Stripey

The remnant basket - made from the scraps of yarn left from some of the preceding baskets - There was a lot of left over pink and purple for some reason - no green and very little yellow. I do love the resulting basket - one of my favorites!

A tisket a tasket

Actually - I didn't make a green and yellow basket - huge oversight! I did, however, make a green basket AND a yellow basket (lyrics of song to be modified, a la American Idol). There are more baskets - more pictures need to be taken - more baskets to be felted - but otherwise... they are FINISHED!



Turquoise with green eyelash

Turquoise with green Twister

Blue with Fun Fur Stripe

Icy Blue with navy Disco

Green with white Carmen

Pink with blue TuTu

Lilac with orange

Light Blue with pink boucle

Yellow with multicolored boucle


Purple with "pansy" ladder

Grape with pansy & eyelash

Indigo with "jeans" ladder

Fruit Punch with cables

Orange with bobbles (and bunnies)

Purple alpaca with boa

Green alpaca with pastels (and bobbles)


Blue alpaca with ribbon

Natural with blue Fancy Fur

Pink with green eyelash

Cherry with turquoise eyelash

Pink with purple eyelash

Blues & browns

"blues" with mockingbird boa

"blues" with Figi Fun Fur

"blues" with martitni

"blues" with yellow eyelash

"neon" with orange eyelash

Purple with blue TuTu

Stripey

So we got

more yarn - wool, that is. Stop it - it's not too much. We talked with the church ladies and they are anticipating 20 kids, or so for the egg hunt - Not that every kid needs (or, for that matter, wants) a hand knit and felted easter basket - but I already have so many "done" that it seems sad to not have one for each kid, if we can. If there are extras, bully for us.

We didn't get that much yarn, any way. The "commercial" stores are not the best for brightly colored wool - most of it is heathered and earthy - sweater colors, I guess - so there wasn't much to choose from. We got enough for 7 additional baskets. Some pretty "ordinary" purple, royal & light blue and hot pink from Patons "classic wool". Suzanne found the Carons "Felt it" - yarn - especially for felting in verrigated colors - no twisting of the fibers - for a smoother "felt" - very cool. It's quite thick so, instead of using 2 strands of the Felt it, I'm pairing it with a "regular" worsted weight yarn - the color combos are, so far, fun.

The Orange (kool aid) basket is completed - it turned out to be a very ambitious venture - hand dyed yarn featuring bobbles (I LOVE felted bobbles) and top stitched designs - my very own spin on a "bunny" - it turned out good - except that it isn't "centered" - oh well - it's all just a learning experience.

Amy's basket

Although Katie had dictated that Amy's basket would be blue and yellow - Amy chose this basket for herself. I had it at the office (yes, showing off) and when she saw it, her eyes got big and her voice got soft. I asked her if she wanted it to be her Easter basket, and she nodded - a minute later, regaining her composure, she asked her mom "is Easter tomorrow?"

She (and Katie) have been playing with it and going on "pretend easter egg hunts" (ie, paperclip, pen, hairbrush, etc hunts) around the office and the basket is holding up great.

Amy now thinks that we know the Easter Bunny and Santa. Yeah, we're cool like that.

And there's more

ba bam ba bamp ba ba baaa

CHARGED!

I've added some photos to previous posts - and some here, as well... you see, there are a lot of baskets...

The Camera Battery

remains uncharged.

It's sad, I know, but, but, but - I found the cord but then I couldn't re-find the dock (didn't really look) - so no new photos of the 14 (you read it right, 14) baskets I have knitted. I've had to make a list of them - and the color combos. Also started collecting items to go in said baskets.

About half of the finished baskets are "promised." So they won't be donated to the church - but I have enough wool to make 8 more, so, hopefully, that will be sufficient - I still haven't heard from the church regarding a "head count" for the event - but we have "real" baskets to use as well.

I'm now knitting up the hand dyed yarn. I'm pretty pleased/excited about the results so far - it's really beautiful and it smells really good - especially the orange.

When gifts are appreciated

I guess we always have to wonder if folks actually like the gifts we give them - especially homemade gifts in which had invested our time as well as $.

I just received a photo from a friend whose daughter, apparently, enjoys sharing her knitted accessories as well as wearing them...

I'm a Kool Dyer

...no ordinary yarn, no ordinary yarn is gonna do - I need a fiber that's kool...

So sorry for the Grease 2 reference -

BUT, I've been dying wool with Kool-Aid. I've joined the craze of hand dyed yarn, and I'm hooked. I purchased the "raw" yarn from Knit Picks and I've been using various "flavors" to dye it. So far I've tried Blue Raspberry Lemonade (light teal); Black Cherry (deep salmon/rusty orange); Orange (orange!); and, a mixture of blue raspberry and grape (my hope had been a deeper purple/blue - but the result was purple - which is still cool).

The process is very easy - you just pre-soak/wash the yarn; mix the "color" with some water in a microwavable dish; put the yarn in the container and cover with water. Next you "zap" the yarn, in 2 minute intervals, until most of the color has been absorbed - the water will be almost clear. Finally you "wash" the yarn with mild soap and then dry. The color isn't uniform - but it's awesome. I have not yet tried "verrigating" the colors - but that's on the list.

I've dyed both worsted weight (going to see if the process survives felting) and lace weight (more dollhouse projects!) yarn.

photo is of felted Tropical Punch basket.

Tiny Treasury

Check out Lawmummy's children's book blog - Tiny Treasury (she didn't pick the name, btw) for some fun contests and great book recommendations.

I have been focusing on some small scaled stuff myself. For some "back story," Lawmummy's kids have a dollhouse. And, as kids under 5 are prone to do, they have pretty much trashed the furniture. Last Christmas, Lawmummy was looking for some replacement furniture and was having a tough time. I, myself, have the most beautiful dollhouse which was built by my Aunt. It's a shingle roofed 3 (including the attic) story farmhouse - with blue shutters and a (made by my dad) stained glass window - Anyway, my aunt and my mother also made the most beautiful furniture to go with the house - my aunt crafted the form and my mom upholstered it (them). When home for Christmas, I asked my aunt about the furniture - just in case she had any extras. At the time she said she didn't have any, but I recently received some "raw" furniture from her in the mail with the instructions to "sand, paint and call your mother." I was really surprised, and excited about the new project.

Well, I haven't sanded or painted the pieces yet, but I have called my mother. We discussed some different strategies and I have an idea as to what I want to do. In the meantime I got some "wood glue" hot glue gun sticks - AND

I bought some lace weight yarn and size 0 needles (yes, Ashley Olsen sized knitting needles). So far, I've knitted a "throw" and a little cushion. They are so cute! I can't wait to upholster the actual furniture - but I'm thinking that I'm going to save the "set" for a birthday present (summer time). Hopefully LM's kids aren't reading this!!!

I can not make myself

charge the battery for the camera - so I have no photos - but I've been knitting like crazy.

As referred to below, my current "project" is the creation of felted easter baskets. The pattern is from Creative Knitting (actually last spring's edition) and, so far, I've made 9 baskets. The basic form is a round wool bowl (with handle) and a contrasting non-felting accent yarn. I've found that (not surprisingly) eyelash yarn works the best. They knit up fairly quickly - and I've been using a variety of forms to "shape" the baskets after felting.

So I have a lot of pictures to take once I get that darn battery charged -