My First Sweater

This is the Retreating Sweater by Samantha Kirby, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

This sweater went pretty fast, with the exception of the ribbing, now dot get me wrong I like ribbing but this was a lot! The sweater is 100% cotton so by the end of the ribbing it was so heavy. My sister just doesn't like wool. The body knitted up like a breeze though! 

The waist section we need to do some tailoring on but she loves it! 

What weekend?!?!

I haven't been posting much and I am very sorry for that. I am going on vacation in a week for the Black Sheep Gathering, and I have bee working seven days a week some 11hr shifts! But bsg is worth it! I have never met a more inviting and welcoming group of people. I started at bsg three years ago now. When I responded to a revelry ad looking for volunteers. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I thought the volunteer was to help work the booth for a few hrs. Oh no!! It was a permanent volunteer to run the information booth. It has been one of the best things on my life and every year I love doing it more and more. This year has been particularly hard for me to concentrate and nail down everything I have to get done, because I have been working so much. I have only given myself a week to get the t-shirts tagged folded and so forth. We have a new POS system and thank god I had that early to figure it all out. I have to thank my amazing husband who is picking up shirts and scheduling things for me. And my co-committee member Jessica, who is my little sister, as she pretty much lets me run the show and she gives her hard work and input on everything. Bsg this year is June 21-24 in Eugene, OR. If you can make it stop and say hi!! 

Very Exciting Week!!

Sorry everyone for not posting daily, this week has been so very exciting for us. This post is going to be short and sweet.

So we posted about being in our first store, well the special orders are coming in! More dinosaurs in different colors with different eyes, and little hats with different logos on them. We have also had our first international order from our Etsy shop. Thank you everyone for supporting KP Knits and sharing us with your friends.

Happy Knitting!

Kp knits is in its first store!!

Yep we are in our very first store. It is only on consignment at a baby store but when I was dropping off my stuff for the little ones I got a special order for a pink dinosaur!! 

I think this is going to be a fantastic venture, it gets my product out there even if it is only baby stuff. Time to work on sweaters and other baby clothing!! 

Happy knitting

New in the Studio

Good Morning!!

There is not much happening right now in the studio, but I have a little to show you.

This is some Romney that I have dyed pink, it was supposed to be red for my sister to spin, but apparently there I added to much water and it diluted the dye. This is ok by me because I love pink!

Here we have the same fleece, it is from Aristine, a beautiful sheep that my friends from Fox Hollow Farm and Fiber own. It is a grey, silver and white fleece and I am separating what I have left into like colors.

I do not have much going on the wheel right now. Time is just not allowing me to get busy with that. I hope to have finished spinning the rolags I have now and learn a new plying technique by friday.

Happy Knitting!

Crazy Weather

As I sit here and watch the stories of more tornados happening in the south my heart goes out to all of the people who are affected and have nothing left. This is leaving me thinking how our weather is being crazy as well. Not as deadly and horrible as the tornados but here in Oregon, thank goodness, we do not have them. We have pretty calm weather compared to many places around the United States. We have had two weeks of down pouring rain and then two days of beautiful sunny warm weather. Today it is overcast and looks like it is going to rain again. I hope not.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy day today!

Lazy Friday!

Well not entirely lazy, I will be working on many hats today as well as hanging out with my two year old niece. Sunday I have a table at our local flea market, I am targeting children because in an adjacent building to where I will be located, is a dinosaur event, where children can ride a t-Rex. They also have many other interactive activities. So I am hoping that parents will stroll on in with their kids and see my hats. This could be a good strategy but it also could be Bad. We shall see!! 

Happy knitting! 

Coffee and a doughnut

So I am changing things up a bit, coffee and a doughnut will now be a floating weekly segment because this week I have been slacking on posting! I am a in home CNA for two different companies here in Oregon. My schedule went from a few hours a day to two 11hr days and the rest pretty much 8-5. So please be patient with me as I get my blog posting under control. 

So I have been gluten free now for about two months and I am loving it!! No more heart burn or tummy issues but I am craving things I can't have, badly. My biggest craving is for a flour tortilla nothing else but that. When I was little my father would "grill" them on a stove burner and then put butter and salt on it, roll it up and there you have a perfect little tortilla snack. He learned it from some of his latino coworkers a long time ago. Anyway that seems to be my biggest craving and it sucks! But I am grateful for the other benefits I getting from changing my eating habits. I love all the fruits and vegetables I am getting to eat, I can say it is more than I have ever eaten before. My husband is doing it along with me so that it is easier to cook one meal for two instead of two different meals for two. It has inspired him so much that in a months time we are purchasing bikes and leaving the cars at home. We will be riding everywhere, work, friends, possibly even the grocery store. I look forward to what the future holds for my health. Is anyone else out there gluten free? What are some of your biggest challenges? 

Happy eating! 

Whoooo are you making these for?

I have been a busy busy bee crocheting these adorable little owl hats!! I got the original pattern from repeat crafter me, and made a few simple modifications. I am running low on color themes in my head and would like some suggestions from you!! Please comment below if you have any suggestions. 

What's for Dinner??

I love to cook and lord knows I LOVE a good baked potato. I also love scalloped potatoes but when we went gluten free I could no longer have them because there is gluten in the cheese mix. So I hopped on Pintrest and typed in Gluten Free and these scalloped potatoes are what I found and they are fantastic!!! I loved them so much that I am making them tomorrow for a group of ten of our friends!

Please allow me to introduce Scalloped Hasselback Potatoes!!

http://recipesineed.com/scalloped-hasselback-potatoes/ this is where you can find the recipe.

You slice the potatoes and then alternate butter and Parmesan cheese slices. Sprinkle with garlic powder and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 45 mins then pour the half & half over and sprinkle with cheddar cheese and bake for 12 mins. Then enjoy!! But let cool first because I couldn't wait and it was really hot. :)

Happy Eating! 

Wool Rolags

I am not the best at making rolags. I am getting better at them, practice makes better. I heard that in my favorite podcast The Knitmore girls and I try to use it instead of practice makes perfect because let's face it no one is perfect. 

A little background info on wool rolags. Making rolags is the process which disentangles, cleans and mixes the fibers together. It breaks up the locks of wool and aligns the fibers to be spun. It is pretty labor intensive and will make your arm muscles super tired. 

What is your experience with wool? Do you spin? Process your own fleece? I would love to know! 

Happy spinning! 

A view into my studio

Hey all here is the promised photos of my studio and where I get creative!! Well I get creative all over the place this is where most of the magic happens.

 This is my wall of fiber and yarns, if you read my fiber overload blog you have seen some of this before. These cabinets were from my parents kitchen when they remodeled, I asked if I could have them for storage. Above the cabinet I keep things like my picker, bags of fiber that are washed but not processed. Also random studio tools.

 This is my dyeing area. Again these cabinets are from my parents kitchen and they provide great storage for plastic, bubble wrap and many other items for felting and other crafting. To the left is a little towel drying rack that my father made for me. He likes to dabble a little in wood working. Currently I have him working on a yarn swift for the studio. I mostly use the roaster pan for my dyeing and I have the drying area on the little rolling cart along with more storage racks underneath.

 On the left is a basket full of washed Romney Fleece, drying up on the top is the 4oz of the same Romney fleece dyed with Greener Shades acid dyes. On the right we have a basket of Suffolk that is many different colors under that green. All the suffolk was dyed with koolaid and easter egg dyes. These were our first attempts at dyeing. It was a lot of fun. The storage area has a bucket and a large container of vinegar on the bottom shelf and a salad spinner on top. The salad spinner is fantastic for getting out the last bits of water.

 This is a full on shot of my dye station.

 I had to improvise on shelving because I like to use things that I already have around my house. So I screwed a cardboard box to the wall and used the flaps as dividers. The fiber I have is light weight so it will work perfectly. The circular needle organizer I made a while back when I was tired of all my circs getting tangled together. I used two knitting needles to hold it.

 This is my staging/display area for knitwear that is finished. There is nothing on there right now because we went to a show this last weekend and we are going to another one June 2nd. No point in putting up and taking back down. I do have a full body form but that is upstairs in my hallway. As well as two more heads that are packed away with the knitted items.

This is Emma, she is our house kitty. She likes to come and hang out with me while I am crafting. She also likes to get into the fiber. She is a very well behaved cat and just likes to sniff everything!!

Well that is the tour of my studio. Where do you like to craft? Please post some pictures of your area or just leave comments.

Happy Knitting!

Fiber overload!

Yesterday I spent a good portion of the evening in my studio organizing and changing things around. To my surprise I still have a ton of fiber left to spin!! Here are a few pictures. 

The left hand side is all Romney batts and on the right bottom is a deep brown almost black alpaca with more Romney on top! 

This basket is full of a washed Romney fleece! 

And this is my latest dye project, I used a mixture of red, orange, and yellow dye. I was trying to create a sunset but this is still pretty awesome! Tomorrow I will share with you my studio! 

Happy knitting! 

Coffee and a doughnut

Today's blog is a little late in the day, but I got lost in my studio, this morning. 

First I want to say that our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the  deadly tornados in Oklahoma. 

Our weather has been very rainy these last two weeks and it just makes me want to stay inside turn on the fireplace have something warm to drink and smuggle up with a good book.  

Myself I decided to venture out into the massive down pour and go visit a friend, get slobbery baby kisses and knit. I am working on little stuffed animals for my next showing on June 2nd. And the baby is a perfect tester. What are you all working on? 

Happy knitting

My garden in the city

This is my little garden in the city. I have a beautiful hosta. This is its second year so it has the little purple blooms. Next to that we have a nelly moser clematis this is also a second year ad has bloomed beautifully!! It is almost time to cut it back. Then we have a few red bell pepper plants and a container of lettuce. I have beans strung up on the plant hanger and in the pot on the far right I have two gerber daisies. This is my first attempt with these veggies and I am hoping they get enough sun. My patio points north so we get the afternoon/evening sun. I love to sit out here and read or knit . The chairs aren't to comfortable though. If you have a little space you like to spend time in, please post a picture in the comments and share your story. 

Happy knitting! 

Rusty fern is up for sale!

Check out my etsy shop, aprilkpknits to view info about this newly added yarn. 

On the wheel

this will be our regular Saturday night blog! 

On my wheel is my color way I call rusty Chevy. It is a mix of Suffolk and Romney. I am unsure of the percentage of each one. 

What do you have on your wheel? 

Color poll and contest

So I will be dyeing some more fiber soon and would like some input as to what colors you would like to see? Please leave me comments letting me know and if I choose your colors, you will win a little something from KP Knits!! I will end this contest June 1st. 

Our first yarn!!

This is our first hand dyed and hand spun yarn!! It is a three ply fingering weight yarn. It will be up for sale on Etsy in a few days. The colors are a good representation of this yarn, in person it looks more brassy but Colors will vary due to monitors. 

Check out our Etsy Store

Please check out our etsy store, AprilKPKnits. We will have new listings soon including some hand painted, hand spun yarns, custom dyed fiber. 

Mountain man!

My husband wanted me to make him a beanie beard that he has been seeing all over. Well I finally broke down and made him one. Well I decided to upgrade it and make a huge beard. Little did I realize how time consuming it really is. When all is said and done this will be one conversation starter!! 

Coffee and a doughnut

So I want to start a regular morning segment, which I am going to call coffee and a doughnut, since I am usually posting at night after I get home from work. In this segment we will be talking about all random things. Not just knitting!

So for a while now I have been listening to The Knitmore Girls podcast and Jasmin is always talking about when she reads a book she dislikes when there are grammar errors and things like that. I am reading a book right now called "How to Make Money using Etsy" by Timothy Adam and it is full of little errors. I read about five pages last night before bed and I must have seen at least four words that should have been a different word or not been there at all! For example this is an instructional bit, "Once your info is all correct, just hit the orange "Continue" bottom at the bottom." I giggled when I first read it but then became a little frustrated, this is such an informative and helpful book, I just don't understand why there are these errors. To me it feels as if it has been pushed through to publishing just to get the book out to the public.

Has anyone else read this book? What are your thoughts?

Well everyone I am down to my last bite and my coffee is gone, I guess it is time to make today what it shall be.

Happy Knitting!

Featured Pattern Designer - Dorene Delaney Giordano

Ok, so I want to start featuring some knitting pattern designers that I absolutely love!

So my first person is Dorene Delaney Giordano, she is 2sticks on Ravelry. Here is the link to her pattern page, http://www.ravelry.com/designers/dorene-delaney-giordano. 

I started out by test knitting my first stocking for her. I LOVED it!! I immediately purchased more patterns and knit three stockings for my family. I unfortunately do not have a picture of my step-sons stocking yet.

 I have gotten so many compliments from people on these. I am even a featured photo for these stockings on there pattern pages (I squealed with glee when this happened, someone actually picked my item!) Friends started asking if I would make their families as well. 

The above stockings are ones that I made for a girlfriend's son and her niece. I also made two for her parents but I have yet to get photographs of these. I am now in the process of knitting two for our really great friends who just got married and bought a house. So they will be a wedding/housewarming present! There have been a few new babies born within family and friends that I need to get planning!

So please go and check out her patterns, she also has a few other patterns that are not stockings. If you are looking to start traditions in your family or just for gifts, these are great patterns.

Happy Knitting!
 

Recycled Market Bags

As of May 1st our hippie town of Eugene OR has passed a plastic bag ban. They cheap fabric bags that stores have produced and sold are just that cheap! The tear along the seams and are meant to be replaced every few shopping trips.

For most people plastic bags aren't just used for carrying groceries, they are a multipurpose household item. Used for cleaning litter boxes, cleaning up after dogs and little bathroom garbage cans. Well I have put them to use for another project. Plarn, plastic yarn, to make and sell great recycled market bags.

I have found many great inspirational bag patterns, but I hope to make one like this one http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2009/01/02/the-green-shopping-bag/. I love the green bags it was created from, it would fit in to Eugene theme of going green, unfortunately here our main bag colors are tan, white, and grey. We have the occasional yellow and green as pictured above but not that often.


I have created a poll to get an idea of what one would pay for these bags, please take a moment to give me your feedback.

Happy Knitting!