WiP Wednesday

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

I have one FO to show you and a couple of WiPs to show you today.  (I know, it’s not FO Friday yet, but odds are I won’t get around to posting again on Friday – hubby is out of town again, which causes all kinds of craziness in our house!)

I finished up the Gotland lambswool that I was spinning on my new wheel last week:

I have no idea how much yardage I have yet, I’ll see once I wind it off onto the niddy-noddy and give it a good soak to set the twist.  I’m very happy with it on the bobbin – we’ll see how it blooms once I wash it. The ball on the right was off my Mazurka, and the bobbin on the left is the yarn spun on the new wheel.

I got my wild flyer the day I finished up the Gotland – perfect timing!  So I’ve started spinning up a thick and thin yarn that I plan to ply with some thread.

This is a merino/bamboo/nylon roving from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts that I got a couple of years ago at SAFF.  I split the roving lengthwise and I’m just doing my best to get as many thick sections as I can!  I tend to spin so fine, it’s hard to force myself to spin thick, but I’m doing my best!

The socks are plugging away nicely:

I’m really happy with the color choices I made – and I’m even happier that I’m using up some of my stash!  I only hope I don’t run out before I finish the second sock! :-)

So that’s what I’m working on this week!  Check out Tami’s Amis for more WiP Wednesday posts!

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Posted in FO Post, Socks, Spinning, WiP | Leave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day! (a bit early)

Posted on February 10, 2012 by

Look what my husband got me for Valentine’s Day!  (Or rather, he told me to go ahead and order it for Valentine’s Day!) :-)

She’s a Majacraft Rose.  I don’t have a name for her yet, but I’ve got a few ideas kicking around in my head, so she’ll probably have a name very soon.

I did a bit of practice spinning on her to get used to the differences from my Mazurka, and then I jumped right in to finishing up spinning my Gotland wool (that’s been sitting half-spun for probably a year).

I only realized after I started that my Gotland wool is from New Zealand, and the wheel is from New Zealand, so my choice of first yarn to spin on her was very apropos!  I’m still getting used to how she spins, but we’re starting to get to know each other, and I can see myself falling in love with her in the very near future.  Especially once my wild flyer arrives (it was ordered separate, and is on its way!)  I really want to try out tail spinning and core spinning, and the wild flyer should be great with that!

As far as knitting goes, the fair isle socks have really sucked me in, so all other knitting has been neglected in favor of those.  They are coming along quite nicely:

I’m past the heel, and probably will start the calf increases soon.  I love knitting fair isle so much!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately!

Happy Knitting (and Spinning) everyone!

Posted in Socks, Spinning, WiP | Leave a comment

WiP Friday?

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

I don’t have any FOs to show you today.  And I forgot to do my WiP Wednesday post.  So today we shall have WiP Friday!! :-)

I have lots to show you today.  All socks.  I’m not sure what has happened to me.  I was really into socks a couple of years ago, and then I was really into lace shawls (still am), but my obsession with socks is starting to come back.  I suppose we all go through an ebb and flow as knitters, as with lots of other things.

Anyhow, here’s the first pair in progress:

Pattern: improvised 58 stitch cuff down sock
Yarn: Lotus Yarns Chakra in colorway Katherine (Merino/Cashmere blend)

Done with the first sock and about to start the second!  Loving the colors in this yarn.  Very masculine – I almost wish I had knit these for my husband instead.  Almost.  This yarn feels like heaven on my foot.  I can’t wait to have a finished pair.  Not sure I’ll ever wear them in shoes – maybe just as bed socks. :-)

Second pair in progress:

Pattern: improvised 64 stitch cuff down sock
Yarn: Collinette Jitterbug in colorway Monet.

These will have Velvet Plum heels and toes like my Gauguin socks.  See a theme?  I’m truly considering wearing one of each as a pair.  Monet and Gauguin.  I’m definitely going to use my leftovers (and I have plenty!!) together on an ‘artist mash-up’ pair of socks.  Along with my leftover ‘Starry Night’ yarn.  It’ll either be ugly as all get-out, or fantastic, we’ll see.

Third pair in progress:

(top of foot)

Pattern: Nightingale by Vintage Purls
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in colorway Dusky Aurora (dark blue) and Gypsy Knits Sock It in colorway Fairy Tree (pale yellow)

(bottom of foot)

I cast these on because I had an uncontrollable itch to knit something in fair isle.  I want to do this pattern as a cardigan, but I couldn’t wait for the necessary yarn to be ordered for that, so I did some stash diving and came up with these yarns to do the socks.  At least this way, if I ever do the cardigan, I’ll have some matching socks to go with it. :-)  I’m having fun with these – fair isle is so much fun!!

So, that’s what I have on my needles this week.  (Plus a shawl that I can’t show you.  Which is taking forever because there are beads involved.  Yep.)  I wonder how many more socks will end up on my needles by next week?

Happy Knitting!!

Posted in Socks, WiP | Leave a comment

More socks!

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

I meant to show you these on Friday, but I got sidetracked and never wrote up the post!!  So… I’ll show them to you today. :-)

I finished another pair of socks:

Pattern: improvised – (a  basic cuff-down 64 stitch sock with short row heels)
Yarn: Collinette Jitterbug in colorway Gauguin, with colorway Velvet Plum for the heels and toes
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Started: January 12, 2012
Finished: January 24, 2012

Nothing spectacular about these – I did a 2×2 rib for the cuff and short row heels, and then decreased to 58 stitches for the foot after the heel, for a better fit.  Then I did a basic wedge toe.  Not sure I like the pooling going on, but the colors are wonderful.  It’s nice to add another pair to my sock drawer!

Short row heels with small gusset

I have two other pairs on the needles for my ‘art class’ knitting, so I’ll most likely have another finished pair to show you very soon.  Socks do make such wonderful ‘waiting room’ knitting!

Happy Knitting!!

Posted in FO Post, Socks | Leave a comment

WiP Wednesday

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

I’ve been working on socks a lot lately, since they’re small and portable – my boys are in art classes one day a week now, and their ages are such that, of course, they can’t be in the same class, so I have to sit for 2 hours straight each week – perfect time to knit!  So, I have one pair done already (I’ll show you those on Friday), I’ve started another pair, and I’m halfway done with sock #1 already.  I have a feeling I’ll be able to plow through a good chunk of my sock yarn over these next few months!!

So, here’s the pair I’m working on right now:

I’m using Lotus Yarns Charka yarn in the colorway Katherine.  I’m loving this yarn – it has 10% cashmere in it, which makes it so soft and sumptuous.  On top of that, I’m loving the colors in this skein – sable browns, and blue-greys.  I can’t wait to finish this pair so I can get them on my feet!

I’ve got another WiP I’m actively working on, but it’s a new shawl design – so I can’t show it to you just yet. ;-)   But I can show you the yarn I’m spinning for it!

It’s a cream colored 100% Polwarth, which I’m spinning as fine as I can so that I can then do a two-ply lace weight (or as close to lace weight as I can get!!)  It’s spinning up pretty slowly, since I’m spinning so fine, but I’m enjoying it so far.

Thank you for all the condolences for losing Harpo- my heart is still sad.  Our other cat, Minnie, has been depressed ever since he passed, so about a week ago we decided to go ahead and add another kitty to our family.  Meet Gracie, a 7 month old orange/brown tabby calico:

She is quite the kitten, and attacks my yarn and knitting needles, as well as my spinning wheel, so trying to knit and spin has been interesting these last few days. :-)   Minnie is slowly getting used to her – she keeps looking at us as if to tell us that she didn’t want an annoying kitten, she wanted Harpo back.  But hopefully with a little time they’ll be best buds… and our hearts won’t hurt so badly from missing Harpo.

Posted in Socks, Spinning, Uncategorized, WiP | 2 Comments

I’m still here, I promise!!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by

I cannot believe that it has been so long since I posted last!  The holidays were so busy that I kept forgetting to post!   Now that I’m getting back into our normal routine I’ll try to get back into the habit of posting more regularly.

I have a sad bit of news – my kitty Harpo passed away the week before Christmas, so it made the holidays bittersweet for me.  He would have loved all the wrapping paper and excitement.  The vet was so sweet and did a set of his paw prints in clay for me, and the staff even hand signed a condolences note for me as well.  The sadness is fading slowly, but I still miss him.

Harpo in his prime

In knitting news, however, I have lots to share!

I finally finished my cashmere shawl – it turned out just lovely, I’m so happy with it!

Pattern:  Queen Silvia Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia
Yarn: 100% Cashmere : 220nm heavy lace from Colourmart
Needles: US 4
Started: February 17, 2011
Finished: December 15, 2011
Finished measurements: 60 inches by 26 inches

This was my last finished object of 2011!  I made absolutely no modifications to the pattern.  The machine knitting oils washed out of the yarn really nicely (the yarn is machine knitting remnants, so the yarn is pre-oiled) and the shawl blocked out very well.  It was done in time for me to wear it to the Nutcracker ballet with my son. :-) My goal with this was to have an ‘heirloom’ quality shawl when I was done.  It turned out so very light and airy, and I think it meets my goal to a T!

My first FO of 2012 is my linen stitch scarf:

Pattern: Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf by Churchmouse
Yarn: Claudia Handpainted sock yarn, in colors ‘Driftwood’, ‘Truffles’, and ‘Yo! Sailor Boy’
Needles: US 5
Started:  October 2, 2011
Finished:  January 9, 2012

Finished measurements:  6 feet, 10 inches long, not counting the fringe.

This was an easy knit, and mindless, but it was a bit too mindless after a while.  I’m very glad that it’s done, actually.  After about 1/3 of the scarf was done I had the bright idea to work every row from the right side, which made it go a bit faster, but didn’t relieve the tedium that much.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it looks great, but I can’t see myself making another one anytime soon!

My second FO of 2012 is a pair of socks that have been on the needles for far too long:

Pattern:  improvised – 64 stitch toe up socks.
Yarn: Knit Witch Celestial Bounce in ‘Starry Night’
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Started:  March 19, 2011
Finished:  January 11. 2012

These were started when I was teaching a two-at-a-time sock class, and I never finished them after the class.  I decided to do an afterthought heel (since I had never done them before).  I used waste yarn where I wanted the heel, and  I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off at the end of the cuff (wonderful bind-off!).  My first heel was a little wonky – it had ‘ears’ like you get on your toes.  It fits alright, but has a bit too much extra fabric on the sides of the heel.  I altered the second heel to add extra decreases for the last few rows and that fixed it perfectly!  I’m going to leave the first heel as it is, though, since I don’t feel like ripping it back. :-)   Overall, I’m happy with these – I don’t mind the heel as much as I thought I would, and I like that the stripes stay consistent throughout the sock.

This is the second heel - turned out great, I think!

So, that’s it from me for today! I have a few new projects I just started on, so I’ll show you those next week! And don’t forget to check out Tami’s Amis for more FO Friday posts.

Happy Knitting!

Posted in FO Post, Shawl, Socks | 4 Comments

WiP Wednesday

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

So, I am now done with all my Christmas knitting!!  Woo Hoo!!  Now I just need to wrap everything.  I might decide to knit one more thing as a gift, but it shouldn’t take me very long if I do decide to knit it up.  We’ll see.  But all my planned gift knitting is done, so I’m very happy about that!

I pulled my Girl Friday sweater back out, and finished up the right side just the other day.  So instead of starting the sleeves I decided to seam up the sides and do the shawl collar next.  I read the directions wrong the first time and had to rip out the collar and start over yesterday.  But now it’s chugging along nicely.

(sorry for the crappy photo - it's rainy and dark here today!)

I think I’m going to do the shawl collar for a few more rows than the pattern calls for, since I want a really big and cozy collar on this sweater, and the shawl collar as written is a bit on the shallow side for my tastes.

The pattern is Girl Friday from the Fall ’09 Knitty, and the yarn is recycled from a previous sweater that I knit several years ago (very poorly!) - it’s Plymouth Yarn Silk Merino in brown.

On the spinning front, I finished up my green merino and already plied it (I went with my knit-night gang’s advice and did a 2-ply instead of navajo plying it) – I’ll show it to you guys on Friday.  It’s drying right now after it’s soak bath.  But, since I cleared that fiber off my bobbins, I dug out another batch of roving that I was in the middle of spinning – a merino/bamboo roving from Miss Babs - in a colorway called Rope Swing.  I love these colors – pale blues, pale green, creams, and browns.

(again, sorry for the crappy photo! The colors really don't show well in this one.)

So, that’s what I’m working on now!  I’m hoping to pull out my Master Knitter swatches now that the gift knitting is done, and I have a couple things I want to buckle down and design as well, so who knows what will be on my needles next week!  (Be sure to visit Tami’s Amis for more WiPs!)

(And thank you so much for all the kitty mojo last week – Harpo is hanging in there for the time being.)

Happy Knitting!

Posted in Spinning, Sweater, WiP | 1 Comment