Handspun Yarn

I've found this out about myself. I LOVE plying yarn. It's so quick and easy. I had a bunch of balls of singles laying around that I thought I should start plying. They were small balls and I didn't think they'd amount to much (ok..you can giggle at that comment if you want :D) but look at these! I can make a hat!


This is from the Lilac colored Merino and English Garden Merino. I love this. You can't really see it here, but the green is more purplish green. It's great. I'm not sure what to make out of it though, I don't think there's enough here to make an adult sized hat.


This one is great too. It's two different colored green Merino multi-colored hand spun. One is green with red and yellow, the other is a sage green. It actually looks really nice. Again, not enough to make a hat I don't think. I haven't measured it, so I'm not sure on the exact amount.


A special request from my daughter. She wanted a red and white striped yarn for a hat. It's cute, very pepperminty. A Merino Colonial blend.


Lilac and White Merino ply. There's tons of this stuff. I could probably make a skinny long scarf out of this. I'm tempted to make a hat I think. Finally able to make something from my hand spun that I can wear. This is so gratifying. I just have to find a way to wear it in summer. I could sit in a nice air conditioned building just for the sake of showing off my new hat. :D

I must ply more. I have loads of different colors and so many ideas. I'm going to have so many hats for winter. :D

Update:

I just had to show this off.

This...

...became this.


What is it you ask. Well, it's an ear warmer of course. Not enough wool to make a hat, but just enough to cover your ears.

Needle: size 10 dpn.

Gauge: 3 sts = 1"

Yarn: Bulky weight (I used my own hand spun plied)

Measurements: 20 (22)" circumference

C.O. 6o (66) sts

K in k2, p2 ribbing in the round for 3 (3.5)".

B.O.

See how insanely easy that is?!
This honestly will take a half an hour to make. It's great for road trips, a nice change from intense knitting projects, a quick gift, or something simple to make using up small amounts of leftover yarn. I used my own hand spun yarn to make this beauty up. I'm itching to make more.

La Dentelle Belle Gallery

Hey! Have you knit La Dentelle Belle scarf? Send it to me and I'll upload into the gallery!

This beauty is from Strega's Needles.


This pretty one is from Carole at Carole knits.


Another addition to the Gallery. This beautiful belle by Monica.



This one is from Anoma Lea. She added a neat lace ribbing in the middle instead of the traditional lace. Check out some of the other pics here!



This one is from Monika.
This is done in a Merino/cotton blend.

A new Hat

Sorry about the short hiatus. I actually meant to make a new post and reply to emails yesterday but I got stuck with a darn cold. How do you catch a cold in 90 degree weather?! So, I just spent most of yesterday laying on the couch like a lump and then sleeping the rest of the evening. Luckily I feel a little better today :D.

Aww...isn't he just cute? You know how I was afraid that the mothers in the grocery store would give me the evil eye? In all actuality I got so many compliments for the "cool mohawk". Even my doctor loved it. The only questions I really got about it was, "how did you get him to sit still?" Women would come up to me in the store and literally just swoon "Awwww..the mohawk is just cute!!" My son loved the attention to say the least. I think some mothers were planning on giving their baby a new do.


But, when sporting a macho mohawk isn't really all that cute and I need to hide it, Kirsten sent me this awesome hat! Doesn't he look just darling in it? I love it, it's so colorful. Oogie liked it, see him posing..I think he's going to be a model. Or a geek (he's already learned how to turn off the surround sound.).


It's also pretty stretchy, as you can see. Which is great since it'll be able to grow with him. He really liked chewing on it.

My husband even got to pose with him. Isn't that a nice beard, it's imported all the way from Canada. :)


I also got tagged from Jacque and Cara. Which is great, I'm glad people want to know about me.
So here goes, 7 things unknown about me...

1. My childhood heroine was Wonder Woman. I used to beg my mother to cut out stars from tag board and then I would tape them to my forehead and wrists. My jump rope was my lasso of truth. I use to run around in our garden "apprehending criminals" ..which in all actuality were just pear trees and raspberry bushes.

2. I had to trick my mother into teaching me how to knit. She taught me once when I was 8, but I forgot soon after that, since then she hadn't wanted to pick up the needles. In order to "convince" my mother into teaching me how to knit I had to make her want to. I tried for a couple years mind you. Finally, I took her into the yarn shop in town and she got to see all the fabulous wool and the gorgeous Norwegian sweater patterns. She bought two skeins of yarn and a pair of needles. That night she taught me how to knit. :D

3. I love babies, but I couldn't stand being pregnant. I don't know how some women get the "glow". Me? I was happy about having a baby, but the pregnancy side effects drove me nuts. I got every single symptom you could get. Morning sickness, hormone fluxes, bloody nose (did you know you got a bloody nose..neither did I), frothy foamy mouth, excessive food cravings. Believe me, if there was a symptom I got it. I was not the picture of beauty, I was more like Jabba the Hut. :D

4. I wore my P.J.s to school all the time when I was younger. While the cheerleaders would get all beautified and plaster coats of what looked like polyurethane on their hair, I would just make sure I had enough time to shower and comb my hair. I loved lounge pants (I still do) and I figured I would rather wear something comfy and be happy than constrict myself into something that barely fit for the sake of beauty.

5. I've had my cat for 10 almost 11 years. I actually owned his mother and she got pregnant and had a litter of 4 kittens. He was actually my least favorite of the bunch. He drove me nuts, all he did was meow for food constantly and eat. He was such a little porker that even his mother couldn't carry him in her mouth, he actually dragged on the ground between her legs as she strained to pull him back to the nest. He actually became my best friend growing up, although he's still a whiny chunk and I have no idea what I'd do without him.

6. I could be anywhere in the United States and there will be someone who knows my mother or someone from my mother's side of the family. This still is amazing to me. I remember I was doing flu shots with her at a Walgreens, (I did administration..not the shot giving) and there was an elderly man who struck up a conversation with us. It actually went something like this.."Yah, ya know, my brother Sven from Cochrane was up yesterday." "Sven from Cochrane? Is that Ulla's son??" "Ya, you betcha" "Oh! I know Sven! I'm Alton's daughter!" "Uff da! How's Alton doing. He's ok ya?" "Ya, you betcha" How this happens I have no idea.

7. My family's idea of a good time is making the all time coveted lefse. (which is good) And then eating ludefisk...(which is not.) Amazingly there's a divide in my family. The traditional people who eat ludefisk on their lefse, and the black sheep who just eat it with butter and sugar. The ludefisk eaters are "ellite" and look down on the sugar spreaders as defilers of the holy lefse. In order to be accepted into this collective Uff da consciousness you had to make the right of passage...making lefse and then eat it with ludefisk.

Am I a terrible Mother?

A little off the knitted path...

Well, yesterday was an interesting day. As I was preparing to give my 7 month old son a bath, I had decided it was high time that he got a hair trim. His hair was getting long and shaggy, not too much mind you, but just enough to be bothersome to any mother I'd say. I never used to mind it on other children, but seeing hair hanging over the ears now drives me nuts.

So..

As he sat there waiting for his bath to be drawn (he's small enough to sit in the sink in the bathroom..which is great since my back hurts when I have to kneel on the floor and stretch over to wash a bouncy child's hair) I amused him with a rubber ducky toy while I got out my husbands beard trimmer. I love this thing. With blocks on it's great from trimming short hair and beards, without the blocks it's perfect for shaving my legs :D. (Yes, I'm lazy.)

So, while I had him occupied for 5 minutes I grabbed the Norelco and gave him a quick shave down the side of his head. And what happens??? I quickly realized that I forgot to put on the blocks!!!! I was horrified as I stared at this HUGE bald spot on the side of my baby's head. I was so shocked...I looked like I had just hit a cat with my car..(I know this cause I saw my reflection in the mirror)..except with a Norelco buzzing in my hand.

My son? He wasn't even aware of what just happened, if he was I'm sure he'd NEVER let me come close to his hair ever again.

What could I do? There's no fixing this, seriously, how can you creatively hide a huge bald spot on the side of a cute little baby's head?! Well, I thought about shaving his whole head, but I thought, "He might actually look a little sickly with an extremely bald head." I mean..bald..like no cute little peach fuzz or anything. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I improvised.



My husband loves it...of course.

I wonder what the doctor is going to say when I go on Monday.

Spinning

I haven't been knitting...


...but I've spinning.

This is the Maroon Colonial. It's quite soft actually. I love the color, the flash on my camera really doesn't do it justice. This is more of a practice spinning. Kirsten and I have been working on spun stitches and I realized that I needed to work more on my lace weight spinning techniques. I've gotten pretty close though with only a few large slubs here and there. Actually, this is a challenge I've been waiting for. Trying over and over again to get it thinner and thinner. I actually pull the roving into quarters length wise in order to get it as thin as possible.

The only problem? It takes forever. Good thing you don't need a lot in order to make something, I've found that a little lace weight yarn can go a lot further than the bulky stuff.
Although I did take a break to spin some bulky weight yarn for a rug. (wow what a difference THAT was!)

In the next few days I'm going to get my stuff together for the knit and spin-a-long bash over at spun stitches. I've got some Merino Silk set aside just for it. I'm hoping that I have enough. 2 ounces should be enough if spun rather thin, if not I need to get more. Tell you what, I have a feeling it's going to get addicting.

La Dentelle Belle Scarf

As Promised! La Dentelle Belle Scarf (I was going to call it Beau Lacet, but my somewhat fluent in French Husband says that Beau is the masculine form of Beautiful, instead I should use Belle.
Lacet means to tie my shoes so I should use Dentelle.) If it isn't perfect French I'm sorry, if I'm wrong let me know. Or should I say, if he's wrong let me know.:D

So, La Dentelle Belle (Beautiful Lace Scarf) it is.

This is for my mother for Mother's Day. Sadly, she's working a 12 hour shift today at the hospital. She loves scarves, and who can blame her, a lovely scarf fluttering carelessly around the neck is enough to make anyone feel beautiful. It's like sexy underwear for your neck :D.


Now, I gave only the chart for this piece, since I find that using written rows is not only confusing, but it can be annoying specially if the piece is rather complicated. So I avoided it altogether. If you want, I can type it out, just write me an email and I'll post the written instructions.



I also used a larger size needle to knit this since I wanted a fluttery feel to it. You can use smaller needles, but I like the gauzy look to it.

Yarn: Fingering Weight Yarn

Gauge: 6 sts = 1" in St. st (After blocking)

Needles: #5 Straight

Finished Measurements: 10" x 40" (After blocking.) I made this scarf shorter since I liked the look of a shorter scarf adorned with a shawl pin.


C.O. 55 stitches with #5 straight needles.

Work in pattern, (Right edging first, then middle, then left.)

The middle panel is a repeat of 10+1 stitches. Work the middle panel for a repeat of 3 times. (The panel body is outlined in the red box.) Then when you get to the last stitch, work the stitch in the chart that is outside the red box.

Every even row worked in this pattern is; K2, purl to last 2 stitches, K2.


If, after reading this chart you are not sure as to what some of the terms mean, please check out this page at knitty.com.


Right Edging

Middle

Update: If anyone had problems with the 13th row, it was a misprint on my end. It starts off with a K2tog, and ends with a K1. I fixed this so there should be no further problems.



Left Edging

As I said above, I worked this piece until it measured 40". By all means, make it as long as you want.

B.O.

Weave in ends and block.



Enjoy your new scarf or give it to that special beautiful someone.

Update:

Well, I had gotten an email from a lovely lady who asked for the written instructions to La Dentelle Belle, so here they are below. I tried to make it as easy to read as possible, because if you're like me and get lost easily is massive amounts of abbreviations and rows, then you'd like something that makes it easy to see.

The instructions in blue are the edgings, while the ones in black are the middle panel.

~PM~ = place marker
~m~ = slip marker

Row 1: K2, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k5, yo, k3, ~PM~ (*k1,yo,k2, slp1, k1, psso, k1, k2tog, k2, yo) Repeat from (*) to last st. ~PM~ K1, k3, yo, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2


Row 2: And every even row, k2, purl to last 2 stitches, k2


Row 3: K1, slip1, k1, psso, yo, slip1, k1, psso, yo, k2, slip 2 stitches tog. as if to knit, k1, psso, k4,~m~ (* k1, yo, k2, slp 1, k1, psso, k1, k2tog, k2, yo,) Repeat from * to last st. ~m~ K1, K4, slp 1, k2tog, psso, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1


Row 5: K1, slp 1, k1, psso, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k2, k2tog, k3, ~m~ (*k1, yo, k2, slp1, k1, psso, k1, k2tog, k2, yo) Repeat from * to last st. K1, ~m~ K3, slp1, k1, psso, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1


Row 7: K1, slp1, k1, psso, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k2, k2tog, k2,~m~ (* k2, yo, k2, sl1, k2tog, psso, k2, yo, k1) Repeat from * to last st, k1. ~m~ k2, slp1, k1, psso, k2 yo k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1


Row 9: K1, slp1, k1, psso, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k2, k2tog, k1, ~m~ (k3, yo , k1, slp1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k2) Repeat from * to last st, k1,~m~ K1, slp1, k1, psso, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1


Row 11: K2, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k1, yo, k2, k2tog, ~m~ (*k4, yo, slp1, k2tog, psso, yo, k3) Repeat from * to last st, k1, ~m~ slp1, k1, psso, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, yo, k2


Row 13: K2, yo, slp1, k1, psso, yo, k3, yo, k3, ~m~ (*K2tog, yo) Repeat from * to last stitch, K1~m~ k3, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2


I double checked it all so it should correct, if not and you see a mistake, please let me know. :D


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also as a note for those who are interested , Kirsten and I are starting a KAL for people who are interested in spinning yarn for a shawl. It's any shawl you'd like, but the concept is the same. Spin yarn, knit lace, and have fun. Click the picture to be taken there.


So, if you're interested email either Kirsten or me and let us know!

A new Project

Good Morning everyone. Well, today I'm going to bring something of a little present to you guys. No, it's not a free pattern this time, it's an opportunity to do a project unlike any other. A Knit A-Long (KAL) for knitted shawls.

You've been to KALs before, but this time, you are going to spin your own yarn. I had mentioned in an earlier post that I wanted to spin yarn and knit a shawl of my own. Well, Kirsten had made a comment that she also wanted to spin her own yarn and knit it into a shawl. So, I pitched her the idea of starting a KAL for it.

Needless to say, she really liked the idea and for the past week her and I have been putting our noses to the proverbial grindstone and getting our blog up. We're hoping to launch within the next week or so, so stick around!


Oh, and here's a sneak peak of the roving I'm going to use. It's Merino silk in Lichen Green from Blue Goose Glen.

Mistakes happen...

Well, here is a swatch I knitted from my own hand spun Colonial wool in Bluebell. Actually this wool is quite soft. I'm looking forward to spinning more of it and knitting it into socks. Now the swatch above isn't blocked straight, I know this. I was so excited to see what my finished product looked like that I wasn't worried about it. I also should have worked on smaller needles. I used a #3, when I could have actually used a #2. Notice the large gaps in between the stitches in the eyelet pattern. I think I was worried of pulling apart my yarn I didn't realize it was more durable than I thought. Now, as I was knitting this swatch it only took a few pattern repeats to notice that something wasn't right. I'm sure you can see it, but to better accentuate it I highlighted it.


I was working in the vertical eyelet row in Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. I really like this book. It has tons of stitches and just drips with ideas for creative projects. But, when I started working on this pattern I noticed something wasn't right. The pattern I was working on did NOT match the picture in the book. I double checked the written instructions, I was indeed following them perfectly. No steps missed. Double checked the notes, nothing. Not until I looked at the chart.

The written pattern asks you to repeat a pattern of 4 rows. Knit, Purl, pattern row, knit, repeat. The chart on the other hand, is a repeat of only 2 rows.

Can you see it?

I think that this is a big mistake in the book, but I'm not going to complain overly. I still love this book. It just shows me to pay more attention.

Also, my mother's scarf is coming along slowly but surely. I'm almost done with the first skien, hopefully I'll be able to finish this by this weekend. (of course, I'm not sure if I'll even see her this weekend, she might be working. Ah, such is the hours of a Nurse.)



I admit, I think I should have knitted it on smaller needles. I tried #5 for it, and I think those were a little TOO big. I wanted this to be light and fluttery, almost gauzy. I'll have to see what the finished product is like before I make any final criticizing. (#1 rule for ANY artist, finish the work, THEN judge...or else you have tons of unfinished projects.)

If you go through mountains of notebooks, sketchbooks and post it notes for jotting down patterns, ideas, notes or even keeping track of your project rows, you might enjoy this. I found it at cafepress and feel absolutely in love with it.

Update on Scarf

I wanted to show you how far I am on my mother's scarf so far. It's actually a really easy pattern once you get the hang of it all. I'm thinking Beau Lacet Scarf for the name, which is French for Lovely Lace.

7 things unknown about me

Val from My Little Piece of the Net tagged me with this simple request.

You must reveal 7 unknown things about yourself.

Wow. Ok, apparently Val has no idea how insanely hard it is for me to actually talk about myself. I usually just sit there dumbfounded and say the most obvious and idiotic things like.."I'm a girl." " I like to draw." I'm not exaggerating either. You should have seen me on my first day of college. So here goes.

#1. (Ok 5 minutes has passed and still nothing.) Oh, here's one, I am a pro at multitasking. I can balance a baby and do laundry at the same time, I can draw, cook and listen to my daughter all at once...but I can't do ANYTHING when I listen to music. This is usually why I hardly ever listen to it. The moment I start listening to music I actually start shutting down and drifting off into Teresaland, (and yes, it is nice there.) The only time I listen to it is when I'm in the car and can't do anything besides listen to it.

#2. I've only ever had my hair cut professionally once in my life, (meaning I only paid for it once). The last time I actually had my hair "cut" was by my mother. I was 5 months pregnant with my daughter and my mother gives me a bob hair cut with uber short bangs. However cute that is on some people..it didn't look cute on me. That'll teach me to not skimp on good hair cuts. That was the last time I had it cut...now it's so long I find hair everywhere..even on the ceiling!

#3. I was never afraid of spiders until 2004. I caught a spider bigger than the size of my palm in my house with a mason jar. It was hideous. It was a Nursery Web spider, (prepare yourself it's really gross.) and it snuck in through a crack in the door and slowly lowered itself down. I caught it in the jar and looked right in it's eyes. Ever since I've been petrified of spiders.

#4. I have a brother I never met. Actually he's a half brother and by the time I was born he was already like 24, so he's around 46-48 years old. I tried to contact him once but chickened out, and when his wife called back to talk to me, I pretended I was the babysitter!!! I'm such a chicken. I was so nervous I didn't know what to do. I've thought about talking to him again but I not sure what I would say.

#5. I really really want a dog. I know, why is this such big a deal. Well, no one really knows I want a dog since I've always been a "cat person". But lately I've really been wanting a dog. I'm in love with Corgis for some reason. Maybe because I took a "what's your dog" test and the first few choices were different breeds of Corgis. Or maybe because they're so gosh darn cute!

#6. I read 3 romance novels in one day. I know, I know, I can hear you say "wow you have no life." or "what, are you that desperate?!" No..pfft. I'm just a helpless romantic that loves a good love story...and I'm also a fast reader. Believe me, I still cleaned the house and did the dishes that day. My family is full of fast readers. My great aunt read 5 books a week, and my mom usually reads 3 on average.

#7. And finally. I can't sell myself as an artist. I can draw, but when it comes to stepping in the rat race with all the other artists I chicken out ( wow that's becoming a pattern huh? :D) It's the, competing against other artists and waking up and drinking a cup full of empty promises of getting paid that turns me off. Thus the "starving artist" thing. I would love to sell my art and share it with people, but when it comes to selling my stuff I can't say anything good about it.

Wow..that was cleansing. ;) So there you go. 7 things unknown about me.

Skully Keychain

These are completely awesome, easy to make and fast! I finished one skull within 20 minutes, and I had two kids hanging off of me and grabbing at my yarn! :D These are great for some instant gratification projects or when you just need something really quick for a present or just a boring afternoon. You could honestly make thousands of these and do whatever with them. I made them into key chains. You could use them for patches for hats, bags, or scarves. Topi knitted in black yarn with one of these patched onto the side like this hat would be awesome! The chart can also be used on a background instead of a patch itself or use a very chunky wool and larger needles to make coasters! These would also be awesome magnets, barrettes, and pins. This is very versatile, easy and quick to use. I added a bow to mine since I thought it would be cute as heck!
Needles: #3 straight

Yarn: Palette Cream, Purple, and Grass (I use this because it's versatile and MANY people can afford it.)

Gauge: Doesn't really matter, but for the record you'll want to use a smaller size yarn & needles for key chain, larger yarn & needles for bigger projects.

Other Materials: Hammer, needle nose pliers, exacto knife, jump rings, eyelets, eyelet tools, and key chain hook, cutting board

Using straight needles C.O. 11 sts in main color and begin chart.
The chart is pretty much self explanatory. Don't knit the squares beyond the purple skull border unless you are knitting it on a background.

Now here's what I did to turn them into key chains.

Weave in all the loose ends.


Felt them by hand. I fill a sink full of hot water (as hot as I can stand) and submerge them into the water. I also use some hand soap (bar form, laundry soap works well too) and soap them up a bit and then rub them vigorously between my hands. I constantly submerge them rinses them as I do this. I change the water about 4 times through out the process until I get the size I want. Then I roll them up in a towel and squish out the excess water. These dry VERY quickly. (Which is another cool aspect of this project.)


I get my handy dandy tools together.


...and cut a VERY small hole in the top of each piece. Just large enough to get the eyelets through. If you don't cut a hole, you'll REALLY regret it since it won't create a hole on it's own. I made this mistake once and couldn't get the eyelets apart to correct the mistake.



Read the instructions on the eyelet tool box in order to put in the eyelet. It's a bit confusing if you don't...*cough* believe me.


Put in jump rings and key chain hook. There you go...an awesome key chain. I took a piece of ribbon and tied it into a bow. Using the same color thread as the main color on the skull key chain, I tacked it onto the piece through the back of the bow. (Glue would work but if you're like me, things don't tend to stay as nice as you like them and thus you need things that are cool AND durable.)

Also, if you put in the eyelet and find out that your key chain skull is too big, that's fine. You can felt it again even if the eyelet is already in. Afterwards rehammer the eyelet to make it fit better.



WARNING: These are insanely addicting to make.