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2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

April and May wrap-up

By Sheetar 4 June 2009 7 February 2012

Hah, I knew at one point during the year, I’d miss a month or get lazy or even give up completely on the resolutions. So far, though, doing okay, and still chugging along.

Going back in time to January again for the knitting resolutions..

2. Knit two sweaters this year
Started one. It’s tough knitting a sweater in the summer. I had a big rush of excitement when I started, gushing over the gorgeous color, dyed by Becky of dkKnits and then set it aside about 30% of the way down the body to do socks and lace and other fun summer type projects.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Got both of those!


April – Blue Angee Socks	May – Twisted Devon Socks
Pattern: Angee	Pattern: Devon
Designer: Cookie A.	Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm	Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock, colorway, “Impressionist Sky”	Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in colorway, “Terrain”
-Ravelry Project Link-	-Ravelry Project Link-
These were finished just in time to go to Stitch n’ Pitch with the Phillies. Sadly, we were soundly beaten by the Nationals, but the socks told me that they didn’t mind. The pattern is from Cookie A’s new book, Sock Innovation, and I’m absolutely in love with all of the patterns. This one was pretty simple, but with a great effect. And the yarn! There’s a reason why we call it MMMmmmmmmalabrigo. Squishy, Yum.	Another entry from Cookie A’s Book. Both the yarn and the pattern came together to produce an absolute delight to knit and wear, even if one sock somehow tricked me into knitting an extra repeat on the leg. I’d go back and rip the longer top down to match the shorter one, but there’s a cuff-to-leg transition set of stitches that I wouldn’t be able to do if I knitted back up the cuff. So, we’re going to call them unique and leave them as they are, unmatched and beautiful.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
My poor wheel has been feeling woefully neglected. I did get my 4oz for May though.

Corriedale from Maisy Day Handspun in colorway, “Water Lily.” I never really liked corriedale, until now. I got my hands on the raw roving in the past and did a little nose wrinkle – scratchy. It’s not merino. But, after it’s spun up and plied? Not so bad. I probably still wouldn’t make a scarf out of it, but it’s pretty and squishy and I rather enjoyed spinning it. It clocks in at 285 yards and is about sport weight.

And that’s the wrap-up for the last two months of acheiving resolutions. There has been more knitting, of course, that I haven’t detailed here, but with the garden growing, the lawn needing mowed, and a whole host of fun outdoors stuff to do in the lovely weather we’ve been having, knitting has mostly taken a back seat to a lot of seasonal things to do.

Baby, Finished Objects

Pea Pod Sweater

By Sheetar 7 May 2009 7 May 2009

I suppose it comes with the age group – a few years ago, everyone was getting married. Now? Everyone is having babies. That means a lot of pint-sized knitting projects that fly off the needles and make me all happy with the instant gratification. The latest project, which I can now reveal now that I know it has been received.

Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Sweater
Designer: Kate Gilbert
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm)
Yarn: Cascade Cotton Rich DK
–Ravelry Project Link–
This was a pretty quick knit! The yarn is a great cotton/nylon blend which is, IMHO, a great summer/baby yarn since it’s easy to wash and maintain. Blue for the baby boy who was born a few weeks ago, and naturally, I didn’t want a girly sort of lace and figured that the leaves provided just enough interest without going overboard. Buttons were acquired from Philadelphia’s Fabric Row, specifically the Pennsylvania Fabric Outlet. It really looks fabulous in person, and I can’t wait to get photos of the little guy wearing it!

There was a trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend and I still have yet to photograph my precious acquisitions since it’s been raining for what, nine days straight?! So, I’ll hold off on the update for that and you’ll hear about it when there’s sun again. 🙂

Socks

Leafy Socks

By Sheetar 8 April 2009 8 April 2009

Finally! These were an intense knit. I had to sit in front of the chart and keep careful watch over my knitting. Granted, it paid off BIG TIME since they’re really pretty. The pattern is toe up and reinforces my dislike of knitting toe up socks – I can do it, but I really prefer the cuff down method. These do have a heel flap and gusset and all the trimmings of a cuff-down sock which I’m much happier with than the typical short row heel and toe. Kelly Porpiglia wrote an awesome pattern and it was super easy to follow. The only hold up here was me and my toe up bias. The yarn is Wollmeise 100% superwash and was part of the September 2008 sock club delivery.

Pattern: Interlocking Leaves
Designer: Kelly Porpiglia
Needles: US 1 (2.5 mm)
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Buxkranzl”
–Ravelry Project Link–

2009 Knitting, Socks

March Wrap-up

By Sheetar 6 April 2009 6 April 2009

It’s time for another look at the knitting resolutions.

1. Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
March down too, little to no progress. Maybe by the end of the year eh? I’ve re-started work on the lingering pair of socks that were struggling with second sock syndrome and should be done with those in a few days. As some kind of explanation, they’re toe up (NOT a fan of toe-up socks) and rather complicated – not something you can really take along with you to stitch n’ bitch. However, they are gorgeous and will be my first completed socks using the infamous Wollmeise. I managed to get a spot on the sock club for this year and haven’t been doing the yarn justice yet. I really hope to share those with you soon!

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
GOT IT!
Pattern: Lorna’s Laces basic socks
Designer: Kim Haesemeyer
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi
–Ravelry Project Link–

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Got that too. Posted the results of that here.

8. Participate in another test knit.
See the socks above! When the pattern is available, I’ll put the link here.

Hats

Naughty Deer

By Sheetar 25 February 2009 16 January 2022

A friend of mine wanted a knit hat. Jokingly, I suggested using this specific chart to make him a hilarious hat and then offered a few other options for hats that were more tame. He decided on the original joke idea and I went ahead and knit it for him. Here’s the finished result!

Pattern: Basic hat, no real pattern, used Fornicating Deer Chart
Designer: Anne Rutten
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted, Jade and Gold
–Ravelry Project Link–

This was super easy to knit and it was a ton of fun to watch the chart shape up and turn into a pair of naughty deer. I did modify the chart to make the deer on the bottom antler-less. Cast on 96 sts for three repeats. The recipient loves it and said that he got a bunch of compliments on it while he was out over the weekend. I find it completely hilarious and have already gotten a request to make another one for another friend!

EDIT 02March2009:
Recipient of the hat made a video about the joy his hat has brought him.. I nearly fell off my chair laughing.
Myspace Video

EDIT 19April2009:
I had gotten a bunch of hits from a UK knitting forum.. linking back to the post for posterity 🙂 *waves to visitors from the Knitting Forum*

EDIT 02November2009:
This post was linked again and I noticed a HUGE jump in visitors to the site today from an Icelandic website. While I don’t speak or read Icelandic, Hello there to you all!

Hats, Spinning

Thorped

By Sheetar 10 February 2009 18 February 2009

There’s this great thread on Ravelry that shows a project from roving to spun yarn and the finished object. It’s without question my favorite thread on Ravelry and is really inspiring for a spinner to see what people spin with what fiber and what patterns they’ve adapted to their handspun. REALLY creative people there.

Sometimes, you get a batch of fiber and you just know what it’s going to be – like Michelangelo said about his sculpture, “I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free.” This may sound a bit strange (if it does, then Michelangelo was strange and that’s a club I don’t mind being a part of), but you knitters know what I’m talking about.. The times when the yarn speaks to you and tells you precisely what it wants to be. It’s just like that with roving and spinning fibers. The finished article is in there somewhere, waiting to be let out. Sometimes it just wants to be yarn. Sometimes it wants to be a finished object and you just KNOW it the second you lay eyes on the colorway and the texture of the fiber.

So, here’s my most recent Spun-to-Finished entry and the first one for the blog.

Fiber:

Superwash Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) from dkKnits – January installment of the fiber club.
Colorway: Burnt Blueberry Baa’Hill (baa’hill.. baaagggellll.. get it? :-P)

Yarn:

8wpi, Heavy Worsted, 167 yards, navajo plied, spun on my Spinolution Mach 1 wheel.

Finished Object:

Pattern: Thorpe
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Trimmed with a bit of leftover Cascade 220 Superwash. I have NO idea of how to crochet, so I used a helpful video on YouTube.

In other news, a family friend sold her sheep farm and moved recently, bringing with her A LOT of fleece. I graciously offered to take some off her hands and came home with just about five pounds of raw wool from Border Leicester mix sheep. There was about 1.5 lbs of black fleece and about 3.5 lbs was white. I decided to mix them together to save on processing and shipped it off to Zeilinger’s for cleaning and to be drawn into roving. I hadn’t heard anything back in a few weeks, but sure enough, today, a box showed up on the doorstep containing my roving. Dog for scale, but there’s a ton of it. I believe this roving is begging to be a sweater. It hasn’t decided on a color yet though, but I’m sure it will let me know once it’s ready. (The dogs are North American Standard Mutts by the way, weighing in at about 50 lbs each)

2009 Knitting, Finished Objects, Resolutions, Socks, Spinning

Project updates

By Sheetar 1 February 2009 1 February 2009

January end-of-month update:
The knitting resolutions haven’t all been met (already, I know!).
1. Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
Didn’t happen! I did clear out a bunch of things, but there are still two open WIPs from last year. Not bad though..

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Got that one! One pair of socks per month is definitely manageable and I still have time to knit other things.
Pattern: Little Child’s Sock
Designer: Nancy Bush
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Imagination in colorway â€œWicked Witchâ€
–Ravelry Project Link–

Nancy Bush can write a pattern like nobody’s business. It was so well written out, line by line, you just can’t but help be in awe of the time that must’ve been spent writing it out. The book, Knitting Vintage Socks, is becoming a fast favorite. The yarn is super soft and fun to knit with although the variegation obscures the pattern mostly. And see all that color pooling? I know it’s something knitters strive to fight against, but I just love it. It almost looks like tye dye on the stockinette part of the leg.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Didn’t quite make this one either. I got about an ounce of this superwash merion from Crown Mountain Farms (colorway “Sunshine of your Love”) done for the spin and knit along at Ply by Night on Ravelry. I’ve really gotta spend more time with the wheel in the evenings and maybe alternate nights between knitting and spinning. Plus, there’s a fun project coming up for next month with roving from dkKnits that I’m pretty antsy to get started on!

2009 Knitting, Finished Objects, Resolutions, Scarves

Clapotis and resolutions

By Sheetar 17 January 2009 8 September 2023

First, I have an FO for you. Meg, the dyer at Twisted Fiber Art, does such an incredible job dyeing striping yarns and her colorways are so gorgeous. Plus, the Clapotis pattern is such a great all-purpose scarf pattern and is so easy to adapt to any type of yarn. This one took a little while to finish since I kept it on the needles as my mindless knitting project. I tend to try and keep one easy project on the needles as a travel project to take with me everywhere that I don’t really have to think about or need to refer to a pattern much.

Pattern: Clapotis
Designer: Kate Gilbert
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm)
Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Shiny in colorway “Portal”
–Ravelry Project Link–

Now, onto knitting resolutions! The Selfish knitters group on Ravelry have a thread for New Year’s Resolution knitting and Atomic posted some knitting resolutions on her blog too. I decided to post a few resolutions since I’ve had them in my head anyway. I kept it simple on the thread and posted just the first three, but thought about expanding it here and expanding it to include spinning as well.

Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
Knit two sweaters this year.
Knit one pair of socks per month – I had thought about doing the 52 pair challenge, but I think that’s a touch too ambitious, especially if I want to work on other projects too.
Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Dye more yarn and roving.
Knit at least one pair of stranded socks.
Finish holiday gift knitting throughout the year instead of all at once in December!
Participate in another test knit.
Work on an original pattern.

I think that gives me plenty to work on. I also want to be a little more careful with my stash acquisitions and either buy on sale, something unique that cannot be found elsewhere, at festivals, or with a specific project in mind. When I started knitting this past may I sort of got out of control and bought everything in sight. It’s time to get a handle on it and knit more, buy less!