Weddings and Knit/Crochet

My cousin's wedding is only a couple of months away and I can't help but think about the amazing handmade items I've seen for weddings.

One Interweave Crochet magazine from the summer of 2015 had so many great handmade wedding items, from flowers and bow ties to a full wedding dress. I love this issue of the magazine so much even beyond the wedding patters. It's a must see.

In another older magazine issue there were lovely pictures of a shawl designed for a designer getting married that took my breath away. There were amazing socks for the groomsmen and fun photos. If I find it, I'll share what issue it is.

I finally ordered my first skeins of Potion Yarns. I wanted to find something in teal to try to make a little something for my cousin. A scarf or a wrap...something nice for the coming winter months. I also found a lovely skein of yarn on Yarn Over New York, so there is a third contender for the teal yarn.

Here is some lovely eye candy of the teal yarns I found from the dyers:

Potion Yarn's Queen of the Nile

Potion Yarn's The Drones Club

Yarn Over New York's Fox Specs

Each yarn has such a unique beauty.

This post is pretty short this week. I've been making great progress on my the test for the Midnight Maths Shawl from Fiery Phoenix. Only 720 rows of the special cast off to go.

Happy crafting!!!

#HandMadeWardrobe

Oh, how I love the idea of being able to hand make a wardrobe...or even simply be able to mend my clothing with finesse. I'm a hand sewer. My sewing machine has been dormant for some time (you can see the post in which I finally opened the box and showed my older son how to use it last year). After moving it...no progress.

Sadly, I can't knit all standard garments necessary and that would take quite a bit of time. I have a super fun sewing book that I really want to dive into. It starts with some simple patterns and progresses to skirts and dresses.

There are some garments that I'd really like to add to my wardrobe that seem completely functional. Cardigans and sock weight shells seem to be easy additions. I'm hoping to make some small, thin accent scarves to add to color to my mostly black and neutral tone wardrobe. I can make up the accent scarves :). Maybe they'll be interesting enough to share.

Here is a great short list of what I'd love to tackle for my knitted/crocheted wardrobe:
Comfort Fade Cardi from Andrea Mowrey (casual cardigan) - dk weight
Free Range Kimono from Jesse Coppom (casual drapy short sleeved cardigan) - worsted weight
Carbeth Cardigan from Kate Davies (chunky cropped cardigan) - bulky
Maia Tee from Francois Danoy (beautify tank/shell) - fingering weight

Here is my fade idea for the Comfort Cardi. What do you think?

I was shopping last weekend (for clothing...for me!) and thought of how amazing it would be to make my own garments. I wear primarily business casual with some suiting requirements. I bought a literal shiny new suit! The sheen doesn't show up well in pictures but the suiting has a nice silver shine. Such a lovely neutral that can be dressed up or down...let's see how long it takes me to stain it.

Yarn Over New York, an indie dyer and pattern designer, will be starting a KAL with prizes next Saturday, August 18. The Angels Flight KAL has several options. I'm hoping to knit the socks :). Join the Facebook Group to learn more and for a discount code!

Here is a little taste of some lovely hand dyed yarn from yarn Over New Yarn:  Stormborn.

If you're in need of fibre in your YouTube subscriptions, check out Potion Yarn's channel. Johanna is doing a series on different kinds of wool. I also like her spunky attitude and gorgeous yarn. Check out her shop too :). She dyes hair and yarn for a living.

Here is just a peek at at Johanna's colorway Pamplemousse. It's my favorite :).

Ok, working on a new design idea...have a stitch pattern charted...onto swatching. I'm also continuing on my test knit.

Happy crafting and have a great week.

A Start to August and to KALs

Summer knitting and crochet can be tricky. I have some friends who cast off their projections for sewing or simply doing other things in the summer months. Handling wool in triple digit heat is understandably unpleasant. However, those of us in air conditioning can find the wool comforting. I read an article that summer is considered to be "women's winter" due to the air conditioning inside spaces. That phrase was new to me this year.

The summer months rarely slow down my crafting. There are often long road trips or waiting that provides me with time to keep making. During these months I'm often inspired to work with cotton, bamboo, linen, and various warm weather blends. The lovely array of summer clothing and accessories are also lots of fun. Projects that don't require sleeves are much quicker too.

As I'm typing this up, I'm thinking about the wool shawl that I'm currently testing. I started it on a bamboo blend  as well, but am focusing on the wool version to make sure I meet the necessary deadline. Pi shawls do tend take more time as you go, since they keep growing :).

Here is a picture of the wool version before I had completed the Chinese Lace section. The pattern is by Fiery Phoenix (Babs Rudlin). It's quite airy and light with the Knitpicks Shadow Lace yarn. I'm using two different colors and changing as indicated in the pattern.

The design is very pretty.

The fun challenge that I'm hoping I can do alongside this challenging test knit is the Sweater Sister's Mini Sweater Challenge. It starts on Monday 8/6. Four mini sweaters will be knit over four weeks to practice different sweater construction. I love these challenges that help you to better understand construction without having to spend months on a single project. This is not the first mini sweater challenge, but my first opportunity to participate. I'll share them is I'm able to get them done :).

There are a bunch of MKALs and CALs that are starting this month as well. I'm sticking with this test, the #minisweaterchallenge, and catching up on my #VVCAL squares as time permits.

Stay cool, we're back to 90 degree temperatures here in Portland starting tomorrow. I appreciated the break...I've grown so accustomed to the moderate temperatures.

Happy crafting and have a great week.

A Quick Post Before Adventure

An early post usually means, we're off to an adventure. Newport is our next stop and I'm super excited to experience 60 degree temperatures during our current heat wave in Oregon. After driving around my younger son to the dentist yesterday during the heat of the day...I'm ready for a cool off.

I started testing a pi shawl and I didn't like how the how the lace was knitting  up, so I started on a dk weight yarn and then used smaller needles for the lace weight yarn. The test is using Yarn Pond, so I get to track my progress differently. If you're ever considering a test...here are all the different platforms I've used to test for others:

• Ravelry
• Facebook
• Slack
• Yarnpond
• Messenger

I've enjoyed each of the platforms for different reasons. Yarnpond is brand new to me, but I'm tempted to try it to run a test for my own pattern ideas. There are fees to run tests on this site.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight a beautiful set of patterns: Jana Huck's Dots Collection.

I'm not a a shawl believer, yet I still make them. The textures in this collection are great. In addition to the dots, there are stripes and a lovely use color.

I'll update once I have some good pictures, check back in on Sunday. Have fun :).

Christmas in July!

Now that we're in the second half of July...I'm reminded of the Christmas in July sales. This fun idea to encourage summer spending is a great reminder to get the holiday crafting moving. By holiday crafting I mean holiday decorations and birthday/Christmas gifts for the second half of the year.

This is an awesome time highlight some fun holiday patterns that I want to make before Halloween and Christmas.

I'm hoping to make these lovely doilies for my mother-in-law in time for her birthday in October. I don't have any orange crochet thread...hmm...

First is Boo! by Marsha Glassner

Second is Jack-in-the-Web also by Marsha Glassner

For Christmas...there are so many fun decorations. I'm hoping to have the wall hanging granny tree and a Santa doily completed. There are tons of candy cane covers and neat wine holders too.

Here is Dawn's Vintage Granny Square Christmas Tree

Another cool event is that the pattern that I tested for one of my favorite designers is live this week. It's a great mindless knit that can have a great impact. The luxurious pattern yarn with mink in it so lovely and light. Check out Sophrosyne by Francois Danoy. The image below is my test knit. The images above are the lovely pictures from the designers.

Aside from this crafting fun. My older son turned 9 years old this week while at Cub Scout camp. My babies are getting so big. We kicked back into gear with ice skating this weekend and my little kiddo actually skated on his own. Soon they will be all grown up and I won't know where the time went.

It's going to be a hot week in Portland. I hope you stay cool this week. Happy crafting.

Caravanserai is live!

This will be a quick post. A pattern I tested has gone live this week and it's so lovely. Check out Caravanserai.

Have a great week and happy crafting.

The Enchanted Forest Fibre Yarn Arrived!!!

Although it was last Sunday, I had to post about the lovely visit from Karen of Enchanted Forest Fibre. She is an indie yarn dyer in Norway, who was in Portland. She personally delivered my belated mother's day treat to my Meetup Tigo Knitting Group.

This is about 700 grams of yarn (enough for 7 pairs of socks). Karen knit with us and I had a blast.

I've already started playing with the beautiful yarn. I'm working on a last minute doily as a centerpiece for my table tomorrow. I'm doing my best to write down the pattern. Would anyone be interested in testing the pattern? You don't have to use fingering weight yarn or a D/3 (3.25 mm) hook. Larger or smaller would be fine. There are matching coasters that go with the central design and the coasters mimic snowflakes so there is some opportunity to use this as a winter decoration as well.






I'm hoping the lovely new yarn will be great inspiration.




Work is going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks, so I'm trying to take a breather this weekend. Cleaning and keeping the little kiddo busy seems to have taken up most of the time, but it's been fun :).














For this week I'm so hopeful that I'll be able to make some progress on my Karoo Vintage square. Three sections have been released and I haven't made it through the first one yet. In my defense, two were out when I started, but I'd like to catch up so that I'm not so far behind when the fourth section is released.

Lastly, I finished another test today and am happy to take a break from testing as well. This is the Unicorn Shawl by Kayla Powell. I love the chevron stitch pattern.

Happy crafting and have a great week.