I'm back!

I'm back from my annual holiday vacation from blogging! It seems that whether I plan to or not, I always take a break around the holidays. And then it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things. So how about some bullet points to bring everyone up to speed?

- I had the opportunity to make some neat custom mugs in November/December! That was a great experience. I love working with customers to create something I may have never thought of doing on my own.
- I went to California in December. It was simultaneously trying and wonderful in the way that only visiting family can be. I also saw those two rather elegant deer in the blurry photo above.
- I've picked up my knitting needles again! I'm making some wool socks for my husband to keep his toes warm in the cold.
- Speaking of cold, the "polar vortexes" have hit Tennessee and we've been getting single digit temperatures and even some snow. The dog loves it of course. Me, not so much.
- I bought the dog a new bed for Christmas. It's great! It's made from hemp and the filling is made from recycled plastic bottles. And it's completely washable. Which is so important when your dog spontaneously decides to pee on his bed.
- I'm really excited about my garden. It's too cold to do anything with it right now, but I've been picking out seeds and drawing up plans. 
- I'm working on some new things for the shop! I'm experimenting with more colors and I have some new ideas that I'm excited about! I can't wait to show you!

Cabled Pillow

I love the texture on this pillow cover. It's so nubbly and fun to touch. The yarn was originally knit into a bunch of little child sized purses, but I had no use for them so I ripped it all out and made this instead. The cable pattern is the same. It's a very basic 2 stitch repeating cable and where the right and left slanting cables meet, you wrap the yarn around several times.

Scappy Striped Socks

Here are my latest creations. I had a bag full of leftover bits of fingering weight yarn and not enough of any one color to make a whole project. So I decided to make a pair of scrappy socks. This first pair has some fair isle color work from the ankles up. I love the way it looks, but it makes them not very stretchy and difficult to put on. Plus that little bit of ribbing on the top edge looks sort of awkward, doesn't it?

So I made a second pair. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sock advice on these, from the k2p2 all over rib to the heels and toes. I also made them taller to keep me warm. I love the all over ribbing because it makes the socks so much stretchier and they really hug my feet and legs. They're so cozy and they don't fall down!

Squashy Cabled Throw

Once upon a time, I went to my friend's house and on her roommate's bed was the most wondrous afghan I had ever seen. It was cream colored and cabled all over and it stuck in my memory to haunt me all my days. For years, I have been wanting to make a lovely throw with giant cables. So I finally did.

Although, I went a different direction for the color.

I love this thing! The yarn is some super yummy, superwash merino wool I got for my birthday. And I just adore this color. It's called pea pod. The pattern is called Lover's Knot Afghan and it's a free pattern from Lion Brand.

Cabled Socks

I've been on a sock kick lately. I think it's because this California girl isn't used Tennessee's cold winter weather. Even if it is unseasonably warm and in the 50s most days. So I've been making wool socks.

For the longest time, I never understood why so many knitters knit so many socks. But I get it now! They're quick! They're a little bit challenging (hello short rows!) And they're so warm and cozy.

Here's my most recent pair. They're made of some superwash fingering weight wool from knitpicks. I was very much inspired by slippedstitch's Boyfriend Socks but I wanted the cables to be more random.

PS. Have you ever tried to photograph your own feet? It's surprisingly difficult!

Without further ado, here are my gray cabled socks, modeled on my very pasty and stubbly winter legs. (Yay!)

Tee Shirt Yarn Tutorial

Here's how I make a single, continuous length of yarn from an old tee shirt.

You will need a ruler, a pair of fabric scissors and something to mark the fabric with. I'm using a soft drawing pencil.

Step 1:
Cut off the bottom hem and cut across from armpit to armpit.  You won't be using the bottom hem or the top part.

Step 2:
Fold one of the folded edges until it's a couple inches away from the opposite folded edge.

Step 3:
Flip the fabric 90 degrees. Mark the bottom edge and the edge of the overlying chunk of fabric at 1 inch increments.

Step 4:
Draw parallel lines connecting your marks.

Step 5:
Cut along the lines. Make sure you cut all the way through the overlapping folded edge, but don't cut those couple inches at the top (the unmarked area). If you cut all the way up, you will have a bunch of loops.

Step 6:
Unfold the fabric and lay it out so the uncut area is flat. Now here comes the trickiest part. You're going to cut from the first slit at the bottom to the second slit on the top. See how I'm holding the ruler? That's the line you cut along. I don't mark this part because it's easiest to just hold it in your hand and eyeball it.

Step 7:
Push the loop you cut off aside. For the rest, you are going to cut from the first slit on the bottom to the first slit on the top. You're going to create a long, continuous strip of fabric. Keep going until you reach the end.

Step 8:
Now at the ends, you have a couple funny looking loops. To fix that, you just taper off from the slit to the outside edge. I like the tapered edge because I think it's nice when you transition from one ball of yarn to another. It also blends in nicely when you weave in the ends to finish your knitting.

Step 9:
The fun part! You now have a pile of what looks like jersey ribbon. To give it a rounded, yarn-like appearance, you just grab a section between your hands and pull! Keep going for the whole length of yarn and you're done!

Now take that pretty pile and wind it into a ball. (I like this center pull ball method (scroll down the the bottom of the page))

Please let me know if you like this tutorial, or if you have any problems with it!

Hand Spun Scarflet

Swatching

Elizabeth Zimmermann Socks

Man Booties

Blackrose Socks

My first real pair of knit socks! Yay! You know, for years I've seen people knit socks and I just never got it. But I had some sock yarn and a little time, so I figured what the hey? And I gotta be honest with you, I really enjoyed it. There's something very satisfying about a quit knit project and the socks are actually really comfortable. I'm not about to throw away all my plain white socks, but I will probably knit more pairs, from time to time.

Pattern: Blackrose Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Multi in Lily Pad

Chullo For My Sister

My sister lives in the frigid arctic of upstate New York. A place where it actually snows and the ground is frozen for months of the year. So when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said that she could use a cute, whimsical hat. I got the basic pattern from knitty.com and switched it up a bit.



It was a lot of fun to knit, but oh my goodness, so much color work! The great thing about all the colors is you can use up some of those fingering weight remnants that sock knitters are bound to have lying around. Most of the yarn for this one is superwash wool from knitpicks. A few are leftover yardage from gorgeous hand dyed skeins.

My First Handspun!

I made it with a drop spindle kit from Maine Woods Yarn & Fiber.

My Latest Knits

Brea Bag for my mom:

pattern: Brea Bag
yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Cranberry
needles: US 9

This a bag I promised to make for my mom last year. It's fully lined with repurposed denim. I can't wait to finally give it to her this weekend!




Fern Lace Scarf
yarn: Spinning Bunny Merino/Tencel Hand Dyed Yarn, Blueberry Patch
needles: US 10, bamboo

I've made about a million scarves since I learned how to knit, but I've sold and given away almost all of them. I got this gorgeous yarn from freecycle and decided that it's finally time to make a wearable scarf for myself. The lace pattern comes from Vogue Stitchonary. I love it!




Stripy Gloves
yarn: Knit Picks Felici, Atmosphere
needles: US 3, bamboo DPNs

I started these back in January when a wind storm knocked out power to most of Davis. We were without power and heat for 3 days. While I was freezing my butt off, I decided that it was an absolute travesty that I didn't have a decent pair of (non-snowboard) gloves. So I picked up my needles and some sock yarn and started these. When the power came back on, I totally forgot about them and didn't pick them up again until this fall.





Fall Fingerless Mitts
yarn: Mystical Creation Yarns Wool Silk
needles: US 5, aluminum DPNs

Our chilly evening walks with the puppy inspired me to finally pick up this yarn and knit up a pair of fingerless mitts for the fall. I love this yarn. It has a really rustic look, but it's so soft and wearable.