Possessed to Knit

Handspun Thayer Completed

I spun merino roving with my Spanish Peacock Russian support spindles and plied the singles on my wheel to create a 2-ply lace yarn.  I had 8 ounces or so of a gray merino fleece and I sent it off to be processed into roving.  The resulting yarn is just over 4 ounces and it has a wide range of wraps per inch.  It was a challenge to spin and of course, the very thin parts from one ball were plied with the very thin parts of the other ball.

I wanted a nice lacy pattern and selected Brooklyn Tweed's Thayer design.  This time around, I slipped both stitches before purling two stitches together through the back loops and that step went much more smoothly.  This particular design has lace patterning on the right and wrong side.  I also took out one of the 19 stitch repeats to optimize the limited amount of handspun yarn.  I used my Knit Picks size 6 straight 10" needles and the entire ball of yarn.  I am not set up yet to block with my blocking wires, so I washed the scarf, spun it out, and then let it dry on my drying rack.  I'm not happy with the edges and blocking it better would improve the scarf over all.  With the wide range of thickness throughout the yarn, I thought that blocking it on the drying rack would be good enough.  This scarf is about 8" wide and 74" long and feels very soft with a nice spring to it. 

Treasure Lace Shawl Completed

Here is my completed Treasure Lace Shawl, designed by the amazing Ann of 1morerow.  I loved knitting this shawl as it started with the beaded edging (the beads did not photograph for some reason) and the intricate lacey stitching and then the stockingette middle was worked as a nice reward.  The picot bind off is another lovely touch.  I used my size 7 Addi Lace Circular needles and Malabrigo Sock yarn in the Caribeno colorway.  This will be a nice Christmas gift for my sister, Maria, who lives very close to the beach. 

Kaleidoscope Wrap Completed

This wrap turned out differently than I had planned.  Even with a large, 13 oz ball of 2-ply handspun yarn, I did not have enough yardage to make the three lace squares.  I made the first square and cut the yarn and then weighed it and was stunned to see that it weighed 5 ounces.  If I had not cut the yarn, I would have ripped it out and knitted something else.

So I pressed on, starting the second square, weighing my swatch, wondering if two squares would be large enough to make a wrap.  I finally realized that I had enough yarn for half the square and could still make a wrap.  I knitted the triangle and shortened the garter edging a little as I was still running out of yarn and in the end has just over a yard remaining.  I decided to sew the pieces together as the optional wrap style of three squares in a row was now out of the question.  I presented it to Cathie, a member of my knitting group, and she was thrilled.  She will be moving to Oregon one of these days and the roving for this yarn is from Hanks in the Hood of Mt. Hood, Oregon.  This was a fun wrap to knit and it is always nice to knit with my handspun yarn.

Handspun Kaleidoscope Wrap

Here is one of the three squares for my Fiddlesticks Kaleidoscope Wrap.  I spun Hanks in the Hood batts in the Husky Sparkle colorway.  I started with four 3 oz batts and spun each batt onto one bobbin.  I then plied them into one 12 oz ball of 2-ply yarn which varies between 10 and 14 wpi.

This square is unblocked and measures 16.5" by 18" and will hopefully block close to the 21" square recommended in the pattern.  I used my size 8 Addi Lace Click needles which worked nicely as I easily changed the needle length as the square grew from the middle.  One square down, two to go! 

Raha Scarf Completed

Here is my completed Raha scarf.  It was difficult to photograph the entire scarf, and the colors are more vivid in person.  The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia.  I used my size 9 (5.5 mm) Addi Lace needles and one skein of Fiesta Boomerang yarn in the Sapphire colorway.

This scarf is certainly a unique combination of a European design and a hand-dyed yarn.  Fiesta Boomerang is very soft wool and it is machine washable.  I wanted to make a lacy scarf pattern to increase the length as a scarf entirely in garter stitch would be very pretty, but a bit shorter.  Although the edges are in garter stitch, there was still a bit of curling which settled down after blocking.

This scarf is a gift and should be comfortable and warm for this winter season.

Thayer Scarf Completed

Here is the Thayer scarf I knitted for Brooklyn Tweed designer, Leila Raabe, in the new Loft yarn.  It was so nice to have the opportunity to knit with this lovely yarn.  It comes in 32 colors and is perfect for lace or colorwork projects.  The Loft Collection features a variety of patterns designed with this delightful yarn.

I used size 5 (3.75 mm) Addi Lace needles and Loft in the Stormcloud colorway for this project.  The pattern calls for size 6 needles and I usually have to go up a needle size, however, the yarn was very springy.  I did not knit so tightly and achieved the desired gauge with size 5 needles.  The intricate lace patterning is created in every row of this design.  Jared Flood blocked it and the photos on the Brooklyn Tweed sight turned out beautifully.

Congratulations to Jared, Leila, and Michele on yet another successful yarn line.   

Wendy Knits Lace

Before Hurricane Irene arrived on Saturday, Fibre Space held a book signing party for Wendy Johnson's latest book, Wendy Knits Lace.  I had picked up my copy earlier in the week, and good thing I did as Fibre Space had sold out of her books during the event.  "Wendy Knits Lace" has a wide variety of lace projects including scarves, shawls, sweaters, mittens, cowls, and socks.

I had a wonderful time catching up with Wendy and becoming a "Wendy Knits Junior Stalker" and meeting her out-of-town guests, Stacy and and her sister, Muriel.  Stacy dyes beautiful Tempted Yarns.  Wendy is a gracious host, spending time with each of her fans and listening to our "Wendy Knits" stories. 

I have several projects going at the moment, however, I plan on knitting Wendy's Diamond Lace socks the first chance I get in my STR Goody Goody sock yarn.  The photography in Wendy Knits Lace is exquisite and I very much enjoyed seeing all of Wendy's designs in person. 

Thank you to Wendy and Fibre Space for an incredible afternoon!

Sandvik Shawl Completed

I completed Sandvik for my mother and she likes it a lot.  It is a bit longer than the Traveling Woman shawl I made her for Mother's Day.  This shawl took just about three skeins of the Araucania sock yarn.

We did have some very sad news last week.  My brother, Mark, had been sick with a bad ear infection.  Tragically, his ear infection resulted in bacterial meningitis and he passed away before we could even understand what was happening.  He was only 51 years old and was a loving and attentive brother.  We miss him very much, no holiday will ever be the same without him.

  Thank you to Lawrence, Ann and Patrick for all of their kindness and support during this difficult time.

Sandvik Shawl Progress

Here is my mother's Sandvik Faroese Shawl in progress.  It is one of Wendy's original designs and it is very enjoyable to knit.  The pattern is symmetric and I can see the design and where it is going which is tremendously helpful for a project of this size.  The Traveling Woman shawl I made my mother was nice, but a little shorter than I wanted.  Sandvik has a lovely overlap in the front and is 26" long when knit with lace weight yarn on size 3.25 mm needles.  I am using fingering weight yarn (Araucania Ranco solid yarn in the light pink colorway) and size 4.00 mm Addi Lace needles.   

Congratulations to Ann on winning First Place in the shawl category with her original design, Cottage Garden Shawl, at the Perth Royal Show.  She also won First Place in the sock category for her Sanquhar socks (from Wendy's Toe-Up Socks for Every Body).  I am spindle spinning yarn with Miss Babs' Blue Faced Leicester Top  in Woodland Viola for my own Cottage Garden Shawl. 

Sandvik Shawl

I started this Sandvik Shawl for my mother for her birthday later this month.  This is one of Wendy's Faroese style shawl patterns.  I am using Araucania Ranco Solids fingering yarn in the light pink colorway on size 6 (4.00 mm) Addi Lace needles.  I enjoy the gentle color variations in this yarn and how it works nicely with Wendy's fun-to-knit pattern.  I especially like the seed stitch edge and the symmetry in her charts, interesting yet not overly complicated.  I had the pleasure of showing Wendy my shawl in-progress and meeting The Knitgirllls (who happen to be visiting Wendy) at Fibre Space today.