Category — Knitting

It’s cold. Really cold. Unbelievably cold. I’m a Vermonter, I know all about cold. But this is beyond what we’re used to. This is positively frigid.

What can we do when it’s this cold? Not much, really. We can thaw and repair frozen water pipes (that’s what my poor husband was doing at 6:30 this morning) pray that our cars will start, and that our furnaces won’t quit. Luckily for us, we have a woodstove that we heat with, so no danger of that quitting on us. However, when you heat your house with a single central source, the rest of the house stays pretty cold.

We’ll be doing a lot of huddling and snuggling today, I think.

my handspun thorpe

It will come as no surprise, given the weather, that I have been focused on hats. Warm hats that cover delicate ears and the backs of necks. I, my friends, have been on a hat knitting frenzy! It all started (as things often do with me) with a photo in my flickr contacts. One of them was working on a thorpe. Now, as I mentioned in my last post, this particular hat has been in my plans but seeing hers looking so lovely and warm made me want to cast one on immediately. Which I did. That evening, I had a beautiful, warm new hat!

This hat was made with some of my very first handspun. I honestly wasn’t crazy about the colors in the yarn but I think they’re lovely in the finished hat. That little coil beside it is all of the yarn that was left after the project- about a yard. That’s my idea of a well- planned project! (Coming clean here- I didn’t plan at all. I just figured if I ran out I’d pick up with some natural bulky I had in my stash!)

So when my boys (all three including my husband) saw my finished hat, they all wanted one too! That evening I cast on for the littlest one (who turns 6 tomorrow!) an orange and brown one that followed the colorwork pattern. It is so adorable. And of course the best part is that he loves it too! He insisted on wearing it to school and didn’t want to take it off when we got there. How that warms a mother’s heart. I haven’t had time to get a good photo, but I will absolutely try to get one this weekend. It’s too darn cute not to share!

I’ve got a green and blue on the needles for oldest boy, then a black and blue in plans for my husband. This really is a terrific pattern- functional, nice-looking and super-quick to knit!

In other news, I have a Schacht Flip 20″ rigid heddle loom on its way to me as I type. With any luck, it will be here tomorrow and I’ll have the weekend to get acquainted with it.

Stay warm, everyone!

on the home stretch!

I am making serious progress on my 9-5 socks! I’ve turned the heel and am currently working on the gusset decreases. At this rate, I’ll have them off the needles and onto my feet by the weekend.

I also managed to finish the first bobbin of the falkland singles that I’ve been working on. I hope to have the second bobbin done by the weekend as well, so that I can ply and set it.

one bobbin down, one to go!

When those two projects are finished, I think I’ll cast on a Thorpe. I keep seeing such lovely versions made from handspun and I just can’t take it any more. It’s winter in Vermont, what other reason do I need?

my new knitting needle case

I’ve been doing some sewing, but it’s also knitting related.

I finally got around to making myself a mega knitting needle case. It’s designed to hold my entire set of knitpicks options needles along with extra tips, cables,  and accessories. It also has room for all of my sock knitting dpn’s and circulars! When closed, it’s the same size as an issue of Interweave Knits. Perfect.

I do have one other knitting project in mind but it’s so small it hardly counts as a project- dishcloths! There are some super cute patterns out there and they’re a great alternative to socks for a travel project.

future dishcloths

I’m going to knit mine in aqua, natural and dark brown. I can’t wait to use them. I think they’d make great mother’s day or wedding gifts as well (when paired with something a little less utilitarian, of course!)

Yesterday, my internet friend and colleague Carrie said something to the effect of “Now I just need to learn to knit socks so I can buy Georgia’s yarn!” Hmmm… I thought. Yes, it’s sock yarn, and it’s intended for socks. But there are lots of great patterns designed for fingering weight yarns (which is the category that sock yarn generally falls into) that are not socks! And really, some of them are super easy.

If you’re on Ravelry, you can find some great non-sock patterns by going into patterns and using the pattern browser. Select fingering weight and whatever non-sock categories you’re interested in. An entire cornucopia of patterns will magically appear!

Among the easiest and most useful are cowls (aka neckwarmers). My favorite cowl pattern is the Gloria Cowl. It is a super-easy pattern that’s suitable for beginners and very pretty, especially in semi-solid colorways. Now, granted it uses doubled sock yarn, so it could also be made in worsted weight yarn, but still a great use for sock yarn.

norwegian baby cap

The Norwegian Baby Cap is also a great use for sock yarn, and so pretty! I happen to have a little niece due in April, and I think that I will add this to my to-knit list.

If you’re not afraid of colorwork, Eunny Jang’s Endpaper Mitts are absolutely beautiful and would look very nice with one main solid color and a variegated hand-dyed used for the patterning. These particular mitts are high on my knitting queue and I already have the yarn saved out for them. I haven’t done colorwork before, but having learned to a reasonable degree how to knit continental, I think I can take it on.

Other non-sock patterns for sock yarn that I found interesting: Magic Baby Slippers, Lace Ribbon Scarf, Broad Street Mittens, Gathered Scarf,  Henry Scarf.

on a rainy day, bright yarn and craft books make me happy

I live in central/eastern Vermont. I don’t ever remember getting rain during the winter as a kid. I guess we can go ahead and blame it on global warming. Despite the forecast, the kids still went to school, so I got a work day after all.

I spent the majority of the day re-skeining yarn. Re-skeining yarn is the process of taking freshly dyed and dried skeins of yarn and re-winding them. This neatens them up and also allows the colors to blend together in the skein.

Whenever possible, I like to photograph my yarns both before and after re-skeining. Some knitters like to see the yarn before- It allows them to see how long and regular the color repeats are, which in turn allows them to choose the best suited pattern for the yarn.

the same yarn before (left) and after (right) reskeining

Others are more concerned with how the colors will blend after they’ve been knitted together. Photographing them both ways makes me feel like whatever the customer’s preference, I’ve done the best job I can in letting them know exactly what they’re getting. That’s important to me. I don’t want any unhappy emails!

getting there!

Now, what else do I have to show you today? Oh yes, my 9-5 socks. I haven’t worked on them for a few days, but my new sock blockers arrived this morning, so I was able to photograph my progress. It’s not the greatest photo I’ve taken, but it serves its purpose.

I also got to photograph some freshly dried falkland roving that I dyed up last weekend to spin. This is some of the practice fiber I bought when I was first learning to dye.

hand dyed falkland roving. yum!

I would love to sell dyed fibers some day but for now I only dye it for myself. Four ounces of fiber doesn’t look like much all spun up but it takes up a HUGE space to dye. It’s worth it though. There’s nothing quite like spinning up fiber that you dyed yourself.

Well, I think that’s it for today! So far, 2009 has been great (the whole first week of it) and I’m actually following through on my goal to blog more often. Now to work on those other goals…

fiber with singles

I finally finished my first full (although small) skein of Navajo plied wool. I really love how this yarn looks. It is soft and smooth and pretty consistent! When I do two-ply yarns, I have a hard time coming out with a yarn that is the same gauge throughout unless I overtwist them. The Navajo method, with more plies, balances the thick and thin of the different plies better.

I dyed this merino when I was first learning how to dye. If I had it to do over, I would have made the colors more saturated, but it’s still really pretty. I just don’t know anyone who would wear this color! I’ll probably end up using it to make baby hats for afghans for afghans.

the final results

Another thing I’ve been working on lately is learning how to knit continental style. I’ve gotten to the point where I can knit relatively well, though it is a long way from feeling natural.

The big hangup I’ve had is purling. If you’ve ever watched people knit continental, you know that it requires moving the yarn from the back to the front just as in English knitting. I tried and tried and tried to purl continental and all I got was a horrendous cramp in my hand. I decided to reserve my continental knitting for giving my right hand a break during stockinette-in-the round.

That was, until a few days ago when I was perusing Ravelry and found out that there’s another way to do it that doesn’t require moving the yarn to the front! it’s called Norweigan purling, and it’s the answer to my continental knitting prayers. I found an excellent video tutorial at KnittingHelp.com and gave it a try. I was amazed at how little time it took for me to learn this method, and now I’m continental knitting and purling without any cramps. Continental still isn’t my preferred method, but it’s good to know.

Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski

I have a new favorite book: Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski is a fantastic resource for anyone who knits with handpainted yarns. Before you get to the patterns (which are all beautiful, by the way) there is an entire section about the different types of handpainted and hand dyed sock yarns, how they’re made, and how to use them to their greatest potential.

As an indie dyer, I am always trying to provide as much information as possible to my cutomers about how my yarns are dyed and what can be expected when they are knit up. I would confidently recommend this book to them.

Speaking of knitting socks with handpainted yarn, I’m making slow but steady progress on my 9-5 socks. I’ll work on getting shoem progress photos as soon as my new sock blockers arrive!