Knitting

FOs and Better Late than Never

/ LDSVenus / 8 Comments

I finished the latest of the Hats for Warmth project. I liked the colors, hope it will keep someone warm next winter. I really like the cotton yarn I got at Hobby Lobby, I love this Cotton. It’s very soft and this was the 2nd wash cloth I got from it with some left over, tho I’m pretty sure I’d lose a game of yarn chicken if I started another, time to buy some more :P. This is the Granny’s Favorite dish cloth pattern, you can tell it’s a diagonal knit with the stripes. I’m going to start, some time this week, the 2nd bobbin of my multi color tweed spin. Still not sure if I want to chain ply each bobbin separately to keep the colors separate and have two half skeins or just go ahead and do a fractal ply. That’s me, last min decisions!

I try to have a picture of the Robbins when they first come back for spring. But they are not helpful in that aspect. I saw the first one about 6 weeks ago but they were only out where I could see them when I was driving and that wasn’t helpful. I was parked at the drs office earlier this week and lo and behold one where I could get a picture!!! He was running back and forth staking out his territory. I don’t get them every year because they are not always worried about rather I can get their picture or not lol. I have a feeling the males out there looking now probably missed the boat on a companion this year :(.

I forgot to get pictures when I was out at the farm :(, but I will try hard to remember to do that this next week. In the mean time here is one they took at the farm. I am calling the alpacas the motley crew right now because they are in need of sheering, which happens next month lol, then they will look more dignified and a lot thinner, their fleece is very thick. Can you find Libby? She’s only about 7 months old and already the size of the adult alpaca. They changed the llama’s name from Belle to Libby because my son has an African grey parrot named Belle (who is a character). Libby’s registered (call) name is When Liberty Rings. Libby the Llama has a ring to it, lol. She is friendly, no fear and sweet.

FO (Finished Object for My Non Knitting Friends)

/ LDSVenus / 7 Comments

I finished the In Thirds dishcloth, free pattern on Ravelry. I really like the I love this Cotton by Hobby Lobby. It’s very soft and I like how the colors were laid out. Tho, like most cotton yarns, I imagine with repeated washings the colors will fade a lot over time. It says to use a size 8 needle but I like the fabric to be a little tighter knit for the dishcloths. Normally, because I knit a little loser, I would have just gone down one needle size but since I wanted it a little tighter than normal I went down 3 sizes to a needle size 5 and I like the fabric it makes better. I have enough for another one and maybe a 3rd one if I don’t mind playing a little yarn chicken :). I’m getting ready to cast on the 2nd one.

After the 18th I’ll share about something I don’t normally do but decided to bite the bullet and spend a little more money than I would normally allow my self to do on some knitting things. It’s kinda like people do for the Christmas yarn advent calendars. I’ll go into a little more detail when I talk about it after the 18th :). I got my first box and I’m so excited to share what was sent!

The weatherman says we have a storm, coming in the wee hours of tomorrow morning through tomorrow evening, that could produce “gorilla” hail, yeah the big stuff, but I think that will more than likely be in the state below us, tho I’m sure we will have some wind and rain. Take care everyone!

The Shepards Market and Some Loot!

/ LDSVenus / 3 Comments

The first picture is the “loot” I bought at the fiber show, I can’t believe I only bought one thing out of so many wonderful things there. This is some CVM, part of it was blended with some blue and light teal, the other part is the natural color roving. They came together for about 4 1/4 ozs. My plan is to blend it all together (slowly so I don’t get any neps in it.) CVM is very springy and tho not merino soft it is still next to the skin soft. I’ll post a picture after I blend it on my drum carder, hopefully I will do a good job and it will be beautiful :).

I started another dish cloth using the I Love This Yarn, cotton. First time using this cotton and so for I like it. I am knitting the In Thirds dishcloth it’s a free pattern on Ravelry and one of my favorites. I’m using my favorite needles for this, I’ve had them for years, it’s a nylon needle, size 5, I think the pattern calls for size 6 or 7, but I like the fabric I get using this. I don’t use them as dish clothes, I like to use them to put hot things on so I can handle them (like a bowl of hot soup I want to eat in my recliner while watching a favorite show. 😛

Have sure been enjoying the weather since the end of January, we got up to 80 this past Sunday but are in the 50’s and 40’s this week. We are in an El Niño weather pattern since last year, but starting in the fall the weather man says it turns into a La Niña, so will prepare for a colder snowier winter with coming winter, sigh.

Accountability Time, FO, WIP and Mail

/ LDSVenus / 15 Comments

I decided it’s time to do this. The dishcloth is one I have worked on for a while because it’s my mindless knit and I only work on it when I’m bored doing laundry at the laundromat or in a car doing some waiting. It’s the grandma’s favorite discloth pattern, you can find it on Ravelry. I use Sugar and Cream, Stripes, this color was Country Stripes and a size 5 needle. I knit a little looser than most so I generally go down one needle size but for this pattern I go down 2 sizes.

The next two pictures are wips (works in progress for my non knitter friends). The hat is one of the hats for warmth I do for the shelter. I like to use the Hobby Lobby yarn I Love This Yarn. It’s a worsted yarn and I like the stripes this makes on a hat. This color number 424 Green/Turquoise/Red. The diagonal scarf was a scarf-a-long I started with a good friend several years ago. She was killed in an auto accident and so I work this scarf off and on as my brain is ok with it. I’m on the 2nd skein, it’s also a mindless knit project. I don’t know where I got the pattern but it’s very easy. Because you do the increase and decrease on one row and just knit the next row, I put a progress keeper on the right side (increase/decrease row) so I remember to increase and decrease :P.

The next picture is a wip spinning project, this fiber is Pop Rox from Camaj Fiber Arts. Almost done with the first bobbin. I thought maybe I would spin all of it on one bobbin and then chain ply but I don’t think I will be able to get the other half on there. On the side of the bobbin, I laid out the rest of this half of the fiber for you to see, then I have another bobbins worth. So I will go ahead and make this a fractal spin, it’s going to my eye dr, who is a knitter, for her daughter a hat. 🙂

The next two pictures are things I bought for myself for Valentine’s day :P. The fiber was something that I didn’t need at all but when I saw it I thought oh my gosh look at those colors! I bought it from Fiber Love Diary I got the last one in this color, it’s a gray BFL base dyed over, color is called Dark Prism. I loved the jewel tones.

The next item was something I needed but had put off a long time getting because it not cheap for the bulky flyer and 2 extra bobbins (the flyer comes with one bobbin) and tax and shipping. I don’t really spin bulky yarn but I needed something that would hold more than 4 ozs for plying. 2 ozs on each bobbin (you can see my reg bobbin on my wheel in the 4th picture) when plied together is over full on the reg bobbin for anything over a fingering weight otherwise I’m stuck just spinning up to 4 ozs of fiber. I have also wanted a Wooly Winder, but could only get one, and I can get by without the Wooly Winder, it just makes things easier, but I needed a flyer with a bigger bobbin more, sigh. Next time :P. I forgot to say I bought the bulky flyer for my Kromski Polonaise at Yarn Barn in Kansas.

We are getting snow tonight, the weatherman said a trace to 2 inches but he was leaning toward the 2 inches, dang we just got all our snow from before melted. Oh well, it’s still winter, I’ll live, spring is almost here!!!

WIP Bulky Cabled Alpaca Hat

/ LDSVenus / 11 Comments

This WIP (work in progress, for my non knitting friends) hopefully soon will be an FO (finished object, again for my non knitting friends.). I started this a few weeks ago and the progress was not fun as I had eye surgery on both eyes 2 weeks apart about a month and 1/2 ago and seeing anything close was, well to blurry to see. I had an around the neck magnifying glass my daughter got for me but it made everything look 3D, lol. So I’d knit for a bit then put it down and the Ott light my son got me was awesome for light.  But last week I found a pair of my old glasses from 4 years ago and I can see through the midrange section to read!!  So I have started working on this hat again for my son-in-law, who gets to go out in this very cold weather to do farm chores with the alpaca. 

I had made him a hat some months earlier but it was a bit tight and even tho he said it a fine, it wasn’t fine to me, so this new one. The yarn is bulkier (yes the yarn is from their alpaca :)) and I went up a size needles so I wouldn’t have to adjust the stitch count, this should be correct, the pattern was written for a woman’s size and my son-in-law can’t wear that size very well.  Because the yarn is bulkier, I did not make this a fold up brim, it would just be too heavy. You see a new owl chain stitch counter on there. I had to order an XL one that had bigger rings for the bigger needles (size 11).  I love it, it keeps the count so I don’t have to go back and keep recounting as I get closer to the row for the cable, saves time and aggravation having to keep recounting. I get these from Twice Sheared Sheep . The link is to her best sellers so you can see some of the things she carries, but to see all her things just click the home link and then on the 3 horizontal bars on the top left of her home page. She has some for only up to 5 rows, and some that are in a circle if you don’t like the one going to 10 rows hanging down so far on your work. There is a little clip thing on it (you can see it on the 0 by the owl) and I suspect it is for counting crochet rows instead of using the rings that go on the knitting needle, but as a knitter I would use to put on the numbers to tell me how many times I’ve done the 10 rows in case I needed more than 10 rows so I wouldn’t lose count (think socks). Her things are pretty darn cool!

I go back next week for a vision check and to get updated glasses, so my sight should be adjusted back to normal, yea! 🙂

Hope everyone is staying warm, we had -30’s again last night and for tonight -20’s, but starting on Monday we get our midwinter thaw and will be in the 30’s woot woot!!!

Cowl is an FO, Won a Fiber Package from a Spinner on YouTube!

/ LDSVenus / 11 Comments

First is the cowl I finished for my son’s mother-in-law for Christmas. She and I exchange gifts every year and last year I made her a headband so her ears would be warm when she went walking and I wanted the cowl to match. I used the dandelion design from the headband pattern and designed where to put it, how many stitches to make the cowl, how many stitches before starting each pattern and between so the pattern ended up right at the end and staggering them. I’m not really a math person so it always takes me a while to design where to put designs, so I don’t do them very often. I had to frog this several times until I got the count and placement right.

The bottom picture is a package from Fiber Love Diary on YouTube. She gets a spinning package from Paradise Fibers free for their Fiber of the month club to show to her followers and then she buys one to give away. I won the drawing this month from last month’s package, woo hoo!! It was a nice one. I really like the fiber that Paradise Fibers sells. For fiber there were 3 2oz bags of their new chunky multi merino blends (and the card shows all the colors that they have), 1 oz of autumnal chunky merino blend and a sample of their whitest white merino (most “white” wool tends to be a little on the creamy color scale), plus a purple bent nose darning needle, 3 harvest inspired progress keepers, a stash tea and a sticker of their ewe mascot. The fiber colors are very pretty. Lots of merino to spin and I can always use another darning needle for weaving in the ends of my knitting.

I’ve started another hat for my son in law, the one I made him is just a tad tight. I’ll post progress as I go.

My fiber optic Christmas tree quit working so I had to order a new one, I bought it used in 2005, so I can’t complain, it lasted a long time. I wasn’t sure they still made fiber optic Christmas trees but happily they do!!!

The Color of Fall and an FO

/ LDSVenus / 4 Comments

These are all shots of the beautiful fall colors I was able to take this week. Well the 2nd picture I took last week and a week later I took a picture of the same trees (3rd picture) and you can see their color progress. Amazing how fast the leaf colors change and all the colors they make.

The last picture is the FO. This is the Classic Cables Hat and Mittens by Destiny Meyer pattern, (I only knit the hat) that I was getting ready to start, link to my post on this. It fit Ev, but because the size for this was for a woman’s medium and I was knitting this for a man I used the larger needle size that it mentioned in the needles section for a larger or slouchy hat and added an extra cable vertically to make it a little longer. Also if I make this for him again, I will also add about 1 & 1/2 inches to the cuff so it will sit well below his ears when it’s folded up, men have larger heads than women ;P, he said it was fine the way it was, but I like things to be better than fine :P. A link to her shop can be found here, this pattern is on sale on this page of her patterns, but I don’t know how long the sale lasts :).

Cabled Hat for Ev out of Their Alpaca Yarn

/ LDSVenus / 6 Comments

About a month ago Ev handed me a couple of skeins of his bulky alpaca yarn from Everest (one of their male alpacas – he has the softest fiber! This yarn is actually a bit lighter than what shows) and asked me if I could knit him a hat and I said of course, he’s such a sweetie how could I not! My son told him it didn’t have to be fancy it was just to stay warm during our very cold winters for feeding the alpaca but I disagree, if it’s a fancy yarn it needs to be a fancy hat :P. This is the paid for pattern for bulky yarn I chose. I got the yarn wound into a ball and am ready to start knitting it. Was going to start it today but got distracted and will start it tomorrow.

This coming Saturday I will be at the farm spinning because it’s Alpaca Days for all the local alpaca farms. Suppose to rain but my son will have me set up in the garage so my wheel and I don’t get wet. So glad it’s cooled down, this summer was hot and oppressively humid!!!

My hay fever has started, UGH! Hope everyone is doing well!

Flax Baby Sweater Done :)

/ LDSVenus / 10 Comments

I’ve been working on this Flax baby sweater for a while, have been a bit unmotivated for a bit with my knitting and spinning, but working on that. The baby is born and my friend sent me a picture, he’s cute as a button. He will enjoy this this fall and winter. 🙂

I’ve started another baby sweater for a baby that has already arrived as well, but it’s too hot for a sweater so I try not to feel too bad that it’s not very far along at the moment, but she will enjoy it this fall and winter as well. I’ll post more about the pattern and yarn and my start on another day.

On the 1st of July starts the Tour de Fleece :). I will try to spin a little bit everyday that the bikers from the Tour de France ride. But I’m not gonna beat myself up if I miss a day or two, but gonna work on it. I’ll post on Saturday with some pictures of fiber I am going to spin :).

Hope everyone is doing well!

New Knitting Jewelry :)

/ LDSVenus / 8 Comments

I treated myself to, what I have come to call my stitch markers and progress keeper, knitting jewelry :P. I order these from Adore Knit , she makes really cute stitch markers and progress keepers. I found some Snoopy things I didn’t have (big Peanuts fan) and she had some really nice tape measurers, I always misplace mine (even tho I should have one in all of my project bags). I really like these. I also splurged and bought a really cute knit/purl bracelet, you can see it on the back of and behind the dark tape measure, my photo skills lack some serious ability, but you can see them on her site, she shows them much better than I did. It is really pretty so now when I say knitting jewelry, it really is! She included a gift pin for my project bag and I had to show off the super cute netting bag with the hearts she put some of the stitch markers in. Thanks Steph!!

I was hoping for a little bit longer spring before summer temps came. We’ve been in the lower 80’s during the days and 60’s at night this week, tho the weather man says it should be back in the 50’s and 60’s during the days and 30’s and 40’s at night next week. The poor birds must be really mixed up!