Travel bag

I finally got around to using my new beautiful Muud Lexi travel knitting bag on a recent trip.

Lexi Case

Knitting bags

I these photos of how I was going to use the case, it was the perfect size for bringing on the plane as my carry-on. It even fit my book on the top and closed up nicely.

It was great for knitting, as my yarn stayed snugly in the case and I could keep it in my foot space on the airplane. However, the bright idea to put the needles in the lid did not work as planned. I lost abut 1/2 of my Rosewood size 1 needles on the way out, I am not even sure where they were lost, probably in the waiting area at the airport. At first, I thought that it was because they were so thin.

On the way home, I put the remaining size 1’s in the zipper area, and thought I was good. Not so. Each time I opened the lid, one or two of the other needles came out and rolled onto the floor. Luckily, nobody was in the seat between us, and my husband was able to rescue them. Their website shows DPN’s in there, but larger sizes than what I use.

Now this is how I am using the pockets, seems to be much more secure with a pencil, nail file, and crochet hook(s).

For the trip out, I had wound up a large skein of Guage Dye Works Colorwheel. One of my absolute favorites, as I love a rainbow as much as my Granddaughter.

I had ordered the larger skein with the intention of making a shawl. The pattern had to be really simple, since the color changes were so beautifully dramatic. I ended up choosing Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/boneyard-shawl

Here is a preview of where I am on this. The shawl pattern calls for a reverse stockinette stitch every 12 rows. I opted to do it every time the color changed. Since I am getting closer to the grey section, so I am now on all garter stitch. This is turning out really pretty. The back side is just as beautiful as the front.

#GuageDyeWorks

#Colorwheel

#Boneyardshawl

#StephenWest

Chicken #1

I finally decided to start knitting my chicken (rooster) yarns. The first one that I chose was Blue Splash Wheaton Rooster

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The yarn has so much variegation to it, that the sock pattern wanted to be fairly simple.

I chose just a simple 1×1 rib with a cable running down each side.

They came out so pretty. Saving for Christmas gift.

The contrasting heels and toes are a nice accent.

I really like this yarn and the colors. There is enough left for a pair of short socks.

Trying to stay away from the website!

#hueloco

#barnyardchicken

Butterflies

I finished these socks using yarn from MoonGlow Yarn Co.

I really struggled with a simple motif to put on the socks until I landed on the butterfly pattern. I had a bit of white MoonGlow yarn left from my previous socks.

Really happy how these turned out.

And now I am finishing working on the Chicken socks.

This past week someone decided to “gift” me with 2 boxes of yarn. No name, no note, no text or email. The yarn was a box of small remnants and a second box with more salvagable yarns (for someone), and a 1/2 finished narrow garter stitch scarf. Many not natural yarns. So this meant that I had to take an hour out of my time to throw most of it away and deliver the remainder to a resale shop. Took about an hour of time total that I don’t really have right now. It was not a pleasant surprise to see on my steps. I guess someone thinks that I would be happy with any yarn. They have obviously not seen my stash!

#moonglowyarnco

My Chickens

I have always wanted backyard chickens. I had been waiting for years until the roof got replaced, new fence put in and other things. I had even been planning a really cool Bungalow chicken coop. Now, with a full-time job, I am too busy and the occasional travels make taking care of them so much harder.

So, Hue Loco had these amazing sock sets modeled after Chickens and Roosters. You can see some of the current ones here. I really blame my S’nB buddies Mimi and Andrea for introducing me to these sets. And, I started ordering a couple of years ago. They were so pretty and I just admired them in my knitting room. Now is the time to fess up:

This is enough, and I need to start knitting them up. Next, after assessing the stock, was to choose which ones to start with. I narrowed it down to these 4.

and chose:

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I think that she did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of this lovely rooster.

The socks are knitting up beautifully. I am doing a 64 st sock, tubular cast-on with the first 12 rows in twisted 1×1 rib accent color. Then I increased 1 st each front side to allow for a 3×3 cable crossed in opposite directions, keeping the twisted rib. I will do the heel in the orange and the toes in the purple again. Depending on the yardage that I have, I may reverse the accent colors on the second sock.

And I need to stay away from the Hue Loco website!

#HueLoco

Organizing

My front hall closet has been sitting for years with the paint stripped with the heat gun, and new shelves, waiting for the stripper and painting. We finally got to this project the week before school started and continuing on for a long 3 weekends (the only time either of us had free to work on it). This is where I store a lot of my hand-knits, and they needed some organization.

I took them all out and sorted them according to weight and seperated out the shawls.

Then, I put them in bins, some open and some with zippered tops. A lot of knitting and memories here. One sweater even dating back to Freshman year of college (and it just so happens to still be one of my favorites).

They fit nicely into the closet and now it is much easier for me to choose a sweater since I placed them vertically in the bins rather than on top of each other. Easy to just pull out a bin and quickly look at what is there.

I have a few more sweaters in my clothes closets, but this is the bulk of what I normally wear.

Wisconsin Sheep and Wool

After a hiatus of many years (weddings and then Covid), we finally returned to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. The weather was beautiful, and the sheep events and markets as we had previously experienced. Since I did not take any classes, we went only for Saturday, and stayed the night at one of our favorite B&B’s, the Hamilton House in Whitewater. Highly recommended.

https://www.bandbhamiltonhouse.com/

We went through the vendors first, and then off to watch some sheep judging competitions

Next was the sheep dog trials. The event we watched was the open event with a lot of young dogs, none finished the course. Next year we need to time it to see the more experienced dogs. I am still amazed at how they are able to train the dogs to move the sheep.

And then it was back to the Market, this time to shop. I must admit that I was disappointed in the dimished quantities of spinning fibers. I was happy to see Handspun by Stefania there. Her booth was much smaller, but still amazing what she does with natural dyes. I did not end up purchasing anything, as I still have some of her fiber in my stash, but here is a little eye candy:

http://www.stefania-spins.com/

There were a lot of booths with kitchen sink dyers. I find that most have limited color theory knowledge and their combinations do not appeal to me. I found a vendor that I have purchased from extensively in the past, and was not wowed by their selection either. So, I purchased very little. This reproduction of a mid-1800’s loom was amazing.

These are the only 2 skeins that I purchased. A beautiful robins egg blue skein from Why Not fibers, near Traverse City, MI. They have been at YarnCo in past years and said that they were excited to be coming back in 2023. I think that this will make a beautiful shawl, my photo does not do the color justice.

All of these yarns are made from fiber that was raised in Michigan or another Great Lake State and then processed at one of our local Mills. These yarns are very special and limited in quantity based on the micro scale production of them. These yarns are a labor of love for us and other small businesses locally.

https://whyknotfibers.com/

The only other yarn that I purchased was this fingering weight Yak yarn from Tibet, from Reywa Fibers. This is destined to be a shawl for me.

Reywa means “hope” in the Tibetan language, and the desire to be a catalyst for hope is what drives our company vision. Our passion is to see Tibetan people benefit directly from the development and sale of the fiber their animals produce, enabling families to live healthy lives, full of hope for the future. With an emphasis on Education, Reywa profits have sponsored several children of Tibetan families. As Reywa grows, our ability to impact Tibetan communities will grow as well.

https://www.reywafibers.com/

And a pair of retractable scissors for me and a book for the grandchildren

We also stopped by a booth that was focusing on sustainable wardrobes and clothing. We purchased this book and magazine.

https://fibershed.org/

Lastly, I purchased a lovely leather bag from Muud. It is a great storage bag, with lot’s of compartments, and the yarn can come out between the 2 zippers. This was my splurge at the Festival. It reminds me of a vintage travel cosmetic bag.

Knitting bags

Sunday was a rainy, dreary day. On our way home, we stopped by Beloit College and were able to tour The Poewerhouse, a repurposed community powerhouse into an amazing student center by Gang Studios.

https://studiogang.com/project/beloit-college-powerhouse

And who can resist a used book store in a college town?

Michigan Fiber Fest

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Michigan Fiber Fest while spending the weekend in Michigan with my daughter’s family. We took my grandson and thought that he would be interested in the animals.

Apparently, it was not as exciting as we had hoped for. It didn’t help that he was eye level with many of the sheep bleeting out loudly.

It had been a few years since I had attended this event. I really like the fairgrounds, and there is ample room. However, the last time that I was there more animals were present, and there was a barn that had many types of animals that people could pet and talk with the owners. We even saw a camel and alpaca the last time. This year it was about the competitions. I am not sure if the reduced amount of animals has to do with Covid, less small farms, or what.

We saw rabbits, sheep and goats.

Since we had a 2 year old with us, I had limited time to spend at the market. I only bought a couple of items, as you can probably guess I need no more yarn. I did like these socks.

This beautiful knitted coat caught my eye.

And for a few minutes I had a lovely chat with a woman who was demonstrating her beautiful sock machine. I lust after one of these.

We did get my grandson a stuffed alpaca, absolutely necessary. He calls it Paca.

This weekend we are heading to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, I have always loved that fair and market. And I will only have my husband, so more time to meander through the barns and shop.

My first rugs

I finally finished weaving, then braiding my rugs. I am so stoked about these. I wish that there were a way for all of you to feel the drape and softness of these rugs. Once I got them off the loom, the next step was to braid the fringe. Instructions from the pattern were not very clear, and I could not find anything on a Google search. The directions included adding 1/2″ of waste yarn and to unravel slowly. So, I started at the left edge and unraveled the waste yarn, 6 threads at a time. It was a slow, tedious process, and I just developed a Zen attitude, either listening to a podcast, music or a TV show. My drafting table came in handy, the parallel rule holding down the rug, weighted by beautiful knitting books on the other side.

The seam ripper was a good way to carefully remove the yarn. Directions called for braiding for 2″ and have a guide to measure against. That is really not necessary, as all you need to do is count the number of cross overs, in my case being 25, then tie a knot to secure.

It is only by happenstance that this yarn made rugs a perfect match for my vintage 1913 bathroom.

I had added additional warp to be able to make 2 rugs. The second is shorter than I would have liked. I should have learned, as these instructions from this kit are very skinny on the warp length. Even with that, I have quite a bit of yarn left. After all 4 of these projects are completed, I will use the extra yarn to make more rugs.

#ArriannaFunk

#GistYarn

#Lada2021

Anne Marie

My long time (15 years!) Stitch ‘n Bitch knitting buddy is off on a new adventure. As part of it, she destashed some of her yarn and I was the lucky recipient of this lovely Wool/Alpaca blend from Rowan.

Even though I have not been posting as frequently as i would like, it has not stopped me from purchasing yarn, and books too. I will do my best to catch up on all of this in the next few weeks. One of the books that I purchased recently was Worsted – A Knitwear Collection Curated by Aimée Gille of La Bien Aimée. This is a lovely book with several beautiful projects, published by Laine. There are 11 patterns, all by different designers, using Corrie worsted yarn by la Bien Aimee. I love all of the photographs, and appreciate the ribbon page marker attached to the book.

But this project by Andrea Mowry is the one that caught my eye, and it appeared that I had just enough yardage. The sweater name is Andrea.

So I started working on this. Size 8 needles. The pattern is very well written, with several size options. If you are prefer chart reading, which I do, it is nice and clear. If you are a pattern reader, that option is there for you also. My only complaint is that the instructions for the abbreviations BC and FC appear to be missing, unless I missed something, but I looked over and over. They are essentially a front and back cross with a twisted knit stitch and a purl. I think that this would be difficult for some newer knitters. I did not see an errata on Ravelry.

When the traveling twisted stitches meet up, a crocheted bobble is placed.

It has been hot here the past few days, and this sweater is a warm one. Nonetheless, I am progressing along. If I had read the instructions through first, I would have learned that the pocket liners automatically become your gauge swatch, which would have saved me the trouble of the gauge swatch that I tried. I have left the skein of yarn attached to the front right and back, trying to decide if I want to make the armholes a bit larger, they seem like a tight fit. Making them a bit bigger would also have the benefit of stopping the cable pattern at a bobble, which to me feels more finished. The image below is my progress thus far, upside down.

Looking forward to finishing this. It is to the point that it is hard to travel with, so I will need to go back to a pair of socks that I have been working on.

#Worsted

#Andrea Mowry

#Andrea

Låda Part 3

I signed up last year for the Gist yarn Låda (pronounced low-da) 2021 quarterly subscription box for 4-shaft loom weavers, created by Arianna E. Funk and Gist Yarn. These patterns have introduced me to Droppdräll the Swedish word for Huckaback weaving.

Låda – Set of Four Patterns

I have made 2 of the 4, and working on the third now.

Here is a recap if my first weaving from this subscription, it is a shawl, although a bit stiff. I keep it on the porch for those cool nights. It was a good introduction to the technique. What I realized afterwards is that the patterns leave a lot of extra yarn, something that I tried to rectify in project #2. While the directions are good, I would have liked to have a community that was working on the patterns at the same time, or at least a place where I could see what others had made and discuss issues. for instance, there was no discussion in the patterns for how to add the tripled yarn in when you ran out. I ended up feathering in the 3 different strands sothat I did not have a large overlap. More direction there would have been appreciated.

The second project was towels. I absolutely love how these came out. Knowing that I was going to have extra yarn, I warped on for an additional towel. I also got a hand towel to hang in the kitchen. I use these daily in my main bathroom

Now I am working on project 3 – rugs. The techniques get more involved, albeit slowly. Here is my progress so far. Again, I warped enough to make a second rug.

For the rug, I had to wind 6 yarns together for the rug shuttle. Here is my trick, use wine bottles (they need to be full, you can drink after this part is completed) to hold the cones. worked perfectly.

And to separate the rugs, I needed selvedge yarn to make braids, so I used cardboard strips that I have for warping on the beam. I just wove a couple of plain rows in between each separator. Worked splendidly.

So far, this is my favorite project. But, I am really looking forward to the pillows next (see link above)

#ArriannaFunk

#GistYarn

#Lada2021