Pat's Knitting and Quilting
August 29,2010 These socks have been my ongoing summer project and at my slow knitting speed this summer, it has taken almost all 3 months to finish them - but it was worth it :-)
I didn't know there was a huge honkin' mistake until I took these pictures and now that is all I can see. The perfectionistic thing to do would be to make a little green duplicate stitch and no one would ever know, but I realize that I actually don't care and will leave them just how they are.
Pattern: Istanbul by Robyn Gallimore
As always - I LOVE Robyn's patterns - never a boring moment with all the pattern changes and fun challenges. I've done some sewing - only 2 more borders (one of which is 48 pieced stars) to go...
July 27, 2010 We just returned from a sunny, hot, fun filled week in Eastham on Cape Cod - a big family reunion - most of the week was spent on the beach with occ. biking and walking when it was cool enough - a day in Ptown, miniature golf, lots of seafood, cookouts and ice cream every night rounded the week out - but the most fun of all was just being with the people I love most in the World!
I actually didn't knit a stitch on this vacation, but finished my Turkish Rose Mittens just after we returned. This is my very 1st knitted project taken from sheep to finish.
Pattern: Turkish Rose Mittens from Green Mtn. Spinnery (I bought the pattern, but it is is also in 99 Yarns and Counting.) A little bit off season, but I think they are gorgeous - can't wait to REALLY wear them this winter!
I'm attempting to get my Istanbul Socks done by August 31 for the Red Bird Knits Summer KAL - progress is slow :-)
July 5, 2010 Anyone who has read my blog for the past 4 years, knows I go into "summer mode" and manage to only get in a few posts during this time...usually coming back full force (which is still only about once/week) in the fall. Alaska was wonderful in every way - Enjoying time with my 2 adult children, while Dave held down the fort here at home, filled my heart with joy - Here we are at the Salmon Bake (Matt with girlfriend Kelly, Me, Kate)
But what I'm sure most of you are more interested in....
I scored 1/2 pound (to be split with Marcy) of pure raw qiviut from beautiful Ingrid the muskox - she had just been combed about 2 weeks ago. LARS (or as I've always called it - The Muskox Farm) is about 2 miles from my son's cabin - very convenient :-)
I finished my "Walk in the Woods" naturally dyed socks
Started my Tour de Fleece spinning, using bright and beautiful Fiber Optic Hand-Dyed SW Merino in Salta - Kimber Baldwin has a fun club, "As the Whorl Turns" (Rav info) in which you get to choose between 3 fibers (inspired by a different country each month). I've opted to split this braid up into separate colors and go from there - no definitive plan in mind yet
June 11, 2010 I used the beautiful Polwarth Roving from April's Fat Cat's Mixed Blessings Club (scroll down a little) to make us 2 nice warm winter hats.
Mine is made using the purplish Polwarth along with some light gray corriedale that I spun for the contrast color. I made a picot edging to add a little girly factor and lined it with some Aubergine Baby Silk left over from my Swallowtail Shawl.
Dave wanted less contrast for his hat, so I chose to spin some wonderful Spinderella Thrums in "Medium Naturals" for his background color. The Thrums were a beautiful mixture of natural browns/grays in soft wool, alpaca, mohair, llama.
He was not home during the only moment of sunlight we've had in the past few days, so I am modeling his hat and taking pictures with one hand. Hmmmmm - this one fits me perfectly too :-)
Pattern: Stained Glass Hat from Green Mountain Spinnery.
I think I will line every hat I make from here on out. It is a wonderful way to use up those little bits of extra luxury yarn/fiber and you never have to worry about an itchy hat again!
I forgot to get a picture of the fun top decreases, but you can sort of see it in the pictures below.
I'm leaving next week to visit my oldest son in Fairbanks, Alaska and doubt I'll get another post in before I go...so see you in July :-)
June 2, 2010 I had planned on a "finished hat" post today, but after my natural dyeing frenzy this weekend, I had to show you this instead. I have always had a strong "gatherer" instinct - can find and pick berries all day long! So it follows that I've recently been drawn to the idea of dyeing from nature and am, at the last minute, planting a dye garden which probably won't be usable until next summer....SOOOOO in the meantime, I couldn't wait to at least give it a try and while on a walk in the woods this weekend, I gathered one bag full of bark, acorns, pinecones, mushrooms and another bag full of every type of leaf, fern, and flower that I came upon.
To extract the dye from these plants I simmered them in water for about an hour then just let them sit and steep until they cooled off. Our house was filled with the sweet rich woodsy odor for hours!
I then strained out most of the dye material and put the pots back on the stove to heat up, while soaking some Knit Picks Bare sock yarn in warm water. Bark/acorns have natural tannins and do not need a mordant for dye uptake so I just plunked half of the yarn right into that dye pot. Leaves and flowers need a mordant so that the dyestuff bites into the yarn and it remains light and wash fast, so I dissolved 1 -2 tsp. of alum and 1/2 tsp cream of tarter in boiling water and added it to that dyepot and dropped in the other half skein.
These pots gently simmered for about an hour or 2 and then sat to cool overnight. In the morning I washed and rinsed the yarn and hung it out to dry.
The finished yarn is beautiful and still has a wonderful woodsy scent...
I dropped all my other projects and cast on socks - I'm making up the pattern as I go (starting the cuff with Quill Eyelet stitch pattern from Knitting on the Edge) and will somehow incorporate both 50 gram skeins into it so I have enough for a pair of socks.
Finished hats next time :)
May 27, 2010 I usually know exactly what I'm doing when I'm knitting socks - NOT this time! I blindly followed the directions putting all my faith in this math genius designer, and much of the time I had no idea what part of the sock I was working on or where the current section would end up in the final plan. It was fun to let go and enjoy this mystery construction and it all worked!
Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden from Knitty Winter 2009
A close up of the "origami" heel
These socks were fun all around and the fit is great! I loved spinning this luxurious Fawn Suri Silk pencil roving from Hubbert Farms - it was such a silky, smooth fiber - I felt like I was spinning human hair...my own hair, since it is almost exactly the same color!
Loosely spun and plied for lovely, shiny, drapey (is that a word?) 2 ply laceweight yarn.
The halo of soft fiber on this yarn is incredible - here is a closer picture so you can get an idea of what it really looks like.
I started Peacock Tail and Leaf by Nancy Bush from Knitted Lace of Estonia - it is so nice to have a lace project back on my needles!
May 19, 2010 Using my new favorite tools - Valkyrie Combs and a GV Pencheff cherry diz - I am having a blast making combed top from my Corriedale fleece.
I make about 3 grams per comb full, so it only takes 3-4 batches to make a nice 10-12 gram ball of fiber - add a few of those balls together and there is enough for a small project.
Originally, I had planned to card the leftovers from combing, but after lots of experimenting, I came up with an even better plan. I throw all the combing waste into a shoe box and when it is full, I just recomb all the leftovers and get more soft lovely roving (that has a few more neps and some shorter (very soft) fibers) that I will use for a final "leftovers" project. After that 2nd combing the waste is truly just waste - nothing I want to spin - so it is thrown out under the birdfeeders, so our birds can have the softest nests in town. Here is a picture showing the 4 extra, second combing balls (light ones on the top) - kind of the same frugal feeling as making a scrap quilt from leftover fabric :-)
and last, but not least....I finally have some yarn to show from these 2 fleeces! This was my 1st experience spinning hand prepared fiber and it was so special and wonderful - I enjoyed every minute of drafting my beautiful, oh so stretchy, soft wooly fiber. This is the most "alive" yarn I have ever encountered -It has a huge squoosh factor! There is 156 yards of Whirlwind and 137 yards of Octavia from a total of 4.5 ounces of fiber. Enough for mittens?? I think so.
I've also done some colorful spinning...
Fat Cat Mixed Blessings Club Fiber for May - 2 skeins of bright beautiful 3 ply worsted weight Polwarth. 168 yards/ 2.5 ounces of each color.
I haven't figured out a final plan yet - they do look pretty together, but I think they are going to be 2 different projects.
I have done some knitting too - should have some finished socks next week!
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