Fingerless Mitts

Fingerless Mitts
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Pattern: Susie's Reading Mitts, by Janelle Masters from Dancing Ewe Yarns
Needles: size 2
Yarn: Woolarina handpaint. Repurposed from Ella.
Modified for smaller gauge.


Great pattern, fun, fast knit.

Redwood Lacey Hoodie, FO

Pattern: Lacy Leisure Hoodie, by Gayle Bunn, from Creative Knitting, May 2008
Yarn: 7 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca, colorway Redwood. I had only a few inches left.
Needles: Size 8 circs
Mods: I eliminated ribbing at sleeves and body of the sweater. I knit most of it in the round. Picked up stitches around the armholes and knit in the round, top down. I missed increasing stitches after the ribbing so the pattern did not match up in shoulders:(. My sleeves came out quite wide. If I had more yarn, I would have made the sweater a little longer.

Comments: I love knitting with Ultra Alpaca. It slips smoothly on the needles. I am a bit done with fuzzy yarn for a while, though. I bought so much of this yarn on sale at Webs, and I have finally used it all up!! The pattern is well written and easy to follow. The lace is very pretty and easy to remember.

Bangle

Bangle
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Gypsy Wire Bangle from "MakeWireJewelry" free download from Beading Daily. Tutorial by Janice Berkebile' Ruby-zoisite beads, recycled bells from earring. I tried out the liver of sulfur gel. The project sheet adds one more bead on every other cluster, but I didn't find anything in stash to match. This was a quick project and completely from stash!

Handspun Kitty

Blogless Sandy and I are having fun learning to spin. An Opalism (after the Hyperactive Monkey who is our mentor) is "never buy only 2 oz of roving". Now that I've spun some yardage, I understand why. What can you do with only a few yards of anything? Thus the mini-cat. The brown yarn in this mini-cat (4 inches tall) amounted to ~36 yards. One single is bamboo merino, and the other single is merino. I used every bit the yarn up. The white is some bandless ball of cream stuff. I knit him up on size 2 needles using Brownie the Cat pattern (link on side bar). His eyes are needle felted on. I was trying for the yellow/green eyes like my folks cat. Perhaps he needs a mouth.

Totoro has a shelf at Windward Mall!!!

Animation Magic, Windward Mall
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Totoro are pretty rare around town when compared to Ms. Kitty, so I was happy to discover he has part of a shelf at Animation Magic in Windward Mall. Good thing world domination is not part of Totoro's philosophy as it is common knowledge one shelf leads to another.

Today was a spinning day. I got to work with my Bosworth Drop spindle on SW merino wool/cashmere sample from Corgi Hill Farm. It was most luscious and the spindle is more than!!! I am going to order another Bosworth spindle. Blogless Sandy and I both worked on our plain white stuff...a little boring, but we agree we both love our Majacraft wheels. She made the best lunch of Chinese chicken salad and pork roast with lavender rub. As we say here in Hawaii...onolicious! I even went home with leftovers for dinner! Thank you!

Sandy has a very sweet kitty named Koa and a fish named Cupcake.


A surprise was waiting when I got home. Polwarth Roving by Woolgathering in the mail from the Knitted Brow herself, in these great blues. I've really been wanting to try some. Thank you, Kim!


On the knitting seen, are wips and more wips. I had dropped Lacey hoodie in the ugh pile, but keep getting it out as it seems the least of the all the other evil wips. It's all the mods (knitting in the round and leaving out the ribbing) I tried to do and the fact that I am really short some yarn. It was chilly here last night so I caught myself wearing it even though it has only one sleeve. The sleeves came out like giant bells.

Card Day with Sister Rita

Card Day with Sister Rita
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Today's card day theme was thank you cards. Totoro was recycled from my calendar cutouts. Sister Rita was in a Valentine's Day mood, so the theme shifted.

We both loved the Sizzix flourish and the puffy rabbit stickers. All the prefab stickers and things make creating so easy.

Totoro clock

Totoro clock
Originally uploaded by acornbud

MDF Acorn shape from damboisedesigns etsy store. Clock movement from Klockit is much more quiet and hopefully be more durable then the one I got a the local craft store. The decoupage is made from a Totoro Calendar cover sheet.

My atomic clock movement did not fit, so I'll try another one and have the Landcaster drill a recess for the hex nut. I got the acorn shape in 2008
and it just sat until I finally got the paint and the Modgepodge. The hardest thing for me is waiting for the coats of Modgepodge to dry. In the end it was worth the wait.