March | 2012 | Mustard Seed Yarn Lab

Month: March 2012 (page 2 of 2)

Yarn Lab news…

03.22.12 / Danielle / 1 Comment

I have some good news! A shop in Vinton VA asked if I would be interested in selling my roving there! The shop is named Wooly Belle and they’re on FB if you want to see more pictures of their shop. I only had two undyed rovings at home when they asked, so I quickly ordered more and dyed the two I have. Wanna see them?

Above is my favorite one so far, and of course, I’m brainstorming for a name for it. It reminds me of Spring…and fruity alcoholic drinks. Hmmmm……so I’m opening up the suggestion box to see what my readers can come up with. I’d love to hear from everyone, either in the comments or on my FB page.

Here it is lounging (drying) out in the backyard, soaking up the unusually warm Spring weather. It took my seat.

The one below I call Rose Garden.

Now I have to wait for the rest of my order to arrive before I can make more. As soon as it comes, I’m going to be a crazy roving dyer for a while. They said they’d sell some of my yarn too!

Also, I donated a skein to a podcast! The podcaster will be having a contest with prizes and my yarn (Lucky Charms) will be one of the prizes. Interested in a chance at winning some Mustard Seed Yarn Lab yarn? Listen for your chance tomorrow. Tune in to Fiber and Fabric for details.

It’s going to be an exciting Spring. The daffodils are ready… and so is Emmet.

Excitement… in Red

03.16.12 / Danielle / 4 Comments

I’ve been itching to knit another shawl for awhile now, but other projects kept getting in the way. (Projects I was actually getting paid to make, so those totally take priority… and happily.) Have I ever mentioned how much I love knitting shawls? You know,… I don’t wear them. I wish I was one of those fashionable girls who can throw a cute outfit together and wrap a lovely shawl around it all and make it come together. I am not one of those girls. I wear jeans everyday (which I can do because I work from home.) If I’m going somewhere nice, I throw a nice shirt on with my jeans, instead of my usual plain V neck T-shirt. I just can’t be bothered, really. Skirts are too cold in the winter (which lasts about 9 months in the Northeast) and in the summer, I opt for capris instead of skirts (just more practical, and I’m not fond of my stubby legs in shorts). I go to clothing stores and leave with nothing, complaining about how everything in there is so ugly. And when I do see something nice, it usually fits me all wrong or looks too girly or whatever.

But I love knitting shawls. I’ve only made 4 so far, but each was so much fun, I just couldn’t stop once I started. I gifted 3 of them, and kept one for myself. I wore it once to a wedding, but now it sits at the bottom of a huge Tupperware bin, where no harm can come to it. I’ve been told I should display it somewhere at least, and I’d like to, but it would get dusty or dirty, and eventually need a washing. A washing would mean blocking it all over again and I am NOT going to do that twice.

So, although I have no real reason to keep making shawls, I just can’t help myself. Last night I started the Juneberry Triangle by Jared Flood. I’ve been wanting to make this one for over a year. My sister gave me all the yarn to make it with for Christmas.

This is what it should look like when it’s done:

If mine comes out looking anywhere near this good, I just might have to buy an outfit to go with it.

My Lace and Cable sock is coming along. I guess I’m in a red kind of mood.

Knotty but Nice hat #2

03.6.12 / Danielle / 5 Comments

Hi All! I apologize for the silence, but work went from dead to crazy busy with lots of overtime, then I went away on a ski vacation in VT with my family (they ski, I knit) and now I’m back and work is dead again, for the time being. So I finally have a moment to post.

I knit a hat while I was in VT. While the rest of the family was skiing out in the cold, I was snug as a bug in the condo with a gorgeous view, knitting and reading A Clash of Kings (which I am loving even more than the first book, A Game of Thrones). The hat I made is for my friend Jason, and it’s the Knotty but Nice hat. It’s my second go at it. You may remember my 1st attempt just didn’t work, and my son ended up with a new hat instead. Well, this time it worked for the most part.

I dyed the yarn myself, and it’s actually greener than it shows in the picture. This time I used the correct weight of yarn…worsted instead of bulky….and I went up one needle size for the cabling, as the cabling is very tight and not very stretchy.

My biggest mistake was taking the hat to my friend Maiya’s house for a Knit Night. We got to talking and drinking wine, having a great time….then the next day I pulled out the hat to keep going and noticed something didn’t look right. In fact, something looked very wrong. I realized I had knit about 5 rows of cabling and somehow was very off, and hadn’t noticed it at all that night. I have never ripped out ANYTHING to try and fix before…I tink back, not rip out. Well, let me tell you, I was NOT tinking back 5 rows of cabling. So in VT I decided to start over. I ripped and ripped and took apart half of the cabling and then thought, well, maybe I should just TRY to insert my needle back into this thing. And people, I can’t believe it, but it worked! I managed to rip back to a spot and reinsert my needle throughout the entire hat, and it WORKED!! Yaayyy me!

I’m very happy with the way it turned out but the cabling section is still a little tight, and if I were to do it all over again, I would go up 2 needle sizes for that section. I’ll see Jason on Thursday and give it to him then. He may not like it, and that’s fine, I’ll just keep it myself if he doesn’t. Personally, I love it and wouldn’t mind keeping it, or giving it as a gift. He didn’t give much direction as to what style hat he wanted, and gave me free rein, but I have a feeling he was thinking of something more simple.

And now for some Sugarbush VT pictures. These are my favorite ones:

Mike and Emmet ….my favorite picture from the whole trip.

Mike and Nana skiing with Emmet:

The view from our condo:

Emmet’s favorite part of the trip, the Snow Cat ride up the mountain! Here he is with his cousins, getting ready to go up.

Emmet in the Snow Cat…notice the hat? That’s the Knotty but Nice hat #1.

The view from the top:

Cousins in the loft:

Cousins watching a movie:

Swimming on our last day there:

Sigh…I really like being on vacation.

I’m still working on that gorgeous red pair of socks. And since I have no more commissioned projects lined up, I think I’ll see what I feel like knitting next, along with the hexipuffs (my pile is growing) and the sock. Maybe that shawl I mentioned before. Hmmm…..