On a Mission

underdutchskiesLeave a comment

IMG_4411

Wow, you can tell I need to try again to photograph this neon pink hat! This is hat #1 in the mission to knit all the hats and send them to Chico to distribute to people out in the cold.  I bought MORE hat yarn last Saturday during my LYS holiday party so now I have enough to make 12 hats.  I don’t know how long it will take me to make all 12, but I think I’ll send the ones I have done by the 21st of December so there are some for Christmas hand outs.

I contacted a LYS in Chico, Heart Strings, to see if they were collecting knitted items to give out to charity.  This is a really nice yarn shop that I’ve been in many times.  They are accepting small donations of knitted things, but they said if I’m planning to send in a LOT (not sure how much that is) I’d be better off delivering items directly to the Red Cross that is set up at Bidwell Presbyterian Church.  With my small donation I will send my hats to the yarn shop, with my heartfelt thanks to them for distributing.

Here is another bad photo, hat #2.

IMG_4432

and hat #3 in progress.  I was knitting a few rows during my lunch break at work.

IMG_4433

I’m trying to keep this interesting by using a variety of hat patterns.  I will probably make a second, larger, Antler Hat, as hat #4.  I’ll take a group photo before sending them off.  You can see details of all my projects here on Ravelry.

I have also finished a sweater! But I don’t have photos yet so you’ll have to wait until the weekend to see what it is.

In holiday news, one of my spinning wheels got the treatment.  DB was in charge of lights and I turned around and saw this!

IMG_4428

December Hats

underdutchskiesLeave a comment

IMG_4383

This morning I went to Jo-Ann’s, which is within walking distance of my house, and bought this yarn. I’m planning to make hats to give away by Christmas.  I really hope this is a conservative start and I will end up buying more yarn from my LYS and make even more.  This yarn should make 10 hats – 6 for adults and 4 for kids.  I had to buy yarn instead of using stash yarn is that I needed machine washable and dry-able yarn – a requirement for charity hats.  I have nothing like that in stash.

We have some furniture we want to give away to fire victims around Christmas time when we will head north.  If we can find a place where they are taking furniture, we’ll drive to Chico to deliver it, and these hats.  If people just aren’t ready for furniture yet, I’ll find out where I can send the hats to.  If anyone out there has ideas where we can send or deliver stuff please let me know!

Coincidentally, in the last Yarniacs podcast, Gayle and Sharlene talked about hat patterns because they are the perfect quick gift to knit.  They came up with a nice list of hat patterns on Ravelry.  What great timing!  Head on over to their show notes to see the links to patterns.  Just so I don’t get bored I will knit as many different patterns as I can find that look appealing to anyone.  I’ll make a couple of simple beanies and a couple of cable-icious hats.

Are you knitting holiday gifts?  Will you be done in time? 😉

Ketchup

underdutchskies2 Comments

IMG_4053

Oh I have so much to catch up on! I’ve finished a lot of stuff since I last posted here.

Let’s start with the above shawl. Done! What a project – from the dyeing to fiber blending to spinning then knitting. It was a 6 month labor of love.  The end result is really lovely but I was very glad to be finished with it.  I was tired of looking at those colors every day for so long.

Then I made a hat for a precocious 5 year old.  This was a quick and easy off the top of my head knit using Wolmeise in color Red Hot Chili.  Perfect.

B1B7F75B-D27C-44C3-ABA2-A74A82FC3212_medium2

Then I made a baby blanket and romper that I had to get done before we went to the Netherlands so we could give it to the new parents-to-be. They are scuba divers so I thought the sea turtle was better than a teddy bear.

IMG_4108

And THEN I made a sweater for myself.  I decided I had so much yarn in stash that I had to start knitting sweaters – maybe even a sweater a month! If you are going to make such a bold statement like that it’s best to start with a sure success, which meant knitting with bulky yarn to get it done quickly.  I really love this sweater and wore it almost every day during our vacation and even the past few cold days here in SoCal.  It’s knit with Cascade Eco+ Wool which is a lot softer than I imagined it would be.  The patten is from Vogue Knitting Fall 1994.  Some things just don’t go out of style.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And of course I had to knit a couple of gifts for my friends who I miss so much.  It was so great to see them, even if just for a short evening.

2646A585-FE24-4856-A17E-3896FAF4F8D4_medium2

Last but not least, I finally finished these socks.  I started them in February 2017! OMG what a bad case of second-sock-syndrome.  I only really finished the second one because it was the only plane knitting project I had going on to take with me.  I worked on it a lot during our layover in Toronto on the way back from Amsterdam, and also on the plane until they turned the lights out.  I do have a light with me, but I always feel a bit guilty turning on lights on a flight when so many are trying to sleep or watch movies.  I am pretty good at knitting without looking, but with this patterning on the legs I didn’t trust myself to do it.  But they are DONE and I love them!

82B9F92F-4E02-435C-8A06-54EFC2C2352E_medium2

PHEW! That’s a lot of knitting.  But there is also spinning!  I just finished spinning 108 grams of 2-ply lace weight, gradient from dark turquoise to light green, BFL/silk.  This is a gift for a friend who has given me many hours of podcasting joy.

IMG_4377

Lastly, I’m almost finished with a worsted weight lace cardigan for myself, but I don’t have a good photo of it yet.  I hope to have it done this weekend.

My next projects will be hats for charity.  I’m going to make hats for the Camp fire victims and most likely take them up to Chico at Christmas time.  I’ll keep you posted.

And that is my project catch up post for today.

I have been seriously considering starting a second blog, that is not at all fiber or knitting related.  Since moving from the Netherlands to the US I have a lot of stuff in my head that needs to get out into words and into the world.  I am afraid of alienating any blog readers I might still have, or would attract, who are only interested in the crafting posts.  What if I had buttons at the top that said “click here for only craft related topics” and “click here for NON-craft topics” and “click here to see everything”.  That seems easier than creating a whole new blog.  Stay tuned.

Gradient in Lace

underdutchskiesLeave a comment

img_3699

I’ve made good progress on my Evenstar shawl in the past week.  I had a lot of hanging around time last weekend and also a lot of sitting in the car while DB drove knitting time (yes, you read that correctly, DB is driving!) If you’ve been following along on Ravelry or FB you might be thinking “Hey, you were going to make Briarcrest with that hand dyed, gradient blended, hand spun yarn! What gives?” And you would be right.

I haven’t even finished spinning all the yarn for this project.  I still have the solid light blue to finish up.  I’ve got one bobbin done and I’m half way through the second bobbin of singles and I’m trying with all my might to keep up the enthusiasm to finish it off.  I’m just so ready to be finished with this spinning project!  And at the same time I’m super excited about knitting the shawl, so you know where I’m spending my time.

I ended up with 104g and 636 meters in skein 1, and 95g and 595 meters in skein 2. That’s already going to make a huge shawl.  When I thought about wearing a huge triangular shawl, I just didn’t see it making me happy.  If I have that much gradient yarn to use up I’d much rather put it to good use in a square or circular shawl.  And Evenstar has been on my radar for AGES.  It was time to cast on.

You can see more photos of the yarn on my Briarcrest hand spun Ravelry project page.

I WILL make Briarcrest, which is really a perfect shawl for hand spun yarn.  But I will make it with some Shetland gradient that I spun as a fractal.

I’m such a nerd that I’ve made a spreadsheet to track progress of the shawl to see how I’m doing against a KAL deadline. Yes, another deadline project.  I swore I wouldn’t do these anymore for a while, but this one is fun and with fun people and it’s very relaxed with a long 3 months to get it done.  This is the Yarniacs Colors of Fall KAL (all info here). You cast on the first day of Summer and must be finished by the first day of Fall.  That’s in order to be in the drawing for prizes. But I’m really going with the attitude that I will do my best against the deadline and that’s all the pressure I’m putting on myself.  So far I’m ahead of schedule according to the spreadsheet calculations!

I’ve calculated the total number of stitches in the shawl, how many stitches I’ve done so far and what % that is, compared to the number of days in the KAL and the number of days into it we are now.  And the % of yarn I’ve used up.  This is almost as much fun as the knitting itself.

In other news, two weeks ago I painted my little Electric Eel Wheel Mini.  I used chalk board paint and then found some chalk markers to write on it.  I really love the idea of writing on the bobbins what I’m spinning. Not that I would forget.  Probably.

The bright green makes me happy.  What makes you happy?

eewm_painted

 

Summertime

underdutchskiesLeave a comment

Summer in the “Inland Empire” (just what makes this area an “Empire” escapes me) arrives with a sudden pop of heat leaving me uneasy for the dreaded July and August temps.  Not to mention – what is a wool addict supposed to do in such weather?

Thanks to a lovely friend and fellow Californian, who sent me this yarn, I have started a lightweight t-shirt knit, using Holst Garn “Coast” which is a blend of 55% wool and 45% cotton. It’s also very fine and light which is perfect for our weather. I’m making “Confetti” but highly modified. I’m making the neck smaller so it doesn’t fall off my shoulders so much, making some different colored stripes, and I moved the beginning of the round from the front to the BACK of the sweater, which is where any self respecting round should begin and end. Plus I’ll be making short sleeves instead of 3/4 long. The yarn is lovely to work with. So lovely in fact that I actually bought a stash of it!

img_3523

I went to the Holst Garn web site and found that there was a sale going on plus thanks to  another friend I learned that the shipping from Denmark is not so expensive and it’s very fast. Which was all absolutely true. I now have enough for 2 more sweaters and maybe a little more. Yay! It felt so good to buy yarn! I haven’t bought yarn in the last 6 months, which is very long for a knitter, even a knitter with a big stash already. Everyone needs a little retail therapy in the way of stash enhancement now and then.

img_3522

In other fiber news, today was the monthly “Spin Inland” meet up at the LYS in Redlands. One of my fellow spinners said she was going home at 2 to wash some raw fleece. That sounded like a grand idea.  I’ve been storing a Polwarth fleece that I bought from a farm in England about 3 years ago and it’s about time I washed it.  It’s a lamb fleece, first shearing, and the staple length is not terribly long.  Maybe 4″ in some places, but mostly about 3″.  I’ll have to put it through the drum carder, even though it is super soft and fine and normally I’d want to comb it, but it’s just too short for that. I can’t wait to give it a try and see what kind of spinnable fiber I get from it. What you see here in the tub is just over 300g/10oz.  I’ve got about 4 times that much in total so it will take a few weekends to get it all washed and dried. I’m weighing everything at every step along the way just to see how much I lose from raw to washed to carded to spun yarn. You know how much I like data.

img_3527img_3528img_3529

I soaked it in a tub of soapy water for 45 minutes, then soaked in plain hot water for 10 and then laid it outside to dry still in the garment bags.  Maybe I’ll have time tomorrow to do another batch. I’ll keep posting photos along the way so you can see the results.

IMG_3531

And now I think it’s time for a late afternoon cocktail and some outside knitting – hmmm – is that a bad combination?

Do it for Love

underdutchskies4 Comments

IMG_3367 2I have finished a sweater that is not a sample! It’s just for ME, which makes a change from nearly all the projects I’ve worked on in the past TEN YEARS. First, about this sweater, then more about MUST MAKE projects.

This little gem of a sweater is made with Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in color Stormborn. I bought it during my LYS’s Holiday Party this year. I fell in love at first sight. The pattern is Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fetig, which has been in my queue list for years. I’m wearing it with a fantastic dress from Uniqlo, my favorite clothing shop. My gauge was different from the pattern so I made the 42″ pattern size to end up with a sweater of 40″ around. I also did a 1-1 rib for the collar instead of just stockinette stitch because I didn’t want it to roll. Lastly, I used needles 1 size smaller for the last 1″ if the sleeve ribbing, which just seemed neater. It’s really the perfect summer sweater. I could use another one in a less warm yarn, like a wool/cotton blend or cotton/silk blend.

IMG_3370

I made this sweater to go specifically with this dress to wear specifically to a wedding at the end of June. While it is not a sample for my shop, it WAS deadline knitting, and had a purpose and date stamp on it. So, while it is just for ME, it did have a bit of stress built in to the project just because of the deadline.

In the past week I’ve been thinking about my next knitting project, with a particular KAL in mind (the Yarniacs Colors of Fall KAL) and I realized that here again I’m getting ready to sign up for a deadline project. But what struck me most is that I have been so focused on making projects to use for shop samples, and event deadlines, that I no longer know how to pick something JUST FOR FUN. I have a house full of beautiful yarn and still I just kept turning things over in my head and couldn’t get excited about anything.

Looking back, since opening my first web shop in April 2010 (which I closed due to work changes) and then starting to dye fiber and selling it in November 2015, nearly everything I’ve made has been for a sample of some sort.  And that doesn’t count the patterns that I started writing in 2008 and needed samples for. Or projects for gifts.

Since July 2008, when I wrote my first little pattern, I’ve finished 145 knitted items and 15 official spinning projects (as opposed to small spinning samples – again with the samples!).  Out of all those projects, the ones that were not for samples, or gifts, but were just FOR FUN FOR ME number 36.  That’s 22.5% of projects, for myself without strings attached.

And like the nerd that I am, it’s probably seeing this in black and white, as a hard number, that makes me say “oh that explains why I feel the need to stop with the web shop and dyeing business”.  It’s also that I don’t have the energy to work full time AND try to keep up a dyeing business, but when I see this written out I realize too that it’s because I’ve spent YEARS doing what I love for reasons other than love.  I need to find the love again.

It’s no wonder I don’t know how to get excited about a project just for me, just for fun, just for the love.  In fact, the project I’ve chosen to start for the KAL that begins on June 21 is actually a SAMPLE for a shop I’m going to CLOSE.  But I am still going to finish spinning the yarn and knit the shawl that my talented friend Christopher designed for Ply magazine (Briarcrest Shawl), because it’s lovely, because I’m almost finished spinning the yarn, and because I said I would. And it won’t be because it was supposed to be a shop sample, but because I love the colors and really want to make it.

And after that I want to spin some yarn for gifts for friends, which is also for love and all the best reasons.

And I will cast on a new knitting project just for me, just for fun, without a deadline or obligation. I wonder what that will be like!

Holiday

underdutchskiesLeave a comment

Today was the first full day having J & T staying with us. We planned to go to the beach even though it wasn’t very warm there. Silly me, forgetting how late teenagers get moving in the morning! After a late breakfast we left the house at 11:30.

It was busy in HB, as you can imagine on Memorial Day, but we’re used to lots of people around so it was fine and a nice afternoon out.

Now, at 5:30pm, J & T are laying on their bed, looking at their phones and giggling. (It’s a lovely sound to have in the house.) DB is inside behind his laptop, listening to music. And I’m outside knitting. So, a nice holiday end with everyone doing their favorite thing.

To Blog or Not to Blog

underdutchskies1 Comment

i-is-for-island_2459557498_o
Hi. It’s me again.
The post previous to this one is dated about 18 months ago, and life and situations have changed again. The web shop is on hold and I’m thinking maybe this blog should come off of hold.

The web shop is on hold because I’m saving my inventory for local markets. I’m not dyeing fiber like I used to. Since moving to the U.S., and now working 40+ hours a week, and commuting a crazy number of hours in SoCal traffic, I just don’t have the energy to also dye enough fiber to keep a decent shop going. So I’m scaling back. We’ll see how this goes and what happens after the Fall 2018.

Meanwhile, I feel like I’d still like to document my fiber and craft adventures somewhere and Facebook just isn’t a place I like to hang out. And I do have this lovely blog that I’ve spent hours creating. I went back and read some of the very first posts in 2006, from my earlier days in the Netherlands. It made me so homesick for NL! Why don’t I post some thoughts about what it’s like to move back to the U.S. after 25 years abroad? I have plenty of thoughts about THAT!

So here’s post number 1 of a new year, a new life, a new country, city, house. Same old me and same patient and understanding DappereBas. Stay tuned.

(The photo was taken on Terschelling in 2008.)

Open!

underdutchskies1 Comment

As of RIGHT NOW, the new web shop is open.  I’ve also redirected my domain name so that if you type in underdutchskies.com you will land on the shop, no longer here.  I don’t know if I’ll be posting much on this blog in the near future.  There will be shop updates on the FaceBook page and on the shop itself.

As for my personal musings and crafty updates? I think for now they will be done on FB.  There are just so many channels to update, and so little time.  So for the moment, this good old blog, that’s been going in fits and starts since 2007, will take a hiatus.

Thanks for reading and see you on the flip side!

Best Laid Plans – Delayed

underdutchskies1 Comment

24058579335_111d28cddc_z

I’ve been saying, out loud and in writing, that Under Dutch Skies web shop would open the 17th of January 2016.  One week from today.  I’m sorry to now say that that isn’t going to happen.  In order to open a well designed, well functioning and full of product web shop, I’m going to delay by one month.

Under Dutch Skies web shop will now be open for business on 21 February, 2016.  Look for Grand Opening deals!