This Elf Knits - Knitting, Handpainted Yarn, LYS reviews

My daughter goes to a private Waldorf school that relies heavily on fund raising. Every year they host an auction and each class contributes an item or a basket for it. My daughter’s class was responsible for putting together a basket appropriate for a baby. Last year my husband and I knit a duck and this year decided to do a little simpler of a project.

My pick was the Small Mama Sweet Sugar Seamless Infant Kimono. Carina Spencer was generous enough to allow me to use her pattern for the auction.

I contacted Kara from Disco Baby Knits and she hand-dyed some superwash Merino yarn in her Solaris colorway with trim. Her colorways are beautiful and they all have an out of this world spin. Definitely check her out.

This was a great sweater to knit, especially for my first one. It is all knit as one piece, so no seaming at all. You start at the neck and knit your way down, leaving stitches on scrap yarn for the sleeves. Then you pick up and add the sleeves and the board trim. Easy peasy and the result is super cute!

It has a button closure on the outside and an i-cord tie on the inside.

Carina also offers a great tutorial on doing a button loop that I will definitely be using on future projects.

And here is the finished basket.

The winning bidder got it all for $150 which is great for our school. Thank you to Carina and Kara for helping out! I really appreciate it

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Thanks to the handy dandy magnet calendar with the Woolgirl Sock Club 2009 shipping dates on it, I knew to expect my shipment sometime this week. Happily it was on my front porch when we got home from my daughter’s swim class today. As soon as I opened it I knew I was going to have to fight my husband for it

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Just an update that I have sold the Envy kit, but the Seven Deadly Spins Club Lust kit is still available. Think of it as a chance to try some really lovely Unique Sheep yarn. Even if you don’t want to knit the pattern, you can use it for socks or a scarf for sure. $35 with priority mail shipping within the US.

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In my catch up, I need to post about the final two shipments of the Seven Deadly Spins Club. While I thought this club started out very strong and definitely pushed me as a knitter to try new techniques, the last few shipments left me a bit disappointed.

January’s Seven Deadly Spins shipment was based on the sin Envy. They got off to a good start with the yarn. It is green of course The yarn is Unique Sheep’s House Blend. It is 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, and 20% Silk. It feels yummy.

The project though is just really not to my taste. The pattern was created by Sivia Harding and is called Flower of Envy Glove. They are fingerless gloves with a lace pattern on the back accented with beads. It looks like a pretty quick, in the round project. The extras that came with this kit were also a bit light. It has a bottle of goat’s milk lotion by Mimi’s Soaps, a crochet hook, an Envy pen, and the beads for the project. The lack of candy didn’t bother me, but my daughter was. Which she was three at the time, so you can understand her disappointment Her expectation now is that all yarn comes with candy. Which is as it should be.

March’s Seven Deadly Spins shipment was for the sin Lust. The insert in the package describes Lust as having a yearning or desire for something. While this project may describe someone else’s Lust (yours perhaps?) it is definitely not mine.

The project was designed by Ellen Warren and is described as a scarf. It buttons though, so it is more of a neck warmer I think. The kit comes with three different colors of yarn. The first is a skein of Unique Sheep Verve in the American Beauty Rose colorway. It also comes with two accents skeins of Luxe yarn in Lusty Pink and Leaf Green.

The scarf is knitted with the main yarn and the accent yarn is used to crochet flowers and leaves. It also has 13 pearls that can be used to embellish the scarf. The kit also comes with some Lusty Lips lip balm from Mimi’s Soaps and some Hershey Kisses. Yay, some candy. My daughter snatched one up right away.

Really this project is not for me. I have no one to knit it for and no desire to make it. I feel that way about both kits actually. If you are interested, let me know. I am willing to sell both kits for $30 a piece plus shipping. Both are complete except for the one missing Hershey kiss

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So yeah. About that blogging thing and keeping my projects and new yarns and clubs up to date. Sorry about that. I had a bit of losing my knitting mojo for awhile there. I think I have found it and have slowly taken up knitting again. In the meantime I have had a whole bunch of things to share with you. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch you all up in the next week or so and then move forward.

In February I received the first of the 2009 Woolgirl Sock Club shipments. I love this club. The thought and details that Jen puts into her club is just the best. This shipment directs you to become the Queen of your knitting and is themed around Cleopatra. I am a huge fan of Cleopatra and I got the biggest smile on my face when I saw what the theme was.

First up is the yummy yarn. It is from Zen Yarn Garden, a yarn I have not experienced before. It is their Serenity yarn, a merino and cashmere blend. They dyed it in the Gold Dynasty Colorway, perfect for the theme. It also have a bunch of fun extras.

It contains two pattens, including one that is not a sock. It has a cabled sock pattern entitled Majestic by Elizabeth Warner. It also comes with a scarf pattern if you are just not up for knitting another pair of socks or want to try something different with sock yarn. It called Alexandria and was designed by Lisa Dykstra.

The extras are a stitch marker from Mama Llama, a silk project bag from Lantern Moon, a Queen of Knitting Sock Club pen, lotion in Lilacs in Bloom scent by Rachel Rene, a cute notecard hand-made by Willa Landino, a Soak wool wash sample, a magnet calendar with future shipments marked, and a cute little pyramid. This has to be my favorite feature of the kit. When opened it reveals:

Two little Cleopatra chocolates! The best part is the chocolates are from Gayle’s Chocolates, a local business to me. I would love to know how she picks out her extras and just how she discovered these.

Sadly I have not had a chance to get started on these socks, even though I said I wouldn’t get behind this year. I have only recently taken up knitting again in the last few weeks and I have a deadline for some farm squares fast approaching. They are taking precedence right now, so I need to get those wrapped up before working on anything else. I do think this will be my first cable project though and I am pretty excited. Can’t wait to learn something new. Here is one last picture of the yarn for you. Pretty!

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I always love coming home and seeing a package from Woolgirl on my front porch. Today it was the November 2008 Seven Deadly Spins Club. And it is absolutely perfect for the Holidays. Click the link below to see the spoilers.

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On Saturday the Knitting Scotsman, our adorable daughter and I will be going to the 5th Annual Shop Hop in the Metro Detroit area. Last year we stumbled upon it while visiting some of the LYS’s that were participating. The first shop we went to we didn’t notice the sign and thought it was a bit odd that the store was so packed. By the second store we had caught on to the sign.

This year we are prepared. We are going to map it out and try to make it to all five stores. There is Basketful of Yarn in Clarkston, Heritage Spinning & Weaving in Lake Orion, Skeins on Main in Rochester, Have You Any Wool? in Berkley, and the Knitting Room in Birmingham.

Each store is giving away a gift with a $10 minimum purchase and if you visit at least 4 of the stores and get your passport stamped then you are entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Each store will also snacks and drinks. They are all open from 9am to 5pm to allow people enough time to get to them all. Each store is also promising to have project ideas that you can complete in time for Holiday gift giving.

We absolutely can’t wait and it should be a lot of fun. I’m going to try and not acquire any more yarn, but I am not making any promises. I do need some needles though and would love to find a pattern or two. I know my husband is looking for some small projects he can work on. Maybe I will leave all of the yarn buying to him

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I am sad to announce that on October 17th, 2008 after fighting a brave, but short battle with cholangiocarcinoma, a form of liver cancer, Colleen of Spiffy Knits passed away. I have had a hard time picking up my needles since learning of her death. I had hoped that she would have more time to spend with her two children and husband. She was able to spend the time teaching a niece and nephew how to knit, with the hopes that they would one day teach her children how to knit. I am heartbroken and sad over losing someone I consider a friend. The world has also lost an amazing artist. Colleen had a wonderful eye for color and her handpainted yarn is beautiful. I am lucky to have some in my own stash.

For one week, the ladies of Tiny Lady Cooperative have pulled together some wonderful items that are being auctioned and raffled off. The proceeds will be placed into a college fund for Anneke, 5-years-old, and Fritz, 2-years-old. Please go and bid or purchase a raffle ticket or ten. Help make Celebrating Colleen a huge success. Thank you!

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I have been so behind. Both in my knitting and in my blogging and for that I apologize. So many things have happened and been going on in my life. Anyway I wanted to take a moment and draw your attention to the widget on my Sidebar for Donors Choose. This is a great charity that allows teachers to make requests and the public the opportunity to fund them. For the month of October they are hosting a Blogger’s Challenge. I am trying to help raise money for teachers that want to teach their students to knit. Being a Waldorf parent, I think every child should be taught to knit but I digress. Knitting can be a relaxing hobby, real life skill, and a chance for a student to make themself a much needed hat, pair of mittens, or scarf for the winter. So consider donating to a great cause and helping that little thermometer go up. Thanks!

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I had a very pleasant surprise on my front porch this afternoon. The October 2008 shipment of the Woolgirl Sock Club had arrived! Click on the link below for spoilers.

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