Passing Supplies On and More

 Today I filled the back of my car with quilting supplies, mostly fabric  to give to a friend. I even gave her a few storage containers to put the fabric in.  There was more in the back seat too. I did not realize that fabric  had gone up to $15 a yard. So I came home and started going through the rest of my quilting fiber to see what I really won’t use in the near future. It will give 3 church groups fabric to make blankets for those in need. It will make John happy and give me more space. We are going for less is more around here lately. 

At guild today I also gave away 4 more knitting bags each with a skein of yarn to make a scarf for Operation Gratitude.  Less is more.  For those counting that totals 6 less knitting bags.  4 less skeins of yarn and 2 unfinished blankets. 

Talking about less. I have 1 less UFO ( unfinished object ) Yesterday I finally finished a scarf in the Fisherman’s Wife pattern on Raverly after over 4 years. It was a cool 89f when I finally finished it last night.  It fits perfectly.  It is going into a drawer until the end of October when it gets cooler in Tucson.  Next time I make it I will use a solid color to show off the cables better. 

Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival

 I packed up the last bag of hand spun yarn, even some of my art yarn today. It is heading to the Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival, which is the first weekend in June. Merino y Vino will have it in her booth. This is a rare opportunity to get some of my hand spun yarn. Most are one of a kind. Combined with Merino y Vino’s yarn you can knit, spin, crochet or weave a one of a kind creation.  

There are going to be a lot of classes and demonstrations.  A lot of local crafts people and fiber artist. For more information go to the website for Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival.  This will have something for everyone. 

Of course if you can’t wait Merino y Vino has a shop on Etsy where you can find her small batch dyed yarn. She can work with you on special orders and customize yarn. Merino y Vino is the dyer of my Square Dance scarf pattern on Raverly. If there are no kits in the shop she can make one for you in the color of your choice, please allow extra time for dyeing the special order yarn. 

Thank you for supporting local hand made items. 

The Picture

 The picture of Grandma’s Summer Shawl in yarn I spun.  Fiber from Cloudlover in 50 % merino and 50% silk. I also won yarn chicken.  The tiny ball in the center is all the yarn I have left.  The pattern is available on Raverly and Love Crafts dot com.  

Finally a Use For Some Hand Spun Yarn

 Sometimes it takes a very long while to decide what to do with my hand spun yarn.  Take this yarn below as an example.  I spun it on my first Jonathan Bosworth spindle gifted to me by Pat Woods.  On the very first braid of roving I bought from Cloudlover Fibers.  

Through the many years it was destined to be a hat.  I could never find the right pattern.  I was also not good enough to design a hat of my own back then.  Then it was gloves, but the yarn just did not feel like gloves to me.  Then it sat without a pattern for years.  Then I was going to weave it, but thought better of it  

Then in my lastest de stash effort I came across a lonely hand spun yarn.  Then I knew.  It had to be a shawl. Not just any shawl, but one of my own designs.  I choose Grandma’s Summer Shawl.  It is available on both Raverly and Love Crafts dot com, or your local yarn store.  If you do happen to purchase the pattern I split the sale price with the seller.  

I have to say being about 40 rows in I know that I made the right choice.  I am using US size 9 knitting needles. I will change to longer knitting needles tomorrow.   It is tight enough to hold the hand spun yarn in place. Also it is loose enough to show some great definition in the hand spun yarn.  It highlights the thick and thin of the yarn.  It will also be soft next to my skin.  The night time lighting does not do the colors Justice.  Or it could just be my screen.  My iPad is really old for tech. Over 10 years old.  

Blanket Number 4 of 2021

 I am on a blanket roll.  I finished my forth blanket of March.  As you can see I ran out of the blue and had to use a similar color. I have at least 3 more blankets on the knitting needles. Since each blanket uses a lot of yarn and I am not tired of them yet, it’s blankets away.  

This is the Modular Baby Blanket by Sheri Karobonik Designs.  You can get it at your local yarn shop,  A plus for going to your local yarn shop is that they can help you pick out the yarn. Any worsted weight yarn will work out nicely.  If for a baby I recommend using cotton or cotton blends.  Any washable yarn will do.  This is also a great stash buster project.

The pattern is also available on Raverly and at LoveKnitting.com with the key words Sheri Karobonik.  

24 Percent

 With the last blanket being finished it means that I have 24 out of 100 projects finished for 2021. At this point I really wish that I had made a sizable dent in my yarn stash, but alas the answer is a solid no, not yet.  So the 3 blankets used about 27 balls of yarn.  With about another 10 blankets to go that another 90 skeins. So with 13 blankets it will only use about 127 skeins.  With another 14 skeins of yarn for the hats that brings it to 141 and I think it was 10 for the shawl 151 skeins used this year.  I was really hoping for a much bigger dent in volume of yarn around the house.  I thought I would have at least one empty yarn tub by now.  Sigh..

Have you noticed that the estimate of blankets left to knit keeps going up to?  With all that said here is blanket number 3.  By the way with the 1st box of blankets almost full, with a lot more to knit, John graciously agreed to help deliver them. I added a prayer shawl that I knit and a couple of blankets someone gave for me to donate to a good cause.   

In case you were wondering the pattern is one of mine called Modular Baby Blanket.  You can get the pattern at you local yarn store, www.ravelry.com and www.love crafts.com.  It will be under Sheri Karobonik Designs.  It’s a great stash buster project because each square can be a different color.  So far I have only knit this in cotton, although other worsted weight yarn will work also.  Just remember if you start with cotton all the yarn must be cotton. If you knit with wool all the yarn must be wool.  This would also apply to man made fibers too. 

Stash Busting

My goal this year is stash busting. Today was an exceptional day. I got two stash busting projects finished. So here are the details. Hat number 10 - 2020 was finished first. Followed by another shawl using leftover yarn from The NH Shawl pattern. I had 1 1/2 skeins leftover, so I made a 1 of 3 A Shawl Study using Neve yarn by Juniper Moon Farms.  On the shawl you might wonder why I pictured the shawl with a tiny bit of leftover yarn. This means that I won the yarn chicken game tonight and did not have to tink* out a whole row and re knit it as my cast off row.

This means that my 18th and 19th projects for the year are finished.  Since this is the 11th week of the year I might just make my goal of 100 finished projects this year.  This works out to almost 2 projects a week.

*tink is knitting spelled backwards.  To un knit a row of knitting.

My First Random Project

This is my first random project.  The pattern Preposterous by Natalie Selles, which is available on Raverly.  The yarn is a special club edition of MCS Sock called “For the last time Charlie Brown, will you please water “that poor tree”” from Indigodragonfly in Canada.. since this kit is from 2011,  I have a hunch that the yarn is no longer available.  I do love the yarn from Indigodragonfly, it is wonderful.  So do check out Kim’s lovely yarns. Kim’s clubs are awesome too. The Indigodragonfly shop.

Finished

I finished 3 knitting projects today. Pictures and row counts will follow when I am more awake. The 2 new patterns will follow once the items have been blocked, photographs, data collected and the patterns typed up. I also started working on a new UFO and it should be ready for summer.  I am using the Hand Spun  Sherbet Shawl pattern on Raverly with 2 zourballs of yarn.  and US sized 4 circulars. Don’t be afraid to try my patterns with different yarns and knitting needles.  Just use the right size knitting needles for the yarn.  Have fun knitting.

24

A charity scarf for 240 rows for the 1 million row challenge on Raverly.

Pattern Release Day

My new pattern 1 of 3 a Shawl Study has been released.  The pattern is available on Ravelry at the following link, 1-of-3 A Shawl Study .   The yarn is available at Blue Moon Fiber Arts .  I used Socks That Rock in the color way Delirium.  This is a one skein wonder that has replaced my favorite small shawl that I knit 20 years ago.

Scattered Knitting

I think that John has it right. I am a very scattered knitter. How did he come to this conclusion you might ask.  Well it occurred tonight during Super Bowl 53.  I was working on the remake of a pattern do to a lack of copious notes, see yesterday’s blog post.  I got up to get my last Yarn Butler not in use, I have 3 for the record.  They are now all in use.  Plus I have various baskets and bags most filled with multiple UFO’s.  I also have knitting projects in more than 1 room of the house.

I think it might be time to finish all my UFO’s in progress before I start any new projects.  Then sell off some of my soon to be extra bags and baskets. I need to learn to focus.  Being focused, squirrel, is not one of my fortes.  The exception to this would be hats and scarves  for the clothing bank, that is my take along project and a device I use in restaurants not to eat chips or bread before a meal.  It’s just a way to keep my Carib count down.

Wish me luck.  Since this is a short month my goal is to get 3 patterns written and posted to Raverly. Then finish my sweater.  Hopefully there will not be to many squirrels this month.

*Squirrels is a term use to say a distraction in a somewhat funny way.
*UFO is short for unfinished projects or objects.

11, 12, 13

My next 3 projects finished today. A red hat for Eric, a blue green hat and scarf for The Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank. For a total of 288 rows towards the 1 million row challenge on Raverly. More projects were also started.

New Design Posted Today.

Check out my new pattern on Ravelry and Love Knitting.  Its called Felted Hot Pad. It’s a very practical home accessory for the kitchen. It is a fast and easy gift to make. Did I mention that is uses U.S. size 17 knitting needles, that is 12 mm to the rest of the world.  I designed it when I was very tired after Eric was sick again this week.  It is a beginner knitting pattern.  A more experienced knitter could possibly knit 2 in one day.  If you have not done so check out my other patterns. All patterns will be listed under Sheri Karobonik Designs.

The Hot Pad on the left is after felting.

Kitchen Remodel Plus Life

Today was the last day of demolition and reconstruction has started.  I would like to point out the reason we did not get a gas range is because we do not have a gas outlet in the kitchen. Lisa, that picture is for you.  To make things a little more hectic around the house today, Eric got sent home from program.  You will also notice a 2,000 jump in my rows knit.  That is because I used today to start counting the finished knitting that I have been dumping in a laundry basket behind the couch. I only got 1/2 way through the basket. Did I mention that I still have a few UFO's too?

Surprised

Last night and today I got into dresses for services that I have not been able to wear for years because I was too heavy. I was totally surprised. John was not surprised at all. I tried the first on a whim and it looked great last night.  Then this morning I tried on another one and it looked good too.  I guess that I am in an inches losing phase.   This means that I have more options for clothes without spending money.  Yeah!!!

On the crafting front I was able to finish the scarf that I started last night.  I also tagged and priced over a dozen skeins of hand spun yarn.  I think I could have gotten more done if my pain level had not reached the tears because it hurt so much phase.  I may have over done it a little keeping Eric entertained this afternoon. 

What does everyone think about putting my hand spun yarn on my Raverly de stash page with prices or should I just list a few more on Etsy?  I am torn because I just don't have the SEO numbers to make Etsy a place for me to sell my excess hand spun yarn. Or are their other avenues that I should be looking at? If I get 10 or more responses there will be a prize drawing for the input.  

Now it is time to go top Eric off and try to get some sleep.  

A Milestone

Today at knitting I was able to track down a pattern everyone was sharing from a supposedly out of print magazine.  I did not have the name of the pattern, only the designers name.  I then went to Raverly to find the name of the pattern and to see if I could buy a copy. The pattern was not available for purchase on Raverly, but it gave me the name of the 2012 knitting magazine it was in. 

So off to the publishers web site to find the pattern.  I first check under the free patterns, but no such luck.  So I went under the tab for old magazines. I did not find a hard copy but was able to find a digital copy for $1.75. So I bought a digital copy of the magazine. I got the pattern I wanted plus 19 other patterns for less than the cost of most patterns without denying a designer and a publisher of their money. 

In this age of the digital magazine, I would like to urge all my readers to check with reliable resources when looking for old patterns.  Please use places where you know if a designer chooses to try to earn a living selling patterns, that they have a chance. Not everything in life is free.  They have bills to pay too. 

This was accomplished all from my cell phone. A first for me.  It only took 10 minutes for all the research. Then another 5 to figure out their check out cart. I want to assure my readers that I was not hooked into the malls wifi, so I am hopeful none of my personal information was stored on the mall server. 

When John is available, I will down load the magazine to the computer and possiably the pattern to my I-pad.  By the way I also finished 2 hand knit items today.  It is time to put the last load of laundry I the dryer and head to bed.  

Change is Good

A change is in the works.  I think I am going to just do what I want to do on the creative side of my life.  

I have finally finished the baby blanket.  All 360 rows of it.  Eric gets to deliver it tomorrow.  

A First for the Year

The first craft milestone of the year was reached today. Tonight I finish the baby blanket for a total of 29 rows towards the 1 million row challenge. With one project checked off the list the project list for the year does not seem at daunting. Somehow I feel much better when I get things completed. I just have a hard time in the middle of projects when I get bored trying to get them completed before they get put away in a basket never to be seen again.

Monday Where Did You Go?

Monday was a very busy day around here. We had a couple of appointments followed by  errands. This left me pretty tired. So I can't figure out for the life of me why after I picked Eric up from his day program I decided to start cleaning the garage. I was dressed in a skirt and blouse for the earlier appointments, not dressed for cleaning. I also forgot to put an apron on.

Thirty minutes latter John and I had made a very small dent. We had filled 1/2 of empty recycling bin, you know the big on that rolls out to the street. Added more to the garbage can and the charity bin. We were even able to move 5 storage boxes from useless piles to easy access. This might not seem like a big deal, but it gave me a better idea of which yarn was going to be used up next in my yarn stash down challenge.

I am just thinking that it will only take a couple of dozen more hats and scarfs before I can refill the cotton basket with more one of a kind skeins of yarn to make more hats and scarfs. This will intern make more room inside for yarn to come from the garage to used. Looking around the house and garage it seems to me that I am about 50% of the way done in my goal of having yarn in only one area of the house with none in the garage.

The only thing that is really hindering my stash down process is my need to spin more yarn. To that end I will try to list a few skeins of yarn either on my Raverly stash down page or my etsy shop. Either way I will add links to my blog.