Post-Christmas Recap, Part II

In which I knit baby things for my almost-nephew, Nico (how much do you love that name?):



Infant Mittens from Knitting to Go; made with stash Plymouth Dreambaby DK yarn. I was running out of yarn so I swapped the icord string for a crochet chain with one row of single crochet to give it some strength.



Of course, everyone knows you need a hat to go with your mittens:


Bear hat, also from Knitting to Go, made with Caron Simply Soft.


Lastly, I made him a sweater I've been wanting to make for years:



This is the Pure and Simple Pullover from Weekend Knitting (one of my favorite knitting books ever. I bought it right when I learned to knit and it inspired me to keep going and learn as much as I could). The yarn is also stash Plymouth Dreambaby DK (like the mittens, it was extra from knitting Nico's baby blanket).

It looks a little wonky at the shoulder because of the buttons.


I think it is worth it though--the shoulder buttons make it easier to get on and off of a baby.


The purple mass of wool under there is my mom's Christmas present--I will show you next time!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays. I did, and I'm glad I can finally show you some of the holiday crafting I was busy working on.



I made these wristwarmers for my Secret Santa at work. She's an excellent knitter and spinner so I knew she would appreciate them. The pattern is the Snowy Wristlets (Rav link) from the Crochet Today special issue Must Have Gifts (originally printed in their November/December 2008 issue). I just used cream colored yarn from the stash and the recommended hook. It was an interesting pattern that is still simple enough for a beginning crocheter.



I'm not sure if I've said it here before or not, but Crochet Today is an excellent magazine. Very clear instructions and great patterns that are mostly made up in yarns that are available at the big-box craft stores. I've found so many great stash-busting patterns in their pages, too.



I actually finished this stocking for myself last Christmas, but by the time I remembered to blog about it I had packed it away for the year. It is Christmas in Tallin by Nancy Bush (Ravelry link) from her book Knitting on the Road. I used some Dalegarn Tiur from the stash. I'm very pleased with how it came out, since my colorwork usually looks a little bunchy. I worked this on two circular needles instead of on double pointed needles, and for me that helps a lot.



I was very impressed with the braid, also--it turned out to be one of those things that looks quite tricky but is really easy.

More presents coming soon, and I may be inflicting some wedding crafting on you also ;)

Handmade Pie

It takes a little more effort to make a pie crust from scratch, but sometimes it is definitely worth it:



I started making these pies when I was in high school (the top one is pumpkin and the lower one is apple) and I look forward to making them every year.



I'm thankful for so much this year, especially getting to spend today with my wonderful friends and family, and of course lots of delicious food! Happy Thanksgiving!

Catch Up

I have been trying to clean out my old projects and organize the ones I'd like to work on next. I have a box in my craft room that holds WIPs and materials for upcoming projects that I went through yesterday. I found a couple of items that were completely done, they just needed to be blogged.

First up is a little pouch made from a Japanese crochet and embroidery kit that I got from Kpixie for Christmas a couple of years ago:


I'm really happy with how it came out, although it's smaller than I expected (it could probably hold my lip balm and not much else). Oh well. I think it will be really cute hanging in my craft room, and it was good to learn how to hand-sew a circle to a round tube.



The top is crocheted, the felt pieces are embroidered, and the strap is sewn on with buttons at the end. Very cute. It was fun to try a Japanese kit--it wasn't as difficult as I expected.



This was a great stash-busting project from Kristin over at Craft Leftovers. It's the Springy Headwrap, which she generously offers as a free pattern:


It's really cute and it goes together in less than an hour. I made one for a friend last spring and I liked it so much I made one for me. I used some leftover Rowan Tapestry yarn and the recommended G hook. This would be a great Christmas present because it doesn't require much time or yarn.



I have a few more projects to finish up from the box. Sometimes i just get stuck with the finishing aspects, even if it's not anything difficult. I also frogged some projects that just weren't working but that I didn't have the heart to tackle before. There were a couple of socks that I unraveled, which was a little hard, but it feels freeing to have the yarn back again. I hope to do a little more cleaning out and finishing up of old projects this weekend. Hope you get a chance to do what you'd like this weekend, too!

Wool Arts Tour 2010

Well, this post is about a month late, but better late than never! I had a great time at this year's Wool Arts Tour, even though one of my favorite places retired last year and another favorite retired this year. I went to five of the six locations with my mom and grandma, and my aunt and four-year-old cousin met us along the way to go to some of the farms and shops.


Great handmade soaps from The Spinning Bunny (cinnamon spice, gardener's soap, and spicy bergamot)




Beautiful hand-dyed Blue-faced Leicester roving from Painted Knoll Farm



A cute hand-painted pumpkin pin and some gorgeous handspun, hopefully to make a Brattleboro Hat (Rav link) from New England Knits:


A stupidly soft blend of mohair, wool, and something else that I can't remember at the moment (sorry, I've also forgotten the farm name! I will post when I spin it):


Some deliciously squishy Cormo to make the Willoughby scarf from Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn:


Nightingale Fibers sock yarn, probably for socks (or another shawlette--really, can you have too many of those? I don't think so). Also two skeins of Nightingale Fibers laceweight alpaca blend to make a Prairie Rose Lace shawl (Rav link) from The Knitter's Book of Wool:



I have been wanting to get my hands on a skein of Malabrigo sock for a long, long time. So finally I did (I also feel that I should mention that I fell in love with Malabrigo a long time ago, and when other knitters started talking about its magical properties and the fact that it makes you do crazy things, I was immensely relieved). This is hopefully going to be Ysolda's awesome Orchid Thief shawlette (can never have too many) from Brave New Knits:


Some awesome squishy fiber the color of worn jeans, from Fiber Dreams Farm:


Last but certainly not least: 4 delightfullly squishy balls of roving from Brimstone Hollow Farm:



This color just screamed "autumn" to me, so I had to take it home.



I loved chatting with Brimstone Hollow's owners, too. They were adorable in their matching knitted sweaters made from their own sheeps' wool! The sweaters had intricate Aran-looking patterns, too.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. One might think I have some sort of fiber addiction. In all honesty, I have been very good about not buying yarn most of the year. I save it for the NH Sheep and Wool Festival and the Wool Arts Tour. Not that I'm trying to justify any of this :)

It was a great time and I'm already looking forward to next year!

A Sweater for Fred

I have a 1-year-old Whippet-Basenji mutt who was rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico. He can be a little crazy sometimes but I think he is completely adorable and now I can't imagine life without him.

He has thin fur, which was well suited to life in Puerto Rico but it means he's often a little cold here. Also, he is a pretty skinny dog so he doesn't have a lot of padding to keep him warm. We adopted him in December and figured he'd need a sweater right away, so we bought one at Target since I didn't have time to make him one. A few weeks ago it started getting chilly here again, so I decided to get started on a sweater for him.








Pattern: Dandy Dog Sweaters by Evelyn A. Clark, for Fibertrends
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted Weight in bright red
Needles: US Size 6 and 7
Modifications: Knit the 21" chest size but modified some of the length (17" instead of 20" for the body) in a couple of places to fit Fred








When we put it on him the second time, he stepped through the leg holes himself. I think he likes it.

Wool Arts Tour

It's time for the New Hampshire Wool Arts Tour again, and I am so excited. At the beginning of this year I decided I would only buy new yarn and fiber at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival in May and the Wool Arts Tour, unless it was for a present or a charity knitting project. I've stuck to that. It's important to me to support the local wool growers and hand-dyers, and their products are so beautiful and often superior to the mass-produced yarns (which have their place, and I do still love them and use them).

Plus, it's just a lot of fun. The leaves are changing color, the air is crisp (when it isn't pouring rain, as it has been a couple of times), there are great farm products like cider and pumpkins in addition to all the great wool, and there are lots of farm animals to look at.



Here are some pictures of last year's haul:








So much fun.


Click here for a brochure with more information about the farm locations.