Ready, Set, Go!

I am trying our a new motivational trick. I am going to blog my way through my next knitting project. I am going to knit my neice a sweater for this fall. I hope to document each day's progress in the attempt to expedite the project. The last baby sweater took over 6 months, lets not have that happen again. So here I go. I started the sweater yesterday waiting in the ferry line, thanks to an extra long ferry back up, I got further than expected The tiny tea leaves cardi by Melissa LaBarre, is a simple and very sweet top down sweater. The yarn is as local as you can get, it's called Moclips and is 25% mohair and 75% Coopworth lamb's wool, it actually comes from my shearing mentor (I thought this was too cool because my sister picked out the yarn). The only strange part about this pattern is how often you switch between needle sized, this is to get the puckered effect in the yoke. I am knitting size 2 for C, it will be large on her, but I am a very tight knitter so we will see. I did go up in needle sizes to account for my tension.

Day 1: sweater measurement to date~ 2 inches and on Row 16

another sweet hat

Baby hats are just the easiest thing to give as a gift at a shower. They don't take very long or very much yarn and who doesn't melt when you see a tiny sweet baby sporting a hand knit hat (ok, maybe not all hats). I try to have some knit in advance so all I have to do is pick the right one, right, in my dreams. A co-worker of T's is due in a couple of weeks and I always like to find new hat pattern or make one up as I go. This one is a little bit of both, it is a pattern from Hats Mittens and Scarves. It is kind of a cool book, well it's not a book at all, it's a box with a collection of patterns each on their own card, it makes it really easy to carry about. The hat is called a baby aviator hat, but after I finished it the top looked like it was missing something. So, I added a pompom and that's what made it look like it belonged in L.L. Bean's winter catalog. Yes I do know that we are going in into summer and being June already this hat might look a little silly. After it was blocked it loosened up some and I think it will fit this winter, of course that all depends on baby. Congrats A, you are in for the most wonderful times of your life! And of course Teddy was the only model who the hat would fit and the only one who would sit still for a photo shoot.

Cotton Tail

These long breaks really put a dent in blogging. I know I'll get a pattern down sooner or later and maybe get some regular readers. For now presenting... yet another oh so cute baby hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson, who it turns out, while I was writing this blog I discovered, has her own blog on blogspot http://susanbanderson.blogspot.com/, how cool! I totally plan on becoming a faithful reader because if her blogs are half as good as her books then we are in for a treat. For Bunny Hat, as my brother-in-law would say I went shopping in my stash and came up with this soft, multi-color (pink, white and brown) DK yarn and held a strand of white Kid Silk Haze with it to add a soft "halo" effect. It turned out very sweet, I would use white ribbon for the bows next time, but in the move I still have not unpacked that box and have no idea where it might be residing. This was a very belated gift for little Mikalya (spelling?) to wear this coming winter.

It's Almost Here!!!

Spring! It's almost here and it feels like it too. Some weeks there might be snow on the ground and you'd swear we were in the depths of winter in the middle of March, but not today. The sun is shining the birds are singing (how cliche of me) and there are babies everywhere. Gavin is asleep in his bed, there are baby chicks in my bath tub, baby goats in the field and a kitten tearing around the house. Yep, it's spring alright.  And even though there is more daylight in the evening I feel like there is less time than ever to do things, oh gardening season, where we work outside so long and don't get into the house until dark and then dinner ends up being around 9pm. It is totally worth it.

 

Well now, lets talk about something a little more fun. My sister and I went to a fiber arts convention called Madrona. It has amazing classes you can take and 40-50 vendors to shop from. Most of the vendors are  semi-local yarn stores and local artists. It is a great way for fabulous small businesses to get out a bit . While we were there we came across a new felting technique, it is a little needle felting with a dash of wet felting and a heaping scoop of Easy! It's called art felt and is based around Artfelt paper which is a potato based paper that you place your design on, barley tack it down with a felting needle and throw it into the dryer. Alright you got me, there are a few more steps, but not many. I wanted to try it out by making a Spring ornament. I make these ornaments regularly with just the needle felting

method and they take me a little over an hour. 

I have gathered all my supplies, pink wool for the flower head, a small amount of yellow wool for the center and green for the stem and leaves, a small square of the art felt paper along with a square of plastic (plastic wrap will do) make both pieces just slightly larger than the project itself, a knee high nylon, a felting needle and don't forget the foam felting pad 

(a needle in the leg will add a painful note to the day).

Ready set go!

  Step 1: Lay the Artfelt paper on the foam and let your imagination run. You are able to make double sided projects but remember the felting paper is always the bottom layer. 

Tack your design down just enough to hold it to the paper.

Step 2: Lay the plastic on top and roll it up like a jellyroll. Plastic wrap worked well but next time I think I will use something a little heavier to be able and reuse it (waste not!).

Step3: Get it completely wet. Cold or tepid water works well, don't use hot water. Now stuff it in those old knee highs that have been banished to the back of the drawer (if you ever even owned any).

Step 4: Throw it in the dryer and turn it on high for about 10 minutes. Pull it out and give it a looksie, it probably won't be done yet but you can control the degree of felting by keeping an eye on it.

Step 5:  Now comes the fun part! Take your project,  put it in a bowl and add boiling water to it. The paper should be magically disappearing 

before your eyes. After the cloud clears check out your newest creation.

Well it wasn't my most creative or dynamic project, but it worked well for a test run of the Artfelt paper. After all the supplies were readied it only took me 10 minutes to have my design ready to throw in the dryer and another 10 minutes in the dryer. That's fast considering this flower grew from a ball of wool. Here is the Artfelt website, www.itsartfelt.com . Happy felting!