Again with the Westknits

I'm a woman obsessed, I tell ya!

I find it so hard to resist his patterns. They are simple and effective. I've also knit some legwarmers from the same collection called "In Defense of Tights". They are for Amy of course. The hat, I'm not so sure who thats for - Lucy maybe?

I can't tell you how much I loved knitting this hat. The simple double knit band and the textured colour shifting of the rest of the hat is simply charming.

Mystery Solved

So here is the finished shawl from the last blog post. This was such an engaging knit. If any of you out there haven't done a mystery KAL yet, I strongly encourage you to do it. There is a certain leap of faith involved - and I would only do it with a designer that I really really like. To date I've done four mystery KALs - two with Lee Meridith and two with Stephen West. All shawls now that I think of it. And I've been very happy with all four designs.

In other knitting news - I've started a sweater. The pattern is Leaflet from knitty. A top down raglan in an aran weight yarn - Madeline Tosh chunky. I'm enjoying the knit, but I fear that I've committed a grave error. I know that you are supposed to alternate skeins when knitting with this type of yarn, but for some reason I didn't. I only had one skein balled up and I just wanted to get at it. Now that I'm on the second ball, I think I can see a difference. Actually, I'm halfway through the second ball and I'm certain I can see a difference. So now I'm alternating skeins. Lets see if it works. Keep your fingers crossed for me.





Next up is a slouchy hat pattern from the new Noro magazine. It is knit with two alternating skeins of Noro. I love it!! I'm thinking I may knit this pattern a lot. I have quite a bit of different colours of Noro kicking around and Christmas is coming up. I know several people on my list who would love this stripey slouchy hat.

And finally I would like to show off some yarn. These first three skeins are the colours that I'm contemplating knitting Stephen West's new design - Geysir Stretch. I love Stephen's designs and this this one is no exception. Its in worsted weight yarn and so it will be quick quick quick!!! And I'm going to knit it in Mmmmmmalibrigo!!! Lovely stuff.

And these two lovelies are all the way from Iceland. Authentic Icelandic Lopi yarn. Amy's friend Liz just got back from an internship in Iceland and Amy gave her some money to buy me some Icelandic yarn. Sweet daughter I have there, don't I?

Honey Cowl

I have a finished object to show off this week. Its in handspun and I'm in love with it. Its from a Loop batt called Kaleidoscope Eyes. I just check out my Etsy purchase history and I realized that I've only been spinning Loop batts since November 2011! I guess I have an anniversary coming up. Haha. It seems that its been in my life for a lot longer than that.

This picture is taken from her etsy store. If you haven't spun one of her batts before, I strongly recommend giving them a try. Her shop sells out quickly after an update so make sure that you sign up to be notified of any updates

Here is Amy wearing the finished cowl. I'm very happy with it and so is she. I predict this will get lots of wear during the winter season.

In other knitting news, I've been busy working on a mystery knit along. This one is sponsored by Lee Merideth. I've written about her before and how much I like her patterns. This one is no different. It is so unique and such an interesting knit. I know its a shawl, but thats about it. I'm not sure which direction it will go in.

One more interesting thing that I wanted to bring up. Have you ever seen a pattern in the wild - not necessarily hand knit - with an interesting stitch pattern and want to duplicate it? Well, its happened to me on a few occasions. This stitch pattern was on a shrug worn by one of my coworkers, and I couldn't stop looking at it. I had to take a pic to see if I could figure it out later. I'm not sure if I can do it, but I really want to try. It is such a pretty stitch, isn't it?

Knitting and Stress

Needless to say, the past month or so has been very stressful. Dealing with contractors and insurance adjusters hasn't been fun. I found myself very stressed - too stressed to knit even. I know, shocker. So, I've been thinking was I not knitting because I was stressed or was I stressed because I wasn't knitting?

I'm starting to think the answer is the latter, because I've forced myself to make a conscious effort to knit a little every day and I no long feel quite as stressed. I'm able to cope a little better.

As a result, I have some amazing FOs to show off.

First up, is this great little shawl. Its from the Knitspot Bare Naked Club. I loved knitting this shawl so much. It was knit with Brooklyn Tweeds Loft yarn in all natural colours. I predict I'll knit more of this pattern. I've always been a big fan of feather and fan lace.

And this beauty is my first forray into beaded knitting. Its called "My Hope" and it was designed by Laura Linneman of the Knitgirllls podcast to be used as a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation. I enjoyed knitting this as well, but I totally messed up the beaded bind off. My fault for not reading the pattern correctly at all. I've put off weaving in ends because I've noticed several mistakes and I'm debating try to fudge/fix them or take it out and do it again. We'll see how it goes. But isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Tanis Fibrearts blue label and OMG - Look at that purple. It nearly glows!

And my final FO is another Minty (Knitty pattern). This is the third minty that I've knit. It remains my daughter's favorite hat pattern. I started knitting this with her in mind, but it turns out that she isn't a fan of the variegated yarn. Oh well, I loved it. And I think it will likely be a gift for someone. The yarn is very unique. I've lost the tag (it came off in the washing of the stash that I could save because of the fire) but I know it came from a stall at the Farmer's market in Halifax. It came from Lismore Sheep Farm Wool Shop and it was a part of their "Easy Scarf Kit". Nat gave me this for Christmas last year. I'm not an easy scarf knitter, but I loved this yarn so much!

To make up for the disappointment that Amy felt with not having the hat that she wanted (ie solid) I started knitting Amy a Honey Cowl. She really liked this handspun (even though its not solid. Whats up with that Amy?) Its one of my Loop Batts. And boy, am I ever enjoying knitting this one. I think I'll be knitting more Honey Cowls this season. Maybe for Christmas gifts. I can see all my girls wearing these.

So, to sum up....lots of knitting going on....less stress. I can't say no stress because that would be nearly impossible - but certainly less. The moral of the story is to knit more, knit often, take lots of knitting stress breaks. Its good for your health.

When Knitting Attacks!!

One of my favorite audio podcasts is called the Knitmore Girls. They have great knitting and spinning content. You should give them a listen. They have a segment called "When Knitting Attacks" in which they discuss ways that their knitting has foiled them in the previous week. I couldn't help but think of that segment when I realized what I had done with my latest knitting project. Take a look.......

Yes....that is two right handed mittens. Boy did I ever feel dumb. These are my Ravellenic games mittens. (If you don't know what the Ravellenics are...check it out here)



Thank goodness these are afterthought thumbs so it was a relatively easy fix. I simply hacked off the thumb, kitchenered the hole, and snipped the yarn on the opposite side to get a left handed mitten. Pretty nice, no? Knit with handspun that I finished during the Tour de Fleece. I love them, but suspect they will be gifted to my sister Cindy who expressed an interest in them when I visited home this past weekend. We'll see.

Successful Tour!

Today marks the end of the Tour de Fleece. I finished a 2 ply fractal spin today. I'm very happy with it. Its called Bifrost - a polwarth wool by etsy seller Kelpie Fibers. I love how happy this yarn is. I'm not sure what I'll make out of it, but I'm leaning towards mittens.

And here is a group photo of all the yarns spun during the tour. I'm very happy with the lot of them. I didn't spin as much as I would have liked but things like work kept getting in the way. But work I must, if I want to buy fiber to spin that is.

I didn't really set any concrete goals for myself - other than play with the art yarns a bit. I did manage to spin 3 different art yarns. The first one is the beehives that I already blogged about. I also did a whole Loop! bullseye bump as a super coil.

My bobbin wasn't large enough to hold the whole skein so I thread plied the leftovers. I like that one too!

Overall, I'm happy with my yarns. Look for them in upcoming posts as all of them are screaming to be knit or woven right away!

Two Wrongs Make a Right

I've never believed that two wrongs make a right. I'm not sure where that expression came from, but it always felt kind of dumb. Until now that is. I just finished (finally) my Rocky Coast Cardigan. And it turned out perfectly! But I think the reason it did so, is because of 'Two Wrongs'. Both 'Wrongs' happened at the beginning of knitting this sweater, and I kind of liked how it looked, so I just went with it. The first wrong was casting on for the wrong size. Initially, I cast on for my bust size and knit several inches. Then I check out the finished objects on Ravelry and found that since this pattern is meant to be worn with several inches of positive ease, you should cast on for a size that is several inches larger than your bust size. Rather than tink back, I decided to keep the cast on as I originally had done, but increase up to the size to give me the easement I wanted. This turned out to be perfect because the other thing that I read about the FOs was that the neckline tended to run large and hence slipped off people's shoulders. The second wrong, was miss crossing my cables. My cables are lined up - snake like - meandering down the length of the garment. I knew I had made a mistake right from the get go, but I kind of liked it and decided to keep going. Since the yarn I chose is sort of self striping these cable lines help to break up the self striping. So, here it is. I love it. The yarn is Cascade Eco Duo - a blend of wool and alpaca. Its a single and its oh so soft and squishy.

I'm sure it'll pill like nobody's business, but I don't really care. I have a good sweater shaver. I predict this sweater will get lots of wear. It is so comfy and the amount of ease is perfect. Its not falling off my shoulders. And I like the little clasp that I've used too.

So, in this case, I think two wrongs did make a right....well, a right sweater in any case. Next up....I've got some Madelinetosh chunky I've been dieing to try!!

Corespinning

I ordered the book Spin Art from Amazon before my trip to Quebec. I was delighted to find it was here upon my return.

This book is so beautiful. The textured yarns in this book are so pretty and I was itching to give this stuff a try. The author, Jacey Boggs, recommends starting from the beginning and learning some of the basic techniques for textured spinning. Reluctantly, that is what I did. I really wanted to jump right into spinning beehives, but I knew the author was right. She's been doing this for longer than I have. Spinning textured yarns is totally different than spinning regular yarns. I usually aim for smooth, consistent yarn - but the skills used for that type of spinning are totally different than the skills used for spinning textured yarns. Notice that I'm saying textured yarns...not art yarns. That's what the author calls them, and I think she is right. The title 'Art Yarn' brings to mind something so wild and unique that it is 'Art' all on its own. That the yarn itself is the finished object and it doesn't need to be knit, woven or crocheted into something else. So, I too, will be calling any yarn that I intend to use, textured yarn. The first technique that I tried (...er...there are others ahead of this in the book, I did skip a few) is corespinning. Corespinning basically involves wrapping a core yarn or thread with fiber. Its great for extending yardage on those precious handcarded batts and none of the good stuff gets lost in the middle of the yarn because all of the fiber is showing on the outside of the core. To corespin, you need to decide what weight of yarn you want and pick your core accordingly. I was aiming for a DK weight so I picked a fingering weight for my core. I ultimately ended up with a heavy worsted weight since I'm new to the technique and some of the fiber really piled on. So, here is my final yarn! I love it. The batt is a One of a Kind art batt from etsy seller Hanks in the Hood.

I ended up with about 110 yards and I still have plenty of this batt left over to do another 100 yards or so. I'm really happy with corespinning and I will be using it again. It required really different hand movements than what I'm used to. When I do this again, I will be adding more twist to my core yarn before spinning. My finished yarn was a little over twisted. I think this could be sorted out by adding more twist to the core than what I originally did.

Overall, this book is beautiful, I highly recommend it...and I haven't even watched the DVD that comes with it!

I Can't Believe.....

I can't believe that I haven't blogged yet this month. Its been an incredibly busy, productive month. I went to visit Amy!!! She had her final graduation recital and she rocked it! She was beautiful and amazing and everything that a I knew she would be. I was beyond proud! My daughter is so talented, I have no words. We had a really great time - lots of great food and some great shopping in Sherbrooke and Montreal. Of course I went to a yarn shop. I went to Mouline this time around. I bought a sweater's worth of Madenline Tosh chunky! I can't wait to try it out. I'm debating on which sweater it will actually become, but time will tell. Here are a few photos of some of the things that I've made recently....mostly knit while travelling. First up....a hat made from 100% yak fiber. The pattern is Anne Hanson's of Knitspot. I'm a member of her Bare Naked club and I love it so much. Yarn in its natural colour. This yak is divine. So soft!

And then I made a sock ... and a half. The pattern is Cat Bordhi's and its from the book 'The Knitter's Book of Socks'. This sock is knit toe up and has a really interesting arch expansion construction. And its extremely comfortable to wear. Here's hoping that I don't come down with second sock syndrome and can manage to knit the second one...well, there is more travelling in my future so I'm sure that it'll get done...eventually. Lol. The yarn is from esty seller lollypop yarns...and I love the self striping. I love this sellers stuff, but getting some of her yarn has proven near on impossible. I have to stalk her website like a crazed lunatic and even then you end up getting cart jacked. I've almost knit up the two balls I have and well, I neeeeeed more... I think I have a problem. Yes, I do...this girls shop and Loop. I'm not even linking the shops here just in case I have a reader that might be interested...lol...selfish much?

And finally, the best thing that I've ever made....the project that I'm most proud of....my magnus opus if you will.

Isn't she beautiful??? I just love her so much!

Aaju has arrived

For the past two weeks Kev and I have been playing host to a couple of our friends from the small northern community of Makkovik. They are here waiting the birth of their daughter -Aaju (it means big brother/sister in Greenland dialect of Inuktutut) Well, she arrived on Thursday night, in the middle of a big snowstorm. She is as pretty as can be.

You may recall that I spun up some yarn a while ago - especially for her. I thought about her while I spun the yarn. Mindful spinning if you will. I put good thoughts into that yarn. As I spun, I hoped that she would lead a good life, that she would be healthy, happy, safe and warm.

And then I knit up the stuff. No pattern for the sweater - all out of my head. I'm so happy with the little cardigan. It has a little welt knit right in which I'm using as a drawstring casing. I just love those little pompoms.

And here is the little hat. I've knit this before and each time I do, I find it completely charming. I love knitting the little short rows. I think it highlights the fractal spun handspun very nicely. The pattern is Aviatrix and its free. So, go - and knit one for a baby you love today!

My first Commission?

Yeah right!! Lol. Amy approached me some time ago about an idea that she (and her classmates) had. This is Amy's last term at Bishop's! And she wanted to get her voice coach Gail, something special. Several of her classmates felt the same way and the idea was born that they would commission me to make a shawl. I had been texting Amy quite a bit about this shawl. Issues like shape, colour, fiber content, yarn weight all came up. She was planning on getting her friends to answer most of these concerns and get back to me, but they never did! So I took it upon myself to just go for it and hope they would like it. I decided that handspun would make it more special and I decided that the colour purple was in order since that is the official colour of Bishop's university. Its knit from that first loop batt that I spun up in the colour Plum Pudding.

Then I had to pick a pattern. The latest knitty had just come out and there was the perfect semicircular shawl. Afternoon Tea. I loved knitting this shawl so much. But it turns out I was short on yardage. I ended up having to dye some yarn to match - I was a little concerned for a bit that it was brown not purple, but overall, I'm very happy.

Here it is pre blocking. This photo was taken at night and I almost had myself convinced that the edging was brown. I was in near panic thinking that I would somehow have to figure out how to dye the edging over or that I would have to rip back and knit the edging again.

Here it is blocking. The edging is actually closer to a maroon colour. My knitting room is in an obvious state of confusion. That shoe was put there so I could give Amy some sense of size. Lol. She is happy with the shawl and she is certain that Gail will like it.

But in all honesty, I don't think I'll be able to charge a bunch of college kids for knitting this.

Spinning Shetland

I finished spinning the shetland that I got from the Sheeps Company on Etsy I decided to spin the whole works of it woolen - that is long draw. And, it worked! I'm a worsted spinner by default, so it was a real challenge for me. But this particular breed (or perhaps it was the way the fiber was prepped) begged to be spun in long draw fashion.

The skeins look as though I'm a total noob to spinning - which I'm not, but I guess I'm a total noob to longdraw spinning, so there you go.

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I'm very pleased with this as I am happy with the resulting yarn and I learned something new about a new to me fiber. Next month, we are spinning Masham - a cross between a teeswater and a swaledale sheep. I've spun teeswater before and did not like it. It was rather rope like in the end - but I blame the spinning, not the fiber. I've already gotten my Masham in the mail and its a nice grey. I may spin this long draw too and try to have it match up with the skeins of shetland that I have. I really want to make a pair of sheepy mitts and I think the spin along yarns will work well for this.

Mittens for Me finished!

But they are unlikely to remain mine. Stepdaughter Nat has been bumming asking for a pair of fingerless gloves for quite some time now. She has taken up curling this winter and fingerless mitts are just the thing. So, I will give these to her with a good heart.

Her father is modelling them here, which just goes to show how stretchy this pattern is. The design is from Laura Lineman of the Knitgirllls podcast. They were doing a KAL on their ravelry board, and I find it hard to resist a good KAL especially one involving mittens. Lol. You can find the pattern here. The blue yarn is Malabrigo Sock that I think I got in Montreal, but am not 100% sure. The orange is Tanis Fibre Arts purple label (with cashmere) that I bought from Jenny at A Good Yarn in St. John's.

And in other news, I'm working on these after thought heel socks that Im knitting using the yarn from the last blog post. I love, love, love knitting this yarn. But I'm currently stalled on these because I didn't measure my feet correctly and they are too short after putting in the heel. I need to undo the toes and knit them longer, which is easy enough, but right now, I just couldn't be bothered.

They sure are pretty though, aren't they?

And then there were mittens!

I finished my second pair of Cloisinee mittens from the yarn harlot. I'm much happier with this pair. I did the clusters much better. That is, I followed the directions properly instead of trying to do my own thing. I don't know why I thought I knew better than the yarn harlot. She's called the yarn harlot for a reason - she knows these things.

I also had another good mail day this week. I stalked this etsy shop - and I mean stalked. I was hitting the F5 (refresh) button every 30 seconds or so. And literally within 2 minutes of posting her update, her shop was empty. Thats how in demand these balls of yarn are. Well, who can blame people for wanting these gorgeous colours? I can't believe I managed to get two of them!!

The green one is called Green a Go Go and the other one is called Kaboom! I love them so much. I love the colours, I love the way they are hand wound, I love the way the stripes are exactly even. I've already cast on for a pair of socks in the Kaboom colourway. They'll be my purse knitting. But I want to knit on them all of the time, the colours are that fun.

And another finished object this week. This time in my handspun! Yay me for keeping my New Year's resolution

The pattern for the cowl can be found here. I did make a few changes to the patterns (mostly due to lack of yarn) but I also left out 3 edging stitches. And to be honest, I'm not sure why there were edging stitches there since this pattern was written and knit in the round. I'm happy with the result too. It might even be a gift for someone. Yes, I'm getting better at sharing the handspun love!

Great Mail Day!!!

I love it when I get parcels in the mail that I'm not expecting. I especially love it when those parcels contain yarn or fiber. Both of these bundles were etsy purchases.

I'm continuing my love affair with Loop bullseye batts.

I have never been so smitten in my life. As soon as a Loop Batt comes into my house I feel that I must spin it up right away. Usually when I buy fiber that I like, it tends to sit in the stash for months - years, even, until the urge strikes me to spin it - or until Tour de Fleece comes and I spin like a crazy lady. But this stuff.....no....I have to spin it straight away. But, I have stuff on all the wheels (and spindles) right now. So, I must finish some things first. And I'm doing a spin along!!

Which brings me to my next happy mail bundle!

Its from etsy seller The Sheep's Company Its my first time buying from this shop and I was very pleased with the service and the product. I love natural fibers and I love it in its natural state.

The spin along is hosted by my favorite video podcasters The Knit Girllls. We are spinning different fibers all year long. Every second month is a different breed of sheep and this months' sheep is Shetland. I'm really looking forward to spinning this stuff up. The roving is so nice to feel. You can feel that some of the sheeps natural oil has been left in and I like that.

Ok, gotta go and spin so I can have some free bobbins!!

It's Mitten Season

We have been having what the older folks around here call an 'old fashioned winter'. This means colder than usual and more snow than usual. I've been living in Labrador for over 20 years now and I can actually remember the old fashioned winters. I know weather does seem to go in cycles, but the past two winters were really scary and to me is proof positive of global warming. We actually had our first official green Christmas last Christmas and the Churchill river didn't freeze up until well into January.

Which brings me to this winter. No evidence of global warming so far. We've had a tonne of snow and temperatures have made me extremely grateful that I now have a car with auto start. Long stretches of temperatures in the minus 25 degrees Celcius have become the norm this winter. So much so that when the temperature warms up to minus 10 it feels downright balmy.

Which brings me to knitting. And mittens in particular. I need more, my daughter needs more, everyone I know could stand more mittens this winter. And if pressed to name what my most favorite thing to knit is, I would say mittens everytime. They are the most useful thing especially when living in the climate that I do. I knit a lot of them, but it seems that the people who are important to me (Yes, Amy, I'm talking about you!) also lose a lot of them. So, I'm in a crunch to knit more. And in keeping with my resolution of every second project being handspun, here are my handspun mittens.

The pattern is called Warmest Mittens and can be found as a free download on Ravelry. Very simple yet effective pattern. I don't really need to use a pattern at this point in my knitting career and I did alter this pattern to fit the yarn a little. I'm sure the intended recipient will like these since the cuff is quite long and that was her very specific request.

I like them a lot. They are obviously not matched as is often the case when knitting with handspun. That dark stripe in the middle of the right mitten really surprised me as I don't even remember the roving having any dark spots.

I recently purchased this roving when I was in Halifax. It is targhee and its the first time I've ever spun this fiber. I enjoyed spinning it. I was going for a worsted weight and adjusted my sidekick to have a quicker uptake and it worked! The yarn was nice and consistant. The lady at the Loop in Halifax told me that Targhee is a decendant of Corriedale, and it felt exactly like spinning Corriedale. Its nice to try different fibers.

Here is what the yarn looked like right off the bobbin. Totally over spun or over plied but definitely not a well balanced yarn.

But after a nice soak and a few whacks it ended up being a very nice plump springy worsted weight yarn. I even have enough left over for another pair.

Two finished objects!

I've finished two more things recently. One is in handspun! I'm keeping to my resolutions so far. First up, the Bandana Cowl that I've been talking about. Its done in the Loop Bullseye Batt.

I like it very much - but I think I will gift this to someone, just not sure who yet. Maybe I'll start a big-box-o-gifts for future gift giving. That way, no stressing for Christmas knitting. I really should do this for baby shower gifts too, but thats a whole other discussion.

Another item off the needles is my 'Wild is the Wind' hat by one of my favorite designers, Lee Meridith. The pattern is from Lee's e book called Remixed. All the designs are knit out of recycled yarns. Included in the book will be tutorials on how to recycle yarn and deconstruct sweaters. So far all of the patterns in this book have been awesome! If you haven't purchased it yet, I highly recommend it. These patterns are all designed to be knit at any gauge! Talk about stash busters.

Here is my hat - slouchy version. I'll be making this again using the brim pattern as written. I think next time I make this, I'll use a yarn with more drape too. I'm thinking this hat will also go into my big-box-o-gifts. I'm thinking there is someone in my life with a birthday coming up. That someone is very important to me and she just happens to love slouchy hats. She also reads my blog, so I wont give it away, just yet.