Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

My biggest project of the late summer/fall so far. The book Knit, Swirl! has been a huge hit at Yarndogs since it came out. I knew right away I wanted to knit one but I waited until after Sock Summit to cast on. First, I tried Silk Garden Sock instead of Silk Garden Lite because I was in love with one of the colors . Robin from the shop did this and hers was gorgeous if a bit smaller than expected. It came out like a more typical jacket shape with smaller lapels that couldn't be worn as a hood. I already have 2 jackets with that silhouette, though. I really like the Baja hoodie surfer vibe with the hood. I promised myself this summer I'd take surfing lessons this fall, but moving got in the way of that. I plan on doing it next month, though! I'm already doing pushups to get ready. That's part of a whole 'nother blog post, though! I swatched and got gauge with the SGS, but when I started the jacket it didn't stripe! Robin's colorway only had about

Kathy wanted to know if I could take the concept from this little double knit coaster with her logo and turn it into something HUGE to hang outside the shop. So I did! And in time for Debbie Stoller's visit next month! It's a party for the Bust DIY Guide to Life book by Laurie Henzel and Debbie. Here's the info direct from the Princess herself- Register now at: http://bustprincessanimalparty.eventbrite.com Who better to create a Guide for Life than Debbie Stoller, Editor in Chief of BUST magazine and author of the Stitch & Bitch series) and Laurie Henzel, Creative Director of BUST. The book is stacked with the best ideas in DIY, health, beauty, fashion, cooking, finance, and way more. Debbie & Laurie will be signing the book, hobnobbing, and leading us in a project from the book--yup, Sno-Globes. Did we mention there's free booze? This event is FREE, with purchase of the book ($29.95, but you'll also leave with a custom sno-globe and a belly full o' bo

Early in the summer, Knitspiration Guild had an Amiga knitalong. Here's mine . We talked about how to adjust raglan shaping when necessary for a custom fit. I usually do pretty well with a standard shaping, so I didn't make any modifications in that section other than changing the kfb increases to mirrored M1 increases. It's a Knitty.com pattern by Mags Kandis. I wasn't super thrilled about it in the beginning, but I made a lot of changes to make it more similar to the Featherweight Cardigan from Knitbot (Hannah Fettig). I mostly set it aside during the build up to Sock Summit and I picked it up again in earnest on the way home. The thing that bugged me the most about the original was the rolled hem that seemed to ride up really badly in the back in the pattern photos. It was pretty cropped to begin with, too. I added waist shaping, made it significantly longer, and changed the rolled hem to a 1x1 rib. I added decreases to taper the sleeves more and changed the ro

How is it October already?? August and September got sucked up finding a new place to live, moving, and getting my business license in the new place (the hardest by far of the 3 cities I've been in up to this point). Here are the pics from the Knitspiration Guild dye day I hosted in September. It was great fun and I'm happy to say I should be able to host again in the spring. I know there were a fair number of people who couldn't make it this time. Click the photo to see the rest of the Flickr set.