December Baby

September 30, 2014 / shellssells / 4 Comments

So many new babies surrounding me! I just finished up another cardigan for a little boy due to arrive in December. It’s double breasted, and has silk in the yarn for extra warmth.

I ended up using orange buttons, which don’t show up properly in the picture. However, they are awfully cute. I’d thought about other cutesy buttons like crayons or tractors. But, it just felt like it was cheapening the spirit of the sweater. So, orange was bright and fun, but still classic.

I know there are more babies on their way, so I know there will be quite a bit more baby knitting in my future. However, I also don’t know the gender of those upcoming babies, so I am willing to wait.

I feel like I have so little to say about the sweater I finished that I need to post another picture. We’ve had this wonderful, unseasonable weather lately. Or rather, the entire spring and summer has resembled Seattle rather than the midwest, but now all of a sudden we have this pleasant 78-80F weather to enjoy. So, I sat outside yesterday on the porch and got some more spinning done. I’ve now moved into the darker orange on this loop bump. Only one color left to work through once the dark orange is done, and then massive amounts of plying.

Not sure the picture is fabulous, it was getting dark!

Stay tuned for side by side handspun shawls, and a handspun scarf I’ve been working on….all to be discussed in the next few days.

Off the Needles

September 29, 2014 / shellssells / Leave a comment

For now. Just to be put back on the needles this evening.

I’ve been working on the boxy and buttony sweater since the end of April. That’s an exceedingly long time for me to have something on the needles. However, it’s also an exceedingly boring knit in the round with fingering weight yarn. So, It has gotten set aside for more interesting projects over and over.

But, last evening, I finally was able to complete the body of the sweater, and I couldn’t be happier with it! It fits nicely, and the yarn is amazing. So, now I just have the collar and the sleeves to knit. And buttons to order.

It seems almost odd to have this one so near completion. Especially since I’ve got a bunch of other projects going and quickly being completed.

Tonight, it goes back on the needles.

Time

September 28, 2014 / shellssells / 1 Comment

Weekends are such an odd thing. Maybe that’s just as an introvert. You must so carefully balance what you decide to do in order to gain enough downtime to survive the week. This weekend has been absolutely lovely, but it’s also been on the busy side. Both Friday and Saturday night Mr. Ink and I made lovely dinners together. Saturday morning was spent running various errands, because Saturday afternoon Mr. Ink wanted to take advantage of free museum day to take Bug to the museum she’s been hankering to go to, as well as a few others.

This all left such precious little time for downtime, that downtime was spent on errands. Cleaning the house, doing dishes, laundry, mowing lawn, yard work.

This morning, Bug’s dad picked her up for a running event. I decided that the best thing for me to do would be not going on the bike ride I’d planned to try. (I’ve been sick for more than 2 weeks, and wanted to try a gentle ride to see how my lungs handled it.) Instead, I got chores started, and then sat outside on the porch with some spinning and a podcast. I just desperately needed some gentle, quiet, alone time.

This is the loop bump I am working on, and I’ve made it into the lighter orange. This one is spinning up so very nicely, it’s quite a pleasure to work on it regularly.

I also managed to start a few things, but I think I’ll save that for tomorrow when there’s a bit more to show for it.

Spinny News

September 25, 2014 / shellssells / 2 Comments

I’ve done quite a bit of spinning over the past couple days, compared to what I’ve accomplished in these past few weeks. So, I think today is a great day to show some of that off. I started my second loop bump, the first one being done and set aside last week. This one seems to be spinning up very quickly, and very comfortably. I am pleased with the singles I am getting out of this one, though I have no idea why they would be any different than the singles I managed on the last bump. Tension? Who can say.

I’ve also been doing a bit of support spinning, I am still working on my Themyscira superwash woool from Dyeabolical. I pick this one up, and then put it back down for long periods of time. However, at this point, it looks like I am actually making tangible progress. In part, the colors are so beautiful that I am not sure what I am going to do with the singles once they are complete, and, I am not sure I want to finish it, because then it will be over. Anyone else ever have this issue?

And, in spinning news, I was a very lucky gal to snag a large destash of Wild Hare fiber. Big destash, extremely low price, completely irresistible. I’ve got braids of superwash wool, some of polwarth wool, and 3 of a very interesting combo, wool/flax. Some of this will head to the box for drum carding into batts with interesting additions. Some will be spun as is. I am very pleased with this purchase, and am excited over the stash infusion.

And finally, I’ve got more of Marja’s yarn, and I am prepared to use it!

This is a gradient yarn made out of inglenook batts that she made. She loves it, AS SHE SHOULD! and so I am knitting it into a shawlette. As is always the case, I am so excited to see how it looks. Also exciting? For once I didn’t forget to take a photo of it in the skein.

A Very Braidy Cowl

September 23, 2014 / shellssells / 2 Comments

Yeah so, this was a fast and satisfying knit! This is, again, Marja’s fabulous yarn, knit into a Very Braidy Cowl, and it will be given as a gift to someone by Marja.

This is a project that thrilled me from start to finish. The yarn is wonderful and soft and bouncy and round. The cables are fun, the colors are simply amazing, and the end product is beautiful and unusual and unique. I am thrilled with it. I do hope the recipient likes it too. And, the pattern is certainly one I’ll be knitting again at some point!

What Next?

September 22, 2014 / shellssells / 2 Comments

I finished two projects yesterday. This leaves me with two rather active projects on the needles at the moment, and both of those are nearing their conclusion as well. This leaves me wondering what is next. And, quite honestly, it’s too busy right now to figure it out. So, I guess that question will be answered another day.

I finished the Trillian shawl last evening, and I love it! This is the same 3 ply handspun I used for my stripes gone crazy sweater. I had such an exceedingly large amount left over, and I loved the yarn so much, that I decided to knit with the remaining yarn immediately.

The yarn thrilled me as stripes on my sweater, and it thrills me equally as a shawlette. It is beautiful and rich, it contains so many colors, and I’ve always loved a mustard yellow, which it is, predominately. I am so sorry to have now officially knit all my crown mountain farms superwash merino. It really was the dreamiest stuff to work with, and I am sorry there is no more available.

Cabled Cape

September 21, 2014 / shellssells / Leave a comment

This weekend has turned out to be a bit more busy than anticipated. It’s tough to find a slow weekend right now! But, I did finish and block the cape I made out of Marja’s cabled yarn. I struggled with this one toward the end. First, it seemed very uneven over the shoulders, so I knit a little collar on it. Then, I blocked it, and it was no longer so uneven. So, I ripped back the collar. I then had live stitches I had to cast off. Despite using a larger needle, the cast off was too tight, so I ripped back again, and used a lace cast off. Thankfully, that did work.

It turned out that the cabling of the two ply yarn really did make it a fabulous yarn, and I am quite pleased with the color and the subtlety of the yarn.

Recovering

September 20, 2014 / shellssells / Leave a comment

Sadly, the past two days I’ve really still not felt well at all. I worked, because I had to, but my lungs are sincerely unhappy and I am exhausted. Bug went to her dad’s last evening, and I had a Friday night/Saturday morning combo to myself. I slept in, and then decided I’d do some plying on the wheel while drinking coffee on the porch. It’s been warm again recently, and since that’s not bound to last, it seemed important to soak it in.

I plied the batt that Bug and her friend made. It’s a 2 ply laceweight, and I decided to work on it until it was done, I even skipped breakfast.

I now have 195 yards of 2 ply laceweight, and the yarn is really fun. It’s a rusty color, with pops of silk in various bright colors. I think it will be quite interesting knit up.

And then? I went back to bed.

Baby Knitting

September 19, 2014 / shellssells / 2 Comments

There are so many upcoming babies in my life! I am so excited to knit for all the new arrivals. I knit the baby sophisticate for my coworker’s upcoming baby. I wanted a bit of a change for my very dear cycling friend’s baby. I chose a similar style to baby sophisticate, but this one I could use worsted weight yarn, and it is double breasted.

Still a tweedy yarn, but the slightly different style helped me stay inspired. I’ve got the collar and the sleeves yet to knit, if I work at it, perhaps I can have it done this weekend. I am eager to choose some fun colored buttons for this one.

OMG GORGEOUS!

September 18, 2014 / shellssells / 4 Comments

Ever cast on a project where the yarn is so wonderful and stunning that your reaction is just that of the title? I am having that experience right now.

I cast on the very braidy cowl out of Marja’s handspun. This is a knit item that will be going back to her so she can give it as a gift. But, as I knit with it, I just can’t stop looking at the stunning colors in the yarn, and the bouncy yarn paired with a bouncy, full pattern. It is JUST GORGEOUS!

I am not sure the picture even remotely does it justice.

The Land of the Living

September 17, 2014 / shellssells / 1 Comment

Mr. Ink has always instructed me not to knit for him. But, apparently he likes the knit washcloths, as that was snatched up quite quickly, and clearly greatly appreciated. I greatly appreciated the appearance of pizza at my house on a day I was too sick to worry about cooking, so we’ll call that a win.

Last evening I was finally feeling a bit better, and spinning was accomplished. I finished the loop bump I’ve been working on for ages, so now, when I become inspired again, I can start on the companion bump.

I also did some supported spindle spinning. I’ve been working on the batt that Bug created with her friend on the drum carder. I took it, made it better, and began spinning it into a quite thin yarn on my hipstrings spindles. There’s just a bit left now, and since I am in between loop bumps, I could even get this one plied before starting on the next bump. That would be the most logical choice anyhow.

We had a few funny moments in our house during my sickness. Bug absolutely insisted she should be staying home if I was staying home. This got annoying quite quickly, and eventually I had to firmly tell her she needed to go to school, no more argument. I think that because she’s used to me staying home with her, it only seems natural that she would stay home with me. But, this argument is not one I want to have 3 or 4 times in the morning before she leaves for school when I am feeling seriously under the weather. After the school day was done, she came home and informed me that I’d need to stay home from work another day, as I did not sound like I was in any shape to go to work. I said “Well, are you going to give me a hard time about staying home tomorrow morning like you did this morning?” Her answer was a shrug.

The next morning, she decided she should have her temperature taken, just in case. When this did not yield the hoped for results, she then began to get very sweet. “Would you like me to get you more coffee Mommy? Could I offer you some orange juice Mommy?” I am not sure if this was apologetic, or if she hoped that her sweetness would make it more likely that I’d allow her to stay home. However, I happily sent her off to school anyhow.

I’ve made it through the day rather productively today, a little foggy brained, but well dosed up on OTC cough meds, with my inhaler as a trusted sidekick. I’ll just try to get some extra rest again this evening, and hopefully kick this out of my system in no time.

All I Can Manage

September 15, 2014 / shellssells / 4 Comments

This weekend we were supposed to go on a bike camping trip. As time went by, I became more and more nervous about going due to the loss of an entire weekend of work around the house. Mr. Ink and I discussed various options where we might still go, and came to the conclusion we would still go and camp, and I might bike one day, but in the end we needed more time at home. As the weekend approached, we continued to discuss the pros and cons of heading out there, until Thursday. By Thursday, I felt a bit under the weather, Mr. Ink sounded like he was catching something, and Miss Bug had been complaining about a stomach ache all week. I finally gave in, and said “That’s it. I am making the executive decision for this little family unit that we stay home and rest this weekend!”

I expected to be jealous once I saw the bike camping pictures posted, but that didn’t happen. I managed to get a bunch done around the house on Saturday, but felt even more off than I had all week.

And then on Saturday night, it hit me. Full on head cold, staying home to rest did not keep me from getting sick. Though staying home kept me from getting sick on a bike ride, and that’s a plus.

Yesterday, despite having a bunch of projects on the needles, I couldn’t manage anything but a very simple washcloth. I’d found my cotton yarns during a clean out project I’d worked on Saturday, and I’d kept one of them out for a washcloth.

I made it a bit larger than the pattern I was using called for, as I weighed the ball of yarn ahead of time, and then started the decreases once I’d knit just over half the ball of yarn. Worked out great, and Miss Bug quickly claimed the remaining yarn.

I am not sure what I’ll knit today. I’ve got huge upcoming projects at work, and so taking a sick day feels like a ridiculous luxury, but I cant walk up and down the steps without huffing and puffing, I am a walking snot and germ factory, and I know my coworkers would be angry to be exposed to this right now. So, home it is, the rest I’ll figure out shortly.

Update: Got sidetracked due to having no power all morning, the update is, no knitting has been done at all due to just not feeling well. Maybe tomorrow will be better! I’ve still got a washcloth out of the deal.

Scarf Weather

September 11, 2014 / shellssells / 9 Comments

Today is scarf weather. Yesterday too. I’ve been enjoying dragging out the scarves and wearing them, especially since I’ve got new ones completed over the summer that I haven’t had a chance to wear yet. Tonight we head to an outdoor concert, which will be very long, and it will be in the low 50s all evening. I plan to wear handknits in order to stay warm.

I haven’t had much in the way of blog pictures, mostly because I am working on all the same things, and all they’d be is progress pictures. The one thing I’ve made reasonable progress on is the Heartwood Cape out of Marja’s handspun cabled yarn. It is looking amazing, and I am still loving the pattern and yarn combination. I’ve got about 14 inches in, and it asks me to knit to 20 inches. However, I suspect I’ll knit even farther than that, since it’s just such a lovely bit of business. I am tall, I can handle the extra length. Here’s another progress shot:

The weekend in crafting.

September 8, 2014 / shellssells / 4 Comments

I was happily knitting along on my trillian shawl until my elbow started to give me sharp stabbing pains. This is something that happens to me these days when trying to knit too much with small needles. Hence the lack of socks now. So, I decided to temper that stress on my body by casting on something new that required larger needles.

This will become a cape, the type which I have tried on, loved the look of, but not yet knit.

The yarn has its own interesting story. It’s handspun, spun by Marja. There were two loop bumps and she thought it would be interesting to ply together, so they became a very large amount of 2 ply yarn. Unfortunately, once finished, the yarn was not satisfactory to her. So, I suggested she take that two ply and cable it. This would mix up the colors more. She ended up with 660 yards of worsted weight yarn, and this is yarn I absolutely fell in love with. It was soft and squishy and muted and interesting. I Had To Have It. I was promptly indulged, and I’ve had the great pleasure of knitting it up.

I can also show off the trillian shawl, it has come a long way even though I had to stop knitting on it this weekend.

I still love the colors, they are fantastic together. And, the resulting shawl is going to be stunning. But, for now, the going will be slower.

And finally, I began spinning the batt the little girls made on Saturday morning. Before doing so, I added some additional color in the way of silk. More orange, some blue, and more yellow. The resulting batt is rather….bright. But, it’s also interesting and fun to spin. I started it on my hipstrings mistral, just in time for a new hipstrings mistral to arrive.

You see, I had purchased a zephyr, and it was just too heavy for my spinning style. I knew I was eventually going to destash it, but figured I’d try to get used to it first. However, I saw a mistral go up for destash, and the person destashing it mentioned that she was going to purchase a heavier hipstrings. So I offered mine up in trade. It worked out, I got a new spindle, got rid of the one that was too heavy, and, the person destashing the mistral threw in some rolags from her shop, which was a complete surprise to me. I’ll show you them later. But, you should check out her shop, since she’s got some lovely yarn and fiber, and she’s a lovely and considerate person.

It really was a wonderfully relaxing weekend. I managed to get stuff done around the house that I’ve been putting off for ages, and that was wonderful. I hope you had an equally lovely weekend.

Stuff other than knitting

September 6, 2014 / shellssells / Leave a comment

The crafting ADD has remained. I don’t really mind, a bunch of different projects are fun.

Last evening, Bug began her first ever sleep over. The little girl she invited over apparently has a grandmother who spins. This led to her knowing a great deal about wool and yarn, and gave her a big interest in learning more about my various craft tools.

I finished warping the loom this morning, and the girls wound bobbins for me. Then they decided they wanted to learn to use the drum carder. They created this batt:

It is wool, alpaca, and silk. I might add some yellow to it, but otherwise, it’s a very nice job done by them. Good stuff!

I pulled another batt off the drum carder so they could use it. It’s CVM Romeldale that I washed and dyed the locks. I had a couple leftovers, so I added a deep forest green, an orangey red, and undyed grey. I didn’t think it would look very good, but it’s ok.

Bug thinks that the deep green looks more blue in this context.

And, finally, there’s been more spinning.

I’ve really only got one more color to work through, and I completely forgot to get a picture of the yellow that is in there. Ah well, next bump!

The weather is quite deliciously cool. I had told the girls last night that their ability to have another sleep over was directly linked to how much sleep I got last evening. I never heard them! And apparently they even came down and raided their cookie stash. I blame the wonderful weather, sleeping with the window open, and some white noise. They then slept in until almost 10, so clearly they had a great time.

Baby Sophisticate

September 3, 2014 / shellssells / 4 Comments

My lovely coworker is having a baby boy in a couple months. She’s not just a coworker, but a friend, and a knitworthy one at that. So, I decided this baby boy needed a little sweater. I chose baby sophisticate because I’ve seen it knit up, and loved everything about it.

I had some knitpicks city tweed in my stash, it’s been there for awhile, and I have attempted to knit it into two different sweaters, but neither of them stuck. It is perfect for this pattern though. I started on Saturday, and finished yesterday. It is still a little damp, but I couldn’t resist sewing buttons on before it was totally dry.

Great little knit, and a ton of fun!

Suzy Sells Sea Shells

Month: September 2014