Knitted Vegetables

Can you spot the knitted produce in this picture? ;) I knit an ear of corn for Deedee's mom to set out at her farmer's market stall. I used up some scrap yarn left over from a baby sweater and a lot of novelty yarn that hitherto I hadn't known what to do with. The pattern came from a whole set of knitted vegetables from the now defunct website Magknits.

More Keyholes

Here are a couple more of those keyhole scarves--I just love this pattern! I made another gray colorway out of that fabulous Rowan Tapestry for a girlfriend at work who has been ill and had surgery-and I'm getting it to her just in the nick of time for her to NOT be able to wear it this year! Oh well, better late than never. That lovely shade of pea green is MY scarf knit from some Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre yarn that I got up on sale in Rochester. Listen to me drop yarn names! This was my first ever Jo Sharp and it's not quite worsted but a little thicker than a DK I'd say, but it was an utter pleasure to knit with this yarn! I will be looking out for this the next time I'm in a yarn shop! I like variations in the lace of the gray scarf because it reminds me of blocked Shetland shawls.

Butterfly Pouch

This is a little bead knitted pouch I made for a girlfriend of mine. I'd seen a picture of a similar pouch on another blog a while back and started fooling around with it. My photo isn't very good, but the upper wings are a little longer than the lower wings due to some short row shaping. If I were really smart, I would have used something for scale in the picture. I've had this knitted for some time, but I only just sewed it together and finished it up this week. I am very pleased with it and would like to borrow it this summer for the fair. I do believe I bought that fuschia pearl cotton up in Thief River Falls, MN when we were up there for a family wedding a few years ago.

Yarn Repurposing

This is a lace sock I've had on needles for some time now. I've given up on lace socks because they never have enough elastic in them to actually stay up, and I spend way too much time swearing at them as I'm trying to follow along with the pattern. This was knit from some fabulous Koigu Premium Paint Merino wool...

and I've had a darker green shade of Koigu for some time... So unraveled the sock and started work on a Chevron Scarf from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It is such a lovely and ingenious little pattern as far as color work goes. It's just like feather and fan lace, but instead of doing YO's to make holes in the knitting, you just kfb to increase stitches so it leaves no gaps. This photo does not to justice to the colors of the yarn.

Super Crafty Fun Night

No that is not Easter candy, those are bath bombs! Melissa came over last night for crafty fun night and we made over 25 assorted bath bombs for family Easter baskets and to hand out to girlfriends at work. We made about a dozen egg shaped bombs and they're HUGE! I actually weighed one and it was almost 9.5 ounces!

We picked up some carry out food and then watched rental movies at the table while dyeing eggs. Melissa even remarked that we hadn't worked on these since Oscar night last year. Martha had run a project article in last year's Easter issue where they wrapped eggs in lace and dyed them and we'd been meaning to try it out. I tried it out with a piece of lace from my grandma's bridal veil. After I wrapped and rubber banded it, the lace didn't cling or conform very closely to the egg so I kind of "trussed" it on with a needle and thread. It turned out quite pretty on just this one side of the egg, but I didn't like that I had to ruin and throw away the lace, or at least THAT lace. It might be worth trying again with some ordinary lace, but I don't want to waste any more of Grandma's for this project.

I dyed two more eggs with the wax and dye. The bunny one was just kind of an experiment, but I was quite pleased with it and I think I'll try to make a few more like it. I have a bunny loving sister who would like one! ;) I wonder if the dyes lose their potency over time because I'll bet the dyes we used have been mixed for over 2-3 years. Melissa was having trouble getting the pink dye to take, and ahem...the egg on the right was dipped in RED as a final color and it is a pale brown at best. It might be time to get some new dye!

A Shrubbery!

These are my sister in law's birthday socks from October! I've had them done for a while but hadn't bothered to take a picture of them and haven't had a chance to give them to her! I wrapped up the one that was finished at the time and gave it to her for her birthday. Upon opening it, she held it up and said, "But I have two feet." Happy Finally Birthday Socks, Amy! I was home with my parents this weekend and stuck my feet in the flower pots on the deck. Very organic, isn't it?

Kauni Purse WIP

I am working on pleat 11 of 14 on my Kauni purse! I can't wait until this weekend when I'll have some time to work on it! The pattern says you need a small amount of a second ball, but I'm already thinking about how I can slim this down just slightly. The display purse in the shop was knit from a vivid rainbow colorway but I bought the very last ball! I'm hoping I can get an entire purse out of it!

ERI ornament

This is another resin/jar lid ornament I made. I keep all my dvd discs in large cd wallets and then I recycle the cases and liners/notes. Of course there are certain ones I just can't bear to part with because of fabulous pictures and I've saved them for "no particular reason". It's no surprise then that I saved the notes from Elizabeth: The Golden Age! I used copper leaf flakes and bugle beads to frame Bess and I think it looks quite regal! ;)

This ornament will soon have a companion because Mom has asked me to make one from an old tag she has kept. Years ago we got some lemon curd that had a tag with a print of Elizabeth from an actual painting. Mom has since saved that tag and it's hung from the handle of her china cabinet. She suggested making an ornament out of that paper tag and I happen to have the perfect lid for that: Devon Double Cream! I'm not even going to paint the lid!

Slouchy

Mom and I went to Prairie Yarns while we were up visiting in Fargo and I bought 2 fabulous skeins of Malabrigo yarn! I have a pattern for a cabled hat knit from solid colors of the stuff, but this was too variegated for any texture work and the stitches would just get lost. I knit 2 more Le'Slouch hats out of it and had leftovers for small projects. Here is one in the works on my lap shortly after I realized (of course towards the end) that I'd increased too much at the beginning! Oh well, it is just extra slouchy! I do love those colors though, and you can see my eggplant stitch marker! :)

This is the colorway of the other skein and I knit a pair of baby bootees from the leftovers. These will be mailed with a box of kringlas to my friend Rachel. She will come back to work with us towards the end of the month! We can't wait to see her, and I'm sure time will pass even more quickly for her!

This is another pair of bootees for her 2 year old. She was telling me how her toddler had tried getting her feet into the newborn bootees I'd knit for her baby brother! Now I'm afraid they aren't going to fit her! I guess if they don't, her brother will just have to grow into them because these are going into the box too!

And I'm tired of dirty snow and mud!

Hey Kool-Aid!

I swear my mother has become a born again knitter. She taught me how to knit YEARS ago and I remember her knitting baby things, doll clothes, Barbie items, vests and sweaters for us kids, ski hats and headbands, and I remember when she knit herself an Icelandic yoke sweater out of Lopi. But then my mother put her needles down for several years...and I plundered and borrowed those needles while I slowly fell in love with knitting. In the last 2-3 years though, she has picked them back up and is really making a go of knitting again! I think she is KnitPick's most valued customer because she is always ordering from them! She and I have always been interested in dyeing a batch of yarn and KnitPicks makes it so easy! Mother bought me a "sock blank" for a Christmas gift, and my stocking was full of packets of Kool-Aid! How DID Santa know?! ;)

A sock blank is a large knitted swatch of fabric made from cream colored yarn in various weights. In our case, it was a double strand of sock-weight yarn. We read through the instructions and made our first attempt at space dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid! You soak the blank for a good 30 minutes in warm water with a "glug" of vinegar (this whole process is very similar to dyeing Easter eggs--and I know you can dye yarn with Easter egg dye tablets and I hoarded a bunch last year when they went on sale--but more on that later).

We dissolved unsweetened Kool-Aid in hot water and "painted" it onto the blank. I was using Blue Raspberry and Grape but I wasn't too thrilled with the grape because grape Kool-Aid is never quite purple, it is more of a grey shade, so I threw in some Black Cherry as well.

Next you wrap up the painted blank in plastic wrap and nuke it for a couple minutes to set the dye.

Here is my finished and dried blank. Remember that it was a double strand of sock weight yarn...

...and here it is all unraveled! If you look closely, you can see bits of white coiled up in the yarn. I think we didn't let it soak quite through before we started. Dyeing yarn must be like dissolving yeast in that you have to literally set the timer and walk away for said time, otherwise you'll be too eager to start before it is in fact ready. I've already skeined this up and it's sitting in my sock yarn stash. Our next dyeing project will be the full blown acid fast dyes, but we'll have to wait for a little nicer weather so we can work out in the garage!

And I had to put this on because I think it is one of the funniest things I've seen all week! I love Failblog!

Late in the season...

My family is not going to be able to get together for Christmas until the 23rd of January, so I have a truly legitimate reason to still have my tree up! I bought these 3 ornaments in Holland this year on my trip. 2 are delft and the Svaert Per is resin. I had to really stop and think, but I don't think I bought any ornaments in Denmark. I'm also going through a heavy ginger molasses spice cookie phase right now! These smell like pure Christmas, they'll scent up an entire house, and if you make enough of them, you'll eventually get a new jar lid from the molasses!

This is another pair of baby bootees for my friend Rachel. They were knit on US 2 dpn's with Araucania yarn from a Socks! Socks! Socks! pattern. I'm currently knitting another keyhole scarf with the remaining yarn, but I should have enough left over for a matching baby hat. Too bad you can't knit "grown up bootees" because I think these just look cozy! ;)

God Jul!

Here is my modern, Scandinavian centerpiece of the season. I didn't feel like putting up my Christmas village this year because I only have 4 buildings and 3 of them are bakeries. I have seen similar electric candelabras and they are very pretty but also very spendy. This is from IKEA and cost me $6! I just love it! These Moravian type stars were made from paper strips I found in Denmark. I've made these before from ribbon and paper, but these are fussy! For those 3 that are finished, I have 3 that I ripped halfway through the folding process! I hope everyone had a good day today! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Weekend Update...

I had a nice weekend snowed in with my parents! We stayed warm near the kitchen making lefse and drinking hot cider. I love my parents' deck for cooling things off in a hurry!
Melissa and I went to the big going out of business sale at a local quilt shop. Everything was 20% off and they were actually selling all the shelving and decorations and displays, etc. I nabbed 2 of these asparagus crates for $5 each and I just love them! They also sell roving by the yard for needle felting projects but I use it for spinning and chose a few yards of several colors and a lot of ivory for dyeing. Melissa picked up a pieced and quilted runner/wall hanging for $5!

We also made another batch of photo ornaments for Christmas gifts. These get better every time we work on them! And now we're really getting low on lids! It's a good thing we had pasta with sauce from a jar...

These are the lace scarves I knit for my girlfriend gifts this year. My favorites are the beige and grey ones. That is Rowan tapestry yarn made from merino wool and soybean fiber! They are so soft and shiny and I bought several skeins of it. These scarves are only 18" or so long and you pull one lace panel through the "keyhole" and wear it like an ascot. I just love this pattern I found on Earthfaire. I have to say I am a fan of theirs now because they have bead knitting supplies and patterns as well as gifts and things for knitters! :)

before and after!

Melissa and I had a long overdue Crafty Fun Night! After cancelling or getting busy at the last minute I don't know how many times, we each finally got some pictures printed and got together. We ordered delivery from Hunan, loaded up the dvd player with Christmas specials, and pounded in eye hooks while we waited. After supper, we sat at that table for hours bent squinting over our work. It was actually quite hard to decide what to do with each of them because we really had lots and lots of materials to play around with.

I am so pleased with the way they all turned out! And it is always so fun to see Melissa so excited! I felt so bad she had to leave them here at the end of the night so they could dry. She is probably dying to just go and look at them because while typing this, I've probably gotten up about 4 times already to go look! They are just stunning. Melissa agrees with me that even though the resin is transparent, it adds so much of something that you can't quite explain. You have to see them to understand. I hope they are dry by tomorrow night so I can bring hers to her at work! We both agreed that we will be making these not only yearly, but year round because they are so awesome! Now what to string them with?

Erika Knight Bootees...

I hit the big sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics the other day and picked up a copy of Simply Knitting and got a free 2009 Pattern Calendar with it! It is a British and rather expensive but lovely magazine so I grab it whenever I see it--once even at a tuck shop in Denmark! I immediately set to work on these bootees from the calender pattern with some leftover Rowan Tapestry and had just enough. I had these buttons from the antique store and the color changes really cooperated with me as far as halfway matching! These will go to my friend and co-worker Rachel who is due in February with a baby boy!

And these will be the centerpiece of tomorrow's crafty fun night... More on that later!

more of the same...

Nothing much new to report around here. Still plugging away at Christmas knitting here and there. Have done LOTS and LOTS of baking. We did have our extended family Christmas today where we had an ornament exchange. I had intended to make a "Maynerd" ornament for every cousin and household, but I had trouble finding the right picture of him. I was able to make just one in time for the exchange. We all saw each other recently at our cousin's wedding, but it was nice to all be together and actually have time to visit.

Here is the "Maynerd" ornament and a rabbit ornament for my sister. I realized after I'd poured Maynerd that I would have some resin left over. I'd been saving this Brier Rabbit Molasses jar lid for a small project for some time because there is a picture of a winking rabbit in a suit on the lid and the entire thing is about the diameter of a quarter. I left this lid unpainted, punched in my eye hook, threw in some beads left over from a bead knitted purse I made for her years ago and this rabbit charm that I've always wondered what I'd do with. I've been frustrated with this project in that it is kind of a chore to round up digital pictures and get prints made, but now I'm really thinking about simple collage ornaments. Hmmmmm...

Just do it!

Kauni preview...

I just couldn't help it. Last night I lucked out with a surprise flex, so I sat in my chair and really tried to stay on task with some Christmas Knitting...and instead wound up a new ball of yarn and began a project! This is from my favorite yarn shop in Denmark. The shopkeeper had designed an awesome felted purse with this yarn and actually gave us a copy of her uncopyrighted pattern! I'm sure this will only get knitted on here and there, but I get such terrible Startitis. This yarn is very clingy and grippy, kind of like Shetland yarn. And don't let that that picture fool you, that is a HUGE ball of yarn--over 600 yards! I have enough yarn for 2 purses in 2 different colorways, but one will have to use scraps of the other so I need to see how this pattern turns out for finishing the second. I've only knit 9 rows so far, but I keep looking ahead at my yarn because the colors change soooooooo subtly.

Brenda's bridal purse

Oh how I love finished projects! This is Brenda's bridal purse-hot off my needles and newly sewn into it's frame. If I was smart I would have included something in the photo for scale. This purse was quite a bit smaller than the purses I knit for Melissa and Anna because the frame was slightly smaller and curved. I knit this on size US 00 needles with size 8 Perle cotton thread and size 10/0 seed beads purchased at my local Hobby Lobby. The beading design on this purse is alternating rows of diamond shaped and was pretty mindless--my kind of design! Brenda's Big Day will be here before we know it! Now I have to go and start work on the garter!

I have the very BEST friend in the entire known universe!

Last night was the worst night in living memory at work. Of course I'm BRIMMING with pride as far as how we work together as a team when the ca ca interfaces with the fan, but it is mentally and emotionally draining when bad things happen. I called my best friend and coworker when I got home and she was on her way home for a visit to her Folks, but she first stopped by and TOTALLY surprised and CHEERED ME UP with these absolutely GORGEOUS flowers! I am going to bring them along with me to our Griswold Family Field Trip just so we can all enjoy them! I sent the scraps of Brenda's dessert puff pastry dough and a platter of sugar cookies home with her to enjoy with her family. As crappy as work can be at times, I have to remind myself that it can always be WORSE and I constantly thank my lucky stars that I'm as privileged as I am to work with the greatest, most knowledgeable, helpful, and DEDICATED crew on God's green earth!