WIP Wednesday (5/30/12)

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted about on-going projects!

Right now I am getting myself (and my yarn) together for the Charlotte Fiber Festival in Charlotte, NC the weekend of June 22nd, so the present knitting is mostly focused on what I'll need for my booth.  I've been whipping up some of my Girlie Girl purses because they are cute and a quick item to produce.  I'm doing about 1 per day, knitting on and off throughout the day but mostly in the evenings.  At present I am on the fence about whether to line them or leave them as they were designed.  Rocket says to leave them, as she loved hers when she was younger just the way it was. Thus, they are stacking up without the shoulder strap until I make a decision.

The other thing on the needles right now is a design I am working up for KnitPicks.  I only ordered enough of the requisite materials to swatch and get a start on the design to gauge drape and such; so I am working the pattern out in some Arucania (kindly sent to me through Knittin' Good Yarn Swap on Ravelry--look us up!) of a similiar gauge, though much stiffer, to determine initial sizing for my design submission.  I guess I can't really give you the details because they haven't said "yes" to my submission yet, but the stand-in yarn is pretty so I thought I'd give you a peek.  Even if they don't choose me, I'll still end up with a very chic little sweater.

And, lastly I am to the heel of my Hiker Chick socks in the new Little Sister colorway.  Heels are not my favorite part of a sock, so I've sort of set this project aside for a week or so.  And that's what's doin' on my needles this week.

Monday Masterpiece: Top-down Lace Cardi

It's been an eternity since there was a new post on this blog. My apologies. Between being ill enough to need to end my teaching career for the time being, trying to wrap up the school year, and a host of home improvement projects underway, I haven't had the time or felt much like posting anything. I haven't really had anything in the world of yarn and knitting to show off, either.

I did get a blogging award in May. If you haven't noticed the new badge at the top left of the page, the kind ladies at Craft Corners awarded me their "Editor's Choice Award", and I couldn't be more pleased! If you click on the badge, you will be re-directed to their crafty site where they make a stupendous effort to bring their readers the best of the crafty universe, including all kinds of DIY project ideas. Please check out their site.

I also nearly fell out of my chair with jubilation when Cat Bordhi "friended" me on Facebook yesterday.  No kidding.  I feel extremely honored.

With those things said, I do have one recent project to show off that I started right after the Stitches South disappointment. The EXTREMELY generous people at Craftsy.com gave me a free online class and I chose the Crazy Lace Top-down Sweater class. I have to say that I am beyond impressed with this online class, to which I can return again and again for eternity. Although I have knit my share of top-down sweaters and shrugs and have a few patterns of my own on the market, I really needed someone to give me the inside scoop on incorporating lace in conjunction with raglan increases. The end result of my labor and study is this completely made-up-as-I-went-along short-sleeved lace cardi.

There's no pattern. I just started knitting it and changed stitch patterns when I got bored. I even used up several skeins from my stash, so this is done in a celery-colored wool/cashmere yarn that I bought some time last year from Elann.com (Puccini) with the intention of making some kind of sweater out of it. It's pretty light-weight so this will be a nice Cardi to throw on over a tank top in air-conditioned restaurants and such. I guess it's taken me about 5 weeks to finish--I think it was started about the same time as my last post was uploaded. The color is a bit off between photos because, well, Picnik was swallowed up by Google and I tried the new Google version and hated it, so I am stuck having to toggle between Citrify and Pixir Express to get a single postable picture.

I am terribly glad that summer is finally here! I have big plans for knitting projects, dyeing gorgeous skeins of yarn, and the expansion of my business. I hope your summer is off to a crafty beginning, too. I'm going to make a concerted effort to get back into blogging, so look for at least one more post this week. 

New Online Shop for My Hand Painted Yarns!

Zibeline Knits is now on Artfire!

In the interest of expanding my market, I now have a shop on Etsy.com and Artfire.com.  Both sites offer the same gorgeous yarns and fibers. Check out my new Artfire shop and tell me what you think! Just click on the image above to go straight to the home page.

To celebrate my grand opening, use coupon code ARTFIRE15 at checkout to save 15% on all orders of $30 or more.  Knit happy!