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.

This is by far one of my new favorites, too bad I cannot think of an approriate name. My obsession with pink is taking me in all kinds of creative directions. I keep trying different color combinations just to see what they will look like. Anyone have ideas about the name? I'm thinking of going with Full Bloom

Pixie Hat

Baby Reid modeling a pixie hat, I think some people also refer to these as helmet hats or viking hats. The design is pretty basic; two increases and one decrease create the forehead and ear covers.
Knit on Malabrigo in bright red. So soft and cuddly.

Cherry Blossom

Looking outside at the beautiful cherry blossoms this time of year was the inspiration for this colorway on Cestari superfine. A lovely combination of pinks and grays.

Getting Ready for Baby Part II

Another fun Malabrigo project. Worsted weight emerald colorway with coordinating brown trim.
The hat is a modified Thorpe hat pattern, I had to adjust sizing to account for worsted weight yarn.

Getting Ready for Baby

With the holiday craze behind me I started working on baby stuff for our own bundle of joy coming in January.
This set is made with a gorgeous cherry red Malabrigo merino yarn. Very soft and cuddly.

Hooded Sweater

This was a fun weekend project, I combined Cestari's Thistle Pod solid colorway with one of my own hand dyed yarns. The sweater is really warm and cozy and Elliot loves it.





\

12 Days of Christmas

The congo I belong to is getting ready for the holidays with a very special 12 day stocking ending on Thanksgiving. I have a few very special hand knit sets I'm going to be listing.

First is a Cestari and BFL mix kimono and longies set. The sweater is a Mosaic Moon Pixie Dust colorway on BFL, and the longies are a Cestari solid black.



The other set is a newborn combination of longies, hat, and a matching reversible organic bamboo velour top.

I've got babies on my mind

With January peeking just around the corner I've had a lot of newborn knitting on my mind. Here are a few of my latest projects.

Knee Patch Longies

Finished up another set this afternoon.

This is one of my own colorways, Fernwood on cestari. I added the knee patches for added durability in a stop that can be a weak spot, especially for crawlers and toddlers.
Comes with a matching American Apparel shirt with owl applique.

Every good pair of pants needs a dress

I felt the pants needed something more... So I made a little matching dress.

Birthday Girl

I took a little break over the summer, mostly focusing on knitting my own newborn stash (pictures soon), learning how to dye interlock, and just enjoying the amazing weather!

I have to admit, I think I have outdone myself this time. I was thinking what to do with some of the yarn I have sitting around here and this is what came out of it.
Black fine merino cestari, with Mosaic Moon's Birthday Girl ruffles and hand embroidered flowers.

Dyeing Cestari for the First Time

My big bag of wool finally came in and I got right on dyeing some new colorways I've been thinking of. Cestari is becoming one of my favorite wools to work with. It is perfect for kids and babies, durable, soft, and thick; what's there not to love!




.

Rainbow Fun Skirtie

Well the skirtie is almost done, but I just couldn't wait and had to take pictures of the work in progress. I love how the yarn turned out.

A time to dye

I am really excited about my new hobby. I really hope I can perfect my dyeing skills and expand the offerings of Royal Bottoms.

Red white and blue, and a little brown too!

Rainbow fun

Cestari Love

Cestari is my new favorite yarn to work with. It is so soft, and non scratchy. Perfect for little kids. The yarn is minimally processed and is made from humanely raised sheep in the USA.

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl colorway on BFL. How I wish I had a little girl!

Yarn Love

Picked up my first batch of Mosaic Moon yarn. It is to die for!

Halter Dress

I am so excited about this creation. I knit this dress without a pattern and it came out gorgeous! The waist band features a linen stitch with a drawstring waist and a drawstring halter. The yarn is the same as the one used for the fire girl longies. One day I hope to write up a real pattern for this dress.

Back detail

Shabby Chic

A gorgeous spring set, made from Cherry Tart's hand spun and hand dyed yarn. I really like the flower detail on the drawstrings.

Flower detail