Happy New Year!

I've spent the last couple of weeks thinking about where I wanted to take my fiber craft and how I wanted to do it. I have expanded my skills this last year and I have posted pictures on Facebook about it. I decided that one thing I can do is keep a better record of my journey. I have a new outline and will attempt to publish a weekly blog. I have thoughts of producing a podcast one day. So this is my journey. I hope you enjoy it.

My new segments will include some or all of the following. I won't always have content for every segment but this is what I have planned.

Who's New

In the Bag

On the Drying Rack/Knitmeter update

Up and Coming

Sew Good

Out for a Spin

Mindless Nattering

I also will be updating the Knitmeter and Spinmeter. These will change as I finish a project and can calculate how much yardage I got out of it. 

So here we go with my first weekly blog post for 2013.

In the Bag

I have a couple of ongoing projects left from 2012. The first one is my Soay Cardi which has been in time out for a few months. I plan to rip back the sleeves and reknit them so that they are the same length. This is the last picture I took. In reality it has two sleeves but they are different lengths. 

My next project is the Nanner, Nanner Socks. They are toe up socks knitted with Unwind Yarn Company in the color way Aurora Borealis. I'm using a Wendy D. Johnson's pattern called Nanner Socks. Dana, Craftygirl83 on Ravelry, owns Unwind Yarn Company and she and her friend Brittany have a podcast call Just One More Row. I met them at SAFF and Ashley took a picture for me. 

I just cast on a new sweater today. Its called Mr. Greenjeans and its a free pattern on Knitty. I am using Universal Yarn's Classic Worsted Tapestry in the Vineyard color way. It works into a faux Fair Isle pattern. I did a test swatch and loved the pattern. 

On the Drying Rack

I have two Finished Objects (FO) this week. One is a shrug/cardi that I was knitting for my friend Colleen who owns Make It With Yarn, my LYS. This is a Plymouth Yarn pattern called Encore Worsted Tweed #1940 using Plymouth Yarn Encore Tweed in #9960 color way which is a purple color. It is knit sideways and was a good knit.

I also finished my Heloise Cardi. This is knit from Lion Brand Cotton Ease yarn in the Hazelnut color way. I used the Eloise Eyelet Cardigan pattern. I loved knitting with the yarn and the pattern is very easy. The fabric is a bit looser than I normally like and if I knit with it again I'll go down another needle size. The one complaint I have with the yarn is that every single skein had at least one knot in it and one of them had 2! 

Up and Coming

I have several items in my queue that I will be starting soon. I will be casting on for the Spatterdash Wristwarmers using Viking yarn Nordylis. It is a long repeat variegated yarn. I also plan to cast on for my Holden Shawl using Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk and Silver in the Estate Green color way. I have yarn chosen for a Color Affection shawl as well. I also have two sock patterns waiting to be cast on as I finish the Nanner socks. One is a vanilla sock using 3 colors to stripe. I'll try an afterthought heel on these. The other is Earthbound. This is a sock pattern published in Knitty magazine by my friend Carissa. You can see her other great patterns here.

Sew Good

I haven't been doing much sewing for a while but I've been missing it. I'm hoping to do some garment sewing this spring. In the meantime I'll be making some project bags. I have 3 cut out ready to sew but I need interfacing. Here is pics of some I made for Christmas exchanges. 

Out for a Spin

I was spinning some 50% Bamboo/50% Alpaca fiber that I got from Fiberlady a couple of years ago. Its the fiber I used for my beet juice dye experiment. I spun the part that I used vinegar as a mordant so it was more pink. The other is with alum and is more purple. Both of them are very pale though and so I decided to spin them and ply together and then over dye it. Here is the "pink" 1.5 oz. I know... it doesn't look pink. 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy my journey through my fiber discoveries. Remember, make the most of everything you have. Its not the quantity its the quality.