First TFA hat in progress

I'm pretty sure that my big brother Luke would really appreciate a hand knit hat for Christmas this year. And not just any hat. A one of a kind Tanis Fiber Arts hat that was designed just for him. So, with task in hand I set out to make him something special. So far so good, I came away with a decent prototype that, though too small and not the right colourway for him, will be perfect in it's next incarnation. This is the test version:

Knit in TFA Green Label Aran in the Shadow colourway I think there's just a bit too much variation in colour to really highlight the cables. The cables were obviously inspired by this sweater, knit earlier this year: ( I have no idea why this is writing like this, it's not intentional)

I'm happy with how it's coming together, I even think I did a good job hiding the decreases in the cable pattern at the top of the hat. I think I'll put the pattern up as a free download when it's all said and done. I'm also feeling nostalgic about these cables lately:

I really loved knitting this vest, but have only worn it once... it's too big for me and just really not my style. I tried giving it to my sister, but I think it's now sitting in my mom's basement... I may give it another chance soon, or at least reclaim the yarn. The diamond cable pattern is really pretty though!

In other Christmas knitting news, here's a sneak peek at something else I've just finished. It's a surprise for someone who doesn't read my blog. I think I love it!

Prett yarn, pretty colours

This morning I was playing around with colour combo's. I lined up my yarn in a tons of schemes, then because I was so excited by all my colour options I snapped a photo of a couple of them:

The top row is my blue and purples, the types of colours that I always gravitate towards. The middle row are colours that I rarely think of immediately, a little safer, more livable colours, but I'm really liking them all together! Earthy and rich, a bit jewel toned, very pretty. And the bottom row is my tried and true bright rainbow. I'm supposed to be an adult, but I still love rainbows!

Lining them all up like this really inspired me to want to knit with colour! With lots of colour! After I get my Christmas knitting done, I have to start working with these combo's!

Sock yarn stash

I think I have a lot of yarn. I know my boyfriend thinks I have a lot of yarn. But when I broke it down earlier last week and took inventory of my sock yarn stash, I realized that I don't have nearly as much as I thought. The thing is, I dye my own yarn right? So although I have literally an unlimited supply of sock yarn in my apartment at any given time, I don't consider that to be stash because it's my stock, and is always being sold and then replenished. And I guess that because I don't consider the couple hundred skeins of stock that I always have handy as "stash", even though I knit from it whenever I feel like it, which is almost always, I've managed to convince myself that my actual stash is quite minimal. So, here it is:

From the top left, the 2 big skeins are Dream in Colour Smooshy in Deep Seaflower, and my own hand dyed (from before the days of TFA) in an experimental red. The 5 skeins next on the right were also experiments, but those are 50g skeins, so they will be matched up for a couple pairs of striped socks. On the bottom right we have 4 skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight. The one that's already in a ball is Lucy, then from right to left it's Gypsum, Seastone and Moody Blues. I love these colours, at least I love them in the skeins, but find that the 100% wool content lake for poor lasting socks... I recently had my favorite pair get a massive whole in the bottom after not nearly enough wear, so I don't think I'll be making socks with those 4 skeins, I'll have to come up with a new plan for them. Bottom left are 3 recent purchases from Webs: Regia Canyon Color in 2804 (the one with the pink stripe) and 2805 (the more blue one, and On Linesupersocke in 1060. And on top of those there is one ball of Trekking xxl in #71, and 2 balls of Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch in #710 and #704. 

This is pretty much an accurate representation of my sock yarn stash, there are a couple other odd balls in there, but for the most part that's it. Just enough to keep me busy for a little while (or a long while). The best part is, it all fits in this tidy little box:

I don't think I'm going to bother going under the day-bed to unearth the non sock-yarn stash today, I may leave that to another post, it's a little less tidy, and very much not in one little box... 

I have a new pair of socks, a hat, and a shawl to show off, but I'll save them for another day.

Peace Vince!

xox Tan

One extra picture

Yesterday when I posted about my first baby Surprise Jacket, I was having technical difficulties and couldn't upload this last picture. I like this pic because my socks match the sweater... duh, the sweater was knit with the leftover's from these socks plus the blue on the ground. Lovely.

Baby Surprise Jacket

I don't know why I've waited so long to blog about this project, it's been done for well over a month now! And I love it! You'd think that would be enough motivation to get it blogged promptly. Anyways, here it is, my first Baby Surprise Jacket. I knit it using leftover sock yarn. knit on 3.25mm needles. It's teensy, but it's adorable.

I combined 2 leftover skeins of sock yarn, Kaffe Fassett for Regia in Storm, and my own Blue Label Fingering weight yarn in lagoon. I'm really pleased with how the colours coordinate.  just sort of knit a little bit with one, then switched to the other, no rhyme or reason behind the placement. it was my first BSJ, so I couldn't plan the stripes seeing as how the whole thing just looked like a blob until the very end.

The pattern is totally ingenious. I'll definitely be knitting more of these little lovelies, but the next time, I think I'll up needle sizes to 3.5mm or 3.75mm, this one is pretty small, but it's so cute that even if it only fits the recipient for a month, or not at all and ends up being a dolls sweater, it'll still have been worth it.

Here's the required shot of the thing before it's folded origami style and seamed up into an actually sweater, sorry for the bad lighting, it was night and I couldn't wait to seam it up so I just took a picture of it with the flash... bad shot, but you get the idea.

She does look good in red!

Remember back when I knit Stella her first sweater? It was very cute and I was proud of myself for fitting her very curvy body. But I thought that she needed something a little bit more special, something less grey and more red! So, here she is in her new red sweater! And I think she looks very pretty.

The yarn is my new aran weight in the Royal Flush Colourway. I'm very happy with the result, both with the pattern and the yarn. It fits her much better than the first one. The first was really just the prototype, now I've got the formula down pat. This red version has a nice big turtleneck to cover her long neck, and is significantly longer in the body, it actually curves over her bum to cover her hips and is really nice and warm. 

I put a cable down the back, and I love this cable. I only wish that I had put some little border cables down either side of the center braid, I think it would have been nicer and more finished looking. But Stella doesn't seem to mind.

I've also completed my first pair of monkey's! I turned this:

into these:

I really like these socks and think that the pattern is very simple yet clever. But I can't help but feel like it's waisted on a multicoloured yarn. You can barely see the cool geometric lace pattern. I'm almost done my second pair of monkey's, this pair is being knit with my tonal yarn, and I think I'm liking the results much more. Hopefully I'll have them done by the weekend.

Shop Update!

I've finally gotten around to sitting down and spending some real quality time with my Etsy site! I've updated it to include listings for my new Green label Aran Weight yarn. Here are a few pics:

To see more visit my shop. It took forever to photograph all the colours, but now that they're all up I feel like I've been so productive today! I also mailed 2 wholesale orders today. So, things are really moving along over here at TFA. Progress is very exciting!

Best shoes ever!

About a month ago I decided that I needed new casual shoes to wear around with jeans and my usual casual apparel, but I also decided that I was too lazy to trek it downtown to do some actual shopping. I ended up at this website, and the rest is history. Yesterday my lovely custom keds arrived in the mail and I couldn't be more smitten.

I didn't actually plan on designing or buying a pair of custom keds, but then one thing led to another and I was experimenting and playing and ended up with what I think is a pretty cool result! It's a photo of a swatch that I knit with yarn that I dyed printed onto a shoe that I customized. They just feel so special! I just wish that I had had the foresight of printing Tanis Fiber Arts on the side so that then they'd be a complete TFA marketing package! But maybe the knitted shoe look speaks for itself. Chris said they kind of look like slippers... 

I love them!

I think they look especially nice when worn with a nice pair of hand knit socks!

Elijah in blue

Last year for Christmas I made this adorable wee elephant for my god-daughter. The pattern was so cute and though my particular version turned out a little bit wonky (crooked trunk and all) I loved the overall result. There's just something so sweet about a hand made stuffed animal! So when I saw tons of these being knit up on ravelry, I couldn't resist continuing the stuffed elephant trend and made this year's Christmas gift, Elijah, in Tanis Fiber Arts Tidal Colourway.

If it's possible, this elephant is even cuter than the first. I have plans to make one in every colour I dye. It would be so cute it pink or yellow! I'm not sure what I'll do with them all, maybe just line them all up and hug them when I need a pick me up!

I've got a couple other projects to blog about in the near future. I made my first pair of Monkeys using this lovely skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Purple Rain:

They're lovely and I'm a convert to the monkey's. I've already cast on my second pair in Tanis Fiber Arts Orange Blossom, and though I love my Purple Rain monkey's, they're really nice in the tonal colourway because it really shows off the graphic lace.  Finished photo's will be posted shortly.

TFA Koolhaas

There's an exciting new yarn from Tanis Fiber Arts (if I do say so myself!) It's an aran weight superwash merino wool. (To be added to my Etsy site shortly!) Perfect for cool weather winter knits, like this hat!

It's Brooklyn tweed's beautiful Koolhaas pattern knit in my chestnut colourway. I think the subtle colour variations work really well with this textured geometric pattern. I can't wait to knit up more projects using this yarn. I think that next on my needles will be the February Lady Sweater, but I just can't decide what colour to knit it in! I think it's a good sign that I like all of my colourways enough to want to knit my favorite projects out of them. Not to sound like a brat, but it would be bad if I made colourways that I didn't even like myself, but seeing as how I like them all so much that I can't chose which one to knit first... that's got to be a good sign!

This hat's supposed to be a gift for Chris's uncle... but it may not make it out of the apartment... Chris seems to have taken a liking to it.

Turn a square hat

Ever since my Fiddlehead mittens, I have become a huge fan of using kureyon yarn with a neutral base. I followed the pattern for brooklyn tweed's Turn a square hat exactly and have reconfirmed to myself why I love this combo so much. Here's the finished result, please forgive my model for being so serious looking in this photo:

And here's a detail shot of how the circles turn into squares at the top of the hat, genius! 

I think that this colour combo is especially successful because it's very subtle in places, like at the top where it fades to very light shades of green and yellow. It doesn't have to scream "Hey! I'm multicoloured Noro yarn!" It still gets the point across. I was so inspired by this combination of yarns that I'm cooking up plans for a classic cardigan for me using this stripe effect, as well as a striped sweater for Stella, but we won't wear them at the same time of course. I was sort of planning on giving this hat to my brother for Christmas, but I'm kind of in love with it, plus I've already worn it a couple times, so I may have to make him another one, I also think that my dad would look awfully cute in a striped hat. Good news is, it's a nights worth of knitting! We may be a very stripy family before I'm over this. 

And just for kicks, this is what passes for very amusing in my household. It a dog with a tiny head wearing a hat!  

Mr. Greenjeans

Remember a little while ago when I showed you this?

It was the beginnings of a pair of socks that turned into these:

They are my first new pair of socks for the winter 08/09 sock wearing season and I feel like I'm off to a good start! They were knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Mr. Greenjeans colourway. I knit them top down on 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles. I downsized to 2mm needles for the short row heel and for the toe. I think that they're perfect for me! I wouldn't change a thing! To be perfectly honest, I prefer a standard slip stitch heel, but because the of changes in the number of stitches due to the decreases after picking up stitches from the gusset, it always ends up really distorting the rhythm of self striping yarns. I'd rather deal with a slightly tight heel then have to stare at weird pooling. Very pleased. Gorgeous blue-green colourway, so sad it's been discontinued!