Pat's Knitting and Quilting
February 4, 2010 Warning - an abundance of yarn pictures! I started with this beautiful FatCatKnits Blue Faced Leicester fiber from January's Mixed Blessings Club...
and spun 248 yards/230 yards of regular 3 ply fingering weight yarn (for those who want specifics - I divided each braid in half lengthwise - then divided each of these lengths into 3 widthwise chunks and to further mix it up, divided the 1st piece in half lengthwise, 2nd piece in thirds lengthwise, and 3rd piece left whole.)
I love this yarn - such a beautiful combination of colors! I knew when I started plying that I wanted to use it for colorwork socks, but wasn't certain the contrast would be strong enough for my fairly intricate sock pattern plan.
(click pic for close up view)
I just ran outside and took this picture - not a great photo, but you get the idea. This is the cuff for Faux is Fair by Robyn Gallimore/ Red Bird Knits - I'm excited that the contrast seems to be strong enough to hold up with this pattern - who knows what will happen on the rest of the socks - in some places the 2 colorways get close.
Sweater spinning...
I am on such a great roll with this oatmeal BFL spinning. At first I had trouble getting consistent 3 ply worsted weight yarn, but I finally seem to have the hang of it - I use my little ply back sample taped to the wheel - and check to make sure I'm in the ball park every once in awhile. Now I pretty much have a feel for it and don't need to check as often. Here are 2 of the skeins - I've since finished 4 more (all about 100 grams) and have the singles started for the last 2 skeins, then it will be sweater knitting time. I don't have a pattern picked out yet, but my mind is loaded with possibilities.
January 28, 2010 The subtle color shifts in these stranded mittens are so pretty- It reminds me of mountains at sunset (if you have a vivid imagination.) I love how the mitten top closes with a little sunshine (or star/flower - whatever you see).
The beautiful colors in these Sawtooth Mittens come from handpainted braids of Falkland Wool from FatCatKnits December Mixed Blessings. More yarn pictures and details here.
All the increases (gusset) and decreases (hand/thumb) are done "in pattern" so the sawtooth is never disrupted. I must admit that I got lost in her directions for the thumb gusset/mitten top, so just winged it - my stitch counts were different, but it all worked perfectly. Dave is the hand model - I think he missed his calling :-)  This heavenly pile of alpaca fluff arrived at my doorstep this week from Jody (gypsyspinner). After seeing Jody's spinning (as well as her start to finish fiber prep and beautiful knitting), I decided I needed to experience spinning with alpaca. All of this fiber is from Hubbert Farms - there is a Cria Blend, Golden Suri, White Suri/Huacaya, Fawn Suri/Silk and some other beautiful blends - The original pile was twice as big, but half went to Marcy, my partner in fiber crime.
The alpaca has to wait though - because I'm spinning for a sweater.
January 21, 2010 Did you think I had forgotten how to knit sweaters? Prior to 2004 (my entrance into knitting blogs and computer enhanced knitting), I had been mostly knitting sweaters - LOTS of sweaters with occasional hats/mittens thrown in - I seem to have pretty much dropped sweaters in lieu of socks over the past few years. I usually have a sweater on my needles, but it just sits in a corner forgotten most of the time. This simple raglan v-neck was started in March 2009 - It is the one I spilled a whole cup of coffee on in Virginia last year, without any lasting damage - It is a survivor!
I love top-down raglan construction worked in the round - so easy to get a good fit and very little finish work. This pullover fits to perfection and soft....oh so soft made from cotton and angora. Can you see the angora halo?
In the old days, I made complicated sweaters with cables/colorwork/lace, but realized that what I WEAR are simple plain sweaters - exactly like this one.
January 15, 2010 This is the softest cowl on the face of the earth!
Pattern: Ivy Vines by Anne Hanson. Other than these changes for gauge, I followed the excellent directions as written.
It was when I saw Kim's Ivy Vines, that I knew I had to make this cowl - It is everything I hoped for - my neck is hugged in warm, downy soft, luxurious lace. I took these photos by holding my arms out - therefore have a short neck, so it actually looks better in real life. I didn't get one with my whole head in the picture, so cut it all off instead - this is what they all looked like :-)
For the first time in many years, I have no socks on my needles - it feels a little weird and I miss having something simple to work on for take-along - so.....
From this beautiful FatCatKnits Fiber (60% sw merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon) in Pomegranate Colorway - I spun these 3 bobbins of singles.
Then plied (regular 3 ply) 430 yards (102 grams) of fingering wt. yarn for socks - the yarn is so light and soft and has quite a sheen from the bamboo. It is probably a bit underspun for socks, but I'm hoping the bamboo/nylon will help out in making them durable anyway.
There was a bit of leftover singles, so I used the opportunity to practice navajo plying - this is my teeny 25 yard skein of n-ply.
Next up....I actually finished a sweater - only took a YEAR :-) I've figured out how you can leave your blog URL link in this new comment form (so I and others know who you are)....just click on "from" then click "my other site" and put the url there. Then when someone clicks on your name, the website link will be displayed. I don't know why they had to make it so confusing!
January 8, 2009 I have had Selbuvotter since the day it was released and these are the 1st mittens I've made from this book - more will certainly follow! I was immediately drawn to this particular pattern - the ravens were too wonderful to pass up.
I have a need to use up every last inch of my handspun, so decided to use the leftovers from these socks coupled with some Elann Peruvian Highland Wool. I doubled the handspun for a perfect worsted weight compliment to the grey yarn.
Pattern: Annemor #5 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea I love the basic design of all the Selbuvotter mittens, especially the thumb gusset - I like the way it looks AND the way it fits! Here they are with the ravens right side up...
New yarn....
This is Crown Mountain Farms Falkland Wool ( January fiber of the month). I was aiming for 3 ply worsted wt and got pretty close - this is probably between worsted/aran. I split the roving into 3 horizontal sections, spun each onto a separate bobbin and plied the 3 together for some soft, round, squishy, luscious deep pink yarn...final tally is 212 yards from 104 grams. What to knit?? I'm thinking something with fat cables.
Sorry about this comment form - many people are complaining to "Echo" about the fact that no one can leave their email/URL, so hopefully things will change. In the meantime thank you for letting me know who you are :-)
January 2, 2010 A quick peek at new mittens in progress...
I'm using leftover handspun from these socks -held doubled - coupled with Elann Peruvian Wool to make Annemor 5 from Selbuvotter.
The FatCat Falkland handspun, is turning into Sawtooth Mittens - I was worried about the color contrast, but I think it's going to work :-)
and on the VERY bright side - I'm finally making Chevron Love Mittens (I've had the kit for quite a long time!) - I've opted to only use 5 of the 8 colors provided - I did the math and there should be enough. I'm will try to have them all done by the end of the month for NaKniMitMo!
Remember the spider? Here are the babies in January - There are actually teeny spiders in those sacs - they hatched sometime in the fall and will survive in the sac until spring. BRRRRR..looks so cold in there!
December 29, 2009 I don't usually do Christmas knitting, but my daughter asked me to knit a pair of Bella's Mittens in grey yarn for her, so she got her knitting wish!
Beautiful Fat Cat Mixed Blessings Club forDecember - Falkland Wool - such wonderful earthy colors.
I divided each roving into thirds (lengthwise) and then divided the thirds into fourths with the plan to make two 3 ply skeins - one of each color. Here are the singles...
I don't have a lot to compare it to yet, but this Falkland wool was WONDERFUL to spin - it drafted so easily and and just seemed to fall into the perfect twist/ply without my trying to hard to make anything specific happen. This was my 1st try at regular 3 ply and I found it not to be anymore difficult than 2 ply. The yarn is lovely - round, soft, and squishy.
I ended up with 256 yards of green and 266 yards of orange - each skein is 2.4 ounces. I haven't checked WPI, but it looks like a heavy fingering/light sport weight yarn. The colors are very fall like, so I may wait to knit it up...or I may start knitting today. I'm thinking of colorwork mittens - maybe...
click these if you want to see real close ups - the color is off on the orange one.
Starting in January...MITTENS! Have you joined the NaKniMitMo 2010 KAL?
December 21, 2009 I started with this beautiful braid of targhee wool, and had a grand 2 ply color idea for socks, that did not go as planned - not even close!
If left as 2 ply I would have had 1 striped sock and one barberpole sock. So I got out my spinning books and decided to experiment. The result was a 4 strand cable ply yarn which I made by tightening up the 2 ply twist and plying the 2 yarns together for 260 yards of a nicely balanced, soft, stretchy, squishy worsted weight yarn.
Pattern: Aran Watch Cap
I took the pictures myself - It wasn't easy to even get the hat IN the picture - most photos looked like this. My one and only needlepoint project completed in 1986
HAVE A HAPPY SOLSTICE AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS PS - my "comment" company was sold and the new one doesn't have a place for email, so unless I already know your email I can't respond - Frustrating!
December 12, 2009
I could never have guessed that the socks from this fiber would turn out like this...
They are soft, bright, beautiful and fit like a dream - The barber pole yarn turns into a tweedy trekkingesque sock look. At this point I feel like I could just knit handspun socks for the rest of my life and be happy - actually, that might not be true...I'm already thinking of sweaters, hats and mittens :-) Since this is pure merino fiber, I added some nylon reinforcement yarn (that I forgot to use on Dave's socks) to the bottom of the heel, which is the only place my socks have ever worn out.
I still have 2.5 ounces of this fun yarn left! Maybe colorwork?
December 7, 2009 We love artichokes - when I go to the store and ask the boys what I should get, they actually say "please get artichokes"...these are teenage boys!
So you can imagine how much fun it was to make these socks :-)
Pattern: Blessed Thistle by Lisa Grossman Tsarina or Tsocks
My daughter Kate's 25th birthday was this week - I let her pick out anything she wants from "the knitting bin". This is what she chose (along with a preblogging Morehouse merino scarf) - she's got good taste!
I'm spinning beautiful muted colors of Targhee wool...I think it will become another pair of 2 ply socks and then I'll venture into 3 ply/Navajo ply and some thicker yarns. My current handspun socks in progress are wild and fun - They should be done by next week!
November 28, 2009
First of all, I promise I won't do this every time I spin yarn, I've gone a little overboard with pictures - I think I've taken more pictures of this yarn than I took of my children when they were born :-) But before I show you the photos, I want to say a very heartfelt "thank you" to Laurie who gave up her Sunday afternoon to pass on some of her spinning knowledge to me. There is NOTHING like a real hand's on spinning lesson from a master - THANK YOU Laurie! When I got my wheel, my friend Aimee sent me an email that just said "go here" - so I went. I immediately joined the Fat Cat Mixed Blessings Fiber Club for 3 months. Each month has a different type of wool in 2 colors that compliment each other. Seemed like a great way to learn about spinning different fibers and play with color at the same time. Here is the roving for November...
Would they really go together? I had no idea, so went on pure faith and spun a separate bobbin of each one with the plan to simply ply them together and hope for the best.
140 grams of merino = 550 yards of 2 ply fingering weight yarn 17-18 WPI
I'm in love and have started socks!
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(Top-Down Raglan V-Neck Pullover) by 
