The Great Dyeing Experiment

Over our holiday while visiting our families in FL, I was suddenly taken with a great urge to dye yarn.  This is something I have never been interested in, but mild curiosity gave way to deep longing and within our first week back, I had my first batch of coffee-dyed yarn!  Coffee was a safe start because it was easy, attainable, and plenty of information on coffee-dyeing was at my fingertips online (not to mention I love all shades brown).  I found this tutorial and followed it fairly closely.

Since the tutorial already describes everything I did and much better than I ever could, I will save you the reading and just post the pictures.

Above you can see me using my new yarn ball winder – thanks mom!  And below is the end product!

These 4 skeins are for sale now on my Etsy Shop! The yarn is 100% Scottish wool, spun in New Lanark.  Here are the specs:

DK weight  *  50 gram balls  *  110 meters, about 120 yards

20-22 stitches to 4 in   *   US 6 or 4 mm needles

 

My First Free Pattern!

Working in a yarn shop I have the lovely pleasure of meeting fascinating and inspiring knitters daily. The other day two ladies came into the shop, an elderly lady and her middle-aged daughter. They were so lovely and kind, not to mention thrilled to be surrounded by wool. They both wore hand knitted hats, knitted by the daughter. The elderly lady’s hat was so adorable I had to enquire. The daughter had improvised it and we discussed how she did it. I asked if I could reproduce it and make the pattern available online – she was delighted! I cast on on the bus ride home!  And so, here is Grantham.

download now!

This hat has warm earflaps and a cute little knot at the crest.  It was so much fun to make!

 

Striped Baby Boatneck!

Hey everyone!  We’ve just gotten back from a great holiday!  T & I headed home to FL, where we got to spend time with family, friends, kitties, and all the restaurants we miss!  While I was home, I got some great pics of my latest pattern!  It is a top-down, seamless baby sweater.  The neckline is the same in the front as in the back so moms don’t have to worry which side is which.  The pattern is for sizes 0-6, 6-12,  and12-24 months, and the wool I used is K1 Yarns Superwash Merino DK – machine washable wool!

The pattern is available on Etsy and at K1Yarns.

Isn’t little Landen adorable?  Thanks Catherine for lending your beautiful son!  You can also visit Catherine’s darling Etsy shop, Spotted Whale Designs.

 

Sewing Patterns & Kits!

Well, finally I have a chance to post about my goings on with the sewing machine!  On Boxing Day, I set to with the sewing machine, determined to be as productive as possible!  I patterned as I went (how I work best with bags) and made a cute little set out of 2 fat quarters!  Here is the Market Satchel & Wallet.

This sewing pattern uses 2 pieces of fabric measuring about 40cm x 60 cm. The Satchel is fully lined and can be turned inside out for a different look.  The sewing pattern itself is available at Etsy, but if you want the entire kit (pattern and fabric pictured) you can find that at K1 Yarns.

A bit later, Kath from the shop and I decided that having a beginner’s sewing pattern would be quite beneficial as well, so I made the Winter-Summer Tote.  This tote uses 2 fat quarters by Show Pony, a designer and screenprinter based out of Glasgow.  She’s got such great fabrics!  I used some spare muslin fabric I had for lining and am really happy with the result.  Its very simple and similar to many bags I’ve made, but its such a great shape bag, I never tire of it!

You can see that with the lining, the bag is reversible and has many fun looks! And as it was for the Market Satchel, you can get the pattern from my Etsy store, and the entire kit (lining too) is available at K1 Yarns.

Soon, the Winter-Summer Tote will be featured in K1 Yarns Knitting Boutique’s newest class, Beginning Sewing, taught by yours truly! I’m so excited about these classes, as I love teaching others to sew and haven’t had the chance to do this since I taught the high school sewing classes. The details are still being worked out but the classes have limited spacing and are in 4 weekly sessions for about 1 and 1/2 hours. The students must provide their own sewing machine, but we provide everything else! If you are in the Edinburgh area and have questions about the class, feel free to contact me, or to visit the classes page at K1 Yarns!

 

Items for Sale!

I always do this, work so hard on things and take forever to get around to posting about them!  This time, I have just added my newest creations for sale in my Etsy Shop.  I love patterning but sometimes its fun just to knit for no reason.  So having a recent obsession with the linen stitch I got 2 skeins of Manos Del Uruguay Wool Clasica (1 in solid green, and 1 in a variegated range of sunset colors) from K1 Yarns and set to with my new friends. I am in love with the color combo and how they work together to look woven and unique.   Outcome below:

Sunset Cowl:

This Cowl is warm, looks great and is reversible. The linen stitch on the outside gives a nice woven look, while creating a seed-stitch look on the inside. It is about 7” tall and 20” around.

I just cast on, knitted in the rib for a rounds, switched to linen stitch (2 rounds color A, 2 rounds color B) and finished with another ribbing.

Sunset Infinity Scarf:

This loop scarf is ALSO warm, looks great and is reversible. It also is made using the linen stitch, and is accented with a crocheted edging. It is about 4.5” tall and 44” around.

I cast on a few stitches and worked back and forth in the linen stitch (2 rows color A, 2 rows color B) till I liked the length. Cast off via 3-needle bind off, and crochet the edge with sc stitches.

If you want to make one yourself or have any questions let me know and I’ll go into further detail!  The items pictured here are at the moment for sale in my Etsy Shop.

I’ve also been doing some sewing – post on that coming soon!

 

Just in!

Just got it back from the shop: my sewing machine! I was unable to bring my own from home but I found someone on Ravelry willing to give me hers free! It had been in storage as the bobbin catcher wasn’t working properly and she had since purchased a new one. When she learned that I work at K1, she used that as an excuse to lug the machine from Dunbar to Edinburgh so that she could come and pet the wool (& perhaps buy some too). So free machine and no travel for it! I just had to pay for repairs, which were a bit more than I anticipated, but David Drummond of Drummond Wools told me after fixing it that it was a very good machine. I am learning that Scots are extremely kind.

So as soon as I get a proper day off (which will not occur till Christmas probably!) I will set down and have a good sewing session. I’ve got some repairs and some big quashy pillows to make, not to mention a few simple bag patterns to start featuring in the shop alongside our lovely fabrics which are locally screenprinted. I cannot wait, the sewing bug has been biting me hard!

 

Little Red Riding Snood

New pattern out!  I finished my Snood (definition of snood: scarf/shawl/hood thing) this week.  The wind here is fierce, and sometimes it is too much work to find a scarf to match your hat to match your coat!  Enter, snood!  The pattern features a cable border and short row shaping, which together make a very warm and cozy pocket of air encasing your head.  And it really takes a lot for the hood to blow off! The pattern uses 3 skeins of Artesano Aran Alpaca, so that the scarf portion was very long and wrappable.

I’ve got the pattern for sale in the usual spots:
K1 Yarns – and – Etsy 

 

 Get ready to knit and be cozy!

 

I must do this!

Well, I’ve been thinking of knitting up a pair of gloves with a buttonhole in the finger so that my fingertip can peek out and use my iPhone, but this is much better!  Instructables has posted a tutorial involving conductive thread to sew onto your gloves that the iPhone touch screen will recognize. Super nifty!

Thanks, mom for bringing this to my attention!