Rikke Hat

In true Liz fashion, I decided that I needed to take a break from the sleeves on my Blair Sweater and whip up a quick project. I choose a hat pattern that I've been eyeing since it's release and I'm really pleased with the result and will most definitely be making more.

Pattern: Rikke Hat by Sarah Young

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in Earl Grey

Modifications: I knit the body of the hat about 1/2 inch shorter than the pattern called for before the crown decreases. Mostly this was because I was afraid of running out of yarn (I had a few yards to spare when all was said and done), but I'm glad I did because I definitely wouldn't want the hat any longer/taller.

The Tosh Merino DK knit up really nicely and ended up much softer than I thought it would. It's a single ply merino, so we'll see how it holds up, but I think it's going to do pretty well.

I've also been spinning like a maniac since I had a shop update planned for today. So, hope you're ready for some more handspun pictures!

Corriedale/Finn/Rambouillet blend dyed by Spinner's Hill 

Organic Merino dyed by Two if by Hand in "Sweet Surrender"

Superwash Merino dyed by Pigeonroof Studios in "Swamp"

Superfine Merino dyed by Two if by Hand in "Dance Hall Hips"

This is my most favorite skein of the bunch! I love the flashy, bright colors!

Now that the shop update is over I need to concentrate on some more custom spinning and a handspun/project bag set I'm doing for an auction on ravelry to raise money for several charities that are sending money to Japan. More on that to come...

Well, I'm off to package up some etsy orders and ship them out!

Love,

Liz :)

Project Bags and Some Custom Spinning

I've been doing a bit more sewing to get some of the new quilted project bags up into the shop. I also wanted to send a quilted project bag to my swap partner, and packages needed to be sent out this week. So, yesterday I finished up 3 bags I had been working on, and put 2 of them in the shop and sent one to my swap partner.

The Princess and the Pea is my absolute favorite of the three bags I made:

Made with Heather Ross' original Far, Far Away fabric line on double gauze 

back of bag 

lining of the bag is quilting cotton

I put this bag up in the shop last night, and it was snatched up by someone fairly quickly. And then I got a message from someone else asking if I could make another one....I pieced together the outside today and had just enough fabric. 

Next up is a bag made from Heather Ross' Far, Far Away 2 line:

Why, yes...I am obsessed with Heather Ross fabrics.

This is the bag that's on it's way to my swap partner!

Then, for those who aren't up for all the whimsy:

This one is up for sale in the etsy shop. 

Close up of the lining

I've also been really busy working on custom spinning orders since we got back into town.

775 yards of gorgeously soft merino in sport-weight. 

Spun from roving dyed by FLUFF Fibers in colorway Greyscale.

I wish you could reach through the screen and squish those skeins. I've spun quite a bit of merino from various dyers, but this was by far the softest most lofty merino I've come across. The resulting yarn is soooo airy and light. 

250 yards of Merino/Angora (80/20) spun at a dk weight. 

Dyed by JulieSpins in colorway "Lipstick in the Snow"

The angora gave this skein a lovely, fuzzy halo and I think it's going to look awesome knit up! 

On the knitting front, I've been plugging away at a pair of Cookie A. socks, or sock rather. I'm still on the leg of the first sock. But they are going to be AWESOME when they're done. I swear. I'll try and remember to take a picture of the sock-in-progress tomorrow. 

In other news, we're expecting a SNOW STORM. A whole 2-4 inches. I've been hearing about the impending snowstorm all week on the news. Granted, many other parts of Oregon are expecting a couple of feet....but 2-4 inches on the valley floor is a huge deal. Not to mention the "Record Low Temperatures" which will be in the 20s. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the NW making such a huge deal about temps below 30 degrees and snowfall beyond an inch! 

I'll be sure to update you about the record temperatures and crazy, debilitating snowfall! 

Love,

liz :)

A New Project Bag...and some more handspun, of course.

I had an idea for a new project bag a couple of weeks ago, and finally got around to making one! I wanted a flat bottomed zip bag with a patchwork design on the outside. I made a prototype and decided it was too small:

It just fits a yarn cake and sock in progress. 

I had enough squares cut for another one like the small one, and I cut a bunch more matching fabric to make it bigger. Then I decided I needed to use some really cute owl fabric I had picked up and found some coordinating prints to go with it. I finished the owl bag earlier today and will finish up the second one tonight or tomorrow.

This one is much roomier and comfortably fits 2 skeins of yarn. And it has a handy dandy handle. 

 Pretty, pretty yarn sitting in the bag.

I've finished 2 more skeins of yarn for the shop, but the lighting has been terrible so the pictures aren't totally accurate:

Organic Merino dyed by Two if by Hand in colorway Exhausted

I'm going to rename it "Caribbean Cruise" for the shop. 

Merino/Cashmere/Nylon dyed by Two if by Hand

This skein is much more forest green in real life...hopefully the light will be better tomorrow so I can take better pictures!

In knitting news, I'm still working on the sweater for Seth's dad. I started a sleeve today and I'm hoping to make some good progress on it tonight. I also finished the first sock that I posted a picture of in my last post. And I'm almost to the heel flap on the second. I'm confident they'll be done by the end of the month. 

Your sweater is looking great (again)....I can't wait to see the finished product! 

Love,

Liz :)

2011: The Year of Socks

My knitting goal this year is to make at least 12 pairs of socks. I've discovered that I love wearing handknit socks in the winter. They are far warmer than regular socks. So warm, in fact, that I've ditched my slippers several times this winter while wearing them. And that is saying something. I always wear slippers.

I'm working on my first official pair of 2011:

Pattern: Tidelines by Anne Hanson 

Yarn: Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merino in Kate

The thing I love about handknit socks is that I can use crazy colors I wouldn't wear as anything else!

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first sock and I'm sure they'll be done by the end of the month. :) 

On the spinning front, I'm working on a custom spin that is just flying along. This fiber is to.die.for. It's 50% Merino, 25% Cashmere, and 25% Silk. 

How about we take a little look:

Isn't see a beaut?! And she's softer than any yarn I've ever spun! 

And now....a few pics of the pup. I bought a new lens for my camera to take sharper and more accurate yarn pictures for my etsy shop. It arrived yesterday, and I spent some time out in the back yard snapping pics of Sailor :) 

Sleepy Pup

Sailor trying to take flight!

Catching flying treats.

In other knitting news, I have finished the front and back of the sweater for Seth's dad and just have the sleeves and seaming left. The end is finally in sight!! 

Hugs!

Love,

Liz :)

1160 Yards of Handspun

That, my dear, is what I've been working on for the last week basically non-stop! A customer asked me to do some custom spinning for her...12 ounces of BFL and spun fairly thin for maximum yardage so she can hopefully knit a sweater with it. I finished it on Wednesday and ended up with 1160 yards of light sport weight yarn. It was dry this morning and I reskeined, labeled, and mailed it. But, I snapped a few photos first :)

Spun from Funky Carolina BFL Combed Top.  

Colorway Lily...beautiful greys, silvers and blues. 

It's going to make a really beautiful sweater! 

I don't have much to show on the knitting front. I'm still working on the sweater for Seth's Dad...but making quite a bit of progress. I did finish a Hydrangea Neckwarmer the other day, but it's still drying on the blocking board. I'll try and get pictures of that this weekend! 

I've done a wee bit of sewing, and am plotting and scheming about some bigger tote bag projects. I got a fat quarter pack of all the Heather Ross Far, Far Away 2 fabrics for Christmas:

I. LOVE. THEM. All the fabric is a cotton/linen blend so it's much sturdier than regular quilting cotton. 

I've been itching to cut into them, but also spending hours online looking through other people's projects to decide what to do with them! I also received an Amy Butler pattern book, which as TONS of cute bag patterns in it. 

For my first project, I thought I'd do something small and simple. 

Origami Bag. Isn't it adorable?!

Close up of the owl and cat. 

This particular pattern has directions for 5 or so different sizes, and I'm going to give some of the larger ones a try once I get some bigger zippers. The directions were really clear and easy to follow, which makes me hopeful for some of the more complicated looking bags in the book! 

Your sweater is looking great, by the way! And F's house looks awesome! Nice work! 

Oh...and one more exciting thing (or, at least I thought it was exciting). A pair of mittens I knit ended up on the Three Irish Girls blog!!! I did a little happy dance when I saw that :) 

Alright...off to do some spinning for the shop!

Love,

Liz :)

A White Thanksgiving. Sort of.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful day with family and ate lots of wonderful food!

We've had quite the week here in Corvallis. On Monday night it started snowing and by Tuesday morning we had a whopping 1/2 an inch of snow. Yup. You read that right, 1/2 an inch. Schools were cancelled, people called into work, and people didn't dare go outside. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Sort of. All the schools in the valley were closed and the wait at the tire place was about 7 hours to get snow tires. Sailor thought it was awesome that there was snow covering the back yard. As soon as he went out he started flying around the yard acting crazy.

Sailor attempting to fly away using his ears. 

Attaching the ball 

Sailor stole my glove and then proceeded to run around the yard whipping it about.

The snow actually stayed on the ground until late Wednesday, which is pretty unusual for around here. We took a hike on the trails yesterday with V and Diamond, and the dogs had a great time running through the snow chasing each other. 

I've been spinning a ton for the shop, and just added these beauties:

Merino Silk Singles 

 Blue Faced Leicester spun from roving dyed by Gales Art

Rambouillet, roving dyed by Two if By Hand 

Shetland Singles, roving dyed by Two if by Hand

And of course, there has been knitting. More secret Christmas knitting. :)

Love,

liz :)

A wee bit of spinning (and a lot of Christmas knitting...)

I've been getting back into the groove of spinning now that fall is in full swing. I purchased a couple of Moonrover batts from a lovely lady on Ravelry who was destashing them.  You can see them here. I've only spun up half of the mini batts so far, but the resulting yarn is glorious. I spilt the bats by color so that the yarn will be self-striping.

Yarn on the Niddy Noddy. Some of the colors are kind of tweedy, due to the chunks of silk in the batts. 

145 yards of DK weight yarn 

Isn't it fabulous??  

I think it will probably end up in the etsy shop, but it's totally tempting to keep it and knit it up!

I need to decide whether I should spin up the second half of the fiber and sell the 2 skeins as a set or sell them separately. 

Of course, I've been doing loads of Christmas knitting. I have 4 gifts completely done and am working on number 5! Here's a teaser shot:

In black and white as to not give anything away! 

I actually spent a night up in Portland this week with my friend Valerie. Her daughter turned 18 on Wednesday, and was going to a concert with 4 of her friends and then spending the night. We went to make sure the girls stayed out of trouble (mostly just to make sure the concert venue was in a safe part of town). After we dropped the girls off at the concert we took a drive to Happy Knits, so I could show Valerie the ways of snobby yarn. She's just getting back into knitting, and after she finishes the project she's working on she wants to start using nicer yarn (she's knitting with some neon acrylic right now). We had a great dinner at the Bagdad Theater and Pub...I had the Curry Rice Bowl, it was amazing. Thai Curry is always a bit of a risk at a non-Thai place, but it was amazing. And spicy! We spent the rest of the night in the hotel room knitting while waiting for the girls to get back. In the morning we had some birthday cake up on the 6th floor of the hotel, which had a fabulous view of the convention center.

Fun, eh? 

The Portland Hills....Isn't Portland gorgeous?!

Portland is such an awesome city. It's easy to get around by car (or they have fabulous public transportation...and some of it is free), and there are all sorts of fun, eclectic shops. And tons of greenery everywhere. 

Your sweater looks like it's coming along really nicely! Philo appears to approve of knitting time...what a cutie. 

Well, I must try and get some knitting done before it's time to make dinner (Dino BBQ's Potato and Corn Chowder)!

Love,

liz :)