Month: February 2023

The Carolyn Wrap
Knitted Wrap · Knitting · Uncategorized · yarn

The Carolyn Wrap

My Time Stitching11 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! How are you on this last day of February? There were 2 ice storms here within a week.. The second started yesterday and this morning everything was encased in ice. The sun is out and the temperatures rose quickly so it has all melted now. More rain, freezing rain, snow weather to come this week and next. It appears that Mother Nature is going to cram a lot of winter into March. So I am wishing for Spring to hurry up and get here.

Back in December, I saw posts on Instagram from @GamerBabeKnits showing a black and white photo of her advent wrap that she designed for Speckled Finc Studios. The black and white photo was so awesome, that I was so disappointed that I was not able to get in on the advent this last year. And then she put a color photo on her Etsy and I just swooned!

Wow! I instantly fell in love with this. The yarns were made special for the advent, so I knew I would not be able to get this colorway. So I contacted a local dyer, Janice, of Adelaide Fiber Company, and asked if she would dye me a fade for this gorgeous pattern. She said she would and I let her do her thing. She sent me pictures now and then of what she was making and I loved the skeins she showed me and let her build it from there. In January she told me she was finished and would be putting them in the mail. I received them on my Birthday!!

I was so excited when I opened the package! Such beautiful colors! I couldn’t wait to get started. So I got started winding some of the minis and getting all of my supplies ready to go.

I wound the first 12 colors. Mostly because I only have 12 mini yarn snugglers and because 12 mini skeins fit perfectly into my Karolyn bag.

Time to get knitting! I want to see what all of these beautiful skeins look like knitted up!

I have one repeat in and I can say that I am loving this pattern! The first 2 colors are so sweet!

Well, 3 repeats in and this is looking so awesome! The pattern repeat is 24 rows and is pretty easy to do. I can even watch TV and knit this.

I can tell you that this pattern is pretty addicting. I also want to see the next color knitted up. My elbow is aching from constant knitting so I am going to had to cut back a little. My plan was to do at least 1 repeat a day or at least 24 rows. 1 New color a day 🙂

This wrap is growing so fast! I am knitting on it as much as I can do in a sitting. And I still love every stitch and seeing every beautiful skein of yarn come to life.

So many beautiful colors! I am loving how the colors change with each pattern repeat.

Down to the last few skeins! I am knitting more than I should be, wanting to get this finished.

It is finished! I LOVE it!! This wrap took me a little over 3 weeks to knit. This photo is before blocking. For those of you who wonder why block? Well, see all the puckers in the pattern from the decreases? And see how it doesn’t lay flat and the lace is sort of hidden in the puckers?

Here it is on the blocking boards. I used blocking wires down the long sides as well as the blocking pins. Now it will lay flat and that lace is opened up and so pretty.

I am absolutely in love with this wrap! I can wear it as a scarf on the colder days and wear it as a wrap on those chilly nights at the beach. The pattern is very well written and also includes a chart as well as a check off list for each repeat. This pattern, The Carolyn Wrap by Yvonne Poon aka Gamer Babe Knitter, is available on Ravelry and Etsy from GamerBabeDesigns. Yarns by Adelaide Fiber Company are available on Etsy.

I can see myself knitting this pattern again in the future. I think it will be a favorite. Do you have a favorite pattern that you have or would create again and again?

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

Holly Berry Pixie
Bella Filipina Designs · cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Pixie · WIP

Holly Berry Pixie

My Time Stitching18 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! January got away from me and I thought I had better make a post before February disappears! Though when February is over, I will be even closer to Spring. But I really cannot complain about this winter. Temps have been above normal for the most part and we have not gotten much snow. Yay!! I will take it! The days do seem to be going by so fast for me. Maybe that is why I hurt my back over the weekend. In too much of a hurry and twisted wrong. So, I have been taking it easy the last couple of days and getting in lots of knitting and cross stitching. Today I will share with you what I have been cross stitching on.

Let me introduce you to Holly Berry Pixie from Bella Filipina Designs.

I fell absolutely in love with this pattern when it was released in December. I could not get her in my hands fast enough! I ordered right away and then went stash diving to find the perfect fabric. And boy did I find the perfect fabric!

The fabric is more pink than this photo shows and I think it is very similar to the fabric shown in the design. It is 16ct aida from Fantasy Dyed Fabrics (the dyer is no longer dying fabric) and I think it has been in my stash just for this design.

My floss toss with the threads that I have on hand. I definitely think this fabric will work well with all of the threads. The pattern arrived on January 6, well before I expected and I started her right away. Well, after digging for a scroll frame first, LOL. So, yep, I have added another WIP to my pile. And I needed the break from the Fox & Rabbit Mystery SAL. I hope to finish this one so that it can be displayed on my wall, somewhere, for the Christmas holidays next year.

My start. I am loving every stitch of this one. I love seeing her come to life on the pink fabric.

The red just pops on the pink fabric. Her skirt is so cute!!

This is where I left her last night. I am loving this pattern so much. Even the berries 😉

So that is my first new start of 2023. I am hoping that I don’t get sucked into too many cross stitch starts this year as my pile is still driving me crazy. In fact, let me share my pile.

My Local Yarn Shop is doing a Bingo card to help knitters and crocheters get their yarny WIP’s February Finished Objects. The shop owner suggested gathering all of the WIP’s and putting them in a pile to see what we have. Since I am caught up on my knitting projects with just 2-current project and a travel project, and no crochet projects, I decided to pull out all of my cross stitch WIP’s. There is a blanket I had started that has to be abandoned because the fabric has yellowed 😦 And another project that was started that I probably won’t continue with. There is one more project that I will be adding for sure, but this is the pile. I would like to make good progress on all of these this year and maybe finish a few. My ultimate goal is to get back to one cross stitch project at a time. That is my ultimate goal every year, though, LOL Do you have a WIP pile? If so, how many? I’d love to hear about your WIP’s.

Happy Stitching!

Ginny