Knitting is good for you

I knit with a pretty special group of people.  We occupy a pretty large span in age, education and interests.  We are united in fiber.  We have all come together from a variety of places...frequently places of pain. I don't know why that is or why we have picked up the needles in particular.  I have a friend who reconnected with her mother's spirit when she finally learned how to knit.  She told me her mom tried to teach her when she was young but she resisted at the time, finding the hobby tedious and old-fashioned.  In finally knitting, she made peace.  Many of us find our way here through failed or abusive relationships-a startling amount actually.  So it should not be surprising to any of us that studies have found that the needle arts relieve stress.

https://www.yahoo.com/makers/happiness-is-a-needle-and-thread-away-the-mental-113527012940.html

So, April is stress awareness month.  If you are not aware of stress, congratulations!  If you are one of the rest of us, pick up some needles or a hook - or if you're really stressed a spindle.  

On the needles:  socks! 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vanilla-bean-striped-socks

 

Bags!

So good readers, I have broken down and gotten myself a new sewing machine.  She's a beauty.

Yup.  This is my first New-new machine- as in not just new for me new.  It is brand new out of the box.  It has buttons to press  and it even has a self threaded for the needle.  I know!  Fancy.  So I've been getting busy making bags.  Project bags.  Specifically knitting project bags. (See how it comes back to fiber.  Always).  I found a blog with a little pattern that uses three fat quarters to make the little project bag.

So I chose these.  Cute, yeah?  And they were on sale.  So with the three fat quarters and some basic equipment... My machine and I went to town.

A fully functioning sewing machine is a big deal when sewing, but nearly as important is a good iron.

Here we have the inner lining of the bag (pink), the exterior (butterfly) and the exterior accent (burgundy). Two of those sewn together, turn inside out and boom!

Cute right?  If you cut your fat quarters carefully you can get two bags out of them.

See what I did there?  Neglect the husband, housework and mealtimes and you have more bags.

Sacrifice basic hygiene and even more bags!

Make more bags!

I am only partially kidding my.  I am the Cumpulsive Crafter ha know.

So visit the tutorial, and try it yourself.  It's  a hoot!

 

http://www.incolororder.com/2011/10/lined-drawstring-bag-tutorial.html

 

 

The Year of the Sheep

Happy Chinese New Year!  This time of year marks the largest human migration and this year in the Chinese Zodiac is the Year of the Sheep. People born in the year of the Sheep are artistic and crafty.

Who are we kidding?  It's been the year kid the sheep for a good ten years now! My Sheepy stash has grown exponentially.  My taste in yarn has changed.. Matured shall we say.  I still use acrylic for afghans, for baby knits, for charity knits.  But for myself, there is nothing like alpaca. Nothing beats the joy of a good merino.  On my feet, I will have no less than 75% natural fiber. I don't consider myself a yarn snob.  I just have standards.

On New Year's Eve I promised myself that I would buy no yarn until Rhinebeck...the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in October... Or maybe until Maryland Sheep and Wool in May. I made it 6 days.  Six. Days. There was a huge sale somewhere on something. And there I was - checkbook in hand. And I haven't looked back.  

Inspinerated

I threatened a blog post on spinning and here it is.  I've been inspinerated for over a year now, and I will tell you that my name is The Cumpulsive Crafter and I am seriously addicted to spinning.  Wheel spinning - spindle spinning.  I love it all.  I started with a spindle and a Craftsy course with some Merino I picked up at Rhinebeck (NY Sheep and Wool). The results were clunky think and thin and awesome!  I've attempted to replicate them many times without result. Spinning with color is fun, gradients, barberpoling (?) striping... Perfecting the technique could take a lifetime, and that's a good thing considering how much fiber I've amassed.  Art yarns are the new frontier for me... Experimentation.  

I've experimented with spinning commercial yarns before.  It's a cheap and easy alternative to for trying out new techniques.  Coils, loops- it's a lot easier to try on some leftover commercial yarn.

 Re spinning or replying yarn is also fun for experimentation.  I used lion Brand Quickie.

As you can see, it is a super bulky roving type plied with a black thread.  It's 22% wool.

So I pulled the thread away from the roving.  

Spinable!  It didn't take me much more than 5 minutes to separate the string from the fluff.

There's a lot of color to the roving, as you can see, unfortunately, when I spun it, it muddied up.  I would take it down to half if I were to do it again.

So I spun it on my wheel; I have an Ashford Joy, using the regular oriface and I have to say it was an easy spin.  Since the roving is commercially prepared, the staple length was very even.

I plied the two singles in a 'z' formation.

You can see that a lot of the color is lost.

So here's the skein.  I probably won't knit  with it, it's a little hairy and I'm not into that, but I got the 3 ounce skein for maybe $4 at Michaels.  Definitely economical, and a cool experiment.  I have some other leftovers, I'm thinking about what I can do with those.   Hmmm...

Snowbound!

Ok, we're not exactly snowbound...we could get out if we wanted to.  But all the coffee and yarn is here, so we're not going anywhere!

The weather has put me in the mood to knit something chunky and  super warm, so I started a cowl with this bulky yarn from Isaac Mizrahi.  

When I bought it, the color (and price) appealed to me.  It's about 15% wool;  to me that would be great for gifting. It is a single with a little bit of a halo.  It's not splitty or squeaky. Ahh But the colors!  I love it. This one is called appropriately, Fashion. 

I finished my TARDIS socks. (My geek heart loves that my autocorrect capitalizes that...:))

Cool!  They are the TARDIS Tribute Socks  and they fit like a glove!

I also used the snow day time off to work on another project bag and I think this is the best one yet! 

Aw.  It's cute without being too cutesy.  I don't do cutesy.

 

l'll work on another one tonight.  They are really quick and use two or three fat quarters, depending on the look you're going for. Soon I'll be confident enough to work on apparel. My sewing experience consists mainly of pillows and curtains.  Nothing too complicated. 

Tonight I'll drink too much coffee and resist the urge to go on Etsy and expand my stash.  I'll work on this cowl and maybe do a little spinning.  More on that in another post.

Missing post

I'm sure there's a post missing there.  Really.  And while we're at it, where has January got itself to!?  As a compulsive crafter, I've been busy, well crafting.  Finished up the Christmas items with no time to spare.  Why do we do these things to ourselves?

  My favorite FO has to be my Sky Scarf.  I got the kit from Leafcutter designs last year. It gives you 5 skeins of alpaca (yum) with which you knit two rows, one garter ridge, holding two colors together that most closely resemble the sky on that day.  Dark Grey and light grey for storms; dark blue for clear summer days. The instructions suggest that you leave the kit out and knit the two rows every day, but that is not going to happen at my place and this is why:

She has very discerning tastes in yarn and alpaca is her favorite.  So here it is in all its glory.

So, the kit came with a label, which you can see in the second picture.  I love this idea, and you can check it out on Ravelry for alternative patterns and yarn ideas.  Here's the link to my Project page:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/RedheadKnitting/sky-scarf. 

Here's the link to the kit at Leafcutter Designs

http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/projects/sky-scarf.html.

BTW: I don't get paid by any of the companies, websites or Independents that I mention on this blog. I don't get anything free or whatnot.  I just like the stuff and want to share.

With Coffee Comes Inspiration.

I was very inspired at Starbucks today to finally sit and blog.  I knit with my regular knitting group up there on Thursdays and with coffee comes inspiration.  So this blog will be the occasional ramblings of a compulsive crafter, mom, fangirl and raging liberal.  Deal.

So, I was inspired today by not only the peppermint latte I was enjoying (don't judge) but by my pal Erica.  She is an amazing designer (Fiddleknits on Ravelry, check her out), dyer of gorgeous yarns, knitter, spinner, seamster, jewelry maker...the list goes on.  She is indeed a kindred spirit.  Except she has the guts to do this stuff for money, whereas I bankroll my passions with a pink collar customer service job.  I have a bunch of projects I'm planning/working on.  We'll discuss those.

This is the sock I'm working on.  It's Christmas Party Sock (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/christmas-party-socks) and is free on Ravelry.  I'm using
Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer, so there's a little bit of party in there.  Colorwork is my new thing now.

So are project bags.

Here's one I finished recently.  I wanted one to hold both skeins of yarn for the above sock.  Super easy, gang.  Also, materials to make more project bags.  

I am also knitting this sky scarf...

The idea is to knit two rows corresponding with the color of the sky on that day.  It's a been a long project, but it's almost done!  And it's Alpaca, so it's definitely worth it.

I've been working on these tiny sweaters to make Christmas ornament cards.  They are from Berrocco's website and are called minutiae.

Lastly, I am making some ruffle scarves for sale for a charity craft sale at work.  Don't judge...it's for charity.

Those are my knitting projects.  I would also like to make some Christmassy dishcloths for my MIL.  Every year I promise myself that I will not do this and every year I am knitting within an inch.  Someday I'll learn.  

Well, signing off for now.  We'll discuss spinning projects next time and when I get my yarn from the wonderful KnitMona, I will share.