KnitGrills gradient

Previously I wrote about this beautiful fiber that I purchased from Fiber Optic that was dyed up for the KnitGrills podcast.  I loved these colors and it was a different combination than I had previously tried or had in my stash.

Spinning for 2 weeks, on a very consistent basis, I was able to get 1,220 yards of a 2 ply light fingering weight yarn.  It required 2 separate bobbins to wind it up together, but I wanted to wind them as one big center pull ball, the colors look so amazing that way, and I have my new wonderful ball winder to accomplish this with.

Then I searched for a pattern that would both maximize the use of this lovely yarn, and was interesting for me to knit, and most importantly would show off the gradient to the best use.  Centrino was the pattern that I finally settled on, by Laura Nelkin.  It is a circular shawl, started at the center obviously, I have been busy knitting away and enjoying the pattern.  The center section was completed with the blue portion of my yarn, which was not as even and fine as the rest, that worked out well as it is a more dense part of the pattern.

Currently I am working on the lace section and even though the photograph does not show it well, the purples are coming out in this part.  The merino/silk blend is so beautiful, but very hard to photograph the intricacies of the colors, especially the purples.

 

Languishing No More

My list of unfinished projects is way too long, and as much as I hide the bags away when I am bored or frustrated with a project, my Ravelry notebook is a constant reminder, in a good way, of all that I need to finish before starting a new large project.  This shawl, Roxanne mystery knit-along, was one such project.  The yarn was purchased in Michigan last year, prior to really only wanting to use my handspun for shawl projects. I knit it up, and then put it away unfinished, and when I looked at it all I needed to do was cast-off.  My recollection is that I was mulling over whether I had enough yarn to add a couple of more rows.  I cast off, and blocked this, now it is sitting in the gift pile.  Wearing my handspun shawls has really spoiled me.  The colors are not pleasing to me, and in looking at other finished objects for this pattern, it really works much better with a solid or semi-solid yarn.

Pattern: Roxanne Mystery Knit-Along
Pattern Source: Online
Yarn: Schaeffer Yarn Company Anne
Needles: US 6
Date Started: 16/16/11
Date Finished: 12/7/12
Finished Dimensions: “Shawlette size”

Lazy Katy

I finished knitting this shawl with the pattern that was gifted to me by my Ravelry Birthday twin,  ActiveNana.  The pattern name is Lazy Katy, and I love the shape.  I will say that the translations left something to be desired, but with the notes of others, I was able to figure it out.  I used some handspun, color Mediterranean that I purchased in 2011 at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Festival, and spun up this past year.

 

Pattern: Lazy Katy
Pattern Source: Online
Yarn: Handspun
Needles: US 4
Date Started: 10/ /12
Date Finished: 12/2/12
Finished Dimensions: “Shawlette size”

For my friend’s Birthday, I gave her the choice of these 2 shawls, and while she loved the purple color better, this was definitely a more interesting shape.  One Birthday gift becomes another.  I love the shape also, and see this being knit up again in the future, perhaps with a gradient.

 

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”

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.

 

 

Echo Flower Shawl

Please excuse another clothesline model.  I should have taken photos when my daughter was home a couple of days ago.

This is the Echo Shawl pattern, a free pattern on Ravelry.  It has a few nupps at the bottom, they no longer scare me, in fact I have embraced them.  Originally I had wanted more of the green at the bottom, but had to content myself with the look of a green “dipped” edging.  I had already ripped the entire border back twice (40% of the knitting each time).  Now I have a bit of the green to add to some mittens one day.  This fiber was my first gradient spin, I loved the colors and wanted to wait until my spinning could do justice to the fiber.  While knitting it up I noticed lots of irregularity, I have gotten much better since last fall when this was spun.  It has been hanging in my craft room, and the colors were calling out to me this spring.

Pattern: Echo Shawl
Pattern Source: Free Ravelry pattern by Jenny Johnson Johen
Yarn: Handspun from Fiber Optic merino/silk gradient.  Color: Blush to Celery
Needles: US 5
Date Started: 6/14/12
Date Finished: 7/3/12
Finished Dimensions: 30″ tall, 66″ wide

Modifications:  I added several repeats of the main pattern until I had used up more than half of the fiber (16 I think).  Then started the border,  & after the end, added another repeat of the flower petal, 2 rows of stockinette, and then a self-designed row with nupps, ending with the suggested bind-off.  This actually worked out great, as it pulled the V from the border nupp area out nicely when blocked.  I would repeat these changes again if I were to knit it.

Maximizing

I am loving this shawl as it knits up.  It as addictive as a good Fair Isle pattern, where you want to keep going just one more row to see how it will look.  The color transitions keep me engaged.

My second skein of this fiber was not plyed very tightly, so I put the hank on my swift and quickly sent it back though my wheel in the plying direction.  Then I used my ball winder to take it off the bobbin and wind it into a cake, and to even out the twist, I had the winder about 20 feet away from my wheel.  I choose not to set the replyed twist in this yarn, I think that it will be fine knitting it up just from the wound cake. I will be knitting from the opposite color end this time, starting with the blush color and the shawl will hopefully end in the green.

I have almost finished with the first section of the Echo Flower Shawl, and I really want to maximize the length and use the most of my handspun possible. To achieve that I know that I need to save approximately 40% of the total yardage for the border (based on comments on a KAL thread for this shawl), so I am installing life lines at the end of my next 2-3 repeats so that if I do need to frog back, I will not be picking up 100’s of stitches willy-nilly.  I am going to try to finish with the first skein, and the pink section of the second skein, which is also a good transition point to the border.

To install a lifeline:

• It works best if you are putting the lifeline on a purl or non-pattern row (if not available, make the lifeline at the most logical place).  I am doing mine at the end of the pattern repeat, which happens to be a purl row.
• Find a yarn that is thinner and a contrast color to your project.  It also helps if you use a cotton yarn if the project is in wool, and it will then slide out evenly without sticking to the stitches.
• Do not cut the end of your lifeline until you have captured all of the working stitches.  Work directly off the skein or spool.
• Thread a blunt end needle and run the thread through all of the stitches from left to right.  Do NOT include any stitch markers unless you want to take them off the needle on the next row and keep them with the lifeline.
• When all stitches are threaded, make sure that the thread is longer than the garment and tie to the knitted fabric a couple of rows below at both ends.
• Knit the rest of your project, and if you need to rip back for any reason, you have secured that row.  When ripping back, I like to pick up the last row by unknitting my stitches one at a time while I put them back on the needle.

I wish that I had used a cotton crochet thread or a thin cotton knitting yarn instead of the heavy sewing thread.  It would have made it easier to not catch up the lifeline on the next knit row.

This is a good video tutorial that I also found on YouTube.  I did try the tape method, and could not get it to work.  And I do not have the Knitpicks interchangeable needles to work her other method, but perhaps one of you does.

Lots of Wool

3 boxes full!  Last post I was talking about lots of color, this time it is just lots of wool filling up my entryway.  Remember the lamb fleece that I was given earlier this year, a combination of Hampshire and Suffolk lambs?  While not normally a spinner’s go-to fiber, my resource books tell me that they are often over-looked by spinners and make a great yarn even though the sheep are raised mainly for the meat.  The Illinois Wool and Fiber Mill was processing it for me, and I thought that I would not have it until this Fall.  I was on a scouting trip with a friend of mine for her tour company, City Ventures, which is taking a trip to this mill and Trudi’s Farm this fall (an amazing sustainable farm with beautiful gardens and orchards and a wonderful Salvage Hall all made with recycled materials), I hope that I am available to attend this trip.  When Pam mentioned that I was coming along for the preview, Jane made sure to finish up my roving.  Not that I needed it.

It is very pretty, 2 boxes of an off-white,

And 1 box of a beautiful grey.

I think more than enough to spin for a sweater!

On the knitting front, I am making progress on my Echo shawl, using a gradient from Fiber Optic, Blush to Celery.  I have learned a lot since spinning this, I have 2 balls of gradients.  In the future, I will spin The two braids without splitting them, and then ply those together to get a much longer gradation. This shawl will go from Celery to Blush then back to Celery.

While in Marengo, we stopped off at The Fold, as I was in need of size 5 long circular knitting needles to continue this shawl.  Hoping to get some Lantern Moon needles, Tony had these  ChiaoGoo metal needles to offer instead.  I am not normally a fan of metal needles, but these may have changed my mind, the point is very sharp for lace work, and in this shawl trying to K3 tog with a 9 stitch increase is a challenge.  While I have only knit a few rows using them, I am liking the way they work very well.  Toni also graciously loaned me some signature size 1 DPN’s to try until the Midwest Fiber and Folk next week.  Amazing since, she offered out of the blue, barely knowing me—and they are very expensive.  Will have to think of something special to take back with them…perhaps some homemade jam.  I love the trust and honesty that I continue to find in the knitting/spinning world.

Little Wing

I finished the Little Wing Shawl and blocked it out.  Ethan took photos for me.  I wish that I had enough yarn to make the shawl larger.

Project Specs

Pattern: Little Wing
Pattern Source: Knitterati Sock Club by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Handspun from Fiber Optic pencil roving.  Color: Honeysuckle
Needles: US 5
Date Started: 5/26/12
Date Finished: 6/4/12
Finished Dimensions: 30″ tall, 42″ wide

And I finally finished the first clue for the May KAL mystery socks.  Clue 2 came out LAST Friday, and Clue 3 today.  I am behind, but should be able to speed up on these.  I like the color knit up much better than I did in the skein.  I continue to remain a fan of the top down shock however.

The Sock Report

The Sock Report is a new eMagazine, the brainchild of Janel Laidman, a favorite designer of mine.  It is a free bi-annual magazine devoted to socks and knitting which uses sock yarn.  And as every sock knitter knows, or if you ever start knitting socks,  it is easy to build up a stash of sock yarn.  After all, it only takes one skein to make a pair of socks, so you are not committed to purchasing a sweaters worth of yarn.  Also, one always needs to have extra colors on hand for colorwork or fancy toes.  It makes a great souvenir from a vacation.  Your husband doesn’t notice as much with one small skein at a time entering the house. And then, when you start spinning, you have even more fingering stash to use up, again in smaller quantities as you try all of the wonderfully dyed fibers available.  This magazine is right up my alley.  Here are some of my favorite projects:

This color combination reminds me of my recent Laidman shawl:

Doesn’t the pink gradient version look like my handspun?

And of course, since I have so much handspun to knit, I was immediately drawn to the shawls.

This shawl has been on my list since I first saw it.  It was in her club from last year, Arcadia:

And there are lots of socks of course, I really want to knit a pair of these:

And fun things too…

As you can see, the photography is beautiful.  There are articles to read, new yarns to discover, and even a fun contest.

One pattern for $6.50, or the whole set for $16.

Off to read more!