Pansy Shawl

My kids amaze me. As I write this Hubby is at home watching Didi circle the cul-de-sac on his two wheel bicycle. Mind you, Didi is 3 and potty train is still in progress. I never knew that cycling could come before toiletting. The Falcon is equally amazing. And they’re both exhausting. But it is Didi in particular who is trying to break me at the moment. He brilliant, beautiful and just a little bit evil.

So, my fiber arts projects have taken a turn toward comfort knitting. That lovely beaded shawl I started is packed safely away waiting for better times. The spinning wheel has been dormant largely because my legs have been tired from chasing, biking, and hauling laundry up and down stairs. But, I have always related to Elizabeth Zimmerman, “Knit On, with confidence and hope, through all crises.”. Its just that in trying times what I knit has to change--usually into something that is predominantly stockinette.

This project was quiet pleasing. The knitting was very simple. Endless acres of stockinette broken just a bit by some Old Shale that I threw in at the end. Old Shale is the first knitted lace that I ever did--I remember knitting my great-grandmother a lap afghan in Old Shale stripes when I was probably about 10. (I also remember that the sides were a bit uneven as I gained and lost stitches occasionally). So, the knitting itself was very simple. Yet the FO is not. Its the result of more complicated spinning.


I spun this back in 2009(?) from two rovings (one from Hello Yarn and one from Spunky Eclectic) and documented it here. My main worry was the green--specifically the bright lime. I didn’t think it would look nice intermingled in the yarn or even in small bits (ie from a Navajo ply). I very nearly picked it all out and saved it for some thing else. Even after I spun the yarn, I considered projects that would only use the purple and pink. Clicking through pretty pictures on Ravelry though, I saw some pretty shawls much like this--semi-circular with a high contrast final border.

This is from the Lune pattern and it is wider than a true semi-circle. Its been in my queue for awhile because I wanted to see how that shaping would compare to a faeroe type construction. I’m happy to report that it drapes nicely over my shoulders in a variety of ways with no pin. The addition of the garter stitch ground Old Shale at the end is my modification. I wanted to give it a bit of an organic appearance and I think that having the green as a lace would keep it from being so stark since its just a bit see through.

All is quiet

on the blog, but no so much in my house. The small one has shed the last of his babyhood, moved through toddler and is rapidly becoming BOY. He’s keeping me on my toes during the day and awake through his restless nights. That plus the spring pollen may kill me outright. There is not much going on in the fiber arts area at this time and what is happening requires little concentration. Such as plain sock knit from some roving spun last year:


But, I do have some cute boy photos:

A little bit of lego

Our lego league season has come to an end. One of the hard things for me as coach was trying to figure out what parts we had. This was the second year for lego league for the school, but the first year for me and The Falcon. We had a ton of legos, and I could find tons of activities on-line and in the instructions that came with the kits. Unfortunately, the kits had been mixed together in the first year and we had more than one type of kit. Initially, I tried to sort the kits back out ultimately realizing it was futile mid-season. Because the kits weren’t 100% the kids had no reluctance in searching more than one bin for what parts they needed if they didn't find a part right way. And, they made little effort to return their project to any particular bin when finished. Finally, I just poured all the lego together into as few bins as possible attempting only to keep the technic lego somewhat separated from the classic lego.

And, so we carried on. I simply chose activities that seemed to use the most basic parts. I promised myself I would sort them back into kits at the end of the season so that the next coach (possibly me) would at least know what was there and what if anything was missing. At the end of the season, I asked for parent volunteers to help sort. I’m so glad a couple ladies came to help.

This is after the Big Sort, but not at the end of the project. The ladies and I sorted them by parts, but not into kits. Its even more impressive when you know that except for the big bin on the bottom, the rest bins are filled with more cups containing separate parts.

With it so nicely separated, it should be no problem to get it back into the kits, get a good inventory, and get them put away in the schools storage closet. But, I’ve got to get it done fast before my little gremlins come by and undo all my hard work!

Spring time Lily

Spring has come! I managed to hold off starting anything new until I finished my Lily sweater. I convinced myself that if I knit it and nothing else that I would have a chance to wear it this spring. Its still early enough here that we could have some weather that would warrant wearing this all day. But, I hope not for too much longer.

(Sorry for the focus. I’ll have to have a good sit down with my “big girl camera” and figure out how to get it to focus on me instead of the trees behind me.)

This was experiment #2 in very little ease. I calculate it to be zero ease around the bust line. Its a bit modified though it should be hard to tell from the pictures. I’m tallish, so I added an inch below the armpits by adding rows to the decrease/increase instructions (it has waist fitting). The sleeves took a bit more tinkering. Initially, I applied a similar lengthening method to the sleeves, but the first one came out too short and too tight. I modified them further by adding 6 stitches to the entire width and as well as a repeat of the lace pattern. When I got to the yoke, I modified the sleeve decreases on the sleeve side to decrease down to the pattern’s original number of neckline stitches over the original number of rows (basically I decreased faster).

Though, I have many Twist Collective patterns in the queue this is the first I’ve knit (as well as the first by designer Marnie MacLean). I found this very clearly written which helped with the modifications. As someone who has knit for a very long time (30 years!) and has improvised my own patterns, I enjoyed following this one. Sometimes, I’ll use/buy a pattern because I don’t want to do the maths myself and sometimes I buy a pattern because it looks interesting. This was the later case. I’ve done bottom-up raglan sweaters before, even with my own maths, and this one was different. It was a good read, so to speak.

I’m also very pleased with the yarn. It handspun--2 plies of handpainted targhee from Hello Yarn and one ply of fawn colored alpaca from Hidden View Alpacas. It is elastic and so soft.

The Mojo

My fiber arts are in a state not so much of Startitis* as having the knitting mojo going, but not having the time to do anything about it. I have three projects on the needles even though in recent years I have only allowed myself two. Furthermore I have projects in the queue that I am anxious to cast-on, but I'm not allowing myself to do so until I finish two of the knitting projects in progress now.

On the needles are:

1. Lily in the yarn I spun for the Tour de Fleece. I am so pleased by myself over this one. Initially, I started this in a mill-spun yarn and then frogged and swatched again discovering that my handspun was a better choice. This pattern needs a yarn with some stitch definition and I was pleased that my handspun met the criteria. Its also deliciously soft and springing, so I’m itching to work on it. I’d hoped to finish it before starting my third project, but I have quiet awhile to go yet and make actually decide to rip back the sleeves and make them wider.
   
2. My In Dreams Mystery Shawl. I’m still on Clue 1 though Clue 3 has been released. This a my bit of beaded extravagance, and I had a few heart palpitations when I saw the first charts. Once I get going on it, its not so bad. Its fussy, but sometimes I like a bit of a challenge. The main challenge, as I predicted, is figuring out when to work on it. I only break out the complicated charts, cup of loose beads and pale yarn when conditions are just right--the kids are firmly asleep, the dog is tired, I’m not tired, and I’m not planning on watching the tv (but maybe listen to it). This is a rare event. But, when it does happen, I’m very happy to be doing it. I have hopes of actually finishing this before July and wearing it to a summer wedding, but maybe donning it for their 10th anniversary party is more realistic.


3. J.D.’s socks. My sister J.D. requested a pair of hand knit socks to wear in the hospital after her baby is born. I spent more time then necessary picking out the yarn/pattern. Now I'm on a deadline since the baby is due next month. Its kind of awesome. Knitting has made it to my chore To Do list. Now, I’m no longer procrastinating when I knit them I’m “working”. I’ll be a bit sad when these finish. For whatever reason, I also decided to do them on dpns. Normally, I’m a magic loop person, but I’m enjoying using the dpns and will have to do that again soon.

And once those are finished, I’d really love to knit some handspun socks, or a lace shrug from some sparkly alpaca sock yarn, or a tunic from some handspun alpaca....

*Startitis: starting multiple projects, but not finishing.

Scenes from the project that is not fiber arts

We've gotten farther along that the pictures currently show, but I haven't had a chance to upload any new ones. Its coming along nicely, but I will be very happy when I have everything put away and can cook a normal meal without moving paint cans and finding stuff that's been moved out of the way to the basement.

Revisiting a handspun FO

(This time I did NOT rip anything out).


This is my favorite sweater. Its is also my most heavily favorited Ravelry project (Deep Sea Lady). Despite my repeated assertion that my best color is dull green, this deep saturated blue functions as a neutral in my wardrobe. I can thrown it on over about 90% of my outfits and it looks especially good with a pair of dark denim jeans and a knit shirt. It is also the perfect weight. It is warm enough to be warn as a outer layer in spring and fall, and light enough to be worn inside during the winter.

The yarn is my own handspun from Lisa Souza’s handpainted BFL roving in Deep Sea and it is really this beautiful color that I think makes this project. It was the first time I spun enough wool for a sweater. I tore the bumps into strips and mixed them before weighing them into even bobbin-sized portions . I plyed the singles into 2-ply DK weight. Using the Blue Moon Fiber Arts parlance for a handpainted yarn, I would call this a “water color wave”. It does have some color definition and hence some striping, but it is definitely not high contrast.

Here it is 2.5 years later:


Overall, I think it has held up very well considered the rather heavy wearing and washing it has received. While I don’t wash it every time I wear it, I do wash it every second or third wearing. I live a dirty life. It has faded, and I think it may have shrunk a bit (its hard to tell as I have also gained weight and block it very casually). It has pilled like the devil and for that I blame my spinning. With 3 years more spinning experience under my belt, I can see the my yarn should have been more tightly plied. Additionally, if I had to do it over again, I would have 3-plied this. Not only should that have given it more durability, but it would have given it more stitch definition and taken it from a “water color wave” all the way into a deep rich semi-solid.

Don’t think that I regret any of the time on this. It is still my favorite sweater.