Spun to finished

It's taken a couple of years but I'm always excited when I take a project from fiber, spin it up into yarn and knit up something with it.

It started out as a purchase in 2008 at Rhinebeck

And through the years it changed

It sat around for a few years as I tried to figure out what to do with it. I didn't want to make a hat or mitts. Then a couple of months ago, I stumbled across a pattern called the Quaker Yarn Stretcher that only takes a couple hundred yards of worsted and looks great with hand spun and creates a good sized scarf/shawl.

And so...

Taking a break for some socks (WIP Wed)

Sometimes, one has to take a break from other projects and just get the heel flap and turn done. Because sometimes, you need that peace and quiet to be able to concentrate. I just need to pick up stitches and the sock is ready to go as the traveling/commute project again! By the way, this is sock #2!

Some mitts!

It has taken me a while to get these mitts washed, blocked, and photographed. When I finished them, I was on a bus on my day trip down to Phillips Island to see the penguins. I was excited to finish them that day since it was going to be sun down when the penguins came back to land and it was the farthest south I was going to be on my trip to Australia and I wanted something to keep my hands warm.

After Australia, I was in Taiwan and still didn't have a chance to wash and block. After I returned home, I was constantly wearing them until now, when our weather has turned weird to be either too cold for fingerless mitts or too warm for mitts of any sort at all, all in the same day!

These are the Dual Cable Fingerless Mitts (ravelry link) with some Cascade 220 Sport yarn I got in a Puck This! swap. The cables were a little annoying but once I picked up the stitches for the mitt, it all went quickly. I did change the thumb to do a thumb gusset instead because I like that fit much better.

Galaxy Elfe

I give you the Galaxy Elfe. The sweater pattern is called Elfe and it uses a continuous sleeve method so one doesn't have to break the yarn. I had about 1200 yards of a continuous long color change to work with and I really didn't want to break the yarn!




All of this having been spun from 2 bats of the Galaxy colorway from loop!

Semele!

It's like I'm on a finishing streak!

This is Semele. I first started knitting it on my Addi Click interchangeable needles. Really, those needles are not fit for thin yarn. By thin, I mean anything thinner than a DK weight yarn. It gets caught in the cable needle join WAY too easily. You spend too much time fighting the join as you inch the working stitches up from the cable onto the needle.

After I finished the Sunday Henley, I swapped out the needles and starting knitting this on some Chiagoo needles and voila! It went much more smoothly! Not only that, I finally hit the half way point. This is one of those patterns where you increase until about the halfway point and then you start decreasing so that there is minimal leftover yarn. Between the change in needles and hitting the halfway point, it started to feel like I was making progress a lot faster!

I neared the end and started panicking about not having enough yarn. I sat on the couch yesterday morning and knit and knit and knit and then, I was done! There is an itty bitty bit of yarn leftover that I can add to my scrap blanket so I'm excited that it all worked out. I'm not sure what would have happened if I didn't have enough yarn!

Pattern: Semele
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Pure Merino
Needle: US 6 (4.0 mm)

FO Friday - A sweater! A finished sweater!

It's the Sunday Henley pattern by Neoknits from her book Metropolitan Knits.

 
Funny story behind this. Someone else on the ravelry Puck This! group was knitting it when it caught my eye. I found I already had the yarn called for by the pattern and there was a little bit of egging on in the group to get me to knit one. I LOVE the stitch pattern so that's what helped me to decide. So, it was a little bit of peer pressure. Now that I think of it, the person on the ravelry group is a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Neoknits is a Philidelphia Flyers fan (and pointed out this is a nice Flyers orange). I'm a Washington Capitals fan. In most other worlds, we would not get along.

Pattern: Sunday Henley
Yarn: Quince & Co. Chickadee
Needles: US 6 (4.0mm), US 7(4.5mm)

FO Friday - Heartbroken Valentine

I do love my spinning progression pictures.

This fiber is a Bullseye Bump from Loop! It's a piece of roving in a long color gradient so you get some really long stretches of color. The colorway is named "Moody Valentine".


It starts from a dark purple and transitions to grey and then white, then pink and finally black.



I navojo plied the yarn and ended up atih 365 yards of something close to worsted weight.

The pattern is called "Fragile Heart" and so I decided to call this project "Heartbroken Valentine". The shawl is knit from the center out with increases on every row at the sides. With each section of the pattern, you move up a needle size so interchangeable needles come in handy here.

FO Friday - fast knits and not so fast knits!

I actually finished this Honey Cowl a couple of months ago. I just never got around to taking a picture. The Honey Cowl usually calls for a DK weight yarn. I used bulky. I cast on 250 stitches to start. Let me just say, this thing is HUGE! It can hang from my neck down to my knees!

Next up is Henslowe.

It's a little shawlette that fits just around my neck. It was such a quick knit that I started it last Thursday and finished it up on Wednesday. I used 1 skein of MadelineTosh tosh merino light in the Tomato color. There was something about this project had me obsessively knitting it. Otherwise, I don't think I would have finished it so quickly. I think I will make another one but much much bigger.

WIP Wednesday - a lull in the creating

I've been in something of a funk. I haven't knitting much, haven't sewn much. Haven't don't all that much craft-wise. Here are a couple of recently worked on projects though.

My watermelon sock are coming along. I'm at the heel turn and I'm stuck trying to decide if I want to keep in the watermelon yarn for the heel or if I want to switch to black and do something like an after thought heel. Decisions.



This is a bunch of hexi blocks. I plan on making a placemat and practicing some free motion quilting on the piece.

FO Friday - Icelandic Sweater!

My Icelandic sweater is finished! It was about 556 yards of yarn, much less than I had anticipated. It is incredibly warm! It is so warm that I really don't think I need sleeves to wear it here in DC. If I ever moved to Iceland, I can see needing sleeves there for the winter but it's too warm for that here. The pattern is the Lett Lopi Vest. You'll have to scroll down to the bottom to see the link.

WIP Wednesday - Snowquester!

Most of the DC region is trapped indoors because it's March and we're expecting a large snow storm. They're telling us 4-8 inches of snow but all I'm seeing is large wet clumps of snow that aren't sticking to the ground. Of course, I'm in the middle of the city so the ground probably isn't cold enough for it to stick.

This week, I've got a few things going on. I'm very close to finishing up the baby quilt. I'm sewing in the binding on the fourth side of the blanket and then it's wash and block!


The Honey Cowl was coming along until I started binding off and found it to be way too long! So, this is what it did look like. Now, it's been ripped out.


I also picked back up the Maple Leaf Shawl. I know it has been at least 2 years since I last worked on it, probably at least 3 since I've been living in my current place for 2 years and was madly cleaning and sorting through things the year prior. Turns out, I'm a lot farther along than I had thought so, I'm hoping to finish it off!

FO Friday - Ishbel

I finished Ishbel! 3 skeins of sport weight madeline tosh. It's huge but that's how I wanted it. I love the color! The pattern was a quick and easy knit.

WIP Wednesday - Spinning Along

The quilt is still moving but it doesn't look that much different from last week. I'd like to get to the binding this weekend and then I can move on!

On the wheel, I've been spinning another Bullseye Bump in the Moody Valentine color. Last week, you saw white and grey, this week, you see



I'm trying to finish this up so that I can move onto the next set of Bullseye Bumps. I bought two of the Galaxy color in the hopes of spinning them up and plying them together so I have a nice gradient 2 ply yarn that I can knit into a top down raglan.

As for knitting projects, Ishbel is done and blocking. I took a break from the Icelandic sweater because I do actually have to figure out which color design I want to knit on the yoke. So, instead, I started another Honey Cowl (#3) knit with another of the Bullseye Bumps. I like how this stitch pattern makes for a very even blending of the colors


I also started a sock. The pattern is mindless but not boring. The yarn is some Lana Grossa and is a wool/nylon mix. I was getting tired of my hand knit socks all getting holes in them so I wanted to try out a more hard wearing yarn.

WIP Wednesday - sewing the quilt

I have a few projects in the works, as usual.

I'm finding spinning to be quite soothing. I'm spinning on another Bullseye Bump. The colorway is called "Moody Valentine" and started with a dark purple and moved to the grey and the white that you can see in the picture. After the white is pink and then blank. I plan on Navajo plying  the single when I'm done and aiming for a sport or DK weight.

On the needles is Ishbel, but that is paused because I ran out of yarn. I'm waiting for the yarn to get here and will hopefully finish knitting this before the end of the month.

I also have my Icelandic souvenir sweater. It's knit bottom up and I think I'm only a couple of inches away from the under arm. I had to do some major recalculations on the pattern since their largest size was for a 36 inch chest and the hip to underarm measurement was 6.5 inches making for a really short torso!

Finally, the baby blanket. It has been pieced and a border added on. I finally bit the bullet and pinned it to the minky I'm using the back it and started sewing. I sit down for a few minutes and sew a little bit on the machine. I also hope to be done with this by the end of the month and get it off in the mail.

FO Friday - Rock Island

The yarn is Jojoland Harmony (cobweb weight) and was acquired from a friend in a yarn swap. I came home with way too much lace weight so I figured that I really needed to do something about the thousands of yards of lace weight in my possession. There are many more lace shawls to come this year!

The pattern is called Rock Island and it is by Jared Flood. The crispness of the lace pattern has always intrigued me. The border is knit as one long strip and then you pick up along the side and start knitting in towards the center so that the number of stitches on the needles decrease as you go. The border strip felt like it took forever. Once I picked up the body, it zoomed along from there.

WIP Wednesday - 2/6/2013

I know, I haven't posted in a few weeks!

I had been in and out for a bit. I was down in Orlando for the Disney Marathon weekend where I ran the half marathon and the first 10k of the full marathon for a weekend total of almost 20 miles. Yes, I was trying to do the Goofy Challenge which was to run both the half and full but technically, I shouldn't have been running any of it due to a strained glute/IT band so I'm happy with what I was able to do.

Then there was Vogue Knitting Live and I showed you the dress I had made.

Well, now, we're back the day to day so here is what I've got going on for projects.

I'm working on the Rock Island Shawl by Jared Flood. You start knitting the outer borders, then pick up along the edge of the border and knit in. The number of stitches is decreasing every couple of rows. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. This should be done before the month is through.


I also got some old fiber off the wheels (I'll show it to you on Friday) and moved onto the next Bullseye Bump from Loop!.


Finally, I've pulled out the sewing machine. You can see my sewing area here.


I'm currently working my way through the Charming Stars Quilt from the Moda Bake Shop. This is going to be the light blanket on my bed. The current blanket is way too warm for this weather and even though it's at or above freezing at night outside, I still need to have the ceiling fan on to keep me cool.

FO Friday 1/25/2013

I finished up a couple of things last weekend that I'm really excited to share with you! First was my travel project. It was simple knitting that I could carry around with me and doesn't require much brain power to knit. This was part of the Woolgirl Fairy Tales kit for Peter Pan. The pattern is called "The Cowl That Never Grew Up"



Next up is something I'm really excited about. I wanted to knit a dress for Vogue Knitting Live. It's a knitting convention. It was in New York City! I started with the pattern for Textured Tunic with Side Slits from Stephanie Japel. This is the sweater on the cover of her book Fitted Knits. One morning, I woke up with the idea to lengthen the sweater and make it into a dress.

If there is interest, I can go into details about the modifications I made but to sum it up I:

• recalculated the pattern to knit this in a DK weight yarn (Lousia Harding Grace wool/silk) instead of the aran the pattern called for.
• moved the basket stitch section at the chest to the high waist for more of an empire waist look. I looked through the various project pictures in ravelry and really didn't like how it looked as a band across the boobs
• included waist shaping. The pattern didn't have waist shaping. I liked the shaped look of the sweater on the cover of the book which they pinned.
• changed the hem/bottom slits so that there is just a slit on my right side rather than slits with buttons on both sides.
• knitted straight down for the sleeves rather than create a bell sleeve as the pattern called for

WIP Wednesday

I'm STILL working on that dress. I had bound off the bottom hem and finished the sleeves and it was done but I really didn't like how the bottom hem was so I sat down yesterday and rippppppped. Now I'm working on knitting it back again. I also have to finish knitting it by tomorrow morning so that I can wash and let it dry while I'm down at Disney World!

I started a new travel project! The pattern is called "The Cowl That Wouldn't Grow Up" and the pattern and yarn are both part of the Woolgirl Fairy Tales kit for Peter Pan. I even got a cute little Peter Pan stitch marker with the kit!

FO Friday

I keep forgetting to do my Friday post!

Last week's surprise project was a Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) with a matching hat. One of my friends is having a baby and I had never made a BSJ before and the construction technique has always intrigued me so I figured this was a great time to try my hand at it.

The yarn used is some Madelinetosh Vintage. It's a superwash worsted weight wool. I didn't want mom to have to worry about hand washing it if the kid threw up on it. I'm sure she'll have a lot more important things to worry about.



I found some cute buttons at the yarn store to put on this.



Finally, I had some leftover yarn so I decided to make a hat!

WIP Wednesday - 12/12/2012

Another week, another Wednesday. I don't have that many projects going on right now. It's the holiday season and my dad will be visiting soon so I am busy running around getting my house all neat and orderly. I've been itching to cast on for a pair of socks since my socks are starting to get holes in them but so many projects!

Currently, in action, we have some fiber being spun:



The bobbin is being filled with white. Well, it's actually a very long color shift. It is a Bullseye Bump from Loop!. I've been fascinated with the long color changes. I had joined her monthly club so I get a surprise every month. I'm quickly trying to spin this up but I've been at it for a couple of months now. The fiber is being spun very thin in the hopes that when I navajo ply it into a 3 ply, I can get a fingering/sport weight yarn. A little bit every night and maybe I'll be done by the end of the year. I already have an idea of what I'll make with it.

On the needles, I'm still working on that dress. This is deadline knitting for Vogue Knitting Live! I've got 1 month!



And my current travel project is Melody's Shawl. You knit knit knit in the round with a section of stitches set apart by some twisted stitches. Then you bind off and drop that section of stitches and cut. That section becomes fringe and you have a scarf/shawl! The lace weight yarn was a set of 3 shades of purple, a light, medium, and dark. There was about 400 yards each. I've finally knit through the light and dark so there is an end in sight here as well.



That's it for the WIPs this week! Hopefully there is more pro