The more time I spend behind some sort of desk, the more time I have to dream up and research new crafty ventures. So, in appreciation of all the crafters who put up free tutorials and how-to’s on the internet, I’m going to start posting neat projects that I find so that you can marvel at all of the wonderful things we can make along with with me!

The First Tutorial -Knit Apple Cozy-

Once in a while, I’ll pop an apple into my bag and tote it around with me for a few days before I remember that it’s in there. By then the apple has been bruised, punctured and generally mauled. I still eat them, or feed them to Linus however I think it would be just dandy to slip them into a little knit apple jacket (say the words “apple jacket” and try to keep the smile on your face… bet you can’t!). I did a little poking around the grand thing we call the internets and found an etsy shop, Handamade that sells them and a free tutorial on how to make them over at the Vegan Lunchbox. I haven’t had a chance to make one yet but the tutorial looks pretty accurate and I’d love to see how the wee jacket turns out if anyone decides to knit one up!

Photo from Handamade

Apple Cozy

from Vegan Lunchbox

Materials:
100% cotton 4-ply worsted weight yarn, such as Sugar’n Cream or Lion
Brand Kitchen Cotton: one ball main color and a small amount of
contrasting color for the leaf.
One set of 4 double-pointed needles in size 7 (4.5 mm) or size to
obtain gauge.
Size H crochet hook.
One ½-inch (15 mm) button.
Gauge:
20 sts = 4 inches (10 cm) in stockinette
Size:
Designed to fit around a small (medium, large) apple.
Abbreviations:
K1: knit.
P1: purl.
M1: insert the working needle from front to back under the
horizontal strand between the stitch just worked and the next stitch;
place this strand on the holding needle and knit the resulting loop
through the back to make a new stitch.
K1f&b: knit one stitch through the front and back, making 2
stitches.
P2tog: purl two stitches together, making 1 stitch.
K2tog: knit two stitches together, making 1 stitch.
Sl1: slip one stitch knitwise onto the working needle without knitting.
PSSO: pass the slipped stitch over the next stitch.
Directions:
Cast on 9 (12, 12) stitches in main color. Divide evenly onto three needles
(3 (4, 4) stitches on each needle). Join in the round.
Round 1: Knit all stitches.
Round 2: On each needle, K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1.
Round 3: Knit all stitches.
Repeat these two rounds, increasing every other round and maintaining
stockinette stitch (knit all stitches) until you have 42 (48, 54) stitches total
(14 (16, 18) stitches on each needle).
Knit 2 (3, 4) rounds even.
Now it’s time to stop knitting in the round. Instead, turn the work and begin
knitting back and forth and decreasing:
Row 1 (wrong side): On each needle, P2tog, purl to end.
Row 2 (right side): On each needle, K2tog, knit to end.
Repeat these two rows until you have 15 stitches left (5 on each needle).
Cast off.
Make the Leaf:
Cast on 3 stitches in contrasting color.
Row 1 (right side): K all stitches.
Row 2 (wrong side): P all stitches.
Row 3: K1f&b, K1, K1f&b (5 stitches).
Row 4 – 6: P all stitches on wrong side, K on right side.
Row 7: K2tog, K1, K2tog.
Row 8: P all stitches.
Row 9: Sl1, K2tog, PSSO. Break yarn and BO final stitch.
Finishing:
Thread the tail yarn and use it to cinch up the bottom 12 stitches. Attach
the button near the top of the apple at one side of the opening. Use the
crochet hook to crochet a 10 (12, 12) st. single-chain loop and attach it
opposite the button. Attach the leaf along the top border. Weave in all
ends.
Pear Variation:
To make a Pear Cozy, follow the instructions above to the point where you
have 15 stitches left (5 on each needle). Add 4 (5, 6) extra rows of
stockinette (knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side). Cast off. Finish
as for apple.

There was a time when, if asked if I would ever go on a cruise, I would vehemently even passionately said “NO WAY!”

That being said, I just found something that would make me pause a moment and then slowly say “Nooo-o-ooo-o…?” not quite so decisively.  That thing? They’re called Craft Cruises. They’re pretty much what the title hints so alluringly at; luxury boats that travel about, stopping at various ports where there are things to do and see that would be interesting to a crafter. Not only do they have the very idea of craft cruises… they even have cruises geared toward specific kinds of crafting (crochet, knitting spinning, needle point). For example the hand spinning subcategory of Craft Cruises is described thusly:

Our enriching handspinning cruises allow you to improve your skills while visiting some of the most interesting ports in the world. Each day you will experience something new.

Unlike most handspinning retreats, with our handspinning cruises you are pampered onboard a beautiful cruise ship.   Our handspinning cruises provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere where you can be yourself without having to worry about anything except having a good time.

Handspinning classes will be offered while the ship is cruising and while we are in port there will be numerous opportunities to meet local fiber artists along the way.  Visiting fiber farms, local handspinners and yarn producers along the way will inspire you and give you a glimpse into other cultures that most tourists rarely enjoy.

Doesn’t exploring the Norwegian Fjords or New Zealand & Australia while knitting and spinning along the way sound fun!? Sure does to me…

Visualizing the warmth provided by natural gas within a home as knitted yarn…. an absolutely beautiful idea. And perfectly executed to boot!

And here is the “making-of” video. Hint: they filmed everything in reverse and were unraveling the knitted pieces. Double genius…

The story of Joe’s socks has come to an end (at least when it comes to the making-of-the-socks part). Here they are, together at last and on to the next adventure: being worn and keeping feet warm. Now you can see the whole process from start (the shearing of the sheep) to middle (the processing of the wool) to end (the knitting of the socks). The second sock wound up with some pretty sweet stripe action happening because there were some huge patches of white on that half of the fleece. It was so much fun knitting along just to see what color would come up next! Now… what’s next?

I finished a cardigan I’ve been working on (for what seems like a small eternity)! Oh it feels so good to call something “done”. But it’s not done, not really. I might still get an urge to embroidery more bits of this and that… and I might put some buttons on, just for show. But for now, I’m satisfied. The pattern is for a Featherweight Cardigan by knitbot. It was a pretty great pattern, you knit the cardigan from the top downwards, which is unusual. I used the same yarn I made my last pair of fingerless mittens out of (Knitpicks’ Palette). I’d never embroidered anything on something I’d knit before and it was surprisingly easy. I think it helped that the stitches are so small and even. Perfect!

A few days ago, I posted the results of some hard work involving soap, wool and a spinning wheel. Now it’s time to look at the same wool once it’s met some knitting needles! I took the yarn I spun and knit Joe one half a pair of socks. One sock took an entire spool of yarn… that’s a really big foot. They are most definitely the largest socks I’ve ever knit… and a big contrast to the tiny baby shoes I’ve been knitting.

Socks for size 13 foots…

I hand carded and spun the wool so I would have sections of dark, medium and light colored wool. Joe took wool from the same fleece and ran it through a drum carder which blended all of the different fibers together. This made an evenly medium grey batch of wool roving without the variation that I like so much. It was a much faster process though…

Now it’s time to get down with that second sock!

I found an old ball of bulky yarn that I’d spun months ago when I got my first batch of wool from Bonnieview. I decided to try dying it with a packet each of the blue and purple kool-aid. Turns out that the purple overwhelmed the blue but the end result is a fairly nice light purple yarn with flecks of cyan here and there. I like it much better than the crazy “Caution Orange” I made a last week, to say the least.

I knit another pair of baby shoes using the Babystovler pattern from Handmade by Calista. The process of working my way through the leftover bits of yarn and through the yarn I don’t like is fairly addicting and baby things are small enough that I can bust through a walnut-sized ball of yarn and wind up with a pair of useful and sweet little shoes! That is my definition of satisfaction.

Joe and I slopped our way down to the farm to empty our compost bin and we stopped by to see the new piglets! The second pig just had her litter of piggies yesterday, and you can see the other sow in the background with her litter. In amongst the new piggies, there’s a wee black one with white socks on his feet. They are so tiny and wriggly that it was hard to get a good picture. The sow never pulled her head out of the hay burrow she had made, but her grunting got louder when she heard us come in. Oh mama-piggy, your babies are so tiny and sweet! Still, I know what they’ll look like in a couple of months: big piggies.

It’s been too sunny and warm the last couple of days to not take Linus out in the snow to play! He was out for a good long romp and now he’s busy drying off his incredibly muddy paws.

Meanwhile, happening elsewhere… I finished knitting a second New Aviatrix hat for Aunt Carol! I just popped it in the mail this afternoon.

On April 1st, I’m taking over for a woman in the Admission’s office when she goes on maternity leave and today I went to her baby shower in the library. It was fun, there was cake and someone actually wound up buying her one of my wooliemans that I have in Stardust bookstore down the street! (I’ll give you a hint… it’s the minty green one) It was a treat to see her pull it out of the bag and have that instant of “Wait a minute… that looks familiar… OH!” I whipped up a baby hat one night using the Aviatrix Hat pattern I found over on ravelry. I had a blast knitting it, and for all of you knitters who read this I would definitely recommend it. It’s made using short rows which is essentially how you knit the rounded heel of a sock. Very cool and very fast!

This is the hat I knit using a good portion of my left-over bits of yarn from other projects. I love when I can dip into that stash and get rid of some of those teeny tiny balls. And here are two lovely photos from Rogue Sheep on ravelry/flickr. I wish I had a baby I could plunk the hat on and confirm how cute I think it’ll be, but for now I’ll have to be content with Rogue Sheep’s sweet little pictures of her finished version!