Mom's Great Yarn Destash Sale

My Mom is moving soon, and I'm am helping her sell off her yarn collection. I'm putting it all on one section of my Etsy shop at super bargain prices.

Our spare bed is literally covered with balls of yarn from my mother's yarn collection of a lifetime. Two nights ago, I laid out the whole collection so I could see it all at once. (Just the good stuff. We gave away a trash bag's worth of the other stuff.)

Then I arranged all the balls into a big blend of color over the whole bed, which I separated into colorful piles that look nice together. 

As I rearranged the balls and assembled the piles, I imagined knitting each group into a hat or scarf, or maybe using them to make fancy trims on collars and sleeves of sweaters. I used up a whole box of ziplock baggies. I need to buy more baggies. 

If you knit, crochet or weave or you just like to spin webs, or you ever wanted to learn how, here's a great chance for you to get some gorgeous yarns for a steal. This is the good stuff, and THIS YARN IS PRICED TO SELL: More than 50% OFF what she paid for it! In many case, the price is close to 1/4 or 1/3 of retail.  I also lowered the price on some of the earlier lots from a couple weeks ago. The photos here are just a small sample. Also, keep checking back because I'm not done listing it all! Nope. Not yet. I still have over a dozen lots to list, including some really good ones too!

 Thanks for looking.

How to Make a Digital Flipbook Animation on How to Tie a Slip Knot

The first stitch to start crochet or knitting is typically a slip knot.   Here is what a slip knot looks like.

 

I illustrated how to tie a slip knot with this Doceri video.  To make this movie, I created a digital flip book of sorts, and the video shows different ways to play it back.

 

To explain how I did it, here I show you what my Doceri control panel looks like when I am authoring or playing back Doceri files.  Specifically, here is what I see at the end of the 8th page of my 13-page digital flip book.  

At the top of my iPad screen, you can see lots of buttons and ways of controlling my presentation, both for authoring and for playing back my drawings.  The relevant controls are labeled below (with the help of Doceri, of course).  

At the beginning of the video, I played the file, frame by frame, by touching the "forward to next stop" icon repeatedly.  I similarly touched "back to previous stop" to play the file backwards.  Later in the video, I showed the file by repeatedly pressing the "play" button.  There, you can see each frame played out separately, where each stroke plays separately.  I did not design this file to be played back with the play button, but I wanted to show you the difference, since I play most of my movies with just the play button.

To make a flip book movie like this, I drew several layers for the knot at a time, one right over the next.  After I got at least two layers drawn, I went back in time on the Doceri "time line," and I added a "white stop" by touching the "windshield wiper" icon on the top right of the control screen.  The 12 different white stop markers on the time line above each indicate that the screen is cleared at that point in time.  In the images above, you can see that our point "you are here in time" is just before a white stop.  White stops can be added and deleted just like any other stroke on the time line.

Since the screen clears after each complete image of the knot is shown, when I play back the file by forwarding to the next stop, an animation results.  It's just like the flip charts I used to make in the corner of my notebooks as a kid.  But since it's a Doceri file, I can easily color and edit my work.

Making a Sweater Coat Part 1 Inspriation and Vogue 1266 Pattern

Some inspiration and my new sewing project...

I’ve seen so many beautiful reconstructed sweater coats on Etsy lately.  I think the most notable designer is Katwise.  She pitches her work as “Original Elf Coats made from Recycled Sweaters” and I think that her work is amazing.  A few other designers whose work I’ve admired are Green Oak Creations, Amber Studios and Enlightened Platypus.

With so much inspiration, I decided that I love the idea and wanted to make an up-cycled sweater coat of my own.   Rather than copy the designs of the artists who inspired me, I am designing my own pattern.  However, the materials will be the same, lots and lots of old sweaters.  I'll tell you about the sweaters later.  Since I started this blog to encourage myself to write about what I learn from creating art, and I’ve never made anything from old sweaters before, I decided to blog my way through this project, and away we go...

THE PATTERN

To start, I needed a coat pattern that fits my body.  So, I figured where better to start than with a purchased coat pattern.  Yes, I’m using a pattern, but I will to alter it significantly before I cut any sweaters.  I just need something to start because it’s easier for me to alter a pattern than to draft my own.  I’m not there yet, but I hope someday…  Anyways, I chose Vogue 1266 (12, 14, 16) because I already had a copy of size (6, 8, 10) but I purchased this pattern before I figured out that my dress size in the store is not the same as my dress size in paper patterns.   

I’ve been flirting with this coat pattern for over a year, so I bought a second copy, in the medium size.  I’m a medium size.  I know this because I measured my bust, waist, and hip measurements, and figured out my size by looking at the chart on the flap.  It also comes in size (18, 20, 22, 24), and so that’s the large.

I chose this pattern because it has princess seams, which make for a nice fitted bodice.  That also makes it different from most of what I’ve seen on Etsy.  Amber Studios has made at least a few coats with princess seams, like this one, which is awesome, but I’ll be sure to try to make mine different. 

I pulled out the pattern instructions, found the list of pieces by name and number, and identified which pieces I needed.  I’m making version C.  So I marked all C pieces and facings with “C”.  I marked all C lining pieces with “L”.  At this point, I don’t know if I’m going to line my sweater coat (probably not), and there is plenty of time to think about the lining later since you add that at the end, just before hemming.

So I pulled the tissue paper pieces out of the envelope, and I unfolded, and they just kept unfolding more and more. They were INSANELY HUGE, giant rectangles of tissue paper at least five feet on a side.  I used to be scared stiff by giant pattern pieces, but I took a deep breath and cut out all of the “C” pieces, snip-snip.  I refolded the other pieces and shoved them back in the envelope.  At this point, it’s not important to cut exactly on the lines, so I left a little margin to make life easier on myself. 

I pressed all of the pattern pieces with a cool iron, no steam.  It makes a satisfying crinkle sound when you press the paper and the wrinkles smooth out.   

This is exactly how far I made it through the size (6, 8, 10) before I figured out it would be too small in the shoulders.  For some reason, I decided that if the shoulders fit, I could probably make any other adjustments I needed to make the whole thing fit, and I would be better off starting with a larger size.  I’m not sure if my intuition is right on this point.  We’ll see.

After cutting all of my C pieces, I made sure everything was accounted for. There are so many pieces that it’s easy to miss one.

There are four pieces that make up the bodice of the coat, front, back, front side, and back side.  I’ll need two of each in fabric.  The sleeves have four pattern pieces: upper sleeve, under sleeve, cuff and sleeve facing which provides and edge for the sleeve hem.  I’ll need two of each of those in fabric.  I’m not sure if I’m going to use the cuffs yet, but I’m keeping them for now.  The collar has two pieces, the upper collar and the under collar.  I’m ditching both of them in favor of a hood.  Hoods are cozy.  I like hoods.  I’ll talk more about my dealings with the hood later.  There are two more facing pieces, the back neck and front facing.  The facings are the pieces that give the coat some of its structure and finish the edges around the neck and front edge.

ALTERING THE PATTERN

Before I cut any fabric, I need to alter the pattern a little.  The coat in the pattern is ankle length, so really long.  I like my coats to fall just below my knees, so I shortened the pattern by a clean foot.   I shortened 5 pieces: front, back, front side, back side, and front facing.  I shortened the pieces by folding the hems up and using itty bitty pieces of scotch tape to secure them. I don’t like cutting pattern pieces if I can just fold the alteration.

I’m removing the collar and adding a medium wide hood. Here's how the collar fits on the front of the top front of the coat.

I have one hoodie in my closet, but the hood is too small and fits a little funny, so I traced it for my first draft, and made some adjustments for a better fit.  Then, I measured my around my head, out and wide like I want the hood to fit, and adjusted the size of my tracing, a little hear and there, to better fit with my measurements.  I also compared the bottom edge of my hood with the bottom edge of the collar pieces.  

I made the hood edge similar but with a deeper curve to add some extra fullness near the neck.  I noted that the collar leaves about 2.5 inches to the edge of the collar (measured on the seam line, not the edge of the pattern pieces.

I also wanted to remove the notch in the collar, to make the hood join smoothly with the front edge.  So I folded the front facing and front pieces by one inch which removed the little flap (and consequently the notch). This fold subtracted one inch, and I added 1.5 inches to the hood bottom edge. That's why the hood piece is longer than the collar piece in the photo above.

To finish my hood piece for now, I made sure the corners at the top and back of the neck are right angles (they're marked in the photo). They have to be so that when you unfold the pieces at those places, you get a straight edge.  I’m still not sure about the exact size and shape of the hood so I’m using a full inch seam allowance on my pattern piece for now. That will leave me some wiggle room if I need to let it out a little when I try it on later.

My pattern is now ready for a mock up in scrap cotton fabric.  That’s next.

Until then, I leave you with some yellow Rosebud Beaded Bead Earrings, which I sent off to Texas, of course.

Continue on to Part 2 in which I make and fit my muslin sample.

More fun with fiber

I don't have much to say, but I have some photos.

Crochet and Knit Textile Cuffs and Collars

I posted four new listings in my Etsy shop.  See my textile section for more information and photos.

Cuffs XI

Collar VII Necklace

Collar VIII Scarflette

Collar IX Lariat

Striped Socks Pattern

Gwen’s Knee High, Toe Up, Striped Socks

This is the first pair of socks I ever knit, so the pattern I wrote is a bit long, taking from several sources (see references at end). I used easy techniques, ones I could execute without too many errors, since I'm still a beginning knitter. I tried to explain how I did every step because that's the only way I could get the socks to match, in shape, at least. The finished socks are thick and cozy, but not too thick to wear with shoes.

Socks are worked over 64 sts with gauge of 6.5 to 7 sts/in for a woman's size 9 foot, circumference 9.5”. I give a range because my own gauge varies. Did I mention I'm still a beginner?

Needles: 2.25mm (US 1) double pointed needles and/or 2 circular needles, or size to obtain gauge.  Use US 6 to bind off.

Yarn: 2 colors A and B, about 500 yards (450 meters), (125g to 150g) 4-ply fingering weight sock yarn.

Noro Silk Garden Sock: Colors 252 (green, black, blue), 272 (grey, green, aqua, purple), 292 (purple, blue, pink, gold)
Each skein is Approx. 327 yds, 300 m
Lamb's Wool, 25% Silk, 25% Nylon, 10% Kid Mohair. Hand wash.

Toe: In color A, Turkish cast on, started with 24 stitches, 12 sts on each needle. To do so, start with slip st on bottom needle. Slide st to left (with points of needles at right). Wrap counter clockwise (looking at needle point on right) 12 wraps. With a third needle, knit top row, rotate 180°, keeping front facing front. Knit to finish round 1—24 sts.

Increase 4 sts every round to 40 sts total, then increase 2 sts every round to 64 sts as specified below. I like to keep the slipknot from the cast on for the first 2 rounds to keep the tail in place until the knitting is established. Be careful not to knit into the slipknot.

Rounds 2-5: *K1, M1 (Make 1 = K front and back of next st), Knit to 2 st remains on needle, M1, K1.* Repeat on second needle.—14, 16, 18, 20 sts on each needle.

Clip marker into beginning of Rnd 1 and end of Rnd 4 to indicate start. Top of foot is needles 1. Bottom of foot is needle 2.

Round 6: K sts onto 40” round needle, with 20 sts on front and 20 sts on back needle.
Round 7: Front needle: K1, M1, K until 2 sts remains on needle, M1, K1.
Repeat on back needle. 22 sts each needle.
Rounds 8, 10, 12, 14: K
Round 9, 11, 13, 15: Repeat Round 7—24, 26, 28, 30 sts each needle.

Color: Change color after Row 15. Then, change color every 8 rows (3/4 inches) using a traveling slip-stitch jogless stripe: Change colors at front (top) of foot, after first 10 sts of front needle. PM (place marker) where color changes. On color change round, slip marker and begin knitting with new color. On next round, knit to marker and slip it. Then, slip the first stitch of the new color from the Left needle to the Right needle. Continue knitting. On the round before the next color change, shift the marker one stitch to the left. Slipped stitches will form a spiral over the top of the foot. If you want slipped sts on back (bottom) of foot, start changing colors on the back needle instead.

Work stockinette for 7 stripes, not including the toe (or until the foot is about 2 inches shorter than the desired finished length). To help the heel shaping, in last stripe, Rounds 5 and 7: Add 1 st at beginning of and end of needle 2 (heel needle)—64sts.

Heel: With waste yarn of the same weight, K 34 sts (centered on the heel), and sl back to beginning of heel. Decrease on Rounds 2 and 4: 1 st at beginning 1 st at end of needle 2 (heel needle)—60 sts

Before completing the heel, knit 1 or more stripes of the leg (see below). Then, remove waste yarn and sl sts onto 4 dpn—18 sts on each. In order to get 18 sts on each needle, you will pick up already K stitches in the corners on the sole side of the sock. These extra stitches will keep the sock from stretching where the heel meets the sock and will fill in a hole that might otherwise be there. Start new color in either corner.

Round 1: K.
Round 2: Needles 1, 3: K1, ssk, K to end.
Needles 2, 4: K to last 3 sts, k2tog, K1.
Repeat Round 2 until 12 sts on each needle (24 total) remain. Sl onto 2 needles. Cut yarn leaving 16 in tail. Graft 12 sts from each dpn together.

Leg: Keep changing stripe color every 8 rounds. Always keep 30 sts on front needle.
Stripes 1, 2, 3: To shape the ankle, decrease 2 sts in Round 5 on each side of back 10 sts—58 sts, 56 sts, 54 sts. To do this,
Needle 1: K.
Needle 2: K5, ssk, K until 7 sts on needle, K2tog, K5.
Stripes 4 and 5: K.

The calf increases are worked in pairs, and each pair of increases is worked on the outside of previous increases, so they get farther apart as you go up the calf. To do this, increase on either side of 2 center back stitches.
Stripe 6-13: Add and subtract stitches to achieve the numbers below (Back (heel) needle: K4, m1, K to 5 sts remain, m1, K4).  Front needle: K— Stripe 6 ends with 56 sts, 7:58, 8:60, 9:62, 10:66, 11:68, 12:70, 13:72, 14:72, 15:74, 16:76, 17:74, 18:70. (Note: numbers updated 11/6/09)  In round 18, decrease the 4 sts: sl knitwise, sl purlwise, place L needle into front of these 2 sts, and k2tog.

Ribbing: Start 1 row of K with new color. Work ribbing for 18 rows, alternating between wide and skinny ribs: 2-1-1-1, that is, *K2, PKP*. Repeat between *s for round.

Bind off: Use a size 6 needle and bind off in the rib pattern.

References
Knee Socks! http://www.streetsandyos.com/archives/2006/04/knee_socks.php
Elfine’s socks by Anna Bell
Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Feather and Fan Sock by Wendy D. Johnson
Jogless Stripe by Technitter, technitting.blogspot.com

Green Necklace and Striped Sock

I got a commission from my mom's cousin for an emerald green necklace with a Time Machine beaded bead in the center. Here's what I came up with. It took me 3 tries to get the beaded bead just the way I wanted it. I think it has a fanciful, whimsical look about it while still being formal enough to wear with a nice dress. It's the black and green alternating design that gives it that look. I hope she likes it as much as I do. What I learned: When using glass beads, it looks nice if different colors have the same general intensity, that is, the same amount of gray or brown. In my first try for the beaded beads, I used some really dull olive colored beads and I didn't like them at all with the emerald and peridot colored beads. I also learned something new about my camera. When I turn up the ISO (to 400 from 100), I can shoot with a shorter shutter speed while still maintaining depth (with a high f-stop of 8.0), but I loose sharpness as a result. In other words, High ISO gives a more grainy photo. If you click on the photos of this green necklace, notice how grainy they are. Look at the shadows and see how the color separates into little dots.

I finally finished my first knee high striped sock. Really, I finished my first sock ever. I took it under good advisement that the charted knitting I showed earlier is not a very good design choice. I learned that charted work doesn't really belong at the top of a sock where you need stretch, so I removed it and replaced it with plain stripes. I also have the first three stripes done of the second sock. That's the little toe piece below the completed sock. The socks will be nice and thick and warm, but not too thick to make them uncomfortable inside shoes. I can't wait to wear them! What I learned: Charted knitting is for pieces that don't need to stretch. The second sock is faster than the first because I'm not making very many mistakes. And lastly, knee highs take twice as much time and yarn to make as regular short socks.

Knit and Felted

... never felt so good! Before I show off the finished piece, I want to show you the second to last skein I made for my Entrelac Bag. I started with a Falkland wool top called "Sangria" from Cloudlover69 on Etsy. I filled two bobbins just full with singles and plied them together. It's about 4 oz. and 90 yards. I only used half of this skein to do the two rounds of squares in this color. What I learned: I've been carding myself rolags (little rolls) of wool before spinning, changing how I blend colors in the carding process. So, I learned how various ways of carding blends colors together. I think the sangria ball is a little too blended, too uniform. This is in stark contrast to the first rounds of purple and green where the colors were very separated. At the beginning of this project, I was using a spindle, and I used three patches of color on each rolag, where the first and last were the same, like blue green blue. When making that yarn, I made sure to keep the repeats together when plying and the finished knit fabric has patches of color because of this. But I stopped carding this way when I got my spinning wheel and started spinning longer skeins. By the time I got the the sangria yarn, I was really blending the color together with a lot of combing. Most of the rolags were well blended, and looked pretty much the same. On the last skein I made for this project, a green one, I found myself a perfect balance between blending and keeping colors separated. What I did is make each rolag it's own color, at least mostly one color. Some are lighter, some are darker, some are more blue. You can see this in the last photos of this post and in the handles just below.

And now for the bag... It's done! Well, except the lining. I finished all of the knitting last night, and felted it in very hot water for just over an hour in my washing machine; I added a couple pairs of pants to provide some friction. I stopped the machine about every 10 minutes, and most of the time, at least one of the two handles had knotted itself, so I had to keep unknotting them; this wasn't a problem. Also, I used that time to enlarge the holes at the top of the bag where the handles weave through it. Good thing, because the handles barely fit without cutting the holes larger. What I learned: (1) An hour and ten minutes of machine wet felting is enough to almost completely felt very thick knit fabric. It's hard to imagine that this could be much more felted. (2) Most of the sparkle I spun into the yarn is not very visible except in direct sunlight. I like the subtlety. (3) Felting takes dimensionality out of stitches. You can see this by comparing the basket-weave effect in the pre-felted picture above with how smooth the felted fabric is here. (4) I read somewhere that felting shrinks fabric by 10% to 15%. This must be linear shrinkage. So, volume-wise, it shrunk by probably more than a third since (0.85)^3 = 61.4 and (0.9)^3 = 0.73. My finished bag is not obscenely large any more. Yeah. But it is really thick, about 3/8 inches (7 mm).

Although I absolutely adore this pattern, I changed the bottom, adding that last purple round in the center (I also omitted two rounds of large squares, which is my version is shaped like a pumpkin). The purple circle isn't part of the original pattern. When I got to the end, and it said to tie together 24 stitches. This is a lot of stitches to tie together without leaving a hole, and I realized it wouldn't lie very flat, which was something I had noticed in the photos I'd seen in other people's bags on Ravelry. When you have an arrangement of squares in concentric rings like this, the squares generally converge to zero size before filling the space. In this case, the edge length of each decreases linearly from one round of squares to the next. The next round in the sequence (after the littlest green one) does not theoretically exist. In other words, you can't add any more rounds of squares, while still keeping the pattern. So I added more rounds like this instead (all in purple)...

Round 14: With RS facing, pick up 1 st on RH needle. Slip to LH needle, K2tog into back of st, K2tog. Repeat a total of 12 times.
Round 15: K --24sts.
Round 16: (K2, K2tog)* --18 sts.
Round 17: (K2tog, K1)* --12 sts.
Round 18: (K2tog)* --6 sts.

Fits nicely; I recommend it. What I learned: This pattern provides beautiful examples of sequences of finite sequences. In particular, you have where to pick up stitches on each round of squares:
1.2.4.5.7.8.10.11
1.3.4.6.8.9.11
1.3.4.6.7.9
1.2.4.6.7
1.2.4.5
1.2.3
There's also the number of stitches remaining the right needle after every other round.
7.6.5.3.2.1
7.5.4.2.1
6.4.3.1
5.3.1
4.2
2

Here's the artsy shot. Thanks kids.

Singles and socks, but not together

I bought some amazingly beautiful batts from Artemis Artemis on Etsy. I started spinning two of them together with bits of other yarns from my stash. You can see the pile of fibers in the first photo, and the spun single in the second photo. I'm going to ply it into supercoil yarn. What I learned: I really prefer plied yarn to singles, since it's stronger and puffs up when you ply it. Oh how I love that springy wooly goodness.


I worked on the top part of my striped socks this week. I spent hours designing the chart and then knitting it up, only to find that it doesn't fit and I have to rip it all out. :( What I learned: stranded knitting is not as stretchy as regular knitting, even when you stretch as you knit.

I either need to use larger needles or make it plain stripes at the top. Not sure which I'll do yet.

Here's a pile of fur sleeping behind me. Prrr.

Trying my new spinning wheel and striped socks

My dear sweet beau got me a wonderful gift for my birthday this year, exactly what I had been dreaming of owning, my very own spinning wheel. I combed up a bunch of rolags the day he brought it home so I'd be ready to start spinning once he came through the door with it. I tried to spin something pretty thin, but my mixture of fibers (superwash merino, bamboo, angelina, tencil) made this difficult to spin an even single, or at least that's the excuse I'm going with. Here is the full bobbin of my single before plying. What I learned: Mixed fibers are harder to spin evenly and thinly than fiber split off straight from the roving.


I plied this single into 3 plys using the Navajo technique. So here is my very first skein off of my new spinning wheel. It's also my very first attempt at Navajo 3-ply, and very uneven. I consider it a practice skein. Not sure what I'll do with it since it's not much yardage. Really, I was just trying to get a hang of how the wheel works so that I could get back to my Entrelac bag. I'm so glad that I'm switching to spinning on a wheel rather than on a spindle. It's more fun and way faster. So, now my bag will take until the next blue moon, instead of 2. What I learned: In Navajo plying, you have a choice of using long draws or short draws. In other words, you can have a plied section take a short piece of yarn or a long one. This changes the way the finished yarn looks. When the draws are short, the color sections stay together. When the draws are long, it spreads the colored sections out more, making it more likely to get a barber pole effect.


This is my first skein of good yarn from my spinning wheel. 67 wonderful yards of green springy yumminess. It's going into my Entrelac bag, round 3 of squares. I'll still have 11 more rounds to knit. This bag is going to be the size of a large sweater. I hope it will shrink up nicely when it's felted.

Since my bag project is as much about spinning as it is about knitting, I've also started knitting and designing my own socks. Right now, I can only dream of spinning yarn thin enough for socks, so I bought some for inspiration, enough to make 4 socks, with I hope a bit left over. I'm designing knee high, wide striped socks. I'm using three colorways of Noro silk garden sock yarn. (Wait until you see the border I'm going to put on it! An old Gothic flourish I'm fiddling with to get it to fit just right.) This Noro is absolutely delectable to knit. Uneven, but so is my knitting still. I've got some gauge issues I still need to work out because I'm drifting from 6.25 all the way to 7 stitches per inch. But I'm loving the colors. I just dig high socks with wide stripes, and I think they'll fit well enough. So far, I'm over half done with the first sock. It only took me 5 tries to get the toe right and 3 times for the heel. So that's pretty good, I think. Maybe. What I learned: I switched from double pointed needles in the foot to the magic loop technique on the leg. My gauge is tighter with one magic loop than with 5 double pointed needles. This seems to account for most of the drift in my gauge. I prefer magic loop.