Yarn bowls... This was expected

With my recent knitting adventures, it was inevitable that yarn bowls would make an appearance. Many of my collectors who found out I was knitting, asked me, "When are you going make yarn bowls?"
I had seen several traditional yarn bowls, thrown on the wheel and swirl cut of it. They looked nice, but you know with me with it doesn't start with a yarn bowl concept, it has to start with a fabric concept. I considered the style of my casseroles, which look like pieces of fabric wrapped around and attached with buttons.

This is the design I came up with and it takes care of some issues I was having with knitting.

I wanted more functionality out of it. I was recently working on a knitted project in which I had to use the yarn held double. It can work fine with a yarn cake using one end from the outside and inside, but can land up being a tangle. In my new yarn bowls you can lay the cake horizontal and pull the yarn from the swirls at opposite ends.

These are also good for color work and can fit two yarn bowls.

If you like doing socks two at a time also known as TAAT socks, this is perfect as it will hold both the skeins in it.

They are big enough to hold one 100gm skein of fingering - worsted weight yarn.

I have listed several of them in my etsy shop. Do check them out

Knitting and now Weaving???!!!

That is what I was asking myself when my friend Ann Meersman from Meersman Inc, mentioned to me about a small table top loom for sale.

I had tried a floor loom at the Madrona Fiber Festival in Tacoma early this year and got really interested in the pattern designing.... similar to putting 1s and 0s together to make pattern. Might be the engineer in me that got intrigued.

Anyway, I met Barbara Newton, who was offering this loom which she never used. It was such a pleasure to meet her and talk about color, fabric and fiber. She does amazing paintings and make sure to visit her website. So at the end I got the loom and now I am waiting to try it out.

I got a lot of knitting inspiration and help from ravelry but haven't found much on weaving there. Anyone have any suggestions?

Knitting pattern makes to my pottery

I knew it would happen eventually, but didn't know exactly how. This is a small introduction of the knitting patterns to my pottery.

These small dishes are in progress and will be great for holding stitch markers, darning needles and other knitting notions. Several of these will be part of the goody bags being given at the Men's Fall Knitting Retreat. And guess where it takes place, just 2 miles from my home in Federal way. Who knew a hobby I pick up will have a retreat so close to home. I am really looking forward to it and learning more about this craft.
These dishes will be available for purchase later in my Etsy shop. If you want to reserve some, just send me a message on Etsy.

Can I loose weight by knitting??

I know stupid question.... right?
May be not really.... I have been enjoying knitting as much as I hate to get on the elliptical in the morning. On listening to the radio one day I found a a guy broke a Guinness record for a longest scarf knit while running a marathon. You can read about it here if you don't believe me.

I am not saying I want to run a marathon and win the Guinness record, but it got me thinking if I could be coordinated enough to knit while on the elliptical. It happens so that I can.
I did choose a project that would be small and exciting enough to keep me going. I chose the project Squares on a roll by Frankie Brown. It involves making small sqaures individually which will all be attached at the end to make a blanket. So this is my workout blanket. LOL! YOu can see updates on my blanket here

Rather than using a very colorful yarn, I chose Woobu in shades of green and purple. I did modify the pattern a little bit, so I only knit and not purl. It is harder for me to purl on the elliptical, plus I got ladders on the DPNs on purls. It takes me approx 4-5 hours to knit a square which is approx 2500 calories burnt!

Of course it would be more effective if I just did the elliptical without the knitting, but knitting the blanket at least gets me to exercise.

It will be interesting to see how long it will take me to knit this blanket. I know I am going to be short on yarn so I am in search for more Woobu yarn. If anyone has any sources for less price, do let me know. Thanks!

Knitting... Beware, it is addicting

As some of you know I have been bitten by the knitting bug and it is an addiction.
I don't know what it is that keeps me going, but the slow build up of fabric one stitch at a time, shaping it slowly is just very exciting.

Here is an update on somethings that I have been knitting. You can follow me on ravelry to see the progress.
As you can see I am really enjoying knitting socks. The complexity of the shape of a foot, the calculations required to turn the heel and the fact that you don't need a lot of yarn to knit socks, keeps me going.

Make your own DIY Swift

As several of you know I have recently been bitten by the knitting bug. If you wish to follow me and my projects on Ravelry here is the link.
One thing I really wanted was a swift which is used when making your ball of yarn. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on gadgets though I love too.  Here is a pretty cheap and simple way to make your own yarn swift. I didn't spend any money on it as I have everything at home except for the pvc pipe. The ball winder I am using is from knitpicks and works really well with this swift

New Hobby?.... Knitting

It has been a busy year and it continues to be busy and it is at times like this that I feel I need another hobby.... really? The way I see it, when I worked full time as a software engg, I had pottery as my hobby to make me switch my brain.
Now since I have been doing pottery 3 years full time, I felt the need to exercise that side of my brain which wants to learn something new. Not that I have a lot of time, but I think it will be good for me.
But then the question came as to what new hobby. Sewing and Painting came to mind, but I just felt it was too much of a setup and room I would need to dedicate for it. Then it just occurred to me to try knitting. I knew I always wanted to try it, but always thought it was super hard to do.
I didn't have any needles or yarn. I then just took a pair of chopsticks and a chord and looked up some youtube videos and I got the hang of it. To learn better I went to my friend Ann Meersman and Ginger Steele to teach me some more and point out to things that I might be doing wrong.
So far it has been fun and I am enjoying the process of gradually creating fabrics with patterns... and you all know how much I love pattern... You never know how these patterns will make their way into my pottery work.
Here is the first scarf I knit for my niece and I am now working on another scarf and a shawl.
I am curious to know how many other artists have a hobby? Are you one of them?