Stash Enhancement

Hi, my name is Lisa and I have a yarn addiction.

You know you have a yarn problem when your husband asks "so just what hole is it you're attempting to fill by buying all this yarn?". No fair when he plays therapist like that! Somehow responding "but it was 40% off!" just doesn't do the trick.

This is a sweet olive green tweed. Maggi's Tweed Fleck Aran to be exact. I'm thinking of using it to make Rogue but I'm just a couple skeins shy. I'm playing with a swatch now to see if I like it enough to hunt down more.


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This is Kid Seta - mohair/silk combo, in a lovely midnight blue. I have been warned against this, but the lusciousness of it was difficult to resist. I have enough to do a lace shawl. We'll see which one strikes my fancy.


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This is Jamieson's Chunky Shetland. Not only 40% off, but discontinued. I love the brick red color. I think I have enough to make a short Einstein jacket. Hopefully my SIL gifted me with that book. Only 2 1/2 weeks to go for gift exchange!


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Last but not least - Fusion, another mohair yarn - this one with acrylic and wool. I really like the colors of it, kind of a plum/purple/mauve. Sort of. Not enough for a shawl, but could make a nice scarf solo or in combination. We'll see what it grows up to be.


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I think I have plenty to keep me busy, once I get some other projects out of the way. Currently on the needles is my sister's hat. After that, I'm making a chemo cap for my friend Candee who's currently going through the hell of chemo and loosing her hair. Then, if I'm in the mood and time is on my side, I'll whip up another pair of socks for Katie in her second color choice for her bday Jan. 24th. Then I think I'd better get cracking on baby goodies for friends - yay!

Christmas gifts

Yes, after talking about it for how freaking long? I finally did it. For my sister Katie, I made my very first pair of socks. And gave them away, gulp. The good news is they fit her super long, super narrow feet "perfectly". Yay! Thank you Queen Kahuna - her book rocks! These were knit with Knit Picks Parade yarn. It was fine. Not the softest, not the tightest plie twist so some snags, but it worked. I'm curious to see how the sock yarns people rave about compare - ones like Kiogu, or Lorna's Laces.


First pair of socks


stripey goodness

Next up - my mom's felted bag. Oh lordy. There must be some kind of psychological profile in knitting things for other people. This pattern uses the feather and fan pattern to create nice wavy stripes of color. I tweaked it and used variagated yarn for the sides (Interlacements - 50% alpaca & 50% wool, this stuff is goregous!) and Lamb's Pride for the base, ends, and cover flap. Feather and fan is not a hard stitch pattern, it just requires that you remember how many rows you've just knit and when you need to do your lace pattern. I figured I'd whip it out quickly, it'd be a piece of cake, and easy to do while watching tv - HA!! I realized a) I have a short attention span and b) it took me awhile to learn to read the lace pattern so I could tell how many rows I just knit. A and B led to many, many frogging's. So many, I lost count. I even broke the connection to one of my Denise needles during the process. Sigh. Not that it's indicative of any "issues" or anything. However I perservered and realized that things went much smoother when I gave it my undivided attention. Hmmmmm.


pre-felting - feather and fan pattern


feather and fan closeup


Post felting

After all the blood and sweat (yes, I really did bleed over this when installing the grommets for the straps to go thru), I must say it turned out super duper sweet. I even felted a swatch and sewed it in for a pocket, complete with snap closure. Plus snaps for the flap. Yes, I am a suck-up overachiever. And yes, mom loved it. Score brownie points for me!

That is the end of my Christmas knitting. Sort of. There's a hat in progress for my sister Laura. I told her it wouldn't be done by xmas. It's my first foray into fair-isle, and I'm torn between a sense of accomplishment for rising to the challenge and realizing it's a total pain in the ass. The pattern I'm using is a take off on this Chullo - but tweaked.

Fall Wrap

I made this using Hand Painted Yarns thick/thin yarn when it was on sale. After a false start on a bad color combination, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's nice and warm!

Baby booties

These are for my new nephew (well, not so new anymore, a big 5 months now). I used Little Turtle Knits pattern, that's currently unavailable until the book comes out. I liked the pattern. I wasn't all that pleased with how the yarn felted (also used LTK for yarn). The top yarn felted nicely, but the yarn for the soles seemed to have too much lanolin in it to completely felt (this pic is before felting).




Dan's currently visiting said nephew. I wonder if they'll fit. I had a bit of a mental block/personal issue with getting motivated to send these off and procrastinated instead. Sigh. Bad auntie.