Galapagos

I'm happy to report that if you actually have your wheel out and ready to go, you often will actually spin! Crazy, I know. I've been working pretty diligently on the fiber I'm spinning for my friend Catherine. It's my Gritty Knits Merino of the Month from December 2014 and it's called Fun Fir.
I finished the first half of the fiber and doesn't it look lovely?

It's a great blue-y green and looks more green than these pictures.

It really is lovely but I have some trouble capturing the true color.

I'm spinning it pretty fine to make a two-ply lace to fingering weight for her so I decided since I have finished the first bobbin that I would take a short break and spin something less focused.
I've been wanting to add some yarn to my handspun blanket yarn so I decided to spin what I call a "quick and dirty" two-ply sport weight. I call it that because I basically let the fiber be what it would like and generally come up with a fairly quick two-ply that's about a sport weight. I'm a little out of practice with this method though. Mostly because I haven't been spinning much lately.

I chose another Gritty Knits Merino of the Month. This one from February of 2014 and it's called Galapagos. I liked the variation in the colors and I thought it would be a fun and unique one to add to my blanket squares. I didn't have any specific plans for it so it was a good choice for an easy spin. I split the braid in half and spun the first half straight onto the bobbin.

It took less than 24 hours, I love that. I split the second half of the braid into several pieces to get a fractal yarn because I didn't want the colors to sit together too much. I quickly finished that half as well and plied it up.

I really like the result but I can tell I'm a bit out of practice because it's a bit less yardage than I usually get with this style of spinning. Only 288 yards. Closer to a worsted-weight yarn. But still lovely.

I'm not sure about putting this in my blanket simply because I think there's so much contrast in the skein itself color-wise that it wouldn't contrast enough with the other color I would be using. I may still put it in there (or at least try it) I'm not dead-set against it but in the meantime, I've got a lovely new skein of yarn to play with. It might need to be knit up quickly into something springy.

They Truly Are Cursed

Have you ever had a project that just doesn't seem to want to get made? You work on it and either the progress is so slow or the pattern doesn't work or you have to keep ripping it out. I am in the middle of a project just like that right now.

I went back and looked at my project page to see when it was actually started. December of 2013! Now, I haven't been knitting steadily on it or anything, I've put it down and in time-out several times. The reason? It refuses to get knit of course!
It's the Cursed Cable Mitts and it's a pattern I started only because a friend wanted someone to knit it along with her so she gifted me the pattern right when it came out. I'm not sure that she ever did knit it but I have been trying! They really seem to be cursed though. The yarn I chose is absolutely beautiful Malabrigo Sock yarn and I knit the first one, the right one, with little issues. Although at first I had some trouble reading the cable and easily lost my place, I managed to finish it, do the thumb, weave in the ends and call it done. The real problem came with the left one. First I knit the ribbing on the wrong size needle. Then I knit the ribbing on the correct needle but forgot to change to the next size needle. I had to rip it. Then I started again and I really busted a move. I worked on it wanting to have a finished object. I got really far.

Like I bound it off far. It looks like a lovely, long fingerless mitt right?

Beautiful yarn and once you're done knitting the cable, you decide it looks really good and it was worth it.
Until...


You put it next to the other mitt.

Does anyone see the problem?

It's not just that I did too many repeats or something, I used the wrong size needles for it. I tried to debate with myself about keeping it and not worrying about the difference but I really didn't like the fabric I had. It was too loose and I thought it wouldn't be very warm. The right one was so perfect, how could I leave the left one so not-perfect.
These pictures were actually taken last fall. I put the mitts away and thought about them occassionally and what I should do with them. Then at the beginning of the year when I dug out my UFOs (Unfinished Objects) I found these again. The right one is so lovely and wouldn't it be nice to have them finished. I asked my knitting group what they thought about them. Should I finish it or frog it? It was overwhelmingly voted to finish. So, the other day, I ripped out the left mitt and started again. So far, I've had to rip twice. Yup, it's truly cursed.
First, I was knitting with the curly yarn that had been sitting as the mitt for months, so my gauge was way off. I didn't want to take the time to wash it so I just rewound it and started from the "fresh" end of the yarn. Then, I managed to finish the thumb gusset and realized I hadn't placed the thumb right. I had to rip back. Again.
I think I'm on track for now but I'm warning everyone not to start these mitts. They truly are cursed* and the curse is you will just keep knitting them forever and ever and ever. But you never have lovely mitts.


*Disclaimer: I'm fairly sure the pattern is not actually cursed. It really is lovely and except for the thumb (which I don't care for how it is done) it is well-written and will be absolutely wonderful. Someday. If I ever finish it.

Knitting Huge

I've been feeling a little down about my knitting lately. Nothing has been inspiring me which means I don't even want to knit half the time. This scared me big time. I love knitting, why wouldn't I want to knit?
Well, last month, toward the end of the month I realized I needed to get something done and quickly to get uploaded for HPKCHC as I hadn't turned in anything at all yet. I knit and posted an owl puff.

I couldn't find my felt so I used crocheted circles for the eyes and it's harder than you would think to sew them on while the top part is still open and on the needles so his eyes are a little wonky but it works. He's cute and handspun and lovely anyway. There it was, that little rush of project-finishing. Just what I had been missing.
After I turned him in for a class and was awaiting the approval I realized what was holding me back and keeping my knitting enjoyment level down in the dumps. All of my projects are huge!

My Half Pi Shawl? Huge. Especially now that I'm on the second skein and the rows are so long, I can knit for an hour and make very little progress.
The Exit 0 Shawl? Gargantuan. It's three colors and the rows are the long way so even though it's pretty and simple short rows, each row takes a good, long time so again, you don't feel like you are making any headway at all.
The only other thing I've been knitting? Socks. Which are men's socks so they are huge too! I can see some progress but it's still not a simple, easy project that gets finished with what feels like little effort. That's what I've been missing, and it took a little owl to show me.

I think I will put aside at least one of these larger projects and pick up something smaller that takes much less effort. Just to see some progress and feel a little better about myself and my knitting. Plus, it will get this month's class done.

Sickly Spinning

I've been taken down pretty thoroughly by a terrible cold. Lots of fever and horrible coughing. It just seems to go on and on and on. I'm getting pretty stir-crazy as I haven't left the house since Saturday when I last felt mostly all right. It really knocked me down on Saturday though and I've been mostly resting since.
I did manage to start plying a bobbin of finished singles I found when I dug out my wheel for the first time in almost a month. That was Saturday for the craft day at our church. I dragged myself and my wheel over to the church, but only managed to spend a few hours there before I decided I just couldn't continue and I headed for home. I have spun a bit here and there over the last month but really not much at all. I was glad to get back at it and remember how much I enjoy spinning.
So then to the yarn I made. The finished singles were from some Targhee I got in the Zarzuela Fiber club a few years ago (before she closed up shop). It's called Stained Glass and it really is lovely and deep, all the colors you would find in Stained Glass.

I had known I wanted to keep the colors strong so I spun it all onto one bobbin and left it to rest. I just didn't expect it to get as much rest as it got.
When I took it out, I chain-plied it.

I love the round beauty of a three-ply, either chain-plied or traditional three-plied. I do love how it keeps the colors separate when you chain-ply though. I think overall it's a fairly even skein as well. Not many thin spots or thick spots.

I even dragged myself out of the house into the wind and the fresh snow to take these pictures of it. I just love it and can't wait to figure out what it would like to be. It's about 375 yards so it shouldn't be a problem to have enough to do something lovely.
For now I'd better get back to resting and coughing, as I cannot wait to get out of the house and go to work tomorrow and I should be as rested as I can be before I get back to the grind.