knitting – Page 15 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Virtual Yardsale – Updated 2/11

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Welcome to My Virtual Yard Sale. I’m spring cleaning, so I’m looking for good homes for art supplies, children’s clothing, and other household items. It makes me sad to see things going unused on the shelves.

Kiln for Precious Metal Clay and other PMC Items — contact me at joyce at elliebelly dot com if you are interested in any of these items. I would prefer to sell it all together

Lot of Boys 4T/5T clothing for $20 plus shipping

size 4 navy blue “place” long khaki style pants
5 gap kids khaki shorts with great pockets
4/5 red bravaa soccer shorts
4/5 grey crew cuts cotton jersey shorts – only work twice
100 hanna anderson blue jersey shorts
unknown brand green plaid shorts
4 gymboree plaid shorts
4 polo jeans company tee in nice worn in boy shape
4-5 crew cuts navy tee
5 T circo yellow/gray striped tee
4/5 crewcuts lobster tee — very very cute
5T cherokee white/argyle vest-cute for easter with 1 very small minor stain at the neckline that should come out but you have to look pretty hard to see it. Including light blue shorts that look cute with them but do have a nickel sized stain 4″ down from the waist — again i think this will come out

Studio Sunday

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Among the joys of a rainy three day weekend is having a lazy studio Sunday.

I'm spending some time dyeing; but as you can see, this one is a surprise for now. Any guesses?

The multi-blue square I've been working on for the knitted Barn Raising Quilt is finished. I'm meeting my goal of one a month — I didn't want to shut down all of my other knitting to work on it, but it's hard not to. The squares all look so pretty together. I need to pull them all out soon and do a photo of them together for you to see how it's coming along.

I'm devoting most of my day to working on a collage piece. I started this a while back, prepping the canvas and dyeing a piece of silk organza to lay down as the background. The problem was, I liked that simple, paler-than-ballet-shoes-pink rectangle so much I became unable to work on it.

Yesterday, an old post card of the Capitol caught my eye and I decided to play with this piece. It is evolving into a multi-page altered book spread, done on one canvas. This is an idea I've been playing with for a while.

The basics of each of the three pieces are blanked in, but I'm still working with ideas for unifying the piece and I'm still auditioning the embellishments. I'm hoping I can find a larger skeleton key tucked away somewhere, as the one thing I definitely want is a long key that stretches all the way across the middle collage.

I like the buttons anchoring the bottom here, but am thinking I may want some darker buttons. Either way, I'll sew them on as the last step.

I'm still debating how to adhere the mica here. I rarely use mica, but it seemed just right on this piece. And that sweet little flower, which came off of an old hat, is definitely destined for this piece.

This last segment is still very unformed. In the studio it isn't shiny as in the picture, but rather it's a very textural bone colored base for the tiny collage I've temporarily adhered with nail heads (who knew you could make them gold by smashing them into a gold stamp pad and baking the color on with a heat gun?) This part is very much in play still. Really, the whole thing is. I'm glad to have some time to see what it's going to become.

A New Favorite Yarn

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

I have a new favorite yarn — Malabrigo's Rasta. It's extra bulky, single plied (or unplied, depending on your point of view), and extraordinarily soft.

Knit up in the Mirror, Mirror Reversible scarf pattern.

I liked both the pattern, a simple, wide cable, and the yarn so much that I'm contemplating a Meathead Hat from it, and perhaps a sweater for Ollie to wear this fall. This is definitely knitting nirvana.

How to Knit a Bird’s Nest

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Thanks to some inspiration from the good knitters at the PurlBee, I've knit a nest.

Isn't it fun? Instead of stuffing, I've used dried lavender blossoms in my eggs. This nest will ultimately perch in one of the walk in closets, perhaps the one where much of my yarn is stored, as a deterrent to moths. These first two eggs are knit from Manos del Uruguay's Serena, a lovely yarn that would make a fantastic little baby sweater. I'm going to knit a few more from Blue Sky's silk/alpaca blend.

More Squares

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

I'm eternally optimistic.

I'm pretty sure that given my current rate of progress, I am fully capable of having the Barn Raising Quilt I'm knitting for Miss Princess completed by the time she leaves for college in, oh, about, six years. Such confidence. But then again, was it really me that thought knitting a blanket on size 2 needles was a good idea?

Nonetheless, I adore this pattern and enjoy knitting the little squares, although I'm far too ADD to stick to just one square at a time. I like to keep them in different stages of development.

This square in KPPM is turning out to be a favorite. I'm trying to insure a good mix of light and dark squares and different colors without being too intentional about it, so I'm randomly pulling yarn out of my stash of sock leftovers but trying to insure that if it's blue one square I'm on to green the next time.

This is some Elliebelly yarn, leftover from one of my favorite pairs of socks. And then I moved on to more KPPM, but in a much lighter value of colors.

This one is so new it's hard to see, but I think it's going to be a favorite. In fact, I'm thinking more of this yarn may be needed to knit a sweater for a friend's new baby that is on the way.

There is definitely something very pleasurable about knitting these wee squares that are simple enough to knit over coffee while talking with friends but have just enough going on to keep boredom from setting in.

And, while looking ahead to finishing it some day, I discovered a picture of my friend Susan's absolutely stunning finished quilt. Isn't she amazing? She used a crocheted edging on each square to create the outline.

Emmaline — Finished

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

Early this morning, in a strikingly bad example of IPhone photography, your intrepid blogger announced that she had finished Emmaline. (Actually, Emma was finished on Saturday, ends woven in Sunday, but this has been the first opportunity to photo and perhaps I should have waited for a better one, give the outcome of the picture)

The photo displays neither the best nor the worst features of the finished garment to advantage. The worst was likely the size choice. I knit a size medium, but probably should have done a small. The armholes, and possibly the neckline as well, will require a bit of crochet device for a good fit. On the plus side, the yarn is cotton, and the pattern calls for a machine wash and partial dry in lieu of blocking. I am hopeful this process will result in a more desirable fit.

The best feature of this sweater is undoubtedly the simple, but very elegant, yarn over patterning along the yoke. Although the yarn is bulky, the sweater itself is soft and comfortable and perfect for summer. I could see reaching for this to go out to dinner after work, to wear to the farmers market, and on and on. I would, and am actually thinking about, knitting it again. The soft sea foam green cotton yarn that I'm using for the lace baby blanket I'm in the middle of would be perfect.

Back to the Barn Raising Quilt

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Joyce Makes Art

My Barn Raising Quilt (oh the folly of knitting a blanket on size 2 needles) has been languishing for some time now. This is due to a series of sad circumstances involving a mean stewardess, some missing stitch markers, and a charming, but wool loving, mutt.

I'm back to it, though, knitting two squares at once.

This quilt is probably the best use ever for leftover sock yarn. And it's a fun knit — pretty good Olympic knitting, which is what got me started again.

The quilt is made up of 42 knitted squares, which means I will probably finish that at some point in the year 2018 at the rate I've been going. It's meant for Ellie, so as long as I pick it up and finish before she goes off to college, I should be ok. Fortunately, I have lots of sock leftovers and plenty of plane flights ahead of me — this is the perfect airplane project — so stay tuned for more progress.