Dizzy Dragonflies!

It is my pleasure to feature one of the longest running members of the EtsyBloggers team, Vicki of DizzyDragonflies and KnittingDragonflies. While she has always loved creating handmade items, her favorite material to work with is yarn.

Her business was accidental. It began as a hobby and found people offering to pay her to make them items that she was wearing or had given as gifts. Her love for yarn evolved into hand spinning and hand dyeing her own yarn to work with.

"Turn it Down a Notch" Hand Spun Yarn

She offers several beautiful colors of hand spun yarn, as well as her own knit creations.


Black and White Hand Knit Scarf - Unisex



Heather Green Hand Knit Scarf

It's no wonder she's dizzy - she's operating two Etsy Shops!

You can also find her online:
Blog
Flickr
Plurk
Ravelry

Evolution of a Knitter

I hope someday to read back on this post as an expert knitter and laugh at myself...

My mom taught be how to crochet when I was pretty young. I made potholders, mostly. Simple square hourglass shaped things. I don't remember how long the phase lasted, but it had probably been 15 years or so from the time I had last touched a crochet hook until last year when I started crocheting wire jewelry.

I'm the youngest member of craft circle at work where some of my coworkers have taught me how to knit. Let me tell you, it is not funny when they can't figure out something on the computer, but when they watch me try to knit it is hilarious. I have been told I need to control my tension better and that seeing me use the size 15 needles that my "mentor" gave me is comical as well.

Anyway, my first piece was a shades of purple scarf. I just knit (knitted?) each row, no pearling. Pardon me if my lingo is not correct, I'm new and I've never touched a knitting book. I started off with 31 rows, as I was told I need an odd number. At the end of the scarf I had 37, not counting the ones I had dropped along the way. Quite hideous, actually. If I ever finish the fringe on it, I will wear it anyway, at least until all my dropped stitches unravel. I worked hard on that.

~Size 15 needle above a dropped stitch~

As you may have read about, I went on a cruise last week and was worried that I would be bored in the airport and on the beach. I knew I couldn't bring my jewelry supplies because the airport security, first of all. Can you just imagine me trying to explain needle nose pliers, scissors, wire cutters, and everything? Second of all, even if I were to pack my supplies in my checked luggage to bring to the beach, the amount of materials that I require for making necklaces is ridiculous; if any of my bead boxes were to break open in my luggage, it would be tragic. Besides, I was on vacation.

On my vacation I had brought some pastel purple, blue, pale yellow, and green yarn that I used to make another scarf. The good news is that I started and ended with 23 stitches. I only dropped a stitch once and I think i fixed it w/ a crochet hook. I also knit a row and pearled a row, and it looks rather normal aside from the fact that a size 15 needle was used. (Yes, you can get those in your carry on through airport security). I tried casting off as my teachers had shown me but I don't think I did it right. I did it, it's off, it's together, but I think I invented a new way. Worst part is that sitting next to my husband was a woman using tiny needles knitting a shawl with beaded yarn and it was gorgeous. I can only imagine what was going through her mind watching me...

I have no new jewelry to post, so I must get busy again.

Anyway, if you care to check out my vacation pictures, here are a few of them.