How The West Was Spun

FO: Thicket Cowl

I took advantage of some couch time this weekend and finished up my Thickets gloves and cowl set.  The Thickets gloves you've seen already - they appeared in the Ennea magazine over the winter, but I reknit them in the sportweight SW merino I carry in the shop and then designed a matching cowl to go with them. 

This is one of my favorite colorways (what can I say, I'm a gray girl), and hopefully will suit my mum as well as these are destined for holiday gifts for her.

The gloves:
 

And the cowl:

 

I wrote two versions of the cowl.  One with one less repeat in case you like yours to fit more snugly, but I know my mum prefers a looser version, that she can secure with a pin if she wants it to seal out more winter drafts.

The set is available on Ravelry here.  I was able to squeak out a set from one skein of the Belisama sportweight (each skein is 250 yards), but that was cutting it very close on yardage.  If you are making the smaller version of the cowl, you'd likely be fine, or if you have small-ish hands (I do not and neither does mum), you'd likely be fine with 250 or so yards, but for insurance, 300 is probably a more realistic estimate if you're knitting yourself a set.

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: February 16, 2011

I cast on for a new stash-buster project this week.  This time around, it's the Milkweed Shawl, by Laura Chau.

This is a very simple lace shawl - it'd be perfect for a first-time lace project.  It's mostly garter stitch.  It's knit with fingering-weight yarn, and it takes less than 400 yards, so it doesn't feel like you've embarked on a magnus opus.

 

I'm using a skein of Merino 100 from Lori's Oceanwind Knits sock club from... I think.... three years ago?  (Neither of us can remember exactly).  I suspect from sometime in the spring, cuz the colorway is "Printemps", which is a pretty blend of pinks and yellows and blues and lilacs.  It's working up beautifully with no pooling and a nice blend of the colors.

I have worked through charts A through C, and I have 40 rows left to work in the pattern - charts D, E and F.   My goal for the week is to finish 20 rows on this, and intersperse this easy knit with the 3 design projects I've got going right now, which take more brain power and from which I need an occasional break.

All for now.....

FO: Arachne Mitts and Cowl

I finished up the Arachne mitts and cowl set I had been working on for Terry at Snowshow Farms.  (And if you are planning on going to SPA this year - please stop by her booth and say hi!  She'll have the pattern kitted up with some of her decadent 100% alpaca fingering weight there too.)

You already saw pics of the cowl, but here's a reminder:
 

The original yarn used is one skein of Terry's Snowshoe Farm Alpaca fingering-weight yarn in the "Tweed" colorway. However, the pattern is suitable for any soft fingering-weight yarn.  It takes approximately 125 yards for the cowl and there are notes for adding beads if you'd like to do that as a little added detail.

You can also get a pair of the fingerless mitts from the same skein of yarn - they take approximately 135 yards.  (I had probably 40 yards or so left over from the 300-yard skein I started with).  The mitts have the lace stitch used for the cuff (which may also be beaded or not - knitter's choice), and a simple stockinette hand which knits up very quickly.

 

If you've already got a skein of luxury yarn to use up, I've got the pattern already set up on Ravelry as a downloadable PDF (and includes both the mitts and cowl pattern).  Lots of pictures, both a chart and written instructions, and some technical notes to help you add beads if you decide you'd like to do that.  You can find the link to the downloadable PDF here.

All for now......

FO: Northumbria Cowl

You might remember not too long ago, I spun up a really pretty braid of mixed BFL and silk from Two If By Hand.

 

I have been eyeing this skein for a few weeks now, and since I had a lot of self-imposed knitting time this weekend, I wound it up and cast on for the Northumbria Cowl from Knitscene.

 

Project Specs:
Pattern:  Northumbria Cowl by Elinor Brown.  Super easy lace, but not overly lace.  The original pattern was knit written for a slightly lighter-weight yarn, so I went up 2 needle sizes (to US 8s) and took 2 repeats out of the pattern.  I also wanted to reserve 2 ounces of yarn for a pair of mitts, so I weighed the skein as I worked cowl repeats, and quit when I had used up 1.8 ounces (it was a 3.8-ounce skein), so it is slightly shorter than the pattern is written.
Yarn:  Handspun 2-ply mixed BFL/silk in the "Stringtown Grocery" colorway from Two If By Hand.
Needles:  US 8 DPNs.

 

I love how the colors came out in this pattern - so subtle and blended.  It almost looks like a 3-ply, but it is, in fact, just a 2-ply yarn! 

All for now...

Weekend Recap

The following is a public service announcement:  Go RIGHT NOW and get yourself a flu shot if you have not already done this for this season. 

I finally went to the doctor on Friday, and tested positive for the flu (influenza A), and while I was far too many days into it for Tamiflu to do any good, I did get some heavy-duty cough syrup so I actually slept through most of the nights this weekend, which did me a world of good.  I am still not back to 100%, and this will be 15 days now with symptoms, so GO GET A FLU SHOT.  Trust me - you do not want this one. 

I spent a pretty quiet weekend.  The weather was beautiful, but I was really not up to taking Bhen, the Rocket, out for a ride, so D worked on his ongoing winterizing project for his woodshop and did some outdoor chores, and I mostly holed up in the house with the cat and my tea and some knitting projects.

I finished up the Arachne Cowl and got that blocked.  I think it came out quite pretty - a nice, warm, but lacey accessory out of Snowshoe Farm's 100% alpaca yarn.  I'll tackle the matching mitts next and hopefully have a pattern ready to roll in another few weeks.

 

And here's a closeup so you can see the pretty amber beads I tucked into the stitches.

 

I also worked my way through some housekeeping and paperwork for the next Ennea Collective mag (due out on February 15th or thereabouts), and got some photographs of some other designs that are currently under wraps, so I can get those patterns finished up as well.

I'll be back tomorrow with another little goodie I started and finished on Saturday!

All for now.....

FO: Tidepool Cowl

What a fun, quick little project!  I had most of this done by the time we hit Amarillo, and finished it up the next morning when I had enough light to do so.

 

Pattern:  Tidepool Cowl by Cayli Harris. This pattern would be more than suitable for a beginning knitter, but it's fun to watch the pattern develop and I loved having a quick knit!
Yarn:  No-name mill sample, 80% superfine merino, 20% cashmere.  Hand dyed my me in the "Midnight" colorway eons ago.  Heavy fingering-weight.
Needles:  US size 6 circs (16").
Mods:  I used a slightly heavier yarn, so I was 2 rows short on yardage.  I wound up doing a purl decrease edge rather than knit and omitted 2 rows of garter.  Hardly noticeable.

Here's a detail shot of the pattern itself.
 

This is going in the gift box for this year.  All for now.......

Travellin'

I don't know about y'all, but I like small, easy to knit projects when I travel.  I like to look at the scenery while I knit, and having something you can put down easily and get out at the rest stop and then not lose your place is also a requirement.

D and I decided that we'd like to try to take some relaxing vacations this year.  Maybe without the horses even.  I have a really limited number of days off per year at my current job (like...15 total - no sick days, no holiday days.  If I want a holiday off, I have to use 1 of those 15 PTO days.  Eats 'em up quick!).  But I think with a little strategic management, we can still get it to work, and so, with that in mind, we decided to get tickets to the Fort Worth Stock Show.  If you are gonna go do rodeo, no place to do it like Texas, eh?

So, in the next week or so, we'll be toodle'ing off to go watch some riding and roping and other rodeo-esque type stuff.  It is, however, about 11 hours of driving each way.  Which translates to knitting time in my world!

The first project I put on the needles with an eye towards a good travel project was a pair of socks.  One of my goals for this year is to re-release all of my patterns using shop yarns, and get them re-photographed and set up on Ravelry as pdf downloads.  First up on the ticket are my Filey Bay Socks.  They fit all the criteria for travel - small/portable and easy.  These are a gansey-styled sock with a small cable running down the leg and outside of the foot.  I originally knit these up for Terry's alpaca/nylon sock yarn, but they work great with any light fingering-weight yarn.  I'm working these up in my Ceridwen Sock yarn in the Waters' Edge colorway.

 
 

Then, since I am apparently on a blue kick, and since I have been eyeing the Tidepool Cowl from the December Ennea since Cayli submitted the design idea, I grabbed a skein that I had been sent as a mill sample of 80% superfine merino and 20% cashmere fingering weight.  I decided not to order the yarn, as it was pretty pricey, but it's VERY soft and was 220 yards (perfect!), and already dyed in blues. 

 
 
I am also taking along the beginnings of another design project, so I think with all 3 of those projects, I can likely fill my travel time to and fro.... all 22 hours of it.

All for now....

In Progress

A lot of the time these days, I can't share any of my in-progress designs with you, as they are super-sekrit stealth knitting projects for this or the other thing.  I am happy to note that I CAN show you a little lace project I'm working on using one skein of Terry's absolutely scrumptious Snowshow Farm 100% alpaca.  You might remember that she sent me a care package with a bunch of different yarns right after the holidays. 

I gravitated immediately towards the skein of 100% alpaca in a pretty natural oatmealy-gray colorway.  I had 300 yards to play with, and it is SO soft, I knew I wanted to work it up into something that you could wear around your neck and face.

 

I decided on a lace cowl in a deceptively simple stitch, reminiscent of spider webs.  I have almost the third repeat done, and I think a fourth one will be just about right.  I added some tiny amber-colored beads to one of the lace motifs for a little bling, although really... I think the lace is pretty enough to stand on it's own. 

 

There's plenty left in the skein, so I think I'm also going to do a pair of mitts with this same yarn/pattern combo to go along with the cowl pattern.  Terry will have kits of this for sale - probably this spring - and since she's very generous with our arrangement, the pattern will also be for sale as a stand-alone once I've gotten it finished and tech edited.

All for now.......

 

Ennea Collective - December

I am so glad I finally get a chance to share the projects for the Ennea magazine from December with y'all!  The theme of the magazine actually got kicked off when I spun up the luxury batts from Funky Carolina that wound up becoming the Kelp Garden Cowl.  I loved this little skein of yarn so much, I knew I wanted to make something very pretty and feminine from it.

 

Big Thank-You to Marcia for testing knitting this for me!  I would rate this project as intermediate - you do need to have a bit of familiarity with lace knitting to read the charts and get the knit-on border done, although it is not difficult once you get started on it.  I think this would be awfully pretty in something like Malabrigo Lace if you aren't a spinner.  Something soft and squishy up next to your face. 

My Caledonia sweater was one of the fastest things I've ever knit.  That one zipped off the needles and I think I had most of it done over a weekend.  I challenged myself on this one by purposefully selecting that cheery yellow-green-blue handpaint, since I normally gravitate away from yellows, and I think it worked really nicely with the more subdued blue.

 

A HUGE thank-you to my SIL for modeling this and the cowl for the magazine, and to my BIL for taking so many great pics of both.  I owe them both a coupla beers for this task!

Finally, my little One Fish, Two Fish hat.  D and I had a fun afternoon along the Rio Grande for this photo shoot.  We got a lot of odd looks from the fly fishermen along the river that day, but that alone was worth it. :)  This one would be great out a spare skein of Noro you have lying around.

 

There's an article in the magazine in our Spinster's Corner on spinning a chained-ply yarn to create a self-striping yarn, complete with a quick video to help you get started if you haven't tried this technique before.

Next issue is due up in mid-February and we've already got another batch of pretty daggone nifty things in the pipeline for that!

All for now..... 

FO: 1-Row Handspun Scarf

Through the magic of blogland, my handspun from Friday magically knit itself into a scarf this weekend. 

 

PROJECT SPECS

Pattern:  One-row handspun scarf from the Yarn Harlot (free!) Super simple.  You basically cast on, knit your way through a skein of yarn and you've got a nifty, reversible scarf that's squishy and soft.  Easy!  The finished scarf was 5 x 60.
Yarn:  My handspun BFL in a worsted-weight 2-ply.  I had a total of 200 yards and used all but a few inches up of the skein.  Original fiber was from Funky Carolina in the Rock Your Socks Off colorway.
Needles:  US size 8.
Mods: None.  This pattern is so simple, there really isn't a thing to modify.  It's perfect for a beginning knitter and, as you might guess, looks great with handspun.

 

I'm pretty sure this one is going into the Red Scarf box for later this year.  I think the colors are fun and just the kind of thing I would have worn in college.

All for now....