Done and Done

For the past several months, I've had 6 or 7 things on the needles (if you include socks and a scarf I may not finish until 2012, but those don't count, right?) at all times. This has been great for preventing boredom, but not so great for finishing things. As much as I like the process of knitting, I enjoy getting a finished object out of it even more, so I really needed to getting cracking.


So, I stopped working on the various WIPs in random chunks of time as the mood struck me, and started being a little more monogamous to individual projects. This has been good for finishing, but has sucked boredom-wise; especially since the lastest project involved miles of stockinette on 3.25mm needles with lace yarn. It's really the sort of thing that makes you want to stick a DPN in your eye just for some excitement - but look! A sweater!


Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino in "Polar Morn"
Needles: 3.25mm
Mods: The pattern calls for 4mm needles, but the resulting fabric was a little too loose for my taste so I went down to a 3.25mm. To compensate, I cast on a few more stitches and did a few more raglan increases before separating for the sleeves. Otherwise I knit the pattern as written.


This is such a straightforward pattern that I don't have much to say about it, other than that the end result is lovely and well worth all the boring stockinette. The yarn is ridiculously soft, and this is a perfect sweater for cool summer evenings or air-conditioned offices. I expect to get loads of wear out of it, and when I get over having knit endless stockinette on tiny little needles, I can even see knitting another one in a different colour.


Now it's on to the next WIP - the Forestry Cardigan by Veronique Avery. I must say, 4.5mm needles and worsted weight wool are a nice refreshing change of pace! I'm halfway up the back, and plan on getting that and at least part of a sleeve knit by the end of the day.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Proof I Still Knit

Despite evidence to the contrary, I am still a knitter, and this is still primarily a knitting blog. Lately though, it hasn't been the kind of knitting blog that features finished objects. Allow me to correct that.


Some dear friends of mine are preparing for the birth of their second baby, which, as I'm sure you know, is an exciting time in the life of a knitter. I understand that second babies don't arrive to quite the same hoopla of gifts and showers that greet first babies, but this has had absolutely no impact on my baby related knitting plans because:

- I knitted a blanket for baby #1, so obviously I have to do the same for baby #2 (can't have the first kid in possession of the knitting version of the bigger piece of pie right out of the gate, can I?)
- Knitting baby things is just awesome. So small! So cute! And who doesn't love finishing a sweater in a day or two, and then adorning it with small, twee buttons?
- I was a youngest child, so I'm intimately acquainted with the concept of the dreaded hand-me-down; practical and earth friendly, but frankly a bit of a bummer! And since I am not the parent, I don't have to be practical (though I deal in wool, so I think earth friendliness is achievable).


Pattern: Moderne Baby Blanket
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Solid (Denim, Navy, Natural and Chocolate. I am a huge fan of this yarn - it's soft and squishy, and absolutely perfect for this pattern. The fact that it's superwash is a big bonus; I wanted a blanket that would be easy to care for, but didn't really want to go the acrylic route.
Mods: I accidentally deviated from the pattern, having returned the book to the library before finishing, and then losing the little colour-map I drew myself (I'm sure I'll find the damn thing now that the blanket is done). Fortunately, I don't think the baby is going to take one look at it and say "those two blocks right there are WRONG", so I'm ok with it. I was also worried it would be a little small, so I added a two colour edging to eke out a little more size while also giving it that finishing touch. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. Finished dimensions are 27 inchs x 29 inches, pre-blocking.


This is a great pattern - garter stitch isn't super exciting, but it's satisfying, and makes for perfect tv knitting. The modular construction means you don't have to do any sewing (yay!), but the ends! Oh, the never ending ends to weave in! I hate weaving ends - this baby had better be cute. And funny. And give good foot rubs.

Now that the blanket has finished, my time is free to spend on my many other WIPs. So, I did what anybody else in my position would do. I cast on a new sock.


It really is that bright - brighter even. I'm not usually a pink person, but there was just something about this yarn that I couldn't resist! So at the end of the day, I finished something, but the WIP count remains unchanged. Oh well!

Perfect Sunday: A Recipe

It's very simple: a hammock, some knitting, a good book and a beer. Canine companionship optional but appreciated.

This Is My Yarn

So I met my goal of plying up my first batch of Tempted Yarn singles this past weekend, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.


This is approximately 132 yards of 3-ply 50% wool/50% soysilk, spun from Tempted Yarns top in the colour "Eclipse". It's 17 wraps per inch, which means I also met my goal of spinning a fingering weight yarn.


I love the process of finishing handspun yarn. The transformation can be spectacular; this is a picture of the yarn prior to finishing - hard to believe it turned into the well-behaved skein in the first picture!

I read somewhere that the usual brutal method of finishing handspun (soak in hot, then cold, then hot, then cold, then thwack against the tub and snap between your hands) would eliminate the lovely sheen of soysilk, so I just soaked it in tepid water and snapped it between my hands a couple of times (kind of like a big elastic band looped around both hands). Happily, it's still shiny.

It's not perfect, but I love that I can see the improvement over my previous attempt. There's nothing like progress to motivate a new spinner! I still have about half of the top left to spin up, and when I'm done I plan on making a Baktus. I'm tempted to start swatching now, but the appropriate needles are otherwise engaged (and I already have 5....ok 7 WIPs).

In the meantime, I felt the need to change it up a little, spinning-wise. This is a little more apropos for spring, no?

Long Weekends Are For Spinning

This weekend was a long one in Canada. Most of us may not have much use for the Queen, but we appreciate the opportunity to celebrate her birthday by going camping, gardening, firing up the BBQ, or in my case, spinning.


This is Enchanted Knoll 50% wool/50% soysilk top in "Eclipse", and I'm enjoying spinning it so far. It's really easy to draft, and I'm getting a nice, fine single on my True Creations spindle (0.5 oz). I'm planning a three-ply out of this, and it's looking like the finished yarn will be finer than the two-ply BFL yarn I spun prior to this batch (which you can see here if you're interested).

This is good news for me, because I really think I'll get more use out of sock weight handspun than bulky or even aran weight. In fact, I have 7 ounces of beautiful alpaca I'm saving for when I'm a better spinner; my hope is that I'll be able to spin enough lace weight from those 7 ounces to make myself a nice cozy shawl. I understand alpaca is challenging to spin, so I'm getting as much practice as possible before taking the plunge.

I already have two cops worth of the Enchanted Knoll top spun up and wound onto plying balls, so I was hoping to finish the third this weekend. Unfortunately, all those other important long weekend plans - sleeping in, walking the dogs, playing bocci and having a fabulous dinner with friends - intervened with my best laid plans. I'm close though, and if I can make steady progress throughout the week, I might be able to start plying this weekend. I can't wait to see if my singles are as consistent as I think they are (that would be more consistent than the last batch, but still not perfect), and finally get a look at the yarn I've spent hours making!

In the meantime, Tuesdays are for random flower pictures.

Plus ça change

The earth's rotation is bringing us back to the sunny side of life. It's warm enough now not only to BBQ (let's face it, we can do that all year round on the West Coast), but to enjoy being outside while you're at it.


Colour is returning to a world that was drab and grey for far too long.


Oddly, my yarn related activities aren't following the trend.

The Honeymoon Phase

Ah, the innocent joy that comes with the first few repeats of a new lace pattern. You smooth it out every few rows to see how it's coming along, feel terribly clever to be creating something so intricate and so beautiful, and imagine how the completed shawl will look with various items from your wardrobe (it would look fabulous of course, and make you more fabulous by association).

The quantity of stitches is still small, so the rows go quickly. At first the lengthening of each row just feels like progress, and the hours of wondering which masochistic impulse prompted you to make yourself slog through hundreds of stitches per row are still far off in the future.

New to the pattern, you've yet to get cocky; still checking the chart frequently, it'll be a dozen or so rows at least before you try (and fail) to knit a yet-to-be-memorized lace pattern while watching the kind of show that really requires your undivided attention, thus forcing you to tink back two rows.

Yup, there's nothing better than the first few repeats of a new lace pattern. Good times, good times.