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.