There’s a little one arriving in the next few weeks, and I am so eager to meet her!
Baby Mine sweater from Socks That Rock Mediumweight.
I’ve knit this sweater twice before, but out of Brown Sheep cotton Fleece. Knitting it with the suggested yarn was a whole new experience! With the Cotton Fleece I had to throw it in the dryer to get it to look right. This one? Nope, just soak and block and all is well. It really doesn’t get any better when it comes to knitting.
At the end of February and all the way through March we get some rather funny weather. Yesterday it got up to 45F but dropped quickly in the evening. I’d planned a bike ride, and 7 other cyclists showed up to ride with me. We managed a 24 mile ride despite the chill in the air and the roads and trails icing over once the temperature dropped.
Today? It’s snowing like mad, but doesn’t really look like it wants to stick around.
But, I keep thinking that next week is March, and March usually means days here and there that are quite warm and pleasant comparatively. The easing into the next season. And I am looking forward to it.
On our bike ride there were geese flying about, and we had a close encounter with a rather active skunk. I take all of these things as signs of a season change as well. And I enjoy the optimism of a sign at the end of winter.
Today’s knitting update brings us to the third block of what is hopefully the last strip on my Lizard ridge. I have completed it. I really liked the yarn I chose for this block, as it is quite different from all the others.
The baby sweater moves right along at a comfortable pace.
But, Lizard Ridge is still my focus. I’ve got the actual blocks at work to knit on during lunch break. But at home, I am working on spinning my CVM Romeldale fleece into a yarn that can be used for the border.
I decided that this week I’d spend spinning singles on my support spindles, only to spend the upcoming weekend plying. Hopefully I’ll have two decent skeins of yarn to show for it.
Speaking of spinning, I just picked up a new spindle. It’s from MissingSpindle on Etsy. This one has both a pottery whorl and a lampwork whorl that can be used together or separately. You can get just the lampwork portion at glassbead on Etsy if you were so inclined.
The one I purchased is meant to be a drop spindle, used in conjunction with a half hitch at the end of the yarn. However, I am using it entirely as a support spindle and it spins so beautifully! I am just absolutely over the moon for this spindle. I purchased it because it was new to me, and interesting because of that. But, I admit I didn’t really expect to fall head over heels for it. But I did! So, check out those options if you are a support spinner. It’ll be well worth your time.
This has been the season for baby knits, and I am really enjoying it. I’ve just started on a baby sweater for one of my closest friends. This is the second girl after quite a few little boys in the last year. So, I am quite excited about the opportunity to knit girly things.
I am doing another Baby Mine sweater because it’s quite positively my favorite baby sweater to knit. The end result is just too sweet. I am using Socks that Rock Mediumweight, as called for in the pattern. The skein was one I purchased at my first ever Stitches Midwest, so circa 2008? It has been hanging out in my stash and waiting for this particular most perfect moment.
I do believe my hands are still recovering from marathon sock knitting. They’ve been waking me up at night by falling asleep. It gets quite painful, and really, that’s one of the reasons I quit knitting socks in the first place. While I’ve been working on other projects, I know what I really need is a day or two off.
So yesterday I spun exclusively. I kept working on my CVM/Romeldale fleece for yarn to use as the border of the Lizard Ridge blanket. After filling a spindle, I decided to make a 3 ply and see how it turned out. It’s quite bouncy, and these 130 yards of 3 ply totally filled my majacraft bobbin.
I do love a semi solid, and this is just a most lovely fleece. I am truly enjoying the process.
I also went to a fiber themed art exhibit, and on a bike ride with Mr. Ink. It was lovely. The day was far colder than expected, but it was pleasant to spend time chatting and catching up away from the house project and all by ourselves. Once we got home, I insisted that he allow me to grab a shot of his new socks on his feet.
I think they look wonderful!I am eager to find out how he feels about them once he really has an opportunity to wear them.
We’ve had house projects and out of town company for the last two weeks. It’s been extremely busy, and very low on quiet time for introverts like Mr. Ink and me. Not that we haven’t enjoyed it, and not that we haven’t been extremely productive. But, we still need a little down time, and we haven’t managed to squeak much of that in lately.
Bug went to her dad’s last evening. This morning I had a massage scheduled, but it was canceled last evening. I admit, I was really happy about the cancellation, as what I truly wanted was to hang around my house all alone. And that’s what I got to do!
This morning saw me up early with a cup of coffee or two and some spinning. All of the knitting I’ve done lately has my hands in bad shape again, so I figured I’d give them a break while working on my lizard ridge blanket.
The two balls of singles were spin ages ago. We are talking years at this point. I had made some traditional rolags on my hand cards and spun them up just to see what happened. They turned out beautifully, and I had a plan for the yarn, but the plan got lost in the process of dyeing and flick carding more of the CVM Romeldale fleece that the singles are from. So they sat in that form for ages.
I think I am going to need a 3 ply yarn for the lizard ridge border, in order for it to be thick enough yarn to match the Noro Kureyon. I am now spinning from the flicked lock, as it works just as well as the rolags, though the colors probably won’t be quite as well blended. I am not entirely sure if I should do this as a 3 ply or 4 ply, but I am going to do a test skein in 3 ply because my guess is that it’ll bloom like mad once it’s washed and fulled.
You might notice the new support spindle! It’s a Silly Salmon Designs, and I traded some fiber from my stash for it when Ms. Marja decided she didn’t fall in love with it appropriately. I am totally in love with it, as I am with my other Silly Salmon support spindle. It just spins and spins, and holds a ton of yarn beautifully.
I also have another block done on what I am hoping is my final Lizard Ridge strip.
Looking at my remaining skeins, it seems like the tones of this strip are going to lead toward purple, which is kind of fun.
I have another fabulous project on the needles, which I’ll show you tomorrow, so this project is kind of being worked on in bits and pieces. Spare time, when I need something fairly mindless. But, I remain highly motivated about it!
I’ve worked very hard to finish Mr. Ink’s socks this week. I’ve worked on them exclusively. I’ve worked on them until I created a blister on my index finger. And still I worked on them, just moving around that blister. Last night while taking a break from the house stuff, we watched a movie together and I knit on his sock.
By the time the movie was over, I had finished the leg of the sock, and picked out the stitches for the afterthought heel. This morning before work I had already started the heel, adding in one of the short row gussets. Lunchtime at work brought me even closer to the finish line, and once I got home, all that was left is a few rows, a kitchener, and some weaving in ends.
Sadly, I won’t see Mr. Ink’s feet to get a picture of the socks on feet until tomorrow. So, all I can give you today is a picture of completed March socks.
I admit though, I am ridiculously excited to get started on Something Else. Anything else. I’ve got a secret project to knit. I’ve got a couple baby hats to knit. And, I intend to get right back into working on Lizard Ridge.
As I’ve mentioned, time for knitting has been desperately brief this week and last. I stalled out on my lizard ridge because I needed to get Mr. Ink’s second sock done. Oddly, it took me a bunch of tries to get the toe of that one done, I blame a case of inability to brain. I started knitting it, and then I’d rip it back out repeatedly.
Once I got moving though, it didn’t go so badly. I moved along on it while waiting on a dentist appointment, and at work during lunch hours, and a lovely visit with a good friend I rarely have the opportunity to see.
And then this morning? I got surprise knitting time. I’d forgotten that I had a training session at work. I had to manage to get all the way across campus in a short amount of time, so I grabbed my handbag and took off. Once at the meeting, I realized I had my sock in my bag. The training lasted forever, and I managed to get past the heel placement on the second sock. It was a total and wonderful surprise! The repeats on these are 3 row repeats, and I now have 22 repeats left before starting the ribbing.
It’s rather unfortunate that my index finger is completely angry over the amount of sock knitting I’ve been doing. It’s time for a thimble!
I have begun it, but the going will be slow on this one.
I need 6 blocks. I finished the first. It was a rather short skein of Noro Kureyon, I usually have a good amount left over but this one had mere yards. Very strange. I thought I knew what to expect after 24 skeins!
The house project continues along, we’ve got this week to spend on it with additional help, and then it will be back to normal work on it. However, great progress has been made. But, it leaves just so little crafting time!
Mr. Ink’s socks are progressing well. In the sense that I finished the afterthought heel, and despite the fact that I tried something completely new, they fit!
I was so nervous to have him try it on, I was going to be very sad if it didn’t fit. But, the fit was perfect, it looked amazing, and he says that it felt good too. The trouble is, I am struggling to find the time to start the second sock!
Strip #3 on my Lizard Ridge blanket is officially finished and blocked.
Strip #4 is done and blocking.
Strip #5 is cast on, but since I’ve just been adding a block to each of strips 1-4, and strip 5 has no blocks at all, strip 5 is likely to take me quite a bit of time. And, you may get to see it grow as I go along.
Meanwhile, the folded, blocked pile of strips thrills me to no end! Just such a fabulous shot of color all at once!
And what I REALLY need to get started on is spinning the yarn for the border. Really really.
Yep, it’s my March sock, even though it’s still February. When I consider this sock, I realize in all honesty, this is the sock that will take the most time this year, and I am quite happy I’ll be getting it done in the beginning of the year.
This one is Mr. Ink’s socks for his birthday. I am doing a toe up sock, with alternating heel and toe yarn. I weighed my ball of yarn in order to get as much length out of them as possible. I used Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off for the first time on these, and then made my place for my afterthought heel.
I’ve been working on this bit by bit, just a little each day. But, it’s my intention to get that heel done fast in order to do a fitting with Mr. Ink, and then if they fit nicely, I can just whip out the second sock as fast as I can and be done.
I have decided that this time around I am going to attempt an afterthought heel that adds a small short row gusset to the socks. We’ll have to see how that works out.
We are in the midst of house project stuff again, and time is incredibly short on the crafting end. I am terribly exhausted, and we’ve got this week and next to keep working. So, things may be scarce from me.
But, this happened last night.
Miss Bug finally took up knitting. I really didn’t think it would take as strongly as it did, but she’s spectacularly addicted. Now she says things like “Just let me finish this row!” And “When I wake up in the morning I am going to come downstairs to knit with you” and she has already decided she wants to join a knitting group, and intends to take her knitting to school to do at recess.
She spent all evening knitting. She doesn’t knit sitting down very much, instead she puts the ball of yarn in her pocket and wanders around the house while knitting.
It all started at school, she paid $5 for kitchen cotton and a pair of her own needles. A dishcloth was cast on for her, a row was knit, and then the teacher, knowing I was a knitter, sent her home and said “Go ask your mom.” I worried she’d get frustrated, but it’s like her hands just naturally do these actions.
There’s only one huge difference. She’s an english style knitter whereas I knit continental.
I hope she sticks with it. She’s a child always in motion, and I can imagine that knitting may temper some of that. Give her body motion with a purpose.
Finish Lizard Ridge that is. It’s well under way. I finished strip #2 and blocked it this morning.
I am eager to connect the two. I might try to get slightly creative with the way I connect them, as seaming this much seems like such an overwhelming prospect. Plus, I’d like to make sure the blanket is quite stable.
I’ve also spent a lot of time lately thinking about the border yarn. I don’t think I am going to use additional noro, I’d like to, instead, use a rusting looking wool all in one unified color. I have to admit, I am actually contemplating spinning it from one of my fleece! But don’t hold me to that one, just hold me to finishing it this year.
Recently, Rachel of Dyeabolical yarns finished her long term project, Lizard Ridge. It was so inspiring to watch her finish it in fairly quick order even though I know that blanket has been on her needles for quite some time. After all, it was her Lizard Ridge blocks that originally inspired my desire to knit one.
Well, I’ve been working on a Lizard Ridge blanket since 2011. Every once in awhile I get it out and make some progress, but progress has been stalled on it for quite some time. However, with a potential move in the nearish future, I figured it would be a great deal easier to move a finished blanket than it would be to move all these small parts and small skeins of yarn.
Yesterday I pulled out the blanket, finished the last square of a strip, soaked it, and blocked it.
This is a really big deal! The second strip is almost done as well, just a repeat away. However, the dog will be here tonight, and it is absolutely impossible for him to leave blocked knitting alone. So, despite being able to complete the strip today, I won’t get a chance to block and then seam these two together until sometime this week.
Here’s the thing. I’ve got 4 strips going at the moment, all of them almost done. However, I’ve thought about this regularly, and I think I’d like to make this into a queen sized throw for the top of my bed. After all, there’s nothing like bright bold color to inspire creativity in me. I am thinking that the 4 strips won’t be enough. That’s a bit discouraging, but I am just going to seam the 4 up, and see where I am after that.
But for now? It’s time to enjoy the weather and the melting snow and get out there on my bike! Not much knitting today, as We’ve got Mr. Ink’s birthday celebration tonight as well. All good fun times of a weekend!
A small morsel. I had this about 4 rows from being done when I started the shawl I posted yesterday. So, after I blocked the shawl, I finished this cowl immediately. And that felt like a little snack. So nice!
This is the Totally Biased cowl out of Marja’s handspun. The handspun was from an Inglenook braid. It’s been sitting in my stash for awhile, waiting for a beautiful pattern. Those Howls gave me the idea. I love the look of the sideways stripes on the howls and wanted to create something similar for an actual cowl out of this yarn.
This was a pleasant knit! If I did another, I’d want more yardage and a wider cowl, but this one worked for the yardage I had.
Apparently, bulky yarn can make an absolutely lovely shawl. I’ve never had this experience before, but it worked quite well.
The pattern is called Offhand Lace, and I did make a few modifications to the pattern. It isn’t quite as large as the pattern calls for, but it’s large enough to be a lovely shawl. I did 74 out of 80 rows. In the end, the bulky needles had my hands so sore I had trouble sleeping. So, I can’t say I’ll be making a habit out of this. But, it did serve it’s purpose.
Thanks so much for all the fun weather reports yesterday! It was very enjoyable to realize that I wasn’t alone with the snow, and to read what was going on with readers in blogland.
I worked most of the day on my bulky yarn shawl commission. Out of 76 rows to knit, I managed to knit 65 of them before my hands truly gave out. I’d say that’s pretty awesome.
But, I’ve now got an odd blister on my right index finger from using size 13 needles. Such large needles are completely unusual for me, and apparently I knit differently with them.
So, toward the evening, I needed to be doing something else. I popped a bunch of popcorn for Miss Bug and myself, and then settled in for an evening of hanging out with her and spinning. I finished the Smaug singles….
Then, I got to plying all the singles from The Dyeing Arts since my wheel was now free. I stayed up late to get that done, as it’s tough for me to just leave a half finished plying project hanging around the house.
This one is a 3 ply yarn, and I am pretty sure I made something very similar in the past, but destashed it. So, it’s very pleasant to have this one in my stash. Comes out at 300 yards.
This of course meant that I needed to pull out some new fiber. Up next on the wheel will be my Smaug batt, which I intend to ply with the just finished Smaug braid. So much gorgeousness!
On the support spindles will be 60% wool 40% flax project. This is a completely new fiber combo to me, and I am eager to give it a try.
And, for the drop spindles, an old project that I really need to get to work on. This is BFL that I dyed and have done a little spinning on, but not enough.
I know this one was picture heavy, but I hope that’s a benefit. It’s been nice having snow days this week, but I am extremely happy there isn’t much more in the way of snow forecasted in the next 2 weeks. It’s tough to keep an orderly house when we are home all day!
I already mentioned the weekend storm that gave us a Monday snow day. Last night, Mr. Ink and I decided it would be a great evening to take Miss Bug out for some sledding.
Mr. Ink gave her a sled for Christmas, and this was our first opportunity to use it. After just 3 trips down the hill, we ended up with this:
Quite frankly, Miss Bug never even got a chance to use it. She prefers a heavy duty ski sled with serious braking capacity, so Mr. Ink and I were forced to use the red sled, and it wasn’t quite up to the task of sledding with adults. Luckily, Mr. Ink found a way to make the bigger section continue to work.
A good time was had by all, even with the broken sled. We came home to chili in the crockpot to warm us up, and then we awoke this morning to another snow day.
Yes, it is again snowing, and so beautiful. I am at home with Miss Bug, and working on a commission shawl out of bulky yarn. It will use 3 skeins of Lamb’s Pride bulky, and I am on skein #2.
How’s the weather in your area?
I finished spinning singles on my spindles, both drop and support. Well, if we are honest, the drops weren’t all mine. I’ve got one, but Marja loaned me a bunch.
But, I finished 4 oz. of fiber and I wanted to ply it up asap.
Except, I realized that I also had singles on my wheel, and I really never feel like pulling a project off the wheel just to have to put it back on after plying.
So, I worked on those singles last evening.
It’s gonna take me another evening to finish them up, but spinning progress is so satisfying!
I just finished an absolutely fabulous weekend. A winter weekend that turned out SO NICE.
We started Friday evening with a visit from Mr. Ink’s daughter. Seeing her is always a pleasure, but this visit also had a purpose. She’s a young person just starting out, and she doesn’t even have a bed in her apartment. And we needed her to sort through her room. So, we sorted, tossed, recycled, handed down, boxed up and moved the stuff she was keeping to her apartment. We didn’t get finished until about 1 saturday morning, but we started the weekend with a great sense of accomplishment.
Saturday brought the beauty of snow. It started as rain mixed with snow and I took an opportunity to take a lovely walk in it. Then I spent some time relaxing and watching the snow fall throughout the day. The evening brought additional loveliness, with Mr. Ink’s cooking. Steak, homemade french onion soup, salad, red wine, and a fire in the fireplace.
And the next morning, we woke up to a world completely transformed.
There was technically only about 8 inches of snow. However, it had also gotten very windy. Mr Ink suggested that we both shovel my driveway, a fact I was eternally grateful for, since the snow was up to my knees for my entire driveway, sidewalk, and stairs to the house. There was no area in which the snow was lower than my knees. Once we got my place cleared out, we headed to his house to work on his driveway. The house is large, as is the driveway and it has very long sidewalks. The blowing and drifting at his place was terrible as well. We shoveled from 10 am to 1:30 pm, with about a half hour of travel time in there. That’s a lot of fresh air!
I had told Mr. Ink that I was not going to go on my normal walk on Monday, as I felt that I’d gotten plenty of exercise during shoveling. He said “I’d be surprised if you even COULD walk tomorrow.” And I realized he was probably correct.
After the shoveling and lunch, I was not ready to be done with the gorgeous day, and I recently borrowed a fat bike from a friend, so I went on a bike ride with a buddy of mine, and that too, was amazing.
Just WAY too much fun on a weekend.
Schools are closed today and I am home with Miss Bug. I made her model my latest Howl, made of Marja’s handspun. It was a loop bump so there was plenty of yarn, and I added a flower to it.
Now it’s cold outside, and I have to attempt to shovel out the bottom of the driveway where the snow plow made a mess last night, so we can get out and be social at lunchtime.
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 