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Mittens and a Cowl

Posted on 12 March 2013
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I get so good at blogging and then fall off the wagon for a while.  To be fair, we’ve had a bad few months with lots of grief and loss, so the blog has been less important lately.  Anyway, I do have another spun-to-finished project to show off.  Well, two, really, from the same batch of yarn/fiber.

The fiber is Koigu braided roving, and is 100% Targhee fiber.   This was acquired at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in 2010, and I LOVE the fiber. DSC_1349
It’s really light and sproingy, so I managed to spin 500 yards from the 100 grams. DSC_3570
Finally, the two finished objects made from the same skein of yarn.  One pair of Broad Street Mittens, and one Moebius Cowl.  Both were easy knits, and simple, because I wanted the colors to show themselves off more than the pattern. They’re both patterns I’ve knit before, so it was easy, and I made a few small modifications along the way (as you do when you’ve knit a pattern multiple times and know just how to fit it to your peculiarities).  Very pleased with how they both came out.  I knit the mittens first and then the cowl second, using up every inch of the yarn which means it’s a little short, but does the job well enough!
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All Things Crafty

Posted on 15 February 2012
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Spinning and spinning and knitting.  Spinning up clay on the wheel, spinning up yarn on a different wheel, and as always, knitting.

Not too long ago, I started going to Cara’s open studio Wednesdays at the Cobb Studio.  She’s a wonderful teacher and it’s been an incredible amount of fun getting my hands dirty.  I got a quick lesson in throwing clay on a wheel one day when the studio was a little emptier than usual, and I’ve slowly been working on getting better.  Just wanted to share a few pieces I’ve made that I’m super happy with so far.  The first is a little tea cup.  It’s a bit heavy and thick on the bottom,  but I absolutely love how the handle came out.  The second is a mug with a leaf applied to the side so that you can slip your hand inside and keep your hand warm while you sip on your tea.  Unfortunately, I neglected to account for the shrinkage of the clay when it dries, so it came out a little smaller than I expected, but I can still get my fingers inside the little leaf pocket.

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For fiber spinning, I’ve spent the last week or so not knitting. I think I may have over-knit recently and my elbow is telling me to take a break. I’ve got two bobbins spun and plied so far, and am working on some 100% silk which is challenging, but AMAZING at the same time. Below, on the left is some superwash merino fiber from Twisted Fiber Art in the colorway, “Maple” and on the right is more superwash merino fiber from PigeonRoof Studios in, “Illuminated Moss.”

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Then I have another spun-to-knit project because this month has been all about handspun.

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Fiber is from Fiber Optic yarns and is 80% Merino and 20% silk dyed into one big long gradient.  The colorway is Gold-Copper-Cinnamon-Espresso.

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All spun up!  480 yards, fingering weight, and chain plied to keep the color progression.

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Knit into Saroyan!  (Ravelry Project Link)  The pattern is pretty easy, and the only issue is that it wants to curl up.  I thought I had blocked it pretty well, but the garter border at the top still wants to curl under.  Other than that, I’m really happy with how this came out and how even the not-so-even handspun knitted up.  Can’t wait to wear it out and show it off!

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Owlie Gloves

Posted on 7 February 2012
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Owlie Gloves! They’re just too cute, and a great way to use up my growing stash of handspun.

First, the Fiber:

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Fiber is by Gnomespun and is Polwarth in colorway, “Hidcote” – I picked this up at Rhinbeck in October 2010

 

Second, the spun yarn:

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Yarn was chain plied, and came out to 328 yards.  It probably falls between worsted and DK and is pretty slubby and uneven, but it’s got a very handspun quality to it which is perfect for gloves.  The unevenness seems to disappear, especially when knit at a smaller/tighter gauge.  The yarn is lofty and squishy and perfect for gloves.

 

Thirdly, the gloves!:

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Pattern is Owlie Mitts that I added fingers to so that I’d have gloves.  I love fingerless gloves and mitts, but really, it’s my fingers that get cold, and adding fingers to mitts is pretty easy!  They fit perfectly.  The gauge is pretty tight (think knitting a thick DK yarn on US 1.5 needles), but there’s no way the cold is getting in through these.  The beads were sewn on later rather than knitted in since I didn’t have the crochet hook or floss necessary to add them during the knitting.  No big deal.  Here’s the Ravelry Project Link if you want to see my short bit of notes.

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Go With the Flow Socks

Posted on 16 April 2011
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Finally, another spun-to-finished project.  I’ve been accumulating quite the stash of handspun, and I figured it was time to put some to use.  The yarn is dyed by Meg at Twisted Fiber Art, and she’s really quite the magician with dye.  The colorway is called, “Intrigue,” and was part of a club Meg ran for 3 months.  I spun the superwash merino roving into a thin single and then chain or navajo plied the yarn so that the colors would stay together as they were dyed.  I ended up with about 425 yards of fingering weight yarn that was then turned into a really squishy pair of Go With the Flow socks.  The pattern knitted up quickly, and I only made a few modifications – worked a plain slip-stitch heel and didn’t turn the work inside out after the heel flap was done.  I love the way they came out and refuse to take them off now that the photos are taken.  Yeah, it’s almost not-sock season, but that won’t stop me from stocking up for the winter!

 

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Boscage Mitts

Posted on 25 March 2010
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I was fortuante enough to participate in another test knit – I’m really getting to love doing these!  It’s taken me a while to write up (I know, I know, bad blogger!), but here’s what I’ve got.  Expect more updates in the near future – I’ve got a lot of things to tell you about.

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DSC_9176		 Boscage Mitts
Pattern: Boscage Mitts
Designer: Ritsuka Nashi
Needles: US 11 (8mm)
Yarn:  Handspun silk/wool blend, approx 10wpi
-Ravelry Project Link-
What an absolutely fabulous pair of mitts!  I happened to have this skein of handspun merino/tussah blend that I bought as roving from Cloverleaf Farms at Rhinebeck.  It had been spun up for a while, just waiting for the right project to come along.  Well, the right project did come along and how right it was.  The stitch pattern makes the mitts light and airy while still being warm, and get this, reversible!  Ritsuka’s pattern is well thought out, using a tubular cast on which makes the finished mitts look clean and neat.  I know it’s not really the season to knit mitts anymore, but you can never be too prepared for another snowpocalypse, now can you?  Plus, they knit up quickly – I finished these in one afternoon.
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2009 Knitting Resolutions – Wrap up

Posted on 9 January 2010
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2009 is over and gone, and I’m going to check through my list and see how I’ve done.

1. Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
There’s still one outstanding WIP from 2008 in my queue, but otherwise, I did pretty well on the clean-up!  We’ll consider this one not complete, but close, right?

2. Knit two sweaters this year.
I got one!  I blogged about that one here, and got a good start on the second one, but haven’t yet finished it.  Hopefully soon.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month.
Oh boy did I EVER do this one.  And I think I deserve a HUGE GOLD STAR.  Because I’m awesome.

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I knitted a few socks this year. Here are my official 12 per the year, but the total count is 19 pairs *finished* this year (some were started in 2008).  The links below are to flickr and the original post on my blog.

1. January
flickr – blog		 2. February
flickr- blog		 3. March
flickr- blog
4. April
flickr- blog		 5. May
flickr- blog		 6. June
flickr- blog
7. July
flickr- blog		 8. August
flickr- blog		 9. September
flickr- blog
10. October
flickr- blog		 11. November
flickr- blog		 12. December
flickr- blog

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
I might not have gotten them all in on the right month, but here we have it! Some of those are 8 ounces, so I don’t have 12 photos, but there are more than enough ounces to count at least four for every month of the year.  Yes, I realize October is missing, but there are two entries for March, so the math works out in the end, yes?  Yes.
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1. Jan/Feb
blog		 2. Jan/Feb
blog		 3. March
Flickr
4. June/July
blog		 5. June/July
blog		 6. August
blog
7. September
blog		 8. May
blog		 9. March
blog
10. November
blog		 11. December
blog

5. Dye more yarn and roving.
Oh yeah. Did that. Hosted a dye-day at my house with the local Stitch n’ Bitch and it was super fun.

6. Knit at least one pair of stranded socks.
Nope. Not even a little. I really over-extended myself this past year.

7. Finish holiday gift knitting throughout the year instead of all at once in December!
I guess I got this one? Sorta cheated since I only did one item for one person. It’s so hard knitting gifts when there are five sisters-in-law to knit for. I’ve opened up next year for requests, so we’ll see what happens.

8. Participate in another test knit.
Yep. A few of them. I think three total?

9. Work on an original pattern.
*buzzer*  Not even a little bit.  It was a nice idea though?

The tally comes to five out of nine.  I think the list for 2010 is going to be more conservative.  More on that later, while I think up some goals to set.

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November Knitting Wrap-up

Posted on 7 December 2009
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November is gone and it’s time to update on the knitting resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

Socks Plain Old Socks
Pattern: None – plain Stockinette socks
Designer: Me?
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: My Handspun from dkKnits Superfluff roving in, “Shooting Star”
-Ravelry Project Link-
I had so much fun spinning up the yarn and then knitting the socks.  The yarn is a basic fingering weight yarn that was spun on my SpinOlution Mach I and then navajo plied.  I broke the yarn at the heel and started from the other end of the ball so that the color progressions on the leg and instep would be continuous.  Yeah, it’s a few more ends to weave in, but.  Look at that!  Becky always does such a fabulous job with colors.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
See above – the yarn was finished spinning about mid month.  Then it jumped in front of everything and decided to become socks.

 2. Knit two sweaters this year.
Still working on this. I really hope to be done with the second by the end of the month, but I’m just not sure that will happen.

I’m really looking forward to January so that I can post a big follow-up to this year’s resolutions and set another batch for next year. There are going to be some good ones, I can just feel it. Also looking forward to lining up all 12 photos of socks from this year and patting myself on the back a whole bunch of times. Speaking of which, I should probably start the pair for this month, huh?

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September Knitting Wrap-up

Posted on 1 October 2009
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YES!  September is already over – can you even believe it?  The weather got cool so quickly, I feel like fall just came around and slapped me in the face with a wet trout.  Or assaulted me with acorns.  No wait, that was the squirrels.  Anyway, on to the knitting!

Just going back, again, to the Knitting Resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

DSC_5265 Twisted Flower Socks
Pattern: Twisted Flower Sock
Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock
-Ravelry Project Link-

Still going strong on the one pair per month goal. These were rather challenging in that there were a lot of twisted stitches, cables, and I had to pay attention on every row, but the result is a gorgeous pair of socks that I’m proud to have conquered. These came together in a trip to Loop in Philadelphia, on a whim, and just ended up being the pair-of-the-month. Dear friend Abbie graciously modelled them for me.


4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.

I got this one too! That is some lovely alpaca from dkKnits in the colorway, “Wheat Fields” and I’m just dying over how soft it is. This is the first time I’ve spun alpaca and it was like butter through the fingers – a very enjoyable spin! We came out to 400 yards from the 4oz of fiber which makes it fingering weight. Not sure what this will become just yet, but I’m sure it’ll let me know someday. DSC_5401


2. Knit two sweaters this year.

DSC_5444 Wicked Sweater
Pattern: Wicked!
Designer: Sarah & Rachel
Needles: US 6 (4mm)
Yarn: dkKnits extrafine superwash merino squish
-Ravelry Project Link-

IT’S DONE! One sweater down and one to go. This blocked out perfectly and the color is just spectacular – it looks much more incredible in person. The yarn is soft and squishy and really easy to work with, not to mention, again, the incredible custom dye job that Becky put together for me. I’ll probably be wearing this to Rhinebeck, so if you see me, come say hello!

To wrap this all up, Socktoberfest begins today and I’m all prepared to cast on for a mystery sock.  There are four total socks that I’ll be doing this socktoberfest, so wish me luck!

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August Knitting Wrap-up

Posted on 2 September 2009
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I’m actually on time!  Back again to the Knitting Resolutions..

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

DSC_3981 >Handspun Wanida
Pattern: Wanida
Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: My own Handspun
-Ravelry Project Link-

I’m fiercely proud of these.  The handspun is a superwash BFL by Twisted Fiber Art that I spun as part of Tour de Fleece.  It knitted up and wears absolutely beautifully.  Even though there’s a jog in the color change for the heel, I still like how they came out and worked with the pattern.  Knitted up quick and those colors are just spectacular!

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
We gots your spunroving right here. This is 632 yards of fingering weight yarn that was started during Tour de Fleece and finished up in August. When I realized I had 632 yards, I figured it was way more than 4 ounces to begin with, so I’m saying it’ll count for August. It’s navajo plied and is a merino roving that was found at Maryland Sheep & Wool festival this year. We had a dye day not too long ago and I dyed this at the event. Love the way it came out and now I have to find something that will use the whole batch of yarn.
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Still making progress on that sweater, but as the year is already half-over, I’m not sure if I’ll actually complete all my resolutions and goals.  Well, there’s always next year, right?

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June and July Knitting Wrap-up

Posted on 13 August 2009
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I guess this is becoming a bi-monthly thing instead of a monthly update.  We’ll re-visit the Knitting Resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Did it again. Seven pairs so far (well Eight if you count the ones I’ve already finished for August), and I can’t wait to get to December and post all twelve of them in one big post.

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Rare Monkey Gems Jupiter Lava Socks
Pattern: Monkey Pattern: Hey Jupiter
Designer: Cookie A. Designer: Liz Abinante
Needles:  US 1 1/2 (2.5mm) Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight – Rare Gems Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Smoosh Toes
-Ravelry Project Link- -Ravelry Project Link-
These knitted up in FOUR DAYS.  Four days.  I had the pattern memorized after one repeat and it was so simple yet beautiful, I’m positive these won’t be my last monkey socks.  The rare gems came from Rhinebeck last year and I just LOVE how the colors pooled up. This was the sock of the month from Yarn4Socks.  After a false start (too tight to fit over my heel), I added four stitches in and they worked out perfectly.  I did an extra repeat on the leg since there was plenty of yarn.  The color is FANTASTIC and the pattern was super fun to knit.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Well I got eight ounces in one month? Does that count? I decided to go ahead and put away the knitting for a month and spin along with Tour de Fleece, a yearly spinning event that takes place during the Tour de France. Well I spun my little feet off and ended up with two finished skeins and one half-spun chunk of roving.

DSC_3403 This merino/tussah roving was from dkKnits and is spun up to laceweight, 789 yards.  I think maybe this is why I only completed two skeins during Tour de Fleece!  It spun up delightfully soft and squishy and I just love how the colors came out.
DSC_3401 This is a roving from Twisted Fiber Art and is the Brilliant Roving (superwash BFL) in the colorway, Blaze.  It spun up to fingering weight and came out to 420 yards.  I’ve already knitted up a pair of socks with this and they are AWESOME if I do say so myself.  An absolute delight to spin and knit, definitely a roving I’ll be working with again.

And I think that’s about it.  I haven’t really made any more progress on the other goals, and should probably get started on that considering the year is well over half done.   :)

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