Why, why, why?

I swear must be a masochist. It is the only reason to explain why I am using US size 1 needles and fingering weight yarn to knit a baby blanket (Pinwheel Baby Blanket) . Why am I causing my sanity (and hands) such agony? It is all for the love of beautiful yarn. Sweet, sweet, beautiful yarn. Ugh… certify me ridiculous!

But maybe you will see it my way?

 Look at these beautiful purples and blues! I am using Knitted Fever’s Painted Desert Collection in Medium Orchid and Grape Stomping. The center is a wool blend that I had lying around in my stash. I am so ecstatic with how the colors have formed such beautiful stripes that blend together. It really does look like the striated rocks of the southwest landscape.

Painted Desert in Arizona , USA

 And look at those stitches. I love tight stitch work as it looks so polished. With knitting this tight there really isn’t much tension correction that needs to be done when wet blocking.

 *Sigh* this project and I have formed a love/hate relationship. I love watching it unfold, but it is a pain to make it. However, let’s be real… my love of knitting will always outweigh the “suffering.” Haha

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Quick Post: Simple Baby Set

Here is the latest off the needles:

Project: Newborn Socks and Flower Headband

Yarn: Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn in Dark Plum; White- stash acrylic yarn

The socks were made using a pattern similar to this one. The only thing I modified is using the Mock Ribbing stitch (from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns) on the heel flap.

 I created the headband by casting on 25 stitches and worked it up in a simple K1,P1 ribbing. Afterward, I sewed the ends together an added the flower. The flower was crocheted with a US F hook (3.75mm) using DK weight yarn.

These little items were so fun and easy to make! What are your favorite/ go-to DIY baby items?

Easy Sliding Knot Bracelet

This morning I woke up and  felt compelled to make something. This is not a novel feeling as we all know I love a good DIY project :).  I recalled that I had pinned several ideas for simple slipknot bracelets on Pinterest. I love this trend of  colorful cord bracelets.  They look so fun to wear.

Sorting through my crafting bin, I was reminded that I had kept this broken cord necklace hoping I would re-purpose it one day. Well the day had come!  I removed all of the knots and beads and cut the cord in half.

Next, I strung my desired beads onto one of the string segments. Then I knotted both ends so the beads would stay in place.

From here I followed this simple tutorial as to how to make the sliding knot closure. I added some of the gold beads to the end to add a little extra sparkle.

Overall, this DIY took about 5 minutes. I am super happy with the way it turned out, and now I have a cute new accessory to wear in the last days of summer.

Baby Socks

Baby socks are a great project if you want 1) instant gratification 2) a way to use up some of those leftover yarn bits 3) just love cute little socks. Since I have made quite a few adult socks in the past year, I had about 10 little balls of yarn just lying around. Well I got a little bored last week so here is what happened:

So cute right?!? These are sized for 6-12 months.

Sorry to say  I don’t have the info about the yarn. It was a wool/acrylic blend that has been in my stash for years, which means the label has been long gone. The pattern is from an old book that I had around the house. If you would like a similar pattern check out this one by Kate Atherly. The pattern is beginner friendly, AND since they are mini size it is a lot harder to get SSS (second sock syndrome) as they are done before you know it.

Stay tuned for some more baby socks as these little cuties are flying off my needles.

The Never Ending Cone

Remember this beautiful giant wooly cone?

It made this sweater… 

Well I was left with quite a bit of yarn when I was done. After sitting in my yarn bin for awhile, I decided to take my beautiful peach yarn and make a nice cowl.

So what did I make? This simple lace cowl by Christina Hayes.

                             

This cowl was a breeze to make! The pattern was super easy and since I was using size 8 needles I finished it in 3 days! This pattern is fantastic as a cowl, but I think it would also make a lovely blanket as well. Maybe with some color stripes?

So I thought that this project would finish out the cone, but it DIDN’T! Look what is left:

Best Cone Ever! Guess I better head over to Ravelry to see what I can make 🙂

Bolivia in Pictures

Okay last post about my South American adventure. 🙂

The final 2.5 weeks of our travels lead us to the Eastern side of Bolivia. We had the opportunity to travel to Copacabana, Isla del Sol, La Paz, and the Salt Flats. Each had its own unique charm and amazing landscape. While we were there we biked down Death Road, hiked across an island, hovered above the city in cable cars, and road tripped through the Altiplano. But enough talking I will let the pictures do that.

La Paz, Bolivia

San Francisco Church

Governmental Building

Street Art in La Paz

Plaza Murillo

The Witches Market- Check out the llama fetuses

Football Game

Women in traditional dress watching a street show

Moon Valley

Cable Car over the city

Cable Car in the city

Preparing for Death Road

Death Road Landscape

Copacabana and Isla Del Sol

View of the water

Church in Copacabana

Street Festival

Street Festival

Sacrificial Inca Table- Isla Del Sol

Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats)

Train Cemetery

Train Cemetery

Salt Flats

Salt Flats-High 5

Flamingos in the Laguna

Sunset on the Salt Flats

Laguna and Volcanos

Dakar Racing Statue

Me on Fish Island

C-Rex on Fish Island

Laguna Verde

Tree Rock

Doing some heavy lifting

Salt Hotel

Flamingos in Laguna Colorada

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Alpaca, Alpaca, Alpaca

Picture it: I am re-entering the USA and the customs officer stops us.

Officer: “Where are you coming from?”

Me: “Peru and Bolivia.”

Officer: ” What was your reason for being there?”

Me: “Tourism”

Officer: ” Did you bring things back? If so what?”

Me: “Ummm gifts for family, yarn…”

Officer: “Okay thank you and welcome back.”

Yep that officer knew what is up. If you are into fiber arts and head to Peru it is pretty impossible to come home without some beautiful fiber in your bags. I managed to control myself and returned with only 700 grams of fiber (aka 14 balls of yarn). 🙂

I bought this lovely teal yarn in a local market. 10 skeins came in the bag and it was $35 for the whole thing! The label claims it is 100% baby alpaca, but I am pretty sure (after a good feel test) that it is an alpaca/ acrylic blend. Yet, who could resist this color and the price!

The yarn is fingering weight so I’m thinking of making a light weight sweater such as Lila Light by Carrie Bostick Hoge.

I also went to an Alpaca Fiber Factory in Cusco, Peru. Here the yarn was more costly ($65 for 10 balls at 50 grams), but certified 100% alpaca yarn. I ended up purchasing 4 balls for a secret project that I am working on. Don’t you love the cobalt blue? The colors really remind me of sea glass.

On the trip, I also finished my Jaywalker socks. Ever make a project that made you say “Meh” afterward? Well this was one of them. It is not like they came our horrible, yet on the other hand I am not screaming with excitement about them.  I should have used a self-striping yarn when making these, however, the yarn store didn’t have any color combinations that I liked. In addition, I ended up not liking the yarn I chose. Typically I like Berroco yarns, but this one (Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine) was super splitty. It made it super tough to knit with after a few frogs.  In any event, I highly suggest “fun” yarn when making this project.

Jaywalker Socks

Peruvian Homestay

While traveling, our journey took us to the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Here we had the opportunity to stay with a Peruvian family for one night to gain a perspective of local life. It was a really interesting experience. After a lengthy boat ride, we arrive at the dock where we were greeted by the locals. Once in the village center, we were given traditional outfits to get prepared for  the “dance party.”   The party was quite entertaining. There was lots of music and laughter between us visitors and the locals. When were done, we hiked up to our home stay for the night. There was no electricity, so we ate our delicious dinner ( 3 kinds of potatoes, soup, quinoa, and rice) by candle light. Peruvians love lots starch so rice and potatoes are served at every meal.  You most certainly never leave the table hungry!

Here was our view the next morning:

Gorgeous right? At around 7:00 am we headed  to the kitchen to make some grain like pancakes ( think something like fried dough) for breakfast. Our hostess did the actual cooking as the stove was a heated by a live fire.  Our cooking efforts came out pretty tasty. 

After breakfast it was sheep herding time. Yep you read that right. Sheep herding time. We got the sheep out of pen and started to lead them to pasture. Herding 15 sheep to one spot is not as easy as it looks. Let’s just say I would rather knit with the wool than care for the sheep. They are quite stubborn. 🙂

 The night before I told my hostess that I liked to knit. Knitting is not uncommon among Peruvian women. Everywhere you go women have yarn slung around their necks and their fingers are moving rapidly. One thing I noticed was that not many women used patterns. It seemed that in most communities access to patterns was very limited. My hostess had never made socks before, so she asked me to show her how to make some. The task was too great for a couple of hours ( we only got to the heel gusset) so I am going to try and mail her a pattern. The only problem is that all of my patterns are in English. So if any of you know of any basic sock patterns in Spanish please leave the link in the comment section or email me: knitbywhit@gmail.com. It would be much appreciated by the local women.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. I don’t know if I personally could lead a life like this, but it is always intriguing to be able to take part in the local way of life while traveling.

~W