Zombie Blog

It's back! Risen from the dead! My bloooooooog! So I'm terribly ashamed that I haven't updated my blog since December. I have no excuses. I've been busy, really busy but who hasn't? Anyhow I'm here, I'm back and hopefully I'll get back into the habit of posting more often.

Since five months is a long time of catching up, I'm just going to do a super quick run down of the things I've knitted or otherwise created in that time. If you want more details or have a question, feel free to ask in the comments section.

In November I knit this gorgeous creature for a Ravelry Knit Knack swap. Anne wanted something with grey and mustard yellow.

Name: Super Secret Swap

Pattern: My own design inspired by several cowls.

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Merino Light

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

In January I finally finished these socks. I love socks as a simple project. A row here or there. Just chillin', not worrying about getting them done on a deadline.

Name: Swirly Q

Pattern: Inspired by Spiral Eyelet Socks by Sandi Rosner.

Yarn: Wisdom Yarns Poem Socks

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

In the same swap that I knit the mustard and grey cowl, Anne gave me a kit. She provided the yarn and pattern to make these super sweet mitts! I had plenty of yarn left over so I made myself a quicky shawl to match.

Name: Strawberry Shortcake Mitts

Pattern: Strawberry Mittens by SpillyJane.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Fingering

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Name: Strawberry Leftovers

Pattern: Diving in {recipe} by Mam'zelle Flo

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Fingering

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Ages ago another Knit Knacker Amber spun this breathtaking yarn and I bought it from her. I mean, look at it!! I didn't want to knit with it, I couldn't find something that seemed right for it until January. I knit the Ginkgo shawl and I love it!

Name: Ginkgo Coastal

Pattern: Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl by Maggie Magali

Yarn: Coast Handspun by Amber (yarnaholic)

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

When I first became S.L.U.G. Queen, Queen Slugtoinette asked me if I could knit her a doll of her likening. Of course! I wasn't able to give it to her on her birthday, but rather at my birthday party and as you can see, she's beyond thrilled!

Name: SLUG Queen Marie Slugtoinette

Pattern: Marie Antoinette Knit Doll Pattern by Amy Gaines

Yarn: Scrap acrylic I had

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

I'm on the call list for test knitting for one of my favorite designers, Lee Meredith (Leethal). In March, she sent out this hat pattern to be tested. I volunteered to make it in fingering, with little to no slouch for a man- my hunky husband.

Name: Barry

Pattern: Barry by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-Ply

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Every year, a local boutique has a silly, stunning, creative, festive Easter bonnet contest. As Queen, I entered and I won! I was awarded a $100 gift certificate. Woohoo! My bonnet has flowers, leaves, Easter eggs, chicks, bunnies and a slug or two.

Name: Passionflower Easter Bonnet

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Various yarn I had around the house.

Weight: Mostly worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Also, every year there is a fantastic art show dedicated to Jell-O. The current SLUG Queen always gives the benediction. I also entered this year by knitting with Jell-O. Well, sort of. Check out the link to read more about my adventures in wiggly, jiggling knitting.

Name: Knit 1, Jell-O 2

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Scrap Yarn and gelatin

Weight: Does Jell-O have a gauge?

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Another Leethal test knit! I had bought the beautiful blue yarn last summer and still hadn't used it. When I saw I needed one or two more yarns for this shawl I went out and got the vibrant fuchsia to go with it. They look great together! I love this shawl- it reminds me of butterfly wings. I took the pictures at the Woodburn Tulip Festival.

Name: Robin

Pattern: Robin by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Merino Light

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

And finally, I have this hat. When I did the test knitting for Lee Meredith, I was given credit to her pattern store in exchange. I bought this hat and used some yarn around the house. It needed more flare, so I needle felted hearts over the ears. Because of the style of the hat and the additional hearts, I call this my Amelia EarHeart hat.

Name: Amelia EarHEART

Pattern: Gentle on My Mind by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my knitting as much I as did making them. What's up next for me? I'm starting on a new Queen gown. It'll be my Old Queen gown, something I can retire into. I'd like to get back into spinning. I can't remember the last time I spun yarn. The Black Sheep Gathering is next month, I'm excited for that! I also was curious at how much yarn I knit in a year so I joined Knit Meter. You plug in your yardage and it adds it up for you (it would be great though if it was synced with Ravelry so you didn't have to do it twice.) The little gadget update automatically but as of today, I've knit 2.02 miles in 2013. That's pretty cool!

Advent Calendar

In 2011 I did a craft trade with my friend Kristin. I knit her children some hats and she quilted a beautiful advent calender for my family. We did the exchange so close to Christmas last year I wasn't able to use it for advent.

I grew up with those little chocolate advent calenders and they just might be my favorite Christmas tradition. To wake up every morning, searching for the right number and eating a chocolate before breakfast! I knew I wanted to continue the tradition with my boys but wanted something more special, more permanent and of course handmade.

When I discussed what I wanted in an advent calender, I imagined that I would knit little Christmas stockings that could be attached to it and then my boys could pick one and put it in the corresponding pocket. Kristen totally rocked it! The craftsmanship is outstanding and the fabrics she used is perfect for my tastes.

Because the advent calender wasn't used last year it gave me all of 2012 to knit little stockings for it. I knew that if I gave myself the entire year to knit them all, then I could finish it. HA!! What a joke! Wasn't I optimistic? Come January 5th I had one sock knit. Then on November 8th I remembered advent was approaching and searched out my project. I had only knit 9 socks. ACK! I needed to knit 16 more in less than a month! I barely did it- I just finished the last one today.

This week I bought little foil wrapped chocolate candies to hide in the pockets each morning so that my sons get that extra special treat. I hope that using this calendar every year will create a special memory for them.

Name: Keepsake

Pattern: Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments by Little Cotton Rabbits

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette

Needle Size: US 2, 2.75mm

Read more on my Ravelry page.

Becker Brigade Hats

Earlier this month I posted about my sons dyeing yarn with Kool Aid and food coloring using the sunshine and heat for solar energy. I told them when they picked out their colors that I would knit them hats. I just finished today!

Name: Becker Brigade Hats

Pattern: Slip Stitch Stash Hat by Renee Rico

Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool

Weight: Worsted

Modifications: See my Ravelry page for more info.

Sadie Slimy Stitches for Slug Queen

Tomorrow, I will be one of six competitors to run for Slug Queen 2012. My Queenly name is Sadie Slimy Stitches. I've been campaigning and working towards this title since April 2011. I love Eugene, love its people and want to help encourage community art. In the competition tomorrow, I will be judged on my costume, 3 minute talent and my answer to whatever wacky question I get asked. My costume is my crowning achievement. I thought I'd break it down for you.

I started knitting my gown in May of 2011. I was inspired by the Emerald City gowns in the Broadway musical Wicked. Wicked had toured Eugene in April and I thought those Emerald City gowns would make great Slug Queen costumes. Being a textural knitter, or an unconventional knitter to say the least I had the idea to knit a gown. Thus the creation of Sadie Slimy Stitches.

My gown took 418 days to knit using 43 different green yarns. I made the pattern myself. Just knitting and fitting it as I went. A couple of friends of mine donated green tshirts that I cut into "yarn" and knit myself a train. Christina knit me a bunch of little slugs. I sewed 30 onto my train to represent the 30th year of Slug Queens-  one for every queen! I added silver organza ribbon as 'slime trails.'

My little top hat fascinator was knitted by one of my Slugettes, Vicki. It's knit and felted. She also make a beautiful sparkly green veil to go with it. I finished it off with sparkly ribbon and a peacock feather.

My leggings are one of a kind by Allihalla. Alli makes the best swimsuits and I commissioned her to make me some Slug Queen leggings. I bought the spandex online and told her surprise me. They're perfect!

My shoes are Vans slip-ons that I commissioned my friend Candice to paint. What a great job! Yarn, a royal slug, knitted stitches and slime? Perfect!

I knit my purse as part of the Ravellenic Games on Ravelry. I knit then felted it. I needle felted for the first time to create the image of a slug carrying a bouquet of heart balloons.

Lastly, my parasol. Hands down the most difficult thing I've ever knit. An Herbert Niebling pattern, I knit it with lace weight and stretched it to fit over a parasol frame. You can read more about it on my past post.

To finish it all off, Sarah Clifford created my hair and make-up. Curled and teased and sprayed, my hair is HUGE! Sparkly eyes, bow lips... She did an amazing job of helping me to create Sadie's character.

Melissa Mankins at Paper Moon Studio took these amazing photos of me. I wanted photos as a keepsake. I've worked so hard to get here I want to remember it always. I couldn't have done any of this without the help and support of so many people. Thank you all. ♥

More Kool Aid Popsicle Dyeing

Remember my tutorial from last summer? Yesterday, my two sons did some more dyeing using this method. They chose their colors, helped make the ice cubes. They arranged their popsicles on the yarn and waited not so patiently for the sun to dye it. I told them I would use their yarn to knit them new winter hats.

NOTE: This technique will NOT work on cotton. Kool Aid and food coloring will only successfully dye on wool, silk and other animal fibers/hairs.

My son Bailey chose McCormick yellow food coloring, Kool Aid Mixed Berry, Kool Aid Cherry and Kool Aid Black Cherry for his yarn colors.

My son Silas chose McCormick green food coloring, Kool Aid Lemon Lime, Kool Aid Mixed Berry and Kool Aid Peach Mango for his yarn.

Here are some things that I did differently from last time.

• As soon as my boys were done arranging their ice cubes on the yarn, I covered the glass dish with saran wrap. I didn't wait like last time.
• We did this in the morning when it was 68 degrees out. We laid the covered yarn in the shade. After a couple of hours (we ran errands) we came home and saw that the ice cubes were all melted but the yarn was still in the shade and still relatively cool.
• Once I saw that the dye was all melted, I peeled back the saran wrap and gently flipped the  yarn over. A lot of the dye was on the bottom and now it's on the top and will slowly drip its way through the rest of the yarn.
• I recovered the yarn and put it in direct sunlight (It got up to the high 80s in the afternoon.) We went to the park after this for a few hours. When we got back, the saran wrap was all steamy and the glass was hot to touch! I brought it inside and pulled the yarn out. It was really hot too. Perfect! The water dripping off the yarn was clear, all the dye was absorbed into the yarn.

Including shade and sunlight time, the yarn was outside for about 6 hours. I thought by letting the ice cubes melt in the shade, it would melt slower. Giving it a less spotty, polka dot look. I also think turning the yarn over was a good idea. Their yarn is more uniform. Yay success!  Feel free to ask me any questions below.

UPDATE!! See the hats that I knit for them on this post here.

It Was a Good Day

In the words of Ice Cube, "Today it was a good day."

As most of you know, I'm running this year for the title of Eugene Slug Queen.  I'm knitting my gown and I've also knitted a parasol to match.  Today, I finally finished it and put it on the umbrella frame.  It looks so amazing.  If I never knit another thing again, I'll be okay.  Because I have this.

Name: Parasol Fit for a Queen
Pattern: Frosted Ferns #7633 by Herbert Niebling
Yarn: Huckleberry Knits BFL/silk lace
Colorway: Weeping Willow
Yardage: approx. 500 yards
View more photos and details on my Ravelry page.

Please like my Sadie Slimy Stitches page on Facebook to keep up to date with my crazy slug 'trail.'

Also today, my family took a little road trip up to Woodburn, Oregon today to see the Tulip Festival.  Tulips are my favorite flower and I haven't been to the festival in a few years.  Here are some of my favorite photos from today.