Yarn!

Apparently, most of the people she knows who work with yarn can only do one or the other, and meeting someone who both knits and crochets is like meeting an ambidextrous person

As you can see I'm always jumping an new technique to learn. This is mosaic knitting. It's the first color work I've ever done...and the simplest. Still I see great potential in it.

Let me know if you would like to be tagged on my fiber adventures. And please reblog if you like this. Reblogs are gold!

The app I used to knit my rainbow sweater is officially launched in the App Store (I use an iPhone, I’m not certain if there’s an android version)

It’s called Bellish and it’s pretty neat. You start by choosing the base/silhouette

So far they only have raglan style. You go on to pick your neck shape (v neck, scoop or regular) and the sleeve length (there’s 3).

Next you pick if you want color work or any lace, then you pick the yarn weight (fingering, dk or worsted). And finally you pick your size: goes from a 30 inch to a 54 inch bust.

Then the app spits out your pattern for you with all the right measurements! There’s a little row counter and highlight function to keep track of where you are at and the app remembers after you close it.

I found it really helpful and great because I hate carrying around a bunch of paper and my phone goes with me everywhere anyway. It’s also a fairly new app and they’ve worked really hard to add lots of new features (since I was a tester) so hopefully if people use it they can add more base patterns like set in sleeves or cardigans!

So I finally took a break from my exam prep (math about sperm whales) to type up this slightly too well-researched pattern (also about sperm whales). Sorry for my hand in all the pictures– the door was the only background that was working.  Also, if anyone does this I really want to see, nobody’s ever shown me something they made from my patterns before! Pattern is below read more.

[ koinobori cowl by gingerhaole on etsy ]

Oxidized Copper Shawl

Material: 50% Cotton, 50% Acrylic Wingspan: 180cm / 71in Spine Length: 74cm / 29in

For this and many other handmade, unique shawls please visit my Etsy Shop

The first one of my WIPs is finally finished! This is the one that scored the most votes! Thank you all who voted :)

Did it work out how you imagined it would?

People often look at the tags on my handmade goods and declare that my prices are outrageous. I did the math and THIS is what that handmade beanie you want for $10 ACTUALLY cost to make.

So if you see that $30 on the label, be courteous. Know that I am paying myself far, far less than minimum wage in labor ($2.22 per hour, to be exact) to even come to such a supposedly ghastly price. I can't take that $10 for a hat because no one can live on $0.37 an hour, much less sustain a business.

Shield Of Pride Blanket Check-in!

Once the Pan flag is finished, we’re 19/24 - over the 3/4 mark!!

It took me quite awhile before I felt comfortable enough to knit a sweater, mostly because I had a lot of foundational work I felt like I needed to do before I could approach it. So, for a while I just neve knit them assuming it was too hard.

One day I just really wanted something to show for all of my swatches and practices and experiments, so I decided to just jump in.

My first sweater was a riff off of a basic pattern, I felt like the pattern could hold my hand while I felt free to be a little more creative and try things out.

This sweater was the first result. I was proud I finished a garment but the variegated yarn pooled completely different than I thought. My rainbow sleeve didn’t quite have the effect I wanted and my COLLAR WAS ALL WRONG. I realized how many things I wanted to just redo myself, and I felt a couple tweaks would be able to get that perfect sweater. This was called the “Sunburst sweater” because of the ombré on the collar. Maybe one day I’ll revisit this to get a more effective outcome.

So for the first time I decided to try at it all my own. This was the result. I took my sisters measurements and decided to try and knit a sweater in her favorite color. I thought I got my gauge right and I wanted the gut area slightly bigger so that you could wear it on a full stomach— I failed to realize that I was unintentionally creating an A line. I gave the sweater too much ease for a bulky weight yarn. I felt better about the collar but man did this look and feel weird. I’ll admit I was pretty discouraged after this. This sweater is in my frogging pile ready for when I’m ready to tackle it again. (I have ideas) This was going to be called “lavender fields” but I’ll reserve that for when this is reincarnated

This is my third design! I was pretty discouraged from doing something out on my own, and I had this red yarn in my stash for a specific project in mind. That was a lopapeysa sweater, and I had a pattern just for that. I was going stick to the pattern and everything was going go perfectly. Except it didn’t. The yarn was too variegated for multicolor stranded work and I slowly realized that as I knit bottom up. So midway through I just decided to riff. I threw away the pattern and went forward with designing the shape and faire isle motif by my self. I crafted the collar (my favorite of all three) by myself. I call this “Red Herring” because I started going down one line of inquiry and it ended up being completely outside of that realm. I also cheekily made sure every motif was a chevron or herringbone related pattern. 🙃 gosh there’s so much to this sweater I love it.

Y’all I am so proud of that sweater you don’t even know. So proud that I want to grade it and release it as a pattern. But what I really want to say here is

I would have never have gotten to that sweater if it wasn’t for the first two.

things aren’t going work out perfectly

But that’s okay. What I love about knitting is that every stitch is a learning experience. You learn something new about your craft with every project and that informs your next one. So please don’t be discouraged. Don’t feel like you’re a failure when things don’t work out the way you planned, be that your first granny square, scarf or any other attempts you make in life. Mistakes will be made but you can love yourself and your work at every step of the way. *b*The fact that you could have done better doesn’t have to be destructive. *b* You can let that push you forward into the next thing and you will do better.

You can keep growing and growing but remember when you look back at that first thing. You did that with all the same intention, work, and passion that you have now.

Another bee cowl! This one is up in my shop.