Weavers Wool Mini Shawl

This is the Weavers Wool Mini Shawl knit from 3 skeins of Rowan Felted Tweed. Two balls of a maroon color were used for the body, and a navy blue for the edge. It is warm and versatile, and the design of the shawl means that it stays on your shoulders very easily. I highly recommend this pattern, and will definitely be knitting another.

Purple scrap mittens

I used up scraps of purple Cascade 220 to replace some mittens that had been lost. Underneath them is a blanket in progress, with walnut-dyed yarn. When done, that one will go to afghans for Afghans.

New puppy

My family's dog whose picture graces this website passed away; it has been almost two years since that sad day. Now a new puppy has come along, a black and tan dachshund - very sweet and a bundle of energy. He is going to puppy training class with my mom.

stripey socks

Some stripey socks. Instead of doing a regular symmetrical decrease at the toe, I tried making the sock toe shape more similar to my actual toes, by decreasing more often on the outside edge than the inside one. Yarn picked up at Sock Summit: Lana Grossa 6 fach stripes; 80% wool, 20% nylon.

ArtFibers yarn tasting

A local knitter Natalie organized a "yarn tasting" where we got to try yarns from a company called ArtFibers. It was held on a sunny day at a local park. We knit swatches, choosing from many yarn colors, textures, and fibers. After a few hours of knitting, our swatches got to come home with us - that's mine above. Following are some more details on the yarns that I tried (click on pictures to makes them bigger).

From top to bottom, the above includes: Pacino 7 (merino wool, nylon), Satori (silk, mohair, wool), Ming 11 (silk, merino wool), Pacino 6 (merino wool, nylon), Udon 4 (merino wool, nylon), Zoftig 4 (merino wool, nylon).


Continuing from top to bottom, these are: Casanova 18 (silk, mohair), Zoftig 13 (wool, nylon), Chanteuse (wool, nylon), Kyoto 20 (silk, mohair, wool), Kyoto 23 (silk, mohair, wool).

All yarns were beautiful... but as for my favorites... the colors of Kyoto were stunning, but I think I overall liked the Pacino/Zoftig 85% merino 15% nylon best - for ease of knitting, texture, and colors.

Another water bottle holder

A lot of steps for this simple water bottle holder. First unraveled the yarn from the Tasmanian sweater posted previously. Then dyed it into self-striping green and maroon colors (actually was trying to get blue and pink, but that's another story). Then knit into a generic water bottle shape with strap, using a feather and fan pattern to make the stripes curvy. Finally felted the whole thing by hand. Voila another water bottle holder for the collection - I use them a lot.

Summer socks

Spending some more time learning socks. It's slowly getting easier. Here are a pair for myself for summer. Yarn: Panda cotton: 55% bamboo, 24% cotton, 21% nylon

Purply blue hat

I had a piece of a thrift store sweater left over (bottom front) - not yet unraveled. I dyed it that way (progressive-type dyeing), and only unraveled it thereafter. It was an interesting effect, with color gradation from top to bottom, but also within each stitch - outside of stitches took more red dye, inside of stitches more blue.

I knit it into a hat of my own design. The seed stitch border looks nice, but is not quite as warm as a ribbed border which draws in close to your head. I like the way the purl-diamonds turned out.

Train tam

This hat was a Christmas present - very well received and fun to knit. I followed the pattern very closely, and added some embroidered flowers. The pattern is a free one: http://cosymakes.com/2007/08/18/train-tam/

Second socks

A second pair of socks, made from a pattern in the two-socks-at-a-time book. These were a lot more difficult than the first pair. The yarn was thinner, and the dark blue color made it hard to see the stitches. The heels also got messed up at first, which took a while to undo and redo. Whew, I am glad they are done.

Fingerless gloves adapted from a pattern in the book "Homespun Handknit". The yarn is recycled from a thrift store sweater - the label said it was knit in Nepal. The original yarn color was undyed off-white, and I dyed it with food color. This yarn was interesting in that it was very "sticky" - lots of little grasping hairs on each thread. Undoing a row felt like taking apart velcro.

Fiddle faddle

Holiday stars made with bits of leftover yarn. Pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmerman in her book Knitter's Almanac.

Basketweave blanket

The yarn for this blanket was recycled from a thrift store JCrew sweater. The yarn was thick, soft, amazing. The first photo shows a strand of Cascade220 (the thinner strand) compared to the yarn from the sweater.

Now, I usually do a gage swatch, but for this blanket I didn't, I just cast on 144 stitches as the pattern requested, and knit until I ran out of yarn. Well, those 144 stitches produed a blanket over 5 feet wide. And because it was recycled yarn from 1 sweater, I was limited on how much yarn I had. So it's only 2 feet tall. I was originally going to send this to Afghanistan, but the size was outside their requirements, so it's staying here to be my thick, soft, amazing [and very wide :)] futon blanket.

Black walnut dyeing

Black walnut husks make a very strong dye, and I wanted to try it on some yarn. Luckily, my parents have some majestic black walnut trees on their place (above). The nuts fall to the ground (below), which make them easy to harvest.


I used a piece of wood to separate the husks from the nuts, then put the husks into enough water to cover them (below), and let that soup sit outside for a couple days.


Then I strained out the bits and pieces of the husks, and put in the yarn. I put one skein in for 24-hours, and it turned a darker golden brown. The second skein was put in for shorter times - dyed so it would be self-striping. From doing a little research on black walnuts, some folks recommend heating the dye, but I dyed these outside in a bucket and it seemed to work well.

Hunting season hat

It's deer hunting season in western PA and my dad requested a (birthday) hat that would let hunters know he wasn't a deer when walking through the woods. The pattern is "a very plain hat" from the blog "feather and fan". It's knit with a double-strand everywhere except the brim, so it's very warm - actually too warm for the 70-80 degree indian summer weather. The black yarn is Knit Picks, and the orange is from a recycled sweater, dyed with food color to make it bright orange.

Vest became a sweater

I started this as a vest, but when I got to the midpoint I realized I had enough yarn for a sweater, and so here it is. It's a soft but heavyweight yarn, will be very effective against the winter cold in Afghanistan. This is the second of three projects I am making for the current afghans for Afghans campaign. The third project, a blanket made from lovely gray recycled wool (a jcrew sweater) been begun.

Vest colors

Here is the yarn dyed for afghans for Afghans project #2. Can you see a vest in this? I think "yes".

More mittens

Plan on knitting three things for the current afghans for Afghans "campaign for youth" drive, http://www.afghansforafghans.org/. Here's the first - the snow day mittens from "Knit one, Embellish too". Yarn is navy Knit Picks bulky (merino, I think) with some recycled wool for the embroidery.

The second project is underway. Here's part of the unraveled Polo sweater (i.e. yarn spaghetti) which I will dye (green/blue/yellow) and knit into a vest.

Popsicle Mittens

Some finished mittens just in time for 90 degree weather. This pattern is also from the book Knit One Embellish two. I added a couple of increases and decreases as I went along to make it fit my hands. The yarn is self-striping (5 different dye colors) that I made up using the last of the recycled yarn from the Talbot's sweater. Usually when dyeing, you soak it beforehand. But I purposely dyed this yarn dry, which increased the variation in color (bottom picture).

Tree Bud Mitts

Some striped fingerless gloves, made 2-at-a-time on one circular needle. Pattern is from the book "Knit One, Embellish Too". The dark blue yarn is knit picks amethyst heather, the green is recycled from the talbot's sweater and dyed by me. Alone, the green yarn was pretty intense, but I like how it combines with the more sedate blue (pic 2). I get that jog with my stripes via circular knitting (pic 3). I might try another pair trying out a jogless join method. Anyways, a fun knit, they fit great.