Just Breathe

It's back to summer in the FiberChic world--hello, everyone!

Soo...recap of this year:

gave up the dog,

received the "outstanding aux." for our color guard

almost moved to central IL (but didn't),

almost moved to KY (but didn't),

found four kittens under a friend's stoop, kept two of them,

Knitted Christmas presents, including a guitar strap, "America's Next Top Model" Christmas ornament, and bitty mouse,

enjoyed a family round-up during Christmas,

(student) directed my school's rendition of "D**n Yankees",

stressed over Chemistry,

stressed over AP tests,

went to my first school dance (prom!) (with a group of friends, not by myself),

said goodbye to the fantastic school band director, due to district cuts,

and throughout it all...

spun, designed and knitted another dress (pictures pending).

You, Blogosphere, were so good to me my freshman year--you kept me sane through a dramatic transition in my life. I figure the least I can do is just let you know how I'm turning out.

Baby Steps

(no pun intended)

I now have both fronts, and the back done and the same length.

I had a bit of a scare regarding the gauge; it turns out that the yarn, although it's a similar weight, does not match the gauge in the pattern. Since it makes the bolero bigger, not smaller, I am going to continue on today as if I had the proper gauge, with my eyes shut. I know I am going to be embarrassed about this later, but my logic is that Riley wouldn't be able to wear this for long if it was in the proper gauge, maybe she'll get a couple more wears in it if the gauge is a few less stitches to the inch.

But before you send me "Are you crazy?!?" mental thoughts, just know this: it made sense around 10 last night.....

I'll be seeing the twins tonight, so I can sneak a couple measurements and see if my wonky-gauged version will fit her. If not, maybe I can adjust the pattern a smidge.

When I took a break from my Ravelympics project, I did a little spinning.

This is an alpaca and cormo (cormo is a brand of sheep that is desended from Corriedale and Merino sheep). I Navajo plied the yarn; it's the thickest I've made in a while. After I catch up on Ravelympics projects, this will probably be a hat.

Dyeing of All Kinds (Plus a FO)

Rewind, if you please, to the Saturday before last.
The day before, a certain ceramic hand was picked up from a certain ceramics teacher's workshop. This hand seemed to enjoy following me around, so I let it pose in some pictures.

Also finished around then was the Picovoli cardigan. All I have to do is steam the edges, and I'm done. One more 4-H project complete!

Anyway, back to the Saturday before last.....
Mom and I were at a spinning guild meeting consisting of fiber, yarn, and tons of dye.
We had lots of fun.
A pair of snow-white silk caps, bought on the first of this year....

.....are no longer snow-white, nor caps. The orange and yellow has already been spun, and is a hairband, and the blueish purple one will soon be spun. (The brownish hairband was also knit with handspun flax during the trip. In fact, I'm wearing it as we speak.) Some lovely alpaca, soon to be a pair of gloves... ...is now a brilliant blue (although it was meant to be lavender. I don't know how that happened.)
Mom even got in on the action, dyeing a beautiful silk scarf! Mom is very proud of her scarf, and I am, too. It's a wonderful creative endeavor. She says she's trying to keep up with me. I think she's doing a terrific job. The next day, we left for Wisconsin, with the gerbils in tow. Annie wasn't feeling very well, and we thought it wasn't right to leave her behind, to be fed by the neighbors every couple days.
She passed on on the way up, and is buried up there. It's really pretty, right by a little lake, with lots of trees and sunshine.
Be a good little girl, Annie. We'll miss you.

On a lighter note....
When we got to the cabin, I did a bit of dyeing. The first try turned out quite atrocious, but with some Rit dye remover, I miraculously got a second chance, which turned out a lot better, and is what you see here.
This yarn is for three super-secret presents, each a different color, intended to be finished before Christmas. Shouldn't be too hard, right? (McCormick food coloring and Kool-Aid. Never lets me down!)

And, hmmm....I suppose I'm all caught up. Great.
I'll go unpack the spinning wheel now.

My Day In Pictures

Regarding the lace project: I didn't finish it, not even close. Will frog the several inches I did, since I misunderstood the pattern, as I so often do, and try again after life has settled down.
My brother's birthday went well. He got all sorts of cool sharp things to play with (seriously!) so I guess that's a sign he's growing up. He wants a black cape, and has given me time to make it past his birthday, especially since I don't have that kind of yarn right now. A guy friend at school wants a black cape too; not sure when I'll fit that in...I have plenty of other projects in my head, I hope to have a list tomorrow.
So. How was my day?
Well,
I went to school,

Made a lot of progress on my skirt (should be done by the end of the week)

(this was earlier than today) spun up all of that lovely silk, still deciding what to do with it,

When I got home, I:
Admired my new T-shirt (we all needed nicknames on the back, if you recall, my initials are HAH...my favorite that I know of is "Suspence" for a guy friend-not the same one who wants the cape; his name's Spencer...)


Played my cello

Now, instead of doing this:

I should be doing this:

Which is hard homework, but I'm rewarding myself with this:

I see lots of bitty knitted items in my future!(smiles)

As my dad would say, hasta lasagna!

And Now, There Are Two!

Yep, I finished them-buttons and all!

The middle button on the boy's cardigan looks darker in the picture, but I promise you, it's not!

The boy's cardigan turned out a tad bigger, but not too bad.

The pattern: Daisy, from Knitty.

Adjustments: I did a different pattern for the sleeves:

CO 33, work in st st till piece measures 6-7 inches, or desired length, work dec. same as original pattern

(Make 2, obviously)

I just made the sleeves longer and thinner, nothing fancy-I hope they fit!

Now that I have Goal #1 off my list, on to Mom's scarf!

I dyed half of my silk with Cherry Kool Aid for the red, Orange Kool Aid for the, well, orange.

It looks a little scraggly, but hopefully nothing a little carding can't fix :)

Yay for Wednesdays!

So Close-

-and yet so far.

As you can see from this shadowed picture, I have the body of BBR's cardigan finished, and one sleeve. The other is about halfway done. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it this weekend or next week. It would be nice to start a new project and check an old one off the list.

I don't have the yarn for the super secret projects for my friends, so I'll have to prep for the third project next: the Phoenix Tears Scarf.

I'm planning on using the silk caps that were off-limits until school starts. Remember? It will be only part of the project, though. The pattern asks for a ribbon yarn as well. Perhaps I'll get fabric to cut into strips, or maybe I'll actually buy some novelty stuff. I'm not sure yet. I could just do an interpretation of the pattern, and not use ribbon yarn at all!

It's a debate on whether or not to dye the caps and spin them, or spin the yarn and dye that. Either way, it would be fun to test out the dyeing technique for my blanket; granted, the blanket won't be out of silk, but still.

Now, for a Ravelry update:

You signed up on July 19, 2007
You are #18748 on the list.
7146 people are ahead of you in line.
12850 people are behind you in line.
36% of the list has been invited so far.

Last time we checked, there was 3,000 more people in front of me. I'm moving up!:)

Just Pictures Today!

TA DAH! I knitted this stitch too loosely-what should I do?
I have a really long foot-the sissors are regular size.
After ripping back... This is the design I'm planning for my blanket-I want to make sure you can tell what it is, so in the comments, could you please tell me what the pattern looks like to you?

Happy Labor Day!

In light of not having school today, I did do some knitting-however, my camera doesn't seem to want to talk to the computer right now, so we'll just have to live with verbal explanations, won't we?

I found the blue yarn ball for my sock, and one sock is finished, and fits perfectly. However, its mate will have to be put on hold, as the yarn (not me, the yarn) forgot to make an edging for the cardigan, so I had to visit the frog pond for a while, but now I'm back on track.

Remember the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the summer?
Well, I've been updating them, and adding a few, but in recent weeks, I suddenly found I had a lot more projects than I have written in one place. So, seeing as my planned post (that was complete with pictures) has been ruined, today I will make a list of my knitting goals for the 2007-2008 school year. It is in order of when I plan on finishing them, not necessarily the order I plan on starting them! :)

1) Finish BBR's sweater and put buttons on both his and his sister's ALL DONE!!

2) Make presents for 3 close friends (No, I'm not even going to hint about what they will be-these WIP will be strictly off-blog until they are given to their recipients!)

3) Make a Phoenix scarf for my DM (I just got the book!)DONE!

4) Dye, spin, design and knit a blanket of my own creation. I am planning the design now, but will have to wait for the resources to start the spinning/dyeing. This will probably be a 4-H project.

5) Finish the "Cut Your Teeth" socks

6) Knit my own pants-4H project?

7) Knit socks in school colors using the Quidditch Socks pattern from Charmed Knits

8) Make two Sheldons for BBR and BGR-this doesn't have to be by this year. They probably won't be able to play with it or be cute with it till they're 2 or 3....
Thanks to Knittypants for her post on the cute turtles to introduce me to them!

Lotsa Updates

Sock update first:

I have knitted together the squares for one sock, and I'm as far as I can be without using the yellow yarn, which is a work in progress, still.

I weighed the already-done thirds...and they're the same weight as the third I hadn't started at the time. Huh. I guess I made thinner yarn on the bigger spool. Like I said before, however, I don't think I will even out any spools until all of the roving has been spun.

Aaand here's the info on Ravelry:

You signed up on July 19, 2007
You are #18748 on the list.
10495 people are ahead of you in line.
4980 people are behind you in line.
33% of the list has been invited so far.

10495 people--hmm. Shouldn't be too long now!

OK, now for the baby cardigan info:

The bitty sweater has been started, but I will need another ball of Bernat pink to finish the one for the girl. Since I'm using this pattern, I am also debating whether I should add the flowers (for the girl)/snakes (for the boy). I have A LOT of little bits and pieces of yarn I could use, so that's no problem. What do you think?

I am also being crazy and REALLY thinking ahead-to when I have finished all of these projects, and I need something for 4-H next year.

I've decided on a lacy shawl made by the late owner of Copper Moose. The pattern is in the book Spin To Knit, which I recently checked out of the library. I am planning on dyeing my own roving, then spinning it, then knitting it. If I get started soon (as in in November or December), perhaps I will be able to steal enough time to start the knitting in, like March.

Before I finish, or even start, any of the above, however, I should probably get my summer homework done, so in the next week, I can at least say I have some sort of FO!

I Went Shopping!

For roving, that is.
First up, the fiber for my next project. The blue will be the cuff, heel and toe, while the yellow will be the rest!
Now, don't look at me like that. I know I need to make the baby sweaters, and that I have other things on the list, but hey, a girl's gotta have something to spin, right? Right?!? Next is something I need to have, anyway.
I'm doing this volunteer thing to teach kids how to spin, and how people did it in the olden days. Since I need to have a natural fiber, the above was what I chose.
The next two, I have no excuse. I just need something to spin for fun, as something to do other than homework the first week or so of school. These fibers are off-limits till the end of August.This is just an ounce of merino/silk blend, nothing super-special. I don't usually pick green, so I thought it would be nice to have a change of pace, color-wise.

Now, this is the treat. It's an ounce worth of silk cap, which is a bunch of silk cocoons flattened out. I'm not sure whether or not I'll dye it, but it'll be fun to spin.
Happy Saturday!

Hey All!

I have chosen the fiber I would like to use for my socks....well, sort of.
You see, I know what I want the main color to be: Blue Noils (the Merino Superwash), from The Fold. However, I don't know much about color, and I'm horrible at matching color. I would like to buy all of the fiber from the same source, and to save DM a trip, I'm going to attempt to order it via phone. What colors do you see at this cool little shop that would match my pale blue?
My starting colors was Cranberry, Rosequartz, Sandalwood, and English Garden. I'm also considering Sage or Laurel. (To view those, click on the link above, go to fibers, then Mulitcolored Merino.)
Do any of them match to you? I would like to have (preferably) a warm color as the dancing ladies on the socks, but if the green matches with the blue, so be it!

More Sock Patterns

I did a bit of research on the internet, and found some more patterns I like:

This one I like because of the little dancing people on the cuff....I would probably do it with a light color for the actual sock, and a darker color for the dancing people, and maybe the toe and heel too...that would look cool!

I like this one because of the designs in Fair Isle on the heel.

What about this one? I like the idea of knitting socks on just 2 needles. Or this?

The one in Spin Off was a bit too small, and the other one didn't look like it would be good without the beads.
Update: I re-rechecked the socks provided, and the only ones that fit me are the dancing people one, and the felted pair. What do you think?

Sock Patterns

I am trying to decide which pattern to use to make my socks. No, I have not spun the yarn--I haven't even gotten the roving!
However, I am not going to have access to the internet for two weeks after this Saturday (will explain later), so I have to decide on the pattern now or for 14 days hold my peace. DM (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU) has agreed to get the roving and mail it to me if we don't make it this week. I'll have my trusty drop spindle, that should keep me occupied.
And now, the patterns....
One is from my handy dandy knitting calender, with an optional bead design and tweed lace. It is cuff-down.
The other is in my Spin Off magazine, and has lots of designs. I'm a little unsure about this one, because it has lots of yo's, and I don't want to have marks on my feet after I finish it.
I should also mention that I have size 9 1/2 feet--he he....I better get out my measuring tape and check to see if the patterns could actually fit me!

I Really Need To Post More Often!

In case it is not apparent, I like doing things in list form. So, our first stop: a FO!!

Here's the waist...

The waist is a little too big; I'll have to adjust it a tad before the 4-H fair...

Next, progress on my blanket:

before

after

I also did a bit of spinning!

I have 2 spools of this, once I find a third spool, I'll spin them together!

I also have more summer goals! (to see my past goals, you can click here)
I would like to make a blanket with patches representing the months. I have the pattern in my knitting calendar:

This is the patches for January through June!
I think I'll increase the patches by a factor of 4 or 5, so that there is only 3 patches on each row. That way, I won't have to make a bunch of little patches. This goal will also go for my interest in making Fair Isle, although I would like to make a pillow or something also.

New Plans

The bunnies did not felt, and I have a backup present for the people I was making this for, so I am not going to make them. Perhaps this will be one of those projects I will get back to sometime when I have had more experience!

Lots Of News

This is going to take a while.
Let's see.... first on the list:

1) I finished the Subway Sweater!!!!

hi me!

the whole sweater

a close-up of the sleeves

This pattern is great--very clear and easy to follow. The top is a little baggy, but I doubt the problem is in the pattern; as I have said before, I'm a little small. So, DM (darling mom) and I are going to get some elastic to fix that. The elastic will also be used to finish my skirt.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already, but before this sweater, I haven't ever really made a garment that I'm happy with the color, length, and comfort of--at the same time. There was always some mistake; the pattern was flawed, it was too hot, the length was too short, the edge curled....the mistakes go on and on. One of these days I should have a Wall of Shame, showing all of the weird stuff I have attempted to make.

2) Here is my blanket:

Yeesh!

Yes, I have tried to keep up with the holes over the years, but I've been busy lately. (I know, I know, bad excuse) My goal is to patch it all up by camp, which is in a few weeks. If I don't make the deadline, that's OK--it's a warm blanket either way!
I'll take this opportunity to use up some small yarn balls in my stash--the ones you couldn't possibly use for much more than a small square. If I use those up, I'll find some acrylic that I am not likely to use for anything else.

3) This is what I am going to make the felted bunnies with, (I should probably mention I am going to make 10 or 14 for certain special people. I will not say who they are, just in case they are reading this) or something like it:

p35 of Spin Off Spring 2007

The expected outcome is this:

p34 of Spin Off Spring 2007

Of course, I know the first one I make will absolutely stink--it will be something like a cross between a dog and a fox. The next one will be a fox-and-dog mix, and the third will, if you squint a bit, will be a bunny. The fourth will definetaly be a bunny.

Here's to finished projects and plans to come!