Yarn P0rn June 29, 2008

Yes, I’ve been indulging in some yarn p0rn. Knit Picks has new yarns that have just been added to the site, and I’m drooling on my keyboard.

Look here!!!
Swish DK is one of my favourite yarns, and they have 15 new colours!
I’m also in love with these new kettle dyed sock yarns.
And these Imagination hand painted sock yarns are wonderful! I am lusting over Wicked Witch, Evil Stepmother, and Seven Dwarves. I might get a hank of Pixie Dust to make socks for the girlchild.

So many beautiful yarns, so little time.  I love Knit Picks!

Yarny goodness June 25, 2008

I got a box of yarny goodness in the mail today. I ordered Swish DK in Petal for my daughter’s sweater, and Indigo Heather Swish Worsted (which is a more purply blue than it looks online) for mine. Now I just need to hurry up and finish Shimmer so that I can start on the kiddo’s sweater!

Knitting bag – the finale June 24, 2008

I finished my knitting bag!!! If I’d known that the boning wasn’t stiff enough, I’d have doubled it up. The sides aren’t quite rigid enough for my liking, but I don’t want to take the whole thing apart. The frame was a bitch to put together, and I don’t want to take it apart because I suspect that will be even harder than putting it together.

Had I known that the frames are available up to 18″, I probably would have gotten a 16″ frame instead of 14″, but I do think that the bag is big enough for me as it is. I just need to figure out a way to make the sides more rigid. I’m actually considering inserting a piece of wooden dowel down the sides. Hmm.

Knitting bag, part II June 23, 2008

The mailman dropped my clips in my mailbox today, so I will work on my knitting bag and one of R’s sundresses. I need to ask her which one she wants me to make first.

I want to start making socks, and will probably have socks on the go while doing other projects, so I made myself a little lined pouch to keep my socks separate from my other project. I used these awesome instructions.

I’m off to sew my bag now!

Making a knitting bag June 18, 2008

You betcha! I’ve been using a tote bag, but it isn’t very useful. No pockets to store little bits of stuff, and it is too small. So I started looking at knitting bags. Bags for some are like crack. I’m not that way, but damn there are some beautiful knitting bags out there! I’d love one, but can’t justify spending over $100 on a bag to hold my knitting projects.

Then I looked through my patterns, and while I do have a few bag patterns, none really struck me as a good knitting bag pattern, so off to do some Google-fu I went. And I found this tutorial… Not only is the bag cute, but it closes easily and will stay open! And it has pockets! Did I mention that it is cute? It is a little small, so I’m going to make mine taller, but I think this may be the perfect bag for my needs.

I bought all of the supplies except for the swivel clips (the tutorial calls them bolt clasps) which I finally found today (interestingly, at the same online retailer that I bought the hex frame from – if I’d thought to look there when I bought the frame and stabilizer, I could have made the darn thing eons ago!). I did order some brass ones from Strapworks, but they’re HUGE. I sent them an email to see if I can return them since I don’t see myself ever using them, though if they won’t take them back maybe my husband will find a use for them in the garage.

Here are my fabrics. The stripe is going to be the bag lining, and the floral is the exterior.

Yesterday I cut out all of my fabric and fused on the interfacing. Today I’ve been working on putting the pockets in the lining but I’m not done yet (since I’ve been distracted by toilet training my son, among other things). uhandbag.com has a great tutorial for the interior pockets.

The other thing I did yesterday was make a storage case for my Knit Picks needles. I use both the fixed and options needles, and had already purchased the zipper pockets that they sell to go in their needle organizer (basically a black 6 ring binder that is covered in fabric that they charge $20 for). I figured I would buy some kind of funky binder to put the pockets in, but I haven’t found one yet. Then the other night I thought “hey dummy, just buy a cheap 6 ring binder and cover it in fabric to match your bag!” So I did. I got a $6 binder at Target yesterday, put a thin layer of batting on the outside, wrapped it in fabric, then put scrapbook paper on the inside to cover the raw edges, and voila! The perfect needle organizer!

I’ve been crafting, but not posting… June 17, 2008

I know, I’m a horribly lazy crafter. I have been working on things, just not writing about them. Again, horribly lazy. I actually forgot about this blog until Andrea commented on my last post!

Anyway, I have one finished object to share with you… It is a skirt called “Intolerable Cruelty” and I love it. The yarn is Knit Picks Swish DK in Bordeaux.

This last picture shows the modification I made to the pattern. Since the entire skirt is done in stocking stitch, the hem rolls. I really didn’t like how it looked, so I did a picot bind off, which I think looks really great! The corset ribbon at the back is only decorative. I used black velvet ribbon. Now I just need the weather to cool down a little so I can wear it!

What else have I made lately? Well, I made 4 nighties recently for my daughter’s birthday party. Instead of giving goodie bags full of junk that the kids wouldn’t want (or would break the next day), I decided to make nighties. My daughter’s nightie is white with cherries, one was bright green with strawberries, another was a green and pink floral, and the last one was a black and white skull & crossbones print (if you knew B and her mom, you’d understand!) They were a big hit, and only took about an hour each.

I also made my daughter a new cozy blanket. I sewed together squares of leftover fleece, then bound it with pink broadcloth on the back and quilted it. She likes to curl up on the couch with her old baby blanket, but it is time to put it away in the memory box, so I made her a new (bigger) blanket. She really likes it. I’ll try to get a picture of it.

Right now, I’m working on a sweater for myself, for those cool summer evenings. I’ve been wanting to knit lace lately, so I went with “Shimmer” from Knitty. I’m nearly finished. Mine won’t be dressy  since I wanted it for everyday wear, so I am using KnitPicks Main Line in Cypress.

I also ordred more yarn to make my daughter a sweater for school, and myself a sweater for fall/winter. I don’t have a nice cardigan, and I think I need one. Stay tuned and I’ll fill you in!