Bring May Flowers... And Bees Cause June is Busting out all Over!!

Life got in the way and I completely missed posting for May. Now its June and I'm still working on it.... What kept me busy the weekend I would have been writing this post I was........

I got my bees on May 2nd!! I went to a beginner's beekeeping class the Sunday before and had my hands on class May 3rd. I picked up the bees and got them in the hive with no problems. I had requested a 5 frame medium nuc or nucleus colony. My queen is marked and I had no problems seeing her. I took the time to look at each frame and it looks great. I wasn't nervous at all handling the bees. Now to settle in and wait for the nectar flow! 

But... this is a fiber blog, so on to the fiber!

 

Finished Objects

I finished my Maize Mitts by Tin Can Knits. This was done with the left over yarn from the Bankhead hat. This is Twist Fiber Studio Madison Worsted in the Amethyst colorway. I had just enough and I love the size of these mitts. 

I also finished the Citron Shawl by Hilary Smith Callis. I love it! It is so soft and the ruching is awesome. I used all but a very small piece of the yarn. This is Malabrigo Lace in the Lettuce colorway. 

 

And I finished 3 sets of Knitted Knockers, one in size C and one in size B and one in size D. The C has gone to the recipient and the B's and D's will be delivered. These are quick and a wonderful project. I used Cascade Ultra Pima 100% Cotton in the Buff colorway.

 

Meter Update

Knitmeter is up to 3229 yards! The graphic is in the sidebar. And I only update as I finish objects.

 

In Progress

 

I'm still working on the Hitofude by Hiroko Fukatsu out of Twist Fiber Studio Montford Fingering. This is the MCN blend in the Tradewinds colorway. I LOVE this yarn and LOVE this pattern. But I've gotten sidetracked. I'm still on the sleeves/upper back. Oh well, I'll get there. 

I'm also working on Jaden's blanket. I'm using Little Yellow Uke's Ripple Afghan pattern. Its really easy to memorize. I  chose an acrylic yarn for easy care and its Sincerely by Purl Essence in 4 solid colors and a multi color. Its really cute and I think she will love it. 

I did a few more squares on my Scrappy Happy Blanket. I am using the mini skeins from my recent swap. I've also joined a Scrap Yarn group on Facebook and am signed up for 3 swaps that are doing 20 5 gram mini skeins so I should get great variety from that. 

OMG! Weave in those ends!

 

I cast on the Bonny sweater by Tin Can Knits in the Handmade in the UK book. I'm using Malabrigo Lace which is the same yarn I used for the Citron. Its a very soft Merino single ply yarn. Its in the Charrua colorway. Ashley, CarolinaSpinner, had this yarn and didn't like the color. I love it and love knitting with it. I am doing this for the 2 Knit Lit Chicks CardiTankTeeKAL. I'm really looking forward to wearing this.

 

I also have socks on the needles. I am knitting the Swirl E. Socks using Plymouth yarn Neon Now in the descriptive color name 5. As you can see its Highlighter colors. I'm using size 0 needles and have 56 stitches cast on which is the small size. I started off wanting to use the No Purl Toe up Crazy Monkey socks but the pattern repeats requires 64 stitches and as you can see in the last picture that was going to be too big so I ripped back to 56 stitches and switched patterns. 

 

Another new thing is some weaving. I'm using a black 10/2 cotton for warp and two different warps, both cotton slub Dragon Tails yarns from Earth Guild. I am doing a point twill and alternating the solid blue with the varigated blue. Its the first time I've really tried anything other than tabby. 

I mentioned Knitted Knockers earlier. These are knitted (or crocheted) breast prosthesis for women with partial or full mastectomies. You can find their information at www.knittedknockers.org. I was asked to make some Knitted Knockers for a friend's relative. In the same conversation I found out one of my other friends is scheduled for a double mastectomy the day after Mother's Day. The first pair I am making is for her. I've made some for my other friend's relative. I'll probably make these periodically and donate them. If you haven't see these check them out. The patterns are free and its a good thing. If you don't have anyone to give them to you can send them to the Knitted Knockers organization and they will donate them for you. You don't have to stuff them when you send to Knitted Knockers, they will do that for you. I purchased the Pima Cotton yarn from Craftsy and its an excellent price.  

 

New To Me

 

I received a sock kit from Infinite Twist called Nishikigoi House Socks by Cate Carter-Evans. This was total impulse but I fell in love with the cute Koi faces. I have no idea when I may cast this on. What really amazed me is all the stuff that came in the kit. Not only the yarn and patterns for both the socks and the full Fish Lips Kiss pattern but also sets of DPN's in 2mm, 2.5mm and 2.75mm, a notions pouch with tapestry needle and locking stitch markers, colored pencil, and a KnitGirllls measuring tape! Plus I used the Knitmore Girls coupon code and got money off. Amazing!

 

The other splurge was 2 skeins of Be So Sporty Bamboo yarn in dark Teal from Kristin Omdahl to knit the Sweet Clara crochet top. I asked Ashley to get it when she was at stitches and said that Kristin was very sweet and awesome! Hopefully I will get to meet her one day.

 

New In My Queue

 

I added 2 patterns to my queue recently. The first is Soleto Vest by Nitza Coto. I watched Denise on The Knitting Den knit this and she was wearing it recently and I love it. I have a merino/linen blend I think may work well for this. The second is Looking Back by Joji Locatelli. I love this sweater with the lace panel in the front and buttons down the back.

 

Coming Up

 

I am working on a list of patterns and yarn requirements that I can give to Ashley so that she can plan out my shop credit payment in a way that gets me  yarn to knit what I want to knit but doesn't completely drain her inventory. I'll keep you posted!

 

 

Great Ideas

 

I realized that I should be knitting during our commute to work. Hubby and I car pool. My boss is kind enough to allow me to work the same schedule as my husband. He works 4 10 hour days per week. My work week is 37.5 hours so I work 4 days per week. I drop hubby off at his shop, go to City Hall and then pick him up in the evening. Its a great schedule. But because we get home a little later I was finding that I wasn't always knitting in the evening like I used to do. But I have 30 minutes each way every day so I have been knitting in the car. I'm not the knitter who ALWAYS knits while waiting for things. But this is a good option and increases my productivity. That was how I finished the Knitted Knockers so quickly and now I have switched to my Bonny top. However, I think I will trade out projects each week to keep interest up.

 

That's it for now! If I missed anything I will catch it up next month!

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. 

Wow! Its been a while!

 I haven't been very good at posting things I'm working on lately. Mostly its because there are limitations in using the iPhone Blogger app and I didn't want to use up data by posting via the Mac. Now that our data limits are lifted I would prefer to update via the Mac. I have several items I need to enter into my Ravely projects and to blog about here.

First of all, let me update my Carnival Houdini socks. I have finished them and then they sat waiting to be washed and dried. I had several skeins of yarn I had spun as well as socks and shawls, scarves to wash and I finally did it all last week. I like the fit of these but not sure I will be doing this process again. I'm just not sure I like the look of where you knit up from the footprint. I do think my next pair of socks will be done using an afterthought heel as I have not done that yet. 

I also finished the dishcloth I was doing for my DD with the raindrops pattern. I have another ball of yarn and am looking for a different pattern to use. 

I also finished my weaving sample, cut it off the loom and then washed and dried it. After it was dry I tied the fringe on the edge with a simple overhand knot. I need to learn to hemstitch I think. I like the pattern, it was a type of waffle stitch using pick up sticks done on my Cricket loom. After washing it measures 6.5" x 6" not including the fringe. Its 6.5"x9" including the fringe. I like the stitch pattern, I like the yarn. With only a 10" weaving width I'm guessing I can't get dishtowels, but I believe I could make something useful other than scarves.

Another thing I have been working on this summer is a Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl by Wendy D. Johnson. This is a lace shawl that was released in sections starting on June 20th. It is a crescent shaped shawl and I really love it! It was fun to knit. I think I will start knitting some more shawls of other shapes rather than triangle.  I have a few pics in process and then finished. It helps to have a light colored couch! 

The pattern called for 420 yards/100 gms. I had 15 grams left over. I did the shawl as written except it had optional 5 stitch or 3 stitch nupps. I did not do the nupps and I did not do any pattern repeats. It looks very nice on and sits well on the shoulders. My shawl pin looks really nice as well.

I had picked up one of my drop spindles, the resin Mother of Pearl looking on by Butterfly Girl and had continued spinning some fiber I purchased at DFW Fiber Fest back in 2010. Its a lovely soft mix of several fibers that drafts wonderfully and has been spinning very fine on this wonderful spindle.

I am knitting socks also. I started a pair of Waterfall Socks by Wendy D. Johnson as toe up socks. The yarn is some lovely sock yarn that I cannot remember the fiber content. I purchased this yarn from Mary Berry at Fancy Fibers Farms. It was an oatmeal color and I used some acid dye and dyed them a lovely dark purple.

I guess thats enough for now. Sorry for the photo overload, I figured I would get these up and then try to blog as I go along. I'm still mad at the Soay Cardi, but I will be getting it out of time out soon and ripping out the sleeves and doing them again. I'll probably do them at the same time so they come out even. Pics of that then. Until next time, thanks for reading!

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