Bring May Flowers... And Bees Cause June is Busting out all Over!!

Life got in the way and I completely missed posting for May. Now its June and I'm still working on it.... What kept me busy the weekend I would have been writing this post I was........

I got my bees on May 2nd!! I went to a beginner's beekeeping class the Sunday before and had my hands on class May 3rd. I picked up the bees and got them in the hive with no problems. I had requested a 5 frame medium nuc or nucleus colony. My queen is marked and I had no problems seeing her. I took the time to look at each frame and it looks great. I wasn't nervous at all handling the bees. Now to settle in and wait for the nectar flow! 

But... this is a fiber blog, so on to the fiber!

 

Finished Objects

I finished my Maize Mitts by Tin Can Knits. This was done with the left over yarn from the Bankhead hat. This is Twist Fiber Studio Madison Worsted in the Amethyst colorway. I had just enough and I love the size of these mitts. 

I also finished the Citron Shawl by Hilary Smith Callis. I love it! It is so soft and the ruching is awesome. I used all but a very small piece of the yarn. This is Malabrigo Lace in the Lettuce colorway. 

 

And I finished 3 sets of Knitted Knockers, one in size C and one in size B and one in size D. The C has gone to the recipient and the B's and D's will be delivered. These are quick and a wonderful project. I used Cascade Ultra Pima 100% Cotton in the Buff colorway.

 

Meter Update

Knitmeter is up to 3229 yards! The graphic is in the sidebar. And I only update as I finish objects.

 

In Progress

 

I'm still working on the Hitofude by Hiroko Fukatsu out of Twist Fiber Studio Montford Fingering. This is the MCN blend in the Tradewinds colorway. I LOVE this yarn and LOVE this pattern. But I've gotten sidetracked. I'm still on the sleeves/upper back. Oh well, I'll get there. 

I'm also working on Jaden's blanket. I'm using Little Yellow Uke's Ripple Afghan pattern. Its really easy to memorize. I  chose an acrylic yarn for easy care and its Sincerely by Purl Essence in 4 solid colors and a multi color. Its really cute and I think she will love it. 

I did a few more squares on my Scrappy Happy Blanket. I am using the mini skeins from my recent swap. I've also joined a Scrap Yarn group on Facebook and am signed up for 3 swaps that are doing 20 5 gram mini skeins so I should get great variety from that. 

OMG! Weave in those ends!

 

I cast on the Bonny sweater by Tin Can Knits in the Handmade in the UK book. I'm using Malabrigo Lace which is the same yarn I used for the Citron. Its a very soft Merino single ply yarn. Its in the Charrua colorway. Ashley, CarolinaSpinner, had this yarn and didn't like the color. I love it and love knitting with it. I am doing this for the 2 Knit Lit Chicks CardiTankTeeKAL. I'm really looking forward to wearing this.

 

I also have socks on the needles. I am knitting the Swirl E. Socks using Plymouth yarn Neon Now in the descriptive color name 5. As you can see its Highlighter colors. I'm using size 0 needles and have 56 stitches cast on which is the small size. I started off wanting to use the No Purl Toe up Crazy Monkey socks but the pattern repeats requires 64 stitches and as you can see in the last picture that was going to be too big so I ripped back to 56 stitches and switched patterns. 

 

Another new thing is some weaving. I'm using a black 10/2 cotton for warp and two different warps, both cotton slub Dragon Tails yarns from Earth Guild. I am doing a point twill and alternating the solid blue with the varigated blue. Its the first time I've really tried anything other than tabby. 

I mentioned Knitted Knockers earlier. These are knitted (or crocheted) breast prosthesis for women with partial or full mastectomies. You can find their information at www.knittedknockers.org. I was asked to make some Knitted Knockers for a friend's relative. In the same conversation I found out one of my other friends is scheduled for a double mastectomy the day after Mother's Day. The first pair I am making is for her. I've made some for my other friend's relative. I'll probably make these periodically and donate them. If you haven't see these check them out. The patterns are free and its a good thing. If you don't have anyone to give them to you can send them to the Knitted Knockers organization and they will donate them for you. You don't have to stuff them when you send to Knitted Knockers, they will do that for you. I purchased the Pima Cotton yarn from Craftsy and its an excellent price.  

 

New To Me

 

I received a sock kit from Infinite Twist called Nishikigoi House Socks by Cate Carter-Evans. This was total impulse but I fell in love with the cute Koi faces. I have no idea when I may cast this on. What really amazed me is all the stuff that came in the kit. Not only the yarn and patterns for both the socks and the full Fish Lips Kiss pattern but also sets of DPN's in 2mm, 2.5mm and 2.75mm, a notions pouch with tapestry needle and locking stitch markers, colored pencil, and a KnitGirllls measuring tape! Plus I used the Knitmore Girls coupon code and got money off. Amazing!

 

The other splurge was 2 skeins of Be So Sporty Bamboo yarn in dark Teal from Kristin Omdahl to knit the Sweet Clara crochet top. I asked Ashley to get it when she was at stitches and said that Kristin was very sweet and awesome! Hopefully I will get to meet her one day.

 

New In My Queue

 

I added 2 patterns to my queue recently. The first is Soleto Vest by Nitza Coto. I watched Denise on The Knitting Den knit this and she was wearing it recently and I love it. I have a merino/linen blend I think may work well for this. The second is Looking Back by Joji Locatelli. I love this sweater with the lace panel in the front and buttons down the back.

 

Coming Up

 

I am working on a list of patterns and yarn requirements that I can give to Ashley so that she can plan out my shop credit payment in a way that gets me  yarn to knit what I want to knit but doesn't completely drain her inventory. I'll keep you posted!

 

 

Great Ideas

 

I realized that I should be knitting during our commute to work. Hubby and I car pool. My boss is kind enough to allow me to work the same schedule as my husband. He works 4 10 hour days per week. My work week is 37.5 hours so I work 4 days per week. I drop hubby off at his shop, go to City Hall and then pick him up in the evening. Its a great schedule. But because we get home a little later I was finding that I wasn't always knitting in the evening like I used to do. But I have 30 minutes each way every day so I have been knitting in the car. I'm not the knitter who ALWAYS knits while waiting for things. But this is a good option and increases my productivity. That was how I finished the Knitted Knockers so quickly and now I have switched to my Bonny top. However, I think I will trade out projects each week to keep interest up.

 

That's it for now! If I missed anything I will catch it up next month!

Wow! Its been a while!

 I haven't been very good at posting things I'm working on lately. Mostly its because there are limitations in using the iPhone Blogger app and I didn't want to use up data by posting via the Mac. Now that our data limits are lifted I would prefer to update via the Mac. I have several items I need to enter into my Ravely projects and to blog about here.

First of all, let me update my Carnival Houdini socks. I have finished them and then they sat waiting to be washed and dried. I had several skeins of yarn I had spun as well as socks and shawls, scarves to wash and I finally did it all last week. I like the fit of these but not sure I will be doing this process again. I'm just not sure I like the look of where you knit up from the footprint. I do think my next pair of socks will be done using an afterthought heel as I have not done that yet. 

I also finished the dishcloth I was doing for my DD with the raindrops pattern. I have another ball of yarn and am looking for a different pattern to use. 

I also finished my weaving sample, cut it off the loom and then washed and dried it. After it was dry I tied the fringe on the edge with a simple overhand knot. I need to learn to hemstitch I think. I like the pattern, it was a type of waffle stitch using pick up sticks done on my Cricket loom. After washing it measures 6.5" x 6" not including the fringe. Its 6.5"x9" including the fringe. I like the stitch pattern, I like the yarn. With only a 10" weaving width I'm guessing I can't get dishtowels, but I believe I could make something useful other than scarves.

Another thing I have been working on this summer is a Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl by Wendy D. Johnson. This is a lace shawl that was released in sections starting on June 20th. It is a crescent shaped shawl and I really love it! It was fun to knit. I think I will start knitting some more shawls of other shapes rather than triangle.  I have a few pics in process and then finished. It helps to have a light colored couch! 

The pattern called for 420 yards/100 gms. I had 15 grams left over. I did the shawl as written except it had optional 5 stitch or 3 stitch nupps. I did not do the nupps and I did not do any pattern repeats. It looks very nice on and sits well on the shoulders. My shawl pin looks really nice as well.

I had picked up one of my drop spindles, the resin Mother of Pearl looking on by Butterfly Girl and had continued spinning some fiber I purchased at DFW Fiber Fest back in 2010. Its a lovely soft mix of several fibers that drafts wonderfully and has been spinning very fine on this wonderful spindle.

I am knitting socks also. I started a pair of Waterfall Socks by Wendy D. Johnson as toe up socks. The yarn is some lovely sock yarn that I cannot remember the fiber content. I purchased this yarn from Mary Berry at Fancy Fibers Farms. It was an oatmeal color and I used some acid dye and dyed them a lovely dark purple.

I guess thats enough for now. Sorry for the photo overload, I figured I would get these up and then try to blog as I go along. I'm still mad at the Soay Cardi, but I will be getting it out of time out soon and ripping out the sleeves and doing them again. I'll probably do them at the same time so they come out even. Pics of that then. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Seaside Shawlette Blocked

Yea! The Seaside Shawlette is done! I'm very happy with how this came out. Its lovely and soft and a perfect weight for a lightweight cover when sitting in the evenings and knitting. It will also be a perfect wrap for going to a restaurant in the summer when you have summer tops on and they have the air conditioning blasting away! It folds up very nice and compact so its easy to carry along. It was easier than I first thought it would be and makes a great stay at home project. It takes a bit more concentration to keep your place in the charts. I think I will be making more shawls in the future. I used less than 1 skein of Schaefer Anne yarn in the Bay Leaf, Sage and Rosemary colorway and Wendy Johnson's pattern Seaside Shawlette. I haven't weighed the left over yarn but it feels like about half. I'm going to see if I have enough left to make socks.

Yea! My Seaside Shawlette is done!

Ok, so its not completely done, but it is bound off the needles. Its lovely. I have to find my pins for blocking. It did take me a lot longer to do that I anticipated but I had 3 long breaks while knitting it. But once I got moved and unpacked I zipped through the last chart. I really loved knitting this but I had to do it at home. Sometimes even the TV distracted me enough to make mistakes but it wasn't really that hard. I'll post again once I have it washed and blocked. Can't wait to wear it!

Shawl and Sock Update

I figured I better get an update on here. Here is a new picture of my shawl in progress. Its coming right along. I've completed Chart A and will be starting Chart B. I estimate its about 60% complete as I only do Chart B and C once where I repeated Chart A 3 times.

I'm also updating you on my Diamond Chain socks. I'm really happy with the look of the pattern. This yarn really shows it off. I've learned alot about yarn/pattern choice. I think I will save the lace patterns for smoother yarn as it really shows up better. The fuzzy yarns I'll do a simpler pattern like Wilma Beckers Waffle Stitch pattern. It make a lovely texture. On a side note while I was waiting for my car inspection to be done yesterday I pulled out these socks to pass the time. I had quite an audience in the waiting area.

Knit Olympics Shawl Update

Ok, a quick post to show my progress. It may not look like much but if you look close you can see the white string running through as the lifeline. In the last picture the string was several rows lower so I think I've done about 20 rows since the last picture. I'm going to visit Katie next week in Bosser City and will have time to work on it while everyone is in school and work so I still hope to be in Gold Medal contention. For those of you who don't know, Gold Medal is completed by the closing ceremonies.

Knit Olympics Shawlette

When Regina Dale from the Song and Dance Ranch and Howling Wolf Herbs suggested a Knit Olympics I decided it was a great idea and that I needed to use the opportunity to try a different project. I have been following Wendy Johnson's blog called Wendy Knits and watching her make shawl after shawl. When I mentioned this at a Grapevine Stitch n Bitch meeting several people told me they use shawls all the time. With that I was hooked. I dug through my stash and found a yarn I thought was suitable and then sent a message to Wendy asking her advice for which pattern to try for my first lace knit shawl and told her what yarn I was going to use. She very kindly replied back with two suggestions and I chose her Seaside Shawlette. I cast on last night during the Opening Ceremonies and by the time they were finished I have worked up to about halfway through the set up chart. It seems to be going well and I have every intention of completing it by the end of the Olympics. I am using Schaefer Anne yarn in the Bay Leaf, Sage and Rosemary colorway. This is a beautiful yarn with a lovely hand. I'm very excited. I've taken a picture of the yarn wound in a center pull ball along with the knitting so far and a picture of the pattern. I also have a close up of the knitting so far. I know it doesn't look like much right now but I am confident it will be beautiful! I will keep you posted on my progress.