Honeymoon Yarn Expedition

Well, not much knitting has been happening in my household this month as DH and I took our two week honeymoon to Italy. We had a wonderful time, and even got to visit a couple of yarn shops in Florence. I had earned a free day from Stashalong for completing the afghan square back in February, so I saved it for our trip. First, we went to Campolmi, which is in the center of the city. This shop is huge! The staff was lovely, but spoke limited English, so we negotiated our way through business and I ended up with the skein below.

The prices were great (1,50 Euro/$3 for the skein). It's not going to become any knitted item, but instead will be one of our momentos from the trip.

Next up, we went to Beatrice Galli.

Beatrice and her husband were there, and they were lovely too. I took my time and looked at the products that were made in Italy, since that meant more than buying a yarn that wasn't local. I came away with some Filatura di Crosa Cashmere/Seta (Gray and Orange), and some Mondial Giada (3 skeins in a Smoky Blue). Lovely yarns, and hopefully, Ravelry will help me figure out what to make them with.

I keep working on the Minimalist Cardigan and almost have the right front done! I also started the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf in some Mountain Colors yarn that I had in the stash. It's back to work tomorrow for us, so knitting in the evenings while watching the Yankees in spring training and the start of the regular season will begin again.

-B

Felted Yoga Bag

So finally an unfrogged finished project to show. I got some Cascade 220 for Christmas that I wasn't sure was the right hat and scarf color for me. So I needed to figure out something to do with it. I realized I didn't want one bag that was all one color so I found another heathered Cascade 220 that I thought would look nice with the aqua color. You can't really see it in the picture but the aqua has a fairly blue heather to it. I'd been thinking about knitting the Felted Yoga Bag out of Last Minute Knitted gifts (a book that I am realizing their estimated times are way off and take nowhere near their suggested times, or maybe I'm just really slow, but I'm going with the idea they are way off and not me). And I've never felted anything before, so I thought it might be entertaining. So preblocking here is my new yoga bag.

And now for the bag post-felting.

The aqua felted a little faster than the navy apparently. And the strap is a little longer than it

needed to be, but it'll still work and is honestly a lot easier to package up after a yoga class, if I can get myself going again. But at least I have a cute bag to carry the mat.

S

And the frogging continues

Thisis what my hokie colored yarn looked like early Friday night...until I tried it on with my heel extension and realized that unless my foot was growing in the next few months lengthwise, it was never going to fit me. So it became another of the manyfrogged projects tha I have had in the last few months. Nothing seems to be working if it requires any sort of measurement it isn't going to fit me. So may the hokie jaywalkers rest in peace...I will have to be subjected to another round of orange hands when I decide to venture on the socks again.

-S

New Sweater

So S and I were looking for something for B's Birthday, and decided to get her some new patterns. One of them was the Rusted Root. I was not a huge fan of the pattern that runs down the front of the sweater, but thought the puff sleeve was very cute. I had some yarn that was going to use to make a baby sweater, but as S pointed out, yarn that needs to be hand washed is not the most practical for a baby sweater, so I used it here instead. The sweater was a quick knit, probably only took me about a week to make, I did have to stop to get 1 more ball of yarn, since the I didn't have enough. Also, I think I would put in some vertical darts to bring the waist in a bit for a better fit. Will work on that next.
-E

Pattern: Rusted Root (modified, to skip the leaf pattern)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donagel Luxury Tweed (5 balls in a light blue color)
Needles: size 6 cicular and a set of size 4 double points

Jaywalkers and Cheese doodles

As several individuals will attest to, I have been very dissatisfied with many of my most recent projects. I've started them, gotten halfway through them and frogged them or just being truly annoyed. I needed something more challenging.
I decided it was finally time to do some destashing...and learn a new skill. I swore that I would never knit socks. The fiscal responsibility in me screaming why would anyone pay $20 just for the yarn when I can get a perfectly acceptable pair of socks for considerably less, and I don't have to knit them. I'm beginning to see the error of my ways and I'm thinking some nice merino socks in the dead of winter might be the perfect thing for a cold midwestern day. So here is my first successful attempt at the toe-up sock. So far it is a toe-up Jaywalker by Grumperina with Claudia Hand-painted in the Hokie colorway. I have been frogging a lot of things lately, we'll see if this one makes it to full size before I frog it.



But here's where the cheese doodles come in, or lack there of. Apparently the yarn is pretty heavily saturated in paint...and is slowly painting my hands to be Hokie colors. I'm sure there's someone out there jumping up and down for my newly visible school spirit. So the last couple of nights, my hands are managing to look like I've been indulging in some fried processed cheese foods...okay maybe I have, but no cheese doodles were consumed in the process of knitting these socks...thus far.


I'm thinking these socks are going to need a very good soak to hopefully get some excess dye out of them before they're worn I'm going to end up with some very dyed feet.

-S

Handmade Nation::: Sneak Peek April, 2007

Here's the preview for Handmade Nation!

Handmade Nation

I recently came across another blog or post on Ravelry about Handmade Nation. It's a documentary film and book combo that will be released later this year (the book) and early next year (the film). The director, Faythe Levine has been traveling across the USA in an effort to interview many DIY crafters about the new craft movement. As a woman who loves to support other female artists and support female-run businesses, I couldn't help but order the t-shirts that Faythe is selling over on Etsy (she also has several different totes, which are prefect for a medium sized project or to use at the grocery store).

Each t-shirt or tote purchased supports the funding of the project. The t-shirt fit is great, as always with American Apparel-based shirts, and the design is fun and funky and will get people to ask about the project. I'm excited for Faythe and can't wait to see the final cut. So, help out if you can and order a shirt or stop by her blog and read about the process of making the film and book. She has a donate button on the blog if you want to support, but aren't into the shirt.

-B