New Yarn - Gram/Pittsburgh/Maryland

I've added a bunch of yarn to my stash in 2014.  The majority of it was my Grandmother's.  She liked to make blankets for people in the family and for different charities for children.  She used to use Red Heart, but a few years ago I introduced her to Stylecraft.  I think the local chapter of Project Linus even orders Stylecraft now.  Its super cheap and it the softest acrylic.

I now have 55+ skeins of Stylecraft.

I bought her this Twirl that she started a large blanket with.  I'll finish it eventually.

I think my top 3 colors are:



Emporor





Teal





Plum

This yarn will probably fuel my baby stuff for quite a while.  I have no idea what I want to do with it all just yet.

Now a very luxurious purchase this year was made at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet.  I saw these two colors of Shalimar Breathless and I knew I had to have them.

The purple is called Heliotrope and the pink is called FairyDust.  They are going to become some sort of striped sweater!  A glorious cashmere and silk sweater for me!  I have a bunch of ideas, but nothing concrete just yet.  I want to finish my first sweater (Aran weight) first.

I also purchased this beauty at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet.

This beauty is Ball & Skein Glissade in color Mountain Ice.  I bought it to go with a lone skein I bought a couple of years ago.

It is a deep purple called Elderberry that is hard to photograph.  There are plenty of two color shawls that I have in my favorites that these two can become, Bolt maybe?

Maryland Sheep & Wool was a fun time this year.  I went knowing that I didn't have a ton to spend and that I just wanted to enjoy the experience.

I saw plenty of adorable sheep:

The first item that caught my eye was a kit that Ellen's Half Pint Yarn was selling.

The kit contained two 50g skeins and a pattern.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use the pattern, but this kit meant a lot to me.  It was $25 and all of the profits ($15) went to cancer research.  It put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

I did know that I wanted to purchase yarn for a Shawl that Jazz from Blue Moon Fiber Arts on this trip.  Many of my friends from my knit night have made this shawl.  Those same friends purchased more yarn to make another.  It has become an unofficial KAL.  I chose the color Royal.

There was a different color I spotted first with purple and grey, but once I saw this one all bets were off.  It is so pretty.  I wound one hank of the yarn immediately that night.

The ball was ginormous! :-)

The next day of the festival we went to see the sheep herding demonstration.  These dogs were amazing!

I did splurge on the last day and get a kit from Miss Babs.  It is the Perfectly Wreckless kit.  It has beautiful purples, orange, pink, and green.

That pretty much sums up all of my new yarn in 2014.  Did you find anything awesome this year? Splurge?

Sam <3

WIP Wednesday

Currently I have 3 projects that I'm working on consistently.

My Dad's Blanket has been on the needles for quite some time.  Recently I made a lot of progress.  I've even put myself on a schedule.  I have one quadrant finished (yes quadrant).

I needed to block it because my gauge has changed in the past 2 years.  I've apparently become a much looser knitter as I've gained experience.

I have just over two squares done on the next quadrant.

The next project I have been working on is called Royal Jazz.  It is the pattern Shawl That Jazz.  I'm using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in color Royal.

The yarn is just amazing.  It is so pretty!!  I'll be using two skeins for this pattern.  I wound one of them while I was in Maryland for Maryland Sheep & Wool (where I purchased the yarn).

The ball was as big as my head!!  This pattern is very easy.  In fact it is my TV knitting.  It is just garter back and forth.  I know the finished product will be totally worth it!

The color is most true in the yarn picture.  The colors are very bold and bright.  I love them.  In the last picture you can see my third project peeking in at the top of the photo.

It is my first sweater!!!  I'm calling it my English Garden Hoodie and the pattern is Everything Nice Hoodie.  I've had this yarn in my stash for a while. 

The yarn is Araucania Tocanao Multy in color English Garden (426).  I think this yarn is now discontinued.

This is a bottom up sweater.  I've almost got to the point where I can join the pocket fronts with the rest of the sweater.

I'm really excited about this sweater.  I really think this is something I would wear a lot.

I've linked up with Tami's Amis.

What are you working on?

Sam :-)

You Gotta Keep Your Head Up....

Ooooooh, and you can let your hair down, ehh!!   Andy Grammer anyone?  I've been watching the movie Pitch Perfect a TON lately.  I just got HBO (it ended up making my cable bill cheaper?! not sure, but I'll take it!) and Pitch Perfect is only on there until FRIDAY!!  I have to get all of my acca-scuse me's in NOW, STAT!

I haven't updated here in months again....I will get into a groove again with this.  I keep telling myself that.  I last posted here in February.  Again, a lot has happened since then good and bad.  One of the bad was that my grandmother passed away a couple of weeks after my last post, February 20th to be exact.  Her and I did not have a perfect relationship.  She was who I crafted with, she sewed my whole life, but I taught her how to crochet.  There was a period of time a couple of years ago where I was with her every Saturday morning.  There were things that we most definitely did not agree on, its family drama and I won't go into it, but I managed to have a relationship with her anyway.  I somehow compartmentalized and savored what we did have in common.  So now that she is gone there are so many conflicting emotions.

Right away my family gave me her yarn.  I helped sort it with what I wanted to keep and what should go to Project Linus (she worked with them).  It is a lot.  I bought a bunch of it for her.  It is mainly Stylecraft.  I know eventually I want to make a blanket out of some of it.  I actually have a half made blanket that she started that I want to finish.

I'm not going to do it just yet, but I will finish it some day.  She loved seeing everything I made and I encouraged her to try new patterns and techniques.

I changed my hair big time the day my Gram passed.  My mom was telling me all of the errands she had to run and getting her hair cut was one.  I managed to fit in an appointment.

I went from:



To this new style:

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my curls, but it was nice to do something different for a little while.  I had people walk right past me and not recognize me.  It was actually kind of cool.

Craft-wise, in February I decided I was going to make a baby blanket for Rayna.  She's the daughter of Lauren, my best friend growing up.  I'm not close to Lauren right now, but there was never anyone as deserving for something handmade and pretty.  She's had to deal with so much with Rayna.  Rayna's had all sorts of eating issues and allergies.  I just wanted Lauren to know I was thinking of her.

These were the colors I started with:

I really wanted to try something different and when I saw this pattern, Harlequin by Ingrid Jansen, I knew it was the one.

I had to add more colors to get the number of diamonds I needed.

It ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated.  Somehow my math was way off.  I didn't take into account the joins and the spacing needed.  It ended up being 35" x 44" and I have made my previous baby blankets around 28" x 33".  It's fine, it is a Mommy and Me blanket!

I love how this blanket turned out.  Lauren likes it, so I was super pumped.  My ravelry page for it is here.

I actually wrote this post 2 weeks ago!  I forgot to post it.  So, maybe I'll get out a WIP post later today or tomorrow!!

Sam <3