WOOT! Finished Object and more

WOOT! Finished Object and more

Sheesh it’s been a while. I keep trying to post but have been having a hard time actually getting around to it….  What have I been up to? Rather a lot actually! I have been taking a bunch of business classes and thus trying to grow my business sense, and my business. I’ve been playing with dyeing embroidery threads and silks some more, and in general having fun!

As for actual crafts well I finished my sample socks which really need a new name :-)

I started to work on a small quilt. I’m fairly new to quilting in fact this is my first machine pieced quilt and first appliqué project. The quilt is only 27inches square and is a project for the local hospital. It’s a mothers day gift for a mother who baby was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. I’ve really enjoyed making it. The appliqué was good practice.

I plan on doing some more embroidery along this project but so far I’m happy!

I felt I needed more practice doing some appliqué  and I loved that pansy sooo very much that I started a little needle book… I’m really happy with how this is turning out!

Now what’s all this appliqué practice for? You’ll just have to wait and see!!

Beginings and Ends….

Beginings and Ends....

Of course right after I finish a post about my WIP’s and how I need to finish them before I start anything new, especially with the socks, I get in the mail my second installment of the Vintage Purls Summer Sock Club. Of course the pattern and the yarn is sooo stunning that I immediately had to cast-on!

I love these colours and I love that to socks don’t match instead are exact opposites! I did make some minor changes, I really, really hate garter stitch like really hate it so I replaced that with plain stockinette I have othe plans for the cuff to add texture just you wait and see! And it was kind of okay that I started this sock because of how these ones are looking.

Yep that’s the “sample socks” I really need a new name for these. I have about 4 or 5 rows till I start the ribbing which will be done lickety split. Most likely I will finish these tonight. My mind is already on which pair of sock I will start next and what pattern to do them in. these are the current options:

Knitsch(a new NZ dyer who also goes to my knit night) in pewter. I really like the feel and texture of this yarn and the colours are just well YUM! I’m not sure on what to knit with it though.

Fibro Fibers Nightfall yarn in blue, I love this yarn so very much it slowly fades from blue to black through out the 50g skein and is already wound into center pull balls. I have a design idea in store for this one but I’m not sure I’m ready to really sit down and hash it out maybe. Jen who runs Fibro fibers is amazing and I want 90% of her yarn I got this also in a bottle green and I want the deep purple and the aqua too. She also has denim and tomato coloursways that make my mouth water and I want to get them in the sock in enough to do a striped cardigan.

Yberry’s Street woman, this is just wow what a combo of colours none of which I actually like that much on their own but together just WOW!!!! This yarn just keeps nagging at me and telling me I should knit with it and I know that I should but what? Part of me thinks it needs to go back in the stash to be kept for later to be used in a shawl.

What do you think what should I cast-on? do you have a favorite toe up sock? comment and let me know

UFO-a-go-go Part 2

UFO-a-go-go Part 2

Sorry it’s taken a couple of days to do the second part after posting that last post I just felt like I needed to get up and  work on a few of those projects. So I did!  the progress shall be seen in a future post. Now on to the knitting segement of my UFO’s/WIP that I’m actively trying to transform into that mythic object that heals small injured orphans and returns the sight to blind men a FINISHED OBJECT! (You  can just about hear the angels chorus sing “aaah”s??) Yet again same disclaimer  as last time this is by far not ALL of my WIP/UFO’s but just the current ones I’m working on.

This is my “big” knitting project, the Queen Anne Cardigan(ravelry link) by Christina Wall of A Knitter’s Life. I’m knitting this in alternating rows of two different colourways of Vintage Purls Sock (2 rows of each colour). I had wanted to do this cardigan for awhile but I didn’t have any sport weight yarn, when digging through My stash I found two skeins each of two colourways that were almost identical. I could totally pull it off with four skeins! I’ve finished the yoke increases, and put the sleeves both on stitch markers and started on the body. I’ve actually added about another 6 rows to this since the picture, but unfortunately its now to big for my purse knitting and is resigned to be for when watching movies and TV(which I don’t do a lot of).

Ah yes these are my Baudelaire‘s I finished the first one and this is how far I got with the second one. I really want and need to pick them back up and finish them but just hasn’t happened. I’m still partially mad that these were originally going to be knee highs but alas I screwed up the increases and they were just way too tight so i ripped them back and couldn’t be bothered re knitting them knee high again… maybe next time!

These of all my projects are the ones I SHOULD be working on. These are a thank you gift to my friend Nick who shuttled me around on a very important day! This is thankfully the second sock, But I just seem not to be working on them as much as i should, I think I’m tired of the repetitive pattern(which btw is just from a stitch dictionary) and once i can get to the heel I’ll be sweet as, I hope. The yarns is my own silk merino in the aflame colourway

Of all the projects on this page these will be the ones most likely to actually get finished. I worked on them some today when I was fed up with the cardigan while watching several movies since running to catch the train yesterday(in heels I might add) I fell and hurt my back and legs so now work for me today. I’m half finished with the heel which is good! these are my own design, just goofing around really. This is also the second sock.

And long time readers of this blog know I suffer from real severe startitis(the disease which causes you to chronically need to start things). Over my 28 years on this earth I have had to develop some nifty methods to counter act the disease, usually it’s to cast-on the toe of a second sock, or of a sleeve. This time tho I didn’t have any of those so I dug out this yarn for hubby socks and started the magic mirror socks(ravelry link) for him. As you can see I got REAL far!

So that’s about it for me for now, I guess soon I will have to take update photos!

My Knitting List for 2010

So as I mentioned in the previous post I want to finish 12 things this year, they don’t all have to be UFO’s, some are things I have planned on knitting for years now. I was talking to My dear friend Toshi the other day that one of the shawls she liked was also on my “To Knit” list and she expressed interest in actually seeing the list so I thought I would post the list here for you all to read. I won’t hate myself if I don’t finish all of these but i would like to do some of them at least!

1. To finish my wedding shawl! DONE!!!!

2. Finish my Baudelaire socks (sock one complete toe of sock two complete)

3. Finish secret socks for special someone (sock one done halfway up the foot of sock two)

4. knit at least 2 pairs of socks for Ryan

5. Knit one pair of knee highs for myself!

6. This will be the year I start my Rogue

7. Knit Sprossling

8. Knit another Rose Of England Shawl(this one for myself)

9. Try to work out a few of the patterns that are floating around inside my head!

10. have fun!

The Post That Should Have Been Written Two Months Ago!!!

Wow I have been BUSY! let’s see what has happened since I last posted here, well I got married and went on a fabulous honeymoon(I have pictures somehwere!!!) I’ve been knitting a lot… and oh yeah I started a yarn dyeing business Grrrl Shaped Yarns overall life has been good to me.

It’s weird looking back now it seems like so much has been happening i don’t know where to begin or what I should talk about, maybe I’ve gotten a bit rusty as blogger, I feel rusty.

I can’t believe it’s 2010, 10 years since I was in high school come thus June,  8 years since I transitioned come this July, 2.5 years since I moved to New Zealand to live with my husband. I still remember the feeling of being unsure of where I was going, getting lost often, and in general being confused about my surroundings.  Wellington is so big that there are still parts of it I have never seen and parts that confuse me, unlike the relatively small San Francisco I used to live in.  Still doesn’t feel like home, and I still miss San Francisco at times, but things will change. A New year, a new decade, it seems like just last year we were all panicking about Y2K, or in shock over 9-11. It’s amazing looking back at how much I have changed in these past 10 years.

One thing that new years always bring along with them are resolutions, I haven’t made any resolutions so much as a few goals. and in the effort to help me stick to them I guess I shall share them with you.

1. become a bit more fit and healthy(if this helps me lose weight than so be it)

2. Expand my business to the best of my potential

3. Finish at least 12 items this year(after realizing last year I completed one super simple scarf and shawl and that’s it ALL year)

That’s it just a few simple goals, nothing to earth shattering. I like to think I’m doing good I’m eating healthier and participating in the Couch 2 5k challenge even though i am a bit stuck right now… I’m plotting and scheming business plans. I have finished one item already this year that’s my wedding shawl( yes it was 3.5 months late what you wanna make of it?)

In general I think life is good, and although I am busy it’s a good busy I’m enjoying it! I have so many plans for the next year I hope some of them pan out. and with those thoughts I would like at say, I’m thinking of starting an online crafting magazine, if you are at all interested in submitting a project  or article or review please let me know via email Zine AT brooklynnemichelle DOT com

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