Hopefully this newborn likes PINK!!! ...

My last yarn dyeing day I had was pretty epic! I mixed up a variety of dyes and went a little crazy (I've already shown my enthusiasm for Material Girl being purchased and knit up!!). But I haven't really went over any of the other colorways. 

Recently one of my cousins had a baby girl! So I was pretty excited to knit something up for her little princess. I had to pulled out a skein of DayLily on Sparkle Sock. It's definatley PINK!!! 

There's enough hot pink in there for any little girl ;-) I got knitting a baby sweater! It took a little while. Which is code for: it got put on the backburner while I cranked out the rest of the Christmas knitting but no worries, I got going on it again. 

Here it is in it's completed AWESOME-NESS! 

Pattern: Baby Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn: Day Lily on Sparkle Sock by Prairie Knitting Yarns

I was very careful of where the yarn was pooling while knitting. Some peeps worry about pooling and how the sweater will look once knit. I'm here to spread the word; I've come up with a solution! It's a little extra work in the end but the overall esthetic is worth it :-) Plus it will help you use up that super variegated yarn that's been lingering in your stash for a while, and your just not sure what to do with it!

While knitting the sweater all was looking good through the yoke of the sweater but eventually it started to pool a bit. I solved this  by working the yarn from the center of the ball  and the outside for a few rows, then it started to pool again. So I decided to pull some yarn and do a quick over handed knot to change up the dye sequence. I only had to do this every inche or so while knitting the body.

More so while working the sleeves but overall it helped keep the knitted yarn variegated in an esthetically pleasing way! 

When I was done knitting it was time to undo the over handed knots, double knot it, and weave in the ends.

It's definatley MORE work but I love the overall effect and the final look :-)

I also had a bit of extra yarn left over, so I knit a part of booties.

Pattern: Oh Baby! Baby Booties by Double Diamond Knits

Yarns: Day Lily on Sparkle Sock by Prairie Knitting Yarns & Debbie Bliss Party Angel

Since I was using a fingering yarn I had to add another yarn of some sort to get it close to DK weight. I tossed my remants stash and pulled out some Debbie Bliss Party Angel. It's so soft :-) I loved the final effect!

This made a wonderful set for a newborn baby girl! I hope mom and baby love it!

Happy Knitting :-)

One Done... :-)

Just a quick post on WoolDork's Material Girl Socks :-) and how beyond excited I am to see the first socks done!!!'

She has one sock done and is working on the next one! 

I'm so excited to see this Colorway knit up :-)

Happy Knitting!

Do I Have to...

I've had this project in my WIP pile for about 2 years. I would knit a bit, then rip it out, then cast on again. It was always there, constantly casting on, then ripping out. It was very frustrating for me. The frustrating part isn't the pattern! Somehow I was messing up the super simple pattern and then the stitch count was off. PLUS.... I had just had my little girl so my mind probally wasnt it's sharpest being a new mom and all ;-)

So when the Tanis Fiber Arts Group on Ravelry were having another KAL for accessories I decided that this project had to be completed. I dug it out from the corner in my spare bed room and decided to cast it on again. This time I was super careful the first couple repeats to make sure that I wasn't messing up the pattern again :-) I was super excited that everything went smoothly! It turned out exactly as I wanted.

Pattern: Stockholm Scarf by KnittedBlissJC 

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label in Velvet

I'm so pleased with how it came out. When I blocked it I was super excited with how it looked and I fell even more in love with it when I placed it on the bust form for photos :-) 

It was super difficult to give this to my sister. I so badly wanted to keep it for myself. It's a good thing I have enough of velvet to make another one but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get going on knitting it. I have so many projects on the go and I'm currently bouncing from one project to another. My knitting ADHD seems to have kicked in this year. 

On a plus note: my sister LOVED the scarf! She's constantly wearing it and sending me photos of her wearing it. So it was a huge hit :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Knitting for New Future Family...

Since Christmas I've been busy doing a lot of non knitterly things. My husband had some time off so we did some family outings and had some down time to just enjoy our toddler playing with her new toys :-) She was beyond spoiled by everyone this Christmas. I had a bit of time to do some knitting but it wasn't a priority. I had a chance to finish up this pair of socks.

Pattern: Smokestack Socks by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! in Black Witch Moth

 

I wasn't sure these socks would fit. My sister told me what size of shoes her fiancé wore and it was around the same size as my husband so I knit the first sock as if it was for my hubby. Then I figured if it fit, I would knit the second one. So on Christmas Day he tried it on and it fit. So I casted on the second sock and I worked on it here and there throughout the holidays and into the New Year. 

He was quite excited to get the second sock today :-) He'll be heading up north to work for a bit and I'm sure he'll be using them. 

I'm a fairly tight knitter so I made a couple minor mods to the pattern. I like the cables mirroring each other from each side of the sock, so I kept the ribbing portion for the front and back of the sock. Then the  cables were on the sides. I also added 8 more stitches to the largest size for the foot and an extra 16 for the leg. My pattern notes can be found HERE on Ravelry.

Time will tell if he likes hand knitted socks. I'm sure my sister will tell me if he's wearing them. Then maybe he'll get another pair for Christmas next year :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

New Year Etsy Shop Sale :-)

Happy New Year :-) !!!

I'm welcoming in 2015 by having a New Year's Day Sale in my Etsy Shop :-) Save 25% on all purchases by using Coupon Code : NEWYEAR2015 and if your spending $100 or more on yarn (before shipping) I'll refund the shipping charges after purchase. So.... FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE :-)

Happy Shopping :-)

Post Xmas Life...

I'm so excited that Christmas is over!! I'll have more highlights from my Christmas knitting in future posts. One project was an epic failure but it's fixable. 

I think.

Anyways! I'm more than a tad excited! I've been watching Ravelry projects for Prairie Knitting Yarn and have seen some super cute projects being made! When I dyed up Material Girl on BFL Sock I wasn't sure how it would knit up or if someone would even want to buy it. It's one of the crazier fun colorways I dyed and I loved it!

Here's a super wicked WIP pic of WoolDork's (Rav Id) Material Girl Socks :-)

I'm going to be posting follow up pics as she plugs through them :-) I love how they are knitting up and I hope she does as well!!

Happy Knitting :-)

Shaving Down Some Knitting...

It's getting close to crunch time for my christmas knitting and I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to accomplish :-( We'll see. I offered to give Christmas baking to my husbands coworkers this year. So each day I'm baking something and throwing it in the freezer. Then hopefully by Thursday I'll have enough variety of things to throw a gift basket together for the 6 dudes my husband works with. 

Anyways, in between baking batches I've been working on this:

Pattern: Emilien by Ariane Caron-Lacostee

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Heather Walnut & Black

It's my dad's Christmas sweater. It's a XXL size and I'm going to be adding some extra CO for under the arms to give it a little extra space. I decided to do this because last year when I knit it for my brother I noticed that it was a little tight under the arms and even though my brother loved his sweater I know my dad would like a little extra room. So I'll keep plugging away on it.

I've also been working on a bunch of other christmas knitting.  

I'm going to keep knitting and see if this pile dwindles down a bit.

Happy Knitting :-)