Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

FO: Silky Gloves

May 13, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: finished object, FO, gloves, knitting | 1 comment

Ravelry tells me I started these gloves in January. It’s May and I just recently finished them, so they’ve been on the needles a while. I’d say they’re a little out of season for mid May but it’s still frequently in the sixties and my hands get chilly.

Pattern: Phalangees, from a recent Knitty. With full fingers, obviously.
Yarn: Recycled cashmere and Navajo plied recycled silk
Needles: US 2/whatever that is in mm
Mods: Full fingers, no colorwork, and I fucked up the thumb, so that’s different.

I quite like this method for fingers. I had significantly less gapping than usual. I should have followed the rest of the pattern a little less though. They’re a bit long for my hands, but that’s probably more to do with my row gauge (which I didn’t check) than the pattern.

The yarn is, of course, recycled and I have a ton more of it. Maybe I’ll make some matching accessories. I’ll probably make this pattern again for gloves buy with half fingers and a removable mitten top, since mittens are supposed to be warmer than gloves.

For the Birds

May 13, 2013 in spinning | Tags: carding, fiber, fleece, hand carders, spinning | 1 comment

As previously mentioned, I bought a set of handcards at MDSW. I bought them cause I have a couple of fleeces I bought on the cheap that need serious wrangling. Which I have been doing.

There isn’t even really a lock structure. Anyway, after smacking the fiber into submission, I rolled it up into rolags and pulled the rolags out into roving. Voila, my very own prepped fiber.

I am currently spinning this up into a chunky yarn on my big ass spindle.

But straightening fussy locks isn’t the only thing you can.do with hand cards. So I took to blending some nicer fiber. Brush it out a little, roll into rolags, pull into roving, and wind into these:

Little birds nests of fluffy fiber. Each one is only a couple grams. Not enough to do anything with. All six of these together is less than an once. But they’re so fast and fun to make. And the colors!

Sunset orange and burgandy.

An irishy green and orange.

The possibilities are endless. I’m going to blend all my fiber in cute little nests and hoard them. Maybe I’ll do a couple sets of the same color-enough little nests to do an ounce or two ounces or even four.

And I’ll be making one-color nests of my unruly fleece bits. Perhaps the resulting yarn could make good socks. I do like knitting socks.

FO: Sakura Tee

May 8, 2013 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, sweater, top | 1 comment

So I didn’t finish my Sakura Tee in time to wear Saturday. If I hadn’t gone out with some friends Friday night I probably would have made it, but oh well. As it happens, I finished it Monday.

Pattern: Sakura Tee from the summer 2012 Interweave Knits
Yarn: recycled cotton/acrylic blend
Needles: us 6/4 mm throughout
Mods: none really. Skipped switching needle sizes.

I’m pretty pleased with the way it came out. I wish I could have worn it Saturday, but oh well. It fits pretty well and it’s comfortable.

The directions were super simple to follow. The only trouble I ran into is that the front ends up a fair amount longer than the back. That’s easy enough to get around–just cast on more stitches for the back than instructed, but I wish I would have known that before I made it. I did not cast on extra stitches and I wish I would have. I just blocked the hell of out of it with a hot steam iron. The acrylic content of the yarn should keep the blocked length even after washing, which will happen in the machine.

For those playing at home, this is my fourth sweater of the year, which means I’m sorta kinda on track for 12 in a year. My next one will be a super simple, quick pullover out of some recycled wool/nylon/cashmere/angora (kitchen sink yarn, as I refer to it). Big yarn, big needles (like tens) and a slightly oversized/slouchy fit. Done from the top down probably with contiguous sleeves. Til then.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

May 6, 2013 in stash | Tags: buy all the things, fiber, life, maryland sheep and wool, mdsw, spinning, stash | 2 comments

MDSW! I was finally close enough to go, and go I did. I left the house about nine aiming to arrive near ten. I was totally pumped: had my car jamming music, ready to spend all the money. Then a mile from the fairground, I got into a car accident. I was fine, the car got a little banged up. But it sort of ruined my zeal, y’know?

Anyway, after doing all the things you do after a collision, I continued on to the festival. I neglected to take pictures of any kind except for of what I bought, which I photographed later. I did go to the podcasters meet up and awkwardly introduced myself. Suffice it to say I was not feeling especially social after the trip up.

Anyway, here’s what you really came for: the pretties. I ended up under my budget, which is good. I’ll need the extra money for car stiff and stuff. But now, pictures.

Avalon Spring Exotic Fibers Roving. Bump one is Warm Forge, a gorgeous sparkly red.

A second Avalon Springs, this one in Merlin’s Cape. No glitz, but a lovely subtly colored black.

4 oz. Wesleydale from Liberty Ridge. I’m trying to collect wools I haven’t spun before, and this one is one I haven’t spun yet.

2 oz merino/silk. I haven’t spun silk yet, plus this is super dark and gothy. Love it.

4 oz Jacob, another new to me fiber.

A whole pound of Ramboilliet for only sixteen bucks! I’ll be dyeing this one in bits.

I got a spectacular deal on the four bits above. The green was two lz for w bucks. The other three are between three and four oz and were about five bucks each. STEAL. They are from Cloverhill.

These two are 4 oz each, ten bucks a piece. They are from Spinners.Hill and I adore them. Look at that pink! So bright. And the orange is all sunset like. Joe says it reminds him of Thanksgiving, but I like sunset better.

This is probably my favorite bit of fiber purchased Saturday. It’s Gale’s Art polworth silk in Emerald Hummingbird.

I also bought this grey masham, also from Gale’s Art. I will probably dye.it.

And there you have it! I bought almost six pounds of spinning fiber. But fiber is not all I bought. I got some buttons:

I didn’t buy the Knit Girllls button obviously, but I did purchase the other three, which I adore. I also bought a fiber tool:

A pair of Strauch hand carders. I love them. I’ve been using them quite a bit since I got home on Saturday, but more of my playing with fiber later.

Did you go to MDSW? Did I see you and not register it? (probably.) Get anything good? If you have a MDSW post, please link it in the comments!

FO: Kitchen Towels

April 30, 2013 in weaving | Tags: dish towels, dishcloths, finished object, to, towels, weaving | 1 comment

I made another set of towels/dishcloths. They’re pretty fast and easy so I can see myself making a lot of them. Plus it’s a great way to use up cotton yarn.

Yarn: Bernat Handcrafter Cotton and Sugar and Cream. Plus a little bit of recycled cotton tape yarn.
Loom: Vergere (the Bergere loom, named Vergere cause I’m a big nerd)
Dent: my 5.5 dpi reed

These are finished with a really simple hem. I just zigzagged the raw edges, folded then over and zigzagged them down, and ran a straight seam across the fold. Easy peasy. I did have some serious tensioning issues though and I had to do a bunch of them more than once.

After hemming, most of these came out shorter than I wanted. Next time I’ll do a longer warp and think beforehand how long I want them to be before just cutting the fabric in half. I’m still very new at weaving, but this is more to do with my impatience as a sewer. (Sewist? I’m certainly not a sewer.) I need to work on that, especially since I want to work on getting better at sewig. Probably not garment making, but certainly garment fixing. I’d like to be able to make a corset.

But that’s neither here nor there. I’ve got a fair amount of cotton odds and ends to make into towels and cotton s generally what I see the most of in thrift store sweaters to unravel. So more towels will be made. The goal is to get away from paper towels when it comes to cleaning up stuff.that isn’t too icky. I’m not cleaning up anyone’s bodily fluids with them, but spilled juice.or whatever is fine. And I’m more likely to use them if I have enough so I do.t have to wash them every day. So I’m saving the environment or whatever. Or possibly just saving money on paper towels and sponges.

FO: Stuff, No Ruffles

April 30, 2013 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, hand dyed, knitting, lace, pullover, sweater | Leave a comment

So I finished that sweater I’d been working on. It went pretty quickly, actually, and I’m super pleased with the result.

Pattern: None, I made it up as I went.
Yarn: Recycled hand dyed (by me) merino. About a sport or dk weight.
Needles: US 6/4 mm

For those playing along at home, this is my third sweater in my yearly sweater a month challenge. I’m a month behind, but seeing as I don’t actually need twelve sweaters, that’s okay.

I do quite like this sweater though. I’ve worn it every day since I finished it. It’s really comfortable and fits really well. There are a couple of things I’d do differently a second time around (which there won’t be, but you know). I’d do more plain rounds before starting the yoke. The pattern is kind of in my armpit and if I don’t lay it just right, it cuts me right across the nipple line, which I think is super unflattering.

Someone will probably ask, so no, I can’t write up the pattern. It’s a really simple round yoked pattern with a lace bit. The lace is Roman Arches from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns, but it’s basically just an arrowhead pattern without the rest rows. no special yoke shaping, just work three repeats then k1, k2tog around, repeat three times. Plus I fudged the numbers after each decrease row.

I have since started another sweater, the Sakura Tee from the summer 2012 Interweave Knits. I’m challenging myself to finish it by Saturday so I can wear it to Maryland Sheep and Wool this weekend. It’s gonna be close but I think I can do it.

FO: Cabled Fingerless Gloves

April 26, 2013 in knitting | Tags: fingerless mitts, finished object, FO, knitting, mitts, swap | 1 comment

Sooo it ended up being a little while since my last post. In my defense, I didn’t have a good way of taking pictures. My phone was out of commission and I lost my camera charger. All has been remedied, at least partially.

Anyway, I have a finished object to share. I made a pair of fingerless gloves for a WWFY swap.

Pattern: None, but I’m pretty chuffed with it so I might write it up. It’s been ages since I’ve written or released a pattern. It’ll probably be free.
Yarn: recycled wool/angora/nylon, overdyed not by me.
Needles: US 6/4 mm and US 1/1.25 mm

The yarn I used for these was a heavy lace weight/light fingering. I wanted to make these as quickly as possible, so I tripled the yarn to get a worsted weight, with which I made the body of the glove. I knew worsted weight would be too thick for the fingers. The recipient wanted half fingers, otherwise I would have left them off.

What I ended up doing was just using the yarn untripled (as the weight it actually is) and knitting the fingers out of that.

The result is pretty nice. The body of the mitts worked up super fast because it’s in worsted weight and the fingers took practically no time at all. Maybe an hour per glove including weaving in ends?

I’m definitely going to make a pair like this for me and take notes this time. The pattern will probably be in one size and you can change needles to change sizes. Maybe I’ll write more than one size.

I’m doing lots of other knitting and weaving too. I have some really cool inkle bands to show off but I need to get pictures. In fannish news, I finished watching Star Trek Next Generation and started on Deep Space Nine, which I like. I took a break to rewatch some Stargate Atlantis and have feeli.vs because I adore that show. And Joe and I are still working through the Star Wars EU. I like science fiction. In other.breaking news, water is wet.

FO: Scrap Socks 3: The Scrapening

April 15, 2013 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, socks | 1 comment

I made another pair of socks out of sock yarn scraps. They were pretty quick.

Pattern: Top-down sock. Flap/gusset heel, wedge toe
Yarn: Sock scraps, including KP Stroll, Cascade Heritage, and Regia
Needles: US 1. Sock needles.

Whoo, they’re so exciting. By which I mean they are socks and a very utilitarian object.

I have the yarn ready for another pair, though I haven’t cast them on yet. I’ve been working on a sweater and the gloves I showed in the last post.

In life news: I am returning home tomorrow from Virginia Beach. Then back to life as usual (with bonus job hunting!) until May, when it’s MDSW followed by Steampunk World Fair (which, shit, I need to do some sewing). Those two weeks are going to be ALL MY MONEY. So I’m really gonna need a decent job by June. I’m working on it.

WIPs: Little Needles

April 8, 2013 in knitting | Tags: gloves, knitting, socks, wip, work in progress | 1 comment

I have a couple of WIPs I’ve been working on at amusement parks and such. Knitting’s a great way to pass the time in long lines for rides, but I’ve also been putting the project bag on my wrist or tied to a belt loop and knitting while we walk around (especially since at parks like Animal Kingdom and Busch Gardens, there’s a lot more walking and less ride-going-on thanks to the zoo portions). Here’s what I’m working on:

Scrap Socks 3: The Scrapening. No lie, this is about four days of knitting. Each of the color blocks was completed in about a day. I have a couple more gusset decreases before I cruise down the foot and finish. Fast socks are the best socks.

Gloves I’ve had on the needles for a couple months. The yarn is a strand of cashmere and a strand of navajo-plied silk. I’m using the Phalangees finger method. Bit out of season now, but winter will come again.

I’ve also been working on inkle bands. I have a finished one on which I practiced some pick up techniques. I’ll have to get some pictures of that soon.

FO: Scrap Socks 2: Electric Boogaloo

April 4, 2013 in knitting, life | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, scraps, socks | Leave a comment

What’s this? More knitting? AWW YEAH. Just finished up some scrap socks made with leftovers from other sock projects.

Pattern: Top down sock, flap and gusset heel, wedge toe
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted in Tea Party (the majority of the socks), Red Heart Heart and Sole
Needles: US 1. Whatever that mm is. 1.25 I think?
Mods: None, it’s a sock

They fit pretty well. They get a little wavy where I changed yarns but that isn’t so obvious when they’re on and it doesn’t affect the fit any.

They’re socks so there isn’t a tremendous amount to say about them. I like socks. I have another pair on the needles (also using scrap yarn). The Ravelry project page is called “Scrap Socks 3: The Scrapening”.

In life news: Still in Florida. Which, by the way, is driving me completely bonkers owing to my completely fucking insane/idiot family members, the weather, and the spotty internet connection. Oh, and my phone that doesn’t work because I’m dumb. I think I can fix it (eventually), but still. UGH. So there’s knitting and I’m rewatching the Avengers in ten minutes bursts. I need to catch up a whole bunch of Geek and Sundry YouTube content as well as Castle, Doctor Who, and Game of Thrones. DON’T SPOIL ME.