Spring into Spring with yarn

A few weeks ago I had spring fever in a major way. I started making insane claims like "I will spin ten skeins of recycled yarn today," and "I will list all these skeins of yarn on Etsy before bed," or "I will do all my laundry, walk the dogs, and then rewrite all my Etsy listings.

But you know what? I got it all done. The last few weeks have been an illuminating experience. As the weather warmed up, the ground thawed into a soggy, disgusting mess. Birds took to the trees, cheering me on. And I sat, and spun. Got home from work and spun. Watched TV and spun. Talked on the phone and spun. In two weeks I've gone from a huge box of sweaters and balls of yarn, a tangle of odds and ends and a daunting list of skeins to ply to a small milk carton of balls and a shelf that at last count held approximately 30 skeins of plied, recycled yarn.

Excuse that thumping sound, it's just me patting myself on the back.

In all seriousness, it feels great to be nearing what seemed like such a ridiculous goal. In another day or two I'll have spun and plied my entire upcycled yarn stash, and by the week the whole shelf will be listed on Etsy, destined for new homes as hats and scarves and stylish handknit accessories. The gigantic pile of yarn that has haunted me all winter will be transformed.

I feel like an alchemist. Give me an ugly, 80's sweater with too many bobbles, and I'll give you this:

A smorgasbord of color; wool, acrylic, silk and cotton plied together artfully and to the tune of cheery birds and Disney-like dancing animals. This is how I feel. 

What are you doing to welcome in this spring? Cleaning your house? Airing out your stash? Shaving your dog and spinning the fiber? (this thought has seriously crossed my mind...)

the cutest herb garden

I love the idea of container gardens for city-dwellers. Since last summer (our first summer in this apartment, and my first summer not living in a dorm or with my parents), I have desperately wanted a garden. Last summer we had a window box filled with herbs but they never really yielded enough herbs to do anything with, and since I sprouted them from Meijer seeds they were really nothing special.

This year however, I decided to maximize my space and commit a little more energy to a garden, starting with revamping my herb garden. I recently found I was accepted to a VISTA summer program in Kalamazoo called "Parent Involvement Makes a Difference" working with the Kalamazoo Promise, which means two things for my living situation: I will be living in Kalamazoo at least until August 14th; and I will only have to work 32 hours a week, meaning I'll have more energy than last summer when I was working 40 hours a week, and then on my thesis. With that in mind I bought several herbs from the People's Food Co-op yesterday, and came up with this adorable garden.

How to make your own city-dweller herb garden:
1. Look around at the multitude of possibilities to plant things in. To date I have planted lavender in a broken stein, and an African violet in a cracked French Press. I also have a rusty colander awaiting some herbs. I was frustrated by the amount of dog food cans I had, so I decided they would be my garden.

2. make sure your containers have ample drainage. I poked at least 5 holes in the bottom of each can, simply using a nail and hammer.
3. Spraypaint/decorate if you'd like. I had a can of old spraypaint left over from another project, and gave each can one of each.
4. Decide if you'd like to hang your cans/jars/containers. I used about 9" of wire, and wrapped it around each can at the top, then twisted it into a loop. Really simple, and fairly foolproof.
5. fill bottom with gravel/rocks or other drainage. Half of these are filled with broken glass, since I'm thrifty to a T.
6. Fill bottom with potting soil.
7. Plant your herbs!


8. Configure them the way you'd like. For me this meant getting Eric to nail 6 nails into our porch while I eyeballed the distance and hung herbs from them.
9. Water and enjoy!

I can't wait to see how this works out. I also planted some other vegetables in containers, but I'll blog about that soon. For now, I'm going to get the dirt out from under my nails, and say goodnight to my new garden before having a beer!

Spring, Hurry UP

I've currently got a baby kitty rolling all over my keyboard, climbing on my knees, and nibbling on my fingers so excuse any typos. Roo has gotten very affectionate.

So, it's April 7th, and this is the second day we woke up, looked out the window, and instead of seeing budding trees and birds, were greeted with the sight of snow.

SNOW!?! Oh Midwest. Oh Global Warming.

Luckily it's been warm enough for the past few weeks that I finally got to wear my Whisper Cardigan!


I love this sweater. I fell in love with the pattern instantly, but as the knitting progressed I began to question the fit, shape, and overall style. But when I cast off and put it on, I knew it was a winner. I don't think I've ever worn my own knitting this much.
The yarn was a Valentine's Day present from my boss. It's Artful yarns fragrance, and is a wool alpaca blend. SO soft, drapes wonderfully, and is quite warm for such a small cardigan.

I made some pretty big modifications, the largest being a yarn with 16st/4inch which was a much larger gauge than the pattern called for. I cast on 60 stitches instead of 90 for the sleeves, and kind of fudged the rest. This did mean I had to pull out the entire body once, but I'm glad I got to use this yarn!

I also hemmed both sleeves by knitting them an inch longer, and inserting a purl turn row. You can see how they flare just the littlest bit, which I prefer over rolling.

I also began and ended every row of the body, which is plain stockinette, with 3 ribbed stitches, and increased after them. This gave it a nice, neat border that also doesn't roll.



And to finish? A crochet cast-off that makes the whole thing nice and tidy.

Overall, this pattern was a huge success. Easy-peasy, cute, comfortable, and so wearable! Once it stops snowing, I'll be wearing it everywhere.