Thrummed Mittens & Mail Goodies

Last weekend, I put the finishing touches on my Thrummed Mittens, then gave them a nice blocking in Wrapture (I could still smell the lingering jasmine during this photo shoot)! As luck would have it, my husband got a very fancy digital camera as an early birthday present from his parents, and he took some really great photos of my finished mittens...a process I apparently didn't enjoy.

Consequently, he's now going to be doing a LOT more photos for my patterns and blog posts! I mean, it's night and day, the difference between these photos and the photos I've been using from our much-older digital camera (or my cell phone...or instagram...).

You can get all the details on the yarn and fiber used in this project on my Ravelry project page. I used to pattern and video instructions from Marly Bird's excellent Craftsy class, Mittens and Gloves Galore (click here for a full review and a special discounted link for my blog readers)! I am so excited to bust these puppies out next winter!

I started the week off with some goodies in the mail: first, this month's shipment from the Sweet Georgia Fibre Club, which is some very interesting Masham top. Those who know me well are aware that pink is a color that doesn't often find its way into my stash, so I'm curious to see how this particular colorway spins up; maybe the pink will be subtle enough that I don't mind knitting with it - or it will at least be equally balanced by the green and the purple.

Yes, perhaps it will be the exception to the rule, kind of like the hot pink Nick Cave t-shirt that made its way into my closet, which is filled with black t-shirts (and a few gray, blue, green and brown ones, I suppose - much like my yarn stash, I think I'm sensing a theme!).

The second goody is my prize from the recent Holla Knits! blog tour: three skeins of Yarn Hollow Gemini, a bamboo/cotton blend yarn that's perfect for summer! I'm not sure what I'll make with it just yet, but I am excited to work with this very pretty yarn.

I have more yarn goodies from Doodlebug to share with you, but that will have to wait til I have time to have my lovely assistant photograph them - and today is his birthday! Soon, we will be heading to Hot Doug's in accordance with our birthday traditions!

I hope to meet you back here tomorrow for a special Caturday post. I don't want to give it away, but it does involve dinosaurs...and awesomeness. At any rate, I hope you'll be as amused as I was!

Thanks for stopping by this week - for more FO Friday inspiration, visit the Tami's Amis blog!

Have a crafty weekend!

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...

App Review & Giveaway: Stash 2 Go

The developers for a paid Ravelry app for iPad and iPhone called Stash 2 Go contacted me earlier this year to see if I was interested in writing a review or their app on their blog. While I don't own an iPad or iPhone, I was able to gift a download to a knitting friend who had an iPad and was willing to let me play around with it for the purposes of this review! This is the first time I've ever accessed Ravelry via an app (on my Android phone, I typically use the m.ravelry.com site), and I found most of it to be easy to use. Some of the features weren’t intuitive to me at first, but once I got the hang of the idiosyncracies, it was smooth sailing. Stash 2 Go makes the most of API functions Ravelry has opened up to developers (there are still several areas which have yet to be completed in the Ravelry programming interface, so developers can only implement what is available through www.ravelry.com/api ). Most of the app's functionality allows the user to view the ...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her. We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

handmade by stefanie

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