I finally finished spinning this Merino braid from…

I finally finished spinning this Merino braid from JulieSpins.

The yarn plied up beautifully with the overall feel of a soft orange or tangerine, but upon inspection and when knitting with it, the yellow, cream, pink and orange are more distinct.

 

The finished yarn is being knit into the Marigold shawl by Susanna IC, which is in the publication The Sock Report, compiled by Janel Laidman.  Having less yarn than required for the pattern requires careful weighing and measurements, and reducing the length by a bit.  Still, I will be cutting the yardage incredibly close.  I am knitting this with the full knowledge that I may have to rip half of it back and knit it smaller.  Luckily the shawl is knit out form the center for the 2 sides, and I have my yarn almost equally split.

 

 

Equinox

These socks were almost finished for the Equinox, they were a gift to Dan for Christmas, I had to give him one sock and finish the second on Christmas day.  The pattern is from the Janel Laidman Knitterati 2012 sock club.  The detail was moved from the front and back to the sides of the sock, I felt that it looked more manly that way.  They are a bit tight to pull over the heel, and I am not sure if that is a factor of switching the cable pattern to the side.  Otherwise they are a nice fit with ribbing on the top and bottom of the foot.  The cashmere in the yarn doesn’t hurt either.

Pattern: Equinox
Pattern Source: Janel Laidman sock club 2012
Yarn: String Theory hand dyed Caper sock yarn
Needles: US 1
Date Started: 12/?/12
Date Finished: 12/25/12
Finished Dimensions: Men’s large

Finished

Just in time for my friend Sheila’s birthday party, I finished blocking the leaf shawl and weaving in ends.  I chose to block it with a ruffled edge, which I think was the intended result.  My blocking photo is very fuzzy, but wanted to include it for those who are making the shawl, there were a couple of “extreme blocking” examples on Ravelry which seemed to distort the pattern into something that it did not want to be.  That given, this was a challenging shawl to block out, and in retrospect I should have used my blocking wires.

And here is my friend Julie modeling it at the party:

Pattern: Dunabe
Pattern Source: Janel Laidman’s Knitterati Sock Club 2012, September pattern
Yarn: Handspun from Fiber Optic roving
Needles: US 6
Date Started: 10/ /12
Date Finished: 10/19/12
Finished Dimensions: “Shawlette size”

Leaf Shawl

I was working on this on election-eve, while stressing about the outcomes, drinking some wine, and being very tired.   Not a good combination for lace knitting on the non-intuitive section of the chart.  The last few rows really have required concentration on my part.

In the next couple of days I will block this out, not sure how the very curly edge will come out, I have seen it blocked a couple of different ways, neither of which I was excited about.  Lots of time, many pins and concentration will be required.

 

Pattern: Dunabe
Pattern Source: Janel Laidman’s Knitterati Sock Club 2012, September pattern
Yarn: Handspun from Fiber Optic roving
Needles: US 6
Date Started: 10/ /12
Date Finished: 10/19/12
Finished Dimensions: TBD

Danube

These socks are from the Janel Laidman Knitterati sock club, July shipment.  The yarn is Lillian from Dirty Water DyeWorks, and I just love it.  The sock pattern has a twisted rib foot bottom which much to my surprise is very soft and squishy with the added benefit of really snuggling up nicely to my foot. I love these socks!

 

Pattern: Dunabe
Pattern Source: Janel Laidman’s Knitterati Sock Club 2012, July pattern & yarn
Yarn: Dirty Water DyeWorks, Lillian
Needles: US 1
Date Started: 9/?/12
Date Finished: 10/19/12
Finished Dimensions: Women’s size medium

I Love Yarn Day!

Well, duh!  Anyone who knows me realizes that is the truth.  Apparently this was decided on as a theme day by The Craft Yarn Council.  The only problem with that is that the people who follow The Craft Yarn Council already love yarn, otherwise…  Like having an I love beer day for home brewers.  Couldn’t they think of something more creative.

But, since I do love yarn, I have this luscious new yarn that just came as part of the Knitterati sock club by Janel Laidman.  I have made one other pair of socks with the Caper Sock yarn from Sting Theory, and loved them.  The color is very close to the colors that I posted the other day which I received from the CookieA sock club, so I guess I will be getting in touch with my earthy fall color side this next month.  This package also came with a note card, some stitch markers, and a clear plastic bag from Janel’s new magazine, The Sock Report.

And, I am thinking of spinning up this fiber from Ashland Bay to coordinate with the recently completed Woolgatherings spin.  The beauty of this plan is that I can always get more of this colorway if needed, and I think that it is an interesting match.

First Sock Syndrome

 

Second Sock Syndrome is a complaint of many sock knitters.  They seem to be anxious to try out a new pattern, and knit the first sock up, only to have the second appear less interesting to knit, and it languishes.  That was never a problem for me, as I was either anxious to finish a quick knit, or had conquered the complexities of a more difficult pattern and the second sock seemed easy by comparison.  Lately I have a new problem however, I seem to be starting and not finishing any first socks.  There is a good reason for all, but bothersome none-the-less.

 

The beautiful blue socks are from the Knitteratus Scok Club by Janel Laidman, I love the pattern, the twisted rib on the bottom of the foot is so squishy and comfortable.  Almost done with sock #1 of theses.  The green pair is from the same club, a February installment.  I could not travel with these socks and follow the pattern, so they remained at home and got abandoned when I needed the needles for a pair of traveling knitting socks (ie, a less complicated pattern), and they sit dangerously off needles, and without any stitch holders to hold them in place.  The lime green pair is from the CookieA sock club, and while the pattern is interesting and different from anything I had tried, it broke one of my precious Lantern Moon needles, and I switched to metal.  I am now waiting on some Signature needles to finish these up.

I have never had this many started socks before.  And lastly, there is the pair of CookieA socks, using some handspun yarn.  These will be for my husband, but I could not finish them while away, as I needed to get reinforcing thread for the toes.  Hope to finish these up soon.

 

Improvising

 

Great design solutions are often the result of a mistake or problem that really makes you think outside the box.  Such was the case with this mystery shawl that I finished knitting. The pattern was given in 3 clues, and all I knew was that I needed 400 yards of a sock or fingering weight yarn.  I chose some handspun from my Fiber Optic fiber, from a pencil roving (Blackberry Jamble), Merino/silk blend.

This was the first hank that was spun on my new Jensen wheel, prior to my wrestling some semblance of control over it, and the spinning was not as even as I have come to expect from myself, nor was the yardage as good as I would have liked.  So, I started the project with 396 yards of a somewhat unevenly spun, yet gorgeous yarn.  Towards the end of the knitting I knew that I had to finish it off with another fiber, even though my yardage was technically correct, the larger gauge of yarn and unevenness ate up the skein more quickly.  Luckily I had some singles left on a bobbin from the blue-green Fiber Optic gradient, and since they were from the same designer, the colors matched up perfectly.  I Navajo plyed the blue and had just enough to finish off the shawl.

Blocking really showed off the colors and the pattern well, and any irregularities in my spinning seem to disappear.

It is really more of a “shawlette”, not my garment of choice, but this will make a beautiful scarf under a Fall coat, or a light cover on a summers eve.

 

 

Blocking is Everything!

I finally gave a proper blocking to my doily lap blanket, otherwise known as the Hemlock Ring Blanket,  that I made a couple of years ago.  It looks so much better than the lump that has been sitting on my couch for the past 2 years.  Blocking is everything!

And I am almost finished with my KAL mystery scarf project from Janel Laidman’s Knitterati sock club.  3 rows from the end and I run out of handspun yarn!  Luckily I love Fiber Optic so much that I had the end of a blue-green gradient as a single.  I Navajo plyed it (with a couple of practices), and have what I think will be a lovely blue ending to this scarf.

Catch-Up

I have gotten a bit behind in my sock club knitting the past couple of months.  I hope to rectify that shortly, but first let me show you what arrived in mid-July, a beautiful blue yarn by Dirty Water DyeWorks, color : Fathom, along with another project bag, and a Sock Report clear bag.  Dirty Water  also carries the cutest project bags from Three Bags Full, I think that they may be ones that I spotted with CookieA when I was in her classes.  Definitely have to put those on my wish list!

Instead of casting this on for socks first, I opted to go with the mystery KAL scarf project.  I am using some of my own handspun, Blackberry Jamble pencil roving from Fiber Optic:

It is knitting up so incredibly nice.  I love spinning this pencil roving, this was my third hank of it, and the first thing that I spun on my new Jensen wheel, I got 496 yards, so I am hoping it is enough-otherwise the edging will be bound off with another fiber.  My spinning is not as even as I am able to get just a couple of months later, but beautiful non-the-less.  I would highly recommend this fiber for beginning knitters, as it is easy to draft out.  I have almost finished with Clue #2 of 3, having had a very bad false start where I knit garter stitch instead of stockinette well into the second clue.

And finally from the CookieA 2012 sock club, this gorgeous green sock yarn from Enchanted Knoll Farm (color: Genmaicha), and looking at her webpage I see lots of luscious fiber.  This is the good/bad thing about these sock clubs, I am introduced to fibers and vendors that I would not otherwise find, the bad news is that I am introduced to new sources of wool and yarn.  My difficulty with this month will be which of the 2 sock patterns to knit with, they are both so cute.  One however is a different type of sock knit, so I will most likely attempt that one.