Earthwhisper Fiber Arts

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Pattern:  Prosperous Plum Tank

Needles:  Size 5 and then 7 (but wasn’t getting gauge, so switched to size 6 to get gauge.)

Yarn:  LB Cotton-ease - Violet

I loved working with this yarn.  I loved working with this pattern.  Really, this was an really fun and nice project.

I didn’t have any problems with the pattern, except for my own clumsiness…which Andrea pointed that that I couldn’t blame you, because I never posted a picture of the finished straps…so…how would you know I was off?

I got the crab stitch done.  It looks awesome.  My left thumb is happy I am not working on that anymore.

I am still working on Prosperous Plum, and am up to the straps. The pattern calls for you to measure to get the right strap size. Since I am not knitting this to my size, I don’t have anyone to measure. Any suggestions? I guess I could call around to some size small friends tomorrow…

I am happy with this progress. I have no doubts I will have this finished by Friday.

ETA:  I did a bit of reading and it seems that standard size “small” armhole length is 7.5 to 8 inches, so that is what I am going to do.

First, I am madly knitting the Prosperous Plum tank.  It is knitted in cotton-ease in violet.  I am knitting a small as it will be the sample that I will be teaching in my classes.  It has a provisional cast on, picot hem, lace and cable knitting, shaping…basically lots of things I can teach on.  I rarely actually get to teach the projects that I plan out, so hopefully this will be one of those times as this is really one of the funnest projects I have done in a long, long time.

Seriously, the chart is really interesting.  It is easy to remember and is really working up fast.  Of course, I am knitting the small (rarely get to do that) but it is still a fun knit.

I casted on for this on Saturday.  As of tonight, this is where I am at.

Front:

Back:

There is this cool asymmetrical-ness, yet oddly symmetrical that this top has.

I need to be finished with it before Saturday and at my current pace I think that is possible.

I started out using size 5 needles for the picot hem, then switched to size 7.  However, as I got a few inches up, I realized my gauge was off and so I dropped down to a size 6 and am getting the 19 st/4 inch gauge.  It actually worked out good doing it this way since the hip part is a little bit wider than when it decreases into the waist, so the change in gauge isn’t noticeable in a bad way.

Once I get my class knitting out of the way, I hopefully will have more knit/crochet time for myself again for the next few months.  I love my classes, but the prep for them is very time consuming.

I did do a little bit more knitting on my sock (not shown.)  I am almost at the toe decreases.

Here is a picture of my dad’s sweater:

Sorry dad…it is hard to wear this way, I know.  I don’t have the back to block this as I would have to pin it to my floor.  I am sort of waiting for Tony to help me.  I swear I will finish this soon…luckily it is still cold and rainy where you live even in the summer.

Speaking of rain.  This was Saturday:

And lastly, as if there are not enough pictures on this post, a picture Sierra drew.  Her teacher suggested in a report card that Sierra needed to color better within the lines.  Seriously…something is wrong with her teacher.  Isn’t coloring outside of the lines better?

She has Tony’s artistic ability.  I NEVER colored like this in kindergarten.

Well…minus the buttons, which I will pick up later today.

Pattern:  Light N Lively Tank

Hook:  Bates G

Yarn:  Cotton-ease - Violet

Pattern changes:  Well, I had a bit of a problem with the wording on how to do the bodice.  You can find all of that here.  In addition, mine has a pretty visible hole in the front of it, whereas I don’t see that in the picture on LB’s site.  So, I am assuming there is some type of problem there.  I don’t know if I will leave it or close it…I might see if Michaels has a large bead I can put there.

I also need to find some nice buttons or something…

I am going to make this for myself, as this is just the store sample.  However, I am going to change some things…like the front tank part.  The bodice part is cute…hopefully a top like this won’t look like a maternity top on me.   (not yet…anyways…)

The first one is Knitty’s Anouk. It is done in Cotton-ease. You have seen the pics before, just finally found the perfect buttons for it, at Walmart of all places. I have realized there are not a lot of places in my area that sales buttons.

There are some imperfections, but overall I am happy with it. As much as I love cotton-ease (and am excited about its come-back,) I have realized it isn’t very forgiving. It splits easily and when you mess with it it doesn’t spring back.
This next finished project is one you didn’t even know I started, because I am shameful and pretty much broke my September challenge rule. Yes, I lied to you all, but not intentionally. I was crocheting this scarf thinking it would make for a fun beginner’s project for my classes. The first row wasn’t too bad, but the second row took me a couple of nights of crocheting…so it isn’t a 2 hour project to say the least. It was fun, though and makes for a very pretty scarf. It is Patons Curly Q Scarf. It took almost 4 balls of Patons SWS with a size K hook. The pattern calls for an L hook, which I don’t have, so I figured K is next best and would use less yarn.

This next project is one that will be in my beginner’s crochet class. It is a credit card/cash wallet. It is made with Patons Classic Merino with a size H hook. It is very easy. I still wonder if this is pushing it for a 2 hour class, but if I can get them past the button hole then I think it won’t be too bad.
Oh, and too my friend Amy, mentioned I am doing well. I am.! I have lost 10 pounds since I started my vegetarian diet. That isn’t a lot, but it is better than nothing. Tony has lost a lot more than me. My back has been killing me, but I noticed it goes in waves and is because I do things like carry Madeleine on my back and wrestle with the kids.

Dropping that class has made my stress go from a 10 to a 2. Seriously, I didn’t even realized I was that frazzled until in retrospect looking back. I think everyone around me knew it though.

Sierra is doing well, too. She has a “boyfriend” at school and kissed him on the cheek. I told her not to, but she told me she wasn’t in school, so it was okay (we were walking to the truck.) Sigh… He was nice and told me, “it is okay, I like it.” In school she is doing better. Her homework is coming back just fine. She isn’t crying after school and I think overall the teacher and her are communicating better. Either that or she is preoccupied with her “boyfriend” and so isn’t getting upset over the other stuff, I don’t know.

Madeleine has been “rough and tumble” lately. She is skinned up on her knees, on her chin, and has a bruise on her head. She is a little daredevil and is also sometimes clumsy. She is very much a comedian, always looking for a laugh.

She is talking more, full sentences. Though really only Sierra and I understand her. Tony doesn’t. She leaves the ends of words off, still and I am trying to work with her on it. Sometimes she says something to me and I don’t know what she is saying and it is frusterating to both of us. Also, I guess and she acts like I guessed right, but I wonder if she is just faking that and just being happy that I am giving her something.

Here is the ball after felting. It is true that polyfill won’t felt. Michael’s doesn’t sell wool filling, that I know of so I am just going with what they have.

This isn’t a beginner’s crochet class.  It was suggested to me that I start off with beginner’s classes for the month of October.  Then in November to add a more advanced class so that people who took the beginning class would want to take another class of mine and learn more skills.  Maybe it will end up that people will only want to take beginning classes or maybe they will want to take more intermediate ones, I don’t know.  Teaching is so new to me and I am just treating it like a journey.

I would appreciate any advice out there about teaching knitting and crochet and if you have any short/small easy projects you can share with me, that would be great too!

Here is my Anouk, without buttons. I still didn’t buy any today.

I haven’t been posting many in progress posts/pics, lately and really just need to be more in the habit of doing that.

Here is my Anouk in Progress. I am using cotton-ease and yes, it is kind of hunter orangish, but I think when I get the pockets with the other colors on it will tone it down a bit. Anyways, Halloween is right around the corner and this is a little pumpkinish.

You have heard of the old saying, “Measure Twice, Cut Once,” yes? Tony is starting to do some wood working and I remind him of this. I learned that valuable lesson in quilting and sewing.

In knitting, it appears I measure and measure and measure, but have never knitted enough.
The funny thing and this is the real kicker…the pattern will say knit to 11 inches from beg. and I know that after that I will work on the neck decrease. So why do I measure when it is 8 inches and obviously too short to be at the neck? So I can say to myself, yep 3 inches left…keep knitting!

Don’t worry, it is a baby item I am talking about, knitty’s anouk. The Baby It’s Cold Outside pattern didn’t agree with me so I changed directions and am going to knit up this cute pinafore. I figured it would be a good way to use the Orangeade cotton-ease in my stash. It looks real pumpkin-y right now. I have to make 2 of these for baby gifts for a shower that has passed. She hasn’t had the babies yet, twins, so it is okay. I was sick when she had her shower so it kind of bought me time to work on these.

On a side note, I think I have delayed sleep phase syndrome. This has been a problem in my life for almost most of my life. It was especially bad in my 20’s and was probably due to my lifestyle. It is okay for me to be on this schedule when I am just a sahm, especially since my husband works swing shift and he is on this schedule, too. However, I am going to have an early morning class again, 7:40am and so I need to start changing my schedule now. I have a lot of anxiety about sleeping, not waking to my alarm, missing class, etc. I know I can do this I just need to not sabotage myself.

I have raised $130 for the heart walk so far and am happy about that. I need to get my legs moving to train for running it. That is my goal, but even if I only walk it I will still be proud of myself.

For the record Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style is really good. If you are looking for a ground beef substitute, try this. I made tacos with this last night and it was awesome. I fried it in a very small amount of grape seed oil. I tried to do it without the oil, but it is really sticky stuff so wasn’t frying real well. A small bit of oil helped and I could grind it up in the pain, just like ground beef. I added 1/2 a packet of low sodium taco seasoning. It looked like taco meat, which is good when you are trying to fool your mind. The bonus was when I started to eat it and really, really like it and so did Tony. I have fallen off the wagon a few times in the past few weeks with cooking, but the key is that I keep going back to what my body wants to eat and that is a lot of fruits, veggies and healthier foods. When Tony and I eat other things we both feel sluggish and not so good. We are learning.

Pattern: Cool Crochet Skull Cap

Yarn: Cotton-Ease (this is different than the Cool Crochet that the pattern called for.) Because I used this yarn, my gauge is off, so really this cap is larger than it should be.

With that said, though. I know my sister would want it. I am going to make another one with a smaller gauged yarn.

Hook: Size G

Pattern notes: there is an error in the pattern in Round 7. Since I followed the pattern wording I got 25 round, instead of 27. At the time I was too lazy too frog and since I knew my yarn gauge was off I figured it would be better to have less rounds and am glad this happened.

There is also a small wording error in the round after the 11the repeat of round 8. It says to sc in sl st and there wasn’t a sl st.

All in all, I thought it was an easy pattern and works up incredibly fast. If you need a quick gift for someone I would suggest this pattern. Oh, and this didn’t take up much yarn, about 50g I am guessing.

Pattern: Summer Swing Top

Needles: size 5

Yarn: Cotton-ease in color Banana Cream

Pattern notes: This pattern worked up very easy and quick. I was a little thrown off by the circumference of the bottom of the top, but it looks cute on Madeleine so I think it is fine. I was 1 1/2 off in the length, but it is for a toddler who is smaller than Madeleine, so I think it will be okay. If I were to make this for Madeleine, I would do one more pattern repeat in the skirt part. It would change the yoke a bit, but since it is ribbing I think it would be fine.

I am happy to have finished something, of course it isn’t one of my work’s in progress…because apparantly I have some type of attention problem.

And…because I have a category for bugs, I found a moth today in a bag of wool roving. Can you believe that? It was in a sealed zip lock bag. I checked the seal and it was fine. Ick! I looked through all the bags of wool I have and that was the only one.

If I told you the past three days have been hot here is an understatement. The problem is that last week it was so cool, 75 degrees one day. Then, Friday it was 100 degrees and felt about the same Saturday and today. I love the sun, but I hate 100 degree weather. My ideal is low 80’s. We almost went to see my parent’s this weekend, but we really needed some time at home. Maybe tomorrow I will show you a picture of my flower garden.

I had planted flowers about a month ago and they all died (except the lavender, it is still doing really well.) Yesterday we went to home depot and bought some more flowers. I also bought some mulch and hopefully my flowers will have a better chance now of living.