WIP: Art of Chocolate

Art of Chocolate is a local fundraiser for Options, Inc. a domestic violence shelter in my county. I’m donating a project for the Art of Chocolate this year. AoC is an auction. I’ve wanted to attend the last 2 years and mostly by chance this year, the application for artists came across my desk at work. I decided that there was absolutely no reason why I couldn’t participate.  So I emailed the coordinator, bought yarn, and started. I’m doing a pair of gloves (just a bit modified) and when I realized I’d bought a skein of yarn more than I needed, I cast on for a purse as well to go with it. These mostly just need ends woven in and buttons now. The clutch purse is maybe 1/4 done. It’s a TON of cabling, so it doesn’t make for great TV knitting.

Gloves waiting for buttons

& with flash

 

beginnings of the clutch

 

more clutch

FO: Sherry’s Scarf

Blocking on the floor. The cast off edge is just a smidge too tight, but it fits her well. Hope she enjoys it!

Sherry’s Scarf

Finished this last night. The cast off is a little tighter than I wanted, but I wasn’t going to undo it to fix it, it’s not that tight. It’s a mobius scarf, knit using Cat Bordhi’s technique. 3 rows of stockinette alternated with 3 rows of purl, so it’s reversible. It’s knit with Cascade Yarns Heritage Quatro in color 5667, lot 6447. It’s like a denim blueish. The deal was to knit Sherry a scarf & she was supposed to sew me one of hers. I’m not sure if it’ll ever actually play out or not, but it’s done.

Blocking

Blocking my Central Park Hoodie on Saturday. I had an accident with half and half at work Upside, I got to use my blocking mats for the first time!

Knitting

Time for a knitting update! I’m starting to venture into selling knitting at the coffeeshop I work at. I did coffee sleeves earlier this fall, but I’m starting to do hats, scarves and such now as well. So far, I sold all the first batch but one of the sleeves this fall & in January so far, I’ve sold one scarf. I just put a second scarf & a hat there. I’m still struggling with the pricing issue. I’m in an area right now where very few people have that kind of extra money to throw around, but I’m also at a point where I’m unwilling to undervalue my knitting. The sleeves were (and are) at $5, which is totally reasonable. The one scarf was acrylic and at $18, which is probably ok. The pieces I dropped off today were mohair & alpaca, and I priced the, at $45. That seems high to me, gut reaction, but it’s really not, considering the time & yarns used. I adore the hat, won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t sell to be honest!

Christmas 2011

This is the big batch: this is the commissions! Unfortunately, I got really horrible photos as I was trying to get them all tagged with washing instructions and in ziplocks to mail them later in the day. Unfortunately, you’ll have to use your imagination a bit with these.

Christmas 2011

Two of the same pattern. Sharon’s is in brown and green, Teresa’s brown/green & blue/purple, with a light blue edge.

Pattern: Chastain Park Shawl
Yarns: Noro Kogarashi (mostly)

Thoughts: This is my new go to pattern. Seriously. I’ve knit 3, people LOVE them and they look fantastic.

Christmas 2011 – Beth’s Scarf

I did a fair amount of Christmas knitting. I can share some with descriptions and some should wait until after the holiday. But here’s one I can share!

This is my boss/coworker Beth’s scarf. She snapped this for me a few days after she unwrapped it

Pattern: Windchill
Yarn: Noro Kogarashi

Thoughts: I wouldn’t do this pattern again, but it was great for her. I found the pattern to be less defined than in the model photos on Ravelry.

Commisions?

Commissions. Speak to me of them. Do you take them? Do you enjoy them? How do you price them?

I had another person I know ask me to consider a commission for them and while my first instinct is yes because I like the person & her recipient of the commission (it’s a gift), my second thought is wait, no. Only in part because of the project size.

I enjoy commissions because I make things that aren’t my usual style or colour, but I also hate taking away from *my* knitting time. I always feel bad with a personal project and a commission both on the needles at the same time and guilitly work on the commission… but it goes slowly because I don’t want to be doing it. Anyone else have this issue? How do you work over it?

WIP photo

Yarn: KnitPicks Chroma Worseted
Colourway: MixTape
Needles: US size 9
Pattern: Palindrome

It’s a Christmas present, shh!