collaging with fabric,

and combining that annoying curling ribbon we all use with yarn to make a knit basket that actually stands up straight and a market bag that won’t stretch down to your knees after a few uses.

I’m so excited and thrilled and relieved and filled with joy to birth this beast out into the world. It was of course about triple the work either of us anticipated with many bumps, bruises and swearing (at least on my end) to get it finished. And I’m so happy we did! Because. It. Is. Awesome!

I’m going to be totally conceded here and say that this is the sweetest ebook ever…. okay I can’t be that conceded because I totally loved Knitting Game by Lee and Diane’s Craft Blog series of ebooks. How about I say that this is just one more awesome ebook in a long line of awesome ebooks put out by the newly annointed authority on crafty ebooks: CraftyPod Publishing!

It was so wonderful working with Diane, she was great to throw ideas around with, she was a great editor, she’s a wonderful friend and inspiration!

You can pick up this awesome beast of a craft ebook in the CraftyPod Publishing Shop starting now!

And if you order it between now and Friday 12th, 11:59pm – you will get a pretty sweet chance at winning one of these DecoArt paint sets.

Hooray! The first Craft Leftovers Ebook Card.Paper.Ribbon. is now out Today!

Happy Crafting and making and being creative!

Kristin Roach

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Drawing knitting is freaking hard. It’s like a big smooshy organic, geometric structure with so much texture you just get lost in it. Sure I could render every single stitch, but how do you get the idea across that it’s knit fabric without doing that? How do you do a 10 minute study of knitting and give the impression of those stitches without representing each one. I’m excited to find something so challenging. I’m going to set up a still life at home and do a larger/longer study of it.

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Well, I’ve had quite a huge pile of wips building up over the last 6 months and I decided to go through my yarn ones today and try to figure out my plan of attack – getting them finished up and out of the basket so I can start wearing them around.

It’s funny that I said on Tuesday that a lot of my projects I couldn’t show you because after taking a seriously look I realize I have a ton just in the “yarn” genre, haha. The truth is what I’m Currently working on I can’t show you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t show you what I was working on before I dropped everything to work on the “current” projects. Soon to be finished I can’t wait to get started back on my mission of using up stash and finishing my wips!

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These two scarves just need their ends woven in and some fringe added to the top one – which makes me think I should do a little tutorial on an easy way to make fringe for your scarves. And then block them after that and they will be all set.

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I started these socks in… oh… February. It took me forever to get the first 4 inches done on the first one, then I blazed through to where I am now in like 2 weeks, then put them up for a bit because of working on a top secret project that I can’t tell you about until the winter – but that is worth it and I’ll be shipping it out of here next week and I am happy for that. I want to get on with other yarnie projects These will be high on the list to finish because they are sooooooo warm and yummy and I want them all set for the fall. They are made from ultra fine alpaca, yum yum yum. This is my take everywhere/when I get sick of what I should be working on/when i get stuck on what I’m working on project too, so it should finish up quickly once I get going on it again next week.

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I went on a Market Bag making craze a few months ago when I wrote up a pattern – yet to be edited and released to the general public (does anyone want to test crochet it? I’m sure it has some awesome mind blowing errors, haha). Anyway, after crochet 3 of them, this one got a little stuck on the hook. I’ll be picking it back up and finishing it soon though. It’s a great pattern because instead of expanding down, it expands out – really great for holding veggies and books and lettuce and yarn! I’m using up some stash yarn and really should have because I need a little more to finish this project:

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The Compost Critters from the January issue of clm – you can get a copy here. I really love these guys, so much so I want a pair for myself. I just need to finish the second one and all be all set. Another one of those patterns that I want to finish so I’ll be prepared for winter.

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This is another one where I made it as a pattern and then wanted one for myself. It was the Blue Filegree Hat in the Winter/Spring issue of Knit Scene. This is the first one I made that was sent off to the magazine:

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Another clm pattern I wanted for myself in the end. It has cables on both sides and is knit with the Green Prairie Fibers dk weight merino. I love the way this yarn is knittng up and can’t wait to get this finished for myself. Oh it was in the April issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly.

This scarf has been a labor of love – it’s a 27 row lace chart worked in mohair – yikes! It’s super soft and blocks out beautifully. I’m hoping to have it done for a Christmas present to someone who doesn’t know it’s them yet. It is about 1000 yards of yarn though and will be a beautiful stole. Once finished and pictures taken, I’m going to sell the pattern as a kit in the Green Prairie Fibers shop. It’s been on hold for quite awhile, but I’m going to start work on it again this month once I clear out a few of the above patterns that will be quick finishes.

This is a little something something for me. I needed something completely different to work on from time to time when I was feeling mad with working on the same project. I work on it on breaks and before bed. It’s the short and sweet shrug from the Happy Hooker. I’m going to make a it a little longer than the pattern calls for and wear it with tank tops and jeans. It only takes 3 skeins of cotton fleece and I just happened to have these three skeins in my stash from forever ago. Perfect!

And now for some handspun. I took a spinning class last fall and Rosemary let me hold on to the wheel to continue spinning until she taught the next class. Here are some of my spinning attempts:

That purple is actually some roving I dyed up myself. I really like the way it turned out.

I dyed the yarn on the right with walnuts. I love that pale tan. I’m not sure what I’m going to knit with this, but I think I place these two yarns together.

And for random measure, here is a temari ball I’m working on as a christmas present to myself for our tree:

So, plan of attack. I’m going to finish all the things that just need finishing first – like weaving in ends and blocking. Then I’m going to start work next on all the things that are over half way finished – the compost critters, the lacy waves socks, and the market bag. Then on to my ideal of having two projects to work on – one that’s a no brainer (short and sweet and then the cabled scarf) and something that’s high concentration – winter midnight lace scarf.

I’m happy to report too that the last yarn I bought was for those socks up there – except in san francisco I did buy two skeins of bulky brushed cotton, forgot about that. Okay so I’ve only bought two skeins of yarn in the last 7 months. I’ve been steadily finishing what was on my needles and hooks pre 2009 and working almost exclusively from my stash. And I have to say it feels awesome. I was actually able to consolidate the other day and now all my craft leftover yarn (all my stray bits) + yarn for kits fits into one bin. All my stash yarn fits in another bin. Then I have one other rubbermaid for yarn for kits. This is a huge improvement for me.

I think I’m going to make Thursday my check in day and whatever else I post about I will also post about my stash busting/project finishing progress. It will be good for me I think. It will help me to finish what I’ve started

And speaking of kit yarn, that reminds me. I have a whole ton of new kits made up to add to the shop and they will be going in over the weekend and to kick off new stock I’m going to have a big sale to try to destash some older kits. The sale will be from Monday morning to Saturday, August 1st. I’ll be adding new things each day, but everything that will be marked down, will be marked down by Monday.

Okay, and with that I’m heading out. I need to eat some food… lunch? I don’t know, breakfast was at like noon so I guess it’s lunch time now. Ha!

Happy Crafting!
Kristin

ps – I posted this on CL today, but I wanted to post it here too. And I wanted to let you know I’m alive and well and will start up with regular posting, well, today! I’ll see you again tomorrow. I’m happy that I have gotten quite a few deadlines and obligations out of the way.

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I finally finished remaking my knitting basket. In some ways I think it would have been easier to just take apart the frame too so I could machine stitch the whole thing, slip it on, a little glue, and done. But that’s okay, it was a fun experience and I enjoyed the 5-6 hours of hand stitching

You can read all the posts here, here, and here.

So what is in my knitting basket anyway? The beret hat from knit scene (pattern I wrote, but I sent them the first one so I’m making one for myself), sock project (simple wavey lace), fingerless mittens (compost critters from clm), 2 scarves (one from the april clm, one needing tassles), temari ball, embroidery sampler – and it looks nice and not overflowing. Perfect! This basket is so nice and I’m so happy I took the time to fix it up.

And it’s not in the knitting basket because it’s getting too big, but the sweater is a wip too. And I’m happy to report I’m just about finished with the first sleeve. Oh I just can’t wait to get it finished and wear it around (I know, I know, it most likely will be too hot, but that’s okay, maybe I’ll turn up the air conditioner and wear it around for a couple of hours, haha.

I went to the library yesterday and loaded up on great books. I’m going to snap some photos and I’ll share them with you tomorrow.

::Kristin::

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1. frank; outspoken; open and sincere: a candid critic.
2. free from reservation, disguise, or subterfuge
3. straightforward: a candid opinion.
4. informal; unposed: a candid photo.
5. honest; impartial: a candid mind.
6. Archaic. white.
7. Archaic. clear; pure.

And that’s exactly what this cardigan is. It’s exactly what I want and need. No frills, just the beauty of the yarn.

This is a sweater that has been on hold for a long time. The yarn is beautiful. The best yarn I will have for a long time to knit a whole sweater with. It’s a baby alpaca silk blend by catalina yarn. Warm, good drape, luscious. It was payment for knitting them a sweater to model. I would never have been able to afford this yarn otherwise.

So what sweater to make. At first I was going to do a simple cabled kind of deal and after finishing the back and the front frogged it. I think it was from Interweave Fall 2007, not relevant though, It just wasn’t my style.

And then I decided on a top down deal in the round. wider neckline. Good to go. I got to the point where I knew I would need to measure. So I stopped. It was decision making time. Do I join it in the round for a pull over? Keep going to for a cardigan? Do some kind of fancy stitch like a broken rib for the waist?

Too many options. On top of that I had forgotten to put in the last too buttons holes. I was in knitting oblivion at that point. I had started this sweater my last fall semester of school (that’s over a year ago now!) and had been distracted and hung up on a million other things.

(the picture is blown out, I’ll take a better one once the sun comes back out)

So how to fix the button hole and resolve my knitting indecisiveness.

Awhile ago – while suffering from food poisoning and general lethargy I looked through all my pattern books. I looked through all of ravelry. I looked through all of flickr. All for ideas on what to do for the bottom half of the sweater.

At the end of it I realized two things. 1) My favorite sweaters have always been plain stockinette stitch cardigans with pockets – so since I most likely won’t be making a sweater from yarn this nice for awhile I should totally make something that I will wear all the time and love. 2) I decided to sew and cut the button band right off and make a different one by picking up stitches. So I bound off all but 2 stitch of the button band and am cruising right along.

Finally. Time for some great mindless knitting.

Last month I finished the body and it was time to deal with the button band, after talking it through with a friend I decided to just pick up the stitches and knit out, do a double folded styled button band similar to the hem. On Saturday I completely finished the button band and sewed he buttons on at the Sewing Rebellion on Sunday. I really like the way it’s hemmed and turned under so it’s double thick.

I had a bunch of these buttons and they are all similar, but are actually different. They are and opaque off white glass and I love them.

Now it’s time to make the sleeves (no problem there, I have a plan) and decide on the collar. I want to do a hood I think and will have to see if I have enough yarn for that once I finish the sleeves. I may just do a double thick collar to match the style of the button band. Oh and of course I need to finish sewing on the pockets, haha.

I’m also keeping track of how I make this and i’m hoping to write it up into a pattern for everyone – including myself so I can make more. You see this is the sweater of my dreams, and I want at least two more with slight variations – inset pockets for one, either a hood or collar, cotton or linen vs the alpaca silk of this one, black or brown to go with everything, and or course one in blue – my favorite color. I’m sure after all of them I will have a great pattern, haha.

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So that concludes the three quick posts of the day (this last one not as quick as the others). I’ll have more to post tomorrow as I am working all day in the studio on things I will be able to share with you Hooray to that!

Oh and some good news! I have a project on the Craftzine blog for their Crafting with Nature month! Check it out here.

And I’ve been accepted to the Maker’s Faire and will be a Maker representing Craft Leftovers and the Sewing Rebellion! And Frau Fiber has agreed to come down for it so she will be co-hosting the workshop with me and giving demos on mending while I’ll be demoing all sorts of sewing skills and small scale projects! It’s going to be so fun!

See you all soon!

Kristin

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Oh and another thing I’m working on for the shop is a selection of handmade papers that are made from recycled, collected, found materials – things like plants, junk mail, fiber scraps. And that will be release in June I think.

So you should all go check it out.

Oh and another shop related thing:

I added a ton of new stitch markers in the Green Prairie Fibers shop! And I refreshed the stock of hemp fabrics with the colors I have left – purple, gold, and lime green.

Well, I’m off to finish up the Craft Leftovers post for today – I’m rereleasing the perfect dish cloth duo – knit and crochet – as one pattern!

See you soon!
Kristin

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I’m really excited about this as I really love the Rose Tree Fiber shop and really respect Rosemary. I feel really honored that she asked me to teach at her store.

It’s been a crochet week for me for sure. All these things kind of lined up on their own, but I also just posted a “how to crochet” post on Craft Leftovers on Friday!

And, I’m working on making up a mosaic scarf (Craft Leftovers Pattern) this weekend to double check the pattern and the yarn requirements because I’m going to start offering the kits in the shop on Tuesday! It’s just funny how much crochet has been going on in the studio lately, I like it.

And after I finish that, I’m going to jump right into finishing off the pattern for tomorrow – a crocheted hat with a knit rib!

I’m also finishing up my tutorial that will be in CRAFT vol 11, very exciting. A busy day for sure! And what fun too, all in the studio!

Yesterday was more of a office work type day. I finally corrected and reposted the Lady Moss Mittens pattern and I set up and made a donate button for Craft Leftovers. There were other boring office type things yesterday, but those were purely paper work blah stuff.

Oh this is the donate button, what do you think?

I’m going to work on getting all my past patterns spruced up and in pdf format and one of the things I’ve been kicking around is having a suggested donation price for each pattern. Ranging from like $1 – $5 depending on the complexity. Just put it out there and see what happens.

Well, I’m going to get back to work crocheting away!

Have a good Sunday afternoon!
++ Kristin Roach ++

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This is my pattern right here on page 21 (I misspoke earlier when I said page 20); it’s the blue knit/crochet hat.

I’m so proud in fact, that I want to share it with you – I may be proud, but that doesn’t mean I’m selfish – So much so that I’m giving away a free issue and making it really super easy too!

Anyway, so all you have to do is:

Leave a comment On This Post by Friday, January 23rd and donate a bit for postage.

Please make sure to use an email address that you check frequently when you leave your comment.

I’ll post the winner and contact them on Saturday to make arrangements and it will go out in the mail on Monday.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!
++Kristin++

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I’m pretty excited about this class because I am hopefully I’ll be able to give my students a good foundation of knitting. Of course getting them cast on and knitting was today’s objective, but I’m going to teach them a new set of skills – depending where each student is I’ll give them different things to work on – each class.

So next week we are picking up stitches and telling the difference between the purl side and the knit side and what twisted stitches look like and how to fix them. Plus we will work on swatches of different stitch patterns that are knit/purl variations.

And on and on it will go. If they are ready for it I’ll get them knitting in the round, learning shaping, and they can make a hat or mittens to match their first scarf.

It worked out really well too because even though I wasn’t thinking about it, I started a learning to knit series on Craft Leftovers. I was able to just print out the first three tutorials- the third I worked up this morning and will be posted on cl tonight – and give them as hand outs today. Perfect!

Cable Cast On

Knit Stitch

Purl Stitch

You can click on each thumbnail and select the largest view to see the directions, print and or download them.

And I’m going to end this here instead of going on to other things I want to post so I will have something to post tomorrow! Because that’s right I’m going to start posting more often. And hopefully we will have shorter daily posts – or even multiple posts a day – instead of just one long “I have so much I want to tell you because I haven’t posted in so long!” post.

See you soon!

Kristin

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I just sent off my application for an artist residency program. It was so hard to make the commitment to apply. To drop that package in the mail was a complete struggle. All the doubt and worry, the what if I don’t get in type crap. Well, I dropped it in the mail anyway, so off it goes. I’m applying to this residency in Omaha, NE. It would be ideal for many reasons. Mainly amazing facilities, a stipend, a wonderful community, and I can’t deny it; it was easier to apply knowing I would only be 2 hours away from Jason instead of say in New Mexico or something.

Going back a week, because this week has been to crazy to post during, some amazing things happened. Mainly, I learned to spin on a drop spindle AND got my hot little hands on a FREE 10 harness, 56″ wide loom! Okay, so it only has 4 of the 10, but it can hold up to 10, so I can make them or acquire it somehow.

Check it.

Yarn:

Loom!:

As you can see, it barely fits into my van. It was such a crazy set of random events. I’m going to say it’s all that good karma I’ve been saving up my whole life

I was at the spinning class with my two friends, Jess and Mary, at Esther’s Place in Big Rock, IL last saturday. They were checking out and the woman who was checking them out says “does anyone weave? does anyone need a loom?” and I was like “yes! yes!!!!!” and she said “well I just got off the phone with a woman who wants to donate her loom to someone who will appreciate it.” I was like “I will appreciate it! I’ve been looking for looms lately.” and she gave me the lady’s info. And I called her as soon as I got home. And set up a “let’s see if it will fit in my van” trip. Oh, which, normally I don’t have the van, and Jason isn’t normally in town either. So we went and picked it up. I still can’t believe that the only thing that she wanted from me was to know that I would use it and that if I ever stopped, to not resell it, but give it to someone who needs it. How wonderfully generous.

I don’t have enough time to mess with it here over the next three months, so I’m going to move it straight to Ames during spring break. It will be my first major project when I move there in May. I can’t wait. I’m going to refinish all the wood and then strip and oil all the rusty metal on the reeds and harnesses. Actually, the harnesses are in pretty good shape, mainly it’s the reeds and some water damage around the base. Oh plus lots of spider eggs (another good reason to keep it in the sub zero in my van and not in my studio). I’m pretty much going to take it apart, give some love to each piece, and put it back together. Another reason I can’t wait to graduate and move.

There is also a slight chance I will have an office in Ames…. I will have an out of the house office! (maybe) All of my stuff for shipping as well as finished products will go there. Possibly it will be my fibers studio to where I would keep all of my pattern writing materials (sans dyeing which is really messy). I would also teach classes there! I’m actually all set to teach my first one on one class for dyeing 101 this Thursday! I’m going to teach this woman I know about the different types of dyes, the properties of fibers (cellulose and protein), dyeing for the two types of fiber, then a simple batik handkerchief.
Once I’m in Ames I want to teach classes for weaving, dyeing, knitting and crochet, and maybe some other fun stuff like drawing, painting, and print making. Oddly enough, I would love to teach kids’ drawing classes. I guess not so oddly, I remember my parents paying the neighbor kid, who was only 16 at the time, to give me art lessons. I loved it so much. He pretty much taught me what he was learning in high school classes. When I went to high school I was disappointed that it wasn’t any more advanced than what I had learned when I was 8 years old. I think kids, especially those who have a keen interest in art, can understand a lot more than adults give them credit for. I would also like to teach anyone else for that matter. I love teaching when I get to set the parameters and not have to file a crap load of paper work just to get some stupid colored pencils. Oh or it consuming your life so much that you can’t actually get in the studio for yourself. That’s another story though.

I’m really hoping that between free lance writing (I’m assembling a list and starting to contact a variety of magazines about how to submit work and when deadlines are), shop sales, sales in galleries and handmade markets, and classes I will be able to keep working at home. I’m going to start looking for something part time, just to guarantee some money for rent and food and bills. Just something that will pay the bills, but not stress me out. A job I can leave at my job so I can focus on My job of art and craft. It’s going to be amazingly easy to graduate. I feel really ready.

Which that leads me to the next point of order. I sold out of yarn for dyeing, so I put some more sock yarn up, more of the yak fleece will be on order soon, and I’m going to add some new yarns for dyeing as well as some more hand dyed sock yarn from the last dye session tomorrow morning. So be on the look out for that in the shop.

Next week I’m also going to add some new kits to the Craft Leftovers shop. Finally, I know. It’s just so crazy around here.

I feel so proud of myself that I already have the pattern finished and ready to go for tomorrow morning. I do need to update the archive on craft leftovers. Hmmm. On the to do list, promise.

I do have crit on Monday, so lots of weaving on Sunday for sure. I’m taking it easy tonight. I’m beat. Lots of potato chips, thin mints, and tea, what a combo! I am experimenting with polymer clay after this. I’ll take pictures and post them soon.

And that’s it for now. With the mention of polymer clay I’m going to go, well, play with polymer clay.

Have a good night!

++ Kristin Roach ++

ps – I signed up on delightful blogs, hooray! You can see my little profile here and rate it and leave comments and such.

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