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Pat's Knitting and Quilting

August 29,2010
Istanbul

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 :-)

Istanbul socks

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.

Istanbul Socks Istanbul Socks

Pattern: Istanbul by Robyn Gallimore
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - less than one skein each natural and sage
Size: 72 stitches
Needles: 2 socks on one 40" circular 2.25mm needles
A few little changes - repeated rounds 1-24 on leg (not 1-25 as directions say - think this is an error) Adjusted stitch count so the sole would be symmetrical (K2 tog in middle of heel turn) and made start of round after the instep at the beginning of back needle so there would not be a jog.

Istanbul Socks Istanbul Socks

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...

Galactic Explosion

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July 27, 2010
Turkish Rose Mittens

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!

boys cape cod

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.

Oxtavia and Whirlwind

Turkish Rose Mittens

Turkish Rose Mittens Turkish Rose Mittens

Pattern: Turkish Rose Mittens from Green Mtn. Spinnery (I bought the pattern, but it is is also in 99 Yarns and Counting.)
Yarn: 2.5 ounces hand prepped/handspun Corriedale from Octavia and Whirlwind raised and sheared at Whitefish Bay Farm
Size: small (8" circumference/ 9.5" length) - 58 stitches around
Needle: cuff 2.5 mm / hand 3.25 mm circular needle.
Mods: The instructions for the top of the mittens didn't match the picture or chart, so I just winged it for the top decreases - turned out perfect!

A little bit off season, but I think they are gorgeous - can't wait to REALLY wear them this winter!

Turkish Rose Mittens

Turkish Rose Mittens

and my favorite picture
Turkish Rose Mittens

I'm attempting to get my Istanbul Socks done by August 31 for the Red Bird Knits Summer KAL - progress is slow :-)

Istanbul Socks

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July 5, 2010
Blogging Lite - Summer Style

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.
So instead of ditching it altogether for the summer - I'll give a quick run down of my fibery adventures at least a few times :-)

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)

Salmon Bake

But what I'm sure most of you are more interested in....

muskox Muskox

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 :-)

Raw Qiviut

I finished my "Walk in the Woods" naturally dyed socks

Walk in the Woods Socks
Walk in the Woods Socks
Pattern: Designed by me - Cuff used "Quill Eyelet" Pattern from Knitting on the Edge - one repeat carried down the side. Front is a variation of "Expanded Feather" pattern from Barbara Walker Treasury.
Size: 60 stitches
Yarn: KP Bare sock yarn naturally dyed from my Walk in the Woods - used the dark for the cuff/heel/toe and alternated both yarns for the leg/foot.
Needles: 2 socks on 1 2.25mm circular
Walk in the Woods 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

Fiber Optic Salta Fiber Optic TdF Day 1

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June 11, 2010
His and Hers Handspun Stained Glass Hats

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.

Stained Glass Purple Yarn Version

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.

Stained Glass Hat Purple Version

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.

Stained Glass Hat Red Yarn

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 :-)
For Dave's I used a garter edging and lined it with cashmere left over from Ivy Vines - talk about a soft warm hat!!

Stained Glass Hat Red Version

Pattern: Stained Glass Hat from Green Mountain Spinnery.
Yarn: For each hat used - 30 grams Fat Cat Knits Polwarth in Mixed Blessings April Club Colors and 34 grams of Spinderella Thrums / Foxglove Light Gray Corriedale. All fiber spun regular 3 ply /approx. worsted weight (I never remember to check WPI - just go by how it looks). Lined with 10 grams of lovely soft cashmere and alpaca/silk left over from other projects.
Needles: 16" Circular US #4 for the facing/lining and US #6 for the hat. (Switch to magic loop on 40" circular for decreases on top)
Size: Cast on 112 stitches - knit on size 6 needles for a 20" circumference.
Mods: Added facing and different edging stitches, did a "fake" corrugated rib, and used US 6 needle for main hat, added and changed a few rows in the colorwork pattern, but otherwise followed directions as written.

Stained Glass Hat Lining

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!
My method:Using a smaller needle, do a knitted cast on (sometimes called a chain cast-on) which is nice and loose and makes beautiful loops to pick up later. Knit for about 3" or until you use up your leftover yarn. At this point I change to my "regular" hat yarn and knit 2 rows before the turning round. For the picot edge, the turning round is *yo, K2tog*, repeat around; and for the "man" hat I just did 2 purl rows for turning. Now switch to larger needle and knit your hat as long as the lining and then pick up those nice loopy cast-on stitches and knit them around with the corresponding live stitches. ( knit through both the live stitch and the cast on loop at the same time treating it like one stitch). The join is invisible from the front and there is no finishing/hemming. Here's a close-up from the inside.

Stained Glass Hat Lining

I forgot to get a picture of the fun top decreases, but you can sort of see it in the pictures below.

Stained Glass Hat Stained Glass Hat

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 :-)

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June 2, 2010
A Walk in the Woods

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.

bark and acorns leaves and flowers

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!

steeping steeping

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.

KP Bare

natural dyeing

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.

woods yarn drying

The finished yarn is beautiful and still has a wonderful woodsy scent...

woods yarn

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.

start socks

Finished hats next time :)

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May 27, 2010
Suri and Skew

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!

skew skew

Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden from Knitty Winter 2009
Yarn: 80 grams of Seacoast Handpainted Panda Sock (60% merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon) in Scarlet Letter colorway. Wonderful soft, shiny sock yarn!
Needles: 2 socks on 1 40" 2.25 mm circular needle.
Mods: Are you kidding me? I followed this pattern EXACTLY as written!

skew

A close up of the "origami" heel

skew 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!

suri silk

Loosely spun and plied for lovely, shiny, drapey (is that a word?) 2 ply laceweight yarn.

suri silk

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.

suri silk

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!

peacock tail and leaf

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May 19, 2010
Continued...

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.

Diz

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.

corriedale combed top

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 :-)

yay yarn

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.

yay yarn

I've also done some colorful spinning...

FatCat Polwarth FatCat Polworth Yarn

Polworth Close up

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.

FatCat Polwarth FatCat Polwarth

Polwarth Close up

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.

Polwarth Skeins

I have done some knitting too - should have some finished socks next week!

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