Yarn Along

Over the weekend I cast on my final Christmas gift project.  It's the most difficult one yet, so I don't know what possessed me to knit it last.  I hope I can get it done in time.  In a fit of uncertainty I looked for a comparable item to gift just in case, but I couldn't find one I thought my gift recipient would like.  So.  The pressure's really on!

Since I can't show it or any of my Christmas knitting -- yet -- I thought I'd instead share two things. 1) My Finished Object Report on Nathan's Big Birthday Owl and 2) this amazing amazing hand-dyed yarn that arrived today from Brambleberry Yarns:

The color is called Sunshine Yellow, and as it sat in the car next to me on the trip home from the post office (yes, I opened it in the car) it reflected back the warm yellow light of the sun.  It's beautiful!

Cynthia from Brambleberry Yarns dyes her yarns and fibers with plants she grows in her garden and finds in the wilderness around her.  Does that intrigue you the way it does me?  This yarn was dyed with goldenrod.  All of a sudden I'm a sucker for yellow, but I've always been a sucker for blue, and she has some gorgeous blues and purples in her shop right now.  If you're in the market for new yarn, I hope you'll stop by her shop!

On to the Finished Object Report: Big Birthday Owl

Pattern: Big Snowy Owl by the Purl Bee
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Bare, Porchini, Hazelnut and Chocholate
Needles: Size 11 circular and size 11 DPNs
Rating & fun factor: 5 out of 5 stars

This pattern is clever, interesting and fun to execute.  What more could I want in a pattern?  I know, a finished object that my son will actually play with!  But really, I went into this knowing he'd never play with the owl.  It was 10 days before Nathan's second birthday and I realized that I didn't have a gift for him -- or even one in mind -- and when I came across this pattern I knew I had it figured out.  And I had an idea that he wouldn't really play with the owl -- yet.  Someday, sure.  All he does for now is throw him around or toss him out of the way to get to the more interesting toys.

But the good news is, the owl is super squishy and he gets to live in my house so I can hug him whenever I want.

Two things I'd do differently if I knitted him again:

1.  I'd use smaller needles so I don't see so much stuffing through the stitches.  The pattern calls for super bulky yarn, but I only had bulky, so I went down two needle sizes.  I could have gone down another size or two, but I didn't want the owl to get smaller, too.

2.  If I used smaller needles and had tighter stitches, I would have added a lot more stuffing.  I like how downright squishy he is -- I did it intentionally -- and adding more stuffing wouldn't have made him less squishy... but it would have stretched the stitches further and shown off even more stuffing than it already does.

It was a fun and easy knit.  I hope you'll give him a chance for a little (or big) one in your life.  Just make sure he or she is older than two.  :)

Welcome November Sponsor

Please help me welcome Creating a Family Home’s November sponsor, Brambleberry Yarns! 

  

Brambleberry Yarns offers beautiful, one-of-a-kind, naturally hand-dyed yarns and fibers.  A woman after my own heart, Cynthia grows her own dye plants and takes advantage of the wild plants that grow around her in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.  She has been working with natural dyes for seven years and loves how her craft lets her combine two of her passions: gardening and knitting.

Brambleberry Yarns products are dyed in small quantities with plants that are in-season, so every skein of yarn or ounce of roving is truly one of a kind—her dye pot is always changing.  One of the most amazing things about natural-dyed yarns is that they all look beautiful together—the colors blend harmonoiusly and never look harsh.  Just look at these colors (and these!) and tell me they’re not amazing!  Cynthia is so wonderfully talented—I can’t wait to try out some of these yarns myself.  As a nature-lover, these colors really speak to me.

Please visit Brambleberry Yarns and have a look around!  Don't forget to like Brambleberry Yarns' Facebook page for updates and sneak peeks of the yarns as Cynthia adds them to her shop.

 

Get to Know Brambleberry Yarns

Hey everyone!  I know you'll help me welcome Creating a Family Home sponsor Brambleberry Yarns.  Owner Cynthia sells the most beautiful naturally dyed yarn you'll ever see in her Etsy shop, Brambleberry Yarns.  Earlier this month I introduced her to you and she offered readers a 20 percent discount in her shop -- so generous!

Cynthia is an amazing woman after my own heart -- a longtime gardener, knitter, lover of family and a homeschooling mom -- and she's incredibly gifted and interesting.  Her craft and her perspective is so unique and refreshing.  I recently had the chance to get to know her better through her interview, below -- and now you can, too!  (I'm sure you'll also find her charming and delightful... I mean, she's a gardener and a knitter and she combines the two in her craft.  How can she not be?)

Read on to get to know Cynthia and please visit her shop to see more of her beautiful yarns.

1. Tell us a little more about Brambleberry Yarns.

            Brambleberry Yarns came to be as sort of a spin-off from my blog Brambleberries in the Rain. I have been blogging for over four years now about using natural dyes. Over those four years I would occasionally sell some of my yarns online and at various bazaars just for fun. I was never sure if I wanted to make selling yarns a full-time endeavor or not. I finally decided to take the plunge on selling my yarns through Etsy a few months back and am now enjoying it so much!

2. What inspired you to begin dyeing yarn, and what keeps you motivated today?

            First of all, I have always been a gardener. My gardens have always been a true passion of mine. Then I became a knitter roughly 10 years ago and not long after that I learned it is possible to dye yarn using plants -- plants that I already had growing in my garden! I was head over heels in love with knitting and the thought that I could combine this new craft with my lifelong love of gardening was too good to be true. I dived into the world of natural dyes and have never looked back! Staying motivated is easy because there is always something new to learn or a plant I have not tried dyeing with. The world of natural dyes is huge! It is always so fascinating to me to see what color one can achieve from a particular plant.

3. How do you balance being a creative, a business owner and a homeschooling mom?

            It is not an easy feat that is for sure! I am constantly working on finding a good balance with where I focus my time. There are days when I feel pulled in a thousand directions and never enough of me to go around. I keep my head on straight by doing small things for myself (like taking a half an hour nap when I need one or making sure I put in a few minutes a day to work on my knitting) that keep me feeling motivated. A lot of my time spent dyeing yarn is at night when the younger children are in bed and not needing my attention. This works out really well for me as long as I remember to get myself to bed at a decent time!

4. What do you love most about using plants for dying—as opposed to using traditional dyes or even plant extracts?

            This is an easy one to answer! :) Plant based dyes are simply fascinating! Just like with growing grapes for wine climate, soil, and water affect the colors a person will achieve with dyes from natural plants. A plant growing in spring will yield a completely different color than it does during the fall. That is just so amazing to me. In fact, we just recently moved and I am a little concerned (and excited!) to see how the change in water is going to affect my colors.

5. What are your favorite plants to use for dying and why?

            I really do not have a favorite (although this year was definitely the year of goldenrod for me as it was growing everywhere!) I find them all to be my favorites depending on what happens to be in my dye pot at the moment. I have a love for growing herbs and using them so they are always favorites of mine in the dye pot.

6. What are your favorite colorways to dye?

            I do not know if I have a favorite because I seem to love them all! Every skein that comes out of the dye pot is a new favorite. Each and every one is like a baby to me. Lately though I have been really enjoying the more soft and earthy tones.

7. What do you enjoy most about knitting, gardening and putting the two together in your craft?

            There is definitely a rewarding feeling when it comes to growing the dye plant, dyeing with it and then knitting the yarn into a garment to be worn. I love to be able to look at a knitted item from my yarns and remember where that color came from -- be it my garden or a hike with my kids.

8. And finally, onto the knitting.  What do you love to knit most, and why?

            Just about anything! Although I do love to make items for my children: hats, longies, cardigans, mittens, etc, etc! I have been trying to work on making more items for myself though lately. In fact, I am just about ready to cast on the Shalom cardigan for myself with some yarn that I dyed using logwood. Too much fun and too addicting!