Warping Through Nap Time...

I've been tossing around ideas for my 1st weaving project on my Kromski Harp and today I finally came to a decision :-) I was inspired by my test dyeing I did months ago!

I dyed up mini skeins of worsted yarn to test out each dye I purchased and I got a wonderful gradient :-) So I figured that this would be the perfect project. Full of color for a plain basket weave scarf! 

I had a bit of a problem deciding on a color for the warp. I don't have many skeins of plain natural colored yarn. My stash is full of bright jewel tones :-) So while tossing the stash, I was contemplating color combos but nothing was 'right'. Then I opened another rubbermaid container and right on top was a skein of Tanis Fiber Arts 75/25 merino silk fingering yarn in Sand. It was perfect :-)

I got right to warping. I flipped over my Kromski Harp, put the pegs in and started working in my warp. There was a minor disaster just before the end. One of the pegs loosened up and bit and went in an angle. Which in turn, allowed about 10 or so rounds to flip off and go all willy nilly into a giant knot. 

Surprisingly, I wasn't discouraged. Don't get me wrong I swore damn good but I didn't freak. I spent a few minutes detangling and rewinding the ball, then kept on going on my warp. 

All went well after that. I tied off everything. Tied off the cross in a different yarn and chained up my warp. Then I was ready to put the warp on my rigid heddle loom. That's when I realized that I was missing 1 of 4 bolts for my stand. 

So the search started. I've come to the conclusion that it's disappeared into the black hole of missing objects of the world. Right now it's chilling with all the missing stitch markers, dpn's and odd socks. I know I don't NEED to have this bolt to warp my loom but it's really more of a point of frusteration with me. I'm a Type A person that likes to have everything taken care of before I start something. Otherwise it will just bug the crap out of me the whole time. 

Plus, my daughter was due to get up from her nap. There is no way I'm going to start warping when my toddler is running amuck the house. That's a giant disaster waiting to happen ;-)

So hopefully I'll be able to get started on it tonight or tomorrow.

Happy Knitting :-)

Knitting Amiss the Chaos...

Not much on the docket today! I did my errands first thing this morning and was back in time for toddler nap time :-) I'm a little surprised she napped for about an hour. 

YES!!!! 

Anyways, I'm making progress on Lady Sunnyside!! I was finally able to get a photo showing the color as accurate as possible :-) I love this colorway!!

 

I'm currently working on the sleeves. Which are knitting up quite quickly. I still consider it sleeve island just because it's stockinette but at least it's not sport weight yarn ;-)

Right now I've decided to knit amiss the chaos. Tell me everyone that has a toddler has their house looking like this at least one day a week!

I just can't justify picking it all up when I know my tornado of a toddler will come ripping through in a few minutes. As soon as I post this post, I'm going to let her loose. Since I can hear her having a detailed conversation with herself in her crib right now ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)

And A Month Flies By...

The last month has been a little crazy. My daughter was teething like crazy. She had 4 molers pop in which made me want to cry out in frusteration and exhaustion. They took  just over 2 weeks to come in. Now she has her eye teeth popping in. 1 has cracked the gums the other 3 are at various stages of bumping out. Mom's just don't get a break! 

So during that time there hasn't been too much knitting time. When my daughter was awake she turns into a little monkey and when I crack out my knitting she likes to crawl all over me ;-) So the only knitting time I've gotten is when she's napping (which is few and far between these days) or when she's down for the night. Which is also spuratic. Sometimes she's down at 8pm sometimes she's up until 11pm. 

So saying that here's my knitting progress :-)

Yarn : Pandia's Jewels Glitz in Beam Me U , Pandia's Jewels Snug in illogical and Resistance is Futile, Univeral Yarn Pace in Steel

Pattern : my standard tie up recipe.

 I wanted to use up all of the scraps from my Star Trek inspired yarns so I'm going to keep doing stripes until I run out of yarn :-) This is my small portable mindless knitting project. It gives me a break from the next project when I need a POP of color :-)

Yarn : Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in Charcoal

Pattern : Etching by Linda Wilgus
 

This is my giant sweater blob. I'm close to finishing it and may or may not have enough yarn. I'm going to be cutting it close, so I'm deviating from my initial plan for this sweater. I originally wanted to do a shawl collar but because of this issue I've decided to leave the button band stitches on the waste yarn and work the sleeves first. Then I can work the button band / collar until I run out of yarn. I hope there's enough yarn for a shawl collar but I'll have to see how it turns out.

Yarn : Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label in Truffle

Pattern : Lady Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallee

I really enjoy knitting with this yarn :-) The color is great and I can't seem to get the color right in any of my photos. It's so rich in person :-) The pattern is well written and simple. I'm further along than what shows in the photo. I've just finished the waist shaping and started working on the sleeves. My plan is to finish the sleeves then use up all the yarn in length. 

I'm quite excited to begin the button search for this sweater. I'm determined that this sweater is for me :-)

Lastly, here's a photo of my spinning progress from this ast month :-) I'm quite pleased with myself and my progress! My only problem is that I get in the groove of spinning and my bobbin looks all lumpy :-( I'm seriously considering buying a WooLee Winder :-) Maybe for Christmas!! I'll have to send some hints to my husband ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Stagnant No More...

So about 2 years ago I bought a loom. I had my mind made up on what kind of loom I wanted. I had my heart set on a 32" Kromski Rigid Heddle Loom so I bought it. I got it pretty quickly, which I was happy about! Then I put the box in my spare bedroom (AKA : the craft room) and there it stayed for a year. 

About a year ago, I was cleaning / organizing my craft room and I found it again! So I spent a little bit of time assembling it. Then it went back into the spare room closet. 

Where it still resides today. The loom stand has been living on my filing cabinets!

So I decided that this year I was going to figure out how to use my loom. I bought a couple books and flipped through them. It's an extreme under statement to say that I was overwhelmed with all the steps. It was then that I figured I needed to find a guild. Queue in Ravelry. I created a post in the Red Deer group to find a guild in Red Deer / Central Alberta and I got a response :-) 

So I attended my first meeting as part of the Parkland Handweavers Guild and it was a lot f fun. The ladies are all very nice :-) So now I'm on my way to accomplishing this goal I set for myself. I got to check out some of the WIP's they have on their looms for the guild and I was beyond inspired.

 

I have aspirations to be this good in the future :-) Maybe the distant future ;-) 

Happy Knitting :-)

I'm not ready for this...

Today marks the first day if snow here! The title is fully explainatory of how I feel about this. It's a total bummer. Where did summer go? 

The only good thing about snow is seeing our Blue Heeler Lola experience the first snowfall of the season. She goes completely batty and runs, jumps, prances, and acts pretty much psychotic when she sees snow. It's quite hilarious and makes me smile everytime. Who knew that a dog that came from Mexico would love snow so much :-)

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen this already, but I finished my Smokestack Socks :-) 

Pattern: Smokestack Socks by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn: Beam Me Up by Pandia's Jewels on Glitz  

This pattern was a lot of fun to knit. The only minor modification I made was to mirror the front and back of the socks so that the cables ran down the sides. I'm very happy with how they turned out :-) I know my brother will love them. 

I also have some scraps left over of each of the 3 Star Trek yarn so I've decided to use them up in a pair of stripy socks for my brother as well. I just couldn't bear to toss them.  Although I don't have enough to knit up a pair of socks using just the scraps, so a I did some stash diving and pulled out a lone skein of Universal Yarns Pace in Steel.

Yarns: Pandia's Jewels Snug in Resistance is Futile, illogical and Beam Me Up on Glitz. Universal Yarns Pace in Steel.

I really don't have a plan yet on what's going to happen with the stripes. I'm just going to wing it for most of it. I'm planning on using up all the yarn if I can. I'm also considering working both socks at the same time on separate DPN's so I can evenly distribute the yarn as I go. We'll see how they turn out :-)

On the Etsy Shop News : I'm offering free Worldwide Shipping on all purchases over $100 :-) Just use Coupon Code - FREESHIPPING100 when you check out! 

Now I'm off to knit a bit with my coffee :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Score!!!!!.....

I'm pretty excited today :-) I had one goal and that was to go back to the Red Deer Market today to get more Polypay Arcott Roving from A&B Fiberworks. I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be anymore left but I pushed it to the back of my mind and beelined for the booth as soon as we got there. 

I love all the fibery goodness in this booth :-) The natural colored skeins!

The abundance of roving :-)

That bag is mine :-) I bought what was left of the Polypay Arcott roving, which was 1 lb & 12oz. Although Anne assured me that she had more stashed at their Fiberworks headquarters ;-) So if your interested in procuring some, they should have some at the next farmers market next weekend ;-) Or you can check out their website and contact them to order!

So overall it was a fabulous day :-) I'm going to pull out the wheel now and spin a little!

Happy Spinning :-)

Fabulous :-)

Today is one of those days where I woke up in a great mood! Even though it was a bit chilly this morning and we actually had to turn on the furnace. How can it not be a wonderful day :-) My daughter is full of smiles and gives me big bear hugs! 

I've decided to share the love today :-) I'm offering free shipping until Sunday on all purchases in my Etsy Shop :-) Just use coupon code FREESHIPPING !!

 Now I'm off to knit on my Smokestack Socks  I'm so close to casting off I can taste it. I'm going to dedicate my knitting time to getting these done :-) 

I've already wound yarn to cast on another project ;-) I just can't seem to contain myself! Although I promised myself I wouldn't do any more stash diving today! I really can't be casting on a new project every day!

Happy Knitting :-)