In organizing my stash last weekend, I came across a few skeins of yarn that I know I will never get around to using, and I’d love them to find an appreciative owner. Descriptions and prices are below each photo, and I’ll ship them via Priority for $5. Just fill out the contact form at the bottom of the post, make sure to specify which skein(s) you’re interested in, and these little beauties can be yours!
SweetGeorgia tough love sock yarn Raspberry $20
Mystery sock(?) yarn in shades of purple and pink. Unsure on fiber. Soft, good elasticity. 4 oz $6 
Classic Elite Yarns Soft Linen in Tan. DK. 3 unopened balls. $20
Debbie Bliss wool/cotton in Dark Pink colour 125602. Sport. 2 balls 50g each, one unopened, one missing ball band but weight at 46g. $8
Ornaghi Filati Bamboo Fingering 137yds color 992 Purple $4
Mystery yarn but I’m pretty sure it’s Debbie Bliss Cathay. Has a lovely sheen. 50g $3
Tahki Yarns Willow linen/cotten Aran. 81yds/50g $4
Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk sport. Color I 16, the palest green. 50g $12
SweetGeorgia cashsilk lace 55g/400yds Raspberry $30
Tag Archive | crochet
Sharing the Secret Hats
Finally! I can share some of the hats I had to keep a secret for SO LONG. I partnered with my aunt to make some hats for a special friend of hers, and we did a variety of patterns and colors to make her smile.
White cotton crochet cap. This was super fast and I think I have enough yarn left in the skein to make a second one. Pattern: Chemo Sleep Cap
Bulky Yellow Scalloped Hat. I loved making this one, especially the i-cord scallops. And since it was bulky yarn, it went quickly too. Pattern: Scalloped-Edge Hat
Shelbi Hat. Crochet, so quick to make, and a lovely design too. This one wasn’t free but I think it was worth it! Pattern: Shelbi Hat
Look! It’s Dumbo! I absolutely love this hat. When she asked for Dumbo, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make one that looked good, but this little guy makes me smile, and I hope it does the same for her. This hat seemed to take forever: maybe an hour for the base hat, 2-3 hours for all the little pieces, maybe 2 hours for assembly? I’m not sure. It felt longer than that! Next time I should keep track. He was a mixture of patterns and improvisation, so you can check out my Ravelry notes here.
There are two more, but they have to stay secrets for now. Stay tuned!
Making friends with a crochet celebrity
Guys, the coolest thing happened yesterday! Who here is familiar with the Petals to Picots website? Yeah, like all of you, right? Well, yesterday I opened up Ravelry and found a message from Kara asking permission to use one of my photos on her pattern page. WHAAAT? Well, of course I said yes. I replied and thanked her, told her I was flattered because she rocks, and she replied to me and said “So do you!” Ha! How do you like them apples?? At least briefly, a yarny celebrity knew who I was. If you want to see it, look at her Santa Knit Gift Card holder pattern here. If she ever takes it off, I’ll be crushed.
Okay, so back to actual yarn usage. I began and finished TWO projects yesterday! I needed some instant gratification, so I got out my crochet hook and made a simple little baby brown bear hat. And once it was done I realized I need to make one in black for mouse ears.
In the afternoon, I cast on for a headband. I’ve got a little promotion deal I’m working out with another blogger. She’s a runner, and she’s going to test out my headband and if she likes it, maybe share some good things about it on her blog for other runners to see, plus do a giveaway contest! Pretty nifty, huh? So I’ve got those two made up and ready to ship off to her this morning. I’ll share more details when she’s ready to write her review.
I need to get a listing for these on Etsy so I’ll be ready to accept orders when they come flooding in (haha). And I need to do it quick, because this afternoon I’m going to the Kansas City Royals Fanfest! I’ll get to see some of the players, but I don’t know that I’ll stand in any autograph lines. Just going will be cool enough, I think. What about you? Anybody else have cool plans for this weekend?
Craft Room Organization: Phase II
I couldn’t stand it any longer: I spent Sunday afternoon sorting my yarn stash so that it was all together by weight! Thank goodness for Ravelry, too. I pulled up my stash and filtered it one weight at a time so I didn’t miss any yarns, and there were several where I looked at the name and it meant absolutely nothing, but hey, I’d uploaded a photo of the skein! I got to remind myself how much gorgeous yarn I have, I got to pull out a few skeins of cheapo acrylic I’ll never use, and it looks much better than before!
Last step is waiting for the husband to build the diagonal dividers for the shelves, but I can be patient on that…I think!
Craft Room Organization: Phase One
I was hit with a little wave of inspiration today. I’m sure you’ve all seen the blog post from Repeat Crafter Me about her yarn storage. And using that type of shelving isn’t anything new; in fact my woodworker husband has been wanting to make them for me for a while now. But what struck me today was how she put her buttons into little glass jars, separated by colors. Brilliant!
Previously, I had two button boxes. One held all my loose single buttons, the other held button cards with 2 or more of the same buttons. When I need multiples of the same button for a project, I knew which box to grab. But what was frustrating was digging through the boxes looking for the right button in the right color.
So while I watched my tennis this morning, I separated all my buttons into piles. I kept most of the button cards intact, since they’d still fit into the jars that way.
Then I gathered up the several empty glass containers cluttering up my craft room. Some I’d bought intending to use kind of like a yarn bowl, and some I just had because…well, because they might come in hand someday. Today, they did! I didn’t have enough, but thankfully my husband happened to have three Ball jars just taking up space in his workshop, and he donated them to me.
Yay! I love my new button jars.
Now I just need to get him to make those dividers so I can make my yarn look all pretty. But I can’t help but wonder if by color is the best organization. I’ve got my yarn by fiber (alpaca, felting wool, superwash, soft/merino wool, cotton, silk, acrylic). That way when I need a certain fiber, I know what colors I have available. But it does look so much better by color. How do you organize your yarn? What do you like/not like about it?
Pretty Yarn Pictures, that’s all
Over the weekend, I made it out to two of my LYSs and since I was shopping alone, I had no one to tell me I couldn’t or shouldn’t buy these lovely bits of yarny goodness.
Classic Elite Chateau. Light as air and fluffy-soft.
Malabrigo Worsted. The only skein I saw in either store.
Malabrigo Mecha
HiKoo SimpliWorsted. I love this squishy yarn. It’s already halfway to being a seed stitch beanie.
A splurge: Madelinetosh DK in Astrid Grey. Isn’t it gorgeous? It will be a cowl, possibly another Honey Cowl.
A bigger and better splurge: Vice’s Floozy worsted in Plain Jane. I can’t get over how beautiful this yarn is. Every skein I saw by Vice had these strongly-saturated, vivid, rich colors. I am so in love with this yarn.
It’s all wound and ready to become a simple cowl. It will be stockinette with ribbed edges, nothing to distract you from the beauty of the yarn.
Have you made any splurges lately? What yarns make you weak in the knees?
Last Yarn of 2014
We spent yesterday out in Lawrence, Kansas, braving the wind to wander around Massachusetts Street. Of course we visited the Dusty Bookshelf and Brits (where the kids drooled over all the Doctor Who stuff for ages) but for me the highlight was the Yarn Barn. I found a few skeins to help me end the year on a high note.
I found a big selection of Malabrigo Worsted and fell in love. The colors are gorgeous, rich and deep, and they make such fabulous combinations. I restrained myself to just two skeins, Intenso and Wales Road. Aren’t they stunning?
I also found the Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande. Now, I can get this yarn at my LYS, but I’ve never seen this lovely pink before. And I like it.
In the sale section, I found some Classic Elite Inca Alpaca, which is one of my favorite yarns, and there were two shades of green. Alpaca on sale? Who can resist?
When I got home, I put them together with these two skeins of purple and my oh my, I think this is beautiful. I have no idea what to make with them, though I’d like it to be something for me. Maybe a shawl? A loose, lacy scarf? Not sure yet, so they’re going on the shelf while I ponder.
Tonight I will be knitting up some boot cuffs while I ring in the new year at home with my family. I’m looking ahead to 2015 with great optimism, and I wish you all the same. Happy New Year!
Bonus post: Crochet Beanie
Two posts in one day? Craziness. Don’t get used to it; it may never happen again. Or if you’re one of my followers and you’re like “Another email? Jeez, enough already!”, don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of it. But I finished a hat today that I find quite appealing and I wanted to share it. (Okay, truth time: I needed to be alone so I am hiding in my craft room and this is as good a use of the time as anything else.) Anyway, this is the Bellisfaire Beanie from the book Crochet One Skein Wonders. It’s a delightful book and a delightful hat.
This is my first crochet beanie. I haven’t done a lot of crochet hats, aside from character hats for kids, because I like the stretch and flexibility of a knit ribbed brim. But this was so cute, and I got new crochet hooks for Christmas that I wanted to try out. (I got the Clover Amour Hook set with the colorful cushioned handles. They worked wonderfully. I love them.) The brim is snug on me with my relatively small head, but I know it’ll stretch, so I’m optimistic that it’s an average woman’s size. It’s got a lot of slouch too, which mean it’s trendy…right? Right. I put it on and my daughter laughed, but I think it was more at me than the hat.
The yarn is Classic Elite Yarns Premiere, which is 50% Pima cotton and 50% tencel, and I used all of two skeins (216 yards). It’s soft and lightweight and should be a marvelous spring hat.
Bring on the Hats (and Headbands)
Okay, so if you’ve been following along at all (and Thank You to those who have!!) you know I love to make hats. There are so many variations: color, yarn weight, style, size, decorations. They’re fast to make. They keep people warm and make them look cute. They’re just so darn fun to make. But I don’t wear many hats, so I have to find other homes for them, and my kids can only wear so many.
To go along with that, for the coming year I’ve challenged myself to build my bonny knits business. I want to do more craft shows throughout the year and have inquired about a big one in March. I want to grow the audience on my bonny knits Facebook page. I want to add to my Etsy shop. I’m encouraged on that front because I got my very first Etsy sale this week, and it felt GREAT. I sold my Wonder Woman knitted headband, so now I want/need to get some more unusual headbands up for sale. My head is spinning with ideas: superheroes, minions, TMNT, Doctor Who…all those cool pop culture fandoms. What would you want to see?
I want to improve my photography and show off my pieces with better photos. I’m better than I was a year ago, but I’ve got so far to go. I want to start using models (i.e. my family) and take them outside. If I take it seriously and be professional about every aspect of it, I believe the customers will be more likely to see it as worth the money.
Whoops, got distracted there. My point is, I want to focus mainly on hats. I like them and they sell well. I’ve got a lot of yarn and three books devoted to hats. I think what I’d like to do is pick a book and just work my way through it, making each hat in there. Not only would I end up with a large, varied inventory of hats, but I think I’d end up learning a lot of new techniques too. So watch for that; I think it’ll be a fun new regular feature on my blog starting next year.
Until then, you can look at my two newest hats, one from yesterday and one from the day before. The first is another Super Soft Merino Hat. It was supposed to be for me, but I really think I want one with lavender instead of royal purple, so this will go into my inventory. This is my third from this pattern but the first I’ve made with the size 11 needles (which I got for Christmas) and it came out a bit bigger than expected.
Yesterday I pulled out my one and only skein of Noro yarn, a pretty rainbow blend of Kureyon. It’s a hugely popular brand and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I decided to do a spiral hat, choosing this one by Brittany Tyler. It was a fast, easy pattern and I loved watching the different colors emerge as I knit. But I was surprised by the yarn: it’s not really soft at all. It knit wonderfully; the slight stiffness made it easy to work with, and will help it hold its shape for ages. I just don’t think I could wear it, because I have a very low prickle tolerance. For those who like the warmth and look of wool, this is the hat for you!
My good-natured son, who has a bigger head than I, was kind enough to model for me. But I think I need to stop posing things in front of the bookshelves. Surely I’m not the only one who gets distracted by looking at the titles in the background?
Today I’ve got a slouchy beanie on my hook. Yes, that’s right, I’m switching it up and making a crochet hat. Don’t worry, I’ll still be making other things, so it won’t be all hats all the time. Just most of the time!
Christmas Presents Unveiled
I don’t know about all of you, but I was very tired yesterday. Christmas can wear a person out, what with all the shopping & wrapping & cooking & eating & cleaning & unwrapping & cleaning. But we had a wonderful two days of family time, so it was all worth it. And now that gifts have been given, I can share a few things I couldn’t share before.
The first is the Bumble Hat. He’s the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolph TV special and I found the link on Facebook. I was tempted to make one for myself but ended up making it for my aunt, who commented how much she liked it. I used some fuzzy white yarn from Joann (lost the ball band so I don’t know what it was, but not fun fur) and random acrylic from the stash for the face. He was so fun to make.
I made a Jayne hat (from Firefly, I think. Or something like that.) for my sister and I think she liked it. I used Knit Picks Bulky, and the orange wasn’t quite as orange as it should be, but she assured me it was still acceptable. Our mother couldn’t figure out why she would want something like this, or how she could wear it out in public. Some things just can’t be explained.
I made the hubby some fingerless gloves. He doesn’t wear gloves often but I figured maybe his hands get cold sometimes, and this way his fingers would be free. By some miracle, they actually fit! The pattern for these is called Maize, by Tin Can Knits, and there’s also a variation for a full mitten. I made them with Plymouth Baby Alpaca.
Isn’t he cute? 🙂 You know who else is cute? My girl. I’d knit up another Super Soft Merino Hat for her in pink and gray but I knit it in front of her and told her it was for me. She was quite happy when she opened it Christmas morning. 
The experience of the boy’s hat did not go so well. I needed a box to wrap it in and in our box of boxes found one a good size. Without thinking, I reused it. The boy pulled off the paper and saw a box for a Doctor Who mug and got all excited, and I had to tell him it was a reused box. There were tears and I felt horrible. But after a few minutes, he recovered and didn’t seem to hold a grudge against the hat. 
Hmm, anything else? I think that might be all the gifty knitty things that I couldn’t share before. It was lovely because all the things I made were well-received and fit well. And I even managed to finish something new for myself just in time for the holidays: I bound off maybe five minutes before we left the house.
That’s the Cupido Cowl knit in Knit Picks Reverie in Wine. I did not enjoy the knitting of it; too much knitting into purls which is not my favorite thing. But I do enjoy the finished project so much. It’s so soft and cozy, and not itchy at all. I have two more balls of the Reverie and I’ll make something else with it, but it’s going to be a very simple pattern next time!
I do hope the holidays went well for the rest of you too. I’m looking ahead to the new year with a lot of hope and optimism, and I’ll be sharing my goals, big and small, with you soon. (hint: there is yarn involved.)
bonnyknits 