What I'm not working on

Right now this is a rectangle with two curvy indents at the top, but someday it will be a soft, feather light black cardigan to wear over tank tops in warmer weather.

Attitude can be everything. I told myself that this was going to take forever, so I should just pretend that it will take FOREVER. It was the project I would pull out when I just wanted to knit and knit with no thinking involved. But then I got greedy, and started wanting the sweater that it would become, instead of focusing on the knitting. Not so Zen of me.

And I'm still confused as to what to do to the front, assuming that I ever get there.

I've been knitting on Essential Stripe instead. It is knit from the top down, and I'm about 0.5 inches from pinching off the arms. Last night I timed it, and it's taking me over 10 minutes to do a round. Yikes! I didn't want to know that! At least I'm at the end of a stripe. And, I got so irritated that it was taking me so long that I picked up and ribbed the neck. And wove in all of the ends. Whoa. Goes to show that my theory is right: a little boredom is a good thing.

More catch-up (not ketchup)

More old projects to catch up on. This is basically the same as the more pastel hat that was hanging on the spinning wheel. Noro yarn, with half-double crochet. Since it has so many colors, it's easy to coordinate! Simple pleasures.


This yarn is one of the styles I'm contemplating for my multi-colored wool. Single ply, with all of the colors. But, I don't know if I want all of the colors in one yarn. I could spin the warm and cool up separately. Aack! I don't know what to do! Any suggestions?

Spinning my wheels

After I bought the beautiful rainbow assortment of fiber last weekend, I decided that I'd better spin the rest of the brown wool. I bought this 4 or 5 years ago when I learned how to spin; it was one of two options at the local yarn store.

It spins quite nicely, actually, it's the only wool that I've come close to a long draw on. I have about 8 skeins of 2-ply yarn. I started with 2 pounds of it, so I should have plenty to make something like a sweater.

It's a project that I have watched my spinning change throughout. I tend to undertwist and underply, so there is some fluffy but fragile yarn in there.

Thanks, Hans, for taking the photo! You're hired!

Progress?

Hans is giving me some photo tips. This is one of his pics, notice the even lighting, the lack of bad flash glare. He even used a tripod! Wow!

I'd feel like a slacker if I didn't put in another link to the sweater pattern.
Yarn is Aurora 4 from kpixie.com.

Sweater Weather

It's definitely been sweater weather around here. Brrr! Hans is wearing his sweater today, so here is a pic and the skinny. The pattern comes from Debbie Bliss Number Two.
The grey is much more charcoal than this picture would have you believe. I found the overdyed merino at the local yarn store.

Hint: the cables make the upper chest pull in a bit, and I ended up taking in the sides below the cables about 2 inches on either side, on the seamlines. So, save yourself the trouble and start smaller, then add some stiches when you start the cables.

And even though I feel like I'm airing dirty laundry in public, I'll confess that I had to add elastic inside the ribbed crewneck. I think that I used 3/8" elastic? and just threaded it inside the casing formed by the folded ribbing.

Definitely a fun and simple cable to knit, and I loved that the design balanced well in the sweater. It's not a sweater that knocks you over the head with the cables.

Random Stripe Generator

Wow. I guess things happen when you leave a knitter with too much time on their hands. This is a random stripe generator for knitting. To use, click on the colors of your project, and the different stripe widths you allow. You've got to pick more than one number, or it will spit out random stripes of all the same width. Not so random!

Oops! Did I just buy more fiber?

I was driving along, minding my own business, when I saw the sign. Dyelots. In an old house that is awkwardly stuck between two main streets. I skreeched to a halt. Well, ok, I circled the block. And inside, there was fiber! And yarn! Now yarn I can get at the two whole yarn shops in town, and one of them even has an eensie bit of wool for spinning, in 2 colors: white and brown. But this, this was colorful wool! (And there were some nice blends, cashmere and silk, but I'm mad at the cashmere/silk blend I'm trying to spin, so I ignored those.)

There was one handspun skein for sale that was just beautiful. It had tons of vibrant colors. I want to spin something like it. So far I've only had one foray into spinning with different colors, with the aforementioned mittens. So I scooped up one pre-pack, and added some other loose colors to it. And you can see the result.

I'm really trying to use up some of my stash. The orange/red mittens are proof that it's working, at least a little.

Did I mention that they have two walls covered in bins of different colored wools? Janis is a dyer, and boy she makes good colors. And she has painted roving.

Usual fiber buying pattern: Once a year at the Black Sheep Gathering. New pattern: Who knows?

But, I have some spinning to do before I go back.

Here is a finished mitten:

A poodle and a mini-quilt

What started out as this:

Turned into this:

Inn'it cute? It's about 14"x14". It's my second mini-quilt, all hand-pieced, lots of it during pharmacy classes:) It's an Irish Chain pattern, made with 1.5 inch squares, and 0.25" seam allowances.

Some say that mini-quilts are useless, I say that they are, um, decorative. And they make a mean antimacassar.

This is not a terribly recent project, it started this spring and wrapped up about a month ago.

And since this is flyingpoodle, here is another pic of himself:

DNA scarf

This is my DNA scarf, knitted from June Oshiro's wonderful pattern, which can be found at http://www.twosheep.com/helix/

Baby alpacas were used, I don't have a record of the brand. It doesn't lay very flat while I'm wearing it, I self-consciously adjust it while I have it on just to show off the design. Very fun to knit, and not a hard chart to follow.

I'm starting on a Knit and Tonic sweater, the essential stripe. I couldn't resist the blue/brown color combo.

More hat tricks...
This is the hat whose colorway looked so much more fabulous on the skein. Ah well, I think that I know someone who will like it. The camera flash sure highlights that purple!
I tried to make a flower from a pattern, but it didn't quite work, and this is my made up one: Chain 5? 7? single, double, double, single, slip stich, in 1-2 of the chain stiches.


Knitting is Punk! This is the start of my orange handspun mitts. I tried to take a pic of the beautiful skein, but it came out pixillated. Pooh.

This started out as a tube of different shades of roving (wool). I may not have confessed this before, but color mixing is not my forte. So anytime I can get someone else to do it for me, I'm happy. This made me happy.

And while I'm going picture crazy,


A wholesome way to start your day. Mittens for Hans, my pretty skein, and the black blob at the top will someday be a light whisper of a sweater. A balanced meal if I ever saw one.

Catching up-Poodle Purse

Poodle purse!
One of my favorite projects so far. I'm warming up to making another that will be better designed for the soft drape of the leather. I mean, I could just take this apart and add interfacing, and maybe I will, but I think that a more crescent shape might suit nicely. And they are very now.

I started with Amy Butler's Madison bag, and folded the pattern until it was shorter lengthwise and not as angled out at the bottom corners.

This was handsewn, as I was living apart from my sewing machine at the time. I bought a leather needle, but didn't really need it because the leather was so soft.

The lining is a sublime cotton from Josephine's Dry Goods in Portland. I can never believe that it is cotton because it has such a fine hand and smooth finish, but cotton it is. I made a matching Palm pilot cover from the lining too. A little excessive, but hey, why not?

Blue Hat

My second homespun project, and one of the many reasons that I don't like knitting hats. I love the yarn, I love the edging, but something just isn't quite right. It's a little too big, yes, that could be most of it.

Every year, right before the Black Sheep Gathering, I quickly spin some of my roving up so that I can buy more. This stuff was so delightful that it didn't take me a year to get around to spinning one of the two bags. From Three Bags Full in Hamilton, Montana, this "forget-me-not" color is from merino cross sheep, with a bit of silk and silk noil. Yum!

For the top, I knitted some I-cord, shaped it into a flower, and sewed it on with a yellow button. There is now a starfish on top.

My spinning wheel is out, and I'm working up to the second bag... visions of matching mittents are dancing through my head...

Knitting Evangelism: I try not to push it on the unwilling, but I do pounce when I hear the phrase "I've always wanted to learn how to knit....". Before they know it, they are sitting in a coffee shop knit-purling with a cup of steaming hot tea and a cookie. Last night was knitting with April and Jeanette. They both learned to purl, and jumped right into ribbing!

In getting ready to go out last night, I came across a mitten. Just one. Luckily, there was a ball of yarn just waiting to be the other one. Aspen by ggh, a lovely oodle-ply thick yarn, 50/50 merino/polyester. The hat I made from it sucked, but the mittens are good.

Off to try some pictures...really!

Sometimes when it is really slow in the pharmacy, I get out my knitting. This invariably leads to more customers coming. Yesterday I was working with a pharmacist who didn't want down time, so every time it got slow, I hauled out my knitting, and drummed up more business for her. Good for her, bad for knitting.

I had to settle for working on the wispy black sweater at lunch. I'm up to the armhole shaping. It is about 150 stitches across, so it always goes slow. I need to get more stickies to mark my place in the pattern.

I still can't decide what to do for the front. Definitely a cardigan, but V-neck or crew? Knit edging or experiment with crochet edging? I'll let it percolate during the months it will take me to get there. Maybe I'll knit the sleeves before I tackle the front.

One of the ideas that I've had since forever ago is argyle mittens. I love argyle. A few years back when it was popular, I stocked up on argyle socks. I have some shetland wool in cream, blue, and other blue, and will attempt to chart a sassy argyle this week.

This is so boring without pictures! I'll get there...