Spin-a-Sweater... coming along nicely....

Ok, Ok... I'll admit it..... The sweater should probably be done by now. I rarely take more than a couple of weeks to finish a sweater and I sort of figured that doing a spin to completion project would double the time it would normally take...... Which would mean that I should have finished about a month ago... and I would have, but I ran into a snag with the sleeves. I had plenty of yarn spun, plied and finished.... but one skein was over spun (I was being way to careful) and the texture and look of the yarn was wrong in comparison to the other skeins.  I knit the sleeve anyway, but in the end... decided I needed to spin new yarn. The other skein was 1 WPI (wraps per inch) fatter, so it threw off the gauge. At this point, I decided to put the sweater in a much needed time out and switched gears to quickly whip out my Cowl Shell and this shawlette, made with the handspun silk I  finished in March.

I wanted to use as much of the 400m as I could, but the pattern I choose used only 250m, so I added an extra repeat of the diamond pattern and made up my own edging... In the end, I used up all but 8g... pretty awesome, in my opinion.... I'm not super happy with the edging as I couldn't get it to block in any kind of pretty shape. But I didn't dislike it enough to pull it out and start again.... The finished shawlette is the perfect size for summer (I haven't taken measurements) and it looks great on, so I'm happy... plus I get extra bonus points for the handspun part... right??? Here are some pictures of the the sweater's progress..... just a teaser.... hopefully, I'll have finished sweater pictures within the next week? With elbow length sleeves.... 'cause I'm feeling done... elbow isn't "that" much shorter than 3/4 length... after all.....

The Pianist

Today was Eli's annual Piano recital.

He was SOOOO nervous he was nearly green (and apparently, not super impressed with me, eh?).

After a few false starts.... and a quick smack to settle his brains..... he rocked on....


Introducing.... Little Indian Lance




We went for Sushi afterwards to celebrate (his choice... my kids LOVE sushi!) and all was forgiven (he blamed me for making him so nervous, it appears as though my pep talks aren't very, uh... inspiring... unless I'm attempting to inspire vomit and rebellion... then I'm all good).

Gaining confidence?

I've been working on another design. I love cowl or draped neck tops. I think they're very flattering and they even make me look, dare I say, Busty..... I also LOVE silk, but didn't have any in my stash that would be suitable, so I went stash diving and came up with some Oasis Solid in a nice pink. I then got straight to work. I drew my design, knit up my swatch (and washed it) and researched the yarn on Ravelry to see what others had said. It was another yarn that, although it has fabulous drape, stretches when washed and worn. I took all of this into consideration when I cast on for my new top. Unlike my last design I had no problems and finished the entire top in less than 5 days. I tried it on, but it was too stiff to tell if it would work out the way I'd hoped... so I washed it and prayed...... I tried it on the next day and was thrilled. It was the EXACT top that I had envisioned when I had started the whole process....... and so, without further ado.....

If you'd like to buy the pattern, here's a link

I'm nervous, so be nice....

I've done it! I've written my first big pattern.

I have designed stuff for myself before, always with intentions of "someday" writing down the pattern, but when "someday" comes... I can't remember exactly what I've done and my notes are total crap... so I don't write it. This time, I designed a top for myself with the full intention of attempting to write the pattern. I sketched a picture, I took lots of measurements of myself, I did a gauge swatch, I washed my gauge swatch, I cast on.... I knit through the yoke and down past the bust when I discovered that my original idea was NOT going to work..... I had managed to make a top that looked like I had rows of gills along my back, it was NOT flattering..... I frogged.... I cast on again, but with a few adjustments to my design idea and began knitting.... This time it worked.... It was magical..... And before I knew it, I had a finished top. It was a bit tight (I had planned it to be tight, but felt it was too tight and that made me unsure), but I wore it out to knit night to see what kind of response I would get.... It was VERY positive... the girls thought it was lovely and convinced me to go ahead with the actual writing of the pattern. My plan to knit a tight top in silk worked perfectly... as I wore the top it stretched out and became super comfy... just like a nice fitting pair of comfy jeans......


Here is a link to Ravelry where you can buy the pattern if you'd like......

Silk Peasant Tee (Ravelry Link)

or you can buy the pattern right from here without a Ravelry Membership (if I did it right) for $3 US

Project "Spin-a-sweater"

I decided a while ago, that I was ready.... ready to attempt to spin the right yarn for the right project. I had attempted to do so when I spun the yarn for Chey's Handspun Cardigan, but in the end.... my spinning wasn't quite what I needed for the project I had in mind (it was spun too loosely and too thick for the navajo 3-ply yarn that I had aimed for). It was close, however.... very close... and so, I thought I would attempt to spin yarn for a cardigan in the latest Twist Collective issue. Carol Sunday's "Poplar & Elm". I needed a sport weight yarn and I had 1000 grams of an 80% merino 20% silk roving in my stash (a gift from my Dad and his wife, who support and encourage my fiber infatuation). I decided I would attempt a 3 ply sport weight..... and went from This:



to This:




approx. 650m of 3-ply sport weight yarn (between 12 & 13 wpi... yarn has not been finished), with another 400m of singles to be plied (I'm estimating the finished yardage of the singles, not the length of the singles)..... enough (I hope) for the above sweater, but with 3/4 length sleeves........

and a TON of roving left over...... a least enough for another sweater......

Baaaaaaaa.....

We went sheep shearing today (my kids, my friend Barbora (she's not in the picture) and her girls).



The kids got to feed some lambs.




We watched some sheep get shorn, although this one didn't want to come.......



Eli wrote lots of notes so that he can do a power point presentation for his classroom (because he wants to).



and............ I might have bought some fleece (a South African Meat Merino named Victoria... pictured above as the stubborn sheep)........

even though I wasn't going to (I know, I know.... Even *I* didn't believe myself). Thankfully, Tamara agreed to split the fleece with me (she wasn't going to buy fleece either).

Spun to Done....

Last week I received some fiber from an un-club by JulieSpins (etsy link). I actually ordered 5 braids of a lovely family of browns and 1 braid of a colourway called Jungle.











Because I had just received my Woolie Winder the week before, I was completely motivated to sit down and start spinning. I decided to start with Jungle. I had thought that I would spin it thinly and then Navajo ply it to preserve the colour shifts, hopefully ending up with a fingering weight yarn. I would then use the resulting yarn to do some kind of fair isle mittens, knitting from each end of the same ball of yarn so that the colours would shift past each other.......... It sounded like a great plan.... but the execution was a little shaky.... I (this seems to be a consistent issue for me) under-spun the singles, so they kept drifting apart during the N-ply process. Plan B was then hastily constructed and implemented.

The resultant yarn: 2ply, between fingering and sport, 408m.


Once Chey saw the yarn... she HAD to have it ("It so soft and GREEN, Mommy!").... I decided to knit a pinwheel cardigan (you need a free membership to get the pattern, I believe) because I thought the circular design would highlight the colour changes in the yarn, but I didn't think I had enough for a sleeved version and decided on a vest. The pattern was written for worsted weight yarn, so to compensate for my lighter yarn, I kept increasing the spiral until it measured about 4 inches wider than Chey's back (at her underarms). I also decided to do a bit of a ruffled rib pattern for the edging. To accomplish that, I increased the stitch count by approximately 20% on the row before I actually started ribbing. I then increased again, halfway through the ribbing (making the 2x2 rib into a 3x2 rib). I think the vest is VERY nice..... and She loves it to.

and I have enough yarn left over for a hat... I'm thinking a spiral beret.....