Faery Fiber

I found an etsy shop that I really like! It's Faery Fiber. I have no idea where I heard of them, probably from Ravelry but I'm not sure. Anyway I was looking at her sock yarn and I found one called "Mad Eye." It's her line based on the Harry Potter books. (I admit I'm a sucker for yarn named after anyone in a book I like) I don't remember what she said about Mad Eye exactly that caught my eye, but I know the brilliant blue was for his eyes, the brown is the colors that he normally wears, and there's a hint of pink to match his cheeks. Anyway, the colorway is beautiful. It's 475 yds, so there is definitely enough to do whatever I want with this. I was also tempted by her Cafe Mocha colorway, but decided that one skein was enough to try out.

As a bonus for buying from her, Faery Fiber sends along special stitch markers for free. These beauties look great with the yarn. And they look pretty cool in the snow too!

Contest Results and Baby Blanket Decisions

A while back I asked for opinions on a blanket I want to make for my older sister's baby. She knows it's a girl, so I wanted something fun and girly. I got a lot of good suggestions. I decided to randomly pick a number from the people who commented and award that person a prize. It was Lisa from Ruby Ringz. Lisa is really sweet and comments all the time, even though I've never met her. I'll be sending Lisa some sock yarn... photos of that to come, I don't want to spoil the surprise!

I decided to take someone's advice and get a crib sheet to go with the blanket. I found this cute little flowered one which really does match the blanket, it's just hard to tell in this light. I'm also going to make Tums the Hippo to go with it all. It will also match the quilt that my Mom is making. I'm about 2/3 of the way into the blanket, just starting the fun lace sections. I think it's going to be about 3 feet in diameter (round blanket).

So once I got that all settled, I felt much better. Until I was in my LYS and found a pattern from Cottage Creations for the Rambling Rows Afghan. And I remembered that I had this...

in my stash. It's 100% cotton, worsted weight. So now I'm thinking that I may finish the blanket I had originally intended, start the Rambling Rows one and just see which one I like best. Worst case scenario, my girls get a blanket for their "babies" or I donate one of the blankets.

Scavenger Hunt Swap

1) Do you knit, crochet or both? How long have you been doing it?
I knit. I've been knitting for several years... more than 5, less than 8...
2) What is on your needles/hook right now?
I have a baby blanket, a sock, a sweater, a Christmas stocking that is hibernating, an afghan that is hibernating, and probably more that I can't think of.
3) What is the most frequently used tool in your knitting bag?
Lately it's been my needle sizer. Although I just bought a bag to organize all my needles so hopefully I won't need it as often.
4) What are your 3 favorite yarns (fiber type or brand)? What are your 3 least favorite?
Alpaca, silk and angora are all favorites. I love Yarni sock yarn (from the Yarnery in St. Paul) - basically anything soft and smooshy.
Least favorite is any scratchy acrylic.
5) What is your favorite color?
I love blue. I also wear a lot of greens, browns and blacks.
6) If you had a 5 minute shopping spree in your LYS, how would you plan your attack?
I would start with the laceweight silk, hit the cashmere hard, scoop up some Misti bulky alpaca and spend the rest of the time in the picking out my favorite Claudia Handpainted sock yarn and Jitterbug sock yarn.
7) What is your favorite FO and why? (post a pic if you have it!)

I've finished two sweaters for my girls. Only one has seen significant use (the other was a newborn size and just too tiny). Both girls wore this in portraits. It's a very simple cotton sweater, but it was the first sweater I had knitted and was much more complicated than the hats and scarfs I had previously made.
8) What are your favorite things to knit/crochet?

Baby items. I love them, they're quick, they're sweet - the perfect instant gratification item. I also really enjoy socks and mittens. I really want to try Norwegian folk mittens.
9) Do you collect anything?

Other than yarn and books, I collect Willowtree Angels.

10) What are your five favorite things (not necessarily knitting related)?

watching movies with my husband

reading to my girls or playing games with them

scrapbooking

reading

cooking/baking
11) Are you on Ravelry? What is your ID?

knittingupnorth
12) Do you drink tea/coffee/cocoa?

I drink coffee mostly. I love Dunkin Donuts coffee - it's the nectar of the Gods.
13) Favorite Sweets?

Chocolate - perferably dark.
14) Any allergies?

My youngest is allergic to milk. But no, I don't have any allergies.
15) Do you have pets? kids?

I have 2 little girls, 3 1/2 and almost 2 years. I have a cat named Agamemnon. And the hubby.

The Girl Is Crafty Like Ice Is Cold

It's somewhat common around our house for me to show my husband something that I've made. He'll generally say, "The girl is crafty."
To which I respond, "Like ice is cold, baby!"
Silly, I know, but you have to get in the Beastie Boys references whenever you can. And now, if I've done my job right, you'll have that song in your head the rest of the day!


I received another swap package from my Sock It To Me Again partner, and boy is she crafty! She made these adorable little tags that I think I'm putting in my scrapbooking supplies. She also sent some yummy looking brownie mix, more homemade stitch markers (because you can never have too many!), a cool dragon puzzle, stitch holders, some Bee solid lotion, and Socks That Rock sock yarn (Flower Power colorway) and a pattern! Oh yes, and some index tab markers that are EXACTLY what I was looking for to keep track of my place on my patterns. How did you know? Boy does this woman have good taste!


I've never used Socks that Rock, so I'm excited to try it out.

Vote Please!

I need some help. I am making a baby blanket for my older sister who is pregnant with a girl. Do you think this would be a good color for a lace baby blanket?

The sister in question is a bit picky with colors. For instance, I didn't buy bright red Cascade 220 because "babies get too irritated by bright colors." This is also the sister whose oldest child didn't wear the yellow shrug I made for her because "she didn't have anything that matched."

Also, I wanted to make sure it was superwash because I didn't want her to felt a lace blanket accidentally. I didn't get acrylic because if they have a fire the acrylic melts vs. wool which is self-extinguishing.

Whew, this is nerve-wracking. I know I should just go to Baby Gap and spend a ton of money on a blanket that was made (cheaply) in China. However, I really want to make something for my new neice. So please, leave votes and opinions in the comments. :)

Sock update

I finished the scarf late last night and sewed in the ends this morning. That means I'm free to start another project. No! That means I'm free to work on my socks. I'm working on the heel right now. I thought about making the heel and the toe pink, but I think I'm going to just stick with the toes being pink. I think it will give it a nice balanced look.

I absolutely love this color combination. Chocolate brown and pink. I hope my sock pal likes it too. It's so hard to tell about some of these things. I figure if she doesn't like them, she could always re-gift them to someone with the same size feet. :)

Angela's Undulating Scarf

Yarn: elsebeth lavold angora in 009 burgundy red, 3 skeins
Pattern: Angela's Undulating Scarf from Yarn Garage
Details: The original pattern called for 4 skeins of yarn, however since I'm short and didn't want a super long scarf, 3 worked just fine for me. Otherwise the pattern is simple, just a p1,k1 all the way up, throwing in cables every 6 rows. It's nice and thick, perfect for our very cold winters.

Sorry for the not so fabulous photo, we haven't seen the sun in about a week so the flash is my only option.

Sock It To Me Again Yarn

I was a very bad recipient and have neither posted pictures nor written a true thank you to my Sock It To Me Again spoiler. She's the one that sent me the New Pathways book, yummy mixes and some of this Cascade 220. She sent me much more... too much to write today since I think I listed it all out once before.

But back to the yarn. This skein has been sitting on our home desk just waiting for me to figure out what it is going to be. It's the perfect Jess color. I love this color. So it really should be something for me.... but I hardly ever knit for me....

So even though I have 2 other projects that I am actively working on, I'm going to make this just for me. It's Foliage from Knitty Fall 2007. I love this hat and think it will be beautiful in the Cascade 220. I also think it will be toasty warm - just what I need as the temperatures dip into the teens again.

Amazing!

Does it ever hit you that there is just an absolute ton out there that you didn't even know you didn't know?

For instance, I never knew how much easier cables would be with a cabling needle. It makes me wonder how that very first conversation went. "Honey, while you're carving and sanding that double point needle for me on your lath, would you be so kind as to make a shorter one that's a little thiner (but not too much thinner) in the center?"

And whoever thought of using wires to stretch out their lace projects - genius! All of a sudden my pointy points are well, pointy!

And row counters. Ah, I could write a sonnet about row counters. (Except when little fingers "click" Mommy's clicker without asking first.) Obviously the person that came up with a row counter had small children running around, getting into the fire, asking for treats, and generally wreaking havoc with the farmstead.

5 Goals

For the Sock It To Me Again swap, we've been given a challenge to come up with 5 Goals for 2008. Even though I've said repeatedly that I wasn't going to do this, I will do almost anything for free yarn. :)

1. Take my vitamins every day. I read on webmd that your nails are the window to your body. It looks like I'm a little low on iron (could have told you that!) and I probably need more calcium anyway.

2. Learn to spin. This one scares me because I suspect that it is another obsession waiting to happen. However, my Grandma has a spinning wheel that belonged to her grandmother. No one in the family knows how to use it. Apparently it's not a common type and when Grandma went to take lessons, the teacher wasn't able to help much. I would love to know how to use that wheel, it makes me teary just thinking about it.

3. Resume writing cute kid stuff on our calendar to put in the scrapbooks. I've gotten lazy on this one. I didn't write down Lily's first haircut or her last set of teeth coming in. Bad mom!

4. Knit a lace shawl. The entire thing. Not just 6 inches of a shawl.

5. Finish the old UFO's that I have lying around. Most notably the pinwheel sweater, Matty's afghan and the socks that have been frogged 3,000 times.

Yarnalicious Update

The yarn I pictured yesterday (two days ago?) is Buckingham from Plymouth Yarn Company. It's 80/20 Baby alpaca and silk. Mmmmm.... soft! I started a pair of socks with a lacy turn down cuff and it's going well so far. The first row was a little dicey since the yarn seemed to be a little splitty, but it's calmed down now. Now I just have about 22 more repeats of a four-row lace pattern - easy peasy.

Has anyone ever done the Frilly Lace Sock from Lornas Laces? Should I block the lace before I seam it and pick up the slipped stitches to do the body of the sock?