Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy in Ravelry (2ply light fingering) Politically incorrect in Greg (2ply fingering) Handspun hat modeled by Kelp! About to N-ply the Lovesticks sw merino in Patina All Spun Up sw merino in Chocqua I’ve been so bad about blogging lately. Cuz it takes away from spinning! :) It’s been so long since I last posted a “real” post, I don’t even remember what it was about. How about I just fill this with pictures and make the text short. Let’s see…. I finished the Twisted Fiber Art Cloudy skein, I also finished the Politically Incorrect batt (that I started in May!). I am currently working on a Lovesticks sw merino navajo ply and a AllSpunUp sw merino 2ply. Both of them are delish! As for knitting, I finished a handspun chullo hat for Michael, to match his handspun socks. I thought about crocheting a border around the edge, and did a few sts and decided I didn’t like it. He also hasn’t had time to model it for me, but luckily Kelp! came to remedy that problem. It was really great to meet her and talk about how much we hate Houston. Heh! I am currently wrapped up in the HHHH swap. There are almost 100 participants and it is a lot of work to keep track of everything/everyone and try to match them up with someone you think they would like. Some of them I couldn’t, due to allergies and skill level, but hopefully it all goes well. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed. It looks like I have a great bunch of peeps, they are like my kids. It’s so rewarding when they post about the swap and enjoying the process of getting to know their pals!

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Mmmmm…delish!

Firestarter and matching toddler socks

Stockinrib socks

My Wee Tiny from Elinor

I finally took a picture of my most favorite sandwich in the world. It is the Kornspitzkäse sandwich from Rischart. It is plain, but every bit delicious! I never in my whole life thought I would like a cucumber and cheese sandwich so much. The bread is what makes it, but I have to say that the combination is just amazing. And it’s only 2,60eur!!! I always get a sandwich whenever I pass a Rischart, and I get very angry and mad at myself if they run out.

I have a couple of finished objects. First, I finished the Firestarters for my thesis-completed neighbor. I had a lot of leftovers and so I made her son a pair too (not Firestarters, but normal socks). He was really excited that he had matching socks with his mom. Those were made with Hello Yarn Tough Sock in the Lonesome Water colorway. Man, the yardage on that is like Wollmeise - I made a pair of socks, pair of toddler socks, a wee tiny sock (see next paragraph) and I have enough to make some booties, or maybe even two pairs of booties.!

The second FO is my first “stockinette always on the needles” project - the Stockinrib socks. I had this on hold for awhile because I was going to show Cashyie how to do a toe up heel flap, but she is resisting, so I decided to show her on another sock whenever she is ready. The yarn doesn’t feel like it will last, but we’ll see. It was certainly soft and smooshy though! The yarn was Violet Green Socrates Merino in To the Lighthouse colorway.

I also participated in the Wee Tiny Sock swap and got mine from Elinor, who is in HIGH SCHOOL! I don’t think I’ve ever met a high school knitter, so I was really impressed. Not only that, she spins too! I normally just assume that everyone is my age (er…hmm…that’s OLD), so to get something from the younger generation is a nice surprise. She made hers in Dream in Color smooshy and it is well..smooshy! I have a couple of skeins of DIC, and this sock has pushed it higher in my queue. I sent my Wee Tiny to Jessica! It was a really cool low-commitment swap - I like those! And now I have two new fiber friends (who spin!).

I got obsessed about spinning again, but it is clear that a wheel is not in the cards for me right now. So I’ve decided to pick up the spindle again, but I have to buy another one since Cashyie broke the one that I had. I went looking around and wanted a Goldring one, but damn - $90 for a spindle??? Geez. So I decided on a Cascade Shuksan - mostly because of the name (it’s from Washington!), but also because it came recommended by a couple of folks. So hopefully it will go better this time. I will make a better effort, I promise. But now I have to order it and wait. and wait. and buy some practice fiber. If anyone else has recommendations for a spindle, please let me know.

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Looks good on him, yes?

OK, so it’s not a miracle, but look! I finished my Cobblestone in 9 days!!! Yeee-haw! It fits perfectly, it looks fantastic on the Mr. and he likes it and will wear it this week to work. The pattern is super easy and almost no seaming/finishing. I did felted joins on the yarn (LOVE IT) and overall just loved the process of making a garment. I think the whole no-seaming thing is what did it for me. The only part that was tedious was when first joining everything for the yoke, there was 200+ stitches and it took forever to do a round. I wish I made maybe 2-4 more rounds of stockinette at the neck, but it’s no biggie. Now I want to make kids versions of it so they will be matching their dad.

This has really opened my eyes and makes me more excited about knitting garments again! The only hard part is that if you’re knitting for someone else, you have to involve them in the process - what style, what color, etc. so it can’t really be a surprise. I am scrounging around Ravelry searching for something I can make for my mom and sister. My sister is easier since I have seen her wear sweaters and she lives in a colder climate. It’s also hard to find something that I like that is mom-appropriate. But there are a few things that I put into my “favorites”.

Has anyone out there made “Tubey” from knitty? It looks like a really cool knit and I want to make it for a friend, but reading the comments scare me off (it’s too big, doesn’t fit well, etc). If you’ve had a good/bad experience with it I wanna know!

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Modified Saartje’s Booties in Hazel Knits

Oh so tiny!

I have been completely obsessed with perfecting Saartje’s Booties (pdf)! So now, I give y’all permission to have more babies! :) I have already knit 3.5 pairs, but only 2 completely finished.

The first one was the one with sublime baby cashmere merino silk dk and while I did a fairly good job with the seaming, it just took a lot of time doing it and going around the heel was kind of weird. I followed the pattern to the “T”. I was slightly confused with the strap parts, but eventually figured it out. The tutorial that I used for the buttonloops are here. The buttonloops are my favorite part but I still need practice with getting them both the same size. I also went over some mattress stitch tutorials here and here. Katariina gave me a good tip about the ends sticking out, and told me to thread the ends through the sts to “hide” it. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!

I also made another pair with Wollmeise Rittersporn and Sonne, but only completely finished one side but just knitted the other. All that seaming and ends weaving in is a lot of work!

So I decided to try doing it in the round via fleegle’s method. I had to learn to do the Turkish cast on (a lot easier than I thought it would be), but was dissatisfied with the knit sts at the cast on edge. And also, to keep it true to the original pattern, I turned it inside out and did the straps the “normal” way. This also made the strip of knit stitches on the inside so it’s not as noticeable. So it wasn’t completely seamless, but I think it looks better. Also, I like the original button loops and not crochet version.

So, this is leading me to my own variation of the pattern, one that I think keeps true to the form of the original while doing it in the round, except for the last bit. I will write it up in case anyone else is interested in my method.

The booties in this pic are with Hazel Knits Artisan sock in Tulip and Chocolatier. Yummeee! I am making these for boy/girl twins, so I’m thinking of making the other one brown and green or blue, haven’t decided yet.

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First handspun hat

Yesterday I had a serious hankering to knit a new hat. Last year, I did a swap with Chawne (cauchy09) and she sent me some really gorgeous handspun. I didn’t knit it up right away, but I thought about it a LOT. I wanted to have the perfect pattern! It was also only around 100 yards, so it had to be small too. Back when we swapped, I didn’t make a whole lot of hats, so that didn’t even cross my mind. But yesterday, I was really really driven to make a hat and that was the first yarn to pop into my head.

I originally wanted to use the red skein, but it had less than the other color, so I thought I should be safe and use the one with more yarn. It didn’t take long to make - maybe 3 or so hours? It’s a simple “square” hat, knitted in the round on 72 sts. Then I kitchenered the top except the 4 sts on each end. Then I made some icord and voila!

I love handspun now and want to get more. Anyone up for a trade? I have LOTS of Wollmeise! :)

Pattern: my own
Yarn: Handspun from cauchy09 - Hello Yarn 100% corriedale top “trodden” - 3ply, dk/aran weight
Needles: Knit Picks options US9 circ needles
Started: February 22, 2007
Completed: February 22, 2007

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Yarn binge! Mom’s new tabi socks La Digitessa…masterpiece in the making! Ugliest baby sweater EVER! Poisonous Firestarters are done! I know, I have been super horrible with pictures. I get them up on flickr and then forget about them. Let’s see…I went on a yarn binge in Houston, I finished up the Firestarters that I’ve had on my needles since October. I also finished up tabi socks for my mom for Christmas. I have also been chugging along on Yarnissima’s La Digitessa. Gorgeous!!!! It is a little snug, and I’ve considered frogging. But now that I’m on the gusset, I think frogging is out the window. I think I’d rather give them away if they were too tight. Who am I kidding though, as much work as this sock is, I don’t think I could part with it. It takes an amazing amount of concentration to learn the pattern, but once you learn it (it only takes 1 repeat), you can chug along. The gusset is a little tricky, I hope I’m doing it right, I guess I’ll email Yarnissima herself and make sure. Notes on the Firestarters, the pattern is changed quite a bit. I did a magic toe, I didn’t do any ribbing except f