Michigan Fiber Fest

This weekend was the annual Michigan Fiber Fest which is held at the Allegan County Fairgrounds.  It was my second year going, but my first year hardly counted.  I had gotten the weekend mixed up and only realized late on Sunday, but decided to drive down and check it out anyway.  It was an hour or two before the official closing time so many booths were gone or packing up.

Anyway, this year I really planned it out.  We got to see a sheep shearing :

The rest of my adventures at the fest, including acquisitions, as well as other knitting talk can be found on these videos:

More shop updates!

Another four listings have been added today, all neckwear.

One cowl, the Owl Cowl, which is a nice shade of brown. It can also be worn as a ponytail hat.

A purple and orange scarf; it has 'hairs' of purple spiking out amongst the orange suede. Very fun!

Shades of pink in fluffy ruffles makes up another fun scarf. It is long enough to wrap 2-3 times around your neck.

The last listing contains two color choices for the same scarf. Ice, which is light blue, and Sweetheart, which is light pink, are fluffy and warm!

Go to DenKnits on Etsy to see it all.

Productive knitting weekend

Starting this past Friday I found myself with more free time on my hands than expected and was happy to fill that time with knitting related things.  I'd slowly worked through knitting several baby items over the past couple of months and was able to finish the sleeves on a baby girl top and then rinse/block the whole lot. (No pics on those yet as I am cautious about ruining the surprises)

While those were drying I started up a project with some souvenir yarn from boucle in Fargo ND.  I bought the one skein thinking it could be a hat, cowl or possibly socks.  Once I was ready to work with it, I felt like a hat... unfortunately the yarn did not.  I tried two different simple styles and neither was working on my head, so I easily converted it to a cowl.  I've worn it a couple days now and think it is a nice addition to my collection.  The seed stitch and the yarn combined to look like pixels to me so I called it the Pixelated Sunset.

I had another skein of souvenir yarn, this one from ImagiKnit in San Francisco, that I'd been wanting to turn into something so that was next.  I'd actually had this skein for about 4 months and had been thinking about what it would be for that whole time.  As it usually happens, I couldn't find an existing pattern that was what I wanted so I set to make one up as I went.  The Cowl/Kerchief was born.

Having finally accomplished knitting things out of my most recent purchases, not to mention items just for me, I decided to work on a quick knit that will be part of a more complicated piece requested by DH.  For Christmas this year I made my boys Mohawk hats and was surprised that my husband kept trying to steal them.  I had enough left over yarn to make another one but hadn't gotten around to it yet.  In the meantime, he went skiing and saw people with what he describes as viking mohawk bearded hats.  So the fairly simple mohawk hat now needs a beard piece as well.  I quickly knit up the grey ribbed cap part but have set that aside while I search for bulky yarn in a white shade.

With time still on my hands I decided to browse my Ravelry favorites for something to work on next.  Since I'd just finished two cowls at hat was on my mind.  I finally found a project in the Meret hat by Woolly Wormhead, a free pattern by a designer I'd been meaning to knit.  I had some yarn that would work at the top of my stash and I cast on for the small size, mostly because I was worried about yardage.  After a day and a half and half way through the hat I realized two things.  There was plenty of yarn left and the hat was a little small.  I cast back on for the medium and am back to knitting.

Cowl Kerchief

I had a hank of Berroco Campus that I purchased as souvenir yarn at ImagiKnit in San Francisco a few months ago that I'd been trying to decide what it was meant to be.  I'd finally gotten some downtime from my 'real' job this weekend and set out to create what I'd come up with in my mind.

I love the shawls that can be worn as triangle kind of scarves but they don't usually stay in place or fit around my neck right.  I thought something like a cowl would be good to fix those aspects.

Since I just created as I knit, and only have the one example, I'm posting my directions as a free pattern here.

Berroco Campus is a 130 yard wool/acrylic/alpaca blend bulky yarn.  I used size 11 circulars as I have a tendency to be a tight knitter.



CO 54 stitches and join in the round, place a marker at the join
Knit one row, *purl one row, knit one row, purl one row, knit four rows, purl one row*, knit six rows, Repeat * to * one more time
Place a marker on stitch 27
Knit six rows, increasing on the first stitch, the stitches before and after the markered 27th stitch, and the second to last stitch
Purl one row, knit one row, purl one row, knit one row, BO stitches between markers and knit the rest of the row

The cowl portion is complete and the triangle part will be worked next

Purl one row
Work decrease row as follows K2tog, k to last two, slip one, knit one, psso
[Knit one row, knit one decrease row, purl one row, knit one decrease row, purl one row, knit one decrease row, purl one row *Purl 2tog, purl to last two, slip one, purl one, psso, purl one row*, Repeat * to *, knit one decrease row, purl one row, knit one decrease row] two times
Knit one row, knit one decrease row, *purl one row, knit one decrease rows*, repeat
BO last three stitches

Optional fringe: Cut 38 12 inch long pieces of yarn, use a crochet hook to add on at the purl rows as well as three evenly spaced in the 6 knit rows

Knitting updates

So many projects have been completed the past few months, but I have started keeping a better record on my Ravelry page since I found my other methods to be less permanent.

My first completed project was a purple scarf.  I just improvised a stitch pattern as I had limited internet access and no books.  It turns out that pattern makes the scarf curl some, but it's still a cute scarf.

When I was ready for another project I decided I should find a pattern and created my own loop scarf.  When it was done and I had yarn left, I decided to turn the stitch pattern into a matching hat.

I then felt ready to plunge into a special order hat, a bearded hat to be specific.  That was double layered.  I think I'm about 2 months into this hat but can see the finish line now!

I created a sunshine-y bucket/floppy style hat with sunflower colors as well as a hat out of self patterning yarn that looks almost like it has ears.

I started what I thought would be a purse, using a "x"s and "o"s cable effect, but the cables pulled it in so much it works better as a notions bag.  I did manage to create one cabled purse though, I just need to finish it off with a ribbon handle.

I made a cowl that can double as an earwarmer, or is it an earwarmer that can double as a cowl?  Either way, it's very practical in black and white!

Somewhere along the way I made a cropped cardigan for myself out of yarn from what is now a LYS to me. I definitely want to get into more cardigans :-)

I've got some breast cancer awareness items in process as well as a blanket for a baby girl due any day.  In que are a couple special scarves, fingerless mitts, and slipper socks.  Plus I have a lot of replacement knitting to do, #1 on that list are blankets for the kids.

Still busy knitting...

Wow, surprised to see it's been about a month since my last post.  I have been knitting and posting quick updates to my Facebook fan page, but haven't taken that extra time to write a longer update.

My recent knitting has consisted mostly of family and personal knitting.  I used some mystery yarn found at a thrift shop to create myself a hat.  It's a little lacy and a little baggy, but not the snood I thought it would be.  Turns out, I really like it just the way it is!

I finally finished the strap on a bag I'd started I don't remember how long ago and gave it to my daughter.  It's the perfect size to hold books, but the downside to that is it stretches the strap out bit.  Fortunately, since it's a knit strap, we can just put a knot in it and keep going while still looking fashionable!

My sis really liked my white hat and wanted something similar.  The yarn we settled on wasn't the same thickness of my white yarn, and I changed to a different lace pattern.  This resulted in a hat that was not baggy enough, so my daughter got another knitted item!

I was able to knit up a cowl that met what my sis had in mind, so she didn't end up empty handed.  I knit up this thrift store find with a simple rib to start and end for the stretch factor and knit around in the middle.  It's a basic pattern, but that's all you need sometimes when the yarn is so interesting.

I have also been working on socks for DH.  These have been going on for quite a while (in relation to my other projects).  One sock has been successfully completed, however I now have SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).  I haven't even made it to the heel of the second sock yet and am trying to force myself to knit at least a little on them every day.

Another item I started (and finished) for myself was a shawlette.  I'd never really thought of making myself a shawl, but found some beautiful drapey feeling yarn that I bought ball of without knowing what it might be.  I later got to thinking about a shawl and a search through Ravelry found that I did have enough yardage to make a mini version.  I'm really pleased with the results and overcame a couple of knitting fears in the process; lace patterns really can be memorized & enjoyable and charts really can be read!

I actually enjoyed this pattern so much I cast on another one... however that was rather quickly frogged.  With two balls totaling approximately 240 yds, I was already cutting it close... Then I came to the part of the first ball that was cut.  I should say, this yarn was part of a grab bag, which is usually prone to some kind of issue, hence the awesome price.  After a little playing with the pattern and contemplation, I decided to pull it out and look for something else.  Still looking for that something else...

My daughter was the recipient of one more item that was another first for me.  It's called a Sleeveless Cardi and is knit like a raglan sweater.  I hadn't tried my hand at a sweater yet and never realized how simple raglan sweaters could be!  Once I got the concept of what was happening, I got really excited that I could create all kinds of things and have added that to my mental que.  This project started because in many of my recent grab bag purchases I would end up with a ball or two (or more) of the same yarn, color and lot!  I wanted to do something big with it but wasn't sure what.  A friend suggested a sweater so I started there, coming across the pattern I did was a perfect match as the weather is slowly warming up here.  I think she looks just darling in it!

With so many knit items going to my daughter, my sons (one in particular) were feeling left out.  They really wanted a shirt but there isn't much similar to the above in a less girly version.  At this point, I settled on a simple sweatband for the most left out feeling son to wear for soccer season in the school colors.  I may just get started on some raglan sweaters for them and hope I can finish by the time the weather cools down again!

New Knits

I have decided to start putting all my knitting talk here as opposed to the "Knitting on the Road" blog for just personal things, because I'm no longer "on the Road" for work :-)  So... here is one of my recent personal knits:

 I had two small skeins of shades of purples yarn bought from a lovely Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/syrendell.  I had been contemplating what to do with the yarn in shades I loved when I was finally struck with knit-spiration, use both for a striped hat!  It was fairly simple and I really loved the striping technique.  I hadn't done my own striping before and it really kept my interest.  It totally rocks and matches my favorite sweatshirt in a charming way :-)

I also had the opportunity to do a special request recently... a llama ear flap hat!  Wow... it is really hard to figure out how to make yarn look like a llama!  The snout/nose area was the trick part for me... I finally tried a sock heel technique and it worked!  I will post pictures later or on my facebook fan page for sure.

I've gotten a couple of cowls done that need to be photographed for sale on etsy and I'm working on another.  All my recent yarn purchases have been small amounts so cowls work great...  I would like to do more hats though because they are about the same amount of time and there seem to be a lot of cowls going on :-)

Well, back to my cushy white cowl!

Special Requests

I've done a couple special request knits recently and they aren't posted on Etsy.  I'm always open to try something new or even a variation on something already in the shop.  There are also some things that I've done before but just haven't listed in the shop.

My first request was a dishtowel set.  The main component is a hand towel with a flap that can be looped around a fridge or drawer handle and buttoned on.  That was accompanied by two matching dish towels.

Next up was a couple of variations on shop items.  The across the body purse in the shop was knit in a gray yarn, the special request was for the purse to be black.  This actually was perfect because I happened to have the same yarn in charcoal!  The cozy cowl was also wanted, but in red.  I was able to purchase the same yarn in red online and am currently waiting for it to arrive to complete the request.

Special requests are fun to do because it's exactly what the person wants, not just close enough.  Even if it's just a color change, I'm happy to comply!

What's Next?

I've been fairly busy with work work but have gotten in some knit work too...  I am currently working on a purse/bag and have another one in my brain.  I finished a lovely knit wire bracelet that I am very excited about.  I'm always working on dishcloths and have some festive Christmas yarn to work with next.  

Speaking of Christmas, I'm taking orders!  Now's the time to place orders to have them in knit in time for the holidays.  I'm going to be working on a custom order of a couple of cloths with matching kitchen towel.  It should be lovely.  

I still have a few skeins of beautiful yarns that will make some really neat scarves as well as some cozy warm cowls.

Well, I should really get back to my knitting now :-)

What's happening?

I've been busy knitting and listing on a fairly regular basis... I have gotten almost all of my finished cloths listed as well as the green cowl.  I still have a cloth trio set to photograph which has proven to be one of my biggest challenges.

Currently on the needles are two projects and both are very close to being complete!  I have another up-cycled item, made from a heavy thermal shirt.  I'm not sure at this point if it will be another long cowl or perhaps just a scarf.  It feels like it will definitely be cozy either way!  My other item is the purse I've been struggling with for a bit.  My first attempt was done up with needles a little too big for the yarn and a pattern that was a little too complicated for the size of the bag.  I simplified the pattern and switched to smaller needles and am loving the result!  I plan to make a strap long enough so the purse can be worn across the chest.  It should be great for holding all your must-haves like a cell phone, wallet, and keys, along with a some other small items such as travel tissues or a pill case.

Up for Sale

Opening just this week, DenKnits currently has three items for sale. The first item I've listed is a set of three cloths in light blue, light green, and white. These can be used for washing dishes, your face or your body. I made two regular cloths in two different sizes. They are also in different patterns. The third cloth is a mitt for your fingers. I've been using one like this for my dishes and I find it very useful. It is always on your hand and it suds up great. I think it would work nicely to wash your face too.

I have been adding items once a day or every other day. I read that this helps keep your shop in the "Most Recently Added" listing. So, on day two I listed a jean cowl that I knit up using recycled kids jeans. This was quite a project to accomplish. Everything about working with jean material is a challenge! Cutting it is tough and knitting with it is slow going, even on size 50 needles. I think the end result is a very fashionable look though and I plan to do some variations on this.

Most recently listed, is another set of cloths. This set contains two cloths in different shades of green and purple. I again used two different patterns when making these but they are both the same size.

Up for listing sometime soon will be more sets of cloths, another cowl, and some purses & bags.