Jarrell's Baby Hat

Here's my progress on a hat for my friend Lisa's baby. I am knitting this with Zitron Trekking color number 401 on the larger size 1 DPNs.

Emmaline's Sweet Baby Jane

I got the yarn for Emmaline's little jumper in the mail about a month ago. I can't believe it has been that long.

This is Woobu from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the color Tanzanite. The color isn't quite what I had expected given the photo on Blue Moon's website, but I am still pleased with it.

Let me just say these hanks are huge! Look at how big this one is in my hand!

Isn't that crazy? It took me a very long time to wind these hanks into semi-cakes with my nostepinde. But, at least I know I got my money's worth!

The yarn has a wonderful drape to it, and I can't wait to see how the finished project turns out.

I cast on last night and have altered the pattern a little to knit in the round (I hate seaming!). I cast on 156 stitches for the size 2. I am hoping to have it done for my little girl's birthday. We'll see how things progress.

Mitered Hanging Towels

I have finally finished the three Mitered Hanging Towels I set out to knit.

I loved this pattern and the yarn was really nice to work with. It shed a little, though, but I think it is pretty good quality for how cheap the yarn is.
My only problem is this:

I accidentally cut my tail yarn way too short. I couldn't believe it when I did. In all my years of crocheting and knitting (5 to be exact) I have NEVER done this. Oh well, I guess there must be a first for everything. I am still trying to decide if I will just use a crochet hook to pull the short tail through some stitches, or if I will rip back a row and bind off there. I'll probably just go with the crochet hook...sigh.

Twirly Skirt

This is the progress I've made on Ava's Twirly Skirt. I have about two inches left on this current color before I begin the last color change.

Ava's Raglan Cardigan

This is Ava's Raglan sweater for Christmas. I just need to find & sew a button on to the sweater & it will be complete! Super quick & easy knit.

Ava's Twirly Skirt

Project update - I've completed the first color section. Working on the second now. Already outgrowing the circular that this is on. Easy pattern so far. Just lots & lots & lots of stockinette stitch.

More Baby Stuff

There must be something in the water here in Greenville as I know five women who have either had a baby or have gotten pregnant this year. That is not including myself, by the way. So, I am knitting baby stuff galore! Here is a baby hat I have cast on for my good friend Lisa, who is also having a boy!

A Weekend for Finishing

This weekend I finally finished some projects I have had on my needles for a while. Just sitting in their little box waiting to be finished.

The first is Ian's Baby Stuff Hat, a free pattern on Ravelry. I used a tiny portion of a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in the color 602 - "Happy Stripe".

The second is a dish cloth pattern that I have altered from a pattern I got off of Ravelry as well. As soon as I have Erin test knit this for me and get authorization to publish I'll post it on here! I used Lily Sugar 'N Cream in the color Summer.

My Anniversary Yarn!

These are some yarns I picked up yesterday as my anniversary present. Some are for other projects.



This is another skein of Malabrigo that I picked up for another project for my mother.


This is a skein of Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn. I already have a skein of this but wanted to be able to make longer socks so I went ahead & picked up another skein.



This is Cherry Tree Hill Superwash Sock yarn.


This is Malabrigo Sock yarn. Sooo soft but sooo pretty. I can hardly wait to make something with this yummy yarn.


This yarn I picked up for a project I will make for my mother. It's Cascade Yarns Eco + in navy blue. At $15 this yarn was a steal!

Andrew's Blankie

This is part of my Christmas knitting list. I started this blanket in March for Andrew & have just left it sitting in my knitting basket. It seems like it's taking forever to knit but I think it's more because I just never touch it! However, I have determined to finish this in time for Christmas so that I can have it wrapped & under the tree for him. I'm about 40% through the project. I want it to be kind of long so he can have it on his bed. Plus it will be able to accommodate a growing boy! Hopefully he'll get use out of it through his adulthood!

August Mid-Month KAL

This is the August Mid-Month KAL. I don't remember the name of the pattern. I like the cloth but it was kind of boring to knit.

Crochet Cloth

This is a branching out adventure for me. I really stink at crochet (and still do!) but I thought I would at least give it a shot. Not perfect, but completed at least!

Dots Within Stripes Cloth

This cloth was made for a round robin. I used what was left of my Knit Picks yarn that I used for Amber's skirt that I made her last Christmas. I love the way the cloth turned out. Too bad I didn't get to keep it! Should be lovely for scrubbing.

Primaver Socks

This pair of socks is from the first Knit-A-Long that I've participated in for socks. Love this pattern but mostly love the yarn. These were made with Crystal Palace wool. Soooo soft. And the colors are so vibrant & there's a lovely strand of silk running through the yarn. I will definitely be on the prowl for more of this yarn.

Fruit Loop Socks

This is a pair of socks I finished a few weeks ago. I've been very poor about posting progress/projects. I really enjoyed knitting these, however, they are a bit too loose. Oh well. They will fit fine for winter wear!

Explorations in Hand Dyeing

I'm sure others have experienced the same frustration I am feeling now. I believe this is the reason there are so many hand-dyers out there already. I get ideas in my head of what the yarn should look like and which fiber(s) it should be made of for a specific project, but I cannot find what I am looking for anywhere! I am too finnicky to give up and settle for something close, so I want to at least try to accomplish getting the exact colors I want in the fibers I want.

I fell instantaneously in love with this shawl:

It's such a beautifully feminine shawl, and I loved that someone used Noro Silk Garden yarn to make the modules for the shawl so that they turned out like this:

Isn't that pretty?

In my search for a Noro Silk Garden color scheme that I liked I came across something that at first seemed the perfect fit for this yarn. The outside of the skein had a really pretty light green with a hint of pink starting to show toward the inner of the skein. I thought it perfect for my project; there seemed something victorian and feminine about it. However, upon seeing the same skein on another website it was actually hunter green with red. What a bummer!

So I set off again, looking for a yarn with pretty pinks, greens and cream that had long repeats of the colors instead of short repeats which is common in a lot of sock yarns. Plus I really wanted the yarn to have some silk in it, since silk lends a nice drape and warmth. This yarn has so far proved impossible to find, so I have decided to embark on my own path to dyeing the perfect skein of yarn.

I didn't want to waste a lot of money in buying an expensive mound of bare yarn and screw up the coloring process, so I went to my Hobby Lobby and picked up some cheap versions of common fibers I would use. Here they are:

I Love This Wool - 93% Wool, 7% Polyamide
Patons Silk Bamboo - 70% Bamboo, 30% Silk
Bernat Alpaca - 70% Acrylic, 30% Alpaca

And here are the dyes I picked up:

Sorry, I forgot to take the price tags off before taking the picture!
Kelly Green, Teal, Leaf Green
Creamy Peach, Golden Yellow, Rose Petal

I can't wait to get started!

Mitered Hanging Towel #3

This is the third of a set of towels I am making as a present for someone special! I have gotten to the point where I need to switch colors for the hanging loop, so I decided to take a break from knitting and actually update the blog here!

I really love this pattern. It is soooo easy and simple, and feeds my need for instant gratification. Love it, love it, love it.

Emmaline's Twirly Skirt

Well, I'm finished with the knitting!!

I crocheted a border on the bottom of the skirt because I could not bring myself to knit four more rounds of 280 something stitches just to sew them up into a hem. So, I took a chance that the crocheted border would be enough to keep the stockinette stitch from rolling onto itself. Thankfully, it was. Sadly, though, it took me a whole Sunday afternoon just to get the first row of single crochets and increases figured out. First off, I incorrectly counted the amount of stitches I had on my needles. I somehow came up with the number 232. So, I tried to increase my stitches to 240 in order to fit the multiples required for my crochet pattern. I got done with my total number of increases before I got halfway around the bottom. Rats!! So, I was lazy and decided to just keep going. However, once I got to my last few stiches I could tell it was all wrong. Somewhere in my crazy head I came up with some way of recounting the stitches without having to really recount the stitches. I came up with 262. So, frog I did and restarted the single crocheting! Still didn't have the right amount of stitches at the end! Double Rats! I finally broke down and recounted my stitches using stitch markers to help me out and came up with 284 stitches. Don't ask me how I managed to miss 52 stitches on my first count! I don't want to know!

Well, after all that I finally got the crochet trim done, and I really like the way it turned out. Now I need to weave in a few more ends, figure out what kind of tie I am going to make for the waist and seam up the waist band once I have. I can't wait to put this on my little girl and see her twirl in it!