faeriedreamz

It's not the best picture ever, but here the sweater :) A full shot will follow, this evening, I hope! This was taken with the evil built in camera on the computer. It is handy, but not all that useful for getting full head shots... or anything beyond a head shot, at least. OH I can show you my pretty yarn too.. We'll see if this works... This is the yarn I dyed last night, using Wilton Cake dye. My dye was not powder, like the article I read discussed, but I added vinegar and mixed the dye into some hot water, and it did a pretty awesome job. Also, instead of using either of the heating methods discussed in the article, I just did the microwave job I usually do :) I just dried it last night in the bathroom, and it wasn't really dry when I left for school today, but I took it anyway and skeined it up so I could carry it around and fondle the rich cerulian blue. Its some super wash Baby Ull from Dale of Norway. It was left over from a baby cardigan, so I figured it w...

Do you remember the Tempting II I started last summer? If you recall, I realized at some point that it would not fit my ample bosom without some tweaking. I have tweaked, I have revamped, I added a keyhole and a square neck that looks rocking good on me! I finished it today, and only have to weave in my ends! I am very excited, because it is super cute, lightweight, appropriate for work, and I can make sleeves to add to it that I can wear in the winter! My only concern is stretching that might occur when I wash it. Does cotton block like wool? I really don't know, because I wasn't smart enough to bother washing my swatch when I started this sweater last summer. I know that was pretty stupid, but hey, I am not known for my foresight ;) Anyway, i hope it doesn't stretch too much, and I will post pictures as soon as I can :)

I guess i should state, because I haven't yet, that I finished the purple socks for me. I really hate them, in terms of showing them off, but I love wearing them, because they are so warm. I used some very old Brown Sheep company wool that my mom found at the Salvation Army, or ABVI Goodwill years and years ago. It was a wonderful find, and the stuff is hardy; I made mid calf length socks, and there is still plenty to fix potential wearing. I am not really sure I if I will use the rest of the yarn for socks or not. I have one man's sock, but never started the 2nd man's sock... so i will have to do that sometime. The problem, is that the colors are super muted. I suppose I could try dyeing the yarn, and if it works, perhaps I will be more interested in using it. I am going to try something new for me. I like the Koolaid, but I want a wider range of colors, and because I live at my parents home, I really don't want to commit to acid dyes just yet... but this might j...

So classes are finally over, actually they have been done for a week now. I go to RIT, which runs on a quarter system. I will be starting back up on Monday, and going through to the end of May. That is so depressing. I did however, get some pictures, and that is actually the purpose of this blog post! So the first image is my brother's birthday present. One of these days I am going to make some black gloves for him. Maybe in the summer when I want a small project. The next picture is of my super cute sister wearing the fake isle hat I made. I used Patons SWS and Lion Wool instead of the recommended Noro and Cascade 220.... What can I say? I am cheap. She loves it, and it fits her better than the hat I made her for her birthday. Up next is one for me. But you just have to wait for me to finish before I give it up! I am not sure if I like the colors I chose, so I may end up giving the second one away too. I don't, however, mind the pattern, so I am willing to make anoth...

of some sort. But i am not. I am catching up on blogs, listening to Muse, and working on a crafty project. (More about that in a moment.) First, my gift hat. A friend at church was born 5 days before I was. He looks awful cold most of the time; and the other day when we were at the market, he was eyeing a rack of hats and gloves. This only took about a weekend. It is Paton's black merino, left over from my brother's birthday present. Chris tried Ethan's hat on that day, and I thought it might be a good gift for Chris. This one is different. I ribbed throughout for a nice stretchy fit. The red is some Red Heart "Soft Yarn". I don't normally use acrylic with wool yarns, but this was bright and I only needed a handful. The acrylic was purchased recently for the new project I am working on. I have to admit, I was inspired by two things. The first was this post . Then I saw this . I was enthralled. Go ahead, look at them all! I discovered that day, t...

Yesterday, before church, my father went outside to warm up the green van (my vehicle). He moved it about to get teh driveway cleared out enough to get out of it... (LOTS of snow), and realized it was leaking rich black stuff... engine oil. He was not happy. He took me to church, and my boyfriend was able to get my family back home. (Dad churches elsewhere.) Unfortunately, this means that I don't have a vehicle. Now, I really like the fact that I can't drive, because it is snowy and yucky, and because I like to knit when I am not driving; but it does make things more complicated for the rest of my family. The other thing that broke is my camera. This little baby was a steal. It was on special at Aldi, for $159. It came with 2 batteries (rechargeable lithium-ions), a car charger, a usb cable, a usb recharger, a 512 memory card, and it was 5.2 megapixel. A few weeks ago, I attempted to take a picture of the knitting i was working on, posing in the snow, for the enhancement...

This isn't kniting related, but I had to share. This is the project I have been working on for the last year. It was supposed to be done much sooner, but editting takes a long time. I have been working on and off of this project, and this is the final iteration. It goes away... and *please Lord, please* and doesn't come back until it is finally ready for the big time. Finished. Yes, printed as the book it is meant to be. (eeek!) Something I worked on is being published! (I only did layout and cover design...) woo hoo!

I am trying to get into the habit of posting, even if I don't have pictures. I think it will help my accountability with projects, as well as giving me a sense of progress. A few days ago, I cast on for a beautiful baby sweater, for a dear friend at church, who is pregnant. (If you are reading this Ms. Pregnant A., you should stop!) Her baby boy will be born at the end of February or the beginning of March. (I think he should aim for February 22, so he can celebrate with me... but his mom thinks he will be a bit later than that.) I decided to make him a knitted zip up the back hooded sweater. I found the pattern around this time in 2006, when I made one for my cousin's baby. Unfortunately the pattern is no longer available online, or I would link it. My fiance, brother, sister, and sister's friend *who is also my friend* went the the yarn store today, so I could get yarn. I am using Baby Ull, by Dale of Norway, in green and white, which are Michigan State colors. The m...

So, I am trying to write less lame blog titles. That may not be entirely possible, but I will try. Here are some recent exploits! As you can see, my math homework is attempting to compete with my lovely socks. The math homework lost.... I am using some LB Magic Stripes Denim Stripe 310-201: Denim blue, cream, light blue highlighted with red and copper I am very pleased with the striping pattern complementing t he stripes... and I love that the stripes are super random. :) This is part of the Romney I bought at the Fingerlakes Fiber Arts Festival. I was unsure of how much to get, or what kind; it was rather overwhelming. I ended going economical and buying only one kind of roving, a white Romney. I got it home, quite nervous about buying 16 oz, since I didn't know how it would spin up. I started up my wheel and was amazed. Romney was my personal spinning Godsend. I was so happy with the results. I have spun white sam ples, but not too much. I used some of the yarn for my bro...

HowManyOfMe.com There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name? That is just good to know. I am glad that I am one in several thousand... one in a million or more? Anyway, it's a relief. However, the data base is not complete, since I have actually met several other people with my particular first name. It is unsual but not unlikely... so I doubt that this project is entirely accurate. Editted to add: http://howmanyofme.com/faq/#section1 I should read the accuracy things before I go posting random info on my blog, eh?

Just so this post isn't totally pictureless, here is a totally blown out image of the yarn I spun out of Romney I bought at the Fiber Arts Festival at Hemlock, NY this year. I dyed a section of red and a section of yellow to test the color fastness and softness of dyed fleece. I navajo plied it, and am quite pleased with the results. So, my brother and sister's birthdays are done, so I can tell you what I made them :) Hopefully while we are all around for Christmas I can get some pictures of them wearing their warm woolys. I made an earflap hat and mittens with a subtle skull and crossbone pattern (scroll down to October 17, 2006.) And I dyed the white yarn to a pretty pink. I need to learn more about dying though, because that was not the color I was going for, at all. I made my brother a pirate hat. It is a skull cap with a skull and crossbones pattern. I used this one as a template for the skull. The pattern is really adorable too! I am working right now on a knit gi...

I am so excited about Christmas this year. Perhaps it is because I have chosen reasonable projects to make for family and friends. It could also be that this is the first year in 3 years that I can actually ENJOY Christmas. I used to work at Wegmans, a food grocer in Upstate NY. Now, I am not saying anything bad about Wegmans, working there was a wonderful learning experience that taught me a lot... However, anyone in retail can tell you, the Christmas season is just no fun. I hope that I can remember that as I shop for the holiday this year. I am ready to listen to happy music, see lights and decorations, and start celebrating the best time of year in my own heart. I am certain that my fiancee living in NY is helping that happy feeling to exist! Now on to other things: These are my happy feet in a bright happy Trekking XXL. As you can see I didnt' weave in the ends yet. I am actually wearing them today, without the ends woven in. I am a naughty knitter. I have had pictures...

someone reads this... i have pictures on the camera, but a large paper due on MOnday and 2 presentations due on Wednesday and a paper due on Wednesday. As a result of those facts... my post with pictures will be put off... I am hoping to have time tonight. But i CAN'T do it now... because I should be revising my paper! :)

So I haven't finished TemptingII, or whatever else we should call it.... I am a slacker. And school started. Its hard to bring an almost done sweater to school to work on it. I really can't do that. Sooo instead I knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby surprise Jacket. It was kind of annoying to keep track of all the stitches... but it is so cute it is worth it... and I really didn't figure out how it really worked until I was almost done. SOOOO CLEVER really. She was an engineering GENIUS. GENIUS!! Unfortunately mine is kinda ugly, its red with heather brown accents. I don't know if either of the pregnant ladies at church will want it... so I am going to make more, and I shall see how it turns out! My goal today, in class, is to start a hat; maybe finish it? We shall see. If i can get my camera back from my thieving sister *j/k* I will take some pictures. (I lent it to her so she could work on her digital imaging class.)

Tempting ii was never going to fit. It just isn't designed for a girl who has a 44 DDD. It would never have worked; but I just didn't want to face the facts. Instead, I knit blindly on- working hard on the several inches of 1x1 ribbing until I finally reached the armpit. I checked my gauge, and even put the live stitches on some black crochet cotton to check the size. The body fit... sort of. It fit around me, no doubt, but it didn't fit over my boobs. I have BIG boobs... the sweater fit the back of me, it went from above the tail bone to just under my arm pits... but the front, well the front rode up something fierce. I knew that i would never wear a sweater that rode up in the front. I was ready to frog it and start something new, but I realized that at 12pm such decisions need not be made. (To top it off, at this point I was highly infected with icky icky Upper Respritory Infection !ewww mucus!) So I held off, and waited to talk to my mom. She convinced me not to ...

I picked up Tempting II again- I tried it on with a piece of cotton through the loops so that I could see how it fits. Utimately I realized that my chest is so big that there is no way it is going to fit right as a straight tube top. Right now I am trying to make short rows to fit my boobs. We will see if it is sucessful. Before I picked my Tempting II back up, I worked on the second of my first ever Trekking XXL socks. I got the yarn in a wonderful shop called Creative Yarns in Cohassett. I loved that shop. I would go back in a second if it wasn't over 6 hours away! Soon I will take pictures of the work I have been doing- but here's an update for now!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the start of Tempting II. I adore the color, and am very happy with the way it is knitting up at 200 st instead of 260. I think the extra stitch s were creating a lot of extra weight on the needles. Hopefully my calculations will prove fairly accurate, and this baby will fit! What I have knit so far is one ball, and I did it in less than 2 days! If I can keep up that speed, I can have this done by next week... and that is the goal. I want to get things done much faster. I am hopeful about this, anyway. And when I am done with it, I want to finish my brother's flame sweater! (the one I "gave" him 2 years ago at Christmas ago!) (Please excuse all the cables.. but the kitchen is the best light I've got right now!)

So i finally got the camera battery charged enough to get the pictures off the camera and up on my blog. I am going to pretty much just post all the pictures at once! The blue pictures are me knitting in the Centenial Park on the 4th of July, and my new $3 on sale yarn from a LYS. I also splurged and bought some Bryspun size 2 needles. I usually go with the lovely Brittany needles, but am so tired of breaking them. So far the Bryspun are a thumbs up! Unfortunatley I did some internet searching and it looks like Bryspun is discontinuing them :( I want to get knitpicks dp ns... but haven't had the courage to order $40 worth of yarn for free shipping yet. I don't need more yarn.... and i don't need $40 of needles! The yarn is regia, and the pattern is just a general toe up pattern with an "invisible" cast on. Instead of increasing in the stitches, such as a knit 1- knit into the back of the stitch, I decided to try a yarn over. I know... its silly they are socks, not...

This was my quick and easy project. I made it for my cell phone, because I COULDN'T stand the idea of buying an over priced cellphone holder from Verizon, or a cheap cheezy one from Walmart. I got the bag at the Women of Faith 2006 Conference in Rochester NY. It was very cool, because it is from World Vision, and I was planning on sponsering a child through them anyway. They gave me the free bag for allowing them to take money from my credit card. :) I was delighted with the bag, its huge, and I have a beautiful young lady named Roda from Zimbabwee. I am going to write her a letter very soon. My boyfriend and I picked out the yarn, it was one of the closest color choices in a thin cotton yarn. What can I say? I went to Micheals! The button was out of my mom's vintage-ish button collection. I ended up giving this one to my mother in law to be, because she really liked it, AND she got a new older cell phone. She didn't like the size of the phone, but it was digital and h...

Wow... Time flies when you are worried about finals! I did very well this quarter, gaining a 4.0. One of my teachers gave me an incomplete for class, but I handed in the final project a week early. Someone else in the class got that too; so I am thinking it is a fluke or mistake with the computer system. I've done a bunch of knitting since I last posted but not a whole lot of it was productive. I haven't finished anything! I ripped out the baby blanket about 3 times now. I started a flat knit with seed stitch that is double stranded and on size 13 needles (i think...) the work is going faster now, but sheesh. I started Eunny's free Print O the Wave stole- I just had to make some lace! I am not joining the great lace- I don't have that kind of time to commit to getting this done! Last week I went to Toronto with my friends for an Anime Convention (Anime North) and afterwards we went camping for the 4 hottest days this summer so far. It was frustrating. We ended up s...