Experience the Joy of Hand-Dyed Yarn

OMG You guys, I got mentioned in Eat Sleep Knit’s blog post with my So Faded Sweater!!!! I can’t tell you how beyond excited I am, I’m so flattered to have been selected for their post, and among such other wonderful people and projects!

eatsleepknitblog

Our motto has always been Experience the Joy of Hand-Dyed Yarn. Our main goal every day is to do everything we can to bring that joy to you! It’s the reason Lindsay comes in at the crack of dawn and why Jess stares at her computer until her eyes cross. It’s the reason Emily posts too many cats and Kinsey will never forget that an anchor sinks and a buoy floats. And, most importantly, a desire to bring the joy of hand-dyed yarn to you is what made Erin grow a business that started out of her closet into what it is today!

So, while we were recently scrolling through Instagram, we saw some amazingly joyful faces in #eatsleepknit that we would love to share. It’s these awesome photos that make ESK special so keep on sharing, y’all!

We can’t even with these two Aussie BFFs ❤

Can’t every day be…

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Just Keep Stitching…

So, I’ve been a busy little bee this month, but I’ve still managed to get some crafting in.

I’ve been making pieces of the Christmas present for Natalie, I’m up to 12 now, of the 44. It will get more attention this weekend. I have finished the 2nd part of the Addition by Subtraction Shawl and am into the 3rd part, it has been my in public knitting project lately so it’s moving along nicely. I did finish the Crown Wools MKAL shawl…but alas, I have no good pictures of it 😦 I’ll work on that.

I’ve been focusing on my Hue Shift Blanket, as I have realized that I am starting a KAL next month, and will be on vacation for a week in November visiting family for Thanksgiving…so my time for this blanket, which is no longer very portable, is dwindling.

As of last night I have finished 90 squares, and I do think I can finish the last 10 before the end of the month. I’m hoping to even get around to starting the border, but I’m realistic to the fact that probably wont happen.

 

This yarn is a new acquisition from Serendipity Fibers, a kind of local yarn store (it’s only an hour away from me). The shop owner, Melissa, is the sweetest person ever; she helped me figure out the colors and order (and the yarn to use), for the second edition of The Colorblock Scarf. I’m going to swap out one of the stitch patterns (because the Trinity stitch is the DEVIL) and add a couple more to replace the stockinette portions. The yarn in the picture is good for ewe Claddagh, which is from a dyer up in Indianapolis who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting twice now, once at Stitches South when it was in Nashville, TN a couple years ago, and again at Serendipity Fibers a couple months ago. (Seriously the owner/dyer, Paige, is quite the awesome person, buy her yarn…she has good stuff!)

I don’t expect to get started on the scarf until after the holidays, but I’m going to take more detailed notes than I did last time and try to actually get this pattern written up and maybe even publish it?! The thought terrifies me a little, but I figure why not, I’ve done all the hard work of math and stitch patterns, why not share it…eek! So maybe after sample number two is done I will try seeking out test knitters, to catch my mistakes in the pattern, or get feedback on clarity and layout. I’ll have to work up the courage to do that though.

In my last post I made goals for September…I’m going to tweak them now…

September Yarn Goals:

• 15  25 squares on the Hue Shift Blanket – 15 are done!
• Start on the border of the Hue Shift Blanket
• Finish all 44 pieces of the Christmas Present for Natalie – 12 are done 
• Progress on Addition by Subtraction – this has been my in public project this month, part two is finished and I’m a chunk of the way into part three
• Clues 13 and 14 of the Crown Wools MKAL – some day, but not a priority

 

And now one final little note before I leave you to the rest of your day…

This little tiny munchkin is my adorable “niece” (her mommy and I are like sisters, just from different parents). She’s wearing the mermaid tail and clam shell bra I made last month for her hospital picture, this image is just a preview (taken with snapchat) but OMG look at the CUTENESS!

 

– until next time, XOXO, HandcraftedbyKandi

It’s Been A Productive Month

So, it’s not quite yet the end of August, but I am quite pleased with the amount of things I have completed/made progress on during the month. My goals that I set at the beginning of the month were pretty much met, there’s only one that I’m still working on at this point.

The List of August Goals

1. Catch up and stay caught up on the Crown Wools MKAL. – DONE
2. Make baby photo prop. – DONE
3. At least 10 squares on my Hue Shift. – DONE – I actually did 15!
4. Progress on my Addition by Subtraction – DONE, this is the one I’m still working on. I have picked it back up and am still working on it…the section I’m on is just slow going.
5. Start on Natalie’s Christmas Present. – Swatched only. Decided this will be an O.W.L. for the Harry Potter Group on Ravelry.
6. (this was an addition) Make a leaf garland for my cubicle at work. – DONE

I unfortunately don’t have many pictures of my accomplishments. But here’s what I have photographed.

 

So, I’ve been thinking about what I want to get accomplished in September. My ESK projects that I still want to make for the year are mainly hats and the Q4 KAL which will be a shawl. The shawl I cannot start till October 1st to get credit for the KAL, so I may squeeze in a hat or two since they’re quick, but I wont make them part of my goals.

I’m also going to be participating in a KAL for the Comfort Fade Cardi through/with one of the local yarn stores by me, Serendipity Fibers, and that will start in October too, so I want to try to keep my September projects to finishing existing WIPS, as much as I can.

I have completed the shawl part of the Crown Wools MKAL, but when the designer released the clues last week there was a fun surprise twist…2 more clues. It said that the shawl is finished and the other clues are to “complete the ensemble” so I’m anxious to see what that will be, hat? fingerless gloves? I’ll add this to my goals for September, but I’m not going to make it a priority since it would be a new cast on.

What I need to figure out is the breakdown for Natalie’s Christmas present. It has 44 pieces, that will then be assembled together to make the final product. So I think for my sanity’s sake I need to get a majority of the pieces made in September. But how many? I’ll ponder that for now, but the project will definitely be on my September Goal List.

 

So, here’s my list of September goals:

• 15 Squares on the Hue Shift Blanket
• Progress on my Addition by Subtraction Shawl
• XX pieces completed of Natalie’s Christmas Present
• Clues 13 & 14 of the Crown Wools MKAL

I’m leaving the goals somewhat vague, because I’m just not sure how busy September will be, if I get more squares done on the Hue Shift that will only help me in the coming months.

I didn’t specify how much progress on the Addition by Subtraction Shawl, because it’s only going to get faster as I go, the rows are constantly getting shorter. I would love to finish the 2nd part, but any progress is better than none.

The XX for the pieces of the Christmas present is due to my inability to decide how many I need to get done. The rules for the Harry Potter group on O.W.L.s is that you make your proposal in the first month (September), hit 50% by the second month (October) and finish it in the third month (November). If I get my proposal done and approved early on, I can get my 50% turned in early on in October – freeing up the rest of October for the other two big projects I know will need my attention.

It’s August?! Where did July go?

So, let’s see, my goals for the rest of July were…

1. Finish So Faded Sweater
2. Finish the baby blanket
3. Get to at least 60 finished squares on my Hue Shift
4. Finish the 2nd clue of the Addition by Subtraction KAL
5. Work towards finishing another one of my long languishing WIPs.

Now, you’re probably wondering…or maybe not, who knows…how’d I do?

1. I did finish the So Faded Sweater! (more on that in a bit)
2. I did finish the baby blanket! (more on that in a bit too)
3. I did get to 60 finished squares on my Hue Shift (I’m on a roll…)
4. …I didn’t touch the Addition by Subtraction KAL
5. …I didn’t touch any other wips…
6. I started the Crown Wools MKAL…(oops…)

Time for the fun part…PICTURES!!!!

Isn’t my sweater just plain amazing?! Okay, I’m tooting my own horn here…but I am just so in love with this sweater! I used the Pint Sized version of Andrea Mowry’s “So Faded” pattern and DK weight yarn to achieve a Kandi sized sweater. It fits amazingly well and I cannot wait for the temps to drop here in Indiana so I can wear it all the time.

The details:

Yarn: Western Sky Knits – Willow DK in 3 exclusive colorways available only through Eat.Sleep.Knit.
This was started and finished within the month of July, a record for me…
I was able to participate in a KAL with a Local Yarn Store Serendipity Fibers as well as use this project for Eat.Sleep.Knit’s 3rd Quarter KAL and earned a couple badges for the Booster Club through ESK too!

This cute little guy/gal is ready for my friend’s baby who will be making her entrance into the world in September. Her big brother got a C2C Owl bankie when he was born, so I stuck with a similar style for little miss. (There is plans for a 3rd little one…so when that happens I’ll have a 3rd C2C blankie to make)

The Details:

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver for the cream, white, black, brown and darker orange.
Big Twist Yarns Baby Solids for the light orange and green
Used this for an O.W.L. in the Ravelry Group Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup …a lovely new rabbit hole which encourages completed projects. (Big and Small)

The top row was completed in July…I’m still on track to get this done before the end of the year to be able to submit it for lots of credit (stars and free yards in the yarnathon) with ESK.

This is my current obsession…check out my progress here. Since it’s an MKAL I wont go into to many details yet. Once the last clue is released and it’s no longer a mystery I’ll gladly share more details…hopefully I get caught up and can finish it with everyone else participating. If you want to read more about the pattern check it out on Ravelry here.

So, now it’s time for my August Goals…

1. Get caught up and then keep up with the clues for the Crown Wools MKAL
2. Make baby photo prop for the lovely little one who will be getting the blanket up above. (I was given a not very subtle hint that the mommy would love a prop for newborn pictures.)
3. At least 10 squares on my Hue Shift, for a total of at least 70 squares.
4. Progress on my Addition by Subtraction
5. Start work on Natalie’s Christmas present…I may want to use it as my next O.W.L. tho…so we’ll see about this one.

 

Thanks for reading! Until next time…

xoxo

HandcraftedByKandi

I’m A Blogger Slacker

**waiving hello, shyly from the sidelines…**

I’m back, I got busy, then I got unbusy and forgot, but I’m here now…and I’ll try and share every crafty thing I’ve been up to.

So, lets start with things I have finished shall we?

First the Rainbow Shawl… Take it All by Lisa Hannes. I started this last year, and finally got around to finishing it last month. It still needs a good blocking, but I’m in love with how it turned out.

Next, let’s see…how about the Mint Harvest…yes I’ve talked about that on here in the past. I absolutely love the button (thanks YarnCrush for sending that in one of my boxes). This is VERY fitted in the arms, and a nice fit for the torso. The arms have room for thin fabric sleeves, but nothing bulky, which is fine.

 

These are the more exciting finishes…I also did get around to making Socks on a Plane…but don’t have a good picture of those…and a beanie for my momma for Christmas.

I have also been actively working on my Hue Shift blanket, I got it up to 55 squares yesterday, but here’s a pretty recent picture…

Now, for more of what I’m working on now…

My latest obsession has been the So Faded Sweater. I am using the Pint Sized version of the pattern because I am using DK weight yarn, and the pattern is written for fingering weight. I know myself, I’ll never finish a fingering weight sweater…and this in DK weight is working up so fast! I’ve made a couple other adjustments to account for my bust, but otherwise I have stuck to the pattern instructions for the 10 yr old size! I am further than this picture, as I have started transitioning to the 3rd color (I am only using 3 colors). This sweater is being made from 3 exclusive colorways to Eat Sleep Knit from Western Sky Knits, which means this sweater will get me full credit for the 3rd Quarter KAL. I started this sweater after having it sit in my queue on Ravelry for a while because a LYS, Serendipity Fibers, started a KAL with Saturday knit-along hours. So this little sweater is a double dip 🙂

The other projects I’ve been working on are still kinda secret… One is the baby blanket for Lisa’s baby, I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the corner-to-corner part and then will add a simple border. Then I also started the Addition by Subtraction KAL that hit Ravelry by storm. I am only partway into the 2nd clue…I got distracted by other shiny projects.

 

Goals for the rest of the month…

1. Finish So Faded Sweater
2. Finish the baby blanket
3. Get to at least 60 finished squares on my Hue Shift
4. Finish the 2nd clue of the Addition by Subtraction KAL
5. Work towards finishing another one of my long languishing WIPs.

May Yarn Goals

So in May I will have a lot of passenger time in the car and a couple days that will be spent largely in a bowling alley watching my father at Nationals. (Yes I’m 30 years old and still excited to cheer on my daddy, this will be my first time going to National’s so I’m super excited) All that means I should have a lot of knitting and/or crocheting time; at least in theory. So, with that being said I need to make sure I have a number of “car sized” projects to get me through the month, but also still budget time for the not as car friendly projects that I need to get done.

First lets talk about the WIPs that need to see lots of love and attention:

1. Take it All – Rainbow Edition – this shawl was started back on August 10th, so as long as I finish it May 10th or after I can use it for the Long Haul Badge for the Booster Club portion of the Yarnathon.
2. Minty Harvest – My 1st Quarter KAL…would love to get this off the needles, it’s nice simple and relatively mindless, so great for car knitting!
3. Lucia Sweater – I started this in February 2015…would really like to get it finished. It’s crochet, it’s join as you go squares…and if my memory serves me correctly the squares don’t really take very long.
4. Socks on a Plane – fingers crossed these fit better than the past socks I’ve made with all the changes I’m attempting LOL
5. Hue Shift – Goal is to get it to at least 50 squares…do able…just no longer “car sized”

Now for the New Projects…

1. Addiction by Subtraction – a fun mystery knit along…colors are picked out, first clue released April 27th.
2. Natalie’s Christmas present…I’ve said I’m going to start this thing about a billion times, but I really do need to get on it. Thinking if I take one skein per color I could get away with car crocheting…or at least bowling alley crocheting…
3. Wagner 2.0’s baby blanket…pattern picked, just need to get the rest of the colors…okay so maybe most of the colors. Baby is due September 21st, so I need to get cracking on this.
4. Scatterby Socks – the 2nd of 3 pairs I want to make for the Q2 KAL…and I already have the yarn caked up…no excuses here at all to not get them busted out.

So, we’ll see how this all plays out. But I’m really hoping I can have a productive May. What do you have planned for your crafting time in May?

April 2018 Yarn Crush

This month’s Yarn Crush box is extra, super exciting to me…you’ll understand why as you read on. I was a good girl last night and not only opened the box, with all of the usual “oohs” and “ahhhs” but I also remembered to take pictures and upload them. GO ME!

In this month’s box we received:

• One skein of Old Rusted Chair that is a single ply in fingering weight in one of three colors. I received the “warm” colorway in my box called Dreamworld. When I originally peaked at the spoilers for this months colors I didn’t think I wanted the Warm option, and had gotten my hopes up for the Cool, even though I had been thinking my stash has been cool-dominant as of recently.
• 4 prints of different “yarny” animals, they’re so cute, they will make a nice addition to my craft space. There’s llamas, an angora bunny, a yarnicorn and of course a sheep.
• The new Yarniverse magazine (also made available for us to download the individual patterns, or the entire booklet via Ravelry) which contains 5 patterns this month, and load of great tips, tricks, information about the dyer, the designers and so much more. The Yarniverse magazine is available for non-club members to purchase for $9.99 and the individual patterns are also available separately.

 

 

Okay…so this Yarniverse issue is extra exciting for me this month because my hat was included as a members finished object. When Joanna (the awesome woman behind Yarn Crush) reached out to me to get my permission and my thoughts about including my hat in the magazine I had no idea I would be in the Premier Issue so when I opened it up and started flipping through the pages I squealed with delight when I saw my hat there! I posted my excitement on Instagram (@HandmadebyKandi) and my mom called me, I think even more excited than I was, saying I was published now, while I guess that is true I did remind her that this is a small publication, so I was trying to contain my excitement LOL. Although, I do now want to make sure I get more projects made from my subscription boxes because seeing my work in a magazine was just to cool to not try and make it happen again.

Now for the yarn…

 

This is a skein of fingering weight from Old Rusted Chair put up into 400 yard, 100 gram skeins. The yarn is a single ply 100% Merino that is tightly spun so it shouldn’t pill as much as other single plies. There is a fun little bio about the dyer in the Yarniverse magazine, and I honestly believe my skein is even prettier in person that the picture in the magazine shows. The colorway name was so fitting for me, “Dreamworld” considering how much it felt like I was in a dream yesterday as I was enjoying this box.

I’m thinking about framing these cute prints and hanging them up in my cubicle at work, to keep things fun. These would be great in a craft space or even a little girls room.

If you like what you see and are interested in signing up for a version of this Yarn Club yourself please check out my unique referral link here.

What would you make with this yarn? I am currently trying to see if I have enough fingering weight singles similar to this in my stash to pull off a Find Your Fade…may have to supplement a bit, but there’s a couple skeins in my stash that would work well with this one…if I don’t do that, I do really like the Spring Mesh Shawl which is one of the crochet patterns in the Yarniverse magazine.

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Happy stitching everyone!