Hippie baby cardi

Posted on April 29, 2009 by CrazyVet

A good friend of my dear man is having a baby soon, so he asked me to knit a baby sweater for her son to give as a gift. Since both she and her husband really love India and have been living there several years before they returned to Israel, I thought this colourway is just right for them, in spite of the baby being a boy, as they probably love strong colours as one can find in Indian designs.

Hippy baby cardi

I used Lorna’s laces Shepherd Sport again, this time in Bittersweet colourway, and knit following this pattern, subtracting the button band and using yarn-loops instead of button holes. Project is raveled here.

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Snob spring swap

Posted on April 28, 2009 by CrazyVet

I participated in the yarn snob spring swap this year, and my package from Tracy has just arrived! I was so excited to finally receive it, and everything in it is just so nicely wrapped that I didn’t want to open it and destroy the wrapping.

Snob Swap Spring 2009

My cat, obviously, had to check everything before I get to actually open anything:

Snob Swap Spring 2009

And here’s all the goodness I received: a project bag, some stitch markers, kitty bookmarks and some gorgeous, squishy, indie-dyed sock yarn, which will most definitely become my next pair of socks.

Snob Swap Spring 2009

I just love it, thanks so much, Tracy!

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Experimenting with a lightbox

Posted on March 31, 2009 by CrazyVet

I made myself a lightbox from a giant cardboard box following this excellent tutorial, and started experimenting with it. Here are a few of the photos I took using it:

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I’m very happy with the result, they look so clean and professional. I might try to make myself a bigger lightbox to shoot bigger items, but for the time being, it’s the perfect solution for shooting good-quality macro images; considering the nearly expense-free process of building it, I’m just sorry I haven’t built one earlier…

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Maroon hanspun lace yarn

Posted on March 30, 2009 by CrazyVet

As I mentioned previously, I’ve taken a pretty bad case of spinning fever. After finishing my first handspun, I quickly got some more merino top in different shades which I planned on blending together to create a slightly variegated yarn. I just blended and mixed the colours together, without any special preparation, and plied together the two resulting singles, using an improvised lazy kate built out of a pair of straight knitting needles and a cardboard shoe box (which worked great for that purpose).

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The plied yarn is very light laceweight but very wire-y and unpleasant to the touch; I tried knitting with it and unfortunately, it’s just nice to look at. I think it’ll just be another decorative skein, as it does look gorgeous.

More information about this yarn in my Ravelry stash entery.

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Cleite II, finished

Posted on March 11, 2009 by CrazyVet

I finished my second Cleite a few days ago and blocked it on my bed, as the guest bed wasn’t big enough. I’m so happy with the result – the yarn and pattern complement each other just perfectly. I can’t wait to finally wear it, though it might take a while as the days are getting warmer and warmer (but it’s still chilly at night, good for me and the new addition to my wardrobe).

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Project is raveled here.

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Snow-white to be

Posted on March 11, 2009 by CrazyVet

Just a little WIP update: I ordered an entire bag of sublime yarns Silky Merino Aran to knit myself a Snow-White sweater following Ysolda‘s pattern. So far it’s coming along great, but as I finally took the time to upload the yarn’s photos to Flickr, I wanted to update here, too.

Sublime silky merino aran

I assure you, it’s just as squishy as it looks.

Sublime silky merino aran

Project is raveled here.

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My first handspun

Posted on March 11, 2009 by CrazyVet

I tried very hard to resist, but I wasn’t strong enough and finally succumbed and took up hand spinning using a drop spindle. I got my spindle, which was made by my dear friend debolsillo, at All You Knit is Love. When I saw it there, all red and red with the transparent glass whorl, I knew it was made just for me. I got some merino top in two colours, turquoise and burgundy, while I was there, and started playing around with my new toy.

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Surprisingly, I managed to make some reasonably even singles in solid colours and then I plied them together, resulting with this lovely marled yarn. I don’t think I’ll knit with this yarn, though; it could be soft enough to knit with, but I have so little of it (aprox. 135 meters), I would have to knit something very small or use it just as a decoration, and I would rather just leave it to be beautiful on its own.

More information about this yarn in my stash entry on Ravelry.

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My first socks, finished!

Posted on January 29, 2009 by CrazyVet

My socks are finally finished, and I’m so happy with the result. I had to frog and reknit the heel a couple of times until I figured the right way to knit it so the socks would fit well with my slightly disproportionate feet (my calves are and feet are very narrow, while my instep is very high), but I managed to do it! I chose a nice pearled ribbing stitch pattern so that the sock would be elastic throughout the entire calf, and finished with some regular ribbing. Here they are…

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Aren’t they lovely? And they are as warm and cosy as they look, too! Project raveled here.

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Cleite, take II

Posted on January 28, 2009 by CrazyVet

I’ve already knit one shawl following Miriam Felton‘s pattern, Cleite, but for some reason this yarn, a malabrigo lace yarn in a colourway appropriately called “amoroso”,  just called for the same pattern:

malabrigo merino lace
malabrigo merino lace

Here’s what it looks like so far:

Cleite II

And of course my dear fat cat couldn’t hold himself and just had to come and check on this piece of knitwear being photographed:

Cleite II

Project raveled here.

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Manly seed-stitch scarf for my man

Posted on January 18, 2009 by CrazyVet

Earlier this month my man and I were in Paris for a very brief vacation, during which we visited the local yarn shop, la droguerie, along with other Parisian establishments, such as Pierre Hermé’s pâtisserie on Rue Bonaparte. During this visit I bought some extra-fluffy super-bulky baby alpaca yarn in two colours: grey, for my guy who asked my to knit him a scarf, and cream, with which I intend to knit myself a beret, but haven’t decided on a pattern yet.Here’s Mr. Man’s yarn:

Baby alpaca

And here’s how the scarf is knitting up:

Manly seed stitch scarf for my man

Here’s the project’s ravelry page.

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