The Harvest of Zen Swap: The End

Here are the packages from the last part of the latest swap from the yoga swap group.

Again I sent knitsandbricks a package and received one from Heatherdox.

Heres what I sent knitsandbricks:

Project bag (aka Paperchase cosmetics bag), Toe socks, the fall issue of Interweave Knits, Burnished Leaves Cowl, Berroco Alpaca yarn, bent tip needles, yarn cutter, notecards with the design from my August calendar, and stitch markers.

Here's a close up of the stitch markers. They were made out of these really pretty agate beads that I got at M&J Trimmings

Since this was the 'Harvest' swap I thought that the Burnished Leaves Cowl was appropriate. Details on the cowl to come.

This is the second package I got from heatherdox:

Lulemon bag, aluminum water bottle, issue of Knit Scene, green tea, Brooks Farms Solo Silk Yarn, and homemade pumpkin bread. The pumpkin bread was really delicious and made from organic ingredients.

And I loved the yarn so much I used it right away to make a Shetland Triangle for myself.

Sounds of Spring Part 1

Another swap package completed. Same group but slightly different swap than last time. And a different partner: craftywillow.

On the questionnaire craftywillow said that for spring colors she likes dark greens and bright yellows. Hehe I said the same thing! She also said she likes lilac and hyacinth colors.

I knit her a Shetland Triangle in dark green. I chose this pattern because it was in her queue and it is something I've been wanting to make for awhile now. I'll post details about this project later.

The yarn is Berroco Ultra Aplpaca Light in a lilacy colorway.

I found these lemon scented wipes for yoga mats, feet, etc. They smell soooo good! And it got me thinking that if I include lemon scented/flavored items they could represent bright yellow, one of her color preferences. So I also put in ginger lemon flavored badger lip balm.

I also made these stitch markers. This is the third set that I made last weekend.

I made these the same way I made the first set. Almost exactly as CJ instructed, but without the wrapped loop.

There is a wild card item from each swap. Last time the wild card was something with a sanskrit symbol. I sent 3littlebirds a stitch marker with the OM symbol. This time the wild card was music. Get it, SOUNDS of spring?

I chose to send some yoga tunes: Music for Yoga and Other Joys. Sounded good in the store, I think I'll have to get my own copy.

Craftywillow I hope you enjoy your package!

Remember details on my Shetland Triangle coming soon...

A second try at stitch markers

This is my second go at making stitch markers.

Above is the first set of stitch markers I ever made.
They were for my Winter Solstice Yoga Swap partner. I only made two, because the darn shrinky dinks kept warping. I wanted circles, but they wanted to be ovals. So after wasting 5 out of 6 sheets of shrinky dinks I finally gave up. I took the two best looking and gave them to my partner. Sumthin is better than nuthin right?

Over the weekend I tried again. This time I decided to ditch the shrinky dinks and just use beads. Using the instructions from CJ's Knitting Basket as a guideline I made three sets.

The first set was made almost exactly as the instructions instructed (?¿?). The only difference is that I didn't make a wrapped loop, I just don't like them (or I'm lazy). Instead I made a circle and cut the excess.
I used chain nose pliers to make the loops. They didn't turn out as well as they would have with round nose pliers, so I'm definately going to invest in some of those. Round nose pliers also would have made it a lot quicker too. With the chain nose pliers I had to make a lot of little bends the get a circular shape.

The second set I made with these fun skull beads. This is a combination of wood, plastic, and stone beads. I stumbled upon them in the store and thought they'd be really cute mixed together like this.

Instead of using a head pin for these I just made one loop out of the bead wire. Then I clamped below and above each bead with a crimping bead (see the dark colored rings in the supplies picture). Once again (because I'm a cheapskate) I didn't have the right tool and used my chain nosed pliers instead, so the crimping beads are squished flat.

The third set is a gift and will be revealed later this weekend...

I got all my supplies at Bead World

1384 Broadway
btw. 37th & 38th St.
New York, NY 10018
212.302.1199

Hours
Mon - Fri 9:00am - 7:00pm
Sat & Sun 10:00am - 5:30pm