I'm Phat!

Earlier this month, I was one of the few (70 or so) lucky recipients of a Phat Fiber box. Phat Fiber is a collective group of independent fiber and other artists who submit samples to the box based on monthly themes. The boxes go up for sale on Etsy once a month and each one is different. It was like Christmas when mine arrived, because really all I knew was it would have yarn and fiber in it. Previews of potential goodies are posted on the blog almost daily and they're enough to make your mouth water.

The boxes contain spinning fiber:



Left to right, top to bottom:

1/4 oz merino, tussah silk noil and angelina Whirlag in color "Snow Day" from Whirligig Yarns
Sky blue wool in color "Jack Frost" from A Sleeping Spindle
100% wool fiber knot in color "Great Melons" from (Rule Out): Fiber Addiction, nos
Handpainted merino roving from Enchanted Yarn
15g Rambouillet wool roving in color "Ice Queen" from Vines
Wool top in lovely rainbow colors from the Painted Tiger
Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) fiber in color "Deep Lake" from Moonlight and Laughter
(not shown) 70% mohair, 30% wool in Natural Winter White from Natchwoolie


Yarn samples:



Clockwise from left:

46 yds 75% SW wool, 25% nylon Turtle Feet sock yarn in color "Ice Flower" from Turtle Cove Farm
65% merino, 20% bamboo and 15% silk sock yarn in color "Water Edge" from hedgehog fibres
12 yds supersock yarn in color "Frost" from Dome Hill Yarns
24 yds worsted hand-spun undyed Jacob Wool in color "Sleet and Snow" from Artemesia Ink Studio Arts
Little hank of blue and green yarn from Dyed by Danido
15yds superwash merino sock yarn in blues and greys from Sneaky Pig Yarns
100 yds sock yarn in color "Queen Anne's Revenge" from Actual Size Creations/Valutree
100% white bamboo yarn from the Fuzzy Bunny
(not shown) Bulky 100% wool in color "Leaves of Grass" and 75% merino/25% nylon sock yarn in color "The Golden Road" from Moonlight and Laughter plus a mother of pearl stitch marker


And other goodies!



Clockwise from top left:

Pattern - Bartlett Bunny from Joey's House
Pattern - Braided Cable Socks from Lynne Wardrop at Avalon Fiber Arts
Matchbox notepad from Designs by Tami
Size 13 wooden knitting needles from Baa Hurrah
Knitting needle gauge from 7 Yaks Design
Get a Grip lanolin hand balm in "Citrus" scent from Knit
Lampwork bead stitch markers from Dragon Lady Designs
Handmade Soap from the Lote Tree
Leaf stitch marker from In Stitches

I submitted an offer and I've been accepted to have my work IN the February box! I've been very busy working on samples to mail in by Valentine's Day. The theme is "Romance and Chocolate" and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Once my little creations are finished, I'll have photos to post. In the meantime, check out the Phat Fiber blog for write-ups and teasers from the January box.

New Leaf!

I'm moving my old blog over here so I can take advantage of some new journal features. We'll see if I'm able to import my old entries, but in the meantime, my old blog is found at http://minou14.livejournal.com.

Another pair of socks!

Seriously, my feet get cold. I finished the Cascade 220 Superwash pair and I've been wearing them unblocked, straight off the needles. They do help keep my feet warm, yet they're thin enough I can still wear them in my tennis shoes if I need to go outside.

I wanted something a little more decadent, and it doesn't get more decadent than Malabrigo Worsted. I had a skein of "Bobby Blue" in the stash and decided to use it up.

This was my first time knitting with Malabrigo and boy did it make me happy. The stitches are puffy and delicious on US4's and the color changes just enough to be fun, but without giving me striped socks or pooling. I don't like striped socks. This color is sort of a cross between the Caribbean Sea and a clear sky in springtime and it's a lot of fun in the dead of winter. I changed the already modified Thuja sock pattern to use a straight 3x1 rib instead of a 3x1 seed stitch rib. It pulls in a lot more and helps the sock cling to my foot. It's still not a tight clingy sock, but it's meant to be worn over a basic cotton sock as an extra layer of insulation. The Malabrigo will probably pill and felt with wear, so these are meant to be worn in the house only.

I'm still not fond of knitting socks, but they're not bad for almost instant gratification. One sock takes me a couple of hours with worsted yarn, mostly because of the damn ribbing. I can now do short row heels like a champ and I think Kitchener stitching is fun. I'd Kitchener (is that a verb?) every seam I came across if such a thing were possible.

I should have plenty of yarn left for the second sock to make this a one skein project. If all goes well, this pair will be finished tomorrow night. Then I can get back to my sweater!

Its a sock!

One down, one to go. This one is a bit slouchy and loose, which will hopefully be remedied by a good wash and blocking. Depending on how they fare after blocking and wear, future pairs may need to go down a needle size. My stitches are looser than usual. I blame my clumsiness with dpn's. I do most of my work on circs, but I don't like Magic Loop for something this small around.

Pardon the less than stellar photography. It's surprisingly difficult to take a picture of your own foot at an attractive angle.





This is the first truly fitted thing I've made. The whole time, I had fears of either a monster sock or one that strangulated my ankle due to a tight cast-on. I gauged the length by holding up a dpn to the bottom of my foot and starting the toe decreases when I had a dpn-length of foot knitted. It all worked and the thing is nearly the shape of my foot.

That said, I am really not in love with socks. I put it on and didn't feel anything magical. It's a sock. It's a little nubbly inside. It's just.. utilitarian. The process knitter in me had fun. I'm thrilled I learned one way to do short rows and I finally had a reason to learn the Kitchener stitch. I've become a better knitter because of this sock.

I'm going to give my sweater a big smooch when I finally get to work on it again. You can love your socks, but my heart belongs to lace.

Bunnies!

I'm working on another painting, but since it's layered, it takes a while. It's good for my spastic attention span because I dab on some paint or glitter and wander off to let it dry. My next project is going to be making a light box so I can photograph my work with some semblance of professionalism.

I've paused my work on the sweater for a couple of days while I knit a pair of socks. I finally caved and decided to knit a pair because my feet are cold. When our high temperature for the day is still below zero, I can either set myself on fire or knit socks. I'm not smitten with them, so I don't think this will become an addiction. They can be useful little items, but when I see socks knit with fancy sock yarn, I don't swoon. These are going quickly because I'm knitting them with worsted Cascade 220 Superwash "Cordovan" from my stash on US4's. I made it past the heel on my first one last night and that was while talking on the phone and ordering a Phat Fiber box. (http://www.phatfiber.blogspot.com/) My big plans for tonight are to work on finishing the one and possibly starting the second. Cold toes are powerful motivation. I'll pop in a movie, huddle under a blanket and knit like the wind. The pattern is "Thuja" from Knitty Winter 2005. These are meant to be men's socks but they have nice 3x1 ribbing to make them clingy. I sized them down and it's working just fine. Lucy is the only one who will see them, so the lack of girliness is not a big deal.



And on the topic of knitting, the subject of today's post is bunnies! I found a link to PalominoMorgan's Etsy shop and I'm going into sugar shock because these bunnies are so cute. The description of their personalities is even better. They're all made from upcycled sweaters, which is very cool and means each one is unique. Look at this one called "Creamsicle"!

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

I've said before what an inspiration Liz from primoriginals has been to me. I love the idea of painting on wood so framing isn't needed. Layering gives such depth and interest to her paintings. After chatting with her, I ordered some wood and took a stab at my first mixed media painting.

I had this idea rolling around in my head and the finished painting actually closely resembles what I imagined. It's a big change for me, since I'm usually so literal in my paintings. This includes paper, acrylic paints, oil pencils, glitter, metal stars, and stamping and is finished with beeswax. The beeswax was definitely a learning experience, but thanks to Liz, I had a small quilting iron handy to smooth the finish. It goes GREAT over acrylic paint, but it's not so great over the paper. I may have to do something a little different on future paintings because it made the cow look slightly transparent. It gave it a little more visual texture, so it's not bad per se, just not what I anticipated.

I love the cow's expression and I'm really happy with how the moon turned out. I also really love the background with multiple layers of stars and the rich colors. Once I put a hanger on it and get good photos in the sunlight, this one will be up in my Etsy shop. It's going to be difficult to sell because I keep picking it up and admiring it. Even though I painted the silly thing, I keep finding new things as I look.



I had SO much fun with this and would have finished it earlier except that my work area is my kitchen table. I had to put everything away so I could have company for Christmas. One of my New Years resolutions is to be more artsy in 2009, and a sub-resolution is to set up a dedicated work table in my office/studio so I can go create whenever the mood strikes.