Thursday, October 30, 2008

Next up!

Good thing I take lots of pictures of the things I make because otherwise I would forget what I did after the Ravelympics! So, after the games ended I just didn't want to stop, I was on a roll!! So I was talked into knitting a Viking Bag by the lovely Feliciah! This was a wonderfully fun knit!! And until this bag I wasn't sure I liked knitting cables. I would knit them because I like how they look, but I didn't look forward to reading cable charts. When I finished my bag I realized I'm not especially sure what I should do with it. It's too small for me to use every day, but I think I'd have a hard time parting with it. So, for now it's sitting in a pile of finished knits just waiting for me to decide on the perfect purpose for it. Though I'm leaning towards a sock knitting bag :) wouldn't this make the cutest sock knitting bag?!

I even lined it so things won't slip through the little holes in the knit fabric. I think this matches the ribbon perfectly! :)

Up next was finishing spinning the yarn for the shawl I wanted to do for the Rav games, but just didn't get to (it was a fantasy event for me! hehe). Here's the completed yarn. This is about 5oz of merino/silk that I dyed, blended and spun up as lace weight singles. I fulled the singles to give them strength. :)
And I've cast on the shawl. It's still in the very beginning stages, but I'm so happy with how its coming along that I must show a picture!
I also went through my stash and found a big ol' stack of yarn I need to use up. So I knit up this sweater for my 3yo. She loves it! :) I want to make another one for my oldest daughter at some point soon. Isn't she so cute in this sweater!? Don't worry about her brother, he's just sad that I asked him to step out of the picture. He loves having his picture taken too!
Then I was just dyeing to spin some angora because I had a few ounces, and it's just the softest stuff I think I've ever felt! Oh yeah and I went to the state fair where the spinning guild had a few samples on display, and the angora was just heavenly! I had to have something made of angora of my very own!! So I spun up 2oz of angora (from a bunny), and plied it with some silk caps singles I had laying around to add strength, and make the angora stretch further. I like how it turned out. It looks rather festive!
Then I knit up this cowl. A cowl is kinda like a short scarf that buttons or slips over your head. It's going to be so nice and soft and warm this winter! :)
And an action shot! :)

I've also attended a fiber fair, and completed some socks since this, but those events are so special they deserve their own posts! hehe. So until next time... Happy knitting! :)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

And here's the rest from Ravelympics!

WOW! It's been a while since the Olympics ended, and I totally forgot to post the rest of my Ravelympics FO's (finished objects). So, since I'm so far behind, and have actually completed a few other things since then I suppose I'll share the rest of what I finished during Ravelympics. Then when the mood strikes again I'll tell you all about what I've done since then. :)

So, the next thing I did in my Ravelympics adventure was to have a "Dye day" where I dyed up at least 5 different yarns that I had committed to. Dyeing yarn and fiber is lots of fun! :) This first skein was a rather fun experiment! I first knit up an un-dyed skein of sock yarn with my knitting machine, and painted a picture on it with dye. I'm sure you can tell this should make some rather interesting socks! :) I'm actually nearly done with knitting this into socks now. I'll show and tell you all about them when they're done. I call this yarn "sunny day"

This was another experiment with knitted sock yarn. This was also knit up on my knitting machine and will be unraveled later to knit socks, but the socks from this should just have some funky stripes on them. I call this on, "Crazy stripes."

Then I dyed up one of my favorite colorways, and was rather pleased and excited with the results, so I put it up in my Etsy shop, and it sold the next day. So this picture is all I have left from this particular skein. However, I've actually dyed up more of this colorway since the summer games ended. :) I call this colorway "Pink Lemonaid"
Then I dyed up this sock yarn and called it "Stone" because it looks like rocks! :) This one is currently available in my shop.
Then there was this one. I really like this colorway, I call it "Pink Licorice" and it's also currently available in my shop.
Then I had some dye left over, and some merino I really wanted to dye up, so I tossed these in there! This one I call "Gripe Vine", and sold shortly after listing.
This one still doesn't have a name. But it looks rather happy to me with the blue and yellow. It's still available. :)
And last but not least I dyed this on. I call it "Raspberry Grape" And I think it's quite lovely. It's also currently in the shop.
Then I knit another tiny baby hat. :)

And a washcloth. This one is really soft on the solid pink fuzzy side, and just "normal" on the other side. I imagine this will be great to wash my face with. Haven't been able to bring myself to use it yet though. What if using it makes it ugly? hehe
Then I knit another washcloth! I committed to a LOT of washcloths! LOL!

Then one day I knit 5 hats on my knitting machine. I think they turned out rather nice! They're supposed to be donated, but I have a fear of someone hating them, and so I have yet to deliver them. I'd better hurry up!
Then I knit a hat that I designed, and knit from my own hand dyed, hand spun wool yarn, then I felted it. My pattern was way off though, so it turned out way too big! I'm not really sure what I did wrong. I swatched, felted my swatch, and measured, hmmmm..... well anyway it didn't work as planned. Luckily felted knitting is very forgiving!! So I trimmed out the part that was too big, and stitched up a small seam. So I still ended up with a functional hat that I think looks pretty cool if you like purple and black/gray.
Then I spun another yarn. This one however is quite different than what I usually spin. There's 2 plies here, one is superwash merino, the other one is all firestar, which is a sparkly nylon fiber. I don't remember how many yards are in this yarn, but this could make a really fun accent in a knitted piece. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put this one in the shop or not.
Then I knit, you guessed it! Another washcloth! But look how cute this one is! There's a butterfly on it and everything!! I love butterflies!

*PHEW!* After all that I was tired! And my fingers were sore! So I actually took a break from knitting to um... gather up everything I knit/spun/dyed in the 17days, and took a group picture. This picture however is incomplete. The Pink Lemonaid sock yarn is missing. Oh well. Here's a picture of almost everything I got done during the games. I get tired just looking at it all LOL!!
Until next time! :) Happy knitting!