A Very Bright Baby Blankie!

It’s a pattern from Wooly Thouhts, available on Ravelry. Best of all, it’s based on math and really easy to improvise as you go, once you get the hang of it

I used some of the shetland lamb, dyed it in a multitude of colours. I use the Dharma Trading Co. acid dyes and they are excellent! I blended the dyed locks on hand cards and added a pinch of targhee cross to each rolag – each rolag was split in half so when spun, the plies pretty much lined up and created the blending of one colour to another. In total, 1060 metres of handspun two ply went into this blanket.

Sidetracked, Again (or is that always?)

Ok, I admit it, I just might have a BIT of an issue with sticking to one thing, lol. It’s like some kind of ‘ooooooh shiny, soooooo pretty’ disease. I have so many projects on the go that it’s truly ridiculous.

There is the sweater I am knitting out of handspun light fingering weight yarns, in stripes. The white is cormo/merino hand combed and blended with very fine alpaca, two ply. The coloured yarn is a hand carded silk/wool blend, 2 ply.

The yarn I really did finish (yay, one for me, save the part where there are half a bobbin of singles waiting to be plied into yarn, should I get around to finishing the other ply), created from hand processed, hand combed cormo/fdt fleece from mmfwool….

So far I have two skeins of this, around 700 metres, I’d guess. And I would be guessing, lol, since I have yet to count the strands

The ‘ooh shiny’ which I just started yesterday. Days off work are fantastic!

Hand dyed silk, cormo/merino fleece and super-soft-camel fluff…it is divine….

And, certainly not last, simply last for today – some super soft gloves I’m working on, created with handspun angora bunny/hand dyed silk blended yarn.

Thankfully winter is a few months away!

Something Red

Hello!

I barely made it through my day at work, lol – could not wait to get home and get back to the gray fleece again, as I’m quite sure you all understand

What a beauty it is.

Check out that little washed bit, all separated into locks and dried now…it may well be worth washing this baby slowly because the locks couldn’t have come out more perfect, in my opinion….

I couldn’t help but spin a small sample; it’s virtually irresistible fiber.  I tried spinning from the lock and from hand carded rolags – from the lock wins hands down because the fiber is so fine.  Combing would be perfection, something I have to try and will certainly show once I do

I’ve been working through some bits of interesting fiber and have spun another skein of laceweight yarn.  This one is “Something Red”, created by blending the lovely white cormo/merino with hand dyed blue/violet silk and a wine red shade of predyed superwash merino.  I blend by sight and handcard my rolags.

Pictures coming soon of the actual plied yarn…I’ve got to skein and wash it first and we all know I’m probably lost in the land of grey fleece tonight  Have an excellent day!

The Beautiful Birthday Wool And Other Fun Stuff

Good Morning!

Yes, again, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted It feels like spring – a beautiful beautiful day in Ontario. Time to sort, clean and catch up…

A couple of weeks ago I had another birthday and wanted to treat myself to something special. I decided to make some pretty yarn inspired by amethyst…a little bit of sparkle (silk from india), a little bit of shine and bold bright colour (handdyed longwool) and a fair share of beautiful, bouncy softness (gorgeous handdyed cormo/merino cross recently purchased from mmfwool on ebay – I *highly* recommend it).

In the dye pot – the wools and some wilton’s violet icing colour….

I blended the fibres with hand cards and, voila!

The plan is to knit ‘Sabbatical’ by Connie Chang Chinchio…it should be awesome!

The wool from mmfwool is absolutely wonderful to work with…nice crimp, beautiful feel, lovely length….

The kids have been enjoying march break!

I’ve been working on some other wools as well…

black/brown suffolk mix – this is a three ply worsted/dk weight which will eventually become a sweater…

Finished pictures coming soon for this and some lovely wool/silk mix yarn which I’m just in the middle of finishing up! Have a fantastic day

What’s New? Spring Cleaning….Fleece!

Good morning!

It’s been so long….

Spring is here and I’ve been busy Seems spring always makes one want to DO more – and some of us have a different take on spring cleaning! I’ve had several fleeces sitting for a while — some since last summer! I don’t know if I posted about it last fall but I have some absolutely beautiful long staple alpaca…dusty dusty stuff with some burr issues as well. It’s got a staple of about 8 inches as it was a long time between shearings and it is SUPER soft – lovely lovely lovely. Irreplaceable really. Fortunately, lol, I started out with about 14 pounds and there is no end in sight yet.

Unwashed…

Combed out for debris, but not yet washed…

Final product – rovings are clean and pulled from my combs…

There is also the ‘meat’ sheep wool which I was given last year – in black and white – waiting to get a good soak and a wash. The wool comes out nice but the dirt is incredible – sometimes free looks like an excellent price. There is a large bin full of that waiting for me on the porch.

Oh yes, and a basset hound too…

My baby grandson has had his first birthday – still the cutest baby in the world with the BEST smile

His other grandma has sheep and lambs and has very generously given me three bags of wool (I jokingly asked for ‘three bags full’ lol) – the first is lamb (three fleeces I think), the second is yearling (two to three fleeces) and the third bag is adult (haven’t counted them but I believe it holds two fleeces).

The lamb, unwashed…

The yearling, unwashed (or possibly the adult)…MUCH dirtier than the lamb. I plan to soak this in a cold soak for a few days before washing it…

These fleeces MUST be a mixed breed but are sooooo soft I’m pleasantly surprised! I’ve washed some of the lamb, so far, and it’s coming out lovely. Very short fibers but lovely AND it helped motivate me to learn how to spin short fibers. Happy to say that after two days of utter failure…. I CAN DO IT!

The lamb…clean…

Here’s some blended short fibers that I’ve successfully spun…YAY!…it’s camel, yak, silk and lambswool blended on carders and then spun for a two ply thick and thin yarn….(it truly is soft as butter)

I’ve sold one of my spinning wheels – the Bordua that I bought last fall – to a really nice Ravelry member who will truly appreciate her. I’ve also begun selling some handspun wool yarn and some spinning fiber (the above mentioned alpaca) through my local kijiji. I definitely spin more than I knit and the wool is piling up!

Some recently spun yarns…

(Left to right…lambswool, spun from the lock very finely for a four ply fingering weight yarn; alpaca, spun from combed fiber, two ply; grammalamb spun two ply; the soft as butter blended camel 2ply; a skein of laceweight, handdyed silk two ply approx 800 metres.)

Oh – Almost forgot! There IS news on the knitting front….

I’ve spun 900 metres of silk/lambswool/alpaca (in approximate thirds, blended on carders and then spun fine for a three ply lace weight) to make a really beautiful pair of lace knitted stockings. So pretty, so impractical. Of course I had to have them I’ve only just begun the knitting but it’s coming along well…

As if that isn’t enough, I’ve also been working on some orifice hooks…

I am also working on the spinning wheel at the beginning of this post – she needed a few things and a bit of a facelift. I should have pictures to share very soon I believe she is a german parlor wheel but who knows for sure…

And just because…I’ve decided it’s time to make a quilt. A really special quilt I’ve had a picture for for ages…known to me and those that know me as “THE ONE”. It begins something like this….

Wow

I know it’s been a while since I posted here on the blog!

If you’re sitting down, I’ll show you the most shocking of the ‘what’s new?’ first…

Ok, I shaved my head. Yes. Really.

Before…

After…

And today (did it last night)…

Most shocking?! I’m still me As it turns out, femininity is not necessarily in the hair

It was the scariest and most empowering thing I’ve ever done. LOL. When it grows in, I’m going to get one of those really sexy/cute short haircuts. The thing is…I’ve ALWAYS had long hair. Always.

The weirdest thing? It feels GREAT. Seriously great. Doesn’t, perhaps, look so great, lol – but it’s good. And it’s only hair – it will grow back.

And, I’ve been busy – doing lots of things.

Right now I’m a little obsessed with a knitted coat called the ‘silver coat’. It’s a pattern a lady made herself from a coat she saw in a store and she’s generously shared it on ravelry. I’m trying it with my coned ‘wine’ spinrite wool. My guage is way off but I’m making the necessary adjustments to the pattern. It’s a long coat with a full skirt and cable details – an a-line design and very attractive, I think!

I knitted a scarf out of my handspun “unspun” yarn (in violet) – the Prismatic Scarf pattern…

I knitted a sweater for myself, after spinning the jacob super bulky first. It’s a Drops pattern, modified…

I changed the neckline to be a scoop neck, and shortened the yoke…

It’s super cozy…I just need to sew on the buttons, which I already bought (and was shocked at the price of) but haven’t sewn on. A perfect loose knit summer sweater – our house gets really cool even in summer!

I finished the Fishie quilt, for our cousin in Quebec…

I think it turned out fantastic…so bright and colourful! I hand quilted it with a blue thread…

Have a fabulous day!

Do You See Socks?

I see socks.

I’m planning to ply the darker tone with the brighter tone and I think they’ll be beautiful! Or at least the yarn will be, lol, since I can’t promise to actually KNIT socks in the near future.

I’m working on the skeins of reclaimed ‘unspun’ I dyed – I don’t know that I’ll finish them all though, probably I’ll store some of it for later too. This one was kettle dyed with yellow/orange/copper wiltons icing dye. I’m so happy it didn’t felt a bit – I can still draft the fibre even though this comes from the part of the sweater I had to frog!

The summer is HERE, all the kids are out of school and my second daughter has graduated high school. I was a very proud mama last night! She is heading to college in the fall and I’m so happy for her

Must Catch Up…

Wow. I’ve been really really busy lately! I feel like I’ve been neglecting the blog, lol…

The puppy is doing fabulous. He’s learning so much, so fast!! Really amazing. And he’s settled in nicely with the other two – has even learned some manners

I’ve been asked to knit chain maille helmets for a theatre production which is coming up later in the year. Rehearsals start in July though so I have to get them all done by then…

I was pretty happy — I made the pattern up and it worked out the first time! It was a happy, happy day Now hopefully the rest of them knit up fast, and I’m praying to the wool gods that the wool stretches impossibly far.

I also have to knit sets of 3/4 length chain maille sleeves, for each.

AND!! I’ve been asked to appear in a play as a spinner, with my wheel. Coolness, I thought. It should be fun! I’m not clear on the details of when and where yet. Later this year, I understand.

I’m planning to post the pattern for the helmet, when I have a bit of time.

I’ve been working on quilting the baby ‘fishie’ quilt. That is nearing real deadlines too – the reletive it’s for should be visiting in July. I’d say I’m about 1/3 done the hand quilting and then there’s the binding to be sewn on by hand as well. I’m pretty sure I’m on track.

I was given some canadian unspun yarn – the kind they make the cowichan sweater out of and decided to use it to experiment with dying roving. The sweater needs to be frogged to claim all the yarn so I just started with half a ball of the natural/white mix.

I skeined it…

Placed it in a pot with near boiling water mixed with almost a cup of vinegar and some wiltons ‘violet’ icing colour (dissolved in boiling water first and stirred). I didn’t soak the roving first. I want to accentuate the ‘breaking’ of the colour and allow the roving to soak the colour at an uneven rate for interesting variation in the colours.

I soaked the roving in the dyepot, simmering without agitation, for about 20 to 25 minutes, until all the dye was exhausted and absorbed.

After cooling a little, a soak in hot, hot water with a drop or two of dishsoap, a hot rinse…

It looked fantastic! Check out the colours! I think I maybe should have used a little more dye – see how the centre didn’t really lose the beige/natural tone. On the other hand, when spun up it might look really good so I’m reserving judgement

It’s drying and I expect the colours may fade a little.

I made my daughter a pair of ‘sockettes’ for her birthday last month and forgot to post them here…here are a few pictures. The pattern is improvised, toe up, using the free white fleece I got a little while back.

She likes her socks low on her ankle. The best part of hand knit is the perfect fit factor

Oh yes…almost forgot…I’ve also been knitting the grotto wrap from interweave knits with my handspun rambouillet lace yarn…I’ll post pictures when it’s done…it’s turning out soft and really nice (I think it’s my best handspun yarn ever).

I have two skeins of sock yarn which I spun from the free white and black sheep – my son and I’ll work on dying those tomorrow….

Another New Craft, Or Two…

I really, really love making stuff. As I’m sure you can tell!

I’ve wanted to try wool dying for a while now. I read (on ravelry) about how icing colours can be used to dye and about how the colours often ‘slip’, giving unexpected depth and variation.

I had juniper green and a hank of my handspun singles yarn to work with. It’s the mystery white wool that I’ve been processing – approximately 180 metres. I also had a bottle of blue liquid food colour that I ended up using with the juniper green.

I dissolved a little of the paste in boiling water.

I poured the remaining boiling water into my dye pot (an excellent pot because the white lining lets me see the amount of colour remaining, clearly), added about 3/4 cup of vinegar, about half the dissolved dye, 9 or so drops of blue, scattered around. Without stirring, I placed the DRY yarn into the bath and simmered it for about 20 minutes on the stove.

Absolutely one of the EASIEST crafts I’ve tried.

Most of the colour took though a little of the red gathered along the edge of the water line in the dye pot. It’s red #3, known to not take, but a little of it did and the finished yarn is beautiful!

In other crafty-news…

I got a woodburning tool!!! I’ve never used one, until last night, but have always wanted to learn. Fun, fun, fun

For cheap, at the hock shop. It’s a dremel and has interchangeable tips.

My first attempt…(I’m decorating the inkle loom nice and pretty)

Here’s what I’m doing to decorate the shed stick that I made…

Now I’ve got about a milliong things on the go, lol, but I’m having fun.

Enjoy your day!

Bittersweet Socks

Can you see the problem?

Yep, two balls of araucania ranco multy. No dye lots. Different colour balance. Crap. One sock is very purple…one has a very purple foot and a really blue leg, lol.

But, since I’m extremely anti-frog…I’m going to keep them the way they are. The alternative (and an option if they bug me enough) is to frog both socks and mix the two skeins together by knitting a few rows of one and then a few rows of the other.

The moral of the story? ALWAYS check the two skeins – preferably in the daylight – to check the colour balance. I’m sure, had I done so, that it would have been obvious!

I don’t usually stress about these kinds of mistakes – it’s good enough for me that I know what happened and that I won’t do it again in the future. I’ll always look at this pair of socks in a bittersweet way…

The knitting is beautiful and even. The lace is gorgeous. The fit is perfect. The. Colour. Is. Off.

Link to the free pattern – Lacy Cables Knee Socks

I Love This Sock!

It’s the first of my Lacy Knee Socks. A few better pictures…

I worked a couple repeats fewer than the pattern calls for before beginning shaping and then shortened and modified the diamond shaped increase area. I kept a lot of notes – separated into pattern repeats so I can easily follow them on the second sock (or the second, third or fourth pair, really). A big job to knit but well worth it. I think the ribbing I added will keep them from falling down at all — they’re a perfect fit.

Lace Weight Singles :)

I’ve decided to keep my first two ounces of the SW Merino as a lace weight singles yarn…here is a picture of it wrapped on the board….

It is about 24+ wpi and I ended up with 377 metres. I haven’t got a final weight (I’m estimating the 2 ounces) yet and I still have to set the twist. Tomorrow maybe Very Spring-like colours I think!

I’ve Been Busy :)

I was reading a post (here) on how to dye roving with easter egg dyes and since I had 100 grams of lincoln lamb roving which I bought when we picked up my spinning wheel…..I HAD to try it!

Excellent, Easy, with Awesome results!

I love it.  Can’t wait to spin it!

I’ve been spinning the second ply for my SW Merino from SakinaNeedles and I’m aiming for a very thin yarn…wondering if maybe I can enter the spinalong for April after all…

Either way…this is going to make some beautiful light weight yarn!  Another thing I cant wait to see finished

Jeanie is coming along nicely…I finished a couple repeats today.  It’s an easy project to pick up and put down because the pattern is pretty simple once you get used to it.  I always mark my rows, with pencil, in the margin, mind you…

All Settled And Knitting Again :)

I’m happy to say that we’re all moved in and I’ve cast on for Jeanie from knitty.com.  I’m using the Ranco Multi I got for my birthday a while back and I love how it’s turning out so far.  I’m afraid the pattern isn’t as difficult as I thought, lol – guess reading it through would have shown me that! – it may be a little boring as time goes on.

The house is great, comfy and feels like home already.  The kids are settling in very well and next week everyone will be back in school.  We’re planting some seeds tomorrow to celebrate spring — I know spring started today but we’re a little off schedule   We have some tomatoes, peppers and some flowering vines for the porch.  I’m on a wireless signal right now which doesn’t seem too co-operative…I’ll try to post some pictures if I can.

See!

Tomorrow the laundry will be all hooked up and I’ll begin to tackle laundry mountain.  A family can sure make a lot of it in a week or so without machines!

Branching Out…

Knitted with my handspun BFL yarn…

                                      

The colours are hard to take pictures of!  In some light it’s more of a coral/salmon but the true colour is more like what you see in the purples/pinks picture.

The pattern is Branching Out from Knitty and I used about 200 yards in my scarf

Pretty!

I finished my second skein of wheel spun yarn (I’m ignoring the laundry in the background!)

It’s so pretty and yet so SHORT.  I ended up getting 200 metres exactly from 4 oz of roving.  I didn’t weigh the roving so I’m going by the weight I ordered.  I haven’t taken it down from it’s drying hanger yet…the last thing I want is to pack up slightly damp yarn!

Naming it was difficult!  Naming isn’t my strong suit, lol.  I think of lots of names and then think they are silly    BUT…since I guess I must…I named this one ‘Sunset’.  The shades of purple and pink just made me think of a sunset.

Especially when I wrapped it for skeining…

My goal for next time is to spin a sock weight/light sport.  LOL…good luck to me!  I’m thinking as a guide, I’ll unply some actual fingering weight and keep it handy to compare with.  Honestly, this looked so thin until I measured it!

Miss Daisy spent yesterday with me…like right on me.  I was hoping she was telling me something but nothing so far.  She had shivers or some sort of thing happening all day off and on – was really hoping that was early labor.  Could have been but it’s stopped over night.  I’ll keep you updated!

 Enjoy your day!

Cosy Coat!

Good Morning

Here is a rare picture of me – usually I take most of the pictures so I’m not in many!  Seaming the Hedgerow Coat…

I am wearing the beautiful coat as we speak…it’s so soft and comfy…ANOTHER favorite sweater

The Pattern:  Hedgerow Coat by Deborah Newton

The Yarn:  Malabrigo merino worsted in the colour ‘Amoroso’

The Source:  Pattern found in Interweave Knits Fall 2007

The Size:  Smallest size

The Changes:  None

Here’s a picture of it last night…

I used just less than 9 skeins of the Malabrigo…216 yards per skein.  That means I have an extra skein for the headband!! 

My mom got a really nice, half done sweater, at the second hand store she works at.  It is intarsia, acrylic (but nice acrylic)…done in dk weight and all the yarn, pattern, needles, ‘keep track’ chart — everything is there.  Soooo…my next effort will be to finishing the sweater for my mom.  The sleeves are done and part of the front so not a HUGE job.

Have a great day… I’ll be the lady cuddling in the new sweater

Simple Things…

Good morning

I’ve been missing a day here and there in the blog but I don’t always have anything to say!   We have a pretty simple life around here   Kids, dogs, cooking, knitting…

Mr. Luke has had his operation and is doing really well.  He’s much calmer already.  His little friend in the picture is Daisy the Daschund.

The Hedgrow Coat is coming along…I’ve just started the first sleeve and hope to finish and be starting the second sleeve by tomorrow.  I did an ‘oops’ and – get this – bound off BOTH front sides a whole cable repeat early.  LOL…it looked SO wrong right away that I saw it as soon as I laid out the pieces.  That’s all fixed up now.  The Malabrigo is excellent for pulling out and picking up the stitches again.  I usually hate it but with this wool it’s easy to do.  Small Blessings.

Have a great day!

Starting The Front

I am almost done the first half of the front!  Just about to start the fourth ball of yarn.  I’m hoping I have enough left over to make something…I over-order because there is nothing worse than running out midway!

I’m thinking about the fastening options.  The original has a leather belt and looks nice but not what I want.  I’m thinking maybe some of those frog clips?  I don’t think that I’d want to sew them on directly though — it will stretch and pull on the knitting.  Maybe I can sew a little leather patch on under each?  It would stabilize the fabric I think.

I’ll have to have a look see next time I’m at the notions store. 

Have a great day!

Knitting Along…

It’s coming along!   This is the back of the Hedgerow Coat and I’m quite happy with it so far.

The kids started their new school today and they had a good day   I was worried about them for no reason and I’m glad of that!  Moving can be difficult and I love how resiliant the children are…they inspire me!

This Wool Is Awesome!

I get it now.  Malabrigo is just awesome…soft, beautiful stitch definition, did I say soft?  I had no idea or I would have knit with it sooner!

The colour is off (at least on my monitor) and actually more of a deep red than it looks.  Hopefully I can get some better pictures along the way to show the true colours

The Hedgerow Coat is coming along nicely…one skein (of ten) used up so far…

Ok, Couldn’t Help IT…Started the Coat!

I was restless yesterday…wanted to start something new even though I have the blanket to finish AND the carpet AND the socks AND the shawl.  Yeah.  LOL.  I managed to work on the blanket squares for a while first and they are getting there.  Another day of work to finish the blanket I predict.  And I will finish the carpet.  Later.

I tried spinning with a drop spindle yesterday, for the first time.  The fleece hates me, to begin with…I suspect the spindle may hate me too!  Anyways, not the most successful attempt but I could see improvement happening quickly.  Makes me truly appreciate a beautiful hand spun skein of yarn!!  LOL.  Definitely worth paying for!

The Malabrigo I’m using for the Hedgerow Coat is so buttery soft!  Georgeous stuff.  I will definitely look at making more things for myself out of it.  This is my first time knitting with it

It’s super cold out today….Husband cannot work, they have an ‘extreme cold’ warning on.  Yet they say it will warm up a lot by the end of the week?  We’ll see.

Off to knit a beautiful coat….

Enjoy!

Some Short Term Goals…

I feel like I have a million or so things on the go…well, ok, it’s only about three.   I’m making myself finish these (or most of these!) before I begin the Hedgerow Coat from Interweave Knits.   I had the magazine out yesterday drooling over it and the Malabrigo I’m using.  This house is the land of the sweater and the coat is going to be a favorite, I predict!

There is the crazy cabin blanket — five squares are mid-completion, two sit ready to sew and the rest (9 squares)is sewn together already (60″ x 60″ so far).  I want to complete that asap.  A little late for Christmas, lol.

 There is the braided rag rug carpet — on the floor, coming along beautifully and about 5 feet or so across at this point.  I need to continue it about 12-15 wraps around…I want it to fill the space it’s in

Then there are the sweetheart lace socks for my daughter.  They are about half way done, the design is completed though not written out nicely yet.  I hope to have these done for her birthday at this point and since that is in May…no rush on these.  I’ll wait for the sock bug to bite again

Yay! My Wool Arrived :)

The Malabrigo…isn’t it pretty?!!

The colour is ‘Amoroso’ (purchased at an excellent price from www.fabulousyarn.com – I paid less than $100 for 10 skeins – AND that included shipping to Canada!) and I am planning to make the Hedgerow Coat from the Interweave Knits Fall 2007 issue. 

I’m reading a lot about malabrigo, everywhere I can find information.  It’s such a beautiful wool, I can see what people have said about the pilling…I can deal with that.  I’ve also read something, somewhere, about it producing a fabric which doesn’t hold it’s shape properly…stretches out?  I’m wondering if I should use a slightly smaller needle to prevent this?  The coat (in size small) is a little big for me, so I could do it without causing too much trouble, as long as I watch the length.

I woke up so sick this morning…pounding headache, couldn’t hold anything down…nasty!  I’m ok now as I managed to finally hold down an advil and rest for an hour.  The headache is gone, thank goodness!  Felt like a hangover but I don’t do that stuff!  Talked to my mom, she asked me where in my cycle I am (I’m in the middle) and told me how she would have this once a month, every month, at ovulation.  Great.  So it’s likely hormonal and one of those lovely like mother like daughter things.

The Cable and Lace Socks are coming out so beautifully.  I’m pleased as can be with them.  I wish, though, that I had another skein of the serengeti….they would be ideal as knee socks…

Here is a peek of how they look so far….

 

And then there were two….

I’ve finished the mirasol socks I started    Another addition to the Christmas pile!

Now I’m going to try a pair of gloves…not sure if they will be fingerless or not.  I’m using a nice cable/lace pattern I found on the internet (love that, don’t you?).  It is really nice though I’m not certain how it will work out in the gloves.  We’ll soon see