This week in review : March 15

Lovely new Vespa self-striping sock yarn and a beautiful project bag from a friend.
Seaming Bertie's (hospice) Blanket - the very pretty sock yarn blanket, for which you kindly donated squares. Isn't that pile of threads so pretty.
A relaxing jigsaw puzzle that I stumbled upon at Barnes and Noble, showing an illustration from Sarah Watts (a fabric designer that I like).
Some pretty new fabric.

The weather here is glorious. Naomi is a bundle of energy and wanting to test out her new big girl bike at the local park. I hope you also have fun plans for this Sunday. And Happy Mother's Day to all Mums in the UK.

Love
Sam
xxx

Frosty Daybreak

This is a really enjoyable knit - the Daybreak Shawl from Stephen West.
I used 2 skeins of sock yarn to work this:

• Spring Tree Road Muscadine sock - Late Dusk colorway
• Phydeaux Yarns Cachemire sock - North Pole colorway

Both yarns are fabulous, but there was something about the denim-like quality of the Muscadine sock that I was really drawn to - it picked up the subtle flecks of Navy in the Cachemire sock yarn, and the depth of the color makes a lovely contrast with the paler north pole colorway.

Both yarns wash up beautifully - the final shawl is light, airy and so very soft.

I really enjoyed working on this shawl, but it took me a little while to wrap my head around the increase instructions in the first section of the shawl.  But a quick ravelry search later, and I found Pieces of Kate's extremely helpful notes for section 1 where she details out the number of stitches needed before you make an increase.  If you are going to knit this shawl, I highly recommend you check out her advice.  Once you get past the first section it is plain sailing!

That's all from me.  Looking forward to going and checking on what you've been working on.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Sam x

Huddling indoors

Oh the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire is sure delightful,

And since there's no place to go,

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

This wonderful yarn arrived in the mail today from Mountain Girl Yarns... I am in love! I wanted to get a picture of this beautiful yarn up on the blog today, but it is dark indoors... so outside in the snow we went.

We quickly moved back inside, where you'll find me taking advantage of the snowy weather to huddle indoors and continue working on the Daybreak shawl from Stephen West. I started this one earlier in the week, and it is a nice easy knit for a nice easy day.
Stay safe and warm, Sam xxx

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello Friends,
Are you having a good Valentines day? Any fun plans?

We'll be driving down to Colorado Springs today - that's where Joe and I met, 14 years ago. Its just a short drive down from Denver and we always enjoy spending a day in Old Colorado City and seeing Garden of the Gods.

But first, I wanted to quickly share the socks that I finished for Joe.



These were completed just in the nick of time yesterday evening.



The yarn is Crazy Zauberball (the Black/grey/white) and Shibui sock (red). I like that they both appear to be the same from the cuff down to the heel, but that one foot has the darker yarn and the other foot the lighter yarn. I hadn't planned them to work out that way... but for me that's part of the fun of working with these types of yarn.



The pattern is one that I made up as I went along. I share it here in case you might be interested:
The socks are worked from cuff to toe, using size 2 needles.

Cuff:

• Cast on 70 stitches and join for knitting in the round, place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round to help you keep track of where each round starts and stops
• Work 10 rounds in a K1, P1 rib

Leg:

• Work 5 rows in K9, P1 pattern
• Then work the heart pattern below (retaining the K9, P1 pattern as illustrated in the heart chart), using your contrast yarn for the hearts

• Once the heart chart is completed, continue working in K9, P1 pattern until leg is desired length (for my socks this was approx. 8.5 inches)

Add in waste yarn for a provisional heel:

• Using a waste yarn of a contrast colour, knit 35 stitches
• Now, reknit these stitches with your working yarn (in my case the zauberball) retaining the K9, P1 pattern around
• Here's a good resource for how to do this, from the Knit Purl Hunter:

Foot:

• Continue knitting in K9, P1 pattern until the foot is the desired length (for my socks, this was approx. 6 inches)

Toe:

• Arrange the stitches so that you have 35 stitches on needle 1, and the other 35 stitches split fairly evenly between needles 2 and 3
• Switch to the contrast yarn
• Knit 1 complete round
• Then knit a decrease round:  On needle 1: K1, SSK.  K until there are 3 stitches left on the needle.  K2 tog, K1.  On needle 2: K1, SSK, K to end of needle.  On needle 3: K until there are 3 stitches left on the needle.  K2 tog, K1.
• Work a knit round, and then work a decrease round and keep alternating between these rounds until there are 30 stitches left
• Using Kitchener stitch, graft the live stitches together

The afterthought heel:

• Go back to the waste yarn and place these stitches on your needle, while removing the waste yarn
• Follow the instructions for the toe, to complete the heel
• Again, for a great resource, the Knit Purl Hunter has the following instructional video

Darn in all ends and then repeat for the second sock. :)
That's all there is to it.



For the folks in the US, wishing you a lovely long weekend!
Happy Valentines to all,
Sam
xxx

WIP Weekend

I had all good intentions of writing a WIP Wednesday post, that almost became a Things-a-progressin Thursday, and then... well, you get the idea, it's the weekend now, so WIP Weekend it is.  The main work in progress has been the secret socks. I started knitting these the other week and got to a point where I decided that I wasn't loving how they were looking. They were fine, but they weren't great. Do you ever feel that way?

There were a few things that were bugging me:

1. They seemed too big and baggy (and I'm sure Joe doesn't want Nora Batty socks)
2. The hearts seemed a little squooshed
3. I was knitting a couple of rows from each end of the ball to give it a striped effect...  but the stripes weren't showing up

After much umming and aahing, trying to decide if these bugs were deal breakers, I ripped the sock out and started again, with the following fixes:

1. Cast on fewer stiches and changed from straight stocking stitch to K9, P1 - this touch of ribbing seems to pull the sock in nicely and give it a little bit of leg huggability
2. Added an extra row to the hearts so they are a little less stumpy
3. Ditched the stripes

Now I'm happy!  I don't love ripping out, but when I find myself knitting and knitting and questioning myself about the end result, I figure sometimes its best to just go back to the drawing board... or little notepad, in this case.



The socks are now coming along nicely, although I am currently in that mental phase of  'I just want to be done' after doing rounds and rounds and rounds of the K9, P1 stitch pattern.  I may add in the afterthought heel right now just to break up the monotony.  But all in all, pleased with how these are coming along.

Other than the knitting, there's also been some purchasing.  First up, this lovely Spun Right Round sock yarn.  I don't have any plans yet... it just called to me like a siren song:



And some fabulous Kaffe Fasset fabric: 



My uncle has asked if I would make him a quilt with bright, happy, seaside colours.  Here is our colour inspiration for the quilt.
 


I think these fabrics will above work well with some that are already in my stash - I wanted some golden sand, and sea blue colours in there.   I might need some other brights too, to make it pop.  I'm still playing around with ideas at this point... I love this part of the process.



I also pulled out the WIP Berties (hospice) Blanket.  It's been a thoughtful week for me:  A sweet high school friend passed away from breast cancer last Friday.  It has haunted me all week, and that gave me the nudge to pull this out, so it can be seamed and handed to a local hospice where it can bring someone some comfort.  Thank you to all who contributed squares - this is going to be a beauty.  I just have one last square to complete and then onto the seaming.



Go hug your loved ones xxx

Wishing you a good weekend,
Sam xxx

Handspun Balaclava

"Have you seen this man?"

Yup, looks like something off one of those wanted/CCTV deals, doesn't it. Although the person in question is normally wearing a subdued colour, not turquoise :)

I'd picked up this yarn last year. I can't remember what we'd gone out for, but we were headed downtown when I spotted some neon signs highlighting a yarn store that I had no idea even existed. So Joe, being the good hubby that he is, insisted that I go check it out. For local Colorado folks, it was the Blazing Star Ranch, and it is located inside a Vacuum store, which probably accounts for why I hadn't noticed it before. 




I'm kicking myself because I can't seem to lay my hands on the label for this. All I recall is that it was an alpaca handspun yarn, and I'm thinking there was less than 200 yards of it's aran-weight goodness!. The yarn is fabulous - so very squishy.



I looked through ravelry for something to make (such a handy site for plugging in yarn weight and yardage to figure out what your options are). When I showed Joe the various options and asked what he thought, he suggested that maybe I could make him another balaclava out of it. Erm, yes, of course. I'd knit him a balaclava a while back and he gets good use of that when he's out walking the dogs in the colder Colorado weather.

I made the pattern up as I went along... which translates as knitting, ripping out and knitting some more :) The final version was knit using a US10 circular needle.  I knit from the crown down to the neck.  Starting by casting on 6 stitches and working in the round in a K2, P2 rib, with increases every row until there were 84 stitches on the needles.  Once it measured about 6 inches, I cast off 20 for the peek-a-boo section (I'm pretty sure that is the correct balaclava terminology!) and then worked back and forth in the rib pattern for 1.5 inches, before casting those 20 stitches back on and resuming knitting in the round until the balaclava measured a total of 16 inches.



Joe likes the strangest things!  He's worn the balaclava a few times already.  I'll give him this, it is super soft and extremely warm.  Attractive...?  Well, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder :)))

Hope you are having a good weekend,
Sam x

Active projects - January

How many active projects do you have on the go at any given time? I typically have a variety of projects that I am actively working on (and this doesn't include the projects that are tucked away in hibernation).   But here's my big 3:

Only yesterday I cast on some 'secret socks'... it is valentines day coming up after all :)



Joe has been working this weekend so that has allowed me to get these underway while he is out of the house. My goal is to complete by Valentines day without him suspecting a thing. I think he's going to be really touched as he really appreciates handmade items, and all his hand knit socks to date.



Not to leave the other man in my life out, I am also working on a hand knit for Bruno. He doesn't have much of a coat himself, and it gets pretty darn cold here. So what does every large, masculine dog need? Why yes a striped hand knit sweater :) He looks quite severe in this picture, and that couldn't be further from the truth. In the words of Robert Palmer he's 'addicted to love'!  Bella and Buster liked a lot of attention, but this guy... he just wants to be in constant contact with someone. His favourite spot in the world - my lap. Yup all 90+lbs of him!



And now my other furry fam, Bella, is giving me that look like 'where's mine?'. She really doesn't need one - this old girl has sooooo much fur. Bella is also a sweetheart, but can be a proper little madam too: We took her for her regular vet checkup the other day, only to find that she'd pulled her best Houdini moves and escaped 3 times from the dog crate they were keeping her in. In the end they decided why fight it, and they just let her find herself a comfy spot where she happily waited until it was her turn to be seen.



To finish the knitty update, look at this lovely yarn that I purchased from Phydeaux yarns. It is cachemire in North Pole colorway. Mmmm... aaahhhh... so very pretty. Must think of a suitable project for this one. Thoughts anyone?  I can't even decide if it should be a shawl or socks...



I'm also cross stitching. This is the Once Upon a Time sampler from the frosted pumpkin stitchery. It was last year's sampler - each month you'd receive a new fairytale to stitch. Seeing the finished versions online inspired me to pick this up again.



I'm going to go check out the fun projects that you have underway.

Take care and happy crafting,
Sam
xxx

Rustic Cowl

Last summer we took a trip to Santa Fe, NM. During that trip we visited an open air art market where there was a gentleman spinning directly from a Navajo Angora Goat fleece. I'd only ever seen spinning done from pristine, fluffy clouds of fiber, so it was fascinating to watch this fella work straight from the fleece. The outcome was this delightfully rustic yarn.  Of course I needed a skein :)



Side note:  Does anyone else find spinning mesmerizing?  I could have pulled up a chair and spent the afternoon quite happily watching this man work his crafty magic, and watching the world go by.

This particular skein of Oasis fibers yarn comes courtesy of Hermione... just look at her golden fleece:





I didn't know the yardage on this, but figured there was enough to make myself a cowl.  Using some chunky 15mm needles I cast on 45 stitches and started knitting back and forth until I ran out of yarn.  There's really not much to it, but a perfect instant gratification project.

I like how the end result is a little unusual, as well as being versatile - cowl, capelet, scarf...  All this and it is delightfully soft too.





The buttons are handmade by Phydeaux yarns.  The buttons came from my stash, but couldn't have been more perfect - their colour picked up on some of the subtle bronze tones in the fleece. 





Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Sam xxx

Kidsilk Cowl

Happy New Year!

Did you do anything fun to bring in the new year? Ours was pretty low key. We celebrated the New Year for the East coast time zone with Naomi, and then the real deal at midnight Colorado time for us big kids. We've had some snow and pretty cold weather over the Christmas and New Year, so it was nice to stay huddled indoors with some of my loved ones.

All this huddling indoors has resulted in crafty goodies to share! I was able to start and finish a lovely cowl in Rowan kidsilk haze. This is extremely light and airy, and  super soft to the touch.



It was my Mum who had spotted something similar in a local yarn store, when she was visiting with us over the holidays. I was trying to complete while she was here, but was just a bit too slow, so it will be going out in the mail to her this weekend.



I have kidsilk haze in my stash, and Mum selected the solid purple. I'd also recently picked up some seed beads that were a perfect complement to the yarn and decided it might add a nice touch to randomly knit those into the cowl - a touch of sparkle.  The result is subtle, but I think it was worth the effort. (Man, those beads are teeny tiny... it took me a couple of evenings to get them all threaded before knitting could commence).






Here's my little knitwear model, modeling the end result for me. Do you love the forced grin she is also modeling :)))


The knit is really straightforward, only takes one ball of kidsilk haze and works up relatively quickly.  Here are the details:

• Pattern:  Welted Cowl by Jane Richmond (a free Ravelry download)
• Yarn:  Rowan kidsilk haze, 1 skein/229 yards
• Needle:  US size 6 circular needle (cowl is knit in the round)
• Mods:  Added the seed beads

***Edited to add details of the seed beads***

I used sized 15 seed beads for the cowl.  I don't have the number of the seed beads used, but to gauge quantity, this is a 2-inch-tall pot of the beads and you can see that there are still some left.  To start, I threaded all the beads onto the yarn  using a wire loop made out of very fine wire (see this site for a picture of how to do this).  I'd move the beads down the yarn as I was knitting and randomly add them in:  Knitting somewhere between 5" to 10" of the yarn and then adding in a bead.***


Wishing you good health and much happiness for the year ahead,
Sam xxx

Did you have a wonderful Christmas?

Ours was lovely. Mum was over since Thanksgiving and only left yesterday. We had a great time, and created lots of fond memories - ice skating, pottery painting, movie visits etc... and good Grammy time for Naomi.

I've been slow on the crafting front. I started a new job on October 1st and it consumes a lot of my free time. I'm thinking that as I get up to speed I should regain some of my work/life balance. Until then, it may be a little slow and sporadic here at sticks and strings. We have however been on a shut down from work this last week. Which was AWESOME! Quality time with family, as well as some craft time too. A girl could get used to this :)))

I created a few quick projects: First is an elf pillow for Naomi, to go with her elf pjs.





There are some really good instructions for this on the smashed peas and carrots blog.  It seems like some sort of construction magic when you make these for the first time... but it works beautifully! 

Anyhoo, while Naomi was fast asleep I snuck this new pillowcase onto her pillow and when she woke up she was all giddy about what the elves had made for her :)))

The next set of projects was a variety of gift bags - some for the teacher gifts, some for friends... you get the idea. I was able to use some of my stash for these beauties.



The pattern and instructions for these drawstring pouches can be found on the In Color Order blog.  PS - these also make great knitty project bags - and are straightforward to make.

Finally I had my 'Trevor tree' ornament finished so that it could go home with Mum yesterday.




Hope you are enjoying a relaxing Sunday, and wishing you wonderful New Year celebrations this coming week.
Sam xxx

Christmas Tree Ornament

November. How did that happen?

Less than 2 months to Christmas. Which is still a good chunk of time... unless you have grand designs for hand making gifts. I had such grand designs: There's the cardigan for my mother-in-law and another wild idea that I would make my family some Christmas tree ornaments.

The cardigan is underway... photo update to follow in another post. With my work schedule the way it has been, it will be nothing short of a Christmas miracle if I pull this off. Going to give it the good college try...
For the Christmas tree ornaments, I had stumbled across a site that creates personalized Christmas tree cross stitch designs: http://www.nouveauencore.com/nameandmonogramtree.html

My idea was to make some of these, in memory of my Dad, for my family. The designs are subtle - squint at the side of the tree and you will see his name 'Trevor'.  I am thinking this is a nice gesture. Or is it morbid? I have also questioned whether this make me a little odd.

Anyhoo, I have one completed:


It is on Picture this Plus 36 count sparkly linen, in the colourway gingerbread. The thread is a cream silk. My big plans were to make Mum, Sis, Brother and I one each. Overambitious? Yes. Realistic... not this year! So, dear family, if you are reading this, know that I had good intentions :)

As for all my crafty friends out there - are you well underway on your Christmas crafting?
What do you have on the go?

Love, Sam xxx