New Fabric

I know that I usually show yarn and knitting, but last night I bought fabric. And I am so excited! I am now searching for the right bag pattern for this fabric. Perhaps I'll make something up. I will also be digging through my stash to see if I have a good orangy/yellow or turquoise to use with these.

Here's a broader view so you can see the whole pattern repeat.

Does anyone have any pattern suggestions for a bag (tote or purse)?

Baby Gift

I made this a month ago to give to an adorable baby. I loved making this sweater. It is the first sweater that I've made and I was nervous about it. Turns out this pattern is so easy and it went much faster than I expected. It is the same pattern that I'm using for the blue baby sweater that I am currently making. See link to pattern in previous post.

Berroco Comfort in Ballet Pink

Sad

I am sad to report that Callie is not well at all. She has lymphoma and things do not look good for her.

Casting On

My brother's dog is sick. She is at the vet clinic staying for a second night. They have run lots of tests and are not exactly sure what's up with her. She is a great dog. I hope she feels better soon.

Callie

This is the yarn for socks that I am casting on today for my niece's birthday in November. I know it is early to make these, but I just want to get them done and off the "to do" list. I think this yarn will make great socks. First of all, it's acrylic, this is most important since my mother-in-law is responsible for washing these and I didn't want to burden her with hard to care for socks. And the color, well, that's my niece's favorite. I also like the sport weight, they should knit up quickly.

Lion Brand Baby Soft - Lavender

I decided to play around with a swatch. There are several different stitch patterns here. I am going to make socks from this book with a 2x2 rib pattern. This swatch helped me make some other decisions for upcoming projects.

The all important swatch for gauge

Dyeing

I didn't get a shot of the bare wool. But here it is in the pot:

Knit Picks Bare - Superwash Merino DK Weight
Dyed with lots of Kool-Aid and overdyed multiple times.

Dried and ready to reskein. Notice that the yellow that was in the pot is not on the final skein. The yellow just didn't work so I used some blue Kool-aid and turned it green. I overdyed this yarn twice after the original dyeing. I am finally happy with the results.

This is my favorite part. When you reskein it and see how all the colors work out. I think this skein is well balanced. The big test will be when I knit with it.


I always love the close up pictures of yarn.

Little Progress

But it looks more like a sweater now.

And here is a picture of the yarn. I like these close ups.

Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends - Rain

Okay, here is the pattern for the sweater.

What's on the needles currently

I am really enjoying knitting with this yarn:

Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends - Rain

I am making a baby sweater and so far this is what I have managed to do:

It's time to put the sleeves on stitch holders. Which in my case will be some scrap yarn. I love this pattern. And I tried to post a link for you but I'm having trouble getting it to link properly. I'll keep working on it and put the link in my next post if I'm able to work it out. Sorry.

New blog . . . but not really

I've had this blog saved for a while, but I haven't posted anything. I really thought that I would save it to use in conjunction with an etsy.com store but that hasn't happened and may not for a long time. But I wanted to get this going with a few pictures of some of my projects from this year.

Child's hat donated to a local children's hospital for a child undergoing chemo. (made in January '09):
Socks made for husband's valentine present (February 2009):
My first attempt at dyeing yarn with kool-aid:My first attempt at spinning wool: