Teasers for Amanda

The color is all wrong in that picture, but here is another teaser for Amanda! She is off enjoying herself on Kangaroo Island, with limited internet poor thing! while I am at home trying to come up with ways of tormenting her. :) Not really, just putting together another use for the cable from my cardigan design.

But that isn't all I have been doing...but the other project deserves just a little explanation.

I have a niece and nephew, sort of, do they still count when they are your ex-husbands sister's kids? Well, anyhow, as far as I am concerned I have a niece and nephew in Washington State. I have not seen or heard from them (to speak of) in seven years, with our only contact being at Christmas and birthdays. Every year I struggle with what I can get children, one already a teenager, that I know next to nothing about. Gift cards and cash usually get exchanged on those holidays, but I made a pledge over a year ago to give handmade, and really it has bothered me for a while that I have failed in that pledge with the WA relatives.

This year that changes, this year I found a way to make it work...

Presenting the Felt Your Own Slipper Kit!




I knit some more Elf Shoes (ravelry link) that can also be found here if you are not on Ravelry. Then instead of felting them myself I packaged them up with some spare yarn (just in case over ambitious agitation leads to holes) felting (or fulling) instructions and a small felted swatch to show what the fabric should look like when done. Pop the lot into a handy, dandy, zipper bag and you have a kit that lets me knit and hopefully will fit the recipient!

So, Stats :
Elf Shoes by Flint Knits
Size 10.5 US needles
Patons Classic Wool in Wedgewood one ball
Sized for an Adult Male's size 9 -10 (US) foot, so it should be big enough!
Started June 24th and put in the bag June 25th.

~M

Swatches, or WIP Wednesday

It has been a few days of swatching, swatching, more swatching!

Summer Swatch Me! has started and the first chart is awful fun. Below you have two versions of Peacock, one on the starts of some mitts and the other in my sampler...but to see this pattern in it's true glory you have to check out what Jeri did with it!!! Scroll down past some fabulous cables and be amazed by the talent that can take a simple lace pattern, start it as one thing and without frogging or ripping turn it into something else!
Both of my versions are much more mundane and follow patterns provided by Bad Cat Designs...the sampler being knit on size 4 needles out of some Jade Sapphire Silk/Cashmere in Burnt Toast. Maybe if the toast I burned looked like that I would eat it!


More Jade Sapphire yarn and a ton of beads are being used in the mitts. Again a silk/cashmere this time Hydrangea.

Way back at the top is yet a third use of Jade Sapphire yarn, this time Winter Sky. I might have been bitten by the design bug. :)

So what is on your needles?

~M

And the loot rolls in!

The box would have to arrive today, the day that I lost my cool with some of the members of my team, the same team that opened 25 accounts in one nine hour day!

Egged on by a Columbus Police Officer the team that I work with, the one I am supposed to lead but today I didn't lead them anywhere but it into bad moods, gave me a gift card to KnitPicks for my birthday last week. I had spent it in less time than it took them to agree on where the gift card would be from I am sure.

We have : assorted sock yarn, a tip holder, locking stitch markers (great for setting in sleeves, where were they days ago when I was making do with straight pins?) points for size 4, 5 and 6 interchangeable circular needles and size 1, 2 and 3 47" long fixed circulars.

What other loot did I get for becoming more than the ultimate answer*, I got a new front door. All I need to do is paint it and then install it.

~M
*42 has come and gone, if you don't get the reference can I suggest reading more?

Frog Clasps

Finally, the cardigan is finished! Lots of little details that you really can't see in any of these pictures....being the model and the photographer is not one of the easiest things I have ever done!

This cardigan is started in the middle and then worked up and down until done. The sleeves have cables for cuffs that are knit going in one direction and then a simple "lace" and cable detail up the centers, the bodice has waist and bust shaping along with a fairly deep V-neck and the skirt has rows of eyelets to stop the Yak/Mohair/Silk/Merino yarn from becoming unbearably hot.
Each front started with a half cable detail, cut the one above straight down the middle and you will get the idea!

Button Bands, can you call them button bands when there are no buttons on them, start with five ridges of twisted garter followed by three of regular garter stitch to give them stability while still being stretchy.


I still need a clasp for the waist, somewhere I saw a picture of one that inspired the cable details! Now I just have to find it again.

Stats: Frog Clasp Cable Cardigan
Yarn: Colourmart 2/9 Yak/Mohair/Silk/Merino blend. I used most of two cones, including swatching and one additional sleeve that was too tight. (I haven't frogged that yet, it will store just as well flat as wound)
US Needles sizes 2 and 4
Started May 21st, 2010 and blocked June 15th,2010.

I have charted all of the cables and scribbled notes for the cardigan shaping, who knows maybe one day they will turn into a "for real" pattern!

~M

Another TNNA Debut

The BadCat has got her hands full with getting ready for the Summer Swatch Me! Project But another one of her designs made it's debut at TNNA this weekend.




Meet The New Victorian, part scarf, part shawl, 100% handspun cashmere! The yarn and pattern are available from Jade Sapphire, if your LYS doesn't carry it, ask!


She's awfully pretty!

~M

Making their debut at TNNA

Jade Sapphire has some new scarf kits this coming season. Rather than four balls of the same color yarn, these include 2 or 4 colors and several patterns. The hardest part is picking which of the ten color packs you want and then which of the included patterns you want to knit!

Each one makes a very generously long and wide scarf that is soft as a dream and can be worn many different ways.

Unfortunately my model drew the line at modeling cashmere scarves in 80 degree heat, so the stair banister had to stand in!




If you are in the Columbus, OH area and lucky enough to go to TNNA check out the booth and say hello to my knitting for me!!

~M

Counting down to Unveiling

Today marked the start of TNNA's Summer Show. Today is the day that all of the exhibitors were running around setting up their tables, displaying their wares and generally suffering from exhaustion.

Tomorrow the exhibits will open and all of the new products leading into fall and winter will make their debut and yarn store owners will decide which of those products are going to make their way onto your LYS shelves.

Last year I was treated to an invite to take a look around, and this year Jane of Jade Sapphire Exotic Fibers has again got a badge ready for me to wear so that I can not only scope out the new releases but get to see my knitting on display.

Last year I knit cowls and hats for the Jade Sapphire tables, tomorrow you will see what items were added to the collection!

On other topics, my cardigan is getting closer to looking like an article of clothing rather than an indeterminate blob. If I hadn't had to walk around singing "But, darn, you made the sleeves too tight"* I would be done now. One sleeve has been re-knit and the other cast on, then it is button bands and final blocking before her unveiling.



Lots coming up to see at Chez Yarn Diet!

~M

* sung to this tune!

Test

Just a quick test of my new software....is it readable?