Wednesday, January 31, 2007

 

The Usual FO Parade

It does what it says on the tin.

First up is the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Fall 2006. This was a great pattern. There was absolutely no part of this shawls that I did not enjoy knitting. Even the nups weren't bad at all. It is out of Headwater Wool fingering so it is a good length (close to 70"). I wore it to school last Tuesday I received many compliments.







Next up is a cute hat for a co-worker. At the bar on Friday she asked how long it would take me to knit her a white hat with a pom-pom. I had some cream wool in the stash so it really took me no time at all.

It is a super cute pattern called "He Gives Me Butterflies" I think if I did it again I would convert it to in the round rather than seaming it up but she loved it on Monday. Her boys (6 and 9) didn't understand how the hat could have been made by someone (in their world everything comes from the store). I've been working on converting their Mom to the Knit side but she is rather stubborn.


This one is for me. It is - of course- Center Square from Knitty. It is very cozy and it was a very quick knit.

I really have to figure out the two handed stranded technique. It would make this a lot easier.

I'm working on a pair of mitts to match.





This is the BF's handspun sock in progress. The yarn has turned out very pretty in the knitting. The leg is in a pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks and the foot is in plain knitting. It's going to take me a while to finish these because of the BF's clown feet.

The colours are a little more muted than they show on my monitor.




Tomorrow is the start of a new term at school so I'm not sure when I'll post next but I'll do my best!

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

 

you wanna hear something cool??

I just heard from the woman I gave the Baby sweater to that she is using it as the "bringing home baby" outfit. That means that there will probably be alot of pictures of her new baby boy in the baby yoda sweater. My heart just melted when I heard that! It's so nice to have a whole new group of people to make things for!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

 

Baby, Birthday and Blue Face

Can you tell I didn't have an original title?

I'm still busily knitting away and I thought I'd better post proof.

An amazing woman at my school is expecting any day now and I couldn't let it pass without a knit something. This is the Baby Yoda sweater . I made it with Mission Falls wool rather than cotton (as the pattern calls for) and played around with the colours. My finishing obviously still needs some work but overall I am happy with it. I left it on her desk before she came in on Thursday and she came running into my classroom all but squealing. I was so happy that she liked it.

It's really nice to be in a workplace with co-workers again. My last job was just me in a satalite office and it got a little lonley. It's a pleasure to have people to bounce ideas off of and build relationships with again!

Continuing the present vien. This is the first of two Monkey
socks that will be for my Mom's birthday in February. The pattern is just as much fun as everyone says it is. I personally hate working on five DPNS so I spaced the stitches over four and happily went on my way.

The yarn is Lisa Souza Merino Sock in "Violet's Pink Ribbon". It is lovely stuff and I was so impressed that I made another order just two days ago. I ordered some sport weight sock to make socks for my sister and enough sport weight to make a short sleeved sweater for myself. I also ordered some of her BFL roving to try.




Speaking of spinning and BFL here is some BFL from Knit Knackers that I dyed with Wilton's Dephinium blue (I love the way it splits).

I was going to try spinning a single that would be a little think and thin. It was far more challenging than I thought it would be. I kept letting the fibre get too thin. I eventually had to stop thinking about it and just let it fly through my fingers.







I am pretty happy with the results but I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

Specs: 152 yards, around worsted weight but it varies.

The colours are so pretty when they are kept separate like this. The majority of my yarn I ply and end up with sections of barber pole. I think I'm going to have to learn Navajo plying so I can have plied yarn with longer colour repeats.

Still having tonnes of fun with the wheel but we're heading into exams so I'm not sure what my time is going to look like for the next week or so.

I've started the BF's handspun socks and they look great. I've also done most of the knitting on a Swallowtail Shawl from the fall Interweave Knits. I'm doing it up in a fingering weight and it's just zipping along. I've only been working on it for a week and I'm already down to the last two charts! Hopefully I'll have pictures next week!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

 

Now this is what we call spinning

Ahh, that feels good. This is the BF's sock yarn plied and finished and (I think) lovely.

The Specs:

Yardage: 452 yards from just under 5oz
WPI: 17 wraps (around fingering)
Material: Superwash Lambswool

The Spinner: Happy Happy Happy!




It was realy a pleasure to up the ratio to 20:1 and spin thin like I'm used to doing on my spindle. I loved watching the blues come togeather. I wish there had been a little more of the super dark stuff but I think the socks will turn out quite lovely.

Just for the sheer pretty - below are the singles before plying! This stuff is so soft and it was super easy to draft.

Now on to my sock roving (see previous post for colours










Sunday, January 07, 2007

 

His and Hers Dye Job

The BF's first request for the wheel was a pair of handspun handknit socks so never being one to deny a request that means more roving off I went to Knit Knackers and I bought 300gm of Superwash Lambswool. I devided it up into two bundles. I dyed both with Wiltons but I had run out of vinegar so I needed to find something to set with. I had some citric acid (from a failed attempt at making bath bombs) and I'd heard that it worked well. I have got to tell you it was super crazy fast. I didn't even have time to get all the wool into the dyebath before it was exhausted.





I had to give the second half another bath with a second batch of dye (which was not as deep - I was almost out of royal blue) but I think it looks really interesting.

It is spinning up really well and the verigation should make for some amazing socks.








For mine I decided to have a go at something more exciting. I've tried handpaint before but I always end up turning the whole thing muddy. I figured with the quick grabbing citric acid I might have more luck and this is the result. It is Wiltons violet (turned more blue but bled some purple), green, and brown to tone it down some.








I have no idea how it will spin up but right now I am totally head over heels in love with the colours. I'm going to be picking up the Twisted Sister Sock Book soon so hopefully I will get some good ideas on how to make this a more exact process.








I also finished off a quick and dirty project this weekend. It's a baby cable reversable scarf out of Merino Bulky from Handpainted Yarn. I made a purple scarf from the same yarn last year and was so happy with it that I had to give it another go.

I'm still happily spinning up a storm but I'm a little sad that I have to go back to school tomorrow (I'm sure my students feel the same). I would have loved another week at home with my new wheel. Oh well - I'll just have to mark more at school so I can come home and have more free time ;-)

Thursday, January 04, 2007

 

Update Supreme

First things first. I got my wheel!! It wasn't the wheel I was expecting but she is here and she is beautiful! I ordered a Kromski Minstrel from CopperMoose early in December and on Tuesday there was a huge box at my door. I ripped right into it and only once I had all the pieces out did I notice that then instructions said Symphony instead of Minstrel. I called Copper Moose and he said to keep it (it's a higher end wheel - about a $50 bonus) as it was his mistake. It took more work to find a place for it in my tiny appartment but I love it. I puposefully got an unfinished wheel and have only given it a light coat of beeswax polish and probably won't do much more to it. I can't wait until it gets that worn look to it!

I immediately started spinning. This is some mystery wool from April at Woolyvines. She sent it to me with a spindle I ordered early in the school year. It is a lovely combination of blues and greens. It is taking me a while to get used to the speed with which the twist enters the yarn but the production time is cut in half.







I finished up the bundle of wool last night and two plied it with the lovely tensioned lazy kate that came with (so much faster than hand plying with a spindle - no surprise but definately a pleasure). It came to 120yrds (approx) of worsted weight. There are some places where it is over spun but I'm hoping they will even out with a wash. The BF is determined that my next project but sock yarn for him so I'm off to Knit-Knackers for some superwash roving because as much as I may love that man I am not handwashing his socks!

Now for the knitting. One of the teachers at my school mentioned that her daughter had asked out of the blue for yellow handknit socks (her Mom dosen't knit) and I said that I probably had something in the stash that would do. The socks are so tiny. The girl in question has size 6 children's feet and I am so used to my large women's 10 and the BF gigantic men's 12 that these were a pleasure. I got the yarn from the Sweet Sheep and I was so impressed with the service and the shipping that I will absolutely order again!

The final piece de resistance is my finished Icarus. I finished up this bad boy New Years Eve and blocked him the next day. I love love love it and it was super cheap too. I got a skein of laceweight for all of $5 from Headwater Wool at the needlecraft show a couple of months ago and it was more than enough to finish this off. Now I am craving more lace. I have two skeins of merino lace from Handpainted yarn and the Kidsilk from a couple of posts ago - I can't decide which to start with!


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