My ferret has a nasty growth on her tail that is just getting worse. She really needs surgery. So to help her, I am discounting my old stock and introducing new stock. Please visit my photo album or visit my Etsy page!
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Saturday, October 17, 2015
New Pattern! Red Alien Hat
Apparently I wasn't over booked enough, so I took on an effort to create a crochet pattern for someone who was looking for a crochet Pikmin hat pattern.
So it took me a while to get to it, but here I present you with the Red Alien Hat.
The pattern is available on Ravelry.
So it took me a while to get to it, but here I present you with the Red Alien Hat.
The pattern is available on Ravelry.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Throwback Thursday: Daughter's Dress
As I was doing laundry yesterday I got to talking with my oldest boy about his sister's dress. He was trying to remember if it is supposed to be hung up or not.
I saw this dress in a shop (now closed) and I fell in love with it. I wanted to make one for my one-year-old daughter.
They only had one hank of the bubblegum pink in Cascade Pima Cotton that I wanted to use, so I was forced to play with color combinations (poor me!) So my friend and I played around with color and picked out two bright green and a hot pink.
They also had the magazine the pattern came from: Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, Spring/Summer 2010 so I picked that up, too.
At the time, I had Cast on Bind off checked out from the library. I was inspired by the picot cast on and wanted to use it on the dress. As I red the pattern, I was frustrated with the fact that I was going to have to sew the pieces together. I'd just knitted a raglan shirt and that made much more sense to just knit in the round, so I frogged the cast on and rewrote the pattern in my own notes so that it cold be worked in the round. Then I really got going on it!
While the above picture isn't how it sits on her finished, it was where it would stay as she wiggled and I snapped a picture with my other hand.
Eventually everything was the length and size it needed to be. I cast off in the appropriate places. Here I'm about to start working on the straps. That was done in the matter of about an hour! I couldn't stop! Of course I had to try it on her right away. Since it wasn't blocked yet, the bottom edge was flipping up and the pocket wasn't on but I didn't care. I loved it and so did my daughter!
So I got to the finishing. I still felt like it was missing something. The dress was adorable but it needed to be accessorized!
So, I knit up the sock yarn I had bought that same day, which I realized matched the dress! I hadn't thought of it at the time.
I clipped a bow I found in her hair and with the socks it was SO cute! I still quite a bit of yarn left over, however. Was there something else I could add?
A shrug! I took the pattern from the raglan shirt I had just done an altered it so that it didn't close. And finally it was complete!
Shortly after, my friends were talking about entering their knitted things into the county fair. I remembered my mom telling me about how fun it was to enter something into the fair and if I had an opportunity to just do it. So off I went. I filled out the form and took my daughter's dress and a shawl to the fair.
On the first day of the fair I got a call from my friend. She asked if I'd been there yet, to which I replied no, I was going the next day. She told me that I won a blue ribbon! I was shocked and started crying. I'm so glad that she called and told me that at home because I would have been so embarrassed to do that in public. lol
Here we are now, two years later. She still can wear this dress as I sized it loose on her. It's a summer shirt now, but it still looks great! I just had her model it for me so here is a picture from today!
I saw this dress in a shop (now closed) and I fell in love with it. I wanted to make one for my one-year-old daughter.
They only had one hank of the bubblegum pink in Cascade Pima Cotton that I wanted to use, so I was forced to play with color combinations (poor me!) So my friend and I played around with color and picked out two bright green and a hot pink.
They also had the magazine the pattern came from: Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, Spring/Summer 2010 so I picked that up, too.
At the time, I had Cast on Bind off checked out from the library. I was inspired by the picot cast on and wanted to use it on the dress. As I red the pattern, I was frustrated with the fact that I was going to have to sew the pieces together. I'd just knitted a raglan shirt and that made much more sense to just knit in the round, so I frogged the cast on and rewrote the pattern in my own notes so that it cold be worked in the round. Then I really got going on it!
While the above picture isn't how it sits on her finished, it was where it would stay as she wiggled and I snapped a picture with my other hand.
So, I knit up the sock yarn I had bought that same day, which I realized matched the dress! I hadn't thought of it at the time.
I clipped a bow I found in her hair and with the socks it was SO cute! I still quite a bit of yarn left over, however. Was there something else I could add?
A shrug! I took the pattern from the raglan shirt I had just done an altered it so that it didn't close. And finally it was complete!
Shortly after, my friends were talking about entering their knitted things into the county fair. I remembered my mom telling me about how fun it was to enter something into the fair and if I had an opportunity to just do it. So off I went. I filled out the form and took my daughter's dress and a shawl to the fair.
On the first day of the fair I got a call from my friend. She asked if I'd been there yet, to which I replied no, I was going the next day. She told me that I won a blue ribbon! I was shocked and started crying. I'm so glad that she called and told me that at home because I would have been so embarrassed to do that in public. lol
Here we are now, two years later. She still can wear this dress as I sized it loose on her. It's a summer shirt now, but it still looks great! I just had her model it for me so here is a picture from today!
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
The return of peace
Things have indeed been chaotic at my home this summer. My kids were on top of each other and fighting. Meanwhile I was trying to push my fiber business off to a start. I had spinning orders to fulfill, a pattern I wrote, tested, remade, and tested by others, and finally released. My fiber graphics have become fairly popular and I've sold several orders. Oh, and I've been photo journaling my art projects before bed every night.
Today school started again. I have one kiddo in public school in a special needs class and that is working *wonderfully* for him. My oldest kiddo I homeschool, and now I'm working on paperwork to get my youngest into preschool. I hope I can get her in so my oldest and I can get some work done in peace for a few hours.
Recently I've joined in a craft swap hosted by my favorite podcast Knit 1 Geek 2. I was inspired by my spoilee (the secret person I am spoiling that I will not reveal online) to create yet another knitting pattern. I am *so* excited about this one but I can't reveal my concept yet. I can get it done before the deadline if I'm quick, but I would really like it to go through test knitting first if I can. So, I've pulled in a friend to help me with part of this project and she is just excited as I am!
I can show you a little bit; below are a few swatches I've knit, and above is my stack of research books. :)
Oh, and yesterday, I stuck my toes and spent a little money to promote my latest pattern on Facebook this week. I'm curious to see how that goes!
Today school started again. I have one kiddo in public school in a special needs class and that is working *wonderfully* for him. My oldest kiddo I homeschool, and now I'm working on paperwork to get my youngest into preschool. I hope I can get her in so my oldest and I can get some work done in peace for a few hours.
Recently I've joined in a craft swap hosted by my favorite podcast Knit 1 Geek 2. I was inspired by my spoilee (the secret person I am spoiling that I will not reveal online) to create yet another knitting pattern. I am *so* excited about this one but I can't reveal my concept yet. I can get it done before the deadline if I'm quick, but I would really like it to go through test knitting first if I can. So, I've pulled in a friend to help me with part of this project and she is just excited as I am!
I can show you a little bit; below are a few swatches I've knit, and above is my stack of research books. :)
Oh, and yesterday, I stuck my toes and spent a little money to promote my latest pattern on Facebook this week. I'm curious to see how that goes!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Luck Sack is finally released!
It's finally ready! I was going to post the pattern public on Monday but I got impatient.
This dice bag will influence your
dice to land you some very lucky rolls! Well, not really, but your
fellow gamers will be jealous that you pulled out your Luck Sack and
want one of their very own!
The bag comes in two versions, knit or felted. I’ll walk you through
two cord-pull styles and how to dye your own shades of green and felting
your bag.
If you an advanced beginner learning new techniques, I’ve included helpful instructional links.
The Luck Sack pattern in now released for sale on Ravelry and Etsy for just $1.50!
Along with patterns, I also have box bags, knitted goods, handspun yarns, and printable graphic designs for sale in my etsy shop.
The brown bag on the left and the green bag in the rear are both knit with handspun yarn! All of the green pictured is dyed with Wilton's icing coloring.
_________________
The test knitters had some good input! I added a second, smaller size for those that want a smaller bag. Reclaimed sweater yarn is an excellent source of yarn. Most of all, they confirmed that my directions are easy to follow, so you can produce a nice bag, too! If you want to see their takes on my design, you can find them here.
If you an advanced beginner learning new techniques, I’ve included helpful instructional links.
The Luck Sack pattern in now released for sale on Ravelry and Etsy for just $1.50!
Along with patterns, I also have box bags, knitted goods, handspun yarns, and printable graphic designs for sale in my etsy shop.
The brown bag on the left and the green bag in the rear are both knit with handspun yarn! All of the green pictured is dyed with Wilton's icing coloring.
_________________
The test knitters had some good input! I added a second, smaller size for those that want a smaller bag. Reclaimed sweater yarn is an excellent source of yarn. Most of all, they confirmed that my directions are easy to follow, so you can produce a nice bag, too! If you want to see their takes on my design, you can find them here.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
County Fair Demonstration
My guild was asked to demonstrating fiber processing (specifically wool) in the sheep barn at the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro Oregon. We were happy to ablige! We demo'd for two days and educated a lot of people about the wonderful word of wool, hand spinning, and fiber arts. The most fun was the 4H kids who were so enthusiastic to see what happens to the wool after harvested from the animals. :)
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| A rare photo of me at an event! |
We had two display tables: The first held a dispaly of the process, fibers, tools, and some handspun, and me spinning at the end. The second table had take-home sheets, finished goods, hand dyed yarn, and hand spun yarns and two of my guild mates; one knitting and one tatting.
This is a close of up the display of hand spinning steps:
0) Raw wool on the sheep (we were demonstrating in a sheep barn!)
1) Washed wool fiber, with vm and not picked
2) Washed wool fiber, some vm removed, flick-carded
~~From this step on, it's all the same fleece.~~
3) Carded wool batt, ready for spinning.
4) Wool single, wound onto a toilet paper tube.
5) Two wool singles plied and wound into a hank, still on niddy noddy
6) Washed and set wool yarn, in loose hank
7) Wool hank twisted and labeled, ready to sell
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| other fibers |
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| Handspun Yarn |
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| Fiber processing / spinning tools |
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| Finished Goods table |
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| Freebies: pattern, color pages |
 | |
| Hand dyed yarn, sock-in-progress |
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| My hand knits, and a friend's atted lace |
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| My handspun, various fibers |
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| My design |
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Rachel's Pasta Sauce (Recipe!)
Today I am making my pasta sauce! It's been quite a while since I've made it since I haven't been going to Cash & Carry, where I get my large tomato bases. But I went with a friend yesterday. Woohoo! Last night I prepped all the vegetables, and this morning I got cooking. It's now simmering happily away on the stove top. I'm looking forward to some delicious sauce this evening! :D
(Please excuse the bad photo. It's an old one and I didn't have a good resolution saved. I'll likely take a new pic tonight.)
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(Please excuse the bad photo. It's an old one and I didn't have a good resolution saved. I'll likely take a new pic tonight.)
Rachel's Pasta Sauce
Slowly cooking this sauce over many hours makes all the difference, allowing the flavors to marry and mature! Start it in the morning and eat / freeze/ can in the evening.
If your crock pot is big enough it would be an excellent alternative.
If your crock pot is big enough it would be an excellent alternative.
Course: Sauces
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 45 min
Cook Time: 6 hr
Total Time: 7 hr
Cook Time: 6 hr
Total Time: 7 hr
Serves: 1
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots
- 1⁄2 pound celery
- 1 medium onion ( 1/2 lb) diced
- 2 Tablespoons garlic fresh or dried, minced
- 1 large can (6lb 10oz) tomato puree
- 1⁄2 large can (6lb 6oz) diced tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons parsley
- 1 Tablespoon basil
- 1⁄2 Tablespoon oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 Tablespoons kosher salt
- 1⁄2 Tablespoon pepper
- 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
- Meatballs Optional
Directions
- Dice the carrots and celery and put into a pot; add enough water to cover. Cook vegetables on medium heat until soft (about 20 minutes). Drain over a bowl reserving the water. Puree vegetables in a food processor, or blender until smooth, adding cooking water as needed.
- Meanwhile, dice the onion and saute in oil or butter until soft. If using dried onion, use cooking water to hydrate and soften.
- Set a stock pot on the stove on low. Add all ingredients, including the cooking water, into the pot. Simmer on low for several hours.
Note: If you don't like a really chunky sauce, pulse the diced tomatoes in the food processor a few times. We like ours slightly lumpy in our house. - Adding meatballs: If using precooked meatballs, add to the sauce 1 hour before serving. Do not microwave to thaw frozen meatballs as it will toughen the meat. If using fresh meatballs, brown the formed balls in a skillet before adding them to the sauce to cook through. About 2- 3 hours.
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Friday, August 21, 2015
Nemesis Horns re-released!
Nemesis Knapsack has completed testing and has been re-released with updates!
I really enjoyed working with the people in Ravely's "Free Pattern Testers" group. :). If you are a desugner, check them out.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nemesis-horns-free-pattern
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Every yarn has a story...
This yarn marked the beginning of my love affair with spinning. The pencil roving had glorious color and an intriguing texture that made my fingers itch to work with it. With my birthday money I bought the fiber from a friend, and borrowed her drop spindle. With a few pointers we were off and running. My arms ached but I still wanted to keep going. I loved the transitions of one color to the next, fascinated with the whole process. My children watched me wide-eyed as I played with color and fiber.
When it was time to ply I had so many variations that I could try. I decided that I wanted to wind the single into a yarn cake and ply the center pull with the outside strand and just "see what the color does." This was the best part! What surprises I was in for. Purples with purples, purples with pinks, and pinks with pinks. Such a fun way to blend color.
Then I learned how to set the yarn by "thwacking" it. Haha! Such fun!
Now it's your turn to pick up the story. Take this yarn home and write the ending. Will the yarn become a purse? Someone's toy? You decide!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/243428978/handspun-yarn-moody-cloud?ref=shop_home_active_2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handspun by Rachel's Cozy Knits & Designs
Fiber content: 100% wool
Color: "Moody Cloud"
2 plys
125 grams, 282 yards
13 wraps per inch, DK weight
Spun January 2014
Hand wash in cool water. Air dry.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Wilma
Ok, I'm back everybody! Sorry for the cliffhanger. Well, maybe I'm not sorry exactly but I'm glad you're back. :P
I left off talking about Tour de Fleece! I had set myself up with several ideas going in:
I started off on the wrong foot. I intended to start with the Merino/Cormo fleece but the carder machine I was using broke down. So I had to try to get back out to my local yarn store to rent the big machine. That didn't happen until about a week into TdF.
Let me take a moment to tell you about this fleece. It's amazing. Its the softest that I have spun to date and oh-so-squooshy! If that wasn't a word before, it is now. This is the seconds (it's not even the best stuff off this sheep!) from a sheep named Wilma. There is something special spinning from fiber from a named sheep. I can feel the love that went into the care for the animal. I hope Wilma is happy with how I've been spinning her fiber because I feel that she is now my animal friend.
The first skein I just went for it. I tried spinning long-draw as finely as I could make this fleece work with me - and it took forever. Spinning and plying all day for 3-4 days (I forget exactly now but it was the aforementioned "forever"). I knew I would never finish before my August 1 due date. I shared pictures (the ones below actually) with the person who owns the fleece and she liked it but felt it was too thin. So I set it aside to add to my share and moved on.
Next I tried spinning short-draw and making it a bit thicker and fluffier. It worked perfectly. I hit right in the 17 wraps per inch range which is fingering weight. This style of drafting also allowed the yarn to be even sqooshier. It'll make lovely baby clothes, as she said that's what she wants to do with the yarn.
Unfortunately after I finished this skein I got side tracked by life. My kiddos and home needed tending to. Always going on about the "I need clean clothes," and "I'm hungry," and some such. Then my 14 year old wanted a birthday party. Ugh. I just want to spin! lol
So then I got back to it and got two more 100g skeins done and two singles for another skein as Tour de Fleece came to a close. The next day I plied the two together and washed & set all the yarn to date. At this moment I have to finish spinning this last single, ply the fourth skein, wash, set, dry this last skein and then I can mail them home. :) I'm cutting it close and its making me nervous. I know she'll be okay if it's a day or two late but I like things to be on time.
Here's a purdy picture I took of her yarn modeling my yarn bands I've put up for sale.
So I probably should tell you about these yarn bands. I made these up for my first SAPGAP order and since then I've updated them. Two days I found out that my rent is going up so I had the brilliant idea of selling custom yarn bands & tags. So, I fixed them up a bit more, made a second page for small skein tags and put them in my online shop. They'll make your yarn and roving look more professional and at a measly $5 they'll pay for themselves in no time. Take a look!
Tour de Fleece results:
In closing today I'll flash this pretty picture at you. This is everything I spun and plied during Tour de Fleece. Again, the dates for those who forgot was July 4 - 26th.
I left off talking about Tour de Fleece! I had set myself up with several ideas going in:
- stash busting
- trying new things
- washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning
- Play with dyeing!
- two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade.
I started off on the wrong foot. I intended to start with the Merino/Cormo fleece but the carder machine I was using broke down. So I had to try to get back out to my local yarn store to rent the big machine. That didn't happen until about a week into TdF.
Let me take a moment to tell you about this fleece. It's amazing. Its the softest that I have spun to date and oh-so-squooshy! If that wasn't a word before, it is now. This is the seconds (it's not even the best stuff off this sheep!) from a sheep named Wilma. There is something special spinning from fiber from a named sheep. I can feel the love that went into the care for the animal. I hope Wilma is happy with how I've been spinning her fiber because I feel that she is now my animal friend.
The first skein I just went for it. I tried spinning long-draw as finely as I could make this fleece work with me - and it took forever. Spinning and plying all day for 3-4 days (I forget exactly now but it was the aforementioned "forever"). I knew I would never finish before my August 1 due date. I shared pictures (the ones below actually) with the person who owns the fleece and she liked it but felt it was too thin. So I set it aside to add to my share and moved on.
 |
| 624 yards, 100 grams; 23 wraps per inch |
Next I tried spinning short-draw and making it a bit thicker and fluffier. It worked perfectly. I hit right in the 17 wraps per inch range which is fingering weight. This style of drafting also allowed the yarn to be even sqooshier. It'll make lovely baby clothes, as she said that's what she wants to do with the yarn.
Unfortunately after I finished this skein I got side tracked by life. My kiddos and home needed tending to. Always going on about the "I need clean clothes," and "I'm hungry," and some such. Then my 14 year old wanted a birthday party. Ugh. I just want to spin! lol
So then I got back to it and got two more 100g skeins done and two singles for another skein as Tour de Fleece came to a close. The next day I plied the two together and washed & set all the yarn to date. At this moment I have to finish spinning this last single, ply the fourth skein, wash, set, dry this last skein and then I can mail them home. :) I'm cutting it close and its making me nervous. I know she'll be okay if it's a day or two late but I like things to be on time.
Here's a purdy picture I took of her yarn modeling my yarn bands I've put up for sale.
So I probably should tell you about these yarn bands. I made these up for my first SAPGAP order and since then I've updated them. Two days I found out that my rent is going up so I had the brilliant idea of selling custom yarn bands & tags. So, I fixed them up a bit more, made a second page for small skein tags and put them in my online shop. They'll make your yarn and roving look more professional and at a measly $5 they'll pay for themselves in no time. Take a look!
Tour de Fleece results:
- stash busting Got some stash spun!
- trying new things Tried new things! Spinning from the lock and new fiber.
- washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning Eh, not nearly as much done as I wanted.
- Play with dyeing! Nope, nothing got dyed. :(
- two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade. Didn't get the first one done but I'm okay with the progress I made.
 |
| My project Moleskin with TdF numbers |
In closing today I'll flash this pretty picture at you. This is everything I spun and plied during Tour de Fleece. Again, the dates for those who forgot was July 4 - 26th.
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