A month of being grateful

My aunt, whom has so kindly letting me stay in her home for the past 7 months, sent out a text to me and my two cousins (who are her children) on the first of December. Simply put, she asked what five things we were grateful for.

She read that December is considered gratefulness month, and thought it would be nice if we started the month out strong.

There’s always easy answers to what you can be grateful for in life if you have certain privileges.

Food on the table, roof over the head, warm place to sleep, and so on. Not to say these things should ever be taken for granted, but I realized there was a bigger picture I was neglecting with my list.

I’m grateful for an aunt that I can talk about life with over coffee. A woman who is a compassionate listener, as well as the strong and smart captain of our ship. A person who calls it as she sees it,. Someone who, with all her power and might, looks out for others and cares for the souls that surround her.

I’m grateful for an aunt who would send me that text.

I’m grateful for a cousin who has become a sister. Someone who shows me what it means to be both loving and fierce in all aspects of life. A woman who doesn’t get pushed around, and won’t let those she loves get pushed around either. A person who tells you outright what she thinks and has not interest in settling for second-best.

A cousin who I can tell anything to, and know I’ll be met with love and honesty.

I’m grateful for an uncle who reminds me of what a genuinely good man looks like- in action, words, and spirit. A man who tells me I did a good job when I’m still trying to piece everything together. A person who is the best friend anyone could ever ask for, and is the kind of person to head over to your place when you give him short notice that you need help, only taking a beer and good conversation in exchange. Someone that can make just about anyone laugh, even in the toughest of situations.

I’m grateful for an uncle that goes out of his way to make me feel at home, and makes the best breakfasts and steaks.

I’m grateful for a cousin that brings humor and joy to life every day, even if it’s -50 degrees Fahrenheit, the wind is blowing, and I still don’t really know what I’m doing more than half the time when we’re working cattle. Someone who values working hard and still enjoying the real pleasures of life like good company and taking care of animals. A person who knows a good life isn’t just given, and therefore pursues what he enjoys at every opportunity.

I’m grateful for a cousin that I can joke with, watch good shows with, and enjoy life around.

I’m a selfish knitter. Few things I make ever belong to anyone but me because it breaks my heart to think they would go unloved. Knitting is one of my love languages, and many people, though no fault of their own (other than not being crafters), often don’t realize what a hand-made item takes to make. Making one of my love languages a tongue that not everyone knows how to speak.

That being said, you don’t have to be a crafter to love a good sweater either.

In these past months in this home, I have realized that I have rarely if ever met individuals so full of deep and sincere love, let alone a whole house of them. On top of that, everyone in this house knows me for my knits, and compassionately cheer me on as I finish each project and design each new item.

The day I knew this family should be covered in warm, cozy knits was when I finished the Forest Grove Shawl and my aunt applauded how quickly I accomplished finishing it, and my cousin lamented how long it took. The perfect balance of having my skill appreciated and valuing how much time hand-knit things require. I started buying yarn then. Well, more yarn. Yarn for them. You know what I mean.

In a seemingly counterintuitive act to combat stress, I decided to make each person their own sweater…..

In a month. For Christmas.

Obviously that didn’t work out for me, as you can tell from this post coming out at the end of February. Life’s funny that way.

Only two of the sweaters actually got finished in time for Christmas, and then the other two were patiently awaited for as I went through the fantastic realization that sweaters for strong, grown, adult men are far larger than the ones meant for a 115 pound woman. To be totally honest, I didn’t realize how much bigger men were until I made these sweaters. I think I sort of always pictured that they were only a few more inches around than me. Whoops.

Every stitch was worth it though, and as I chipped away at finishing each one, I got to have the sincere joy of seeing these sweaters worn.

Not just at the house to coddle my feelings, but out to work days, out to weekend-long wedding celebrations, and to family gatherings.

I even got a great laugh, as my cousin wore his sweater to a wedding, where no one believed that it was hand-made. No matter how long he asserted that his cousin had made it, apparently everyone thought that wasn’t the case, and that he must have bought it.

I have decided to take this as a wonderful compliment.

My aunt’s sweater. My own design, and a rich bright green that is better displayed in that second picture.

Yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light, Oak

My cousin’s sweater, true to colour in the photo. The design is “Peaks” from Purl Soho.

The yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light, Cardinal

My other cousin’s sweater, much lighter in person (and yes I should have taken a better photo, but I was excited to give it to him). The design is my own.

Yarn is Swans Island Washable Wool Sport, Pewter

My uncle’s sweater, true to colour (see I learned my lesson, and took a better picture!). The design is my own

Yarn is Swans Island Sport, Graphite

Tonight I’ll wrap this last sweater (because I refuse to not have this be festive, even though we’re almost into March) and I’ll be moving on to the other projects I’ve been queueing up during this three-month adventure.

Don’t forget to cherish the ones you love, cherish what they bring to your life, and be courageous in sharing the things you love with them. Life’s too short to not have a good sweater.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

2018

A year where I moved 4 different times, traveled well over 10,000 miles, changed my life in repeated and drastic fashions, and fell deeper in love with life. 2018, the year I first tried a knitting pattern that wasn’t my own design, and then proceeded to obsessively purchase patterns and work to create them (or at least put them on my to do list). I rallied a war against an infestation of moths and came out victorious.

I’ve changed so much about this blog too, to better suit my life and the content I create. Through it all, I so appreciate you standing by me in all of it.

My goals last year this time were things like getting my shop open, continuing to work on dyeing projects, getting a 100 honeycombs sewn together for my beekeeper’s quilt, work on embroidery skills, process all of my raw alpaca, and as always, to bring you some joy through this blog.

Obviously, my shop is not open, and embroidery skills didn’t happen this year. Moths decided to give me a hand with my raw fiber, so it was “processed”, just in an insect digestive track rather than between two hand carders and a soak in the tub. I made progress with my honeycomb quilt, but certainly not 100- more like 30, luckily I knew it was unreasonable when I set the goal!

I have kept dyeing though. Not as much in the last couple of months since I haven’t had my rig up here in North Dakota, but I did some work I’m remarkably proud of this last year. I did things with yarn that I had only ever dreamed of, and it was magical for me.

Lastly, but easily most important, I sit here hoping I made a life a little more fun and joyful through this blog.

My goals for this year are as follows:

• Complete at least 7 of the patterns I own on Ravelry. I have the stash for it, so may as well make it happen!

• At least 50 of those honeycombs need to be sewn together in this sweet 2019- I refuse to give up on something I love so much. That quilt WILL happen!

• Finish one mystery knitalong. I already have one in the works (Midwinter Moon) so this is pretty close to being completed, but I love to set attainable goals, along with some ludicrous ones. Balance my friends.

• I want to get my gear for dyeing up here and start dyeing again.

• Use some of my hand-dyed yarn in a big project. I want to see how my work knits up and I want to display the work I’m so proud of.

• I want to get better at Instagram. I plan to post more often, post more work in progress pictures, and share a little more of what’s going on in my life.

• You knew this one was coming- I hope to bring you some delight in 2019.

As for my regularly scheduled blog posts, you will be seeing a flood relatively soon. I tried to finish 4 sweaters in a month, and it’s turning into two months- but that post will come along with a heap of others when all of my half-finished cheat knits get my full attention.

I feel an immense hope for this year. Whether that’s my jinxing it or not is yet to be determined, but I hope to bring you on whatever journey this year takes me on.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

It’s getting cold out here in North Dakota, and in the tender little moments where it feels like ice crystals are burrowing into every pore of my face I began to realize that I was woefully unprepared for real cold after my cushy, easy winters in the Pacific Northwest.

I went over to the website my dear familiar, Knotty Lamb, and ordered Madelinetosh’s Tiny House on the base Farm Twist since I had been ogling it anyway and this was obviously pure necessity.

Then I dug through my hat pattern collection to find Camas by Cory Ellen Boberg,

Other than completely messing up the first triangle section, and having to rip out 15 rows of progress because I was a bit too caught up in Buzzfeed’s Unsolved: Supernatural, this hat went remarkably smooth.

Who could blame me though? They were talking about Mothman!

Even after my paranormal distraction mishap, this hat was finished in two days.

I have found this pattern so attractive that I can guarantee you will see the design elsewhere in another project I work on. Cory Ellen’s concept is beyond beautiful, and now I must have a matching cowl and maybe even a sweater if I find the right yarn.

As for alterations, I did make the hat one repeat longer than was dictated in the pattern. Personally, I prefer hats that are long enough to put all of my hair into so I can focus all of my attention on my freezing cold face. I can’t stand my hair getting in the way of that.

It may also be a little nice to have my hair in a bun so it’s not tickling my face. Have you ever tried to move hair out of your face with gloves on? It’s like a cat trying to pick up a small piece of paper.

Now I’m one step closer to not freezing to death!

Stay warm, stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

So often I find that the projects that end up on the needles are the ones that I feel like my heart is bursting out of my chest to have. I know at this point that if I’m anything short of this ridiculously ecstatic state, the project will almost certainly never get finished.

Lucky for me, there is an endless number of beautiful things to knit, and amazingly talented people like Mara Catherine Bryner will come out with patterns like this Forest Grove shawl so I can continue to obsess over what’s possible with two sticks and yarn.

And obsess I did. Knotty Lamb (one of my favourite yarn stores) was cruel enough to post heaps of pictures for this pattern and their kits of Barnyard Knits’ yarn to make the shawl exactly like Mara Catherine Bryner’s, taunting me for weeks. I could have gotten angry at them, I could have written hate mail to Knotty Lamb, I could have used every social media platform I have a presence on to vent my malicious feelings, but instead I did one better. I ran home, bought the kit and checked the tracking number 5 times a day until it got here.

That will show them.

The rule I had for myself was that I had to finish Rock Creek before I could start Forest Grove, even though by the time I had the yarn I was having dreams of the completed creation, that I would so delightedly wear.

Once I started the shawl there was no stopping. Every spare second was spent working on it, and helping it grow into the lovely thing I had only seen it pictures and dreamed of.

This is also the first time I’ve ever used a kit for a pattern I was working on. Usually I’m eager to work with a colour palette that I thought up and arranged, but the original concept was so beautiful that I for once I didn’t want to deviate from it.

And I’m glad that I did so, these colours play so well together, and since they’re all from Barnyard Knits, they have all the right tones to meld together. I noticed in particular that the transitions between colours looked natural and smooth.

This is also obviously good planning and coordinating on Mara Catherine Bryner’s part, as each of these yarns have hints of every other yarn present so you do get this near seamless look in the pattern.

As I got lost in the love of these colours, soon the shawl was completely knit up, and just about as beautiful as I hoped it would be.

I think the only thing I don’t love is that I did my I-cord edging a wee bit too tightly. Which I plan to remedy in the future by allowing those side stitches to be looser, instead of pulling every stitch tight like I always do.

As for with this shawl, I plan to aggressively block it until it realizes how badly I want it to lay flat. I feel that with enough determination I will show it the error of its ways.

No matter how successful the blocking is though, I still love it and find it beautiful.

(And so does this lovely cat)

Until next time-

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

In late July, after a couple of weeks of being unsure which project to start next and half-heartedly batting ideas around my head, I realized what I really wanted to make was something classic and versatile.  I wanted to make a sweater (of course) that I could throw on any given day and feel good.  

You may remember this charcoal grey yarn from the Rose City Yarn Crawl of earlier this year, and I may or may not have swooned hard at how delectably soft it is.  I decided this would be a good fit for this soon to be adored sweater.

Then, since I'm obsessed with Boyland Knitworks, I thought it would be fitting to make yet another one of Caitlin Hunter's amazing sweaters.  I've had my eye on Rock Creek since I first found out about Boyland Knitworks, and seeing that it's a little more simple in design it also felt like the right fit for what I wanted out of this project.

It has knit up remarkably quick (despite how long it had taken me to carve out time to work on it more).  

I found with each row I could feel the warmth and love this sweater would hold in the future.  I could feel all of the possible adventures this sweater might see.  I was able to watch movies with my brother while knitting on this sweater, move to a different state (again) while making progress, and the pieces of this sweater have traveled to family get togethers and meetings with new friends as if it already served as a token of joy.  One of my favourite things about knitting is that I can put so many memories in the stitches as I work on it, and it's as if I can knit the love into it before I wear it.  

Alyeska reminds me of a winter week in Montana that I'll forever cherish, taking a leap and learning how to knit from a pattern, and a fiber festival with one of the dearest friends I've ever known.

The Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong reminds me of my fervent war and eventual victory with the moths, sharing a knitting experience with someone I adore, and the wonder of watching something I made turn into something I didn't expect, while eagerly watching the same process happen for countless others who were kind enough to share their progress on Instagram.  

Sipila reminds me of riding a train out to Chicago, then driving a uhaul from there to Utah, and relaxing by paddling up a stream in a kayak and knitting as the current carried me the long way back down.  

Before I knew it the body was ready to be (temporarily) set aside so I could work on the sleeves.  

Even though I spent countless hours drawing up plans for my future, getting comfortable with the modern way of meeting people, and unpacking and repacking my life- I still worked to make this part of the whirlwind that I had been turning my life into.  I wanted this to embody taking risks, following dreams, and searching with intensity for happiness in all aspects of my life.  It may sound like a lot to put into a sweater, but I felt confident that there were enough stitches that it would all fit.

The sleeves were worked up in the dead of night by the illumination of a flashlight in my downtime on 12 hour nightshifts in the Badlands of North Dakota, and surprisingly enough didn’t turn out disastrous or riddled with dropped stitches. I would like to officially thank LED flashlights for that.

Which leads us to one of my favourite parts of knitting up Rock Creek. At a certain point everything I had worked on was all together on the needles, and I got to feel like a cartoon character that just magically knits up a sweater with no need for anything other than one set of needles. Granted I knew the truth lurking in the shadows that I had needed double points, but there was something remarkably satisfying in having everything look so tidy and whole before it was even finished. Plus there was much less of a guessing game when people wanted to inquire as to what I was making.

Despite this taking me so long to post about, I did accomplish finishing this within a month. It felt like a lofty goal at first, but it helped me appreciate how far I’ve come in the last couple years. I started this blog in a way to record and encourage further crafting adventures. When I first started knitting I was terribly impatient and gave up on just about everything I ever started. Sweaters, big shawls, tops, hoods, and all the other treasures I wanted to make seemed so hopelessly far away. I would start a simple hood and lose drive because it seemed like it would never get finished. My efforts felt minuscule, and at a certain point I decided I was just never going to be quite good enough to make the beautiful creations I dreamed of.

It’s funny how time (and goals) feels different as you get older. What once seemed insurmountable is now a breeze, and what once felt so defeating is now a sign of progress and growth. The fact that this sweater only took me a month is enough to make me glow with pride.

When I first got back into knitting it still felt like a struggle to take on big projects and see them through. I could do a 10 ft x 10 ft quilt and be fine, but knitting gave me a bit of a mental block. Kind of like life, I had a hard time appreciating that all the little things I did would amount to something worthwhile.

Along with all the other wonderful and cherished memories this sweater holds, I feel it also marks a big step in appreciating how dedication is a muscle that has to be strengthened over time with constant practice. I probably would have given up on this sweater 4 years ago, because at that time I liked quick and easy knits that didn’t require too much thought. Anything bigger than a scarf was a slog to even get halfway through.

Now, after knitting near constantly for the last year, a sweater is no big deal. I’ve made three this year, and (spoilers) I have a few more queued up already, primed and waiting to hop on the needles when it’s their turn.

Often, I think we are as capable as we make ourselves to be.

I see that now, being surrounded by my family. A group of hardworking and dedicated people who put their hearts and minds to what they do. People who have started their own businesses and persevered through thick and thin of demanding jobs and harsh winters. Individuals that know how to get the job done, even when it’s not easy.

I think we as humans are creatures of passion, and need something to fight and work for. Even if it’s just a sweater.

But I mean, come on, it’s a nice sweater.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

It has been a month, and while I mentioned I was shifting the nature of my blog to be more "finished project" based, I missed writing these posts.  So here's the update.

A month ago I moved away from Portland, Oregon.  I needed change and while the Pacific Northwest will always hold a place in my heart, I knew it wasn't good for me to stay.  So my brother flew out and we loaded up a uhaul to drive me and all of my belongings to a small town in Utah so I could figure out what I wanted out of life and what steps I need to take next.  

For about three weeks I sorted through my belongings to downsize, drank coffee with my brother while we both worked on projects and watched shows, and tried to figure out what to do next.  Because apparently being 23 and moving halfway across the country makes you think about what your life has been and where you want to be heading.  Weird, I know.

In those three weeks, an opportunity was presented to me by one of the many amazing people in my family, and after giving it a bit of thought I decided to move up to North Dakota to try something new and see where life would take me from there.

I've had excellent company as I work on Rock Creek by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks, and even if there has been a bit of a delay with all this upheaval, I plan to have the sweater finished by month's end.  I'm on the sleeves so we're in the home stretch of hearing about how much I love this pullover.  

I'm also taking time to appreciate the country I'm in though.  I spent a significant part of my childhood in this part of North Dakota, and it feels so different being an adult and experiencing it.  Towns are now getting linked together in ways that you don't really notice when you're not the one driving, I appreciate the wave that people do as they pass each other on the road, and I see so many communities that work hard to make good lives for themselves and others.  When I was a kid, North Dakota was simply a friendly place to be.  As an adult I see the hard working folk that make a community a home.  

Since I've already lived in three states in the last month, I'll likely stick around here for a while.  Crafty things to come soon, I promise.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

The second I saw Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks start posting about Sipila, I knew that I would have to make the sweater for myself.  

Originally I was going to do the classic black and white that the original sweater was done in, but upon arrival at Knotty Lamb in Forest Grove, Oregon I knew that this green with dashes of pink/red was the soul mate to this project.  

This sweater has been across most of the continental United States with me.  It has been with me on a train from Utah to Chicago, Illinois, then on a drive from Utah to Oregon.  It has been with me on a kayaking adventure when trekking a beautiful lake with my brothers.  

It has been with me on kayaking adventures, as my brothers and I, along with some dear other people, voyaged across a lake some lazy Sunday afternoons.  

This sweater has also been what's on the needles as I make all of these huge life changes.  

This sweater, in a way, has been my active metaphor for all of the progress I've been making with changing my life.  Yet when it got to the last sleeve's cuff, I stalled for days on end.  I kept reminding myself how close I was to finishing it, and somehow managed to keep pulling away from that last inch and a half of cuff because it was yet another end.  

Much like making difficult decisions in life, even if you know it's for the best or your own happiness, ending things is a challenge.  I've only been working on this sweater for 2 months and some change, yet it feels like a part of my soul.  Giving it a conclusion made me realize how many things I am closing the chapter on as I leave Oregon.

I couldn't let that hold me back though.  

Change is daunting, but also invigorating.   Change allows for new and better things to come into your life and can be the catalyst for happiness and fulfillment.  

It would be ridiculous to leave this sweater on the needles just because I was anxious about things ending.  Sipila deserves better than to be something that was never seen all the way through.  

So today I powered through the uncertainty, and cast off a sweater that makes me realize how far I've come in the last 2 years as a knitter.  This sweater can now not only be a symbol of progress, but also a symbol of all the good that can come of following through things even if it's difficult.  

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

As you may have noticed in the sporadic nature of my posting and said posts containing tales of travel and change, I've been in quite a period of upheaval the last couple of months.  I've had to make a lot of big decisions, and while change isn't always easy- it's good.  

To get you a little more in the loop in several direct bullet points before we move into the good craftiness we're all here for:

• I'm moving back to the midwest, the Pacific Northwest has been kind to me and I'm already planning to visit in the future, but the midwest is my home in a way and few things can outdo the joy of being close to the family you love and are loved by.
• I have ended my 3 1/2 year relationship.  This is relevant because this ending became necessary when I realized that while the person I was with wasn't achieving his dreams, neither was I.   So here I am, dedicating my life to crafting and the magic I wish to create in my own world, because this is one of the more important things I invest my time and energy in.  
• Between my mother and dear friend coming to visit and packing up everything I own to move for a second time in the last 4 months, then also sorting through all of my stuff to see what's really worth packing up into the Uhaul and what's not- I have been endlessly scattered and tired.  Crafting, in this rare instance, wasn't on the forefront of my mind.  Luckily, this is a love that is eternal for me, and just as I've started to get my footing, a shirt waiting in a "to fix" pile shook me out of my tunnel vision and got me back to work, so let's move on to the crafting.  

I told myself a while back that I wasn't allowed to buy things I had to fix.  Being someone who loves to be a fixer, it was hard to keep myself honest on this.  I'm always coming across clothes or projects that are only a few steps away from being so easy for me to use and treasure.  

These shirts, however, were not purchased but freely given as I made efforts towards completing a McMenamins passport (a stamp book that includes all the McMenamins restaurants/hotels/bars/spas/and so forth in Oregon and Washington- it has fabulous prizes for completing entire pages of the passport like neat t-shirts).  My only problem with these free t-shirts is that I feel abominable in most t-shirts (and not in the fun way like a fierce snow beast).

These shirts have been left for years in some cases.  I loved the designs and the memories of the old historic buildings that McMenamins set their locations in, but couldn't wear the t-shirt for more than an hour without feeling gross and frustrated.  

I don't get it either, long sleeves don't bother me at all, 3/4 sleeves are perfectly lovely, but put me in a t-shirt and I feel like a cat stuck in a vase.

With all the changes that have been going on I stared down at this shirt with the neat green fabric and cool design, took a big breath, and decided I need to embrace being a fixer.  Embrace that I have a good couple of months of fixing things, and honestly a whole life where things will need to be fixed- why not practice and enjoy the fact that I like this kind of work.

So I hacked those stupid sleeves off.  Not on just one shirt, but three.  

Because let's face it, if I wasn't wearing any of these shirts, and they were all the same design, it would be the same issue for all of them.  

And letting go feels great.  

I didn't take before pictures of me wearing these shirts because I was vain and hated how I felt in them, but I think the important matter here is that I felt stellar in every single shirt after I made the adjustments.

Before this they were each sad little piles that slowly migrated to the bottom of my shirt stack, becoming forgotten until my last move, where I then moved them in my "to fix" stack that was also left untouched after having shamed myself for trying to fix everything.  

Now they're happy and exciting (to me).  I wear them without a second thought and they don't just sink to the bottom of piles anymore.  

It wasn't just the t-shirts that met my fixer-craving either, I bought a dress while my mother and my friend were in town.  This dress had a rather intense (and oddly enough, intentional) split right up the center.  Everything else about this dress was perfect, but the split was.... not to my taste.  

So I stitched this beautiful, floral dress together by hand and made it into everything I wanted to be wearing, and the time it took to do it was worth it.  

I mean.... come on.  I know I brutally attacked a floral dress in previous years, but it was ugly and it was a kindness to dye over that hideous pattern. 

This is what a floral dress should be.  Elegant and gentle, while still being vibrant and self-possessed. 

I might be projecting.  

All I know is that I'm excited to be getting rid of the things that don't bring anything to my life or are uninspiring to me, and take in all that fuels me forward in this exquisite adventure that lies before me.   I don't rightly know what's coming up in the next couple of months, or the next couple of years for that matter, but that's exciting.  With the unknown comes endless potential.

The best part of being a fixer is that you're not afraid to change things in order to make them better.  I think we all need a little bit of being a fixer in our lives now and then.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

I decided that to celebrate my recent birthday that I would show you all what a fabulous old spinster I've become by sharing what has been on the wheel lately.

My first lovely star is Prom Night by Fleebers Farms.

Fleebers Farms is owned by the same inspiring woman who taught me how to make that lovely felted scarf at Knot Another Fiber Festival.  Not only is her skill to be admired, but she dyes roving in colours to die for!

The project to be for this remains a mystery.  While I would like to make a sweater, I also know that I only bought 8 ounces of fiber and only have 600 yards, so that's probably not in the cards for me.  That being said, I might just pair it with a light or rich grey as accents to make up the difference for the needed yardage and do it anyway because I'm stubborn!

The next delight is from New Hue Handspuns.  This was a fiber that positively reached out and grabbed me.  I love the contrast between the light and airy blue-greens contrasted with the deep charcoal.  

So long as it doesn't change its mind, I think this yarn wants to be a nice hat.

This is Grazing Herd by the Homestead Hobbyist.  This fiber in particular was fabulously luscious.  It has little strips of mulberry silk in it to give the yarn a bit of shine that isn't too bold- but still noticeable.  

As I worked on this I affectionately renamed it the Dragon's Egg yarn, but the brilliant yet subtle orange with the slight shine reminded me of the beginning of some sort of magnificent creature.  

I had gotten 8 ounces of this at Columbia Gorge, and then another 8 ounces at Knot Another Fiber Festival because I quickly realized that this, like most of my yarn, wanted desperately to be a sweater, and who would I be to deny a dragon egg's purpose?

Finally we end with another lovely from New Hue Handspuns, and this fiber knew from the start that it wanted to be a fierce and bold top.  

The woman who dyes these batts will measure and weigh these two strips out to both be the same weight and have them dyed in the same way so that you have a fade that you don't even have to pay too much concentration to achieve.  

No worries about colours getting muddied, or having to measure and weigh everything yourself, because she has already done it for you.  

And the results of it are fabulous.  

Not to mention, being able to do something that was a relaxed kind of active was priceless.  In the duration of a month I have been in a car/on a train for a little under 100 hours.  So even when I'm resting I want to do be doing something.  

I would also like to share that I've decided to make my posting times centered around the finishing of projects or what I want to share with you, instead of my weekly posting.  I would, ideally, still like to finish/share something once a week, but I'm not going to make as much fluff for posts so I can focus on the fluff that makes yarn.  Thank you for sharing in this with me, it has almost been 2 full years that I've been doing this blog, and I am so grateful to be able to share all of the fun with you.

Until next time- stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

Here in this post, I wish I had a finished project for you, but alas there's just been too much going on.  Instead, I'm going to share a bit of a life update along with the note that I will return the regular programming (knitting, spinning, quilting- oh my!) in the next week or two.  

In the last two week I've a little more than 80 hours in a car/on a train so that I could visit my brothers and help the one brother move halfway across the country.   You may cringe if you think about the horrid stiffness and travel fatigue that comes from sitting that long, but despite that I had a wonderful time listening to a spooky sci-fi book with my brother, listening to countless podcasts on mysterious things, and experiencing a vast amount of the country I've never seen before.  Spoiler alert, Colorado is gorgeous, as is Illinois, and quite frankly Nebraska.  

It helps that I'm hopelessly romantic about long road trips in the summer.  There's something about an open road, a far off destination, and all of the possibilities that make it feel somewhat magical.  In traveling across the country you can see how other people think of sunsets, how land features sculpt the culture and art, the different styles and diversity of communities, and just the land that people call home.  In a way, when we finally got back home, I felt like I was looking at places as if they were brand new.  Roads I had been down a hundred times stopped being a blur of the familiar, and I could imagine what someone would think when seeing these places for the very first times.  

Like I said, hopelessly romantic.

In that spirit of looking at things with fresh eyes, I decided to pay a visit to my childhood herb garden and start fixing things up.  Mint has fully overtaken the vast majority of the garden for years, so there are heaps up thick dead vines.  With all the energy of someone that's been able to do very little for days on end I decided that cleaning the vines would be my top priority!  That is, until I realized it was someone's home.

In case you thought that was plastic (like I did at first) this is a snake skin.  If you're not creeped out by snakes (which I can't blame you if you are) they're actually rather neat creatures.  Especially when you consider that they can just slither out of their skin when they get too big for it.  With that kind of technology we would never have to deal with stretch marks again!  

I cleaned away some of the dead plant matter, but left most of it.  I figure that the snake has been doing a better job tending to the garden this year than I have, so I really shouldn't impose.  The garden belongs to the snake now, and I'm just glad that they have had the courtesy of treating my lilies so kindly.

Also, since you're all being so generously understanding (I hope) about this not being a finished project post, I thought I would give you a special sneak peak into my project bag for the train trip.  I have been working on the latest Caitlin Hunter pattern, Sipila.  It is knitting up beautifully (and quickly) and I can't wait to show you more! 

But for now I have pictures of the landscape and my gratitude of being able to share something a little more personal this week. 

Plus, with all these lovely and inspiring colours, you just know there's going to be some stellar yarn dyeing coming up soon.

But until then-

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

Here we are, at the fourth and final clue of the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong.  If you don't want spoilers, you might want to check this out later.  As for the rest of you, I hope you enjoy this project reaching its wholeness at long last!

The layout was one of the things I had the most worry about when it came to this.  I'm not particularly into small shawls, and by the second clue I was beginning to worry that this would be a big circle when it was finished.  I'm sure it would have been pretty that way, but I prefer practicality.  Most circle shawls fall off me quicker than I can put them on.  I am rarely ever sitting completely still (thus a big reason why I knit all the time) so having a shawl that can't handle me bounding around madly is essential.

This layout also reminds me of the triple goddess symbol that looks like this )0( if you're not familiar, and is a symbol that holds a special place in my heart for celebrating nature, femininity, and obviously the moon.

With all my celestial swooning aside, this was probably the most fun clue to knit.  The rows felt like they took forever since I was knitting clear across all of the active stitches, but it was exciting to unite the three pieces.  It was also nice that the night sky yarn was the only one used for this clue, because it mellowed out some of my bright colours a bit, making it something I'm far more likely to wear.  

Plus Larissa Brown included some nice short rows to even out the dips and likely save the knitters some sanity ;) . 

The icing on the cake though, was the 3-stitch i-cord bind off.  I considered not doing it because it would take longer than a standard bind off, but I'm so glad I continued to put my trust in Larissa Brown.  The i-cord bind off is springy, lays perfectly even and flat, and simply looks beautiful.  I fully plan to use it on other projects in the future.

After scrunching this in my hands like a cat for an hour I set up my blocking mat and got to blocking.

Then, much to my surprise, it grew to be twice its size!  I mean, I did my gauge swatch, and it grew, so I was kind of expecting it to grow but seeing it in real life was extraordinary! 

It's for the better it grew too, because now it's truly a proper shawl size and gave the shawl some much needed width.

After working on this and soaking up all of the beautiful pictures of others' shawls, my only sadness is that it isn't autumn yet.  I'm already looking forward to the cooler months when I can sport my shawls, sweaters, and other happy knits.

But I suppose these warm summer months will give me some time to prepare more beautiful knits to wear.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

As the lovely regular readers of this blog might be able to tell you, I've been dealing with a slight moth problem for the last month.  Which, to clarify, is that I found moths in some of my unprocessed alpaca fiber (which I had to throw away sadly) and then proceeded to painstakingly go through every item I own, piece by piece, to clean everything as thoroughly as possible.  Despite only losing 3 bags of fiber, and having the great fortune of moths not seeming to have touched anything else of my stash, I knew I had to clean everything if for no other reason than for peace of mind.

And now, after this very long month of nonstop cleaning and processing, all of my stuff is clean and moth-free (knock on cedar).  

My advice after all of this agonizing and time spent?

• Vacuum bags are your friend- use them.  Winter clothes should be sealed away during summer months, yarn and fabric that's not being used any time soon should be sealed or put in air-tight totes, and generally anything fibrous that isn't being used should be stored securely.
• Check the fiber you get THOROUGHLY.  This only happened because I made the mistake of thinking those evil little moth husks were plant fiber.  If you're into fiber, fabric, or having happy clothes- get familiar with what the stages of moths look like.  It can save you a lot of trouble and only takes a relatively small amount of time (which compared to cleaning time to do damage control, is nothing).
• If you do have the misfortune of getting moths, or dear powers that be forbid you are currently dealing with moths, clean everything.  It's awful, and it takes way longer than you think it should.  You're going to spend whole days sitting on a floor working through things and wondering if it's all worth it and it is.  It's worth it for this very moment of knowing you're safe.  It sounds dramatic, but I will fully admit that having this comfort of knowing that I don't have to carefully watch everything for months is massive.  It's worth it, even if it feels like a bit of an endless battle. 

I also can't emphasize enough how fabulous it is to have everything organized and put in a proper place that's clear and easy to navigate.

The morale boost I got from having everything so lovely made the month of work wholly worth it alone.  

Today, after months of feeling uninspired and, to be totally frank, horribly beat down by everything, I felt truly and sincerely happy.  I have been struggling to feel anywhere near the amount of passion and excitement for exploring and creating, having only gotten a weekend long taste at Knot Another Fiber, and I finally felt like myself again in this room.  With all of the neat potential projects, tidy books, and decorations around me I felt motivated to actually come up with new ideas, design quilts, sew, and knit as much as possible.  I hadn't realized it, but having space for my passions, having space for me, gave me a whole new push to be happy.  

This post is also to announce that now that my house is in order I can AT LONG LAST return to my dyeing ventures and further build up my stock to start selling my own hand-dyed yarns.  Thank you for joining me in all of my high highs and even my low lows.  You are wonderful, and you give me a reason to pick up the knitting needles.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

After a few detours for fun events and a long-term project getting finished, I'm pleased to announce that I'm back for the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong and a spoiler post for clue number 3! 

The third clue is much like the first clue in design but with a different colour pattern.  

Which with the colours I chose, it made for a delightfully bright piece that made my transition colour look almost rainbow like.  I was the most ecstatic about how it looked at first, but as I got further into it (like the last clue) it grew on me and turned into something I love. 

I became particularly fond of this clue when the moon colour (pearly blue) had a larger section and balanced out the earthy rainbow colours.  It's not that I don't like colours, I just shy away from them because I'm the kind of person whose wardrobe is 95% grey, black, and white.  I am a master of looking like a professional and adult goth, and I need a little bit of balance to the brightness that I've been slowly reintroducing into my wardrobe over the last 10 years.  

Plus Larissa Brown, through her great wisdom, added a nice chunk of the night sky colour in at the end so I wouldn't go into too much panic over how bright my piece was turning out.  

And here we are, one more clue to go before this turns into a fabulous shawl that I'll use to brighten my wardrobe and celebrate the moon with.  The last clue makes up 15% of the shawl, so hopefully soon you will be seeing what these wonderful pieces turn into all together.  

Until then,

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

Several months ago news came out that Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival was going to have a sister festival in Silverton, Oregon called Knot Another Fiber Festival.  As you might imagine, Alexis and I of course signed up for it immediately because how can you say no to being surrounded by inspiring and amazing individuals that all come together to celebrate a shared love- the fiber arts.  

The drive was beautiful and full of much needed catching up, because even though I see Alexis frequently there's something about being in a car for a long drive that gets the stories going.  Before we knew it though, we arrived in charming and quaint Silverton.  The town itself caresses a river and the local shops are filled with antiques, the works of magnificent local artists, and some spectacular food and drinks.  

We even were able to enjoy some perfectly lovely lemon and lavender crêpes at a fun little place called Live Local Marketplace & Café, and I had the best caprese salad of my life at 3 Ten Water Restaurant.    

To make us fall even more in love with Silverton, Alexis booked us a beautiful Victorian home to stay in for the weekend of the festival.  This charming place was guarded by this noble feline that demanded pets for safe passing upon arrival.  We happily obliged the protector of the grounds and came to enjoy their presence. 

Making ourselves comfy in our weekend abode, we shared some rosé and did our best to get well rested as we looked forward to what was gearing up to be a fabulous and eventful weekend.

To start the festival off right we took another class with the great and mighty Stephanie Pearl McPhee.  In this class we took a look at the history of knitting, timed ourselves to see how many stitches a minute we averaged, and approached different perspectives and tactics to enhance our speed and efficiency.  

One of the many things that I was taught in this class was lever knitting.  If you're not familiar with what that is, I'll explain to the best of my ability and then hope you realize that it might be best suited to wander over to youtube for a spell.  By putting a long knitting needle under your arm or in specially designed belt, you can have one hand holding a knitting needle and the other hand wrapping yarn (similar to throwing style) as the palm of that same hand moves the armpit needle where it needs to go.  It looks a tad ridiculous at first but is amazingly fast once you get the hang of it.  I approached the knitting style at first as being something I would never use and have entirely changed my mind.  If you're looking to switch things up and eventually knit things faster, this is something worth checking out.

It also doesn't hurt that Stephanie Pearl McPhee is hilarious and made it fun rather frustrating.  If you get the chance to read one of her books or take one of her classes, I highly recommend it.

After the class Alexis and I strolled around the gardens.  Oh, did I forget to mention?  Knot Another Fiber Festival was hosted at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, so when we weren't puttering around downtown or taking classes we were able to walk through these majestic landscapes filled with happy and abundant plant life. 

Including a pond that had enough frogs in it to make my heart permanently filled with joy.  Can you find the frog in this picture?

Once we got closer to the time of the marketplace VIP preview opening we wandered over to the entry and chatted with some other crafters about our hopes and excitement of the fabulous things up for sale.  It was everything we hoped and more.  The room was filled with indie dyers, glorious fiber and yarn, the exact fiber I was looking for from Homestead Hobbyist, a booth of Plum Deluxe Teas, familiar faces from Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival, and more.  To top it off Alexis and I got endless compliments on our Alyeska sweaters (which we both finished just in time for this festival).  It was perfect and enough of a full day that when we both got home we almost immediately had to go straight to bed.  

On Saturday Alexis had a spinning class with Judith MacKenzie, and I decided to take that time to walk around the gardens more.  It was a nice overcast day so I didn't have to fear about bursting into flames with my paper-white skin, and I used the opportunity to snag all these photos for the blog and enjoy the fresh air that feels so rare in the city.  By the time I walked back to where Alexis was taking her class I still had about an hour so I sat around a fireplace in the lodge with a group of knitters and weavers talking about craft, travel, and the festi

Once Alexis finished her class we went back to the house to get fancy for the Keynote Banquet where Clara Parkes would be the speaker. 

Before I talk about the banquet I need to tell you the story of this blouse.  On Alexis' and my walk around downtown SIlverton we found a lovely vintage store called the Silverton Antique Mall.  While there I found the lovely blouse you see below and was taken with it immediately.  It was under $10 dollars and had that old rustic feel that I want more of in my wardrobe.  Alexis agreed that it was a lovely and well-kept antique piece.  When we got home I was checking to see if there was a tag for fiber content, and low and behold I come across a surprisingly new-age tag.  (50/50 of cotton and nylon incase you were wondering) and also not a vintage piece at all.  It was from Forever 21.  It was decided they must be hiding all of their good stuff in a room that we don't have the secret password for.

Now to the banquet.

The night was filled with humour and love as people talked about their passions, shared their adoration for the festival, and appreciated the work others have put in to this wonderful world of fiber arts.  I met some people I hope to become good friends with, and soaked up the immense joy of being a part of such a lovely community.  

Sunday, the final day of the Festival I had the immense honour of taking the wet felted scarf class taught by Allison Harding. 

I know I'm often trying to learn new crafts, but this is one that really has taken a hold in my heart.  Felting takes what I love about drawing and knitting/weaving and puts it into one immensely fun art form.  Allison was helpful, hands-on, and encouraging as everyone in the room made very different, and yet uniquely beautiful scarves from the fiber they chose.  It was delightful to see how different of directions everyone went and yet all the scarves were truly beautiful.  

It was definitely not a small amount of work to get the scarves to felt and make sure they looked good, but it was fun and is quickly becoming something I plan to do in the future.  

My scarf turned out even better than I had imagined.  The fibers I chose create a nice haunting glow without being too dark or overstated.  I love the fact that I actually want to wear this rather than my first attempt at this art being something that was just a "trial and error".  Felting lends itself to a lot of creative freedom, which as you might have gathered from this blog, is my absolute cup of tea.

The festival feels like a huge success on so many levels.  Everything from making new friends to learning new skills, and overall bringing back a lot of happiness I didn't realize I was missing in my life lately.  If you love the arts and get the chance, fiber festivals can bring your whole world up to new levels.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

There have been a lot of things going on in the last couple of months, and through better and worse I have been dedicating much of my crafting time to the first pattern I've ever attempted, Alyeska by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.  

The best part is that I wasn't even going to do this sweater at first.  I thought it was beautiful but having previously quite an aversion to knitting patterns (note this being my first pattern work, despite you hearing about the Lunar Phase MKAL first) I assumed that I would admire it on Instagram and pursue it no further.

The influence of my magnificent crafting friend and accomplice, Alexis, is the dear soul who drove me to taking the plunge, and by the plunge I mean she had me come along to Starlight Knitting Society where they had kits on sale and a demo version on display for viewing and cat-hand-scrunching pleasure.  While I didn't buy a kit then, I knew that I would have to make Alyeska.

I went home and began to plot.  I gathered some yarn to dye for the orange and white-speckled, and then bought the brown and charcoal yarn to make up the rest.  

To be totally honest with you, in the past when I've read knitting patterns I'd look at about 4 rows of instructions and then promptly get annoyed that it was in shorthand that I didn't understand and would walk away.  I am the same person who will watch Youtubers I like play a game of UNO on xbox for nearly 3 hours and be perfectly content.  I'm not sure why knitting patterns got none of my patience in  the past, but I was effectively a petulant child when it came to not understanding patterns.  That is, until Alyeska came along. 

There's something about how all of these colours started coming together, having one of my dearest friends working on it alongside me, and having this strange obsession of starting this project in Montana (back in the end of February) that created an eagerness to learn and not feel frustrated that I didn't already know how to do everything.  

Plus the colour work made everything feel like it was knitting up so much more quickly.  I love checklists and marking things as complete, so working the chart made it possible to see the very real progress I was making.  I love simple and straight forward designs, but I have a tendency to get bored if I work on them too long because doing the same thing over and over again can make me feel like I'm going nowhere.  

With Alyeska the progress felt more tangible.  Before I knew it I had a super cute crop top that I had to talk myself out of leaving like this, because I am a menace and thought it might be fun to leave it just like the picture below (with a little ribbing at the bottom of course because I'm not a total monster).

But I (sort of) knew that was silly and that I would be happier to see the project fully through.  In no time the body was complete and it was on to the sleeves.  

And yes, I'm glad it's not a crop top.  Sort of. ;)

The sleeves came together quickly, which was good and bad because I got halfway through on both only to find out I needed to make the next size up for my sleeves and had to tear it back to where I started and then try again.  

Silver lining:  I needed bigger sleeves because of my biceps being too big for the x-small sleeves.  Which is definitely something I take a lot of pride in!

I decided for the final detail of the sweater I would stray from the pattern a bit- the cuffs are supposed to be only 1" but I far prefer long cuffs, so I did several inches of cuff.  Otherwise though, I successfully followed the pattern all the way through.

No tantrums, just glowing tears of joy to have seen this remarkable project through.  The sweater that I have now had numerous dreams over and couldn't be more happy to be able to wear.

In fact, a friend who is deeply dear to my heart is now the official godparent of this sweater because let's face it, while the miracle of childbirth is unparalleled and rightly so, this sweater is a treasured piece of my soul brought to life.  If something happens to me, I need to know it will be taken care of and loved by someone who understands what it took to get here.  

Obviously with the posts from the Lunar Phase MKAL I've been working on other patterns now, and have broken free from the odd impatience I had, and I plan to do more of Boyland Knitworks' patterns because clearly Caitlin Hunter is a magnificent genius who works hard to make amazing patterns and I need more of that on my needles and in my closet.

Until next time- stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

This is a post chock full of spoiler for the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong, so if you're not looking to have the second clue spoiled for you- you may want to save this post for another time!

Now for all of you sticking around- here is the full moon phase of the lunar phase shawl!

This phase I was a little worried about, I prefer the contrast the star (yellow/orange) with the moon (pearly blue) to the contrast of the moon with the transition (pink/yellow/orange).  It was bothering me enough at this stage that I considered ripping it back to where the transition colour was first introduced and only doing the stars and moon colours.  It would mean I would need more of the stars colour, but at this step I just didn't feel my heart leap for joy the way it had in the previous clue.

But I decided to show a little more trust in Larissa Brown's design, and as I worked further into the rows with the transition and moon colours being paired, I realized that they really lent themselves to the contrast of the stars and moon colours that had started out the piece, making the full moon feel a little more powerful from its center and then letting that energy radiate outwards.

By the time the piece was finished I could feel the moon flowing outwards from the center, and now feel thoroughly pleased that I didn't deviate from the instructions of the pattern.  Even though there were a few rows where I fully believed that this was not going to work out particularly well- I'm very happy to say I'm wrong.

Not to get too mushy and philosophical, but this mystery knitalong has definitely shown me that I have a trust issue or two, and definitely feel like an authority on how colours should be put together.  It's moments like these where I try to appreciate that I still have a lot to learn and that if I'm jumping into a mystery knitalong I need to be willing to go against my impulse reactions.  

I mean seriously, just look at those colours!

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

This post is for the first clue of the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong by Larissa Brown, if you don't want spoilers you might want to leave this post for later.

And for those of you who don't mind unveiling the surprise with me, keep scrolling!

First off, I am so excited to put these fabulous yarns together, and the beginning of the knitalong is the biggest culprit of my excitement.  This dark and moody black with brown hues and small deep blue flecks contrasting the vibrant yellow felt like the radiant stars in the night sky immediately.  

Not only are the colours exciting, but the fabulous Larissa Brown made me realize something while knitting this up.  This single-ply fingering weight yarn is so much more scrumptious knit up on size 5 needles rather than the size 2 needles I've previously tried to use on yarns like this.  I'm a glutton for a tight knit, so I always aim for smaller needles.  Little did I know that the drape and stretch (while still maintaining opaqueness and form) is everything that this yarn deserves and my heart yearned for.  I'm sure the countless people I had scrunch this were a little perturbed, but I think their lives are all the better for this magnificent scrunchy experience.  

By the moon colour (the pearly white blue) I decided I want this to be the biggest shawl ever.  Technically the gauge of the pattern and my gauge swatch tell me that it's not going to be colossally big, but the colours are so nice together that I just want to be able to wrap my whole body in them.  Which is perfectly normal, I'm sure of it.

Then came my favourite yarn, the Rocky Mountain inspired yarn that you can see peaking out between the moon colour stripes.  When this colour was introduced I decided that I might have to start my life over after making this shawl.  Go live in the mountains and completely structure my life around these colours and the way they make me feel.  I'm in my early 20's so I don't think that's totally off the table!  Not that you couldn't completely restructure your life around a shawl when you're older, I just feel like that's a thing that I can get away with at this age.  

As for the pattern itself, I've loved how the increases formed faint lines that ray out across the work, and the contrast of colour and texture that the purl stitches form against the knit.  

I've particularly loved the little holes the pattern has you do.  It adds a lot of fun visual texture and makes the pattern look a bit more complex without it being too difficult (seriously, this has been a fantastic pattern to follow).

The night sky colour set with the Transition colour (the Rocky Mountain one) has been my favourite by far.  They are colours that I would describe as humming together and I now want a full body suit in these colours.  Okay maybe just a sweater, but nonetheless.

By now 3/4 clues are out, and yes I know I'm a little behind.  With my spring cleaning I've been doing little else, as is apparent from my off schedule blog post, but I can assure you that this magical shawl I'm making is going to keep going and you will absolutely be seeing more.

Until then though,

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

I was hoping this week's post would be about the progress I've made on my Mystery Knitalong, and sadly there are more pressing things to talk about for this crafty blog.

Moths.

Yes I know the picture is of birds on an electric wire, but I wasn't really taking pictures of the moths so much as trying to destroy them and everything they produced.  

This all started as I was unpacking bags from the move I just made to a new apartment.  I noticed a clothes moth in one of my duffel bags that had some free-floating yarn in it and my heart sank.  For those of you who have had the lovely experience to not know why this is doom- I'll explain.  Clothes moths eat just what you would imagine- clothes, particularly natural fibers.  As a crafter who doesn't work with acrylic, this means everything I own is in danger.  

I started hunting to see if it was a one off that I was lucky enough to strike brute force on and eliminate, or if there were more lurking in the shadows.  As you can tell from this being a blog post, there were more.  

Of course they spawned from one of the unwashed bags of alpaca I have.  As I pulled away container after container of open and free floating fibers, I found a nest of these gruesome little monsters making a meal of my lovely alpaca.  

I quarantined that bag outside immediately and started to clean.  I looked up advice and found this magnificent person who shared her experience with such a catastrophe.  She will tell you the details better, but here's what I'm doing to protect my beloveds.

First- I'm washing EVERYTHING.

I have yet to find anything that damaged (besides that one bag of alpaca).  It appears that having moved the bag they were in riled them up enough to get them to seek out more meals, but I have caught it delightfully early.  That being said, nothing is going uncleaned.  

Just because I have no evidence on just about everything I come across, I'm still aware that bug eggs are small and I will loathe myself if I brush this off and not do the thorough job that this sort of event calls for.  I had seen the little husks of those moths in that fiber before and had thought it was plant matter because I didn't examine it closely enough.  I need to be as detailed in this moth hunt as I can so that this NEVER happens again.  

I'm being so meticulous that I'm even undoing every ball of yarn to wrap it in a skein so I can be sure to get them as clean as possible.

I'm vacuuming everything millimeter of that floor repeatedly, washing every sliver of fabric and tendril of yarn, wiping down every surface with either scalding hot detergent water or hydrogen peroxide, and finally when everything is cleaned, I'm putting the crafty supplies away in plastic storage bins that have tight seals and abundant contributions of moth deterring cedar balls and herb satchels.    I got lucky in that my more recent hand dyes, other loose fiber, and some other select yarns were already sealed in plastic bags before all of this and therefore are safe.  I still have a lot of yarn to wash and hang to dry though.

What have I gained from this experience:

• The biggest lesson was from the Red Handed Scissor Article- this fiber should be properly stored like this anyway.  I'm not using all of that yarn at once, nor do I need that fabric to all be exposed all the time.  99% of this work could have been easily avoided if I just stored my materials properly in the first place.
• ALWAYS CHECK THE FIBER UP FOR PURCHASE- I'm guessing most of the moths were dead when I got this fiber which is why I didn't notice the evil that lurked within, but this also could have been avoided if I had checked the fiber a little more thoroughly instead of getting starry eyed over a $5 garbage bag of alpaca.  Which leads me to my next takeaway-
• No more dirty fiber (for the time being)- I realized in this experience that I don't often take the time to sort through the dirty fiber I've bought.  Some of that fiber I've had for over a year and have done nothing with.  At this point in my life I don't think I gain enough joy out of the sorting process to make it worth the agonizing amount of time it takes to process every lock and strand.  So I'm creating the rule that until that genuinely sounds enjoyable, and the bags that don't have moth disgustitude in them are cleaned, I'm not allowed to buy fiber that's dirty.  I need to value my time more.
• Silver lining- I'm so excited to have my materials so well organized.  Yes, if I like organization so much I should just do it- but I'm so good at getting distracted that it simply happens only on every other blue moon.  This has been a tough but excellent motivator to be the level of organized that I've always wanted to be.  
• Everything is going to be SO CLEAN! - Is going through every skein of yarn to wind it on my niddy noddy tedious? Absolutely.  Am I tired of doing load of laundry after load laundry?  Totally.  BUT! I now have the peace of mind of knowing that EVERYTHING is clean.  That's really satisfying to me.  I can now be certain that my yarn is totally clean, as is everything else in my craft room.  How can I not be thrilled to know that every single thing I'm working with is fabulously clean?  
• Moths hate things that smell amazing- In looking at how to further prevent this (because I'm fantastically paranoid now) I discovered that moths avoid scents such as cedar, lavender, mint, rosemary, eucalyptus, cloves, and thyme.  I don't even have to spray my lovely crafty things with toxic chemicals because moths hate everything that I love.  Now all of my stuff smells like a tea shop in a log cabin, which is what I want my whole life to smell like anyway!
• This is probably the most important one for me, this gave me a chance to take a better look at my existing stash.  There are so many skeins of yarn that I have bought with all the love and excitement in the world, and then have neglected to do anything with to the point of forgetting they even exist.  There have been skeins I've come across that I didn't like in ball form, and when I wound them back into a skein I realized why I fell in love with them in the first place.  It also made me realize that I need to do a good bit of catching up.  I'm all for stash love, but I have so many things tucked away that I'm becoming negligent in turning them into what I wanted.  

I'll return next weekend with an update on the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong, but I thought this would be an important post for any of you that have dealt with moths or have that particular horror in the future (even though I really hope you don't).

Stay sweet, stay organized, and stay tuned.

Tonight marks the first quarter moon in the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong.  I haven't gotten the first hint yet for this wondrous mystery pattern, but you best believe I am anxiously waiting with my yarn.  

So let's introduce you to the lovely yarn I'll be using for the project.

This is the Moon.  It's the colour Moonstone from Madelinetosh, and the beauty of this yarn positively glows which seems more than a little apropos.

This is the Transition, which is Rocky Mountain High, Colorado also from Madelinetosh.  This was the yarn that inspired the whole colour scheme.  I was originally planning for deep moody blues and purples with pearl white being the moon and electric blue being the stars, but as soon as I saw this yarn the idea had to change to work with it.  I've been a bit homesick for the last couple of months, and these bold and oh so familiar Rocky Mountain colours couldn't be denied.  They feel like home, and when I paired them with the moon I knew I was making the right choice.

To further honour those majestic mountains, I got Whiskey Bar by Madelinetosh (are you sensing a theme here?).  It reminds me of the deep and earthy darkness that comes from being out in the country.  When the night feels gentle and sincere, and lights are few and far between- so all you have to guide your way are the moon and stars..  It's dark, but you can still feel the strong presence of the earth all around you.    

And finally, the stars that shine through.  These are both Glazed Pecan by (you guessed it) Madelinetosh.  I chose these because they had all the brightness that the stars deserve, but still had that earthy aspect that makes the colours rich while still popping.  

Together they are bold, yet still play off of each other nicely.  None will become muddy, but they will also not become the sore thumb of the group.  Plus this way I will have a symbolic piece of home to wear and cherish.  

It also doesn't hurt the excitement that the magnificent woman who is writing the pattern commented that these colours are going to be, as she put it, "stunning".  So far so good.  I can't wait to show you what comes next!

And until then, stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.

I've so enjoyed sharing my knitted creations with those I love in recent times.  For one it's nice to give something I put my time and effort into to someone that I know will enjoy it, not to mention having the joy of seeing my projects do some good for people other than myself.  Also, as selfish as I may like to be in my crafty adventures, it's probably a good thing to not have everything I've ever made slowly filling up my closet space to the point where nothing else fits.  

This time around in the knitted gift endeavor, I decided to make a dear friend of mine a rich foresty green cowl for his birthday.  I'm fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who appreciate a good knit. 

The yarn is Madelinetosh Vintage in the colour Joshua Tree, and was magnificently scrunchy.  The only trouble I found with it was that capturing the colour in photos proved to be a bit tricky, but I had to try so you could "ooo" and "awww" over the colours with me.

One of the things I wasn't crazy about with the last cowl I did was that I made it too short.  I wanted to make this one long enough that it could cover the wearer's nose, mouth, and ears while also still giving protection to the neck.  Which means I tried it on repeatedly throughout the knitting process and took silly photos to share.

It knit up perfectly for me, and I managed to finish it with plenty of time to wash it, block it, and let it dry before wrapping it up and giving it to him.  He seemed quite happy, in case you're curious or have that all too familiar dread of sharing things you create with others.  

While I think that art, ideally, is fun and encouraging to share, I also recommend keeping your tender feelings in mind when gifting what you make.  Your time, investment, and love are worth a significant amount, and you deserve to be appreciated.  Granted, not everyone is going to fully notice your fabulous stitch work (that's why you have sweet crafty friends like Alexis) but it doesn't mean they won't love and enjoy what you make.  Sharing lets people into a world that you care about, and in a strange way allows you to be a bit vulnerable with someone you love.  

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned