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!