Category: Blog

The Stash

Published on by kountingsheep
This will be my new front door in two weeks! I’ll be moving out of my parents’ house into my first apartment with my best friend at the end of the month. We are extremely excited, especially since this place will be much closer to our respective jobs for both of us, not to mention it’s exciting to be out on my own for the first time.
And on a yarn related note, I finally can say that my stash is officially Red Heart yarn free! Yes, I am a yarn snob now (no surprise, it’s been for several years now), and especially with living in an apartment, it was time to purge the yarns I wasn’t going to use anymore. This included all Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft; these yarns were what got me started into all this craziness that is fiber arts, but it’s time for a parting of the ways. I know these yarns will be moving to a happy home, just not mine.
I knew that my yarn stash was large, but there’s nothing like boxing it all up to show you just how large it truly is. Okay, so it’s not the largest stash in the world, nor is it large compared to a knitter who owns a house, but for someone in her mid-twenties with only one room to call her own, it could be considered on the large size. And there’s a reason why it’s called “stash,” because I literally had yarn stashed in every available nook and cranny. I tried boxing up all the yarn first, but every time I pulled out something else to pack, I’d find another spot where yarn was just sitting there, waiting to be found, which would then be followed by me saying, “Oh yeah, I remember putting that there!” 
I can say that the upside to having a large stash (well, I don’t really consider downsides to having a large stash either, only upsides, but I digress….) is that now that I’ll be living on an extremely tight budget, I can start working my way through all my wonderful yarn. As I was pulling out every skein of yarn I own, it was fun to think about all the projects I have planned and all the beautiful skeins that I’ve purchased over the years. I very rarely buy yarn just to buy it, I usually have a project in mind, so it definitely brought on a case of “KNIT.ALL.THE.THINGS!” The good news is, my new room will have 2 closets, yes read that, 2 closets! So now I can have one for clothing and one for yarn (and maybe that will help with keeping the stash all in one place). 
And although my roommate is aware of my fiber obsession (more aware than some of my other friends), I’m not sure she will truly realize the full extent of it until she actually lives with me!

Knitting Bag

Published on by kountingsheep
 
An obsession that goes well with fiber arts is an obsession for great project bags. For me, it helps to keep organized if I have a different bag for each project I’m working on. That way, I can look at an array of bags lined up in my room (don’t judge me!) and know on site what is in each one, making grabbing one quickly on my way out the door much easier. And I’m always on the lookout for things that make a great knitting bag (size–portability or large enough to hold an afghan; pockets, closures–zippers, snaps, drawstrings; lightweight, etc), and things that do not (velcro is bad!). Let’s just say there are actually very few bags that don’t make a great knitting bag.
One of my favorite little knitting bags is a muslin drawstring with a handle and this cute little brown silkscreen. I was just telling a friend yesterday that it’s the perfect size for small-medium travel projects. It can fit one to two rather large skeins of yarn, and right now I have an in-progress Honey Cowl residing in this bag. The drawstrings make it great to keep contents from falling out, while at the same time making access easy and no risk of accidentally zipping up the yarn or project in the zipper (can you tell I’ve done that before?). The handle is great because I don’t have to worry about carrying it by the drawstrings (for some reason, I don’t like that).
As I mentioned, I have my in-progress Honey Cowl in this bag, a project that has me completely charmed, especially since I’m using my own handspun. This yarn was the second one I had spun on my wheel, and it was such an improvement from the first. I’m actually quite surprised at how evenly I plied this yarn, despite it being only the third time plying. Part of being a great spinner is knitting with your own yarn to see things you do well and things that need improvement, and some things you just can’t tell until you actually start to knit with it. 
The other thing that makes this project charming is the fact that I knit on it while in Disneyland last weekend. I’ve never actually knit while in Disneyland, and I decided to make it my goal to do that this trip. I’ve always thought it was a good idea while waiting in line or waiting for a meal or waiting for a parade (there is a surprising amount of waiting to do in Disneyland), but never actually done it before. This time, I picked this project specifically since a) it’s knit in the round, so I don’t have to turn my knitting around each row, b) the pattern is easily to memorize and remember between breaks, and c) it’s still small enough to fit in a smallish bag and not add too much extra weight. (And yes, there were plenty of eye-rolls from my family as they saw me knitting at various times throughout our trip.)
I’m hoping to have this finished up soon so I can wear it, and so I can use my favorite little bag for yet another project.

Chevrons

Published on by kountingsheep
 

Just a quick post in between back-to-back weekend trips to California (last weekend for a fun conference with friends, this weekend for Disneyland with my family). Not only am I enjoying my little weekend getaways to California, but I’m also thoroughly enjoying working on this chevron baby blanket. I can’t remember the last time I was this mesmerized with a project I was knitting–I seriously do not want to stop! There have been plenty of patterns and projects that I’ve had a lovely time working on, but they always reach a point where I’m just ready to be done. Not the case with this project. I think I could seriously work on it forever. I’m actually feeling sad that I’ll finish it soon, but the good news is, I have plans to make another one.

Expect more chevron blankets in the future.

Color

Published on by kountingsheep

It’s no secret that I love color (I’m wearing red shoes today, which makes me very happy). All you have to do is look at my projects over the years, and you will find that there has been no shortage of color from this fiber enthusiast. But something I want to try and do this year is focus more intentionally on color pairing, namely, stepping outside my box of color combinations. I love these colors for inspiration (especially that Tangerine Tango, Pantone’s Color of 2012):
 
My first attempts at this will be in baby blankets. I’ve already purchased yarn for two baby blankets, using unconventional color palettes for baby boys. Not that the colors aren’t suitable for boys, but they typically aren’t the first “go-to” colors when knitting blankets. I’m also in love with bold solids right now, so I think I’ll be staying away from the variegated varieties of yarns and focusing in on the solids. 
 Another thing I’ve been latching onto more recently, especially since I started spinning, is natural colors. I’m in love with browns and cremes and greys right now, which is great because my current spinning project is a natural-creme-colored Jacob fleece. A great thing about natural colors is that you can pop some bold color with it for some modern flair (grey and bright yellow, yes! brown and a rich red, absolutely! lime green and white, love it!).

So playing with color is just one of my many goals this year, which luckily for me, isn’t a very hard goal at all.

Mallard

Published on by kountingsheep

I posted several months ago (here) about one of my favorite yarns that I’ve spun, called “Mallard.” It didn’t take very long for me to dive into this skein once the weather started getting colder. I knew I had wanted to make a hat with this yarn, so I was absolutely thrilled when the yardage amount ended up being enough for not only a hat, but also a pair of fingerless mitts and a cowl.

{Mallard Tam
Pattern: Ysolda’s Snapdragon Tam from Whimsical Little Knits 2
Used half the skein, approx. 232 yards
US Size 5 needles}

Love the color changes. The colors are a bit richer, brighter than in these pics. But spinning definitely toned down the color palette, as did the knitting.

I’m the one in the middle, wearing the hat. You can just barely see it.

I think the pattern may have been just a little bit too intricate for the yarn, but the cabling detail is still visible, so that makes me happy. For the mitts, I used the coordinating Snapdragon Mitts pattern, and again, I think the detail work gets lost in the colors. But I don’t want to reknit them, and they are very cozy to wear!

After finishing the mitts, I had just enough yarn leftover to make a little cowl. Since this is precious handspun, I wanted to make something that would be close to my skin, as well as use up every last yard of yarn (which I did). Luckily I found some coordinating sock yarn in my stash in a nice neutral brown to finish out this simple feather and fan lace stitch cowl (which I finished and wore on Christmas Eve).
Knitting in the car on Christmas Eve

I just love knitting with my own handspun! I think one of my goals this year will be to weave something with handspun.

Dream Weaver

Published on by kountingsheep

This year for Christmas two dreams came true: 1) I got to have a white Christmas! and 2) My parents bought me a weaving loom! Yes, that’s right, I can now add the title “weaver” to my status as a fiber artist.

My family went up to Williams, AZ on Christmas Eve to ride the “Polar Express.” My 2-year-old niece absolutely loved it! She got so excited to meet Santa at the “North Pole,” and it was fun to watch her reactions. What was even more fun was the fact that there was tons of snow on the ground! It’s been a long time since I’ve been in snow for Christmas, so it was definitely special.

I actually requested that my parents buy me a weaving loom this year instead of other gifts, so it was no surprise. It arrived the end of November, and I was able to assemble it to make sure all the parts were there. However, I wasn’t “allowed” to use it until Christmas, so as soon as we got back into town on Christmas day, I pulled my loom out.

Kromski Harp 24″ Weaving Loom
Rigid Heddle

Unfortunately, I spent the next 7 hours trying to get it warped properly, and ended up only making a total mess and throwing away about 800 yards of ruined yarn (I made the same mistake not once, but twice. Ouch!). I went back to YouTube and found this video from Ashford that changed everything! On Monday, I successfully warped my loom and happily started weaving some beautiful fabric on it.
 

I’m so excited to be weaving! After I got my spinning wheel, I knew that a loom would be my next big fiber purchase. There’s just something about spinning my own yarn and weaving my own fabric that is so ancient and magical. These two arts have been around much longer than knitting and crocheting–they are ancient crafts, dating back as far as fabric has been made. There’s a je nais se quoi I feel about these two crafts; I can’t explain what it is, but I knew I just had to be a spinner and a weaver.
The only thing left to get now is a sheep! (Well, I’m close. More on that later…)

Happy, Merry Christmas!

Published on by kountingsheep1 Comment

This first non-retail Christmas for me has been an absolute blessing! It’s amazing how much more fun the holiday is when you aren’t surrounded by crazy, angry people who hate you because you happen to be wearing a nametag. This week has been one full of blessings, including an office staff lunch, multiple thoughtful gifts, time to hang out with friends, opening gifts with family early, even seeing a great movie. And the best part is that this week I have woken up each day more and more aware that these blessings come from a great Savior, who came to this earth so that I may have the ultimate blessing: eternal life through belief in his sacrifice. Christmas will never lose its wonder as long as I never lose sight of God’s love for me.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoptions as sons (and daughters).”
Galatians 4:4-5
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” 
Romans 5:1-6

Rare

Published on by kountingsheep
Me wearing my Citron shawlette at lunch after church on Sunday. 
My bestie called me a “vintage barbie!”

 I’ll tell you what’s rare–pictures of me actually wearing the things I make. I have tons and tons of pictures of the things I make, because I’m the one who takes the pictures. But it’s rather awkward to take a picture of oneself, and rather embarrassing to ask others to take pictures of yourself for the sole purpose of just getting the knitted garment in the picture. So here I have not only one but two–count them TWO–pictures of me wearing my hand-knit items.

Last Thursday a group of my friends and I went to an outdoor shopping center where they have a 60 foot tree set up and make it “snow” two times a night. It may seem odd to people who live in snowy climates to think of any event in which they have to make it “snow,” but here in Mesa where snow is rare (yes, it does snow every once in awhile, like last Christmas, for about 5 minutes), an opportunity to play in “snow” is not quickly lost. Unfortunately, the “snow” they were making was only bubbles blown from machines on the roof that looked remarkably like snow but, alas, was not.

It was, however, freezing cold (in the 40s-50s, which is pretty cold by any standard), so I of course had on my newly finished strawberry mittens, my Rose Red beret, and, you can’t tell because I’m wearing a jacket, but I was also wearing my new sweater. My friend in the picture was kind enough to give me a piggy back ride, since I had sprained my ankle the week before and was having a hard time walking.

{Strawberry Mittens by Spilly Jane
Yarn was some random sock yarns in my stash
Size 2 needles
Mods include making the cuff and thumb red, taking out two strawberry repeats to make smaller
Knit in 3 days!}
My mom liked these mittens so much that now I have to make a pair for her. Lucky for her that I like to knit and I like this pattern, so I should have no problem whipping up another set of these. They just have a special charm to them–they are my new favorite mittens right now, and I pretty much wear them every morning. Thanks to this cold-spell we are having, and the fact that I work in a chilly church office, I have daily opportunities to wear the hand-knits.

A Day Like Today

Published on by kountingsheep

A day like this…

…requires wearing this: my freshly finished NaKniSweMo sweater.

{Minimalist Cardigan
Patons Classic Merino Wool in color way “Cranberry”
Approx. 1000 yards
Modifications include lengthening sleeves, doing 1×1 rib for front band/collar
Started 2 Nov 2011, finished 26 Nov 2011}

Yes, it’s December 1st, and I’m posting about my November sweater. But hey, I finished it in November and wore it on Sunday, which was still November. Now I’m wearing it today, and it is the perfect sweater for me. No buttons, so I just wear it open. Roomy and comfy, this sweater is my new favorite.

Shipwreck Shawl

Published on by kountingsheep1 Comment

This year for me has been one of epic crafting. I realized the other day that I had yet to post about my Shipwreck shawl that I made the first half of the year. I’ve hinted at it here and here, but never did a full post showing off this beauty.

 

It’s one that I consider a masterpiece in my knitting thus far, partly because of the knitting, and partly because it involved my own handspun yarn.

It took me three months to spin the 7 ounces of a merino top in colorway “Baltic Blue.”

 

I spun it worsted, laceweight, 2-plied, and ended up with 2 beautiful skeins equaling 1490 yards. This had been my most consistent and thinnest yarn to-date (I have since spun even better yarns than this!).

In May, I worked for three months to knit my first ever circular shawl, using the Shipwreck pattern. I decided to omit the beads because I’m not a bead person, and I felt that the handspun was so pretty on its own that I didn’t want to add anything else to it. This project reminds me of my first few months working my new job at the church, because this is the project I would take with me to work on during my lunch breaks.

I finished the shawl in July. Almost exactly 6 months from fiber to shawl! Although the circular shawl is not my favorite shape (I’m rather short, so it’s a lot of shawl for a short person), I’ve been enjoying wearing it to church now that we have entered what we consider our “winter” weather.

My favorite way to wear it is folded in half, draped around my shoulders. Or now that it’s a bit cooler, I wear it fully open, scrunched around my neck and thrown over a shoulder, so it looks like a beautiful poncho. I just might make another circular shawl after all…