how each type feels kind of different, and I enjoy each one for different reasons. But my selfish knitting has definitely fallen by the wayside thanks to all this knitting with deadlines. I’ve finished my commissions, I only have one review project in the works, and I have my two test projects. And one test is almost done!

This Paddington Station sock just needs a toe, which I should be able to finish tonight, and then I can pass on my notes and let the second sock wait until I have more selfish knitting time.

My other test knit is newer, a shawl for Under the Olive Tree Knits. I found Jem on Instagram and have been following her for ages, and her designs are gorgeous. Even though I wasn’t sure I had the time, I really wanted to test one of her shawls. I haven’t gotten to the really fun lace section yet, but I adore the top edge already with the slipped stitches and big yarnovers. As soon as the sock is done, this project moves to the top of the list.

The yarn for this one is Araucania Huasco in a divine dark green.

The only downside to all this knitting is that I’m pretty sure I won’t have much time for gift knitting this year. Sure hope my family isn’t expecting anything!

Delicious Yarns Review: Yum!

Oct23

A couple of months ago, I was offered the opportunity to review Delicious Yarns‘ newest offering, their pairings of two complementary colors. I was going to skip this one, since I had so much going on, but of course I had to take a peek at the yarn. Oops! That first glimpse of the pink and orange sealed the deal: I needed to knit those yarns!

The first impression was charming, with that cute ribbon around the skeins and the tags like nutrition labels. Then I was impressed by how vivid and saturated the colors are; they’re gorgeous. I chose Pairing 1, and while the site doesn’t specify which colors are in each pairing, these colors are Raspberry Swirl and Burnt Orange Frosting. I also received the pattern for the Piece of Cake shawl, designed specifically for these pairings. I love the jagged teeth and that lace section the best!

The pairings are available in Fingering, Sport, and Worsted. I chose the fingering since I’m all about shawls these days. The colors make this a perfect fit for my wardrobe. The yarn is crisp and smooth, making it a pleasant knitting experience and giving good stitch definition too. It has a little bit of spring to it, so the drape is a bit more firm, if that makes sense.

The yarn is 100% superwash merino, hand-dyed in California, and each color is designed to create different patterning when knitted or crocheted. I especially liked watching the Raspberry Swirl shift from dark pink to light pink to white and back again. There are short sections where you work two rows of each color to blend the colors. That plus the short row sections make for a nifty effect when you stand back and look at it, almost wavy. It makes me think of candy, for sure!

I only have two small caveats. One: as the tag warns they might, the yarns definitely bled when I blocked the shawl. They recommend steam blocking if you’re concerned about bleeding but I wanted to open the lace aggressively. Fortunately it didn’t seem to affect the white tones, but I’ll handle it carefully in the future. And two: the pattern had a couple of small errors. I was able to work past them pretty easily, but they did make me stop and think and scratch my head for a little bit. Still, I liked the yarn well enough that next I’d love to try their Speckles Chunky!

The colors were absolutely the best thing about this project for me, and they have so many other delicious colors on their website too. Plus I can’t help but be enchanted with the “delicious” theme and the idea that each skein is one marvelous sweet treat! The fingering runs around $31 for 450 yards, making this comparable to many of the other high-end, small-dyer yarns I buy, and the high quality is comparable too. I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn!

If you’re tempted to partake, you can use the code DYBK2018 for 10% off all online orders through the end of November. And if you sign up for their newsletter here, you’ll get two free patterns plus a “sweet surprise” within a few weeks of signing up.

A very special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and Delicious Yarns, who generously sent me 1 pairing (2 skeins) of Superwash Merino ($61) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Weekend Knitting

Oct21

I don’t have as much progress to show as I should; my knitting was hampered a couple of times the last few days. Part of it was my fault, part of it wasn’t. I had my day-long computer course on Friday, and it was fun to learn stuff again but a lot of the info was review, and the class moved a lot more slowly than I would have liked, so I picked up my hat knitting after I’d finished the exercise, or while we watched short videos. By the end of lunch, I’d made it to the end of the knitting I’d brought. Once again, I was not thinking like a good knitter, and I have now learned to bring much more knitting than you think you need!

That brings us to yesterday. The boy had a marching band competition in a small town about 40 minutes away, and we were going to be spectating for at least two hours, maybe three. I brought three projects. I was ready! I was prepared! I was…COLD. It was sunny and 60 out, so I wore a short-sleeved tee and a hoodie, not realizing that the wind was super blustery and chilly. I was too cold to keep my hands out and knit. The husband was even kind enough to go to the nearby Walmart to get us a blanket, and that helped, but still, I would have needed my nice wool fingerless gloves to be able to knit. Sigh. The best laid plans and all that jazz. Still, with some knitting here and there, I’ve gotten my sock project into the gusset. Plus, we stopped at an antique mall on the way and I found these awesome handmade crochet hooks for $6!

I’m also very close to the end of my first hat commission. I’m on hat four of four, and I’m onto the easy section of plain stockinette in the round. This one will get finished either today or tomorrow, and the hats will be delivered and out of my hands! These are my pombe yeast hats for some friends at work, and you can check out the Ravelry page if you want more info.

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My other hat commission isn’t going as well, and it’s totally my fault because I’m so stubborn about not checking gauge. As always, I got overconfident because almost every time I’ve checked gauge for a hat, knitting or crochet, it’s the same as the designer’s. So I started this project without checking, and got about halfway through and realized it was too big. Frogged and started over with a smaller hook. Got a little farther and it still seemed a little big. I could either go down yet another hook size, or adjust the stitch count. Since I like the density of the fabric, I decided to drop my stitch count and omit the last increase round, which meant frogging back about half my progress. This is the current state of this hat.

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You might think it’s frustrating, but crochet goes so quickly that it’s not painful to frog back that much and start over. And I’d forgotten how much I enjoy crocheting, so it’s been fun to let my hands settle into that rhythm again. Plus the yarn (Expression Fiber Arts Pearlescent Worsted, with SILK!) is heavenly, so I don’t mind spending more time with it! Still, I’m hoping to get this project finished in the next few days too. I’ve got too many other projects waiting in the wings!

Back to School

Oct18

I’m going back to college! Okay, so it’s just one day-long course, but it’s a class and it’s at a college, so it counts. I’m taking a course in Microsoft Access Fundamentals, and it’s for work. Like they encouraged me to take it and paid for it, and I love that they’re eager and willing to support the growth of their members. And I’m kind of a nerd who likes learning new things so I’m looking forward to it a lot.

I have thought about going back to college though, maybe for a Communications or Marketing degree. Actually, what sounds the most intriguing is Graphic Design, and I could do that through a local community college. But with a college freshman, a high school sophomore, and a fixer upper with a big project looming, it’s not in the cards at the moment. Still, I’m keeping the idea in my pocket for when/if it becomes more feasible. Have any of you gone back to school as grownup? Is it scary? Overwhelming?

I do plan to have a project with me just in case I have some time to knit. Or maybe crochet! I have another hat commission, this one using some gorgeous silk yarn from Expression Fiber Arts. Color is Russian Blue.

That’s a Scat Mat it’s lying on, and yes, there’s my foot. Not all photos can be a masterpiece, you know!

New Socks

Oct17

My new sock project is a test knit called Paddington Station Socks for Ambrose Knits ( I found her on Instagram). She’s got several ones she’s working on, and they all look like fun to knit. I know I’m enjoying these!

The yarn is my new Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted in Train Station Tonal. I’m liking the colors and the yarn a lot! The yarn is soft and knits up thick on my size 1 needles, and the pattern has just enough variation to keep me interested. I’m eager to see a finished sock!

MORE Happy Mail!

Oct16

I really need to stop getting so many emails. They get me in trouble. For example, I get newsletters from Biscotte Yarns, often with free patterns. Well, 99% of the time I can resist, and I ooh and ahh and then quickly delete. But once in a blue moon, something calls my name, like this pattern for the Bargello Infinity Scarf, which you could get with the purchase of a skein of self-striping Bis-Sock yarn in a certain color. Except I didn’t like that color so of course I had to pick out a different color which meant I also had to pay for the pattern and I don’t really mind because this is going to be Awesome and I think I will wear the heck out of it.

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At least as soon as I have time to make it! I haven’t actually read the pattern yet but Ravelry says it uses intarsia, which scares me. But heck, I’ll give it a shot at least. Yarn is Bis-Sock in the color Charivari.

A Day of Knitting

Oct16

Okay, Sunday was pretty much the perfect day. I had no obligations, it was gray and rainy and chilly, so I spent the day in my pajamas, watching Harry Potter movies and knitting while the dogs hung out with me. Seriously, perfect. Plus the husband made no-bake cookies and sometimes even he and the boy sat with me. I got through three movies and worked on three projects. I started a new sock, a new hat, and a new cowl. The cowl was actually a mistake. See, I frogged a project that I didn’t love and never wore because I love the yarn and wanted it to be something better.

Isn’t this pretty yarn? It still wants to be a cowl, just one that’s shorter and not so loose. Anyway, I was putting this yarn back in the stash, in the bulky yarns where it belonged, and then I accidentally touched my Woolfolk Luft yarn and it was so soft and fluffy that I had to wind it immediately and cast on a new cowl. I chose one of my favorite patterns, River Deep Mountain High (Bulky version), and finished it today during my lunch break.

This yarn is amazing. It feels like a cloud, and I love how it’s this perfect shade of denim blue. I’m hoping to wear it tomorrow, and then we’ll see if it’s itchy at all. But I bet it won’t be!

Happy Mail

Oct14

Today was a good mail day: my KnitPicks order arrived!

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The Brava worsted (brown, tan, blue) is for hats I’ve been commissioned to make. I have four to make and each will have a different accent color; thankfully I already had some Brava in my stash for three of the hats (red, purple, gray) so I only need to order the blue. The black tonal Stroll Fingering is to test knit a sock pattern, and I’ll be casting them on today so they’ll make an appearance before too long, I’m sure. The multicolor Stroll is called Make Believe and it’s to make socks for me, which is why it’s getting set aside until I have more time. And that little pin was on sale for $3.99! How could I resist a purple sweater pin??

We had a football game last night, the boy’s last marching band game of the year, and it was disgustingly cold and windy and drizzly, but I still made good progress on my sock, and I managed to finish it at today’s band competition. The boy now has his first pair of handknit socks!

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Yarn is Seven Sisters Arts Meridian in the color Tangled Up in Blue and I have half a skein left to make some shortie socks for myself! The gray cuff is Knit Picks Stroll. I meant to do heels and toes too but forgot, and I don’t think he’ll mind too much. Hopefully he also doesn’t mind that one sock is longer than the other!

Tiny Dino

Oct11

I have a friend whose birthday is coming up soon, and I discovered they kind of like dinosaurs. Well. Challenge accepted. I found this cute free pattern for Bert the Dinosaur, pulled out the brown sock yarn I didn’t like for making socks, and cast on in the morning. It was really fiddly to work with six to ten stitches on DPNs, but once it got up to 20ish, it was manageable. And once it started to take shape, I was delighted. Stuffing the tail and neck were tricky, and don’t even ask about the teeny tiny legs! But OMG I’m so happy with my little dinosaur, I kind of want to make more!

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I didn’t exactly love knitting it, since it was so fiddly and tiny, but it went so fast that I could handle it. Roar!!