Deb's Gloves

A friend of mine is a terrific beader. She makes really pretty jewelry, and she offered me a trade. She wanted handwarmers and she'd make me jewelry for them. I agreed.

We headed over to Imagiknit in San Francisco, where she picked out some lovely Abstract Fiber laceweight in the Matisse color.

However, I am incapable of really knitting with lace weight, so because the yardage was extremely generous in the skein (420 yards), I doubled up the yarn as I only needed about 210 yards per handwarmer.

I showed her some patterns on Ravelry, and she picked out the design elements she liked from a few photos. Luckily, these design elements were easy (ribbing, vertical ribbing, and some YO/k2tog lace). She wanted longer handwarmers (mid way to her elbow) with a little bit of lace at the palm.

So, I took her measurements for her arms, and sketched out the design she had requested. I made some test swatches so I could get a feel for what gauge the double strand of the yarn was going to be happy (10 stitches per 1"; 15 rows / 1.75" -- US Size 2 needles).

After I found the yarn's happy place, I cast-on. There was some re-designing on the fly to take into account my gauge, actual measurements, and where I thought elements might look good versus my initial sketched ideas.

I took copious notes for each change. There were several "fittings" along the way as she tried on fit. There were also numerous camera phone images via text message as I sent her "progress reports".

At one point when the initial 15 rows of ribbing were done, I cast on the 2nd pair of arm warmers on another set of circular US2 needles using the other end of the yarn cake. I then knit up to the 15 rows of ribbing, and then put both on 2 circular needles so I could make sure that I did all of the decreasing and design elements exactly the same.

A rough guideline for this pattern

1) I cast on 54 stitches in a 3x3 (this allowed me to fit the widest part of her forearm @ 8")

2) Knit for about 15 rounds

3) Began arm decreases (1 decrease every 3 rounds) 6x -- I made the k2tog decreases in the purl part of the 3x3 rib to "hide" the decreases. There was a total of 5.5" of ribbing.

4) Purl 3 rounds, Knit 3 rounds, Purl 3 rounds (for the next design element)

6) Knitted stockinette stitch and started the thumb gusset about 3/4" from where the wrist starts. Increased until the gusset was about 22 stitches.

7) Put the thumb stitches on a scrap yarn
8) Knit for 3 more rounds

Lace bit:
9) Purl 1 round
10) (K2TOG, YO) for the entire round
11) Purl 1 round

Finish:
12) Knit 2x2 ribbing for 3 rounds
13) cast off the hand

Thumb:
14) Picked up 22 stitches for the thumb,
15) Decreased the thumb by 2 stitches
16) BO with a sewn-off binding.

On Washing Swatches

Last night, I started for the swatch Cerisara, and I'm glad I took the time to swatch AND wash/block said swatch.

The yarn? Venezia Worseted in a lovely silver color.

The pattern calls for 20 stitches / 4 inches (or 5 stitches / inch). The yarn label called for a US 7 needle, so I started the swatch using that. And, I ended up with a 5.25 stitches / inch.

I dropped down to a US 6 needle. And I got my 5 stitches/inch, and I really liked the tightness of the fabric better.

I know that washing the swatch will change my stitch count, so I washed & blocked the swatch overnight despite WANTING very much to just cast on.

And I'm glad that I did. The fabric ended up relaxing by QUITE a bit.
My US 7 swatch was now 5.5 st/inch (was 5.25 st/inch)
My US 6 swatch became 5.25 st/inch (was 5 st/inch)

So I'm dropping down to a US 5, as that should give me about 4.75 stitches per inch, but will open up to 5 stitches / inch after washing & blocking.

In Between Projects (Kinda - Sorta)

Since I've finished my Ribby Cardigan, which was a huge project, I'm waffling between wanting to start a new project and finishing up my old projects.

I want to start a new sweater, but I still have one last Solstice/holiday gift to finish, not to mention finish the 2nd of a pair of socks and a shawl. The gift is rather simple and shouldn't take that much time to finish. However, I've already knit up 3 of the same item (in different yarns), so I'm kinda "blah" about the whole thing. I still have 2 months, right?

Consequently, as a matter of avoidance I'm finishing up my second sock (2" left in the cuff), and looking at my sweater yarn for Chic Knits, Cerissara, and really really wanting to at least get a gauge swatch started. Now, a gauge swatch isn't really starting a project yet, is it? And therefore, not *really* a project, and it's certainly NOT starting a new sweater.

Oh, and I started a new bobbin of the Ashland merino (garnet) that I had been spinning up so I can get all of the plying done on that. Certainly, a spinning WIP isn't a "new" project at all, right?

I think I'm just avoiding the last of the holiday gifts.

Knitted Skeleton

This looks awesome. A lot of work, but ...damn.



Read more at the blog

FO: Ribby Cardigan

Back on July 4th, I started a very pretty cardigan, Ribby Cardi, by a wonderful designer. I had modified the pattern to knit everything in-the-round instead of in pieces, which worked well.

• On Thursday nite (10/14), I *finally* finished it! It's been quite a slog with it, but it's done, and it's pretty!
• On Friday nite, I washed and blocked the cardigan. It took nearly all weekend to dry the sweater, because the weather turned to a little bit of the cooler side.
• On Sunday, I sewed in the zipper for the cardigan. I ended up getting a parka zipper at Joann's Fabrics. Unfortunately, they didn't have a blue or grey zipper, so I went with a black one which works just fine. It's not the double zipper shown on the designer's website, but I'm okay with that.

It shrunk just a teeny bit (mostly in the sleeve length) after washing (even with aggressive blocking), but not enough to impair wearing it.

The wool is Cascade 220 Sapphire Heather (which is a bright blue-jean color) & in a Charcoal Gray. I bought a bit more wool than I actually needed. The designer is pretty generous with her estimated yardage. So I still have 3 skeins of the Sapphire & 1 skein left of the Charcoal Grey.

This makes me happy because it's been on the needles for far too long, and I've started other projects around it to break up the monotony of a single large project. It's started/stopped between other projects, small heatwaves, and finger injuries.

Overall, I *love* the sweater. And I shall be making another one (probably in a bigger size 38") just so that I can wear bulky shirts underneath.

Windrush Farms

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of going up to Windrush Farms for their Fiber event. The day was rather warm, but the drive up to Petaluma was pleasant in the early morning.

There, I got to meet Mimi who (at the time) was giving a small lecture/workshop about fleeces. Mimi has two flocks of sheep (Corriedale mix and Shetland) with their guardian llamas. She also has a few alpacas.

I fell in love with her Shetland. I never realized how TINY they were (and how very friendly)t, in comparison to he size of the Corriedale mixes.

 

Shetland Sheep

There were various workshops on felting, natural dye'ing, weaving etc.

Marigolds for Natural Dye'ing.

I picked up some of their beautiful Indigo-dyed yarn. I've never seen such a deep cobalt blue!

Happiness Thy Name is Frank

Back in June, I went to the Retzlaff Winery Spinning Event, and bought Frank, a gorgeous chocolatey brown 10.5 lb merino/corriedale that I then dropped off to Morro Fleeceworks (who was at the event).

Today, Frank came in the mail. All 6.5 pounds of him.

It was like the Christmas holidays. I squee'd.

Isn't he gorgeous?!

Lisa is going to stop by on Sunday to pick up her half of Frank. I so can't wait to spin him, but I have to wait until I finish up two already-on-the-bobbins project, because, well, I don't have any empty bobbins or quills.

Knitted Cats

This...THIS is cool.



Ruth Marshall has KNITTED the skins of several small & large cats ranging from tabbies to ocelots to tigers.

I am in *awe*

Back from My Knitting Vacation

I'm pretty much back from my self-imposed knitting vacation of last week. The overall week was ever-so-slightly trying.

I got plenty of spinning done in the evenings, and I managed to do one fiber-related craft item that had been sitting in my Stash for quite some time. So I pulled it out to work on it, while I couldn't knit.

I had a kit from Lorna's Wool of these adorable felted sheep. The kit came with a felted egg, needles, some pretty silver & white locks, and some colored wool (fit only for felting as some of it was matted and there was lots of VM in it).

The instructions were pretty clear, and it took a bit to work the legs & head, but once I got the hang of it, it was relatively simple. However, I'm not quite sure felting is for "me", per se. I kept looking at all of the wool and thinking I could spin it (neps, matts, and all)....although I knew it'd be nasty to spin.

I guess I'm just not a felter at heart. Although I do love these sheep.

The black sheep is "Henry"
The white sheep is "Henrietta"

Don't ask me why I named those sheep in that fashion. They just "looked" like a Henry and Henrietta.

Missing My Knitting...

This week without knitting is going well, but I miss it rather horribly. Spinning some fine cormo on Nona is helping ease some of the evening anxiety but...it's not a substitute, esp. when it's a forced substitute.

--> This past Monday, I walked out of the house without a knitting project in my bag. I felt naked.

--> I keep thinking about the knitting projects that I really should be working on in to finish.

--> I hunted around looking for my crochet motif book because I was getting somewhat desperate to have fiber in my hands. DH laughed at me last night. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no yarn with witch to crochet. Everything is pretty much earmarked for a knitting project. ARGH.

--> I'm missing my daily lunch knitting, although I did bring one of my not-yet-used spindle.

I get to see my favorite doctor this evening, and I have two more days of self-imposed non-knitting. Then I can go back in....slowly...with lots of breaks. Because I really don't want to not knit for another extended period of time.

Vacation from Knitting

Sadly, I have to take a whole week's vacation from knitting. All of last week, every morning I would awaken with pain in the knuckle of my left middle finger and limited movement.

Ibuprofen cream did wonders for it, and I wasn't sure what was causing it. In previous weeks, I had this issue, but it was an occasional twinge -- and I thought perhaps I had strained it or whatnought.

But after a relatively intense knitting period of socks just before bed time (on Size 2 needles) left me wondering. Maybe it was because I started using smaller & smaller needles? Maybe my grip is too tight? (I knit continental, and my middle finger helps hold the needle in place, while the left index finger holds the yarn.

The next day, I opted to not work on those socks, but work on the sleeves of my Ribby Cardy (size 6 needles). Again, the pain was there in the morning, but not as bad.

So, I'm going to be taking a week off of knitting to let my finger rest, and see if it still bothers me...or if it's something else. (DH wonders how I'm going to survive the week....)

So, in leiu of knitting in the evenings, I shall be spinning, because I really don't use that finger for it.

School of Dead Fish

Several months ago, I made a Dead Fish Hat for my nephew's birthday. The rest of his family (all 4 of them) loved it...so much so that they asked if they could ALL have hats for the holidays.

So, I took down their favorite color combinations, ordered the yarn, and started knitting them...slowly. I have 2 out of the 4 hats completed, and I'm currently knitting the 3rd.

Forgetfulness....

This morning, I packed up to go to work, and grabbed an UFO that needed finishing. I figured that I'd finish it at lunch as the last bits of it are "easy" and totally do-able during lunchtime. I grabbed my toolkit bag, with my crochet hooks so I could pick up the necessary stitches to finish. I even remembered to grab the pattern.

See anything missing? I didn't.....

Then, lunchtime comes around, and I'm really looking forward to finishing the UFO because, well, it's been languishing. I pull it out...and realize that I completely...
left...
the...
needles...
at...
home....

*facepalm*

I had taken them out of the bag to finish another project that needed the bigger needle size.

Luckily, I had my "to-go" project in my bag as well...basically my emergency portable project, so I wasn't totally without knitting...but oy!

A bit of Knitting & Spinning

Yesterday, I got an itch to get really going on a project, so I spent part of last night finishing up the body of my Ribby cardigan (knitted in the round). Then I steeked it, and started both of the sleeves in the round (magic loop). All the while, getting caught up with various sci-fi/fantasy podcasts.

This project has taken *forever* to finish as I knit primarily at lunchtime, but I can actually see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. (I started on July 4th, 2010!!!!)

In spinning news, I finished up 4 oz of a purple tweed merino fiber, 2-plied it, which was then washed, thwacked, snapped, and hung to dry.

I sampled a 3-ply and 4-ply yarn, but it was too much for the project I want to knit with it (the Citron shawl from Knitty.com). So, I went with a 2-ply that landed me with a heavy-ish fingering weight yarn. Next time, I think I will sample more than I did before and actually knit up swatches of the finished yarn, but I was far too lazy to actually do that this time around.

It's a lovely lovely yarn with a really nice hand. Four ounces landed me about 400 yards. I just now have to finish spinning the other 4 oz of said purple tweed fiber.

And eventually, I'll get around to knitting the Citron...right after I work through the rest of my queue on Ravelry. *sigh*

Too Hot to Knit

Where I live, the weather is pretty moderate. We occassionally have very hot days but they are few and far between. Because of the temperate weather, I really don't have "summer knitting" versus "winter knitting" -- although I will not do a huge blanket in the middle of summer.

Yesterday was one of those few & far between days. The high was supposed to be 107 deg F. And it was never going to get any cooler than 75.

I picked up my Ribby Cardi that I had been working on, and managed to get through two rows, before setting it back down in disgust because...It Was Too Damn Hot To Knit.

Then when the evening rolled around, I simply sat & spun, while watching movies. This was much easier in the heat, then trying to knit anything.

Beading

So, instead of fiber, I'm posting about beads today.

A good friend of mine is a wonderful beader; she makes lovely jewelry. While I have beaded before in the past, it has been very minor and very very simple -- mostly sewing beading into costume pieces. As I had helped her how to improve her sewing, she was going to teach me the very basics of beading.

Several months previously, she had taken me to a bead show where I had made some purchases that she was going to help me put together, which we did this past weekend.

So, I put all of the designs together, and she helped me do all of the finishing work... like how to crimp, how to ensure there's enough flexibility, how/when to use adjustable chains, etc. She had many of the tools required for different jobs.

I made 5 necklaces & 1 bracelet that night. (The matching bracelet/necklace isn't shown.)

----
Medusa Necklace

16" beaded Medusa necklace -- beads: bloodstone, silver, and czech beads -- Medusa piece from Green Girl Designs

----
Shell & Square Necklace

16" Shell & Square Necklace -- all glass beads

----
Fall Leaf Necklace

16" beaded necklace: Size 6 red czech glass, goldish spacers, glass leaf beads, green/red size 7 beads.

----
Red Jade

20" necklace -- red jade with phoenix/dragon pendant, 5mm garnet stones, 4.8 gold-ish spacer beads. This has an adjustable chain so I can make it longer or slightly shorter.

Drive By Post

I'm making progress on my Ribby Cardi. I've finally gotten to the armhole shaping as of last night! Yaay!

I still have 5 inches to go before I can start the neck shaping. At this rate, I just might finish this cardigan before the holidays.

Although, truth be told, I could use it NOW. Our office is freezing!

Keep on Spinning

As noted previously, I've been spinning more than I have been knitting. I'm currently on the 4th ounce of the 8oz of the Ashland Bay top (garnet).

Here's a quickie iPhone photo of one of the quills containing 1 oz of fiber.

I'm looking at sampling for a 3-ply and a 4-ply, although I suspect the 3-ply might be better. I'll finish up the other 4 ounces first before I swatch.

Blackhole of Knitting

Lately, I haven't had much time to knit, mostly because I've been spinning, and what I have been knitting has been one "blackhole" -- no matter how much knitting you do, you don't seem to be making any progress whatsoever.

I'm still ploughing through my Ribby Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns. I'm still working on the body (mostly during lunchtime). Only July 8th, I was 5 inches into the body sweater. Today, a month later, I'm 12.5" into the body of the sweater.

This is 8.5 inches more in 30 days. This roughly translates into .2833333 inches per day, which is a sad, sad, sad state of affairs. I still love the pattern and I still love the color of the yarn....however, I am going to inch my way through this sweater.

However, as I've mentioned, I have been spinning. I am going through my Stash, and am currently working on 8 oz of some Ashland Bay Top that I started right after the Tour de Fleece (2010)

I've got 4 ounces finished, which pleases me to no end.

And, here's the final barber pole skein from Tour de Fleece. I apologize for the crappy photo. I haven't had a chance to take a decent one as of yet.

~200 yards of a heavy fingering weight, 2-ply

Handpun vs. Commercial Yarn

I was looking at my Ravelry Stash page.

Out of 66 Stashed Yarns, 28 are handspun.
Now, granted, that I haven't listed some of my Stash yet (both handspun & commercial) AND I haven't quite spun all of my fiber (that is listed), but I like the direction in which my Stash is moving.

Now, I just have to start knitting THROUGH my Stash. LOL