Everglades!

I finally got this pattern up for sale!!  Made this hat for hubby and thought that I should put it up on Ravelry.  I wrote up the pattern and had some GREAT girls test knit it for me.  The finished pattern is up! 

To tell you the truth, even if it never sells ONCE, I'm still thrilled to have been able to work with some GREAT women on the test knit.  I still can't believe that there are 7 of these hats floating around in the world.  It's really just the coolest feeling ever. 

 $1.99 US

The pattern is up for sale on Ravelry here

add to cart

If you're not a member of Ravelry, you can get the pattern directly here

Materials

One skein of Madeline Tosh Sock yarn, OR approximately 180 yards of fingering weight yarn that will get gauge.

Size US 2 (2.75mm) 40" circular needle (if using magic loop method), OR

Size US2 (2.75mm) Double pointed needles

Tapestry Needle for weaving in ends

Gauge

8 stitches = 1" stockinette knit in the round

Skills

You'll need to be able to kint cables and knit in the round to complete this hat. 

Email for pattern support at myknittedheart@gmail.com

Thanks for looking!!

xoxo,

Liz

Yarn dyeing with RIT dye tutorial

This is my first attempt at dying yarn.  I used a microwave and it was QUICK! I didn't take pictures of the process, because truth be told, I wasn't sure it would work.  The pictures I'm including here are pictures after the fact so that you can get the idea.  Warning... this is wordy, but it works.

Materials:
-White or Off White 100% wool yarn (I used Lion's Brand Fisherman's Wool because it's a 465yd ball, so there's plenty to make two larger skeins or three smaller ones)
-RIT Powdered Dyes, in any colors you choose (I used Dark Brown, Fuschia, and Petal Pink)
-Something to put dyes in for mixing (I used disposable Gladware)
-Something to mix the dyes with (I used disposable chopsticks from takeout sushi)
-Squirt bottles (like the kind you see in restaurants for ketchup.  I used old hair dye bottles from Sally's)
-Plastic Wrap (you're going to need plenty of this depending on how much yarn you dye)  I used Glad Cling Wrap.  Don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I read somewhere that some plastic wrap can melt all over your yarn.  This one did not.....so I guess it's ok.
-Garbage bag or other large plastic to cover your work surface (this stuff stains big time!)
-Plastic Syringe (not necessary, but helpful)
-White Distilled Vinegar
-Wool Soak or whatever else you normally use
-Gloves (believe me these are IMPORTANT)

Keep in mind that you don't want to reuse anything that had dye in it for food.  That's why I used the gladware, and I wouldn't mix the powders around stuff that is meant for food either.  Who knows how far it floats, better safe than sorry.

Wind your ball of yarn into skeins for dying.  You can either use a swift (if you're lucky enough to have one) or you can use the back of a chair.  I used a large roundish box I had from something we bought for the baby.  You can either split the ball into two or three skeins, or keep it all in one....whatever size you want.  Tie the skeins in at least four places (not too tight though).  You don't want everything getting tangled up when you're washing or rinsing.  Prepare the dye solution by adding one packet of dye powder to two cups of very hot water.  I used three different colors, and I dyed three balls worth of yarn.  That's 1395 yards of yarn and I had plenty dye solution left over to dye more yarn.  Mix well till all powder is completely dissolved.
Fill your sink with about three inches of tepid water and mix in one cup of vinegar.  Soak yarn for at least 30 minutes.  Push it all down into the water to make sure it is completely soaked.
Cover your work surface with your garbage bag or plastic sheeting.  I cannot stress this enough, this stuff stains bad.  Lay out a length of plastic wrap that is slightly longer than your skein.  I also used a couple pieces that were a little longer than the width of the first piece of plastic wrap, and put those sideways on top overlapping a little.

(this yarn is already dyed.  It started out as an off white color)

Put your gloves on and get your squirt bottles ready for use.  I used the plastic syringe to suck out dye from the gladware and squirt into the bottles.  You don't have to do this, but I didn't want to take any chances trying to pour directly from the tupperware into the bottle.  Less messy this way.  There's also a plus side to using the syringe.  Mine has markings from 1 to 10ml.  I used that to figure out how much dye there was in the bottle in case I wanted to get a close shade again.  This isn't really perfect science, so it won't get you close enough to use two different skeins on one project (if you dyed one solid color), but it will get you close if you want to use the same-ish color on something else.  If I wanted to have two skeins be the same, I dyed those together.  I think that's the only way to make sure that any two will be the same.  It's a good idea to know what you want to make before you start dying.  For the most part, I just figured I'd make a bunch of little house socks for myself (IF this even worked).  Once I saw that it was really working, I dyed two skeins at a time for a project.
I used 7 syringes worth of dye for the brighter shades of any color, and filled the rest of the bottle (up to 8oz.) with hot water.  My bottles were reusable hair dye bottles, so they had markings from 1 to 8 oz.  (very helpful for me)  For lighter shades, I used either 2.5, 3 or 4 syringes full, depending on the color I was hoping to achieve. I'll give a "recipe" for the shades I used later.  You'll need approx 16 oz of diluted solution for each skein, assuming you split the ball into three.

Pull one skein out of the vinegar bath and wring to get the water out.  Get as much of the water out as possible.  You can also roll the yarn into a towel and squeeze out extra water.  I didn't do this, but I have pretty strong hands, and got a lot of the water out by just wringing it.  You want your yarn damp, not wet.
Lay the skein on top of the plastic wrap.  Use your squirt bottles to apply the dye to the yarn.  I would kind of smush the yarn down every so often to make sure the dye is completely saturating the yarn.  It tends to kind of bead up and look like you're not adding enough solution.  You don't want a big sopping mess under the yarn or the colors will all run together and look muddy.  I mostly did two colors on each skein for fun. 

Once you've got your yarn saturated well, but not sopping, wrap them up length-wise in the plastic wrap.  I used an additional length of wrap slightly longer than the wrapped piece, to cover the whole thing once again.  I don't know that this is really necessary, but I can say that mine didn't really drip at all, and that's nice :-).

Here's the cool part!  I put the whole thing on top of a publix bag in my microwave and heat it for one minute.  Once it was done, I flipped it over and heat it for 1 and 1/2 minutes more.  THAT'S IT!
CAREFUL taking this out of your microwave, it's HOT.  I also noticed that the darker colors get hotter than the lighter ones.  Lay the heated skein on top of a surface that won't stain or burn.  I just put mine on my stove top.  Flip it over every once in a while to make sure that the dye won't just pool on the bottom and make it darker on one side.

Go ahead and dye your other skeins the same way.  Have fun with this, try new combinations of colors!

Let the yarn cool to room temperature.  I guess this would take maybe an hour and a half.  I wasn't paying attention to the clock. 

Once the yarn has cooled, you can rinse in the sink with lukewarm water.  Be very careful not to use water that is colder than the yarn, it will felt.  Mush it around until the yarn runs clear.  Careful with this too.... if you mess with the yarn too vigorously it may felt, I did this to one of the skeins :-(.
After the yarn has been rinsed thoroughly, you can use the soak to recondition the wool.  Wring out and hang to dry.

Sit back and enjoy the view of hand-dyed wonderful little skeins in any color you want!

IMPORTANT!  Make sure you're yarn is COMPLETELY dry before you wind into a ball.  You don't want a bunch of mildew all over your hard work.

I'm going to try mixing dyes to get new colors next time.  I'll probably mix the dyes in the actual squirt bottles though.  I would hate to mix the concentrated dyes, not like the colors, and then not be able to start over.

Here are pictures and the "recipes" I used for them.  Keep in mind that for each of these, I used however many syringes full of dye (10 ml each syringe) and then filled the bottle up to the 8oz line.  That means that if I used more dye, there was less water, and vice versa.  I won't be listing the amount of water, because I really just didn't take note of that.  Each picture will have just the number of syringes I used for each color of yarn.  Also remember that each skein (approximately a third of the ball) uses almost 16oz of diluted dye.  If you use two colors, you will use almost all of both bottles.  If you use three or more colors, you'll have more left over in each bottle.

7 Brown

7 Fuschia

7 Petal Pink

7 Brown

7 Petal Pink

 

 

5 Petal Pink

2.5 Petal Pink

left the last bit without dye

7 Fuschia

7 Petal Pink

Like I said, I didn't know if this would work, so I didn't take pictures of the process.  I hope you enjoy this and have wonderful results!  If you use this method, send me pics.  I'd LOVE to see what you do with this!!!

xoxo,
Liz

Swift on it's way!!

My sweet sweet Hubby let me get this yesterday!!

There's a 50% off coupon with Joanns so it was finally something that was reasonably affordable.

Can I tell you how giddy I am with excitement!!??!!  I have the ball winder from KnitPicks, but up until now, it's been difficult getting yarn wound from a skein.  Not to mention the yarn cakes are always a little on the squishy sloppy side because the tension isn't right either.  Pretty soon this will be in my happy little hands.  Can't wait!!!  Thank you babe!

xoxo,
Liz

Yarn Dyeing Tutorial Coming Soon!!

Dyed some yarn this past weekend.  I didn't take pictures during, because I wasn't sure if it would work.  I'm going to take some pictures so that everyone gets the idea of what I did, and I'll post them together with the tutorial.  Till then....here's what one of the skeins looked like after I dyed it.  I used brown and pinks, which are probably not everyone's favorite colors, but you can use any colors you like.

xoxo,
Liz

Working on now...

Sooooo.... remember this?

 

GONE!!!  Didn't love knitting this..and when I say didn't love, I mean HATED.  It's my own fault though.  I was the one that thought all those cables would be SO pretty.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the way it looked, but it really started to feel like work.  Around the time that picture was taken, it was just no longer fun to knit.  I showed my mom The Aspen Wrap on Ravelry, that I wanted to work on for myself, and she loved it.  I've never knit anything more than once, so I hope it doesn't get too boring the second time around.  Can I tell you that the INSTANT I walked into my house, I went straight for the scarf and ripped.  Took out my yarn winder, and wound the yarn back into a wonderful little center pull cake, full of potential and possibilities.  :-)

This is what that wonderful little ball of yarn has turned into.  

I'm on the second skein now, and loving the way it's turning out.  Great pattern, and the woman who wrote it is really nice.  I had a question on the pattern and she got back to me right away.  Using size 9US needles and the same Cascade 220 Superwash in Ruby.

Finished Rachel's hat, she looks so cute in it!!

Finished with her Sweater too, it's a little big on her, and the cool weather is dying out, so hopefully we get a couple chilly days soon so she can wear it at least once.  If not, I'll just have to take it apart and make her a little dress!

Still working on this hat.  So far, so good.  When I get done with it, I'm going to pick up stitches along the bottom and knit another hat into it, making it a reversible hat.  Never made one of those before, so we'll see how it turns out.

I'm also working on The Chunky Alpaca Scarf from ravelry for a really great friend of mine.  I'm hoping she likes it.  It's totally a surprise.  I haven't told her that I have this blog yet, so I don't think I'll ruin the surprise by posting this pic.  Her birthday is April 9th so I want to finish it before then.  Shouldn't be an issue to finish on time, it's knitting up really fast.  Using size 11 needles and Peruvia Quick in Aquamarina.

 

Last but not least.  I'm working on a little dress for Rachel.  This is the Clara dress.  You have to buy it in a kit so I chose this color.  Seemed the most girly to me.  More on this later.

 

Really can't wait to see what this is going to look like on Rachel.  We're going to Miami to visit some family at the end of April, so I'm hoping to finish it by then.  Rachel is going to meet her Great Grandfather and I would love for her to look extra special.  That's it for now....

xoxo,

Liz

Heart You Fingerless Gloves

 

 

The heart on the hand is from Hearts Afire Socks by: MePlz Designs.  You can purchase the pattern for the socks on Ravelry Here

This is my first attempt at writing any type of pattern, so be gentle, but definitely let me know if there are any mistakes.

I used the Medium Size 1 Chart, and only used lines 5 though 18, all rows.  (There are 14 stitches accross each row of the chart as I described)  It will make sense when you see it.

Size: Adult Woman (Medium I guess)

Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool Wortsed

Needles: US 5  3.75mm DPN's,

Other: Tapestry Needle, Cable Needle, Two Stitch Markers

Abbreviations

K - Knit

P - Purl

Kfb - Knit through front and back loops

M1R - Make 1 Right - Lift bar in between stitches with left needle (from back to front), knit into the front of the lifted loop.

M1L - Make 1 Left - Lift bar in between stitches with left needle (from front to back), knit into the back of the lifted loop.

PM - Place Marker

SM - Slip Marker

Cast On 40 stitches, Divide evenly over 4 needles (10 sts on each), and join in round

Rnds 1 - 15:  *K1, P1 (repeat from * to end)

Rnd 16:  Purl

Rnd 17 - 19:  Knit

Rnd 20:  Purl

Rnd 21:  *K9, Kfb (repeat from * to end)

Rnd 22 - 23 Knit

Continue onto Right or Left Hand as needed

Right Hand

Rnd 24: P20, K2, M1R, Place Marker, K to end

Rnd 25: P1, K18, P1, K2, K1, SM, K to end

Rnd 26: P1, K18, P1, K2, M1R, K1, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 27: P1, K2, Row 1, K2, P1, K3, SM, K to end

Rnd 28: P1, K2, Row 2, K2, P1, M1R, K3, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 29: P1, K2, Row 3, K2, P1, K5, SM, K to end

Rnd 30: P1, K2, Row 4, K2, P1, M1R, K5, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 31: P1, K2, Row 5, K2, P1, K7, SM, K to end

Rnd 32: P1, K2, Row 6, K2, P1, M1R, K7, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 33: P1, K2, Row 7, K2, P1, K9, SM, K to end

Rnd 34: P1, K2, Row 8, K2, P1, M1R, K9, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 35: P1, K2, Row 9, K2, P1, K11, SM, K to end

Rnd 36: P1, K2, Row 10, K2, P1, M1R, K11, M1L, SM, K to end

Rnd 37: P1, K2, Row 11, K2, P1, K13, SM, K to end

Rnd 38: P1, K2, Row 12, K2, P1, Place 13 sts on waste yarn, Remove marker, K around

Rnd 39: P1, K18, P1, K to end

Rnd 40: P1, K18, P1, K to end

Rnd 41: P20, K to end

Rnd 42 - 44: Knit

Rnd 45: Purl

Rnd 46 - 48: Knit

Rnd 49: Purl

Rnd 50 - 54: *K1, P1 (repeat from * to end)

Bind off in Pattern

Left Hand

Rnd 24: P20, K22, PM, M1R, PM, K2

Rnd 25: P1, K18, P1, K to marker, SM, K1, SM, K2

Rnd 26: P1, K18, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K1, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 27: P1, K2, Row 1, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K3, SM, K2

Rnd 28: P1, K2, Row 2, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K3, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 29: P1, K2, Row 3, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K5, SM, K2

Rnd 30: P1, K2, Row 4, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K5, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 31: P1, K2, Row 5, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K7, SM, K2

Rnd 32: P1, K2, Row 6, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K7, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 33: P1, K2, Row 7, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K9, SM, K2

Rnd 34: P1, K2, Row 8, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K9, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 35: P1, K2, Row 9, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K11, SM, K2

Rnd 36: P1, K2, Row 10, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, M1R, K11, M1L, SM, K2

Rnd 37: P1, K2, Row 11, K2, P1, K to marker, SM, K13, SM, K2

Rnd 38: P1, K2, Row 12, K2, P1, K to marker, Remove Marker, Place 13 sts on waste yarn, Remove marker, K2

Rnd 39: P1, K18, P1, K to end

Rnd 40: P1, K18, P1, K to end

Rnd 41: P20, K to end

Rnd 42 - 44: Knit

Rnd 45: Purl

Rnd 46 - 48: Knit

Rnd 49: Purl

Rnd 50 - 54: *K1, P1 (repeat from * to end)

Bind off in Pattern

Thumb

pick up 5 sts for thumb and place sts from waste yarn on needles (divide evenly)

Rnd 1 - 2: Knit

Rnd 3 - 5: *K1, P1 (repeat from * to end)

Bind off in pattern

Weave in ends and enjoy your toasty warm hands!

© 2010 (for everything but the heart) Elizabeth Suarez, My Knitted Heart Designs, All Rights Reserved.

UFO's

Here's one of my little projects currently on the needles. Nothing spectacular, just a little hat for my baby girl. In fact, it might be done before I get the picture up here with this post. She's just so tiny that her knits are done before I can blink twice. She's three months old right now, and growing so fast. I wanted to make it a little big on her, so that it would last through the next couple months. North Florida can be really weird in the winter time. It can be 80 degrees today, and 30 tomorrow.... It just fluctuates back and forth through March. For those of you on Ravelry, this is the Fetching Inspired Hat. I used Size 6 needles with Paton's Wool, about half the ball, and I added 4 more cables to the hat. I also did 4 rounds of K4, P1 before working the cables, instead of 3 rounds.



I also have this on needles... My first pair of socks!! I'm scared out of my mind of reaching the heel. I almost want to just knit it in a tube and tell hubby that it's supposed to be that way...lol. I'll definitely be heading to my local yarn store for help with that. I love that place. The owner is sooo nice and will help anyone with anything they're confused about. She's just great :-) I think it's the only specialty store in my city. We have Joann's and Michael's and Hobby Lobby, but they never stock anything as nice as this other place. Not to mention that there are always experienced (and very helpful) knitters just hanging out. I've asked my share of dumb questions and they've always been great.
These are the Escalator Socks another free pattern on Ravelry. I'm using Size 1 (2.5mm) needles with two skeins of Aslan Trends Santa Fe fingering in Indigos. The picture isn't really showing off the pattern here, but I promise...it's there. I love the way they're turning out. Plain enough that Hubby will wear them, but with enough pattern and texture to make them a happy to knit project.





Here's a scarf I'm making for my mom. My own pattern (I'll share the pattern soon). I wanted to make her something with a lot of cables. I might be regretting that decision a little now, but it's too late. Mom's seen the work in progress and she really likes it. I can't undo it now...lol. It's really hard to stay with this one for any length of time, because of the constant cabling, but I will get this done for her anyway. I'm using Size 8 needles with Cascade 220 Superwash in Ruby. It's such a beautiful deep perfect red. Mom's favorite color is red, so the yarn choice was a no brainer.



Then I've got this little sweater for Rachel. It's the Little Coffee Bean v.2 byElizabeth (can't find her last name anywhere). Super easy knit, and a cinch to alter for a fancy border or to add a decorative touch. I'm knitting this in Paton's Wool in on size 7 & 8 needles. I've got one sleeve on my bamboo needles right now (as you can see), but I have Harmony wood needles on the way. I very much prefer the Harmony wood to the bamboo, so I'll just wait till they get here to finish the sweater. The wood ones have such nice pointy ends, and I love the feel of any yarn on the finish they have. The stitches glide on them, but they're not too slippery, just perfect for me. I made booties to match the sweater using Sarjtee's Booties pattern on Ravelry.



Last but not least, I have this hat for Hubby. It's just a plain K2 P2 then plain Stockinette for the rest. Also waiting on needles from Knitpicks, due to arrive shortly. I fell in love with this yarn at my LYS, and longed to buy it every time I went for almost 6 months. Finally I took a picture of the skein with my iphone, sent it to my husband, and basically informed him that I would be making him a hat out of it. I just think it's sooo beautiful. Such lovely shades of brown and blue mixed in with a little black. Divine. It's from Rio De La Plata in Chestnut Indian Teal SP 39


Here's the pic from my iphone of the skein before I bought it. Sooo pretty...



That's all I've got on needles right now. That's not too bad, just 5 things. I'll take pictures as I finish them so you all can see how everything turned out. That's it for now I guess. I'm going to go see if the mailman's been by yet with my order from Knitpicks.

xoxo,
Liz

Sooooo....

So here I am. I really want to do this blogging thing, but who knows how long I'll keep it up. Not trying to be a pessimist, I just noticed how many people have blogs that are just a post or two before being abandoned. You'd be surprised how many are knitting related. I would never have known before trying to come up with a name for this blog that wasn't taken already.

Here's my latest finished project. Shake the Barley Fingerless Gloves from Knitpicks written by: Erica Jackofsky
(You'll have to forgive the crappy pic. I took this with my phone)



I used the Merino Style DK Yarn in Vanilla (2 balls with plenty left over), and the City Tweed DK in Tabby (also with left overs). I'm not sure why the brown looks so reddish in the picture, I think it's a very neutral kind of brown. Must be the phone camera. I think the pattern called for size 6 and 8 DPN's, but I used sizes 5 and 7 and it worked for me.

I also changed it a little here and there. I added a thumb gusset, I tend not to like the other type of thumb. Also, at the end of the gloves, I finished with the Tweed instead of the Vanilla. The pattern called for Purling one row Vanilla, Knitting one row in Tabby, Purling another row of Vanilla, and binding off. I just did the whole thing in the Tabby, binding off purlwise. The last little thing I did differently was add the color change to the end of the thumb as well. I didn't like the way it looked plain....it just seemed off.

I really LOVE these! I work in an office that is attached to the warehouse and even though I close my door, it still gets cold in here on chilly days. They are perfect for all the typing I have to do.

Soooo....that's it for my first post. Hope anyone that comes accross this, enjoy's it.

xoxo,
Liz