Mystery Swatch

I made some progress on my new project. I dug out that yarn I had earmarked for it. Three+ skeins of this but bare, which doesn't appear to be available right now.

I wound some up and knit myself a swatch.



So, anyone recognize it? I wasn't sure about casting on but my lovely enabling friend Lisa convinced me and I cast the actual item on. I am through the first chart and on the second, making some good progress.

Anyone know what it is? It's kind of fun to keep everyone guessing.

Other than that, I really haven't done much at all. I tripped and fell on my knee last week and so I've been taking a break from spinning because it hurts to walk, spinning can't be good for it. I also knit a bit on my purse socks but I just haven't felt the need to really work on anything else. I'm having too much fun with this big project. I want to make progress while it's still fresh and fun!

Deadline Free!

Last night I finished the super secret project (don't worry, all shall be revealed in the fullness of time) and I realized that I have absolutely nothing on the needles with a deadline.

Sure, I have a few socks going but who doesn't?

I even finished my first purse sock.



Isn't it pretty? I just love it. I have even cast on the second one, although i didn't get very far yet. The pattern is Hermione's Everyday socks. It's a free pattern on Ravelry and I love the simplicity of it. It has such an interesting texture too. The yarn is Plymouth yarn Happy Feet which I absolutely love. It gets a tiny bit pilly but it's so soft and lovely and squishy! The color is the ever-imaginative 31210 or as I like to call it; Berries!

I have a few other socks going as well but nothing that really needs to get done.  That means I can knit whatever I want.

I may have already printed a pattern and dug through the stash to find the yarn I had earmarked for this particular project. Any guesses?

(I also feel like I may have a wicked case of startitis now that I'm deadline-free. I can't guarantee that I'll still be ga ga over this project next week but I'm hoping to get started on it.)

I should also mention that there is a temporary peace treaty between the computer and the camera. I can't guarantee it will hold but for now they're on speaking terms.

Shrug it Off and Knit Hexipuffs

Blogger has changed some things, I'm not sure if I like it yet or not but here goes my first trial to get a post written using the new tools.

I promised pictures of the new shrug and so, here they are.

 
This is the whole thing. It really looks like a tiny short sweater. I really think it came out pretty much just what I wanted. I like how long the sleeves are, I started the ribbing earlier than I should have really because I kept feeling like I would run out of yarn but now that it's finished, I really like how long the ribbing is on the sleeves, it adds an unexpected element. The one thing I would have done a bit differently had I actually had more yarn? 



I would have made the body just a few rows longer, maybe added more ribbing. Really I would have gotten more into a cropped sweater territory and that's not what this is supposed to be. If you would like more information on this project, check out my Ravelry Project page. I just don't have the energy to say more about it.

I have been feeling a little bit mentally worn out lately. There has been a great deal of critter sitting as well as tons of other activities going on and it just burned me out a little bit. I'm taking a little bit of a mental break. The only thing I'm working on that requires mental power is my secret project. The other project I've been focusing on?

Yup, Hexipuffs. I fell down the beekeeper's quilt rabbit hole. I actually bought the pattern quite awhile ago (in September of last year according to my Ravelry Library), pretty soon after it first came out and I knit a few but then put them away, I had too many other commitments. I dug them out the other day and started up again.

 As you can see, I'm actually attaching mine as I go, I think it really helps to make it seem less daunting and each one really does feel like a finished object. A finished object that took very little time and very, very little brain power.

So far I'm having a lot of fun with it and I feel no pressure about it. I think I will just work on it until I feel like I've had enough, then start work on something else. It's slowly growing though and I set it on my leg the other day while attaching a hexipuff and was surprised how quickly and efficiently my leg warmed up there so I do think it will be a warm little lap blanket or whatever it ends up being when I find myself sick to death of it and call it finished.

Please note these are the promised crappy cell phone pictures since my computer still doesn't like my camera. I think for crappy cell phone pictures they actually aren't that bad!

In Which Technology is Bickering

I wanted to blog earlier this week and share the shrug that I did manage to finish, despite not attending the wedding where I had planned to wear it. My lovely husband still went to the wedding and did a lovely job singing but I got to stay home all weekend. It was quite decadent as a matter of fact.

The reason I didn't blog earlier this week and don't have any lovely photos right now is because my camera and computer have decided not to get along. For some reason the computer (who seems to be generally crabby lately) seems to think the camera gets "all the glory" and refuses to cooperate. The camera gets fussy then and refuses to talk to the computer at all. (Really I think there's a problem with the USB drive and the cord doesn't want to connect properly but I think my version sounds way better)

Until I get this situation figured out, photos will be few and far between and when there are photos, they might be crappy cell phone pictures. I apologize in advance.

I did finish the shrug as I said and now I'm full on focused on the secret project anyway so I can't share that. I did manage to finish the first braid of the Grinchy project too so I am making some headway with that as well.

I'm going to try using the camera to connect to the computer at the critter house tomorrow but either way, I'll hopefully have a better update later.

Catching Up with Nothing Interesting.

The last week sort of got away from me there. I meant to blog, I just didn't have much to say and it kinda fell by the wayside as I rushed to get everything done that needed doing.

This week, I'm focusing on less and trying to get my brainpower back. I'm not sure where it went but it certainly seems gone. I think too many projects, all with deadlines including the ever-important taxes has gotten me completely overwhelmed and burned out!

I did start spindle-spinning something. As Kasha suggested in the comments, I pulled out some cormo. It's not flicked locks but it is hand-processed.

I bought a bag with 2 pounds of raw cormo last year at Shepherd's Harvest. It was cheap, $12 but not clean at all. I washed it and then picked a large number of weed seeds out before it could be carded. I used my friend's drumcarder and made a lovely batt, then pulled it into roving. I absolutely love spinning it. It's still a teeny bit tacky from the lanolin but I think that gives it a little bit more grip when I spin and I am loving how it's turning out. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I keep spinning a bit, then plying it so I have tiny little balls that aren't very useful.

I'm going to stop that and spin all 2 ounces that are currently processed and then get a useable amount of yarn. I still don't know what it wants to be but it's a lovely white 2-ply laceweight.

That's my spindle in the picture there as well. It's a Turkish spindle which means you wind a center-pull ball as you spin so you don't have to wind the singles off the spindle in order to ply. I really like it. As a matter of fact, I'm refinding my love of spindling and I'm thinking I may have to find another spindle at Shepherd's Harvest this year. We'll see, they can get spendy if you want a fancy one.

I'm also knitting up a quicky project. This is 2 skeins of Caron Country in Peacock and they're becoming a shrug that I hope to wear to a wedding where my husband is singing. The wedding is on Saturday, who thinks that next week we will disavow all knowledge of the shrug?

Anyone?

Also, the yarn is much darker than this picture, I'm not sure what happened there but it's not nearly that bright and it's much more peacock-blue.

Other than those few things, not much fiber-related has been happening this week. Just too many other things going on. Hopefully on Saturday I'll have a shrug and maybe on Friday, I'll have something more interesting to show you.

A Grinchy Idea

Yesterday I got an idea. An awful idea! I got a wonderful, awful idea! (anyone else a fan of the Grinch?)

As you know, I critter sit on Thursdays. That means I watch my friends two little girls. We call them critters. Well, since I spend the day at their house, I don't have access to all my fibery pursuits. I usually don't bring my wheel but I do bring some knitting and some spindle-spinning. Last week, I got bored with spindle-spinning what I had been working on so I pulled it off and started wheel-spinning it. (That happens a lot. I'm just so excited for it to be yarn that I can't wait!) That meant that I had whipped the fiber off the spindle so fast it was sitting there empty. I knew that wouldn't work so I dug around a bit yesterday morning and came up with something, tossed it in my knitting bag and headed out the door.

After the preschool run I had a bit of time before lunch so I pulled out the fiber and the spindle. I opened up the braid and started drafting it a bit to get ready to spin it. That's when I noticed that this braid I had thought was just a dark piney green actually had some blue on it.

See it? Right there on the bottom left? Blueish. I drafted some out and started spinning and that's when a little niggling thought popped into my head.

I have some blue and green at home.
I have some blue and green at home.

Wait a second! I have some fiber at home that's blue and green. Fiber I haven't spun yet.

A couple of summers ago we had a spinning party at my house for Tour de Fleece. It was a fun and fiber-filled day. I ended up buying some fiber out of a stash and some fiber from my friend's etsy shop (actually the one with the critters). I had thought and thought about them and decided that I liked them both enough and they matched enough that I could spin them and ply them together to get a lovely yarn to be knit into something. I was thinking a two-ply laceweight. 8 ounces of laceweight would add up to a lovely something.

I wasn't sure what it would be when it was finished but it didn't much matter since I hadn't spun it anyway. It was marinating.

Then, this idea hit me. The one with this other braid and I started smiling my Grinch-iest smile. I would spin all 3 braids, ply them together and knit something. But what?

Well, here's one of the two marinating braids. It's Merino from Gritty Knits from before I was in the club.

Here's the kicker though. Here's the other braid.

Merino and silk! 80/20. Lovely and shiny and all the same colors.

The newest braid is also from Gritty knits, it's the December 2011 Merino-of-the-month braid and it's just lovely too. Darker though and more like a pine green in most places. I think it will give a lot of depth to the yarn.

It was decided. I would spin all three of them and ply them together. Then it struck me what I would knit.

It didn't take me long to land on the Wispy Cardi by Hanna Fettig. It's got an interesting construction and would be a very cute 3/4 length sleeve cardi which is perfect for me. But, would I be able to get enough?

I looked up the yardage requirements. The original pattern calls for 3 skeins (for my size) of Malabrigo lace. Each skein is 470 yards. I have three 4-ounce braids of fiber, I frequently get sock-weight yarn that's 3-ply that's about 470 yards so I think I can pull it off. A lovely Grinchy green (and blue) sweater.

Doesn't it sound like a fabulous adventure? I'm very excited. (Of course now that I've told you about it, I will probably crash and burn on this project but I'm gonna have high hopes anyway.)

The only problem? Now what will I spin on the spindle. That merino has already been whipped off the spindle. It's empty again.

Finishing a Few Things

The weather of course turned on me. It has now been cold and windy so I have not wanted to spend much time outdoors. Tricksy March is like that. Tease you with a bit of spring and then snatch it away just as you get used to it. Of course, not spending a lot of time outdoors is okay because more knitting tends to get done.

I finished one of my test-knits.

I happily introduce the Crescentina Shawl. This, as I said, was a test-knit for SimpleKnits. It will be available soon on her blog.

It's knit sideways in garter stitch and has a lovely lace edging that you knit as you go. I knit mine on size 9 needles (there are 3 size options) and used about 358 yards of ArtYarns Supermerino in Color 138.
When I first finished this shawl I was a little disappointed in the size. It seemed far too small for my taste but a good blocking proved enough to make it grow.

It's now a lovely 56.5 inches across the top and 17.75 inches deep. Just right for wrapping around your shoulders on a slightly chilly day like today has turned out to be. I just love it.

That's not all that I managed to finished though. I also finished the sweater for Critter #1.

I'm so excited to give it to her and also excited to have met my Easter deadline with this project. They are going to look so sweet in their little dresses with these sweaters on.

I've got a couple of other projects with deadlines and then I'm happy to report that my knitting can go back to being my own again. Remind me of this feeling when I think about signing up for more and more test-knits okay.

Slow, Steady and Spring!

The knitting is continuing much in the same way that it has been. Slow and steady. I'm really enjoying everything I'm working on, it just isn't making a ton of progress since I've been working on so many things.

My test-knit is slowly growing. It's turning out just lovely!

I'm not sure how many details I'm supposed to share about this so I will wait and list them at the end. Although I will say that the yarn is ArtYarns Supermerino in Color 138.

I also realized that I haven't posted any pictures of a couple of projects I've been slowly working on. The first were my purse socks until the needles got swiped for the secret project.

They're sitting on 7" needles now and I don't love that length so I haven't been working on them. (I really have enough projects too. I don't need to be working on these.) Also, I apologize for the blurry photo, apparently I've had too much coffee.
These are handspun socks. The fiber is Fiber Optic Yarns Sweet Georgia Brown in Superwash Merino that I purchased from a destash quite awhile ago. I spun and Navajo-plied this yarn and I'm now knitting it on size US 1 needles. I really like how it's turning out. Someday I will get back to these.

Currently my purse socks, which really only get worked on when I'm out somewhere and just need a row or two are these.

The yarn is some lovely Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet in a color I call "Berries" that I got for my birthday a few years ago. Of course, I had to go to the yarn store and pick it out but that still counts as a birthday present.
The pattern is one I heard about while watching old episodes of Round the Twist with Carin. It's called Hermione's Everyday socks and it's a free pattern available on Ravelry. It's a very simple stitch pattern but it makes a lovely textured sock that I am enjoying knitting so much!

Of course, I've been spending lots of time knitting outside because this is a photo of a small portion of my back yard.

Yup, you see that right. It's the first day of Spring and it actually looks like Spring out there. The grass is starting to grow! Of course today it's sort of grey and looks like rain but it's still warm and lovely. I'm going to go and enjoy it for awhile now.

Same Old but with a Twist

A few things have been going on this week, although none of them are super exciting. Remember the first Critter sweater?
Well, here it is:

On the little one! Yup. My kinda kid, makes a face at the camera.

Well, I finished the body of the other critter sweater today.

I'm still wondering why I knit the smaller one first but I'm glad the body is done. I do think they should reconsider the sleeve-length though. Well, okay, maybe not. A girl can dream though. Hah!
I will probably wait to pick up for the sleeves tomorrow when I can have the older critter try on the sweater first. Just as a double-check. (If it came out too big I will probably cry. Although she does grow like a weed.)

I also volunteered to do a test-knit. (I know, what is with me this week!)
I'm using this lovely stash yarn.


It's Artyarns Supermerino and it's lovely. The color is somewhere between the two pictures so I'm posting both. Look for something lovely knit from this soon.

See, like I said, nothing super amazing or exciting this week, just the norm. It's kinda nice for a change.

Pi Day

Today is March 14. That is 3-14 or the start of Pi. You know, 3.14, etc. etc. Yes, I know, I'm a total nerd. I'm completely okay with that.

Not much has been going on that's new. I haven't finished any more spinning and I haven't finished any knitting projects either. I'm spending most of my time knitting one critter sweater but something about it makes my right wrist hurt so I have to work on it in stages.

My spinning time is spent spinning some lovely wool that I got from a lady at spinning guild. I have spun about 11 ounces of the two pounds so far and plied it into about 440 yards of lovely 3-ply yarn. The trouble with this is that it's dark grey yarn, it's not easy to photograph (or very interesting to photograph) and that's not even mentioning that the 3 skeins are still damp from washing last night. The good news is that the 3 skeins are outside drying on the clothesline now.

Yes, it's that beautiful outside, the sun is shining in a lovely way and I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm not holding out hope that spring is actually here yet though, March can be tricky and make you think that it is Spring only to kick you when you're down. I refuse to believe it. I will enjoy it though. I'm going to head outside and do some spinning out there for awhile.

Spinning Like a Fiend

Things have been spinning up a great deal lately. there's just something about spinning. I cannot for the life of me explain it but I've found myself doing more spinning than anything else lately. First, I was working on the 4 ounces of Merino from Gritty Knits in the September 2011
Merino-of-the-Month color.

I finally finished spinning it and dutifully waited overnight to start plying. I plied and plied and plied. Then I went to bed and slept and started plying again the next day. I plied and plied and plied and plied some more. (I really wanted this yarn or I would so have lost interest sooner.) I finally finished.

It came out just beautiful.

As I've mentioned before, it's navajo-plied to keep the colors together and I spun straight through the braid to make it almost like a gradient with one color on one end, a different color on the other and the center completely different. This picture doesn't totally do it justice, you can't see how the colors move through the skein.

I tried to hold it out so you could see a bit better.

It sort of worked. I think you won't really be able to see it well until I wind it up and I am vehemently resisting because I have a couple of projects on deadlines and I know I won't be able to resist this yarn once it's wound into a ball. I will have to cast something on at the soonest possible moment.

As I said, it came out lovely. I got (prewashing measurement) 658 yards of Navajo-plied yarn. I cannot believe the yardage. This is 4 ounces people! I think it's safe to say this came out as laceweight and I'm so excited and happy with it. I'm telling you, the resistance I'm displaying in not winding it up is amazing.

But that's not all! (Infomercial Style) Remember the Spunky Eclectic yarn that I spun up awhile ago. As you may remember, I didn't love it but a lovely friend from my knitting group did and we arranged a trade. The yarn has gone to live in it's new home and something else has come to live in my home.

Two of these amazing braids of Falkland. The colorway is Giza Shadows and they're dyed by Fiber Fancy which is a dyer I hadn't tried before. I think the soft subtle shading in these braids is amazing. I absolutely love them. As a matter of fact, I love them so much that although I received these on Sunday evening at Knit Night, I had this by Monday evening.

Well, look at that, it's a lovely skein of worsted weight yarn. I really debated about how I would ply this fiber, I knew I wanted about a worsted weight to knit some great spring project (once my deadline knitting is done of course.) I'm thinking a bag or purse as a matter of fact. Any suggestions?

Anyway, I really debated about how I would ply this yarn but ultimately decided to Navajo-ply. What can I say, I love how it keeps the colors together. I really love how it turned out too.

This first skein has about 200 yards and the second has a bit less so it might be closer to a bulky-weight. What's that? The other skein? Oh yes, that's right, today I finished plying the second skein of this yarn. I still absolutely love it and I'm so excited to get to knitting but I have things to finish first.

One of my deadline projects is a sort of secret but the other is not. It's the second of the Critter sweaters. It's the larger of the two, for the older girl and I had a minor mishap in that I had it come out way too big. I was past dividing for the sleeves when I realized it so I have some ripping and reknitting to do. If you need me, that's where I'll be.

Insomnia and a Cowl or How Sometimes Things Just Come Together

As you may have heard (since I've been whining about it pretty constantly) I have had a cold lately. In trying to stay bundled up and warm while not spending all my time in bed, I've been wearing my little shawlettes around my neck a lot. I do this all the time when I'm well also but in this case it was partly to stay warm and protect my neck. They kept falling off though and I was getting very frustrated. I decided, for the first time in my life, that I wanted a cowl that didn't come undone, that you had to pull over your neck and it would stay on. Since I'm still on a yarn diet and really, I wasn't going anywhere to buy yarn anyway, I went stash-diving and came up with some lovely pink yarn.

There's a big old sticker over the label so I can't really read it but it does say that it's made of Angora, wool and nylon and that total (with both skeins) I have about 250 yards. I cast on and started knitting. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I got this yarn from a friend's destash and she originally purchased it from Tuesday Morning, I think.
The reason I'm giving you full disclosure is that I started to have a few issues. The yarn was broken in quite a few places. I was able to splice it but I wasn't too happy about it. It was turning out pretty nice and fuzzy and soft and suddenly I noticed that my nose was even stuffier and I was starting to get itchy.
I think it was the yarn. I think I somehow have an allergy to it. What finally clinched it was that I ended up with a terrible headache. Now, here's what's strange. I've worked with angora before. I like angora. I think it's soft and lovely. I wanted to work with this yarn but I just couldn't. I'm wondering if there's some issue with the cleanser that's used to process angora commercially. Angora straight off the rabbit is fine but this and some roving that I was spinning at one time that was Cormo/Angora (and absolutely fabulous) gave me the same issues.
The headache is what really sealed the fate of this poor little yarn.

There it is. Glaring out from its plastic prison. Hah! I win. Except of course that I still didn't have a cowl. I was completely through the first chart too. That's 10 rounds of 130 stitches. (Oh dear, I just realized that was 1300 stitches. A few hours of my life, then it was whisked off the needles and imprisoned.)

Anyway, I still didn't have a beautiful cowl so I went back to the stash and came up with this:

Remember this? It was easy to find since it still wasn't actually put away. It's a smaller than 4 ounces skein of Gritty Knits Merino of the Month from November 2011. (It's less than 4 ounces because I took some of the spinning fiber off the braid and plan to use it for a different spinning project.) I just recently spun it into 246 yards of a squishy and soft sport-weight yarn.
I decided it was perfect and I cast on. I was going to knit myself through those first 10 rounds and go to bed but I couldn't sleep so I just kept watching video podcasts and knitting and knitting and knitting. By morning I hadn't had any sleep but I did have this.

A very lovely cowl. I literally put it on and laid down and got some sleep. When I got up I wove in the ends and took this picture for the blog.

Here's what remains of the yarn. I'm thinking it will probably end up becoming hexipuffs.
Back to the cowl. Here are:
The Stats:
The Pattern: Eleanor Cowl by Audrey Knight from Knitty
The Yarn: Gritty Knits Merino of the Month November 2011. Spun into 246 yards of sportweight yarn. (I have about 54 yards leftover)
The Gauge: I didn't measure my gauge, I just used the needles called for in the pattern and knit. I like it though so it worked out just fine.
The Needles: Size US 7, Size US 5 and Size US 4. The pattern calls for circulars in 16" of each, I didn't have 16" circulars of all those sizes and didn't want to knit it flat so I just used DPNs.
The Notes: This pattern was an absolute joy to knit, it turned out extremely lovely. The cowl could do with a good wash and block now but that would involve taking it off so we'll see how long it actually takes to get to that point. It's a bit taller than I would have thought, it sits quite bunched up on my neck so if I were to knit it again and I might, I think I wouldn't do that extra repeat of rows 23-49 on chart B.
If you are interested in a cowl at all, I suggest you check out this pattern, it's really quite lovely and well-written. It has directions for both knitting in the round or knitting it flat.
The Modifications: I did make a few modifications to this pattern. Any time there was a knit stitch in between a bunch of purl stitches or right next to a bunch of purl stitches, I knit it through the back loop to keep those knit stitches well-defined. I think it really added to the look of it and I'd recommend doing the same.

Slow Week, I'm Being Taken Down by a Cold

Actual work on projects has been somewhat stalled lately since the cold I'm dealing with has made my thought process sort of slow, when I can actually think. It's just a cold, I just find myself sitting and staring at my hands holding my knitting rather than knitting it. I did manage to get a bit farther on my second Fiddly sock.

I actually finished the ribbing and started on the leg patterning. I still love the pattern but bright light is very helpful with the dark yarn and it has been somewhat scarce lately.

I also cast on the second Critter sweater.

It really doesn't look like much of anything yet does it?

As you may recall, I watch two little girls for a friend of mine. She is also a knitter and spinner. She's also quite an enabler. I knit a baby sweater for a mutual friend last year and she requested that I knit sweaters for her girls, that she calls Critters, with some of her handspun. When the second critter tried on the baby's sweater (which came out too large for a baby really as this critter is 2) she was so enamored with it, I could hardly say no. The first sweater is already finished. As a matter of fact, she wore it to church a couple of weeks ago. Since the lovely critter mama would like the girls to be able to wear them on Easter and Lent has already begun, I figured I'd better get a move on. I am figuring out this pattern based on the baby sweater pattern I used so I may end up doing some major ripping. Let's hope not.

You may notice that I'm not linking to the baby sweater pattern I used. I do have it on my Ravelry page if you really need to know, but while it has some interesting slipped stitch pattern rows, I felt the pattern itself was not particularly well-written. It was missing some vital information (like how long to knit the body and how long the sleeves should be) as someone who does not have children herself, that was kind of important in the pattern. I'm not going to bad-mouth the pattern but I will not recommend it and not link to it to keep others from running into the same issues.

I'm going to head back to the spinning wheel and hopefully finish the singles for my Merino today. I'd like to let them rest overnight at least before plying and that implies that I do actually need to finish them at some point. You know, if I can stop staring blankly at the wheel and actually make the treadle go.

In Which I Use the Word Discernible and Hope It's Spelled Right

It turns out that tomorrow is going to be a bit busy so rather than waiting to blog, I decided to put a post up tonight. I'm slowly but surely descending into illness. Stupid nasty cold that's going around, nothing serious. I thought I was going to avoid it but it's coming and I know it. It's probably better that I post a little something tonight because of that too. Who knows how coherent I will be tomorrow.

The BFL yarn from yesterday is dry so I thought I'd give you all a look at how it looks now.

This is the Cloudlover BFL. I fractal spun it, splitting the braid in half and then half split again so the colors would twist around each other. In some places they line up and in some they barberpole in the most lovely way. I can tell the winter is starting to get to me because I love the parts where the golden/mustardy yellow line up with themselves. It makes me happy and I'm not usually a big yellow person. I guess I'm missing the sunshine.

I finished the first half of the Gritty Knits merino I was talking about as well and it occurred to me that if the other picture was terrible, why not take another.

This is the first bobbin of singles and the second half of the roving. As I said, I'm spinning it straight down the roving with no splitting. I am taking a smallish piece and drafting it well before I start on it though. You can see a little of the bright aqua blue on the bobbin. As you can see, it blends into a bright, bold pink with some brown and then into a sea blue-green that's quite lovely. I think spinning it this way will make a lovely almost gradient type yarn. I can't wait to knit a little shawlette or something with it.

I also made actual discernible progress on something I'm knitting. I finished a sock. Of course it's a single sock, but I did cast on it's mate so I'm working on it.

This is the first of the Cascade Heritage Handpaints (I believe) in the Gentlemen's sock in Railway Stitch pattern. I really like it so far. I'm not making any mods on this pattern except to make the leg a bit longer. I'm even using the size needle called for, even though I'm getting a bit tighter gauge than the pattern calls for. I love how it's turning out though and I'm really looking forward to having a lovely pair of dressy socks when I'm finally finished with these.

Here's a little bit closer shot so you can see the stitch definition a little bit better. They really are beautiful and a soft subtle shift of colors.

Well, I'm off to blow my nose 1200 times and watch a little television with my husband. Then, hopefully a good night's sleep.

Reappearing, just like Magic

Well, hello again. I seem to have disappeared for a week or so there. Oops, I certainly didn't mean to, I can't even use the "being busy" excuse because I wasn't all that busy. I just sort of forgot.

I'll try not to let it happen again. I have been getting things done, although not much on the knitting front. I have knit on lots of things but very little progress has actually been accomplished. Really more than anything I've been spinning. I sometimes just get into that mode. I just want to spin all. the. time. You have of course, seen some of the lovely yarn that's been coming off the wheel lately. Things that I absolutely love, so I think that has encouraged me to keep spinning things, plus, I uploaded all my dyed spinning stash into Ravelry so it made me remember all the great things in that stash.

I finished some yarn. I can't find the picture of the original fiber but here it is on my Ravelry Stash page. I spun some nice, fine singles and navajo-plied it.
Isn't it lovely? I am actually having a hard time not winding this into a ball and casting on with it immediately. I both spun and plied it on my Matchless. I got 472 yards. Like I said, I think it's just lovely. Before washing it seemed a little overplied but when I twacked it a couple of times, it seems to have evened out quite a bit.

Inspired by this yarn, I dug out another lovely braid of Gritty Knits fiber.

This picture is really horrible but I didn't take a better one. It's a lovely bright blue on one end, a combination of pink and brownish in the center and a sort of sea green-blue on the other end. Since the colors travel along the braid and are so different, I thought it would be fun to spin it straight down the braid, navajo ply it and have a lovely almost gradient yarn to knit into a shawlette of some kind. I started spinning it but as I'm spinning it quite fine it's taking forever. Since it's taking so long, I needed something instant gratification (or as close as you can get in spinning)

I grabbed this lovely braid of Cloudlover BFL from my stash

Since I love how the colors look together I fractal spun it. That means I split the braid in half then split one of the halves again so the colors would mix up.

This is a really terrible picture of them during plying. They are moving, that's why it's a bit blurry. I really like how the yarn came out. It's drying right now so I will wait to take a picture of it. I planned to spin a chunky two-ply but really, the fiber drafted so well that I ended up with about 364 yards of sportweight. I'm not sure what it wants to be yet, so it will be marinating in the stash for awhile.

I did acquire something new this weekend too. (In addition to my fiber clubs which both arrived. I won't post pictures yet so I don't spoil surprises but they are up on my stash if you are interested.)
I didn't break the yarn diet, don't worry. I instead won a prize!

This lovely batt is from my friend Lisa's etsy shop (the shop has been on hiatus for awhile but she's wanting to get it up and running again soon so keep checking if you're interested). We had a Lord of the Rings party on Saturday (during which we watched all 3 extended edition Lord of the Rings movies, that was a lot of sitting)
and we had a "costume contest". That's in quotes because really it was Lisa and I that showed up and she was sick so I was the only one in costume. We had a lovely time anyway and had more snacks since there were only the two of us. I got to choose a lovely prize for having a great costume. It's a 2.05 ounce batt. I'm not sure of the exact content, although I think it may contain some silk and it definitely has something sparkly in it. I think the picture shows the colors pretty accurately and I'm in mad, crazy love with it. It too is going to hang out in the stash for awhile though.

Not much else has been going on, just a lot of spinning, some knitting and a fun party. I'll have more to report later this week since I'm going to try getting back in the habit of blogging at least twice each week.

Just a Quickie

As I've mentioned, I haven't been feeling the love too much with my current projects. Rather than casting on something new, I decided to find an older UFO (Unfinished Object) and finish it.
And so I present: Hubby's Hideous socks.

Now that they're done they aren't as bad because I don't have to knit with the yarn, but they are not my favorite colors. I originally purchased the yarn, thinking it would have more of the pretty reddish pink in it. It doesn't. I decided to knit socks for the hubby because he doesn't mind colors like that. Okay, so getting back to an older format;
The Specs:
The Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn. 1 Skein Navy Blue, 1 skein Rustica
The Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
The Size: Men's Size 12 (12" foot)
The Recipient: The Jumping Bean (My darling husband)
The Pattern: Just a plain toe-up sock with coordinating heels and toes
The Notes: I wanted to use up the yarn that I didn't care for so I knit these two at a time from either end of the ball. Hubby's foot is 12" long and I had quite a bit for the leg. I'm impressed. I did have some of the Navy Blue left, I just got sick of the ribbing and the leg of the socks, including ribbing is about 5.5". I had one foot done through the heel when I picked these up and quickly finished them. JB says they are really comfortable and he likes them a lot.

So, do we like this format for finished items? Do we like how it's presented, that you get all the information in this format? Leave a comment, let me know.

Corriedale is Inspiring

The other night I was watching TV with the hubby and thinking about knitting. I was just not loving any of my current knitting projects so I knew I needed something new. Maybe something quick and simple so I could get back to my other projects (which really are lovely, I just wasn't in the mood for them the other day.)

I grabbed some lovely yarn and cast on a baby hat I had been wanting to try. When I finished it, I also knit a quickie pair of booties to go along with it. The set is going in my gift box and someday some very blessed mom-to-be will be getting a great set from me!

Isn't it great? The hat is from Homespun Handknit and part of the Bouncing Baby Set. The booties are Oh! Baby baby booties pattern. I've knit the bootie pattern before (several times) They're super cute!

I've also been working on spinning. This week I finished some lovely Corriedale. I got the Corriedale fiber from out Spinning Guild's gift exchange at the Christmas party in 2010. I spun the almost 3 1/2 ounces into a lovely 2-ply laceweight.

I've thought about dyeing it but it just looks so lovely I think I need to knit it as it is.

Here's a dime for scale. I'm thinking twisted stitches would be gorgeous in this yarn. I'll have to try it out. I have 412 yards so I should be able to make something lovely. I'm off to search patterns now.