Russet Lodge Custom Knits

I have been working up a storm and haven't posted any works in progress for two weeks, so I pulled out the camera and took a mess of pictures for y'all today! Last weekend I got out the dye pot and dyed 8 ounces of white merino spinning fiber so I can make the Nymphaea shawl by Becky Herrick  (click the indie patterns link at the top of the page to purchase/download).  She was kind enough to give me a copy of this pattern, which she just published, after I told her I thought it would be lovely in handspun.  I considered the gift a challenge, and when I realized nothing in my stash would work, I got down to business. I dyed the fiber using Wiltons' Icing Dyes.  I don't like acid dyes because they're so toxic, and you can get some amazing color variations from simple food coloring.  To me this still counts as a WIP because I still have all the spinning and knitting to do.  Yay! I have been doing a lot of drawing and doodling lately.  Ther...

I have been on a major finishing kick lately. I'm not sure why, but suddenly the sight of my big bin of unfinished objects (UFOs) is driving me batty.  Every time I finish something lately, I go to the UFO bin, and pull something out.  Half the projects I pull out have been frogged or even thrown away because I don't like them or the yarn any more.  Most of them wound up abandoned in the UFO bin for that reason in the first place.  The other projects, though, have been getting quickly finished up.  It is so satisfying! One of the ones I resurrected and finished is Cookie A.'s Wedge sock pattern from her book Knit. Sock. Love.   The yarn I used isn't anything classy or pricy, it's just Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Weight that I bought on sale at Joann's.  The colors are pretty and it's actually very soft.  The yarn is 50% merino, 25% bamboo, and 25% nylon.  The bamboo gives it a nice shine, and I'll report back on how it wears.  The ya...

This week I haven't had time to photograph all my works in progress.  In fact, I realized that in addition to the spinning and knitting (the loom hasn't been out of the box for a couple of months, which is a tragedy) I have a sewing WiP that I'm starting to feel ready to finish. However, the one WiP I do have pics of is barely a WiP at all, and I could really use some help nailing it down.  I bought this beautiful yarn at Happy Knits in Portland on a recent vacation.  The yarn is Madelinetosh's Tosh Vintage in the Shoreline colorway.  It is a discontinued color so it was 20% off.  That, of course, meant I had to buy two skeins instead of one.  Look at those pretty colors.  As a blue-eyed girl I think it is going to be perfect for me! I think this wants to be a long infinity scarf.  I wasn't sure if I liked them or not, but my sister gave me one for the holidays last winter and I wore the heck out of it.  This is a round springy yarn th...

I know I've been scarce lately.  My summer's been busy and I've kind of lost my mojo for designing and taking care of my etsy shop lately.  For now, I'll just share a project I posted about back in May .  I have to admit that lace isn't really my forte.  I like it, but I find it challenging and occasionally frustrating.  It's hard to admit that, because every knitter worth her salt knits lace.  I know my tastes change, which makes it even harder when you're working on long-term projects. This shawl was for a friend of mine.  She chose the yarn and pattern.  Since this friend isn't a knitter herself she chose a yarn and pattern that didn't really match.  Lace weight yarn on a pattern meant for something thicker and more toothsome.  This required some improvisation on my part, and the look is very different from the photos from the designer.  I still think the shawl is lovely, but it's very small despite two extra repeats of the mai...