Shop Update!

First off I finished a project that has been on the needles for about three months now, I have been working on it, instead of my hats, but have finally finished! It's a cowl that was done in fingering weight yarn, a JaWoll Color ball and then Cascade Heritage Sock yarn in a chocolate brown color. The two colors played really well together, and I'm very happy with the end result. After I did all that knitting I sat in the LYS and kitchener stitched the two ends together to end up with a nearly seamless finished object. So now I have a cowl to keep my neck warm in the winter, and it will be nice and toasty by the time fall arrives in a few months. And now I can work on hats again!

And then I have a shop update of nearly all the hats that I had been working on and finishing at lightning speed at the beginning of the year. They are all up and posted and are ready to be snatched up by anyone that can give them a loving home!

I'm really proudest of the monogrammed "A" hat and the four color work hats to the left, I think they all turned out the best. So now it is just a question of what else I will create to get up in my shop, and what other ideas are floating around in my head thus far!

Chevrons and Curls

So yesterday was a pretty exciting day, I got a new book in the mail. I heard about this book from a podcast, I think it was Just One More Row. Anyways, it is a book called Curls by Hunter Hammersen. I am making one for my mother, and I just started it last night, and I am making pretty good progress. The one I am making is called Gridelin. I am making it out of Pagewood Farm yarn in the Yukon base, which is Merino Superwash, Bamboo, Nylon (70/20/10), in the colorway Army Girl. I got it from Sue's Soft Stuff in Northern Missouri, I don't remember exactly which town. (My mom and I went on a mini yarn/fabric crawl for my birthday). She had a lot of locally produced fiber, and I got a lot of alpaca and llama. I'm working the curl on a US Size 4 needles.

I'm making this one for my mother, since she wears scarf type things in the office that she works at much more than I wear them. The next one that I will make I'll make for my grandmother. It took me about an hour or so of knitting right off the chart before I got it memorized, but now it is making sense and I am just flying through. I am really liking working on this and can't wait to finish this one and make some more. The colors are truer in this photo, and you can see a bit of the stitch detail.

In other news I ran out of light pink yarn for a ripple blanket I was working on, so I finished it up yesterday. I think that it turned out really cute. This is of course for Project Linus, and the pattern is from the 100 Colorful Ripple Stitches to Crochet by Leonie Morgan. I cannot speak highly enough of this book, I have made three or four blankets from the patterns from this book and have really loved working on every single one of them.

I also decided to go ahead and post the pictures that I have done and if they don't get any views than I will redo them and try again, this time making a proper photo box, but I think that the ones I have now will work and look nice. So if you want to check out my store, now with some hats for sale as well as all the bags it's right here. Thanks!

Sparkles and Glitz

I finished the glitter hat with sequins that I was working on last time I updated this blog. I had a knit and purl pattern on it that I think shows up better in this photo than the one before. I haven't worn it yet, still waiting for a special occasion to pull it out. I wear hats all the time, that I've made and I think that they make it better for me while I'm growing my hair out. I cut off 12 inches and it was really short for about the past six months, like shaved at the neck and not much longer going up, like how middle aged women wear there hair. And now I'm growing it out, but it has a nasty habit of standing straight up on end, and I don't think that that's very attractive, so I'm wearing hats pretty much non-stop.

I also finished a ten stitch Tunisian crochet blanket that I started just a couple of days ago. I really liked working on this blanket, it was addicting to just make short rows, back and forth. And with Tunisian crochet you don't have to turn your work every row, or learn how to knit backwards. I think that I'm going to make another one with two colors spiraling around at the same time, because I like how that looks. This one I started with one variegated, and then did a round of tan, and then another variegated skein and then another round of the tan. I really like how it turned out. I used a size 10 Tunisian crochet hook. And all the variegated yarn was Red Heart Super Saver, and the tan was a Caron Simply One Pound. This blanket will go to Project Linus.

The next one that I am going to make is going to be a bright green with a steel blue spiraling around each other, I think that it will look interesting.

I also took pictures for my etsy shop of my knitted items, but am waffling as to whether they are nice enough to put up. I think that they look alright, but all the advice on sites from Pinterest and other blogs says to make a light box and have a white background, but I don't see why you couldn't have a nice setting for your background as well. I will decide in the next couple of days, at the very worst I could post them, see if they get any hits, and then if they don't take them down and re-do the pictures. I think I might have to do that with my bags that I put up anyways. I'm not sure. I'm just trying to wing it as I go.

Etsy is Open!!!

Just a quick announcement, that I opened my Etsy shop today! It's the spinningknitting1 shop, and it's now open! I will be slowly updating the shop throughout the weekend, and will have all the bags that I have done up by the end of the weekend, and then I will have the knitted items up when I get the pictures taken. But if you have any requests for a custom order just let me know, and I will work something out with you!

Closet Treasures

While I was in my stash closet the other day I stumbled upon a large white trash bag. I had assumed that this was the final resting place for many project disasters. But much to my surprise I found some really delightful creations, and many of them were made with handspun, so I think that they are extra fancy. This post is really picture heavy, but I just wanted to show them all to you, because they show what I used to knit, and how free form and creative I was with things, not going off a pattern at all and just making really unique items. So without further ado here is the surprise projects.

This scarf has all commercial yarn, different textures, some fun fur, and some that was commercial yarn plied together.

 This hat is just a simple beanie made with novelty commercial yarn

This is a little hat made out of handspun that I thought turned out nice.

This is another hat made out of handspun, it's all crochet and has a really nice slouch to it.

These are all fingerless mitts made out of the same thick and thin blue and tan yarn that I got thinking I would make a sweater with it, but the sweater didn't look good with yarn that was this busy. I still have a ton left of it. One Christmas I made several slippers out of it too, and my grandmother felted hers! So I guess I should make some more slippers this year.

This is a simple triangle shawl with eyelet rows, made from Noro sock yarn, which I think is extra lovely.

This is a headband made from handspun, a really simple pattern just singe crochet.

This is a handspun shawlette, and I did a sort of stitch sample on it trying out different textures and patterns.

This is a scarf made out of handspun, and I really like how the colors played with each other, I just thought they all went together really nice.

This is a crocheted scarf from alpcaca, which means it's nice and soft, and even though I have a lot of alpaca to spin, this is not anything that I have spun.

This scarf also plays with texture. The grey-ish green parts are reclaimed yarn from a thrift store sweater, and there is novelty yarn as well, it's all shades of green and it's a fun scarf.

Then there are two that I finished before I started blogging again, and they will go up in my Etsy shop too, along with everything else that I have shown thus far. First there is a fair isle hat that I really like, and I have one just like it and I wear mine all the time, so I think it's pretty classy. Only mine is cool colors while this one is warm colors. 

And then there is a scarf that I tunisian crocheted from yarn that I got from Hobby Lobby, but I don't remember the name of it exactly. The stitch is a simple lace stitch (that's really the name of the stitch), and I thought that it turned out really cute. 

And last but not least yesterday I finished a hat that has a monogram "A" on it, and I'm super proud of this hat because I charted out the A all by myself and then did it with stranded knitting so I think that it really pops. 

I think that I have enough inventory to open my shop up next month, but I am going to continue making things (obviously), maybe just not at the frantic pace that I have been. Currently I'm working on a sweater, and two blankets and a pair of socks. Once I finish my sweater I'm going to start on a sweater for my brother, so that is all a lot of knitting, but I'm up for the challenge!

Little Things

Well, it's been just over a week, and honestly, I don't have that much to show for it. I did finish Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans, and thought it was a very interesting book. My only complaint is that it wasn't long enough. I wish she could have gone into more detail in some of her interviews. Other than that I thought it was really interesting to read about someone attempting to live out the biblical decrees in a year.

I am still reading For Calvinism by Michael S. Horton, and I'm over halfway done with that book. It too is really interesting, but there seems to be some manipulation of words in order for them to make their points seem nice and logical, like they are stepping two steps out in front of you without letting you see how they go to their position, and then just saying "Trust me, look, I'm out here, it must be ok". Which I don't particularly like.

I've also started listening to the Daily Audio Bible in addition to the three pastors that I follow through their podcasts. I think that his voice is soothing and I find it interesting to discover all these stories that happened in the Bible that I wasn't really aware that they happened, or details that are left out when they teach you the stories as children. I don't really listen to the commentary or the community call-ins, but I think that it is nice to just listen to the Bible being read every day. I think it makes it easier for me to keep going, and I had to catch up quite a bit, since it is now February, but I am now caught up and intend to keep listening for the rest of the year.

I created a "new" bag design yesterday. I'm not the first person to ever invent a box bag, I know, but I did make them bigger than the normal box bag, and I made them in a way that they are lined and the zipper is in at first. I will be putting them up in my Etsy shop. I think the prints that I used are cute and that overall it is a nice little bag, big enough for a medium sized project. I have some more zippers, so I will be making some more of various sizes pretty soon as well.

I also finished a simple cowl that I made by modifying a stitch pattern so that the floats were on top of each other. It made a really squishy fabric, but because the three ply of the yarn is so busy you can't really see the patterning in the stitches, but that is ok, I still think it's cute.

I also finished a striped hat that worked up really fast, and I think turned out really cute. These I wouldn't mind doing on commission in a million different colors, and there's not too many patterns I can say that about, I just really like this hat blank pattern and all the different color work that I have been doing on it. I think that it is interesting and really fun to whip up a hat in just a few days.

In other news I was exploring in my stash area and got down a bag of what I thought was disasters from the past, and inside there were actually some nice and interesting creations that I think I'm going to put in my Etsy shop. And most of them were done with handspun, so that makes them extra special. I was really thrilled. I was expecting just disaster after disaster and instead was pleasantly surprised all around. I will be posting pictures of those finds next time I post.

Crochet, Bake, Knit

Hello everyone! It has been an exciting day of nothingness here at my house. Yesterday I spent the day chilling with my grandparents, and managed to get a scarf done and a hat started. This is the scarf, and I'll save the hat until it's finished.

The scarf was made using the honeycomb stitch of tunisian crochet on a size P hook. The yarn is Wool-Ease Chunky by Lion Brand Yarn Company. I like how it turned out, it's not really big enough to be much more than an accent piece thought, but it would add a pop to someone's wardrobe, and the grey makes it neutral enough to go with more than just a lime green coat or sweater or something. 

Then this morning I made (drumroll please), cinnamon rolls! They are gluten free and from a recipe found at the Recreating Happiness Gluten Free blog. My pictures are not as scrumptious as hers, but they taste delicious! This is the first time that I have been able to have gluten free dough that turned out yeast-y and gooey like a real cinnamon roll, so kudos to her! They were awesome! I think I would take the dough by itself and make dinner rolls (just cook balled up dough so that it's pull apart, but without the cinnamon filling, obviously), it was that good! So here's the picture of how mine turned out....

The link to this recipe is here (Recreating Happiness Gluten Free). It's really great, I encourage you to try it on a boring afternoon. I will warn you that the dough is very sticky and can be tricky to roll into the cinnamon rolls (hence some of mine are a little ugly, they tore when I was rolling them up). But the end product is well worth it. Also, this recipe is entirely from scratch! So you will need quite a few ingredients, but honestly, I had everything in my cupboards already and didn't have to go get anything, so based on my experience I would say that all the ingredients are fairly common, especially if you have been baking gluten free for any length of time. 

While I was waiting for my cinnamon rolls to bake I finished another cowl, made out of Mega Brushed by Premier Yarns, it's 100% acrylic, and I held it double and used a size 13 needle. I used the basket weave stitch, using a pattern that I improvised for my friend when she was making cowls for her family this past Christmas season. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, I think it will wear well and be very warm, it will be going up on my Etsy store in March along with everything else that I have been showing on here (except for the Project Linus blankets, of course). 

Other than that I have been listening to sermons by different people about the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism, and think I am leaning toward Arminianism, but am also torn about determinism, because it seems to make sense in a sort of way. I am still reading Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson, and Mythologies by Roland Barthes. How I have been reading Mythologies is that I read through it and just underline any word that I may not know (which tends to be slang, it's a philosophical, yet contemporary book, it's hard to explain). Afterwards I go through with the translator on my phone and look up any words that I had underlined previously. I think that this will reinforce my vocabulary and also strengthen the vocabulary that I am able to recall and use, not just the vocabulary that I am able to recognize, because I find that those are two different things. I also found out just yesterday that the community college in my metropolitan area offers courses in Chinese, four separate semesters, and I am seriously considering enrolling in Chinese in the fall, it's too late of course for the spring semester, but that will be something to look forward to. 

So that's it!

Needle Review/ My Personal Opinion

Today I'm going to talk about different needles that I am using and have used in making the color work hats that I am going to sell on Etsy, but first, let's have a quick look at the projects that I finished yesterday, shall we?

These are five little pocket bags that I finished up yesterday. They are approximately 3.5" by 5" by 7". The wider striped ones are going to be priced more because I pieced the base fabric for the bag, almost all of them have different sizes of black and white polka dots as the pocket lining. How the bags are made the inside of the bags are the same as the outside. It's a pretty neat little design, not a lot of cutting, just quite a bit of folding. 

This is another blanket for Project Linus, it's crochet, the stitch is a Catherine Wheel, with three colors, and then borders to make it big enough, since I ran out of yarn before it was big enough. Then I did a shell edge, just to tie it all together. 

And now for the needles. In this picture you can see a colorwork hat, made on size US 2 needles, with Knitpicks palette yarn, for almost all of it, the grey is sockweight yarn that was white and I dyed it and ended up with a tonal grey. The three types of needles in this picture are an unknown brand set of double points, size US 2, bamboo. Then there are the Hiya Hiya interchangeables with a 24" cable and size US 2 tips. Finally there are a set of Knitter's Pride Karbonz in size US 2 with a 16" cable. 

First, the double pointed needles, they are probably the most traditional. I have done quite a few socks exclusively on double points, and once you get the hang of them they are really pretty slick and I don't find them excessively fiddly. Now I usually only use DPNs for finishing the top of hats where the circumference of the knitting prohibits it working on a flexible cabled needle. I have an issue with using bamboo, I use bamboo over metal because it is less slick and I don't have to worry about stitches falling off, which has been an issue for me in the past. (There was one time I was working on socks on US 00 DPNs on a back country road at the lake, and we hit a bump and half of my stitches on a short row heel, half way through it, fell off, and I literally screamed and held my breath while I worked on getting the stitches back on the needles. The finished project ended up being very stiff, as the gauge was too small for the yarn, and the heel just did not fit right. I only finished the one as it was a bit of a disaster). 

 OK, back to the review. This Christmas I made approximately 18 hats for all they guys at the church group that I go to. 15 were done with sock yarn, and the Hiya Hiya interchangeables that are pictured above. I like the join between the tips and the cable, it's a screw attachment, and I find it secure and stable. I also like that the interchangeables go down to a size US 2, since most interchangeable sets that I have seen usually only go down to the size US 4, which just isn't small enough for me personally. The only problem that I am finding with these needles is that because I work a little tensely, and at the tip of the needle, I have been sharpening the needle to the point that it stabs me in the pointer finger on my right hand. I realize that this is probably not a common problem, and I don't think that what I have done with these needles should be considered "normal use", but it is something that I have noticed. 

The last set of needles is the Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles. They have metal tips with carbon fiber shafts, and metal joins to the plastic cable. The 16" cable is really nice for me, because of the hats that I am making the stitches fit better on that size of cable, but that is not really a critique of the needles. The carbon fiber shaft feels a little funny, but they don't snag stitches at all, and the joins are very smooth, and I am finding that I can knit very fast on these needles with minimal stabbing, since the points are not blunt but rounded so my finger is not suffering. 

So there you go, I really think it comes down to personal preference. At this point I prefer the Knitter's Pride Karbonz, but I am not everyone so I think there is a lot of wiggle room about which needles will work for you!

Alive Again!

Hello everyone, I am now back again again. This time I will be being much more vigilant in posting on here and see what we can come up with.
My current large, overambitious project is to open up my Etsy store again, and to have quarterly updates. I will be having very nice pictures taken and posted to my shop and on here, but so far, this is what I have.

They are little bags called pocket bags, with a drawstring closure, and there are two pockets on the outside of each bag. They are roughly 5" by 3.5" by 7". I think that it is a good size for a notions bag and that it will be a good launching point for my store. I have also made some hats. They are sock weight and color work, all variations in the same weight, but with different designs and colors throughout. 

They are slouchy hats, and are completely handmade. I think that these will add a nice aspect of my own handmade to the store, and I think that I will also have some scarves and cowls in there as well.

So that is what is going on as far as my store front is concerned, in other news I have been very busy in making things for people in my life, and for Project Linus that will be given to children that are either ill or in traumatic situations. Here are some examples of those.

So that's pretty much it. I have finished ECT treatments and am working on getting on with my life, but this is what I've been up to so far and there will be more updates to come. Thanks for reading, and hope to be catching up with you tomorrow!

New Fiber!

I got new fiber today from Etsy!!! They are wooly cupcakes from Wooly Peddler.... I love them, this is the third time I've gotten them, I think...

The whole package all together...

And the blues and greens....

And the multi-colored bits...
And the reds and pinks and purples....
These have already been spun up, but I am going to save pictures, because I think I am going to use the yarn for a Project Yarnway project (do I sound obsessed?)

In other news, I have another week of work, yay!!! Also, I am a third of the way through my first summer school class!