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!