lulubeans

weekend pictures

we opted for bike riding, ferry riding and island adventuring instead of housework. i'll be playing a lot of catch up today (hello, laundry) but it was totally worth it.

my great big shop update

i did it!

i actually managed to get 29 skeins of yarn all up on my site, and had a busy family weekend to boot.

that's a lot of yarn, my friends. i think that there's a little something there for everyone. you can click on the picture to see everything.

i hope you've had a good weekend. the three of us had some fun adventures together. i'll be back tomorrow to share some pictures.

happy solstice

i love this time of year so much.  happy june and happy friday.

it's been really nice be at my job in a very part time way this week.  i've been cooking lots, reading lots, eating lots, having lots of fun kid time, and just kind of trying to get my bearings back after last weekend.  today i had a few decedent hours alone, and i used them for a yarn photo shoot.  it was so fun and relaxing.  the light was nice- bright but a little overcast, and the yarn seemed to be working its magic. when you take pictures of yarn, you can really get into all these sculptural qualities each skein has.  i don't know- maybe that sounds weird, but that's what i was thinking about a lot today.

i am a little amazed by how much yarn i brought back from brooklyn, because i sold a lot there too, but there is enough for a whopper of a shop update.  there was a lot of spinning going on here over the past three months of so.  a lot of spinning!  i'll be working on it (the update) in bits and pieces over the weekend, and everything will be ready to rock sunday night. 

renegade: the good, the bad + the monsoon-y

i'm kind of having a hard time knowing how to put the weekend into words.  it all feels a little overwhelming and even though there were some very, very dark moments, a lot of really great stuff happened too.

 saturday morning started off so well.   i think that jen + i were both feeling organized and happy with our set up, and lots of really nice people were stopping by our tent.  the weather was just what i had expected: sweltering, steamy heat.  when the first shower hit, we scrambled to keep things dry, but the sky cleared, and i was feeling so foolishly optimistic that that was it.   instead, it wasn't long before we got absolutely clobbered- torrential rain came at us from what felt like all directions, and there was some really scary thunder and lightening that seemed to be right on top of us.  (i'm kind of amazed that no one was struck in the pool, seriously!)  we were stuck in the tent for a heart wrenching 2.5 hours, not sure if all if all of jen's work was trashed, watching tent tops around us collapse under the weight of the rain, and feeling pretty dismal.  

our hosts we so kind to let us take over their dining room with all our soggy wares.  i had yarn and fiber draped over their dining chairs and they let me borrow a box fan to dry everything out.  they were so nice.  we wiped down jen's work and dried out what we could. i spent a good amount of time fighting back tears and just generally pretty crushed.

i really like heidi kinney's picture of the pool sunday morning.  i  think it sums things up pretty well.  i was feeling kind of numb by the time we arrived, but the day went really well, and i am glad that we mustered the courage to return for day two.  my heart goes out the vendors that weren't able to return for sunday.  i know that some people experienced a lot of loss in the storm.  the weather sunday was much, much better, although there were a few scattered showers, and i was feeling a little traumatized each time one hit.

the really great things that i am taking from this weekend:

• the swalllowfield family made for lovely and fun traveling companions.  i certainly would have never been able to make it to renegade without them.  i love this whole family so much!
• we stayed with friends in their beautiful brooklyn home, and they were so kind and thoughtful.   i really appreciate all that they did for us.
• we met lots of very nice people and got to see some friends.
• i learned that people who love yarn and fiber will buy it, even in steamy 90+ degree heat
• i learned that people who love yarn and fiber will buy it, even if it is still a teeny bit damp after a rain storm
• i also learned that putting a drop spindle and a braid of fiber into the directly hands of someone who has never spun yarn is a wonderful kind of rush! 

here's another look at my table from saturday morning:

it's really, really good to be home.  my girl lost her first tooth on sunday, while i was gone.  her last day of kindergarten was yesterday, and we are both ready to dive right into summer today.

i think i'm ready

tomorrow morning i am off to brooklyn for the renegade craft fair! if you can stop by and visit, the fair is this saturday and sunday from 11 to 7. i would love people to come over and say hello!

i am sharing a tent with jen, and i know that we are going to have lots of fun.

i spent most of today running around finishing up last minute labeling, weighing and just in general figuring out what felt like a thousand very little (but vitally important!) details.  i then did a mock up of my table, which felt really fun after all the annoying teeny detail fixing. 

i am going to have heaps of handspun yarn for sale, including a selection of vegan handspun that i am really excited about. i'll also have lots of handpainted sock yarn and spinning fibers, drop spindles, and a few other small goodies.

FO: a skirt for a flower fairy

    natasha has been asking for a "flower fairy skirt, you know, so that i can be a rose, or a lilac" for a month or so now.   (the flower fairy bug has hit big here, and there was some serious fairy envy going on when we saw these pictures from daria, official queen of the kid party, at least in my book.)
 

    last week i had a long, long, long all day work meeting, plus a longish car ride to and fro- perfect opportunity to knit a fairy skirt. 

    the yarn is knitpick's shine in crocus, natasha's pick.  i used 3.5 balls on US #8 circs. 
i wish i could get in the habit of writing stuff down as i go, but i come to you patternless. 
i can sort of tell you what i did though.  i used a log cabin blanket that i have been picking up and putting down for a few months now as a swatch of sorts- same size needles, same weight yarn.  not too scientific, but i wrapped the blanket around natasha's belly and figured out the number of stitches i wanted to cast on going from there.  3 x 1 ribbing for an inch or so, evenly spaced yarn overs for the eventual i-cord draw string, a teeny bit more ribbing, and then lots of stockinette-ing, all the while increasing every ten rounds or so by doing m1s every 15 stitches.  finish of with one repeat of pearl-barred scallop (from the first walker treasury), weave in ends, and ta-da!  a happy fairy!  (oh yeah, there was some i-cord making in there too, but that was kind of forgettable.)

a perfect skirt for backyard spell casting and for the kind of secret adventures that require a well packed hello kitty backpack.

natasha reports that the yarn feels "great!" on her belly, which is good news, because she is such a picky pants.

hunting around the web for another version of that pearl-barred scallop i found this pretty scarf. i then, wow, this blog stitch pattern geek's treasure trove. it's an awesome resource. i am always checking out the walker treasuries from my library, to the point where i often find my own paper scraps and notes tucked in the pages, months in between borrows. some day i will own my own copies, but for now i'm often looking for  resources online, and this one looks very, very excellent.

just quiet

things are good here, i've just been feeling awfully quiet.

recent things*:

i had 10 inches of hair cut off to donate to locks of love.

(before)

(and after)

i had been growing hair for 2 years to do this and i was so happy to get it cut!

today i got to see natasha's whole school (grades K-5) do a big may dance. it was an end of the month may day thing and it was tear-jerkingly adorable. the kids worked so hard and were obviously really proud of themselves. plus, isn't the maypole pretty?

the lilacs are pretty too.

*wait! i just uploaded 112 photos. maybe i should stretch out the material a little bit. shorter, more frequent blog posts = better, at least for me. more soon. :)

washing day

 

 

today i:

• finally got caught up on the big pile of yarn that i'd let pile up.
• managed to get some fiber dyed as well
• hung out with natasha + her classmates for my usual thursday morning thing at school
• sort of caught up on laundry
• wallowed in a fair amount of (fairly inexplicable) grumpiness
• ate a giant snickers bar topped brownie and guzzled some coffee and felt lots better.  (this week has been kind of cruddy + i am grateful for opportunities to self-medicate at nearby bakeries.)

  right now i am trying to ply yarn w/ one hand + type w/ the other.  my to-wash shelf is empty now + i want to fill it right  back up!

the wash me shelf

i have been having so much fun spinning yarn over the past couple of weeks.  this shelf is everything that i need to wash!  i have to be in the right mood to finish my yarn.

today we are having a picnic lunch near the beach with friends.  i'm a little sad that this school vacation week is nearing its end.  it's been such a good week. 

sun + carding

it's been so incredibly sunny, warm and perfect outside this week.  N has been on school vacation and i have had lots of time to spin yarn on the deck while she has been playing in a way that usually involves imaginary dogs, cats, and her most current obsession, teenagers.  and dirt, lots of (real) dirt.  6 is going to be a wonderfully grubby summer.

there is also a drum carder living with me now, which i am so excited about.  this is something that i have wanted for what seems like forever!  i want to offer handcarded batts for sale at some point in the near future, but at present it's just too tempting to spin everything that i have been carding, pretty much right away.  i did have time to get some pictures of this one though:

 

i love it.  i reminds me of watermelon hard candy,  salty tangled hair, sand in sheets, new sandals, the taste of wooden popsicle sticks.   i love spring, but i love summer just a little bit more.

farewell, farewell, farewell to winter!

today i:

• wore sandals (and now have blistery spot to show for it)
• went church rumage sale-ing + bought myself a mug

 


• had a picnic lunch in the park
• went down a slide
• pushed a very happy N on a swing for a really, really long time
• noticed that the irises and the tiger lilies and mint and garlic that i planted last year are making their way up through the dirt
• washed the winter coats and soaked the mittens, scarves, hats, etc in eucalan so that they can get put the hell away
• planted borage and tomatoes
• felt a tiny bit sun burnt and mostly really, really happy.  it's a little freaky how much i am affected by the seasons
• hung some fiber out to dry

 

 

i now i really have to get cracking.  i am going to be sharing a booth with the amazingly talented jen at renegade craft fair in brooklyn this june 14 + 15.  this means that i have lots and lots (and lots!) of dyeing and spinning to keep me busy over the next not-even-two-months.  i'm excited.   

the weekend so far

there has been:  the beach, the dog park, some seed starting, ice cream, pancakes. 
it's been nice. 

here is a little yarn that kind of ran out of steam after spinning a  few yards.  these super heavy coil yarns take a fair amount of patience and wrangling, and i don't always have it in me to stick with them! i like what i did manage to eek out though.

 

friday night buffy + beer are calling!

but first a quick word to let you know that i have new fibers for spinning  available at my etsy store.

this one is my favorite:

 

and i added some new yarn to the yarn shop.

this one is my favorite:

 

speaking of favorites:

 

after school beach weather is my favorite kind of weather, yes indeed.

Fo: cabled cowl

I have to say that I truly admire people who are able to take graceful self-portraits.  I have a hard enough time getting most of my head in the frame.  You can see what I mean in these pictures of a handspun cabled cowl I knit.  I tried taking pictures of me wearing it on two separate occasions.
It's kind of embarrassing.
But enough self-deprecation. 
Onto the knitting!  Here's the cowl scrunched down:

 

And here's the cowl pulled up for days when it's too cold to breathe. 

 

 

The yarn you see here is from Moustache Rides Yarn and it is super fun stuff.  Melissa + I did a yarn trade some time ago, and I had knit myself a really basic hat, but it was not what the yarn really wanted to be.  I felt like it was really asking to be a neck warmer instead.  The cowl itself is really kind of an Irish Hiking Cowl; I improvised but it's pretty much the same deal, cable-wise, but with a little more purling in between the cables.  If you have a skein of handspun lying around and aren't sure quite what to do with it,  I highly suggest the quick gratification of a cowl!

  (And hey!  The good news is that I think we are firmly planted in cowl-scrunched-down weather, finally.  Today I even have a window open.  It's a teeeny bit chilly, but damn, that fresh air is some really, really good stuff.  )

happy easter

If that's your thing.
Personally,  I really like bunnies.  And candy. 
I feel lucky to have a small person in the house who shares these exact same affinities. 
And I love that she still believes in the Easter Bunny, and that he knit her this version of "his baby:"

 

I was kind of proud of this silly little bunny, and yet, I'm a-okay with letting this Easter Bunny guy take all the credit this year. 

guess who's ready for spring

So ready.
It's still gray and chilly and not feeling very springy at all here in Maine.
Nonetheless, I wanted to celebrate Spring's first day with a shop update, even though it all still feels a long way off.  You can click on the mosaic to see more.  Hope you enjoy!

FO: cotton washcloth

Natasha has made friends with a girl whose mother has an apparent (and tragic!) allergy to wool.  Hence, I give you rectangle o' cotton in seed stitch:   

 

Busy hands during playdates are a must for me!  I will probably buy a fancy bar of soap and give this to my mom as part of a birthday "stocking" type dealie. 

Speaking of soap, Carrie sent me a bar of soap from here when we swapped fiber.  It was amazing stuff!  I haven't been able to find any locally, which is a bummer, because I'd feel awfully silly paying shipping to get more.  I'd even be up for a yarn-for-soap swap if it's something that anyone out there can find locally.  It's that good!

yarn flowers

I love the yarn ball flowers that Cassi of Bella Dia made.   Really, if Cassi's made it, it's a very safe bet that I completely adore it, and I was really excited to see her post this idea.  I have been frogging a lot of thrifted sweaters lately, which has resulted in a lot of small balls of yarn, and I happen to have a lot of old, mismatched, single-but-too-pretty-to-part-with knitting needles*, all of which seemed perfect for this slightly unruly bouquet. 

 

These balls will be skeined, washed, possibly dyed and knit at some point, but for now I love the idea of repurposing while recycling.  I also made a more simple, dainty arrangement with some tiny balls of handspun:

 

Thanks so much for the lovely idea, Cassi!

*see also: bamboo and birch dpns that a certain very naughty dog has nibbled.

FO: Little Improvised Socks

I made some socks last week.

Specifically, I made some socks for very, very tiny feet.

My handpainted yarn, 36 stitch cast on, knit top down, some cables thrown in for good measure. I went on total guesswork when it came to size, and was a little bit wowed when I held them up to my daughter's newborn footprints. They look a small in the photo, but they are an exact match. Kind of eerie! Of course, these are not for any hypothetical fruit of my loins, and I'm crossing my fingers that these will work for the recipient's feet, at least for his or her first week or so!

3 things I'm loving:

yarn with squiggles:

and yarn without squiggles:

small girls who write love notes on foggy glass:

and a bonus fourth thing: the great sound of thawing earth and melting ice outside. hurray for march!

FO: Fingerless Banjo Mitts

I made these last week for my friend Jen*'s birthday.  They were easy and fast, and gave me some fun cable practice too!

I used about 130 yards of my own bulky handspun merino.  I am a little embarrassed to be showing off my use of the banjo cable which is obviously soooooooo dorky compared to Adrian's complete and absolute ass-kicking excellence.  Nonetheless, I hope to write a pattern for these mitts in the days to come.  For now, the quick how to goes like this:

Cast on 28 stitches and divide on double pointed needles so that needle one has 12 stitches, and needles two + three each have 8.  Rib (I did 2 x 2) for 2 or 3 inches, and then plug in the cable pattern of your choice on needle one.  (You may need to fiddle with the number of stitches at this point depending on what your cable panel requires.)  Or you could skip the cable idea all together and do whatever suits your fancy.  After the first repeat of my cable pattern, I started thumb gussets, and continued with a second repeat of the cable pattern.  I finished with a little more ribbing at the top, and added a bit of cozy in the way of thumb coverage (also 2x 2 ribbing).  And that was that!  I know I already said it, but- easy, quick and fun!

*Jen hosts knitting night for us in her living room week after week after week.  She has many other fabulous qualities too, but for knitting night alone, I believe that she deserves lots of presents on her birthday!

Snow squalls bad; swapping good

I am trying hard to not complain about the cold and snow and ice and darkness this year.  But seeing more snow out there after a day of fairly high temps and sweet, sweet sunshine is totally bumming me out.  However!  I am a very lucky girl because every once in a while people mail me things that are so beautiful they almost make me cry (in a good way).  I feel exceptionally lucky because this event has happened, not once, but twice in the past week.  First, it was this fun batt from Melissa: 

 

And then today it was this pile of happy from Carrie:

 

 

Thanks again, swap buddies!  You've both helped me feel like this long haul through February is a little less daunting.  xoxo

Wool 100%

No knitting to report so far today.  I did cast on a February Baby Sweater  last night while watching Mai Tominaga's  Wool 100%.  Holy wow.  It was beautiful in a Jean-Pierre Jeunet meets Japanese fairytale meets a Bjork video kind of way.  With lots of knitting.   How could I not love it? 

Truly, it was one of the best visual treats I have had in a long time.  Just look at some of the stills from the film:

 

And like the little girl in the film, I need to go frog my sweater and knit again.  I got way too distracted and forgot all about the buttonholes! 

FO: Irish Hiking Scarf

I really love how knitting (or any hand-making, really) can be full of tidy (and sometimes painfully obvious) metaphor.  Take, for example, me and cables.  I have been knitting for going one four years now and had never really given cables all that much thought.  (Well, it's not that I hadn't thought about them, or admired them, I most certainly, almost reverently, had.)  I just kind of guessed that they would be tricky, or at least trickier than what I knew to be easy. (I do like easy.)  But it's funny how some things wind up being so do-able once you actually sit down and do them.   

My Irish Hiking Scarf has taught me these things: that underestimating myself is dumb, especially without even trying first, and that the easiest way through something is through, one row, or even one stitch at a time. 

And that ends my the brief needle/navel gazing.  I hope it wasn't nerve-gratingly poignant. 
Which just leaves me to say this: Look! Squishy! And cozy-rific!

 

Yay!  I am so glad that I tried.

Happy Valentine's Day!

edited to add some specifics:

The yarn I used was a thrift store find.  It's Merino Sheepskin Company's 14 ply in color #16 (Mallard).  I used one skein and US size 9 needles.  My final measurements for the scarf come in shorter and wider than the pattern's measurements, but I haven't blocked mine yet, so I am sure that this will change!

 

Sort of a free pattern: knit pixie hat

I am hesitant to call this a pattern.  it's really more of a recipe.  Besides, there are a lot of patterns out there that are kind of sort of along similar lines.  Just google the term "knit pixie hat" and you will see what I am mean.  (I really love this one, although I fear that photo alone may have caused spontaneous ovulation.  That baby is just way too cute.)

Regardless, in case you are curious about how I made my hat, here's my attempt to share a pattern:

Top Down Knit Pixie Hat

Yarn: Because this hat is knit starting at the top and working your way down to the size you want it to be, things like gauge and yarn weight are fairly open for whatever works best for you.  I used ~110 yards of my own (heavy worsted to bulky weight) Confetti handspun yarn, and this included plenty for a generous tassel. 

Needles: I used US size 10 dpns, and eventually  wished that I could find my circular in that size.  You should use the needle size that will work best for the yarn you are using.  I'll bet that you are more organized than I, and you can find both your circs and your dpns, you fancy pants.  I thought about going down a needle size to make my fabric tighter and the top of my hat stand up straighter, but opted for a needle size that would create more drape in my fabric and a more flopsy kind of hat top. 

My gauge (and yours can differ): 4 sts, 6 rows= 1 inch.

My finished measurements: 11 inches from point (not including the tassel) to brim, and about 17 inches around the brim, big enough for my head, and with a healthy amount of room to grow into for my six year old's.  Remember, there is lots of room for interpretation here; your hat can be as big or as little as you want it to be.

  To get started:  CO 3 stitches and place place each stitch all alone on it's own dpn.  Knit the 3 stitches, joining them in the round.

Round one: Knit

Round two: Increase the first stitch on each needle (I just knit into the front and the back of the stitch) so that you have 6 stitches total, with 2 on each needle.

Round three: Knit

Round four: Increase the first stitch on each needle again so that at the end of the round you have 9 stitches total with 3 on each needle.

 

Keep going, knitting and increasing on alternate rounds.  Or, you may want to make every round an increase round if you are using a lighter weight yarn or if you want a shorter, less triangular top.  You can play around with the shaping a lot here. 

 

It took me 44 rounds before my hat looked big enough around for me to stop increasing.   At this point I had 72 stitches on my needles and my hat measured 6 and 3/4 inches from top to bottom at that point.  This is the part of the recipe where you will either need to eyeball (my usual M.O.) or measure your gauge and do the math to figure out what will fit your recipient's noggin.   

Once I guessed that I had increased enough, I knit another 2 and 1/2 inches (15 rounds or so) and then began a knit 3, purl 2 ribbing (to do this I had to reduce 2 stitches.) After an inch and a half or so if ribbing, I bound off 23 stitches, put 12 on a stitch holder,  bound off 23 more, and left the 12 stitches remaining on a dpn. 

The optional earflappery:

  You could certainly bind off all your stitches at this point.  You can always pick up stitches and add some flaps later on if your feelings change.   If your gauge is rather different from mine, you will needle to do a little bit of math to work out how big you want your earflaps to be (mine start out being 3 inches across and are about 3 inches long) and how you want them placed on the hat. 

 

To shape those flaps:

(You may want to reduce on every other row if your gauge is significantly smaller than mine.)

Knit 4 rows in garter stitch.

On your fifth row: K1, sl 1, psso, K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K.

Knit 3 rows, then every fifth row reduce in the same manner as row 5 until you are left with 4 stitches total.  Knit one row of 4 stitches even. Second to last row: K1, K2tog, K1

Last row: K2tog, K1, 2 stitches remain for i-cord ties. 

I-cord for 10 inches or to desired length, bind off, weave in ends, top with tassel or pom-pom if that's your thing, and go, keep someone's head toasty and warm!

 

 

Some other great pixie-pointies patterns free on the web:

Pointy Ribbed Pixie Helmet Hat

Elf Pixie Hat (A lot like my hat, but knit from the rim up.  I like the increased flexibility of a top down pattern.)

The Olive Bobbles Hat

Baby Hat- Pixie Hat to Knit (Eek- that's another painfully cute kid!)

 

Enjoy!