Psychic Knitter

 I LOVE colorwork and I LOVE cowls so naturally I am a huge fan of the Pacific Knit Company which is home to Doodles! Doodles are  collections of design charts made for color work knitting. They are easy to follow because they are so well designed.. There are many themes to choose from in order I used colors  to design your own cowl or hat. This set was knitted using the Arctic Collection. I used colors that were almost identical to the colors used in the design shown on the pattern I bought. The Doodles use DK weight yarn. Using DK you will get better details. One of the colors (perhaps even 2 ) are worsted weight because I could not find the right color in DK at my LYS. The gal there helped me find a worsted that was light enough in weight to match the DK I had chosen. This also helped me save a little money since I had to buy four different colors. If you don't have an LYS near you, I recommend Wool and Company. They have an inexpensive line of DK with a good selection of colors to choose from. The headband was something I design myself. It started out as a cowl but I soon realized that it was a bit too small so I finished it off with a rib on the top instead of ripping it out. I did make a matching hat, which like the cowl was easy. I had the pattern for  a hat from one of her other designs so I used that as a template .Colorwork is fun and it doesn't take very long to do on these small projects. It gives you just enough of a challenge to be interesting but it's not that hard that you can't watch television or listen to a book while you knit. Just make sure to stick to just ONE martini because there is a bit of counting involved.

 As we approach the end of the first month of Winter, I am ready for a nice cozy fire, a nice blue gin martini made blue by using Magellan Gin and some online shopping to keep me from having to venture out into the cold winter night. While it's preferable to shop your LYS, sometimes it's just not possible for a variety of reasons. You may not have an LYS in reach or it's a bit too far. Keep in mind that you can shop online and also be shopping at a LYS even if it's not your LYS.

This is where I have to give a huge shoutout to the only yarn shop I shop at online and that is Wool and Company. It is located in Illinois and it is an actual yarn shop, so it is an LYS. Why I like Wool and Company is because they offer a price variety in their yarns AND they offer free shipping on every order which is fantastic, AND the biggest thing is that they will wind your yarn for FREE!!! The free shipping is great but the free winding of my yarn is a blessing and this is why my loyalty to them is undying! Their customer service is outstanding as well. I had ordered a few skeins of a color for a shawl project and they wrote to tell me when they looked at the skeins they were not as matching in color as they should have been. They offered me a few options and I decided to go with one of them rather than wait for the color to come into stock again. These kind of things are important when you are shopping online because you can't see each skein you are ordering. 

While nothing beats browsing your  LYS or the LYS in a place you are visiting, there are some alternatives online that can be a good substitute. 

Happy knitting!

 It's been a while! I have been busy all these many years knitting and trying new crafts and returning to old ones. Life is a journey after all. The primary focus of my knitting lately has been for charity. It has been so much fun and so nice to dig into that rather large stash I have. This is a baby blanket soon to be mailed out to Knitting For Peace in Denver. They were in need of baby blankets so I decided that knitting a blanket would be a nice change. This pattern called for Sport weight and I had some DK in my stash so I decided to use that and I am pleased with the result. The colors used were a dark teal, purple and ice blue. The pattern is called Jordan Baby Blanket and it is free. I found it on Ravelry. Happy knitting!

It has been quite a while since my last post. I have been posting on my Toadwerks blog and Soul Traveler when I get a chance before life gets in the way.
 I have been very busy in the knitting department lately with my focus being on knitting for a cause. I love this type of knitting for the obvious reasons of reaching out to others. This type of knitting involves very simple patterns which is great for knitting on the go, or knitting and catching up on some shows and movies. I try hard to use my stash but I inevitably end up buying just a little extra to get the right look. My yarn of choice is acrylic because it is easy to care for and it is inexpensive. Plus brands like Red Heart have a ton of color choices. In the past there have been complaints about the roughness of Red Heart. While still true on their standard brand, they do have some other lines that are a bit softer and include some fun patterns runs in them. Joann's has a great selection of acrylic yarns and they always seem to be on sale. This blanket below was made with all Red Heart yarn for a project called Welcome Blanket.   https://www.welcomeblanket.org/ They are associated with the Pussy Hat Project. The blanket is made with mitered squares which seem to go so fast and give you lots of fun options when assembling. I had a lot of fun with this one. The purple gradient kid's blanket was also made from Red Heart.
The local charity group I knit squares for has added some more options for knitted things so I have been able to knit some fun color scarves using some of my stash and of course some new skeins that I couldn't resist. I used Yarn Harlot's "One Row Handspun Scarf Pattern" for the self striping Grey and Pink Scarf shown below. It was a great pattern, easy but not boring!. The other scarves were done in plain garter stitch.

Just plain old self striping with some great colors

Self striping yarn with Yarn Harlot's pattern

Self striping with a pattern in the yarn.

If you have some stash you want to work through there are so many choices out there both locally and nationally. Time for a Martini! Happy Knitting!

This past summer I FINALLY found a sock pattern I could do. It's a simple tube sock pattern that a friend of mine sent me. Now I am addicted! The pattern I am using is called "Tube Socks" and here is the link in case you would like to go to Ravelry and take a peek at this fun and easy pattern:
 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tube-socks-2 The picture above is the first sock in what I hope will be my holiday socks. I used Plymouth Yarns Heritage Knits. It has a good price point and it's self striping and creates that wonderful pattern you see.. The first pair of socks that I completed was from a sock yarn I purchased from an Indie yarn gal on Etsy several years ago with the intention of making a shawl. Because the yarn is purple and green, it makes it perfect for Halloween.
On a recent trip out to San Diego, I found a sweet pink speckled yarn that I thought would be a nice remembrance of our trip. I started knitting the socks on the beach. I named the yarn Seashells. Next up for me is to finish the other holiday sock so I can wear them before Spring! I also have in mind to make a pair of patchwork tube socks using the leftovers from my sock yarn collection. The thought of making a pair or two of socks to give as gifts for the holidays quickly flew out of my mind when I realize that I will have to start knitting for the holidays for next year! After all there are only so many Martinis one can drink and still be productive... Cheers!

I have a friend who's birthday is on Halloween and he is a big fan of the the holiday. I decided to make him a Halloween theme throw for his birthday this year. It was a lot of fun to design and sew. I was determined to get it done in time for our Halloween Cocktail party so I could give it to him then so he could enjoy it a bit longer than for just one day. I used a combination of solid gray and black squares and gray and black printed Halloween theme squares for the quilt and I like the way it turned out.Although I made one for myself last year, I am very tempted to make another one for our other sofa! It may have to wait until next year though. My cat Gypsy enjoyed hanging out on the quilt while I took a picture of it! Good thing he is not allergic to cats :) I did forego the Martini until after I finished with the quilt. Cheers to me!

back view of quilt

It all started this summer with the Leafy Washcloth pattern by Megan Goodacre. It was love at first site with this easy fun pattern.Plus, I love knitting wash cloths. They make great gifts you can give as a set, or as an add on to other gifts. I love including one with my homemade bath products. It was by accident that I discovered there can be other uses for this leaf pattern. I decided to make some fall color leaves to give as gifts to some of my friends. One night I was happily knitting a nice pumpkin color washcloth when about halfway through I realized I was not using the right yarn. The right yarn being a cotton yarn. Instead I was knitting with some Red heart I have in my stash for craft knitting. I WISH I could blame the martini I was drinking, but I can't since I wasn't enjoying any adult beverage at the time. I am just plain scattered! I decided to finish the leaf and ended up with this curled piece of yarn project. I went downstairs and steam pressed it until it was flat. It looked so nice that I decided to use it as a table decoration.I also think you could make several of these leaves and make a banner out of them using clothes pins and pinning them to an Icord. If you want the leaves to hang without curling, you could trace and cut out the leaf shape on cardboard and attach with glue.
So what about this Pomegranate Martini you ask? Simple. Just add a splash of Pom juice to your favorite icy cold brand of vodka after it has been shaken, not stirred. The Leafy Washcloth pattern can be found on Ravelry as a free download. Cheers!

Where have I been? Besides sewing up a storm, I have been knitting a lot of squares of late, a bit too boring to post pictures of until you put them together. My two friends and I have been making afghans for the volunteer organization we belong to. We all used to go to the weekly meetings and knit and chat with fellow volunteers, but we found that it was getting harder to attend the meetings due to some pretty full schedules of our own, so we decided to work on squares on our own time and then meet to assemble the afghan. The latest afghan was so much fun to put together! I actually created the color theme for the afghan so that I could knit the daisies for it. These are the smaller afghans designed for children. The larger ones are 39 squares which seems a bit daunting to us (two of us knit) so we leave the big ones to the group.
 I am now working on the next one which is a Harry Potter theme. It's the Griffindor colors of maroon and gold. I'm hoping to add a Griffindor lion on one of the squares. I like the idea of doing the Harry Potter themes because they can be used by both girls and boys! At the moment, I am furiously knitting some I cords for little bags I'm making for my Etsy Store, Toadwerk and also hoping to complete "the other mitten" which will then become part of a nice winter set for myself. More soon!

 This last weekend I did a vendor gig with my Etsy craft business, Toadwerks. Toadwerks specializes in making tarot cloth, knitted tarot bags and handkerchiefs. It is the tarot bags that have in the past month, had me longing for a Martini, or four, on a daily basis. Sadly, I could not afford the luxury of chilling out, when I needed to rev up my one woman production line. The paradox is that I sorely needed to chill out as the days got closer to the convention. I don't want to say that I was hard to live with, but I'm just saying that the cats were cutting me a wide path when they saw me coming. The day before the convention, as I was sewing on one machine while my embroidery machine was whirling away, I looked up and saw that my cat Gypsy was eying the embroidery machine and getting a bit closer to it than I was comfortable with so I went over and picked her up. Thinking that I was going to feed her to the machine, she did a kitty freak out that ended up with me having four nice long scratches going across my hand. Being the craft warrior that I am, I threw some ointment on my hand, wrapped it in gauze and continued on. My efforts and sacrificial blood letting, were rewarded with good sales on both the tarot cloths and the bags. More importantly, I was able to learn more about what the customers prefer in terms of colors and themes.It was fun to be able to sell my products in person to a target audience. Best part? It's Martini time once more! Cheers!

On this TBT I am going back just two weeks ago when I was on a trip to Portland Oregon. I had the good fortune to be there just a few days before the Rose Festival which means that the rose gardens were in full bloom.It occurred to me, as I was sitting and knitting under a beautiful pink rose tree, that I had just finished a fun summer shawl that could well have been inspired by the colors I was seeing in the rose garden. I used a ball of Freia Hombre Lace in Melon which I purchased at Rose City Yarn Crawl. The only thing that would have made the day more perfect would have been a Cosmopolitan Martini in hand.

My love affair with Portland Oregon continues and the feeling is mutual I know, because The Rose City greeted me with warm sunny days that lasted (just 2 rain days) for over two weeks.
 I finally got to attend the Rose City Yarn Crawl this year! I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had. Suffice it to say, that I came home with enough yarn to knit with for the rest of my life! I am hoping to use it up this year so that I have an excuse to shop until I drop, again next year! I got to visit some old favorite yarn stores like "Close Knits", "Happy Knits" and "Pearl Fiber Arts", and to discover many fun new stores including my favorite new store, "Twisted"! Twisted has a real Portland  feel and look to it and the staff is very fun! The following is a picture tour of my yarn crawling through the Rose City...

It began with joining the RCYC Mystery Knit Along! I finished my shawl in while in Portland and blocked it in the hotel room. It was fun to see everyone's interpretation of the shawl. I should have taken pictures!

I picked up my bag the day before the yarn crawl started. I even ordered ahead to make sure I got one.

The goods! A basket full of local yarn!!

I discovered Black Trillium at their trunk show at The Knitting Bee. I was surprised that I stopped at just 3 skeins, but it was only my first day. The skein on the left is called "Hedwig" and it will be a shawl. http://blacktrilliumfibres.com

At Twisted I was able to decide on just one beautiful handmade yarn bowl from JAMPDX.. I really wanted at least three of these beautiful bowls.

I joined in on the Friday night party that Happy Knits hosted. Lots of good food and drink AND Three Fates Yarns in all of her awesomeness. I bought this pack of gradient pinks to make a polka dot cowl!

I'm glad I was dedicated to making it to all 15 stores on the crawl. If not I would have missed Wool n Wares in West Linn. This friendly shop offered the weary yarn crawler bottled water, candy and oranges, not to mention the Knitted Wit Trunk show! Her color selection was incredible and beautiful. I bought some of her mini skeins that she calls Gumballs, to coordinate with the skeins I chose. I also picked up a few skeins of some lovely local alpaca and a few other goodies as well.

For Yarn's Sake in Beaverton had author Larissa Brown there on Saturday. She was signing her new book "Beautiful Wreck", a tale of  time travel back to Viking times. Lavender Sheep was there with some specially hand dyed yarn especially made for Larissa's book. I finally managed to pick out a skein. Luckily they also had special small skeins in little bundles so I got one of them as well

It wouldn't be Portland without Voodoo Doughnuts. Northwest Wools (Portland's oldest yarn store) had the pattern for the yarn crawl and this nifty kit which was a must have. I really had to resist the urge to ask, why not pink? :)

At The Naked Sheep Yarn Store I got to sit with author Anne Berk and learn Annetarsia! I hope I remember! If not, I have the book

This past week here in Denver we had the "Yarn Along the Rockies" yarn crawl. This year's crawl included 24 stores ranging from as far north as Lafayette, to as far south as Colorado Springs. I had initially decided to hit just two or three stores and ended up visiting a baker's dozen. Along the way, I visited some old favorites and made some new discoveries as well. I did not limit my purchases to just yarn. My purchases included, stitch markers, dragon scales, fancy knitting needles and alpaca earrings. I clocked many miles traveling up and down the Front Range and was thankful for a wonderfully fun book I was listening to on Audible books. I was also glad to be able to share the last day of the trek with my husband. We combined yarn crawling with a wonderful lunch in Boulder a an incredibly good pub called "Fate". While all of the stores were charming in their own way, I just had to take a few pictures at a cute store in Lafayette called "Mew Mews". The store is named after the cat who is as sweet and friendly as can be. I offered a swap of three of my cats for her but the owner said no deal. I had to settle for a picture.

The WIzard

In the corner of the store stood a knitted figure about 6 feet high. It was simply incredible. The details were astonishing. When I looked closely there were tiny mice being held in one of his hands, no doubt food for the snowy white owl he held in his other hand. I have seen this fiber artists work before at her booth at Denver Comic Con and never realized that she was based out of this tiny store in Lafayette. I met some lovely store owners and had some fun conversations along the way. I would have to say that my favorite "yarn crawl experience" was at a store called "A Knitted Peace"

MewMew

(http://www.aknittedpeace.com) They were so well prepared to welcome the many visitors. I was particularly thrilled to see a huge cooler full of icy water bottles that were a welcome treat on such a warm day. Their pattern was beautiful and available online or as a quality printed pattern. When I purchased my yarn crawl bag it was full of goodies that included some things that were useful to the yarn crawler such as a pen and paper pad so you could note down your favorite yarns and such for future purchases. I also appreciated the discount coupon they included in the bag for use on a return visit. Best of all was the incredible yarn selection. I'm pretty sure I bought too much yarn but how could I resist?
As far as my own knitting projects go, I have finally finished my sweater, or should I say jacket? It turns out that I made the wrong size so instead of a sweater I have a nice boxy jacket. I have since cast on the same sweater pattern, this time using Cascade Heathers in a yummy purple. I am determined to get it right. I also finished enough squares to make a youth blanket for an ongoing community project I work on and have since begun another one, this time with a pink theme. This next one will be slow going as I have to devote my knitting and crafting time to get ready for the Denver Witches Ball where I, along with my friend, will be sharing a space in the vendor section! I'm very excited to be able to sell my hand knitted tarot bags and tarot cloths plus other magical items to a kindred collection of people. Spending so many hours in my craft room may necessitate making my martinis by the pitcher, this time stirred, not shaken....

Future blanket

The Summer is passing too quickly, especially in terms of knitting projects. I have been seriously considering entering my stash of unfinished projects into the Guinness Book of World records for consideration. I really feel I have a shot to win. The other week I spent half the day in my craft room, just organizing the yarn stash. All I can say is that if I ever dare buy another ball of black yarn, my husband has permission to shoot me. Earlier this Summer I went to a trunk show at Fancy Tiger Crafts to see the fabulous Stephen West and Steven Berg.

with the fabulous Steves

This of course resulted in buying several wonderful patterns and of course, yarn. It was special "for the tour only" yarn. I had to do it. Speaking of Stephen West, I joined his Summer KAL and have started working on the "Vertices Unite" shawl. I love all of the stripes! The scarf is fun and easy to knit while I am watching television. Did anybody mention "Outlander"? Oh my! I am about 8 rows from finishing my Dream Stripe shawl using the beautiful Anzula Nebula sock weight yarns. I hope to have a picture up of the finished project sometime between now and the time I die. Speaking of insanity, I found yet another KAL that I cannot resist. It's called the" Four Elements Dragon Mystery KAL". It's a "choose your own adventure" pattern. It reads like something out of Pathfinder. It is a double knit scarf so your dragon will show up on both sides looking ever so cool. Speaking of Pathfinder, I have started making dice bags
both for myself and to sell. I have also been knitting lots and lots of tarot bags both for a special order I received, and for my Etsy store. OK so maybe now I don't feel nearly as bad about the dozens of unfinished projects I have.
The one thing I am getting done are the squares that I work on for an ongoing charity project group I work with. I have a bag of yarn in my car and a square on the needles at all times. I have taken said yarn on hikes, overnight trips and whenever I am in the car. It takes the boredom out of being a passenger.
Our group is now doing some youth size blankets in addition to the regular size blankets. I found out the other day that the youth size blanket will be 20 squares so I now have focus and plan to wait until I have 20 done (all nicely color coordinated) and pack them up and drop them off complete with finishing yarn and a picture for the assembly team. While the knitting has been sitting in bags, I have been getting a nice bit of sewing done thanks to my embroidery machine and some great designs that are out there. I have started embellishing handkerchiefs. My goal is to single handedly bring back the handkerchief industry. I figure my Etsy store is the perfect place to start. Handkerchiefs, are after all, very earth friendly and at the very least make good costume accessories and if nothing else are a good conversation piece. I tea stain white handkerchiefs to give them a vintage feel and take the glare of stark white away. You know, I have always hated ironing so it was only natural for me to take up sewing.
You gotta love 100 % cotton. NOT. I am on my second iron in 4 years. I loved my pink iron but it finally gave up on me so I went with a Rowenta (a very low cost model) which I heard were good. Yes, I went for color over quality with my last iron. It was pink after all. Generally speaking, when purchasing my crafting items I like to go with good brands but the most basic model. My thought is that if I outgrow the basic model, I can upgrade at a later date. So far, this has served me well. For now I am being kept plenty busy with sewing and knitting, not sure I can fit one more crafty thing into my brain. Martinis, however, are quite another story....

It's been well over six months since I last posted! Why? Well, because I have been knitting myself crazy of course! I am always  knitting either  my personal knitting projects, for my Etsy store or my charity knitting. To top it all off I recently purchased an embroidery machine, so the adness has escalated.
Shortly after my last post on here, I began the 2014 Rose City Yarn Crawl KAL. I knew I had little chance of attending this year, but my heart is always with Portland so I decided to join the fun. The project was a bit of a challenge but well worth it since I love the end result. I have been using my shawl a lot now that summer has arrived since Rocky Mountain nights are always cool.

Roses and rain

I added beads to the last section of the shawl. It was very time consuming but I love the results and am happy to be using another new knitting skill. I used Anzula's Nebula fingering weight yarn that I had in my stash! I absolutely LOVE Anzula. It's all about the sparkle. The purple yearn in the shawl is darker and more muted in person and prettier than the picture.
Just before the holidays I got a wild hair and decided to knit a winter cowl and matching hat for myself. I used some wonderful Classic Elite yarn that I purchased at one of my favorite Portland stores called "Close Knits". Because the yarn was a bit bulky, the set knit up in no time and I was able to wear it to my friends Yule party. I was nice and warm as I stood by the fire outside, celebrating the season. I plan to make this set again as a gift to someone for this upcoming Yule. Keeping fingers crossed on that promise.

Nice and warm

Once the new year rolled around, I was determined to do a project from a pattern and yarn I had purchased almost a year ago, once again at "Close Knits" in Portland. I found the Classic Elite cotton yarn with no problem but had a harder time hunting down the pattern. I finally found it and made a Sweetheart Tea Cozy. I love the red and white combo for Valentine's Day. The pattern was a tiny bit confusing but super simple and fast to make. The problem though is that it turned out a bit bigger than I thought so my teapot is completely covered. I actually stuck it on my head and thought it might look nice as a hat but then decided  that I would need to knit a cowl to go with it first.

Tea cozy or hat?

I currently have three active WIPs. I am just about finished with my second sweater. For some reason I am hung up on getting the sleeves done. Hopefully I will be able to post the finished pictures of it soon. I am more than halfway through a shawl called "Dream Stripes" that I am knitting with yet more Nebula yarn that I just had to have when I saw it at the trunk show at my favorite local shop, Fancy Tiger Crafts. Finally, Stephen West came out with a Summer KAL where he gives you a choice of three different patterns. I chose "Vertices Unite". It looks like I will need to keep plenty of chilled martinis on hand this summer as I knit away on my back porch. Heaven!

Fall has ushered in a flurry of knitting for me. It goes without saying that I could use a martini! The biggest project that I finally completed after 10 months {which included a lot of procrastination) was my first ever sweater. It is an Icelandic sweater made with Lopi wool. It was a project that was part of a knit along done at Fancy Tiger Crafts. Fortunately, it's not as bright and purple as it is in this picture.

It's not purple

 It was a great first sweater project that has me planning another Icelandic sweater for myself in the near future. For now I am drowning in last minute holiday knitting projects. I found a beautiful baby alpaca wool from Classic Elite on my latest trip out to Portland, that had been knit into the Color Block wrap. It's an easy and fast project with a simple design. It was so easy, I decided to go back to the store and get yarn to make one for my mother and one for my mother-in-law. I am knitting my mom's in an off white to beige gradient. My own shawl was knit in the gray shades. In October I completed a candy corn color cowl and a Samhain inspired shawl made from a yarn I designed at a store called Yarnia, in Portland. I guess it would be fair to say that I have knitting fever. I have come to discover the pleasure of knitting while listening to an audiobook or watching some of my favorite television shows. I also enjoy knitting at the airport and on planes because I feel I am getting something done while waiting through what seems to be a lot of travel delays. As long as I know that a martini is not too far away, I can relax and knit on!

Color block shawl can be ued as a table runner as long as no food is involved