An update....

I've been busy! Here are some of my latest creations. I won't give too many details, as some of them are gifts, but you will notice a child-size sling for dolls, a set of napkins, a baby vest and a fun girly skirt following the directions in "Seams to Me". I was so happy to find an excuse to make that skirt, as I have admired it for a long time.
In other news, I added substantially to my yarn stash (1235 g!). My friend, Maria, was given a few moving boxes full of yarn and shared her bounty with me. Thanks, Maria!

The Crown

Here is another little gift made from stashed yarn. I got to try a bit of Araucania Nature Cotton--it is quite lovely to work with. This will be a big brother present when a friend we know has a baby later this fall. Now for the baby gift!

Boheme

This was a fun, quick knit. I used more stash yarn for this and it will be for Mark's cousin's baby.

What you can do with leftovers...

So, I've completed a couple of projects using leftover supplies. First, a mouse pin cushion using bits and pieces of fabric from my stash for one of the kids' crafty friends. I've been meaning to make something from "Pretty Little Pincushions" for quite some time and this is the first one that I've completed. It was a really quick little gift.
Second, is a baby blanket for Afghans for Afghans. I ended up delighted with this. Most of the yarn was yarn that I had no inspiration for using, but somehow I really like how they all came together. Hopefully it will keep an Afghani baby warm and make his or her mother smile at the same time.

Monkeying Around

I had fun making this little monkey for Craft Hope (check them out at crafthope.com) It took about 30 g of sock yarn and took very little time. I used the Oddball Sock Monkey pattern by Evelyn Clark. Though I haven't knit much in the way of toys, this was a fun diversion and fulfilled a goal of doing something for Craft Hope.

Little things...

These two were little yarn scrap eaters. The first is an apple cozy for a friend who thinks they are ingenious. The second is a cute little grim reaper for my son from Creepy Cute Crochet. The grim reaper took an evening and Isaiah was delighted with him.

More catching up...

I love these wristwarmers. The pattern is called "Hand Charmer" and it is a free download on Ravelry. It took just under 50 grams of sock yarn and was knit mostly on airplanes to and from Europe and to and from Minnesota and a little in between the flights as well. I just love the lacy edge. I think I like them best upside down with the trim over the hands and the thumb gusset unused--perhaps peeking out of a jacket this fall?

First Wheel Spun Yarn

Here is 68 grams of my first yarn on the wheel--a bit lumpy and uneven, but real yarn nonetheless. Now, I just need to find the perfect pattern for my lumpy bumpy yarn and see how it works. It is nice and soft. Not sure what kind of wool it is as it came with my wheel.

Catching up...Yarn adventures abroad

First, I will get you caught up on my European yarn adventures...My goal in our trip to London and Paris was to find a yarn shop in each place that stocked unique yarns, things that I could not buy here in the U.S. (or at least not very easily).
In London I visited Prick Your Finger. All of their yarns are produced in the UK by small farmer producers. Some of the yarn had very handmade looking labels and the shop itself had its own line of handspun. I spent a good deal of time there musing over the yarn, looking at the Selvedge magazines, and admiring the art in the shop. They had alot of knitted and crocheted sculpture on display (including the bathroom sink and toilet!) At the end of the day, I took home some Jamieson's Shetland for a shawl.
In Paris, La Droguerie provided my take home souvenir in the form of 50 g. of teal alpaca (my photo color is a bit off here.). In order to procure your yarn at La Droguerie, you select the yarn from a peg in the store. From there, a kind lady (who knew I didn't speak an ounce of French) asks how much yarn you would like, takes it to the back, measures it off and brings it back packaged to the lady at the register. It waits there for you until you are done shopping. Not only does La Droguerie have beautiful yarns and patterns (which I may have purchased if I could read a pattern in French), it also has gorgeous ribbons, fabrics, buttons, beads and trimmings. I was inspired by the beauty of the shop and think that I should take some time to replicate that beauty at home.

A few things...

I haven't posted for a while, but here is a sleeveless cardigan and a couple of washcloths I made before we went to London and Paris. I am not sure about the color of that cardigan for me, but I had the yarn, liked the pattern and the yarn was the right guage. So, in the spirit of using what I have, I thought I'd give it a try. The washcloths were part of a thank you I left with people that we stayed with on our trip. Speaking of our trip, I added 100 g of Jamieson's shetland yarn and 50 g of alpaca from La Droguerie to my stash while I was on our trip. Not too bad, really. Both are lovely yarns.

My new skirt.

I finished this just in time to wear for Mother's Day. Hopefully I can find a shirt that matches so that I can wear it tomorrow. I drafted the pattern myself following the directions in "Sew What! Skirts". The fabric was found at Thrift Town. I am pleased with how it has turned out.

Easy Ripple Blanket

This was a wonderful stash buster--660 grams! I crocheted this and it will be sent to Afghanistan to keep a small child there warm. I hope that that child's mother feels the care and concern for her child and family.

Dogwood Blossom Shawl Completed!

See? It's done and I am enjoying it! I have it hanging in the living room so that I can look at it. I started this last June and finished it a couple days ago and blocked it yesterday. *sigh*

Easter Stashbusting

So, I have all but eliminated the kitchen cotton in my yarn stash by knitting washcloths. Here is an "Easter"y ballband washcloth. I've also made some melt and pour soaps in egg shells. Sounds like a good idea, right? And they do look cute...However, it is difficult to peel an egg filled with a solid substance. It ended up taking far too long to peel these. I am a stubborn Dutch girl, however, so I prevailed and wound up with 19 soaps. This morning I woke up with a throbbing finger only to find that I had an egg shell sliver jammed under my fingernail. It was nearly as stubborn as me and took some time and blood to remove. But, I wound up with some pretty soaps. Who knows? By next year I may forget what a pain this was and even by induced to try it again!
The other picture is one of two identical little kitchen scrubbers to match the washcloths below. They totally obliterated the blue and yellow variegated yarn! Happy Easter!

Washcloths

Mark's mom has been asking about more washcloths, so I thought I'd do a little stash busting for Easter. I did need to buy one ball, but I think that I can make one more cloth and have it all gone. It'll probably be another yellow one. Each of these has been taking about a day to knit.

More little bits...

I am perfectly delighted with the little baby socks in the top picture! Each sock took one short evening of knitting and used approximately 12 grams of Cascade Fixation (cotton/lycra) yarn. My only disappointment is that I had hoped to use the rest of that yarn up! I still have enough for one more pair of baby socks.

The wristband pictured below the socks took 10 grams of fingering weight cashmere. It's for me. Also a very quick knit to use up some little bits. The pattern is in the Fall 2008 Knit.1 magazine.

More stashbusting fun...

Here are a couple of finished objects from February and early March....

The first item is a neckwarmer made of a full ball of Artful Yarns Reality. The yarn feels yummy and I love the colors. I'm not sure where it will find a home, but it was a quick and satisfying knit and since I recently discovered that I have about 80 single balls of yarn, I need to crank out a project like this every month or so to cut down on my yarn stash.

Secondly, I gave Hailey this wristband for her birthday. You may not be able to see the pocket, but I designed it to be large enough to fit a gift card or library card inside. For her birthday, it indeed contained some coupons--for time out together, time sewing together, a special dessert, Bi-Rite ice cream with her papa, etc. Alas, I still have more of this yarn.

Side Slip Cloche

I made this hat for myself. It seemed so 1940s to me. I love it! You will see the Yoga socks I made for Hailey last November. It's only taken this long to get pictures...

Brown and Teal

I am inordinately pleased with this project. The yarn has been in my stash for a while. While I loved the colors, I could not envision wearing this yarn. So, earlier this month, I remembered it while showing some new friends my stash and suddenly, it clicked--baby blanket! I was not sure how big could make the blanket, but wanted to go as big as possible and not have any yarn left over. So, I just cast on two stitches, increased every row until the ball weighed half of its original weight. Then I decreased every row until I was back to two stitches. I have the tiniest bit left. Then I crocheted the edging with the brown until it was gone. I have one yard of that left. It turned out very soft. I imagine some baby will love the feel around the edges. I love the colors. Pure fun and the yarn is now gone!

PS. I couldn't resist putting in a bunch of the fun pictures that Noah took of this!

Noah wanted knucks, too...

So, here they are. They used up about 30 grams of yarn, not sure how many yards. I would have to say that I hope to be done with this pattern for now. Don't get me wrong, it is a great pattern, but three times on any pattern is more than enough for my tastes : ). Hope they keep the boy warm and happy!