allstitchedup: A journal.
I have been spinning again :)
and I started some more Southern Cross Fibre, just a single on the bobbin so far but pretty, pretty.
and
I got a cricket loom and made DS2 a simple scarf using Noro Silk Garden.
The influx of yarn has slowed, somewhat, now that I am making my own LOL but my first Posh Yarn 'sock' club arrived. Much more beautiful in real life and pure alpaca.
Another finished item. :) Following the Garden Party Shawl I thought I'd tidy up some more Works In Progress for quick finish satisfaction and the next in the queue is my Winter Cottage Mitts.
Lovely wool, Posh of course, so soft they caress my hands as I wear them :) Sadly I spoiled a perfect finish wen blocking the first mitten (the one showing palm up on this photo) as I got interrupted when soaking the mitten preblocking and left it standing in the water for 4 hours. By the time I got back to it the colour from the variegated yarn had run into the cream contrast, not so badly as to ruin the work but enough to colour the cream and to streak in some areas so the contrast is not as strong as it is with the second mitten. So, I have odd hands! But, I guess they just match the rest of me :) and their softness is unimpaired. I have considered leaving the other mitt for 4 hours too, but I don't want to spoil its pristine finish.
I'll just have to knit more mitts!
Next on the WIP list is a simple square shawl using Shetland lace patterns, I have 4 more repeats of the border to do and then an edging to knit, haven't decided what to use for that yet. Then I am writing up the pattern, which takes much longer than you think.
The lovely David (on Rav) has his own etsy shop selling beautiful handdyed fibre, yum yum.
In a past sale I bought these batts
and I started spinning them last night
and they spin beautifully. Oh my, that's it I am not a knitter any more, now I spin!
Before I started spinning I used to look at blogs with fibre on and think, yeah, ok, but what's that about? Now I love love love to spin, I love to get new people spinning and I love fibre. Oh dear, I need more time.
I am still adding to the 'spin a sweater' project and still changing my mind frequently about what to knit when I am finished spinning, but for now I am enjoying the squooshiness of the handspun, soft and fluffy, more yum yum yum.
I started this Garden Party shawl way back at the beginning of last year and made steady progress until I got to the edging chart. Nothing wrong with the charts or the pattern, just with my determination. Can't believe it took me nearly a year to get back to it and to finally finish it off. I always note down where I was in the pattern when I finish stitching for the night, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue. Just as well my previous entry was in July! One evening's enjoyable work and it was done, cast off ready to block and the finished shawl looks like this
Photos on the left are after blocking, those on the right are before. I left it soaking for several hours as I was busy and the colours ran a little so I probably shouldn't do that with number 2 :) Off to cast on.
Also joined 'seasons of lace' to knit up my first handspun laceweight project, I haven't decided on a pattern yet, and I am also 'spinning for a sweater'.
That should keep me busy for a while :)
great grandchild. I was pleased with it at the time and happy to be able to knit it for Nancy as she was no loner able to knit due to crippling arthritis. Sadly later this year Nancy died very suddenly and the project became even more important to me. I feel lucky to have met this lady who was my husband's father's cousin and not really an Aunty at all, but when I moved up to Newcastle a few years ago she made me very welcome and told me to consider myself the daughter she wished she'd had. If only there had been more occasions to share our love of knitting with her, but at least we had time for Pi :)
Swallowtail Shawl
Posh Yarn, Eva 2 ply lace weight, 1 skein 50g 400 yds, (13g left), Captain.
size 3.5mm needles, blocked size 48" x 24"
I never would have gotten this finished if it weren't for the fabulous photos of other people's finished projects. Ravelry has really become an integral part of my life. I cannot imagine nor being on Rav.
Later there were hats
I made a cardigan, yes a whole garment, luckily top down in on circs, no seams :)
Christmas approached and the project rate went up, mittens followed
and more mittens
way through a pair for me now, Posh Mittens of course.
Yarn: Posh Yarn, Lei, colour- tradewind.
Pattern: Diamond Fantasy Shawl.
For: DS2's grilfriend, Sarah.
Fibre from the yarn yard fibre club.
Spun on Majacraft Pioneer (Susan)
Pattern by the Yarn Harlot - one row handspun scarf
result, squooshy!
F
This pretty scarf pattern is knitted in luxurious
cashmere yarn and a bright colourway to brighten winter days and lead
the way to summer sunshine.
Flowers uses 2 lace patterns, Floral Mesh from Barbara
Walker’s 4th Treasury of Knitting Patterns and 3 variations of the Snowflake Eyelet Pattern from her 2nd Treasury. This scarf is easily adapted to a wider stole size or a narrower scarf.
Instructions for possible adaptations of the pattern are included.
Finished size: blocked 11” x 61” (Unblocked size 8” x 52”).
Guage: As this item is not fitted, gauge is not important. Use a gauge you are happy with, if it seems too tight for your tastes, use larger needles, too loose use smaller needles. If you are using a different weight of yarn your finished item size will vary and you may need more or less yarn. The scarf pictured used half of the second skein, approx. 85gms and approx. 600 yards in all.
Needles:
size 3mm, 50cm circular needles. Needles designed for lace, with tapered points make knitting easier but are not essential, straight needles are fine too.
Abbreviations:
K knit sts stitches
gs garter stitch (knit every row), ss stocking stitch (knit right side, purl wrong side)pm place marker ssk slip slip knit through back of loopsyo yarn over
Instructions:
Knit 8 rows gs
K4, pm, knit Floral Mesh pattern (see chart), pm, K4.
The 4 stitches either side of the Floral Mesh are maintained in gs throughout, to form a border for the scarf.
| \ | O | O | / | O | ^ | O | \ | O | O | / | 12 | ||
| O | ^ | O | / | O | 10 | ||||||||
| \ | O | O | / | 8 | |||||||||
| O | ^ | O | \ | O | O | / | O | ^ | O | 6 | |||
| \ | O | / | O | O | ^ | O | 4 | ||||||
| O | / | \ | O | 2 |
Floral
Mesh Chart
Key
Lace charts are read from bottom to top and right to left on the right side rows and from
left to right on wrong side rows. This chart shows right side rows
only as all wrong side rows are purl throughout. Start with row 1, a purl row, then at the bottom right of the chart , row 2. The areas outside
the pattern repeat arrows are only knitted at the beginning and end of the row,
the area between the lines is repeated across the row 7 times in all.
So the row starts with the 2 sts outside the arrowed area, then repeat
the sts inside the lines 7 times then knit the last 3 stitches
outside the arrowed area to complete the sequence.
You may wish to insert
markers at the end of each repeat of the floral mesh as this will
make it easier to identify repeats and to count stitches to check for
mistakes.
Change to the snowflake eyelet pattern.
The repeat of both patterns is over the same number of stitches so you can use the same stitch markers
between pattern repeats (if used) without having to move them.
Snowflake
Eyelet Pattern
Row
1 (wrong side) and all other wrong-side rows ---- purl.
2 K4 *ssk, yo, K1, yo, K2 tog, K3; rep from *, end K1
Row4 K5, *yo, sl2 K1 p2sso, yo, K5; rep from *
Row6 Repeat Row 2
Row8 Ssk, yo, K1, yo, K2 tog *K3, ssk, yo, K1, yo, K2 tog: rep from *
Row10 K1, *yo, sl2 k1 p2sso, yo, K5: rep from *, end last rep K1
Row12 Repeat Row 8
Repeat the 12 rows of the snowflake pattern 15 times in total.
Insert 2 rows of ss between row 7 and row 8.
Remember to keep the first 4 and last 4 sts in gs.
Repeat the 14 row snowflake variation 11 times in total.
Add a further 2 rows of ss between rows 7 and 8 (4 additional rows in total). Repeat this variation 5 times in total.
Knit 8 rows gs
off using a 6mm needle.
Block
(with wires or by threading a string along the sides and end and
stretching damp knitting, pinning out and leaving to dry. Unpin when
dry and ENJOY!
You can make the scarf longer by adding repeats of any or all the
patterns as desired. Remember you will use more yarn. Making it
narrower or wider is achieved by subtracting or adding repeats of the
charts across the scarf. Both patterns have an 8 stitch repeat so add
or subtract multiples of 8.
You can also make the scarf longer by adding further rows of ss between
the snowflakes to spread the design out more adding as many repeats
as you wish. Alternately add another lace pattern after the first
snowflake pattern in place of the snowflake variations used here,
e.g. any of the eyelet or honeycomb patterns would look good.
The scarf pattern, as written, produces an asymmetric design. If you
would prefer to finish the second side symmetrically you can adapt
the pattern by knitting additional repeats of the first Snowflake
Eyelet pattern to make this section longer and then repeating the
Floral Mesh. Both the lace patterns used are virtually identical
inverted. If you want to be sure they will mirror each other exactly
then you should knit until the scarf measures half your desired
length (or until half the yarn is used) and, leaving these stitches
on waste yarn, cast on and repeat the patterns so that you have two
matching, identical halves which will then need to be grafted
together using Kitchener Stitch.
Yep, I am nearly mittened out, these are for DD2's teacher. I wanted to do a nice sophisticated black and white butno, DD2 had different ideas! Miss would much prefer red and white 'the same as mine' - so here they are, NHM#9 in theyarnyard's Bonny 4 ply.
Done, next?
Have I got time to do a pair of socks before the 20th? Hmmm, probably not.
Mittens, mittens, they're everywhere and I love them.
I finished DD2's mitts and I am now planning a pair for the teacher for her hristmas pressy. Poor lass she shivers so on the playground at home time and I think a coat may take me until DD2 has left school LOL but mittens are 'doable' so I will do.
DD2 turned her hand over for you so you can see the palm.
I added her initials and will put a cord on them and thread it through her coat sleeves, in an atempt to stop them getting lost. Or if lost, to find their way home.
What are their chances, do you think?
Meanwhile in other news, I have been spinny spinny spinning with Sarah. Sarah? Yes, Sarah!
My new Majacraft Pioneer. Did I tell you about Sarah? Oh I did! Well, she's wonderful and we make beautiful yarn together. Photos to follow because some of it is secret. Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone, promise? Good I knew I could trust you to keep a secret LOL
Happy spinning and knitting and lots of mittens to you.
xx
May I introdce you to my Pionner by Majacraft?
When I bought Julia earlier this year what I really wanted was a Matchless or failing that a Majacraft - any of the Majacrafts would do, lovely wheels. But the price was out of my reach and I didn't want to wait and save up LOL so I got the Louet Julia instead and I am very hapy with her. We have tried each other out now and settled into a routine of reliable spinning and comfortable lightweight, I have plied and navajo plied and 3 plied and I am happy with how she spins.
So what did Majacraft do to cause me to buy wheel number two? The brought out the Pioneer, an entry level, no bells and whistles, basic wheel that is in my price range. So I bought one of those too and today we are a two wheel household.
I am keeping Julia, DH and I discussed the relative merits of selling on a used wheel and he persuaded me it would be better to have two. I do love that man!
I do realise, by the way, that is I had saved up since I wanted a wheel I could now have a top of the range Majacraft for about the same price as these two seperate wheels LOL but the what would I get if I won the lottery? Why, a Matchless of course.
There's no pleasing some people!
The Pioneer, as yet unnamed, are getting used to each other, boy the Majacraft wants that yarn badly, it pulls it out of your hand way more than the Louet, LOL but we'll get used to each other and just look at the size of the bobbins! Now I need time to spin up allllllll my stash.
Happy happy joy joy!
I bought the Pioneer from Designscape Concepts as it worked out cheaper to buy it in NZ and pay for it to be shipped here even when you added on the VAT duty slapped on by customs than it was to buy it here.
I finished the pair and by doing the second one on the next size up dpns and blocking the first one HARD they fit. DD1 has swiped them and they are parading around school. I am a litle concerned she will loose them and be very upset, but at 15 yrs old she is probably too old to have them threaded through her coat on a cord. DD2 however is not! I have cast on for a pair for her and finished the bulk of the first one for her last night. I added a thumb this morning and it is blocking as we speak. I finally found a use for all the palstic inserts from baked potatoes that I have collected over the years, they're great for cutting up to block mittens. See! I knew they'd come in useful for something.
my swimming lesson knitting now that the FLS is off the needles is this shawl. It has an unusual construction, using increases along one edge only and then shrt rows to acheive a trangle with long wings which tie behind your back, great easy carry along project as its just gs. Miles and miles of gs!
I received the second part of my Zebisisdesigns fibre and spindle club yesterday - isn't that pretty :) Mmmmmm merino. I am having fun spinning n's fibre for this month too which is also merino. Not enough time to spin because I am knitting more again. But my new wheel is waiting for me at the parcel force depot - I got myself a Pioneer from majacraft and by importing it saved money, so it was a bargain, right? Right!
Meanwhile, if the Posh melee has meant you miss out on Posh Yarn then head over to Socktopus or Purlescence who are both stocking Cariad Yarns now, Posh's sister company, the blue skeins at the bottom of the photo were my consolation to myself this Sunday when I couldn't get any Posh :) the other cakes are from stash and I am going to make something wonderfully Emily, a cardigan, a throw, a wrap???? I don't know, what do you think?
I've done a tiny bit of fair isle knitting but never anything as 'difficult' as this, and I loved knitting it. Luckily the great pattern helped - here's the other side and the paw print and fish bones are just the best bits
I can see many more mittens in my future. This one (I still need to knit it's pair) used 13g of cream and 12g of black. It's a little small but I am going to block it hard and try to knit the other one more loosely. Only two evenings to do this so could have them ready for the weekend when snow is forecast. Brrr!
Mitts seem to be everywhere, Posh Dee has just sold out of her mitten kits and Natalie at the YArn Yard is on the verge of releasing her mystery mitten.
I am pressing on with my Tess d'Urberville shawl as it's all garter stitch and an easy chat and knit project. Did some moe this evening whilst educating 15 yr old DD about musicals - last week it was Sound of Music this week we watched the Wizzard of Oz and next week we have Oklahoma, lots of singing badly and pop corn :)
