Know your fiber and the animal it came in on – Alpaca

Posted on December 29, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Ben’s mother, Dale (the Sunflower quilt lady), always finds really creative and new things for us to do when we visit Kansas. We’ve been to the Omaha Zoo, the Cosmosphere Space Museum, and even to a tiger rescue ranch (since closed).

Tiger Tongues feel just like really big cat tongues when they lick your hands btw.

A most interesting experience!

And this holiday visit we went to an Alpaca Farm called Alpacas of Wildcat Hollow. Dale also knits, so naturally we made some yarn purchases. (Fellow knitters, and friends of knitters know this was inevitable! Non-knitter Ben got socks instead.)

So this Christmas I received two beautiful hanks of 100% Alpaca in fingering weight with which I plan to make an amazing shawl. I am presently debating if this will be a good excuse to build my own pattern or not.

A variegated Rose color

AND… she picked up a sport weight skein for me to knit her a wonderful scarf. Going for a more textured than lacy design as Kansas is cold, as in hide yo’ ears! hide yo’ toes! We gettin’ frostbite up in here!

Violet and Teal

So let’s talk Alpaca fiber.

Alpaca does not have lanolin like Sheep wool, which is apparently where most people with wool allergies run into issues! It also is less prickly, naturally water repellant, and a better heat insulator. Alpacas are closely related to llamas, but have finer fur for making yarn (It seems the llama, being larger with less fine fleece, is more of a pack animal, whereas the Alpaca is more of a fleece production animal). The fur is shorn from the animal much like sheep wool, but has a greater yield per fleece than sheep. There are 22 naturally occurring colors of Alpaca, and it maintains a nice luster even after dying!

So there’s a few bits about Alpaca, and something to look forward to working with in the coming new year!

Holiday Double Header!

Posted on December 20, 2013 by MissCarlotta

As a crafter, its always great when you get feedback on your work. And even more so when it comes in the form of a comment/sale/inquiry from a stranger. So this past month has been pretty amazing to me as a crafter.

I made a sale on a custom stocking
I received and completed a custom Knit Scarves Order
And I got asked to be featured in a StarCraft Crafting video Blog

And so without further ado…. let’s roll the tape!

So thanks to Gillyweed, Emily and Mike… for making my December one to remember!

You can see more of Gillyweed’s vlogs here

The Stockings were Hung….

Posted on December 20, 2013 by MissCarlotta

This morning I woke up a good hour early, and rolled over to peek out the window to gauge the time and…. snow! Like a good inch or so, there was snow on the ground and the tree branches. I was so excited I couldn’t go back to sleep! I love snow… so much that relatives several states away will call to tell me when they get their first snows of the season.

But we were on stockings. Ben and I have stockings… we hang ours on the knobs of the china hutch. Its not that we don’t have a fireplace, with mantle, but we don’t have those stocking hooks… and frankly the way I try to stuff them its probably good that I can pull out the drawer below for added stability sometimes!

While I did not make quite so many stockings this year, Ben and I signed up for the Redditgifts Secret Santa Exchange this year and I knew I wanted to give our giftees some custom Christmas Stockings full of holiday cheer.

My giftee collects vintage hand fans. So I thought a modified Grandmother’s fan design would be appreciated.

Stuffed so full I couldn’t even fit that last gift in!

Ben’s giftee really liked the Seattle Seahawks, which means I know have half a skein of “Action Green” yarn in my stash:

The Hawks are doing pretty good this year! Up to 12-2

And I did indeed make sure to put 12 feathers on the heel and cuff….

The back of the Hawk’s stocking featuring the rest of the wrap around design.

I do hope they like all their gifts, and as with the last gift exchange, (Which was Star Trek in case you forgot!) I will update this post with any response from our giftees.

Meanwhile, my Santa was really quite on the ball… she has already sent me a great new knitting book called Woodland Knits.

Thanks again my Santa!

There are some adorable patterns in there to give me lots of ideas in the new year. I say the new year because this week I was all about a pair of commissioned custom StarCraft2 Scarves. And I’ve cast on the second of my sleeves on my Spoke Sweater. So between the housekeeping and cookie making and early Christmas having…. I am knitting like a made fiend to see if I can’t get it done to wear Christmas Day.

Here’s a quick preview of the main body so you can see how far along I am:

Just needs some seaming, sleeves and a good blocking!

UPDATE! My Secret Santa Giftee received and liked her gifts!

And so did Ben’s Giftee (who posted a whole album – click the title) Ben also posted what he received here.

Its that time of year!

Posted on November 8, 2013 by MissCarlotta

The holiday season is approaching! As some of you may recall from last year, this is the time of season I migrate my shop to the more visible Etsy MissCarlotta’s Knit Shop.

If you are looking for some Warcraft or Starcraft stockings.. those are listed! If you are looking for some simple knit scarves, I have a few of those listed too!

If you are more interested in something custom, drop me an email or contact me via the form on my About & Contact page.

Post-Op: A Luscious Sweater Story

Posted on November 5, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Way back in April I cast on my Luscious Sweater. It is all knit on size 2 needles in fingering weight yarn and its pretty much all stockinette… which meant lots and lots of pretty repetitive knitting. At first I had high hopes that I would have my sweater done by my trip in June.

There were errors in the pattern. Simple stuff that honestly felt like the pattern needed just a bit more proofing, but I was only the second person on Ravelry to cast on, and the other person hadn’t posted updates since they started, so I was determined to keep on. (For the record, the first two errors I verified with the pattern publisher, but after that I decided to save them up for one email at the end. I did post every issue I had on my project page. I believe that most of my issue came from stitching the non-standard larger size.)

Day before I leave on my trip and I’m casting off my last piece and blocking… spirits are high! I’m seaming up the other pieces because I am totally going to have this for my trip!

And then.. I pin the last piece in place and discover….. the two tails, do not line up.

So disappointed

And this isn’t a minor off by a few rows, made a small error no one else will notice issue… this is a one side falls at the knee.. and the other side drags on the floor.

So I set it aside and went on my trip and it was an INCREDIBLE time.

And I came back and I pondered and plotted and wondered if it was possible to fix this train wreck or should I just frog it… all 13 balls of yarn.

In the end.. I decided to fix it.

I threaded some 10 weight crochet thread through my main drape section from the side seam to the exterior as a life line:

Prepare the patient for surgery

I carefully un stitched the long side seam of the main drape:

How “Unseaming” !

And then…. I cut off the first tail of the drape….

Post scissor application

I carefully picked up every stitch along my row and set out to knit again! I started out with an additional set of short rows, because I wanted to make sure that the drape tapered a bit more towards the knee. (I’m not certain I actually needed to do this… it just felt like I should and at this point… the sweater was unwearable so what’s the harm of trying imo.) My thought was that the issue was that the taper of the main drape wasn’t at a sharp enough angle, so I increased my decreases by half again. I’d left my shorter side drape pinned in place so I had a comparison for length to aim for. I got to the end of the new tail of the drape and laid the sweater out for comparison.

The measure here is lined up with the new tail and the side drape point.

It looked to be significantly closer in alignment than the original! I knew since my side drape was just pinned at this point, that I could adjust that piece as well, and so this looked to be markedly successful! So I got out my scissors and amputated the other side of the drape tail. I followed the same basic directions of short row set followed by increased decreases. I did lay out my sweater repeatedly to check if I was on-target for matching.

So after stitching a new front tail… I re-seamed my long seam, and stitched down the side drape and….

SUCCESS!

It is absolutely much more symmetrical!

Now… I am a little bit uncertain how I feel about this sweater, but I’m not sure if that’s the taint of the earlier disappointment or something else. I’m wearing it today… and we shall see. Here’s some wearing photos so you can see the fit.

Show in standard Misscarlotta not-quite-focus

And the other side:

Front knee is slightly bent.

So there you have it… the final results of Doctah Knittah!

As a side note… I am so very glad this wasn’t my first sweater and that Ben’s Ben was so successful, because as I look at future knitting projects, prior results make a huge impact. I haven’t yet made a second pair of socks… because the first pair was so dang boring on sock #2.

Oh Ewe!

Posted on October 29, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Last I checked unborn children don’t have internet access… and I am fairly certain my sister-in-law living out in the woods (yes literally) doesn’t have regular internet access, so I think I’m in the clear posting this gift for my future nephew.

Ewe won’t believe how many sheep & lamb puns I thought up making this…

The directions are pretty easy, but would benefit greatly by having a picture of the frame assembly. I read them a couple times and yet I still managed to put him together a wee bit wrong. Still right enough that it works and he looks good… just wrong enough I needed to make some minor adjustments.

Since I had some left, I used a pair of safety eyes. I also gave my lil’ lambchop a tail.

Guess what?!
….
Sheep butt!

My cord is an I-cord which I threaded a couple additional strands of yarn through to make it a bit more like a rope for strength and stretch.

Mary had a Little Lamb She tied it to a heater…

And every time it turned around it burned its little seater!

And if you thought that last sheep joke in the captions was baa’d…

Mary had a Little Lamb, Little Lamb, Little Lamb.
Then she passed her plate again, And had a little more!

Counter-pillaring the Days until Christmas

Posted on October 2, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Normally I do not pre-post gifts, but this one was too cute.. and since the giftee is too young to even read so… I’m going to post it anyway! So without further ado… the Counterpillar!

What walks down stairs….

I found this very adorable pattern of a string along toy, that includes some colors and numbers and thought that it would be a great gift. The original includes beads for each of the numbers, some pom-poms and a picture hook to loop the tail. I was making mine for a very young child, so I omitted those elements and added a soft knob tail for the loop instead.

Knobby number 9

If you prefer the knob tail, here’s my instructions

Cast on 5 stitches to DPN

Work 5 rows as an I-Cord.

Increase in every stitch next row (10 stitches)

Knit a round

Increase in Every Stitch (20 stitches)

Knit 3 rounds

Decrease 10 times (10 stitches)

Knit a round

Decrease 5 times (5 stitches)

Stuff the ball end of the tail, and then use your needle to thread through the remaining 5 stitches to close.

Stitch your I-cord end onto the last segment.

You may need to adjust your cord loop length a bit to ensure it fits over the knob tail, but it seems to work alright!

I’m counting on you Mr. Counterpillar!

Double your Pleasure with Double Knitting Fun!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by MissCarlotta

So several ages ago (also known as last December) I decided to learn how to double knit. This is where both sides look like the stockinette or “v” side of the knitting. You may recall a post in January or April on this project.

Well I’m pleased to report that I’m finally done!

Green and White is always Right!

A full nine snowflakes make up this baby! There are 5 differently patterned flakes. Two larger and 3 smaller patterns.

Like the force there is a dark side…

And a light side

To me double knitting is very beautiful, but it seems like it takes so much more time, basically its like you are doing a 1×1 rib, but you also have to pay attention to the detail of which stitch in the pattern facing you and the edges so that the two sides are hooked together and not open at the edges.

From WIP to FO in 1 batch of extra determination!

And that’s one project that can go on the Christmas gifts completed pile!

Speaking of things completed… I also knit up a second Spring Thaw for a friend of mine who was admiring the first. I believe it is now presently touring part of Canada.

A shawl knitted for Sporks, but not on sporks. (which might be possible but probably insane)

A Sunflower State Retirement Frame of Mind

Posted on September 13, 2013 by MissCarlotta

I have been holding onto this post for over a week… and all the in progress photos too… because I am a secret agent quilter spy! (Or at least that’s what I tell myself.) For my 7th finished quilt, I wanted to celebrate an amazing woman, Ben’s mom, Dale. (For bonus geek points, she is named after Dale Arden, Flash Gordon’s girlfriend.)

Dale has been working for the past 28.7 years with the Kansas State Department of Education. And so round about mid-August I found a great tutorial on making Dresden Plate Quilts online that made me feel full of confidence that a Sunflower State retiree could actually have a sunflower Dresden quilt. So off I went to get a Dresden ruler and my fabric palette.

I actually had the brown fabrics already.

And for the front of the quilt I made up 9 sunflower blocks. Mine were 17 inch blocks, which sounds like a weird number, but actually with the borders came out to a nice 60 inch square lap quilt.

And here the front is.. in all its sunny glory!

Now here’s why the spy parts come in…. I decided that this should be a secret project, but I wanted to tie in her work with the quilt… so I called her boss (ok I got the assistant to her boss) who patched me through to another co-worker that became my agent on the inside. She hooked me up with a fine selection of photos, which I added to the back of the quilt.

This is also a good view to see how I did my quilting lines!

The picture rail on the back brought the yellows and the blue from the front to the back.. and then a small pip on the front, brought some of the backing yellow forward.

I did get a bit lucky in places where I quilted through the picture rail.

I used the same basic method for making the center circles that is illustrated in the tutorial I linked above, to make the leaves on my itty bitty Dresden Quilt tag on the back:

With some creative folding presentation, front of a single square, and the tag got a highlight too!

I really do need to thank my agent on the inside. The quilt was mailed on Monday, with expectation of arriving Friday in time for the party they were having. For whatever reason on Monday I was thinking was an after work thing, and after a few more conversations… realized it was more after lunch in timing. So the two of us were eyeballing that online tracking like it was overtime of the Super Bowl. And then… it ticked over from “Out for Delivery” to “The Receiver’s location was closed on the 1st delivery attempt. A 2nd delivery attempt will be made.” But my Agent on the inside (name withheld because she’s a secret agent… duh!) went above and beyond to drive out and meet the truck and take delivery. I shall formally file a commendation in her agent personnel file.

Flower Power!

And now for some technical specs, because as a newer quilter (this is number 7) I find them helpful. I used up nearly all of my 1/4 yard of each of the yellow petals fabrics, of which I picked out seven different variations. True 1/4 yards, not fat quarters there. I also used up 1/2 yard of the dark green in just the lattice work on the front, not including the border. I had originally thought I would do 18-20 inch squares, so I had some blue left over of the 2.5 yards I bought.

Additional Photos in the progress gallery here.

An August Spring Thaw

Posted on August 20, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Did you ever have those moments when you look back and say to yourself, now if only I had done this in a different order…..

Such as… if only I had started with the Spring Thaw Shawl instead of the Gamayun Bird, I’d at least have finished one of them on vacation. And I totally could have managed it on the plane.

So without further delays… allow me to present a completed Spring Thaw Shawl!

Spring Thaw… just in time for fall chills

This pattern is actually pretty easy to follow along, and available in both written and charted if you want to get your toe in the waters of lace so to speak. I went with 12 leaf repeats down the center spine, primarily because of how my yarn colorway was working I decided I wanted to end as I began.. in the dark smoke.

Perfect for a gentle breeze like the one today!

The yarn I used was Patton’s Lace in Woodrose, and it took me just under a skein from start to finish….. which means I have another skein of it. To me, the browns and greys make it more interesting than just a simple pale pink.

The mohair in the mix gives it a nice soft fuzz to the pattern.

The mohair in the mix gives it a nice soft fuzz look.

I was rather surprised at how quickly this came together… from cast on to fully blocked and photographed in just 6 days!

Full view

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
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2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28