Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day 1

This week there will be a blog post every day in celebration of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week.

If your interested in finding more blogs on Knitting and Crochet now is a great time to find them! By just Googling 3KCBWDAY1 you'll find blogs that are currently participating and many of us are also doing giveaways. You can learn more about my giveaway at the end of this post.

I decided to participate in KCBW to kind of shake things up around here. Everyday there is a topic and in a way its an open house to let people learn more about use bloggers.

Today is all about color.

Now I love color, but you would never tell. I don't wear too much color as I prefer comfort over fashion and believe that a shawl is best worn with plain clothing so it stands out like a fine work of art.



I tend to go through phases with color. Sometimes it last months or just a mere week. At Stitches West I was in a short lived purple phase which made me buy a huge bag of yarn in a color I'm now not too fond of. But as I'm a dyer I can dye it into another color!

Right now I'm in a bright color phase. It's spring, the sun is shining and all I want is a bright top (right now I'm wearing a bright yellow green top).

When I'm dyeing I take a look at what is in the shop and make lists of colors it's missing. Then I go look at what I currently have in my favorites on Etsy. Since I'm usually shopping for fiber to spin I put a lot in my favorites and I use it as an idea bored when I can't figure out what colors I need. When all else fails I have a safety network of artists that dye with me and as many have heard me say "It'll work itself out." Caren is one of my frequent dyers and she usually leans toward Noro types of colorways, which I do not.

What are your favorite color combination?

Now the giveaway part!

Everyday that KCBW is running I will be giving out three $5 gift certificate to my shop. To enter all you have to do is comment below (see the question above), follow me on Twitter, and/or follow my blog via Google. You can enter up to 3 times per day if you do all of the above. In your comment just give me your Twitter name and Google name as well as your answer to the question.

Swirls

On March 13th I showed everyone this great big pile of yarn and casted on my swirl:

On April 13th I casted it off and now it is blocking:

The right sleeve is on a blocking mat

This sweater has kept my fingers working through reading a entire books, watching Top Gear, chatting with friends and family during the holidays and its really just amazing.

When I say amazing I'm not only talking about the fit, but the dedication I showed to it.

It felt like just when I was getting bored with it it would have me move onto the next part. Sure the welts kind of got boring around #8, but once I reached #10 I realized I was over halfway through the lower back/collar/fronts and that they were starting to take less time because of the decreases. Caren had assured me that this would happen, but I was so caught up in the fact that I'd casted on 456sts I never thought I could decrease to 216sts.

The back bodice took only last Monday morning and then in the evening I sat down to work on the sleeves and poof. It Was Done!

The only problem I see is that it might not fit. The sleeves turned out to be shorter then I thought they would be and there is a plan if they are too short. But if the entire thing is too small then I'm going to sell it an buy more yarn.

But if all goes well I'm going to twirl in my swirl on my birthday!

Checking In

This week has been super busy with the new dye day, finishing my swirl (more about that later) and getting ready for the Golden Fleece's 1 year anniversary.

Next weekend join us at the Golden Fleece's anniversary where we will toast to Gunilla's first year and support her on her second.

I will also be there spinning up a storm to promote my first class!

Starting on May 20th and running till June 10th every Sunday from 10am to 12noon I will be teaching a sheep to shawl class. Learn how to process raw wool, different types of carding, ways to spin and how to choose a project that is right for your wool in 4 short weeks.

Space is limited so call Gunilla to sign up or come in next weekend to see the shawl that I have designed for the class. Till then take this picture of my lace with you!

Doctor, We Need You!

The Doctor is coming in the form of 2 clubs!

Radioactive Rabbit has just opened up sign ups for the Dr Who Bag Club and the Dr Who Yarn Club!

For the first time you can get Dr Who project bags! In the bag club you will receive one 9"x9"x3" flat bottom project bag that can easily fit any small project! A subscription to this club will get you access to the same high quality, carefully designed bags 6 months before I release them to the public!

The Dr Who Yarn Club will have yarns inspired by each month's bag and will have variegated yarns and ombre yarns!

You can get 20% off when you sign up for both clubs at the same time. Coupon Code: DrWeNeedYou"

Sign ups will close on June 1st at 11:59pm PST. The first shipment of bags and yarn will go out on June 15th and the other two months will go out on July 1st and August 1st.

The bags and yarns that are sent out will not be available to the general public for 6 months, at which time any remaining inventory will be listed in the shop.

Sign Up HERE!

Happy Ēostre Day!

Seeing as I consider myself more spiritual rather then religious I look as Easter as a day for family, friends and fun.

Growing up Easter was not a big holiday in my family. When I was younger the kids in my complex would have an egg hunt and I would have to find my gift basket. However, since my mother wanted me exposed to many religions, rather then to follow one, things would get rather confusing.

I know what Good Friday and Easter mean to most Christians, I have celebrated Passover with my Jewish friends (and I had to explained to Ben what Passover was and he thinks it's very dark), I have been read the story of Ēostre/Ostrata (which is where the word Easter comes from) and learned that many different places celebrate it differently.

But whatever your beliefs are, wherever you are, I just hope you have a great day and think of how great spring and rebirth is!

Looking for Things

I have just finished my Grandma's lace scarf.

The Scarf is for the Grandmother who gave me
this great rabbit pillow

It's Grandma's Checkerboard Lace made with Eco Dou in Natural.

I'm not really excited about this being done. Like most scarves it felt like it took forever when it really just needed me to buck up and become dedicated to it.

Well the dedication came when I realized that I have broken my second pair of cable needles while knitting my swirl (granted I've been using cheap cable needles). I cannot for the life of me find all my interchangeable needle connectors (that's actually a lie, I have one on my Krista T and the other in my hand). There is one more set of my interchangeable needles floating around, because when I went to grab my size US5's to use this connector I could not find them in the case. The only reason they would ever be out of the case is if they're being used so I'm going to hunt for them.

First I run a mental checklist of my projects and when that comes up with nothing I refer to my Ravelry project's page.

I'm really good at listing my projects because I want to know what size needles I'm using for something in case I decide to just take the needles out of them and use them for something else.

Right now its turned into a game. I see a project with size 5 needles, I grab my handy needle gauge (please note that I've only ever owned one), and I hunt it down to see if its what I'm looking for.

Wish me luck!

You Asked. I Listened. Plus the April Giveaway

Due to the comments from the "It's in the Bag" blog post I give you the new bags!

There are bids, butterflies, sewing stuff, yarn, cats (with yarn), cute Japanese stuff, "green", retro and food inspired fabrics. The only thing missing is sheep and that's to come next week because I did not want to give you guy's bags that everyone and their mother's are making.

The bags I make are to not only carry your knitting, but are also to showcase another part of your personality. I may love to knit but chubby birds make me smile.

Some of us love to cook so I dug into my no longer in print fabric hoard and found you pasta:

I scored The Lorax fabric that is made from organic cotton and shows knitting, tuffula trees and the Lorax:

And to kick off these new bags I have decided to start a monthly give away. Every month I will be giving away one unique bag that will be made from out of print fabric, rare organic fabric, hard to find import fabric or a gift certificate for a bag of your choice. To enter every month all you have to do is make a purchase! Every item you buy will be one entry and on the first of the following month I will announce the winner.

For April I will be giving away this bag, which is made from fabric from "An English Tea" collection by Susan Branch.

This fabric is long gone and has been in my personal collection for over 5 years now. I have only made 2 of these bags and the other is being given away on the Phat Fiber blog sometime this month. That means the only way to get one of these bags is to enter the contests!

So make your purchase now or watch the Phat Fiber blog like a hawk and enter to win one of these rare tea time bags!