last minute photos

Of last minute gifts! At least Rich’s hat got done relatively early. I worked on it the weekend I was in Cleveland with Cosy. Originally I had gone through my stash and was going to make it green and brown. Then I realized those are two colors he cannot see very well (they look very similar, I guess). So instead I made an emergency trip to Hobby Lobby, since I have no yarn shop, and bought the yarn right in front of him. I think it was store brand. He seems to be pleased regardless of my struggles.

For my Florida sister, I made this little zippered pouch. It’s from Weekend Knitting; the pattern is the Felted Stash Accessories Bag by Leigh Radford. I used stash yarn, mostly Brown Sheep Company Lamb’s Pride, which has always been a favorite yarn of mine. When I first saw it in my first real yarn shop, I fell in love with their colors. Ever since I’ve loved singles.

Putting the zipper into this was a challenge. In fact, my mother did it on Christmas Eve. I had never done it before and neither had she. Maybe in the future I will attempt a zipper again, but with fabric, not felt.

christmas knitting still!

Surprisingly I’m getting my Christmas knitting done. I have two more projects that are about half finished; one is a pair of fingerless mitts for Rich’s dad and the other is the scarf I started months ago for my mom. That is the one I’m thinking of wrapping incomplete. Cheryl says it’s okay! Otherwise I’m making good progress.

I dyed some more fiber, using up the last of my BFL. Must reorder again. Perhaps in the future I ought to buy a larger quantity. These two balls are 6 ounces each. I wanted to follow Cosy’s lead and try spinning 4 ounces and then plying 2 of different colorways. They both contain a bit of the same blue. It’s so hard for me to ply a yarn with another yarn rather than plying it back on itself. I like to keep things pure. But besides the option of interesting color combos, I’ve decided I’m getting tired of winding all that yarn into a center-pull ball!

questions to myself

Is it cheesy to wrap up a half-finished present and give it to someone for Christmas? I thought I’d have the chance to do my own knitting with all this spare time on my hands since I’m not concentrating on the sale, but I was wrong. Apparently there are only, um, 2 weeks until Christmas? oops. And I have some special orders to do, which means I get to make OTHER folks’ Christmas presents in addition to my own. I suppose I  could have said no.

But after the holiday is over, what am I going to do?

This yarn I purchased in September while at the Knit One birthday party. I’d like to get started on another sweater in the new year. It looks like the “Button Me Up pullover” was my primary choice.

I really dig Zephyr Style patterns though. So far I’ve never tried any of them – I’ve just been pining from afar. “Glee“  and “Ms. Marigold” are two favorites – love the minimal seaming on both of these. Nothing says I can’t do all three!

What else? Strangely enough, I think I want to play with crochet a little more. It was fun to add it on items here and there. Seems like lots of knitters are dabbling in crochet also. I learned when I was 11 or 12, but it didn’t inspire me like knitting does now. The funniest thing? My favorite part was winding the yarn into balls. I used to rewind the yarn from one ball into another, even though it was unnecessary.  And I used to comb my cat’s hair back and forth between the two brushes. What did I think I was doing? Who knew I’d end up here?

christmas knitting: GO!

Now that the cardigan is officially complete, I couldn’t wait to get started on my next handspun project, especially since this one is ALL handspun. As I mentioned a few days ago, I am knitting the Handspun Scarf for my mom’s Christmas present (no worries, she will never read this).

I just began working on it yesterday, so I’ve only gotten through one and a half repeats of the pattern. But it’s looking like it will work out fine. My major issue is with the yarn, not the pattern. I knew from looking at the yarn, that it wasn’t “even”, but I had no idea just how uneven it was! I am worried that all the obnoxious imperfections are very noticeable in the fabric. Maybe blocking will help? I do like seeing the colors come out, something I am fascinated by in using my handspun yarn. That’s one of the main reasons I would like to do more knitting with handspun, even though I still don’t.

christmas knitting and experiments

This year I’ve decided to knit my Christmas gifts. Yes, I suppose after 3 years of knitting it’s a bit shameful that I haven’t already been doing this. I have no excuse. Why now? Because I’m poor and I have a sizable yarn stash. I think it makes sense. Thus far I’ve decided what to make for my mom and my sister. April – the sister – lives in Florida and will be getting a bag, this one, in fact.

Mom lives in Ohio and will wear just about anything I make for her while telling everyone she meets that HER DAUGHTER made it (she’s my PR representative). For her I will make the Handspun Scarf (ravelry/nonravelry) by Monica Gomi. I printed the pattern quite some time ago and when I came across it yesterday while cleaning the Fiber Den, I thought it would be appropriate. For the scarf I will be using my handspun Strings of Jade, which ended up 220 yards – I think that’s my most yet out of 4 ounces. It could have been a little more even, but it’s acceptable. I’m excited to see the subtle color changes as I knit.

As for the experimenting, this two photos are the outcome of a lighting set-up that I tried this morning. Again, cleaning the room yesterday turned out to be a major boon. Some new space was made available that works well as a small photo-taking corner. I had a 300 watt bulb that really made a difference over the 60 W bulb. I’m pleased with the results. I knew that with winter quickly approaching, hours of good sunlight would become scarce. Cheers. Problem solved.

And the yarn is called Rhinos at the Disco. It’s my Columbia locks, handdyed and drumcarded. I also added a bit of Firestar while carding – also an experiment, actually. I spun it thick and then, then plied it with button thread and seed beads.

merry christmas eve

Socks are done! I finished them last night and I am very pleased with the end result. The pattern has ribbing on the top of the foot which is an excellent way to get a good snug fit. I tried a sock in self-striping yarn with a similar pattern, but the heel flap was too short and I finished the sock anyway. I was not inspired to start or finish its mate. From now on, I think I will stick to 2 circs for socks. For some reason, the tiny needles and yarn don’t bother me as much as tiny DPNs. Although, for my fingerless mitts, I will stay with the DPNs. My next pair will be for my dad since I haven’t made him anything yet!

Tomorrow is Christmas! I can’t believe it. My mom said I’m not getting anything because I am too difficult to buy for. Isn’t that thoughtful? Well, in the end I don’t really need more stuff. I know of at least two things I’m getting. We’re also doing the medieval dinner again. It’s so much fun to dress up and eat old time food. Our dining table is right in front of our biggest window (it’s actually in the living room, but since we do more things at the table than on the couch, it sits in the largest room), so when people drive by they can see RIGHT into the house! So, if you happen to drive by our house tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be dressed in 13th century clothing eating duck, barley, and pea soup.

While I was snapping [bad] photos of yarn the other day, Phoebe got up on the stool and sat right on top of it! This is a BFL 2-ply, dyed in green, turquoise, and purple (jacquard acid dyes). I gave it to Laura for Christmas! Did I forget to mention Phoebe sat on it? I hope you aren’t allergic! ^.~ And below is the debut of Thomas, our large fellow. He’s very difficult to photograph because he’s always moving around and the pictures end up being streaks instead of eyes.