Changes...

I'm going to be making a few changes in my websites. I just have too many to keep track of. First off, I'm closing down my Hyena Cart. It was a good experience to have and was very economical, but I feel like I've outgrown it. I will also stop using this blog :-( I'm opening up a new blog at typepad.com where I can more easily combine my business and my blog. I'll give typepad a trial run and if I like it, I will point my domain names to it as well. I need to streamline things more!!! I think I will always have my Etsy store, I love Etsy.

Let me know what you think of the new site! I'll be working on it over the next week, tweaking things here and there.

http://theknittingsiren.typepad.com

New Gusset!

Now, I don't know if anyone else has thought of this already, but I have a new gusset option for my britches pattern. I'm super excited. While I love my original gusset, it's roominess and the fact that you can knit from the legs up, I'm smitten with this new gusset. It is very very easy knit and still allows for a nice wide leg, though it only works for the top-down version (I'll figure it out bottom-up some day, the concept is in my head, I just haven't done it yet). I'm putting the finishing touches on the directions and will release it tomorrow to everyone who is on the britches yahoo group.

Also, I am revamping the whole pattern. Better pictures, more options, clarified wording on some directions that were ambiguous before. I'm adding a "no options, just the basics" beginner pattern that I'm hoping will be a great how-to-knit-longies for a new knitter. Since Adorabubble Britches has been out almost a year now (boy, does time fly), I've gotten lots of feedback, many great questions from beginners and suggestions that will be incorporated into this pattern. Since it is just the basics, I will be offering the beginner pattern for just $4. It will be seperate from the whole Adorabubble Britches pattern, but will come with a coupon for a discount on the big Adorabubble Britches pattern. So, if you like the beginner pattern and want all the options later, you won't have to fork over a ton :-)

I'm also hard at work on the sideways britches pattern, though this one is a little further away from completion than the others. And yes, a soaker pattern is in the future. Lots of fun stuff to come!

Not a fun week!

I'm still aching from my little wrestling episode last week. I can at least stand upright now, but can't really pick anything up. Small one isn't liking that.


I've still managed to get some dyeing done, just a few skeins here and there. I've decided to give the Mystery Stole #4 a go so I'm working on dyeing up some lace yarns just for that. I am totally in love with this wool. It's not superwash, but it won't felt easily and is pill resistant. The best part is it is so squishy and soft. After it's dyed it plumps up into the most lucious lace. I'm bugging the main company to make a worsted weight because I think this would make the best soakers/longies. I'm going to strand 7 together to get close to worsted (that's still a light worsted weight!!!) and make some britches for small one. I'll let you know how it works.

Anyway, here is what's new!

Violet, superfine merino lace












Just Peachy on bamboo







Mangos on bamboo

Bluebells

and my favorite, Antique Bronze. The picture really doesn't do this yarn justice. It is beautiful. Luckily I dyed up enough to keep some for myself!

More yarn!

I've been out of commission for the last few days since I strained my back wrestling with kiddos. I woke up feeling good this morning but as the day progressed, my back got worse. I was feeling well enough to get a couple batches of yarn dyed.

I have a couple new yarn bases that are wonderful. 3 different wools, all very soft and yummy. Stay tuned for some new wool colorways.

Stone on bamboo/cotton:



One for me!



World View on bamboo:



Starry Night on merino:

Chemical Free clean!

Most of you know, I'm a little on the crunchy side. Cloth diapers, organic eating, and natural cleaning products. I'm going to do a little sale over the next 2 weeks on some awesome cleaning products that I've fallen in love with. They use microfiber clothes infused with an anti-bacterial silver agent. The silver kills any bacteria it comes in contact with (or at least 99.9%).
For more information on it, you can go here http://www.adorabubbleknits.com/catalog.php?category=15 or email me at melhoff@gmail.com

30% off everything. Please click "other" as your payment method so I can calculate discounts and shipping.

I'm thinking the baby cloths would make perfect wipes and I'm very tempted to get a big towel to cut up into diapers :-)

Moebius on 2 needles! (free pattern)

Here was my dilema: The longest needle I have is 40" and I needed to cram almost 300 stitches of a bulky-ish weight yarn on these needles. Um, not an easy task. I'm knitting along, not very happily when I think to myself, "Can't I just put this on 2 needles?" And sure enough, it works like a charm.



Basic Pattern for a Garter St Moebius Cowl:

1. Measure your gauge, knit a square using an appropriate sized needle at least 4" by 4" and using a ruler, count how many stitches you get in 4" and divide that number by 4. That is how many stitch you knit per 1". With my bulky yarn, I get 3.25 sts per inch.

2. Figure out how big you want your cowl to be using a tape measure. I want one that covers my shoulders easily and I'm pretty small so 40" will do well.

3. Multiple you cowl circumference (#2) by your gauge (#1). I get 3.25* 40= 130. This is the number you are going to cast on.

4. Using the Moebius Cast On Part 1 Part 2 cast on the number you get in #3 on just one needle. It might be crammed, but it just needs to this way for the cast on.

5. Place a marker to mark the beginning of the round. Take your second needle and knit 1/2 the stitches that you got in #3. Finish knitting the second half of the stitches with needle #1.

6. With needle #2, purl all the stitches from needle #2. With needle #1 knit all the stitches from needle #1.

7. Repeat 5 and 6 until the cowl is as wide as you would like it to be. Always knit using the end of the same needle that the stitches are on. Same needle to same needle. Be sure to leave about enough yarn to bind off (#2* 3 should be enough) and using the sewn bind off.




Yes, I do sense a video coming...

Turtle Butt, on sale!

I haven't had a sale in a few weeks so I thought I would do a quick one. Turtle Butt will be on sale for $5.50! Not sure how long I'll run it, we'll see.

Here's what I've been up to this last week:



More dyeing today. I'm working on getting some Turtle Butt colorways up.

Dyeing Frenzy!

I was busy dyeing away this weekend. I looked in my bamboo bin and realized it was almost empty! I did a few of my normal colorways and added a few experimental ones. Fun, fun, fun!

Here is few of them. More is still drying.

What was I thinking?

I must be a glutton for pain. You'd think I would be relaxing and taking some time off after getting Turtle Butt out, but no. I'm ripping out my carpet.
Here was the point of no return (and the point where I say to myself, "What was I thinking?"):


Now I wasn't very fond of the 20 year old floral carpet, but I'm not sure how much better this is:


I have a lot of work ahead of me!

BTW, I did this all by myself. I'm very sore and tired. Tomorrow, the dining room?

The day has come...

I never thought the day would happen, but I'm actually sick of knitting!!! I'm sure once I take my little after-Turtle-Butt sabatically I'll be back strong. But, right now I don't even want to look at my needles.

I've got a ton of ideas that I just don't have time for. Maybe once school starts I can devote more time to my passion. I really want to design some lace patterns, but that takes some serious hard-work. We'll see. Good thing I love what I do!

What's up, Turtle Butt!

Doodlebirds.com has come up with some great Turtle Butt kits and is offering them at a great discount. You'll get 4 oz of their gorgeous hand-dyed wool plus 4 oz of your choice of trim color. That's enough to make 2-3 Turtle Butts! Switch the main color and contrast color for variation. I love all of their colorways and can't wait to see them worked up.

http://www.doodlebirds.com/catalog.php?category=27

Turtle Butt is Here!

I couldn't resist sneaking it out a little early :-)

Here it is in all it's glory!

Turtle Butt, $7

Tomorrow!!!

The edits are done, charts are done, pictures inserted, Turtle Butt is finally ready! I'm releasing it 9 am tomorrow morning, whew!

Pattern will be available for immediate download for $7.
Get you needles and yarn ready!
Gauge is 5 sts per 1", I use #6 needles with worsted weight (but I'm a loose knitter). Knit in the round for the body, flat for the crotch.
Skill level: Not beginner! I would say more intermediate/advanced beginner. Do not pick this as your first knitting project or you will hate me :-)

Cottage License rules will be different for this pattern. Please see my Hyena Cart for more details http://hyenacart.com/adorabubbleknits
Check out this cutie!

My favorite yarnie momma!

Goodness! I totally forgot to give kudos to Beth at http://www.doodlebirds.com for her awesome colorways! Mr. Vertical Stripes is Beth's "Beach Vacation" on BFL. I have to say, I'm in love. Great boy colors.

Things to come

Vacation, visitors, new animal buddies have all kept me insanely busy. I've got a bunch of things I want to get done before the end of the summer, we'll see...

Anyway, here is what is coming up:

I prefer vertical stripes, so I made the britches sideways. This is my second attempt and I was able to figure out how to do a gusset!!! I do like this gusset, but I have an idea for a better one. So I'll make one more pair before I write up the pattern. Also, I was short on the trim color so the waist band isn't as wide as I would like. Just a proto-type.



Crochet Britches. These surprised me. I'm usually not a big crochet fan, but I really like how these turned out (these are made by my buddy Christi).



Turtle Butt should be done hopefully next week (cross my fingers).

More to come...

No pictures for a while

My brand new camera bit the dust :-( It took a swim in the lake and didn't survive. One of the kiddos went under and hubbie had no time to empty his pockets. Thank God Daddy got to kiddo fast enough so no harm was done aside from a scared boy and his dad.

I have a bunch of things I have to photograph and only a camera with a broken screen (the first one that broke). Ugh!

Melanie's Menagerie

Small one is lovin' his animals! Too funny. He is going to be so lucky to grow up on his very own petting zoo.





Turtle Butt is actually really, and I'm not lyin', close to being done. My wonderful testers are knittin' up a fury and giving me some great feedback. My goal is to have this thing ready to be published in 2 weeks. Whew!

Here goatie goatie!

DSCN6671
Originally uploaded by adorabubbleknits

Kiddo is lovin' the animals. He's my helper.

Good news on Turtle Butt! I was finally able to send the rough draft off to my testers last night. So, depending on how fast they knit and how fast I edit, Turtle Butt will be ready for release very soon (no pressure ladies!).

Also, I finally got the rough draft of the Crochet Britches pattern done. Working on some edits today that we found last night.

And, I've got 2 custom TB that I'm working on now. One is in brown and turquoise, so cool! Once these are done, I think I need a break from Turtle Butts :-) Too bad kiddo needs a new pair!

Life on the farm...

Oh my gosh, I'm so sore. Between lifting goats, moving pens, mending fences, I'm beat. I did more fence mending today and got them out of the small pen and into the big pasture. Goofballs stay right next to the gate, just hoping for me to let them out. Seriously, the 1 acre behind you full of alfalfa isn't enough?! The grass is alway greener on the other side of the fence...



Sam (white wether), Dulce Vita (dark doe), and Willy (white wether). It fun to see their personalities. No 2 goats are the same. Dulce is a little timid, but is warming up to me. Willy is a wee thing with gorgeous hair, very friendly, likes to eat out of my hand. Sam is more of a moose and also friendly, likes to try and eat my clothes. Willy was watching intently as I was opening the gate. I'm pretty sure he's a smart one. Dulce fleece is almost full (yipee!) and Sam is close as well. They are so soft to pet. I want to follow them around and knit right off their backs (I wish I could).

Off to get my goats!

I'm off to pick up my goats *squealing in delight*

I'll post pics as soon as I can so stay tuned...

A big thank you to all my wonderful customers...

I just placed an order for 35lbs of bamboo this week. Because I was able to place such a large order, I was able to get significant savings. What that means for all of you is.... cheaper bamboo!!!

So instead of being $20 per 4 oz skein, I'll be able to offer it to you for just $16 a skein. That's 20% less. Yeah! I'm so excited. I'm really hoping this will allow more people to try bamboo.

Adding wool to the sale list

I've got some new luscious wool heading my way now and I need to make room for that as well so all my hand-dyed wool is on sale, 20% off. Located here:
www.hyenacart.com/adorabubbleknits

House Cleaning!

I need to clear my shelves. I want to dye up more colorways, but I need to make room. So, all in stock hand-dyed bamboo is 20% off at my etsy store.

1x1 Grafted Edge

Woohoo! Finally got this tutorial done. This makes a very smooth, clean and stretchy finish to a 1x1 ribbed edge or even a seed st. edge.



Written directions.

Cut length of yarn about 4 times the length of the edge you are binding off and place on a tapestry needle (you'll want a good strong one like a chibi).

1. Insert tapestry needle knitwise into the first stitch, pull stitch off needle.
2. Insert tapestry needle purlwise in the the second stitch from the end, leave on needle.
3. Insert tapestry needle purlwise in the first stitch, pull stitch off the needle.
4. Coming from the back, insert needle knitwise into the second stitch from the end (this is the trickiest part), leave on needle.

Repeat 1-4 until you get to the end. Voila!

Crossing over

I had this great idea this morning. My spreadsheet could easily be converted to crochet!!! So, I'm spending today crocheting! I haven't picked up a hook in ages.

So, it will have the same basic construction as the original britches with both a top-down and bottom up version. I really really like how they are turning out so far. Usually I'm not a big crochet clothing fan, but so far these are pretty cute. Will post pics when the first pair are done.

This will be my first official crochet pattern. Oh wait, I do have one already, the crochet hair scrunchies. This will be my first crochet garment pattern.

Home on the Range

My backyard. This picture was taken around 10pm. Unbelievable how long it stays light out!

Can you picture my goats frolicking through the pasture? That hunk of metal in the middle is an old Model T, cool huh?

Experimenting fun!

I've been experimenting with self-striping yarn lately and am having sooo much fun. Finally I get to put my knitting machine back in use. How brilliant is this (not my idea), knit a square on the machine, double stranded, dye the blank, let it dry, unravel it, wet it again to de-kinkify it, let it dry again and then voila, self-striping yarn.













I have a few up for sale at http://theknittingsiren.etsy.com and plan on offering the blanks for sale as well. Hopefully I'll get a little tutorial up sometime.

TB is coming along. Looks like I might have to rework the x-small one again because I had an epiphany yesterday on how to make it a tad easier. So, stay tuned for another x-small TB auction. I love this pattern, but it has been a beast to write up. I'm just going to have to write it out size for size. A very experienced knitter could probably figure it out knowing just the stitch pattern, but I want most knitters to be able to do it. It will get done, one way or another.

Welcome to my funny farm!

I would never have guessed that one day I would have a farm. I've always been a city girl, so I might be crazy to try this. We are getting chickens and a cat today. My 3 goats come the first week in July. Hubbie wants to get a calf as well.

Help me name my goats!

Aren't they cute?! These are the wether's. I'll post pics of the doeling when I get them. Ignore the earlier pictures. These are the ones I'm actually getting :-)





Suggestions for a farm name are welcome as well :-)

When does a hobby become an obsession?

When you stay up super late spinning plastic bags and paper together.

And then you wake up early to take pictures of it.

Recycling at it's finest! "Paper or Plastic"

What exactly is free time when your work is your hobby?

I have been on a major dyeing/pattern writing frenzy lately (I want to get my goats!) Hubbie woke up yesterday and I was already dyeing. He said, "I think this yarn thing is getting out of hand." I told him, "I think your flying thing is getting out of hand."

He tells me I need to set hours, but this is what I would be doing in my free time anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I love what I do.

Here is the fruit of my labor from the past few days.



I finally had success with the self-striping yarn. I can't wait to see how it knits up. I've got 2 more blanks soaking, but I'm forcing myself to do it tomorrow.

Progress finally!

I'm chuggin' along getting the pattern done.

Ms. Can't-work-on-one-thing-at-a-time is also working on some new gusset ideas. One of them I thought of a while ago, I just hadn't done it yet. The one I'm knitting now I LOVE!!! You can hardly see it at all! It has the same roominess as my normal gusset, just hidden. I think I'm just going to work this all into an actual book since that what this pattern is turning into anyway. Like I don't have anything better to do :-) Anyone want to trade knitting for housekeeping?

Me hard at work:

I need a kick in the pants!

Auction for a custom Turtle Butt, 2 days only starting at $7!!



http://www.hyenacart.com/adorabubbleknits

I am going to get this pattern written up. I am determined. To help me get going on it, I'm doing a auction for each size. I have to knit one of each size anyway to write down exactly what I'm doing and I want these TB's to go to a good home.

First auction is for size 0-6 months, your color choice.
Waist: 14-16"
Rise: 16-17"
Thigh: about 9-10"



Next week will be for the 12 month size.

Git Yer Goat Sale!

I'm cleaning house! FREE shipping on all in-stock items and patterns are all buy get one of equal or lesser value for free.

http://theknittingsiren.etsy.com
http://www.hyenacart.com/adorabubbleknits
http://adorabubble.etsy.com

GOATS!

I've wanted to own goats for the longest time. Even before I was a knitter. Now that I have my farm, I'm getting my goats!!!

I'm so excited! I found some beautiful Pygora goats from a farm in Oregon that delivers between there and Minnesota. They are making deliveries at the end of the month, so I have only 3 weeks to get ready.

Here are pics of my new girls:
The lighter colored one:

White one on the right:

And a wether, the carmel colored one:


Now I'm off to go mend my fences!

Expresso My Love

I have a new website! I thought it might be wise to purchase the domain name www.theknittingsiren.com. It's under construction right now, though soon it will at least redirect to my etsy store. Like I don't have enough to do, I'm also finally getting some good info on getting some fiber/dairy goats. I've got the contact info for some local goat farmers as well as a book to begin educating myself. Woohoo!

Of course I've been sing the wonderful "Expresso My Love" song all day today (and yesterday and the day before). Here they are, all dried and ready to post on http://theknittingsiren.etsy.com.

Expresso My Love, bamboo (I had a very hard time getting a good picture of this but it is a rich chocolate brown with red tones)



I like a latte caffeine!


Java Jive


Depth Charge


Orange Mocha Frappachino! (picture 3 ridiculously good looking male models saying it, that's been going through my mind the last few days as well)


Jamaican Blue, my favorite

A special treat for you all

This is the song that inspired my most recent colorway line. It's a band from Mankato, Minnesota that totally rocks! As soon as the skeins are dry, I'll put up pictures. Just to taunt you, here are the names, "Expresso my Love," "Depth Charge," "Orange Mocha Frappachino!!!" "Latte Caffeine."

Expresso my Love, by The Divers.



Seriously, I don't know how they didn't make it huge. They are sooooo much fun to watch and have great songs.

Spinning Woes

Today is supposed to be day 2 of no knitting, note I said supposed. I have one last custom to finish up so I've been knitting until my hand starts to get sore, which isn't very long :-( Good news is I've been able to spin a lot and dye a lot. I had an epiphany last night while I was supposed to be sleeping. I should keep a notebook by my bed because what prevents me from sleeping is the thought that I won't remember my epiphany come morning. I did remember and am dyeing up a storm today. Will post pics tomorrow.

Here is the handspun. I'm quite proud of it. You can definitely see the improvement in my consistancy. I'm not sure if that makes me happy though because I really like the crazy look of my first couple batches. Now I'm going to have to practice being sucky at spinning :-) I do have another picture without the toes, but they are just so darned cute. I love baby toes.



As you can see, little mister loves to help Mommy take pictures!

New yarn!

My new bamboo and linen is dry. I love this stuff soooo much. The bamboo is unlike any I've seen yet. Most bamboos out there are kind of a chain/rope type yarn, this is more of a ribbon. I love it! I'm going to try and get a close up of it today.



And the linen... this is the nicest linen I have ever dyed. Very smooth. I'm saving some of this for myself. I'm thinking it'll make a gorgeous summer top.



I'm listing both of these today at my etsy yarn store http://theknittingsiren.etsy.com

You'll be seeing a lot more yarn coming up. I've been overworking my knitting muscles and they need a break. I keep waking up at night with a numb right hand. It's nice to still be able to enjoy my passion of knitting without giving myself carpal tunnel. I'm going to dust of my knitting machine as well (if the boys let me).