Tag Archives: fiber arts friday

Fiber Arts Friday: Catching up

Posted on April 19, 2013 | 13 Comments

Word Lily knitsSince I’ve spent the last feels-like-a-very-long while not blogging, I have some catching up to do. Although not all that much, because I wasn’t knitting hardly at all for most of that time.

But! Socks!

I made these quite awhile ago now, but I’m still smitten.

Silk Garden Socks

• Started and finished in December.
• Pattern: So Simple Silk Garden by Glenna C.
• Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock — apparently I didn’t jot down the colorway number.
• I worked the cables without a cable needle!
• (More details here.)
• I love Noro yarns. The long color changes, the single, everything. It reminds me of handspun, at least in some ways.

And these were made even longer ago, but I think I might love them more.

Hermione's Everyday Socks

• Started and finished in November.
• Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
• Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks FX in Camelot Colors
• (More details here.)
• Yay, purple!
• I loved how not-just-a-plain-stockinette-sock this was, while still being very simple and straightforward. I will (and have) sought out more patterns like it.

Do you wear colorful socks?

Head over to FO Fridays and Fiber Arts Fridays to see what other people are up to in the fibery world today!

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Swap hat

Posted on January 25, 2013 | 37 Comments

Word Lily knitsOne of my groups on Ravelry is having a hat swap for our babies, and my swap partner received the hat I made, so I can finally unveil this secret!

I made Leethal’s Wobble Bass hat.

Seen here modeled on my little guy.

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My project page on Ravelry.

I used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky in color Blue Flannel for the main color, and a little bit of my handspun (n-plied merino, hand-dyed by Hello Yarn, in a Yarn School colorway, I forget which one). (Man, I should really look that up.)

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This was a tough project for me, but I’m pretty thrilled with how it turned out, although it’s not without its flaws. I might have been pushing the envelope a bit, using super bulky yarn to make a baby/toddler-sized hat, but it still worked. The pattern is awesome, a very engaging (heh) knit and the finished object is pretty fun, if you ask me.

You can see my kitchener in garter stitch here, it didn't completely disappear. My tension must have been off.

You can see my kitchener in garter stitch here, it didn’t completely disappear. My tension must have been off.

Here are a couple more photos, just for grins.

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I’ve wanted to try my hand at Leethal’s patterns for quite a while, and this won’t be my only foray. But I might have to make this hat again first, so I don’t have to rely on (digital) photographs as proof of this summit conquered.

The recipient, elpalchica, posted about the hat today, too. I’m so glad she likes it!

Have you participated in swaps before?

Wanna see more? Check out FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday.

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Gift knits

Posted on January 18, 2013 | 33 Comments

Word Lily knitsSince I’m starting to get back in the swing of blogging, I guess I’ll finally tell you about the gifts I knit for Christmas. This was a pretty slow Christmas in terms of handcrafted gifts.

• I made Mom a pair of socks. With yummy BFL yarn.
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Kind of boring to knit, but very work appropriate to wear. And the nice hand-dyed yarn helped.

• I crocheted a pair of legwarmers (and a matching earwarmer [Calorimetry], not pictured) for a sister-in-law, based on her pinning the pattern (and others like it) on Pinterest.
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• I whipped up a crown and a mask for a young niece.
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(Wow, I just realized that of those pictured here, half are crocheted and half are knit. If you count the Calorimetry, the list skews knit, though.)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday / Finished Object Friday / Friday! I’m looking forward to catching up on sharing all I’ve been making and reading soon.

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Baby in Red (sweater)

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 12 Comments

Word Lily knitsYay, I finally tried the sweater on the babe and even got photos, all in the same day! Let’s pretend it isn’t nearly a month after the last end was woven in …

The pattern is Gavyn.

While I didn’t love everything about the pattern, or the knitting, I do think I quite like the finished sweater.

Baby in red

This was my first bottom-up sweater, my first non-raglan sweater. I made the 12-month size and added an inch to the length of the body of the sweater and about 3/4-inch to the sleeve length, because my boy is tall and long-torso-ed.

It doesn’t look as big on him (at 7 months) as I thought it was, as I was aiming for, but it will still hopefully fit him all this winter.

I used recycled sweater yarn, in 100 percent cotton; tripling the yarn gave me gauge on the recommended needle size.

I’m linking up with FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday; visit these places if you want to see more projects! :)

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Knitting in the dark

Posted on November 20, 2012 | 16 Comments

Word Lily knitsI started these socks as we were on a 7-hour (one-way) road trip. I knew I’d have the chance to get a bunch of knitting in, and I wanted something small and mindless but not too quick to finish. Simple socks it is (Rav project page)!

On that one trip (there and back), I nearly finished the first sock.

The skein (Patons Kroy Socks Stripes) for the second sock had a knot and a color change that completely messed up the progression (you can see it at the top of the sock on the right of the photo), which bugged me but I just went with it.

They fit really well (tweaking, ever tweaking that recipe), but of course when I got them finished my husband said he liked these better than the ones he had and would totally wear them. But by then, they fit me, not him. (Also, not nearly enough yarn left to make them bigger.)

During that first day in the car, I put them down when it got too dark to see. But then, maybe 40 minutes later, Paul asked why I’d stopped knitting. He figured since knitting was such a tactile activity, I would be able to knit without benefit of eyesight. Well, I’d heard of people who capably knit simple things in dark movie theaters, so I decided to try it. The results were less than pretty.

See all the snags and awfulness? And that’s after I fixed the really bad stuff

So, I learned that I need to practice being less dependent on my eyes while I’m knitting, while I still have access to light (say, when I’m watching football). I’m not quite there yet, to the point where I can knit beautifully in the dark. Although circular needles would help a lot, instead of using double-pointed needles. I seemed to have trouble at the start of each needle.

And these socks will remind me of that trip, to my sister’s baby shower. (Welcome, baby!)

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Finished Object Friday: Ribbed socks

Posted on November 9, 2012 | 21 Comments

Word Lily knitsI said the other day that I’d only knit two non-baby things in 2012. I already blogged about one of them; here’s the other:

Blue stripes ribbed socks

(Ravelry project page)

I made these in July. They’re really basic, just a basic sock in 3×1 rib, continued all the way down the leg, over the top of the foot and through most of the toe. I didn’t use a pattern, I’m trying to discover vary aspects of the sock to find the best fit, and this was a step (heh) in that direction.

While not exciting, they’re definitely easy to wear, since I practically live in jeans. I do love sock knitting.

(Posting this as part of FO Fridays and Fiber Arts Fridays.)

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Hats

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 13 Comments

I checked a week or so ago and I’ve only knit two projects in 2012 that weren’t baby related. They weren’t all for my little one, but they were all for little people (or impendings).

Here are just a couple. All the hats I’d made for him before he was born, he outgrew. They grow so fast! So, I knit him a couple more, since cold weather approaches (and has been here for a day or two, actually, but has since given us a reprieve).

Here’s the first one I made:

(You can see his first tooth in the left-most two of that montage; he now has two teeth and has started working on the next one. You might need to click on the photo to view it larger, though.)

Here’s my project page on Ravelry. I used Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted yarn, in the color Bit of Blue. Nice things about this hat: it keeps his neck warm, and it won’t fall (or be too easily pulled) off.

And, hat number two:
Teo Hat

This one was super-fast to make, albeit a bit fiddly. And the yarn was from the bottom of my stash, so it was nice to find a good use for it! It’s a tiny bit too big, but with the ties I’m thinking it will still stay on. And this yarn is soo thick and warm, too (the long-discontinued, I believe, Lion Brand Bolero (100% wool, thick and thin singles)). My project page is here, with more details.

So, that’s it for today! Plenty more knits to show (and even some other stuff to talk about soon). I tried to make a hat for myself from that second pattern (different colors), but it ended up too small or too short, or both, even though it should have worked. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do about that, yet.

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Refurbished woollens

Posted on July 13, 2012 | 10 Comments

Word Lily knits

Asa is getting some good use out of a wool soaker that was first worn by his great-grandfather. Grandma had two of them in storage, and since she knew we were going to cloth diaper and also because I love wool, she got them out while we awaited the little guy’s arrival. First we washed and aired them out. Grandma mended the holes. The drawstrings had disintegrated, so we picked yarn and I knit new I-cords. In both cases (I only have a photo of one of them for you today, but there are two soakers) the seam is machine sewn.

Dusk light and pillows, in his great-grandfather’s wool soaker. You can click the photo to view it larger.

I love pieces — and crafts — that span generations!

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