Indie Design Giftalong

If you’re on Ravelry you may or may not have heard about the Indie Designer Giftalong. It was created in a little over a week, but what a busy week it has been. Over 170 indie designers have come together to create a giftalong of epic proportions.

First, all the eligible patterns are all 25% off with the code giftalong and will be on sale from Nov 1-15. (All of my paid patterns are on sale and included in this giftalong, my free patterns will not qualify you for prizes.)

Second, once you’ve found a pattern you like, join the group and find the thread for your particular project(s).

Third, post pictures and progress updates to be eligible to win some awesome prizes!

The giftalong will run from today until Dec 31, so you have plenty of time to do some holiday crafting and join in a lot of fun!

 

 

Brazos Valley Shawl

Long time, no talk. I took a bit of a break from things over the summer, but now I’m back on track. Here’s my latest design, the Brazos Valley Shawl.

It’s a huge, cozy shawl. Just perfect for the cooler fall nights ahead of us (or if you don’t live in TX, the nights that are already here). 

Knit is luscious Juniper Moon Farm Herriot, it is truly a treat to knit and wear. The fiber is wonderful to work with, and it feels lovely against the skin.

Tech edited by Polly Hammond and test knit by the wonderful StardustSoul.

If you would like to knit your own portable hug- click the button! 🙂

Surgery

A surgery in pictures.

Step 1- assess the problem:

Clearly, this wasn’t going to work. The hat, as written and knitted, only came to the tops of my ears. Not really the look I was hoping for.

Step 2- Prepare for incision:

I chose a row, and carefully picked up all the stitches onto a cable needle. Make sure that you are picking up the same row throughout the body of the hat.

Step 3- Snip and Rip-

Here I have chosen the stitch to snip and cut through one leg.

Here is the hole opened up a bit.

Step 4- Continue to open the incision:

As you work your way around the hat, put the live stitches onto dpns or a cable needle (I had dpns right there, so I grabbed them instead of hunting for another circular needle.)

Step 5- Add the necessary length:

After I had secured all the live stitches, I rejoined the working yarn to the top of the hat and knit for about two and half inches.

Step 6- Begin to rejoin:

Get settled in. Put on a nice movie or tv show. Begin to kitchner the live stitches together. (I had 108 and it took a fair bit of time, maybe 2 hours?)

Step 7- Keep going!:

The finished stitches may need a bit of manipulation to look nice, but it is definitely worth it.

Step 8- Have a drink:

Congratulations! You didn’t kill yourself, your knitting, or others.

I promise the next post will be about knitting

But for now, don’t you want to see pictures of the new chicks? (I’m just going to pretend your answer is yes.)

Lyra

Coraline

Lucy

Susan

Hermione

Coop, revisited

 

 

Coop Deux is finished (mostly). It took the better part of a week, and a lot of help from friends, but it is done.

 

We used plans from The Garden Coop, which I highly recommend. The plans are detailed, well written, and easy to understand. We found this coop on From Our Garden, which I like reading because they are doing the same things we want to be doing in our yard. Plus, they are in the same general area of TX, so it’s nice to see some of our options worked out in real life.

 

 

 

 

 

So far, the big girls love it! ChickLit still having some trouble with the new ladder up to the roosts, so we’ll probably make some modifications there.

The biggest things we still need to do are get the roost (where the girls sleep) up a bit more off the floor, and replace the nesting boxes (where they lay their eggs). These nesting boxes were donated by a friend, and I love the way they look, but the girls really do not like laying in them.

If you are so inclined, you can help us rebuild the flock here

 

Sad Day

Today is a hard day. I got back from taking the boys to the zoo and quick trip to Lowes (and having a great time at both), and noticed the smell of wood burning. I left the boys in the car to open up our fence, and saw smoke. I ran to the back yard, where I found the coop on fire. I ran for the hose and put out the fire. Got the boys inside, fed them lunch, went back outside to put out more of the fire. Came back inside, got the boys down for nap/rest time, and finally got everything to stop smoldering. Cleaned up, Steve got home, we built a quick a-frame for the big girls to stay in tonight. I am so sad for the little girls, who were spending the day outside in the sunshine. And I am sad for the coop, which was a great reminder of the help and hard-work of friends. Our best guess is that the heat lamp malfunctioned in some way. My husband and I are still in shock, but the boys seem to be handling things well. (C doesn’t really notice that the little girls are gone and H just asked if we could get more chicks.)

More Rainbows

I guess I’m on a rainbow kick. A few weeks ago a friend ask if anyone wanted to test knit a pair of fingerless mitts for her. Seeing as how I had just finished up the Margil Mitts, I said yes. One can never have too many fingerless mitts, right? I mean, TX is not known for it’s cold weather, so fingerless mitts are as close as I usually come to needing mittens. Anyway, I went looking in the stash and pulled out this rainbow Mochi Plus.

 

They were a lot of fun to knit, and worked up pretty quick (size 7 needles and all).

If you’d like to knit a pair for yourself, check out Sarah’s pattern, here.

 

 

Margil

Margil is an apple varietal that is small in size but big in flavor. I like to think that the Margil stitch pattern is easy to execute, but has a big visual impact. The slipped stitches add a lovely texture to the fabric, while also helping to keep variegated yarns from pooling. Each garment takes one skein of sport weight Silky Merino, so they work up fast and feel fabulous. The silk definitely feels luxurious, especially in middle of winter when your skin feels like it needs a little pampering.

The mitts are available in three sizes. The stitch pattern is mirrored, so the swirls swirl towards each other.

The hat uses the same stitch pattern and I happen to love the way the slipped stitches cluster at the crown. It is sized from newborn- adult large.

Or buy both!

Rainbows Aren’t Really Known For Their Flavor

(note, I don’t watch MLP, but the quote fit so nicely)

So, I have this friend who is pretty awesome. So awesome that I knit a baby sweater and a hat for her baby shower. The baby, nicknamed Sparrow, is a complete cutie pie. So, when my friend said that she wanted to commission a baby blanket, I was super happy to comply. (Especially since said friend also didn’t run away laughing when I told her how much a baby blanket would end up costing, and she still likes me.)

Many emails about yarn and patterns later we had a plan. I used the Three Irish Girls Spiral Baby Blanket as a starting point, modifying it only slightly.

She chose the yarn, Three Irish Girls Springvale Merino in Everlasting Gobstopper, and I think it is perfect. So bright and cheery!

Instead of a ruffle, I opted for an i-cord bind off.

In all, I used almost three skeins (part of the third was for a little matching hat, to be revealed later).

I feel like it was a nice blending of yarn and pattern, since you certainly wouldn’t want anything much more patterned given the high intensity of the yarn.  Little Sparrow seemed to like it, she was happily gnawing on the edging when I gave it to her, and I think her parents like it to. Win!

The Quiet Moments

The holidays are over and I finally seem to have some space to think for a little bit. The boys are so active and so demanding (both a good and challenging thing), it is nice to have some time just to pause and reflect on the past year. It seemed to go by so quickly. And well, so did the first month, since here we are three days away from the end of it, and I’m just now getting to sit and write.

We did so many things last year, and there were many firsts. Charlie started walking, Henry started school, we took our first family vacation, we got chickens, and the hundreds of other little things that happened.

It was my last year of having a baby in the house. It was likely my last year of manageable grocery bills (I’m looking at you, Mr. 4 Eggs for Breakfast). It was my last year of not having a kid in school for the next two decades or so.

I’m very excited about the coming year. I’ve got some fun knitting projects on the horizon, and hopefully we can do some more fun things with boys. Got to get in those family outings while they still enjoy our company! 🙂