Finished: Solstice Cardigan

I should know by now not to make plans or promises about blog posts, because inevitably I’ll get a 3-week-long sinus infection that knocks me for a loop. My spring break was spent visiting various doctors’ offices and pharmacies, trying to figure out why my face feels like it’s going to explode, and the subsequent weeks went by in a haze of antibiotics and allergy medicine. I didn’t make it to the fiber festival after all. I am also THE WORST at being sick, because medical stuff is my crazy phobia. You know how some people have an absolute dread of clowns or snakes? That’s how I feel about doctors and hospitals. I actually feel more scared of the treatment than of the discomfort of being sick. I know it’s irrational. I’m very grateful that doctors and nurses exist, I just wish I never ever had to see one. Ever.

(Sidebar embarrassing story: in my freshman year of college, my anthropology 101 professor went into a graphic description of female circumcision [with illustrations!] and I totally PASSED OUT AND FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR. Onto the floor. In the middle of class. While wearing a skirt. That pretty succinctly illustrates how much any medical/anatomy topics freak me out.)

Luckily, my mom talked me into going to the doctor, modern medicine prevailed, and I’m feeling much better. I didn’t really do any spinning, and only a little knitting, while I was sick. I did manage to put the final touches on a sweater that I’ve had mostly finished since early March, though! First finished sweater of 2013!

Pattern: Solstice Cardigan by Cecily Glowick MacDonald {purchase for $6 here}  {Ravelry pattern page here}

Yarn: Quince and Co Osprey in chanterelle (Aran weight; I used 5.5 skeins)

Needles: 10.5 US (6.55 mm)

Modifications: I decreased more frequently on the sleeves – every 10 rows, instead of every 16. The sleeves are still too big though. I think that’s just a result of the top-down raglan construction; you end up with a large number of stitches set aside for the sleeves just due to the increases for a raglan yoke.

I found debwp’s Ravelry notes to be very helpful before and during this project. Her tip about using different colored stitch markers to mark off each section of the yoke is crucial! There is a lot going on in the beginning of this pattern, and you need to make certain which stitch pattern you’re working for each section of the yoke.

Overall, I’m pleased with this sweater. I’ve wanted to knit it for years, and in the exact color of the Quince and Co sample, too! If knitting again, I would have modified it to be smaller. Although I’ve been wearing it as a jacket, over other layers, it’s still a teeny bit too loose. I do really love the stitch textures and pockets though. : )

This week is the Scholastic Spring Book Fair at my library (eep! the kids love it, but it’s a lot of work) so I may not be able to participate in the upcoming Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, which is April 22-28. It’s organized by Eskimimi, and you can find all the details at her blog right over here. Even if I don’t get it together to participate, I will definitely be checking in and seeing what other bloggers are up to! It’s a really cool way to discover those hidden treasure blogs that don’t have a huge audience, but have great projects, photos, and writing. Hope you all have a lovely week! : )

Finished Object Friday: Sockhead Hat

It seems like ages since I’ve had an actual finished item to share!

Pattern: Sockhead Hat pattern by Kelly McClure (it’s free!)

Ravelry:  my project page here   ~   pattern page here

Yarn: Falkland handspun, from Nest Fiber Studios fiber in the Chanteuse color, 4 oz. I probably used about…300 yards

Needles: Size US 2 (2.75mm)

Modifications: I didn’t want quite so slouchy a hat, so I stopped after a total length of 9 inches from the cast-on edge to begin doing my decreases (so 4 inches shorter than what the pattern calls for.) I have a tiny little pinhead. I think I would have ended up wearing a wizard cap with all that extra fabric.

So I actually have needed to wear this wool hat this week, despite the fact that I live in the South and it’s almost April. It’s been so chilly! We did have one really warm day in the 70s (around 21C) a couple weeks ago, while my inlaws were visiting. We took the opportunity to visit a local gardens on the campus of Duke University. Oddly enough, it’s called Duke Gardens. : ) We love to visit at different times of the year, and soak in all the gorgeous flower beds and trees as they transition through the seasons. The gardeners there do an amazing job.

 

 

This year, they’ve added a small farm/gardening area that shows how you can grow seasonal veggies on a small plot of land, not much bigger than most yards. They also have a small chicken coop and beehives for harvesting honey. I love visiting it and daydreaming about having my own garden! Right now we live in a townhouse and are subject to the Byzantine laws of an HOA (No hanging laundry to dry! No bikes on porches! Flower beds must be regulation size!). I do understand the need for some of the rules, and we knew what we were getting into when we moved in, but I absolutely can’t wait to get into a larger space with some land where I can live out my Little House on the Prairie fantasies.

 

 

 

 

Spring Break is starting for me, and I have a full week planned of visits from family, sweater knitting, spinning, reading, and visiting a fiber festival next weekend (YAY alpaca!) so I should have lots of shenanigans to report. I also participated in a yarn crawl last weekend, and am working on a post to share my yarn crawl tips and tricks. : ) Hope you have a lovely, fibery weekend!

See more finished objects over at this week’s FO Friday!

Finished Object Friday: Yarn!

This week I have some finished handspun yarn to show off! I’ve been spinning up a storm lately; it seems to require less active thinking than knitting, for me at least, and I’m finding the automatic and repetitive motions really soothing. After having to rip out and completely re-knit one sweater sleeve early this week, I decided to just set my knitting aside until life slows down and my brain decides to start working again. : ) This is the Falkland fiber I was working on in my last post:

On the right is the big squishy skein, which is a 2-ply yarn that’s probably a sportweight. I had some leftover singles on one bobbin, so I chain plied them to make a small skein there on the left (chain plying preserves color changes to make a striped finished yarn, as in the little baby skein, whereas 2-plying or 3-plying mixes the colors all up, which you can see in the big mama skein). I always think it’s so cool to see how different plying methods result in such different finished yarns, from the same fiber.

I also finished spinning a skein of Surino (a Suri alpaca-merino blend) from Flaggy Meadow Fiber Works a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to taking photos. It’s another 2-ply yarn that’s also around a sportweight. Notice a pattern? That’s definitely my “default” yarn I end up spinning.

My next spinning project is going to be an antidote for the dreary, rainy, late-wintery weather we’ve been having lately. It’s superwash merino from Nest Fiber Studio in the Kismet colorway, and it’s part of a spin-a-long on the Nest Ravelry group. The bright colors are so clear and amazing, and I can’t wait to start on it. It’s by far the softest and fluffiest fiber I’ve ever worked with – imagine Persian kittens and cumulus clouds and downy baby duckling feathers, and you might get a tiny inkling of how soft this is. It’s incredible. I want a giant bed of it to sleep on.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend – I’m off to play with some more wool! Check out more Finished Objects at FO Fridays.

 

 

Distractions

Hello hello. I’ve been pretty quiet here; some  job-related stuff has been taking up a lot of my thoughts lately. I’ve briefly mentioned it before, I think, but the school where I work as librarian is being “phased out” (a polite way of saying closed down) and my future for the next couple years, work-wise, is up in the air. I was an over-achieving kid, and my life trajectory has basically been very clear: graduate from an excellent magnet high school to an honors program in college to a highly-ranked graduate school to a full-time position opening a new library in an urban school with an at-risk population. I say this not to toot my own horn but to show what a straight-and-narrow nerd I’ve always been. There’s been a set path and a clear goal ahead of me, and now…I have zero clue what’s coming down the pike. Potentially exciting! But also crazy scary! If I’m not doing the library thing in my own little comfortable school library, what will I be doing?

(new books I recently added to my library collection)

In my daydreams, I decide I’ll take a belated gap year and wander around Europe. Is 30 too old to qualify for the “youth” part of staying in a youth hostel?

The way I’ve been coping with all this career madness is by playing with pretty colored wool. : ) This is Falkland wool from Nest Fiber Studio in the Chanteuse colorway, and I’m spinning it on my Overland Morning Street wheel. I used a technique called fractal spinning (here’s a clear explanation from Knitty, written by Alex Tinsley; the original concept was first written up in Spin-Off magazine by Janel Laidman) where you split the braid into two equal halves. Spin one half as a big chunk with long color stretches, then split the second half into strips and spin those strips, and spin together as a 2-ply. The idea is to get a balanced distribution of colors in your finished project, with some subtle striping.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m starting the plying process tonight, so we’ll see how it goes!

I’ve also been making good progress on my Solstice Cardigan, although I lost some steam now that I’m on to the sleeves. What it is about sleeves? I can knit an entire body in two weeks, then take eight months to finish the sleeves.

The other pleasant distraction apart from spinning and knitting is that the first little signs of spring have started to appear!

Sorry for those of you in more northerly climes, but I just have to show off the first daffodils of the year! If it’s any consolation, we’re getting freezing rain all night here. But it’s great to smell that spring-is-coming scent on the air, isn’t it?

I hope you’re having a good week, full of whatever pleasant distractions you enjoy most. : )

 

Yarn Along Wednesday

I’ve peeked in at the Yarn Along Wednesday at the Small Things blog lots of times, but never played along. Until today! It’s a weekly blogging theme where people check in and share what they’re knitting and what they’re reading. Since those two activities are what I would spend 95% of my time doing if I were independently wealthy and left to my own devices (the other 5% would likely be drinking beer and eating cookies) I thought I would share!

I’m working on my first big cast-on of 2013, the Solstice Cardigan by Cecily Glowick Macdonald in Quince and Co Osprey in the Chanterelle color.

You may notice that my version is identical to the pattern version – same yarn, same color! I fell so much in love with the sample version and the pattern photos that I wanted that sweater, exactly. I will probably even take my finished photos wearing jeans and Hunter boots (I wish) and standing in front of a barn.

The knitting has been great so far. I really love all the different textures going on in the sweater. Seed stitch, twisted stockinette, and regular old stockinette, with a cool mock cable.

As for what I’m reading, I’m getting close to the end of The Diviners by Libba Bray. Let me first just say – this is the only book that has ever given me nightmares. It is creeping me out in a serious way, and I love it! I’m already a huge Libba Bray fan, and this book takes place in the Roaring Twenties (yes, please) in Manhattan (my favorite city) and is full of really intriguing characters whose stories end up intertwining as they cross paths. It’s the perfect kind of scary to me, too – it builds a subtle, growing dread that makes you want to read just one more chapter. But also, you kind of want to slam it shut and hide under the covers at the same time.

The backdrop to that photo is the weird blue sky from the storm that’s about to roll in to the East Coast. I feel like I should post this quickly, because we’ve already lost power once today! Hopefully it won’t be too bad, and at the very least the thunder and lightning will provide a good creepy reading atmosphere. : )

Check out lots more posts at Yarn Along!

Intentions, not resolutions.

I hope you’ve had a good weekend – I thoroughly enjoyed myself this weekend, with lots of knitting and spinning and hanging around the house. We had an alleged “winter storm” here in central North Carolina on Thursday night. School for the kids was going to be out anyway so that the teachers could be in workshops, but the workshops were cancelled and we were allowed to take a leave day if we preferred  Luckily I’ve squirreled away some leave time, so I stayed home! I did brave the treacherous winter storm conditions to take a few photos Friday morning. : ) Look at that trace dusting of snow!

I also spent some time this weekend thinking about what I want to accomplish with my knitting and spinning this year. I’ve learned not to make concrete resolutions, as much as I actually ADORE them. I love the fresh clean slate feeling of the new year; I love making to-do lists; I love the can-do spirit of setting lofty goals and objectives. Ahh, so satisfying. What I don’t love is the inevitable let-down when I don’t magically achieve all these amazing goals before December 31st. Real life, man! Always harshing my mellow. What a drag.

So…I decided to set some intentions, not resolutions. General paths to take as the months go by, but with nothing strictly mapped out. They include:

Getting back to sweater knitting. I consider myself a sweater knitter at heart, but I only knit two sweaters in 2012. Lame.

Trying to purchase US-made yarn, and/or yarn that I can confirm was sustainably made by people who are receiving a living wage. It’s kind of hard to list this one without sounding sanctimonious, but there it is. It’s important to me, and I am so grateful that I’m now financially able to make that a focus. I completely understand choosing yarn for mainly financial reasons; as a beginning knitter I could only afford sale yarn at Michaels, and in fact I recently purchased KnitPicks yarn for holiday gifts. But it’s something I want to change about my own yarn shopping as I go forward. I also want to try spinning several heritage and threatened breeds of sheep wool – if the demand for their wool disappears, those sheep breeds may disappear too! All of the below breeds are rated as “critical” by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy:

{1: Hog Island sheep at Mt Vernon, photo by julz91}  { 2:  Gulf Coast sheep, photo by frankcheez} {3: Leicester Longwool at Colonial Williamsburg, photo by me}

(All images licensed under Creative Commons)

Spinning at least 4 ounces a month. I am a super slow spinner, so this might be tricky!

Learn to use the supported spindle I bought way back…in OCTOBER. It’s just been sitting there looking pretty for over three months.

Knit more from my books. I have such a great library of eye-candy-filled knitting books because I ask for them for Xmas every year, yet I so rarely turn to them when it’s time to choose a pattern. Why?? Must knit more from pattern books. Yes.

So that’s that. I’ll see how closely I stick to what I intend (not resolve!) to do this year. I’m off to enjoy the evening before it’s back to school tomorrow, and to polish off the last of a batch of Browned Butter Snickerdoodles I baked from the Baked Elements cookbook this weekend. If you like eating, do yourself a favor and check it out (or the Baked guys’ first book or second one….not that I own them all or anything. Just kidding! I totally do.) Highly recommended, although I’m not responsible for any resulting baked-good addictions! Have a happy week.

Finished: Casu Cowl

Pattern: Casu Cowl by Gaila Lael

Yarn: Handspun from Pigeonroof Studios in the Miss Marple colorway; Mixed BFL; sportweight

Needles: Size 6 US, 4mm

After I knit this pattern and wore it once, I wanted to knit a million long wraparound cowls. They’re genius!  You can just wrap them on any old way, and they look cute and jaunty and carefree. Plus, they have no annoying scarf ends to come loose and get in your way. I love you, cowls.

The other thing I’m really happy with is that this project is knit from my handspun. The fiber is mixed Blue Faced Leicester, a sheep breed that get its name because it has black skin on its head. Covered in white hair, their heads can evidently look bluish in certain lights! (Info from Knitter’s Book of Wool by Clara Parkes).

I had big plans this weekend to block an almost-finished sweater and sew on buttons, and went to get it from my sewing/knitting bag  to discover that someone had made the sweater into her own personal bed. At that point, I decided to leave it be. : ) Maybe next weekend. Hope you have a lovely week full of fibery goodness!

Hello! Hi, hello there. This is me dipping my toe back into the waters of knit blogging. Somehow a brief break from blogging stretched into a month, then a couple months, then a nine-month disappearing act. My sincerest apologies for the absence! It became so long and conspicuous that I avoided posting anything at all, simply because I would have to acknowledge that I’ve been MIA for the same amount of time it takes to gestate a human baby. Whoops.

But! I have really missed blogging, and checking in on others’ blogs, and the influx of great ideas and inspiration I get from seeing what everyone’s up to. I’ve also felt as if something was missing – the writing, the photo-taking, the slowing down and carefully crafting a blog post – that couldn’t necessarily be replaced with tweets or updating my Ravelry notebook.

I’ve knit and spun A LOT since March, but it seems futile to go back and try to update everything, so I’ll just pick up where I am now, with my latest spinning project.

The below fiber was dyed by the awesome Jen of Nest Fiber Studio (check her Ravelry group for info about when to catch an update. You should realize that my sharing this info means I really love you, because it’s already tricky enough to get anything in your cart during the lightning-fast updates!) and is in the Nausicaa colorway in Falkland wool.

For the techie spinner details – I split the braid into two equal halves, then chain-plyed to get a heavy fingering-weight yarn . For the non-techies, that means the yarn will be striping, and the stripes will be fairly thin. I’m not sure what this will become yet. I think it would make a pretty fantastic Ida’s Kitchen Hat.

One quick holiday pattern I made back in December were three Owl Puffs, for my mom, sister, and aunt. I shamelessly copied NoKnitSherlock’s brilliant Owl Be Home for Christmas modifications for the details. They are perfect for random scraps of yarn. Cuteness!

A few more random holiday images from our Christmas trip home to Kentucky – where it SNOWED. Snow! Real, actual snow fell from THE SKY! Living in Central North Carolina makes snow pretty unlikely, so my husband and I ran outside to gawk and play in an inch of slushy snow. But so pretty!

 

I’m feeling positive about 2013; it’s gonna be a good one. Happy New Year!

 

 

Yvaine handspun shawl

Pattern: Yvaine shawl, by Liz Abinante. Get it here!

Yarn: My own handspun. La di da! Cloudlover Polworth in the Haunted Vineyard colorway.Part of the Knit Girllls Spin-a-long/Knit-a-long.

Needles: size US 7s

This was my first big project from my handspun yarn, and it was a really fun knit. Easy, TV-watching knitting, but the seed stitch detail adds enough texture to make it interesting. I would knit this again in a minute.

My next spinning project is another Knit Girllls inspired purchase. They’re hosting a spin-a-long where we try different breeds of sheep that might be new to us, and expand our spinning experience beyond the usual BFL or merino. February’s breed was Shetland. Several people in the group bought these sets of naturally gradiant Shetland fibers from the Sheep’s Company. She packages “ombre” sets of 4 or 5 natural fibers from different sheep that are in gradient shades. I loved the concept, and I bought myself the brown gradient as a reward for running four miles without taking a walk break. : )

 

The fiber is packaged very cutely, with a little notecard from the sheep who “donated” their fiber, and a little lavender sachet. I’m behind on the spin-a-long, but oh well. Looking forward to trying a new fiber, and trying to decide on the perfect gradient project!

Shalder cardigan, on the beach.

 

Oh my lord, it’s been almost two months since I last checked in. : ( Thank you if you’re still reading! I never intend to take such long breaks; time just gets away from me.

Let’s jump right in with a finished sweater!

Pattern: Shalder, designed by Gudrun Johnston. Rav page here, buy the pattern here

Yarn: Quince and Co Lark in the bird’s egg colorway, buy the yarn here

Needles: Size 5 and 6 US bamboo circulars

Buttons: handmade oak buttons from OruAka, Etsy shop here

 

 

 

Knitting this sweater was a joy, from the yarn to the pattern to choosing the buttons. I’m so happy with how it turned out. My Ravelry project page tells me that it took me from April 2011 until February 2012 to finish it. 90% of the knitting was finished back in the summer, yet it took me a good five months to pick out buttons and get the motivation to finish seaming the pockets. Buttons are my Achilles heel. I have another sweater completely done, just waiting for buttons. Oh, Dayna.

The photos were taken last weekend, on an off-season quick visit to the Outer Banks. My husband and I hadn’t taken a weekend trip in almost a year, and it was lovely to get out of town. The weather was chill and rainy, but we were still able to do some running on the beach, and hiking at Jockey’s Ridge, the biggest sand dune on the East Coast. We watched dolphins jumping in the waves while drinking coffee on our balcony. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday morning? Not in my book.

If you ever find yourself in the Kill Devil Hills area, I can highly recommend the Outer Banks Brewing Station, Duck Donuts, and Front Porch Cafe. I’m a self-admitted coffee junkie/snob, and that was some of the best coffee I’ve had in my life.

Anyway, good times, happy memories. I have a cavalcade of finished knitting and spinning projects coming up, so I will check back in soon! Have a great weekend.