The Frenzy Continues...

The felting frenzy continues at my house with another pair of felted mittens that are earmarked for my mother for Christmas, or maybe her birthday in October so she has them before the weather gets really cold.  I used this same pattern as I did for the pink pair with a few modifications:  I cast on only 38 stitches instead of 44 and made the child size for the inner cuff instead of the adult which seemed like it would be too loose.  My hopes were that having fewer stitches would prevent the belling out that happened on the cuff of my first pair, but alas it did not.  The purl rows I think are to blame and if I were to make a yet another pair I would omit them.  The yarn used for this set was leftover from a sweater I made my mom about 2 years ago and I have been meaning to make matching mittens for her ever since.  It's Jamieson's Soft Shetland, which, you guessed it, is 100% Shetland wool.  It felted quite differently from the Lamb's Pride used for the pink mittens.  It ended up being not as thick making it  easier to bend your hand and less clumsy, and oddly lots of fiber came off loose in the washer during the felting, which unfortunately clogged our washing machine.  Thus, if you felt yourself putting your items into a tied pillowcase would be a safeguard against this happening, which I knew but didn't heed - sigh.  The mittens were very fuzzy when I took them out of the washer so I gave them a judicious trimming for the smooth look you see above. 

This marks the end of the all the felting I think.  Now, I'm onto making a matching hat for the mittens as I still have more yarn leftover.  This is the pattern I'm using (the less slouchy version), but I will be knitting it with some mods that I used previously for this hat.  Namely, I'm lining the brim with angora yarn so it's double thick over the ears and then continuing with only the Shetland yarn for the crown.  I figured the hat should be just as warm as the mittens don't you think?

Now, I haven't forgotten about casting on for my sweater vest that I'm really excited about, but I'm equally as excited to finish my Christmas gifts by the end of Summer.  It's a bit of a push pull between the two.   But, I think the Christmas gifts are winning.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

YOP Update - Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

I made a big decision today.  I decided to buy yarn for that Veera Valimaki sweater vest from her Color Wheel Knits book that I mentioned in my previous post.  My plan after writing that post was to wait since I have other projects in the wings that use yarn I already have, but then I found yarn on sale.  Yes, I used the age old "but it was on sale" excuse for purchasing more yarn.  I have been scouring yarn websites for the right sport weight yarn that suited the project as well as my pocket book.  My search concluded with the decision to purchase Malabrigo Arroyo sport weight yarn in the Prussian Blue colorway.  It is a slightly variegated dark blue, has good drape and would be under $100.  My only worry was that Malabrigo pills, like a lot.  Since the yarn wasn't going anywhere I thought I could wait - right?  Wrong, I then went to the Knit Picks website searching under "sale" and "sport weight".  What I came up with was the lovely Hawthorne Sport Multi in the Irvington colorway.  It's comprised of super wash highland wool and nylon - much more durable than a merino yarn such as the Malabrigo.  The colorway is a bit of a brighter blue, but still has that superwash shine and drape and the best part is it would only cost about $50 to knit my beloved vest.  Alas, the sale only went to July 28th so I felt I had to purchase now.  I've reset my yarn counter to begin again in the yarn buying freeze.  I made it 70 days this time, not a lot, but double my last attempt.  Maybe next time I can double it again.

Because of this desire to knit this sweater vest, a friend having a baby, and a few changes in Christmas gifts I did some trimming and adding to my YOP list which now reads as follows:

Baby:

Baby Surprise Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho

Cowls and Scarves:

Classic Cowl by Purl Soho knit in handspun  Finished 7/6/15

Dudester Scarf by Jana Pihota 

Dryad by Jared Flood

For the Home:

Sock Yarn Braided Rug by Martha Lazar

My Oluffa Doorstop by Lucinda Guy

Cozy Coasters by Joelle Hoverson

Hot Out of the Oven Set by Knit Picks Design Team  (making the square pads) Finished 7/25/15

Out of the Frying Pan by Amy E. Anderson  Finished 7/18/15

Socks:

Simply Elegant Cable Socks by Judy Alexander

Taylor's Orange Toe Up Socks by Jasmyn Cunningham

Sweaters and Vests:

Ground by Veera Valimaki

Glen Moir Vest by Luise O'Neill 

White Russian by Thea Colman

Glenfiddich by Annamária Ötvös

Tops:

Astonish Top by Katy Banks 

Jordan by Wendy Bernard

Mittens and Gloves:

Connnectivity Gloves by Mari Chiba

Nordic Mittens by Beth Brown-Reinsel

Double Knit Mittens by Sue Hedgecock

Felted Mittens by Joan Sheridan

Hats:

A Family Tam by Beth Brown-Reinsel

I added 2 baby items for a pregnant friend, some felted mittens for my mom and another friend for Christmas and my sweater vest.  What got cut was a couple of pairs of socks, the sweater I was going to knit for my mother (yes, I downgraded her to mittens for this year) and a cowl.  It's hard to admit that time has it's limits and I simply cannot knit everything I want as quickly as I'd like.  So, while I was hoping to fit absolutely everything in some projects had to be cut to make it a viable list.  

I did finish one item on my list this week.  In my felting frenzy I knit, felted and trimmed 12 potholders.  Yup, that's 6 pairs or as I like to think of it 6 Christmas gifts done - yay! (these potholders also brought me to the 5K Stashdash finish line!) My rug alas, did not get finished as I really needed a break from cranking out all that I-cord, but I will get back to it this coming week.  Currently though, I have a Baby Surprise Sweater on the needles which I'm hoping to finish this week along with a matching garter stitch hat.  I'm using some grey angora yarn along with a pale yellow raw silk yarn that's paired with a strand of Malabrigo lace.  It's gender neutral since she doesn't know the sex of the baby and of yarn I already own - isn't that the best!  I'm loving the look of the stripes.  It's like a little muted bumblebee.  I feel a bit bad that neither sweater or hat are machine washable, but am making up for that by including a wool wash with the gift.  Ok, this is becoming a bit of a long post so I'll be leaving you now.  Have a great week!

Check out the other Year of Projects posts here.

A Year of Projects 2015 - 2016!

   

This is the start of my "A Year of Projects" for July 2015 - June 2016.  What is this all about?  It's a group on Ravelry of bloggers getting together to share progress on their knitting/crocheting/spinning and all around crafting goals throughout the year.  I enjoyed reading others blog posts from last year so this year I decided to get off the bench and join in.  Yay!

Without further adieu here is my proposed list of knitting for this year:

Cowls and Scarves:

Classic Cowl by Purl Soho knit in handspun 

Field of Stars by Amy van de Laar knit in handspun alpaca

Dudester Scarf by Jana Pihota 

Dryad by Jared Flood

For the Home:

Sock Yarn Braided Trivets by Martha Lazar 8 of them

Sock Yarn Braided Rug by Martha Lazar

Socks:

Slip Stitch Heel Basic Sock by Wendy D. Johnson

Simply Elegant Cable Socks by Judy Alexander

Broken Seed Stitch Socks by handepandehttps

Taylor's Orange Toe Up Socks by Jasmyn Cunningham

Sweaters and Vests:

Glen Moir Vest by Luise O'Neill 

White Russian by Thea Colman

Three in One Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Glenfiddich by Annamária Ötvös

Tops:

Astonish Top by Katy Banks 

Jordan by Wendy Bernard

Mittens and Gloves:

Connnectivity Gloves by Mari Chiba

Nordic Mittens by Beth Brown-Reinsel

Double Knit Mittens by Sue Hedgecock

Hats:

A Family Tam by Beth Brown-Reinsel

Ok, now that I write it all out it looks like an awful lot to accomplish, but some are already WIPS which will help (or at least I'll tell myself that.)  It was really fun to figure out what I wanted to knit over the course of a year and surprisingly easy when things like Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries dictate so much of what "needs" to get done as opposed to all my wishful thinking and wants.

What's on the needles currently is the Basic Cowl by Purl Soho using my own rainbow handspun yarn.  The colored wool is plant dyed by this lovely lady and the white is an angora/wool blend I purchased from here.  It's a very simple pattern, but my yarn makes it a bit tricky to keep track of where I am in the 4 row pattern.  In a solid color this would be a snap I think.  I have only a few rows of yellow and the white angora twisted ribbing left to go, which I hope means I'll finish by tonight.  Cross your fingers for me.  

Next up will be some bobbin clearing as I finish spinning some aplaca/angora three ply yarn.  Then I plan on casting on the Field of Stars cowl.  If I have way too much yardage for it I may have to pick another pattern though.

All these projects (listed in no particular order) will be knit with yarn I already have in my stash as I am trying to cut back on my fiber spending.  Oh course when we go to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival I will be making a few purchases, but then I am holding out until Minnesota's Shepard's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival in the Spring of 2016.  Well, hopefully I will be too busy finishing knitted objects to mind.

See ya next week!

Lots of FO's!!!

Hello All!  Well, I have been busy actually finishing projects this week.  It has been amazing.  I am so motivated by participating in The Knit Girllls Stash Dash that I've completed no less than 6 projects this week!  My goal is to knit/spin 5K of yarn by the end of Stash Dash on August 14th.  With finishing the above projects I have only 1075.33 meters to go, which should be no problem with over a month and a half left.  Now on to the projects...

First up is a pair of socks you've seen from an earlier post.  They are Wendy D. Johnson's Gusset Heel Basic Socks with an added 3 x 1 rib and using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  The yarn is some Stroll from Knit Picks in a discontinued colorway that I don't have the name for anymore.  They have been on the needles since last year and I am so happy that they are finished that I am giving them to my mom today instead of being prudent and saving them for her birthday or Christmas.  I have such a hard time waiting to give gifts once they are finished.

Next, is another pair of socks this time using Wendy D. Johnson's Short Row Toe and Heel Basic Socks pattern with no added ribbing and using the same cast off as the previous pair.  What makes these particularly fun is that they are knit using up lots of sock yarn scraps from other projects in 5 different colorways.  I tried to make them match up as best I could and am quite pleased with the results.  The only downside to them is weaving in all the ends.  Next time I make scrappy Frankenstein socks I will make a sock yarn magic ball instead I think.  Really the same amount of work, but it's on the front end of things which I prefer.

Now these next two projects were really fun.  They are trivets made out of knitted I-cords from this pattern in the latest Summer issue of Interweave KNITS.  I used this little I-cord knitting "machine" which made the actually knitting go pretty fast.  Then you braid the cords together pinning the end bits.  Next, you then sew up the braid as you wind the braid around (braid itself hides the stitching under the I-cords.)  Lastly, you unwind the cords until they are all the same length, tie them together and weave in the ends.  I used the thick plant dyed Lamb's Pride yarn I use to knit my toys instead of the sock yarn recommended in the pattern.  The resulting trivets are thick and stiff and should sufficiently keep hot pots from burning a table.  My guess is I'm going to give these out as Christmas gifts this year so I'll be making a lot more.

The last two are spinning projects that I've been working on and off on for about a month.  I was only planning on making one skein, but being still pretty new to spinning I didn't spin the plies the same thickness and had a lot, 42 grams, of the white leftover.  So, I wound what was left on the bobbin into a center pull ball and plied it to itself plying from both ends of the yarn.  Thus 2 skeins:  one a rainbow gradient from plant dyed wool and angora/romeldale wool and the second all white angora/romedale wool.  The rainbow came out to weigh 181 grams with 410 yards in length and the white 42 grams and 100 yards long.  I'm going to knit this cowl from them.  I am short about a 100 yards according to the pattern so it will be a bit shorter, but still lovely I think. 

I always skip the part of Yarn Along where you tell what it is you are reading as I haven't been reading.  It just cuts into knitting/spinning time which is my first love.  Then it finally dawned on me that I could listen to audio books while I knit or spin.  Yeah, took me a while didn't it?  I've heard lots of buzz about Outlander by Diana Gabaldon from all the knitting patterns, project bags and yarn colorway inspirations that I've started listening to it this week.  I'm mainly of Scots heritage so it's particularly interesting to me being set in Scotland in the mid 1700's.  Some of my ancestor names have come up like Dougal and Duncan (in fact most of my male ancestor names start with the letter "D" or some Gaelic version of John.)  Anyway, it's good so far, a little more on the sexy/romance side than I like being more inclined to historical fiction and mysteries, but it has a lot of those elements too which are keeping me interested.

Well that's what's been keeping me busy this week.  What have you been up to?

Joining in with 

Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Ginny for Yarn Along

Beth for Whatcha Workin' On Wednesday

Meet My New Spinning Wheel

 

I finally found a used Lendrum spinning wheel on Craigslist after searching for two years!  My first spinning wheel was an Ashford Traditional which I added a double treadle to as I had horrible rhythm with the single treadle.  It was a nice wheel and while I enjoyed spinning on it just wasn't a good fit to our tiny house and boy was it hard to carry to classes.  I tried a Lendrum at my first spinning class at The MN Textile Center in St. Paul and loved it utterly and completely, but the price put it out of my reach. Then a few weeks ago I found one on CL for a price I could afford and it is a perfect match.  She fits sweetly in a corner, spins beautifully and it's a breeze to fold her up and take her with me.  I turned around and sold my Ashford wheel with all her accessories which amazingly covered the cost of the new wheel - yay! 

 To try her out I finished spinning the second ply of some BFL fiber I purchased from the lovely ladies at Friends in Fiber.  The colorway is Antique Tapestry and is a rich array of copper, brown and teal.  I then plied the two singles together using the Bulky head flyer (which is a breeze to switch out) to a DK/light worsted weight yarn.  I cast on right away for the Spiral Cowl which you see above.  It was a fun knit as I learned something new - how to do a picot edge cast on and bind off, and the spiral lace pattern that makes up the middle section was a breeze to knit and very relaxing.  I even got to use one of the handmade buttons from Wooly Moss Roots that I salvaged from a failed project .  It's made of walnut which matched the cowl's colors beautifully.

Currently, I'm spinning the fiber I got from Shepard's Harvest from Three Sisters Farm and Fiber which I talked about here.  It is practically spinning itself into a very fine ply.  I purchased 8 oz. of fiber which gives me enough to make a 3 ply yarn with a good amount of yardage I think.  I really love 3 ply handspun yarn as it's so round and pleasant to knit with.  I'm only sneaking in time at the wheel when I take a break from knitting my Hubbie's cabled vest so progress is slow and I'm only on the very beginning of the second ply.  This yarn's fate will be a cowl I think as it is so, so very soft and well, I love simply love cowls - so cozy!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Shepard's Harvest and Mittens

- The Festival -

 

 

 

- The Goodies -

 

- The Results -

Ok, you made it through the pictures; now onto the text!  This past weekend was Minnesota's largest fiber festival Shepard's Harvest and needless to say I was very excited to go.  It was my first time attending and boy was it a wonderful experience.  It will definitely be an annual pilgrimage for me and my family.  There were beautiful alpacas, goats, sheep and of so soft bunnies (I could just kick myself for forgetting to take some pics of the angora rabbits they were so beautiful.  Sam held one too.)  There were hand knitters, machine knitters, spinners with drop spindles, spinners with spinning wheels (there was even one of these great wheels being demoed) basket makers, tons of vendors, lovely musicians and yummy not so good for you Fair food.  Lots of demos were happening all weekend: spinning, sheep dog herding, sheep and alpaca shearing and machine knitting to name a few.  Crafts were available too for those families so inclined as well as many, many classes (which you need to sign up for months in advance - note to self for next year.)   Ah, it was lovely.

My new friend Mary Lou of Angora Gardens even displayed some of my knitted bunny and cat children's toys (for which I use her yarns) with her fabulous angora products at the festival.  She did a little post about me too on her blog.  Here is a picture she took with one her baby angoras.  She titled it "Real or Imposter?"

She had bigger bunnies ready for adoption at the Fair and my son Sam was itching to take one of the black ones home.  We're considering it and may be making a farm visit to adopt one.

After perusing all the the many vendors I made a few purchases.  From Golden Meadow Alpacas from Lewis Minnesota I bought 5 sport weight skeins of natural colored alpaca yarn.  My original intent was to find Shetland yarn to make this Kate Davies hat which requires 9 different shades, but alas no Shetland was to be found.  So, I "made do", if you can call this beautiful alpaca yarn making do, with only 5 shades of 100% alpaca yarn (I wanted more colors but the price of full skeins multiplied by 9 was a bit too cost prohibitive for me.)  Then to satisfy my spinning urge I purchased 2 buttery soft balls of angora and alpaca roving from Three Sisters Farm and Fiber from Winona Minnesota.  There was quite a lot of alpaca at the festival, which makes me think they must be well suited to our crazy climate of freezing winters and hot humid summers.

Of course upon arriving home I quickly abandoned my current knitting project to knit with these new yarns.  Such a fickle woman am I.  I tried stranded mittens for the first time using this Knitting Traditions pattern.  It calls for eight colors so I had to modify it a bit, but I don't think using only 5 colors detracted one bit from the outcome.  I'm very pleased with the results to say the least.  Although I did pull my strands a bit tight in places, even with knitting them inside out to keep them loose, the blocking seems to have eased the yarn tension sufficiently.  The only bummer is the thumb is a tad bit short, but still wearable.  I was suspicious it would be (I have long thumbs), but then it seemed like it was going to be ok, but then it wasn't.  Trust your intuition Ann!  I'm hopeful that the yarn will stretch a bit with use.  I know I could always undo the thumb and add more rounds, but that sounds too daunting to do with stranded knitting so I'm just going to leave it as is.  Now to get going on the second mitten, then maybe a matching Scottish tam and cowl?  Hmm...so much for summer tops.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm and Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Double Knit Mittens

 

First attempt.

 

Second attempt.

 Here you can see the inner and outer layers of the mitten.

I was flailing around a bit this weekend trying to figure out where to put my knitting energy when, while cleaning up, I found the above lone failed mitten.  Perfect small project to crank out to completion, or so I thought.  The first attempt was a fail because I made them too big and my brilliant idea for making them double layered with an angora liner (ooo bunny warmth!) was poorly thought out.  I started with a provisional cast on thinking I would simply undo those stitches and begin a second mitten that would mirror the first.  This is the same method I used when I sewed a pair of double layer mittens out of felted sweaters a few years back.  But, after trying the idea out the cuff got too bulky and stretched out funny on the folded edge where the two layers met.  So, I frogged back and did a stretchy cast off on the cuff with a new plan of picking up stitches on the inside above the cuff to knit the second layer.  Well, that idea also crashed and burned leaving me with a too big single layer mitten - exactly what I didn't want.

In come Ravelry to the rescue!  I knit double knit coasters a while back and the thought occurred that I could use the same construction method to make the mittens.  I love that Raverly has such great search options and I could choose to search this specific construction method, as well as what I wanted to knit.  Most of the patterns that appeared in my search had two color patterns which looked awesome (I love this one), but weren't a good fit for the handspun yarn I was using (You may recognize it as leftovers from that yellow hat.  That's right I'm making a matchy-matchy set - yay!)  Then I ran across this pattern, which was a simple single color on the outer layer with a liner - perfect!  It's more of a recipe than a pattern per se, but still really easy to follow.  Now I'm finally on the right track, a slooowww track, but the right one.  You see you knit the one row in the outer color and then work back around in the opposite direction in the liner color.  It has no formal gusset for the thumb.  Instead you knit in a scrap piece of yarn which you will undo after you complete the body of the mitten, picking up the now "live" stitches to knit the thumb in the round just as you did before.  The only tricky thing is to remember to make a right AND left mitten as this style makes the mittens hand specific. 

I wish you could feel through the internet how squishy soft these are, but alas you'll just have to trust me the resulting fabric is fabulous!  The only downside to this project is that I cannot just crank them out like I was hoping for, but the end product will be just what I want and that's what matters most. 

Joining in with Rachel for Yarn Fanatic Party, Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

New Pattern - Wee Bunny Rabbits

I'm excited to share with you a new knitting pattern I wrote for a sweet stuffed bunny toy.  It's called Wee Bunny Rabbits and will be available for sale in a few weeks (in time for your Easter knitting perhaps?)  You may remember this post I wrote about searching for the perfect bunny knitting pattern, and at the time it was just what I wanted, but now I think I have an even better one.  This time around I wanted more prominent legs with a body shape that was more true to life.  It is a pattern for an intermediate knitter as it is knit on double pointed needles and has lots of short rows, but I think the end results are well worth the effort.  You can see more photos and read about them here.

I am knitting them using Angora Garden lovely angora yarns in Winter White, Cocoa Bean and Winter Gray colors.  There will also be a softer gray and light fawn available after I receive my new yarn in the post (don't you just love getting yarn in the mail?  It's my favorite!)  The bunnies have the same handspun 100% angora pom pom tails as my older version did and oh are they soft!  Along with releasing the pattern I hope to release some kits for these delightful animals that would include angora yarn, wool stuffing, pom pom tail and embroidery floss.  All you would need to provide are double pointed needles, scissors, a yarn darning needle and an embroidery needle.  You'll be able to request what color bunny as well as the eye and nose color.  What do you think?  I've always wanted to make kits for my shop and if these do well I'll try assembling kits for my Gnome Family, Teether and Rattles. 

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.