Lots of knitting going on around here

Posted in Fun with fiber, kids by 4theloveoffiber

These are the projects that I am currently working on in rotation…I am about to get a little crazy and add one more.

I realized that 3 out of 4 family members have sweaters started (and one may even get finished this year!), so I had Lorelai snuggle up next to me and we looked at patterns over at ravelry. She quickly decided on this cupcake sweater, and as she didn’t want to look at anymore patterns, well it was settled.

Maybe I can do a daily sweater rotation:

Toph’s Aran on Mondays

Leif’s sweater on Tuesdays

(Pretend I started the cupcake sweater)
Lorelai’s sweater on Wednesdays

My bartók on Thursdays

My mother in laws Min Ulla on Fridays

Hmmm that leaves two more days…..I am currently browsing ideas.

Have a nice night folks!

P.S.

Sorry for the whiplash with the color schemes, Lorelai
convinced me that I should change things up a bit…

11Mar2014

Well that escalated quickly

Posted in Fun with fiber, kids by 4theloveoffiber

Well folks, the realtor (not the landlord) has given us a move out date of June 1st. It’s time to get cracking on donating items, and tossing out things that have laid around for the past three years. We’ve also gone full steam ahead with house hunting, there are so many house I’ve fallen in love with, I can’t wait to go look at them all.

While house hunting I’ve managed to get part of my bartók finished

Yes I know it’s a selfie, which I try to avoid, but Lorelai and Leif both shake when they take pictures so this was what it all came down to.
I threaded on a sleeve and almost instantly decided that I was not happy with any part of it

The shoulder looked like it had those pads from the 80’s, you know the ones that give woman square, yet pointy shoulders. I took the sweater to my guild meeting and got some great advice from a few members on how to fix not only the weird bell bottom sleeve, but also a better way to attach the sleeves.

Leif asked me for a sweater recently that I plan on starting after I finish the bartók…mainly because I do not have another pair of size 7 needles. (I still need to get back to the min Ulla scarf as well.)

He chose this sweater from Petite Purls
He decided on a gray sweater with a pink tie.

I’m not gonna lie folks, I miss my craft room. I had all these sewing plans this year, but per landlords orders, I need to keep the house emasculate. I don’t know if any of you are like me, but I can have a clean sunroom and the moment I walk in there BOOM, it’s like the Easter bunny threw up everywhere. Wish me luck we find a new house soon, maybe then I can reach my goal!

Have a nice night folks!

3Mar2014

House hunting break

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

I’ll tell ya folks, house hunting is only fun when you don’t actually have to move somewhere, but when it actually comes time to buckle down and be seriously, well I think I’d rather take a trip to the dentist…especially my dentist who plays movies while you get your teeth cleaned. Anyway, I’ve gotten myself a bit stressed over house hunting. You don’t want anything to old (well I like older houses, but Toph doesn’t), and a lot of farm houses that come up in searches have titles like ” imagine what you can do one 1 acre of land!!!!”, well I can tell you what I can’t do one 1 acre and that’s have cows, goats, sheep, pigs, & chickens.

When I do find houses that are newer and have the right amount of land for the right price, it’s practically in Canada. Don’t get me wrong Canada, I’d love you guys, I’d love to live near you, but I don’t know if I can handle the amount of snow you guys get up there. I’m just a wimp like that, no hard feelings ok?!

We’re still looking in New Hampshire and Vermont, but I’ve passed the job on to Toph, who likes to tease me and read descriptions of houses out loud and show me pictures, then after say things like “buuuuut it’s five trillion dollars”. Heck at this point, I’m ready to settle down and live in a yurt.

To try and take my mind off of house hunting (somewhat), I’ve started back up on the bartók tunik…actually, I took the sleeve out and started it over again.

That was about two days worth of knitting, I’ve already started at the arm design. For those of you who haven’t seen the sweater, or need a refresher

This is the lovely bartók tunik, you can find the pattern right here.

I also wanted to share a delicious recipe I found for buckwheat porridge, I just purchased two lbs of buckwheat (believe it or not, buckwheat is not a grain). I got two have a few bites this morning before Leif stole my bowl

I didn’t use maple syrup, instead I replaced it with some raw honey

Have a nice night folks!

P.S this my 100th post!!!

25Jan2014

It’s curtains for you!

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Or for me maybe.

We have a street light that shines into our room at night, very annoying, it makes it hard to sleep at two am. So I made a curtain (will make the other some time)

I was a little lazy about it….I didn’t really feel like sewing, and honestly hemming anything is a nightmare for me. So I searched high and low in my craft room for some iron-on-tape, then the iron, and then spent 15 minutes thinking about how I was going to do this (first time curtain maker).

Using an adhesive tape is awesome, I’m very impressed…who knows, maybe I’ll buy stock in it.

All done! Toph has requested that I turn the one, into two…I guess I can do that….I’ll just have to go back to the store and buy more tape….which means I’ll look at patterns…and then fabric…It’s a downward spiral and I have yet to seek treatment.

I also cleaned my craft room today (after two cups of coffee), while doing so I came across the long lost Bartók Tunik

I figured if I put the sweater on my dress form I would have no choice but to finish it soon. Reason being is that I need my dress form, so I either need to finish the sleeves, or sew the shoulders up. It’s still all up in the air.

Lorelai is turning SEVEN tomorrow, WOW!!!!!!! Where have the years gone?! It seems like only yesterday that I was in labor with her, then she arrived after 24.5 hours of labor, followed by a emergency c-section.

She’s really into my little pony right now, so that was the theme of the cake. Gluten free chocolate cake and all natural vegetable food coloring (the red is made of beet juice YUM).

Have a great weekend folks!

21Nov2013

Anyone have a cup of joe?!

Posted in Fun with fiber by 4theloveoffiber

It’s been a long week it’s only Wednesday…, I stand by my words. Toph works in the city, on Monday the sewers by his work decided to explode….ok, not so much explode but there was an underground fire and man hole covers blew about 50 feet in the air, with a side of fireballs. Buildings were evacuated and there were two minor injuries. Scary stuff.

The kids have been taking turns being sick the last several days, Leif had his first earache yesterday and it was awful. I helped him as much as I could and then he fell asleep on the couch, today he was a brand new kid and his sister is the one who is suffering from a nasty cough.

Leif turned four a couple of weeks ago, it broke my heart. My baby, my only boy is now four years old. How did that happen?. Lorelai will be seven in January, time flies.

Today was also my last knitting class for the fall after school program, so proud of the progress my students made. One mom is hiring me to teach a group knitting class at her house, and I’ve been asked to come back and teach the spring after school class.

I had planned on making each of my students ornaments for their trees, however the stars that I had tried to make turned out looking…well not how they were supposed to. Perhaps I’ll make some next summer and be prepared to give them to the girls in the next fall class.

We haven’t given up our birds yet, Toph is still trying to decide what he wants to do. The birds have taken to sleeping on the roof at night, yep they avoid the barn at all costs sigh. Our ducks have taken to playing hide and seek on us as well, they were all gone yesterday, I ~~figured~~ hoped they had all migrated, as we only saw them in the morning and then not again. Five of them showed back up this morning, we just caught a glimpse of them when we saw Robin attacking a fox and chasing it into the road. Sadly he hasn’t come back, but the four others are locked safely in the barn with Carrick.

They’ve actually taken to following me around, does this make me the new mama?! All day they have come up to me and sat at my feet….they love me and now I cannot eat them. Hopefully the others come back tomorrow.

This is one of the males walking up from a dip in the pond.

One bird we will be eating soon is Thanksgiving, Toph is taking him on Saturday when he goes to help some of our friends butcher the turkeys they sell.

Now, on to the reason why you’re really here…at least I am assuming as this blog is supposed to be about making clothes & whatnot…

I’m almost finished with the pattern on my first sleeve for my bartók tunik, I was nervous that these too colors wouldn’t be contrast enough but I like it.

This is the Min Ulla scarf I am working on for my mother inlaw, I haven’t made much progress since the last time. I found this pattern in an ebook from the library. You can find the pattern here

Awhile back I bought some lovely yarn at a shop back home, their was a sale and I couldn’t help myself. It reminded me of the ocean, I knew I had to make something very special with it. Then I found this pattern
And then this happened

Without flash

With flash.
The camera really doesn’t do the color justice.

Now it’s time to work on more presents

Have a nice night folks!

19Jul2013

The return of the Bartók

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

For awhile I got tired of working on my Bartók Tunik. I was do close to being finished, but when you have 12.5″ of seed stitch (k1,p1,k1 ect) before you can start the design….that gets really boring.

However, yesterday when my husband announced that it would be another ten years before we bought a house, I figured I’d quickly finish my sweater and throw it up on etsy so I could take the money and toss it into a savings account that I will be naming “I really want a house”.

Alas, whilst I was reading up on patterns I found that it was frowned upon to sell items that I have made using patterns from interweave magazines & books. I also heard, that if I did so I could be blacklisted, I think I’ll follow their rules.

I think I’ll keep working on the sweater and head back to the drawing board when it comes to making my own patterns.

Have a nice night folks

PS
The last entry was supposed to be called 19 rows

6Jul2013

Brand new day

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Alright folks, sorry yesterday’s entry. I was a little upset that someone I’ve known for almost ten years would just up and rip me off, lesson learned.

Today is a brand new day and I have started working on my guild project

I know what it looks like, and I assure you it is not a garter lol, I’ll post a picture of the finished item after my guild meeting next week.

I ordered two pounds of beautiful raw Icelandic Shetland wool off of etsy the other day, it is due to arrive on the 11th, I can hardly wait. My husband told me that I am not allowed to touch it until I sold a few things on etsy so I need to finish the sleeves of my bartók tunik. I still need to continue on with my Jane Austen project.

I noticed the other day, that I have a specific kind of movie that I like to watch while I knit & spin. Cranford, North & South, Jane Austen movies, Wuthering Heights, ect. What kind of movies do you like?

Have a great day folks!

28Jun2013

Oh Mother Nature

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Mother Nature and I have always lived in harmony together. When I was a young girl, I grew up deep in the woods of Maine on a 40 acre farm. I would listen to the symphony of birds singing together, watch the squirrels & rabbits play, catch a glimpse of deer, moose, and on occasion a black bear.

Today however, we are butting heads.
mother nature, I need to card more wool to spin. I’m almost out
Mother Nature: hmmm that’s a little messy isn’t it? I bet you would like a nice dry sunny day to card outside.
why yes, it is a bit messy. A dry day would be fantastic, it would save me from having to vacuum up the mess today
Mother Nature: well check the weather, do I have a surprise for you

You’re a real treat, you know that.

Oh well, I will spin and ply the rovings that I have, and continue to work on my bartók tunik.

Here is the yarn I have spun and ply’d for my guild project, a little bulky in places but I like it!

Have a great day folks!

13Jun2013

Slacker

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Ok I admit it, I have hardly started on the sleeves of my sweater, the rain has made me sluggish and I’ve had to catch up on laundry & making chicken stock to fill my pantry for the upcoming Fall & Winter.

Today the sun played peekaboo behind dark ugly clouds, it stayed cool outside and Carrick spent is first day outside in his pen over a week. The baby americaunas had been occupying his pen as they were too little to be around the older chickens. I hope Carrick enjoyed his day in the sun, we are going to have rain for the next two days.

I have started another project, a friend asked me to crochet her daughter a pair of sandals for her first birthday. Now honestly I’ve only crocheted once or twice in my lifetime, so I couldn’t make any promises, luckily I came across Lovely Little Life, she has a fantastic tutorial and I was able to crochet within two hours last night

Of course this sandal isn’t even close to being finished and this one was a practice sandal to see if I could do it. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy with the turn out.

Have a nice night folks!

13Jun2013

Slacker

Posted in Uncategorized by 4theloveoffiber

Of course this sandal isn’t even close to being finished and this one was a practice sandal to see if I could do it. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy with the turn out.

Have a nice night folks!