Yarn Kit from Knitpicks cheaper when you DIY ((Also YARN SALE ALERT))

We have all seen the Sampler Kits from KnitPicks.com and if your  like me (broke penny pinching window shopper) your going to love the little loop hole I just found.

Right now they are doing 'THE BIG SALE'.   The yarn they use to stock the kits is their Palette Yarn if you buy the kit each ball breaks down to $3.14----BUT----- if you go now and shop you can DIY a kit by adding the colors of the kit into your shopping bag individuality while they are on sale for $1.75 saving you almost 50% off the price you would pay for the kit when its already discounted.

Its as simple as finding the kit you love, then open a new window and brows to the Palette Yarn page and add all the colors listed in the kit to your cart.

Bonus, if your like me and you love only 90% of the kit you can leave the other 10% or replace it with something you like better.

Sample Kits Link

Palette Yarn Link

Birthday Gifrt from my Hubby finaly came in!

 I finaly got my birthday gift from Wayne in, he gave me a gift card to Knit Picks and I bought some of the items that have been sitting in my 'wish list'.

I got their Turkish spindle, I am slightly disappointed by it, the whorl and bead are both solid wood but the spindle feels like some sort of compressed faux wood that reminds me of those cheap chopsticks.  It was probably done for the weight balancing I will just have to wait till I use it to see how it works, its heavier then the spindle I made out of chopsticks.          

That is 100g Sapphire Heather Wool of the Andy's Roving under the spindle.  I cant wait to get my hands into it, but I want to work on my drafting some more so I dont ruin this beautifully soft wool.

As for this lot of yarn, from top left to bottom right:
Eggplant 
Cobblestone Heather (also in the3rd row 3rd ball)
Celestial (also in the 3rd row 4th ball)
Grass
Solstice Heather
Lady Slipper
Cornflower
Asphalt Heather
Indigo Healther Tweed
Wellies Heather Tweed

I didnt realize that the two Tweeds where only 50g balls.  They are very small -.-  I had planned on making the Dirk the Dragon Pattern I also got for my birthday in the Indigo but I know there is not enough to even complete the body so I will have to come up with something else.   The other colors will be going into the other pattern I got for my birthday the African Flower Hippo, I plan on cobblestone being my joining round color, outside of that I am not sure which of these other colors I will use, or if I will pull from my stash and save these for something else.


BUT making things for myself will be put on a back burnner because the yarn for a commissioned mixed granny square scarf has come in and I should work on it first. 

Its finaly finished!!

 So here is the finished purse!

After taking all the photos I realized I probably should have picked a more colorful place to photograph it since my bench is a nice faded silver and the purse, strap and lining, is shades of silver, lavender, and grays.

I opted out of doing a crochet strap for this purse as they did to much stretching and I always wind up having to limit the weight I carry.  I hand stitched in  the lining and strap.

The purse was very simple to make, I used Red Heart 1 skein in Dove, and Red Heart Romantic Lace in Silver.  Its all worked in the round, with HDC's, and FPDC to add some texture to the top.

I have almost half the lace left, but only a small bit of the yarn so one of each is more then enough to finish a purse.  I staggered the lace rows after the 3rd round I only worked the lace ever other row. 

Making your own yarn?



Navajo Ply'd Peruvian Yarn

I am sure a while back you saw my spinning wheel posts.  Well here is some of my semi-finished work.

 

I used Peruvian wool roving to make my single.  I have not perfected my drafting so my singles come bout a bit wobbly thin and think so I  needed to make sure when I ply'ed I did it in a manner that would help hide those spots.  I decided to go with the Navajo Ply'ing as it created a 3 ply yarn with out having to cut up my single into 3 even sections and ball them with out loosing all the twist I put in. It came out bulky weight even though I was hoping to a bit thinner, I guess that's where I will need more practice learning to spin thinner.

 

I am no expert at spinning. I am actually new to it.  So I would love advice, tips and honest critics'.  I spun my singles on the Turkish spindle I made below, its just 5 chop sticks and some rubber bands but it works great, it might be a bit light weight, but it worked well for me.  It was to light for me to ply on, so I used the spindle my mom worked up to ply on as it is much heavier and a top whorl and helped prevent the kinking and back twist that happened when I tried my lighter Turkish.      



I need to 'finish' they yarn still.  I am spinning up the remainder of my roving to add to the ply ball, which I never finished off so that I could add more single to the ply if I could work it up.



I have not 'finished' a yarn before. I read that you have to wash it then wack it against something to set the twist.  It sounds intimidating but I want to make sure I have all my roving available spun up so I only have to wash and wack once.

 

Hand made Turkish with Single on it.

I think it will also 'fluff' up more after washing so I am not sure what I will make with my finished yarn.  There is not a lot of it I have not measured it yet but it will probably wind up going into something small, and with it being wool possibly a winter item that I will have too wait till winter rolls around again to use (if it ever decides to end since it snowed 2 days ago and now is warming up again).

 

I hope that I will get more fiber for my birthday in June so I can practice spinning more. I would love an other blend that isn't just wool like a bamboo or alpaca roving or batt.

 

I need more practice.  I honestly broke my single a few times during plying and had to back track and repair my single before finishing on.  Eventually if I can get good enough to spin  a sock weight yarn I will start dabbling in trying to hand paint my finished yarn.

If I get realy good I might even treat myself to a professionally made Turkish spindle.  Or even one of those kick spindles I keep watching videos for leaving hands free to work and draft which seems to be my biggest hurdle when spinning.  It doesn't help that my arm span is small, friends of mine even pointed out there 9 year old has a arm span the same length as me.  *Sigh* that started all of the T-Rex tiny arms jokes.  Which are funny until I look down and 'Oh my arms are to short to do that too'.

 

 

Warm Up America at Michaels craft store

I was out at Michaels craft store today to pick up some yarn because they're having a 50 percent off sale yes ladies 50 percent of yarn at Michaels so go get some. When I saw some ladies playing with the sasha yarn that makes this really cute spiral scarf I stopped to talk to them for a while about how I crochet that style yarn.
It was mentioned that their crochet and knitting classes are doing Warm Up America where they're making seven by seven inch squares in any fashion you want you can do granny you can do single crochet back and forth,  or even go fancy and you were really intricate 7 inch square and they're going to stitch them all together to make blankets and this Saturday to send off to Warm up America so if you want to join them you can either bring in a couple of 7 inch squares to drop off or bring in squares and some yarn and work with them I highly encourage you to help them out. This is the Michaels on Manchester in St Louis. I will be planning to drop off a couple of Granny Squaress and maybe some more intricate square Saturday if I have time I might sit and crochet with them as well helping them get all the square sewn together to make blankets.

As soon as I get to a computer or laptop I will update with pictures of their pamplet and an exact address. 

UPDATE 

11945 Manchester Rd
Des Peres, MO 63131-4502

Christmas Hual

I don't know what you all celebrate but we do Christmas in my family.  This Christmas I got a big haul of yarn from my family.  My grandma gifted with with all the yarn left over from her stash.  My Brother-in-law and sister got me the yarn on my wish list from Iceyarns.com.
I think one of the top gifts I revived with from my husband.  It is a project organizer for yarn, it is a bag that has sections, one side of the section of spaces where you can place 6 skeins of yarn in individual pockets and pull the ends threw the top of the  bag ensuring your skeins don't get tangled up or roll around on the floor/couch. The other size has enough space for a full size blanket worth of skeins.

I have already put it to  work, stitching up a blanket for my brother-in-law.  We picked out this yarn off the web site but I did not realize it bobbled from lace weight to worst weight so the blanket is looking very rustic.

I have been wanting for a long time to try out some of this ice yarn and it works up nicely.  I know there was yarn snobs out there who turn there nose up at 'cheap' yarn, thinking if its cheap the yarn has to be trash.  Well I have been working with it for a few days and it holds up nicely compared to the more expensive stuff that I eventually shelled out a load of money for its just as easy to work with and feel great.

Lastly, yes that is a rubber band loom.  Its really fun to play with, but if you want to make adult sized bracelets you need multiple looms.  For the original price of the name brand loom I got 4 of this loom.  It works just the same way except they connect together by the side and not from underneath so you can have them side by side or staggered like in the image.   My friends got there oldest boy the name brand loom and I can not see a difference between bracelets made on his, and ones made on mine.

Ice yarn

granny yarn

Hubbys gifts

rubberband loom

Jordan and hats

This past weekend I got the chance to have my neice begrudgingly model the hat's I have been working on for the past week or so. She looked so cute but she thought it was to warm out and kept taking them off. These are some of the best shots I could manage.

Update time!

So I slacked off a bit with crochet and have not updated any new posts in a few weeks.  Sorry!!!

I have some news and a two WIP )works in progress( to show off.


First up, is the Juicy Fruits blanket pattern by Red Heart that I am working on.  You will notice the diffrence between mine and the original in the link above I am making mine smaller so it will be a perfect square, the pattern is worked in groups of 6 stitches so I just chained I believe 132 at the start instead of their recommended 152.  I also am using a J hook, and a variegated yarn that my sister gave to me with out a label.  I decied I didnt want to keep doing the color changes the way they are done in the pattern, firstly because weaving/hiding all those tails would take for ever, secondly I would rather work out a way to carry the color changes up so your not wasting 4 to 6 inches every change because in the end that's A LOT of yarn wasted.  I do think after I finish the blanket I am working on I will try this pattern again, but do it in black and gray's for myself and see if I cant find a better way to carry up the color change instead of wasting all that yarn.

Here is the project I have been working on since June, it took a bit of a back burner spot since I started the above pattern.  I think I am going to just turn it into a circle vest, there are still quite a few rounds left to finish this one, sadly my attempts to free form the spiral Phoenix like wings failed.  I really did try but I could not get wings to have that spiral affect and still line up and look like it was still part of the same project.

Here I will end with some happy/sad news.

Due to the person who placed first in the Stitch and Share not living with in the bounds of the contest regulations (sad news for her) they decided to pass the gift on to seconed place (happy dance news for meh).  They emailed me since I was their second place (insert more happy dance because they called me second place!!) and asked if I would like the prize.

Its 29 sample spools of artistic thread.  My favorite is that skein laying across the spools, its a beautiful teal colored Kreinik Silk Mori (4044) thats 100% silk and so soft.  I want to work it into a bracelet, but I want to honor the tread and not just make it into something to use it but make it into something beautiful.  My first thought was a granny square bracelet, I just need to find some squares that I think will do justice to this beautiful thread.

On a side note, why is it that when I get a project out to crochet on the cats migrate to it and lay on it?

Above our Black and White short hair american is Dayton, and below is our short hair Tortie Connie.

Mom's Gift

So I finaly got to give my mom the hat I was working on here.  I am glad I got to give it to her today, because its one postive thing on an other wise unhappy day.  For those of you who dont know my younger sister would have been 23 today and it still makes some of us sad angry and frustrated that we wont get to celebrate her birthday ever again.

Here is my prettyfull mom styling in her new hat. 

She had some cute scarfs made out of this mesh looking yarn no idea how she makes them but I want to try working with that yarn soon.

Currently I am trying to mock up a pattern for a Red Panda amigurumi because I want to.  I have no outstanding commissions, and I just finished a pair of slippers I made for my husband. Will post images of them when he decides to let me take pictures of his feet!!

Abnormal Unicorn

 Here is my Abnormal Unicorn, I was inspired to make this when I was commisioned to make a Funnie Bunni


Things needed to make this are:
White yarn, roughly 10 yards or less
Gold or Silver yarn, for Horn and hooves less then 2 yards
Blue/Purple/Red/Orange/Yellow/Green yarn scraps for the mane and tail less then a foot of each color
I used an F (3.75mm) hook for the body/head/feet
darning or yarn needled to sew horn and hooves to the body
15mm Safty eye's (or you can felt black felt on)

I am from the US so I am using the US crochet terms the only things you need to know to make this pattern are, MR (magic Ring), SC (single crochet), INC (increase), and DEC (decrease). Some other terms I may use rnd=round, st-stitch, yo-yarn over.

Even if you have never crochet before this should be simple.  If you have never worked in the round before don’t be scared its easy!

Here is a link to the video I made when doing my Penguin to show how to start in a MR its exactly the same.

Head/Body Section

MR-6 (in white yarn)
R1 inc -12
R2 sc inc -18
R3 sc 2 inc -24
R4 sc 3 inc -30
R5-9  sc all -30
R10  sc 3 dec -24
R11  sc 2 dec -18
R12  sc dec -12
R13 dec -6

Hooves 4X

MR 6 (in gold/silver)
R1 sc 6 (color change to white at end of round)
R2 sc 6
R3 sc 6 (leave a long tail to sew into body with) 

Ears X2   -UPDATE 4/7/18-

chain 6, sl st into the 2nd st from the hook, sc, hdc 3, sc 2 into the last hdc turning and hdc into the same st again, hdc 2, sc, slst and finish off.

I have added a chart of this section to help with clarification.  The red chain is the starting stitch, the blue slip stitch is the ending stitch.

Horn

 MR 4, sc for 5 rows or for as long as you want the horn

 

Assembly 

Add eyes, I placed mine between the 7-8 rows. Stuff and sew body shut.  I didn't need to stuff my legs any more then just pushing the tails of my yarn and color changes into the legs, but if you want them firmer sew them half way onto the body and finish stuffing before you sew them the rest of the way.  I sewed them into the rows 10 threw 12, my front lets set wide under the eyes, and my hind legs closer together for stability.
 I sewed the ears on about 5 st's back from the eyes and a row up, on the same row but in the middle of the eyes I added the horn.  From here I did the mane, you can do it any way you want but this is how I did  it, I used a size D hook and used it to pull two strands of a color at the same time threw a stitch starting with the row directly behind the horn.  Make sure if you do it this way you always pull the yarn threw the same way so they all lay the same way. I went in from right to left (eyes facing me) and it made the mane lay to the right (when held eyes facing me).
 For the tail I added two strands of each color  onto a separate strand of yarn. I did a hitch knot, folding the strands over the base strand and pulling the tails threw securing them. I did this for each color then tighten the base strand and knotting it into a loop that I then sewed onto the base of the body. 

I wish I had made the tail longer, I pre cut all my strands for the mane and tail to 4 inch's (folded over so they are all 2inchs long) I think a longer tail would have been more appealing but it was just right for the mane. 


As always if something isnt clear just let me know and I will do my best to explain and/or provide video/pictures. 

Funnie bunnie

 

This Bunnie was a commission from one of the guys who came to the gaming convention I have been at all weekend. (Fear the Con).  I made it from a sketch he drew me, its basically a sphere, with long ears laid flat on its head 4 pointy feed and a ragged tail.  Took me roughly 4 to 6 hours to crochet it all, and about 30-ish minutes to assemble in a manor that would best resemble the drawing.  We opted to felt on eyes because I didnt have access to the right size safty eyes.

This has given me the idea to modify what I wrote as I worked and make a unicorn verson with a rainbow tail!!

I also worked on an other BaBomb for myself but before I could even finish it someone came up and asked to buy it.

Soft shawl, warm shawl, little ball of mohair...

 

I worked on this shawl for about 2 months on and off. I love how it turned out its soft and warm, but the stitch is airy enough I can wear it threw out spring. It spans 6 feet by 2 feet, I love the silver, red, and plum stripes.  

Although I dont think I will want to work with this brand of yarn again unless its given to me as a gift.  This is the Mohair Mountain, in Moulin Rouge that I mentioned in this post, at first I thought it was just the gray and red but as I worked with it its more of a silver/red/plum.  The yarn has no consistency, it has random snarls of fibber that vary in size the largest was about the size of a golf ball, and wobbles between lace weight to worst weight.  The center pull is quiet nice but extremely tangled and since its mohair the tangle's fiber tend to felt together and you need some nice sharp small scissors to sort it out.

I have snuggled up in it to read and watch TV at home, but I haven't had a nice enough night/event to wear it out yet.  I almost wore it on Easter but it got hot out quick so I left it at home.