New Free Pattern: Seaweed Stole/Scarf !!!

I'll have more pictures of this coming in a later post. Since I do not have the software to do a pdf file I'm going to keep pictures to a minimum for ease of printing.

The idea for this stole originated with a kayak trip. This past August my brother and I went for a 4 1/2 hr kayak trip. I didn't have a waterproof container for my camera so wasn't able to take it along, although later wished I had been able to. The scenery was stunning along the way! It was a beautiful day for kayaking; sunny, not too hot, and with a gentle breeze. While we were gliding down the river I noticed the seaweed (not sure what the technical term is, we'll just call it seaweed) that was streaming along with the river's current. It had tall, long-ish leaves, and all sorts of beautiful colors. Right away I thought it would be wonderful to dye some yarn in those colors. The main colors were shades of green, yellow, chartreuse, and a mauve-ish pink.

Next day I had the opportunity to over-dye a skein of my handspun yarn in the exact colors. I was so pleased with the results that I decided to design a pattern that went with my seaweed theme. This pattern is perfect because the waves in the design reflect not only the movement of water, but also the graceful motion of the seaweed as it ripples in the water.

I hope you enjoy knitting this as much as I did!

Yarn: Approx 300 yards of light-worsted or DK weight yarn

Needles: Size US#7 straights

Measurements:

Before blocking, 39"x9 1/2'

After blocking, (pinned measurements) 59" x 11"

Abbreviations:

k=knit

p=purl

k2tog= knit two stitches together as one.

yo= yarn over needle

Notes: Pattern repeat is worked over a multiple of 18 stitches, plus 1 selvage stitch on each edge.

Stole can be made wider by adding more stitch repeats.

Seaweed Stole/Scarf:

Cast on 56 stitches.

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: Knit 1*, k2tog, three times, (yo, knit 1) six times, k2tog, three times. Repeat from * to one stitch before end, knit 1.

Row 4: Knit

Repeat these 4 rows until stole measure approximately 39" long, or until you have just enough yarn to bind off.

Bind off.

Wet block stole according to finished measurements.

Enjoy!

I would love to hear your comments, and also see any photos of your finished Seaweed Stole!

If you have questions please leave a comment below.

Knitting Updates!

All the projects I am working on currently are Christmas gifts, so I shall have to fall back on some old projects to show you. Actually the above roving is still in the same state as you see, although this picture was taken around the end of October. Because of my health issues throughout the month of November I am further behind in things than I had hoped to be by this time of the year.

I still have much to before Christmas. My, it is only a week away from this coming Saturday! However the last five days or so I have been able to complete many of the gifts I am working on. That has set my mind somewhat at ease. I love to give handcrafted gifts, but it always seems like when Christmas rolls around I am madly scrambling to finish things.

This scarf is the Art Schooled pattern, it can be found on Ravelry. I'm making it for my sister-in-law. She purchased some yarn a year ago and I offered to knit it up into something for her. We browsed through ravelry and she found this neat ruffly scarf pattern. Well, I copied it off and got started on it. But meanwhile, during the process of knitting it my sister-in-law learned how to knit! So now she is making the exact same scarf, only in teal and gray stripes. Such fun! I was so excited when she learned how to knit! She is definitely going to town on it, and doing a fine job.

I finished my Sweet Fern Mitts a while back. The pattern is from "The Knitter's Book of Wool". They are made with Knit Picks "City Tweed". It is a heavy-worsted weight, which made my mitts a little bigger than I would have liked. (The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn.)

I still love the way they turned out, despite the fact that they are a little big. These mitts are SO comfortable and warm!

Well, I should sign off for now. Hope you are having a blessed Christmas season!

Cheerio my friends!

Holiday Baking

Yesterday a friend and I decorated all these sugar cookies. We had fun mixing colors and planning it all out. We had a mix of chocolate and plain sugar cookies, colored and chocolate frosting. There were some interesting cookie combinations going on!

I'm not sure how many cookies we decorated, but it was a lot! We enjoyed ourselves though. It's a nice time to chat and just enjoying being together as friends.

How about you? Have you been baking any special treats for the holidays? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

Baby Knits

Seems like a lot of people I know are expecting babies, or just recently had a baby. Ive been trying to do a little bit of knitting for certain select people and their new little ones. This project here is a snuggle sack. I can't remember who designed it, but I found it on Ravelry.

It has these cute little owls at the top! I think I'll embroider them some eyes....

I knit it in a worsted weight wool, but for the middle I double stranded a thin strand of handspun angora. It's SO soft and luxutrious feeling, I wish I could keep it!

And meet my model! :) The bear has no name, sorry, I just snatched him off my Aunt's bed and used him in liue of a real baby.

Also knit up thisl ittle sweater awhile ago. It's from Susan B. Andersons "Itty Bitty Baby" book.

Its a real quick sweater to whip up, just garter stitch squares.

The booty pattern is from "The Knitter's Bible". I only have one done so far, they whip up real quick as well.

Bear kindly agreed to model for the sweater, even though it was too big in the arms. I suggested we roll them up and he thought that a fine plan.

I do have other things to show you, but am pressed for time at the moment so it will have to wait.

This month I have not done a whole lot of knitting because I have been struggling with appendicitis for the last 2 1/2 weeks. It's been a long, frustrating haul, I'm praying I'll be completely well soon. It's hard to do much when laying on one's back on the couch!

Well, it's Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. To all my fellow Americans, have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day!!!

Visiting A New Yarn Shop

I was out doing errands with my sister-in-law and her Mom this morning. I am making my sister-in-law a scarf and am running out of yarn. So we thought we would swing y a yarn shop and see if we could grab a couple more skeins. She bought her yarn last year so we are trying to match the color. They didn't have any Cascade 220 Heather, so we didn't purchase anything. But we did have a quick browse around.

It is an adorable little shop, very quaint and antique. I really liked it, it was a first time visit there for me.

They had all these neat, built-in shelves throughout the whole store. A lot of them were floor to ceiling, and all over-flowing with yarn.

This tall cabinet that held the buttons was very neat. If one were to look at just the furnishings of the yarn shop, one would think they were in an antique store.

Every kind of knitting book imaginable in the built-in bookshelves.

Definitely a little shop that needs to be re-visited in the near future. :)

Yarn And Spinning

The above yarn is a merino/silk blend that we picked up at a fiber fest. I am trying to spin it SUPER thin, or at least as thin as I can without a lace spindle. I am trying to see how many yards I can get out of mine.

And finally, the yarn I hand painted while still a roving. This was supposed to be very vibrant, but I am still learning how my Greener Shades Dyes work. I like the yarn, but not enough to make something for myself out of it. A couple people in my family like it so I'll probably use it to make them something. The yarn is 100% merino, I only bought 8 ounces of it, I wish I had bough more! I love to hand paint roving.


This is the other merino I hand painted. This one is my favorite by far! I will definitely use it to make myself something. The colors are lovely. :) It make me happy to look at the yarn. When hand spinning, each skein of yarn is a work of art itself, so much time is invested into it. It takes me awhile to feel like I can actually use it for a knitted project. I normally leave it in a bowl as decoration. Then eventually I am ready to use it, so go to ravelry or my knitting books/magazines to find a project.

So this is my spinning over the last month or so.....Very autumn-y, don't you think? :)

Seaweed Scarf/Stole

Sneak peek of a project I have been working on. It's made with my Seaweed yarn. Stay tuned for more information concerning this project in the future.....

Glimpses Of Fall

Leaves pressed in wax paper.

The table, set for dinner.



Fall Decor

And.....some spinning!!!! I'm so glad I can finally share some photos of my projects with you! This is the brown/orange merino I bought about a month ago at a fiber festival. It spun up beautifully, and I absolutely love the colors. Not sure yet what I am going to do with it, but I'll keep you posted. In fact, I was hoping to wind it into a center-pull ball tonight and figure out what I am going to do with it.

This yarn is a worsted-weight, I think it's around 250 yards. Spun on my top-whorl drop spindle. I am trying to keep better records of my spinning projects in case I want to duplicate a certain yarn, color etc. Also it is a big help if I don't use the yarn right away! I have a few skeins that I am not 100% sure how many yards they are because I forgot to write it done.

I have more spinning to share with you, maybe tomorrow. It promises to be a busy day, but I'll try and blog if I get a chance. I took more photos today, but the lighting wasn't quite right and I wasn't happy with the way the pictures looked.

So.....hoping to be back with you soon! Enjoy your day!

I'm Back!!!

Hello Everyone! I know it's been a long time. I am starting to get very anxious to show you some pictures of all that I have been working on this last month or so! I didn't realize how much I used my camera until it broke. Just this morning I had two gorgeous scenes I would have loved to snap photos of. The first one I was standing at the kitchen sink. It was just getting light and down in the field there was a think blanket of mist shifting about. It hung in all the little dips and hollow and was very beautiful, in a mysterious sort of way. :)

The second photo opportunity was as I was driving to pick up my Grandma for an appointment. I drove over the river and there was a lovely view of a clump of trees down the river that were at the peak in color change. The sun was rising and it came through the trees and shone on a slice of the river and that clump of trees. Mist was gently rising off the river and it was breath-takingly beautiful!

But on to other things....

Yesterday I set the twist on some yarn I spun up this past week. It is a brown/orange colorway, merino wool. It spun up beautifully. I think I kept it a pretty consistent worsted weight, it's about 225.5 yards. I don't know what I am going to make with it yet, although I have a few ideas. :)

I thought I'd share some more old pictures with you. This is a bouquet that we picked this summer. They are so pretty! That is one thing I will miss this winter, fresh flowers from the garden.

Well, I have a lot of other project's going on. Many of them are for Christmas gifts though, so I will not talk about them right now. :)

I also have another knitting design on the drawing board. It will be a free pattern as well, so stay posted sometime in the next month or so. I won't post it until I can put up some pictures with it.

Time is limited today, I need to run for now. You all take care, and have a blessed week!

I'll be back with you soon, Lord willing.

Snuffly Head Cold= Slow Knitting Progress

I am down with a cold this week. Knitting has been rather slow because of that. But I didn't want to bypass the opportunity to pop in and say "hello". So, Hello my friends!

Between drinking mint tea, blowing my nose, and resting on the couch, I did manage to pick up my knitting needles a few times. I am working on a new design. Not sure if this is one I will release for free, or save for selling at a later date. I wish I could share a sneak peak with you but not only is my camera dead(still), but it will also be a Christmas present. It does seem to be growing by leaps and bounds, which makes me very happy. I am still on the first skein and that makes me very happy as well!

The sweet fern mitts progressed by about 4 rows. Maybe I'll get some more done on them tonight, depending on how this cold of mine progresses.

I thought I'd share these beautiful pictures of some old-fashioned roses with you. I took these earlier this summer. It is a nice, final splash of summer sweetness. Autumn is right around the corner. Today was cool, & overcast, with that chilly fall nip in the morning air.

And I think I have said this before, but I am quite prepared to enjoy autumn. Normally I am all about warmer weather. But right now I am really looking forward to everything that cooler weather brings. Gorgeous fall colors, crisp crunchy apples, a steaming cup of tea, hayrides, and not to forget, warm & woolly handknits!

And then there is winter.... but I'll wait to expound on that until the season is a little closer. :)

Okay, it is time to snuggle down with a cup of tea and some knitting, and recover from this cold.

Until next time!

Sadie, My Siberian Forest Cat

My camera is out of commission right now, it needs some serious fixing before I can take pictures with it again. I'm not sure what happened, it simply quite working one morning.

No, I didn't have any recent pictures of my current projects on my memory card. So here we are, halfway thru September and I am finally putting up a blog post!

I never told you about my "new" cat, Sadie! She was given to me this past February, and I always meant to get around to blogging about her. Unfortunately I only have a few pictures to show you right now, but I'm sure there will be lots more coming in the future, now that you have been introduced to Sadie.

Sadie is a purebred Siberian Forest Cat, 4 years old. Siberians are not full grown until they are 5 years old, and they can have kittens even up to 10 years old!

Siberian Forest Cats are thought to be hypo-allergenic. Many people who suffer from allergies to cats can have a Forest Cat and never be bothered by allergies. I don't have allergies to cats, but my sister-in-law does. I don't think Sadie has ever bothered her, but I am not sure how much time she has spent around her either, so I can't prove that theory. :)

The Siberian Forest cat is the national cat of Russia. They are a medium-long haired cat, with a triple fur, water resistant, coat. Siberians are very muscular cats, they like high places, and are powerful leapers. Having had a Siberian for 8 months we have found that they are very playful, and have amazing personalities.

Sadie loves to try and cram herself into little places, boxes, cubby holes. And anything new that comes into the house she has to sit, or climb on it, be it suitcases, bags, or toilet paper!

She is the most inquisitive cat I have ever seen!

And yes, like all cats, she is fond of taking naps. Favorite nap places being on the bunk bed, in a box under my bed, up on the wardrobe, under the dresser, on the chair, in baskets.... pretty much almost anywhere!

Oh yes, and in the window!

She also listens better than many dogs, for example I can tell her to stay on my bed and she will stay until I come back. She is a darling little cat, the only down side being that, like all long haired cats she sheds fur all over. At night she does her exercise, which consists of thundering around the house like an elephant at 2am, running top speed into the dining room and then seeing how far she can slide on the wood floor, and also wrestling with herself on the couch and leaving gobs of fur all over the cushions.

Well, I could go on about my cat for ever, but I will spare you all until another time. :)

In the world of handcrafting, I have been doing a lot of knitting. But mostly christmas presents which I can't talk about until, gasp, January! Good thing I don't have my camera, 'cause I might be tempted to take photos anyways. But it wouldn't be fair to ban certain people from my blog for he next 3 1/2 months! Sigh.

I am working on a couple pairs of Sweet Fern Mitts. One pair being for me, and I don't know what I am doing with the other yet. I found two mistakes in the pattern (it was out of the knitter's Book of Wool) which was disappointing, but I corrected them and love the pattern now.

I did do a session of hand-painting with my friend. We each did 8oz of merino wool. I have my first 4ounces spun up into singles. Now I just need to ply it, I might start on that tonight.

The colors for the first 4 ounces were variations of reds and greens. The 2nd 4 ounce ball which I am spinning up right now is orange, peach, red, green ,and yellow. It is my favorite by far, and sooo beautiful!

I can't wait to show you some pictures. Sometime soon. Just keep hanging in there.

Take care my friends, until next time.

More Fiesta Yarn

One of my purchases, at the last fiber festival my friend and I went to, was this beautiful nostepinne. I hadn't really planned on buying a nostepinne, but we found this lovely booth with all kinds of nostepinnes for an excellent price. So we each bought one. The lady who was selling them was horrified to hear that I had been using the cardboard from a food saver roll to make center-pull balls!

I have been very happy with my nostepinne. It is a lot of fun to use, as well as very beautiful to look at. My nostepinne is made out of spaulted birch.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was spinning up some more Fiesta Yarn. I think I like this skein even better than the last! I plied this up yesterday and then set the twist today.

To set the twist I have 2 containers set out, one with hot water, one with cold. First I plunge my skein into the hot water. Being careful not to agitate the yarn, I press it gently into the water, until all the bubbles come up. Then I lift it out and gently squeeze out the water. Do not wring the yarn. Then I plunge it in to the cold water and repeat the process.

After it has been squeezed of water, I thwack it on the counter, once on each end. Then it is hung outside in the sun to dry.

Here are pictures after my Fiesta yarn finished drying.

I saved the setting of the twist on my Fiesta yarn until today so I could show my friend how it was done. She was one of my earliest spinning students. She put her spinning aside for awhile and only recently picked it back up. This is her first skein of yarn, light purple merino. I was quite happy with how well she did on it. The skein is whole 243.85 yards!

I am going to be teaching my friend how to do hand-painting, maybe we'll get to that next week.

The Fibre adventure is filled with all sorts of new and exciting things to learn, and enjoy!

Until next time, my friends!