Category: Accessories

  • things a’growin’

    On it goes with the vneck and Charlotte. All the photos I took of the sweater sucked, but I’m now finished the body and am on the first sleeve. It’s kind of a schlumpy looking sweater, but I did want a plain, sweatshirt-y thing. So it works.

    Charlotte, she grows.

    She’s gettin’ pretty big, too. Yarn is starting to run out finally (I’ve knit a huge Cozy AND this Charlotte out of a cone!).

    I’ve been preparing for teaching a class on lace tomorrow morning, so I’ve been knitting swatches and writing scarf patterns and a handout. I’m going to work on Charlotte during the class and finish it up this week, then block it and bring it next week to show the magic of blocking.

    I was looking for yarn to swatch with for the class, and started reorganizing and neatening up the stash a bit as well. I was re-winding some balls of yarn, including this Regia mini-ringel:

    I just really liked that photo, I think it’s awesome how the yarn wound up like that.

    Tune in soon for more exciting adventures.

    P.S. The sock is knit with Trekking 100 – just love those colours!

  • spinning, spinning

    Aw, thanks for all the awesome comments! When I picked Limerick as my project, I really, really REALLY didn’t think I was going to finish within the time – just ask Jen or Megan! Now I feel like I can tackle just about anything, and isn’t the the whole point?

    Anyway, onto some brand new content. I’ve got a lot to talk about today!

    I finished spinning up my neapolitan roving, and I now have four skeins (one is a bit smaller than the others) of navajo-plied merino goodness. The far left skein is the first one I did; I think it has longer repeats of the colours so it should stripe at smaller stitch counts. I’m planning to swatch some of this as soon as I’ve set it.

    In other spinning, I spun up my very first skein of ingeo. The first time I tried spinning it was on the drop spindle, and that didn’t work out too well – I was a rank beginner then, too. Now that I’m not-so-rank and have the wheel, it worked out pretty well! The first photo here is from my old reliable camera, following two are with a newer camera that I’m still figuring out.

    The skein weighs in at an almost perfect 110 yards, and about, oh, 3.5 ounces? Silly me didn’t save any of the fibre for blending, but I’m sure I’ll pick up more at some point. It’s really quite shiny and pretty, the structure is really well defined as well. I’m still a bit iffy on the feel – it’s soft, but it is kind of that synthetic softness. Up next, some straight soy silk.

    In knitting, here’s what a cone (225 grams, about a half pound) of Louet Gems Topaz will get you:

    This sweater’s going remarkably fast, although now it’s a bit big to carry around and thus will probably see less time. Same thing goes for the next project, although I’m rather determined to finish this one by the weekend (I haven’t shown this already, have I?):

    A Charlotte’s Web shawl, using Jaggerspun wool/silk worsted weight. It’s a lot bigger than in that photo now, and quick to knit too (big needles + holes = fast)!

    Ooookay, I think that’s everything for today! Off to the wheel.

  • in the dying daylight

    Feather and Fan Shawl
    Pattern: feather and fan comfort shawl
    Yarn: My own handspun merino – don’t know about the yardage, but I’d say about 600 yards of heavy worsted.
    Needles: Denise US 10.5
    Finished: January 15, 2006

    Love, love, LOVE it! It’s really quite big (about 74″ across the top and 30″ deep) and super cozy. Three of the colourways I dyed; the yellow/green one I bought.