Creamsicle Romney

Fun with koolaid dyeing :D

This is Fine Romney I got from Joybilee Farm, and I dyed it using koolaid. Did you know that tropical punch and cherry are actually the same colour? The cherry is just a little darker. Live and learn... I used tropical punch, cherry and orange for this.

I dyed the locks then blended by hand carding some of each along with white. After I made the rolags, I pulled the end of the rolag to draft each one out lengthwise to make bumps.

And here it is 2-plied, it's about a sport weight and 450.5 yds.

I think they want to be fingerless gloves...

What?! Resolution time AGAIN!?

How did I measure up in meeting my resolution goals last year? Not tooooo bad...

1st was to work on my spinning skills. I'd call this one a success! I'm building up my spinning supplies/equipment too.

1. I now have a drum carder and I'll just have to post pics (later)of it because it's 78 years old and it's still going strong.
2. I have a spinner's gauge from vipfibers.com, just last week actually, so I haven't tried it yet.
3. I spun up almost half a full fleece to make a sweater for hubby and it's coming up a nice dk weight. I think I'm going to double it for a 4ply bulky though.
4. I ordered some merino/nylon fibre to try my hand at 2ply fingering weight so I have to see how that goes once it gets here. I ordered that from SmithandEwe on Etsy, a shop out of Kamloops, BC.
5. Hubby made me some hand combs that work great - I'll have to get pics up of those too!
6. I have plans for a home made picker.
7. Still not accomplished: I have to find some Llama or Alpaca fibre to blend with wool to make my son a sweater! The farm down the street from me is out of stock and I haven't been able to find any raw or carded that takes paypal :(

My second resolution was to get the website up. SUCCESS! It's (surprise surprise...) http://www.skukumknits.com . Only one problem with the site, when you make a purchase the confirmation email you get isn't set up properly so... you end up with a long text of programming language. In there amongst the computer-speak is the link to download the purchased pattern.

I haven't the foggiest idea how to fix it. I've posted for help on the 'opencart' site, (opencart is the software used for my site) but so far no-one's been able to help me out. My apologies that this confirmation email is so unprofessional but I'm not a professional coder so it's a steep learning curve LOL.

My third resolution was to design more. I didn't quite meet my goal but there are some more designs. I'm finding the more I design, the more unique I'm demanding they become so it's taking longer. I also find the test-knitting step takes a very long time. It isn't just me that test knits, but as many as 15 people test each design for accuracy and clarity.

MY NEW RESOLUTIONS:

1. Design MORE
2. Fix my website confirmation emails
3. Spin llama/alpaca & wool for my son's sweater! (I have to find the fibre first)
4. Learn to spin fingering weight sock yarn
5. oh yes... and keep my blog up to date LOL (my ravelry friend sproutsnknits has challenged me to post regularly - thank you, I'll do my best :D )

Stay tuned, I'll share some pictures in my next posts... happy spitting (spinning & knitting all in one?) gooooaaaaaannnn that was a bad one.

Publish or ePublish?

I have a mitten pattern that's currently being tested and it's going great. It actually feels more like a KAL than a test which I really like. The testing is nearing completion and now I have a question... the WAY I should release the pattern.

Only thing, is I have another motif charted for these mitts. Should I test the motif in a separate test and publish two different patterns, or merge the patterns?

There is also a matching double knitted snowboarder hat boasting these two motifs. My thought is maybe publish two hat and mitten sets.

My real wish is to hang on to these patterns, then release them as a downloadable ebook. I would LOVE to have these for sale both on my site (if it ever gets up and running) and possibly Amazon. I would have to research that possibility to find out what's involved.

My rav & yahoo friend Kelly Klem is a published designer working on publishing her first hard cover book. I'm so happy for her and I know she'll do very well, she's a talented designer! But for me... I know there's a lot of information out there but also a lot of costs involved depending on how you choose to publish. That's one reason I don't think my first 'book' will be hardcover.

How about selling my patterns from this 'Legend Series' as a book for Kindle users? Now that idea I'm really interested in!

There's a lot of research to do. I can do that as I add to the 'Legend Series' patterns, work on layout, editing, testing, cover design, sample production and the photoshoots. I'm sure I missed something lol.

Resolutions

Lose weight?...nope

try to be nice?... nope, I'm already nice he he

cut down on coffee?... not a chance

I don't usually make resolutions, but I do like to set goals for myself and take on new challenges.
For this year, I want to achieve three things.

First thing, will be to hone my spinning skills and I have a couple of wool fleeces here to do that with – yah!

Next thing, is to get my website up and running. I have the domain, but nothing's on it yet L It'll be an exercise in motivation learning what all is involved with that too.

Lastly, I want to do a whole lot more designing. I've only been releasing one pattern every two months... I want to try to double that this year. Actually, I also released a free pattern called Radial Heat Cowl! So, I did a little better than one every two months. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by setting that goal, and I want to do my best to not let myself down.

I have a couple of designs waiting to be written into proper format, then the testing has to be done. The editing and testing take quite a bit of time. My current design is being tested by a lovely group of ladies and I can't wait to see their results!

In 2010 designs released were the Voyageur hat, Whispering Wings, then Lush Lace Stole. The lush hat followed that, then the Chele Lace Hat & Scarf set. The last one was the Spirit Mobius... and let's not forget the cowl.

Holidays & a FREE COWL PATTERN!

What a busy Christmas... I didn't even go anywhere! lol

I had knitted gifts that had to go places though, and not enough time it seemed to knit them leasurely. I'm quite happy to say, I finished them ALL! AND they arrived at their destinations in the nick of time :D

The funnest present I made has to be the monster pants. The giftee is only 14 months old, so the pants are more for the entertainment of his parents but they were fun to make and turned out way too cute! Check out the eyebrows lol. Incidentally, the face is on the back of the pants...

The next best on my Christmas gift list was the 'Radial Heat Cowl' I designed for my daughter in law Trish. It is sooo soft and stretchy, it's made with Stitch Nation Merino wool & alpaca, and I added a strand of Sirdar Blur Mohair for a little warm fuzz.

This pattern is FREE (click the link) folks... and it includes directions for kitchener grafting in 2x2 rib as an added bonus.

More Lacy Leaves - Wahoo!

I've been working on a new scarf pattern, which is all ready for testing now as soon as I get this prototype knitted up. I started it yesterday and I'm finished half of it already so it's knitting up quick. I spent most of yesterday writing up the pattern actually!





It's called 'Chele Leaf Lace scarf' and I named it after my good friend Michele. She really liked the leaf edging on the Lush Lace Stole and requested a scarf using that edging... so here you go Michele!

We all go through hard times in our varied lives, so this scarf is knitted in two pieces starting from either end, with brambles. There are 7 rows of brambles, and into and out of these brambles, life and growth still miraculously occurs. Large leaves overlap and grow up out from the brambles, while smaller leaves grow down into the brambles.

It's too bad my picture-taking can't show you how pretty this scarf really is... I want a hat and arm-warmers to match. They're only designed in my head so far - give me a few days though :)

Leaf & Acorn Intoxication?

I've been playing with the leaf & acorn pattern again and came up with a toque!
Funny, I don't seem to get bored with this pattern, maybe because the lace pattern seems to 'move' and it isn't the same 4 or 5 row repeat that's memorized the first go round, then by the 10th your almost asleep (at least I am).

This is just a prototype and the only existing pattern consists of a bunch of scribblings and taped-together charts lol. I want to add some tweeks like a fold-up brim, but I'm pretty happy with the short-row shaping.

It's knit sideways too (a first for me) then grafted to join, although it could be just seamed if grafting isn't for you. I used smaller needles for this for a denser pattern, 4.5mm/7us as opposed to the 6mm/10us I used for the stole.

Speaking of the stole!....

The "Lush" lace stole pattern is now fully tested and available for sale on Ravelry now - yay! I was both thrilled and amazed when the "All Weights Lace" group announced they've chosen "Lush" for a knit-a-long to begin Sept 1!

My testers were the best and their finished stole pictures are up too. It's so fun to see the different yarns and colours they chose and they're all gorgeous!

They're in the process of linking their projects to the pattern page now. Here's a link to the pattern page http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lush-lace-stole-with-leaves--acorns and on the right hand side you'll see the box titled "About this pattern"... in there it will say x number of projects. Click on that to see their pictures.