25 July 2013

Project Update!

Its been a while since I last updated you about my recent projects

It was when I had just finished my first Milo vest for Milo May
 
I made a second one for my niece, Miss 7
Its identical to her sisters one but this pic shows the back
 
 
Now I've slowly been working my way through the Woolly World Knits patterns
 
They sucked me in with their pretty colours
 
Since discovering Katja's patterns, I've developed a obsession with hats and mittens
 
Another Testing opportunity came up but this time for a Hat/Mitten set so I started with the Validus Mittens
Everyone else did their hats first and you know me, I like to do things differently!
 
 
Then I made the Validus Hat
 
 
I was hoping for a cold day to bundle up with my hat and mittens for an awesome photo shoot, but the sun came out and ruined my plans!
(plus I finished the day before my Samoa trip and I needed to get my test results in)
 
Then I finished a Webby
 
 
Ok I know the photo looks like an egg yolk but thats what you get with white bench-tops
I wanted to show how the top of the hat and the 'web' looks
That and the picture of me wearing this hat in my boat with a raincoat, sunglasses and life-jacket on is not inspiring...

 
Then, I realised a certain little lady's birthday was coming up and I had promised her a hat
Remember my Hat Marathon conversation with Kate?
 
So she got this Arya hat
 
 
I'm proud to say I didn't make a single mistake with this hat
Not that I always make mistakes, I don't, but this pattern was so beautifully written and so easy to follow I'll try to make one for myself
That and I kept the old written version because Me + Charts = FAIL so I need written versions
 
Now I'm planning her brother's hats
I'm not saying they'll get their's for their birthdays (Samuel, Isaac.... if you're reading this)
It might be random, it might be Christmas
 
Who am I kidding, it'll probably be their birthdays
 
I've been looking up Men's hats and found ONE I like
 
ONE!!!!
 
Where are all the men's hat designers?
Designers who use DK/8 ply yarn?
 
Non-exsistant thats where! If you're out there and reading this..... I want hats for boys/men
Not hats that can be made with pink yarn and changed into girls hats
Oh and I need it by January at the latest :-)
 
Anway..... moving on....
 
Last night I finished these beauties
They're called Avena
 
 
One is a little bit tighter than the other because I made it while watching a zombie tv show and let me tell you zombie's scare me more than anything else in the world
But I keep watching it because I NEED to know that they don't take over the world!
 
So as you can see I'm a walking advertisement for Woolly World Knits!
 
And I'm proud of it because the patterns are amazing
 
Why don't you pop over and have a look at all the pretty patterns?
 
Now remember I told you I'd give hand-dying yarn a try?
 
Well I did it!
 
I got my large stock-pot, mixed my die, added the yarn and stired it all around
 
I tried Blue
 
 
I tried Yellow
  
 
I also tried Red but the photos of it in the pot aren't very good
 
I ended up with some beautiful colours!
 
 
I started winding up the blue last night and its oh so squishy and pretty!!
 
 
I also learnt a few things:
1. Don't tie the skein up too loosly or the ties move together and everything else ends up knotted
2. Use acrylic for ties because those don't soak up the colour. I used opposite colours so the ties were easier to find
3. The Spin Cycle on my washing machine is awesome. I laid it out so it wouldn't tangle and since all the water was spun out it took very little time to dry
4. Don't tie the ties too tight. My red had white streaks because the die couldn't get through to the yarn on the inside!
 
 
I'll be using these skeins for myself!
 
(Insert evil genius laugh here)
 
And I'm planning on casting on one of these amazing colours in the next few days!
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Lol, you're so great! I love it when you make these blog posts, haha! :D Your Avena mittens are so beautiful! Great work. And those handdyed colors! So cool. I can't wait to see what you turn them into.
    As for men's pattern, yeah, there're really not a lot of great ones to choose from out there. Perhaps try the new BT Men patterns. Just type in BT Men in the search field on Ravelry. I like the Graham hat by Jennifer Adams, too. But yeah, there're really not a lot of men's hats out there, sadly.

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    1. Haha thanks! Ooh I'm going to go and have a look right now!I've seen the Graham hat, its going to be my backup

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