Yarn

New Child’s Flax Sweater and Some New Progress Keepers!

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Before I start, just wanted to say, I didn’t forget Easter.  I celebrated Easter on the phone (conference call) with some members of my church, it was nice.  I just didn’t get on the computer afterwards.  Hope everyone had a good Easter, even tho we were all physically distancing ourselves.

I did finally get a picture of my Spring Robin :).  He kept his back to me so I didn’t get that beautiful red breast, but there he is :).

I didn’t get around to posting 1/2 way through this new Flax knit but here it is all finished.  Still using Hobby Lobby’s Yarn Bee Soft & Sleek, colorway Violet Stripe.  I think I neglected to say in my previous Flax sweaters my needle sizes etc.  It calls for a worsted/aran yarn and the one I am using is worsted.  I generally have to go down a size needle to get correct gauge because I am a looser knitter, but I went down two sizes on the body and sleeves and one size on the neck and cuffs.  So I used a size #5 on the ribbing and cuffs and a size #6 on the body and sleeves.  I’m sorry I don’t know what the mm sizes are :(, I like the fabric it created much better.  I used a 16 inch circular on the neck and body and 9 inch circular on the sleeves and cuffs.  I do like the way the color blocks on this yarn and pattern :).

I think my next project will be some more of those cute lace bookmarksI made 2 years ago.  They are a free pattern and the link for those is on my linked page.

I did some spinning on my balcony today, since it was about 60F.  It was nice to sit outside and enjoy a peaceful spin :).  I’m working on the second bobbin for the white wool/alpaca I am spinning.  I am having to have someone to make new bobbins for my Rick Reeves wheel, the other ones I had made didn’t fit and they didn’t have the metal piece in the middle to protect them while I spun.  I found someone who specifically makes them for this wheel.  Hopefully I can order them next month.

And as you can see, I bought some more progress keepers from CharmingMinis , they are sooooo cute, her artistry with polymer clay is amazing!! She always sneaks in a extra gift.

Hope everyone is staying safe and that we get back to normal soon, at least it’s getting warm!

New Flax Baby Sweater Finished :)

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Flax Baby Sweater 3d  Finished this baby sweater Flax by Tin Can Knits, newborn to 4XL sizes.  I love this yarn, Hobby Lobby’s Yarn Bee Soft and Sleek, colorway Pink Stripe.  This pattern is is a top down so no sewing seams and is pretty easy to knit and the yarn did all the hard work for color.  The I love the way the stripes are blocks on the smaller diameter sweater.  I did have to do a little color management on the sleeves but not a lot.  I will definitely be knitting this pattern and using this yarn again. 🙂  Now to decide what I want to work on next :).

I hope everyone is staying well and finding ways to be entertained.  My knitting and some old TV series I use to watch a long time ago that they have on Roku keeps me busy :).  I’ve started using my elliptical machine again cos it just seems easier than going out for a walk lately.  My legs were sure sore for a few days after I started it again, sheesh.

Flax Infant Sweater and SNOW

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I am working on the Flax sweater for an infant for a friend (size 6 months to 1 year.)  The Flax pullover sweater is a free pattern by Tin Can Knits and it’s a really easy sweater to knit and goes from sizes newborn to 4XL.  I am at the bottom ribbing on the body, I will be starting the sleeves tomorrow :).  It’s done from the top down so there won’t be any sewing things together.  🙂  I am using I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby and size 5 (for the neck ribbing) 16″ circular Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles (I am loving the Karbonz they are mostly carbon fiber with brass tips so they are not super slippery like metal needles, I am not a fan of reg metal needles tho sometimes that is what I have) and size 7 16″ Knit Picks Radiant Wooden circular needles for the body  (wood needles are always my first choice), and a size 7 9″ Circular Chiagoo bamboo circular needles for the sleeves and size 5 9″metal Chiagoo circular needles for the sleeve ribbing..  All are fixed needles and not interchangeable, the interchangeables of the needles I like are pretty expensive :P.

You can also see from the pictures that we have had our first and 2nd snow for this winter, sigh.  The first snow was 3 inches on Monday night and the 2nd one was 2 more inches last night.  Monday nights snow mostly melted on Tuesday because it got up to 40F.  Last nights snow is still on the ground because it only got up to 34F.  Poor trick or treaters, it’s in the upper 20’s right now and is suppose to be 20 over night :(.   I am not ready for winter, fall isn’t even over yet!!!

If you live somewhere where it’s already getting cold, stay warm!

Another Fractal Spin Done!

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I wasn’t sure at all about the colors when I blended them on my blending board, just playing around with colors from a bag of various colored bits of roving that had been given to me.  The first bobbin (on the right) was 2 shades of orange (med orange and a light orange that looks yellow, but it’s not.)  The 2nd bobbin was a repeating range of complimentary colors to the oranges.  So I put together the colors I thought might blend together the best and there we have it, these were the rolags I made with the fiber.  I am very pleased with the final skein of yarn :).  My next spin will be some white roving (not sure what the sheep breed is, but it might be merino) and blend it on my blending board with an alpaca batt I have .  I will either kettle dye it or play around and try to make it a gradient when I am done spinning it .  It will probably be sometime next month before I start it, I have knitting I need to finish first.   I’m glad I got the blending board put together, it’s offered me a lot more creativity with colors and ability to bend different fibers together. 🙂

**Forgot to say this ended up being 368 yards and 90 grams, a good fingering weight. I’m thinking fingerless mitts :).

Spinning Experiment and It’s Yarn!

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I gave my Kromski Polanaise spinning wheel a work out this week and got a skein of yarn done!  I have always struggled with left over singles on a bobbin when I’m done plying, so I thought (after I started of course and was on my 2nd bobbin) that I was going to weigh the 3rd empty bobbin I had to see how much the bobbins weighed.  Then I would weigh each of the singles when I thought I had them about half full (always hard for me to judge) and see if I could get close to not having much left on one of the bobbins after plying the two singles together.  As you can see the first bobbin weighed 101 grams and the 2nd bobbin was 93 grams, so I took 8 more grams of the fiber and added it to the 2nd bobbin.  They both weighed 101 grams.  The empty bobbin for plying was 53 grams.

So I plied the two singles and ended up with 139 grams, and I thought, um, how is that, oh yeah the weight of the 2nd bobbin.  I weighed the now empty 2nd bobbin, it was 57 grams, ugh didn’t take into consideration that the bobbins might not weigh the same.  So all in all the 1st and 2nd bobbins weighed 57 grams each and the 3rd bobbin that I used to ply them with was 53 grams.  I ended up with 90 grams (202 yds) of plied yarn after it was washed.  It looks like a light sport weight yarn.  I ended up with only 1 yd and 6 inches of left over singles on one of the bobbins, so my experiment was successful.  I know the differences between the amount of the singles on each bobbin will always be there because of the inherent inconsistent spinning for hand spun yarn, but I’m pleased over all with how it worked out and how to cut down on left over singles on a bobbin. 🙂

Off to find the perfect pattern for a scarf for my friend, and then on to my next spinning project :).

Hope everyone is having a great Spring.  We have had rain for most of our days throughout this Spring.  I dream of sunshiny days.  I am not a rain person, one reason I don’t live in the northwest coastal areas, I need the sunshine!  The few days we have had that were dry, sunny and warm enough to be outside on the balcony without high winds, had me outside on my balcony spinning on my spinning wheel , it’s a peaceful thing to do.  Hope you find a peaceful thing to do too. 🙂

Spinning on the Kromski Polonaise and a New Project.

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With the help of the Kromski Raverly group and a local friend, I was able to get the Polonaise configured to be a scotch tension drive, thankfully it comes with both options :).  The pictures do not do it justice, it is a dark mahogany color but looks like a walnut color in the pictures.  It is portrayed a little better in the picture of the singles I am spinning tho’ it still does not show the dark mahogany color as it is, it is really beautiful.  It spins like a dream and I am enjoying spinning on it immensely.  The fiber is some super wash merino that I had dyed some time back when I spun a skein for a friend.  I am spinning this skein to make a scarf or cowl (we need those here in the winter :P) for Marge’s sister (also a friend).  Something for her to think about her sister when she wears it.

Changing Staircases  I also cast on a new project.  Was going to make this last year for Christmas for a family member but I fell and broke my hand so that didn’t happen.  Not taking any chances this year, if I procrastinate, “Murphy” will come to visit again and he is not allowed in my home :P.  This is the Changing Staircases shawl by Trysten Molina of Dragon Hoard Designs.  I am using Stroll Tweed Sock Labs yarn by Knit Picks in the Teal Tweed colorway.  It’s really pretty and has a generous 462 yards.  Because I am a loose knitter I am using a size 4 instead of a size 5 circular needle.  Tho’ it looks difficult, this pattern is very easy and easily memorized :).  Not sure if you can see it very clearly but I am using a beautiful bronze heart progress keeper made by Stephanie of the Knitting Samurai podcast, from her Adore Knits Etsy shop.

I am loving Spring but could do without all the rain, but at least it’s not snow :P.

 

Starting Another Chemo Hat

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Chemo Cap with Curls

I did get the pattern from the Designer, she was nice enough to put it back up on Raverly.  It’s called Chemo Cap in Splash & Merino 5 there is a link on the raverly page to an archive with the pattern.  I plan on doing the hat including the curls in the black with red (in the same kind of yarn I used in my last chemo hat) to match my friends shawl.  I hope it turns out like the picture in my head :P.  Both yarns, Yarn Bee Sunggle Up in the black and Yarn Bee Cloud 9 in the garnet, are very soft and when putting them together they are extremely soft, makes you want to pet all the fiber off of it :D.

I’ll post a picture after I get it started or finished, which ever I can fit in first :P.

A one sentence rant today.  We are not Easter Worshipers, we are Christians, we celebrate Easter, we worship our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dish Cloth and Free Cycle Haul :)

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I needed something nice but simple for a friend’s birthday and also a pallet cleanser (yeah, pun intended :P) so I made this pretty dishcloth called Eloomanator’s Diagonal Knit Dishcloth which is a free pattern on Raverly.  I just knit it in the bits and pieces of time I found this week.  It was a nice knit.  I used Cream n Sugar cotton yarn (very nice for dishcloths even tho the colors do fade quickly,  it won’t matter with this one because it’s white :P).  I used a size 6 circular needle but didn’t didn’t knit in the round, circulars are just my needles of choice.  You probably noticed I missed a yarn over on the side (that is what happens when you get distracted and have to put down and pick up a project frequently), but I don’t think it detracts too much, I know she won’t mind, it’s just for her dishes.

I get emails from the Free Cycle Organization.  It is an organization where people can offer unwanted but useful things they want to give away.  If it doesn’t work they always say so in the listing.  If you are interested in it you can see if they have a local one in your area.  I saw a listing for a large amount of free knitting patterns and some misc patterns.  Things go fast at Free Cycle so I responded not expecting to be the first one to claim it,  but I was!!!  Lots of knitting magazines etc in a small plastic tub.  Was a nice haul :).  I don’t respond to very many of the ads, but it’s interesting what people give away, most are nice things still in working shape, but like I said, you have to be quick :P.

HFO!

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2nd Pair Baby Socks HFO Ok, I finished the first sock in the new yarn.  Still larger than I hoped for but a little smaller than the last one.  I got all the colors in the one sock lol, but the color changes are short so it all works out, and looks like I won’t have to do too much yarn management to start the 2nd sock in about the same place.   I did a kitchner toe on this one instead of just pulling the stitches together as per the pattern, because I didn’t like the original toe.  This one looks so much nicer and rounded :).

Looks a little weird to have all the reds, oranges, pinks and yellow for them to have thrown in a green – looks a little out of place to me, but they didn’t ask me :P.   I will start on the 2nd sock, probably tomorrow, too tired tonight to deal with casting on tiny socks on tiny double pointed needles and making sure I didn’t twist anything.  They might not end up being matchy matchy, but I think they will be close enough.

 

1st Robin, It’s Spring! + Drop Stitch Shawl KAL

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Soooo happy!!!  I have been waiting to see the Robins return, and I saw my first Robin today!!  Welcome Spring!!!  Sorry the color in the picture is not very good :(.

I follow a blog Muddling Through Life and she is having a KAL, (knit-a-long for my non knitting friends.)  It looks so pretty, so I dug out some very deep (meaning I’ve had it a very long time :P) stash.  The above picture shows the yarn, it is a synthetic yarn unfortunately, but it is a fingering weight.  It is some my mom sent me from South Korea when she was working for the Air Force as a non military personnel civil Service employee, years ago.  It is a large skein at 8 oz, it is a beautiful light lavender even tho it shows up like a grey in the picture.  I did have to go buy some new needles because I didn’t have any 40″ needles.  I now have a pair of ChiaoGoo size 7 red lace circulars. 🙂  The pattern calls for a size 8 but I have to go down a size to get gauge because I am a little bit of a loose knitter.  I wanted some ChiaoGoo bamboo needles (my needles of choice) but they were out and I wanted to get this started so I settled for the stainless steel.

I have also started the Welcome New Born Socks , from a previous post, now using the new sock weight yarn (rather than the baby weight) and they are definitely smaller :).  I’ll post a picture of my progress in a couple of days and we should see the answer to my one of my questions about how much of the repeatable colors you can get in a little sock :P.