Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day 1 - A Tale of Two Yarns

Lucky Lucky me!  I follow some really great blogs out there and what to my wandering eye did appear??  No not 8 tiny reindeer, but rather lots of ladies talking about the fiber they use from those reindeer (or their relatives)!  All this week is the 2nd Annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week and I am jumping into the fray to play!!

Apparently, we get a lovely little prompt for each day to play with and here is day one's:

Day One: 28th March. A Tale of Two Yarns.
Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

Well as you know, if you've read many of my posts, I love fibers!  Give me your wool, your cotton, your silky blends!  I will find a home for just about any yarn in some project somewhere along the line.  My favorites tend to be yarns that are soft and malleable after being knitted up, but still hold a shape.  Yup, sometimes the two work beautifully and sometimes, not so much.

My true favorite, go-to yarn has got to be Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Dyed Cotton (or undyed if I want a natural).  It has a lovely hand, is easy to work with, comes in fabulous colors and really works well for a wide variety of projects.  

From basic hats,

To functional washcloths...

To sweet little lambys, this yarn has been a staple of mine for years now.

Now, another yarn that I have had less luck with, (at least for my most typical knit projects) has been Noro's worsted.  Now, these guys make a gorgeously colored yarn!  It is also AWESOME for felting!  I, unfortunately, have found that felting is just not really my love.  So, I decided to play with some Noro with a pattern idea I had for little wool pants for Oliver based on a vintage pattern I had found in some old magazine.  The Noro knit up beautifully, and the pants looked cute, but they were a little rough and I had to felt them a little before they were soft enough to wear. 

This is a terrible picture, but you can see the two colorways I used (reversible hahaha).  Super cute, but not quite what I wanted.  I think more than anything, I learned about where I like and dislike to use this yarn.  Yes for decorative, No for wearing close to the skin.  More evidence for taking the time to really find a yarn that suits my purposes!

What are your favorite yarns??

First Fiber Arts Friday!!

Since I entered the world of blogging, I've been following some amazing ladies who get together in the blogisphere to talk fiber arts every Friday.  Today, I saw the question "What are you waiting for?" and I just didn't have a good answer so here's my first contribution to the fabulous Fiber Arts Friday extravaganza!:

This week has been a whirlwind of kids, cloth, and fiber.  Each project on the needles and in the sewing machine has had to take a backseat at some point during the week as some other project got some love and attention from yours truly.  Here's a little glimpse of the needle work I've been playing with:

Here's the sweater that I've been working on for a while.  You can read more about the pattern etc in this post, but I'm making some progress.  I've never knit an adult sweater before and I'm pretty excited about the prospect of having something of this magnitude in my closet!!

This is a sweater I knit for my friend Kathleen's baby Waylon James (rock star name!).  It is FINALLY getting it's honey bee buttons, though as you can see, I go one on and then had to move on to something else.  A note, the pattern for this sweater can be found in the book Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, by Louisa Harding.

I've started knitting up some samples for a little knitting workshop I'm doing at the Mama's Make It Happen event.  Admittedly, this is not a priority right now.  Ask me again in a month as the event get closer and I haven't quite finished them (lol).

A new favorite project, this little piece will eventually be a sweater vest for Oliver.  My intent is to finish this and post the pattern for February's Celebrate the Boy event here.

And last but not least, did you know that a gorgeous Merino scarf that you haven't woven ends in yet for no reason whatsoever, makes a GREAT pin cushion?  No?  Let me tell ya, awesome.