I feel like I’ve started and abandoned (frogged) and set aside a bunch of knitting projects in that time, but I’m fairly certain it’s not that many. It’s just my brain playing tricks on me, I’m sure! Hmmm, lets see. *goes back and looks at previous posts to see where she left off*

I did spin up the bright colored Masham from BohoKnitterChic I mentioned my last post. Turns out I’m allergic to it. QUITE allergic, in fact. Yesterday I tried to photograph it and it made my throat feel very itchy until well after I put it in a ziplock bag! While I was spinning it, it made my throat feel itchy and swollen, which is the same reaction I’ve had to some of the more coarse and sheepy wools I’ve tried to knit with in the past (which I ended up giving away because there is plenty of other yarn that DOESN’T make me react that way). Needless to say it has to find a new home with someone else who isn’t allergic to it and The Sheep’s Company Masham will be finding a new home with a local friend of mine as soon as I can remember to give it to her. The Expand Your Spinning Horizons is definitely doing it’s job. Masham is a hairy and corse fiber. It was actually rather nice to spin up aside from the bad reaction I had to it. I’ll post a picture of the finished yarn when I get one. I like how it ended up just as bright as the fiber pre-spinning! Sad I’m allergic to it because I think it would make a great outerwear item. Ah well. I’ve had a new experience I likely wouldn’t have ever had thanks to this spin-a-long.

As for knitting… I managed to get one FO for the month of April! A pair of socks. I knit these as part of the Solid Socks KAL (colorway: yellow) and Sock Knitters Anonymous KAL (literary themed) for the month of April. This is the first sock group specific KAL I’ve finished in a while! Knitting with yellow was definitely out of my comfort zone. I can’t actually recall anything that I’ve knit in yellow, ever. It’s not a color that I wear much, if ever, so it was fun to knit something I wouldn’t normally knit.

Nemesis Socks

Pattern: Nemesis by Susan Dittrich (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: April 2, 2012
Completed: April 28, 2012
Yarn: The Copper Corgi Studio Fingering in the colorway Mac & Cheese, 2 skeins
Needle: US 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks circular
Notes: When I started the foot of the sock after knitting the heel flap and picking up stitches, I misread the instructions and left out part of the chart on either side of the main pattern. When I got to the toe, I realized it wouldn’t line up to continue the patterning on the toe as instructed, so instead I knit a plain toe and did the second sock to match the mistakes in the first sock. Ah well, I still like how they came out!

I’ve been working on a number of different projects. I appologise in advance for having mostly iPhone pictures for this part of the post, but I figured if I waited until I got around to taking better pictures with my DSLR, most of these would be FOs and I wouldn’t have even talked about them here yet! (Much like the Nemesis socks above. Oops.) I have four shawls and two pairs of socks in progress. Some of them are now “hibernating” on Ravelry since I tend to only focus on 2-3 projects at a time.

Back in March, I cast on for TVG. I’m using Malabrigo Rios in Archangel. I haven’t made a whole lot of progress and it’s been hibernating since shortly after starting it, but it makes for a nice “mindless” project to pick up whenever.

TVG

The first week of April, I decided to cast on a shawl. I’d been itching to use some of the

Thin Ice

That same first week in April, I cast on for another shawl. I must have had a bad case of startitus that week! The pattern is Magrathea and I’m using handspun. The fiber is from Zarzueal’s Fibers (Etsy & Artfire). The fiber is targhee and the colorway is Emeralds. This stuff is super squishy and very nice to knit with. I can’t wait to have this one done! It’s going to be great to wear, plus this pattern will allow me to use up as much yarn as possible. A better picture of the color can be found here - it’s the two on the right side. It’s not quite as “warm” as this picture makes it seem.

Magrathea

On April 21st, I finished the first Bonnie and Clyde sock. (Bad Amy 80/20 Stripey Sock in the Bonnie and Clyde colorway) These are hibernating for now. Needed the needles to start another sock with just a bit more patterning then plain vanilla.

Bonnie and Clyde Sock #1

The details of the SSK KAL #5 were announced on April 19th and I cast on shortly after that. I knew before the details were posted that the KAL would be featuring at least Laura (aka LaLa) of The Knit Girllls since she had mentioned it in her Ravelry group, LaLa Knits. Since there’s also a KAL going on in that group, I’m double dipping with this next shawl and knitting LaLa’s Simple Shawl. I’m using Another Crafty Girl Twinkle Sock in the Lagoon colorway. Sparkly! Pretty easy pattern which makes it easy for me to pick up and knit.

LaLa’s Simple Shawl

And last, but not least, here are the Jaywalker socks I started this weekend (the socks I needed my US 0’s for - for the cuff). I’m using Bad Amy Splendid Sock (MCN) in Violeta Stripe (brown & purple). Mmmmm MCN. I think I love MCN yarns, though I don’t knit with them nearly enough. Very nice to work with and I’m loving the stripes in this pattern. A lot more fun then just plain vanilla!

Jaywalker Socks

I think that sums up my April for knitting and spinning progress. We’ll talk about my stash “progress” another time. What fun things have you been working on lately?
]]> http://www.mslindz.com/2012/04/30/an-update-with-a-fo/feed/ http://www.mslindz.com/2012/04/09/spinning-update/ http://www.mslindz.com/2012/04/09/spinning-update/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:17:00 +0000 Lindsey http://www.mslindz.com/?p=1250 Back on March 10th, a friend of mine, Karen, told me that there was a Lendrum DT for sale on Ravelry. This was one of the wheels I had pretty high on my list of wheels I wanted. As luck would have it, the seller wanted to sell it to someone local (in my city) and I had the funds for the wheel, so I messaged the seller. She still had the wheel available and we arranged everything so I could pick it up the next day. I was SO EXCITED! I met Barbara, the seller, at her house and picked up my new wheel on March 11th. Barbara was so sweet and a pleasure to talk with. She had learned to spin on a Lendrum DT, purchased one, then found that she much preferred spinning on spindles and decided to find her Lendrum DT a new home. She said that after corresponding and talking with me that she knew it was going to a good home. I couldn’t agree more!

My new wheel!

For a few years now, I’ve had a Babe single treadle wheel. It’s served me very well in the time that I’ve owned it. For a while, I had been having some issues whenever I did some spinning on it. I’d always end up feeling a bit sore in my hips or knees after spinning for long. With my back issues, I wasn’t too worried about it, but it did mean that I’d often choose knitting over spinning even though I enjoyed spinning when I did. For a long time, I wondered if having a double treadle wheel would help with the physical issues I’d been having, so I kept looking at wheels and even tried a few out at fiber festivals. When I found out about this Lendrum that was for sale, I had been looking at getting a new wheel very soon and it was just luck that it all came together.

Since getting the Lendrum, I have had no pain while spinning! I absolutely love this wheel and look forward to spinning now.

The first thing I spun on it was this Shetland/fine wool batt from Sporfarm that I received in a swap some time ago.

Sporfarm Setland/Fine Wool batt

I didn’t really have any plan on how I wanted it to spin up. As I was spinning it, it wanted to spin pretty fine and I found it easy to keep it fairly consistent. I did find it shed quite a bit while spinning. I kept having to pick fiber off me more then usual! I would say it was a bit of a sticky blend of fiber, though still very nice to spin up. After I finished the singles, I decided to two ply it. It really fluffed up after a bath and it is pretty well balanced. It was so nice to be able to ply it on the bulky flyer/bobbin and have one big skein instead of having to break it up. I ended up with 322 yards of fingering weight yarn.

Sporfarm Setland/Fine Wool Spun

I haven’t done a whole lot of spinning since I finished that up. I had to take a little spinning break so I could finish up the baby blanket, but I’ve picked it back up this past weekend. I’ve been spinning Hello Yarn (January 2012 club shipment) BFL in the colorway Burnished. These aren’t colors I would have picked out myself, but it’s been fun to spin something that I wouldn’t normally go for. (You can see a better picture of the fiber here.)

Hello Yarn BFL in Burnished

Still debating on if I will two ply or Navajo ply once it’s finished. It’s taking a while to get through the first 2 oz, so there’s plenty of time to decide, but right now I’m leaning towards two ply. I’m planning to make a Lacy Batkus with it once it’s done.

It’s April, which means it’s time for the next fiber in the Expand Your Spinning Horizons SAL that The Knit Girllls are doing over in their Ravelry group. Friday I posted the hat I knit using the Moorit Shetland in Midsummer Night’s Dream from Unwind Yarn Company. I didn’t get a good picture of it before I knit it up, but you can see the hat here if you missed it. I Navajo plied the finished singles and ended up with 126 yards of Aran weight yarn. For April the fiber is Masham (also known as massam). I ended up getting two for this month and hope I have time to spin them both. I bought 4 oz ombre batt from The Sheep’s Company and a 4 oz braid from BohoKnitterChic. I loved the gradient batts from The Sheep’s Company and couldn’t resist the bright, fun colors from BohoKnitterChic! Even if I don’t get them spun this month, I’m sure they’ll be fun to spin up.

Masham from The Sheep’s Company and BohoKnitterChic

Always so many things I want to spin and never enough time in the day.

I finally have a picture of the socks I finished early March. The pattern was fairly easy, but did involve some shifting around of stitches for part of the leg. Aside from that it was a fairly quick knit when I actually worked on it and wasn’t distracted with other projects! haha

Cadence Socks

Pattern: Cadence Socks (Ravelry link) by verybusymonkey (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 1, 2012
Completed: March 5, 2012
Yarn: Ogle Design Fiber Arts in Ruby, 1 skein
Needle: US 1 Knit Picks nickel circular
Notes: Followed the pattern exactly as written. Great free pattern! I think I’ll be knitting these again sometime so I have a pair of my own since these are a gift.

The 4th SSK KAL started in early March. I had just finished spinning Unwind Yarn Company Handdyed Moorit Shetland in the Midsummer Night’s Dream colorway. Since Unwind Yarn Company is also an SSK vendor, I decided I wanted to use the yarn I’d spun for the KAL. I had spun 126 yards of aran weight yarn (Navajo plied). One of the patterns for the KAL was the Robin’s Egg Blue hat, which I thought would be perfect for my handspun - right weight yarn and I thought the Shetland would make a good outerwear item. It knit up really quickly, but took me a few days to find a button, order it, receive it, then sew it on. I’m really happy with the finished hat and can’t wait to get some use out of it next winter.

Brown Egg Hat

Pattern: Robin’s Egg Blue Hat (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: March 9, 2012
Completed: March 12, 2012
Yarn: Unwind Yarn Company Handdyed Moorit Shetland in the Midsummer Night’s Dream colorway
Needle: US 10.5 Clover circular and DPNs
Notes: Added 1 inch to the “body” of the hat before doing the decreases to give it enough length to cover my ears well. I also sewed down the little button flap. Pattern didn’t call for this, but I thought it bug me if it weren’t secured. Seems more sturdy to me with it completely sewn down and I think it wears a little better (flap near where the button is sewn on doesn’t flare). The button came from Etsy from a shop called AskCheese.

My final FO from March is the Munchkin Blanket. This is a gift to a friend who has a baby on the way. I went with fun colors for this blanket and absolutely love how it turned out. If I were to knit it again, I’d likely choose a yarn that comes in smaller skeins so I don’t have so much leftover yarn. The construction of this blanket was great. Kept me interested and didn’t feel like a slog to get through. I spent last week working on this project. It went from one triangle and the start of the second, to a finished blanket!

Munchkin Blanket

Pattern: Munchkin Blanket by Amy Swenson (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: March 11, 2012
Completed: March 31, 2012
Yarn: Cascade 220 - 1.25 skeins in 1911 (blue), 1.35 skeins in 802 (green), 1.35 skeins in 1969 (purple), and 1.25 skeins in 821 (yellow)
Needle: US 8 ChiaoGoo Red Lace circular
Notes: Pattern instructions could have been more clear and next time I would take out that first WS row completely, but aside from that, I would knit it again. Actually thinking of knitting 4 and sewing them together to create a big blanket, then knit a border around the 4 squares. See on my project page for more detailed notes.

Munchkin Blanket - Mmmm squishy garter stitch!

What have you finished up recently or hoping to get finished soon? Looking at finished items from others often gives me inspiration to focus on one particular thing I’m working on and finish it up. Many other times it makes me want to queue and cast on more things! haha

Have a good weekend everyone!

Stashing down: I posted my stash totals for the first quarter and I wish I could say I did a little better. Speaking of which, I totally forgot to post my stash totals for February, so here’s an update on how it’s going in numbers.

February 2012: -950 yards. Total yards out - 6,965. Total yards in - 6,015. New Stash Total - 112,139.3 yards/63.72 miles

March 2012: +2,374 yards. Yards out - 1,540, Yards in - 3,914, New Stash Total - 114,513.3 yards/65.06 miles

For the quarter I’m up. I’m not shocked by this because initially I had a bunch of acrylic that I thought was entered into my stash, but actually wasn’t. Then I bought yarn. Wollmeise Lace (lots of yardage), other various skeins, club yarns, and yarn for a gift project that I didn’t have yarn for in stash. Plus I spun some yarn, too, which added to my totals.

First Quarter 2012: +19,058.1 yards/10.83 miles. Beginning total: 95,455.2 yards/54.24 miles. Ending total: 114,513.3 yards/65.06 miles

I think I’m going the wrong way!! Haha. Ah well. In looking at my stash, overall there’s not really anything I want to destash at the moment. That can change and has over the years, but I’m pretty happy with my stash right now. The thing I’ve tried to focus on the most is using stash yarn FIRST and really thinking about new purchases (Will I use it right away? do I have a plan for it? Will it just sit until I figure out something to do with it? etc). I’ve definitely seen some changes in my buying habits since the beginning of the year. For me, that’s progress!

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I spent most of last week working on a blanket, which I will show when I post my March FO’s. Made a lot of progress on that, but since finishing the blanket, I seem to be going backwards in terms of progress (and stash looking at the above totals!). This week I picked my Rocky Coast Cardigan back up.

Rocky Coast Cardigan in Malabrigo Twist

But… there’s a problem. Since that picture was taken, I’ve had to join a new skein of yarn. I’ve tried multiple times, but every new skein doesn’t match up very well with the last skein used and creates a visible line right at the most unflattering part - the bust. Sigh. I really didn’t want to alternate skeins every two rows. Looks like I definitely need to, so I will be ripping it all out and starting over. I know I’ll be so much happier with it by doing this, but it makes me sad to have to rip it out and start over!

Seems like I’m on a roll with ripping things out this week because I ripped out something else, too.

Honey Badger Sock

After getting part of the way down the foot of the sock, I tried it on and decided it was coming out too tight for my liking. Bummer! I do like the yarn and pattern combo, though, so I’ll be restarting it on a larger needle at some point.

I hope to update on spinning and other WIPs soon. So much I want to share and never enough time! Until next time… happy knitting!

First I finally have some pictures of the Wussypillows Beret I finished back in January. Overall I felt a little “meh” about this project, which is why it took me so long to take pictures of it. I like the pattern. I like the yarn well enough and glad I finally have SOMETHING out of it after trying so many times to knit something with it and it not working out. I think the latter might have more to do with why I feel “meh” about the FO. Anyhow, it’s done and here’s the pictures and details!

Wussypillows Beret (Crown)

Pattern: Wussypillows Beret by Anne Hanson (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 8, 2012
Completed: January 17, 2012
Yarn: Bigmouth Yarns Buxom Sock in Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!, approx .5 skein/150 yards
Needle: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) circular and US 3 (3.25 mm) bamboo circular and DPNs
Notes: I knit the 17″ size. Had I been paying more attention to the pattern and sizing, I would have knit the larger 19″ size to better accommodate my 21.5″ head. It fits okay, but a big snug for all my thick, curly hair. I made no modifications to the pattern and it was well written.

Wussypillows Beret (Brim)

After finishing the Wussypillows Beret, I finished Toy the Toy-Box Monster and the Greer scarf. I started making a good amount of progress on Vonica and decided I would work on it until it was done (mostly because I wanted to start other things, but wanted Voinca off the needles first). Didn’t take long to get it done once I made it my primary project!

This was my first time using Rowan Felted Tweed and I have to say, I find that it sheds. A lot. I like it, but not sure I’d use it again. It does make for a very nice FO aside from the shedding. Pattern was well written with clear instructions. I found the lace pattern easy to memorize and over all thought it was a pretty simple knit with a unique construction.

Vonica

Pattern: Vonica by Bonne Marie Burns (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 15, 2012
Completed: February 22, 2012
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK in color SH162, 5 skeins
Needle: US 7 HiyaHiya Stainless Steel circular
Notes: I knit the 36″ size, but my gauge was just a tiny bit off stitch wise (1 stitch every 4″), so it ended up slightly bigger then that. I’m really happy with the fit overall, though next time I would make the 3/4 length sleeves shorter to better fit my short arms. I had only a few yards left when I finished the sweater and thought I may have had to rip out the swatch to finish it! I cut it really close, but glad I don’t have any left over to use up. The pattern was quite interesting to knit. Different type of construction that I haven’t done in a sweater before. Thinking I might knit another using some yarn I have in stash and possibly making the sleeves full length on it. We’ll see! Always so many things I want to get around to.

Vonica (Side)

Vonica (Back)

Once Vonica was finished, I quickly finished up the Nouveau Bohemia beret, which I just love!

Nouveau Bohemia

Pattern: Nouveau Bohemia (Rav link) by Carolina Carvalho-Cross (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: February 14, 2012
Completed: February 24, 2012
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Archangel, 1 skein
Needle: US 6 bamboo circular and US 8 bamboo circular and DPNs
Notes: I knit the 19″ size for this one. I learned from my mistake on the Wussypillows Beret and made sure to double check on the sizing! There are 3 versions included in the pattern: beanie, beret, and extra slouchy beret. I chose to knit the beret. I loved knitting with Rios and love this colorway. The beret turned out great and I’ve actually worn it, which is rare for me as I almost never wear hats of any sort (squishes the curls too much). I find that it’s loose enough that it doesn’t flatten my hair. I plan to make another at some point, likely the beanie version, though I might possibly knit another beret sometime, too. Pattern is well written and I didn’t make any modifications.

Nouveau Bohemia (Back)

I do have one FO that doesn’t have pictures of it being an FO yet. I finished the Cadence Socks this past Monday! So glad to have those done. I think I’ll knit a pair for myself sometime (these are going to be a gift). It was a fun pattern to knit. I’ll share that FO once I get some pictures.

Have a good weekend everyone!

I’m still working on the Bonnie & Clyde stripey socks. I’m past the heel on the first sock now.

Bad Amy Stripey Sock in Bonnie & Clyde

Shortly after finishing up Vonica, I cast on for another sweater. I wanted something basic with this black yarn, but Estelle didn’t work out. I spent some time looking at patterns that would fit the gauge I had. I knew I wanted a cardigan and that it should be primarily stockinette (after all, it’s black yarn). After searching on Ravelry, I decided on Shapely Boyfriend by Stefanie Japel. I’ve knit her patterns before and felt good about my choice for this yarn. So far the pattern is pretty simple and it’s shaping up to be exactly what I was looking for. I’m just past where you separate the sleeves.

Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan

In browsing the forums on Ravelry just before March began, I found myself looking at what KALs were coming up in the groups I’m part of. I was drawn to the KAL the Solid Socks group is doing for March. The color for the month is brown. I don’t often find myself knitting with brown, but I did have a skein I received as part of the Little Red Bicycle club that would work and I had no plans for. I noticed some people mentioned that they would be “double dipping” and knitting cables for the KAL that Sock Knitters Anonymous is doing. At first I was a little unsure about doing cables on socks because I usually get stalled out on them (so fiddly on small needles!). I browsed cabled sock patterns anyhow and actually found a few that I would like to knit that I didn’t think I’d get stalled out on. I settled on Stalagmite by Cookie A.. The yarn is Little Red Bicycle Tandem Sock in the colorway Them! THEM!!! THEM!!! I’s working up nicely with the pattern so far even though I haven’t made too much progress yet.

Stalagmite

Before committing to that double KAL, I had already commit to joining the KAL that Year of Stash Socks is doing for the Honey Badger socks (free pattern on Ravelry). I decided not to start until I had the Cadence Socks done, then realized I didn’t even have the right needle available. I picked one up last weekend at the LYS and started the Honey Badger socks using Stitches ‘n Rows Happy Soles Sock in the colorway Mai Tai. Loving this yarn and how it’s knitting up with this pattern!

Honey Badger Socks

Speaking of the LYS… while I was there, they had Malabrigo Twist on sale for 25% off. I’d had my eye on this yarn every time I went there for a while now. Particularly the color Sealing Wax. I kept resisting the urge to get a sweaters worth. This time, I couldn’t resist. I had to have it and I finally knew what I was going to make with it: Rocky Coast Cardigan. I’d been itching to knit up this sweater, but didn’t have anything in stash that would work. The LYS had exactly the amount I needed - 6 skeins. I figured it was meant to come home with me, so I purchased it! I knit up a swatch right away, got gauge on the first shot, and started it on Tuesday of this week. I don’t have a progress picture yet. I’ve knit a few repeats of the chart and have made a few adjustments to the pattern after reading project notes on Ravelry. This yarn is SO squishy. It’s going to make an awesome cardigan!

Getting ready to start the Rocky Coast Cardigan

This last WIP, I (partially) blame on Hillary. This week on Plurk she mentioned starting a Pretty Thing (Rav link), which has been in my queue forever. I decided to knit along with her and started my own today using Great Northern Yarn’s 70% mink/30% cashmere that I had leftover from when I knit Juneberry. I think it’s going to turn out really cozy and should be a pretty quick knit.

Getting ready to start Pretty Thing

What have you been working on lately? Even with all these projects going, I have plans for a few more. One that I want to get started on very soon. Seems like my list of things to knit is always a long one.

I’ve been keeping up with the Vonica KAL at Lambikin’s Hideaway, though I think I may be a bit ahead of everyone else since I’ve worked on it quite a bit in-between the meetings for it. This past Sunday, I did the bind off for the body. Just the sleeves left now! I took this before going to the KAL on Sunday. I didn’t think I’d get quite that far along while at the shop, but happy with the progress I’ve made on it. I’ve been just a little worried about fit. Right now it seems a bit big, but I’m putting trust in my swatch that the sweater will shrink up when I wash it.

Vonica

A few weeks ago when we went out with friends, I realized none of the projects I was working on were that portable for knitting in public and I had no plain vanilla socks on my needles. I pulled out my skein of Bad Amy Stripey Sock in Bonnie & Clyde (December club shipment) and cast on. I love this colorway and how it’s knitting up!

Plain vanilla sock using Bad Amy in Bonnie & Clyde

I’ve been working on the Cadence sock here and there. I got a little stalled on the foot. It felt like it was taking FOREVER to finish! I picked it up earlier this week, determined to finish it. Tuesday I finished the first sock. Don’t have a good picture of the first one, so here’s where I was on Sunday, nearly to where I started the toe.

Cadence Sock

Ever feel like you’re not really making progress on your current projects? I’ve been feeling that way lately and despite my recent FO’s, I wanted something that would work up a little faster. I went to my 12 in 2012 box looking for something that would work up fairly quickly. Sitting right on top was a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Archangel along with the Nouveau Bohemia pattern. This colorway is gorgeous and I’ve wanted to knit this hat/beret (option for both in the pattern) since it came out. Hats always seem to go quickly for me, so it seemed like a good choice for a quick project. I’ve got the ribbing and one repeat of the pattern done. The yarn is great to work with and the pattern is well written. I think this may actually be a beret I’ll wear quite a bit! That’s saying something since I rarely wear hats of any kind.

Nouveau Bohemia Beret

I did quite a bit of spinning in January after not touching my wheel for most of 2011. I finished up two bumps of fiber and started on my club shipment from Zarzuela’s Fibers (BFL/Silk in the colorway January Haze). Last week I finished spinning the second half of the club shipment and did my first ever Navajo ply. My singles weren’t as even as I hoped they were. For some reason I had a hard time getting in a good rhythm with my wheel for this fiber and ended up with a few thicker spots in the finished yarn. I’m still quite happy with how it turned out, though. It still needs to be washed, then I’ll figure out my yardage and WPI. Planning on knitting a cowl with it - hope I’ll have enough!

Zarzuela’s Fibers January Club Shipment
75% BFL/25% Silk in January Haze

The Knit Girllls are doing a spin-a-long this year called Expand Your Horizons which focuses on a different fiber every other month. You can find all the info for the spin-a-long in The Knit Girllls Ravelry group. I thought this would be a great way to try out fibers I might not otherwise spin, plus I’m learning more about the fiber through the SAL then I likely would have just trying the various fibers on my own. February’s fiber is Shetland, so I purchased 3.9 oz of Moorit Shetland in Midsummer Night’s Dream from Unwind Yarn Company. Here’s the fiber before I started spinning it (some of it has been pre-drafted).

Unwind Yarn Company Moorit Shetland in Midsummer Night’s Dream

Last night I started spinning it up. This is my first time spinning with Shetland and it’s a bit different then other fibers I’ve tried. Seems a bit more coarse, but it drafts very well and I think it’s pretty easy to spin with. Not sure yet how (or if) I’ll ply it or what I’ll do with it once it’s done. I like the subtle colors of the dye on the darker fiber.

That’s everything that I’ve been spinning the last few weeks. Not a whole lot since I’ve been knitting more then spinning recently, but I’m having fun working through the fiber in my stash and the new fiber as well. I think once I’ve finished the Shetland I’ll spin up one of my fiber club shipments from Hello Yarn.

Looking forward to my upcoming mini-vacation. Matt and I have the next four days off work! No real plans to do much, just looking forward to a few days off together. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I’ve got a few FO’s to share today and one that I really need to share soon since I finished it mid-January. I can’t believe I took photos this past weekend and forgot to take one of the finished (and blocked!) Wussypillows beret. I admit I’m not all that thrilled with the finished beret because it’s a bit snug on my head. I should have knit the next size up. Ah well, it is finished and blocked at least! I’ll try to get a photo of it soon so I can do a proper FO post for it.

After finishing up the beret, I got to work on the monster for the SSK KAL #3 that features Rebecca Danger patterns. I ended up not using the brown I had in stash and instead used handspun that I had done a long while back from Zarzuela’s Fibers. I thought it went really well with the Crayon box from Gale’s Art that I had spun for the body. I love how Tony the Toy-Box Monster turned out! He now lives on my desk, so I suppose he’s more of a Desk Monster then a Toy-Box one.

Tony the Handspun Toy-Box Monster

Pattern: Tony the Toy-Box Monster by Rebecca Danger (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 22, 2012
Completed: January 27, 2012
Yarn: Handspun - Gale’s Art Merino in Crayon Box for the body and Zarzuela’s Fibers Merino in Emerald City for the limbs
Needle: US 10.5 bamboo DPNs
Notes: Followed the pattern as written. The directions were a little unclear about how to stuff the limbs. I put stuffing in the feet and stitched it shut at the bottom of the leg so it wouldn’t shift around. For the hands/arms, I didn’t do that, just let a little of the stuffing travel up the arms a bit. Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Since finishing up Tony, I feel like I’ve started and frogged projects and not really made a whole lot of progress. I started the Guernsey Wrap, then decided I’d likely never wear it, so I frogged it. I started a pair of fingerless mitts out of handspun, but they were too big and the gauge was tighter then I liked, so those got frogged too. With two socks on the needles, a blanket and a sweater, I just felt like nothing was moving along. Then, Friday before last, Berroco sent out their usual Friday email and I saw the Greer Scarf. I’m not a frilly kind of person usually, but something about this scarf just begged me to make one. I went to the LYS near work, Hank, A Yarn Boutique, and picked up a skein of Berroco Lacey. That evening, I whipped it up in about an hour and a half. Pretty easy project and definitely one that qualifies for instant gratification in my book!

Matt is fancy wearing my Greer Scarf

Pattern: Greer Scarf (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: February 3, 2012
Completed: February 3, 2012
Yarn: Berroco Lacey, White, 1/2 skein
Hook: 5.0 mm/H hook
Notes: This pattern can be done knit or crochet. Personally I think it is MUCH easier to do crochet because of the yarn used. Much less fiddly then knitting would be. If you wanted to use up the full skein of yarn, you could easily double the size. The first length of yarn that is cut scrunches up a lot when you do the border, so if you wanted a longer scarf, you would just adjust the size of that first/center piece of yarn.

Update on my attempt at stashing down: I can’t really say it’s going well! Mid-January, I discovered a lot of acrylic and a few random skeins of yarn I thought was accounted for weren’t actually accounted for. On top of that I fell down at two Wollmeise updates at The Loopy Ewe. Club yarn and my Color Affection Kits arrived, too.

In numbers January looks like this: +17,634.1 yards. New stash total: 113,089.3 yards/64.26 miles.

Well shoot. That’s sort of the wrong direction isn’t it? It wasn’t all bad, though. I did get 1,990.5 yards out of stash. Compared to the 19,624.6 yards that came in, that’s not so great, but it’s still something! If I were to adjust the total for the yarn that wasn’t accounted for at the beginning that I thought was actually accounted for, my starting total would be 104,329.8 yards/59.28 miles (for reference my beginning total was 95,455.2 yards/54.24 miles). So, with the adjustment I’d be up 8,759.5 yards instead of 19,624.6 yards. That all gets rather confusing for tracking, though. Instead I’m cutting my losses for not double checking my stash at the start and January just doesn’t look that good. Ah well, such is life sometimes.

So far in February, 8 skeins of yarn have found their way home to me and 1 skein of WM Lace is off to a new home very soon. Still leaves me up for the month, but I’ve got time to adjust that. I already have plans to start two projects that would use up 3 skeins of yarn and the club yarn that just arrived came with a pattern I’m planning on starting soon, too. Add in the projects I plan to finish this month and I think this month will be better then January for stashing down.

Next time I’ll show you all the WIPs and spinning I’ve been working on. Happy knitting/crocheting/spinning all!

I hadn’t mentioned it here as a WIP at all because I wanted it to be a surprise. I knew I couldn’t upload photos to Flickr or Ravelry as I knew the recipient would see! It was hard to keep it a secret and I kept wanting to share it. Now I finally can!

I started this scarf back in December, hoping to get it done as a Christmas present, but it didn’t end up getting finished. January hit and I started working on other things, then decided to finish it up just in time to be a birthday gift. I made this for Jen, aka piddleloop on Ravelry and part of the Piddleloop Sewing Team. A while back she saw the Amigurumi Pop Tart Cat Scarf pattern and went crazy for it. I knew I had to make this for her since she said she can’t really crochet. This has to be one of most fun things I’ve made!

Jen and the Nyan Cat Scarf
Photo from Jen

Pattern: Amigurumi Pop Tart Cat Scarf by Mevlinn Gusick (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: December 4, 2011
Completed: January 16, 2012
Yarn: I Love This Yarn, Caron Simply Soft, and Vanna’s Choice Solids (see Ravelry page for details on colors)
Hook: 4.5 mm and 5.0 mm (H)
Notes: Added a few extra stitches to make the scarf a bit longer. Added a mouth, nose, and cheeks. Followed the rest of the pattern as written.

Nyan Cat Scarf

Before I mailed it off to Jen, Matt was nice enough to let me take some photos of him wearing it. I think this one was my favorite of the bunch, though this one was a close second!

Tasty Nyan Cat!

This year I wanted to get back to spinning and hoped to get in at least an hour a week with my spinning wheel. Recently, my friend Karen learned to spin, which really motivated me to finish what I had on the wheel and do some spinning for the current SSK KAL. The top one is from Stitches ‘n Rows. It’s Falkland in the colorway Silver Age Joker. It was great to spin and I LOVE the colors. It ended up being heavy fingering weight, though I haven’t figured out the yardage on it yet. I’m planning to knit a pair of fingerless gloves with it.

Handspun!

The bottom one is from Gale’s Art. I bought this a few years ago when I went to MDSW. It’s merino in the Crayon Box colorway. I tried to get a worsted weight with it, but ended up bulky. I’m currently knitting up a Tony the Toy-Box Monster for the SSK KAL #3, which features Rebecca Danger patterns. Since I don’t have enough for the entire monster because the yarn ended up bulkier then I planned, I’ll be using some stash yarn in a chocolate brown color for the arms and legs.

Last night I realized that there was quite a bit of yarn, mostly acrylics, that I didn’t have in my Ravelry stash. I thought I had at least most, if not all, of it in my stash at the beginning of the year. I realized I needed to go through and double check everything yesterday when I noticed a non-acrylic yarn missing from my Ravelry stash that I knew was there. This added quite a bit of yardage to my total - roughly 8,000 yards! Last night I took the time to photograph it all and today I made stash entries for everything. I’ll have to adjust it just a bit later on because not all of them are full skeins. It sure does feel good to have EVERYTHING on there now, though, and have a solid total on everything.

In an effort to use up some of my stash, especially the acrylics I purchased for various home things (blanket, pillows, etc), I started a Moderne Log Cabin blanket using the colors below.

Moderne Log Cabin

I’ve been wanting a knitted blanket for myself for a long time, but couldn’t bring myself to commit to it. I attempted to make a rippled afghan using the blue and pink from the photo above, but just got tired of it. Crocheting doesn’t allow me to watch TV while doing it because I have to look at my work constantly, so I frogged it. Since I can watch TV or read while knitting, I thought this would make a good TV/movie project since it’s all garter stitch. I’m about a 1/3 through the first big square right now and will mostly work on it while TV or movie watching, so it’s more of a long term project. I will admit it’s a bit addicting to knit garter stitch and I find myself wanting to work on it quit a bit. I think the bright colors I’m using are giving me motivation to finish it because I really want the finished blanket!

Oh! I gave Matt’s brother his hat and I think he liked it.

What are you working on this week? I feel like I still want to start ALL THE THINGS lately, but refraining until I get other things finished first so that I don’t get overwhelmed with WIPs. Tough when I see so many beautiful projects from everyone! I did finish the Wussypillows beret, but haven’t blocked it, so no photos of that yet. Of course there are other WIPs I’m working on, though I don’t have photos of them right now, so I’ll share them next time.

Happy crafting!

Turn A Square

Pattern: Turn A Square by Jared Flood (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 3, 2012
Completed: January 7, 2012
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool in 7846 (blue - 1/2 skein) and 7813 (black - 1 skein)
Needle: US 5 Boye DPNs, US 7 Clover bamboo circular and DPNs
Notes: Used a total of 183 yards on this hat. I made the brim just over 3″ before starting the stripes. I changed the stripes to be 3 rows each instead of the 2 rows CC and 3 rows MC. I probably could have knit another inch on the brim with the black and done the last 2 rows in blue instead of black to fully use up the black skein.

Turn A Square - Flat

Recently, I’ve really enjoyed working on smaller projects. I was thinking about what to start after finishing the hat when I found a skein of yarn I thought had gone missing. This yarn has tried to be many things since I got it and none of them worked out. The yarn is from the Bigmouth Yarns sock club I was part of a while back. When I found it, I recalled the Wussypillows beret and mitts (is it just me, or is that a not so great name for a pattern?) that I had seen not long ago and thought it would be a nice color and yarn to use for it. I cast on for the beret on Sunday. I’m a little further then the picture shows. Currently working on the chart with the decreases.

Wussypillows Beret

I like how this yarn is working up in the pattern. Thought it might pool like it did in other projects I started with it, but glad it hasn’t on the beret. I should have enough yarn for mitts, but I think I’ll make them shorter then the pattern calls for just to be on the safe side.

I haven’t touched the Endpaper Mitts for a while now, but I have been making progress on the Cadence Socks! Currently working on the heel flap of the first sock.

Cadence Socks

Loving this yarn! The color is just gorgeous. I’ll be sad to give these up, but I know my mom will love them.

This Sunday a Knit-a-Long for Vonica is starting at my LYS, Lambikin’s Hideaway. I decided to join in on this one. I’ll be using Rowan Felted Tweed, which I’ve never used before. I like the way the swatch knitted up and I think it’ll make a nice sweater once it’s done. I’ve knit my swatch and I’m ready to cast on!

Yarn for Vonica

What have you been working on this week?