Spring Knitting

The spring is here, and then it's not, and then it is back, and then it snows. Like it did over the Easter weekend.

What else is there to do but knit?

I spun this yarn last year from a wool dyed by a dyer local to me (who is sadly out of business) in a colourway called Kungfiskare. The fibre was dyed as fractal and I wanted to show off the stripes on bias.

It took me a few tries to get the width I was happy with, but now it is flying along. I love what the stripes are doing, and every colour section is a new adventure. It is going to be a long skinny scarf for someone.

Light cotton shortie mitts for spring. The rib sections are longer than the stocking stitch, but that is the nature of the beast and the cotton yarn does not have the same elasticity as wool does. They are just fine when worn even though they look a little crumpled here, but that's just because I forgot to take the photos before shoving them into my pockets.

A Radial by Woolly Wormhead knit in my handspun. I love knitting with handspun, the yarn feels different from millspun. And I love how I can match the yarn with the pattern to best show off its properties. This one is a 3-ply merino sport weight, so I little heavier weight than the pattern suggested, and a little heavy for spring.

Except when it snows and/or is around 0 degrees Celsius. Then it is an absolutely perfect shot of red cosiness on my head in the mornings.

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Tiny Fibre Studio Sample-Along March 2017

Becks of Tiny Fibre Studio has only recently started video podcasts, but hers is one of my favourites to watch. She is one of the rare few who concentrate on spinning, and knitting with handspun.

She is running a Sample-Along in her podcast and Ravelry group. The theme for March was "Worsted Two Ply" which suited me just fine because those are my favourite methods of draft and ply.

I jumped at the chance to participate in this -along because I'd been planning on spinning up my multitude of breed samples, but I didn't want to use them up before I'd figured out exactly how to divide each fibre sample, how to prep it, how to spin it, and what to record.

This Sample-Along was the perfect opportunity to practise sampling and figure out all of the above questions. I also wanted the results of the techniques to be comparable, so I bought 300 g of washed Swedish Finull fleece.

First sample I combed on my Forsyth mini combs, and spun with short forward draw. The lanolin still present in the fleece made consistency a bit of a struggle, but also a learning experience. Becks asked the participants to make up their own swatch patterns, and the above is what I charted and shared in the Ravelry group.

The lanolin washed out of the swatch and the result is soft and cushy. Definitely nice enough for next to skin items for me (I am not particularly sensitive to wool so take it with a grain of salt).

I stretched the swatch a lot sideways to open up the lace and I think I went too far. The gauge is really weird on it. I think that I should probably re-soak it and pat to shape, not use blocking wires.

I had a sample of Swedish Gotland wool in my stash, and I could not resist spinning up another worsted 2-ply. It was commercial top, so no proper lock to save, and no prep beyond splitting the top into nests for each single.

The photo is taken in artificial light, so the colour is much more accurate on the previous photo. I spun this a bit thicker, and the swatch came out a little too large for the card. I think I'll aim for 28 WPI singles next time.

I love the hand of this yarn after knitting and washing, it would make a glorious lace shawl when spun thinner, like liquid silver. There is so much depth and colour variation in the fleece itself that it does not need added colour. But dying would also create an amazing result on Gotland fleece.

I do not need another hobby... I do not need another hobby... I do not need another hobby...

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Estonian Round Toe for Socks

A recent post on Ravelry asked for links to Estonian Round Toe instructions and I could not find any in English. So I decided to write them up and post as a response. Then I started thinking that even though Ravelry has almost 7 million registered users, the forum posts are still not readable by Internet at large.

And then I decided to make this post so that the instructions would be accessible, and linkable in the future.

The Estonian Round Toe

To make Estonian Round Toe you need your number of stitches to be evenly divisible by 8.

The principle is that on the decrease round you decrease 8 times evenly, and then knit as many rounds plain as you had between the decreases. Work like that until you get to 8 stitches, break the yarn, weave the tail through the stitches, draw shut and you are done.

For my socks, this is what i do:

*K5, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 5 rounds.

*K4, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 4 rounds.

*K3, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 3 rounds.

*K2, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 2 rounds.

*K1, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 1 round.

*K2tog* 8 times.
8 sts left.

Finish off.

It is very easy to adjust. If you had 64 stitch sock, you’d have 6 sts between decreases, and knit 6 rounds first, then 5, and 4, and so on.

I knit 60 sts socks for myself because I like the fit and the heel math of 60. But 60 is not evenly divisible by 8, so I decrease 4 sts on the round before I start the toe to get to 56, which is divisible by 8. This makes a nice oval toe for my narrow feet.

There is also a variant for a more rounded shorter toe where you knit one fewer round plain as you had between the decreases.

The Rounder Estonian Round Toe

*K5, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 4 rounds.

*K4, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 3 rounds.

*K3, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 2 rounds.

*K2, k2tog* 8 times.
Knit 1 round.

*K1, k2tog* 8 times.

*K2tog* 8 times.
8 sts left.

Finish off.

This is equally as easy to adjust for different stitch counts, as long as they are divisible by 8.

I prefer the first variant for my socks, but people with wider feet will find that the rounder toe will fit them better.

And the best thing about this toe is that there is no grafting, no dog ears, no fiddly bind offs. It is so easy to memorise, and it's so beautiful in its simplicity.

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FO Catch-Up

After the gift knitting for family was over, I still had more obligation knitting to do. I had promised more knitted things to more people than I really should have, but promise is a promise. As of now I have two more obligation knits left, but I needed some knitted things myself, so I took a break from gift knitting once the knits with deadlines were finished.

It is a FO although it is a pile of parts in this photo. I couldn't take a FO photo due to there being no light, before I handed it over to my colleague. It is a Cable and Rib Sweater with Hood by Debbie Bliss, knit in Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt. I am quite pleased with how it turned out even though the cables slowed the knitting considerably.

Needing a break from obligation crafting, and a pair of gloves, I spun some red shetland. I divided the braid to light and dark colours, then blended each separately on my blending board. The idea was to avoid striping, but have maximum of barberpoling by plying a light and a dark single. The yarn didn't plump up as much as I expected, so it came out a light fingering. I used the 32 WPI groove on my control card for the singles, next time if I am aiming for 2-ply fingering, I'll try with the 28 WPI singles.

Next time I need to do a better job of blending because I still got stripes, but they are more subtle than on the previous two pairs I knit out of my handspun. The pattern is inspired by Marjut's Gloves. They are light and warm and red, just perfect for the mild weather we have been having.

Back to gift knitting. This is a hat for another colleague, she picked the pattern and the yarn. It was a very quick knit, and the recipient was very happy with the result.

Being in the desperate need to cleanse my palate from the pink, I knit a Nurmilintu out of Schoppelwolle Zauberball, Cranberries colour. I wanted to use up all the yarn, so I continued the final lace section until I only had enough yarn left to bind off. I love it, being the perfect antidote for the winter greys and pink, but it is too thin even in this mild winter. I've set it aside to wait for the spring.

A couple of weekends ago I was feeling miserable. We had a some lovely below 0C temperatures, but I was feeling too sick and cold to enjoy the weather. Instead, I decided I needed something big and squishy. Brioche was the obvious choice for the squishiness, and there were two yarns in my stash that would accommodate the size in two colour brioche.

I weighed both the Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn and Aade Lõng Artistic 8/2, and they came up almost 200 g each. Perfect. Before trying to invent a brioche pattern myself, I went and looked around on Ravelry and found Marley by Andrea Mowry of the Find Your Fade fame. Even more perfect, I could just follow the pattern for two colour brioche knitting without having to invent anything while being sick.

So I followed the pattern, and it is just as big, warm, and as squishy as I wanted it to be. That stick in the photo is one metre long, the shawl is 2 metres on the long side and one metre deep, and I have not even blocked it yet. I used up every scrap of both yarns, and had to use a little Kampes 2-trådigt ullgarn to finish last 20 cm of bind off. I chose not to have the garter border, but to do a crochet picot bind off which gave the shawl a lovely lettuce edge. It took me eight days to knit on 4 mm needles, not bad considering it is half a blanket.

I have been mostly cuddling under it at home, but I've worn it to work once and I wore it at Syfestivalen this past weekend. I love how the colours shift in the yarns and how the two colour brioche plays with them. I have other projects I need to finish, but it won't be long before I plunge back into two colour brioche knitting.

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It's All About The Tools

It is amazing how much faster it goes to make something with tools you enjoy using. Case in point: these two pairs of socks, one took 6 months, and I've been working on the other for only a week and I'm already half way through.

My preferred method of knitting socks is on DPNs, but last year I wanted to try out the two at a time on circular needles. I purchased two sets of 2.25 mm needles, one 60 cm length and one 80 cm length to see which one I like more. Turns out, neither. Addi Sock Rockets are just too sharp for the way I knit and while I managed not to poke an actual hole in my finger, they are very painful to knit on.

I did want to finish the socks this year (after they'd languished for months), so I struggled on until I really wanted to finish these socks, and switched to Addi metal DPNs at the toe of the second sock. I do like how they turned out, but I remember the pain when I look at them. :(

As soon as I was done with the previous pair, I cast on these and there is no pain while knitting, just joy. If I'd bought Addi Premium in 2.25 mm circulars, I would not have the poking problem. I love those tips, they are just perfect for me. However, I wasn't enjoying knitting socks on two circulars either. I gave it a fair try, but I prefer to knit with 5 DPNs because the circle they make is more flexible than one formed by a cable and two needle tips of circulars.

Knitting socks concurrently goes so fast, knitting on good tools goes so fast, and I love the yarn. I am calling these my Happy Socks because knitting on them makes me happy. I am glad I gave an alternate method a try, because I learned from it. I may give two at a time another try with blunter needles. Maybe. Maybe not.

Meanwhile, I've already planned out my next two pairs of socks, knit on DPNs.

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Handmade Gifts

I went nuts last year. In the summer I got this idea to knit up some handspun gifts for my family. The idea was sparked by the shawl I spun and knit for my aunt. I figured that if I started in July, I'd have plenty of time to spin and knit for 6 people. Right?

Wrong! Three people got sewn gifts because I seriously ran out of time. Even with sewing, I was late. If I had visited over the holidays, I would have made it, but I didn't. I was late booking tickets, and I was late sending the package. All the manic crafting pre-holidays resulted in my one and only resolution for next year — no hand made holiday gifts in 2017!

Enough of whinging, on to the fun stuff!

First was the scarf for my dad. He picked the fibre, and gave me this desired measurements, I made up the pattern. Reportedly he is pleased with it. I love how the yarn turned out and I am chuffed that he likes it and will use it.

Next were the gloves for my brother. I didn't have the right fibre for "no stripes", so I went and bought some new fibre. I stripped the blue and the green braids into tiny slivers, mixed them all up, combination drafted them into three singles, and the 3-ply still came up stripy! Happily, that level of stripyness was deemed to be not too stripy, and they fit. All in all, success!

Convertible gloves for SIL. She picked the yarn that I'd spun as an experiment, and requested the convertible mitt tops. I had so much trouble with these. First, trying to find a pattern that showed off the two different yarns, then to find a pattern with the convertible tops.

I am disappointed in two counts. One, the colours, and two, that there was not enough contrast between the 3-ply and the chain ply. So in the end I found a normal convertible pattern that fit my yarn and tension. I knit the cuffs and fingers with the 3-ply yarn and the palms and tops with the chain ply. I haven't heard back on those, so I have no idea if she is as disappointed with the colour as I am.

By the time I'd finished these, it was too late to try to spin and knit three more presents, so I switched to sewing. Mum requested small pouches to keep hear beads in, so I made 28 of them. This is what I meant when I said I went nuts. They may have been tiny, but in hindsight, 28 was a lot of pouches. In my holiday tradition is to forget to photograph at least one hand made gift before giving it. This year it was the pouches. I've asked Mum to snap a photo, but I haven't received it yet.

So. Why 28? Because I bought two of 5x5 cm pre-cut quilt square packs and used up all the squares. Three per pouch — two for sides and one for the drawstring tunnels. I forget exactly how many squares there were per pack, but they together made 28 pouches. In adding to the madness, I bought a new sewing machine to make these.

While I was dreaming up this project I realised that I needed features that my old machine did not have. The old machine was basic when I bought it in 1995, and it's ... less than basic? ... in today's standards. It does straight stitch and zig zag. That's it. There were more reasons to buy a new sewing machine. Like a topstitching foot, stretch stitches, three-step zig zag for sewing bras, and so on. I'll get into those when I do a post about it, but suffice to say, that I am very happy with my new "basic" machine.

The feature I needed for the bags was an overlock stitch that would bind and sew in one pass. I would have had to sew each seam (5 per pouch) twice with my old machine, and I really, really did not want to do that. As it was, even with the reduced number of passes, the first three or five pouches were fun, the rest were a pure grind. I grit my teeth and persevered, but that was painful to get through.

This proved my teenage self right — I knew then that I'd survive in a factory setting, doing the same thing over and over again, two weeks tops. I am never going to do this kind of project ever again! I love the result, my Mum was overjoyed, but I will not do a factory manufacture style project like this again. I have learned my lesson.

Sewing for fun again! This is a shark-whale mashup pencil case for my nephew from a free pattern on Craftsy. Simple, quick, fun, using both hand sewing and my new machine. My nephew started literally bouncing with joy when he unwrapped it. He LOVES it, with capital LOVE. This right there made all the effort for all the gifts worth it.

One more fun project. A flying squirrel for my niece from a free pattern on the internet. She is one year old, so she had no opinion on this, but I didn't expect any at that age. I had fun hand sewing it, and if she will play with it in the future, that's just a bonus.

That makes six gifts. I started in July and finished in December, and I won't be repeating this performance again for 2017. I love my family and I wanted to make them something special, but I am going to take a year off from this kind of pressure.

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Leftie II

It is finally finished! I am probably the last one to finish my Leftie for the #originalleftie KAL, but I did finish!

I wanted this one to be larger than the first one, but when I compared them, this one had only one more leaf. That is odd because it has 50 grams more black. The yarns are not the same size, though. Also, I suspect the first one has stretched in wearing.

This one does not lack the length, and it is wonderfully cushy in this surprise!winter we got in Stockholm. I am loving the red pinstripes and the leaves, and it definitely is big enough.

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Syfestivalen

Syfestivalen started today and I was able to visit this time. I'd wanted to go for years, but something always came up. Not this year, though!

I had ordered the festival catalogue, made my list of things to look for, and pre-purchased a ticket. As I went through the ticket gates, I thought that I'd lucked out and there were not that many people about.

As if! Friday being a working day was no hinderance whatsoever. Still. I was there and I had a shopping list, so I braved the masses and bought stuff.

I found everything on my list, and then some more. First, I looked at every booth, paying attention to those that had what I wanted. Then I went back to those that had caught my eye and/or I'd specifically had wanted to visit.

First stop: Limmo-design. This shop is the whole reason I wanted to go to Syfestivalen this year to begin with. They sell Schacht spinning wheels and wool for spinning, and they had brought all of the wheels (except Reeves) to try. Including the new Flatiron! It was awesome to see the wheels and be able to sit down and spin to also get the feel of the wheel.

I tried Sidekick first and made friends with it immediately. It was set up as Scotch tension which is the same as my Hansen miniSpinner. I quite liked it, but the wheel I had wanted to try most was the Matchless, so i moved on. It was set up as double drive and it pulled so hard! I had really difficult time to get it to the level of takeup that I was used to. I couldn't get it to work, so instead of getting more and more frustrated, I moved on to Ladybug.

Ladybug was also set up as Scotch tension, but the treadling feel was entirely different from Sidekick. Eventually we agreed to disagree and I moved on to the final wheel, the Flatiron. It was set up with the flyer opposite to the traditional wheels, and with Scotch tension. It was pretty much a no-go from the start. I did not like the treadles, and the orifice was in an awkward position. I went and sat with the Sidekick for a little while before going to their shop for some wool.

There I bought one braid of red hand painted corriedale, a small bundle of red Swedish leicester locks, a small black project bag with knitting sheep, and two black braids of BFL. I am so happy about the black BFL! Black wool is hard to find to begin with and when I can find some, it is merino. I love BFL, it is so silky, soft, and smooth. Wool I had intended to buy, but I could not resist a black bag with sheep on it.

Second stop: Johanssons Lamm & Ull. They sell wool and other sheep products. Their wool is meant for felting, but they had boxes of dyed locks of gotland, so I had a rummage. I found two handfuls of red locks that are perfect for blending into sock yarn to add strength.

Third stop: Gudruns ullbod. They sell wool for spinning and Ashford spinning wheels among other stuff. They didn't have any wool that tempted me, but Ashford hand cards caught my eye. The pair I have is not really great for fine wools, which is what I like to spin. They had mini cards with 108 TPI cloth. I asked if I could try them and was handed a pair plus some wool. The wool was luscious merino/silk blend, and these cards did a good job blending the two different colours in just two passes!

They also had an Ashford Joy out for trying so I took my rolag and tried to spin it to see how it drafted. Me and Joy did not make friends. It was massive tug-of-war and the rolag was finished before I could adjust the wheel to spin the way I wanted. I gave up on that entirely and went and bought the cards because they had made such a beautiful and smooth rolag. I have small hands and the handles fit quite well too. Completely unplanned, but not previously unwanted. I had considered buying hand cards with finer teeth for a while, but I didn't know if I should go for 90/100/120 TPI or what. 108 apparently hit my sweet spot.

After that I took a food break and then visited with the Schacht Matchless again. We did make friends eventually, but the double drive took me some getting used to. The reason for wanting another spinning wheel (specifically a treadle wheel) is textured yarn. Many of the techniques require stopping the wheel immediately to manipulate the yarn, and I can't do that with the miniSpinner. It has a soft stop and I have to keep drafting while it stops, which takes a while. If I choose a Schacht, I have to decide if I get a Matchless after all or the Sidekick. I also want to try Spinolution, but their Swedish reseller didn't come to Syfestivalen this time.

Fourth stop: Engströms Artstudio. They had paper and other scrapbooking things. I was looking for some paper that was printed on both sides to make some ornaments with. I found some lovely wintery prints and washi tape. I also got out of there as soon as was possible to prevent buying more papery things just because they are pretty. That took some willpower, but I managed somehow.

Fifth stop: Quiltameva. They had these really cute mini square packs (and other quilt stuff) that had caught my eye. I was paying special attention to quilting booths because I have a specific gift project in mind and these are perfect for it. I also found a hexagonal quilt block ruler which I wasn't originally looking for, but they didn't have hexagonal paper piecing templates that were big enough. This ruler will do just fine.

Sixth stop: Söders Tyger. I wanted to see what kind of sewing machines are available, and what the price range is for the ones with the features I want. I found a PFAFF model that does everything I want and has a minimalist design, and is not too expensive. I didn't buy it because I want to do more research and then make a decision.

Seventh stop: Novita. I wanted some Pikkusisko sock yarn, but it was discontinued. I got to practise my Finnish! It's still there. Not fluent any more, but perfectly adequate still. The factory booth was more a display of their newest lines, so they directed me to their reseller Tiina's garn.

On the the way there I made my eight stop: Garn & Väv Mix i Byn. They had a tower of Kauni which I didn't get to investigate earlier because there were so many people there. Here I found a black and red gradient that will become some kick-ass socks. The ball is a whopping 170 g, so I'll get at least two pairs out of it. Unplanned, because I didn't have specific yarn in mind to buy at Syfestivalen (other than black and/or red), but I had intended to buy some yarn IF I could come up with a project for it immediately.

Ninth stop: Tiina's garn. Here I got to dust off some more Finnish, and found the Pikkusisko I'd been after. Novita's new sock yarn is called Venla and they had one perfect red ball left. Two more pairs of socks, one is going to be Villiviini with red lace on black. I may use the remaining red as-is, or make some red/black colourwork socks, or red gloves.

Tenth and final stop: Elena Teplykh. She had these utterly gorgeous black boxes painted in Russian one-stroke style. Utterly unplanned, but I simply had to get a tiny one for my sock stitch markers. Tiny box for tiny stitch markers, it was too beautiful to pass by. Somewhere along the way I also acquired two nålbinding needles, but I can't remember between which stops it was. Unplanned, but again, something I had wanted for years and had intended to buy some day anyway.

I was on my way home when I made the final stop. It was close to the closing time and I had found all that I had been looking for, and then some, but not too much. I had a lovely time chatting with folk about spinning and yarn, and fondling all the fabric, paper, yarn, and wool I could get my hands on. I shall definitely visit next year again.

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A Bit of Knitting

Inbetween spinning I've had some spurts of knitting.

A new project I started for a colleague. Deadline for this is in January, so it's been put on hold until I've finished the gifts for family.

Finished the scarf from the Wildwood fibre. While knitting I was afraid that I'd run out of the yarn, but I won the yarn chicken this time. There is 9 grams left.

Leftie #2 is still going on. I have almost finished the second black ball, but the rows are getting longer and the progress is getting slower.

These socks are a little longer than on this photo, but not by much.

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Jääkaru

My SIL asked me to knit a teddy for my niece for Christmas last year. I finished it on the ferry over and completely failed to remember to take a photo once I'd arrived. I did remember this summer when I went for a visit.

The yarn I used is Regia North Pole Colour, which gave me the idea for Jääkaru (polar bear in Estonian). There is another play on words/colour here as well. Literal translation for jääkaru is ice-bear and this yarn reminded me so much of winter ice with layers of snow.

The pattern I used is Arne and Carlos' Teddy. I made the ears look smaller and the face embroidery look more like a polar bear. I am very happy with how it turned out, and so was my SIL. The actual recipient is still too small to care one way or another.

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Knitting Again

After Tour de Fleece I was feeling like knitting again. There has been a lot of spinning since I got my Hansen miniSpinner and not a lot of knitting. Unfortunately all the spinning during TdF aggravated the old RSI in my right wrist. I still spin, but I can do so little at a time, that it's not worth showing.

Knitting to the rescue! I can't not do something with my hands, so I cast on a couple of things. Only two because I already have a pair of gloves going on, and a KEME hat. They both need me to pay attention, and it is way too hot for that. I wanted something nice and mindless.

Now, before you can cast on a new project, you must make a project bag for it, right? No? That's just me?

Regardless. I wanted to make some more wedge bags and I found this fabulous owl fabric while I was in a fabric store looking for some cotton for bags. It is not cotton, it is upholstery fabric, which is perfect because it doesn't need any interfacing to make it stiff enough to stand up on its own.

On a previous shopping trip to a fabric store I'd found a grey owl fabric which is light enough for linings. It is a bit flimsy, though, so I could have used some light interfacing on it to make it less floppy. I bought a full metre of the black owl fabric and the grey owl remnant was quite large, so I'll get quite a few bags out of them.

The one with the red zipper is the noodlehead large size, but it won't fit a sweater project. It is a shawl size for me. Right now it contains 5 x 50 g balls for my Leftie II. I loved knitting and wearing the first one so much that I wanted another one that is black and red, and bigger.

The other project bag is the right size for a sock project (noodlehead medium). Last winter I realised I do not have enough red socks, even though I had enough red yarn for several pairs of socks. I did cast on for a red pair in January, but the winter was over before they got finished. This time I am determined to knit a few red pairs before the winter starts.

This yarn is Regia Relax Color and is a recent acquisition. I wanted to try making socks on two circulars again, and naturally I had to check if the store had red sock yarn. Of course they did. I now have enough yarn for 7 pairs of red socks. 8 if I use the leftovers for a pair of scrappy socks. That ought to be enough pairs to satisfy my need for red socks.

While I was shopping I exercised some self control and bought only two balls of Regia, and one Zauberball. At one point I had a lot more yarn in my basket, but I decided that I did not want to knit plain socks in single colour. I want the yarn to be the interest, not the stitch pattern. I had originally bought the Zauberball for socks as well, but it is a singles yarn, and it probably won't last for very long as socks. So, I changed my plans and chose to make a Nurmilintu with it.

I have decided to always have one sock project going on in addition to other knitting/spinning/sewing/etc. projects. They are perfect for the time when the fingers are restless, but the brain is tired. I have my sock recipe memorised and it is simple enough to remember even through brain fog.

When I run out of the red yarn, or need a break from the red, I have other colours of socks to knit for other people. I also want to knit up some of my handspun that has been accumulating. There are lots of project ideas whizzing around in my brain. Some of those may even materialise as finished objects.

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Interlude with Socks and Cold

Colds suck, have I mentioned that before? Colds suck extra when you have to miss out on stuff because of them. There was this super fun party I was invited over the weekend... Yeah. I stayed home. Double suckage.

Enough of whinging. Remember all the things I cast on in January? No? No worries, here's a link. Since the winter lasted only three weeks this year, I only managed to make a start before I didn't need them any more.

But winters are usually a yearly occurrence and it is likely there will be another. I have slowly continued to knit some on those projects after I finished the gift shawl.

Plain socks in Fabel Print, colour #672. Love the red. I hope there is going to be enough of winter to put them to use next year.

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Pajulehekirjaline sall, Finished!

It is done! One month of spinning, and 21 days of knitting. It is finished ahead of schedule, which is nice.

I stopped knitting when I had used up 100 g of the yarn. A that point I deemed it long enough. It is possibly a little too long, but I wasn't going to rip out anything!

I could have blocked it wider, I guess. That would have reduced the length a bit.I had to use three towels for blocking and cat protection.

The iPhone camera does not capture the full range of colour, but I am super pleased with how this turned out.

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Pajulehekirjaline sall, One More Push

Yesterday I laid out the scarf to check for proportion, hoping that it was long enough. It was not.

This tape measure is 122 cm long. That may be long enough for a narrower scarf, but for this width, it is too short. I have 28 g of yarn left and it looks like I need all of that to get a scarf with nice proportions. If I knit it up in one week, I'll have half a week to spare before the deadline.

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Pajulehekirjaline sall, Somewhat Longer

Oh boy, this is taking forever! I weighed the ball of yarn that was left when this picture was taken and I've only knit half!

Seriously. This is only half! It is about 80 cm long here, but it will be a lot longer once it is blocked. I have already put every other project on hold for this, am knitting all the time, and still have to complete 80 cm more in two weeks.

The stitch pattern is the Willow Leaf Pattern on page 105 in the book The Haapsalu Shawl by Siiri Reimann and Aime Edasi. A book worth buying if you are interested in lace knitting in any way.

All this effort is going to be worth it in the end because it already is gorgeous in its unblocked crumpled state, but knitting to deadlines is very, very much not my thing.

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Pajulehekirjaline sall

Last week I finally figured out the shape for the shawl/scarf I wanted to knit from the green laceweight yarn i spun. It is a gift, so I wanted it to be just right. Well, actually I wanted it to be perfect, but the yarn is not even enough for that, so 'just right' will have to suffice.

At first I thought about making it an asymmetric triangle, then an ordinary triangle, but I went with a rectangle. The main reason for the rectangle is that I can use up every last bit of the yarn. I could have figured out how to make the lace pattern work with a triangle and then cover only 1/3rd of it, but I decided that by the time I'd made that pattern, the deadline would already be past. I have less than a month to knit this and then ship it.

It took me some time to find the perfect pattern for this yarn, but I am very happy how this is turning out. The lighter silk patches look like sun spots on the leaves, and the darker patches look like shadows.

I hope it will be as stunning after blocking as I imagine it to be, and that the recipient likes it enough to wear it.

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One Sock Becomes Two

While spinning is perfect for audio books (I still have to look at what I am doing), knitting is perfect for watching TV (my fingers know what to do). I'm sort of spreading the spinning and knitting love around all my ongoing projects this time, instead of only working on a couple at a time.

The second sock is progressing nicely. I love the printed pattern on this yarn. I was afraid at first that they are going to look too orange or too brown, but those stripes just add spice to the red.

My photography assistant (he is providing superb white balance check for the iPhone) decided to take a more active part in today's photo shoot. Reaching out ever so slowly...

Slowly...

Success!

This is the beginnings of my third test knit for the KEME project. The same original pattern as the second, but interpreted by someone else. I've called these Cap 2a and Cap 2b in honour of Terry Pratchett. 'Pyramids' is absolutely hilarious if you like ancient Egypt, Troy, and Greece. It is one of my favourites, and the book I was listening to when I started with the Cap 2a.

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