Mystery yarn yardage?

Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out what to knit next. I have two balls of this very pretty red laceweight yarn from China. My husband brought it back for me, so I don't know it's exact origins. It's a fine laceweight, but I don't think it's cobweb. It seems to be machine washable. I've knit a purple Icarus(Interweaver Summer 06) with it and was unable to do a spit splice. It does reek when burnt and seems to be an animal fiber. I want to make another shawl out of Victorian Lace Today, but I need to figure out approximately how many yards are on each ball.


The label doesn't really help me. I get that it has 62.5 of something. I'm thinking that's grams. I thought the 100% might be for wool content, but then there is the 10% next to it. When I knit Icarus with it, it wouldn't spit splice. I was able to block it and it has kept it's block after repeated wearings. As far as laceweight yarns go, I really like this one. And I'm getting more!!! I would be nice to know the yardage though before diving into a project.

Socks and sewing

I didn't want to brave the cold outside and just took pictures indoors. These are the socks that I've worked on or finished in the last two weeks. Not bad for stash busting. I'm taking a break from socks now. My current knitting project is a plain garter stitch shawl for E out of grape TLC Amore. E picked it out and I made her a sweater out of it last year. Now, I'm trying to use up the leftovers to make a shawl. She's specifically requested a big shawl. I think she will get that, unless I get bored of this project.

In more exciting news, I've been sewing! I finished 4 skirts for E today. They are an early birthday present. I can't count the times that she's thanked me for them already. It's so nice to see her totally appreciate something that I made for her. I made her many dress-up clothes for her birthday last year, but they were a surprise. For the past year, she's worn at least one of them for probably 6 out of 7 days each week. This year, I let her pick out the fabrics from my stash. I also added lace or eyelet trim to all of these. I think she had fun picking out the fabrics. I'm in the process of making a dress. If that goes smoothly, I plan on making a few of those for E to add to her dress-up stuff. Pictures to come when I can get E to brush her hair. ;-)

A few pictureless fo's

I finished that Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. Yay! It's not the same as the one in the book. Of course, I had to make a few changes to the pattern. Plus there was the problem of not having enough yarn--again. I started that blanket with the mind set that I just wanted to use up some Shine sport weight yarn. And I did! It's gone. Who is the blanket for? I don't know yet, but I'm sure it can sit around and wait for a cute baby girl.

I finished a pair of socks for myself. I also finished a pair for E and D. I got two pairs of socks out of two balls of yarn. E did complain that hers felt like they were falling off. I think that's due to the socks being made a bit big. I'm hoping that they will last until next winter. They're blue, so she can pass those down to D when the time comes. That is unless he catches up with her in size. ;-)

Now, what to knit? I guess you could say that I'm on some kind of yarn diet. I'm trying to use up the yarns that I already have. Oh, but it's soooo tempting to order some cashmere from Colourmart. I plan on treating myself to a cone(or two) after I get my stash under control. My plans are to keep knitting socks until I use up the rest of the sport weight sock yarns. I have enough yarn for 4 more pairs in that weight. We're not going to count how many socks I can make out of the sock weight yarn that I have. :-O I also want to try to use up the odds and ends that I have left over from other projects. This included weird novelty yarns--fuzzy, furry, shiny, ribbon, etc. I don't wear anything with those yarns, but E loves them. E will get a lot of dress up shawls and scarves out of that. I probably have enough to make a few to give away to friends too.

I still haven't sewn the dress up clothes yet. It's just difficult to lay out fabric, cut out patterns, and cut out the fabric with E and D running around. I would do it at night when they're asleep, but I'm usually tired by then. I just want to sit and knit instead of crawl all over the floor cutting out fabric. I do need to start working on that soon if it's going to get finished on time.

Stalled shawl leads to quick knits

The shawl is stalled until I can get more yarn. I was right. The fourth ball of yarn did manage to finish the main rectangle portion of the shawl. I only had 10 gms left for the border. This shawl is huge. I doubt that 10 gms of yarn is enough to make a border all the way around. Instead of continuing, I'm just going to let it sit until I buy more.

This has given me time to work on small projects. I knit the hand towel from Mason Dixon knitting. I bought this yarn off of ebay. I think it was leftovers or the ends. It wasn't wound into a ball or labeled. It is linen yarn. I used the recommended needle size, but ended up dropping down to a size 1 addi turbo. I had to knit this very loosely on the needles or it would have hurt my hands trying to knit this yarn. I think that's why I had to drop down so drastically in needle size. I haven't washed it to soften it up yet. If it does, I plan on making a few more to use up the yarn that I have.

These are three washcloths that I knit from Mason Dixon Knitting. These were fun and very fast to knit. The pattern was very easy to memorize. E helped pick out the colors. It was fun knitting with colors that I wouldn't normally pick. I used a size 7 needle for the green and blue version, but that ended up more open than I wanted for a wash cloth. I used size 6 knitpicks options needles for the pink and orange ones and I liked that tighter knit much better.


This is Antifreeze from Knitty. This was knit for my husband, but it's modeled by my 5 year old. Obviously, it doesn't fit her correctly. She was a very reluctant model too. This was knit with Knitpicks swish superwash yarn. I used exactly two skeins. There was only a few inches left of the yarn after binding off. I started this on Sunday night (1/14) and finished it Monday evening (1/15). It's a very fast and easy knit. I thought the construction was interesting.


I'm working on the Modern Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting again. I got bored with this one and put it aside a few months ago. Now, I just want to finish it before the intended recipient gets too big for it.

Some knitting and a lot of toy purging

The main part of the sampler shawl is almost complete! I have two more charts to do and the it will be time for the border. I have quite a bit of yarn left, so maybe there's enough. I finished the plain stockinette socks that was my side project. I want to start another pair, but I think I need to at least finish the main section of the sampler shawl. I'm still enjoying the shawl project. I just can't do it all the time when I'm distracted by E and D. I still like the knitted lace sections better. I want to make something that is entirely knitted lace---sometime in the future.

There hasn't been much knitting because I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning. I just got rid of some of E and D's toys. Some of them are to be donate and some of them just went away in storage. I'm trying to clear out some of the toys in my craft room to make more room for sewing. I need to start sewing the birthday dress-up stuff.

Finally some pictures

Well, E and D were busy the other day and I took advantage of that. I grabbed my stuff and took pictures on the front porch. This was during sunset and the sun was harsh.

Here is the entrelac stole. It was fun to knit. I think that I refined my knitting in reverse technique. At first it was awkward to knit 2 together or purl 2 together backwards, but it got easier and easier as the stole got longer. I really like how this turned out. It's warm, but not too bulky. It is a tad scratchy around my neck, but I haven't washed or blocked it yet. I like the entrelac texture and don't want to block that out. Here are the final details:

Yarn: 10 skeins of Jojoland Melody (Y45)
Needle: #3 Knitpicks classic circular
Method: Cast on 100 and each section is 10 stitches wide. Single crochet around the edge
Unblocked size: 20"x68"
Started: 11/3/06
Finished: 12/16/06

This is how far along I am on the Sampler shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I'm into the second pattern on the second half of the shawl. I had to connect the third ball of yarn right after I finished the center. At this rate, it doesn't look like I will have enough yarn to finish the shawl and then have enough to do the border. Ah well, we'll see when we get there. Right now, my goal is to just finish everything except the border. Then the shawl will have to wait a while. I have some projects with deadlines coming up.

I've been reading a lot of resolution type lists on various blogs. I don't like to make resolutions, but I am thinking about things that I want to try or do this year. I want to try new fibers. I just recently bought some camel yarn. I do want to try some cashmere or soy eventually too. I want to knit myself a garment. I'm not much of a sweater person, but I do like cardigans(buttons or zippers). I want to try to use up some of this sock yarn that I have. I want to knit the kids more socks. It is frustrating that they grow out of them so fast, but it's so cute to see hand knit socks on them.

Besides knitting, I want to do more sewing. I want to sew my daughter some summer dresses. I want to make quilts for their beds. Those will have to be machine quilted. I might even look into having some one else machine quilt it for me. I want to try to sell a few things that I make.

It looks like it's going to be a very busy year...

Back to normal?

Well, we're trying to get back to normal after the holidays. We do most of the holiday festivities, but we don't do the massive present opening thing. Why? It just seems like that is all the holidays are focused on now. You must buy something for everyone. Kids are supposed to get a million presents--all on one day. I don't like that. Our kids have a lot of toys and clothes. It just seems unnecessary to give them a lot more. But yet, I do find myself missing it. Missing the excitement that I remember from when I was little. But my parents did things differently. I regularly buy things for E and D and just give it to them. Why? I like to do that. I like to give them toys or gifts at random times throughout the year without having to do it on certain days--birthdays or Christmas. I was thinking of doing presents next Christmas. But that just seems so materialistic...

Back to crafting news...I managed to sew 7 small bags that are E's size and two handbags that would be something that I would carry. What am I planning on doing with these? Well, selling them of course. I'm still refining the shapes and sewing methods. I think that I'm finally happy with the pattern that I made.

I'm still working on the Sampler Shawl. I'm beyond the halfway point of the main portion. Once I get the center done, I think it might go in a box for a while. I have to many other things to work on right now. I did start a pair of plain stockinette socks for myself. I do like lace, cabled, or color work socks, but I find that I wear the stockinette ones the most.

I haven't started on E's birthday dress-up clothes yet. I did decide on what to make. Now, it's just a matter of digging through my fabrics and finding the right ones. That's not an easy task.