New Toy

Ok I can count myself now officially a spinner. I got a Spinning Wheel this weekend. We extra took a trip to Colorado Springs on Saturday (after all a nearly 5 hour drive) to get me a wheel – ok it didn’t hurt that DH needed airplane parts.

I already figured out in class what I wanted. My original idea for a Ladybug was destroyed by the realization that I cannot handle double treadles. So I got an Ashford Traditional – I worked with this in the class and really liked it. The only thing is I realized I spin left handed for whatever reason and the wheel is a right handed one – but this is really no big deal. I got it all put together on Sunday and after a trip to the hardware store – the little springs were missing – I spun my first little bit of yarn. I practice every day for a bit and I am getting better and better. At first DH was very disappointed in my end product but as I progressed he was getting impressed. After all I only took one one day class. The Lady in the store was so nice to throw in half a pound of roving that I will use for practice. It is undyed so maybe I dye it with Cool Aid once it is plied. The cats of course are very fascinated – or let’s put it that way Milo is fascinated; the others could care less. This is weird considering Katinkas Roving Obsession. But so far she hasn’t even touched it yet. Who knows what is coming I am after all very careful to not let the bag with the roving sit outside.

In other news. I got a big package with Malabrigo today. Chunky in green for a pullover – and I realized I didn’t order enough so I will see if the store has two more skeins in the same dye lot. I already casted the pullover on and I will love it, I am sure.

Back to spinning.

Fall is Coming

Now the temperatures start to be normal again and fall will come finally to this part of the world it is time for some cold weather gear.

First up the the February Lady Sweater that is finished for a month now but I just now came around for pictures. I started this back in April but had to frog the yoke due to me having the oldest version of the pattern and nothing worked. After it was done it had to be reblocked because it blocked out way to big the first time. The second time I tried the handwash setting on the washing machine and dried it outside and it came out perfect. I already wore it a couple of times teaching and I know it will be a staple this winter.   

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne

Yarn: Cascade Sierra in Blue

For more see Ravelry Project Details

Second is the Malabrigo Sweater. Loosely based on the V-Neck from Stefanie Japels “Fitted Knits”.

After knitting the ribbed body and trying it on I decided that I don’t like it and frogged it and redid the body section in plain stockinette with a wide rib band at the end. The collar just didn’t want to work for me so I improvised and I like how it turned out – I don’t look good in V-Necks anyways. I love the sweater. the yarn is amazing – so soft – I think I can wear it without something underneath. And who knows me knows I am very sensitive to any type of wool. But first it needs to get a bit colder.

On the needles right now is Damson from Ysolda’s new fabulous collection “Whimsical Little Knits 2″. I love the pattern and I am doing it in Patons Bamboo Silk – a very nice soft yarn that works perfect for a little shawlette like that. Unfortunately I didn’t buy enough yarn and need to go back to Dodge and buy some more, maybe next week.

Also in the works is another Meret – I promised Julia I will make her a hat and the last time we were in Lawrence she picked some very pretty Green Dream in Color Classy. The yarn is great (and I would use it more, it’s just a bit pricey for me) and I love love love the color. The Pattern is very nice and well written and it is a quick knit.

For future plans: I will make myself the Owls sweater – again in Malabrigo – that I will order once we get paid next week. I haven’t decided on the color yet but I am actually thinking grey – I know totally not my color but I think it will look good in grey.

I also need to make a pink scarf for one of the nieces. I have no Idea what, so if anyone knows a great pattern for a 5 year old – please tell me!!!

I think also to make Mama either another Lady Sweater or something along the line of Shalom – But this won’t happen until next year I think – we’ll see.

Home Improvements

Having a new house means of course that I need to make it nice. What a great opportunity for me to finally put my sewing machine to good use. Especially now she has her place right next to me in my office and is always ready – ahh bliss.

1. Curtains for the kitchen
2. I really wanted nice kitchen curtains and because the windows are oddly sized and are actually not the same size I couldn’t find anything I liked in the store. Ted picked the fabric among 20 other kinds with chickens on them. (we do have quite a few chickens in the kitchen so they are not lonely). The sewing was very easy and straight forward. I didn’t put any weights in the bottom, because I couldn’t find any. But they hang nice and straight and I think I don’t need any.

1. Pillows

I made two pillows. One for the bed to replace an old dingy green one and a big oversized floor pillow/ cat bed.
The pillow for the bed I am rather proud of. It has tie closures and all the trimmings. It looks perfect on our bed and matches the bed spread and the         other pillows perfectly.

The floor pillow was just a quick spur of the moment kind of thing. I really liked the fabric in the store and I bought some without knowing what to         make out of it. Right now the pillow is in the bed room but we’ll see were we’ll need it.

Some Sewing

I did some sewing in the last couple of days. Finally with the new house and my own room I can have my sewing machine sitting out all the time. No more hauling it out of the garage in the kitchen; no more back pain form working on the kitchen table – bliss.

I mainly practiced my zipper skills and made some little pouches. And yes my zipper skills are getting better and I only broke one needle. I mainly followed the tutorial from Javajem and some notes in different books. All the pouches have lining even and I top stitched the zipper – something I did avoid for the longes time.

The bigger one on the left has a strap so that I can use it as a wristlet. With the smaller one I tried to put a longer zipper in a smaller pouch – it did work great.

I also made a little hip bag. Not like your 80’s fanny packs, but more like a little cool bag I can use when I am on the  bike or just need my hands free but need to take some thinks along. Because it was a test, the fabric is not my first choice – just some left overs I had. But I really like how it turned out. As a closure I used some d-rings and they work great.

Sorry for the crappy picture but I didn’t feel like opening all the 8 blinds in the bed room to have some day light.

Next to all the little baggies, I made a floor pillow for the living room. Only three people can gather comfortably on the sofa and the arm chair – everyone else has to either sit on the floor or one of our very uncomfortable kitchen chairs. I do prefer the floor. Again this is made from scraps – mainly the ones I still had from the skirt I made three year ago. I know every quilter will probably get nightmares seeing my very very dilettante attempted at creating something resembling quilt. But I like it and it is very comfortable. I filled it with the filling I pulled from a cheap WalMart pillow.

That’s all from my sewing adventures – we will be in Lawrence next week and I will get some more nice fabric (not only scraps from WalMart). I need some curtains for the kitchen and my office, some more pillows and I want to make another skirt.

Oh and on the knitting front I am knitting on my February Lady Sweater an have only about half an arm left and then I am done. I did finish another pair of simple socks in Tufoutsi and I love the yarn. I also started Ishbel with some amazing Malabrigo lace yarn – ohh it is soooo soft.

Another Shawl

Yeah yeah I know – how many more do I need; acutally a lot. I like shawls and you can have them in more than one color or style. Unfortunately right now I like the very simple kind, just garter stitch and yes this does get kinf of redundant after a while. Nontheless I knitted another one. It was certainly not something I wanted to do now summer is approaching. But I was stuck in Lawrence last week because of the supid Blizzard in Western Kansas – no way for me to go back; and the weather in Lawrence wasn’t the best either. Of course I didn’t have enough knitting with me. So a quick trip to Yarn barn and some cheap Cascade 220 and I was settled for the weather to clear. I always wanted to make the Weavers Wool Mini Shawl and it was perfect for the mindless knitting I needed. Very easy and straight forward and the Cascade is a nice yarn for it. I finished it last weekend when we went to Wichita and it was blocking ( as usual in the garage) the last three days. I like the color combo. Now I am trying to get away from all the reds and pinks and purples I am drawn to turqouis and blue.

Part II

Ok here is the second part of the last Winter knits.

3. Fingerless Gloves and Baktus

When I was at Handmade in Berlin they had some yummy Handmaiden  Casbah in gorgeus colors. I got a skein of Sangria and made some long fingerless gloves. I started at the top because I didn’t know how far I would get with the yarn and I did a simple thumb opening. They turned out even better than I thought – I love them. Because the yarn was so great I got a second skein to make a Baktus. It was the perfect patttern for the flight back -   you know (or don’t) that I am drug when flying so I needed something easy and brainless. I finished it last week. When I came back the weather was to nice to wear it, but now it is great on the scooter; it does get rather cold and windy.

4. Wool Peddler Shawl

That is something I started a while back and was sitting in my stash. I was kind of reluctant to start the lace part, because that meant just sitting and knitting without any distraction and I just didn’t feel like it. So when I found the modifications on Ravelry with the ruffles I knew I had what I wanted.

Pattern: Wool Peddler’s Shawl from “Folk Shawls” by Cheryl Oberle

Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk in Pink

5. Ruffled Socks.

So I bought those very pretty and cute Yellow Mary-Jane’s in Germany. I love them. And I needed socks, so what better to do than knit some -  as you know socks are not my favorites to know; but those just flew of the needles in under a week. The ruffles just add to the cuteness I think.

Pattern: my own 08/15 socks, toe-up, German Heel

Yarn: Plynouth Yarn Socketta

The last Winter knits and the first Spring socks

That I didn’t write her for more than 2 month doesn’t mean I wasn’t knitting – the opposite, I was knitting a lot and didn’t have time to take pictures and update here. When I came back form Germany it was already spring in Western Kansas so my winter knits didn’t have that much appeal anymore to be finished. But I pulled myself together and at least finished the second Baktus I started flying back. Ok I just try to put it all in an order – there are a few things I finished in Germany; mainly for  my mum and some I did since I am back. I will post it in two post just because I have to go and enjoy the great weather.

1. Thermis and fingerless gloves for Pe.

I had some left over from the Hourglass and so I made my mum some simple fingerless gloves and a Thermis Cowl. She loves both a lot. The Alpaca is not the best yarn for fingerless gloves, because it is not very durable, but it looks great.

Pattern: my own, essentially 4×2 rib with a cable on the back.

Yarn: KnitPicks Andean Silk in Jade

Patter: Thermis by Kristen Patay

2. Next up I made some socks for Mama

I don’t really like knitting socks, especially with a pattern, but she loved it and that’s all that is important. Fortunately Mama prefers ankle length socks.

Pattern: my own some simple father and fan, toe-up, German Heel

Yarn: Schoeller and Stahl Fortisima Socka Cotton

More Hats

More and more hats are accumulating in my FO’s – but you kow you can never have tomany hats and they are such nice instant gratification knits. So, in the last three weeks I made two Classic WWII Watch caps as Christamas gifts and of course I forgot to take a picture. One is in light blue the other in frog green Cascade 220. I already made two of these in November one for me (Ravelry) and one for the DH – also in Cascade 220 in dark blue. I think it is the perfect easy hat for guys (and girls of course, too). It is a fast knit, fits nearly every hat and looks good on everyone.

The seconde (pirctureless) hat I made last month was Felicity (ravel it!) for myself. I just used some cheap (in at the Garden City,KS available) Vanna’s Choice in purple. It turned out very nice and fits my hat without falling off every three seconds. I also made some matching fingerless cloves with the left-over yarn (again no pictures). I didn’t use a pattern just started knitting in a 4 by 2 rib and added a simple cable on top.

Lastly I made so far the most perfect winter hat for myself. It is very warm (I started it when there where -18 degrees Celsius as the daytime high), it is a very pretty turquois and fits me an all my hair perfectly. I used the Big Blue Beret pattern but made the decrease slower and flatter (ravel it!).

Pattern: Big Blue Beret from 10 feet High

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmero DK inTurquois –> 3 skeins held double throughout

Needles: Addie Turbos 16″ and 32″ Size 8

Sorry for the crappy pictures but it is rather hard to take a picture from the back of your had with PhotoBooth.

More hats – Inga

I know hats again, but you know one can never have to many hats. And after doing Thorpe I fell in love with color work and needed to do something again and I couldn’t find any yarn suitable for mittens so I made a hat. The yarn still is not really suitable but what can you do if there is only a WalMart and no money left in the yarn budget. I admit cotton is both not right for a hat and not very good for stranded color work. But it was only $2 a skein and even I can afford this. But at the end I really like how it turned out – even so it’s cotton it’s nice and warm and keeps the wind out. The floats don’t stick nicely together but with a hat I think there are not to many worries about snagging it. The top part is a bit puckered, but it barely shows. I don’t have anything in the appropriate size to block it and the bottom is to big anyways. As noted on Ravelry the hat runs a bit high and I of course started knitting and then looking for the notes in Ravelry so it was to late to start the pattern later. But I like it how it is – because of the cotton it is rather soft and floppy so the top just falls over.

I love the color combination even so it was a bit hard to knit with black. The only thing that nearly stop me from doing the hat at all was the braid at the bottom. It took me like 2 hours and drove me insane. But I really like how it looks and at the end it was worth the effort. I think I really will buy some yarn for mittens now and do this next.

Pattern: Inga by Sheila Macdonald

Yarn: Red Heart Carefree Cotton in Black and Hot  Pink less than a skein each

Needles: Addie Turbos 16” and 32” in size 6

Fair Isle

I finally did it. I wanted to try color work for so long and I wanted to make Thorpe (ravel it) for quite a while as well – so why not do both. I had one lonely skein of brick red Cascade 220 and thought this would look really nice with the dark grey I use for my CPH and I have to many skeins anyways. It went slow in the beginning but I got the hang of it pretty soon and after that I really enjoyed it. During the last part where you only do one stitch of red every three stitches I had enough with changing yarn all the time an taught myself English style. It went faster but still awkward. So many people are complaining how hard it was for them to learn Continental – but I must tell you it wasn’t easier the other way round. I still don’t really know how precisely to hold the yarn – especially with one in the right and one in the left – I ended up wrapping it around my middle finger, because I need my index finger of the right hand to hold the needle. It look weird, felt, weird but it worked – kind of.

It is a bt tight and I hope blocking will help that but it looks great when I put it on. Because I used a worsted yarn and not the chunky as in the pattern I casted-on 6 stiches and did 6 panels of pattern – it turned out exactly the right size. The one ear flap is a bit bigger – I forgot 2 rows, but it doesn’t really show. I still need to put on the braids and I want to put on a tassle on the top. But all in all very rewarding and fun knit.

Pattern: Thorpe by Kristen Kapur

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Dark Grey and Brick Red