Experiments with Fabric

I've been on the hunt for a new project bag for a few weeks now. I only had two and both were in use, but I needed a new one for my Stephen West Doodler MKAL. I looked on Etsy, but I couldn't find anything I was in love with, so I decided to make my own!

I'd made box bags before, but never with a lining fabric, so I headed out to Joann's for their Veterans Day sale and picked out a few of my favorite fabrics. My mom had a few extra Doctor Who fabrics she had accumulated over the years (apparently not being able to sew didn't stop her from buying fabric), so I decided to make her some too.

The first bag I made was a drawstring bag. I wanted a short, open bag to keep my Doodler in because it's a multi-skein project and I like the wide opening for keeping and untangling multiple skeins. The "Snug as a Fox" fabric is the absolute cutest fabric I found, and I was so happy to get an adorable bag out of it!

For my second bag, I wanted a taller zippered bag out of some cute Christmas Fabric I found. I was really proud of myself for figuring out how to turn it without using any tutorials, but on the next bag, I will put the hole in the lining fabric instead of the exterior fabric.

I had a great time making these, and I'm already on the hunt for more fabric and thinking of different sizes to make. In fact I loved making these so much, I think I will make a few for my Etsy shop! If they sell well, I will make them a normal section of my shop. I will make a few more to hone my skills a little further, but expect to see them in my shop later this week!

Yarny Wishlist

The holidays are coming up, and although its still November it's never too early to start your Christmas list! Ever since I was little, I've spent hours each November curating my wishlist until it was perfect and, while there aren't as many toys on it nowadays, this year's list is no exception. I've collected a few of my wishlist items here to share with you guys!

Forbidden Woolery

The Forbidden Woolery is a new brand to me. I discovered her on Instagram when she posted a picture of her newest Steampunk collection yarns, and I've been craving some ever since! I especially love how beautiful and subtle her colors are. I can see each of these skeins making a beautiful pair of lace and cabled socks.

Hedgehog Fibers

I've been lusting after Hedgehog fibers for a long time now, but when I want to order, the colorways I want are sold out. I was thinking about doing Stephen West's Doodler MKAL, but the kits have been sold out for a while, and I don't know if I want to invest $100 including shipping for yarn specifically for a mystery shawl. But the yarns themselves are beautiful and I can't wait to get my hands on some!

Knitter's Pride Royale Set

When I saw this interchangeable set, I HAD to have it. I'm a sucker for all things romantic and Parisian, so these were right up my alley. The only set of interchangeables I have is an old Knitpicks Acrylic set, that has been slowly breaking one needle tip at a time, which is probably why they no longer make them. I have it on good authority that Santa will be acquiring a set of these for me, and I'm super excited!

Quaere Hanukkah Kit

I've seen lots of people planning special Christmas socks this year, and I want in on it! My family is half Jewish and half Christian, so I really appreciate that Quaere has created special colorways and kits for both Christmas and Hanukkah. I love how beautifully coordinated each of the kits are, but I love the colors in the Hanukkah yarn a little more and I love that I could use the bag year-round.

Umbrella Swift

For years my mom and I have shared a flat-style swift with pegs and holes, but I think I should get my own so I can wind yarn on my own time. This one from Knitpicks is fairly inexpensive, and is a lovely color that I wouldn't mind keeping out all the time.

Laser-Cut Yarn Ring

How cute is this ring! I am absolutely in love with it! YellowBearWares has a lot of knitting jewelry and accessories using recycled needles as well that are also extremely beautiful, but this ring is my favorite.

What's on your yarn wishlist this year? Have you tried anything on my list? Let me know in the comments!

Sweater Planning - Fingering Weight Edition

My Cozy Gull Vertebrae Sweater is getting close to being done. I just need two half-sleeves and the front button band (though there are no buttons so is it really a button band?). So now I'm on the hunt for my next sweater pattern. My Vertebrae is knit with Quince and Co Chickadee which is a heavy sport/DK weight, so I'm thinking my next sweater should be something lighter in a fingering weight. I wear my lighter sweaters much more than my heavier ones down here in the Louisiana heat and I've got a few different patterns in mind.

I'm a little picky when it comes to sweater knitting. I only knit top-down sweaters which limits me quite a bit, but there are still plenty of nice patterns to pick from.

Featherweight Cardigan

This pattern is insanely popular on Ravelry, and I'm sure you've heard of it. It's been knit over 7000 times, so I feel pretty comfortable knitting it. I would definitely use fingering weight instead of a lace weight yarn though, and I'd switch the fronts to ribbing or seed stitch because I hate the way it curls.

Risen Cardigan

I'm really drawn to this one because of the cabled edging and the textured fronts! I can imagine this in a lovely light blue or a darker green. It's only been knit 12 times according to Ravelry, so I'm a little apprehensive.

Cosette Sweater

This is a simply gorgeous sweater out of a beautiful color. Those cables look so classy and soft and I'm itching to knit this as well.

All of these sweaters are fingering weight, so once I decide which to make, I have to decide which yarn to pick. I have several ideas in mind.

1. Dye my own yarn: I've been dyeing yarn for a few months, and I feel pretty confident in my dyeing abilities. This would be the cheapest option, but I would be limited in what yarn bases I could use because my supplier mostly has nylon blend fingering weights.

2. Quince and Co Tern: After knitting my last sweater with Quince and Co yarn, I've fallen in love with the brand. I love how they source their wool in the USA, and they have some beautiful colorways. If I picked this pretty silk/wool blend yarn, I'd use either the Sea Glass or Mist colorways.

3. Wollmeise Pure: I don't know about any of you, but in my mind Wollmeise in the holy grail of yarn. I've wanted to work with it for as long as I can remember, but I've never found it in the wild. Making my sweater out of Wollmeise would be about $30-$40 more than using the Quince and Co, and 2-3x as much as using my handdyed, so I'm a little hesitant.

Please let me know what you think! Have you knit any of these sweaters or used any of this yarn? Tell me in the comments below!

FO Friday: Gentians Handspun

For FO Friday today I have a completed spinning project! I ordered this braid from EdgeWood Garden Studios and it came quickly with some added surprises. I appreciated these two teas, although I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I didn't get the mail until after the sun went down, so I waited to take a picture of this braid in the sunlight before I put it on my wheel.

This gorgeous braid is 100% BFL wool in the Gentians colorway. My favorite bit of this braid was the little touches of pink, but the other colors are so beautiful and saturated!

I spun this 4oz braid on my Kromski Fantasia wheel by separating the braid in half using a scale, then spinning each half and plying it together. I'm not usually a fan of knitting with barber pole plied yarn, but it's absurdly fun to ply, and turns out so beautiful!

After being washed and thwacked, this braid ended up as 226 yards of a DK weight yarn. I'm really happy with how even it its. Usually it evens out a lot after a bath, maybe because of the blooming? Anyway, it's going to join its friends in my stash for now, but someday it may end up being a nice cosy cowl.

Best of Knitty

Recently I received an email from Knitty Magazine asking for donations on Patreon to keep the site running. I have been a huge fan of Knitty for a long time and being a fledgling designer myself, I have a massive appreciation for what they do. To work so hard on such beautiful, complex patterns, then publish them for free absolutely boggles my mind. Pattern designing, for those who haven't tried it, is a long, arduous process, which is why I have no problem paying money for well-written patterns and why I had no problem pledging a donation to Knitty after years and years of free patterns.

Being a college student, I don't usually have much money to donate to worthy causes, but if you have the means to donate more, they are offering some pretty good incentives! Special webchats with other knitters, stickers and patches, and an exclusive bag are all up for grabs for those especially generous patrons. Many of the more expensive spots are filled, but any donation will help this amazing knitting resource continue for many years to come.

To celebrate Knitty reaching 2 of its milestones so far, I've put together a list of my favorite Knitty patterns.

Skew Socks

I attempted these socks once years ago in a gorgeous colorway of Knitpicks Felici self-striping yarn, but I had to frog it because my first attempt at Kitchener turned out horrible. But I definitely want to attempt a pair again soon, hopefully in another nice self-striping.

Urban Tribe Shawl

This is a new release from the newest issue, and I've fallen in love with it! I am a sucker for colorwork done with gradient yarns, and this one is no exception. If I were any good with stranded colorwork, this sucker would be on my needles already.

Opus the Octopus

I think this little guy is a beautifully designed pattern! The detail, from to two-tone tentacles to his little eye bulge, is absolutely perfect. He is knit with yarn held double, but if I ever knit him, I'd use a single strand.

Fetching Mitts

My freshman year of college I knit three pairs of these for Christmas presents out of Knitpicks City Tweed, and neglected to take pictures of any of them. But I do remember them being a very fun, quick knit! I will definitely make more pairs in the future.

Krydda Cardigan

I LOVE this cardigan. Living in South Louisiana, we only have very cold temperatures for maybe a week or two out of the year, so I get the most use out of lacy, open, or light cardigans and I think this one would be perfect! 

Do you have any favorite Knitty patterns? Are you considering becoming a Patron? Let me know in the comments below?

Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by Knitty, I just really love them. All photos are (c) of Knitty Magazine

Revival

I've had a lot on my mind lately knitting-wise, and I have decided to revive my knitting blog! This blog is several years old now, but it was always a casual thing, with me just posting if and when I felt like it. Now that I've spent about a year working on a makeup and beauty blog a little more in-depth, I think I would like to revisit this blog and make it a regular thing. 

I have dreams of starting a knitting podcast in order to get more involved in the community and make some more knitting friends, but my computer skills are minimal, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am in front of the camera yet, so for now blogging it is!

I love how many podcasts are formatted with different sections for finished objects, WIP's, stash acquisitions, and future projects, so I think I will format my blog in a similar way.

Finished Objects:

These cute little hats are destined to keep a kiddos head warm in a few weeks! I decided to participate in the Caffeinated Knitting Podcast's Hats for Kiddos drive this year, so I whipped up a few of these babies. They are requiring 5 hats for one entry into the prize drawing, and although I am not in it for the prizes (but lets be honest, they do sweeten the deal), I like the idea of spending the postage money to send more hats, rather than less. I had an old spiral hat I had made years ago, and a Barley hat I made earlier this year, but the little hats above were made just for this. 

I didn't use a pattern, which resulted in the pink one at the bottom being minuscule, but the other two turned out fine and I'm really happy with them. The yarn is Daylily by Nashua Handknits, and although it is very beautiful, it was a pain to knit with, splitty as hell, and - unsurprisingly- now discontinued. 

Works in Progress:

None of my knitting projects have been inspiring me much this week (there's only so much you can knit on a plain, grey sleeve) so I've mostly been spinning up this gorgeous braid of BFL from Edgewood Garden Studio in her Gentians color way. My singles are resting right now, but after I post this, I think it will be time to ply.

I've also been working on my Mosaic Sock out of Knitpicks Felici, and my Mama Vertebrae out of Quince and Co Chickadee, but not much interesting progress has been made.

Stash Acquisitions:

While I didn't get to go to Rhinebeck this year (*cue weeping*), I did score a skein of Verdant Gryphon Bugga Sportweight in their Purple Island of Morocco during their "Virtual Rhinebeck" sale! This skein has 20% Mongolian Cashmere and more than 400 yards, so it's destined to be a gorgeous, buttery-soft cowl or shawl. For now I have too much to knit so it will be marinating in the Stash until its time comes.

Next Up:

I purchased these two skeins of Regia Arne and Carlos Design Line in the Summer Nights color way a few months ago when I saw Susan B Anderson knitting a gorgeous pair on Instagram and I was determined to knit a pair too. I haven't done a contrasting heel and toe in a long time, so I found this older skein of Valley Yarns sock yarn in a creamy white, and now I'm itching to cast on! But I've got a sweater, a pair of socks, a scarf (that's destined to be a Christmas present so it gets priority), and a hat actively on my needles, so I shouldn't cast these on just yet. Waiting will make it even sweeter when I do!

DiY Favorites of 2013

Last year was the year my mom and I decided to start making and trying new things every week. Towards the beginning I made lots of DiY furniture and decor accents, dusted off my sewing machine, and made some of my own clothing!

This dress was the first attempt I ever made at making my own clothing! I had never done darts, pleats, installing a zipper, or finishing armholes, but all of those were new skills I learned doing this dress! I love the color and the fabric, but I haven't had the occasion to wear it much. I also experimented with making my own pair of cutoffs from dark wash, holey jeans. I love them, but I don't have any pictures unfortunately. In July I got my ears pierced for the first time, so that gave me an excuse to make my own earring display!

I picked up and old $2 picture frame at a mixed-media art supply store in Houston, painted it mint blue, and strung some lace trim across it to hold my earrings. It was difficult to get the lace taut enough that the weight of the earrings didn't drag it down and it's starting so sag a bit so I may redo it. But it's a great way to store my earrings. I even made that mushroom pair up at the top!

My knitting this year involved more gifts than usual, and a sweater (the first one I've made in several years!). This Huntress Shawl is my absolute favorite project of the year. I waited until I could pick up the yarn in person instead of just ordering it online so I could find the perfect shade of pale blue-grey. I ended up buying two gorgeous skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn from Quarter Stitch in New Orleans. I finished this scarf in record time. I loved the yarn, I loved how well-written and simple the pattern was, and I love wearing it!

I am looking forward to making new things in 2014 and already have several projects planned. I can't wait to get started!