5 saturday stash.

I've got some pretty fabric and yarn to share with you today!  This beautiful stack of Eloise Renouf's newest collection for Cloud 9 called Shape of Spring came in this past week for a new project.  It will be available in stores in May.

I made a trip to the yarn store today and couldn't resist a few new skeins!  I love this Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk, it's so soft!

I've been eyeing this pretty Prism Merino Mia in Arroyo for awhile and finally bought some!  Not sure what it will become just yet but I really like the colors.

I've made some sock progress lately and finished the heels on this pair during my knitting class today.

I finished my first sock last week too on my Van Dyke socks!  I spent most of last night working on the second one.  It was a wild Friday night! :)

Hope to get some sewing done tonight so I have some things to share with you next week! Hope you're all having a nice weekend!

7 Obsessed with Yarn Dyeing.

Jeni came to visit this past weekend and we had such a fun time just hanging out, chatting, and working on some sewing projects.  We went thrifting, yarn shopping, and visited the alpacas too!

 We did some knitting at the yarn shop and bonded over our love of purple!

 I think the highlight of the weekend for both of us was dyeing our own yarn!

We used the book Hand Dyeing Yarn & Fleece by Gail Callahan, which I do recommend picking up if you're interested in trying this!  We dyed MCN High Twist Fingering Weight Yarn using Jacquard Acid Dyes.  We ended up dyeing two skeins each, deciding after the first one that we just had to do it again!  We probably would have done even more if it would have dried faster, as we didn't want Jeni to have to take home wet yarn!  Wet wool really doesn't smell very good.  This was the perfect project for the two of us, as we both really love playing with color.  Jeni was smart and dyed some versatile color schemes -- all different shades of gray and another with gray, black, and purple.  They are going to make some amazing shawls!

I went a bit crazy with my colors and made a purple, coral, neon yellow, gray and black skein first, and then a coral, teal, gray, and cream skein.  What I am going to do with all this bright yarn?  I have no idea.  I am honestly just happy to hang them up as-is in my sewing room and call them finished projects :)

We both decided we're hooked on yarn dyeing now and have plans to do it again this summer.  I'm guessing this isn't the last of the yarn you'll see from either of us, it's really fun planning out and mixing colors and so satisfying to see the finished product wrapped up in a skein!

I love getting together with friends for sewing weekends, and wish I could do it more often!  I think Jackson found a new favorite friend, and thankfully Jeni was very tolerant of my high maintenance pup :)

I'm already looking forward to my next sewing retreat now!  June can't come soon enough!

6 New Items in the Shop!

I'm really excited to share a little project I've been working on lately!  I've decided to make a few new items for my shop.  I've been on the hunt for a pretty knitting gauge and thread organizer.  I wanted something modern and also something that would look pretty in photos if I'm using it with my projects.  Call me superficial but beautiful things are important to me! :)  Anyway, I have a few different items in the works, but the first ones just came back and I am in love!

First up, a pretty little knitting gauge!

The knitting gauge is engraved with "i heart knitting" and a little heart.  It has needle sizes 0-17, along with a ruler to check gauge on your swatches.

Next, a thread organizer and needle minder to keep track of all your embroidery floss and needle during your stitching projects!

Great for cross stitch, embroidery, hand quilting, etc.  Engraved with "i heart stitching" and the same cute heart design.  There are 27 holes to keep your floss colors organized, and a little magnet to keep your needle in place when you're not using it.

Both designs are laser cut and engraved into 1/8" thick walnut.  I think I'll be hand waxing them too to give them a bit of shine.

They are available for pre-order in my shop now!  $14 each, or get both for $25!  They will ship by the end of April at the latest.  I only have US shipping options listed at the moment, but if you're international please send me a message and I will give you a shipping quote!

6 saturday (yarn) stash.

Since I've been on a knitting kick, there's been lots of pretty yarn in the mail lately at my house!  I decided to order some hand dyed yarn, the colors are just so beautiful!

I ordered a few skeins from a new-to-me shop a few weeks ago called Toil & Trouble.  It took awhile to get here since the owner Ana dyes to order, but it was well worth the wait!

This minty aqua color called Kelpie is amazing, and the yarn is really soft too!  It's a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend.  I've already cast on with this for a Lowbrow Cowl!

My other Toil & Trouble purchase was this gray fingering weight (Merino/Nylon in Smoke Signals), perfect for a pair of socks!  I am trying to work up the courage to start my first pair.  Mostly because I'm trying to decide what yarn to use for my first pair... do I use fancy hand dyed yarn or do I just use something less special for the first pair in case I mess up?  I can't decide!

I also purchased this awesome skein of sock yarn from Wren House Yarns recently.  The colors in this one just make me happy (colorway is California Dreaming)!  Again, debating whether to use this for my first socks or not!  I will have to decide this weekend though because I want to bring socks to knit while I'm traveling for work next week.

 This is another Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend and also super soft!

I am thrilled with my purchases and will definitely be buying from both of these shops again!

I'm really enjoying buying yarn from indie dyers and may have a few more skeins in my etsy cart already.  I also might have some yarn (and fabric!) dyeing planned in the near future with a fellow dye and yarn lover :)

What are your favorite places to buy hand dyed yarn from?  I'd love to check out some new shops!

1 winter knitting.

I always seem to get on a knitting kick during the winter.  It's fun to be able to sit on the couch and watch tv with my husband while working on a project, and it's a nice break from sewing!  Over the past month I've been mostly working on my Follow Your Arrow shawl, but have been taking a break from all the lace knitting with more mindless projects that don't make my brain hurt.  I knit up my first two hats recently, one for me, and one for my husband.

Mine is a Dreieke hat, and I am in love with the yarn (Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino in Silver).  It's got amazing stitch definition!  Adam's hat is just a basic hat with stripes and made of Cascade 220 sport weight.  It's really soft!  I am not entirely happy with the fit of either hat if I'm being honest, but I think that is because of my stitching, not because of the patterns.  I think I need to go down a needle size next time, they're a little big.

I have decided that I'm going to try knitting a pair of socks soon, so I had to make a sock sack to hold them!  This pattern is really cute and easy.  I did change the top casing a bit to look more like Jeni's drawstring bag pattern!

I used a bunch of my favorite fabrics for the bag, including Tule, Spot On Tiny Dots, and Botanics.  The cute ruler trim is from my friend Jacey's shop!

These little bags are so fun to sew, they don't take much fabric and they go together really fast!  I might have to make one for each new pair of socks :)

I stopped at my local yarn store on Monday since I had the day off.  I bought some yarn to make a Reversible Strips Scarf, and I splurged on some new knitting needles too.  I wanted to get some interchangeable needles instead of buying a new pair every time I started a project.  I had gone back and forth between a set of Knit Picks, Hiya Hiyas, or Addi Turbo Lace.  I have heard good things about all the sets from friends who knit a lot more than I do, but I ultimately went for the Addi ones to support my local shop.  I love shopping there and visiting with the cute alpacas they have outside the store!

I am in love with the needles so far.  They are so smooth and easy to use!  I was worried I wouldn't like the metal ones since I usually use bamboo, but I think I actually like them better.  The sharp tips are really nice too!  It was a bonus for me that they came in this cute case.  It's pretty much the perfect color for me!

So I guess this means I'll have to keep knitting right?  I have some pretty hand dyed yarn coming to my house soon, I'll be sure to share pictures when it arrives!