Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn

Skein of hand-dyed sock yarn, originally uploaded by jennlikesyarn.

I hadn't bought myself a skein of yarn in a really long time. I promise. I randomly found myself in possession of some money (some freelance work I had, plus my birthday that was coming up on the 16th).

Why the fascination with sock yarn? As part of my traveling scarf group, one of the ladies had chosen to do a length-wise scarf in crazy colors of sock yarn. I was able to use some from my stash (amazingly, for never completing a sock, I had a couple skeins of sock yarn), and was surprised at how little I used, and how fun it was to work with on a longer project.

So imagine my glee when I checked my Ravelry's friends' blogs and came across this little gem? It's hand-dyed sock yarn, and the colors are great. I thought that since I enjoyed working with the thinner, soft yarn so much, I'd try to get back into making socks, and buying some new yarn would be the perfect way to do that.

We'll just ignore the fact that when I went to go buy new circular needles for this project (I'm done with DPN's - DONE!) that I bought two skeins of some Red Heart Heart and Sole. And that I picked up some purple crochet thread to make my very first doily. And some bobbins. ACMoore is a money pit.

Anyway, you can buy your own hand-dyed yarn from Lyse Artistic Creations Hand Dyed Yarn.  The specific blog post where she was selling these is located here.  It's very high quality and comes highly recommended by me! And we all know I'm picky :)

Hope you are all having a great week!

Happy Father's Day - Knit Welsh Dragon Square For Dad!

Knit Welsh Dragon Square (detail), originally uploaded by jennlikesyarn.

Presenting the Welsh Dragon I knit for my dad for Father's Day!

Lately, I've really taken to knitting gifts for people. I've been completely neglecting my Etsy shops, which makes me feel guilty and stressed at the same time, but that's okay - I make hats and it's summer :) However, I've found that making gifts for people is a fun way for me to relax, and I've been so super happy with the results that I'm A-OK with my shop taking second fiddle.

Anyway, I purchased this pattern for the really good price of $2 on Ravelry [Ravelry Link] (9/18/2012 ETA: this pattern is now free). The pattern was easy to follow, even for someone like me who has barely touched intarsia in the past (in knitting or crocheting).

I made the mistake of thinking I could totally do this without buying new bobbins (the few I had were lost years ago), but I was so wrong. I didn't feel like venturing out of the house, so I just wound some balls around my hand and tied a loose knot. That didn't work too badly. Turns out I was just really bad at intarsia, haha. I pull the yarn too tightly, which made the fabric pucker a bit. I'm sure I'll get better with practice, and it didn't look awful. I was more than pleased with the result, so I'm not letting that bother me.

I did discover something interesting, though. I post knitting and crochet tutorials on YouTube because apparently I need yet another project to stress over, and someone commented on my "How to Purl" video that the stitches were twisted when you'd go to knit back. That's something that, in my 16 years of knitting, I had never noticed before. It was how my oma taught me and I never questioned it, but the commenter was absolutely right!

I always wondered why my knitting looked "lumpier" than everyone else's. So I'm not sure if you can tell from this square, but my stitches are so much more even than my previous projects (even if the dragon is puckered). For a small square, I learned quite a bit making it! Mission accomplished.

I have so many other projects to blog about and have just been going nuts with finals week coming up and my job exploding around me, plus some freelance design work that's been sent my way. Hopefully I'll be able to update more in the next week or two!

Happy Father's Day!

Think Spring Ravelry Swap

Thing Spring Ravelry Swap, originally uploaded by jennlikesyarn.

Check out this amazing swap I received the other night from my Hats Off to You swap partner in the Think Spring swap!

Everything is greatly appreciated and the timing couldn't be better. First of all, the amazing hat:



LOVING the colors. She had emailed me to see if I wanted something subdued or something bright. I've found that I always make bright hats for other people, but always wear more neutral colors, and told her I was ready to take a risk, haha. And look at how great they are! Neon green (which is a color I've become very attracted to lately) and a pretty shade of blue. The yarn is a really fun Merino Wool from the Sheep Shop Yarn Company.

Included in her package were a TON of fun gardening supplies. First, the amazing bright pink gardening apron that I'm SO happy she sent me. I'm planning on digging into our overgrown garden a bunch over the summer, and this will really come in handy. Also, the gardening gloves in a pretty red color. I almost purchased some last week, but now I'm glad I didn't!

There were also a bunch of seeds that Hubby and I are thrilled to start planting. There's a small canister of enough wildflower seeds to cover 15 square feet, and we know exactly where they're going to go. She also sent some great sweet pepper, iceberg lettuce (Hubby's favorite lettuce that he was planning to plant this summer), and tomato seeds. It's great to get our hands on these because we already had enough work cut out for us without hunting down the seeds!

Other great items: Rainbow Gummy Frogs (that Hubby tore from my hands and already started eating), some cute planting tins with flower designs on the outside, "J" sticky notes (really exciting since I can never find them in a "J" and I'm obsessed with my initial for whatever reason), lip balm, DELICIOUS-looking Rishi Tea, a nummy strawberry candle that's going right in our dining room, a cute pink and gold pouch that I'll be putting my makeup in on Thursdays before heading to class, and LOTS more! (You can click here to view the larger version of the photo with notes of each item).

BUT my FAVORITE:



KNIT PICKS YARN! In Merino Wool! It's so soft to the touch. I think I'm going to use it to make a version of the Tuva hat I made for my swap partner, and I'm pumped to get started (once I'm done finishing up some other current projects).

I hope you're all enjoying your Memorial Day weekends! I took Friday off, too, so it's been a great few days of catching up on school work, doing some Freelance design stuff, and sleeping a bunch, haha. Hubby and I bought the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 yesterday (an impulse buy), so I'm sure that'll be a fun activity for us tonight after returning from our friends' party.

More to come soon!

Knit a Cat Hat (or: How to Make Your Kitty Hate You)

In one of my swap groups, we were brainstorming some ideas for our next swap. Because the group is hat-themed, for whatever reason, I came up with the idea to make coordinating hats for pets and their owners. Don't ask me why.

In any event, my Ravelry search brought me upon this pattern:

http://miss-sara-ann.blogspot.com/2010/02/hat-for-cat.html

Note: This pattern has been removed and blocked from search, so it's not even possible to bring it up as an archive anymore. Sorry for any inconvenience!

After posting the pattern to my Facebook and saying that I must resist the urge to make one, my friends cheered me on. So lo and behold, in a matter of 30 minutes or so, I made this beauty. And had to chase poor Charlie around the house to get him to wear it. If he wasn't already in a playful mood, it would have been easier, plus Hubby is outside experimenting with our new weed whacker (something which scared the bejeebus out of the cats).

I tried to get Petey to participate, but I couldn't convince him it was for the common good.

Still. It's freakin' adorable. I'm imagining so many ways to customize it. I'm thinking... clown pom-pom? A Mohawk? I'm about to go berserk. As if I don't have real work to be doing at the moment, haha.

I have a swap package to show off, so maybe I'll continue the procrastination by taking photos of that :)

The Traveling Scarf Project Begins

100_1971, originally uploaded by jennlikesyarn.

Presenting the three flowers I made for my traveling scarf!

I shouldn't have joined another swap group, but I've been wanting to join a traveling scarf group since before our wedding in October; there just wasn't enough space in any of the groups!

This specific group is for knitters and crocheters, and we were able to choose between a lengthwise scarf or a flower scarf. I have so many normal scarves that I wanted something a little bit different, and a lot a bit obnoxious. So everyone in my downline will be making 3-5 flowers in their choice of patterns and colors (I'm hoping they mesh, lol). I'm also encouraging strategic use of novelty yarn.

The pattern is from Lion Brand, and you can download it here. I used a J hook instead of an N hook so they wouldn't be as large. I don't want the sew the flowers together in a straight line - more zig-zaggy - so a medium size is better.

I'm so excited to ship these off this week and get them back in... a few months, haha. Wish me luck!