Possessed to Knit

Birthday Bookmark

I knitted this bookmark for my friend Lawrence's upcoming birthday.  He and his partner, John, are very talented and creative and we often exchange handmade gifts.   Years ago, as I was making the transition from English style knitting to Continental style knitting, I sent them one of the many cotton dishcloths I knitted to retrain my hands.  When I visited them at Christmas, they had the cloth in a basket, nicely displayed.  I explained that they could use the cloth, though the colors would fade over time, but still, it was just a dishcloth.  They told me how much they treasure handmade items, even my little dishcloth. This bookmark is knitted with spindle spun yarn.  After I spun the cotton singles, I plied them twice, creating a cabled 4-ply yarn.  Even with the cabling, it is still very thin yarn.  I used my 2.75 mm Knit Picks circular needles which are nice and pointy for this lace knitting.  The pattern is from last year's Knitting Pattern - A- Day calendar.  Their version used Koigu and size 3.75 mm (size 5) needles.  I did an extra pattern repeat to make it more of an appropriate bookmark size.  This is a great pattern for my small amounts of handspun yarn. 

Ocean Lace Cardigan Update

I've completed the back of the Ocean Lace Cardigan in Sea Song for my sister, Maria.  It needs some serious blocking.  I like the yarn, but the lace pattern is very slanty and easily distorted.  The armholes, for instance, are really just one row apart, not an inch apart as it appears in the photo.  I had gotten up to row 90 on my first attempt and decided it was just not going to work.  It was looking too small and the row gauge was too tight.  For my latest attempt, went up to size 7 needles which has helped me to get closer to the 6 rows per inch.  I had swatched and blocked a sample on size 6 needles.  I thought I met the gauge requirements, but this lace pattern worked over an even larger area showed me otherwise.  I started the cardigan fronts on one needle so I can knit them at the same time.  The pattern describes the right front in detail and then says just to reverse everything for the left front.  Knitting them simultaneously will help me to create two similar fronts for this sweater. 

Cashmere Silk Yarn

I've been spindle spinning my cashmere and my silk on separate spindles.  Here is a sample of one ply of each knit on size 5 (3.75 mm)Addi Turbo lace needles.  This is a reduced version of the snowflake pattern in A Russian Lace Scarf to Knit (by Dixie Falls and Jane Fournier) published in the July/August 2007 Piecework magazine.  The larger holes are from 2 yos at once followed by a k1,p1 into the 2 yos in the next row.  A size 4 (3.5 mm) needle might make a neater looking lace.  I will also give just doing 1 yo and then doing the k1,p1 into it on the following row a try.  This yarn is about 28 wpi and the silk strand helps to cover all the textury bits in the cashmere single.  I did card the cashmere into punis, yet I still ended up with more texture than I wanted.   The swatch is very soft with nice drape.  The cashmere is nice to spin and I have another ounce to card and spin.  The tussah silk is more challenging to work with and I am using my Satine Natalie spindle to spin it.  This is a great spindle project and there is sure to be more sampling in my future.

Ocean Lace Cardigan

I've started this Ocean Lace cardigan in Sea Song yarn from Fibra Natura for my sister, Maria.  I am using size 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo 32 inch circular needles.  This yarn is 80% cotton and 20% sea cell.  It is a 16-ply worsted weight yarn.  All those plies make it quite splitty.  I like using the lace needles for all the ssk sts, but I wonder if they are making me split more sts.  The gauge is supposed to be 6 sts and 6 rows to the inch.  I did a gauge square in if I blocked it well and got the gauge.  As I knit, though, it tends to be too wide and not quite the length I expect for the # of rows I have completed.  Here I have 36 rows plus one inch of k1, p1 ribbing and it is only 5.5 inches instead of the 7 inches I would expect.  I plan on blocking the pieces, but I wonder if the sweater will lose its blocking as it is worn.  I'm not used to knitting something so flimsy.  I am glad I ordered an extra ball of yarn, I might need it if I end up knitting more rows to reach the correct measurements.

Ocean Lace in Sea Song

Here is a swatch I knitted in Fibra Natura's Sea Song yarn.  It is 80% cotton and 20% sea cell with 109 yards in a 50g ball.  My sister, Maria, selected this sweater from my Interweave Knits when I visited her.  I've seen this sweater advertised quite a bit, yet it was difficult to find the yarn.  I finally found it at Yarnmarket.com and waited over a month for them to receive this color and the pattern.  I used the recommended size 6 needles for the swatch.  The Addi Turbo Lace needles are very helpful with the ssks involved with this pattern.  At first the swatch appeared to be too small, but some blocking brought it to about 6 sts and 6 rows per inch.  The yarn has a nice drape to it and is very soft.  I'm enjoying this particular colorway with its gentle changes in color.  I think this will be a fun summer project to knit.        

Mongolian Cashmere

I picked up an ounce of dehaired Mongolian Cashmere from Springwater Fiber Workshop recently.  I had no plans for the fiber, it is so soft and I knew I had to have it.  I found this Romantic Heart Scarf pattern in my May/June 2005 Piecework magazine and thought it might be a good pattern for this yarn.  The staple length is about an inch and I just tease the fiber a bit before I spin it.  I am using my 0.3 oz Cougar spindle and the long draw method of spinning.  The scarf is 4.5 inches wide and 78 inches long and uses 2 ounces of Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere yarn.  I will likely get another ounce of this cashmere to make a 2 ply lace yarn.  This fiber is amazing to spin and makes for a lovely spindle side project.

Silk Scarf

I took a little break from knitting my second Roses mitten to experiment with my 3-ply handspun silk.  This scarf pattern is from the Holiday 2007 Interweave Knits magazine and is knit up in Quiviut.  I had been thinking about knitting a hat with this yarn, but the yarn varies a bit in thickness and might require a size 1 needle for the hat I have in mind.  Opal suggested a scarf when she saw this yarn and I thought this pattern might be a good choice.  Silk has a tendency to stretch so a fairly short scarf could easily stretch to a longer scarf.  For some reason, as I photographed this edging, I was reminded of Loribird's Wine and Roses mitts.  She knit them with her handspun silk and now I am thinking that I would like a pair, too. 

Glorianna Scarf Completed

I have completed the Glorianna scarf for my mother-in-law in the nick of time as we will be traveling to see our families tomorrow.  I thought I had it completed last night, but I found a mistake a few inches back from the bound off edge.  It was well worth the effort to take it out and re-knit it.  Al assured me it was not noticeable, but I knew it was there and it bothered me.  This scarf is about 7 inches wide and 70 inches long after blocking.  I never did memorize the pattern.  The pattern repeat is 16 rows long and the scarf is 53 sts across.  It made for some fun lace knitting.  I will be sure to add it to my Ravelry project list.  I have some of my completed projects added already.  My Ravelry username is "Roseann" and my flicker account name is "possessedtoknit".

I hope everyone has a wonderful and fibery Christmas holiday!

Glorianna Scarf Progress

I'm passed the half way point of this Glorianna Scarf in Knit Picks Shadow for my mother-in-law.  I had been worried that I would run out of yarn, but my Knit Picks catalog clearly states that one ball of yarn is enough for each of the scarves in this pattern.  I want it to be about 60" long so she can wrap it well to protect her from the cold.  I'm always surprised how warm these scarves can be when they are layered a bit.  I'm getting to know the pattern and enlarging the chart has made it easier to follow.  Blocking will sharpen up the lace motifs.  The yarn is so soft and the heathered dyeing adds a nice depth to the colors.  This is a very enjoyable lace project.

Glorianna Scarf

I recently started this scarf for my mother-in-law.  The yarn is Knit Picks Shadow in the Sunset colorway.  This Glorianna style is from the Elizabeth I pattern, also available from Knit Picks.  I am using my size 5 Addi Turbo 24" lace needles.  I started off with the size 6, but the scarf was turning out to be too wide.  It is almost 9" wide now and should narrow down to 8" when I block it.  I have 2.5 pattern repeats completed here.  Lace knitting is a nice change for me after my Fair Isle and intarsia adventures.  I'm learning the pattern, though I'm not sure I will have it memorized.  That usually occurs as I near the end of a project.  This yarn is knits up nicely and is very soft.  This shade is heathered and I enjoy the subtle colors that come through as I knit.  Al helped me pick the yarn color and the pattern so I think his mother will be very happy with this scarf.