Possessed to Knit

Droplet Hat Completed

Here is my completed handspun & handknit Droplet hat. The yarn is a 2-ply spindle spun yarn from my Sugar Coma Art Club Batt. The pattern is from Knitting Nature. I used my Addi Lace Clicks in sizes 6 and 8. It is a quick & fun hat to knit plus nothing beats knitting with handspun yarn.

I have donated this hat and my Four Corner Hat to my friend, Gina's, Kenya Calling Benefit to raise money for her upcoming trip to Kenya. Gina is a talented artist and she continually inspires and encourages me. One of the wisest things she shared with me is that one does not need to attend art school to be an artist, something which I found to be very profound for me on my path as a fiber artist.

Purple Queen Art Club Batt

I have been spindle spinning my Purple Queen Art Club Batts over the past few weeks.  I love the colors in this batt and I enjoy spinning with my spindles, especially my Spindlewood Square spindles (front and left), my Cascade St. Helens spindle (right), and my Kundert spindle (back).  I will make a 3-ply yarn and use my Lendrum for the plying.  I have also been watching Judith MacKenzie's Popular Wheel Mechanics and The Gentle Art of Plying DVDs.  I have taken several of her classes, she is a wonderfully kind spinning teacher.  Having her DVDs is better as I can review a technique at any time.  For instance, I have improved my worsted join and plying joins as I could replay her DVDs in slow motion.  Spinning is such a fun and challenging craft and I'm always looking for a way to make my handspun yarn even nicer.

French Press Cozy

Here is a French Press Cozy that I knitted my friend, John, for his upcoming birthday.  He and Lawrence will be traveling soon so I sent it on Friday and it should arrive tomorrow.  They got me the Vogue Knitting Stitch-A-Day calendar for Christmas and this stitch pattern is from the calendar.  I used size 6 needles and casted on 60 sts with my Art Club Boy Crazy 2-ply yarn.  I worked garter stitch for the top and bottom edges, however, I ended up learning a bit about cable splay.  It is better to increase right before starting the cables and decrease before the edging to minimize the waviness created by the cables.  I underestimated how much the cables would pull the fabric in.  I ended up then knitting large garter stitch button bands on the edges with size 5 needles.  I realized also that this cozy might be more decorative than functional as it might be a challenge to keep coffee from spilling on it.  Lawrence and John are very supportive of my knitting and spinning, and for that I am grateful.  I just hope their French Press is the same size as mine ;)

Santa Baby Art Club Batt

I am gradually working my way through my Art Club Batts and this is the Christmas one called, "Santa Baby".  It reminded me of Valentine's Day, too.  It is a blend of wool, tencel, and sparkle.  Nikol's unique batts force me to expand my spinning to accommodate a variety of textures.  I used my Gem II with the Woolee Winder at the 1:4.5 ratio for the singles and the 1:8.5 ratio for the plying.  The resulting yarn weighs 5.6 ounces and measures about 150 yards at 9 to 11 wpi.  It was a fun project to spin over the weekend.  I think it would make a lovely Christmas hat for next winter.  Jared Flood's Habitat might just be the perfect pattern for this yarn.

New Year's Day

Here is my last finished object for 2010, a handspun handknit hat.  The yarn is a 2-ply I spun from one of my Art Club Batts.  I used the toque-shaped hat pattern from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fanciful Hats and sizes 7 and 5 Addi Turbo needles with the Magic Loop for the crown.  The braid on the edge and at the crown was completed by working from the other end of my yarn as two strands are needed to knit it.

I took a look through my Completed Projects blogs to gather my stats for the year.  I did not blog about every completed project as sometimes I inadvertently sent a project off before I photographed it.  So here is the tally for 2010:  12 pairs of socks, 12 hats (two handspun), 2 sweaters, 4 shawls (one handspun), 3 scarves, 3 pairs of mittens, 2 pairs of mitts, and one handspun and felted bowl.

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year.

Laurel Hat Completed

Here is Laurel (from Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn pattern book) in handspun Art Club Birthday Batt yarn on size 7 Addi Lace 16" circular needles.  Ann was very kind to send me more of her wonderful stitch markers and she included her very clever row counter/stitch marker.  I especially like Ann's markers when I am using larger size needles (as I do most of my knitting in the size 0 to size 2 range).  She made a nice variety of her beautiful markers.  I marked the center of the hat with a unique marker and I found them to be incredibly helpful as I knitted the six sections of this complex hat in my fairly dark yarn.

Laurel is blocking here.  I discovered that it is difficult to make bobbles the same size when using handspun yarn that varies a good bit in diameter.   The pattern was interesting to knit and I do enjoy knitting with my handspun yarn.  I never did quite figure out the gauge as I could not measure it on the actual hat.  The hat is a little big and might have turned out nicer on size 6 needles. The ribbing was done on 3.25 mm needles and would have been even more difficult going down 3.00 mm needles.  It turned out to be a fun handspun project for summer knitting.  Thank you to Ann for her delightful markers!

Birthday Batt Yarn

Nikol kindly included an extra birthday batt with our Art Club Batt subscription.  I have spun mine up into a 2-ply yarn which ranges from 13 to 18 wraps per inch.  Her batts are fun to spin with a good bit of texture and do not turn out to be perfectly even yarns. I thought the yarn might work nicely with this Laurel hat pattern designed by Jared Flood and featured in his book "Made in Brooklyn".  I have about 200 yards and 4.5 oz of yarn.  I spun the singles on my Wyatt Norwegian at a ratio of 1:8 and plied the singles on my Gem II (with the Woolie Winder) at a ratio of 1:6.  I will be curious to see how well the patterning shows up in a darker yarn.  This yarn might be a little thicker than the Classic Elite Princess yarn called for in the pattern.  I think it will work as I tend to knit tightly and I know the hat will be sure to fit somebody.

Felted Bowl for John

Here is a bowl I crocheted and then felted for my friend John's upcoming birthday.  I had some of my Art Club Batts that I had spun into 2-ply yarns.  I decided to give the Lace Basket from Kyuuto Japanese Crafts: Lacy Crochet a try.  I used a size F crochet hook and started crocheting.  The basket turned out nicely and I thought felting it would turn it into a sturdier bowl, and it did.  I felted it in my washing machine with a pillow case to help things along.  It took a little while and I almost thought maybe it was superwash (which will not felt), but it eventually felted.  I dried it over a plastic bowl and here we have a felted and crocheted bowl.

Chin Up 2-Ply Yarn

This yarn spun up very quickly.  I spun two singles on my Majacraft Gem at the 1:6 ratio.  I then plied them together with the Woolee Winder on my Gem set at the 1:8.5 ratio and the bobbin was quite full when I finished.  This yarn is about 120 yards and 10 to 16 wpi, which is quite a variation in thickness.  I'm learning more about spinning with Nikol's Art Club batts as she challenges me with Angeline, Sparkle and Sari Silk threads.  This yarn has some concentrated bits of Sparkle and Sari Silk thread.  Spreading them out as I spin would be helpful and I will keep that in mind for my next Art Club batt.  I think it would knit up into a pretty hat, like the Droplet hat in Knitting Nature.

Chin Up Cuckoo Batt

I started spinning Nikol's August Cuckoo Batt that she calls "Chin Up!"  She combined Superwash Wool, soy silk, sari silk, nylon sparkle, and angelina for a wonderfully light batt that is delightful to spin.  I completed my third bobbin of my Never on a Sunday Sheep 2 Shoe roving (with one bobbin left to go) and thought this batt would be a fun break.  I've never been one for the nylon sparkle or the angelina fibers, but they aren't so difficult to spin and they add a pretty sheen to the yarn.  I will spin one batt per bobbin and then ply them together into a 2-ply yarn.  Not sure what it will become, something small like a hat or a cowl.