Last Weekend

As most of you (I'm assuming) already know, last weekend was Easter weekend.

The minions woke up Sunday morning and found that the Easter Bunny had left them a bag of goodies. There weren't actual baskets at our house. Instead, there were rather large bags that the minions can fill with all sorts of things throughout the year...

Then we headed over to my Parents' house where the minions were able to hang out with the family and collect some eggs.

After a little while, my Nephew T arrived and the kids (and the adults) had a good time playing outside in the nice weather.



Now those are some brows!


Every year I try to do a mini garden starting with seeds. I check the temperature, the water, the soil... And, every year the newly hatched plants do well up to a point and then keel over which gives me an excuse to head out to one of the local greenhouses. I guess my thumb is more of the fiber-y variety than of the green sort. Both minions were extremely excited to get going with the seeds this year so I agreed, secretly hoping that the seeds would just take off and grow and grow and grow this time. Taking my track record into consideration when it comes to this sort of thing, I also decided that this year I'm not worrying about anything -- just throw in some soil, throw in some seeds, water things occasionally, and if they're hardy enough to sprout up regardless of the conditions, they just might have a sporting chance.


This photo is just proof that there is some green going on in the Dreams in Fiber household right now. Whether or not it continues to be green... We'll just have to wait and see. Just in case though, (hubby this means you) a gift certificate to a greenhouse for Mother's Day might not be a bad idea. :)

The Socktoberfest That Wasn't

One of my favorite months of the year is October. I love the colors, the cooler temperatures, the bonfires, and of course, Soctoberfest. This might be the first Soctoberfest that I have participated in that I don't make an actual pair of socks. I have a couple on the needles right now, but I don't forsee a finished pair. Perhaps I'll just have to continue the celebration into November and have my own Novemberfest! Perahps not ;)

I have started creating my own little crochet bag, however. I'm using some of my own hand dyed yarns along with the scraps of some of my past projects and have even gotten some help from my Thursday Night Knitting Group ladies. I ended up starting this bag earlier than I had originally planned because I burnt my left index finger. Not sure how, but it wasn't too fun to knit. BUT, I could crochet. I'm a little farther along with my hexagons since this photo was taken, but it gives you an idea. It will be a little slower going now that my finger is all healed up though!

I did get a little bit of knitting done last week though :) I might have mentioned that little man is really enjoying going to school and wanted me to make him a hat featuring his school colors. I had a moment of inspiration last Wednesday and CO for it - to hell with the outrageous number of WIP's I have going... I was then informed that last Friday was School Pride Day and he wanted to wear a finished hat to show his teachers. I finished up the finishing portion of the hat about an hour before we left to go to school on Friday. Talk about cutting it close! I was able to give it a wash and a block though and here's the finished hat.


The family and I headed down for a little mini trip to the in-laws' lake house this past weekend and it didn't take little man long to notice the remains of the trees my FIL took down the weekend before that.
It also didn't take him long to figure out how fun it is to jump off!
Little miss got in on the action too but she preferred the tree trunk that was laying all along the ground. She was more interested in batting practice.
This particular photo was taken just before I took a shot to the head - I think she might have known what was going to happen given that smile...

The minions were also a big help in the garden; it is bulb planting season :)

Here are a few other photos taken this past weekend.
I'm off to try to get some WIP's taken care of, wish me luck!

Changing Plans

A new addition to the family arrived via my SIL K on the 9th of October. The family and I were supposed to be heading out to the Pacific Northwest to see "Big Z" but the minions caught whatever it is that's going around little man's school at the moment and they've passed it along to me. So, we're sending the hubby and MIL instead. If you'd like to see pictures of the little guy, you can see them here.

Since it's been a little while since I have shown any handmade goodies, I thought I would do a little bit of catching up and show some of the sooper seekret things I was working on.

First up, J (Squibstitcher on Ravelry) and I did another birthday swap this year. I knew I wanted to make her gift out of her own hand dyed yarns and I also knew I didn't have enough of her colorways so I sent out a few messages to some ladies on Ravelry that had completed projects using some of her colorways that I didn't already have, and voila!

A crocheted handbag, complete with lining though I don't have any photos to prove that. Actually I don't have any completed project photos at all, these were taken prior to the addition of the second handle and a wash/block, but that's alright. Here's the other side.
She liked it :)

Here's what I got in MY birthday package :)

I can't tell you how good this soap smells - you'll just have to trust me!

An embroidered dumpling bag complete with hidden treasures...

Some of J's Vamp Club Colorways

Thank you Squib!!!

My spinning has been almost nonexistent lately given my TO DO knitting list, but I couldn't help myself a while back and spun up this little lovely.

It started off as a pencil roving dyed by Gherkin and I must say, though it was my first experience spinning pencil rovings, it will not be my last! I've also made it through 2oz of 4 for a friend of mine so hopefully I'll have pictures of that one soon.

I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about this next project either.... If I did, you can just look at it again. This was a handspun hand knit cowl for my Mom's birthday (also last August).


I've also succumbed to a new addiction as of late...


Crocheted scrubbies! Love these little things - they take less yarn than my normal garter stitch washcloths and they're quicker to make. Don't get me wrong, I still like my washcloths, but you (and by 'you' I mean family) might be seeing more of these too :)

The last two months or so have been rather busy for me. I took part in an I LOVE the 80's CLUB along with two other dyers (Squibstitcher and Gherkin on Ravelry) and October was my month. I whipped up a few patterns:


Dyed up all the yarn and shipped them out. It's a nice relief to have it all done. I've never done a club or anything this size and it was rather fun!

As we all know, October = SOCKTOBERFEST. I love Socktoberfest. What a perfect excuse to make socks. I finally got around to finishing up my other Hermione's Everyday Socks sock so that pair and my Strut pair will be finding their way over to Aunt M's house shortly - once we're all over this lovely sick crap. I've also got a few other socks going at the moment. I'm not sure how many I'll actually get done before November, but we're going to give it the 'ol college try anyway.

I think I mentioned that little miss picked out some lovely tweed yarn at the LYS a few weeks ago now. She picked the yarn, the colors, AND the hat pattern. We went with the House Hats beret pattern from Alison Hansel's book Charmed Knits. It's a nice quick little project - especially nice when you need an I-want-to-start-and-finish-something-now project. Since little miss was modeling her hat (really it was more playing with the leaves, but you can see the hat so all is well), I took the opportunity to get a few shots of my FIL's Holiday Cousteau Hat. He's already seen it so it's not a surprise for him but he told me that he would act surprised anyway when he opened his gift so that's covered. I've made this hat a few times now and it's a great ribbed hat. My issue with this one was gauge. I really dislike gauge sometimes, you know? I used one of my hand dyed worsted skeins and my gauge was in between. I fought with myself during the CO - if I CO the smaller number of sts it would be too small but if I CO the larger size it would be too big and I really didn't feel like dissecting the pattern right then and there so I went with the larger size. Then I fought with myself as I knit the main ribbing portion contemplating ripping it out and going with the smaller size because I just knew it was going to be too big....

But I kept at it and finally just made him try the damn thing on so I could avoid fighting with myself over the next few months. It fit. It's a tad big but it's wearable so we're leaving it at that!

The hubby and I went to little man's school conference today. He is doing well and excelling in many things. There are a few areas that need a bit of polishing but it sounds like the rest of the class needs a bit of polishing in those areas too so we're right on point.

I'm working on a few projects/patterns at the moment that can't be shown yet, so as always, stay tuned! I'm also dyeing up some Autumn Inspired skeins for the shop which I'll post in a week or two. The Holidays might be semi-homemade this year instead of homemade but we'll see what I can get done. Christmas in April has a nice ring to it!

The Fest

A few weekends ago now, my SIL K and her hubby M flew in from Portland, OR for a long weekend and we celebrated my in-law's birthdays and wedding anniversary along with some friends and family down at their lake house (which little man deemed "the fest"). I didn't really get my camera out very much seeing how my SIL K is the professional but I did take a few pictures of little man and little miss enjoying the "fish water" with their Uncle M.
Little miss was a little hesitant but couldn't resist trying it out after watching her big brother splashing people and having a good time.K is putting a few pictures together for me so I will show some of her photos next post. Since K and M were here, I thought it would be a good time to give them their baby shower gifts along with a few that were originally going to be gifted at the Holidays -- but why not give them to them now so they can get more use out of them I say?
Up top we have the Baby Sophisticate Jacket along with a matching Cousteau hat (which also matches M's). Then there's the Mushroom rattle, and a little vest (a new favorite pattern by the way!) along with some wee Irish socks and a handspun baby sack. The links take you to my project pages on Ravelry where you can check out the yarns and modifications if you're so inclined.

Since I started dyeing (and spinning) my own yarns, I don't really buy much yarn anymore unless I need something specific that I don't have in my stash... Earlier this year I ventured into a LYS and couldn't resist getting a few brightly colored skeins in which I planned to make a hat and matching mittens for little miss. I found a pattern and really tried to knit it up as written but I knew early on that it wasn't working for me. So, I decided to just wing it and see what happens.

What happened is that a basic ribbed beanie got way out of control.
This baby measures about 29 inches in length. I finished it up and added the pompom at the end and presented little miss with the finished hat. What do you think little miss? "Hmmm. Me no love that hat. It's way too big a me". Well...

I was working on the ribbing (with every intention of just doing a plain hat, honest!) and got the idea of doing a stocking cap so I did a little bit of figuring and worked up a pseudo-pattern and just knit. Every once in a while I show it to her to see if it's grown on her yet but to no avail. It does fit me so it'll get some use one way or another - much to the hubby's delight I'm sure; he just doesn't get my affection for fun hats but I don't let that stop me ;). I guess now I'll have to rein in the muse and make her a plain beanie or maybe a beret.... ooh, or maybe a pixie hat? I wonder if I could put together a mad bomber hat... hmmm. Perhaps I should just ask her what she wants? Of course that would just be way too easy!

To be continued....

There and Back Again

For whatever reason, I find that half the time I am not quite sure how to start off the blog post. Today is one of those days so why not just jump in with both feet? I've been knitting away in this past month, some socks, some designing, AND, even some crochet but as that's going to be a Holiday gift, no pics yet. Actually, my current knitting photo options for posting are next to nil. Here's one that shows some recent socks - some old, some new. Left to right: a pair of socks knit in one of my hand dyed skeins, my Irish Pride socks, another one of my hand dyed skeins - the pattern for which is also an original and will be available first for those participating in Fresh From the Cauldron's Wizard of Oz club and then available to the public - the first sock of the pair in my Strut colorway, and a wee pair of socks for little miss made out of Sunshine Yarn's Soft Sock in the Another Weasley colorway with Chocolate heels and toes. I'll try my best to take some actual knitting photos for the next post :)

In other big news.... Remember how I had been lamenting over the fact that I didn't have a spinning wheel and then I got one and was lamenting that it wasn't working properly? Well, thanks to a woman my hubby works with, I am the proud owner of a new-to-me Ashford Traditional and look, singles!!!!! For any seasoned spinners out there, you may want to avert your eyes, but I love them :)A friend of mine had gifted me 2 different rovings this past Christmas and I have since spun them both but only have pictures of the first one. I'm trying to decide if I want to ply them or not. Needless to say, there will be future spinning content on the blog as well and hopefully some visible improvement as I practice. Now I can figure out what I'm doing and fix up my other beauty!

All in all, it's been an eventful month. Grandma D and Grandpa B celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary :) Below picture was taken by my parents.
We went out to dinner and then hit the lanes. This was the minions first actual bowling experience and they loved it.
Here's a blurry taste of the action.

Earlier this month, the hubby and I took the minions to the cemetery to meet Mom and Dad for our annual St Patrick's Day celebration. I may have mentioned this before, I may not have. Every year we head to the cemetery to give my Grandfather and Great Grandparents a shot or two of Irish Whiskey - I'm Irish on my Father's side (and they liked their whiskey!). Afterwards, we all headed to the pond (located within the cemetery grounds) and fed some ducks and geese. And minions.
Always on the lookout for new treasures...

There was a bit of squabbling within the ranks that day.
Spring has arrived and hopefully that means no more snow for a while. I have been busy in the kitchen dyeing up some new base yarns and have listed most of them on my Etsy site. If you like what you see, you have my permission to buy a skein or two which would really help me out at the moment seeing how I am currently looking for new employment! Good times. Enough about all that though, there's a thunderstorm moving in. I do love a good thunderstorm! See ya for now :)

A New Post for the New Year

January is almost half over! That didn't take long. I think I left off right before Christmas. The Holidays were good to the Dreams in Fiber household. We were able to spend time with family and the minions were able to tear open many a package, not necessarily all theirs :) Here's a little mosaic of some of the festivities. It's rather difficult to take a good picture with all of the activity!Little miss was not overly thrilled about having her pictures taken so she ended up hiding and/or sulking off by herself for part of Christmas Eve. The other photos include my Grandpa B, my cousin D, my cousins J and R posing for the camera, little man, and my nephew T.

Early last year, my friend J and I decided that it would be fun to do a birthday swap and a Holiday Swap. In the package I received was a fabulous crocheted afghan
and my very own Dalek!
Also included in the package was a crochet answer book and some various edible goodies and fun stuff from Florida. It was perfect really, because I have had crochet on the brain lately! Part of the package I sent her included a secret keeper bag and an assortment of books and coffees.
All in all, my knitted in '08 list was pretty respectable. I ended up with 15 completed pairs of socks, 4 single socks, 5 hats, 10 mini sock ornaments, 3 scarves, 1 pair of mittens, 1 blanket, 13 round ornaments (which I still have yet to photograph!), 13 felted bowls, 2 pairs of fingerless mitts, 3 pairs of wrist warmers, 3 bags, 2 cowls, 1 oven mitt, and 1 mini thong. Plus a few projects straddling the years that I don't count in the overall totals. I should probably show you a few more of those completed knits!

Do not adjust your screen, these are two of my single socks. The sock on the left is for my MIL and the sock on the right is for my Mother.
Here is the pair of wrist warmers for my SIL A
and the pair of camo fingerless gloves for my Brother.
When I was knitting the scarf for Grandma D, my MIL mentioned that she liked the colorway I was using and since I had plenty of that particular yarn left, had asked if I could make one for her. I decided to use a different pattern. Pardon the bad photo, I was trying to get one up for my Ravelry Projects page and haven't taken a full view photo of her Scrunchable scarf.
My FIL is as difficult to knit for as he is to buy for. I told him that if he didn't give me a project direction he could end up getting whatever I came up with, including a rainbow thong. He chose a scarf. Again, sorry for the photo... I'll get a better one later.
Wrapped up in his scarf was a tiny little rainbow thong.
I drew my Hubby's Aunt K in the Chicago Family Christmas swap and chose a silvery gray Malabrigo. On the right is a simple cowl and the left is a pair of mittens. Originally I had a different mitten pattern in mind and halfway through the first mitten I noticed that it was going to be a tad too tight but would fit me just fine. I decided to create a new pattern for her mittens. I have always loved the textured patterns in the fisherman's sweaters and thought that a simple all-over pattern would work well for the Malabrigo. I'm working on a pair for myself in brown. I'll finish the original mitten pattern one of these days.
So what is in store for the new year? I'm not really one for making resolutions; I know what I want to accomplish, I don't need a new year to start to make any needed changes. I am working more from my stash and even destashing a bit. I'm not going to say that I wont buy any yarn in the new year because I know I don't have the needed yarn for some of the projects in mind for 2009, but the stash enhancement will probably be minimal. I mentioned before that I have crochet on the brain and I am doing my best to finish up some of my WIP's/yet to be started projects on my list before I get to work with a hook but rest assured, there will be crochet in my end of 2009 project tally! Coming up in Early February is the 3rd Annual Des Moines Knit In where I will be donating some of my hand dyed yarns and meeting some local Knitters. And I have started to attend a Knitting Group which should be fun :) I haven't been dyeing much this Winter seeing how it's a bit difficult to open up all the windows and ventilate the house but come Spring you will be seeing new skeins on my Etsy site. I have been working on a list of colorways and themes for the upcoming Spring/Summer/Autumn which I am excited to get working on. In the meantime, I am exploring some different non-yarn products to list on Etsy. I will also be designing some new projects for my friend J's upcoming Wizard of Oz Sock Club. And of course, there will be more fun and photos with the minions! So... it's a bit late, but Happy New Year everyone! With any luck, it will be a good year for all :)