I'm back...

I have a ton of pictures that I've been taking of projects over the last month that I just have not had the time to post. I'm going go share a few at a time so as not to overwhelm anyone's computer with one long picture filled post.

I've decided that I need to have bomber from Rowan's Denim People but I just cannot afford either the Rowan version of this yarn or the elann version. I'm pretty jealous of all the people who can spend $75 - $150 on yarn for one project. That's just crazy talk if you ask me! I have to pay my bills and my daughters so I usually try to buy off ebay, recycle a thrift store sweater or spin yarn for projects myself. Unfortunately none of these would work for this project. Ebay yarn was still fairly expensive at $4.00 per skein when I need a total of 20 skein's, elann is only marginally cheaper at $3.25 per skein. This would work out to $80 for the ebay yarn and $65 for the elann yarn before shipping. Ugh! So I started researching and found Lily Sugar & Cream yarn. Bingo! At Herrschners.com this yarn goes for $1.33 per 120 yard skein. I figure that I need about 17 skeins of this stuff which works out to a whopping $22.61 and if I up my order to $25 shipping is free. I'm a happy camper. Now the question is does it shrink like the other yarns?

The swatch below was knit on size 5 needles to gauge for the pattern. There are 3 extra stitches on each side for the border. The swatch initially measured 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".



Here is the swatch again after a trip through the washer and dryer. You can see how nicely the stitches snugged up with each other. It actually makes a really nice fabric. Post wash the swatch measures 5 1/2" x 4 3/4" so I lost about 3/4 of an inch in length or 13.5%. So shrinkage is a little less than the other "denim" yarns.


The Sugar & Cream comes in a ton of colors and is really nice to work with. I ended up ordering some warm brown for my bomber plus a few other colors just so I can know what they look like in person because I think I will be making some other projects from this book. I also don't think I will make any adjustments for the fact that this yarn does not shrink as much as the specified yarn. I was planning to make my bomber a little longer in the arms and the body so it should work out nicely. I've seen on other blogs that rowan denim shrinks about 18%. I will do the math later to check but I think I'm good, and within my comfort price level *smile*
I've also been doing some dyeing. Here is a coil of pretty chestnut brown and lilac roving I dyed up the other day. I have about 8 ounces that I'm spinning at DK weight. I hope to make something for the DD with this.
I love how the color gradually goes from lilac to brown. I'm going to try spinning this different ways. Maybe one skein will keep the colors in order and another will mix them up. I'll share pictures when it's done.


This is the choco tweed I've been spinning with an Aran weight project in mind. I'm not sure yet what it will be but it's very pretty yarn. I mixed too much silk in that top skein by accident (forgot my own proportions when I sat down at the carder, I've since written it down). I think that might also end up working into something for the DD.
The last picture is of my pretty new briefcase. It's the weekend tote from moonsus. Can you tell I'm going through a chocolate phase now? LOL