Knitting Sochi, part 1

It's time to look back at one of my more recently completed projects: Sochi!

As you may be able to guess by the title Sochi was completed during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi Russia. Back during the 2014 London Olympics I went 100% UK by using yarn that I had spun from British Breeds and then knitting up a hat using a Scottish designers pattern. While the finished project didn't come out perfectly it really ended up being a great memento of the games.

With this in mind I wanted to do something similar for the Russian games but I was a bit stumped. As I pondered however I came across the Faberge pattern. Faberge = Russian, perfect! Plus it was a project that I really was very intent upon actually completing. And being me this involved spinning up my own yarn. I had already completed 3 of the 4 skeins of yarn that I would need. So in January there was a sudden burst of prepping and spinning fiber for the project. By the day of the opening games the final skein of yarn was spun up, although still sitting on my spinning wheels bobbin.

The pattern itself is great and well worth the price. One of the key points she makes is to have you knit up a little sample to test out all aspects of the pattern. The primary reason is to gauge that your yarns have enough contrast to show the beautiful lattice. For me however it was also largely about the beads.

When it comes to knitting I am not a sparkly shiny person. I think most yarns/projects with glitz are tacky and not something that I care to be doing. But the more I thought about this project and its Russian-ness and the idea of Faberge the more I realized that I must add the beads!

I purchased a back of goldish/brozey beads to add to the project without being too gaudy. I knit up the gauge and while the beads weren't necessarily my favorite thing ever I still loved the project. Bonus hint to all knitters blocking was key. I don't know that I will ever get over just how much of a difference it can make when you take the time to block out something that is freshly knit.

Ok this recap is getting long winded. I think I'll break it up into a few different parts. So stay tuned for the rest!

Multiplying like Rabbits

While not being sidetracked by weather, work, cleaning, and or Easter eggs I have managed to produce some bunnies:

Blanket Bunny. More bunny yet than blanket, but super cute no matter how you look at it.

Fuzzy Mitten Bunnies. The pattern is available for sale here. I highly recommend it. The only major modification that I recommend is knitting the pattern in the round. As published the critters are knit flat and seamed but that seems to me just to be unnecessary work and tedium. These guys will go to the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center and then hopefully be sold! I will likely try to knit up at least a sweater or two for some of them.

And the random colorful crochet bunny is a random fun addition first seen I believe on pintrest. The pattern is a free pattern available here. He feels very trendy and in line with what folks like these days. Although that could just be what the artsy-craftsy-ravelry people like and I could be totally misjudging things. He was pretty simple to make, although inevitably took longer than I anticipated. I'll probably try and make a few more. It's fun to put the colors together and its the perfect use for the eyes I purchased that are too larger for my other critters.

 

Here's to staying on track with at least one bunny per day. Tomorrow is a band rehearsal evening so it could be tricky.

Eggtastic

Over the weekend that was supposed to be spent cleaning the house and making bunnies I found myself distracted by eggs.

First I was zentangling on some blown eggs. I love doodling and there’s something about doing it in 3D that makes it extra amazing. It was addicting and I ended up staying up far too late Saturday night/Sunday morning doing this.

Then on Sunday I stayed more on task but while cleaning the kitchen I set things up and dyed up some fun colors.

Bunny report (hopefully) tomorrow. Stay tuned!

PS: Many thanks to Bran for most of the eggs. I wanted blown eggs (my preferred version since I don’t have to worry about toxicity or ruining my work) but hate wasting food. He often finds that he doesn’t make it the whole way through his carton of eggs before buying a new one. So after raiding his fridge I was able to nab around a dozen and a half eggs that I don’t feel bad at all about “wasting”.

Tea Tuesday: Lady Londonderry

To kick off my (hopefully) weekly Tea Tuesday series I've decided to feature one of my all-time-favorite teas: Lady Londonderry.

Lady Londonderry is a mild flavored tea that tastes to me of summer. The blended black teas have a gentle flavor and form a base for the layered flavors that make the tea exciting. Seeing strawberry and lemon listed are what first drew me to try this blend. If I where to blind-taste I doubt that my unrefined palate would be able to identify the Strawberry. More-so the tea just tastes lightly and delightfully fruity. I don't even notice the lemon unless I am searching for its flavor specifically. There are also floral components of the tea which add to the complexity of the tea and round everything out. Plus they make it look pretty!

10 out of 10 teacups - would recommend for everyone :-)

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Purchased from theteatable.com
"Blended from Ceylon and Assam black teas, freeze dried strawberries, lemon balm, sunflower and calendula petals."

Full Speed Ahead! (and bunnies)

I seem to have gone from crafting meandering to full on priority list with true deadlines in the space of about two days.

As I mentioned before first up there is a gather of Bran's family coming up the first weekend in April. Additional research has revealed that the gathering is in fact a somewhat casual family oriented baby shower for expecting cousin no.2. The gathering will also have a wood-land-ish type theme. So the bunny head blanket that I'm envisioning fits in quite well. And since I never did anything for cousin no.1 who now has a 16 month old that is also top priority. I have no idea what stage of play or development that puts the little guy at. But I do know that they are pretty sports-y type people. So it may be seasonally inappropriate but I'm thinking a football (brown with the white laces) hat would be fun. I'll make it big so as to work for next fall. And perhaps an extra stuffed animal or something. Double perhaps a bunny for Easter.

Oh and extra scoop. Cousin no.2 and husband also love hedgehogs. So I'm thinking I totally also "need" to make them one of the little not child friendly hedgehogs. Pretty much just because they are awesome. And because I'm insane.

So all of that is excellent and time sensitive (T-minus 15 days). And in the midst of making these plans Father sends me an email yesterday:

"your 4 bunnies sold and we wondered if you wanted to make more for Easter season for the gift shop"

Whoa, I didn't even realize I had any bunnies to be sold (at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center). But sales are awesome so yay! And more sales are even better (gotta pay for this website somehow). So the idea is to see how many bunnies I can churn out in the next week-ish and ship them off to be sold before Easter.

BONUS: Now I make bunnies which come in two flavors regular (sometimes with hats and or scarves) and with sweaters. I had mentioned trying to write up a pattern for the sweater some time ago on Ravelry. And then just recently someone sent me a message inquiring if I had ever done so. I have not but its still something that I think would be awesome. And with the exception of the lack of time at the moment it seems like a great thing to do with this here blog.

That's enough typing now, I gotta go craft!