Gray & Rose Cascade Bag

This is the 3rd bag that I have made using this pattern.   I used Cascade Cherub Aran Multi yarn to make it (colors 62 and 517) and size 8 needles.  I love this yarn.  It is so soft.  I want to try lining it sometime so that it will be a good project bag.

Just add some sparkle

I made another Urban Mermaid doll dress recently.  It was for St. Patrick's Day.  The yarn has sequins  in, which adds a nice touch to the dress.

This month I took another class with Judith Durant.  This one was a knitting with beads class.  She showed us how to incorporate beads in our knitting 5 different ways by making this sampler bag.  We spend the first 45 minutes of class stringing the beads onto our yarn.  One row of beads were added with a crochet hook, and another row was on some thread which was added while knitting.  This little purse is just big enough to hold my phone.  I didn't make the strap very long.  It is big enough to go around my wrist.  I have no idea when I would ever use this bag, but it is very pretty.  I was able to make just over half of this bag in class, and then I finished it on another day.  I really enjoyed this class, and Judith is a lovely woman and a good teacher.  The beads were tedious to work with, but they were also easy to work with.  I plan on making more projects with beads in them.

Fat Afghan

For my mom's birthday I made her this 61" x 51" afghan.  For most of it I held 4 strands of yarn together at the same time, and once I used 5 strands of yarn at once.  Two strands were bulky weight yarn, and the others were worsted and DK weight.  I used a green Lion Brand's Homespun yarn throughout the afghan, and most of the other bulky weight yarn was also Homespun.  I did use some Wool-Ease Thick and Quick a few times instead.  It was knitted on size 19 needles (cast on 80 stitches - the border is garter stitch and the rest is stockinette).  All in all about 3, 383 yards of yarn was used to make it, 23 skeins, 19 of which were completely used up.  Only a few of the skeins had never been used before, and all except for 1 of the skeins were from my stash.  This was an awesome stash-busting project.  It was thick and soft, and my mom loved it.  My dad and their dog also loved it.  Surprisingly enough it only took me a week to make.  I worked on it every chance I got.  My husband wants me to make one for our oldest son next.

Kid's Sewing Kit

Last month I put together this sewing kit for a friend's daughter.  Her birthday party is today, so I hope that she likes it.  Her mom said that she really wanted a sewing kit, so I knew that I needed to be the one to make her one.  I found the cute little purse at Staples.  Then I bought a mini sewing kit and put all but the scissors in the bag (tape measure, thimble, sewing needles, and mini spools of thread).  The scissors were horrible.  They couldn't cut a thing, so I bought a good pair that would fit in the bag.  I found some decorative felt and made a simple needle holder out of it.  I also bought her some extra needles since the ones that came with the kit were really small.  Then I made her a bottle cap pincushion.  I put a rainbow of pins in it.  The primary colors are butterfly pins, and the secondary colors are flower pins.  The pincushion doesn't fit in the bag, but thats ok.  I hope that she likes it (and that her mom approves).   I included one fun thing to play with in her birthday bag as well.

Spun Wool and Natural Dyes

Last Sunday I took a spinning wheel class at the American Textile History Museum.  First I carded the wool, then I spun it, and then I Navajo plied it (3 ply).  I had a mordant bath going in preparation for a workshop the next day, so I threw it in there.  The next day I dyed it with madder root,  You can see some of the madder root still stuck in it.  I ended up with about 30 yards of yarn.  This was my first time spinning fiber on a spinning wheel.


Earlier this month I dyed some Lion Brand's Fisherman's wool with some natural dyes, after putting it in a mordant bath of alum and cream of tartar.

Indigo 

Madder Root

This was before I realized that it is better to put the madder root in a blender first.  Madder root is normally a pretty brick red color. 

Osage Orange

Stash-Busting Cotton - Making Dishcloths

I have one of my cotton yarn bins sitting right next to me in the living room, because I want to use it all up.  These projects certainly did make a dent in that bin.

Last month I was on a roll making these spiral dishcloths.  The pattern is quick and easy, and it is a great way to stash-bust.  I lost track of how many leftover skeins of cotton that I used up making these.  Here is the free pattern.   What am I going to do with them all?  Well they all went into my handmade gift bin.  I usually go through the bin when someone's birthday is coming up and just before Christmas.

Here is a basic garter stitch dishcloth that used up the last of this patriotic yarn.

I had so much fun crocheting basket weave dishcloths that I wanted to make a knitted one and a tunisian crochet one.  The blue one is knitted and the patriotic one is tunisian crochet.  Both of them are knit 4 and purl 4 for 3 to 4 rows before reversing it (purl 4 and knit 4).  

This pattern is by juwee1 on ravelry.  Sadly her pattern link does not include the pattern.  I found it in the notes of other people's pattern pages, so that is why I'm sharing it here.

CO multiples of 4 plus 6 

I cast on 38 stitches.  
Knit first and last 5 rows 
 
knit first and last 3 sts of each row for border 
 
Row 1: P across 
 
Row 2: (Slip 2 purlwise with yarn in front, k2) repeat 
 
Row 3: P across 
 
Row 4: (k2, slip 2 purlwise with yarn in front) repeat

Chrysanthemum hot pad - free pattern.

I made this pig dishcloth in celebration of National Pig Day on March 1st.  Pig Out! dishcloth - free pattern.