Yarn Pirate Shop →

I have found one thing that’s a lot harder with two kids. Blogging. I swear I try. I haven’t managed to get the kids to nap at the same time yet though, so I don’t have a lot of “me” time right now. What little time I do have is spent knitting. There are so many frilly little things I need to knit!

Let’s start with the practical stuff first. A needed some girly woolies. I had some girly yarn left over from my last etsy update that I was hoarding just in case I had a girl.

Behold: Butt Ruffles! (Next time I’m knitting 3 rows of ruffles. Can a girl have too many ruffles? I don’t think so.)

I’m not quite done with these yet but they’re my favorite out of the group. Want the details?

Bloomers

Pattern: Picky Pants
Yarn: Yarn Pirate Aran BFL in (top to bottom) Alice, Cupcake, and Culture Club
Needles: size 7
Mods: What I’ve done here is knit the meduim size (they’re still pretty loose through the waist), making the legs only 4 inches long. Then I add a ruffle using this recipe. Then I pick up stitches across the back for more ruffles. For the medium size I picked up 38 stitches across the back, picking them up in between the first set of short rows. I spaced the ruffles about 2 inches apart.
Ravelry Link.

A also needs a lot of cropped cardigans. Have I ever mentioned the STACK of dresses her grandmothers have bought for her? It’s at least 2 feet high. They’re all short sleeved and we’re having a cool, rainy summer so far. Want to hearthe forecast for 4th of July weekend? Partially cloudy, chance of showers and temps in the LOW SIXTIES. Bleh. Hence the need for cropped cardigans.

Cropped Cardigan

Pattern: Super Natural Stripes
Yarn: Cotton Ease. My first time using it and I loved it!
Needles: US 7, I think.
Mods: I used this pattern for the basic construction but added the following mods:
- knit the body until it measured 4 inches from arm holes (i wanted it to be cropped).
- instead of garter stitch cuffs & hem I went with ruffles. I used this recipe for the ruffles
- instead of finishing it off with a garter stitch band I did a picot bind off. I picked up the stitches, knit 1 row in stockinette stitch, then did the bind off. so cute and so easy!

I think the next one I make will have eyelet rows before the ruffles, and I might do yarn overs for the raglan increases. Or maybe that would be too frilly. I’m still experimenting with the limits of frills.

Ravelry Link.

Here’s a quick A update. She’s 12 weeks old already! She weighed 13.2 pounds at her 2 month check up and was 26 inches long. The pediatrician told me she was exceptionally beautiful and he knows what he’s talking about cause he’s a doctor. She’s a lot like H was at this age with two distinct differences. She’s a thumb sucker and when she gets mad she SCREAMS. Man, is she loud. Luckily I’m a baby expert now and she doesn’t have much to be mad about.

She is really talkative and makes all of the stereotypical goos and gurgles. H was always very vocal but I don’t remember him being this social. She loves to chat with people. And she has a crazy smile she likes to do where she sticks out her tongue:

We’re all pretty crazy about her.

Hey everyone! I’m having a big holiday sale this week. Check out my etsy shop for some great deals! I’ve also listed some cute holiday-themed yarns on sock & aran weight.

TAKE ME TO THE YARN!

I’m looking forward to what 2007 brings.  I have some exciting things planned for Yarn Pirate, and these things will be possible now that I’ll be cutting my hours back at my day job.  That’s right, I’ll be working part time.  I don’t think I’ve had a part time job since I was 16.  Once I graduated from highschool I pretty much worked full time, even when I was in college.  Of course, it won’t feel like I’m working part time.  I’ll still be just as busy as ever, only now I’ll have more time yo spend with the yarn. 

I’m planning a “Sock of the Month Club” with exclusive colorways, I’ll be doing more one of a kind hand paints, and I’ll soon be dyeing roving.  I think I should learn how to spin first, before I dye roving.  That way I’ll have a better idea of what works best for spinners using hand dyed roving.

As far as the “Sock Club” goes, I am hoping to have my act together by February.  What I want to do is offer the initial round for 3 months, with a different type of yarn every month.  The yarn offered will be my regular superwash merino, my merino/tencel, and my superwash Blue Faced Leicester yarn.  These are all lovely, high quality yarns and will be dyed in exclusive colorways not available anywhere else.  Leave me a comment if you are interested.  I’ll be doing a formal post for sign ups in a few weeks.

I’m looking forward to having more time to knit.  I’ve been knitting like crazy this weekend.  So far I’ve got a pair of fingerless gloves and almost 1 sock.  I’ve been knitting away on my Bejeweled scarf too.  I’m using Kidsilk Night in color #614.  It’s a deep plummy purple.  I’m having a love affair with KSH right now.  The Bejeweled pattern is a fun knit.  It’s pretty easy to memorize.  It’s my favorite kind of lace:  Looks impressive for minimum effort.  There’s also an informal knitalong for this pattern, and a flickr pool here.

I’m going to be kind of doing the Knit From Your Stash thing, but I’m not making any promises!  I don’t feel guilty about buying yarn, mostly because for the first time since I started knitting I have money that potentially could be spent on yarn.  The bitter irony is what having a yarn store/sweatshop in your basement does to your yarn buying energy.  It totally zaps it.  I don’t even remember the last time I went to a yarn store to shop for yarn — and I live within walking distance from a yarn store.  I did manage to buy a few sweater lots of yarn in the past 6 months, but both of those were bought on line.  Oh, there were a few skeins of Noro here and there, and a couple balls of KSH, oooh, and 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca, but that’s about it.  I just don’t feel like buying yarn.  Bleh, my basement is full of yarn (to sell).

I’m going to attempt to knit from my stash with yarn that’s been in my stash the longest.  I have a few skeins of Lamb’s Pride that I bought 2 years ago to make felted clogs out of.  Man, I could really use those clogs right now.  My feet are freezing!  I have more sock yarn in my stash than I even feel comfortable sharing here.  I’m going to set a wee goal to knit a pair of socks a month, with sock yarn from my stash.  I could use more wool socks.  Did I mention my feet are cold?

My only other knitting goal is to learn Fair Isle knitting.  I really want to make that “We Call Them Pirates” hat.  I bought the yarn for it and everything.  Oh, and I’m going to try to take decent pictures of the thinks I knit.  I’m really bad about that.  By the time I finish them I’m so excited to wear them or give them away that pictures never get taken.

Hey, I should mention that One Planet Yarn and Fiber is having a sale this week.  Lots of stuff is on sale, including all indie dyed yarn.  To get the sale prices you have to enter coupon codes at check out.  You can get the details here.   I might have to pick up some more Lanas Puras and some of their cashmere.  I’ve felt their cashmere in real life and it’s soft enough to make you cry.  It’s a great price too, especially for the yardage!