Artyarns KAL Crowning Glory Scarf Stage 2 Done-Next Stage 3

Greetings All,

I finished stage one on Saturday night.  Here is the first half finished of the Artyarns Crowning Glory Sacrf.

The next step was completed yesterday morning.  I had to make sure that all the correct spots were marked with stitch markers.  The green markers show where a knit stitch was done in the middle of the peaks and the orange markers are where all the breaks are for the next stage to be knitted in.

I'll let you in on a little secret,  Shhhhh.... I only have one more set to do on the final diamond before I cast of. I had to turn off the lights to sleep.  My husband yells at me if I don't go to bed and leave to knit because he knows I won't feel well the next day.  Wait until tomorrow!

Regards,

Karen

OPYF

Mary Glendinning - Knitting Always There

You will notice that I have changed the title of my blog to include my last name. When I first thought about the idea of writing a blog for One Planet Yarn and Fiber, I thought that "Mary g" was kind of catchy. You know, like "Cookie A" on Ravelry?  Besides, let's face it, Glendinning is one of those loooooong names and even I get tired of typing all those n's!  I also thought that people would realize that Mary g was Mary Glendinning.  A friend recently told me that she had been reading my blogs but didn't know it was me because of some misinformation that she had heard.

So let me clear up some confusion that seems to be out there.

In September 2010 I left a knitting store where I had been working full time and returned to teaching at the Fiber Factory in Mesa. I  also decided to start designing and writing both a blog and a technical column for OPYF.  At around the same time my daughter Kaitlynn (my youngest) left Arizona for Texas to attend college.

When Kaitlynn left for school I decided that it was the right time for me to step back and re-evaluate my life and priorities.  Although it was difficult in many ways to make the change I knew it was time.  I wanted to be able to focus on things I love - like teaching.  And, I wanted to explore some new directions - writing and designing for OPYF.

Unfortunately, as these things sometimes happen, some misinformation started going around.  I understand that some people believed that I had actually left the country.  It's kind of funny really but I just wanted to let you know that I am here, I'm in good health and I'm very happy with my life.  Yes, I was sad when my youngest left home but, as any mother will tell you, while it is a sad in some ways, in other ways your life opens up and you finally have that freedom you haven't had since before the kids were born.

So, how do I connect this with knitting?  After all, that is what the blog is about!  I see it this way, most knitters have had that devil of a project that no matter how hard you work on it and no matter how much you try, it never seems to work out quite the way you expected.  At some point you either throw it in the corner and forget about it or you rip it out and use the yarn for something else.  Life can be this way as well. Sometimes you need to figure out that it is not worth the effort anymore and it is time to move on.  It doesn't mean you will never knit again. You will find another pattern that suits you better and that will make you happy. And, eventually, you will forget the pattern that caused you so much angst. That is the great thing about knitting. It is always there for us to go back to, to reconnect with those zen moments and to give us peace. Knitting doesn't judge us, doesn't betray us, doesn't spread rumors.  It is what it is.

Thanks to all my friends and students who continue to find and support me in my new life.

Ewe Can Knit!

By

Mary Glendinning

maryg@oneplanetyarnandfiber.com

NNK Podcast 2 - c2knits Eva Pattern

I have started listening to the Never Not Knitting podcasts.  So many of the OPYF crowd follow Alana.  Her podcasts are witty and sweet and relate to my life of knitting.  Her theme song is a real hoot.

During her second podcast she talks about a sweater she was making at the time.  It required that she pick up and knit the stitches around the front of the sweater.  She counted over 400 stitches!  She talked about how that had put her a little off the project for a time.  I FULLY UNDERSTAND!  I am in that place right now.

I am knitting this wonderful pattern from c2knits called Eva.  I am using my own Lanas Puras Melosa lace weight yarn in Passion.  It is a top down knit and is an easy pattern.  I knitted it all the way down to the hem and finished that part.

Now the instructions call for me to pick up and knit around the entire front and collar of the sweater.  I did not count the number of stitches.  After I did that, I knitted for one inch.  No problem.  Now I have to knit through the front and back of each stitch and DOUBLE the number of stitches, then knit for an inch.  Also, no problem.  The pattern then calls for me to DO IT AGAIN! doubling all the stitches and knitting for another inch.  Done.  OK, BIND OFF ALL THE STITCHES!  

OK, that's done.  It looks wonderful.  I really love the way it is turning out.

OK, time to knit the sleeves.  There were already stitches on hold for this.  I started knitting one of the sleeves using my Denise Interchange set.  It turns out that there isn't enough bend in the cable to let you easily do magic loop.  So, I switched to double pointed needles.  Everyone who knows me, understands that when I knit with DPN's I get ladders.  So I tried the trick of moving 2 stitches over to a new needle as I finished the yarn on the dpns.  I knitted the sleeve all the way to the bottom, did the final stitches to bind of and took it down to The Fiber factory to show them my progress.

They laughed long and hard.  There were so many ladders scattered all over the sleeve!  My friend Terri said RIP IT OUT!  You know you won't be happy with it and the gaps are too wide to use the stitches on either side to take up the slack.

I walked out with a brand new Addi 40" circular and I am in the process of doing the magic loop method of knitting.

Now your talking!

More pictures once I finish this.  After a rest.

Regards,

Karen

OPYF

Late January Fleece and Dye Pots

Well, this is what is left of the fleeces from the Arizona State Fair.  These last two Cotswold fleeces where the first place winners.  I washed them earlier this week and they have been drying ever since.  Lots of curls!  Anyone want just curls?

This roving I dyed for the Fiber of the Month Club for January.

And for my next trick, I hand painted some CVM lamb and a bag of roving from my Juniper Moon Farm stash.  It's 50% Cormo, 50% Mohair.

The roving in the front through about three quarters of the way down are all CVM.  The last one is my stash.

The reason why I needed to dye this, rather than spin white and then dye, was because I had received some pre-painted roving last year from Juniper Moon.  I also received the all white.  I wanted more yarn to ply with, so I waited a while and kept learning about dyeing.  You can see the results below.  I think I was able to get pretty close to the colors I wanted to achieve.  The ball of yarn is the single ply I spun last year from the pre-dyed roving.

Closer inspection.

Here are all the rovings, dried and balled up, ready to spin.  Anyone want some?

Happy Spinning!

Regards,

Karen

OPYF

Artyarns Cast On - KAL Crowned Glory Scarf

I will be adding in Artyarns in a few weeks.  These yarns are stunning.  I needed to get my hands on some, and fast!  

I have never done a knit along.  This has just changed.  Iris from Artyarns sent me the yarn I needed to participate in her most recent knit along, now to be called KAL.

Crowned Glory Scarf KAL

Most people know that I love working with these colors.  I have dyed quite a few fibers in a similar colorway.  Cashmere Glitter, which I will soon be stocking, and yes, in this color, is the yarn called for in the KAL.  It is 100% Cashmere with a strand of glittery Lurex.  Each skein is 50gm and 155m/170yd.  The yarn is all hand painted-one skein at a time!  It is made in the USA from imported fibers.

Cashmere Glitter in color 108

I wound the yarn into a ball Tuesday night using my swift and ball winder and then I cast on.

First section of the pattern on my Denise Interchangeable circular needles

This tool comes in very helpful with this pattern.  The pattern changes every row.  This magnetic board from my LYS, The Fiber Factory (480-969-4346), is the perfect tool to mark where I am in the pattern.

LoRan Magna Board

Another thing I find very useful for this pattern is a really good glossary with pictures of the knitting terms.  I grabbed my copy of this version of One Skein Wonders and opened it to the back.

101 DESIGNER one-skein WONDERS

It turns out the the 2 pages shown here had what I needed to interpret the shorthand in the pattern with visual instructions on how to knit the stitches.

Glossary of Terms

I will keep you up to date as I work on this pattern.  Want to join the KAL?  Cast on here!

Regards,

Karen

OPYF

Are You Missing Out?

January Offers-Take Advantage of These Great Offers!
I am out of room, physically!  I have an overstock in some of my inventory and I would love your help so I can bring in some exciting new products I am in the process of adding to the store! I hope you will take advantage of these offers this month.  My family is also in the process of getting the house packed up so we can move about 7 miles away, closer to our store, Scottsdale Pen.

I REALLY need more room and I don't want to have to pack this all to move!   I am serious when I say this! It isn't just a marketing ploy!!  HONEST!

Earlier this month I added loads of new items to the "sale" section of the site. These are products that I have too much of or I am discontinuing.

There are no codes needed for the sale, but you will need one for the shipping offer listed below.

Just Added!

There is a new pattern from Never Not Knitting.  It is called Oak Grove.  It turns out that if you use Madelinetosh pashmina for this pattern, there is also enough left over from the single skein that you would also be able to make her Autumn Beret!

Coming in the next few weeks!

-Artyarns- Beautiful hand painted yarns with all sorts of glitter and splash! Watch the blog for specific dates.
-Gorgeous new colors coming in Artesano Aran - you are going to love these!
-A huge shipment from Fleece Artist-with more new yarns and colors!
-More Madelinetosh tosh merino light AND new to our store - tosh merino.
-More spinning fibers

The end of the month offer.  Offer ends January 31st at Midnight!

Free Shipping Coupon on all orders over $ 50.00.  Use the coupon code: JanSHIP

Ravelry Contest!

Are you a member of Ravelry.com yet? If not, you should join!  We have our own One Planet Knitters group there and over the next few months I will be having several contests that are related to being part of this group.  I am having a contest this month involving our One Planet Knitters Group at Ravelry.com  and you can win a skein of handpainted Natural Dye Studio BFL sock yarn in the color of your choice!    Here is how the contest works.

1.  Join our One Planet Knitters Group
2.  Post a personal introduction telling me a) your first name b) where you live and c) one or more things you like about One Planet Yarn and Fiber.  You will see a thread under the discussion section saying "Post an Introduction."  If you are already a member of our group, it is ok, just go ahead and post your introduction.
3.  All of the names of the people who post an introduction will be placed into a drawing.  I will be giving out 3 skeins of Natural Dye Studio BFL hand painted sock yarn to 3 lucky people.

Make sure to watch the One Planet Knitters Group and my blog and newsletter for February's contest which will be a bit different with other steps and more prizes!!  The drawing for January will be held during first week of February 2011.

Last Chance to Redeem!

If you who have purchased since September 1, 2010, please log in and check your account. Once you are on the “My Account” page, scroll to the bottom.  There you will see a “My Rewards” link.  If you click on that link you will see that you have already received points in the My Rewards program.  You can redeem these points now.  Once you redeem them they will be turned in to GIFT CERTIFICATES that you can use at any time.  You must redeem a minimum of 100 points.  The point collection program ended at Midnight on December 31^st and all points must be redeemed by January 31, 2011.  Please make sure to read the terms and conditions for this program.

Please Don't Forget the Children/Caps for Good Campaign.  Campaign Ends February 28, 2011.

Thank you for supporting One Planet Yarn and Fiber!

Things You Should Know, But Probably Don't

Thanks Aunt Barbara!

1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton. 

2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

           

3. The dot over the letter "i" is called a "tittle".

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top. 

5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller. 

6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals. 

7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled. 

8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was an albino. 

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily. 

       10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.    

11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small-sized dog. 

12. Orcas, (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode. 

13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww). 

14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants. 

15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine. 

16. Upper- and lower-case letters are named "upper" and "lower" because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the "upper case" letters were stored in the case on top of the case, the "lower case" letters were stored underneath.

17. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time, hence multitasking was invented. 

18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood. 

19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos. 

20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before! 

21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange and purple. 

22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips. 

23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death 

24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white. 

25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know). 

26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless). 

27. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. 

28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola. 

29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples. 

30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying! 

31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher. 

32. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries. 

33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it. 

34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart, "Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her off to jail."

Regards,
Karen
OYPF

Spun Version of the Romney Fleece And A Lot More Fibers!

So the box of Romney fleece from the State Fair arrived in the mail last week and I just had to find an empty bobbin to spin some of it.  It spun like a charm.  Earlier this week I decided to sort all of my fibers to be ready for the Fiber of the Month Club and to eventually just put some of these wonderful fibers up on the website for sale.  The three final boxes of Cotswold lamb went out to the mill for cleaning and carding, but I kept the two first prize winners here and the are soaking in their bath as I write this.  My cup runneth and runneth, and runneth! over with fibers of all types. Romney, Shetland, Cormo, Jacob's, Lincoln, Targhee, BFL, BL, Merino, Corriedale x, CVM lamb, Llama/mohair, Romeldale X, BL/Romney, Cashmere, Tussah silk, Mulberry Silk, Huacaya Alpace, Suri Alpaca, Angora, Mohair, Firestar.  Merino is coming soon.

From the Mill

On the wheel

Double plyed and drying

My old stash and blending fibers

More of my stash

Boxes and boxes of different fibers ready to spin or dye

Bags and bags of fiber waiting for blending, dying, spinning

More stash

View from the other end of the table

Last bags of Cotswold waiting to be divided and shipped

Skippy the Alpaca

Finished dark grey Cotswold Lamb

Finished medium grey Cotswold lamb

Finished lighter grey Cotswold lamb

Finished white Cotswold Ram

Finished Romney ewe

Finished white Shetland

First Prize Cotswold lambs in the bath

I guess it's a good thing I have a sheep dog in the house.  I hope that I have inspired you to get out your wheels and spindles and spin!

Regards,
Karen
OYPF

Mary g - Knitted Gifts

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately about knitted gifts. At this time of year the subject often comes up. Is it worth knitting gifts for non knitters; what kinds of gifts should I knit; how much time and money should I spend on a knitted gifts; will the gift be appreciated?

I know every year I want to knit something for Christmas especially for my family, butvinevitably leave it until the last minute. Of course we are not talking about a hat or scarf.  No, I need to knit sweaters. What has happened in the past is I have actually wrapped up my sweater, in progress, needles poking out of the stitches with a picture of the pattern so they can see what it looks like! Yeah, that goes over well!

I have knitted for non knitters and I tend to agree with other knitters that often they don't appreciate the work that goes into the item. For example, I knitted a pair of complicated fingerless gloves for a friend's birthday. They were made out of a silk blend, had lace across the back of the hand and a ruffle around the wrist. Waste yarn kept a spot for the thumb which was knitted after the rest of the glove was finished. She thanked me gave them barely a second look and threw them back in the gift bag. I suspect they never found their way back out of the bag.

Then there are my knitted hats that are cursed. My oldest daughter has had a number of boyfriends over the past few years. After I get to know the boy I have knitted them a hat as a gift. Inevitably, merely days after she gives them the hand knitted hat, they break up. I've been told not to knit anymore hats for boyfriends.

Finally there is the kind of person that will wear whatever you knit whether you want them to or not. I knitted a model for a store I worked in at one time that was like a ruanna. It was made with very bright yarn knitted in horizontal stripes - alternating solids and self patterning with solid multicolored entrelac accenting the front opening. It went down to the knee and just hung shapeless on the body. Not flattering for anyone.  My mother spotted it in the back of my closet and loved it. Foolishly I gave it to her as a gift. My mother is 5 ft 4inches and this thing hung like a shapeless sack on her teeny frame. It was hideous! Guess what she loves it! Not only that but she wears it to church and proudly tells everyone her very talented daughter made it! Yeah, thanks mom!


What about you? Have you given knitted items as gifts and were they appreciated? I look forward to your stories about knitted gifts.

Mary g

OYPF

maryg@oneplanetyarnandfiber.com

Last Sunday's Arizona Spinners Spin In

This is nothing more lovely than to get together with a bunch of fellow spinners and knitters for a Spin In.  We all sowed up with our wheels, knitting needles and food at Ravelry DanDoh's house.  She has a lovely front room where she does design work for Universal Yarns as well as creations just for herself.  She just had her first book published too!

So after we all had a bite to eat, we sat down to have  more fun.  Everyone had a different wheel.  I have an Ashford Joy with 2 tredles, one of the others in the group had the same one with a single treadle. Someone else had a drop spindle, then she also used a Journey Wheel which folds up into a wooden box.  You never know what you will see and learn at any Knit, Spin, Crochet or other In.

These ladies are grabbing there stash of Skippy, the alpaca whose fleece I purchased from Janie Swartz of Apache Spirit Alpaca Rescue.  Janie sold it to me at a very low price as long as I shared him with other spinners and talk about her wonderful rescue farm in Southern Arizona.

Regards,

Karen

OPYF

NEW PATTERN from Never Not Knitting!

Here is what Alana Dakos has to say about this new pattern, Oak Grove, now available for download at OPYF.

Alana:  In the area I live, I am surrounded by oak trees at every turn. In fact, the house I grew up in has an oak tree grove in the front and back of it. I spent many hours of my childhood collecting acorns, leaves and moss while playing outside. The above picture was taken against the very old oak right in front of my parents house. Considering my history with oak trees, and my obvious love for knitted leaves, this seemed like a perfect pairing. I love the texture of these mitts. How the leaf is embossed looking, as though it is sitting on top of the knitted fabric. Its very simple yet striking. The fingerless glove version is not hard to knit, but definitely takes more concentration. Beginners would probably enjoy knitting up the fingerless mitt version the best. Its quicker and easier. OPYF's yarn selection is Madelinetosh pashmina.  Happy Knitting! Regards, Karen OPYF