Busy Relaxing

That's what I did this weekend. I had a very relaxing time, but also got a lot accomplished. In addition to the necessary chores of housework, laundry, shopping, etc., I had plenty of time to create. I love it when things work out that way.

Summer Berry Hat - Lion Cotton


It's a Hot Summer Bag - Paton's Merino
(pre-felting, embellishing)
All except Black are hand-dyed with Kool-Aid
(Lemonade, Orange, Cherry)


Lion Wool (Winter White) hand-dyed with Wilton Teal


Donegal Irish Wool (recycled) hand-dyed with Wilton Violet

Ta-Daaaa!!

mmmmm...Irish Wool

I'm learning a bit about myself while learning about recycling yarns. The hardest thing for me is deciding which ones to keep and which to find new homes for. My stash was already bursting the seams of our home before beginning this endeavor. Now...my, oh, my! (Cosy warned me about the yarn taking over!) I'm coming to a realization that my lifetime will never be long enough to make everything I want. AND, I have to remember they are not going to let me take it with me. *heavy sigh*

So this means I have to let (some of) it go. This gorgeous Donegal Irish Wool that I just finished processing really wants to be made into something new and wonderful. It has the feel of hand spun and has the promise of being very toasty come winter. It's available here. I wish you could pet it online.

Stay tuned...there's more to come!

What a Great Day!

We took the class on a field trip to Oaks Park today.
A perfect day! And to quote a student...."I LOVE FUN!"

A Little Crochet

I am always amazed at the cycles in life. In addition to the more obvious ones, I also seem to cycle through my crafts. My enthusiasm for each ebbs and flows. Knitting will always be my first love, but lately I've been delving back into my crochet work. I love both for different reasons and for different types of projects.

This is my most recent crocheted piece. My great niece, Hailey, just turned nine-months old. This little summer frock is for her.

More!

Check out these beauties!!! Available here!


Lace-weight wool/silk blend
(SOLD)


Worsted-weight wool/mohair/angora blend
(SOLD)


Worsted-weight 100% wool
(SOLD)

Recycling Eddie Bauer

I have been really enjoying ripping things apart lately. Especially wonderful sweaters!!! It's good therapy. I can take out all my aggressions on someone else's knitting and not feel a bit guilty!

I've been stockpiling thrifted sweaters for a while, but hadn't really started pulling them apart until the past few weeks. My home smells a bit like wet (clean) wool, and I have skeins hanging in almost every room! I'm loving it, but my son is a bit put off by it all. My plan is to get more up and ready for sale in my new shop.

I must admit, it's hard for me to decide to let them go. Being such a yarn addict, I want to keep them all!! But alas... they must find new homes. Take a look. And more will be available soon.

Lemonade

Today I'm making a great big double batch of lemonade. But not literally. I recently sent off a rather large shipment of hand-made items to be sold on consignment at a shop on the coast. Well, something happened in the meantime, and the shop is closed. My box was returned to me, so there is no real loss. But, bummer, man!

So, turning those lemons into lemonade, I opened an Etsy shop! Please stop by and see. I only have a few items listed just to test the waters. I welcome any and all constructive feedback. This is a new venture and I'm feeling pretty cautious. Many of you have much more experience in this area, so please share your ideas.

Come see me at janknit.etsy.com
Thank you, all!!
Janet

Birthday Wishies

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Tina!

Don't tell her, but I am sending her a skein of my recycled wool yarn. She crochets, so I'm hoping she'll make herself something yummy out of it. It's very soft and quite colorful.

Tina recently opened her own art gallery and studio in Ocean Shores, Washington. She has also commissioned several of my pieces to be sold in the gallery. Wish us both luck!! And if you're in Ocean Shores, look her up!

Tidepools

First, a big thank you to Larissa for including me in the test knitting for her upcoming book. It was great fun to have even the tiniest part in it. After having a peek at a few of the zillions of things that have gone into the book, I am so looking forward to seeing the finished product!!

On top of that, I was one of the lucky recipients of a skein of Blue Moon Socks That Rock yarn! The colorway, Tidepool, was designed especially for Larissa to compliment her color theme for the book. It's so special. I wanted to make sure what it becomes is equally great.

I tried at least four different sock patterns, and each of them "pooled" the colors way more than I could tolerate. I don't mind some pooling. In fact, I like the effect on lots of things. However, I was getting ALL the purple on one side of the sock... yechh...

Finally, I was able to get more of the effect I wanted with a "wavy" stitch... plus I like the puns!

With apologies to the Yarn Harlot, I took an action shot of my sock at Urgent Care this week. My allergies and asthma got way out of control. I'm new to this asthma thing, and I ended up going in for a breathing treatment. (I'm okay now.) But my Tidepools kept me company while waiting. (The lighting in the clinic sure washes out the color. No wonder EVERYONE there looks sick!)

More to follow....

Woo-Hoo Moo!

My Moo Cards just arrived! Available through Flickr, they are smaller than a standard business card. By having photos of some of my work printed on one side and my contact information on the other, they will be perfect as tags and for general advertising.

T-Shirt "Yarn"

I've been playing with "Calamari Knitting" (and crochet) as shown in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I love the idea of using old T-Shirts for knitting and crochet, but the double strand of fabric makes a very thick "yarn," precluding its use for most items. While it is wonderful for a cushy bathroom rug, I would not want to wear it.

Instead, I have been cutting the torso of my worn shirts into single long strips.

After trimming off the hem, I cut a 1/2" to 5/8" continuous strip (around and around and around...) up to the arm pits. As I wind the resulting "yarn" into a ball, I slightly stretch the strip. This causes it to roll back on itself (it's stockinette stitch), and make a more rounded yarn (rather than a flat ribbon). Depending on the width of the strip, the yarn is a bulky-weight gauge that can be knit or crocheted into a dense cotton fabric.

And the sleeves??? They certainly could be used to make something else fun (patches? pockets? bag linings?). I like to use the soft cotton for cleaning cloths. No waste!!

In Our Prayers

Feelin' Swappy!

What a great day! I received these beautiful stitch markers from my swap partner, Melissa. The swap is through Get Stitchy!, a great online forum for knitters, crocheters, and other fiber enthusiasts. I love the blue and silver...one of my favorite combinations.

And here are the ones I made for her. I really liked working with the green glass beads and the silver wires. These are not my first markers, but I do have very limited experience making them. Each time, I learn a little more... especially about making the wire loops. Below is my first attempt at a row counter. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll need to make one for myself now!

Spring!

It's official. Ashes has seen her shadow and declares it is Spring!

For those of you who don't know Ashes, she is my sweet kitty that is soon to be 15 years old. She developed diabetes last year, and has been very ill since about October. In fact, we really did not expect her to survive the winter. With love and care, she has been doing much better in recent months. It has become her habit to just quietly hang out in my bedroom all day, coming out only to eat or use the facilities. Then the sun started shining. She has been making more appearances in the living room, basking in the springtime rays. Ahh, the sunshine makes us all feel better.

Silly me!

I printed up some Jan-Knit business cards this weekend. Then I needed a case to protect them in my big bag. I found myself looking at some in the nearby office supply store, and being disappointed in the selection. Then it hit me (oww)...make your own, silly girl!!! So a couple of On-Demand movies later, here's my new card holder...

It's crocheted out of recycled gray wool, embroidered with some of that thrifted crewel wool I found a while back, lined with a bit of cotton scrap from a sewing project, and fastened with a leftover blue mother of pearl button. Ta-dah!! Beat that, Office Max!!

V-Stitch Shawl update

The main body of the shawl is now complete and being blocked. I am still consider multiple options for finishing...fringe, beads, edging... I decided to wait and see how it drapes after it's blocked and dry... to be continued.

Oh, and the little colors peeking through are happy flowers on my sheets! I love them!

A few more to rip apart...

Today was the "orange tag sale" at my nearby thrift store. I picked up three more lovelies to rip apart for yarn.

The top sweater is an American Eagle Outfitters wool with an occasional stripe of a metallic green. Since it looks and feels new, I'm guessing it was a Christmas gift that didn't go over very well. Their loss is my gain...it will make great hats and/or bags.

The middle layer is a yummy angora/wool blend. I'm thinking baby hats or ...?

The dark sweater on the bottom is a cotton Talbot's turtleneck. It is also near-new. It's bound for glory as "vegan" hats for sale at Tina's gallery.

I also started ripping on a sweater I thrifted some time ago. I was not able to get a decent shot of it because Ashes insisted on "helping." She was not about to be moved out of the one sunny spot in the house. As soon as I picked her up and placed the sweater on the floor to photograph, she was right back over there! I called, I coaxed, I hissed, I cajoled, and as you can see... she ignored! So this is the best shot of a Gap wool tweed I could get. Thanks, Ashes. At least you're comfortable!

Yay! A new toy!

Don't you love new toys? I do! Today I received my new swift. I was so excited when I arrived home and it was waiting for me. As soon as I set it up, we both got to work. Now, I have mixed reviews.

While it really is just fine... turns well, no rough edges, is the right size, etc..., I'm now realizing I should have ordered a different style.

My old swift had a hand crank, my new one does not. The handle breaking off my old swift is what prompted the ordering of a new swift. Now it seems that finding one with a handle would have been my top priority. But dork that I am sometimes, I didn't even look for that. So, I am just going to have to build up my arm/shoulder muscles and spin it myself!

The light blue yarn on the swift is being recovered from a wool/silk thrifted sweater. More about that later.

More Recycling...

I recently thrifted this sweater. It's a soft denim blue 50% wool / 50% silk long-sleeved tunic. While I liked the sweater and all its cables, it's just too long and ill-fitting.

Here, you see the left sleeve has already been frogged into a nice sized ball. The yarn is a great three - ply that measures 12 wraps per inch.

As I played with the recovered yarn, it "told" me it wants to be a cozy shawl in its next life. So I've been experimenting with different stitches. As of right now, it looks like a "V-stitch" is working out really well. Next will be the search for the right edging.

More new goodies...I just added these to my library. I easily drool over any of Nicky Epstein's books, and I've been coveting the Mason Dixon book for a long time. They just had to come home with me. Yippee!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

May your day be touched
by a bit of Irish luck,
brightened by a song in your heart,
and warmed by the smiles
of the people you love.

If God sends you down a stony path,
may he give you strong shoes.

Sisters Hat

Here's today's design. And it's available FREE here.

It's made from my "dyeing mistake." Thanks to the encouragement of others, the yarn has been resurrected into yet another hat. Thanks, all!

Uh-Oh

We came home from dinner to this...
She says she's very sorry.

I wish I had a hidden video... I'm sure she had great fun.



It used to look like this... now... hmmmm.

Score!

Lookie what I found today for half-price at Goodwill!

The top layer is 2-1/2 yards of cotton fabric in green and oatmeal. I have been looking for the right green to use as a lining for another recycled sweater bag I'm working on. Perfect! Plus there is plenty for another project.

Second is an Old Navy Collection mohair blend sweater in a natural white. I am imagining it is destined to greatness as a scarf/shawl in its next life.

And last in this stack is a wool Gap sweater in a pale green. It's very nice as is, but I decided it will be happier in another form...maybe hats? An added bonus is the cute little button on its back.

I also snapped up a bag with four balls of unlabeled yarn in a natural oatmeal color. I'm never sure about these sealed bags, but since it was only $1.99, I decided it was worth the risk. At home it passed the burn test for wool and weighed out at over 16 ounces! Lots of options for this one. Yipppeee! I love good thrifting days!

smile

It's class picture day!

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Today is my Grandma Gallagher's 102nd birthday. She has been gone a long time now, but I still think about her often. I have bittersweet memories of her. She was not very active in my life growing up, but she did have an impact. And of all of my relatives, I physically resemble her the most.

Last night as I was reflecting on her life, I was remembering back to when she tried to teach me to tat. I never did get the hang of it. She used to make lots of doilies and edgings. I still have a few of her creations, including a pillow case I embroidered and she tatted an edging onto. I also inherited her shuttles. I may yet try again.

So, I thought I would Google her name and just see what I could find. Up popped a photo of her headstone! Now this probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was to me. It seems that a genealogy group has taken photos of all of the gravestones in many of the cemeteries in Texas and posted the photos online. I had no idea. So instead of finding any photos or articles of her life, I found the marker of her passing.

Grandma raised her family (including my dad) in Texas and New Mexico, then moved up here to the Northwest to be near us after my grandfather died in 1964. In 1969 she married again (to Wilson Heasley) and continued to live in Vancouver until she died in 1985. Her body was transported back to the small town in Texas to be buried next to my grandfather. Since I have never been to Texas, I haven't seen their grave sites.

At first, it bothered me a little to unwittingly stumble across her headstone in such a public forum. But as I really considered it, I'm pleased to see it. I'm glad to know where it is and that someone is watching after it. And this surprise has helped me to really honor her memory today.

Happy Birthday, Grandma...love you and miss you!

any excuse....

Those who know me, also know that it doesn't take much of an excuse for me to go yarn shopping. So, yesterday, when a real excuse came up, who was I to argue?!

My little dog, Latte was overdue for a "do." Because it would be about three hours until pick-up time at the groomer's, and I hate wasted trips, I decided I would check out a few of the LYSs in Portland. Several new ones have sprung up since I lived in Portland, so I narrowed it down to three that I had not yet visited. I had a few different projects in mind. So, in order to keep my budget under control, I vowed I would only buy for those projects on this trip.

My first stop was The Naked Sheep. The shop was comfortable, well-lit, clean and full of a great selection of colors and types of yarns. Cheri was friendly and knowledgeable. She didn't carry the exact yarn I was looking for today, but I will definitely be back.

Next on the itinerary was Close Knit. As I walked in, I spied Leigh Radford teaching a class. I wished I had brought my One Skein book to get autographed! This shop has goodies stashed in every nook and cranny. In fact, it was so full, it was hard to navigate without running into someone or something. I found myself becoming overwhelmed with all the input. I did find the silk I was hunting for project number one! Yippee. And, yes, I will be back here, too!

Last stop was Mabel's Cafe. This shop offers a wide array of coffee, tea, edibles and yarn. There was a sprinkling of individuals and small groups at the tables near the front who were visiting, noshing and knitting. There was also a raucous class going on. They were having great fun, but they were so loud, that the other folks in the shop were having to shout over them. Since I was already on sensory overload, I had to make this visit fairly short. I found two skeins that will work for projects two and three, and then skedaddled out. I will be back to Mable's when I have time to sit and knit and no headache to start.

So, arriving back home with yarn, photos and a "poodly" poodle, I determined my afternoon was well spent...and no excuses necessary.