Happy Birthday to Me!

I have apparently never blogged here on my birthday, so obviously that has to change. Happy birthday to me! I've been telling people I'm turning 24 again, but I am actually 25. I consider that a milestone! It's downhill to 30 from here.

For my birthday, I don't think I'll buy any new yarn. Shocking, right? I'm pretty comfortable where I am right now.

I'm going to the post office to send off my sister's birthday hat, and I started a new project over the weekend. It's Gaenor, which is a pattern I purchased back in October. It's also an IWTMT, so that's good! I'm using some stash yarn -- the mystery Peace of Fleece in Iolite that I got at Mystic Yarns last September. I still don't know if it's purple or blue. My original intent was that it would be a shawl to match a purple dress I'm wearing to a wedding, but even if it's too blue it'll look great with jeans!

My ironing board + bright sunlight makes for less-than-awesome shots, but I figured I'd give you an in-progress pic. I've done 5 increase repeats already and I love it. (Ignore all the white lifelines. I messed up and had to rip it out once. I ain't taking any more chances.)



Yeah, it looks really blue there. What do you think?

IWTMT: Parallel Twist

You know what's cruel and unusual? When you fall in love with a pattern and it's sold out. That's the case with the Parallel Twist sock pattern (Rav). There's a little picture on the website, but the Ravelry projects are better.

And I don't even like knitting socks, so this is pretty major.

FO: Boneyard Shawl

Have you heard of the term "camnesia"? It's when you forget to take pictures of things. It's a very serious disability, which I totally have.

I finished my Boneyard back in April. I even wore it to work a few times, before it got to be 80 degrees. And I just haven't taken any pictures until today. Camnesia. Look it up.

In addition to camnesia, I also have badselfportraititis, so the weak of heart may want to turn away now. The self-timer button is not my friend.

Pattern: Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West.
Yarn: Approximately 115 grams of Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn in EQ. My skein was 140 grams, so I attempted to do some math and I THINK I used 502.93 yards. But don't quote me on any of that.
Needles: Boye Needlemaster size US 6.
Timeline: 1.21.11 - 4.25.11



Opinions: A great pattern for my first triangular shawl. This pattern is easily adaptable to any weight yarn. Absolutely 100% will make again.



Random Thoughts: Try not to look at my electrical outlets or my butt in the first picture. I told you, badselfportraititis.

I wish I hadn't started this while on morphine. I screwed up some of the beginning increases. Also, you may notice the rainbow is upside-down. GOOD JOB, JEN. I mean, it's a design feature.

Kauni is a nice, nice yarn, but I don't like how it spit-splices, which is pretty much why I didn't cut the yarn when I did the EZ sewn bind-off. Never again, by the way. I will suck it up and spit-splice.

But I like it a lot and it's purty.

IWTMT: Snow White

I never did make my knitting guild sweater. Never got past the swatching & buying the yarn parts, actually. But you probably already guessed that.

So it's definitely not cheating if you never even established a relationship -- heck, you barely went out a few times, and it didn't buy the drinks.

This is basically all justifying my ogling Snow White (Rav) by Ysolda Teague. Is it free? No. Do I have the yarn for it? No. Am I not on a yarn diet right now? No. (Did you follow that one?) Do I care? Nope.

Am I buying the pattern? Well, no. I think my sister would appreciate if I'd finish her hat and send it to her at some point before her next birthday. Sorry, sis.

IWTMT: Sunflower Dish or Wash Cloth

According to Blogger, this is my 200th post. Good bloggers would have an awesome post planned out, or a giveaway, or at least something with pictures. Sorry, you happen to be stuck with me, and you should probably know better at this point!

I am not handy in the kitchen or in the garden. I tried to grow some lavender last year but it died. I guess you're supposed to take it out of the pot. I can boil a mean pot of water, though.

I guess my point is that I found a really cute pattern that transcends my inability to cook and garden and instead focuses on what I can do, which is crochet. The Sunflower Dish or Wash Cloth (Rav) is a great free pattern that will use up little bits of yarn, even if they're not sunflower colors. The designer suggests using cotton as they're meant to be dishcloths, but I would also consider using wool and making them hot pads. You could even felt them for extra protection.

Also, I love sunflowers. I know better than to try and grow sunflowers, but I'm pretty sure I could crochet one.

IWTMT: The Blue Box Beret

I think my parents bought me a beret the time they visited France. Apparently I look good in hats, but I'm not so sure about berets.

While I was checking out With A Tangled Skein for the Wooly Dryer Balls pattern, I decided to see what was new on the blog.

I'm still not sure I'm a beret person, but I'm pretty sure I'll be making the Blue Box Beret (Rav), because it's a hat that looks like the Tardis.

Do I need to say more than that? I want to make it; heck, you should want to make it.

FO: Wooly Dryer Balls

Hey. Hey guys. I made something else. And I took pictures. Are you looking? Look at me!

AND it was an IWTMT.

Last week I bought some Lamb's Pride Worsted, thinking if I was going to make dryer balls I wanted natural-colored wool. Don't ask me why I didn't just use the perfectly good wool I have in my stash. Didn't your mother teach you to mind your manners? All these questions!



Pattern: Wooly Dryer Balls from With A Tangled Skein. However, I say "pattern" loosely; it's more of a brief tutorial. It does not include instructions on felting.
Yarn: Less than one skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted covered four acrylic balls of approximately 8.5" circumference. I used color M-140 Aran. The acylic core was probably Caron Simply Soft Ombre in Country Blue, but I don't know that for a fact. I got four small balls out of a large partial ball I had, with very little left. I really should measure this stuff.
(7.1.11 edit: I weighed the balls and did some math. I believe I used approximately 104.5 yards of wool and 190.5 yards of acrylic.)
Hook: Haha, bet you thought this was a hook/needleless project, huh? You use a crochet hook to secure the yarn ends so the ball doesn't unravel. I used a G because it seemed like it would lessen my chances of loosening all the yarn as I secured the ends.
Timeline: I got it all done yesterday.

Opinions:
This was a perfect quick project for me, since my hand has still not recovered. I also felted for the first time, and it was easier than I had anticipated. My washing machine is more computer-like than the turn-dial ones in the felting tutorials I looked at, so it was difficult for me to feel like I was doing it right. I sent the dryer balls (in tied-up pantyhose) through 2 wash cycles on hot with a pair of jeans, and then dried them alone in the dryer on hot for 60 minutes.

They had felted really well at that point, but I decided to do a hand-felting in my sink after, just in case. You can see how beautifully they felted here:



Isn't my robe a pretty color? I was afraid the M-140 wouldn't felt, being a natural color, but it was a champ and I would definitely repurchase that yarn/color.

They take FOREVER to dry once they're soaking wet. Mine still aren't dry, even the 2 that I sent through the dryer today. That's something to consider.

(Also, these pictures are all pre-shave. I put some in the dryer with my towels pre-shave and everything seemed fine, but I used my fabric shaver on them after I took them out to defuzz them a bit.)

Random Thoughts: So ... how do they work? That's a good question. I made 4, but I intended for each one to be used with one essential oil, so I haven't used all 4 in the dryer yet. I think I'd really need to use 4 at once to see a reduction in drying time.

I put about 5 drops of lavender essential oil on one and 5 drops of eucalyptus on another and tossed them in with some towels. The towels seem un-staticky and amazingly, they actually smell a little like the essential oils, so I'm going to consider this a win.

I definitely, definitely definitely want to make more, both for myself and others. I think these would be great gifts, especially when gifted with a nice essential oil (rose or lavender, perhaps?). I purchase the Oshadhi oils at a local store and find them to be very high quality.

Actually, I can see the most lovely hand-made package, with wooly dryer balls, essential oils, maybe a hand towel knit of linen ... mmm. I know I'd love to get that.

And if the recipient doesn't like them, they make great juggling balls.