Today's Post is Brought to You By...

...the color blue.

Maybe I'm craving that crazy blue summer sky, maybe it's coincidental, but nevertheless, there seems to be a theme around here.





Ziva and I got a little set of Piggy Paint.  Such fun for her, and so much peace of mind for me! (Knowing it's non-toxic/eco-friendly!)  She was so sweet showing off her nails to everyone she saw and I sometimes catch her just holding her hands out in front of her looking and smiling. <3 You can see that it's already chipping (we painted yesterday afternoon) but that's okay.  I only did one coat.  Oh yeah and you can now buy Piggy Paint at Walmart in little 2 or 3 packs - that's what we did.





(More about that knitting and yarn tomorrow!)

Yes, I'm alive.

I'm fairly certain I'm the worst blogger on the face of the blogosphere. Seriously. Like, when my posts show up in my followers' blog feed, they're probably like, "Who is...? Ohhhh, that chick... the one who barely ever blogs..." Yeah that's me.

Anyway.

I have exciting news. I have recently opened up my very own Hyena Cart shop - Weezy's Woolies. =] I'll be selling hand knit items there and I'm really excited. So if anyone does indeed read my few and far between blog posts, please share my shop with your friends! =]

Also I am 2 months behind on Ziva's monthly updates. I suck at this.

Today I'm thankful for...

Double whammy! =]

Kool Aid Dyeing

Just wanted to share some pictures of the fun! We basically used this tutorial, and partially wung(is that a word?) it. Try it! It's super fun!

How Close Can I Cut This?

So I recently decided I wanted to make a pink, girly soaker for my little one. (See post below this one.) I grabbed a hank of pink Cascade 220 at my local yarn shop and set to it. It came out adorable, but I had quite a bit of pink leftover. So I thought to myself, "Hey, I think I could buy a hank of brown and make some cute striped longies!" So (about a week later) I went back to the yarn shop and bought a hank of brown Cascade 220. The total of these 2 items (including tax) was $13.86. I set to work on a pair of 3-6 month size longies and they came out adorable. But I still had a little bit of each color left. Braving the odds, I was able to knit up a pair of newborn sized longies with *just* enough yarn. When I had finished the rise and split for the legs, I cut my yarn and measured how much I had left. I then split it up so that each leg got 27yds of pink and 15yds of brown. The picture below shows what I had left over.


Talk about cutting it close!! And below are my finished projects! I'm so proud! Sooo... $13.86/3 = $4.62!! I feel so blessed and happy to know that I can provide comfy, woolie goodness for my child and not have to pay $25+ for each item online! (Disclaimer: I am in NO WAY implying that the ladies who get this money don't deserve it, it's hard work and time consuming!!) I'm just happy that I can provide for my child and save our family money. =]

Wool Dryer Balls

When I found out about wool dryer balls, I thought they were a fabulous idea! You use them instead of dryer sheets or fabric softener, which can leech chemicals. I was excited to buy some to save money and be more green! Then I thought to myself, "I bet I can make these, and it would save even more money!" So I googled. =]http://goodmama.typepad.com/goodmama/2008/05/make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls.html I found a tutorial that seemed super easy and set to work.

First I had to find some scraps of wool in my yarn stash. I didn't have much trouble in that department! =] The picture below are the cores. They are about 6 inches in circumference.

Next I put the cores into a dress sock, with acrylic yarn tied between each core. (You don't want to use wool to tie, because it will felt, then you'll have trouble getting your cores out of the sock!) Once you have them all tied in, just throw them in with a load of laundry. I put mine in with my towels, because they are the only laundry I wash on hot, and that will help the felting process. I learned that you need to tie the yarn in a couple knots or it will come off. I had some twist ties in my laundry room so I replaced the yarn that came untied with those and then threw my core-filled sock into the dryer with my towels.

Here they are after felting. I feel like they could use a bit more felting, because they really didn't shrink up much, but the next felting should help to firm them up. The turtorial says you can skip the first felting if you want, but recommends that you don't if you want a firmer dryer ball. Otherwise the core would still be kind of squishy.

After this I wrapped them with more wool yarn and they're ready for their second felting. As the turtorial states, commercial dryer balls are about 9 inches in circumference, so to account for felting, you probabaly want to wrap them until they are about 10-10.5 inches. I only had enough yarn (I snagged some scraps from my sister too!) to wrap them until they were about 7.5, so they'll be a bit smaller. But that's okay, because you can really make them any size you want!

Here they are after the second wrapping... (The purple one looks alot bigger than the pink/yellow one in this picture, but it was just closer to the camera.)

And then back into the sock they went, and in with another load of towels! Here they are after the second felting! They shrunk down to about 7 inches in circumference, but I think it's a nice size. =]

I just love this kind of stuff so much!! I feel so accomplished when I can make something at home to save us money and help the planet! Now I'll just have to report back on how they're doing in the dryer!!

My Latest Work of Art...

I started these longies Monday night and finished them Wednesday night. They're knit with malabrigo merino wool in the colorway "velvet grapes" and they're sooo soft and yummy. I have another skein in a different color just waiting to be rolled into a ball. Oh malabrigo, how I love thee...

Longies!

Here's a picture of my longies! I am so in love with them, and I can't wait to see a sweet little babe in them!! =]

1st Pair of Wool Soakers? Check!

Well, here they are ladies and gents! They're definatly not flawless, but I love them anyway.

Now after I accomplish some pesky housework, I'm going to snuggle up on the coach with my teal peace fleece and start some longies!!! =]

Wool Socks =]

I finished my first pair of socks for the season! =] And these ones are for meeee! Another product of Nezinscot farm wool. =] Oh yeah and sorry about the bad quality pics. I didn't have good lighting inside my apartment.


Next up: Baby booties!!!

Alpacas!!! =] =] =] And yarrrn!!

Today my hubby and I went to Nezinscot Farm for the first time! This farm store is about 10 - 15 minutes away from our apartment, and I'd driven by it a couple of times and thought, hey, that looks neat, but hadn't stopped. But today I just really wanted to see some alpacas. So we drove there, and stopped at the store.

We had to just park on the side of the road to see the alpacas. I really wanted to get close!! Look at the little cutie baby one!! Aww.

I was soooooooooo happy that inside the store they sell yarn! Made from their alpacas' wool! They also sell a ton of organic products, I was surprised at how big it is inside!

Here's the skein I chose to make a pair of longies for my new neice, due October 2nd! (I decided the ones I'm working on now will be like a practice pair, mostly because they're not extremely soft, so I'll give them to our 5 year old neice for one of her dolls.)

I love the fact that the yarn is made right here in Maine, just minutes from where I live! It's hand painted, and 100% wool! They sell other yarns there too, but I thought it was so awesome that I could purchase this, then go outside and see the animals that it came from. So neat!! I have an idea that this will be my primary yarn shop from now on! =] I can't wait to get my hands on this yarn! =]