Cashmere Overhaul

I took that stretched out head band and used some of my favorite blue-faced-leicester wool to crochet some meandering lines on it, hoping to add a little spring. Seems to have worked pretty good. Think it's too goofy looking? I thought about slapping on some embroidered lazy daisies or leafs or something, but I may just leave those wandering stripes. I'll wear it skiing and let you know if it works!

Lesson in cashmere

An impulse purchase on ebay led me to try spinning cashmere. Impressive stuff. Delicious on the hand, spins yummily, (yummily? Yes, I think that's the word I want.) but short and slippery fiber that drafts apart with the least bit of inattention. I spun a little test sample on a drop spindle, and croched it up into a nice lacy swatch that begged to be a soft little beanie. When I geared up to spin it on the wheel, however, I couldn't get the tension right and had to spin much bulkier than I wanted, and ended up with a fat, thick and thin sort of "artisan" yarn that didn't have nearly enough length to make a hat. So, I single croched it into a head band, ear-warmer sort of thing, but when I went to wash and block it, it was MUCH bigger than it had been before washing. I see now that it's not bouncy and springy like wool, but more limp and saggy, (not in a bad way, maybe "drapey" is the word) but my head band did NOT fit my head anymore. Hmm.... I've stretched it lots by hand the short way to shorten the length, and in the morning I'll try to wear to see if it stays on my head.
I learned:
Ply a single of wool with my cashmere in the future so the garment holds it's shape!

Keep on Sockin....

One more sock - In a new and different way. (For me, anyway.)
I've done some cuff down, a couple toe up, and now an "afterthoughts on a tube".
I got the idea from my favorite sock resource, Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook.
I started a plain tube from some yarn that I spun from some hodgepodge roving bits when I was visiting my grandmother last spring. It had alpaca, a multicolor marino and some bamboo in it - a slubby, thick and thin single. I'd started knitting it up into some leg warmers which turned out so ugly I frogged them back out (Rip-it, rip-it) and divided the yarn into two equal balls. The tube was just the right size to stash in my purse, so after two Christmas programs and a boring meeting or too, I'd knitted the yarn all up. The fragile mismatch of fiber won't hold up to high abrasion areas of a sock, so I grabbed some blue faced Leicester yarn left over from last year's mits. I made a round toe (don't like it so much, next one will be wedge.) and split the tube part way to knit in an "afterthought heel". Worked great! Can't wait to do the other one. The soft tube doesn't have any ribbing, and it's a pretty drapy sort of yarn, so the leg's going to sag, but I think that's okay. I could rib the other one, but I think for once I'll try making two socks that actually sort of match. (with the exception of the toe... )

I learned:
How to do an afterthought heel! Cutting into the middle of something you've knitted is intimidating, but not that hard.

No match socks

Here is what happens when I start a pair of socks (without a pattern) in the spring, stop for the summer and finish in the fall. Spring sock fits nice, has 2x2 rib in the cuff and a heel that's a little too shallow. Fall sock is 3x1 rib all the way to the toe, and has some kind of tricky dense stitch in the sole. The sole stitch turned out to be a bad idea, for one thing because I couldn't remember how I'd done it once I came back, but also because it grew slower than the stitch on the top of the foot, and I had to try to add short rows to get the sock to knit up evenly. In the end, the rib top sort of wraps around the toe anyway. Good part is that I think I finally learned to do the kitchener stitch right! Regardless, they are a really nice superwash marino, and I do love hand knit socks. Something so nice and lofty about that good wool, not all tight and non-breathing like even those good smartwool socks can be.

Sockies

These are some impromptu little baby socks that I made up quickly after I wrapped up that pair for Meg. (photo coming later - they're in her dirty laundry, I think.) My friend Jennifer had a little baby girl, and I liked this yarn so much I thought I'd try to punt on a baby pair. They are okay, but I can never remember the right way to turn those hourglass heels, and I end up with holes. There's some kind of yarn-over at the end of the row , then a three-together at the other end, but I'm not getting it right, and one sock is pretty good, but one is holey. Also, I tried a comparison between the twisted sister's twisted rib and plain old 1x1 rib - kind of interesting to see the difference. Much more noticeable than I thought - the twisted rib is closest to the foot. In all, they're pretty cute. Can't wait to see if they stay on Alyce Grace's little feeties.

Thoughtless scarf

Working on the lace scarf made me realize how important it is to have at least one non-thinking, no-counting-required project going at a time. It's best if you don't even have to look at it while knitting it, but that may be stretching it a little. I have some unbelievably light roving that's equal parts of cashmere, yak down, silk and marino. The yak and cashmere are so light and fluffy that even though they are equal parts by weight, they dominate the fiber scene so much in this blend that you are hard pressed to find the other components. It's hard for me to spin - short, clumpy blobs of fluff that don't like to flow. I had so much trouble spinning it on my wheel that I started working it on the smallest hand spindle I have, and spinning a few yards before bed every night. It made a really nice, fine, tightly spun single that was wonderfly soft and bouncy. I decided first that everybody I know needs a neck gaitor out of this, but after evaluating the amount that I actually have spun (it goes pretty slow!) I chose a simple narrow scarf that could be worn inside all day, in moss stitch or seed stitch or whatever that one is where you knit your pearls and pearl your knits. I started doing a YO/k2tog at the ends of each row, thinking it would be an easy way to add a bit of interest, but I ended up hating paying that much attention, and they didn't show that much anyway with so much texture in the color variation, so I dropped the pattern. Maybe I better make it again for the last few inches on the other end so it doesn't looks so much like a goof. So this "no thinking" scarf is in my "grab it when I go somewhere" bag, but I better get some more spun up, because that little ball is going to make a pretty short scarf!

Still Branching

So, it's getting longer, but not very fast! Remember when I said it goes fast? I lied. It does go pretty fast, if you can sit and knit and think about it, but I'm getting about one repeat of the 5 row pattern in 30 minutes or so, and I just can't do it much longer than that. Short span of attention, I guess. So, rep an evening, max, and I don't work on it every night. It's no good at all for conversation knitting, TV or movie knitting, or even listening to an audio book knitting because you have to pay too much attention. I almost have the pattern memorized, and that helps not having to look at the little chart every few stitches, but you still have to think about what you're doing. How those ladies do those fancy big shawls I really don't know. This is as tricky as I want to tackle, for a while I think. The yarn is sure nice to touch, and it's fuzzing out quite a bit more than I expected it to. I'm anxious to wash and block it so see how it acts. Only another two feet to go!

Beaniemania 2

Megan asked for a hat, but after her incredible pickiness about the neck warmer I was reluctant to make any special hand spun for one. I had a bunch of donated yarn left over from the fiber class, acrylic novelty super soft fuzzy stuff, and a dark pink chenille. I put the two together and did a half double crochet version of the previous hat. She wanted ear-warmer flaps on it, so we did that. Now it needs big floppy tassel of some kind on top. I was thinking of using just one of the yarns, maybe the chenille, because I'm concerned about how that fuzzy stuff will wear. Shall I make it long and hanging down, or puffy and attached tight to the top? I'm up for ideas, so hit the comments!

Beaniemania

Another episode in the saga of crazy beanies - this one spun on a hand spindle from remenents of wool left over and used as demos for the fiber class I taught at the elementary this winter. I had a bunch of fat, lumpy two ply in crazy random colors that I'd been making with the kids, so I quick whipped out this double crochet beanie. I expected it to be really ridiculous, but ended up likeing it quite a bit! It needs a topper of some kind, though - it's kind of plain and round. I don't have enough left over to do a tassle, so we'll have to think up something else. Maybe at rendezvous this year I'll find one of those silver charm dangles of some kind.....

Another Shameless Plagierism

Browsing in the Great Outdoor Shop , waiting for the nice clerk to wrap a birthday present, I found the greatest hat. It was a Burton Snowboarding hat, and made to look like hand knit, with a funny little all-over cable pattern, from some really cute multicolored wool in that beanie shape that seems to be the thing right now. Well, I just happened to have some multi colored wool myself, and I wondered if I could copy it. My wool is a nice merino from Ashland Bay I got from Paradise Fibers and with a little coaxing it spun into a thick and thin bulky single as easy as anything, just like that Burton hat. (by now I've bagged the spindle, this is on my Louet S10) I cast on and started trying to copy the cable pattern. Whoa. I was stuck. I tried a bunch of ways, but in the end, I scrapped the cables. I didn't want to copy it that close, anyway. (Okay I did, but still have no idea how those cables were done. Wonder if that hat's on sale, now that it's spring...?)
Well, it knitted up with no pattern and straight stocking stitch into a pretty cute little beanie, anyway, and I think my fancy little beaded topper adds just the right touch of girleyness. (Got me thinking about ordering some teeny little lobster clasps, and making a variety of toppers for hats - mix and match kind of thing. Hmmm....
I learned:
Straight merino spins really nicely
It's pretty easy to spin a thick/thin yarn that looks textury when knitted
Beanies go fast - two or three boring meetings, or a short road trip

Trying Lace Again, or What Was I Thinking?

I've got this baby camel roving that's been absolutely calling to me since I bought it, and for a long time I couldn't get my wheel adjusted right so I could spin it at all. With some help from a nice lady in Fort Collins (and I never got her name!) I learned how to solve the problem, and now I'm a camel spinning unit! (although it's still a little uneven, and painfully fragile...) So - what do you do with baby camel? Knitty to the rescue - with this beautiful "beginner lace" scarf called Branching Out. Okay. I'll bite.
Confession: It's fun. It goes fast, it's really beautiful, and it's facinating to see that pattern appearing beneath your fingers. And that baby camel is so yummy it's a joy to touch. The downside? Don't goof. My first inch or so has more mistakes than I want to admit, but I learned the hard way that it's really tough to backtrack. You pull your needles out, and the fabric dissolves into a wiggly mass of loops twisting and disappearing - I can't tell a YO from an SSK from a stray blob of mystery fluff...
So, the mistakes are staying, but the top end is going to look better than the bottom!

Felting Faith

More experimentation on the perfect warm-hands item. Faith's fleece from Peeper Hollow Farm felts into a really interesting, thick, bumpy, dense, glossy, springy fabric. I decided to try some felt mittens, and cut tiny slots in the palm for finger-stick-out-ability to see if I could make a version of convertible mittens without the between-fingers bulk of the inside partial glove, and the nuisance of the flappy top. I just want to poke two fingers out when I need to fumble my truck keys into the lock at -30 and howling wind. I started these from Fiber Trend's Snow Country Pattern , but they eat up my bulky navajo ply like nobody's business, and I keep having to stop and make more yarn. Faith's fleece is still greasy, so I'm reluctant to stop the project that's on the wheel at the moment to spin and ply some wool for this, so it's going somewhat slowly. That, and the fact that it's May and I don't need felt mittens anymore is making me drag my feet. However, I do need those big double pointed needles for the felted bag project I want to start next, so I'm going to have to finish sooner or later! More to come!
I'm learning:
Greasy wool is fun to spin, but hard to navajo ply
It takes lots of yarn to make giant size mittens
Short rows for curving! Cool!

Another Take on Mitts

After the lessons on mitts from the Arizona ATV trip, I thought I'd take another run at them, only modifying the design slightly. These are a similar shape, but longer, and with a much finer yarn. I spun a sport weight single from a beautiful blue faced leicester roving (okay, I'm hooked - my new favorite wool) and used little #2 needles. I tried a lace pattern that was supposed to run up the back of the hands, but being my first attempt at lace, and the thick and thin nature of my somewhat amateurish spinning, it gets a little lost. Never having worked tiny before, I wasn't sure how to work the thumb gusset (increase every two rows, every three?) and had trouble positioning the thumb in relation to the lace strip. Perhaps using a pattern would have helped, but that just takes all the sport out of it, don't you think? I made the hand extend quite a bit farther down the fingers than is typical, and the thumb as well for a little more warmth and protection. The rib on the fingers is a twisted rib I got from the Twisted Sister's Sock book, and it is quite a bit more dense than I expected, but it does solve the problem of the palm rolling down when you put your hand in your coat sleeve. (Or in a bigger mitten, or grab a bucket handle, etc.)
For a future project, I'm thinking about closing the top over the pinkey and ring fingers, making a sort of mitten with two finger tips out. Don't think I've ever seen any like that. (Maybe there's a reason why...)

I learned:
I love blue faced leicester - flows like butter from the roving, soft as any marino, strong and beautiful.
Smaller stitches make a nicer fabric, if you don't need density
Smaller stitches take a lot longer
You have to pay attention to make lace
I'm a big fan of mitts

Arizona ATV Mitts

In the search for the perfect hand-keeper-warmer I've explored plain mittens, (too restrictive) fingerless gloves (not bad, but the bulk between fingers bugs me) convertible mittens (that's the fold-back flap things. Not bad, but have issues) Felted mittens (really warm, but still mittens)..... and gloves. Okay, I don't want to knit gloves.
I've looked at patterns for these "mitts" or "wristers" or "hand/wrist warmers"...you see a lot of versions, and I dismissed them as silly. Until, that is, I ran across a WWI or WWII Red Cross Knit-for-the-Soldiers pattern for one. Wow! They'd been around longer than I thought, and actually used by people that... do things. Hmmm..... Now I'm starting to take them seriously. So on a Christmas road trip to AZ I started them, making up the pattern as I went and using the last of my marino/alpaca/silk blend and plying it with some really boingy romney that I bought in a whole fleece, that belonged to a sheep named Faith. I finished them in time to wear on several long and chilly ATV rides, and decided they weren't stupid at all. In fact, I really like them. Back home, January in Wyoming, they actually were pretty good. You can ball up your fingers inside to protect from wind, stick your fingers out to tie kid shoelaces, and touch with only the palm and covered part of the thumb to open cold metal gates and door handles. I knitted them on small needles, with pretty thick yarn, so they are surprisingly wind proof, and that romney would never make it as a scarf but adds lots of bouncy loft and rugged durability. Not bad.
I learned:
Mitts aren't dumb after all.

Next Neck...

This one for Megan. I thought I'd learned my lesson about colors for a six year old, so I took her to Knit on Pearl in Jackson Hole and let her feel the yarns and choose her colors. The shop ladies were so patient and helpful, and she put each type of soft yarn under her chin to see how it felt. She settled on this pink baby alpaca, and then chose a blue in the same yarn to go with it that had a little bit of sparkle stuff in it. (I think that may have been a mistake.) I didn't want to do just plain stripes, so I made up a fair isle pattern to try out. I knitted it flat in straight stocking stitch, and let the ends roll. I liked the pattern better than I thought I would - it was easy enough to keep track of, and with only one stitch to cary the yarn, there weren't any long loops on the wrong side to catch on things. I could do this sort of thing again. I had to remind myself to keep the carried yarn loose, it tended to want to pull in. All in all, I'd been avoiding any sort of color work, but I think now that it doesn't take much to add a lot of interest to a piece of knitting. Yep. I liked it. Now, does Megan?
No.
It's scratchy on her unbelievably tender little princess neck. *scowly face* Honestly, the sparkly strips are a little noticable. Well, I make her wear it anyway when it's really cold. (The model here isn't Megan - Hannah was just the only willing one I could find at the moment.)
What I learned:
1. Fair Isle is not that hard
2. Sparkly = scratchy (maybe a little)
3. Not everyone thinks this stuff is as cool as I do. (okay, I knew that already, but sometimes need reminded, I guess.)

Momma's Got a Brand New Bag!

My new favorite thing.
My wonderful sister-in-law brought this little bag back from her last trip to her native Philippines, and it's the greatest knitting bag ever. It's long skinny shape makes it fit on the floor without taking up tons of space (think in the car...) and it's the perfect length to hold a pair of straight needles or circulars, or even dpns bunched up parallel, a little project and a couple yarn balls, nice and cozy, with the top staying open to allow access and nice yarn flow. Who knew? I love it! Thanks, Caren!!

Neck Gaiter for Joe

I liked my neck gaiter so much, I was sure my kids needed them too. Joe's is a marino/silk two-ply knitted loosely in a simple 2x2 rib. He doesn't like it. *rolling eyes* Actually, he wears it occasionally, but being the kid he is, it's all he can do to remember his coat when he goes out, so anything else is just extra junk to get lost. I wore it a time or two, and the marino is a tiny bit bothersome on your neck. I like it okay, but I can see where a little kid might not. Maybe it's important to put some finer fiber in to fuzz out and hold the sheep-wool away from your skin.
From this one I learned:
No straight sheep wool for my kid's necks anymore
These are really fast and easy projects

A Great Neck Gaiter

This item of clothing may seem strange, but for brutal winter weather, I've decided it's one of my favorite things. And I really like this particular one, too. (Hey, I made something I like!!)
Scarfs look good, but in wind they blow around, and when you're trying to do stuff they get in your way. These have all the good of scarfs, and none of the bad. I used some poly fleece ones in the past, and found them okay for extreme cold (Antarctica is where I started with them) but kind of clammy and hard to breathe through, if you need to cover your nose and mouth with them. This soft wool blend is not clammy, and works great for breathing through, although my next one will be a less fuzzy yarn. Frost will get on the parts your breath goes past, but it doesn't make the whole thing seem clammy like the poly kind. I used the last of my "Saharan Brindle" two ply, (marino/alpaca/silk/cashmere) and ran out and added some other similar fiber from another roving at the last third. (I think it was about the same blend, only without the cashmere.) It's knitted loose, in an interupted 3x3 rib, and it's just the nicest thing. I wore it every day, all winter, and I could wear my light windbreaker coat long past light-coat weather, only breaking out my "dead of winter" coat for the meanest of January. Something about zipping that soft wool under your jacket around your neck and chin (and mouth and ears when you need it) is just all you need. (Can you tell I like this? Think I'll make another? Me too.)
From this I learned:
I'm getting better with my spindle
Natural fiber really is different from plastic
Wind-stopping fabric over lofty insulation beats heavy and thick any day
Wool can feel good on your neck

Two Socks at Once

Trying this out - some commercial yarn from Lambspun, I can't remember what it was called, and lost the label, but it's special for socks, a washable wool that's amazingly light and stretchy (wish I could figure out how to make my two ply look pearly like that) and I got this book detailing a way of using two circular needles to get a pair of socks going at the same time. Lots of advantages to doing it that way, but a little confusing in the beginning. Once I got going, it's easy, but casting on and the first couple of rows took several tries for me. Looks like the perfect size for Megan. Think I'll actually make something she'll like?

Whoa!!! Qiviut!!!

Wow. My Mom..... Wow.
On a trip to alaska, my Mom brought back two packages (Yes TWO!) of qiviut fiber. (Combed from muskox - the most amazing stuff you've ever seen) I used my heavy, clumsy spindle and spun some big, fat singles, then proceeded to ply them (yes, ply - it's the only way I could get it to hold together!) into a crazy, lumpy, fat yarn with a million breaks in it. (it's really short fiber, and slippery - I had a heck of a time making it into yarn.) I tried crocheting something longish, then ripped it (frogged, is that the term now? Rip-it, rip-it) out and worked some weird little granny squares. It's the most amazingly soft and fluffy and warm fiber, and I'm embarrassed to have abused it so, but that scarf sure feels nice! Now that I am somewhat of a better spinner, I wonder if I could un-do it again and maybe even card the yarn out. All that fuzz makes un-crocheting really hard.... I think this spring I'll see if I can nail some fresh fluff from the sources (I did find some online places that sell direct from the combers, seasonally). Then I can take another whack at it. This time I'll make something really nice for my mom. (Smoke ring, maybe?)
What I learned from this one:
Quiviut is amazing stuff
Lighter spindles work better for short fiber
Supported spinning allow for more control
Fuzzy yarn is hard to rip out

Meg's Ugly Hat

Now, since I hadn't learned my lesson on handspun hats yet, I decided Megan Rosie needed one just like mine. I spun some plain brown alpaca two ply, and plied some of the alpaca singles with some blue marino/silk singles and started on another pointy-top, longer-in-the-back crocheted hat. That back part never did quite hug the head like I wanted, and it kept flipping out like some weird hairdo. In the end, I quit ripping and re-crocheting and just finished it. It gets worn when the kids can't find a different hat, but I'm afraid it's another closet decoration, for the most part.
What I learned from this hat: Alpaca is limp, not bouncy. If you want your little girl to wear it, don't use brown and blue. (Duh.)

The Really Ugly Hat That Started It All

So I decided that I had to learn to spin, for some crazy reason, and I bought a length of roving from Lambspun in Ft. Collins Co. that was called "saharan brindle" and was a marino, silk, alpaca and cashmere blend, if I remember right. I also bought a drop spindle and a couple of books and proceeded to make a giant mess of tangled fluff all over my house, create horrible charlie-horses in my shoulder and drive everyone around me crazy showing them my hideously ugly yarn over and over. I finally wrenched enough two ply out of that poor roving to make something (anything!) and set out to shamelessly copy a beautiful crocheted hat I bought at a craft fair in Jackson Hole the previous fall. My copy does not even resemble the lovely original, but it did keep my head warm for the whole winter season. I even cobbled out enough silk yarn to do a sort of improvised lining on the lower three inches of the inside, to make the fabric thicker and more wind-proof. I also thought that the silk would feel better on the skin, but as it turns out, the wool has held up and weathered more nicely than the silk, which has sort of matted and pilled unpleasantly. It's no beauty contest winner, but it's still my favorite skiing hat.

Old Mittens

This is one of my first pair of mittens. Cold winters here create the need for an endless supply and variety of hand, neck, head, face and other body coverings, and I wanted to try something new. These are knitted flat and stitched up the side, and I really like the embroidery in the same yarn, although I never really got it all the way done. Downside was that I used a cotton yarn and a big gauge, so the wind blows right through them and the second they are a little wet you are frozen. I also have a problem with the size of the thumb gusset. Not sure whether it's just too small or I made them wrong (Naw, couldn't be that!) but they just are a little more snug on the bases of the thumbs than they should be. Add to that the general peskiness of mitten-restriction, (the fact that you have to take them off to actually DO anything), and these beauties, sadly, have ended up decorating the bottom of my mitten tub in the closet. Pretty much exclusively. Ah well... I learned a lot.