Finishing, Starting, and Planning Ahead

Yesterday was Indie Knit & Spin and it was a lot of fun, albeit an exhausting day. I did sell a number of skeins of handspun as well as several patterns, so I think it was a successful day. I still have most of the original pile of handspun, far more than I will likely ever knit, so I'm contemplating what to do with it. I may just mark it for sale on Ravelry, or perhaps I will open an Etsy shop. If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them!

I did not buy very much yesterday, mainly because I was manning the booth on my own for much of the day. I did come home with two new things. First, a new Doctor Who-themed project bag from StarKnits:

Outside fabric

Inside fabric with pocket

I also picked out this 4 oz. braid of Targhee from Gwen Erin Natural Fibers:

Targhee is one of my favorite fibers to spin, so I'm looking forward to getting to this one.

But let's get back to actual finished spinning. This was finished up last week but not in time for my Sunday post, and it took almost all week to get a picture (this time of year makes it very difficult to get decent photos of anything during the week). This is my finished 80% superwash merino/20% trilobal nylon sparkle from FatCatKnits in two colorways, Sam and Dean. This was the first shipment in the current installment of the FCK fiber club, the theme for which is Famous Couples. Sam and Dean are the brothers who are the main characters in the TV show Supernatural. I decided to spin up each color on its own and then do a combined chain ply. To do this, I held both strands of yarn together and alternated which strand I pulled the next loop from as I plied. This did some really interesting things to the colors in the finished yarn.

The finished skein looks to be about DK weight and roughly 284 yards. I must admit that I was not a huge fan of the colors in the fiber, but I'm intrigued by how they mixed when plied. I'm really curious to see how this will knit up.

The finished yarn is not as soft as it could be, giving the merino content. I think this is due to the sparkle, which I found a bit bothersome as I was spinning. The last time I had sparkle in fiber from Ginny, it seemed to be much finer and very well blended. This sparkle was long pieces that stuck out, and I found myself pulling them out altogether at times. You can see some of them poking out in the photo above. I'm sure they'll be less of an issue when the yarn is knit and washed a few times.

Meanwhile, I am planning ahead. I really wanted to start something new last night, so I pulled out my Southern Cross Fibre October shipment, Corriedale in a very autumnal colorway called Splendour. I split the top into four long strips and am spinning them in order for another one of my pseudo-self-striping sock yarns.

I'm also hoping to spend some time later today getting started on another spinning project for the natural (undyed) fiber spinalong that Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works and the 90% Knitting podcast is hosting. I am somewhat ashamed to say that I've had some fiber from Louet North America that I was sent to review probably a year ago and I'd just about forgotten about it, so I am ready to start spinning it. I have 8 oz. of this beautiful gray Gotland that I'm going to spin into a two ply.

When I pulled it out, I also discovered a spinning project I'd started long ago and forgotten, another bit of review fiber -- 2 oz. of camel/tussah silk that I started spinning on my Bosworth mini.

This one won't count toward the spinalong as it was started before today, but I think if I spend a few minutes a day on it, I can finish it up rather quickly.

It's a Sickness

I have a confession to make: I can't stop knitting mittens. They are the perfect thing for instant-gratification knitting, and after all the thin yarn I've been using lately, using worsted feels like I hardly have to put any effort in at all.

I cast on for another pair of Waiting for Winter Mittens on Tuesday night, and even considering that I didn't have as much knitting time as normal the last two nights due to spending some of the evening doing preparations for the festival this weekend, I already have one mitten done and a good start on the second.

I'm using the skein of Spud & Chloe Sweater leftover from Rainbow's sweater for these. It was untouched, so I could have returned it to the shop, but I liked the feel of the fabric after it had been washed so much that I thought it would be wonderfully suited to being a pair of mittens. My LYS is gathering some mittens knit for its mitt-along to send to Laura Nelkin's drive to collect warm winter items for Syrian refugees in Europe. The last day they're collecting stuff is this Sunday, so I'm feeling a bit of pressure (though I doubt I'll have much trouble finishing a second mitten before then).

Meanwhile, I pulled a neglected project out to work on during my lunch breaks this week. Remember the sparkly handspun brioche cowl that I started for my mom way back at the beginning of October?

Trust me when I say that it looks much better in actual daylight, a resource that has been very limited around here lately (if the sun does come out, it's usually when I'm at work). When I do actually sit down and work on this, it grows fairly quickly; the challenge is finding the time. I am looking forward to the long weekend over Thanksgiving to churn it out.

Forgive me if I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, but I do want to mention just one more time that Indie Knit & Spin is this Saturday. If you are within an easy driving distance, I'd really encourage you to come -- it's a great little show. There aren't a ton of vendors, but the vendors that are there are really great, and I like that it's a show with a lot of selection much not so much that it's overwhelming. I'll be sharing a booth with my friend Amy, and we'll have pattern samples for you to see and patterns to purchase (in addition to my mound of handspun).

Four Warm Hands

Mittens, mittens, we've got mittens! Two new pairs, to be specific. Let's go through the details.

Pattern: Waiting for Winter Mittens by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Targhee Worsted (100% Targhee) in A Hazy Shade of Blue
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm)
Started/Completed: October 31/November 5
Mods: I altered the placement of the thumb gusset a bit, but it's not something you'd know by looking at the mittens (just a manifestation of my need for symmetry in all things).

These were a quick, easy knit, and as you can see from the goofy picture, Miss Rainbow was very excited to get them. I took it as a big compliment that she wanted to wear them immediately, even though we were in the middle of a heat wave when I finished them and it was nearly 70 degrees! These mittens used up a partial skein of the Targhee Worsted I had leftover from a sweater I knit last year -- yarn, I should add, that the Mister and Rainbow had bought for me as a gift. There's still a small amount leftover, too -- proof that two skeins of this yarn can go a long way.

Pattern: Wood Hollow Mittens by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy (100% superwash merino) in Gold Experience
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: October 28/November 9
Mods: none

These were finished just before it was my bedtime last night. I'd finished the first mitten over the weekend and started the second on Sunday evening, so clearly these are a quick knit. I followed the pattern exactly and made no mods, and the finished mittens are a pretty good fit. If I knit these again, I might make the thumbs a tad bit longer, but otherwise they are pretty comfortable. My only complaint (and this is entirely to do with me, not the pattern) is that the mittens are not symmetrical. I suppose I could have taken the time to rechart the pattern to make one mitten the mirror image of the other -- something to do next time, I suppose.

I have zero complaints about the yarn -- it's absolutely one of my favorites. I have to weigh my leftovers to see how much I have and if it's enough for a small project like a baby hat.

Up next? More mittens! I'm going to make another pair of Waiting for Winter Mittens in Spud & Chloe Sweater (the extra skein from Rainbow's sweater) to donate through my LYS. And I am really itching to cast on for a new design, but that requires some work first. We'll see how long I'm able to resist.

Preparations

I spent a great deal of time this weekend getting a lot of handspun ready for Indie Knit & Spin next weekend. I had previously pulled all the handspun out that I was planning to put on sale, but I needed to measure and tag all of it. Some of it needed to be reskeined and much of it had to be remeasured, so it wasn't a quick job. I finally finished the last skeins today. And in case you'd like a preview, here you go:

That's more than 70 skeins of handspun, ranging from laceweight to super bulky and from less than 100 yards to close to 700. There's some undyed fiber and plenty of dyed fiber, with many different wool types represented.

Meanwhile, seeing as I'm hoping to get a lot of the above yarn out of the house, it was only appropriate that I spent a good part of the weekend spinning up some yarn to replace it. I finished the second bobbin of my FatCatKnits club fiber (superwash merino/sparkle) Friday night, even staying up a little late to finish.

I decided to try a new method of plying with my two bobbins. I chain plied all the singles but while holding both strands, effectively getting a four-ply yarn. To vary the colors, I alternated which bobbin I pulled the new loop from. The results were a bit unusual but not uninteresting. I finished rather late in the afternoon, so there was very little natural light to take a photo of the finished yarn, but I think you can get the idea.

The yarn has been skeined and washed and is now hanging to dry. It looks to be about sportweight and fairly well balanced; I'm hoping to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 yards. I don't know that I'll do this type of plying again, but it was certainly a fun experiment!

Pattern Re-release: Hermia Hat and Mitts

You may remember that earlier in the year I was super excited about having two patterns published in Knit Now. These patterns were only available by buying a copy of the magazine -- until now. The rights have now reverted back to me, and as you've seen over the past few weeks, I've been busy knitting up new samples and having the patterns re-tech edited so that I could release the patterns in my Ravelry store. I'm very happy to tell you that you can now purchase the patterns for both the hat and the mitts!

Hermia Hat

How cute is my new sister-in-law? She was so enthusiastic when I asked her if she'd be willing to model for me, and we had some fun doing this impromptu shoot in the backyard (in front of the only tree that still has leaves on it, for the record).

Hermia Mitts

Both the hat and the mitts are shown in the medium size -- that's a 20 inch hat circumference and an 8 inch hand circumference, in case you're wondering. Both patterns are available in three sizes. To get all the specs on these items, click on the links in the photo captions to go to the Ravelry pattern pages.

I have been counting down the days until I could re-release these patterns, so please forgive my excitement! Even though I feel like I've been working on these two patterns forever (the original prototype of the hat was done about a year ago at this point!), I'm still very much in love with them.

Hermia Hat:

Hermia Mitts:

Hands Will Be Warm

I am turning into a mitt(en)-knitting machine. Last week, I whipped out those fingerless mitts. This week, it's all about the mittens for my LYS's mitt-along. I am simultaneously (well, not really at the same time, but I guess you could say in tandem) working on mittens for both me and Rainbow. Here is a current progress shot:

I finished the first mitten for Rainbow last night. She very conveniently fell asleep with one arm extended on top of the covers, so I went into her room several times to hold the mitten up to her hand and measure it. (It's a good thing she's a deep sleeper.) I am knitting her the smallest size of Susan B. Anderson's Waiting for Winter Mittens, though I shortened the total hand length by a bit because there's nothing worse for a kid trying to play outside in cold weather than too much fabric in her mittens. Rainbow tried the finished mitten on this morning and proclaimed it a perfect fit, so we are a go for the same length on mitten #2. I did start the cuff last night but only got about an inch done, which is why it isn't in the picture. Considering how quickly the first mitten knit up, I wouldn't be surprised if Rainbow has a finished pair by the weekend.

I made a little bit of progress on my own mittens (Kirsten Kapur's Wood Hollow Mittens) on Saturday while knitting at my LYS; I have finished the thumb gusset and put those stitches on scrap yarn, so now I am just cruising up the hand.

While this project isn't moving along as quickly as Rainbow's mittens, I am enjoying it. I know some people have found it a bit confusing to work the cable pattern and the gusset increases at the same time (because the cable crosses occur every other row but the gusset increases occur every third row), but I've just been paying close attention to my knitting and haven't had a problem. I am also doing my cables without a cable needle -- my preferred method, if it works for the pattern -- so the knitting moves along at a good clip. I would hope that a good solid evening of knitting would be enough to finish the hand of this first mitten.

When both of these pairs are done, I'm planning on casting on a third pair in the leftover Spud & Chloe Sweater. I'll be doing the Waiting for Winter mitts again, and I'm planning to donate these through my LYS. Rainbow also keeps asking for a pair of fingerless mitts, so I'm contemplating making her a pair as a Chanukah present, perhaps using handspun. After that, I think I will be quite mittened out for the year!

Stash Management

Dealing with my stash is something that's constantly in progress. I have been buying yarn and fiber for many years now, so there's quite a bit of stuff in there, but I am trying to make a concerted effort to keep it under control. As far as the fiber stash is concerned, there has been a fair amount coming in due to the two fiber clubs I'm in. One way to try to keep that managed is to try to stay on top of the shipments -- which is why I put in several hours this weekend trying to finish spinning up the second bobbin of my most recent FatCatKnits shipment.

This is the second colorway (Sam of Sam and Dean), and I'd estimate that I'm somewhere between one-half and two-thirds done with it. I started it Friday night and spent about another hour on it today, so I think another evening or two should do it. I'm hoping to find time this week to finish these singles so that I can ply next weekend.

Another way to manage the stash is to use or get rid of the handspun I've spun over the years. I have knit with a good amount of it and given some away as prizes, but lately the handspun skeins in my stash have started to outnumber the commercial skeins. Luckily, I'll have an opportunity to liberate some of it in two weeks, when I'll be selling it at Indie Knit & Spin. My afternoon consisted of dealing with this:

This is just some of the handspun I've pulled out to sell at the event. What you can't see are the skeins that I already labeled and set aside as well as what's still in my stash (some because I want to keep it and some because I haven't gone through it yet). It's hard to get a sense of scale, but that's a pretty big plastic bin they're crammed in there. By the time I called it quits for the day, I'd pretty much filled the bin (many of these skeins were in individual plastic bags, which took up even more space) and there were still more skeins left to label. Some are going to take a bit more time because in some cases I need to reskein or do some calculations to determine yardage, but most of the pile has been labeled and accounted for. And by golly there's a lot! Digging into this was a bit like going back in time, because there are some skeins from when I first started spinning in this pile. It's hard to believe they've been sitting there all this time. I just home someone else will love them and take them home!

Having a Gold Experience

Even though I'm supposed to be working on a pattern sample, last night I gave in to the siren call of the Dream in Color Classy and cast on for my Wood Hollow Mittens. I'm knitting these as part of the mitt-along for my LYS.

I didn't make a ton of progress, but I am nearly finished with the thumb increases. These will be a nice change of pace when I need a break from sample knitting, and I'm going to need them before too long (can you believe it's almost November?). Thus far I have been managing with fingerless mitts in the morning, but there have been a couple of times that I've needed to shove my hands in my pockets for extra warmth. I'm not exactly looking forward to mitten weather, but having a new pair to wear when it is time will be a positive side to it.

Speaking of fingerless mitts, I did finish up the second Hermia Mitt the other evening and blocked both mitts and the hat last night. It never ceases to amaze me how a simple soak in some water and a bit of patting into shape can really transform knitting. These were in such bad shape before, but there were some uneven stitches here and there, and now they generally look more polished. I'm hoping to get a photo shoot in sometime this weekend so that I can start putting all the pieces together to publish both patterns in my Ravelry shop.

I am very much looking forward to the weekend; it's been a long week, and I could use some downtime. I have a bunch of prep to do for Indie Knit & Spin, which is coming up in only two weeks. I have almost everything ready to go, including hard copies of nearly all my patterns to put into my portfolio, but the big chunk of work that's left to do is labeling all the handspun skeins that I'm bringing to sell. I'll admit I surprised myself by how much there is when I pulled all the skeins out. I bought a big plastic bin at Target last week to put them in (for easy transport), and at the moment it's overflowing. Many of the skeins are in individual plastic bags, so I'm hoping once I pull them all out and get them a bit more organized, they'll fit. This isn't a difficult task but it is taking some time, especially because I need to remeasure some of the older skeins due to the fact that I've changed to a more accurate way of measuring yardage since then. My hope is that I can get a decent amount done this weekend and next, and maybe I can do a few skeins here and there during the week. I will post some previews as the event gets closer!

All About the Mitts

For the past several days, I have been knitting furiously to try to finish up the sample of my Hermia Mitts. I cast on the first one on Thursday evening and finished it on Saturday. The second one was started on Sunday and is just about finished today. This means I can block this week and then (I hope!) do a quick photo shoot this weekend. I'll be very glad to get them off the needles because I have a sample to knit for another commission (yes, sorry, that means secret knitting).

There is still a lot of knitting happening related to hands, though. My LYS is hosting a mitten knitalong at the moment, with the choice of four patterns. I bought two of them -- Susan B. Anderson's Waiting for Winter Mittens and Kirsten Kapur's Wood Hollow Mittens. I figured I'd make the former for Rainbow using the skein of Spud & Chloe Sweater leftover from her school sweater (it should be enough yardage to make two pairs), and I knew I wanted to make the latter for me, but I wasn't sure about the yarn. Then, while I was sitting and knitting at the shop on Saturday, I spied this in the orphans bin:

This is Dream in Color Classy in Gold Experience. I'm still a bit surprised that I picked up this skein, because it's not at all my usual colors. But I love this yarn and I think it will make really nice mittens. Now I just have to find time to wind the two skeins and cast on!

All that Glitters

A very quick post from me tonight, mainly because I don't want to take more than a few minutes to stop spinning! I didn't get in as much spinning as I wanted to this weekend, but my first bobbin of my FatCatKnits September shipment is almost done.

This is superwash merino and nylon sparkle, and you can see from all the flyaways on the bobbin that the sparkle is long and kind of wiry. It's annoying me a bit, to be honest, but I'm dealing with it. I have about 12 inches of top left to spin, so I'm going to post this now so I can try to get the rest done tonight!

The Good and the Bad

This week's knitting is a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, I'm making good progress in my Hermia set sample re-knits. The hat was finished (but for pulling the yarn tail through the last of the stitches at the top and weaving in ends) during my lunch break today. I would have finished up the last bits as well had I not forgotten to put some tapestry needles in my project bag. Whoops. But luckily those last bits are very quick to do.

I also got a start on the first of the mitts, which will now be my main focus. I know it doesn't look like much, but these should move pretty quickly.

On the down side, I have some somewhat sad news to report. I think I mentioned last week that Rainbow had worn her school sweater for several days and was quite happy with it, but of course as we came to the end of the week, it was due to be washed. Despite the fact that I followed the yarn's washing instructions, I am sorry to say that it shrank in the dryer. It's not unwearable, but it just fits her now (meaning she's lost the extra room that would allow her to continue to wear it as she grew). I'm going to hand wash it the next time it needs to be cleaned and try to block it out a little bigger, but I'm not counting on it. This kind of thing is always frustrating, though thankfully this is an instance where it did not take me that much time to knit the sweater. Still, I hate to have invested time in something she will only wear for a few months. I guess I should have followed my intuition and hand washed, even if it would have taken extra time. Next time, I'll know better.

Pattern Re-release: Corbusier Socks

You may remember that last year I had a sock pattern published in Knitscene Accessories. Until now, the pattern was only available by buying a copy of the magazine or through the Interweave online store. I now have the rights back to the pattern, though, so you can buy it directly from me through my Ravelry shop!

Along with re-releasing the pattern, I've expanded it and added an additional size to the mix. The pattern now has three sizes: Child (Adult Small, Adult Large), with a finished foot circumference of 5.25 (7.75, 10.25) in./13.5 (19.5, 26) cm. Those may seem like odd sizes, but keep in mind that the stitch pattern is really stretchy. My foot is about 8 in. around and I wear an Adult Small quite comfortably.

These socks are worked from the cuff down and use a traditional heel flap and gusset. The lace pattern appears around the whole leg and then on the instep only on the foot (the sole of the foot is in smooth stockinette stitch). The lace pattern is very simple, using only knit, purl, yarnover, and simple decreases, and it's both written out and charted. You'll use about 100 g of fingering weight sock yarn (depending on the length of your foot) and your preferred needles for knitting in the round.

I'm really happy to be adding these socks to my Ravelry store, and I hope you enjoy them!

Water Lily

Thank goodness for my WooLee Winder bobbins and their large capacity -- I needed one to ply this whole skein!

This skein is made up of two colorways of Southern Cross Fibre Eider wool, Water and Lily. I decided I liked them so well together that I spun each color onto its own bobbin and then plied them together. The finished yarn is DK to worsted and a very respectable 425 yards. I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but I'm happy to be done with it.

I started something new on the Lendrum, the first of the FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings Club shipment for September. The fiber is something completely different, an 80/20 blend of superwash merino and nylon sparkle. This is Dean:

I'm spinning both colorways end to end and then I'm going to do an interesting thing with chain plying with both strands. I have no idea how it will turn out, but it will be a fun experiment!

Not a Rhinebeck Post

I think it goes without saying that I am not headed to Rhinebeck this weekend. It is my dream to get there one day, but I'm actually quite glad I didn't try to make it happen this year because I'm still sick and I would be miserable (and I'm sure the throngs of people I'd be coughing around wouldn't be too pleased, either). It is supposed to get pretty cold here this weekend, though -- they actually mentioned snow in the forecast! -- so I will be wearing sweaters and wool socks and surrounding myself with my knitting.

My top knitting priority at the moment is the new samples for my Hermia set. I cast on for the hat on Wednesday evening and just got into the main body of the hat today at lunch. It is a relatively quick knit once I get going, but the brim is all 1x1 twisted ribbing and thus relatively slow going. Now I'm into the fun part.

Crappy photo brought you by crappy weather

I have not touched the handspun socks since last Sunday, but once the samples are done they will become my lunchtime knitting. I suppose it's soon going to be time to do an inventory of my sock drawers (yes, I said drawers -- but they're small and shallow) and see which handknit socks are really to be "darned" to make room for the new ones. Back when I was knitting socks at a rapid pace, I never really thought I'd get to the point where I had too many, but I think I may be there, because frankly I don't think there's room to fit all my socks in the drawers at this point yet I don't want to stop knitting socks all together.

I did want to report that Rainbow has been wearing her school sweater all week and has proclaimed it her favorite sweater of all the ones I've knit for her. I'm planning to wash it for the first time this weekend and I really, really hope nothing bad happens to it (after all, I did specifically pick a machine-washable yarn for this one so that I could just toss it in with the rest of her laundry).

If you are headed to Rhinebeck this weekend, I hope you have a great time! Fondle some yarn and fiber for me, will you? Maybe I'll see you there next year.

Hanging On

Still here, still sick. I stayed home from work again today (that's three days in a row, if you're counting, though the first two were already scheduled) because I'm still completely congested and, in a delightful twist, I seem to have developed bronchitis, which means I've been up half the night coughing. I'm not looking very pretty right now, let me tell you, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to go back to work tomorrow. I'm on some meds for the cough that I've had before and that worked, so I'm guessing that I'll be back to my normal self in a few more days.

I will say that as not fun as being sick is, it does make for some good crafting time, especially when all you can really do is sit around and watch TV. Today I finished plying up a skein of handspun while catching up on video podcasts, and then I binge-watched some episodes of Poirot on Netflix while I finished a sample for a commission (which, sadly, I cannot share here). But finishing that meant that I can start some new projects.

For starters, I need to knit a new sample of my Hermia Hat and Mitts, which appeared in Knit Now earlier this year. The rights are coming back to me and I'm preparing to launch the patterns in my Ravelry store. When I knit the original samples, I was in a hurry because the yarn was very late in getting to me, so I didn't have time to take some modeled photos before I sent them across the pond. So now I'm going to try to knit another set (and thankfully I have enough of the original yarn leftover that I should be able to just make it) in a jiffy so I can get the patterns up soon.

Meanwhile, remember that crochet project I showed you last week? It is no more. I decided I didn't like where I was going with it, so I ripped it out and have cast on for the purpose the yarn was originally intended for: socks.

I started the first one on Sunday, while I was sitting around in between wedding preparations, and got about an inch and a half of cuff done. This yarn is superwash Targhee, and I have no idea how it will hold up as a sock, so these will be a bit of an experiment. I'm knitting at my usual dense gauge (approximately 9 stitches per inch using US 0/2.0 mm needles), but I'm not sure how this fiber behaves in high-friction environments. We shall see!

Spinning Catch Up

Normally, as you know, I blog about spinning on Sundays. Yesterday, however, was not your normal Sunday. One of my best friends got married, and I was in the wedding, so it was a day that started at 7 a.m. and didn't end until we got home at about 10:30 last night. (On top of this, I seem to have come down with either an allergy-induced sinus infection or the cold that's been making its way around the office, so that long day came after a night when I only managed to get about four hours of sleep.) In any case, I'm playing a bit of catch up today, so we'll just pretend that this is what I would have posted yesterday.

I was home with Rainbow today and will be home with her again tomorrow (her school is closed for teacher in-service days, but they've come at a handy time as I'd likely have taken off today at least to deal with whatever this sickness is), so because I wasn't good for much else, I spent a couple of hours at my miniSpinner, plying my Southern Cross Fibre Eider wool singles. I think I'm just a tad past being halfway done.

I'm plying the two different colorways together here, so there is a lot of barberpoling going on. It looks like the finished yarn will be in the DK to worsted range once it's washed.

Speaking of SCF, my September shipment showed up last week. Once again I couldn't resist getting both colorways, so I have double the fiber going into the stash. This month's fiber offering was Bond, and the colorway David picked out for me was Esmerelda:

The other colorway is called Land Under Wave:

I have limited experience with Bond, so I'm not sure if it would be good for socks, but I might give it a go. I think Esmerelda will look lovely as a traditional three ply and Land Under Wave would be fun as one of my pseudo-self-striping yarns. Clearly I need to spin a lot faster if I'm going to have any hope of keeping up!

A Do-over

Yesterday was a rather crazy day, so it should come as no surprise that I got very little knitting done. Once I finally got Rainbow to sleep, I really only had enough time to knit up a swatch. So that's what I did. I pulled out the ball of Miss Babs Yowza and some size 7 needles and knit a second swatch for my sweater. In fact, I was in such a hurry to get it done before I had to turn in for the night that I neglected to measure my gauge before I threw it in to soak.

Old swatch on the left, new swatch on the right

After blocking, I'm getting 19.5 stitches and 27 rows over four inches. That's much closer to the gauge I need, but the fabric is also a bit on the loose side, so I'm going to need to ponder which needle to use for a while.

Last night I managed to dig out the two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash that I rescued from my LYS's orphan bin, and they're even prettier than I remembered.

I'm going to use these two for a double-knit cowl for Rainbow for this winter.

Most of my knitting is probably going to get put on hold this weekend, as it's going to be another busy one. One of my best friends is getting married on Sunday, and I am in the wedding, so that means part of Saturday and pretty much all of Sunday will be taken up with wedding preparations. I may stick a sock or some other small project in my bag for downtime while we're getting ready on Sunday (we have to be at the venue at 9 a.m. for a 4:30 ceremony, so I can imagine there's going to be at least some sitting down), but I'm not counting on making any real progress on anything. The good news is that Rainbow and I are off on Monday and Tuesday, so aside from some errands we'll need to run, I'm planning on spending most of the day lounging around and knitting or spinning.

All the Projects

As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't spin much over the weekend, in large part because I suddenly had the urge to cast on everything at once. I suspect the fact that Saturday was cold and rainy and generally gloomy played a large role in that urge -- after all, when it's cold and miserable, don't you want to surround yourself with warm, woolly things?

First, I finished up Rainbow's school sweater. The knitting was actually done on Thursday night, but I needed to find buttons at my LYS on Saturday and I didn't get around to sewing them on until Sunday evening. So now the sweater is officially done (albeit not yet blocked), and Rainbow is clearly very happy with it. It fits perfectly, with a bit of room for her to grow, so I think it should get good wear for the next couple of years at least.

I used the child's top-down v-neck raglan cardigan from Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Top-down Sweaters, in the smallest size available and at a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch (though technically my gauge was closer to 4.5 stitches to the inch, but I used that to give me a little positive ease). I used just under three full skeins of Spud & Chloe Sweater, a very nice blend of superwash wool and cotton, in Pine Needle. Most of the sweater was worked using US 6 (4.0 mm) needles, but I did the ribbing on US 5 (3.75 mm) needles. I like the yarn in the sweater, but I didn't love knitting with it -- the high cotton content made it a bit hard on my hands, and the tension issues that that caused resulted in a bit of rowing out when I was working flat (you can see the difference in the transition from the raglan shaping, which was worked flat, to the sleeves, which were worked in the round). I'm not terribly concerned about this issue, as I think the stitches will even out as the sweater is washed, but it's something to keep in mind should I ever want to work with this yarn again.

Meanwhile, I also wound some yarn and swatched for a sweater for me in some Miss Babs Yowza, purchased at MDSW several years ago and sitting in the stash ever since. The specified gauge is 19 stitches and 26 rows; I got 20 stitches and 30 rows with my swatch (work on US 6's) after blocking. I might try another swatch with needles a size larger to see what happens, but I think I can make it work with this gauge if I need to. The yarn is superwash, so I can block out a bit more room if I need to. The next size up is 4 inches larger, too, so I definitely want to stick with the size I usually am.

As long as I was winding yarn for the swatch, I decided to wind some handspun that I've already started knitting into a two-color brioche cowl, this time for my mom for a holiday present (assuming I can finish it by then). This is FatCatKnits Polwarth/silk/nylon sparkle from a club shipment from about a year ago. It doesn't look like much now, but it moves quickly when I do work on it.

This is one of those projects that I can pick up and put down easily as there's no real pattern -- it's just a repetition of the two rows (knit one row, purl one row). The yarn is being a little difficult to work with because there may be a tad too much twist in it, though for that I can only blame the spinner (me). I think once it's done I can rough it up a little bit when I wash it to get it to fluff up a bit.

As if all that weren't enough, a couple of orphan skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash (which went into hiding when I was taking pictures) followed me home from my LYS on Saturday along with the buttons. They are going to be a new cowl for Rainbow for this winter. I'm going to do another double-knit pattern, but this time it will be closer fitting rather than an infinity loop so it can stay inside her coat and not catch on anything while she's playing outside.

I'm also working on some design stuff, but that needs to stay offline for now. Some of it will be revealed in the weeks to come, so not to worry -- I won't taunt you with it for too long.

Phew! That's a lot, isn't it? I guess we are full swing into knitters' season now, and frankly, I'm quite happy about that.

Not Quite as Planned

I really had every intention of spinning this weekend. I had hoped to finish up the second bobbin of my Southern Cross Fibre Eider wool so that I could spin this week, but all I managed was about 45 minutes on Friday evening. Boo. Here's what the bobbin looks like -- it's a good start, at least.

This colorway is called Water, and as you'd expect, it's a mix of greens, blues, and deep purples. I don't think I ever posted a photo of the completed first bobbin, so here's one to give you a sense of how much more I have to spin:

While there was little spinning this weekend, there was some fiber! After waiting for it all week (thanks, USPS!), my first shipment for this round of the FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings club showed up with the mail on Saturday. It had been shipped on Monday, and only from one state away, so it was a bit of a mystery as to why it took so long to get here.

The theme for this edition of the club is Famous Couples, so each shipment contains two colors inspired by a pair of characters. This month, the pair is Sam and Dean, the brothers in the TV show Supernatural (a show whose existence I'm aware of but have never seen, mind you). I'm trusting Ginny to know how to represent these two.

It had been long enough since I signed up for the club that I'd forgotten what fiber blend I'd picked! This is superwash merino/nylon sparkle, which should be a good sock blend. I think I'm going to try spinning this as a two-strand chain ply -- basically the idea is that you hold the two strands together to ply but alternate which strand forms the next loop. The result is a sort-of four-ply yarn. I think that should give me some interesting blending of the colors and some new spinning skills.

So Very Close

Rainbow's sweater is almost done! (And it's a good thing, too, because it was quite chilly this morning and she grabbed a fleece to wear over her uniform!) Last night I finished the second sleeve, and today I picked up for the button bands and collar and got about half of the total knitting done (there are three more rows and a bind off left to do). I have just little bits of the second and third skeins left that I'm using, and I'm really hoping that I don't have to break into the fourth skein I bought just for a row or two.

I am about ready to cast on for a new design, but a bit of planning and measuring needs to be done before I start, so last night I actually pulled out a crochet hook, if you can believe it. I've been mulling the idea of a crocheted cowl for a while now, and I finally decided to wind up a skein of Fat Cat Knits superwash Targhee that I spun over the summer for it. I'm trying out a chainless foundation using a tutorial found a while back, and so far it seems to be working out pretty well.

It's pretty obvious that my tension in crochet is nowhere near as consistent as my tension in knitting, but I'm sure I'll improve with practice. I think this will be a fun thing to pick up and do a round or two on in the coming weeks. It will be good for lunchtime crafting, too.

My goals for the weekend are to wind my Miss Babs (or at least part of it) and do some sweater swatching. It looks like fall weather is officially here, so I will no longer feel guilty about curling up with some tea and lots of wool.