If you're in need of a new project bag, I encourage you to check out A Needle Runs Through It. She has all sorts of other cute fabrics. I just swung in there, and I will just say this: Foxes and mustaches and Tardises, oh my!
The box bags I ordered from A Needle Runs Through It came in, and they are fantastic! Highly recommend. I ordered two bags. First up is a large boxy bag in sushi fabric. The fabric is absolutely adorable. I love the colors... ... and the different types of Japanese foods are saying different things. I missed taking a photo of it, but the California roll is saying, "Let's roll." How cute is that? I'm not even a big fan of sushi, but I couldn't resist this fabric. The bag is really well constructed. The fabric is heavy enough that needles won't poke through. I love that the zipper color coordinates with the fabric. And look at this lovely zipper pull! These are the sort of details that make a good bag great. The bag is a nice big size, large enough to hold a smaller shawl, scarf, or infinity loop project. In the photo on the right, it is holding the Trillian project that I am working on, and I still have room to spare. As the Trillian grows, I think I might have to transfer it to a larger project bag, but right now it's easily holding the 200 grams of fingering weight yarn, the project, and the pattern. I also picked up a small boxy bag in the winter trees fabric. This one was slightly discounted, I assume because of the fabric. Who wants to buy a Christmas bag in summer? ME! The fact that it's summer isn't going to stop me from carrying this bag around now. It's too cute to wait until winter to use. The same lovely details were used to make this bag: a coordinated color zipper and a nice, sturdy zipper pull. This bag is quite roomy for a small project bag. It holds 100 grams of sock yarn with room to spare. I believe it's actually big enough to hold two 100-gram skeins, so it would hold a colorwork sock project.
If you're in need of a new project bag, I encourage you to check out A Needle Runs Through It. She has all sorts of other cute fabrics. I just swung in there, and I will just say this: Foxes and mustaches and Tardises, oh my!
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Ay, ay, ay with the enabling. If you don't want to be enabled, don't listen to podcasts. This whole edition of Favorite Things Friday could be about the yummy yarns, bags, and stitch markers that I've discovered while binge-watching the Must Stash podcast this week. I'll be sure to share in a later post, but today I will share one yummy thing. I managed to score a skein of Desert Vista Dyeworks in a destash. This is the Tiki Bar colorway, which first caught my eye on Susan B. Anderson's blog nearly a year ago.
Want to entertain but don't want to throw a whole dinner party? This bruschetta bar is the perfect idea! In addition to these recipes, I might include whipped feta, roasted tomatoes, and this 5 Cheese Roasted Red Pepper Spread. I love the idea of replacing my downspouts with rain chains. This bean tepee would make a cute addition to a vegetable garden. Having finished Must Stash, I have now moved on to Suburban Stitcher. Hopefully I'll be able to let the enabling roll right off my back. Have a great weekend! So, I took sock inventory yesterday, and I noticed that these two vanilla socks were in about the same spot. If I knit a few more rounds of the green sock, they would be at exactly the same spot. What better way to see if I can manage two-at-a-time than to try to finish these socks on one needle? I'm already past the heel, which is the hardest part, after all. I've got a little soxperiment going on here.
A shout out to Jesse, who blogs over at Wee Pleasures. She is a two-at-a-time knitter and cranks out the socks like you wouldn't believe. She's finished 12 pairs already this year, over half of which were knit two-at-a-time. I've been following her sock knitting, and she's the inspiration for this soxperiment. FO = Finished Object I finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks KAL! The pattern is Charade by Sandra Park. The yarn is Cakewalk Stash in the Taos colorway. I LOVE everything about these. The pattern was easy-peasy, one step up from a plain vanilla. It's a SKYP pattern (there we go with another abbreviation), similar to Simple Skyp Socks, but stockinette rather than ribbed. I love the yarn. Can't get enough of those speckles. Unfortunately, this is the only Cakewalk Yarn I'll likely ever knit with. It's very hard to come by since the Etsy store closed. HO = Half Object I went to the movies on Sunday (The Fault in Our Stars—awesomesauce) so I needed something I could knit in the dark without looking at my hands. My knitting-in-the-dark skills are a bit lackluster to say the least, so I didn't want to take a project I care about just in case it went awry. Barn Raising Quilt squares fit the bill. I'm making a 72-square blanket, and I've got about 24 squares, so I'm only 1/3 of the way done. Technically, this really isn't a HO. But who's being technical? I think this is going to be my purse knitting for a while. Today I separated out all the sock yarn leftovers from projects I've knit from the cakes that others have given me. The yarns in this photo are all from my FOs. I want to make sure that I use these before using the others. It'll be cool when the blanket is finished and I can look at it to remember other projects. WIP = Work-in-Progress You might be thinking that my Brickless looks strange. That's because it's not Brickless anymore. I just wasn't feeling it. Brickless is a lovely pattern and not difficult, but I needed something even easier. Enter Trillian. Still Martina Behm, still going to be an asymmetrical shawl/scarf thing. It hasn't grown very much this week because I was working on the socks. SIP = Socks-in-Progress It's the Summer of Socks, so how could I finish one sock project and NOT cast on another? These are my best friend Carol's birthday socks. I picked the yarn from my stash, and she picked the pattern. She chose Socks for Euni by "Feministy" Liz Abinante. The yarn is a Yarn Hollow Sockreligious sock blank. I wound it into balls rather than knit from the blank. I'm doing these two-at-a-time on separate needles. This is the way Steph of the Must Stash Podcast knits most of her socks, and since I often have a bad case of second sock syndrome, I thought I would try this.
So, there you have it. FO, HO, WIP, SIP. FOHOWIPSIP. Sounds like a good craft beer name to me! Today is the solstice, the longest day of the year, the official start of SUMMER. Aaaah. Summer in Michigan. A time for sipping icy drinks on a patio. A time for heading to one of the Great Lakes (for me, its Michigan) and chillaxing while you watch the waves roll in. Festivals and barbecues. Trips to the ice cream stand. Boating and camping. Eating fresh, local produce. Climbing a sand dune. And also... a time for sock knitting. We know these summer moments are so fleeting here in Michigan. However warm it is today, we know we're going to return to a frozen landscape in the not-too-distant future, and WE. NEED. WOOL. SOCKS. Socks are the perfect portable project for taking on vacation, to the beach, to the festival, to the patio. So let's make some! I am hosting a Summer of Socks KAL/CAL over in the Team Michigan group on Ravelry. Team Michigan began as a Ravellenics team for Michiganders and has since expanded to be a KAL/CAL group for Michiganders or people who have a Michigan connection. Summer of Socks is going to be super relaxed. WIPs count, so drag them out of the project box and finish them up before there is a chill in the air! You can win some yarny prizes... I hope you'll join us!
Need a fast side for grilled meat or fish that doesn't involve turning on the stovetop or oven? Try a simple tomato-corn salad ("recipe" below). If you're looking for an alternative to mashed, baked, or boiled, the Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes are delicious! TangledThread's Desk Bunny Army makes me smile. Amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo lets me go an extra day between washing, even in the summer. And it smells great! The Amazon Fire Phone just came out. I'm not one to try the first generation of a new gadget, because I like to see the bugs worked out first. But I'm going to have my eyes peeled for reviews on this one! I've started to make a list of yarns and colorways I want to try. Miss Babs Cosmic Deep Sea Jellyfish and Hedgehog Fibers Sock Pheasant top the list. I guess I'm in a pink mood! Down with Detroit has really fun Michigan t-shirts. I plugged them in my last post but I have to do it again. I can't get enough of the Must Stash Podcast! Tomato Corn Salad
This is a really loose recipe. Toss together, in quantities to your liking: —Thawed frozen corn kernels or fresh kernels cut from the cob. —Halved or quartered grape, cherry, or other small tomato —Chopped cilantro. Drizzle on olive oil and red wine vinegar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. I've recently discovered the Must Stash Podcast. If you're not already familiar with it, check it out. Steph and Stacie are highly entertaining. With summer TV on hiatus, I have found myself going back and watching their previous podcasts while I knit in the evenings. I'm warning you, though—watching this podcast will likely lead to some sort of stash enhancement. In each episode, they discuss WIPs, FOs, yarn and fiber purchases, among other things. And nearly every time they pull out a WIP to show it off, they show off their project bags. I have been known to be a bit of a project bag hoarder myself. But I'm not accepting personal responsibility for the fact that I bought three more project bags yesterday. These ladies are serious enablers. Steph and Stacie are doing a "Stash Flash" this month over in their Ravelry group, encouraging people to set goals for organizing their stashes (not only of yarn, but also of fiber, tools, books, and yes, BAGS). I am not up for a full stash flash right now, but I am inspired to do a bag stash flash. Here goes! Sock Monkey Tote from Midnight Creations. Love the fabric on this one. Look at this sock monkey's expression: I'm pretty sure that's what I look like when I have to rip something back because I wasn't paying attention. The problem I have with this bag is that it's a tote. It's a great size, big enough for a large shawl or the beginnings of a sweater, but I rarely use it. I wish it were a wedge bag. I wonder if there's a way to remove the straps and install a zipper in the top? Sheep Box Bag by ZigZagStitches. I can't remember now if the little needle case came with it or if it was extra. I bought this back when I was still knitting socks on DPNs. Now that I'm a magic looper, the needle case is housing a crochet hook I like to have around for picking up any dropped stitches. This one is perfect for a single 100-gram skein of sock yarn, but it won't hold much more than that. These see-through sock bags from Creative Couture are pretty nifty. I bought a bunch of them at Michael's on sale. I think they were being discontinued (or Michael's stopped carrying them). I love that you can see what's in there without having to open up the bag. They are perfectly designed for a 100-gram skein of sock yarn that has been made into a cake. They all have a carabiner so you can attach them to another bag or attach a keyring to it—handy if you are knitting in public and don't have your full-size knitting bag with you. Now for some drawstring bags. From time to time, I like to purchase something from the Ravelry Mini-Mart. Ravelry is 100% free for us knitters—the only people who pay are those who sell patterns or advertise on the site. It's pretty well-funded now, but in its infancy, donations and merchandise sales were important means of revenue for Ravelry. The bag on the right was created for Sock Summit and the one on the left was created to honor Ravelry's five-year anniversary. Who can resist a bag with Bob on it? Ravelry's bags are super affordable, and a bonus is that their designs are printed on EcoBags, which are made of 100% organic cotton. EcoBags is also a certified Fair Wage and Fair Labor company. More drawstring bags. I bought all four of these at separate times, but I like how they sort of go together. I am a fan of the matchy-matchy. The one on the left in the top photo is my favorite drawstring bag. It's from Erin Lane Bags. If you only ever buy a single drawstring bag, it should be from Erin Lane. They are super well-made. That drawstring cinches very tightly, but I never feel as if I might break the strings from tugging on them too hard. They are lined, and that double layer of fabric prevents needles from poking through. While I like the Della Q ones, they are a single layer of fabric, so they are not really suited for holding sock projects because the small-gauge needles poke right through. (You can see a needle hole on one of the green flower's petals in the bottom photo.) The Della Q bags are better suited for a hat or mittens project, something where the needle will be larger and therefore not as likely to poke through the fabric. I LOVE this one, account of the owls. This is a from Good to Be Girl. Andi of My Sister's Knitter had posted about this bag and I ran over to the Etsy shop to get one, only to discover that they were sold out. I contacted the shop owner to see if she could make another one like it. She didn't have any more fabric, but she acquired some and had the bag sewn the next day! How is that for awesome customer service? This bag is also very well made, with a double layer of fabric, and it also has a carabiner on it. This is the medium-size bag, which is large enough to hold a large shawl project.
I'm going to save my new bag purchases for another post. In the meantime, I hope that this post may have inspired you to flash your bag stash. If it does, leave me a comment and link to your blog! I am no fan of blocking. But when you've worked on a piece of lace (on and off) for over a year, it's imperative that you wet block it. This is the Radiance Shawl by Helen Stewart, knit in Davidson Domy Heather. The colorway is called Columbine, and it's a heathery grayish lavender. The Domy Heather is a super affordable yarn sold at Old Mill Yarn in Eaton Rapids. I think when I purchased these skeins a couple of years ago, it was selling for $8.00. There are 475 yards per skein, and there are some really gorgeous colorways. I don't know how available this yarn is outside of Michigan, but if you can get your hands on some, it makes a great shawl. The yarn is listed as a fingering weight, but I would classify it as a light fingering. It worked fine in this pattern, which calls for a lace weight yarn. I love the way the picot bind-off looks, although let me tell you, that took some stamina. There are 760 stitches on the needles, and to create those little points, you cast on two stitches, then bind off five, and so on and so forth. Definitely cannot be done in one sitting. It took me four or five days to do the bind off. The photo above shows my first attempt at blocking. I pinned it along the bottom edge of the last garter section, which failed to open the bottom lattice section. I also had little scallops along the top edge of the shawl. I added pins to the top to straighten the edge, and I re-pinned the bottom. Rather than take the shawl off the mats to wet it again, I dampened it with a spray bottle. A bit better, don't you think? So, non-sock project off the needles. That means I get to cast on. Andi of My Sister's Knitter is hosting a sock yarn knit- and crochet-along over in her Ravelry group. When I posted on Tuesday, I had mentioned that I was going to use this Plucky Knitter Silk Merino Handpainted Fingering to make a Fino Circle Scarf. Almost as soon as I put that blog post to bed, a feeling of unease came over me. So. Much. Stockinette. There is mindless knitting, and then there is mind-numbing knitting, and an infinity scarf of nothing but stockinette in a solid colorway falls in the mind-numbing category. After a few more patterns chosen and discarded, I have finally settled on Martina Behm's Brickless. The pattern calls for 540-560 yards of a worsted weight yarn, but as it turns out, there are more Bricklesses made of fingering weight than worsted weight in Ravelry. (Which just goes to show you the power of sock yarn.) I've got 700 yards of this yarn, so I think it will turn out nice and big. I've completed three points so far. Look—another shawl with different textures, some of which are lace. Looks like I'll be having another block party in a few weeks!
Ooh, it's Friday the 13th. If you've ever wondered why this day is considered unlucky, Mental Floss can help you out. Last night was also the honey moon. While we're on the subject of space, the season finale of Cosmos was last Sunday (highly recommend you watch the series), so I offer up some words of wisdom from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Savannahchik's 15 Colour Rainbow Socks are the happiest pair of socks I think I've ever laid eyes on. I just love the color combination that Woolythyme put together in this cowl. Loving these tops from Target—so lightweight and comfortable. I have the Creamy Chai and Shell. Everyone in my neighborhood has been discussing their vegetable gardens lately, and I can't stop thinking about how I might convert my side yard into something like this one. On Tuesday I posted Pharrell Williams's Happy video. Today I leave you with the version made by a group of Iranian young people. Read their amazing story. Don't you know it's the most wonderful time of the year? SUMMER VACATION! Everyone might be tired of this song, but this is my theme song right now. How can it not be with nearly three months of R&R? This also happens to be the theme song of a special lady, my Aunt Patsi, who is soon to be the recipient of these socks. She lives in Los Angeles, and I picture her tooling around in the sunshine, singing this song to herself. She requested green, and so I picked a happy green. These are some seriously happy socks. Check out that Shamrock colorway up close. Isn't it great? Sadly, the dyer is no longer in business. The pattern is Twin Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. I love that book—it is my go-to book for gift socks because the patterns can be adapted to all different sizes. You know what else makes me happy? A knit-along. Andi of My Sister's Knitter is hosting a Sock Yarn Knit-along/Crochet-along. Could anything be more perfect to encourage me to use up some stash? The KAL/CAL runs from June 15 to August 15, and fingering and sport weight yarns are acceptable. I've chosen one sock and one non-sock project to start with. The sock project is Ampersand by Kirsten Kapur. I'm going to use Josamali's modifications for fingering weight yarn and use this Elizabeth's Designs Sock Yarn that I picked up in Cedar, Michigan a few summers ago. As for the non-sock project, it's the Fino Circle Scarf by Jocelyn Tunney. Totally simple, nothing but a stockinette stitch loop. I'm just going to let this gorgeous Plucky Knitter Silk Merino Handpainted Fingering do the work. Unfortunately, casting on before June 15 is verboten, so right now I'm trying to be happy by finishing a couple of WIPs. Perhaps I'll have these off the needles by the end of this week. What's making you happy right now?
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