Lael Cowl

The other weekend was Rhinebeck/NY Sheep and Wool. I did not post my haul pictures from that like I usually do, so here is some shots.

It was hard choosing what I wanted when I had limited funds. The only plan I had was to get yarn for a project I was going to be starting. That is the red yarn in the front on the top photo. Everything else (aside from the Rhinebeck stuff I pre-ordered) I picked up what interested me.

I saw a really pretty cowl/scarf knit up in one of the booths in a super soft yarn. I immediately bought the yarn for it and wrote down the pattern name, Lael, free on Ravelry.  I cast on the cowl on Oct 27 and I just bound off this morning. There were two or three days I did not knit at all, so this was something I actually knit up pretty fast! It’s a really easy, and nice, pattern. I’m sure I’ll do it again.

The yarn for this cowl I used is Shalimar Yarns Breathless in Bees Knees colorway. It is so soft and squishy! I just found out my LYS carries this brand so I’ll be looking into getting more of it sometime in the future.

Tomorrow I’m heading to the Fiber Festival of New England. I was going to go today, but my mother is watching my niece who is sick. I’ll post my haul from that tomorrow night. Or sometime soon. Pending distractions, ha!

Recent projects

I have not updated in awhile but wanted to share my most recent projects.

I wove up this cowl for my mother using the TurtleLoom fine gauge hexagon pin loom. I  have her other ones and they are really fun to use. This fine gauge one is meant for sock yarns, which I have lots of .

I then used a loom to knit up a headband for myself using some of my handspun. I bound off a bit tight, but it helps keep the band from sliding down too far. The colors don’t pop on the red background, but they are oranges, some yellow, reds, and a tiny bit of black and white scattered in.

This is another project woven on a pin loom (Zoom Loom for this one). I wore this to Rhinebeck on Saturday and got lots of nice compliments on it.

Another loom knit project is this cowl I made for myself, again using my own handspun. I have it pinned out but I need to finish blocking it.

I also have another weaving project in progress, plus a knitting project I will be starting very soon. Hopefully today when I get home from work!

Ravellenics

This year I participated in the Ravellenics over on Ravelry for the first time. My goal was to only use my handspun yarn.  Most are just small bags since I was using small skeins made from the samples from SpinningBox’s. I also tried a bit of felting, but I did it by hand so it’s not too much. I may throw those items in the wash at some point to felt them up more.

Here are all the items I made!

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January Spin Crazy!

Since I got my Ashford eS3, I have been spinning daily. Right now I am still going through my fibers from SpinningBox’s so they are small skeins for the most part. I just found two more to spin up so I’m off to do that.

Right now I wanted to share the crazy amount that I have spun just in the two or so weeks since I have had my spinner. This is just for January alone. I have not set the twist yet so have not measured anything, but I wanted to show pictures of my new yarns.

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I am having so much fun with this. I am planning on weaving with the smaller amounts but I’ll have to think hard about what to make with the bigger skeins. Especially that last one. I love the Orion Nebula one so much!

A New Toy!

Last week my Ashford eSpinner 3 arrived and I have been spinning up a storm since. It only took a short bit to put together, and then I was off and spinning. I really like how you can adjust the speed, and love the start/stop ability of the foot pedal. It becomes a hand button when my cat wants my lap though, lol.

The fist one is the fiber that came with the spinner. The rest are from the December 2017  SpinningBox. The last one is from this months SpinningBox. I will be spinning the rest very soon.  Just to note, I have not set any of these yet so they are still a bit twisty in parts.

Having fun with Oxford Punch

I have been having fun doing punch needle and rug hooking. I found someone selling some Oxford punch needles for a really good deal, so bought them. They arrived awhile ago and I quickly did a project with them.

I made a simple design using some cookie cutters I got for needle felting. I am still using acrylic yarn in my stash while I get the hang of things. It was hard to punch at first, but soon I was whizzing along. I really like this needles!

This is what the project looks right now. I will be making it into a pillow as soon as I decide on how I want to do the back.

This hoop was not the best for this as I had to keep pulling it tight, but it was the biggest I have. My gripper frame is small and I was worried about the teeth ruining the already punched parts. I do have a bigger one on my wishlist that I hope to get soonish.

Smooshy Cowl

Last night I finished loom knitting up this cowl made from Mushishi yarn. it was my first time using this yarn and I really like it. Nice and soft!

I still need to figure out how to block this (assuming I do it) but it is otherwise finished. Just a basic 2×2 rib stitch.

Cozy, warm hat

Yesterday I loom knit myself a hat. I used my handspun yarn that is a blend of alpaca and angora. I wish you could touch it through the screen. It is so soft that I can’t stop petting it. I will be leaving shortly to go to a party, so will be wearing it. It is only 10* out right now so I definitely want a hat on!

I did not use a pattern and it was made using the green Knifty Knitter.

Christmas Gifts

I only made a few gifts this years since we now do a Yankee swap with one half of my family.  So it is just getting gifts for kids but I’m not making kids anything because they are too picky. The exception is for my two youngest nieces (2 and 4) I made them each a little bear with my Zoom Loom.

For my mother, I made her something that can be used as a trivet or a wall hanging. I still need to put the wool felt backing on, but otherwise it is done. It is rug hooked and the first one I’ve done binding on. It needs work but I don’t think it looks bad. I know my mom will love it anyway. Monogrammed with her initial.

I bought two Oxford needles off of someone on Ravelry so I am looking forward to playing with those when they show up. I am still having lots of fun doing rug hooking as well as more punch needle. More projects for those to come after Christmas.

Black Jack

I made a rug hooking of my cat. He was supposed to have a mouth and whiskers but they did not look good so I left them off. Since he is all black, I think just the eyes looks fine. The dark green is a bit hard to see unless in bright light (pic is with flash).

Two little kittens

I finished the needle punch!

The image is cute, however there was not enough thread in the colors to be able to make it look like the picture. The boarder is supposed to be dark grey background but as you can see, there was only enough to do the right side. I then used what was left of the other two greys (used in the cats) to fill in the rest of the boarder.

I have not cut the fabric yet as I don’t know what I am doing with this yet.

Punch needle embroidery wip

This is the other kit I picked up at a fiber fest last month. I have not done punch needle in a long time but want to work on it again. I could not pass this kit up because I love cats. I started it last night. It took a bit for me to remember how to do things right, but I think it’s going well now. :)

Rug hooking with yarn

Today I did an experiment with yarn since I knew it was possible to rug hook using yarn.  I bought a small roll of burlap at one point at Michaels since it was on sale. That is what I used since it was hemmed and I could cut a piece of for a small piece.

I have tons of yarn to play with, so I doodled a design and went at it.

I should have used thicker yarn, but it worked well enough for a first try. The paisleys look okay, the flower and swirl at the bottom turned out good. The red blob in the middle was supposed to be a heart. I cannot figure out how to get it to keep its shape. I even tried to use black to outline it but it still turned into a circle.  It kinda looks like a ladybug so it’s fine I guess. I do want to learn how to do a proper heart though!

Sharp points are hard. There was supposed to be a star but I just could not get it to work out. The top right is a crescent moon with a random purple blob on the right, and another in the top center.

It was a good learning experience. I do want to try again with thicker and better yarn. I just dug into my acrylic stash for trying this out. I am going to look around online to see what I can find for tutorials/classes.

First time rug hooking

This is the kit that I picked up at the fiber fest last month. I have been wanting to try rug hooking for awhile so found a small kit to try out. It went much faster than I thought. I don’t know the exact time, but it only took me a few hours to do. Maybe only a half hour total to cut all the strips. I definitely want to do more of this!

Seaweed Scarf

I started this scarf back in July and worked on it off and on. Determined to finish it, I have been working on it pretty much daily this month. I finally finished it at 1am this morning.

The pattern is available on Ravelry. It is very easy to do and is great if you have not done the knit through the back loop increase. So I learned something new doing this!

Now to decide what I’m going to work on next. I have many things I want to do but there is only one of  me!