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FO’s, that is. One I finished rather a while ago, and the other is something I whipped up during a movie because my current project was too complicated for movie knitting.
Pattern: None, just a chart of a design I made up.
Yarn: Random scraps of acrylic yarn
Needles: US 8/5 mm I think
This was a present for my friend Sarah, whose birthday was in early June. I spent a week frantically knitting it and sent it off to her in time for her birthday, but I forgot to snap a picture. Fortunately, she is my roommate at school this year, so I snapped one for Ravelry and for the blog.
Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: My handspun!
Needles: US 8/5mm straights
Mods: Cast on 88, did far fewer row 5 repeats
My first FO with my handspun!
This pattern is perfect for just a little bit of yarn, which is exactly what I had. I actually have a fair amount of yarn left over, though I’m not sure what to do with it. Perhaps it can be a stripe on a crazy handspun hat. The barber-poling of the colors looks great, but kind of obscures the ribbing. I don’t really care though; it still looks awesome. And I made it! From wool to yarn to dyed yarn to FO. : ) I will definitely be getting a lot of wear out of it come winter because it’ll add a bright splash of color to my winter wardrobe and so I can brag that I made both the Calorimetry and the yarn itself. WIN.
Coming soon to a blog near you: Inchies. Beatles things (part of which is SO FUCKIN’ COOL I can’t stand it), and more knitting. I started an awesome cardigan and scrapped a project I’d been working on for a few days (it just wasn’t working out). Stay tuned!
I finished another spinning project today:
The color is a bit darker than it appears on my (admittedly light) moniter. Sort of a brick red, which is why this colorway is called “In the Clay Pits”. I dyed an ounce of roving with one packet of black cherry and one packet of grape kool aide. I was hoping for a darker, purply color, but I shall have to try that again later with some grape.
I was going to do a two-ply, but the single came out so balanced I just left it as such. I’d say it’s about a fingering/light sport weight with some minor variation. I’m still working on keeping my tension even, but this is certainly a marked improvement. I’m quite happy with it. 🙂 It’s still a little rope-like (I definitely have a problem with over-spinning), but the texture is rather nice nonetheless.
I’m not sure how much I have here though. It’s an ounce, so I would guess there’s around a hundred yards, though I could be mistaken. I think this might make a nice lace cowl though.
In other craft news: I am planning for the Beatles swap and have done most of the inchie backgrounds. I also signed up for another round of Post Secret, so I have to make those secrets. The shorts from last post are almost done, and the scarf I mentioned will just have to wait. Stay tuned!
For my latest spinning adventure, I intended to spin enough to actually make something with. Here’s what I came up with:
I estimated the yardage at about 80 at a worsted weight, so enough to make something small, like a hat or a cowl. I say it’s perfect for winter: something to keep me warm while adding a bright splash of color to my usually dark winter wardrobe. Which is why I called the yarn/color “A Splash of Citrus”.
I spun the singles, then dyed them, and then plied them. I probably should have dyed the roving as I ended up with a bunch of the yellow left over, but I may use that to practice chain plying. I won’t be able to make anything out of it, which is unfortunate, but maybe I can over-dye it and add it to some other yarn.
The pictures came out lovely, don’t you think? Perfect for summer.
Here’s a bunch of non-knitting things I’ve been working on lately:
I made a couple of notecards (the first one of which I sent off to the boyfriend) out of stuff around the house. I love cardmaking but sadly have few occasions to use them. At least I’ll have lots of lovely ones for including in swaps.
A little notebook out of a pad of post its and some cardboard. If anyone’s interested in a tutorial for this, let me know! It was pretty simple but I know I would have appreciated a tut for notebook making that didn’t require sewing or making signatures.
I made yarn! It’s about 30 yards, according to my rudimentary measuring system (find book about a foot tall, wind yarn around book, count strands on one side, multiply by two, divide by three). Two ply, pretty thick and thin but loads better than my previous attempts. It goes between a fingering weight to a bulky weight, though it mostly sticks to worsted-ish. I think I’m going to try to make a calorimetry or some sort of headband/earwarmer type thing.
I made more yarn! I dyed this with kool-aid as roving, then spun it as a fingering weight-ish single. It’s overspun, but that’ll get better the more I practice.
I’ve found I really enjoy spinning, so I will definitely be doing more of it. Now I just need to find a good place (probably online) to get roving, preferably already dyed and for a reasonable (read: cheap) price. Or maybe I’ll just dye it myself. Knit Picks has some nice dyes available…
I came home from work today to a couple of packages. This is what was in one of them:
A pound of white wool roving for me to practice spinning on! I also recently ordered a couple of spindles, which should be here tomorrow-ish. I am extremely excited to add this new craft to my repertoire. : )
Also, it smells just like sheep and a farm, and I love it.
I also received another Craft my Wish package, but I don’t have pictures of that yet. Probably tomorrow.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 