Knitting – Page 57 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Knitty’s Harry Potter SP

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

My first knitting secret pal swap ever was the Harry Potter swap at Knitty. The box my pal sent me came yesterday, and it’s just stunning. And I do mean stunning!

The sock yarn is absolutely to die for! The colors are even more beautiful than in the picture. But the little owl is just the bees knees! It’s just perfect because I have had a big thing about owls lately and just bought these sweet little handsewn owls for myself. And strangely, I’ve been wanting a Moleskine journal for ages, but haven’t indulged myself. I still can’t figure out who my partner is (even though she has given me a lot of clues), so whoever you are, THANK YOU so very much! I’m going to enjoy everything in my lovely surprise box.

If only everything in life was that nice. This morning, while watching the littles play in the frontyard, my Mom, who is visiting, and I sat on the front steps. I was doing more work on the Giotto tank that is part of my ten week plan. The get health/loose weight part is going great, and I thought my knitting was ahead of schedule.

I’ve got to knit 11" in moss stitch and then do the edging and straps and put the tank together. I figured I could knit an inch plus a little bit each week and be done at the end of my ten week plan, and hopefully, be back to a size that would fit into the tank, since fast living and steroids had made me a bit pudgy since I started it. It looks good, right? I’m just finishing week three and that’s well ahead of three inches, probably more like five. It looked good until I found this.

How did I get a big freaking hole in the middle of my tank? It’s inches back. And, I’m a little bit nervous about laddering back and fixing it, since this is in Moss Stitch. I’ll have to wait until I’m feeling particularly confident to attempt it. If anyone has advice or suggestions for doing this and having it turn out just right, I’m all ears!

I can’t remember if I’ve told y’all, but I getting ready to open a new online yarn shop. It will open this Thursday, July 5th, at noon. the url is http://hyenacart.com/elliebelly. Hyena Cart is a cool place where moms, especially cloth diapering moms, hang out. The Elliebelly shop will have lots of fun yarn, including kits with yarn and patterns for childrens’ sweaters and vests, as well as Blue Faced Leicester and Organic Merino for diaper covers. And I’ll add in some sock yarn too. Please come and visit the store when it opens this Thursday. There will be a few *special* promotions for the store’s grand opening. Here’s a little taste of one of the new yarn colorways.

A Quiet Night

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

We’re having a quiet night here. The cats are all exhausted from chasing yarn. My Mom is visiting from California. It’s perfect.

To get caught up, I need to show you a few things. First off, the ten week plan is going so well (8 lbs and 3" of the Giotto tank in the first three weeks) that I decided to cast on another project to avoid finishing the tank too soon. After a trip to my local yarn store, Knit Nouveau, I decided to snag their idea and knit up a skein of Sea Silk my wonderful friend gave me for Christmas, using a feather and fan lace pattern. This is two stitches on either side for a garter border and two repeats in the middle.

Lace never looks particularly good on the needles, but I think this is going to be fabulous when it’s done!

I’m working on two round robin books right now. The first is Lorena’s Lutrador book on animal totems.

Very cool book, with a wonderful prompt.

Finally, a quick look at my yard sale score from last weekend.

The woodcut book offers endless ideas and inspiration. I love old lace, so the doilies are sure to find a little niche for themselves.

All in all, it’s been a very good week! I hope y’all have a fabulous weekend and a wonderful 4th of July to those in the US.

The Ten Week Plan

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I have a ten week plan. Really, I do. I’m not much of a planner, but I have one. But before I tell you about that, did you know that if you spin at a T-Ball game, it makes you a really strange mom? Some people will look at you like you are very odd. But some women, mostly the right kind, will be inexplicably attracted to the spindle and will come over and ask what you are doing and if you know where they can learn. Nice women. And you will have new friends. Really.

Bet you couldn’t guess, but this is what I did at T-Ball Thursday night.

It is the prettiest copper and tan Blue Faced Leicester and it is spinning up very nicely. And I really do have some new friends.

As for the ten week plan part, well, it is sort of embarrassing, but is because I need a ten week plan. I need to spend some time getting in shape and eating right and relaxing or else middle aged malaise is going to overtake me.

When I started the Giotto tank, I actually fit into the size 34 I was making. But the tank has fallen by the wayside and become one of those "I’ll get to it later" projects. And I’ve gotten busy and managed to get out of shape to the point where I don’t think it would fit.

But, the tank has good sense. You see, it’s knit in Moss stitch. Colinette’s Giotto, a ribbon yarn, in moss stitch.

It’s pretty agonizing in some regards. The needle wants to go through the cool fizzy edge of the ribbon and you have to be very careful. Plus, did I mention that it is Moss stitch?

But all that time that it takes to knit in Moss is going to be my ally. I finished the back tonight and casted on for the front. If I knit just 1 1/2" a week, it will be done in about ten weeks. So I’m going to knit my inch and a half, eat some healthy food, get a little exercise, and plan on fitting into the Giotto tank (and feeling much healthier, thank you very much) just about the time it’s done. The tank is going to give me my ten weeks. I’m not sure you could call it a knitting diet, it’s more of a "knitting inspired plan for lavishing more time and attention on myself." I feel it working already.

A Disaster Leads To A Meme

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

This is the disaster:

My Undulating Rib socks. I’m knitting them in a Sock-A-Long with some friends. We all have the same yarn (I dyed it!) but are knitting different sock patterns. I realized while knitting on Saturday afternoon (in the deserted parking lot of a Captain D’s, if you must know. I had ~~escaped from~~ dropped Ellie and a friend off at a birthday party and decided to sit quietly and knit with no distractions, a rarity in my life) that I had a pattern mistake many rows back. I was getting ready to fix it when I discovered — to my total horror — that the sock I had so carefully swatched for was waaaaay too big. We’re talking Godzilla sized.

I suppose it was an issue of loosening up as I knit in the round. Or maybe it’s the needles, which are too long for socks, not my usual Crystal Palace DPNs. Whatever the cause, I’m going to have to frog the whole thing and start over. I hate that because finding time alone to work on this pattern has been a struggle, and while it might not look like much progress, figuring out the pattern and getting going has take me, um, a while.

This brings me to the meme. Two years ago, or even six months ago, I might have been tempted to ignore the mistake. I might have even been tempted, had I noticed it, to ignore the gauge issue and decide the socks were meant to be for a friend with larger feet. But today, I’m going to frog and start over. And it isn’t because I’ve become a perfectionist either — far from it. It’s because right now, as a knitter, I seem to be in a place where I really enjoy the process. I don’t mind taking the time to get it right. I seem to finally be acquiring some patience, a quality I have always lacked. And, I’m less focused on producing a finished item than I used to be, and more interested in the knitting itself.

I have no idea if this is a good thing or a bad thing, it just is. Having thought about it, I’m curious about how other knitters feel, so I have this short meme that I’m tagging EVERYONE with (you know who you are, copy and paste it onto your blog and answer it!) in order to find out.

#1 Is it about the finished item or about the process of knitting? Some of both? Has your focus changed one direction or the other over time?

#2 How do you view mistakes? Do you think they give your project character? Is it important to have one, as my Aunt says, because only God is perfect? Or would you rip all the way back to row 5 of your husband’s finished sweater knit on size 3 needles to eradicate a mistake no one else would notice?

#3 Would you rather knit a project that is comfortable for your skill level, or do you prefer a challenge that requires you to figure out new things?

#4 What is something you really want to make but haven’t yet? What holds you back? Is it money, skill level, time, fear of the unknown or something else?

After you answer, please link to your blog in the comments so I can go and read and see what your thoughts are! Here are some pictures of the yarn I’ve been dyeing this week, before I give you my answers to the meme.

That’s Mermaid on Peace Fleece. And this is Tea Party on Blue Faced Leicester, followed by Beatrix Sock Yarn. This yarn, and more (some Harry Potter themed yarn!), is available for sale if you need to do some stash acquisition. Also, after lots of yarn try-outs, I’ve settled on a worsted weight superwash Merino yarn to dye for heavier socks. I’m going to take a few orders for custom dyeing on this yarn this week, and am excited about having finally found something so wonderful!

My Meme Answers:

#1 Is it about the finished item or about the process of knitting?
Some of both? And has your focus changed one direction or the other
over time? Suddenly, it seems to be more about the process and less about the item. I still LOVE my finished items, though.

#2 How do you view mistakes? Do you think they give your project
character? Is it important to have one, as my Aunt says, because only
God is perfect? Or would you rip all the way back to row 5 of your
husband’s finished sweater knit on size 3 needles to eradicate a
mistake no one else would notice? I used to be scared of mistakes. Now, I’m more interested in learning how to fix them. I swatch more and better, which usually (but not today) means fewer mistakes and a nicer fit. I’m definitely not into perfection, but I find that I’m more interested in seeing an unbroken stretch of perfect knitting that I used to be.

#3 Would you rather knit a project that is comfortable for your skill
level, or do you prefer a challenge that requires you to figure out new
things? I tend to be a "stay close to my comfort zone" person. I think a lot of that is because I have lots of children, which means lots of distraction, and since I work during the day, I rarely have big chunks of uninterrupted time to knit alone.

#4 What is something you really want to make but haven’t yet? What
holds you back? Is it money, skill level, time, fear of the unknown or
something else? I’ve been thinking about this (obvioiusly). I think I would like to try a fair isle project this fall. The other project I really want to do is Lizard Ridge from Knitty, but I’ve held off because of the expense.

The Best Swap Buddy

Posted on June 10, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I was one of the last people to sign up for the Harry Potter Swap (SP) at knitty.com. And I am SO glad that I made the deadline! It has been more fun starting to put things together for my swap buddy, with who I have a lot in common.

Yesterday, an owl arrived for… me. It contained this absolutely incredible miniature Weasley Sweater.

"I think a house elf made it," opined my four year old.

It is adorable and I am amazed by the talent of the lovely Crookshanks, my swap pal. Isn’t she incredibly clever? She has been dropping hints to her identity by leaving me chapters in the books to reread, but so far, I haven’t figure out who she is.

Since we’re on a red and gold theme here, I’m going to share these beautiful little tomatoes that came home with me from the Farmers’ Market yesterday.

Our Saturday morning trips to the Farmers’ Market never fail to provide a burst of color and inspiration for the rest of the weekend. We buy bath fizzies and pottery in addition to organic produce. A new booth offers homemade caramels. Our ritual is to stop there before we leave, with baskets full of peaches and herbs, flowers and vegetables, and indulge in a mouthful of divine caramel, covered in dark chocolate. If only every day could be Saturday!

Ellie’s Sweater is Almost Done

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

Nevermind that it is almost high-summer here. Ellie’s Cahaba River Sweater, which sat in the pile of unfinished WIP’s for several months earlier this year, is ready to be finished!

Here it is (with Dragon attempting to claim it on behalf of cat’s everywhere)

I’m trying to decide whether to even attempt to put it together with the sort of thick and thin cotton yarn it is knit from or to go and look for a matching (if possible, I guess I can always dye something) dk weight cotton.

I’m also still obsessing over fabric to line it with. I need to look through my stash, as I know I have some cool geisha prints, and some cottage roses, but I happened to look at it with these swatches that Tara sent me, and thought I might need to go look at Heather Ross fabrics, none of which I have on hand. Don’t these look cute?

Today is Tuesday, which means I am offering some of my hand-dyed Elliebelly yarn at Midday Faire at noon. This includes some Harry Potter-themed skeins and two, very rare for me, custom order slots to dye Harry Potter House yarns. I also have a bit of yarn, including some Poppy Sock, tomorrow (Wednesday) at Club Thread. Tara and I are going to have a very special collaboration there — one of her almost impossible to get knitting bags in some very cool fabrics, filled with my yarn, including some Treasure on BFL and the brand new Cleopatra colorway.

Our Weekend: Harry Potter, Mudballs, & The Garden

Posted on June 3, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

It has been pretty much your average weekend around here. Food. Pool. Family. I thought I would share a couple of quick snippets with you.

First off: Tomatoes in the garden. Actually, it is just tomato, singular. As a native Californian, I just can’t bring myself to water during a drought. I figure anything that can’t make it on its own is just going to have to return to the earth. But look at this one lone little tomato, surviving through drought and some kind of nasty looking wilt. Isn’t it beautiful?

Next up: Mudballs. Ellie and I sat outside with my mother in law yesterday and worked on mudballs. Really. To be more exact, we were experimenting with the ancient Japanese art form dorodango. We were both fascinated by pictures we saw of balls that we first thought were glass, or maybe ceramic or even metal. But they turned out to be mud. Our first attempts were by no means anything like the photos we saw, but we have yet to burnish and finish our layers. One of our unfinished little balls is pictured below, but you have really got to go and see the real thing. Simply incredible. You can find instructions and photos here => http://www.dorodango.com/create.html if you want to try it.

Finally, Harry Potter. I actually know people who aren’t obsessed with the countdown to the exact moment when the book will be available. People who don’t plan on seeing the movie the very first day it opens. Let me tell y’all, my whole household is obsessed with both events. I decided to dye some Hogwart’s House Colors-themed yarn this weekend, and came up with a cool little Slytherin moss and gray. Although I can’t imagine any possible weather that would permit this to be worn in Alabama in July, I still intend to knit up a neat little Slytherin scarf. (The Judge is undoubtedly a Slytherin.)

Nearer and dearer to my own heart is this Hufflepuff sock yarn. It makes me think of bumblebees, or maybe even of Uma Thurman on her yellow motorcycle in Kill Bill I. But the colors are undoubtedly Hufflepuff and I am hoping to find a few quiet moments to knit myself some socks to wear while watching the movie and lounging around the house reading the book the following week.