January Round Up

As January wraps up its time for me to stick to my resolution and make one blog post a month.

It's been a good month for yarn, if a bit of a hard month for mental health and the country I live in.

I got to go on dates with my husband quite a bit this month. Some of which involved dying yarn together.

And sushi.

Rasengan, the yarn my husband designed. 

The Kazekage 

I got to make a Voodoo Who Loves Me doll for myself with yarn I love from my friend I love. I decided to make 4 for my family for valentine's day and quickly changed my mind LOL.

Pattern: Voodoo you love me? by Susan Claudino.

I am making one of Rasengan for the husband for Valentines Day though! 

I made my sister a cat instead, which involved my first ever cable! 

I also worked on a pair of socks for my husband for Valentine's Day. They turned out lovely!

Pattern: Rye Socks  by TinCanKnits . Yarn is Kazekage!!

And I'm working on a PussyHat Project Hat for my sister on my loom!

I also decided to make myself a pair of socks every month this year. The first pair, January is a bit baggy on me. But they are cute. A pair of rye socks to match the husbando!

I have so much in store for next month too and so much exciting things to do with yarn this year overall!

Here is the round up:

January round up:
2 pairs of socks
2 softies (plushies)
1 charity hat
2 unrelated hats
4 dyed yarns


Year to date round up :
2 pairs of socks
2 softies
1 charity hat
2 unrelated hats
4 dyed yarns
0 shawl
0 blanket
0 sweater
0 scarf
0 cowl
0 glove/fingerless gloves
0 dishcloths

Total things knit = 4
Total dyed yarns = 4
Total things loomed: 3
Total things crocheted: 0

Things out of 2017 goal list completed: 4 out of 14

Until February friends! Xxx

Finished Projects, Family Outings, and Seven or More WIPs.

Since I've decided to take a break from knitting the second mitt, I'm going to show you my finished Honey Cowl and the one matching mitt!!

I'm really proud of the cowl, the mitt is a bit tight on the top but I like it too! 

I also finished the Waffle Dishcloth as one of my mom's set for Christmas. 

I added 3 rows of garter to the top and bottom and three knit stitches to the side to make a garter border! It turned out pretty, I don't see the waffle. Dunno why. Really gotta figure that out. 

Life has been SO SO BUSY lately. It's hard to keep up with everything. I feel like I'm juggling fine china and just about to drop it all! It's a wee bit stressful. 

My parents surprised us all and took us too an apple orchard and Starbucks this weekend though! It was a LOT of fun! I love hanging out with my family and doing fall themed things! 

We got Honey Crisp apples, cheese that has tomato and basil in it, candy sticks, honey sticks for tea, and apple cider slushies. At Starbucks I got a pumpkin spice Frappuccino and cake pop! 

And when I got home I had a package from Tory from ThePaupersCloset/ShireFolkYarn!! 

So many goodies!!! Coffee syrup (the Rhode Island thing haha!), handmade soap, a Caron Cake, the section of her traveling scarf, and A BEAUTIFULLY DYED JUST FOR ME YARN!!!!! 

It's so soft and lovely and is named Experiment 626 Has Escaped! It's based of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch in his Prison suit with his alien blaster. 

It's SO GORGEOUS. I AM IN LOVE WITH IT. SO MUCH. TORY IS AMAZING AND HAS A GIFT. A TRUE ARTIST. I am blessed to have her as a pen pal and friend. 

I also have a WIP problem right now haha.

I have....seven current Works In Progress. 

Seven. 

I have the Snow Day Slippers for my mom for Christmas, which has one slipper done and the cuff of the second one. 

The Fingerless Friends CAL mitts that match my honey cowl, which has one done but has 0 done on the second one. I'm still on the fence about the second one which is why I'm taking a break. 

Nell's Sea Silk Scarf which I love but I need to sit down and focus on to knit so it ends up on the back burner a lot.

Dishcloths for my mom (assorted) one at a time.

The section of the traveling scarf for Tory (I have such a good idea for this, but I can't start it until October 1st I think!) 

My sister's Mistake Rib Scarf for Christmas, which I started on the drive to the orchard. 

And of course, because I can't resist casting things on. I need to start a new project right away with the Caron Cake. I'm starting a shawl with it, Herald! 

And this morning I learned how to cook scrambled eggs! So I made the husband a big breakfast since he starts his first day of his new job tomorrow! 

Hash browns with honey crisp apples onions and bell peppers, toast, scrambled eggs with cheese that has tomato and basil in it! 

Phew. I think that's all I had to update. Today I'm just taking it easy and playing video games. 

Dye Day!! (Tory Don't Read!!!)

Today is yarn dying day!!!! I woke up early, got the chores done and rushed out to the post office to mail some letters and stop by the farmers market to get Tory's yarn to dye. It's 100% alpaca and fingering weight.

The farmers market 

Yarn predye

And presoak!

I love the dying process. It's exciting and a little nerve-wracking. It's a creative process, so many things could go wrong. I'm a glutton so punishment. What can I say?

But I think things went off without a hitch this time. Since Tory loves Lord of The Rings I decided to dye Mount Doom colored yarn. Here is a progress picture:

Now I knew the colors wouldn't stay quite like that after the 30 minute simmer. They would darken and the red would take over some of the yellow, but I figured it would still look like lava and Mount Doom.  But the 30 minutes of weight was giving me stress ulcers for sure.

But I think it came out lovely, the colors darkened but to make a lovely slow gradient from orange to red with yellow in there, the perfect lava.

Outside drying, which will take forever in this overcast humidity. 

Isn't it so pretty??? I hope Tory loves it!! 

While it dries I plan to work more on the dishcloths for the woman at the artist guild. I also did the math with The Husbando last night and at the rate with with I knit now, my current planned Christmas projects should be done by April 2017. I only cried and laughed hysterically a little bit. I swear. I always bite off more than I can chew. But I work well when push comes to shove. So I'm not worried yet. Maybe a little manic, yeah. But not worried.

I also made triple chocolate cookies today.

Chocolate chips, chocolate batter, chocolate milk, nutmeg, and just a little sage. 

And I had all this done before noon today. So I am probably a bit manic.

But when the yarn was done drying I then rolled it into ready to knit balls, wrapped it up in pretty ribbon so Tory could tell where to beginning was, and attached pretty watercolor wash tags to it!!

I really hope she likes it, the package will be going out towards her tomorrow!!! 

I'm really pleased with how these dye colors turned out, they're a bit lighter in person and some of the blank alpaca shoes through which I kind of think lends to the whole "hot lava" thing. I wanted to make mount doom for her because it's the center of the books, the beginning and the end of them. Its the place Sam and Frodo go together.

And I finished one of the set of dishcloths for the woman at the artist guild today! It looks good in neon fleck. Mania is good for being overly productive. 

I decided to make a manic/wildfire blanket square today as I am a touch speedy, I did run around getting an awful lot done without stopping at all. But I will make sure to ground myself tonight and drink lots of water and relax and read more Yarn Harlow Secret Life of Knitter and work on the second of the pair of dishcloths. I chose to do this square in a Scallops Pattern because it looks a bit like a sunrise and I feel like that fit today overall! This also involved learning how to PSSO!

That's all for today!