FO Friday 6/5/15

I may only have one small FO to share this week, but this little hat is a HUGE accomplishment for me!

I have always loved the look of fair isle and color work.  I have so many projects favorited and every time I see color work, my eyes are drawn to it.  Along with my love for it I also have a massive fear of it.  I have dabbled with it in the past and had terrible results.  My first attempt was the Dark Mark bag.  From far away it looks pretty good, however up close you notice all of the gaps from my uneven tension.

Even with the imperfections, I was proud of this bag.  However, it made me even more afraid of color work.  

Last fall, I cast on a pair of fingerless mitts.  I ended up frogging them because unlike the horribly loose tension with the bag, my tension was too tight with the mitts.  Instead of gaps, I had puckering.  

One of the class prompts in the House Cup this term is to do a craft or technique that is unfamiliar to you.  I decided that I would try color work once again.  I remember seeing LaLa of the Knitgirllls Podcast had knit a few Golden Pear baby hats for some baby showers she had to go to.   I figured this would be the perfect project to experiment with.  I went up to my craft room, dug around my scrap yarn bin trying to find 3 colors that go well together.  I finally settled on a light aqua, hot pink and red combo.  I printed out the (free) pattern and grabbed the right size needles and immediately cast on.

I got to the first section of alternating colors and you know what?  My tension was just fine!  Second section, still fine!  There is one tiny stitch where I attached the yarn that looks a little off, but you don't notice it unless you really stare.

After successfully knitting this hat I am ready to knit all the color work!  

I love the hat Jess! It is adorable, and I have had that pattern in my queue forever. I think I will have to make one sooner rather than later. I have just a few FOs this week to share myself. The first one is a pattern that I have made in the past and have loved.

I made this little Bluebird of Happiness using my own handspun! I had a little sample rolag from Roe of Purls that I had spun up a while back.  It is fun to spin up these little samples, but I am never sure what to do with them. I had just enough to make this little bird.  One of the girls in Hufflepuff mentioned that someone was collecting these birds as part of Project Happiness. They will send the birds to people who are going through a tough time and could use a little happiness. I hope to make a few more before I send this bird flying to someone who needs her.

The next project is a pair of socks that I knit up with a new to me yarn.  I bought a skein of Pagewood Farm Yukon at Conversational Threads when it was on clearance. I loved the color, but I also love that the yarn is from San Pedro, California. Let's me feel a little closer to home when I use it. I have knit with their yarn before, just not this blend. Yukon is Merino/Bamboo/Nylon and I thought may breathe better than just a wool/nylon blend.  I picked a pattern on my queue and got to knitting. These are Neville's Socks on Ravelry. They are a free pattern and I enjoyed knitting them up.  

The last project I have to share is one I just got pictures of today! I went to pick up my first CSA and decided that would be a great place for a photo shoot. On a side note I am super excited about the CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Every week for the next 22 weeks I get to pick up a box of fruits, veggies and herbs according to my share. This week I got arugula, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, kale, broccoli, turnips, and a pint of strawberries (that I got to pick). I also bought some local cheese, beef sausages and a yogurt smoothie. I am looking forward to fresh produce every week from the farm! I think it will make me eat healthier and support local family businesses. 

So I took a little monster that I knit for an expectant Hufflepuff out to the farm. I was excited when she said she was doing a Rebecca Danger theme nursery. I chose a pattern that I have not knit in the past.

Baldwin the Bathroom Monster by Rebecca Danger

I can call him Baldwin the Berry Monster heh. He is knit up in Dancing Dog Dyeworks - "Big's Boo-tiful Blues" that I had from the Monster Mania club from a few years ago. I need to get back to work on my OWL my Hitofude is at about 30% and I need to get it to 50% by the end of the month!

FO Friday 8/29

Sorry I have been so silent lately.  I've been feeling a bit off for awhile and haven't felt motivated enough to do anything.  I did get caught up with the Halloween Town cross stitch and started the most recent clue.  

I also spun my first skein of wheel spun yarn.  My friend, Kit, let me try out her Ashford Kiwi and I love it!  It is so much faster than the drop spindle!  I chose my Woolgatherings Mixed BFL that I purchased at MDSW in 2013.  I need to work on my drafting since some spots are a little over spun, but I am pleased with my first attempt.  I managed to spin 236 yards of worsted (mostly) weight.

Woolgatherings Mixed BFL

I also finished a test knit for Susan Claudino, but I have to wait to share the photos since the pattern hasn't been released yet ;)  

Based on the teaser pictures that Susan has posted on Instagram, I cannot wait to see your finished test knit!  I finally finished my Jeck socks that I am making as a Christmas gift for my grandma this year!  

They are knit with Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet. I think this yarn is great for socks, it is super durable and comes in great colors.  I think my grandma is really going to love the color, since they have some spots that are very Dodger blue.  Another present off the needles and it is only August! Hopefully this year will be much less stressful. 

Spunday 6/29/14

Tour de Fleece starts on Saturday and I wanted to clear my spindle.  I spent most of this weekend finishing up the plying on my Knitting Knorth Polwarth.  I finished it on Saturday morning, gave it a soak and hung it outside to dry all day.  It's 288 yards of sport weight and it's the most yardage I have ever spun.  The colors are super bright so I think I will make a larger toy with it rather than something to wear.  

Knitting Knorth Polwarth-22713

I decided on spinning my Shadawyn Fiber Arts Merino/Silk blend for Tour de Fleece.  I've never spun anything with silk in it so that will be a challenge for me.  I also think I am going to try to fractal spin this time.  Every time I have spun I just split the fiber in half and spun randomly.  I want to try to have more control over my colors and have less of a barber pole look.  

Shadawyn Fiber Arts Merino/Silk 80/20-Severus Snape

Spunday 6/22

So first let me say I have been a bad blogger. Wednesday was super busy for me. We are in the process of buying a new house and putting our current house on the market. It was also graduation week for the residency program so we had happy hours, parties and graduation itself.  I have definitely have WIPs on the needles but not a ton of progress on anything since I have not been knitting much. I try to make sure that I have time to knit or spin at least a little every day, just for stress relief if nothing else.  So I have some spinning that I have finished up to share.  In February I spun up a braid of Malabrigo Nube.  Now normally I am not a big fan of merino.  I like spinning it up, but I would rather spin BFL or Polwarth.  I loved spinning up the Nube.  It was soft and lovely.  I love that after you spin and ply it, it blooms in the soak.  With that 4 oz braid I achieved about 250 yards.  That was one of my projects from the Winter Ravellenic Games.  

Malabrigo Nube - Aguas

So I bought a braid of Malabrigo Nube in the colorway Indiecita to spin up next.  I loved the purples and greens in the braid.  

I am still new to color control in my spins.  I am hoping to try an N-ply in the next few months which should keep my colors together when I ply rather than diluting them.

Malabrigo Nube - Indiecita

The most exciting part of this handspun is I got 348 yards of a 2 ply yarn in about a sport weight! That is almost 100 yards more than the first time that I spun up the Malabrigo Nube! It is the most yardage that I have ever gotten from a single braid! Now I just need to pair it up with a pattern.

Spunday 6/1/14 and Contest Winner

On Friday, Jen came over so we could celebrate her birthday.  She brought over a drill and an extra bobbin so we could divide my single in half for plying.  After some yard work on Saturday, I sat outside plying for a bit and just enjoying the sunshine.  I am hoping to have it done sometime next week.  

I selected my Tour de Fleece fiber and will be spinning Shadawyn Fiber Arts Merino/Silk in Severus Snape. I have never spun anything with silk in it, so I'm excited and nervous at the same time. My personal goals for this year will be to spin for at least 45 minutes a day.  

On a non-spinning note, we have a winner for our Modular Mondays in May giveaway!  The winner, chosen by random.org is...

Congratulations, MKmaineknitter!!  Please contact me (sameoldknit) on Ravelry and I will get your mini skeins in the mail!  

FO Friday

       So this is our first FO Friday post. If you are here and are not a knitter, an FO is a finished object.  This is where we can post about projects that we have finished this week. Since I forgot to post about it last week, I am including FOs from the last 2 weeks :-)

So the first project that I have to share is my London Hat. I have a stash problem.  That should be obvious based on the last post.  I also have a problem using yarn that I see as special. Maybe it is a limited edition colorway, or yarn that I got on a special trip etc.  So I made a vow that if I bought yarn on our trip to Europe last year, that I would use it!  I won a raffle drawing for a pattern download on Ravelry in the Sticks and Stones group. I selected the pattern that I had marked on my queue to use the yarn I bought in London. We visited the shop Loop. I really loved it there. So cozy, and they even had Wollmeise! I bought one special skein of yarn for myself.  It is The Uncommon Thread BFL Light in the colorway "Lust."  

I love that you get your purchases in a Loop totebag!

So I used this lovely yarn to make the Norie hat. It is a slouchy hat that has a wonderful cat's paw lace detail to it.

       My next FO is the pair of socks that I was working on WIPs Wednesday.

Socks on a Plane - Three Irish Girls Yarn - Adorn Sock - "Bread and Butterflies"

     This is the second pair of socks that I have made with this pattern, and I have a feeling that it is not the last.  It is the only toe up pattern that I have knit, and I really like how they fit, especially the heel.  With the leftovers I made a preemie hat to donate to the NICU at St. Luke's

Lastly, I have a test knit that I have finished for a friend using my handspun. It is blocking right now, so I will post pics of it next time.  I cast on a shawl to knit on the plane tomorrow, so depending on how much I knit this week in New Orleans, I may have another FO for next week!

~ Jen

I seem to have caught a spinning bug this week.  I finished the first of my SpinningFates Self Striping sock and started the cuff of the second sock.  I knit a few teeth on my Hitchhiker, but I primarily spent my week spinning away.  I finished my second single of the Into the Whirled BFL and plied it last Friday/Saturday.  I washed it Sunday and let it dry a few days.  I managed to get 216 yards of worsted weight out of it so it should make a lovely hat in the not so near future.

Into the Whirled BFL-Witches Leggings

 

 Right now I am spinning up some KnittingKnorth Polwarth in a super bright pink, blue and yellow combo.  It reminds me of Peeps candy.  I've devoted most of this week to spinning it and hopefully will be able to share it on our next FO Friday!  

-Jess