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Socks

Socks from 2015 – Part 4

By Sheetar 23 March 2016 23 March 2016 itemprop="discussionURL"0

If you missed the first three installments, here are links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Crazy Pools Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Multi in, “Confetti”
Ravelry Project Link
Pulled out of deep, old stash, I apparently never even added this to stash on Ravelry. The pooling worked up SO bizarrely, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Another yarn that really didn’t suit an intricate pattern, so I did the old standby plain vanilla sock. Still, they’re fun colors and the yarn is a known workhorse yarn for socks, so they’ll get plenty of wear.

MOAR SOCKS
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in, “Coney Island”
Ravelry Project Link
Not quite as deep stash as the prior pair, but the striping was again destined for plain vanilla socks. I believe for this pair, to maintain the stripe order, I split at the heel and worked from the other end of the ball and then went back to the regular yarn for the rest. Nice colors, and stripes are always fun.

Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Snallygaster Fibers Lindy Hop Sock in, “Jeremiah”
Ravelry Project Link
I already knew how this yarn works up into stripes and it may be my favorite yarn to turn into Jaywalkers. The yarn was gifted by a friend who I did some test knitting for, so these are extra special socks. Also, blue and green and grey? YES PLEASE. They’re so bright, it almost makes the sparks of bright green look like lightning bolts between sky and clouds and sky. I’m kind of regretting though not doing an afterthought heel because the striping pattern is interrupted on the gusset, but it does break up the foot and leg, and the colors are still awesome, so it’s okay.

Baby, knitting

Knitted Baby Gifts, Part 1

By Sheetar 11 May 2015 12 May 2015 itemprop="discussionURL"0

Apparently everyone is pregnant and due this summer. There must be something in the water, and just in case there is, I think I’ll stick with beer! The great thing about this, aside from excited new parents welcoming a baby into the world, is that this gives me the chance to knit sweet little baby gifts for my friends which is a ton of fun. Baby-sized sweaters have basically the same construction as adult-sized items but use less yarn and knit up much faster, so it’s pretty close to instant satisfaction. There’s also something about a handmade gift that’s really special for folks who appreciate the work that goes into them. This is the first round of gifts which have already been given to the recipient, so I figure I’m okay to blog about them and won’t spoil any surprises.

Pattern: Tilting Blocks Baby Blanket
Designer: Ranee Mueller
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in, “Maize”
Ravelry Project Link
It’s a really simple stitch pattern and works up so quickly. The original pattern had a square of stockinette in the center, but I opted to just do the whole blanket in pattern. I used just about three whole skeins of yarn which is a basic cotton/acrylic blend which makes it great for use for baby knits. Durable, washes well, still pretty soft. It stretched out MUCH larger than anticipated since it’s lace, but it really looks great and will make a wonderful summer blanket for a summer baby. Plus, the parents have opted not to know the gender of their child, so yellow is a nice, neutral color.

Pattern: Sunnyside
Designer: Tanis Lavallee
Needles: US 4 (5 mm)
Yarn: Kangaroo Dyer Franklin Hand Dyed in, “Fried Green Tomatoes”
Ravelry Project Link
Knit in under a week! Super fast knit and I didn’t even use a whole skein of sock yarn. I made a small modification and flipped the cables on one side of the cardigan so they’d mirror the otherside (right twist instead of left twist). The size I knit was 6-12 month, but it came out at more like a newborn-6 month size. Next time, I’ll have to go up a size. Still, a really cute and easy cardigan to knit! I definitely prefer knitting baby items in fingering weight yarn instead of worsted or DK – babies are so small that a bulky sweater just doesn’t work out, and for a summer baby, a lighter cardigan is defintiely best.

Shawls/Wraps, Spinning

Antarktis

By Sheetar 25 April 2014 20 August 2023 itemprop="discussionURL"0

Another spun-to-finished project! I recently realizes just how much handspun I have sitting around, and how much I need to start using it instead of keeping it set aside as precious yarn that shall not be touched. The resulting shawl came out really lovely, light and airy, and I’m super happy with the results. I’ll admit to not really being a shawl person, but with the right pattern, I’ve slowly grown to like wearing them with the point in front, and sometimes add extra increases to make sure the long side is long enough to go all the way around. There’s nothing worse than a shawl that won’t wrap around the whole way without feeling like I’m being strangled. Details below!

First up, the fiber. This is Twisted Fiber Art’s Cloudy in colorway “Terrain” which is 60% Merino and 40% Bamboo. It looks like the name of the fiber was changed to Glam, and the fiber contents tweaked a little.

Next, the yarn. Spun to something between fingering and lace weight, I came out with 547 yards, chain plied.

The shawl! Pattern is Antarktis by Janina Kallio. Total knitting time was just over two weeks, so it went pretty quickly and was easy enough to bring with me to knit night. I used up pretty much the whole skein, following the pattern instructions until I got to the border section, except switching the wrong-side rows to purl so that it was garter instead of stockinette with a 3 stitch garter border. Just not a fan of garter stitch! I kept repeating the border section until I was just about out of yarn and then bound off using Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Blocked aggressively with wires and the resulting shawl came out beautifully. Ravelry Project Link in case you’re interested.

On a non-knitting realted note, I’m really trying to blog more, especially with One Local Summer starting again. It always seems like I go from May to November only posting about food, and I want to try to blog more to break all that up a bit! I have a whole bunch of projects I haven’t blogged about lined up, and there will be PLENTY going on in the vegetable garden, so hopefully those will break up the summer monotony. We’re also going on some trips this summer, and I hope to be able to blog from the road. Anything you’d like to hear about specifically? Let me know in the comments!

Gloves/Mittens, knitting

End of May Mittens

By Sheetar 12 March 2014 16 January 2022 itemprop="discussionURL"0

I’m REALLY pleased with how these mittens came out! The yarn was purchased at Purls of Wisdom in Kimberton, PA with the intent to make mittens at some point. Finally, I grabbed the yarn, found a pattern, and went to work. I managed to churn these out in five days (worsted weight mittens go pretty quickly even in colorwork), and have been wearing them since mid-January when they were finished. As usual, I’m super late posting these to the blog, but you know that’s nothing new. 🙂Yarn: Ella Rae Classic Superwash in colorway 15 (orange-rust color) and 19 (cream color). Lining is Alpaca from a friend’s farm.
Needles: US 3 (3.25mm)
Pattern: End of May Mittens by Mandy Powers
–Ravelry Project Link–
Notes/Modifications: The pattern originally called for the lining to only extend up about an inch or two from the cuff. I went ahead and used the same directions for the outer mitten minus the colorwork for the lining. It came out a little bit wide (there is some wrinkled-up fabric inside the mitten), but not enough that it’s unbearable. They blocked out to the perfect size for my hands! The alpaca actually came from a co-worker of the husband’s who owns an alpaca farm. It’s really luscious stuff and makes the mittens extra warm – perfect for the cold winter we’ve had!

Spinning

Tour de Fleece 2013

By Sheetar 26 July 2013 20 August 2023 itemprop="discussionURL"0

(The photo that was here was lost to a flickr deletion – I thought I had backed up everything, but this file was missed)

Tour de Fleece is over for another year. What is Tour de Fleece? Well, it’s held during the Tour de France, that big bicycling race, except replace bikes with spinning wheels and fiber, and you have a nerdy, wool filled 21 days (plus two days rest) of spinning your feet off. I posted my progress shots on Instagram, but I figured I’d post the final shot of my finished work here. My final tally is 3081 yards of finished yarn, but times three for the three plies, and I have 9,243 yards spun in total. Not too shabby! I could’ve probably spun more, but I was pretty busy and seemed to have stressed the heck out of my hands like I never have before. My favorite is the Chasing Rainbows top mostly for the way it spun so easily and evenly. REALLY love the colors on the Taylored Fibers yarn. So, now that I have all this handspun, I need to actually start using it for projects!

All have been chain plied, links to go my Ravelry stash page.

Top row, L to R:
1. Chasing Rainbows Merino/Bombyx top – 332 yards, 2 oz
2. Taylored Fibers 80/20 Merino/Silk – 542 yards, 4 oz
3. Dunn Spunn Alpaca/Wool/Bamboo – 628 yards, 9.3 oz

Bottom row, L to R:
1. Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy 60/40 Merino/Bamboo – 547 yards, 4 oz
2. Mountain Colors 100% Targhee – 506 yards, 4 oz
3. Wild Hare Fiber Studio Superwash Wool – 526 yards, 4oz

Ceramics, Scarves

All Things Crafty

By Sheetar 15 February 2012 15 February 2012 itemprop="discussionURL"0

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.

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.”

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

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.

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

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!