Fun Yarn

I have been having so much fun playing with this wool! It started out as undyed Fine African Top from Louet. I hand painted it with fuchsia, yellow, turquoise, and blue, repeating the sequence around the loosely skeined top. I let the colors blend where they met. After the top was rinsed and dried, I divided it into five color groups:fuchsia, blue, turquoise, green, and yellow/orange.

Next, I took each fluffy pile and spun it seperately. Each color has bits of its neighbors, so the yarn has a lot of complexity. It is so much fun to watch the blending as I spin, and to examine the finished yarn once I am done. Anyway, I wound each color off the bobbin into a center pull ball as I finished it. The picture of the five yarn balls is the singles yarn.

When I had all five balls of singles ready, I went back to my wheel (which is a double drive Asford Traveller that I assembled from a kit) and plied each ball back on itself using the end from the outside and the one from the middle.

I just love this yarn. It has been so much fun to make. It makes me think of tropical colors (because of the fuchsia and turquoise?). I found myself thinking of the green as "lemon-lime" and the fuchsia as "sunset". The orange/yellow one I wasn't sure I was going to like. The bits of green mixed in with the orange and yellow had me worried, but as I plied it, I fell in love with it. It really reminds me of autumn leaves. Often we will find maple leaves colored with incredibly rich fall hues and flecks of green like this.

I posted these yarns on Etsy. I wasn't sure I wanted to, but I find that I don't want to knit it anyway! I just want to look at it (and feel it, it is rather soft). I love to knit, and I love to knit handspun, but I can't keep up with it all. I am really enjoying the freedom to experiment with color that having my own little etsy business has allowed me.

Finished Mittens

Here are my finished mittens! They are nice and toasty. I had just a little blue yarn left, so I am glad I finished the tops and thumbs with just the grey! This handspun yarn was from Holly, from the spin-to-knit that I signed up for last year. I am glad to have finally completed a project with it. The yarn was very lovely to work with.

I got replacement cables from KnitPicks today. I was glad to see them. I haven't had a chance to hook them up to the Harmony needles and try them out yet, but I am hoping that things go better than last time! They were very appologetic about the trouble that I had with the first set...

I have been working on mittens for Thing 3. The first one is finished, except for the thumb. It fits perfectly. Unfortunately, I was hoping to make it bigger, so that she could wear them next year also. Oh well! She was at school most of the time I was working on them so I missed my chance to change the sizing. At least they aren't too small.

Brenda

A quick post

I finished my mittens and didn't run out of yarn! Yeah! I will post a picture soon. I have started on mittens for Thing 3 as she has been begging for new ones!

We had a strange week for weather. The snow has all melted, it has been warm and rainy, we had a windstorm that knocked out our power for 26 hours, now it is getting cold again and to top it all off, I saw a dandilion flower in the grass today while we were out!!!

I also posted some fun new sock yarn on Etsy. It is a Merino/silk blend dyed in my Midnight Forest colorway. The thing that I have to say about dyeing yarn is "So many fabulous colors, so little time to actually knit them all!" I really like the silk blend yarns. They are so soft, with an amazing luster. www.dye4fun.etsy.com

I called KnitPicks earlier this week. The woman I spoke with said they are so sorry that my cables broke. She said they would some new ones out right away. I can't wait to get them!

Brenda

I went out to the mail box this morning and it was -5 degrees F. Hello, January!

On Monday, my dh went out and broke some cross country ski trails around our property. We got some second hand skis a couple of years ago to try, but this is the first year the weather has been good for it. Yesterday was the first time I went out. It was fun, but hard going, since we got what looked like 6 inches of powder on top of the trail since it was last used. By the weekend, the weather is suposed to warm up, so I think I will enjoy being outside more then.

I recently got Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Sock Knitters and I knitted a sample Coriolis sock out of some worsted weight wool that I dyed in my "Cool Pool" colorway. It is baby sized. I am excited to start a grown-up sock with the pink/red yarn in the photo. I have until I finish knitting some mittens to decide for sure which socks I want to try. The book explores ways of knitting socks that place the increases at places around the foot other than those traditionally used. It makes for some interesting socks. I hate knitting socks with traditional gusssets because I strongly dislike picking up stitches. I can do it, but it is certainly not my favorite thing to do!

To the right is my new version of the mittens I started back awhile ago. This version is much closer fitting, with a very boring "lice" pattern. Winter is here, my old gloves have a hole in them, and I refuse to buy new ones from the store. I need something I can finish quickly, so I didn't want to take the time to work out something that had to be centered, etc. I wanted to knit with two colors because winters here are very cold. I think I will have enough yarn for these. The yarn is some beautiful handspun that I got from Holly during the Spin-to-Knit exchange last year.

I hope everyone is having a great new year. Now that the Holidays are over, I am hoping to finish some projects that I have been putting off, and get some serious knitting time in!

Been awhile

With the holidays I haven't had time to post for a couple of weeks! We've seen the kids in Christmas concerts and visited family. We've also made it through a bout of stomach flu...

I have been working on the knitted pillow some more. It is definitely ill-fated. The Harmony needle cables BROKE the first time I used them. They come in pairs. I knitted about 1 1/2 inches before the first cable broke, then about 1 1/2 rounds before the second one did. The metal connector pulled right off of the plastic cable. The join between the connector and the needle is threaded. I had no trouble with that. Now that Christmas is done for the year, I need to call KnitPicks and see what they will do for me. I am very disappointed, and quite surprized. I have always been happy with things I have purchased from them. Maybe they had a manufacturing problem. I'll post what I find out!

Brenda

New Harmony Needles

Hey!

I just got some size 5 Harmony wooden Needle tips and a cable yesterday in the mail from KnitPicks! These are interchangeable tips, like the Denise set that I already have, but I do like the Harmony needles better! The cable is thinner, so it is easier to slide the stitches along. I have always loved my Denise needle set, but when using the #5 and #6 (the two smallest sizes) it takes a little work to slide the stitches along since the cable on this set is thicker than typical circular needles. The Harmony needle is smooth and more pointy than the Denise plastic tips. I also feel that the join is more secure. I almost feel disloyal to the Denise needles because I have used and loved them for years. They are good, but the Harmony is better and it is always fun to try something new! It has brought new life into my scratchy-pillow project. I may actually finish it, you never know!



I am really looking foreward to January. I hope to have more knitting time. The pressure of unfininshed Christmas projects is currently upon me!

Mitten begun again

I finally frogged the mitten and I have been working around on a new version that I hope I have enough yarn for! I am almost done with the thumb gusset. I think that when I get to the top, I will wait to graft my stitches together until the second mitten is done just in case I run out of one of my colors, or something.

I ordered a new size 5 circular knitting needle from KnitPicks. Meanwhile, my wonderful husband got the broken off piece of plastic out of the size 5 needle point from my Denise needle. Yeah! It is saved!

I have not been enjoying winter very much so far. It hasn't been too bad, but we've been getting at least a dusting of snow everyday for a couple of weeks. That means overcast skies and no sun. I love the sun. I am a sun person, and the greyness really gets me down, whether it is because of snow or rain. I did see a bit of sun today, but not much. However, there was one day earlier this week when the flakes that were drifting down were very crystaline and reflective. I watched them swirling past the house out the back window and they sparkled in the sunlight like glitter. It was truly spectacular. I really enjoyed it while it lasted!