Rock Star Inspirations

This past week was very busy for me. We are headed out for an extended vacation on Monday and I needed to have all of my yarns finished before then. This coming August the Main Street congo is doing a rock start themed stocking. I was a bit stumped at first, but once I started talking to everyone about their favorite bands and musicians I was able to create this rock start collection.

'Bono' - Love love love loooooooove how this turned out. Brown and aqua with some green and white

'Purple Rain' - A scatter dyed colorway. Lots of purples with a touch of yellow gold

'Pink Floyd' - A black rainbow colorway, black with muted rainbow colors

'Discotheque' - A main colorway with four semi-solid skeins

'Yellow Submarine' - A main colorway matched together with three mini-skeins

'Harajuku Girl' - Two scatter dyed mini skeins combined with three semi solid skein

What I've been up to

With family in town visiting from half way across the world I have not had as much time to dye or knit. But I still managed to build up quite the collection of skeins. Here's about half of what I have. Most of these are going to be split up into 2-3oz skeins for stripy sets.

Witches Brew

Spent the evening last night playing with kettle dyeing. I have to admit its not going so well and I will need a lot more experimentation before I can develop a proper technique.

In more positive news I am developing a new pattern for an online knitting magazine. All I can say that its going to be a sweater, everything else has to stay under wraps. I do need to figure out where to get some cute wooden buttons.

Lots more dyeing tonight. Somehow Hyenacart oversold several colorways during the last stocking and so I'm trying to catch up on those orders. Plus I have a few awesome ideas for our "rock star" stocking over at Main Street.

New Colorways

Its raining yarn! A whole bunch of new colorways from yours truly...

Eternal Sunshine - teal, green, gold, gray

Betelgeuse - red, turquoise, green, yellow

Simone - purples, greens, oranges, white

Brody - greens, blues, pecan brown and a touch of orange

Custom Romper

Still needs to be lanolized and blocked, but soon this romper will be on its way to a very lucky baby in Florida.
Knit with Mosaic Moon's Sea Glass on Gaia bulky merino. The yarn is to die for (or should I say dye for) the colors are just gorgeous and so soft and cuddly. It was a good experience knitting with bulky weight yarn, I got a good idea of how to modify the romper pattern.

Baby Chick Overalls

I absolutely love how these turned out. Unfortunately this is a one of a kind colorway and my attempt at reproducing it tonight was a big failure. What I like is the combination of different shades of green and blues and then the contrasting golden orange. It makes the colors pop.

The plain yellow buttons were made by me. I find it quick and easy to make some polymer buttons to go with anything I'm knitting. They really make the outfit.
The big button on the pocket is made by Tessa Ann. I love her work, I think it really pulls everything together.

It must be summer

First camping trip of the year was a mixed success. Within a few hours of us setting up camp the rain started, it forced us into an early bedtime, and we woke up to a leaky tent. Both kids had a rough time adjusting, Reid was up crying at 4am and would not go back to sleep. Elliot woke up multiple times, I think because he was confused. With all of our gear soaking wet, we decided to make the drive back to town to get some breakfast.

From that point on things started improving, the kids slept better, and the rain stopped. We got to soak in some natural hot springs, eat yummy fire cooked food, hang out by the fire, fish, and hike.

I'm not a big fan of knitting by the fire, mostly because I don't want to have to worry about getting that campfire smell out. But I did do lots of knitting in the car. I started working on a new pattern for a leafy lace shawl. Its a pretty intricate pattern requiring a lot of complicated stitch combinations on both sides of the shawl.

I'm having technical difficulties with the photos from this trip. Hopefully I will have some new pictures soon.

Baby Overalls

I had several skeins of the spring delight colorway that I was planning on selling. But I loved the color combination so much I decided to knit something up. The overalls are pretty basic. Just shorties with a front panel and back straps added.

I used purple trim to bring out that particular color. Well everyone I talked to said that they overalls are way too girly and I can't dress Reid in them. I don't particularly care about gender type stuff, but I don't want to keep getting hassled about it.

And this is the official photo

The overalls are adorned with hand made polymer clay buttons.

I just had to share this family picture, it was our first hike of the season and the boys loved it. Of course we just had to go and pick a trail rated "most difficult", before having kids we used to power walk up the incredibly steep switch backs and beat everyone to the top. This time I made it about 1/2 way to the top, not too bad for carrying a baby on my front. Hopefully we'll be back again and make it all the way to the top of the mountain.

Spring Delight

Spring Delight, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

The hardest thing about dyeing is the naming of new colorways....
I've been thinking all day what to call this one. Looking outside at the gray, dreary, skies, I just had to name it after the spring we never got this year.

Dear Oregon, PLEASE bring spring back, we are less than a week away from official summer and I am yet to wear shorts outside.

Reid Romper

Reid Romper, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

I am really enjoying knitting these rompers, they are quick and easy. I started this last week but wasn't able to finish because I didn't have any of the natural colored trim. The main colorway is my original 'Alpine Meadow'
The big box of undyed yarn finally arrived and I have been knitting and dyeing like a mad woman.
The buttons really add that special touch to it. I couldn't decide on a specific color so I just used all of them!

Wildwood Romper Sneak Peek

Wildwood Romper, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

This romper isn't finished yet. I ran out of yarn and simply have not had the time to drive over to the local shop that carries it. I tried a shop that is closer to my house but they don't carry this particular brand. I'm hoping to make it to my mom's neighborhood this Friday and pickup some more.
Life with two kiddos is certainly keeping me busy.

Summer Leaf Romper

Summer Leaf Romper, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

Hot off the needles, a yummy and squishy romper. I used cotton yarn for this project just to be sure a baby doesn't overheat in the summer. I love how bright the colors are and the yarn was a pleasure to work with.
The buttons were made by Tessa Ann. I'm so impressed with their quality. And they really add that extra dimension to the outfit.

Poor Reid, I knit this in a 0-3M size and he's a bit too big and I really had to squeeze him into the romper for the pictures. I have another romper in the works and I'll be sure to add extra length to it!

Yummy Semisolid Love

All Together, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

I was excited when my co-op dyes finally came in. But I didn't know what to do with all of them all at once. I wasn't sure how the colors will actually dye up on the wool. So what better thing to do than to make a bunch of semi-solid skeins.
The results were incredible; a new line of gorgeous, bright, and lively yarns dyed in semi-solid colorways. I love semi-solids, they are the best ways to show off complex knitting patterns, lace, and cables.

Nothing feels better than weaving that last thread

My god weaving loose ends can be used as a form of torture. I apparently enjoy torture as I let my "to be finished" pile get really big before I start chipping away at it. The only way I have been able to get through weaving all those loose ends is with a pint of beer at knit night (lately I've been loving Alameda's Klickitat).

So here it is... Reid's Romper (already on its way to Alaska)! I hope it keeps one lucky baby very very warm and cozy.

And here is Reid's Romper done in the iced giraffes colorway by Nurturing Threads. It came out absolutely gorgeous. I have to admit I was not hot about the colors at first. But add a cute baby to the mix and its all good :)

Baby Romper WIP

Here's what I've been working on the last few days. A new pattern for a baby romper. I was knitting the 0-3M size but as you can see Reid has outgrown that size. I had to squeeze the poor little guy into the romper. So I'm working on another one in the 3-6M size.
The pattern is mostly done. I just need to go through it with a fine comb and make sure the instructions are clear. I guess its time to start thinking about testers and such.

Now I just need to stop by the store and pick out some cute buttons.

The yarn is Mosaic Moon's Selah on Mountain Meadow worsted.

Aaaaaand we are live!

I am beyond excited. Tia of Juliebeans did an amazing design job and I absolutely love my new storefront.

Blissful Knits

Grand stocking is this Friday at 11am PST.

Spring time in Hollis

IMG_0524, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

I bought this pattern a few weeks a go. I just knew the perfect yarn to knit this up. Mosaic Moon's Grandma's Garden on Cestari. It came out really well. I made a few modifications by making bell sleeves and giving it a ruffled bottom..

Still hunting for the perfect buttons to go with this top... I will have to hold off on listing it for sale until they are found.

Braided Sides View

IMG_0498, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

Handspun Love

IMG_0507, originally uploaded by blissfulknits.

Beautiful colorway and beautiful shorties.

Alpine Meadow

I love how vivid the colors turned out.

Handspun and braided

This yarn has been sitting in my box for a long time now, it was just too beautiful to knit up. I finally thought of the perfect project for it. I will make summer time shorties and braid the sides using a braid pattern. I have been working on it all day yesterday and it is almost ready to be split into the leg section.
Kristie of Cherry Tart is an amazing artist, she is the one who dyed and spun this fiber. I can't wait to get my hands on more of her yarn!

October Morning

Quick progress report on the cabled longies. One leg down, one leg left to go. The colors are incredible and now I'm sad that I didn't buy any of this colorway for myself. I love the lack of pooling, the colors are mixing really nicely together.

Weekend knits

No photos... sorry!

This weekend I started (and almost finished) a shawl for my sister. Her birthday is in June, as is her graduation from high school. So its going to be a double gift. I'm amazed how quickly this shawl came together considering that my first, the Ishbel, took me around 3 weeks to complete. I'm doing my own pattern with this shawl, I might even turn it into a real written up pattern if it comes out nice enough.

The other knit is something that I'm doing for a knit exchange; cabled longies using Mosaic Moon's October Morning colorway.

Bloomers Preview

The new store and logo design are chugging along so I decided to do a little sneak preview of what is coming in the first stocking once the store is up and running. This is a 12-18M bloomers set with a matching Gymboree shirt and headband. I think Selah is my new all time favorite Mosaic Moon colorway. I just love the brightness of the colors and the mixture of orange and purple.