Scrappy Scarves

Scrappy scarves are great. I started making them a while ago, originally to use for yarn bombing, but it turns out they are awesome for scarves as well, so I've started making them to sell. (Don't hate me, I need the money! For...more yarn.)

They're very relaxing to make, plus they use up leftover tiny balls of yarn that wouldn't get used otherwise. Plus, when they get long enough, I can use one end as a scarf while I'm knitting the other end! Which makes me feel like the coolest person ever.

This blue and purple one is currently available on etsy!

Handspun and FOs

Some new handspun:

Purple dragon. I spun this a while ago, but never took a picture of the finished skein. This was my first time spinning from a batt, I really enjoyed it!


Foreign skies. This is the thinnest yarn I've ever spun! It's 2-ply and laceweight. This is the first time I've spun using long draw.



Mermaid's den. Respun from Lion Brand Homespun. Two skeins of singles and one 2-ply with occasional beads. There doesn't seem to be a good way to spin beads without putting them on a separate thread and plying that with a single - I tried threading the beads onto one of the singles, then pushing the beads along, which sort of worked, but the single kept breaking and it was very frustrating.

Some recent(ish) FOs:

Lace armwarmers. I made these quite a while ago, but never took pictures. This is another one I'm planning on writing out a pattern for, I really like how these turned out. If the pattern gets written out I'll probably add a thumb.


Silk and alpaca scarf. Worked sideways; the silk is sari ends I spun. I like this! I need to rinse it, but I'm worried about the dye on the silk running, it's happened before.


Child's hat. Cables!

Exposure

Two things I particularly enjoy are knitting and naked ladies. I like to combine these by taking semi-scandalous pictures of myself. I have a whole bunch of knitted tops that I made a while ago and never took pictures of.
Until now!

This is one of my favourite tops, I love the pattern and the yarn! It's acrylic, but quite soft, and has great long colour changes.


This one I am less enthusiastic about. It's by the same designer and uses the same yarn, but less my style. Plus my nipples pop through occasionally.


This top got a little messed up. The yarn SAID it was all the same dyelot, but that was clearly a lie. I messed up the gauge, so I felted it, and now it's too small. I'll fix it eventually. Or...something.


I really like the feel of the yarn, though I'm not quite sure about the colourway. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, though I usually need to wear something under it. Pattern link.


My very first sweater! A great pattern; I'd like to make it again sometime, maybe with a yarn with some silk in it. The yarn I used was 100% wool.


I accidentally used super-bulky yarn instead of bulky. I like this yarn! I got it super cheap, and it is very soft. I didn't check my gauge - out of a sense of rebelliousness, perhaps? So it turned out way too large, but I just pretend it's intentional. Plus I modified the pattern slightly, to make it longer and more like a tunic dress.


Lacy shirt from French Girl Knits (which is a great book). You're supposed to lace a ribbon around the neckline, but I haven't done that yet. I messed this up somehow, so it's tighter around the back than the front...I guess I divided for armholes at the wrong place. Oh well, it's not thaaaat obvious?
It was my first time using linen (well, 60/40 linen/merino), I quite enjoyed it.
Also, look how much my dread pigtails stick out! They have been growing.

More recently, I finished my scarf (a while ago, but I only just took pictures of the whole thing):

Positively scandalous? I still love this scarf very much, though I think I need something warmer for winter now. It's been snowing so much today, and a lacy scarf isn't the best decision when it's cold and/or windy.

Also impractical for the weather is my half hat:

Handspun sari ends. I doubled the yarn because it was thin in places, but then I didn't have enough for a full hat. But that's ok, it's great for keeping dreads out of my face, plus I love the texture.

Finally, I finally got pictures of this hat:

Brighter version of my dread hat.

I wrote out the pattern for this! I'm looking for pattern testers to knit this; comment on this thread on ravelry if you're interested. Full details in the thread, but basically I'll email you the pattern and you give me feedback.


I'm being haunted by knitpicks ads. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm wandering through the internet at random, on my merry way, and sites I have never visited before are advertising knitpicks interchangeable circulars. It's a little unsettling. THE MAN has established a profile for me somehow. Privacy concerns, yo.

Craft Fair?

It's that time of year again - craft fairs. I haven't really been looking into them much this year, I don't have a whole lots of stuff to sell apart from what I've already taken to Rare Funk, but a friend told me about one the university is having, which is free!



We've applied to be in it, so (since yesterday) I've been making things to sell. Right now I've made bookmarks:

and mini bags:

The bags are pretty basic, so I've written the pattern down and will probably post it later. They're giving me a reason to use up some of my ribbon, which is nice because I have somehow accumulated so much of it and never have any reason to use it.

My scarf is finally making some progress! I frogged the whole thing twice since my last post, but I finally figured out what I wanted, so now I have two skeins worth knitted! I really like how it's turning out:

It's got a really nice drape and I reeeally like running my hand through it. But (as I predicted) I've run out of yarn. BAH. So I'm breaking my yarn diet (which I am NOT very good at sticking to) on friday to go get some more. I hope they still have the same dyelot, but it will serve me right if they don't.

As if that wasn't enough, Michael's is having a 50% off sale on yarn this week! ARG!! I will probably break my yarn diet even more for this....but....so cheap!! Michael's yarn is all about the quality I like to use for hats I sell, because it's cheap enough that I can charge reasonable amounts for hats (and not break my heart every time I take something to the store).

Handspun and WIPs

Today I've got some pictures of handspun yarn! Always exciting.

First, a couple small skeins of handdyed laceweight. The colours you can get with food colouring are really fantastic, I'm so pleased with how these came out. This was the first time I've dyed the roving and then spun it.

There isn't enough yarn to do much with, so I'm going to try making knitted jewellery with these. I really love the lace necklaces people make, and I've been meaning to try it myself for a while now.

As you may or may not know, I'm fond of taking yarn apart and respinning it. I had a bit of bulky yarn that was blue, green and two shades of purple. I separated it into colours, and respun it into two singles, a blue-green one and a purple-purple one, then plied those.

I like the yarn I spun much better than the original.

I tried to make a tam, but I ran out of yarn too quickly.

I really don't want to go buy more yarn. I think my options are to finish it with a contrasting colour (something plain though, maybe black? It's already pretty colourful.) or take it apart and make a toque instead. I'm leaning towards the second option, but I really don't know. Maybe it'll go into the unfinished projects bin and I'll forget about it for a couple months.

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I was going to try making socks.

Well, I'm trying. There are several things that have come up, and there's no way my socks are going to match now. First problem:

Wtf. There is no way these are the same dyelot. I feel so betrayed! The dyelot on the label was the same!

Second problem:

How did this happen? Dramatic tension change? Was I just really nervous for the first one? I just don't know. Maybe I can block them to the same size? (This seems unlikely but I'll try anyway.)

Sigh. I guess it will be sort of ok. Listening to the Robot Pirates helps a bit.

Good news though! I finished embroidering needle sizes onto my circular needle case! It's on my wall above my bed now, terribly satisfying.

For someone who is obsessed with knitting and yarn as much as I am, I appear to have a severe lack of scarves. This is madness!

I started a lace scarf last night. I've had this yarn forever, it's really lovely, I am so excited to be using it at last.