Friday's Update

This past Friday, I updated the shop with what I dyed last week.  As promised, it was braids of Falkland and some of my 2-ply fingering.  Prior to Friday, I had also updated the shop with a braid of Corriedale in a very special colorway.

This new colorway is called 'if and any.'  It is named after a friend's blog (right here!).

I love, love, love this color.  Eliza asked me to dye up some yarn she had un-strung from a thrifted sweater.  We brainstormed a bit, and she showed me pictures of what she was imagining.  It was a lot of fun to create this colorway for her.  Check out her blog!  She's awesome!

And here are the braids of Falkland.

Foxtail

In the Clouds

While I love dyeing fiber (and Falkland has become my fave), it was all about the sock yarn last week.  The dye pot was full of it!

There are some brights...

l to r: Turgenta and Sea Spray

...and some muteds.

clockwise from bottom left: Sea Glass, Harold & Mauve, and Lichen & Bark

I'm taking a break from dyeing this week so I can work on some projects.  Who would've thought that being around this much yarn would leave such little time to knit?

A Honeypot of Leaves

This is my Honey Cowl for the Sunflower Yarns February-along.

The deets:

Sunflower Yarns Durham in Last Leaves of Fall

US 8

I used a 32 inch circular needle, even though the pattern called for a 29.  I definitely recommend the 29.  It was a bit stretched with the 32.  I got gauge with 8s and knit until it reached about 10 inches in width.  This is going to be a warm cowl for next winter.  The honeycomb stitch makes a dense fabric.

Merino and Corriedale Braids

Tonight, I've listed a few braids of spinning fibers in the shop.

One braid of corriedale and five of merino.  Corriedale is by far my favorite to dye, so you'll definitely be seeing more of that in the future!

Next Friday (March 2) at 9 pm, I'll have an update of one more braid of corriedale, two braids of falkland, and a few skeins of my 2-ply fingering yarn.

See you there!

Working on some WIPs

I have a couple of projects on my needles that I want to share.

 I'm working on a Honey Cowl for the Sunflower Yarns February-along.  The theme this month is the DK Durham yarn line.  I had some in my stash already in the colorway Last Leaves of Fall.  I love this colorway!  The cowl will go with a lot of different outfits.  Plus, I've been wanting a long cowl for a while.

This is a project I've had on the needles since the beginning of the year.  I got started on my sweater goal early!  The pattern is Gudrun Johnston's Moch Cardi and I'm knitting it in Red Heart Designer Sport in Pistachio.  I don't care for acrylic all that much, but I'm using this up so I can stash down.  It's been slow-going, but I'll be picking this up again full force after this month's Sunflower Yarns -along.

What are you working on right now?

2012 Knitting Goals

It's just a tad late in the year to be posting about goals, but we'll pretend that I had to think so long and hard about this that it took me a month.  I'll start by recapping last year's goals and how I did on them.

My knitting goals for 2011

• Complete the 11 Shawls in 2011 challenge through Ravelry.  Sadly, I didn't complete this goal.  I started my 10th shawl and finished it in January 2012.  I'm not sad about it, though!  10 shawls is a lot for one year, and I was knitting others things as well.
• Seriously stash down.  My stash has been out of hand for a while, and it became apparent when I had to move it all to our walk-in closet.  My clothes/shoes and yarn have to share space.  It's scary in there.  I knit 11,600 yards last year and sold some of my stash yarn on Ravelry.  My stash was down 1,119 yards.  Overall, I'm happy with how much I destashed.  It could have been much worse.
• I allowed myself one 'free' skein of yarn per month.  I limited my yarn purchasing to one 'free' skein per month (12 for the whole year), and I did exactly that.  Yarn that I purchased for specific projects (I knit for other people sometimes) didn't count and yarn that I received for gifts or during swaps didn't count, either.  I am super proud that I was able to limit my yarn shopping.

I've made a few knitting goals for this year and, I'll admit, a couple are kind of vague.

My knitting goals for 2012

• Knit at least three sweaters for myself, one for Will, one for each of the kids.  That's seven sweaters.  That's doable in a year, right?
• Finally make our daughter a hat.  Baby girl has been without a mama-made knit hat.  How sad is that?  (wow, that's a lot of rhyming there)
• Enjoy everything I knit.  Sometimes, easier said than done.  There are projects that you enjoy to knit, and there are projects that you enjoy after you knit.  I want more of the latter.
• Try to really get into sock knitting.  I forayed into sock knitting at the beginning of last year and liked it, but I want to love it.  I might not love it when all is said and done, but I am going to try my darnedest.  It's just so practically, you know?  Socks are useful!
• Expand my yarn horizons, without breaking the bank.  'Nuff said.

So, what about you?  Do you have any knitting goals?  Did it take you a month to decide on them, like me?

The Last Shawl of 2011 ... kind of

One of my goals for 2011 was to make 11 shawls.  I was sad that I didn't complete the challenge but am so happy that I made it to 10!  This was my 10th shawl of 2011 ... kind of.  And by kind of, I mean that I started it in 2011 and ended it in 2012.  That counts, right?

The deets:  the fibertopia 2-ply fingering in Deep Coral (not very coral-y, though.  i named this a l-o-o-ng time ago), US 5 circ. needles

I'm pretty happy with it, but the cast-on edging is a little wonky.  I wear all my shawls like scarves, so it won't really matter.  Working on this challenge was fun, but I'm all shawled-out.  I'm ready for my new knitting goals (a post to come about that!).

Have you knit any spectacular shawls lately?

The Christmas Knitting

Long time, no post, eh?  Turns out, my Christmas knitting didn't turn out as planned.  Isn't that the way it usually happens?  My to-do lists were long-ish (considering how much time I had), and my already-done lists were short.

One of my to-do's was a box of softies for the kids.  It sounded like such a good idea, to make a gaggle of toys for them.  However, after the first one, I was done.  Like, done.  This little guy is all I could muster up:

He was a hit, though.  Our second son doesn't care for stuffed animals (I know, right?  Why did I think a box of, essentially, stuffed animals was the perfect thing??), but he declared this Despicable Minion his baby!  Making this little guy was worth it.

The deets:  a variety of Lion Brand Worsted, a US G (4.0 mm) crochet hook, a little stuffing, and some hot glue.  Yes, that's right.  Hot glue.  I said I was done, right?  Well, when I needed to attach all the little pieces to this guy, I took the easy way out.  I am justifying it by saying it'll last longer this way.

Another item on my to-do list was this hat for my husband:

After a mouse ate part of the last hat I made him (and then carried the bits and pieces to my car and deposited them in my glove box.  true story.), I decided he was in need of a new one.  I used part of the leftovers from his last hat and combined it with some new yarn.  It fits him perfectly and he loves it.

The deets:  Knit Picks Swish DK in Cobblestone Heather, Sunflower Yarns Strafford in Frederick, US 6 circ. needles

How about you?  I know this is late to the game, but did your Christmas knitting turned out the way you wanted it?  Are you planning your Christmas knitting for this year?  I think I might need to...