So bad

Apologies, I just have not had a moment to finish my stuff and get it on here. just finishing would be nice. Heck, starting it would be nice!
I finished the longies over a week ago, but haven't gotten around to the washing/blocking stuff. I'll try to get it done ASAP so I can get pics up because I know you are terribly interested. ;) Otherwise I have boxes, tape and newspaper coming out my ears as we prepare to move. All the stuff I kept out in hopes of getting a project taken care of before we leave has been packed away. We're actually moving in less than 4 days and we're nowhere near ready, so I've gotta run! I really will try and get those longies up before we go, mostly because if I pack them up for the move there's a good chance I won't be seeing them again for a loooong while. :)

Later!

Well, let's see...

I haven't been up to a whole heck of a lot lately. I finally found the elastic I bought for a pair of longies that I'm doing for Zeke, so I whipstitched it in and now I'm finishing up the second leg. I'm hoping to get them done in the next day or two(or 5), so hopefully I'll have pictures up soon.

Oh, and this morning I got my invite for Ravelry. It's actually sort of sad because there's SO much to do on there and I know that once I start messing around with it, I'll be absorbed for days. Unfortunately, I can't be sucked into my computer right now, so I'm trying really hard not to go there and start looking at stuff. I'm sure my will-power will hold out until at least tomorrow. :)

And finally, I ordered some yarn to start on a few projects soon. I got some Misti Chunky Alpaca for myself and a few gifts and it's so yummy. So, so, so, so, sooooo yummy. It's the softest yarn I will have ever worked with and I can't wait! I also got some other sale yarns for scarves for the boys and a pull-over for Kai. It's nice to buy yarn and actually know what I'm going to do with it. Now I just have to find time to do it all.

So, back to work! Maybe I'll even get those pants done tonight...maybe.

My First Real Sewing Project

When I first asked Kai what he wanted to be for Halloween, it was Superman, then it was a bird, then a nest(?), then a few other things, but when he came up with Super Why, he wasn't budging. That was it, he wanted to be Super Why from the PBS kids' show of the same name. Of course this is the first season of Super Why, I've seen the same 5 episodes over and over again since the near end of September, so there are no costumes or patterns for sale. Perfect. Actually, it kind of was. Except for my lack of sewing experience and little ability, it was a great opportunity to make the costume just the way I wanted it to be. So off to fabric stores I went during their frequent fleece sales and I picked up a few yards of what I needed, thread, supplies, etc. I had a few store employees ask me what I was making and everytime...

Me: Just making a costume.

Them: Oh! What is it going to be?

Me: Super Why

Them: Super Who? (or) Super What?

I had to explain maybe 5 times who Super Why was and that was just while buying fabric. I was wondering if it would even be worth the effort to put this costume together if no one would have a clue of who he was, but I was hoping for the best and knew Kai would be happy, so I got to work.

After a lot of measuring, making my own patterns based off pajamas, underwear and my imagination, figuring out how to make the costume perfect despite the fact my kid isn't a cartoon character with a watermelon-sized head and trying to make the whole thing work for a 3 year-old, this is what I came up with: A costume that looked perfect enough (even for me)and it was warm enough that it was perfect for trick or treating (although we lucked out with nice weather. We could barely squeeze thin cotton jammies underneath) And a few pre-schoolers actually knew who Kai was supposed to be! We only had one person answer the door, ask who he was dressed as and then reply with, "Super Who?" Otherwise he got some compliments and we heard a bunch of little ones shouting to their parents, "Hey look! It's Super Why!" But there was candy to be had, so Kai was fairly oblivious to all that.


So here it is, the final product. This was actually the first time he had everything on at once, just before we went out to trick or treat, so I'm lucky it worked...














A close-up of the emblem



A close-up of the attached cape. It is threaded with a cord-type thing I made at the top and then the cord is attached with snaps in the shoulders. The snaps on the ends of the cord snap together so that when I took the cape off, I wouldn't lose the cord in the cape. Clever, eh? :) And it was nice we could take the thing off without it having to tie around his neck.

One very posed shot. He thought he was hot stuff. :)

A few notes: The whole thing looked a bit odd since I wasn't really planning well for clothes underneath. We could barely get the sleeves of the top on, but we did it. Other than that though, it worked out great! And fleece rocks for a first project, by the way. It's very forgiving and pretty easy to work with. I think I'll be making a few things for Zeke soon with the piles of fabric I have left. If you don't figure in what I have left, the actual supplies I used probably cost $10-15, maybe less. Very nice!

Recent Sets

These are just a couple sets I recently knitted up for Zekers.

Longies: Both longies are made from Tykie Knits Corriedale by the Belladonna Designs pattern. The orange/red is Sunrise colorway and the other is Blackberry Punch. I was hoping for a tad more gender neutrality from the latter, but it's still ok. I really like it and the purple reminds me of my dad. It was his favorite color. :) I knit the Sunrise pair first and it turned out a lot bigger than I was expecting since I hadn't knit in a while and my tension was all whacked out. I knit Blackberry punch on smaller needles and they ended up near perfect. Could've been a touch longer (the angle of the picture shows them even shorter than they really are), but they'll fit the munchkin a while, I'm sure. The only thing that I found to be really odd was that, even though I used the same skein of yarn for the whole project, the stripes on the legs don't match. They are fatter on one side than the other, so there are more on one side and fewer on the other. It makes no sense! They are the same length and the same number of rows. If someone could explain why the heck that happened, please enlighten me because I'm clueless. I hope it doesn't create some bizarre optical illusion where one of Zeke's legs looks 2 inches longer than the other.

Hats: The matching Sunrise hat was just kind of thrown together after I saw a 3-corner hat online. I did it how I imagined it would need to be done and it ended up pretty darn big. It still fits Zeke loosely and I guess I'd have it a little big than two small, but now I know what I need to do differently in the future. The Blackberry Punch hat is from Little Turtle Knits. It got a weird black spot on the side, but only on that side. Still looks ok, I guess. It's really cute on.

I need to get some action shots of both sets, but until then...

My First Post - My Yarn Stash!

Purging some of my stash, so browse through and see which ones I'm looking to sell! Not the best pictures ever, so if you're interested in something and want a better picture, let me know!!! Prices are listed plus whatever shipping would be. I can wind for free if you don't have a winder.

First up, all my undyed yarn. I have dyes that I could use, but I'm so afraid of screwing something up. I'll have to really get on that though. I would love to try my hand at dyeing!

This one is a feather weight wool from Blackberry Ridge. A fine lace weight that I planned to knit into a baptismal gown. I got the yarn and the pattern at Blackberry Ridge during their annual open house.


This is also a Blackberry Ridge 3-ply wool yarn in worsted weight. FOR SALE- 4oz, 250yds $8.50
Another from Blackberry Ridge. This one is indeed undyed, it's just a darker, beige/brownish, natural color. Photographed a little dark. Worsted. FOR SALE- 4+oz $7

This is 5 skeins (unknown weight) of DK BFL. I was told it would puff up when I dyed it, but I'm not so sure. I don't have much I could do with DK, but if I dye it up to something I love, I'll find a use for it. UK BFL is so incredibly soft. It's my favorite wool.

This is a couple pounds of aran BFL wool. OMG, it's SO freaking soft. I just wanna roll around in it. I would love to dye this one up, but am so afraid of ruining it. It's just yummy!


This is a random wool tester that I got and I'm not too fond of it. It's pretty scratchy, at least in my opinion, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll use it to test out my dyeing.















This is, I believe, a pound of Tykie Knits Corriedale. It's soft, durable and a great yarn to work with.


This is all of my dyed yarn. I was planning on using most of it to knit stuff for sale, so if you would like something knitted up with one of these, let me know. Or if you see a yarn you love, I might be willing to sell it off. Just shoot me an email. :)

This is some single-ply Purewool, but I don't remember the names. I'd love to make something out of the lower right one. It's so soft and pretty. Maybe a hat?


This is some 3-ply Purewool. The furtherest to the right is Tykie Knit's Corriedale, though I don't know which colorway. Could be Autumn Seaside, btu I don't know for sure. Worsted. FOR SALE- 4oz $8.50


More 3-ply Purewool.


Just some Patons Merino.


Some more yarn I picked up at Blackberry Ridge. Worsted. FOR SALE- 3.3oz $6


I think this is Tykie Knits, just not positive. It feels like her Corrie.

This is Tykie Knits Corrie in Fields of Corn. Worsted. FOR SALE- 7.8oz $17

This is TK Corrie in Patriot colorway.


This is the same as above, just with some trim skeins. It was a little blurry, so I felt like incuding both pictures.

This is more TK Corrie and the colorway is Butterflies or something like that. It's so pretty, reminds me of Easter. Worsted. FOR SALE- 6+oz $12.50/PENDING

This is TK Corrie that was specially dyed for me to stripe in orange and black. I was going for a tiger stripe look.
This is also a TK Corrie wool. It was supposed to be a periwinkle colorway, but it's kind of yellow/ muddy looking. Going to dye over this one.


This was a requested colorway from TK knits on Corrie. It's a lightish pink with a dark pink trim skein. This isn't awesome, has dark pink splotches on it, so I'm going to dye over it and then sell it. I don't have much use for pinks. :)

This was also a requested colorway from TK on Corrie. Didn't turn out quite as I hoped it would. Kind of a cornflower/turquoise combo. Worsted. FOR SALE- 8.8oz $17

This is a beautiful colorway from TK on Corriedale. I believe it's called Rose Garden and it makes me want a little girl to knit it up for...

It's just so gorgeous, I had to take two pictures of it. I just love, love, love this one.


This is a TK Corrie yarn. It is in the colorway Northern Lights.
The yellow is a little on the green side in this one. Still looks fine, just not what it's "supposed" to be. Worsted. FOR SALE- 4+oz $8

This is my other skein of TK Northern Lights, but in Targhee. The yellow is nicer here. Aran? FOR SALE- 4oz $8.50


This was also a requested colorway from TK. It's in a Targhee wool. There are two shades of gold here, but it's difficult to see in the picture, it's subtle in real life, too. Worsted. FOR SALE- 4+oz and 2.9oz trim $8.50/$4
This is a TK colorway on a Targhee yarn. Don't remember the name of the colorway and I don't remember the weight of the yarn, but it's a thicker one (Aran?)and great for a nighttime soaker over a cloth diaper. FOR SALE- 4+oz $8.50


This is a TK colorway on her 2 ply Targhee/Mohair blend yarn. It's a kid mohair, so not scratchy like adult mohair. I can't remember the colorway name, just that it had Cherry in the name and that I was going to use this to make a nighttime soaker for Zeke and totally forgot about it. FOR SALE- 3.7oz $8.50
This was also a random tester, like the undyed one above. Kind of scratchy, IMO. Worsted. FOR SALE- 4oz $3

Purewool 3-ply in the colorway Tiatucura. Colors are a touch deeper in real life. Worsted. FOR SALE- 3.7oz $7.50

Purewool 3-ply in Yaguaron colorway. Worsted. FOR SALE- 3.7oz $7.50

Purewool worsted 3-ply. Not sure on the colorway. Haven't decided if I'm selling yet... 3.7oz and 2oz

Purewool 3-ply in Biarritz colorway. Worsted. Not sure if I'm selling yet... 3.7oz and 1.4oz

This is some BFL from Zen String in Living Light. It was a beautiful gift from my friend Annie. Thanks, Annie!