The Laura Leaves Tank

The "Laura Leaves Tank" is finished and published.  You can find it at:  ravelry.com

I did the test knit, and made the sample for my darling, daughter-in-law, Laura.  Doesn't she show it to perfection?

The sample was knit out of the Fyberspates - Scrumptious, found in my stash.  She is a tiny little thing, so it only took a little over 1 skein.  The yarn is a 4 ply Sport Weight, and is a dream to knit with.  I've gushed about this yarn, over and over again!

Lacy leaves compliment the front, along with a ribbed neckline, bottomband and armholes.  A twisted rib stitch was used to help the garment hold it's shape.

Easy waist shaping was added to the pattern, to keep it close to the body for a flattering fit.  If your waist isn't your best feature, the shaping can easily be omitted.

The neckline can easily be adjusted too.  For a lower cut, just make the straps longer.  To shorten the cut, just make the straps shorter.

The inspiration for this pattern was a tank my Mother owned.  Her's was knit completely in stockinette stitch.  As you can see here, the back of my tank is knit in stockinette stitch too, so if that is the look you prefer, forget about the lace leaf pattern and knit the entire thing in stockinette stitch.

The tank is knit in-the-round on circular needles, up to the armhole shaping, and the front and back are knit flat (separately) to the top of the neck ribbing.  The armhole ribbing is picked up and knit flat, then carefully seamed at the back shoulders.  It is a great pattern for learning lace knitting, easy waist shaping, and to read a knitting chart.

This is the hearth rug my husband made from the roving leftovers from our alpacas last year.  This roving came from Cocoa Bean.  The rug was made with a threaded crochet hook and a preformed grid mat.  The rug makes a great place to sit, when you need to warm by the fire, or when all of the other seats in our family room are taken.  The "home plate" shape allows the rug to wrap over the edge of the brick to protect clothing or stockings from snags.

The mill where we have our fleece processed, Crooked Fence Alpacas & Mill, started producing this really thick rug yarn this past year.  This rug was crocheted with a big hook.  It is really cushiony, and roving from many different colored alpacas gave the yarn this variegated coloring.  It appears that my feet are so big, that I cannot take a picture looking down, without getting them into the shot.

We just received our second shipment of alpaca yarn.  We have 9 animals now, so our shipment was much larger this year.  We had it all processed into worsted weight and the heavy rug yarn this time.  I'll have some pictures to post of the various colors a little later.

I'm off to Palm Springs for a little family girls trip next week.  It will be HOT, HOT, HOT, but I still have a knitting project planned for the ride and to work on poolside.  I am casting on a "Laura Leaves Tank" in a medium purple, this time for me.  My new knitting group will meet for the first time on August 2, so I should have lots to write about when I return.  Happy knitting . . . .

New Knitting Group

I've decided it is time for me to form a knitting group.  I seem to need friends with similar interests, whom I can commiserate with when hours and hours of design and sample knitting must be frogged, or who would be as excited as me over a new yarn shop opening.  Someone who would inspire me about my next design, or help me work through the calculations of getting a perfect fit.  A group of those interested in knitting, or learning how, would really help me to balance my life. 

I've been meeting with a great group of ladies over the past few years, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it!  It is a small group, at all skill levels, and we have all formed a great friendship.  Bound together with knits and purls and the sharing of our life experiences.  This group has been so good for me, that I believe a new group would just be more of a "good thing".  It is my hope that some of these ladies might be interested in joining the new group too.

We'll meet for the first time on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 7:00 pm (and every first Thursday of the month thereafter).  Everyone is invited (knitter or not).  If you are interested in learning, we'll teach you.  If you are not interested in learning, come anyway, as we would love to chat with you.  Contact me at knitzillaknits@gmail.com, if you need an address and instructions on how to get to my house in West Jordan, Utah.

Last year at shearing time, we only had two alpacas in our herd, if you want to call it that.  We didn't get a lot of yarn, but mixing Licorice Whip's fleece with a little bamboo fiber produced this beautiful heathered, charcoal yarn.  It has taken me a whole year of searching, but I have finally found the perfect pattern to knit it up.

This is "Haruni".  Haruni was designed by Emily Ross and the pattern is a free download at: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/haruni.  There are also many project pages on Ravelry, where you can see all of the beautiful versions from other knitters.  I can't wait to cast on, as I think this shawl will make a beautiful addition to my Mountainman Rendezvous wardrobe.  Crazy that I have such a thing!  I should be the best-dressed crusty old mountainwoman there this year!  We always go to the Mountainman Rendezvous in Ft. Bridger, WY over the Labor Day weekend.

The latest version of "Lori Shrugged" is finished.  Pictured here with the navy maxi dress I purchased in Hawaii.  I think this will do quite nicely to cover "jiggly arm syndrome". 

The yarn is Mirasol Tupa in shade #801.  It is 50% Merino Wool and 50% Silk.  Purchased from a sweet little yarn shop in Logan, Utah:  "Knit Unique".

The raglan sleeves of this pattern give it a nice shoulder line, and the lace stitch design will make it airy enough to wear in the summer, but still provide some warmth in the cool evening air.

Knit on US8 and US9 needles, and US5 for the ruffles, this little shrug was a quick knit.  It generally only takes 5 to 10 days at 1 to 2 hours of knitting per day.  The dress has been waiting, but can now be worn through the rest of the summer.

As indicated in my last post, "Laura" was the next item to jump on my needles.  Knit from the yarn leftover from my "Carmine" sweater (knit last summer), "Laura" is flying off my needles. 

The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious.  This too is a combination of merino wool and silk.  Purchased in the UK, it was well worth the shipping time it took to arrive.  I LOVE THIS YARN!

A twisted rib stitch is being used for the bottomband.  It provides a nice smooth finish, with plenty of stretchiness for the hips.  The twisted rib stitch will be used for the neck and armbands as well.

 "Laura" is named for my daughter-in-law, thus she will receive the prototype.  She is really excited, and should be wearing it before my next post.  I'm planning another trip to "Knit Unique" this weekend, on my way to Idaho to visit my little granddaughters, and hope to score some yarn for a "Laura" of my own.  Watch for the publishing of the "Laura" pattern on Ravelry.  Happy Knitting . . . . . .

The Things I Love to Do

We have a WINNER . . .

Brandon is the winner of this little knit baby sweater.  He is newly married, with no little one to wear it, but perhaps there is a baby in his family who will get some use out of it.

The 4th of July holiday gave me some extra time this year for the only thing I love as much as knitting, and that is baking bread.  I've tried many techniques over the years, to produce a loaf with a crusty outside and a soft chewy inside.  Well, I've finally found the perfect method, thanks to Pinterest.  The bread is baked in a scorching hot oven (450 degrees), in a cast iron pan.  I have an enamaled cast iron dutch oven, that seems to weigh 100 lbs.  It works perfect, although I'm afraid of anyone being near, when I am removing the pan from the oven, because it gets so HOT!  So hot, in fact, that it changes the color the of the enamel from green to yellow.  However, it returns to green when it cools.  Here is the recipe and technique for this crusty wonder:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water

Wisk dry ingredients together.  Add water and mix thoroughly, with the additional ingredients of your choosing.  Dough will be sticky and look shaggy.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 to 18 hours.  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Place empty pan with lid in oven for 30 minutes.  While pan is heating, roll dough into a ball and place on a floured board.  Cover dough ball loosely with plastic wrap.  When pan is heated, open lid and drop dough ball in.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool.  You will have a nice crusty loaf.

You can add any number of extras to achieve the flavor of your choice.  I have tried: lemon peel-thyme-parmesan; craizen-almond-orange peel; sun dried tomato-basil-parmesan; calamata olive-aziago-rosemary. 

A recent trip to Logan, Utah, led me into the cutest little knitting shop, "Unique Knits".  I found this beautiful merino/silk blend yarn  in a burnished gold.  While in Hawaii I purchased a navy/white patterned maxi dress.  The top is strappy, and I need something to cover my shoulders and upper arms, so I decided to knit another version of "Lori Shrugged". 

This was the first pattern I published, and it has served me well.  I've knit these for my sister and all of my daughters, and I've gotten lots of use out of the one in this picture.  I'm sure the gold one will get a lot of use too, especially since the yarn is so yummy!

This is my latest design, "EMERY".  My Mom bought the same yarn in Logan, in a lighter weight, in a beautiful taupe.  She is test knitting EMERY for me right now, and it is looking beautiful.  In fact, it is looking so pretty, that I couldn't resist casting on another design "LAURA", for a test knit.

This is "LAURA".  I'm test knitting this pullover vest from my leftover Fyberspates-Scrumptious.  This yarn is a dream to knit with, and is producing a soft, leafy pattern.  I was inspired to create this design, by a fellow knitting blogger,  knit purr live.  She was knitting a leafy tank in the prettiest green from a Tahki Stacy Charles-Cotton Classic pattern.  Thus the "LAURA" was born.  This design was named for my daughter-in-law, and so I am knitting it for her.  She seems really excited about it.

I recently knit these little flower dresses for my grand-daughters.  They were knit from 100% acrylic yarn I had in my stash, and since the labels had long-since fallen off, I'm not really even sure what brand yarn it was.  The design belongs to Kate Gilbert, and is called "Anouk - revisited as a dress". 

The pattern for the diaper cover is free, and can be found at:  Knit-Zilla Ravelry Downloads.  I have some pictures of the girls wearing these dresses, but they are in some wierd format, which I cannot get to attach to this post.  Anyway . . . it was a fun pattern to knit, and the dresses look really cute on the girls.

I finally figured it out.  Here are the pix of the girls wearing their flower dresses.

Our garden is starting to produce like gangbusters, so a lot of my knitting time will now be devoted to watering, weeding, picking and cooking.  I've had another allergic reaction, as I was moving squash vines onto a trellis, and the prickly vines have given me a terrible rash on my arm.  I guess I'll never learn that I must wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, when working in the garden.  We've had a great crop of peas and strawberries, and cannot keep up with the zucchini (like usual).  Tomatoes, spagetti squash, and radishes are starting to come on too.  Its back to work for me on Thursday, but I hope you all had a great holiday and Happy Knitting . . .

P.S.  Don't feel sorry for working me, as I'm planning on a fun girl's vacation in Palm Springs in early August.