Month: January 2011

Spinning Batts

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Spinning batts is hard for me. I think this is because I have to break out of my comfort zone. Rarely is the resulting yarn as smooth as it is from commercially prepared wool, and this always makes me a little bit anxious.

I’ve been working on some forresty green wool. I was of course annoyed at how slubby it was, but the only way to be done is to keep spinning until I finish. So I pressed onward.  I finished plying yesterday, and soaked the resulting yarn.  Once I set the twist and hung it up to dry I realized that it turned into one of the fluffiest yarns I have ever spun! It just seems that the batts trapped the air and once the twist was set it all just bloomed and expanded.

This is a two ply laceweight, with a total of 682 yards in just 4 oz. wool.  Quite a good outcome if you ask me!

Devon

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I am in the midst of a finishing weekend and had hoped to finish 3 items. Unfortunately, one of those items seems to need more yarn, so it is on hold until I can order enough to complete it.

The second item on my finishing list is the Cookie A. sock pattern Devon out of the Sock Innovation book. I did them out of wollmeise, the leftover from my sprossling sweater. Though I know many people who felt that these socks went exceedingly quickly, I seemed to struggle along with them a bit. But no matter, they are a beautiful pair once complete!

Next up is some handspun lace or fingering weight  yarn I am in the process of plying. In fact, I need to sign off now so I can finish it up!!!

Eggplant hat

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So, I’ve always said I don’t particularly care for knitting for babies and toddlers, but I seem to be doing a lot of it lately!  Nick thought it would be nice to have a cute hat for his goddaughter, so we chose the Very Berry Baby hat pattern and made it up to look like an eggplant. The purple yarn is malabrigo rios and the green is knitpicks swish worsted. The hat took less than 24 hours and turned out so very cute. We chose the toddler size so that Miss O can wear it for a good long time. (As soon as she grows into it that is.)

What I planned to show you

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And what I am going to show you are two entirely different things. I finished up a lovely little baktus scarf in some merino/silk navajo plyed handspun. I love it, the colors are rich and bright and the construction of the scarf really shows that off. I took it outside, snapped a quick shot in the bitter bitter cold, and then packaged it up to go to its recipient.

And then I realized that I had just taken the blurriest, worst picture ever.

So instead I am going to show you a finished pair of devon socks done in wollmeise. They are rich and red and lacy and beautiful, just what I think a sock should be.

Now I have to work on the second.

And while you are distracted by that rich red beautiful sock, I’ll throw in the blurry picture of the baktus scarf.

I suppose you get the point of the colors, though the richness and shine of the silk is not at all apparent with the blurry picture.

Peace Baby

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I’ve wanted to knit the peace baby pattern for quite a few years. But now it seems I actually have an excuse to do so. It surprises me how fast little knits go really, I started on Tuesday and finished on Saturday. I did knit on it exclusively, and did have Tuesday off from work, but it is still a quick knit. This little knit is my first foray into embellishment. I’ve always avoided it in the past and dubbed it something I “don’t do.” But it went well enough I think!

The yarn is knitpicks swish worsted, which is a superwash wool. Hopefully it will hold up well to various washings, because I really like the warmth of wool.

It is a good thing I have enjoyed this knit, because I intend to make another in the one year size. This one is 6 month size.

Advent Stole

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I’ve been called a touch knittist, and I think it feels true lately. I didn’t finish the advent stole quite as quickly as I had anticipated, but did work on it as soon as I got back from vacation. I completed every single clue to specifications. The stole is absolutely HUGE! The yarn is a lovely merino laceweight I picked up via destash at some point.  I am officially no longer afraid of nupps!

I am spinning again!

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It has been awhile since I’ve actually finished a spinning project, but I do seem to be back in business. On the wheel for quite some time has been some merino/bamboo blend. I had decided to try a 4 ply for the first time and was going for a DK weight yarn. Unfortunately my spinning was a bit thicker than expected and I had a worsted weight yarn on my hands. No matter, it is still very pretty! 155 yards was my final total.

Seraphim Shawl Redemption

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Years ago I began a shawl journey with jojoland harmony yarn. A circular shawl with clues, done in the thinnest yarn I’d ever used. And halfway done, for years that poor shawl sat on the needles in a major time out because I couldn’t bear to work on it and couldn’t bear to frog it after all the hours I had put in. I could tell that endless knitting would never be enough to complete it, and even if I had, I would never wear it. At the end of last year, I pulled it back out, put in my time on it, and then decided that it was now ok to frog the entire shawl.

As I did, I realized that the poor thing was so dusty from sitting around that it made me sneeze! A true sign that it was time to give it up.  I frogged the entire thing, and even that took hours. I then decided to start a shawl holding two strands throughout. I knew this would help inspire me to finish a project with the yarn. I chose the seraphim shawl full sized, since last year I had made one but it was smaller than I wanted. And this was the result:

Vintage Socks

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While off for the holiday, I decided to work on some socks for my Uncle. Mostly because I’d be around him, and thus could check the sizing of the socks on his feet. I had been warned it might be tough to do.  I picked a pattern that would fit a wide foot, and used opal solid series yarn. The pattern was Gentleman’s sock in lozenge pattern from the Vintage Socks book. After a rather false end to them where I knit the foot way too long, I finished them up in short order. I have to say, though they are took big on me, I’d love to have a pair of these!