This is my handspun february lady sweater. I worked cap sleeves rather than the full sleeves. I spun the wool from Lorna’s Laces wool top, 10.5 oz. I ended up with about a yard of 2 ply left over, and had to block it out quite a bit to get length. I am quite pleased with the end result though, and the wooden round vintage buttons work well with the overall look.
I sent some of my stash yarn off to Bunkybobo’s for overdyeing, as I was so done with that color. We went for red (Big surprise, as both of us are really drawn to red tones). What I love about this is that the red dye paired with yellow yarn left a salmony undertone rather than the pink that would have happened with a white yarn.
What is it for? An Amelia cardigan. This I will be starting toward the end of October. I’ve been itching to knit this for about a year now, so it is about time!
Back in March I knit these little mystery socks for Bug. They had an adorable icord edging that really complimented the pattern. They fit Bug great last year. This year the foot still fits fine, but the i cord edging makes them too hard to pull over her heel.
So rather than scrapping them, I decided I could fix them. I pulled off the i cord edging, added the live stitches to some needles, and knit a very small 2×2 rib cuff. And now we have socks that will last through the winter.
Now if only I could fix her hot pink socks. Not sure that is possible as they are pretty well felted at this point.
It needs a mate! I really had no idea I’d like making a yellow sock as much as I did.
I have a private little goal with myself to knit a handspun sweater each year. So I present to you the second annual Shells handspun sweater.
I don’t actually have a whole lot of this handspun, so I’ve chosen a february lady sweater with cap sleeves. The fiber was lorna’s laces wool top, 10.5 oz. This is a 2 ply yarn which I pulled into small strips in order that I’d have less striping and more barber poling and muddying of colors. I can see that there are stripes, but nothing noro like, so I am pleased thus far. I think I will do the cap sleeves next so that I can just use the rest of the yarn for the body of the sweater.
Well, she has Monkey socks anyhow. I finished her pair. This is good since she is growing out of her current hand knit sock stash, and she really does like them.
The final picture is one she took herself, it really was the only way I could get her to let me have a photo. She was far more interested in going to bed.
Now that these are done, I can work on my yellow mystery socks. They aren’t much of a mystery anymore since the clues have come out and I now know what they look like. I guess now they are just a mystery to you!
Since I don’t have a lot of interesting knitting to post, and not much to say quite frankly, I thought I’d start a new line of posts. When I post one of these, I am either uninspired to take pictures, or at a point where picture taking would be boring for you.
This is Berroco Lustra. I believe it is a new line from Berroco. Worsted weight with the addition of tencel to the wool which makes it shimmer and gives it depth. I picked it up at stitches midwest from the Webs booth. It comes 197 yards per hank. I chose this because J often complains of the lack of depth of color in the wools I choose. I just didn’t think he could complain about this yarn, though I haven’t shown it to him yet.
What is it for? It is for a Spartan Pullover. I thought J would like this design. He wanted a gray sweater, but as is typical for me, I could not resist the addition of red.
No, I don’t really know when I’ll get started. It has been a very busy week and I cannot manage much beyond sock knitting. So it may be awhile.
Again.
I decided that it is time for me to learn to make 2 socks at once. Using magic loop. Believe it or not, I’ve never tried it before. So since these would be plain stockinette stitch, I decided to use a bit of self striping yarn I had on hand.
They are going faster than expected. They do not match. This does not bother me. Does it?
This may have been the perfect project for my handspun, as the plain color really shows off the changing colors in the handspun yarn. As you can see, it is reversible. The side with the ultra alpaca held double is a soft side which is great around the neck while showcasing the color side. When I completed this scarf it was a bit too small, perhaps 4 feet long. I was rather concerned, but it blocked out to more than 5 feet which is quite a satisfactory scarf length. Pattern is my own devising, I used US 10.5 needles and I believe I cast on 16 stitches. Very loosely. This scarf took just 5 days to knit, and I did not work on it exclusively.
It goes to J this weekend. This is a cop out since I typically knit him a sweater this time of the year. I just haven’t had the time, so this will have to do for now.
Since I’ve done any entrelac or worked with noro silk garden. Despite that I love the effect.
I’ve had this noro silk garden in my stash for a long time, waiting to create a Lady Eleanor stole. But, other knits have seemed to take precedence. I needed some easy knitting this weekend as shaped knitting didn’t seem to be going so well, so I cast on.
This is what one skein yields,
I can’t wait to see what the next skein brings!
Arrr, today is world wide spin in public day, which coincidentally falls on Talk Like a Pirate day. Gar. Aye, my spinnin’ was all done on my porch as it is the first day I”e had in ages t’ just be at home with just the Bug. Gar. Arrr, She played, Me spun, and we had a lo’ely mornin’. Arrr, me am workin’ on a batt which has wool, alpaca, silk, and angora. Gar. Ahoy, the yarn is comin’ out a bit slubby so when I ply it, it should have an intarstin’ effect. Aye, the colors on this batt be just stunnin’, argh! A pence for an old man o’de sea?
It is an odd feeling to realize your daughter is now old enough that you wish you could text her during the day to ask her if she wants to do something after school.
Never mind that she does not have a phone, and cannot read or text yet.
Every day she becomes more and more a person to me. One who’s opinion counts and whom I am eager to share my time with.
The Bug has a pair of Monkeys. Only 2 repeats short of what I’d have made for myself. Should I start getting worried about the size of her feet?? LOL
So I took this class, on Estonian patent stitches. It was fantastic, but I wanted the 3 hours to actually be 6 hours so I could learn more! I needed to cast on something quick in order to keep the stitches fresh in my mind, so I grabbed some of my handspun and some leftover berrocco ultra alpaca, held the alpaca double throughout, and went to town. This is what I have so far:
It is completely reversible. And quite squishy, here is the other side:
Now I need to go visit the yarn shop, as I am out of ultra alpaca. 😦
I tried to make some monkey socks for my mom.
Let’s demonstrate the problem. Monkey’s on me:
On Bug:
They fit her perfectly, they are painful on me. Sorry Mom! Bug tells me I will need to find you some new yarn because she has claimed them. On the other hand, they were a little wild, colorwise, anyhow.
I’ve got a sunny theme going lately. I needed some yellow yarn for our September mystery sock. It was really hard to find the right color yellow, one which I could actually accept wearing. But, I found it at craftsmeow on etsy. This is soft serve sock in butterscotch. This sock is turning into the next monkey, the lace pattern is really fantastic fun to work!
And of course, it has been tough to wait on posting this, but the Sunburst coat which I’ve been test knitting is done! Actually, its been done for a long time, but it took 3 days to dry. It is lovely and the blocking did exactly what I had hoped, which was even out my maniacal stitches.
This coat is fantastic! I knit it in size 6. Bug is so pleased that she won’t take it off. She thinks it is very very special (which it is) and wants to wear it all the time. She looks absolutely adorable in it!
I completed a pair of socks today, while waiting for Bugs coat to dry. I am loving having a new pair for the winter!
I might also have started a pair of monkeys. 🙂
I have to apologize for these pictures, I can’t seem to get a decent picture of this coat. It may have to be once it is finally blocked and not on Bug.
I figure I need to post an update, but it isn’t that interesting at the moment. I’ve been working on Bug’s coat, and will not be sleeping tonight until the bodice is complete. Though I have the full 15 inches in the lace pattern that is called for, Bug is tall and I think it could use yet another repeat. So I am going to do it even though finishing now is very tempting.
This means I can start the sleeves tomorrow and perhaps, JUST PERHAPS, have it done by Thursday.
And now that the arms are divided out and the bodice has been started, we can actually see how this will fit Miss Bug. And I think we are golden (pun intended) as it fits well with room to spare!
Ummeyusuf came up with a lovely little coat for her daughter. As this is a cute and fun pattern, it will be written down properly, and test knit. Guess who gets to test knit?! That would be me! I am way too excited about being able to do it, and though I don’t think I am really the right person for the job….it is a lot of fun! (I’ve already assumed a miswritten direction was my own poor counting skills….hence not being right for the job.)
I am now going to begin the bottom of the coat, it is moving right along since I only started on Monday.
I’ve been recovering from sock burn out all summer long, but with the amount of wonderful sock yarn in my stash, and the feel of autumn in the air, I’ve decided what I most need is new handknit socks for the winter.
So, I’ve now completed half of a pair:
Look how dark it is in the mornings already!
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 