Dishcloths are done….almost

I have knit over 150 dishcloths so far this year.  They are 100% cotton.  They are lightweight, easy to wring out, very absorbent and make doing the dishes a little less of a chore.

The new colors

I have nine new colors to offer!  The only color I have left to knit is red.  I have a cone of red cotton yarn that has been on back-order since November!  All those shown above are listed in my online store.

I brought some of these dishcloths to the new Anoka Fiber Works! The Anoka Fiber Arts Co-op has a new location and bigger space. If you are in the Anoka / Coon Rapids area, be sure to check it out.

I even knit to the very end of most of the cones by making these ‘misfit’ dishcloths.  Some are a few rows shorter, some have stitch flaws, some are just made of two colors to finish off the cones!  I’ll have these at craft shows at a discounted price.

My mistfits

 

It sure feels good to (almost) have one thing off my inventory to-do list!

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Adding to inventory

I’ve been adding to my inventory of knit wrist warmers.   Here’s what is currently finished.

All in a row

 You can find all these for sale on my shopping page.   And coming soon, will be more.

Lined up in the box

This is the yarn I have waiting to be knit into more wrist warmers.  See any color you like? 

And out in the barn, I’m now trying some reverse weaning.  For a few hours a day, I let Caramelita back in the pen with her mom and the other girls.  The first day, she tried to nurse, but her mom would not allow it.  That was encouraging.  I would like to have her back with the girls full time soon.   Today, I opened the gate between the two little weanling boys and the three older boys.  Just for a few hours.   All seemed to be okay while I was there – the bunks full of hay had them distracted from wanting to pick on each other.  I would be so happy to see all five of the boys get along!

Week 3 – wrap up

Wow!  I got so much done last week.  I had a lot to finish – since Week 4 is going to be really short.   Here’s how it went:

Cat toys – I reduced my goal from 15 to 10 and finished those 10!  $5.

Ready for play

Toddler mittens – 5 pair complete – Yay!

Little mittens in a row

Ladies mittens – 4 pair complete, 1 pair to be felted!

Ladies mittens

Baby socks – 10 pair knit!  Look at this heap of little socks!  

Yikes! That's a mess of socks

 So far only 3 have their seam sewn.  I’m waiting on back ordered yarn to make 2 more pair of blue!

Socks complete!

Baby hats – I have finished one of each color.  I mis-calculated the yarn I would need to make 2 hats and 2 pair socks of each color, so my new goal is to use up all the yarn on hats.

Week Four’s Schedule:

Monday – felt more soap, 15 bars of Citrus Spice.  It’s been spreading its fragrance through the house as it finished it final curing.  Yum!

Tuesday – my spinning guild meets, so I’ll work on baby hats between shopping, eating and visiting!

Wednesday and Thursday – finish baby hats and baby socks! 

Friday – pack up the truck for the trip to Braham and wrap up all loose ends before the show.   I have an hour drive, so will have to leave about 6:30 AM.   I’ll be at the First Annual Fall Craft Fair in Braham.   If you are in the area – stop by the high school. 

And I should add, I picked up one more show.  It is a fundraiser on November 15  for the Zonta Minneapolis Club.

Week 2 – wrap up

I think last week was pretty successful.   Here’s the breakdown:

Soap – 15 bars felted – success!   (7 bars sold!)

Ladies mittens – 4 pair knit, none complete – partial success

Baby hats – 4 complete, 2 partially complete – success!

Wristwarmers  – 24 pair on the shelf – success!

Wrist warmers all in a row

That was a good week! 

Week Three’s Schedule:

Monday – 15 felted cat toys  (these are now available in my Etsy shop!)

Tuesday – dedicated to baby hats

Wednesday – 5 pair of toddler sized mittens

Thursday – work on ladies mittens

Friday & Saturday – 11 pair of baby socks to match hats and blankets

Sunday – Finish the ladies mittens

That means that the cat toys, toddler mittens, baby socks and ladies mittens should all be done by week’s end.   The ladies mittens will be a challenge (as I need to dye yarn for them), but the others should be do-able!   This is the week of completion!

Week 2 – Midweek update

Things started out good.  Fifteen bars of felted soap were completed on Monday.

Piled up lavendar soap

Tuesday required some time on a couple of volunteer tasks, so not much was accomplished on the mittens.   I did get the yarn from the dyeing class ready to go. 

Suri yarn from my dyeing class

Lovely, isn’t it?  300 yards, nearly 3 ounces of beautiful Suri alpaca fingering weight.  $32. 

Yesterday I got the courage to knit a pair of mittens.  Why was I afraid?   Well, I needed to switch to a different yarn and I knew it would probably throw off my pattern.  The yarn is thicker than the previous, so I needed less tension and got bigger mittens.

Mittens for Papa Bear

They are supposed to be ladies size.  My hands are small, but they are a generous men’s size.  They will be felted and become ladies size.   As a bonus, I now know the pattern for felted ladies mittens! 

Today I tried my youth size pattern and got these.

Mittens for Baby Bear

If I curl my fingers, the hand and thumb fit fine.  They just need to be a little longer for the fingers.  And maybe a little more cuff.  I’m getting closer! 

And the baby hats just keep coming – slowly, but surely.  Two done, one in need of earflaps, one just started. 

Tomorrow I have 2 groups coming for visits.

Week 1 – wrap up

Week One’s goal was to have 25 pair of wrist warmers completed.  Did I make it?   Not quite.  I have 12 on the shelf.  I have another 11 pair knit and in various stages of completion.   Some only need the frilly edge and the seam done, some are on the blocking board, one is waiting for its turn to be blocked.    I will continue to work on these in the remaining weeks.   (Side note – I did dye on Wednesday and also on Saturday, so have a couple skeins of yarn to add to the inventory!)

Week Two’s Schedule:

Monday – Felt 15 bars of soap

Tuesday – Knit a pair of women’s mittens, weigh them and start winding skeins of the correct amount of yarn for dyeing.  Hand knit baby hats – at least one.  Each requires about 6 hours.

Wednesday – Dye a batch of mitten yarn and roving for a very cool (unannounced) project.  Knit a baby hat or two.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – each day dye a batch of mitten yarn (it needs to cool overnight, so only one color a day), and knit a couple baby hats.   I’ve since had 2 groups schedule visits on Friday!

Final goal is to finish the wrist warmers, felt 15 bars of soap, knit one pair of mittens, dye yarn for mittens, and knit over half of the 11 baby hats.   I’ve already finished one baby hat, and am 3/4 done with a second.  These were done while reading the computer and riding in the vehicle! 

I went to the dyeing session at Little Gidding Suri farm on Saturday and learned about production dyeing – being able to repeat a color, calculating dye level, temperature, duration — LOTS of info.  And came home with skein and dye ready to use.    And I did dye that skein yesterday.  It is drying and I’ll show pictures when dry. 

And, of course, pictures of today’s beautiful, wet, sloppy snow must be shown.

From my doorway

Eating in the snow