Knit Night Trillian

My fiber-related mojo lately has lent itself more to my spinning. Which is good because I have lots of fiber and may have brought home some fleece from Shepherd's Harvest recently too. But because spinning takes time and I haven't actually finished anything completely, I don't really have anything to show off. I am considering it training for Tour de Fleece though. So far I'm just joining my local knitting group's team but that may change as time goes on. I've been thinking about digging out my supported spindle again lately. I miss supported spindling and I can do that even when I want to just sit quietly with my feet up after a long day.

Meanwhile, I went to knit night last night and I decided to start something new. None of the projects I have on the needles were really calling to me. Partly because some are big and bulky and I didn't want that heavy weight on me and partly because I just didn't feel like knitting some of them.
Since I decided I wanted something new right before I left, I decided to grab something that was already wound up. I ended up with this beautiful skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino DK that I got at Darn Knit Anyway last summer.
They wound it up for me in the shop. I also grabbed a needle I thought would work and hustled out the door.
Once I got to knit night I knew the trick would be to find something that would work with the colors in the yarn, be easy enough to start and knit at Knit Night while chatting and work with the single needle I had grabbed.
Thankfully that part was easy. I searched Ravelry and found a pattern in my library that I hadn't knit yet that I had been wanting to. It seemed simple and would look good with this particular yarn. So I cast on. It's Trillian by Martina Behm. A beautiful part of the Hitchhiker's Pattern collection.

I am in love with it! The pattern is simple, just a two-row repeat once you get it established and it's turning out so great. I think the needle I'm knitting it on is a little small but I'm liking the fabric and I'm looking for more of a decorative scarf than a warm bundle around my neck so I think I will be fine size-wise too.
The best test is that even after knit night last night, I didn't want to put it down and go to bed. I think this one will be a definite win!

Sometimes

Sometimes I say things to myself like: I should wait to make a new blog post until I finish that project and have something to show.
Then I don't, so no post gets written.
Or: You should really do the dishes before you sit down to knit. And then I don't get any knitting time at all.
It seems to be a recurring theme with me. The feeling that I have to have things done before I can "reward" myself with some down time. But the thing is, there's always more to do. There's always 10 more things to add to my to do list and 15 more things I "should get done" also.
At the end of the day, I still find myself sitting down for a bit and listening to an audio book or reading or watching TV. Something where I enjoy a bit of time but I guess I'm not allowing myself to use that time for knitting if I don't feel like I got "enough" done that day.
I really don't want to be that way to myself. Knitting is soothing to me (mostly, there are those frustrating projects that make you want to shred the yarn with your teeth of course) and something that helps me relax and rest. Which we all need. You can't do the work you need to do if you are so exhausted you can't move or end up sick because you haven't gotten enough rest.
So I'm going to try to remind myself this week that sitting down to knit is a good thing. A necessary thing for my mental health. And something I want to do. So I'm going to do it.
Especially since May is Mental Health Awareness month and I know all of us, even those who don't suffer with mental illness, could use a little focus on ourselves and doing something that makes us happy once in awhile.
How about you? Is there something you're keeping from yourself that you use as a mental health break? Is there a way you can change your thinking about it so you don't feel guilty about taking that time for yourself?
I will be focusing on allowing myself to rest when I  need to rest and often, that will include some knitting.

New Pincha

As I've mentioned before, I've been feeling very lackluster when it comes to projects. I've always got my purse sock going and while I love the simplicity of a plain stockinette sock (almost always in self-striping yarn) I sometimes crave something more. 

We're going to be traveling this weekend to visit my in-laws and some friends. My husband will be doing the driving. That plus some down-time while we're with said friends and in-laws led me to wanting a new project. I briefly looked through everything that was on the needles and nothing really fit so I decided to go ahead and start something entirely new.

I've had my eye on the Pincha shawl for some time. (Linked to Ravelry but it's available on Knitty really.) It seems like such a unique shape and a really fun and unusual knit.

So I went stash diving. I found it difficult to find something that I thought would work for this pattern. I wanted something with some contrast between the colors in the variegation but not too much that it was shocking every time the colors moved. 

I finally settled on this skein of yarn in my stash. To be honest, I've lost the tag so I'm not absolutely sure what it is but I think it might be Schaeffer Anne. It was already wound into a cake so I thought it would be handy to grab and work with and I loved the jewel tones in it. I do have a little issue with mohair but I've worked with this yarn before so I hope it won't be too bad. If nothing else, maybe I can knit the shawl and give it as a gift.

I sat down yesterday afternoon when I had a little time and knit the first section which is called the first feather. I really tried to reserve judgement on how it was working until I had finished the first feather and I'm still not sure what I think.

It's difficult to tell in photos. It really just looks like a bit of a jumbled mess of garter stitch. It doesn't look quite so...wonky in person. I don't know that this yarn is quite right either though. The stretches of color are so short. If you look at the pattern pictures, it seems like their color repeats are longer and that might make a difference for how it looks knit up.

It's unusual, that's for sure and I do like the colors but I'm not sure it's right for this pattern. I will have to make a decision soon because we leave this afternoon.

The construction calls for a ton of short rows so it's all counting and turning. I'm not sure it will be the right project for this weekend either so I tossed another skein of sock yarn into my bag just in case I finish my purse socks and need to keep knitting. 

I am a little fascinated by how it works and I'm interested to see how the next feathers will work now  that I'm done with the first one so I definitely think I want to knit this pattern. Possibly in this yarn, possibly in something else. I looked over the project pictures on Ravelry and there's one knit in what looks like self-striping yarn that looks really fun. That gives me something else entirely to think about.

Fighting that Minnesota "Spring"

After I finished my Shamrockin' socks I immediately reached for another skein of Vesper because, let's be honest, I have a lot of it and also, it's beautiful.

Since the weather here in Minnesota has been decidedly un-springlike I chose something bright and fun. This lovely skein is from last year's Vesper Rainbow club.

Rainbows after rain was the March 2017 rainbow colorway and its sparkles and bright colors were just what I needed. Since I was still on a bit of a finishing high I was able to crank out the first sock pretty quickly.

I was at the toe last week actually and it was very awkward to take a picture so I decided to wait. 

In the meantime, I also got a pretty good jump on the second sock over the weekend.

I've noticed that if I'm excited because it's a new project or just a fun knit, I can make much faster progress and I haven't felt that way much with my projects lately. That's partly my own fault. Every project seems to have that middle part where it feels never ending and you have to sort of slog through. Sometimes I let myself get distracted at that point and wander away which leads to not getting it finished. (It may be more often than "sometimes")

Can we talk about another of my odd little quirks? I prefer to rewind the ball of yarn before I start the second sock. I don't absolutely have to if I'm out and am ready to start the second but I greatly prefer to, it just looks so much neater. Does anyone else rewind in between? Let me know if I'm the only oddball. 

Carrot Patch Brownies

I'm trying to make more time for my knitting as it seems to be what's keeping me sane at the moment. Everything is in fits and starts though. Usually when I do have time to knit, it's just a round or two and then I have 11,000 things I have to go and do. But progress is progress and that helps my sanity immensely.

Since I keep having to pick up and put down my knitting, I have been sticking almost exclusively with my simple stockinette purse sock. It's at an awkward place right now so I will wait and share it next week and instead share the fun little dessert I made for Easter.

I saw it online somewhere and I thought it would be SO CUTE! I think it turned out well and I was happy with it.

I made a pan of brownies and removed them from the pan (thanks to parchment paper underneath them). Then, I frosted them with chocolate frosting and pressed crushed animal crackers onto the frosting to look like dirt.

Finally, I dipped strawberries in white almond bark tinted orange so they would look like carrots. I even tried to drizzle lines across them so they would look more like carrots. Then added them to the "carrot patch" and put some mini Cadbury eggs so it would like they an egg hunt in the carrot patch. 

I especially wanted to share this with my niece because I thought she would get a kick out of them.

She did. I'm happy with how they turned out and they stayed nice and fudgey too. Which is perfect for a brownie in my opinion. This was all gluten free as well. And delicious!

I used the Aldi chocolate baking mix as directed for brownies (with oil not butter) and milk chocolate frosting in the store brand from CashWise/Coborn's. Then I used Kinnick kinnick chocolate animal cookies to crush for the "dirt."

Wait a Second, It isn't Tuesday?

I started writing this post on Tuesday but then an incident happened where our washer died and I had to drag the sopping clothes out and wring them out so I got sidetracked and forgot to finish. So you're getting this on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. We'll just say that for this week, Wednesdays are for spinning.

Quite some time ago, Hobbledehoy put up a pre-order for some Lord of the Rings Battlings. If you know me, you know that I love the Lord of the Rings and so, I placed an order. 

They were, of course, just as lovely as I had been imagining when they came. This set is the Rivendell Forest and they're lovely blues with touches of yellow. There's even a few places that are such a deep blue it almost looks black. My original plan was to spin it all onto one bobbin, spin the other set onto another bobbin (yeah, there's two. You didn't think this was all I got did you?) and ply them together. Once I saw them in person though, I decided I didn't want to do that. The colors are very different and I didn't want to tone them down too much. In either case. I didn't really have a plan but that didn't stop me from spinning up the lovely Battlings. 

Doesn't it look wonderful? I love the little hints of sparkle and how it goes from those pops of yellow back into the deep, rich blues. Such lovely fiber. (Don't mind the furry little legs of my assistant back there. My dear cats pretty much never let me do anything alone. Taking photos is included in that.)

At this point though, I needed to decide what I was going to do with it so I let it "rest" on the bobbin for awhile. And I thought about it. 

Eventually, I was watching the KnitGirllls podcast (probably my favorite podcast. I just love the interactions between Leslie and Laura, it makes me feel like I'm hanging out with a knitting group, even when I'm knitting alone). Laura was discussing how she had recently used some 100% silk thread to ply with and it got me thinking that maybe that was the right choice for this fiber. After all, at only 2 ounces, I didn't want to lose any yardage or tone down the colors by plying it back on itself. 

I thought about it for a bit. Then, I did some research on where I could find some silk thread. I ended up finding out that our semi-local (to me) JoAnn Fabrics had some. I decided to check it out the next time I was nearby. Then, I got a coupon in my email for 60% off and made a point to be nearby to get some thread. 

So exciting! 

There were limited color choices but I thought this bright royal blue would be good with the blues in the singles. I was completely and totally guessing on yardage. I had no idea what to expect! At one point during plying I thought I would have way too much thread leftover. Then, I thought I would completely run out of thread. Eventually, I had my lovely new yarn plied.

I just love it! It's a little unusual. Sort of lumpy and bumpy but I think that's really fun. You still get the great color changes but the thread adds something too. So, which ran out first? The thread or the singles?

The thread. But there wasn't much left of the singles so I didn't try to do anything with it. Just a few yards so I was pretty good on my guessing.

I really feel like this was the right choice for this fiber. It turned out so beautiful!

Now that it's off the Niddy Noddy though, it does need a bath, it's pretty curly. It feels a little bit scratchy because of the thread so I'm not sure what I will do with it but I really love it. I've got about 330 yards so a decent amount of a light sportweight or heavy fingering weight yarn. I can't wait to see if it puffs up in the bath!

Sometimes Finishing is the Hardest Part

I love to start a new project and I always have the best intentions. 

Like earlier this month, I started knitting my Shamrockin' sock yarn from Vesper in the hope of having new Shamrockin' socks for St. Patrick's Day.
Yeah. This is the look I got when I tried to finish them up on Saturday.

I'm pretty sure that's a no.
I did finish them now and as soon as it stops snowing (I know!!! It's supposed to Spring!) I hope to get some pictures taken.
Meanwhile I'll just be over here starting another new project. I did finish these socks after all.

Fancy Frogging

I've tried to post a few times and have had a problem with my pictures working. But it seems to be ok now. We'll see.

I definitely seem to have the winter blahs again this year so I'm fighting it with bright knitting.

Although as you can see, there's been some frogging too. Poor little Skew sock was too tight. I've only knit the pattern as written but I tend to be a tight knitter so I have to consciously knit more loosely or they don't fit. I wasn't. I decided that most of the pattern would lend itself *fairly* easily to an increase of stitches so I'm knitting it with 80 stitches around instead of 72 now. I'll let you know if it helps.
It sure looks fancy all piled up with curly yarn though doesn't it? Very pretty. Almost made up for the fact that it needed to be frogged. Almost.
In the meantime, I will try to soak up the sunshine and reasonable weather when I can, and make it through the winter once more. The days are already getting longer so we are on the way.

The Struggle is Real

Life is life and it comes and goes and twists and turns. But as Christmas nears and things seems so different, I'm finding myself super nostalgic for the way things used to be.
We used to have Christmases at our house when I was growing up. We didn't have a big house and my mom was a single mother so we didn't have a lot of money either. But all my aunts and uncles and cousins would come and we would have all these cookies my mom had spent weeks baking and all the cousins would play together and the adults would talk together and it was lovely.
I miss that. This year we won't see my aunts, uncles and cousins as they are all busy with their families. We barely have time with my mom, brother and niece because they're all busy with their own things and we have a Christmas with my husband's family to get to also. And I love that we're making new traditions but I'm missing the old ones too.
Days spent together, eventually getting on each other's nerves and eating too many sweets. But all that lovely time together. Playing games and staying up late and all the things that come with family.

Instead I'll knit my Christmas Sock and be thankful we have wonderful memories. Although I'm finding it really hard to pull Christmas together this year, I'm going to keep on trucking and remember that it isn't the gifts or the cookies that matter.
Yarn is "Santa Jess" on Will & Grace Sock by Sparktickes Dyes (not dyeing right now but hopefully we can convince her to come back. This yarn is so lovely). I'm just knitting a plain stockinette sock on size 1 (2.25 mm) needles.

Isn't It Supposed to Make Things Easier?

Just popping in to let you know I haven't forgotten you.
Our router died at home and that means I have very limited access to the internet since all of my devices connect via wifi so I haven't been able to be on the blog or Ravelry much.
I am getting lots of knitting done though so I hope to be back soon when we figure out our technology issues. I swear it was invented to make things easier and sometimes it does but when you're troubleshooting and fixing, it's so much worse!

The Rare Selfie

I find it interesting that all the trees are turning beautiful colors and yet the sky is so gray and dark lately that I haven't been able to get any decent pictures of knitting.
I'm working away on my purse socks and have also started a couple of new things (more on that another day) but I just can't seem to get any decent pictures.
We had a few hours of sunlight one afternoon this week but I was busy with other things and didn't get my pictures taken so you'll have to make do with just my random musings.
It's Friday and I'm grateful. I have been stressed and overworked this week trying to get some of the treasurer work caught up at my job. Have I mentioned here that I took over the treasurer work? I started that in February and most of the time, it isn't too big of a deal but over the last couple of months a few random questions came up and I was so stressed over figuring them out. I really wanted everything resolved by the end of the year (because it has to be) and it was making me crazy. Doing the books for a church is pretty complicated actually. In some ways it's like balancing a checkbook but there are all these accounts. And there's an account where the money goes in and then another number to draw the money out again and they have to be connected together. Not something you want to think about if you don't have to. Trust me. Anyway, I stayed late yesterday and got all of that caught up so I feel so relieved today to only have my usual Friday tasks that I feel like dancing in the streets!
Instead I'll probably go home and knit. That's my modus operandi for a Friday evening. Relax at home, grateful for the end of the work-week.
I ran all my errands earlier this week too so all I have to do is go home today.
Since I don't have any pictures of knitting to share instead I will share a rare selfie I took in the bathroom at work this morning.

Yes, I'm wearing a non-knitted scarf. But it's cute! I'm not usually one for a selfie but I thought it was fun as this is the first time I'm wearing this scarf. It may be acrylic but it's cozy.
Have a great weekend friends.

Half Done

I've been working away on my projects and I feel like I'm just not getting anywhere. 

I've got one finished purse sock.

One finished marl sock.

And a bobbin full of singles.

I was looking over these projects and thinking about all the work I've put in and it occurred to me. They're all half done. The reason it feels like I haven't made any progress is because I'm only  halfway through 3 different projects. 

All the work I've put in has been split, meaning nothing has that fun feeling of a finished object yet. I've cast on the second Marled sock.

Cast on the second purse sock.

And I'll be starting the plying on my singles soon. So I'm definitely making good progress but since I've been dividing my focus, it feels like I'm not getting anywhere. You know the expression "Well begun is half done"? That's what seems to be going on here. 

So, I guess I just need to keep going until I finish something and it will break that feeling of lack-of-progress. 

I should probably not mention the other project I cast on. That won't help with the half done feeling.

Blame the Sock

Monday night was Knit Night. It was also Labor Day so I was off work. I couldn't seem to get it together enough to get ready earlier in the day but I was getting ready to go and I knew I wanted to bring my Skew socks to work on since they were at a fairly easy part (done with the heel and decreases and ready to begin the short rows for the leg). That also means that I might be able to finish them at Knit Night so I wanted to bring something else, My purse sock just didn't seem to be enough. But I also wanted to get going and I didn't want to take the time to wind yarn so I just tossed some that was wound in my knitting bag and off I went.

Interesting story though. Our Knit Nights are a fixed date but not day. So, the 4th of each month we meet at our Caribou, regardless of the day of the week. The 19th we meet at our local Panera, regardless of the day of the week. That way, even if you have something every week on a certain day, sometimes you can make it to knit night. They two don't fall on the same day of the week in a month either. It seems to work well for us. 

Anyway, we meet at Caribou at 6:30. Only this time we were early. Probably 7 of us were there by 6 and were knitting and chatting (as we do) in the conference room that we reserve for a fee. At 7:05 they come in and tell us they're closed. Normally Caribou is open until 10 and 11 on weekends so it had to be due to the holiday right? But there were no signs or indications that they closed at 7 and there were lots of people in the main area too. So why did they close so early? And it pretty much isn't right for them to charge us the room rental fee for an hour when we wanted it for several hours. Shady! A few of us decided we didn't want to quit knitting though so we went down the road to Starbucks and kept on knitting. 

At least that way I made some progress.

I did finish the Skew socks, aren't they pretty? There's just something about this pattern. It's addictive. I can (and have) knit it over and over. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in months I haven't had a pair on the needles and I am feeling the pull to cast on some more. 

In the meantime, look how pretty they are! I love the heels when they're on my feet but they don't look like much laid flat do they? These are knit from Knitterly Things Vesper in Bride of Socktober Spooktacular. This is the merino Nylon base that's a little thicker so it's easier for me to knit this pattern on larger needles than I knit her other bases. On her 100% Superwash Merino yarn that's really fine, I knit on 0s. I haven't actually knit with the Merino Nylon that's thinner yet but it's similar to the 100% Superwash Merino in thickness so I will knit it on 0s too probably. (I haven't knit it yet but I have several skeins in the stash already.) I knit this pattern on 2s since the slanted knitting fits more snug than straight knitting because of the bias. So what yarn did I throw into my knitting bag before I left?

A couple of skeins that are kind of the polar opposite of the Vesper yarn. Rustic, more sheepish and toned-down colors. There's something pretty compelling about their tweedy nature though.

I finished the gusset decreases on the first sock today. It's flying by! That may also be why my house is a wreck, I spent way more time knitting than tidying this week. 

I didn't actually start them at knit night though. By the time I finished the Skew socks it was late enough that I didn't want to start anything new. So I just knit my purse socks for a bit.

I cast these on after I got home. I actually started them toe-up thinking that I could use more yarn since it's 2 skeins. But I didn't like the fabric I was making so I went down a needle size to 1s and I'm liking them much better. I also abandoned the toe-up plan. I just don't like toe-up as well and I don't know why I keep deluding myself into thinking I will use more of the yarn. If I knit the leg too long it will just be an awkward length that will scrunch down anyway (unless they're knee high and I don't have *that* much yarn). So I've knit most of a sock since Tuesday. Yes, I'm totally blaming the messy house on the sock. Definitely its fault.

Finishing Continues

I've been continuing to work on current projects in the hope of finishing some things up before the new month starts and the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup term. 

I finished my Citron and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. This is knit in the Lettuce color of Malabrigo Lace yarn. 

I mostly found it frustrating to work on because the yarn was so fine and easy to split that I couldn't work on it while reading because I had to make sure I wasn't losing stitches. I had to pay close attention while watching TV too. I do think it's lovely though and soft so it will be nice as the weather cools to wrap it around my neck. 

I did weave in the ends but I haven't blocked it and I likely won't for now but will just wear it as is.

I also finished a pair of socks. These are knit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight. This is the only skein of Socks that Rock lightweight that I had and I put off knitting with it for a long time because I just wasn't thrilled with the way it worked up. There was something about the yellow, green and brown that didn't appeal to me. I've been knitting with lots of fine yarns too so it was a little odd for me to knit with a thicker yarn but it was fun and fast. These are knit in the Monkey pattern but without purls. I don't think the experience with this yarn will stop me from purchasing more in the future  since it comes in such beautiful colors.

I'm itching to start about 6 new things though. Not the least of which are these two lovely skeins that I got to knit the Wonder Woman Wrap. It's really hard to wait until the end of the month, even though I have plenty of projects on the needles that are still waiting for my attention. 

Here's hoping I can hold off! 

August Buzz

Things have gotten wild around here again. I did manage to finish my Citron but I have yet to weave in ends or block it.
I've been travelling every weekend and therefore trying desperately to keep up on the housework and other things during the week, meaning my brain hasn't had any down-time lately to even think of a blog post.
But I signed up for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC) again and it begins September 1 so I am hoping to finish up a couple quick projects yet and then be ready for a cast on party on September 1!
Basically I'm looking forward to things slowing down this fall. I feel like I've been buzzing around like a bee and I'm ready for some hunker down and knit time.

Sock stories

Socks are some of my favorite projects to knit. They're useful, small and portable and usually pretty simple since I have a basic pattern memorized.

I almost always have a sock in my purse and can take it out and knit a few rounds if I have down-time or I'm waiting for something. As a matter of fact, I try not to go anywhere without my knitting because it gives me a lot of patience for things like waiting.
Well, I recently finished some socks.

These are the Sweet Summer Sky socks knit from Vesper Sock Yarn in Sweet Summer Sky. I started them in mid-May to take with on our road trip to Shepherd's Harvest Festival and I finished them in either late June or early July. They were just purse socks and so had no deadline or anything so I mostly ignored them and just knit them when I had a minute. Since it was the Tour de Fleece and I had several other projects on the needles, I decided against starting any new socks when I finished these. I actually felt a little bit burned out on knitting socks and I had so many projects on the needles, I didn't want to start anything new. So instead I stuck my Wolkig cowl in my purse and away I went.
Well, after a few weeks of having that in my purse I found that I wasn't taking it out to work on, even when I had a minute because I didn't want to. I guess a cowl isn't as fun of a purse project as socks?
Last weekend my husband was gone and I was home alone with our pets and decided I wanted to knit some socks again. Except, why should I start some new socks when I knew I had some around that hadn't been finished. So I went digging around and came up with my Vesper Holiday Celebrate! socks. These were being knit in the Skew pattern and the first sock was finished, the second one started. What a silly time to put them down and ignore them.
After an evening (and then a bit more) working on them, they were done.

I still really love this pattern. They're a bit fiddly to knit because you do have to pay attention for almost the whole sock.

But just about the time you can take it anymore, you whack on the ribbing at the top and slip them on.

That's when it all becomes clear. They are completely, totally worth it! I just love the way they fit. They are snug to my foot, but not too snug and even in shoes that are slippery inside, that tend to make my socks slide down, these do not slide down. They stay exactly in place until I take them off. Love them!
Of course I was so inspired by the fact that I am now adding 2 new pairs of socks to my sock drawer and my love of these Skew socks, I decided to dig out another pair of Skew socks waiting to be finished. These required a little bit more work, having only one sock partly done. But I've finished the first and cast on the second now so they're making good progress.
Maybe I'll have another pair to share next week. 

Tour de Fleece 2017 Recap

I thought now that the tour was over, it would be a good idea to take a look at what I accomplished during the tour this year.

Here are the 4 skeins I managed to finish this tour. While I feel like these are great skeins and I'm very happy with them, I definitely feel like I could have done more this tour.

I really didn't do much spindle-spinning (barely any as a matter of fact) and I feel like I could have spent more time at my wheel.

Oh well, it is what it is. I am very happy with the skeins I finished and I definitely feel like focusing on spinning makes me want to do more so maybe it will bring it more to the forefront of my mind and get me to actually do it.

I think of these skeins, the only one I hadn't mentioned before is the front one. The Verdant merino from Gritty Knits.

I chose it to be a sort of palette cleanse when I finished the fine yarn in the back. I just split it in two the long way, did a mild drafting and let the fiber be what it wanted to be.

I came up with a decent 2-ply and I think it turned out well. Of course, I technically finished the plying after the end of the tour but I think it still counts. 

I did start the second braid of the Champs Élysées fiber so that will be on the wheel for awhile. Hopefully I can keep motivated to get it done.

Bad Influences Require Decisions

A couple of my knitting group friends are terrible influences. They both started the Starting Point wrap and spent one Knit Night talking about it and how great it was so I, of course, started pondering it myself.

When I received my June 2017 nom of the month club skein, the deal was set.

The skein had so many colors in it that I thought I could find many colors to go with it in my stash. Being in the nom club for as long as I have been, and not knitting up my skein every month, has allowed me to build a nice little stash of the gorgeous stuff. Many of them are semi solids which works very well for colorwork projects and stripey things. I love shopping from stash for things like that. So, when I was rooting around in the stash looking for things to bring to our stash swap, I also dug through and found some contenders.

I ended up with these 5 colors.

I love how the variegated has bits of each of the colors in it. I really felt like that would tie them all together. Of course a large, looming problem stood in my way. I had to wind 5 skeins of yarn! Yikes. It sat for a couple of weeks while I worked away on my spinning for Tour de Fleece and then the other evening, while watching TV with the husband, I didn't feel like spinning and felt utterly bored with my current knitting projects so I decided to wind the yarn. I've been really trying to focus on finishing up projects rather than starting new ones but I decided it was time to at least wind the yarn. 

I really found the variegated skein to be unusual-looking once it was wound. Almost like a speckled yarn rather than a traditional variegated.

Of course, once the yarn was wound it was only a matter of time until it was on the needles. 

I squished the 5 skeins of yarn into my knitting bag and off I went this morning. Rather than cleaning the house like I was supposed to be doing. Oops.

I designated the colors (in clockwise order starting with the yellow in the lower right) Butter: color 1, Steam: color 2, June 2017(unnamed): color 3, Ashburton: color 4 and Khaki: color 5.

Since I wasn't too concerned about gauge as this is a wrap and not a fitted garment, I decided to just cast on and use that as a swatch to see if I liked the colors together. It starts pretty small after all. 

Away I knit, until I had this. So, I'm having 2 issues with it. The first is this.

So many ends already! This I can easily fix by weaving them in as I go along rather than leaving them all to the end. The second is a little bit more frustrating and one that I need your help with. Yes, YOU dear reader. I'm concerned that the variegated is too bold and is taking away from the other colors.

In the pictures, it even doesn't seem as bad as it does in real life. It's so bright, with a few pops of fluorescent color even, that I think it might be taking away from the contrast that's between the other colors. The contrast that you need with this kind of project. So I need to make a decision. A difficult-to-make decision. That's where I would like your help. 

Leave me a comment telling me to either continue onward or rip and find something else to be color 3. 

I truly don't seem to be able to make a decision on my own so tell me what you think!

Option A: knit onward! It seems fine or will still work.

Option B: Rip it! Find something else to use as the variegated and keep that skein for something simple like a Hitchhiker or something.

Tour de Fleece has Begun

It's not Tuesday but it is Tour de Fleece so let's talk spinning.

Once again I'm spinning along with the Tour de France in the Tour de Fleece. I've joined just 2 teams this time. My local team; St. Cloud Knitters and the Gritty Knits team.
My local team had a lovely kickoff party again and I brought my Vespera electric wheel. I was pretty happy with the progress I made too! I worked on my partial bobbin, finishing up the spinning on it.

This is Serenity on Merino from Gritty Knits. I managed to finish up the singles at the party on Saturday.
I also managed to spin up the singles of this lovely Gritty Knits Merino called Engram.

Technically I think I finished them up on Sunday and I'm not sure that I even took a picture of the finished singles. The yarn is plied now and will be getting its bath in the next couple of days so you can take a look at it then.
I plied the Serenity on Sunday and started some lovely Polwarth that I purchased from a friend/local dyer called Champs Elysees. I have 8 ounces so it's going to take some time, especially since it's spinning so lovely and fine.

I really like how the Serenity turned out, although towards the end I got impatient to spin something else and ended up spinning my singles a bit thicker than I had at the beginning. Since I chain-plied it I got less yardage than I had hoped and ended up with a little bit thicker yarn on one end than the other. That's okay, I will make it work. It's still lovely handspun.
I'm really proud of myself for sticking with the spinning every day thing. Yesterday was quite a day. After work in the morning I had to make a bunch of phone calls regarding my car which needed some work (the bane of my existence, phone calls) and then rearrange our living room (by myself before the husband got home from work) and clean up under the couch so the couch could go out to the curb for large goods pickup on Saturday. When he got home we carried it out. I'm so glad it's leaving honestly! I was so tired after all that in the heat of the day that I was so proud of myself for sitting down at the wheel after supper when we decided to watch a little TV. I'm about half done with the first braid of Polwarth so if I stick to this progress, soon I should have the first 4 ounces of the Polwarth finished and ready for plying. I'm hoping it won't take the rest of the tour and I can get some other spinning in too! Although the Vespera e-spinner is currently empty. I could start something on that!