SAFF 2011 haul

SAFF 2011 haul, a photo by mom2rays on Flickr.

The Southern Animal Fiber Festival in Henderson, NC is a fun annual event the third weekend in October that I like to attend. I went both for pleasure, and to help a friend with her 10 week old while she taught some classes. Little Josh was an angel, and I got my shop awn ;-}
I love the creativity, handmadeness, and experience of SAFF. It's hard to explain, so I will just say, if you get a chance, just go! I ran into some of my favorite indie dyers, but didn't really buy much in the usual vein of fiber and yarn from them. This was a first, but I'm OK with it. I have been blessed with much yarn and fiber so no need to add to the stash at this time.
I got some things I have been wanting though:
A tumbler from Plays In Mud Studio. I love the mug I bought from her my first SAFF and decided if she was there that I must get a tumbler as well.
A handmade brass shawl pin that is low profile. Sometimes I want something small for smaller shawlettes and scarves. This one is perfect!
Shampoo and conditioner bars
and some commercially made items that I love.
Oh and not pictured, but in my flickr stream are some hand stamped ceramic buttons that have the most unusual finish.
I'm hoping next year my entire family will make the trip to SAFF and we can turn it into a camping weekend. Oh and I forgot the art batt from lunabudknits, on the bobbin above, on my wheel here as I finished spinning it up thick and thin. . .

Zuri's dolly

I have been struggling with trying to find affordable safe toys for both Zuri and the boys. There are tons of toys available, but many are not safe. I knit some balls for the boys when they were smaller but I wanted to make something a little more complex for Zuri. Here's dolly. We'll have to name her later. . . she also needs some clothes. I decided vs. straight yarn hair to give her little french knots all over her head. Here hair looks like mine did when it was shorter. I don't know what Zuri's hair will be like, but I assume it will be somewhat curly.
I used some organic cotton yarn from Janet that is weight suitable for weaving with size 1 needles. She's based off Lucinda Guy's And So To Bed's Lula doll. The pattern includes knitted underwear, a dress and booties so those will be coming soon.

Zuri's Pinwheel is finished!

I've been working on this for about a month. This is the baby blanket I've been planning to make for my sweet Zuri for a while. I'm very happy with the finished product. I chose a lime green cotton dk weight for the body of the blanket. I struggled for an edging idea. I wanted to maybe try my hand at lace, but I also wanted to have a contrast boarder and hadn't picked out the yarn yet. The ladies from Universal Yarns suggested one of their tape yarns similar to Tango that they just happened to have enough of to trim my blanket. It was a perfect match on the green and the purple and royal blue are very complementary, though the blue barely shows on the front. I crocheted it on after binding off the cotton, vs. knitting it on like I did in the ruffle soaker. I like the ruffled effect but it's a pretty labor intensive process to either knit or crochet on. It reminds me of the deliberate stitches I took when I first began knitting and crocheting.
I have enough cotton remaining to make her something else that matches. I'm thinking a kimono or little dress and maybe a matching hat. Now that this is done I can progress to some of the other projects that I've been wanting to start though.

knitting projects

Here are some knitting projects completed, on the needles, and to be started:

Baby legwarmers for Zuri. Cotton lycra blend.

Baby leg warmers for Zuri.

Hemp wash cloth for Zuri.

Super soft merino and wool/silk blend yarn to make diaper soaker pants for Zuri.

Weaving Project

My sis has started weaving and of course being the little sis I had to tag along. I borrowed one of her simplest/least complicated looms and yesterday afternoon strung it up. I want to make some wash cloths. I used teal cotton for the warp threads and am weaving through a foxfibre organic cotton chennille on the weft. The white at the beginning of the weaving is waste and has been removed since I've been able to advance the weaving once already.
I don't like the setup process, it seemed long and tiring. I didn't like weaving on my lap, but on the kitchen counter it was much easier. I made progress this am to the point I'm going to advance and start washcloth #2. Basically I need to put on a LOT of warp and then I can weave to my heart's content!

Since I blogged last

• I've been too lazy to take pictures.
• I finished the boy's shirts for their recital yesterday. I didn't alter the patterns at all due to time constraints. They were large, but looked just fine. It's was really neat to see my 2 Rays performing. I'm glad we chose to do dance this year and we're in the process of deciding if we will continue. We unfortunately will no longer be able to continue with our dance studio. It's over an hour away and there are closer alternatives. Rok and I are very sad about this but it's just too much expendature of our time, money, car, lives etc. to go that far.
• I cut the boy's hair.
• I sewed 3 tote bags that Ms. Gina, the studio owner requested as gifts for the other three instructors. These bags like almost all of the others were original designs.
• I've been knitting a blanket in the round. It's going to be a large circle. It's all one color a creamy white wool blend soft yarn, but on each increase I knit an increasingly larger section. I've been playing with different stitch patterns within the sections to give it a sampler look.
• I got some new sock yarn.
• I got some new yarn to make a really cool sweater.
• I've got some organic bamboo and organic cotton fabric to make some clothes. Very yummy fabric.
• I've aquired 5 more patterns (a little sadistic huh?)
• I made carmel popcorn.

Busy day part 2

After starting the bread, but before finishing it I started my 4th project for the day, mittens for Mardie from this pattern. I finished the first one before dinner and the 2nd one and the tether cord a little while ago.
I added the I tether i-cord to help Mardie not loose them. I will have to thread it through his sleeves tomorrow and see if it's long enough. This is all of my yarn as of right now so if it's not long enough I'll have to frog the cord and crochet a chain it to make it longer. I use Brown Sheep Nature's Spectrum in Sailor Sunset. My sis gave me this ball after she was finished with it, thanks J! It's only 81 yards so I was cutting this really close. I'm glad I had enough to finish. This yarn is 100% wool so these mits will breathe and help his hands stay dry and warm. I am thinking about adding a leather palm and sewing a fleece inner mit but for now that's not happening.
The neat thing about this pattern in my book is tha it has a fat thumb hole which is great for little guys like Mardie. I slipped these on him and had no trouble negotiating his thumb where it was supposed to be. Other mittens or gloves I've put onto kids this age normally end up with multiple fingers in the wrong slots.

I also love how these are like oven mits in that they designed to fit either hand. I will have to knit a pair for Charmie, I really love these mits!

1st 1/2 of Pink Stripe socks

Here's the first sock knit from the goodies my sister gave me for CHRISTmas! I wil start the mate tomorrow but I am already itching for it to be done! This one is so comfy and I am excited to see how the yarn knits the 2nd sock. This yarn is self striping but I cannot discern a repeat. It appears to be random and I LOVE IT!
This has also peaked my interest in the other yarns to see how they will knit up into socks.
I am looking forward to having several pairs of handknitted socks because they are so freakin' comfortable!

Merry Christmas

This is really weird. Blogger is super fast. . . I already did this post though and it's lost in cyber space.
This is a gift from my sis for Christmas! We had dinner at her home for Christmas Eve and exchanged gifts since they have other plans for Christmas day!
She gave me a sock extravaganza, knitted me a scarf, and made a beaded pin for me! I'm very excited to delve into these new yarns and use my new needles!
Thanks Janet!

My 2 Ray Boys

Here Mardie and Charmie sit watching Clifford, or as Charmie says, Pi'pard wearing wool. Mardie has on a hand crochet Tickle Turdle crochet wrap wool cover with a snappi fastener. I made it from Cascade 220. Charmie has on his Down Under triangle soaker with lizzard embelishments from various wool scraps. The body is from LB fishermans wool.
my 2 ray boys

The beginning

Here I am at almost 4 AM again on the PC and knitting. I decided to create this blog after seeing others and wanting to share my projects. I hope that this is not boring or redundant. Like I said it's almost 4 AM so cut me a little slack! I am currently knitting diaper soaker shorts/pants for my son, Charmie. I cannot decide on the length and so far don't have to. I'm only on the butt part. This is my first pair of pants/shorts. I am designing my own pattern and want to use magic loop or dpn's when I get to the leg opening area. I just finished embellishing my first down under soaker tonight as well. I crocheted 4 little lizards and appliqued them to the soaker. I think it's cute though they look crude. I just started knitting this month. I've so far knitted a blanket for my son Mardie, along with a little hat and booties, as well as 4 soakers for my son, and 1 for a friend's daughter. I think that's pretty good for a month's work. Next month I really want to work on dying my own yarn. One of the soakers I made for Charmie is hand dyed. I want to make more yarn that is interesting. Of course my son Mardie is due to be born in September so we'll see how much I get done as a mother of 2 babies!