Dragon's Paws Fingerless Gloves

I finally have a new pattern to share.  I call it Dragon's Paws because the stitch reminded me of a dragon.  I did the first pass in an alpaca sock yarn and they were soft and warm but a bit loose, so I took a stitch repeat off and did a second one in "scorched lime" sock yarn a bit smaller.  So the pattern has two sizes S/M and L, XL.  This pattern is ribbed so it is forgiving in it's fit and hugs the hand nicely.  I love ribbed designs for my fingerless gloves. 

The edges are picot at the wrist and at the top so the pattern includes a picot cast on and picot cast off.  I include links to YouTube for any techniques that I use.  That way even less experienced knitters might see how it's done.  I would consider this an intermediate pattern but if you like a challenge, even a beginner should have success.  You can always ask me for help and I will be glad to give you any hints you might need.

I am also working on a cable and lace version.  Then I must start designing new items.  But I do enjoy the fingerless gloves as they are fun and don't take too long to make.

Latest Doings, Fiber necklace

 This is a new item in my etsy shop.  It is core spun yarn that is spun around a cotton center with beads strung on it.  Then I twisted it up and added a clasp after wire wrapping the ends to hold it.  The fiber is periwinkle blue and the beads are brown with blue and tan. 

This is some felted soap that a friend made from roving I sold her .  She makes the soap and then uses roving to felt it.  So pretty and you don't need a washcloth.  If you want to buy some, go to her etsy shop Treefort Naturals and check it out!

New Scarf From Yarn

I ended up knitting up the yarn I posted last time as a thin scarf.  Picture above.  It turned out pretty nice.  I needed more color in the yarn though.  Not a bad example of what the combo yarn I learned to spin from Kathy does when knitted up.  Her's is still prettier as she has more practice and is so good at combining colors and things.  I'm learning though!  She is still such an inspiration to me and sounds like she is doing well out in Maryland.

I am crocheting again as I found some cute patterns for baby shoes.  They will be great for summer and can be seen on my Etsy Shop  or my Facebook page.

Spinning different yarn

I have been working on spinning some art yarns inspired by my friend Kathy Withers.  Sadly, she is moving to the east coast and I shall miss her a lot.  She is always an inspiration and co-conspirator for me in my fiber addiction as well as an enabler.  I am so happy for her good fortune but I will miss hanging out with her and creating stuff.  Here is my new yarn.  It seems dark to me, so I am knitting a scarf with it myself to test it's knit-ability.  We shall see how it turns out.  I should have added more color.  That's for the next one I guess.  I'm learning as I go.  And now that I have a new camera, I need to get my light box made.  One thing at a time.

Social networking

So I have joined the ranks of the hard core social networkers. I have a fan page on Facebook and am actively promoting it now. There are others on Facebook who will work for you to broaden your readership and as we all know, readership and exposure equates to sales. I am doing a lot of cool things to get people to come to my webpage and comment on my stuff. Now all I need to do is get more stuff out there for them to comment on and buy!

I would love to be a full time artist as some of my friends and family are. I doubt that will happen any time soon so for now, I will keep my day job. But as I learn about new ways to advertise, and new things to make and experience I will grow as an artist and a web personality. My wonderful daughter is teaching me a lot about this as she has a method and is really getting as much work as she can handle doing this type of thing. She then gets to stay home with my dear granddaughter which is wonderful for them both. I never had that opportunity but I am glad that she is enjoying her role as mother to the hilt. I did too, but while working. Both ways can work if you want them to.

In any case, I hope to bring my blog into the ring of my pages and start to network with my readers here. If you go to my fan page and like my page as well as comment on stuff I have up there, you can win a 25% gift certificate for my Etsy store. Not a bad prize. I will give away one certificate a week according to the fan page app that is running the show. If you want something that I have in a different color/size or whatever, just ask me and I will be happy to make it up for you.

I will also be working to make patterns for my quilts as I post them for sale on Etsy. And yes, you could get 25% off a quilt as well. Why not? I have to transition to more web based sales of my yarn too as my dear friend Kathy is leaving Tucson for greener pastures, literally. She's moving her flock to Maryland and we will sorely miss her here in the desert. Plus I'll have to go to the east coast now to be in shows with her. On a bright note, I'll finally get to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival which is the very biggest one of all. Too cool.

If you are interested in my daughter helping out your pages, send me a note and I can hook you up. She really rocks and although just starting out, is doing really well with her craft sales. She has a natural instict for what to offer to sell also which I don't have. I make what I like and she knows what people want. So I lean on her for some of my ideas, but mostly I design from my heart.

A new camera!

Finally, I got a new camera for Valentine's Day from my sweetheart! He tends to buy me jewelry but I told him that I really wanted a camera more than anything else. If you have been looking at my blog lately, you can see that my iPhone just does not take good pictures of knitting stuff. The pictures are dark, even in full sun! So now I have a beautiful new Canon. It's small and cute and perfect for my needs. I will put up new pictures soon and be happily knitting away, knowing I can take good pictures of all my new stuff.

More baby wear

I made this out of acrylic baby yarn. It's a seamless baby kimono from The Complete Fabrication blog. I keep thinking that somehow new mothers will want to have easy care and washable stuff. But I don't like working with the acrylic nearly as much as my own wool or even my ever favorite, sock yarn. Acrylic just doesn't feel nice to the touch like merino wool and angora. I suppose I'll have to get past the easy care dilemma as I am a spinner at heart and love to work with real luxury fibers. It does take more time though and will cost more for a finished item. But it is way more organic and everything I do is hand processed and pretty hypoallergenic. I am sensitive myself and am careful what I use to wash my wool with.

This is a pretty color though. It reminds me of cotton candy. It took a long time to knit the sweater, and it's such a tiny thing, only 19" at the chest. I was thinking baby clothes would take less time. Well, OK they do. But it seemed a long time, maybe just because it was acrylic???

Obsessed with booties

I have been knitting baby booties for weeks now. I seem to be looking for the perfect baby bootie. I want to use up some of my own yarn but ended up buying acrylic for some because I think that mom's want washable stuff. This may or may not be true. I did spin some blue mohair and merino and knit some cute socks that I think my granddaughter could wear. They turned out cute. I knitted them like regular socks toe up magic loop which is my favorite method to do two of anything. My pictures all seem dark though and I took them outside. Guess I need a new camera.

I have not decided whether to send these to my adorable granddaughter or put them on Etsy. But I have more yarn to try more socks with. Could be fun!

Bunny Hat

My daughter thought that a bunny hat would be cute. So I found a great pattern on Etsy and made my granddaughter one. It is adorable and was fun to knit. I also have a bear pattern and I even though this one is crochet, I could probably do one knitted. I'd like to try double knitting. Could be fun...

Neat Scarf pattern

Source: thisdomesticlife.blogspot.com via Craftsy on Pinterest

Needle case

I decided to make my own interchangeable needle case. I made a double case that handles both my Denise and KnitPicks Harmony interchangeable needles. I searched my fabric stash and grabbed something that was attractive to me. Then I looked at some other needle cases and figured out how to make my own.

I like it and it does actually handle most of my knitting paraphernalia.