Playing catch up
Wow, so I haven't blogged in a while. I need to stop doing that.
Here's a few quick updates. Rob is still looking for a job. The contract that he was working for 2 months expired January 1st. They asked him to work an extra week twice, but that's done now. Living off of just my income is really stressful but I'm trying to make it work.
Everyone has the day off today so the family has gone sledding so I can get some dyeing done. I have 3 or 4 patterns in various stages of working, and a couple more that are just ideas in my head with no time to work on them.
Here's a few pictures of some stuff I got done in the last month
I finished this vest a while ago but I don't think I posted pictures on my blog. It's a heavily modified Wavy Textured Vest from SweaterBabe. I was really not very impressed with the pattern, it's written in a weird format that was a pain to knit, I added shaping and shortened it about 2 feet (it was a duster). But I do really love the finished project and wear it all the time. It's double stranded Cascade 220, 1 quatro, 1 grey, and I really like the effect of that, too.
These will have to represent all the Christmas knitting, because I was apparently too busy to take pictures of most of it before I gave it away. These were for my niece. There was also a really cool Doctor Who scarf in bookmark form (1/4 scale, fingering weight yarn), given with a Doctor Who book, and a cowl, and some other stuff. Oh and also this scarf from Creative Knitting: Accessorize in Style:
That very one, in fact, because I knit the sample for the magazine last spring and they gave it back to me. Awesome when you can manage to get paid to knit a Christmas gift.
I've also been accomplishing some spinning again after taking some time off.
Tiger Club from October. Thriller, BFL, spun into 2 ply sock yarn.
And this was from Spinnerette, some Punta top spun into fingering weight singles. I'm trying the singles sock experiment.
And last, some more Tiger Club, this one was Merino/bamboo/silk blend and was dreamy to spin. 2 ply laceweight will make something yummy eventually. Right now I'm just petting it.
Here's a few quick updates. Rob is still looking for a job. The contract that he was working for 2 months expired January 1st. They asked him to work an extra week twice, but that's done now. Living off of just my income is really stressful but I'm trying to make it work.
Everyone has the day off today so the family has gone sledding so I can get some dyeing done. I have 3 or 4 patterns in various stages of working, and a couple more that are just ideas in my head with no time to work on them.
Here's a few pictures of some stuff I got done in the last month
I finished this vest a while ago but I don't think I posted pictures on my blog. It's a heavily modified Wavy Textured Vest from SweaterBabe. I was really not very impressed with the pattern, it's written in a weird format that was a pain to knit, I added shaping and shortened it about 2 feet (it was a duster). But I do really love the finished project and wear it all the time. It's double stranded Cascade 220, 1 quatro, 1 grey, and I really like the effect of that, too.
These will have to represent all the Christmas knitting, because I was apparently too busy to take pictures of most of it before I gave it away. These were for my niece. There was also a really cool Doctor Who scarf in bookmark form (1/4 scale, fingering weight yarn), given with a Doctor Who book, and a cowl, and some other stuff. Oh and also this scarf from Creative Knitting: Accessorize in Style:
That very one, in fact, because I knit the sample for the magazine last spring and they gave it back to me. Awesome when you can manage to get paid to knit a Christmas gift.
I've also been accomplishing some spinning again after taking some time off.
Tiger Club from October. Thriller, BFL, spun into 2 ply sock yarn.
And this was from Spinnerette, some Punta top spun into fingering weight singles. I'm trying the singles sock experiment.
And last, some more Tiger Club, this one was Merino/bamboo/silk blend and was dreamy to spin. 2 ply laceweight will make something yummy eventually. Right now I'm just petting it.
After Thanksgiving SALE!
If you're staying home to avoid all the crazy, you can still get great deals.
EVERYTHING in the Sheepy Time Knits store will be on sale on Friday, starting at 6 am Eastern Standard Time. 10-50% off!
Yarn, Knits, Patterns, even LICENSES. We hardly ever put everything on sale so this is a great deal.
Patterns and licenses will still say their original prices on the page, but will show the discounted prices in your the ordering process.
Have fun shopping!
Yarn, Knits, Patterns, even LICENSES. We hardly ever put everything on sale so this is a great deal.
Patterns and licenses will still say their original prices on the page, but will show the discounted prices in your the ordering process.
Have fun shopping!
Fawkes
I finished the orange shawl yesterday. Blocking is the most miraculous thing in knitting. That blob of orange ramen noodles turned in to this:
My shawl inspired by Dumbledore's phoenix. I started it a year ago, churned it out quite fast until I hit the first beaded row and then apparently lost my love of it and it sat at the bottom of my WIP basket.
Every now and then it when I saw it in there it tugged at my mind, but for some reason I decided I didn't like beading it.
I'm terribly sorry dear shawl, I don't know what was wrong with me.
It also got a quick bath with some dye before blocking. I wasn't liking how the yellow streaks pooled, it competed with the lace. A little orange overdye and now it's much more subtle.
Ironically the pattern is Spring Things and it is decidedly NOT spring now. When I saw it I thought it looked much more like feathers and would make a perfect Fawkes. Yarn is Knit Picks Shimmer. I love the alpaca/silk, didn't care for the color repeats.
Now I'm off to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I. Not quite the midnight showing but 9 am is pretty good!
My shawl inspired by Dumbledore's phoenix. I started it a year ago, churned it out quite fast until I hit the first beaded row and then apparently lost my love of it and it sat at the bottom of my WIP basket.
Every now and then it when I saw it in there it tugged at my mind, but for some reason I decided I didn't like beading it.
I'm terribly sorry dear shawl, I don't know what was wrong with me.
It also got a quick bath with some dye before blocking. I wasn't liking how the yellow streaks pooled, it competed with the lace. A little orange overdye and now it's much more subtle.
Ironically the pattern is Spring Things and it is decidedly NOT spring now. When I saw it I thought it looked much more like feathers and would make a perfect Fawkes. Yarn is Knit Picks Shimmer. I love the alpaca/silk, didn't care for the color repeats.
Now I'm off to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I. Not quite the midnight showing but 9 am is pretty good!
Contest!
I sometimes think about the thousands of skeins of yarn and copies of patterns I've sold that never make it in to Ravelry and wish I could see it. I would love to find out more of what my work ends up as (it's one of the best parts of my job!)
To that end, I'm announcing a contest. Add your Sheepy Time Knits items to your Ravelry Stash and Projects. Every week for the rest of November I'll be drawing randomly from that week's added entries and giving away prizes. Free patterns, stitch markers, some other odds and ends, even some yarn.
There are 3 categories, Stash, Projects knit with Sheepy Time Yarns (any pattern), and Projects working Sheepy Time Knits patterns (any yarn). If you happen to use both my yarn and pattern that counts as an entry in both categories, and the same yarn can be added as stash and a project. WIPs count! It doesn't matter if you're finished, put them in. (I might disqualify a project that only has 3 rows knit though.) Pictures are required! That's the fun part. I may also pick an additional winner with a photo I love.
Here are some of my favorites so far:
Alysania's Hanging Vines of Envy In Green Eyed Monster Sheepy Feet (the very first club colorway soon to be released as a regular color). And honestly she has so many great projects it was hard to pick one.
CrookedRow's Deciduous, which she made into a yummy looking scarf.
To that end, I'm announcing a contest. Add your Sheepy Time Knits items to your Ravelry Stash and Projects. Every week for the rest of November I'll be drawing randomly from that week's added entries and giving away prizes. Free patterns, stitch markers, some other odds and ends, even some yarn.
There are 3 categories, Stash, Projects knit with Sheepy Time Yarns (any pattern), and Projects working Sheepy Time Knits patterns (any yarn). If you happen to use both my yarn and pattern that counts as an entry in both categories, and the same yarn can be added as stash and a project. WIPs count! It doesn't matter if you're finished, put them in. (I might disqualify a project that only has 3 rows knit though.) Pictures are required! That's the fun part. I may also pick an additional winner with a photo I love.
Here are some of my favorites so far:
Jtdalzell's Vulcan Boyfriend Socks in Fangorn Forest Yarn That Shall Not Be Named - the green version of the Vampire Boyfriend socks from Knitty (also proving that 330 yards is TOTALLY enough yarn to make a pair of socks)
Alysania's Hanging Vines of Envy In Green Eyed Monster Sheepy Feet (the very first club colorway soon to be released as a regular color). And honestly she has so many great projects it was hard to pick one.
CrookedRow's Deciduous, which she made into a yummy looking scarf.For stash I can easily sort by "recently added", but for projects, the options are to sort by recently started or recently completed, so please temporarily pick the current date when you enter your project for your Start Date (even if your project was started ages ago but hadn't made it into Rav). You can also add your projects to this thread.
Edited to add: if you have entered a project but haven't added pictures, you can add them now and change your start date to qualify. I noticed lots of no-pictures projects.
Have at it, contest starts now!
Edited to add: if you have entered a project but haven't added pictures, you can add them now and change your start date to qualify. I noticed lots of no-pictures projects.
Have at it, contest starts now!
2 blobs
The Surprise Jacket is so named because it looks like a blob until you finish and fold it up. Mine is growing but still looks like nothing much.
But if you fold it just right you can sort of get the idea
If only half at a time.
It would be bigger, but I've been distracted. Remember this blob of orange ramen I posted last week?
Well now it looks almost exactly the same as it did a year ago, except it has teeny beads.
The lifeline is where I quit working it because the bead row drove me crazy. Well the looming Harry Potter movie has me wanting to finish it. It turns out to be not *quite* as insane as I remembered. I picked it up on Monday and 2 days later I've done 3 bead rows. It takes about 2 hours to do the 60 beads in 1 repeat. Next repeat will have 66, and I think I'm doing at least 1 more after that unless I go insane first. The pattern calls for 3, When I started I was thinking 5, but we'll see. My standards might have gone down.
But if you fold it just right you can sort of get the idea
If only half at a time.
It would be bigger, but I've been distracted. Remember this blob of orange ramen I posted last week?
Well now it looks almost exactly the same as it did a year ago, except it has teeny beads.
The lifeline is where I quit working it because the bead row drove me crazy. Well the looming Harry Potter movie has me wanting to finish it. It turns out to be not *quite* as insane as I remembered. I picked it up on Monday and 2 days later I've done 3 bead rows. It takes about 2 hours to do the 60 beads in 1 repeat. Next repeat will have 66, and I think I'm doing at least 1 more after that unless I go insane first. The pattern calls for 3, When I started I was thinking 5, but we'll see. My standards might have gone down.