How The West Was Spun

WIP Wednesday: May 16, 2012

Spinning Project:

I finished up the singles BFL I was working on (with pics of that to come on Friday) and moved on to more BFL.  (I have a lot of it.  A LOTTA lot.)

This is "Burly" on BFL from Funky Carolina eons ago.

I am spinning this up as a combo spin with another braid of BFL (toldja I had a lot) from 2IBH, which I'll show you when we get there.  For right now, I'm planning on spinning this as a fingering-weight 2-ply, one ply of each colorway.  Possibly for a short-sleeved sweater if I've got enough yardage.  I have started this, but probably won't get much accomplished as D and I are going to Denver for a few days in the next week.

Designing/Knitting Projects:

 I finished up the sock club socks!  Woot!  The pattern is off to be test knit, but the samples in the smaller size are done.  I just need to put the final tweaks on the pattern when it's done being test knit in the second size.

I also finished up my Cider Mill Pullover.  It needs ends darned in and a good blocking, but the sample is done.  After we are back from Denver, hopefully next week, I'll crunch some more numbers for the multiple sizes and then that can go to the tech editor and be put to bed until the collection is published.  I was really happy with how the sample came out - I knit it my size so I'd have the opportunity to wear it this fall and it fits me perfectly.

Would you like a preview of the colorwork pattern?  I love how nicely the Rowan Tweed colors work together.

With those 2 projects done, I'm still waiting on confirmation about yarn for the next Sekret Deadline Knitting project, so I'm going to focus on the handspun socks that I'm working on.  (Which I have had to frog back to mid-foot after the heel turn due to a martini on Saturday evening.  I can apparently knit with wine but not vodka on board.  Who knew?)

And I'm going to put the hat for the fall collection on the needles and get going on the sample for that.  That's an easy project I can pick up and put down pretty easily, if the yarn gets fast-tracked for the other Sekret project.

All for now......

 

Taos Sheep & Wool - 2011

Lori and I have been having quite the fun visit - we did a Santa Fe tour this week, drank some vino, and headed north to Taos for the sheep and wool festival on Saturday.  Super super nice weather this year (I could deal with colder temps tho - hello! - it's fall!).  Sunny and a bright blue sky with just a light breeze.  We spent several hours at the festival, walking around, had lunch, did a bit of shopping.

I had decided before we arrived that my main goal this year to look for was some sweater yarn.  I wound up getting two batches - one worsted, one sportweight.

The first is from Elsawool, which carries only natural-colored Cormo wool, and has been a longstanding favorite of mine.  (I still have a batch of pale gray fingering weight that MUST GET KNIT UP.) I got 6 skeins (1422 yards total) of the darkest gray they carry in the worsted weight.

 

I am leaning towards the Sweet Oak Hooded Cardigan (after a ton of fussing about looking at patterns on Ravelry.)  I do plan to make it a full-length sleeve tho, and I have enough yarn to do that with no problem.

I also visited with Grayce of Plain and Fancy yarn.  She's cutting way back on her show schedule, as she lost a large portion of her flock last year.  A complete and utter shame, as she has beautiful yarns and colorways.  I got 4 skeins (1600 yards) of her singles sportweight wool in the Sea Foam colorway.

 

My plans for this are for the Elemental Pullover from Veronik Avery's Knitting 24/7 books.  It's such a nice, soft yarn, I think I will enjoy wearing this as an easygoing layer in the cooler months with that nice cozy stand-up neckline.

My only real issue at this point is which to start first. 

All for now.......

FO: Fireside Socks

I finished these up this weekend. I needed a little break from the Fargo Boot Camp program with 2 hours of get-yer-rear-in-gear-boy! every day for this last week, so D and I "slept in" until 6 on Saturday, got up, fed, and then took Zel and Sam out for just an hour and then I parked it in the AC - it's hot here already...sigh - and did some knitting and finished this pretty pair up.

Here they are, in all their quirky, mismatched glory:

 

I would highly recommend these if you want to tip your toe (hah - toe - sock - pun!) into colorwork, as this is an easy way to get started with limited rounds to work, but the flowers sure are pretty.

Project Specs:

Pattern:  Fireside Socks from Oceanwind Knits.  The pattern comes in multiple sizes.  I made the size 7s.
Yarn:  Oceanwind Knits Merino Sock yarn.  This came as a kit from the (I think) 2008 sock club Lori hosted.
Needles:  Size 1 and 2 US DPNs.
Mods:  Because I am a total dweeb and screwed up the specially dyed colors Lori did for me, I ran short of the blue as the main colorwork color after sock #1, so I switched them up for the second sock and used the purple as the main color.  I decreased an extra 4 stitches at the gusset as I have narrow-ish feet and wanted them to fit a little more snugly.  Otherwise as written.

Another stash project down!  All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: May 11, 2011

I'm enjoying this simple-knit sock.  I love Lori's patterns for things. 

 

The heel is turned and I've decreased all the gusset stitches, so I can just motor along down the leg now.  I am 99% sure now that I vaguely remember that Lori dyed me a reverse kit; that is, more purple than blue, so I should have knit the larger floral pattern in purple.  However, you can see, I obviously didn't do this!  So I am very short on the blue now.  I think I'm going to omit the small motif on the toe of the sock in the original pattern, and then reverse the colorwork on the second sock, and I'm pretty sure I have enough of the blue left to get thru one of the smaller flora motifs.  (Or we'll at least find out, won't we?)

Goal:  Finish knitting sock #1.

All for now......

Spinning Friday: Funky Carolina Mixed BFL: Raspberry-Pumpkin Juice

Back into stash diving for this week's handspun installment.  The roving I picked this time was from Funky Carolina, on mixed BFL (a blend of natural and darker brown BFL), in the Raspberry-Pumpkin Juice colorway.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love BFL?  I think it's my hands-down favorite fiber to spin, and I love the heathery look the mixed BFL produces in the spun yarns.

I didn't do very much to spin this - just sat at the wheel and enjoyed myself.  I did spin this as a fractal spin, so I kept one half of the braid as-is; I just spun it as the colors presented themselves, to make long/wide color runs.  The other half of the braid, I split lengthwise into 8ths for shorter color runs.  I then plied the 2 bobbins together for a 2-ply yarn.

I wound up with a skein of 2-ply, light-worsted weight yarn with 226 yards (so something similar to Cascade 220) from 4 ounces.

 

I don't have specific plans for this yet, although I do have a braid of just "plain" Pumpkin Juice on BFL lurking in the stash, which I think might make for a great colorwork project of some sort with this colorway.  Either way, I've stashed this one away for use at a later date and we'll see what it grows up to become.

 

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: April 13, 2011

We wound up having a semi-quiet weekend (at least I did, being a bit under the weather; D worked like a madman and finished all the drywall on his woodshop renovation), and I got quite a bit knit on the cardi.

 

This is the body finished - the back, the right and left fronts and I've joined the shoulders.  I also picked up stitches for and started the left sleeve, which is all stockinette and hopefully will go sorta quickly. 

My goal for the next week is to see if I can get the first sleeve knit.

WIP Wednesday: April 6, 2011

Progress! I finished up the back to the point it goes on a holder (the shoulder seams are finished with a 3-needle bind-off), and started on the right front.

 

My goal for the week is to get the right front finished up and then start working my way up the left front.

The next few weeks are going to be busy(ier than usual).  Work has kicked it into overdrive right now and we've got a good friend coming in to stay with us over the weekend of the 23rd, so lots on the calendar for April!

WIP Wednesday: March 9, 2011

Since you saw I finished up the mittens I had been working on last week, I cast on for a new (also stash-busting) project for my WIP/theoretically no-brainer knit.

It's the Fylingdales Cardigan from A Fine Fleece. The sizing for the sweaters in this book is a little tough for me, since most start at the smallest size of around 38" and tend to be long-ish as well.  I decided I didn't want to do any mucking about with the pattern on this one, however, so I simply cast on and I'm planning to wear this as sort of an over-sweater/jacket, to bum around in, so large will be fine.  (In the winter a lot, I will wear a lightweight/fine-gauge sweater and then pull on an old bulky-weight cardi that is literally falling apart, but is warm and comforting.  I could use a replacement for that to be sure.)

I'm knitting my version out of a basic oatmeal-colored natural worsted-weight yarn from Carodan Farms in Virginia.  I am pretty sure they have their yarn spun at the mill that produced Bartlett Yarns, as it is very similar.  A nice woolen-spun staple of the stash kinda yarn.

 

The sweater is constructed by knitting the body back and forth on circs all in one piece to the armholes.  I've finished the ribbing and the stockinette section, and I'm just getting started on the welted rows to demarcate where the cabled/gansey patterning starts.

The body length is 16" from hem to the armpits.  I've got maybe 8" of that knit at this point.  I would like to try to get the body finished up to where I divide for the arms, and I'm gonna give that the old college try this week and see how it goes!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: March 2, 2011

Since I had finished up the Milkweed Shawl, I also cast on for another stash-buster project on our travels to and from Texas to get the horses picked up.  These aren't the best easy knitting project, as I do need to follow a chart pretty closely, so I think my next project on the needles that isn't a design-in-progress will need to be something that requires less mental effort.

At any rate, I dug deep into the stash - I think this kit is around 5 years old?  Ish?  It's a pair of colorwork mittens from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill, a pretty pair from their sportweight wool/mohair yarn blend.  The kit came with the pattern and the preselected color choice. I finished up one of the mitten pair last Friday sitting with my IV running.

 

The pattern is Blackberry Mittens and they are a fairly quick knit on size 3 US needles despite the colorwork. I like the design a lot - I find it quite pretty, but I don't care for the thumb shaping at all.  I have a very deep thumb joint, and these don't sit down in the bend of my thumb very snugly.  If I were to make them again, I think I'd probably modify the thumb increases/shaping, but they ARE nice and warm with the colorwork, so I think I will probably finish them up and pop them into the give-away box.

I've got the cuff knit on mitten #2 and I'm going to work on getting the second one mostly, if not totally done this week.

I've also gotten the big project of the 3 I'm working on for the April Ennea magazine edition finished (just need to finalize the pattern), but I am trying to keep a sort of clean slate as I'm going to be also test-knitting for another designer, and her project is also a larger-sized one.  I have a couple of other smaller designs for April also in the works, but while I have a wicked case of startitis right now, I am trying not to put too many things on the needles that I will likely not have time to work on in the near future with any sort of focus.  It makes me wonder if startitis and spring fever are first cousins in some way.

All for now......

FO: Milkweed Shawl

I know y'all probably arrived looking for more cute horse pics and info, and hopefully I'll have those to give you in a bit.  We did get the boys here late Sunday and they really traveled like champs with no problems at all, and were even really very polite getting out of the trailer after a very long 11 hours on the road.  We had our vet out for prepurchase exams Monday (3 hours!) and we already had scheduled to have foot and leg x-rays on them since we are trying to be sure we will have as few problems as possible, and/or at least know what those might be.  We already had the x-rays scheduled - we knew we wanted them - and our vet found a couple of things with each horse we know we want to have looked at on the films. 

This is not necessarily surprising in that both horses have already had previous jobs involving more than just dinking around in a sand arena, and they have both been running with large packs of other horses at the ranch.  (Fargo's got a small mar on his right front leg which may be an old reining injury, and might be nothing, or might be something.  Films will tell.  Zel's got a mar, also on his right front leg, which is closer to the knee, and our vet thinks he likely got kicked at some point.  Again... might be nothing, might be something.  Films will tell us.)

Anyway, we are striving exceptionally hard not to get too attached to either of them, in case there is a something found on the films, and they won't suit and need to go back to the breeder.  Awfully hard, because they are both very nice boys and when a cute pony face leaves his food to come over and talk to you, just because he likes the ear scratches you give... well... that's hard not to like.

So, in lieu of any further horse info and pics, I've got an FO to share with you, and I know then you'll forgive my radio silence the rest of this week while we get thru various doctor visits - both mine and the horses.

I finished up the Milkweed Shawl as we drove out of Amarillo on Saturday morning.

 

PROJECT SPECS:
Pattern:  Milkweed Shawl by Laura Chau. This is an easy lace project, great for a first-time lace knitter.  It uses less than 400 yards of fingering weight yarn.  It blocked out nicely enough to be a small shoulder shawl and not just a scarf for me. It covers my shoulders to about where a short-sleeved shirt would sit on my arms, but the tail ends are still long enough to cross in the front, where I'd secure them with a pin of some kind.
Yarn:  Oceanwind Knits Merino 100.  Beautiful, soft, silky.  I'm actually really glad I didn't make socks out of this.  The colorway is "Printemps" and was one of Lori's club colorways from her sock club almost 3 years ago now.
Needles:  Size 4 US circs.
Mods:  None.

 

A perfect little spring and early summer shawl.  I think it would be quite cute over a sundress as well.

All for now......