Manic Monday: Crash

Did anyone see that coming?  Friday, the day before the lace class I spent all week preparing for I was diagnosed with Shingles.  It all started with a tiny blister on my palm, by Saturday I had blisters on my right forearm and upper arm and pain on my right shoulder.  The worst of it was I couldn't touch my right forefinger to my thumb without considerable pain.  Couldn't hold a fork, work chopsticks, or knit.  I couldn't even crank a sock machine.  For the three-day weekend that I was suppose to be in class I took painkillers and read holding my book with my left hand. 

It's been over a month now and I'm just getting back on my knitting saddle again.  Two weeks ago I joined a local KAL for Color Affection, in cashmere.  What better way to get back into it, right?  As my sensitive nerves repair themselves the feel of cashmere lightly soothes my thumb.  I need to regain the strength I lost but it's all coming back slowly.  Sorry I've missed so many Monday's but while I could type, I wasn't doing much and didn't have anything to report.

Here's my Color Affection, Ruby lips, one Black Pearl eye and one Sapphire, all in Handwerks Luxury Sock 100% cashmere.

Want to join me in the madness? Got a day job funding your hobby? Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done? Bead, knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog? Just how Manic are your Mondays?

Join me here -- linky party will start up again soon, watch this space.

Piled Higher and Deeper

I signed up for a bobbin lace class that's coming up this weekend.  I have to have at least 3 pillows ready so I can switch projects easily.  I have (pictured here) my "One and Only" (that's what it's called, but it isn't really the only pillow I have) free, and I thought I could order more blocks so I could switch them out for each sample.  I do have 2 spare plain cookie pillows, but no covers for them.  So I either had to go with the extra blocks, or make covers for my spare cookies.  Somehow I thought doing the blocks would be easier.  I'd only have to sew felt over them and slip them in cotton covers (which I made last night, which is why I'm blogging now).  But it's taking an evening to sew the felt on each block (I started Saturday).  I've got 2 done, 2 more to go and I still have to wind bobbins and prepare my prickings. 

And you know what I found when I searched for the fabric to make the cotton covers?  The 2 covers for my spare cookies, which I barely remember making!  Wow, silly me.  I only have to prepare a felt layer for these (no sewing) and cover them and I'd be ready for the class!  But I'm on a roll so I'll go ahead and finish the other blocks AND get these cookies ready for next time.  Maybe I'll get to use one of these cookie pillows for the 2nd day of class.

I haven't had time for much more than this because Sunday was my monthly knitting group and Saturday I spent the day at CNCH up at the Oakland Convention Center.  It was a very small convention for weaving, spinning, dyeing and basket making.  I managed to buy a new (small) loom, 2 more drop spindles, 3 cute little shuttles, some fiber and books (not pictured).

 

And my earrings? 

Well, I've got most of the beads picked out...

(the tube of elastic is to run through the edge of the covers for my cookies -- I don't know how it got in the picture for my earrings!)



Want to join me in the madness? Got a day job funding your hobby? Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done? Bead, knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog? Just how Manic are your Mondays?

Join the party and don't forget to link back to http://fiberdev.blogspot.com/

Button coming...I have it, I just need a moment to shrink it down.

Best Intentions

Despite my best intentions, no earrings got made last week.  I kept thinking  that if I leave it out, somehow I'd have a chance to make a pair or two, or maybe the earring fairy will come and leave me something lovely.  No? 

Well a few weeks ago I pulled out this little guy in hopes that I'd get a "round tuit" and crank out some legwarmers for my ballerina.  Yet, they are still not done.

It's a crazy life, but I do love to craft.  So much that even with all  the things I have to finish and all the things already on my TODO list, I managed to start this:

Pictured with my Mother's Day loot, I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Want to join me in the madness? Got a day job funding your hobby? Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done? Bead, knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog? Just how Manic are your Mondays?

Join the party and don't forget to link back to http://fiberdev.blogspot.com/

Button coming soon...

Got Earrings?

I'm beginning to get settled with the new job.  I work for a small company and everyone wears multiple hats.  Besides the job I was hired for I also need to help with support and do some local customer visits, so I decided to upscale the wardrobe a bit.  I shopped for business casual clothes and dug out the accessories.  I found some cool necklaces that I made but at the time I didn't think to make matching earrings.  I've made a few pairs of earrings for my daughter, and loads of stitch markers which I still make for friends. I've got this book so I'll start with the necklaces shown here, plus I've got a few bracelets that could also stand some mates.  There are also some bead sets in the stash. From now on maybe I'll set aside a few beads for earrings and make them at the same time.

The knitting on the sidebar will have to wait another week.  I'm knitted out at the moment.

Want to join me in the madness? Got a day job funding your hobby? Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done? Bead, knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog? Just how Manic are your Mondays?

Join the party and don't forget to link back to http://fiberdev.blogspot.com/

Button coming soon...

Manic Monday: A Deadline

I've got a deadline and it's tomorrow.  It's a design deadline and I'm just about done but I really cut it close this time.  Just need to dot my i's and cross my t's -- do that last run thru and make sure it all make sense.  Oh  and block the item...take pictures...yeah, okay.

Why do I do this to myself?  I meant to get it done sooner, but like my knitting I had to get it right, even more so with designing and my first pass sucked so bad I didn't even take a picture before frogging.  I scratched the entire thing and went all the way back for a fresh look at my stitch dictionaries just a few weeks before my deadline.  Well, I'm glad I did.  It just goes to show, I work well under pressure. You can't see it now (it's a Handwerks Club project and they get first dibs) but when I start working on the second version (this is how I know it's good -- it evolves) you'll see it here.

What else is going on with me?  Not much.  Yesterday was the last day of the 3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week and I participated all seven days.  When I wasn't blogging I was frantically knitting, charting and checking my design.  I'll be glad when I can get back to the WiPs, they've been patiently waiting in the sidebar, literally.  Check back here -- maybe on WiP Wednesday or Fiber Arts Friday.  We'll see how the week goes.

Want to join me in the madness? Got a day job funding your hobby? Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done? Knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog? Just how Manic are your Mondays?

Join the party and don't forget to link back to http://fiberdev.blogspot.com/

 
Button coming soon...

3KCBWDAY7: Crafting Balance

When I think about crafting balance it's not generally between knitting and crochet.  It's between knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing, bobbin lace, cranking on my sock machine(s), inkle weaving, quilting, hand embroidery, flatbed machine knitting, and crochet.  But probably less crochet than all the others.  I know how to crochet and I like crochet borders, edgings and accents, but that's probably it and I'll do it when I need to.

I spend most of my crafting time knitting.  The most projects on the go that I have are knitting, following that it's probably a tie between weaving (1 inkle, 1 4-harness, 1 8-harness),  and bobbin lace (3 projects on pillows). The rest of the UFO's are quilting (1) and embroidery (1).  As for sewing and machine knitting (both flatbed and sock), those projects generally get done when started (or just not at all).

I love crafting -- and I love discovering new things!  I don't know what's next, probably just more of the same.  Making things with my hands actually is a balance with my other life as a computer programmer.  Having just come off a 6 month break (read: just got a job after being laid off), I found that I really missed coding and the opportunities is brought (read: $$$).  I actually considered other more freelance opportunities to write code before finally landing a job, I still am, but I'll save that for later when I'm ready to "retire".

For now I'll just indulge in all the crafting I want to do while enjoying my career that supports it.  It's tough sometimes, as I don't get as much time to do all the crafting I want but I'm trying to keep things in balance and I'm using my Manic Monday blog post to help with that.

It's the last day of the 3rd Annual Knitting Crochet Blog Week.  I actually blogged all 7 days.  I hope you've enjoyed my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.

3KCBWDAY6: Improving Your Skillset

For today's topic I have a meme I did in 2009.  Since then I've accomplished a few more things and there are still things I've yet to do.  I think my biggest goal is to knit a sweater that fits me.  I'm a loose knitter and I keep thinking if I knit the medium it'll work out.  I don't swatch, I don't do the math.  I just cast-on, go and end up with something too big.  Definitely something I need to work on.

Ah, well -- on with the meme.

THE DEAL: You mark the things you have knit in bold, you italicize the things you intend to try, and everything else you just leave in regular font. My own comments in parenthesis.

Afghan (I've got some Lorna's Laces I bought for a sampler afghan)
American/English knitting
Baby items
Bobble
Buttonholes
Cable stitch patterns
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Combination knitting
Continental knitting
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Double Knitting
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing spinning fiber
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac Lady Eleanor
Fair Isle
Free-form knitting
Fulling/felting 
Garter stitch
Gloves (I have a kit for Sanquhar Gloves)
Graffiti knitting
Hair accessories
Hats: Cuff-up
Hats: Top Down
Holiday knitting
Household Items
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry (something in Adorn)
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Knitting a gift
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting art
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting on a loom
Knitting smocking
Knitting socks
Knitting socks on two circulars
Knitting to make money
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Knitting two socks on 1 circular simultaneously
Knitting with alpaca
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with beads
Knitting with camel yarn (have some in the stash)
Knitting with cashmere (oh, yes, yes, YES! did that sound orgasmic?)
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with cotton
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting with dpns
Knitting with linen
Knitting with metal wire
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Knitting with milk (some in the stash)
Knitting with silk
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn (stashed!)
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with synthetic yarn ack-rylic!
Knitting with wool
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn (if I can bear it)
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting (circular!)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip Down.
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Participate in an exchange
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book (someday)
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Shadow Knitting
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks:toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching (I really should do this more)
Sweater
Tassels (and/or pom-poms)
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO (on a sock machine all the time)
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Writing a pattern

3KCBWDAY5: Something Different

For today's topic, I give not just one but three poems on three subjects in three forms.

Acrostic for Knitters

K is for Kindness, what you always show,

N is for Nimble, you're quick and fun at play,

I is for Inspirational, you uplift those around,

T is for Talented, you're just so amazing,

T is for Terrific, you're simply the best,

E is for Elegant, you're so full of grace,

R is for Ruby, as precious as the gem,

S is for Sensational, enough said!

Cinquain for Needles

Needles

Pointy batons

Knitting, cabling, lacing

Connecting each stitch to form cloth

Magic

Haiku for Sheep

Sheep graze in Winter

Covered fleece growing heavy

Ah the Spring shearing

Dedicated to the wonderful artisans who inspire on Fiber Arts Friday!

3KCBWDAY4: Seasonal Knitting

Living in Northern California, in the Bay Area the weather is pretty mild.  The winters aren't terribly cold and it doesn't snow.  It does rain, but even that's been light of late.  Looking at my knitted wardrobe it mostly consists of accessories like scarves, shawlettes and socks.  I have a few large shawls and stoles and even fewer sweaters.  The rest of the items seems to consist largely of vests and shrugs, they are the perfect thing for Spring or Fall around here and a wonderful vehicle for all sorts of yarns in various weights and content.

I like knitting with wool the best.  It's easiest on my hands and therefore more comfortable and enjoyable to knit.  I tend to gravitate more now to the dk weights and I love the new trend for knitting sock weights at a worsted gauge.  I don't knit as much during the summer because working with the wool tends to make me and my hands more hot and sticky. I suppose my cotton/linen projects are more appropriate on the more hot and humid days, but I don't have as many of those and wool dominates the stash. The rest of the year I'm probably knitting the same sort of things with the same sorts of yarns.

So I don't consider myself a seasonal knitter, rather a constant knitter with summer (and just the hottest days at that) only a short respite from knitting.

3KCBWDAY3: Hero Worship

Today's topic for the 3rd Annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week is "Your Knitting or Crochet Hero".  I'm not much into hero worship for anything let alone knitting, but if we're talking admiration there is one individual I can think of in my fiber world.

She is an accomplished knitter both hand and machine.

She is an accomplished weaver, basket and rigid heddle to complex cloth, published, in fact.

She is an accomplished spinner, one fait acompli worth mentioning is the Barbara Walker Learn to Knit Afghan that she not only knit, but spun the yarn for each square from the fleece of a unique breed of sheep.

She is an accomplished dyer of yarn and fiber, her color sense is fabulous and if you know me, by now you know her.

She earns my admiration for all these things and more.

She is my mentor, my boss, my partner in crime, but most of all she is my friend. 

She is the artisan behind Handwerks and her yarns are an endless inspiration for me. 

3KCBWDAY2: Photo Challenge

Yarn and Fiber Sundae

Manic Monday: Keeping Track

This weekend Handwerks had a Trunk Show at The Golden Fleece in Santa Cruz. 

It was hot and I think everyone was at the beach, or elsewhere outdoors, but many of the faithful showed up for The Golden Fleece's 1 year anniversary.  I came away with a couple of my now favorite (it must be, I have so much of it) Handwerks Silky Sock in Ruby and Sundown (the ruby is a bit more redder than pictured), and a license frame for my "trouble".  I sold several Giant Kelp patterns and Laura sold some yarn and left a bunch with Gunilla to stock the store.  All in all, despite missing the beach, it was a great day to spend in a yarn store.

I've been thinking of my Manic Monday post all week.  This being Knit and Crochet Blog Week, I wanted to contribute something useful or inspiring on Monday, but the topic is color and do you really want to hear me wax poetic on pink, again?  So, instead I thought I'd take the wild card topic, "Craft Your Perfect Day" and what would that perfect day be without the five things that take the Manic out of my Monday, the things I need to stay organized, focused and above all inspired.

They are:
1) Ravelry.  What did I do before Ravelry?  I had a database for my projects, yarn and fiber stash and maybe a few "lists" in Excel.  But now, I don't know how I'd keep things sane w/o Ravelry.  I have my yarn stash, projects, queue and library all in Ravelry.  It took months to get all the yarn up and my library is almost up-to-date.  I try to keep up with new acquisitions because one of the best things about Raverly isn't so much the database of what I have and what I'm doing, but what I COULD be doing with what I have.  Yup, what I truly love about Ravelry is that pattern browser and advance search.  With two clicks, I can not only search for patterns for yarn I already have, I can search for patterns that I actually own!  And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  There are all of you, Ravelers, who's projects I've consulted and admired, who's patterns I've purchased, who's groups I lurk and unlurk.

2) A digital camera.  I use the one on my phone because not only does it take decent pictures, I can upload directly to the internet.  Enough said.

3) Flickr.  This ties the camera on my phone with my account on Ravelry.  I store all my yarn and project pictures on flickr, and yes, I pay for it.  I gain nothing by promoting the goodness I derive from using flickr, but it's been an insdispensible tool for storing and retrieving pictures for Ravelry and of course, this blog.

4) My blog and the blogosphere.  A journal to record my successes and failures, a springboard for inspiration.  Your comments and above all your posts show me that I am not alone.

5) My computer and the Internet without which, the other four things would be moot.

My perfect day would involve these five things, oh and a little bit of knitting.

Join the rest of us for Knit and Crochet Blog Week

and/or join the party for this Manic Monday. Don't forget to link back to http://fiberdev.blogspot.com.

Manic Monday: Done and Done

Last Monday I had a bag to felt, some mitts to seam and pj pants to sew.  If you saw my Fiber Arts Friday/FO Friday post you already know that the bag felted and the mitts are done!  All I had left was the pj pants.  As you know Sunday is my Funday, but it's really my Get'r-done-day!  I started out the morning cleaning up the kitchen.  That done, I had to sort through things I need for my new job (books mostly).  By 11am I was ready to pull out the machines. 

Here's my cabinet that holds both my sewing machine and serger.  I opened it up and started to setup the machines the cabinet seemed a little tippy. 

Uh, oh.  That's not good.  I think the easiest way to reattach this was to empty the cabinet, tip it on it's side and screw the wheel back in.  Of course, I didn't do that.  Instead I tried to screw it in from the bottom using a very thin wire gauge/cutter as a monkey wrench.  Well, screwing it in from the bottom meant I was turning it the wrong way, which I did twice.  By noon, I was getting hungry so I stopped and had a little lunch.  After my blood sugars settled I sat on the floor played with the thing it screwed into (that metal circle thingy in the picture on the right) and focused on which way I should be turning things (I know, I know, righty-tighty -- but that's only if your right side up).  By 1pm it was fixed.  And by 4pm I had these:

Yay! Sew Easy Pajama Pants, pattern by Taylor Made Designs.  The fabric is pretty cute, one leg is ballet slippers and the other is ballet terminology.  I cut everything out on Friday.  These pants are pretty easy and booklet gives very good instructions (which I don't follow, but I've read through them).  This is the third pair of pj pants that I've made.  All between jobs!  This time I used some pretty ribbon from my ribbon stash.

Nice right?  The best part of it is, it was given to me.  My aunt (mom's twin) used to work in a fabric/craft store.  You wouldn't believe the price tags on these.  The one I used was dated 1985.  I don't sew that often (I had to read the manual to figure out how to do buttonholes), but I learned a long time ago so the skills are ingrained.  When I cut the pants out I used the remaining fabric for a bag I've been wanting to make.  So, since I had time, and everything was all setup, after dinner I made this:

It's a Grab Bag!  I saw it on a WiP Wednesday post and had to make it.  You can too, the pattern is free from AllPeopleQuilt(.com).  It took me the rest of the evening and of course I only loosely followed the directions (just love doing things the hard way), great pattern, nice diagrams.  As you can see, the ballerina has claimed it.  Now I gotta make mine!  That's it for me on this Manic Monday.  Do you sew, or knit, crochet, weave, spin AND blog about it?  Then tell me what you did this weekend or what you're gonna get done this week! 

It's Manic Monday join the party and don't forget to link back to fiberdev.blogspot.com

Fingerless Mitts and Felted Bag

Finished, a pair of mitts and a felted bag. 

First up the mitts:

Pattern: Fjord + Kid Merino Wrist Warmers aka Fingerless Gloves

Yarn: Crystal Palace Fjord and Crystal Palace Kid Merino

Knitted by: Kelsey, but I did the seaming.  She knit these awhile ago, probably during some knitting camp at Yarndogs, but she never got around to seaming.  Now that they're done, she can wear them with her new hat!

It's a great beginner project.  Knit flat, 2x2 rib, and then you use the ends to seam.

Another project that I finished up for Kelsey is her felted bag.  This was a kit from Continental Stitch, they're always at Stitches West with the coolest kits.  This one came with 4 balls of Jarbo Lovikka and metal rings for the handles plus a really easy pattern.  I helped Kelsey start this then she abandoned it for other pursuits. I finished up the knitting, attached the rings and tied it up before felting.

 I wasn't sure about the metal rings in the washing machine so I tucked them into the bag and tied it shut. I dropped the whole thing in a mesh laundry bag and washed it with a bunch of towels.  It didn't felt.  I have one of those top-loading, low agitation, low water washers and I'd felted things in it before.  Then I remembered that everything I had felted went through the dryer too.  So I popped it in with the towels and voila! I guess technically it's fulled, not felted.

So what is my daughter pursuing that's so important she has no time (or desire) to knit?

Yup, she's my ballerina and she's already using the bag.

That's it for me for Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday.

(I still have to do her PJ pants...I have the weekend, check back on Monday).

Manic Monday is now a Meme!

see more Knit Princess @ http://www.knitprincess.com/

No, the knitting didn't get boring, but as most of you know, knitting is not cheap! After nearly 6 months of unemployment I start a new job next week!  So here I am, the last week of my semi-retirement and it's already crazy.  

Fiberdev's TODO list:

1. felt this


2. seam these


3. turn these into pj pants for Kelsey


And start this meme!  Want to join me in the madness?  Got a day job funding your hobby?  Craft evenings and weekends to get it all done?  Knit, or crochet, sew, quilt, spin, felt, weave, lace AND blog?  Then join me on Manic Mondays.  Button coming soon...

Manic Monday

I missed Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday so it will have to be Manic Monday for me and no party to join.  I finished the asymmetrical version of Giant Kelp.  When I designed the original pattern I thought it could be knit asymmetrically by alternating various repeats of the 2 main lace patterns, giving a more organic feel to it.  I like how it turned out and how the 2 patterns work well together.  I'll have another version available later this year worked in sock weight.

 

The pattern was created for the Handwerks Sock Yarn Club for 2012 in club yarn Select Single.  The yarn is a limited edition and has been dyed in other fabulous colors, the one pictured here is Teal.  The pattern currently can only be purchased with yarn.  The official release date for the pattern is May, 2012.  It will be available both at Handwerks and Ravelry.

Sister 1 got her hat back from sister 2. Plus a shot from the back.

This almost puts me back on track with the current WiPs, just in time to focus on next month's club project.

Chatelaines, Bead Soup and a WiP

I went to the Lace Museum in Sunnyvale for their bi-annual sale.  I didn't find any old lace, but I did find a nice set of hooks.  They came in a box attached to a huge lobster clasp and nothing else.  I suppose they're meant to be attached to a chatelaine but I just wanted to hang them from my wrist. 

So I made a bracelet with my bead soup and coordinating glass beads.  Bead soup?  Yes,  start with various sizes and shapes of seed beads in whatever color(s) you like and mix them in a container to use with other coordinating glass beads.  Each time you use your bead soup for a project you toss in the leftover beads.  Over time you get a really nice mix, and the cool thing is everything you make with the bead soup matches!

I made the scissor fob awhile ago from the same bead soup.  I originally designed it with a loop so I could pin it to my pillow, but it works really well as a ring chatelaine.  Pretty too.

Before you think I have weird sleeping habits (pinning scissors to my pillow?), this is what I mean by pillow.  It's a bobbin lace pillow, one of many that I have, it's covered at the moment.  Maybe not on this pillow but over the years I've made a few pieces of lace.

Bedfordshire bookmarks and a motif.  The motif, designed by Louise Colgan (my teacher), features a single leaf (lower bottom right) that represents my 500th.  As a bobbin lacemaker 1000 leaves is suppose to be some big milestone.  I've been lacing for over 10 years and well I'm just over the hump I guess.

Here's a Milanese piece (also designed by Louise) made with Gutermann silk, Madeira metallic and beads!

So what's under the cover on my pillow?

Another Bedfordshire piece.  It's Floral Bedfordshire simlar to the bookmarks above.  The bobbins along the top are my throw-outs (I'm lazy).  The bobbins along the bottom are my working bobbins.  I'm almost done!  If you're wondering how long this stuff takes, I don't know, in general. I do know it takes *me* awhile. 

The dogwood flower took about 3 years and I started this piece in 2009. I expect to finish it this year.  YMMV

This is my first submission to WiP Wednesday, does lace count?

Two Down

Just a quick update.  I finished the shrug and tam from last weeks post.  Here are the details.

Pattern: Ribbed Vest by Sarah Punderson

Yarn: Araucania Coliumo Solid, 5 skeins
Size knit: Medium
How to make this seamless:
1) provisionally cast on 1/2 the stitches required and skip to the 1x1 body section
2) knit 1x1 rib for required length
3) increase to 2x stitches, do NOT turn, JOIN provisionally cast on stitches and increase to 2x, JOIN and
4) continue knitting in the ROUND 2x2 rib for desired length.
5) cast off

I had less than a yard left when I was done.  The balloons were from my birthday -- we don't celebrate FO's with balloons.

And the tam from my Japanese Stitch class at Stitches.

Pattern: circular stitch pattern from class handout

Yarn: Handwerks So Soft DK

I ended up giving this to my daughter, sister of the one pictured.  Since I knit a birthday tam for this one.

I should be finishing up the scarf and bag over the weekend, and then I'll be back on track!  Stay tuned.

P.S. I did a little birthday shopping.  Several LYS do a birthday discount so I did a mini birthday yarn crawl and collected up a few little goodies, some of these were mail ordered as well (gift certificates).

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday!

Edited to add my Spring snap, I know it's springtime when the snowdrops bloom.

And the WiP count just went up again

It's Stitches, you know? You take classes, see all this new stuff and boom you're casting on left and right without any regard to what you already have on the needles.  Well me anyways. 

First up we have the restart of the tam from my Japanese stitch class.  Here with the new better yarn (not pink?) in a lovely blue dk mcn (merino, cashmere, nylon -- see what I mean by better?, not that pink wouldn't be better but I don't have any dk mcn in pink, or do I?)  I'm actually further than the picture indicates as I've finished up the entire motif and am working on the base of the tam.

And here we have the body of a very easy shrug.  It's the ribbed vest by Plymouth. I bought the kit on a whim in January and promised a friend I'd wait to start it when she got hers.  We cast on provisionally and we're making ours seamless.  I've added notes to my Ravelry project linked above.  And again, I'm much further than the picture indicates as I'm almost done with the body.

Another Giant Kelp scarf (my design) but this time done asymmetrically.  I started using the die to randomize the number of repeats I do for each motif.  I'm halfway through but I've switched to a dice app on my phone which is better than chasing after the real die.

And last but not least, I picked up one of my daughter's UFOs (Un-Finished Object) and this is where I am.  It's a Hobo bag and you cast off (loosely) over those rings before you wash/felt it.  I'm not sure about this, but I think I'll be temporarily sewing the bag shut after tucking in the metal rings.

After I get through these very quick distractions, I should be back on track finishing up the WiPs.  I think.

That's all for me on this Fiber Arts Friday. Join the fun and leave a comment.