Longer Than I Thought

In the Bag

I pulled out my Soay Cardi this last week and frogged the sleeves. I have set it aside and will probably pick it up closer to spring. It won't take long to knit the sleeves and it is a spring/summer cardi. I feel better that I got it ready to begin knitting on again. I also frogged a worsted weight shawl that I have tried to knit twice and didn't work. I will have to wash the yarn to smooth it out and then find a new project for it. 

Nanner Nanner Socks are coming along nicely. I have started the increases for the heel gusset. The picture probably doesn't look much different but I have put about an inch on them since the last picture. 

I mistakenly said the yarn for my Mr. Greenjeans  sweater was a faux Fair Isle. Silly me, its a Tapestry, its even called Worsted Tapestry! Anyhow, I've changed the name to Tapestry Greenjeans Sweater on Ravelry. I've made some nice progress on it. I'm past where I put the sleeves on holders and am knitting down the body. Its a very soft, squishy yarn and its working very nicely. I believe it will be an awesome, comfortable cardi. 

I've started a new project. Its called 2013 Weather Scarf. Its taken from the blog 400 Square Foot Living by Kristen Cooper. There are many variations and you can see some of them on Ravelry in the My Year in Temperatures Scarf KAL. Colleen, Ashley and I have split skeins of Plymouth Yarn Encore in 11 colors. We are using 10° increments beginning at 0°. I am using the daily high temp, ideally using my own thermometer at the house. If I can't use that then I'm using Wunderground or Weatherbug temps. I am planning to knit one row for each day and to knit every day. 

Out for a Spin

I finished spinning the all of the Bamboo/Alpaca I discussed last time. I have 2 bobbins of singles to ply and I'm saving that for tomorrow at spin group. I'm being very cautiously optimistic about tomorrow. If all goes as planned I will be meeting with a young lady after spin group and sell her my Spinoultions Bee wheel. I have my Ashford Joy which is really my favorite wheel and I really don't feel I have space for two wheels. Even though both are small travel wheels. I would really like a Woolee Winder for my Joy and by selling the Bee, which is not being used, I can purchase one. I am also going to be watching for a great price on a 24" or 32" rigid heddle loom. I'll be adding a segment for weaving as I go along. I'm leaning towards the Kromski Harp loom because it has a built in warping board on the back. So I hope it all works out. Here is a pic of my singles... I forgot to take a pic before packing the wheel in the travel case to go to spinning tomorrow. I will ply them together and then I think I'll try dyeing them with the Kool-Aid ice cubes and see how it comes out. 

I also made use of the loan of a drum carder to card some fiber. I had washed some alpaca back during the Tour d' Fleece but never got it carded to spin. At spin group last week we celebrated ROC day and a few people brought drum carders. At the last minute I pulled out this alpaca, some wool locks and some dyed mohair locks I've had for a long time. This is my resulting batts. I ended up with 5 batts and 11.65 oz total. I'm looking forward to spinning this.

Mindless Nattering

I'm really not sure why I didn't get a blog post done earlier this week. I guess my posting dates will change somewhat depending on what my work schedule. Anywhere from a week to 10 days will probably be typical. I'm also starting to plan my garden,,,, this very warm weather (near 70° today) is making me want to plant. But I will resist, since I'm very sure that we will have much more cold! 

Thats it for now, thanks for joining me on my fiber journey. Remember to make the most of everything you have. Its not the quantity its the quality. 

Back to Blogging!

I'm going to get back into the habit of blogging everyday about my fiber activity. I really find this a great way to look back at what I've accomplished. So I have 3 things to blog about today. The first one is my most recent completed spinning project. Back in April I took a space dyeing class with Leef Bloomenstiel from Apple Leef Farms at the DFW Fiberfest along with my friends Edee, Ellen and Karen. I chose Teal, Turquoise and Chestnut dyes. I had approximately 4 oz of fiber to dye.

Roving in dye pot.

After the class I took my fiber home and rinsed it out and let it dry on my fiber (sweater) dryer. I really thought the colors came out beautifully.

Roving after dyeing on drying rack.

When I spun this I first split it into 2 parts as equally as I could. I had 3 separate sections of roving and I split each section into 2. The I spun each "half" to a bobbin. As I spun it I alternated between the 3 sections that had different amounts of each color in them. Now, I really like a barber pole effect when I spin hand dyed roving, mine or anyone else's dye job. Its my preference. I have tried other methods of plying to keep the color changes closer together such as Navajo plying but I wanted to have as much yardage as possible from this.

Roving spun to fingerling weight.

So this is my final product. It is essentially fingerling weight although I can't find my WPI tool right now so I can't be certain. The colors are lovely and I believe this will make a beautiful final product. I have approximately 449 yards of this. I'll let you know what I'll be making. Right now I'm leaning toward socks.

The next subject is the hats I've knitted lately. I'm into hats right now and I had some yarn left over from a "stealth" project and decided to use Fair Isle technique to make a hat. I found my friend Carissa's hat pattern on Ravelry. Carissa has a blog called Carissa Knits and the hat pattern can be found, along with many, many other wonderful patterns, at Carissa Knits: Snowflake Hat. I used sport weight yarn and thought I figured my gauge correctly but should have knitted the hat in the large adult size as Carissa suggested. The small adult hat fits me but with my new longer, curly hair its not quite right. So I will probably make a larger one and give this one away. I also made a hat called Shroom from Knitty. Its also a free pattern on Knitty. Just search for Shroom hat. Here are pictures of them.

Snowflake hat 

Shroom!

In February of this year I attended the Fiber Retreat hosted by Mary Berry from Fancy Fibers Farm. One of the purchases I made there was 8 oz. of a wool/angora blend. This is 80% Merino top and 20% German Angora fiber. I personally pulled out the fiber, weighed it and gave it to Mary to blend for me on the drum carder. I decided to start spinning this next. My plan is to get a fingerling weight double or triple ply and make a shawl from it.

I'm also doing some "stealth" knitting but more about that later. Currently on the needles (OTN) is still my Stacey Shawl, a cardigan from my handspun brown tones fiber and SOCKS! lol... I recently organized my yarn/fiber stash. I found this sock kit that Edee and I had purchased from the Woolie Ewe  in Plano, TX a while ago. I decided to start knitting it. I'll post what I've done so far and then give you updates... I had to get 00 Addi DPN for this to get the gauge. While I was at the LYS I got 00 Addi lace 40" circulars for toe up two at at time socks cause a lot of times the 0 is too large.

Lorna's Laces in Tree Frog colorway

Isn't it pretty wound up?

Pattern

Cuff complete on first sock.

Today's progress so far. 

The pattern is actually very simple.  You do a grid pattern for the cuff which is very stretchy and then the first 8 rows set up the diagonal pattern and then its just a simple 2 row repeat for the leg. You do have separate instructions for left and right so the diagonal lace pattern goes opposite directions. There is a YO that makes the lace but you can't see it in the picture. I used Jenny's Stretchy Cast On since these are cuff down. It is really easy and really works. When I do toe up I use Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off to finish the cuff. This link is Cat Bordhi's explanation.

I actually talked about more than 3 things but I hope you don't mind. I'm going to try to post this on Facebook also so please be patient as I try to do that. There are several methods but I'm going to start with the simplest and see how it goes. One day I'll have a Facebook page for this stuff but I think that will wait for a while. I hope you like my updates on my progress. Your feedback is important to me. Let me know how I'm doing!

Michele

Yea! My Seaside Shawlette is done!

Ok, so its not completely done, but it is bound off the needles. Its lovely. I have to find my pins for blocking. It did take me a lot longer to do that I anticipated but I had 3 long breaks while knitting it. But once I got moved and unpacked I zipped through the last chart. I really loved knitting this but I had to do it at home. Sometimes even the TV distracted me enough to make mistakes but it wasn't really that hard. I'll post again once I have it washed and blocked. Can't wait to wear it!

Shawl and Sock Update

I figured I better get an update on here. Here is a new picture of my shawl in progress. Its coming right along. I've completed Chart A and will be starting Chart B. I estimate its about 60% complete as I only do Chart B and C once where I repeated Chart A 3 times.

I'm also updating you on my Diamond Chain socks. I'm really happy with the look of the pattern. This yarn really shows it off. I've learned alot about yarn/pattern choice. I think I will save the lace patterns for smoother yarn as it really shows up better. The fuzzy yarns I'll do a simpler pattern like Wilma Beckers Waffle Stitch pattern. It make a lovely texture. On a side note while I was waiting for my car inspection to be done yesterday I pulled out these socks to pass the time. I had quite an audience in the waiting area.

Booby Sock Update

Time for an update on my Booby Socks! I have knitted all the leg and have turned the heel. In these pictures I have picked up gusset stitches on one side of one sock. It should go pretty quickly now. I really love them and think I will be wearing them often.

I also had a great time on Saturday at the Song and Dance Ranch Fiber Gab. We had a demonstration on hand carding and I took home some wonderful alpaca fiber. I have spun nearly a full bobbin and still have tons left! I hope to make a pair of socks from it. I have some brown and some white alpaca to wash so I'll get it done and ready to spin also. That way I can use the white for the toes and heels and if the other brown is different color I can put some stripes in.

On Sunday we had our gift exchange at the North Texas Weavers and Spinners Guild meeting. We had wonderful fellowship, food and gift giving. The violence from gift theiving was kept to a minimum with only a couple of thefts. I chose my gift based on the packaging. It was in a wine tube and I had been reading about how they make good spindle carriers for your drop spindle. Since I want to start using my drop spindle again I thought that was a good gift to choose. In the container was this lovely hat knitted by Laura Easterling. It was a great meeting, I always have such a good time.

In case I don't post again before, Merry Christmas to all my friends and family and a Happy, Happy New Year. I for one am really looking forward to the new year, may it be a happy one! I love you all, thanks for your never ending support.

Autumn Prairie Roving into Yarn!

A couple of months ago I saw this roving on Etsy at Laughing Rat Studios and fell in love with the depth of colors and the vibrancy of them. When it came in the mail and I opened the package I literally gasp out loud. The colors were even more lovely than on the computer. I knew I wanted to try to spin thin enough to have enough yarn for socks so I set out to spin very thin and I managed to get pretty thin. Then due to the hand painted dye I decided to learn to

Navajo Ply which makes a triple ply yarn out of one single. It allows you to keep color changes together. For the most part I did pretty well with the color changes and don't have too much that is barber poled. Overall I'm very happy with the resulting yarn. I'll let you know how the socks turn out!

Finished!

I finished my brother's socks last night! I love them and hope he will too. But since they are for Christmas I won't have any pictures until then. They went really well and I would use that yarn again. I'll be interested to see how it holds up. Now its on to finishing my anklets and getting started on Katie and Dax's Christmas Stockings. I will probably cast on for the first one today. I have decided to do them in single colors. I think they will look nicer that way. Pictures soon I hope! This will be my first felting project. Here is a look at the yarn I will be using for them.
I love the yarn and with the white eyelash yarn in the cuff they will be really nice.

I'm also starting an afghan for Katie. She wants to decorate her bedroom in blue and browns and I found this yarn at Walmart.
And I'm using a hexagon crochet pattern. I'm going to crochet up the 2 skeins of varigated yarn and then go looking for coordinating shades of blue and brown to make up enough for a good size. The ones I have done so far look like this.

Sock Update

Ok, I've been working on 2 sock projects as you know. My brother's socks that will be done in time for Christmas are coming along nicely. I just have about 5 miles of foot to knit and then finish the toes..... Well, maybe not 5 miles, thats a bit unfair. Its not that he has large feet, its just that mine are so small that it makes his seem huge!. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the progress. Its hard to see the heel turn so I took a close up.
Looking good huh? I may just have enough yarn left over to make a short scarf also. Not sure yet but if so it will be one where you have a slit in it to tuck one end through.

Ok, now mine are coming along nicely too. I am knitting mine toe up since I'm using left over yarn from Katie's pedicure socks. I've turned the heel and am knitting up the leg. I think I will end up with about 3" in the leg which on me is plenty long enough. I don't really like tall socks anyway.

My next projects are going to be felted Christmas stockings for Dax and Katie. I'm thinking of trying some needle felting with some white roving after the stockings are felted to put names on it. I've never done this before but have always wanted to try. Should be interesting. I also have yarn for an afgan for Katie as well as socks for Seth and Dakota. I also have several spinning projects going. I've finished spinning and plying some of my mohair as well as the hand painted roving I got for socks. I'll post pictures of those projects when they are washed and dried.

Lazy Kate

No, I'm not talking about my daughter (sorry Katie) I'm talking about my new Lazy Katie that Anthony made for me today. We only had to purchase the pegs and dowel. Other than that we used scrap lumber that we had here.

I had 3 bobbins of mohair I had spun and wanted to ply them together. My Lazy Kate on my spinning wheel has a built in Lazy Kate but it only holds 2 bobbins. I was going to make something temporary but after showing Anthony on line what I needed he put it together for me.
The secret of this is the tension string. It works like the Scotch tension on my spinning wheel. It allows the plying head to pull the yarn as it plies.

I'm getting a lovely tweedy looking yarn. I'm hoping to have enough to knit a shrug for Katie. 100% mohair is a bit scratchy close to the skin but I'm thinking this over a shirt will be ok. I think the yarn is beautiful and my Lazy Kate is perfect!

Katie's Leftovers, Louie's Socks Update

Well, there was so much yarn left over from Katie's Pedicure Socks I decided to cast on a pair of socks for myself. I'm doing them toe up so that I can bind off when I run out of yarn but I figure I'll have enough yarn for at least a pair anklets. I love this yarn, its really nice. I bought another 2 skeins of this yarn in another colorway called Chili. It has the same stripe pattern but different colors.

I'm also posting an update on Louie's socks. I've gotten about 6 inches so far knitted up. Another 2 inches and I'll be starting the heel flap.

These are knitted cuff down but since he isn't here for me to try them on I'm going by measurements anyway.

A Fine Day Out

I had such a good time today. I went to The Song and Dance Ranch, home of Howling Wolf Herbs today where I met Regina Dale and a whole bunch of really nice women. It was her monthly Fiber Gab. Regina and her husband, Tony have a lovely ranch in Bartonville and she raises several fiber animals such as sheep, alpaca and goats. She has a wonderful shop where she sells her aromatherapy products. I forgot to get my camera out of my bag (I did remember to take it) so I don't have any pictures to post but I'll try to get some next month. Check out her website and see some of her wonderful stuff. She has weaving looms, a sock knitting machine, several spinning wheels as well as a lovely collection of beautiful drop spindles. We spent our time spinning, knitting and chatting. I'm really looking forward to next month's Fiber Gab.

Shelly's scarf done, Louie's socks cast on!

Wow, I'm really on a roll right now. I've finished Shelly's scarf tonight and last night I cast on my brother, Louie's socks. His socks are knit with worsted weight yarn to make them thicker and warmer. I'm doing them so he can wear them with his boots this winter. Technically they are for Christmas but he knows I'm doing them so it isn't a suprise. I hope he likes them. Hopefully I can get him to send me a picture of him wearing them so I can post it. I'll post a picture of Shelly and her scarf also.

Update on Katie's Pedicure Socks

Just wanted to post an update. Katie got her socks today and sent me a picture of them. She says they fit great. Now she wants a pair in black and gray.... lol

Katie's Pedicure Socks

I finished Katie's Pedicure socks in record time. I cast them on September 19th and did the final stitch on October 1st. Technically I finished them on September 29th but I had to wait until I could look up a better bind off at the foot to really finish them. This yarn is really soft and nice to work with. It knits up really nice and the self striping pattern is lovely. I will use this again. Its Premier brand Serenity Sock Yarn from the Deborah Norville collection. The colorway is called Paprika. These are called pedicure socks because they end at the toes leaving them free to paint the nails. The reason I made these for Katie is because she loves to wear flip flops and this way her feet will be warmer in the winter! I think I have enough yarn left over to make myself a pair of anklet socks from these. I will have to do them 2 at a time, toe up in case I start to run out of yarn!

As you can see I figured out how to add a progress bar to my blog for the WIP projects I have going. I belong to a group called Ravelry where I can enter my yarn/fiber stash, patterns, projects etc. This new widget pulls information from there. I like this because you have to be a member of Ravelry to see my stuff on there. Hopefully I can figure out how to make it pull all my projects, not just the WIP ones. As always, stay tuned!

Katie's Hat Part 2

I only got 2 pictures of Katie with her new hat and it includes the boys with their hats I made them from the indigo dyed blue yarn.

I'm making them more hats with some yarn from Michaels that looks like camo.

I also made myself a hat from the multicolored yarn.