The possibilities.....

The silk sweater is no more. Here is the beginning of the hanks evolving from it.




small skeins of silk yarn

The little one in front is 6 yards. Isn't it cute? The other ones are between 30-40 yards. Altogether I will have 800+ yards of 100% silk yarn. Not bad for a $1 sweater, huh? The yarn is 4-ply. I think for the garter belt (which will be the first project with this yarn), I will divide those and only use 2. Otherwise it would be too thick. And with the rest of the yarn? Maybe a shawl? Gloves? The possibilities have just begun.

I did take pictures of the sweater before, but due to my sinus infection eating my brain, I have no idea where I saved the picture. Hopefully I'll be able to post it soon.

I have unraveled a couple of other sweater these last couple of days. Great thing to do while studying. Those yarns will make their debut soon. I'm hooked. Great yarn at a cheap price? Why did I not think of this earlier?

My invention

What do you do when you need a place to wind your yarn and measure it? You take that left over floor board piece that has been sitting in your closet since the floors got redone and you pound nails in it. The nails at the ends measure a yard apart and the middle one is for the little balls of yarn. The picture only shows one end and the middle nails.




My home-made yarn-winder


So, it's not really an invention. Just my way of saving money and pretending I'm a genius for thinking something up. ;-)

Old Treasures

I stopped in a local thrift store yesterday and was handed a dollar sale paper. Sweaters were included in this sale, so I walked over to the clothes section.

A little background before I venture further into my story. I have read about others recycling sweaters and my interest peaked. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a couple old sweaters from another thrift store and without looking at the wonderful posted directions on how to take apart a sweater, I gleefully went at it. What is left of one of the sweater is now in a bag on top of my laundry room cupboards. I realized that day that direction are good. I also thought this recycling business was just not meant for me.

But yesterday I discovered a Dale of Norway sweater. And then I discovered some 100% wool sweaters. And then I discovered my treasure. An off-white 100% silk sweater. I was hooked. I wanted back in.

What will this sweater be? Well, thanks to great advice from another knitter, I wanted to make my soon-to-be sister-in-law a garter belt for her wedding. I had thought I could combine the something blue, new, and old. The ribbon could be blue, the knitted garter belt could be new, and I was trying to decide where to find used yarn for the old. My problem is solved and I'm so excited.

My dad is being very generous and bringing his camera over tonight, so I can take pictures. So, either tonight or tomorrow night I will have pictures to post. I'll also post pictures of the now successfully taken apart wool sweater. I was able to do it!

Mondays...

Being sick and being a mommy do not mix well. On the other hand, being sick and having mommy take care of you is the best. Sadly, I've outgrown the last one. This year the bug that went around was a bad one. 2+ weeks and its still hanging on. Yuck.

Because my camera died this weekend, I decided to post some about those who got me excited about knitting blogs. Kerrie was one of the first blogs I started reading regularly. I love her creativity and hearing about her adorable kids. Laura's blog caught my attention at first because we are the same age. Her girls are seriously cute. I enjoy reading Emma's blog. Her heart amazes me and I love to hear about her chick. (Love the fact that she calls her son that!). She always writes about the most amazing things too. Currently I am drooling over the Broadripple socks she is knitting. The colors in her sock are very nice. I've knit 3 pairs from this pattern and really like it.

This is the pattern for the pillow I made for my future sister-in-law. I ended up using Yarn Bee Eyelash yarn in flame and really like that yarn. I was very happy that Hobby Lobby had this yarn on sale last week and it only took 2 skeins, not the 3 the pattern called for (this yarn has more yardage than Fun Fur). This is also the softest eyelash yarn I've knit with so far. Although Berroco Sizzle is not far behind.

I also bought 2 skeins of Lion Brand Colorwaves while I was at Hobby Lobby. It was also on sale and so cost me a little over $4 for both. I'm almost done knitting Sally Melville's Shape it! Scarf with it. I like the colors in the Colorwaves yarn, yet it snags a lot which disappoints me. I was hoping to give it as a gift, but now I'm wondering if I should. I made this scarf for my mom for Christmas using Crystal Palace chenille yarn and it turned out very yummy and soft.

I was going to write more about cheap vs. luscious yarns, lack of yarn moneys due to going back to college when you are in your late 20s and divorce in your early 20s, and my love of e-bay. But, this has already been my longest entry so far and I'm ready to lay down again. It's not fun being sick.

I'll end with this. Milinda is very pretty, isn't she?

Birthdays are the best

Today is my son's 8th birthday. He is sick, but we still had donuts for breakfast. Yummy.

I finished the 1st sock for my brother. It looks huge, because the last socks I worked on were for my son. I decided to knit his new fiancee a heart shaped pillow out of either eyelash yarn or this red nubby yarn I have. I'll swatch today and see which one I like better.

Just another Tuesday

Finally decided I would just go for it and start a blog to tell about my knitting. I've been knitting since 3rd grade, with a break to do the teenage thing and then to have kids. Now the 2 things that define me (besides my beautiful children) are knitting and the color pink.

Today's agenda includes trying to find something to knit for my soon-to-be 1st sister-in-law. My brother got engaged to his girlfriend yesterday (Valentines Day) and they are hoping to come up and visit us this weekend. So, I thought I'd try to find something quick to knit, that could 1. Be a great memory of the exciting occasion and 2. Welcome her into the family. I will just ignore the fact that the socks I promised him for Christmas are still not done. Or maybe just go and finish those too?

Hopefully I will figure out how to post pictures on here too. It might help to actually just look for instructions. Hmmm, a new thought.

Ok, more at another time.