Little Knits

Little knit #1: Elephant by Jean Greenhowe
Yarn: Dale Falk, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Heather Grey and Tweed Red
Needle: #2 circular and #2dpn

mods: By the time I got to the arms, I was tired of sewing up seams, so the arms are in the round. It is possible to do body and head in the round. For feet and ears I recommend knitting them flat since the seam is minimal in feet and the seam helps the shape of the ears. When sewing on parts together, use lots of pins to secure parts in place. Otherwise they look real silly.

I forgot how fun these little guys are! For the first time the eyes went well...it's sewn on for a little toddler neighbor. His name starts with an E. Maybe I'll make another.



Saartje's booties by Saartje Bruin
Needles: US#2 dpn
Buttons: 7/16 La Mode buttons from JoAnn
Yarn: Mystery acrylic baby yarn from Eatonton, GA

Aww these are SO cute! I had the booties knitted up a few weeks ago, but finally broke down and got buttons. You know, babies can't wait forever. And they probably will outgrow them super-fast anyway.

With all the notions, I forgot to weigh the yarn before assembling. I guess these won't go towards the stash-busting yardage count, but they make me happy every time I look at them.

Stashdown FO#1 : Socks

Here is my first finished object: socks!

This pattern is sort of curious...neither toe-up nor top-down. You start with a beautiful lace panel like shown below, and knit a short-row heel from one of the edges. Then you pick up the side stitches as you knit up the foot, then proceed to finish as any toe-up sock.

Pattern: Grun ist die hoffnung

Yarn: Cascade Heritage

Needle: US#1 dpn

Yardage: 330 yards

Total stash-busting so far: 330/9786.5= 3.3%

5.56 miles

That's right. There are 5.56 miles worth of yarn in my yarn drawer. That's 9786.5 yards. Wow I haven't even purchased any yarn since Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and still this amount!?

To make myself feel better, 5247 yards of the total is fingering weight or finer yarn.

My overall goals:

• Knit half that amount by New Years. (4893 yards)
  
• Knit one-fourth of the amount to go to Southeast Animal Fiber Festival in October. (2446 yards)

My Primary Goals to Finish:

• Mandala Lace shawl by Renee Leverington (1500 yards)
• Lace Cable Poncho in Vogue Knitting on the Go (1000 yards)
• DK Classic Mens Vest in Retro Knits (1070 yards)
• Grun ist die Hoffnung socks (437 yards)
• TOTAL: 4007 yards

Secondary Goals:

• Elefante (100 yards)
• Charity hats or Mother Bear Project
• Pomatomus socks by Cookie A. (360 yards)
• Swallowtail Shawl in fingering weight (440 yards)
• Wisp Shawl in cobweb (500 yards)
• Aeolian Shawl in fingering weight (440) yards
• TOTAL: 1840 yards

These projects will take care of about 60% of the stash. phew! Now I just have to knit them... ;)

Do it Yourself

Medical and Scientific Illustrators are visual problem solvers.  We show and educate something that cannot be easily seen.  How often do you see a see-thru liver?  I thought so.  

Medical illustrators are also sort of known for making fun things to visualize something that cannot be seen (ie. balloons with vessels drawn on, pipe cleaners for nerves, modeling clay for molecules, etc) ...I hope it's not just me. 

Anyways, few weeks back I had a weird urge to spin some fiber sitting in the box of ultimate UFOs.  So out came an original drop spindle using a CD, a chopstick, tape, and a stitchholder.  Later the stitch holder got upgraded into a shaped paperclip:

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I have also been meaning to get a kitchen/postal scale to measure how much yarn is left for better treatment of leftover yarn.  I knocked off few hangers in the doorway and thought about making a Monty Python style scale using it.  

"...If she weighs as much as a duck, she is made out of wood..."  

"And therefore....?"

"A witch!  A witch!" 

"We shall use the biggest scale in town"

Yeppers.  It's surprisingly accurate.  I used nickels and pennies for weights.  A nickel weighs 5g, and a penny weighs 2.5g.  I'm glad people at the mint think in metric.  

I must have saved at least $40 by making these two stragely simple objects.  Now I can buy $40 worth of yarn...when I use up all the yarn I have now.  :)

Yarn and wheel

Too bad it is so much easier to buy more fiber than to knit.  I think my yarn collection is at its limit.  My drawer of yarn goodness is overflowing.  The yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool is in my knitted bag, and there is another box of yarn that we ordered from WEBS when they had their annual sale.  

It also didn't help that I learned how to spin.  When we visited Eatonton, I borrowed a castle style spinning wheel and acquired MORE fiber.  Ah!  

I THINK it's Louet S70 (a lot like S10 but older).  The footman/treadle connector was broken, but Asher found a rubber tubing that worked like a charm.  

Check out the Romney being spun.  The 4oz carded roving has been divided to two to make a 2-ply yarn and hopefully make a nice hat or a scarf.  

There are little bit of yarn rejects...someday they may turn into something...like a doll's hair or something.   I'm having trouble spinning the merino top in dark green.  Apparently there is a different way to spin merino top.  I need to go learn that sometimes.  

Great Hat Race 3

I really had a great time knitting hats for the Great Hat Race on Ravelry. They did a wonderful job keeping us updated and everything! I wonder if there is a winner?

Here are the hats I made using more stash yarn (free patterns too!) ...and somehow there is still lots of yarn leftover. Looking forward to the next one!

1. Robin's Egg Blue Hat

Used leftover yarn from Felted Sheep

2. Coronet by Alexandra Virgiel

Used leftover yarn from fisherman's sweater

3. Lace Edged Womens' Hat by Julie M. Hentz

Used leftover yarn from cloche hat

5. Lace Cap by Carissa Browning

Used "new" dk yarn

6. Reflections by LizYvonne (ravelry link)

Used leftover from sweater

6. One Hat Two Hat by AKS

Used yarn given to me by BF's mom

7. Tam by Angela Sixian Wu

Used leftover from battle bonnet, and other scraps of Cascade 220, Noro Kureyon, and Lamb's Pride Worsted

8. Odessa Hat by Grumperina

Used leftover from baby booties that never happened

9. Shedir Hat by Jenna Wilson

Used leftover from Bulldog Sweater

Post Maryland Sheep and Wool Syndrome

Oh dear. Maryland Sheep and Wool. What an adventure! It was my second time, so I wasn't quite as overwhelmed as last time, and bought yarn until I ran out of cash.

Socks that Rock! Lightweight Mill End--light blue/purple/green

Socks that Rock! Lightweight Mill End Red/purple

Regia Silk wine

Mistralee Farm Alpaca Lace- grey

Also, since I created a ghetto drop spindle, I wanted to try out the spinning wheel. A very nice lady named Sally taught me how to use a spinning wheel, and here is the result.

The top right one is the wheel spun one. The grey one is single-ply merino done on a drop spindle, and the blue/green one is 2-ply done on a drop spindle.

Ms. Sally said the best kind of wool to start practicing spinning is Romney and Coopworth, so I got both of them.

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And how can you talk about MS&WF without all the great animals!

There were few angry and wet animals, but I'm sure they enjoyed being there deep down in their little minds.

What fun!