Playing catch up

Spare time has been scarce lately getting things ready for Stitches East. Hopefully, after the weekend I’ll have more time again!

I really should be getting ready to leave but I really wanted to leave you with a few pretty pictures of a few pretty piles in my life.

Piles of knits

These are all samples that will be hanging around the booth at Stitches East

Pile of bags

I don’t know how many bags I ended up making for the show, but here are most of them. I hope they do well and find new homes!

Piles of fabric

All these fabrics were waiting to be put away although some still need to get prewashed. I love seeing all these pretty fabrics together.

Piles of vegetables

I’ve only got one more week of CSA and then it’s over. I’ll be sad not to have all these fresh vegetables, but in a way it will be nice not to have to cook as much!

If you’re going to Stitches East, come visit me at booth 418, I’d love to see you!

Half FO Friday

I almost titled this post FO Friday, but it is more accurate to call it half-FO Friday. Last week I showed you my finished Poms, and then I disappeared again, sorry ’bout that!

While I was gone, I worked on a new batch of box bags. These ones are part 1 of the ones going to Stitches East, I still have many more to do!

Again, I made a few small ones

And a few large ones

Better close up pictures of the large ones here and here.

These bags are staying with me until the show so if one of you were interested in one, just comment here and we can work something out! : )

Besides finishing these bags I worked on a sock which will be a sample at Stitches East. I finished it a couple days ago and that’s one less thing I have to think about!

The pattern is Tesserae by Knitspot and the yarn is Madtosh Sock in Black Currant. I love the color of this yarn, dark purples, blues with a hint of lighter pink. I can’t wait to have a finished pair!

I have a few more projects on the needles which I’ll show you in my next post!

Pomatomus, Pamotomus, Pamatamus…

I’m way overdue sharing my latest knitting FO. I finished it right on the dot on August 31. I really was hoping to finish them by the end of August and I made it!

It took me just over 11 months to finish these socks, but I did it. The Pomatomus are done!

These socks were a fun knit. The pattern isn’t incredibly complicated and became fairly mindless towards the end. Of course, I made changes to the pattern. I knit them toe up and put in a short row heel. I think it would have been cool to reverse the pattern on the second sock but I don’t mind that both socks are identical. Maybe for the next pair of Poms?

I used the lovely Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon and I love how the color works with the pattern. I haven’t gotten around to wearing them yet but the chilly days have started again and I’m wearing wool socks every day already so they’ll soon get their turn.

I finished as well the set of box bags to head out to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. I’m quite happy with the assortment of colors and prints. I hope they’ll all find new homes during the festival. If you’re in the area and are planning to go, make sure to stop by the yarn4socks booth and say hello!

small size

large size

Now I should really get back to the other batch that’s on my sewing table right now!

Hello everyone! I’m still here!

It looks like I’ve seriously disappeared from the blog the last few weeks, so sorry about that!

I’ve been very busy with lots of different things. Do you want to see what’s been keeping me busy?

Since we started the CSA, I’ve been cooking what feels like 20 times more than before. Now I spend a good part of a few of my evenings cooking delicious recipes so as not to waste any of our precious vegetables. The last two recipes I made were this ratatouille and and this orzo and kale recipe.

The orzo and kale is definitely a winner and I will make it again next time I get kale in my CSA bag. The ratatouille I haven’t tasted yet but it definitely smelled and looked very good. It uses tons of vegetables so is very handy to empty out the fridge!

I’ve been working on box bags to send to the Vermont Sheep and Wool festival with yarn4socks in 2 weeks. That particular batch is almost done and will be handed over tonight. This is what my sewing table looked like yesterday morning.

I’ve added a bunch of made to order box bags to the shop as it was starting to look very bare. I will be adding more throughout the week as well.

I’ve ordered up new business cards for me. The graphic designer I worked with did a fantastic job and am very pleased with the final results.

I’ve also been doing some sewing for my quilting bee. Here are the 2 wonky stars blocks I made for Amanda. I really loved sewing those stars and I can see a wonky stars quilt in my future.

Last but not least, I have been knitting as well. I am currently making progress on my Lu. It’s going fairly fast and am a little further ahead than this photo shows. I’ve now put the sleeve cap stitches on a holder and am working on the underarm.

Of course, a little a bit of this, plus another little bit of that, with a lot of this all adds up. But it’s all fun, so I’m quite happy.

Time to get back to work!

Stacks and winners!

On my craft room floor and desk I have stacks and stacks. Stacks of fabrics, stacks of interfacing, stacks of zippers and stacks of handles. I’m getting ready for Stitches East and have about 70 box bags that I’m hoping to get done by then. I’m hoping to have 50+ fabric bags and a dozen oilcloth ones ready for the show, plus a few more for my shop (there’s been quite a few addition in the last few weeks, so if you haven’t visited in a while, have a look!).

I spent last weekend cutting up fabrics for all my box bags as well as the interfacing. My fabric stash has decreased quite a bit!

4 piles of future box bags (top left: oilcloth bags, bottom left: smalls, bottom right: large, top right: for my etsy shop)

Handles waiting to be topstitched

Stacks of cut up rectangles of lining and exterior fabrics waiting to be interfaced

All that cutting leaves me with piles of scraps…

Which leads me to the winners of the leftover Handmaiden Mini Maiden and my pile of scraps from last Monday’s giveaway! I really want to thank everyone who stopped by and participated in my giveaway. I really wish I had enough for everyone!

After adding numbers to the comments on my giveaway post I had random.org pick a number for the yarn winner and a winner for the scraps winner. And the winners are: Stardust B. for the yarn and Angela for the fabric scraps. Congratulations to both of you! You will both be receiving an email shortly. If you don’t see anything, check your spam!

Things that make me Happy Friday

I was going to post today about my UFOs, but I think that this post is going to be more fun!

This morning I met with my dear friend Carol for a coffee and she had the most amazing present for me! She made me a pair of socks, for me! About 2 months ago she was working on a pair of Nutkins for herself, the first  sock was coming out too small so she had me try it on, and it fit me perfectly. So she decided that she’d make them for me for my birthday! Fast forward to today and now they’re mine! Aren’t they lovely? And they fit me so well too, like they were made to fit me and only me! I’m a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful friend. Thank you Carol!

If this non-summer we’ve been having lately continues, I’ll be able to wear them soon!

I got some great fabrics in the mail too. These were from a swap with Elizabeth:

There’s over 20 Erin McMorris Wildwood fat quarters plus 2 pieces of fun Alice in Wonderland fabric. Wildwood is a great collection and will make a great quilt one day.

I cast on last weekend for Cosmicpluto’s Milkweed shawl and it’s going along quite well. It’s still small enough that it doesn’t take very long for each row. I try to do at least a row every day and more when I can. I’m using HandMaiden Mini Maiden for the yarn and wow, that’s a gorgeous yarn to work with. The finished shawl is going to be a pleasure to wear.

Last but not least, I’m happy that my sewing machine is finally operational again, and I was able to finish 2 box bags this morning. I’ll be finishing up a few more over the weekend! It’s good to be able to sew again.

Of course, the fact that today is Friday and that I’m enjoying my early weekend makes me happy too.

What makes you happy today?

Life isn’t fair when…

You receive in the mail this gorgeous set of fabrics for the 12 Squared virtual quilting bee from Sarah, have a great idea and want to start sewing.

You have all these cool box bags (my favorite batch so far) that need to be worked on.

You have this small scrappy quilt top (Strips and Bricks by Malka Dubrawsky aka Stitch and Dye in Sew Hip, April 09) all cut up and ready to sew.

You start working on this quilt and almost at the end of the 7th strip out of 15, your sewing machine goes on the fritz.

Yes, the machine is kaput, unusable, done for, dead to me. At least until I can get it looked at, which, because it’s the summer and a holiday weekend, not going to be until Monday. To add insult to injury, my friend graciously offered to lend me her barely used sewing machine, and I can’t get it to work, something wrong with the feed dogs.

It really isn’t fair, isn’t it?

I think I’m not going to get any sewing done this weekend. I guess I’ll have to knit! Wish me luck on Monday that they can fix my sewing machine really quick!

WIP Wednesday

After finishing all these projects in the last few weeks, the “castonitis” got me and I cast on left and right. Well, left and right for me, which is 2 more projects!

I cast on for a new sweater, Ursa by Berroco [Ravelry link]. I’m using Cascade 220 instead of the recommended Ultra Alpaca so after swatching with 3 different needle sizes I decided to start knitting a sleeve to see if I liked how it was working up. Since I’m working in the sleeve in the round and I’m going to be working the body flat, I realize that there’s going to be some differences, but I think it will be fine.

What I’m concerned about is whether or not I have enough yarn to knit the cardigan. But that’s a problem I will think about when I get there. In the mean time, here is a sleeve in progress.

I also cast on for the sock that I posted about a couple days ago. So far it looks like there are more votes for keeping it than frogging it, but I will keep thinking about it.

I would like to cast on for Mara [Ravelry link] as well but I think that will wait until I get the pair of socks below completed.

I’ve since then knit the heel and have just barely started on the leg. Hopefully, by the end of next week I should have a finished pair!

I’ve also started working on a new batch of box bags for the shop, there are over 20 bags that are going to be split between yarn4socks and my etsy shop. I’m also working on a couple new items to add to my selection, I hope it is well received. In the mean time, you can see what’s available right here.

Been sewing again!

After a few weeks of mostly knitting (I don’t have anything to show for it as everything is still at the UFO stage) I finally got some sewing done again.

I sewed a few box bags, trying a new technique and new materials. I was mostly successful with the new technique but I think I almost got it figured out, so maybe in the next batch! Even though I was only mostly successful, these bags are in perfect condition and would make some lovely project bags!

I used some heavier weight cotton rather than regular quilting cotton for the outside, this way they should hold up even better to pokey things like needles and such! I also tried a totally different size bag, more flat and wide. I can still fit a pair of socks WIP in it but maybe it could be used for different things as well!

A month or so ago, when the Orla Kiely stuff came out at Target, I was really excited about the Flower print and was hoping to score a tablecloth or even towels that I could use to make some box bags out off. Sadly, the only thing I was able to find in that print was 1 single placemat. This week I got around to making 2 box bags out of it. This week also, after being done with those two box bags I went back to Target and lo and behold, Orla Kiely stuff was back in stock! Including the Brown Flower tablecloth! Guess how fast the tablecloth made it in my little hands! So now I can make more!

Both Orla Kiely bags are on my etsy shop. I apologize for it being a little empty, but don’t worry, it’ll get full again. Today I’m going to a show where my box bags will be sold, so I had to take them out of the store since I don’t have that many made up!

In regards to the show, I also made something that will be quite useful. I’ve been thinking about the vendor aprons I saw someone wear at the Stitches East show last year. I thought it would be a quite good idea if myself and the other ladies at the show could wear one. So I found a pattern on etsy and tested it out yesterday. I made a few modifications including lining the back of the apron. I thought it would hang better that way. It has the potential for quite a few pockets, including a zippered one (which I didn’t do) as well as a business card pocket!

I hope you noticed the print I’m using, it’s “Mushroom City” by Alexander Henry, I thought it would be quite appropriate for someone who’s business name is Stitchy Mushroom! Anyways, it’s going to be tested today, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Some knitting progress has been made

It’s crazy how much sock knitting I can accomplish when I’m not working on a sweater…

Since I finished my Calvert cardigan, I’ve knitted the second sock to my Rococos (seen in my last post), made good progress on both the first Herringbone Rib sock (foot and heel complete) and my first Spring Forward sock (foot, heel and half of leg done) and finally cast on to the second Celebrations sock.

I knitted the first Celebrations sock for the Sockamania KAL back in May of last year. I had a real hard time of it but this second time around is going much better. I’ve only 2 repeats to go before I have to knit the heel. I made a little mistake on one of the cables, it’s hard to see on the photo but you might be able to see it if you look on the biggest picture. All the cabling is hard on my wrist so I didn’t feel like ripping back to correct it.

I’m really happy to be finally catching up to all these single socks I have accumulated over the last year. After I finish this pair, there are 3 singles socks that need a mate plus 2 socks that need to be completed and that need a mate. Hopefully I wont start knitting some new ones before I’m caught up!

In other good news, my box bags will be available at tonight’s update at yarn4socks! You can check them out here! I really hope they work well! If they do, I see a lot more box bags in my future! I’ll always be offering them here first though.