Garter stitch dog coat

Well here it is folks. The finished dog coat. :D I hope that my cousin likes it..more so..I hope her little doggie likes it. It's made from lamb's pride worsted weight, cream and turquoise, so it has a double thickness. It's WARM!


I love the colors. In the magazine it's a red and pink held together, but I decided to work with the turquoise and white since it was more a "boy" color and didn't seem to heavy. I think it would match a Schnauzer, don't you? :D




I made the buttons from sculpy clay. I was going to do the schnauzer buttons for it, but the more I thought about it, the likely hood of that actually working isn't very realistic. I figured since the button was so small the schnauzer would have to be at least 3/4 of the size of it, but with the holes and tacking it on to the coat, you wouldn't be able to make it out. I spose I could have painted it. Ah well, another day.


I did put it on my model though. Isn't he darling?! He just looks tickled pink to be trying on a giant wool coat right after a nap!


Actually...I woke him up from his nap for the picture. Can you tell? Doesn't he look just rested after his beauty sleep?


Ssshhhhh...he's going back to sleep. :D


Well, there's been an update on my spinning wheel. If you don't remember, there was that nice lady that was going to sell me an ashord traditional for $150. I was so happy about it, I couldn't wait. I was going to take the 2 hour car ride out there to just try it out! Then...at the last minute...she writes me an email saying that she's going to keep the spinning wheel but I can buy the other one. The problem is...it's needs major fixing and bobbins. I wasn't overly happy about that. But, what can you do? I don't think I'm going to get the old spinning wheel since I don't know where I could have it fixed around here. I'm sure there's places but, I'd rather not have to worry about that. If I was more experience and knew what I was doing, I'd feel more confident about taking it and restoring it. But, having never owned one, I wasn't very sure I could do that and feel comfortable in it. Anyways, if anyone knows where there's great places for spinning wheels..let me know. :D

Eye Candy..Flacon

I love Fridays. The weekend is almost here and tonight I can relax while my husband settles in for the weekend. This last week I did some decorating for X-mas. This wreath is one my mom sent home with me. She makes these, some have lights some don't. I loved this one with the antique star in it. I put it above my couch...it looks really good there. :D



I also did this the other night. My mother has these glass cabinets that she displays her fragile stuff in. There's glassware and treasures that my step father has picked up from around the world. I thought that this would help add to the cabinet's specialness. This is Flacon from Yarn Over. I did this, in two hours. It was such a fast and easy knit. And with written instructions I didn't lose my space as when I use a chart. (And with my son, that's a plus in my book.)


I did this on #3 needles using Alpaca Silk yarn. I know I should use cotton for this...but, I couldn't resist. I'm going to try out some of the other patterns like Fanodugen on #7 needles and make it into a shawl.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Hey all

Let's see how's my week been? Pretty good actually, I've got a LOT to share. Apparently La Dentelle Belle (or La Belle Dentelle..yeah I've got to change that soon) was a big hit by all of you. I'm so glad that you liked it! It was such a big hit, that Plymouth Yarns bought the pattern and asked if I would knit up a scarf for their new yarn called Buckingham. (Don't worry, it's still going to be offered as a free pattern on my site :D) It's an alpaca/silk blend. Oooooo it's nice.


After I started talking with the nice lady at Plymouth, she asked if I would like to design for them. How could I refuse!!! So...she sent me out a bag of each of their colors. Wow, it's just gorgeous stuff. I love the yarn.



It's so soft! So soft in fact that my little Oogie sneaks over to my yarn stash and pulls out a skein and rubs it against his face. I've found him sitting in the corner out of view and just holding a skein to his little chubby cheeks. I think that's an omen I should be designing a baby blanket?

For right now, it's offered in only 3 colors. But, in July they'll be coming out with 5-7 more colors. I strongly suggest this yarn, I'm in love!

So the lady at Plymouth wanted an awesome scarf done in the rose color, and a shawl done in the natural/cream color. (I REALLY need a ball winder. They don't look it, but there's a LOT of yarn in one skein and it takes forever to wind these if you do it by hand!) Here's the finished scarf below. One skien made this gorgeous scarf!


I know you can't see it here but I'm almost finished with the first skien. It's taking a while since this shawl is really wide. I casted on 95 stitches instead of the 55 required from the pattern. Right now it's not blocked, but I have gotten really far on it. I've been knitting on it a lot!

I've also been working on some other projects for Plymouth, so my "me" knitting time has been really cut down. Not that it's a big deal, I mean, who would complain about being paid to knit!?

I've also been doing some spinning. I thought that my bright purple and black Colonial blends would look awesome spun together. And they do! Sadly, again, I didn't spin enough for a hat. I really wish I would start getting it right.



Oh well, instead though I'm taking a hint from Val, she's been knitting these and I thought that it would be awesome in the purple/black yarn. I'm going to knit it up for myself ( I don't think I'll look good in it, but gosh darn it, I'm going to wear it!!)

Here's a better view of the colors..


I'm also trying to knit up the Flower Basket shawl from interweave knits. And it's kind of disappointing me. I love the shawl, and I'm going to finish it, but it's kinda bulky. When I first knit it up, I used one skien of Clematis Heather on size 2 needles. Then, I looked closely at the pattern (ok..I started it at 11 at night when I was REALLY tired.) and found out the she used #7 needles with TWO strands of yarn held together.


Needless to say..I was kinda bummed. Seeing how far I got, I had to frog it and start over. Now, I'm not sure I like how bulky it is. I was so looking forward to something light and whimsical. Maybe if I just work through this and finish it I'll feel differently, but I'm confused right now about it.

Knitting is Meditative

I've come to realize that knitting is a great meditative act. I used to meditate on a regular basis. It was calming and it helped to find your inner peace. Within the last year I've actually stopped all together. My husband would comment on my lack of meditating, wondering if I was feeling it lacking in my life in a negative way.

"Nope, I honestly don't really notice it all that much. I wonder why."

At this point I would pick up my needles and putter away making a sweater, sock or whatever the current project was. I would drift off in complete relaxation. I wasn't worried about bills or the cat's current stress related disorder. I would just sit there and knit. I felt terrible that I was giving up my Zen seeking sessions for a more material based hobby.

It was then that I realized that I didn't really actually leave my meditation on my mat in the back room. I substituted it for something much different. I am completely in agreement when I hear people say knitting is NOT a hobby, it's a way of life. It's addictive in a way that you find your center. You seem to not care that your laundry is piling up or that you had an extra slice of pizza at supper. No, when you knit you forget about all those mundane things and you find something inside yourself.

And in the end, you get an awesome pair of socks too. :D

Kitty hat

I couldn't control myself. I saw this kitty hat and I HAD to make it for my daughter. This is her second year with this hat and I'm afraid she's not willing to retire it for something a little bigger. Aww...doesn't she just look absolutely adorable? Yeah, she's really pushing that smile.

I tried actually making it a little bigger, but it just didn't turn out like that. I used Encore worsted weight to knit it up, so it had a nice soft feel to it and would keep out some of the cold. But, I could wash it too when it got dirty (and believe me, when knitting for a child...or husband...everything they wear tends to get dirty really fast).

First posting.

Isn't it interesting that every first posting on a blog usually titles itself with a.."first posting" or "my first blog" or even "I have no idea what I'm doing and my husband is afraid I'm going to blow up the computer, but hello anyways." I'm in between the first and third. Yeah, I have to confess, this isn't my first attempt at a blog. I've had...other blogs before this one, sorry this isn't my first. But, you'll still love me anyways...right?
Anywho. I have a love for knitting. I'm 23 and find myself desperately seeking out elusive yarn stores so I can fondle their great big balls of hair and fiber. My husband has so lovingly deemed my passion my "porn". Yep, that's right, I said it. Porn. I think it started when I would wait for him to get off the computer (which ended up being late into the night..him being a website designer after all) and me then sneaking onto the computer in the dark to sneak peaks at patterns for sale and free.
Now, I have such a deep love for knitting. I used to look at it in wonder, "How do those women make such beautiful garments from two skewers? It looks so deadly yet..intriguing." Now that I myself am a knitter, I have one more thing to conquer. Designing. I've got great ideas and have scribbled hundreds of them in notebooks, on the computer, my sketchbooks (my other assumed identity I'm an artist) and even backs of receipts. The only thing that I find hard is the math.
Math makes my head hurt, cramp and even go into convulsion. I spend more time trying to understand WHY than knowing that it JUST DOES. I drove my math teacher bonkers. Fractions were something beyond me. So, if anyone out there has a good tip on how to come up with working out the math..let me know. :)