Frogs' Eggs Shawl

Tadpoles!

Pollywogs!

Slimy green things!

I haven't blogged here for ages! I've been too busy buying 3000 pounds (= 1.5 tons) of weathered fieldstone for our new patio. Rocks are cheap! The price comes from the haulage. In any case, I think this new shawl (in Elvincraft, of course) will be good for patio sitting, and for hugging to my sore back muscles once I'm done setting stones. Pictures galore to follow...

Faery Orchid Bedjacket

I talk about my Elvincraft yarn a lot in this blog. That's because it's magical! Kate Duncan has fairy helpers in her dyepots on the Isle of Skye, and they help me, too, by inspiring new designs. This is a bedjacket that was knit in one piece from the top down in custom dyed Orchid colors. Top-down is the most fun way to knit. No !@#$%^& seaming! I love to sew, but not when I'm knitting. Weird but true.

Turquoise Love

I love the way yarn inspires design. Love, love, love, love love. I bought this curly mohair bouclé from Elvincraft a few months after I got the fingering weight turquoise Desert Dreams there and knew before the curly even got here what a perfect match they would be. Bouclé is my least favorite yarn to knit with, because I'm always snagging the wrong loop, but this stuff was worth the extra effort, and thankfully, a little goes a long way. (Hint: use turbos, not lace needles on it!) It's still wet in the picture, and so a little limp looking, but it perks up into a full Harlequin ruff when dry. Love.

Junk, Revealed

Two hours of sorting and chaos prevails.

I found this spirally thing in the parking lot of an auto body shop.

Faery Orchid yarn from Elvincraft

I drank two cups of Jet Brew coffee this morning and so had the nerve to start sorting all of my fabric. All's I can say is, yes, I belong on Hoarders. Not shown are 3 sorted bins of my best stuff, back in the Dungeon. Tropical Barkcloth and 40s Feathers & Florals, it soothes my soul just to look at their loveliness. And now that it's all on the easiest to reach shelf, I can look anytime the urge strikes. Still have hours more to go, and the coffee is wearing off into the jitters, hopefully this blog break will refresh and fortify! Most of what's left will go to Upcycle Exchange. Share the love. The middle photo is of a necklace I made out of a weird twist of metal. It's pretty groovy, but I'll be shocked if it sells. You never know unless you try! Then we have some wonderful bedjacket yarn custom dyed for me by Kate Duncan of Elvincraft in Scotland, inspired by the Missouri Botanical Garden Orchid Show. Okay, back to the bins!

Uh-Oh

This morning I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed to the computer as per usual to check my etsy sales. Overnight I sold all the yarn in the destash section, which was as it should be, because I was virtually giving it away. But I know I'm never going to knit with Kauni: even though I love the colors, it's too dang scratchy, and sweaters are so freaking boring to knit I vowed never again after the last one. I only want to knit frothy old-fashioned things, capelets and cloaks and fichus and mitts and shawls, stuff you can't buy anywhere. I'm starting to like socks, but not in the standard commercial sock yarns. It's taken me three years of knitting, but I've definitely become a yarn snob. So all my regular old yarn, except for some of the Noro, must go! The Super8 faux bois film can was another overnight sale. And here's the embarrassing part: I couldn't find it! The Junk Dungeon was holding on to its secrets this morning, and it took me over 2 hours to tear apart enough stuff to unearth the missing piece. (It was hiding in plain sight by the shipping materials, must've known it was heading out soon!) The thought of having to tell a customer I was too big a slob to keep track of my own stuff was so mortifying that I actually started a real organizational process. All etsy items in a bin with a check-marked list. Other bins of "to be listed" organized according to type: fabric, craft, crapola, etc. So two good things came of this morning's scare: a plan, and this old picture of my cranky cat Igneous (now deceased, God love her.)

Aurora Borealis Socks

Just finished my third ever pair of socks, this time in Strong Arm Sock yarn from Dyeabolical. I made these from the toe up, 2-at-a-time-on-1-Magic-Loop, and that method was a zillion times easier this time. I used a 9" Hiya Hiya circular needle for the provisional cast-on "waste yarn" and so saved a ton of time and headache. I love short row toes and heels! The stitch pattern is from my Ziggly Zag hat. I would never have finished the second of the pair of these, had I not knit them 2-at-a-time-on-1-Magic-Loop, because for some reason I find socks incredibly boring to knit! I don't know why, because technically they're a lot less of the same thing than shawls, but there it is. I do like the final result. Working from the toe up with socks is like working from the top down with sweaters: perfect fit guaranteed!

Basket Full of Craftiness

I love to make things, even more than I love to hoard things. Knit, embroider, sew, paste, write, there's just not enough sitting-down time in a day to get it all done. Here's a glimpse into my overflowing workbasket, as signified by the first two photos of chalkware baskets in my workroom. (Gorilla Glue is the best way I've found to restore broken wire hangers on the back of these lovely pieces of junk.) Then we have the faux bois Tree Hugger shawlette, my third and final (for a while) Citron. The cloud-like mixing of cashmere and Kidsilk Haze is scrumptious to wear. Then a pair of Crazy Zag armwarmers I made one at a time using one of my hat charts. I intentionally made them different colors, but I did not intentionally make them different sizes, that was the gauge mysteriously changing. From now on I knit a pair of anything strictly 2-at-a-Time-on-1-Magic-Loop, as we see implemented in the next photo of a pair of toe-up socks. (This type of sock yarn feels like cheating, it puts in the pattern automatically.) Then we have a giant pile of Elvincraft Mohair/Shetland in Winter Festival, all the way from snowed-in Scotland, which I plan to make a hooded cloak with. Next: some lovely Strong Arm sock yarn from Dyeabolical in a color simply named "1596", but which I prefer to call "Aurora Borealis." (I just bought a pair of green shoes that are demanding some special socks). Lastly we have my shameful butchering of more gorgeous yarn from Dyeabolical in Pumpkin. I hit a snag I couldn't decipher when winding, and so lost patience — cut the rest into crewel-length strands. I'm actually excited to try my hand at embroidering with wool. You can never have too many ways to use up yarn!

New Year Transformations!

The New Year may be just another cold day, or maybe this year it will be the beginning of the Tale of Transformation everyone wishes for. "Transformation" always implies a positive change; no one is transformed from a hard-working standup person into a no-good slob — one simply degenerates to that lower state by forgetting to brush teeth or knitting too much. The past year, in retrospect, is one in which I 100% definitely knitted too much. I have mastered the craft, and enough is enough! So my main resolution is: I will do something other than knit in each and every spare waking moment. I will wallpaper my hallway with vintage wallpaper. I will take frequent walks up the hill above our Alton office. I will inventory my vast collection of vintage fabric. I will organize my Junk Dungeon. I will use my free time well! A girl can dream, can't she??? The top picture is of the type of wallpaper I'm searching for. Then we have Bigfoot the cat guarding my latest Desert Dream (Citron) Shawl. His idea of fun is watching things dry! Oh, and killing creatures smaller than himself. The final picture is of the Warrior Queen Shawl. Both of these shawls are made with Elvincraft yarn. So beautiful. The Desert Dream yarn is the same exact color as my favorite turquoise necklace. I'm going to wear the two together to go see The Young Victoria with MIL Saturday. Now there's a movie I could happily crawl into, can't wait!

Frosty Thoughts

The self portrait I took with my Mac was the only shot of eleven that didn't show blotchy skin, eye bags, or a myriad of other sags. Note the careful positioning of the hands, and the use of lighting to smooth away wrinkles. Usually I could care less about getting old and dumpy, but that's only because I don't go out in public much anymore! This shot shows me in my workroom thinking about my next knitting design. I really love designing my own stuff, because then there's so much less angst over mistakes. In fact, "mistakes" often lead to a serendipitous discovery of some cool new way to shape, as in the Yule Capelet I made for my Scottish yarn supplier. I "misplaced" the back panels but the wrap looks really nifty on, ruffly and Edwardian. Also featured is an arm-warmer made with yarn from same supplier in the Autumn Blackthorn colorway and the ZigglyZag hat chart, only with no "knit plain" rounds, and M1s instead of YOs. I find it really annoying to do zig-zagging stitch patterns 2-at-a-time-on-1-Magic-Loop, so who knows how long it will be before I make the other arm's ....

Fall Capelets

No one, not even I, believed for one second this blog would stop showing off my knitting. I knitted like a fiend while listening to all that Georgette Heyer and here's a gallery of the outcome. This fall is all about capelets! Top to bottom photos: The Woods Out Back (i.e. Fall itself), Elderberry Capelet, Ladies' Swamp Mist Capelet, Lichen Capelet, and Ladies' Gothic Capelet. Here's what I really need: more yarn! Oh, wait — I was cooped up inside for five weeks with a computer and a PayPal account and colorful offerings by Elvincraft, so look what happened:


My favorite is this Wild Tussah Silk (see Ladies' Gothic Capelet above for the lovely drape) in Early Autumn Hazlewood and Camisole Dawn, both custom dyes by Kate Duncan. The silk has the most unbelievably luxurious texture knitted up, heavy yet light like vintage lingerie. It's a pain in the ass to wind, since the slubs which give it so much character make it snag like fun, but my All-Powerful Reeling Machine and I finally managed:

Full Circular Capelet

Last year, on this very day, which happens to be my dear friend Shana's birthday, I began winding this fabulous Brite Green laceweight yarn from Dyeabolical. Then I started knitting a shawl a few days later. I was new to laceweight, however, and not quite into the rhythm of skinny yarn. But a year, to the day, has passed, and I now love to knit with barely there fiber. My fingers have grown accustomed to its needs. So two days ago I hauled this hibernating beauty out of bed, and finished it off for...my friend Shana's ??th birthday! Life has a circular shape. We're going to the racetrack tonight for her bash, and she's vowed to wear something strappy that will look good with this on top. She's sure to make it look 500x better than I do in my shapeless nightie, anyway!

Up in the Moonclouds

Just finished the third piece of my Summer Moon Shawl Challenge, the Mooncloud Shawl. I just can't think of anything more fun than finishing a new shawl. Because then I get to wear it! Done in the magical Moonbow colorway from Elvincraft. This is what I'll have over my shoulders on my next broomstick ride!

Summer Colors

One of my favorite sources of cool old images is from single playing cards. You can get a whole wad of them for cheap on eBay or in junk stores, and they take up zilch space. Here are three in the summer colors of red, blue, and yellow. The shawl shown is my wip Moonrockets Shawl, using the Garden of Alla chart in the fabulous half-hex shape. It's knit in Elvincraft merino laceweight and Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I wish I had had it done by the 4th, because it's inspired by fireworks in moonlight. But I still have 1,000 years of knitting to go on the bell ruffle, so I probably won't even be finished by Bastille Day. Next year! If I survive a whole year of full time night shifts, that is. The shawl will survive, in any case, because I am very happy with it and plan to store it very carefully away from all moths, of which hundreds flutter in every time I let the cats out!
Update 7.14: Finished by Bastille Day!