It's been a busy time

Life has been rather hectic around here, and the knitting has suffered as a result. Apart from the seasonal preparations, the main setback was the writing off of our car as it sat parked outside our house. The lady who lives over the road had a bizarre parking incident with her car which resulted in collision with ours, and the subsequent writing off. The lady wasn't injured, just very shaken. So we've been searching for a replacement, which has taken much stamina and resilience. It's surprising how stressful this sort of thing can be.
Fortunately, we've found one, a couple of years newer and I really like it.


In knitting news, I started knitting Oblique with the frogged alpaca/ silk yarn. I'm past the start of the raglan shaping of the back now. I'm pleased with it so far and the size seems okay. It's going to need some serious blocking, especially the central lace pattern which seems to condense amazingly. Mystic Waters is taking some time out, until I can get some quiet time to concentrate on it, it isn't knitting to watch TV by. I'm nearly at the end of clue 3 of 8, so there's still plenty to do. Other than that the only thing actively on the needles is a simple stocking stitch sock.
My wheel has taken refuge in the back bedroom since the Christmas tree is now standing where it was. So, no spinning for a while.

Three ply

Well I finally found the time to ply the BFL and now have a 3 ply, 250m skein which is really soft and lovely. I overplied on purpose until it looked right to my eye, and it has balanced with washing. I've found that if I ply a balanced yarn, it usually looks underdone to me. Hence the overplying this time. This may have to marinate in the stash for a while until I decide what to make with it. It seems a shame to hide it on my feet as socks, even if there is enough.


Finished! One hat, scarf and mittens set. Not quite matching in style, but very colour coordinated. The hat was spun thick and thin singles BFL, dyed after spinning, and the mitts and scarf are both 2 ply from the same 100g of superwash merino which I dyed before spinning. The scarf is a simple chequered pattern, easy to do and it lies flat.

Change of plan

I decided that the fingerless mittens (Maine morning mitts) were too big so I ripped them and made these. They aren't anything special, but they are very soft and warm. I'm in the process of knitting a scarf with the remaining 50g of handspun superwash merino. It'll be a short scarf, the sort you wear under your coat to keep your neck warm rather than outside it.

Two and a half bobbins of the superwash BFL singles are done, hopefully I'll be plying this weekend. I can't wait to see how it turns out. If I have enough they'll be the most brightly coloured socks I've made yet!

Blocking the stole

I couldn't fit it all in to one shot, so here are both ends. I borrowed some stainless steel welding wires which worked pretty well. It blocked to roughly 18" by 78" which is why it hangs over the end of the mattress!
I'm glad it's done, although it feels as if something is missing now, I suppose Mystic Waters will have to fill the gap. I do like it, but as the rows get longer, progress seems very slow.

Secret of the Stole finished

It needs blocking, but it's done. I really enjoyed knitting this and I like it very much. I have no idea what the theme is at the moment, so I'll wait to find out after Friday. I only used just over 100g of the mystery yarn, so maybe I should overdye the rest and use it for something else. How many people use the same colour yarn for multiple lace projects? After all I still have the scarf from Victorian Lace Today to finish, using this same yarn.


I've been spinning the dyed BFL and it's going quite well. Since I seem to be getting rather thin singles, I've decided to go for a 3 ply, but not navajo plied which I find hard to be consistent with. One bobbin is done and I've started the second. This could end up being a muddy mess colourwise, but we'll see. If I don't get enough yardage for socks, I'll rethink my options.

Back to normal

Phew, it's been quite a week. The computer stuff is almost all sorted out now, thank goodness. I thought I'd include a picture of the motherboard for posterity. Apparently there used to be a component to the left of the black cylinder.

I've been dyeing some superwash Blue Faced Leicester fibres, with a view to creating another pair of socks. Not very imaginative, but I'm a bit short of ideas for small quantities of yarn. The thought of spinning enough for a sweater is daunting for me yet. This is beautifully soft, however the dye job didn't turn out quite like I anticipated, but never mind. At least I have something nice and colourful to spin now....

..unlike this cashmere/merino laceweight which I've been plying like crazy all week. I finally got to the end of my 100g and made a skein. Curly isn't it? It's drying now after being dunked in a strong detergent solution to get rid of the spinning oil - the water was filthy. I'm pleased to say that it looks pretty good and feels much softer for it.

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I've got onto clue 7 of the Secret of the Stole, it's a very pleasant knit. The end is in sight now and then I'll have to concentrate on Mystic waters which is going a bit slower. I've just started clue 3 and the rows are getting longer which isn't a surprise, but it's amazing how long each one takes.

I'm back - sort of

My life on the net came to an abrupt halt a week last Friday when my computer suffered catastrophic failure. The power supply went up with a bang and took the motherboard (and possibly other things) with it. The last week has been spent deciding what to get as replacements and then fitting everything and the upshot is that I have a newer, faster machine. Of course it needed a reinstall of everything, so I'm not done yet. Still I'm up and running which is great. I've been missing my online life and I didn't even get much knitting done which would have been some compensation. That said I did finish a sock earlier today, and the lace knitting is progressing: Secret of the Stole is nearly 75% done, and I finished clue 2 of Mystic waters.

I'm still looking for the camera software, so pictures next time hopefully.

Yarn for lace

I think I cracked it! Here is my small (balanced) skein of plied cashmere/merino. I know how many treadles to the foot length it needs to achieve balance. It's a lot. Eight. It's going to take ages, but it'll be worth it. This yarn is really soft and just the right thickness for lace knitting. I don't get on so well with the very fine yarns.


Clue 5 of Secret of the Stole is done just in time for the next clue tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some interesting patterning to do. I got a little fed up with all those bubbles. I think they look fine, they were just a bit repetitive to do.

Mystic waters is growing slowly, I'm about 2/3 through the second clue, and I'm going to need a much longer needle soon. Ah well, I suppose it's a good excuse to buy more Addi lace needles. It's a shame the Knitpicks set doesn't go down to 3.25mm or I could use them.

Doing the twist

Three of the current WIPs are lacy knits. The Secret of the Stole and Mystic waters are making progress. I'll probably take pictures at the end of the current clues. The Kaalund scarf has grown to about two feet, so quite a bit to go. My Knitpicks Options set arrived on Saturday, and I'm really impressed with it. The points are nicely pointy for those awkward manoeuvres, and the join is really smooth. My other project is just a simple sock, very mindless knitting. I'm looking for a sweater pattern which maybe doesn't exist for the alpaca/silk I recently frogged, so I may have to design one myself, although I don't feel much inspiration at the moment.



I'm trying to make a cone of cashmere/merino which I bought recently into useable yarn. It is a very fine single which looks okay on the cone, albeit very fine. However, it is extremely overspun. The picture shows, from the top, the yarn straight from the cone; the same stuff washed; two ply without enough twist washed; two ply with more twist washed; and at the bottom, how it behaves when allowed to twist as it likes. So, it needs a lot more plying twist than I've given it yet. I'm hopeful that if I can get it right, I'll end up with nice soft lace weight yarn at about 800m per 100g.

Still up to speed

Clue 4 of Secret of the Stole is done, I even managed to do a bit more in order to lengthen it. The stitch marker shows the extent of the pattern as charted. It measures 18" x 37" unblocked. The next clue is released tomorrow - I hope there aren't too many more of the circular motifs to do! I know that particular pattern by heart now.
My cold is much better now, just a bit of a cough and some sneezing, which is a relief.

I've been spending some time in Ravelry, but the thought of going through my stash is overwhelming. For the time being, I'll just catalogue the yarns which are easy to get to!

I have no willpower

What can I say? I cast on for the Mystic waters KAL. It looks very wrinkly until it's stretched out, as most lace does. The pattern is fairly dense with a lot of decreases and YOs per row. I haven't had to rip very much, mostly I've missed out the occasional YO which is pretty easy to fix once identified.

As a further example of my lack of willpower I ordered a set of KnitPicks Options needles and a couple of extra cables in longer lengths. It seems they are in stock, so I should get them this week.
I blame these lapses on the horrid cold and cough I've been suffering with the last ten days or so, I need something nice to compensate!

The top down alpaca/silk raglan sweater became a UFO once I realized just how saggy it was. The yarn is so soft and floppy that it needs seams to give it some stability. So, armed with the ball winder I went frogging. I have an idea, but I've yet to actually design it.

Finished Mitts

I finished the second one last night. They really are very warm and snuggly. They are the Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes. I changed them slightly by knitting more rounds before the thumb opening, but otherwise the pattern was fine. They took 46g of my 100g ball of merino.

I've been swatching for another shawl, this time the Mysticwaters KAL, which looks as if it's going to be a nice design. I have some 2 ply superwash wool on cone (really for machine knitting) which feels a bit harsh, but softens up after washing to get rid of the spinning oil. I think the 3.25mm needles will be about right since I like the stocking stitch portions of lace to look reasonably solid.


I ended up navajo plying the remainder of the spun silk so I'm now trying to think of a way to use all of these.

Plied silk and wool and Ravelry too.....

Clue 3 of Secret of the Stole is done, just in time for clue 4. It only measures about 26" long at the moment, so I think I'll be putting in the lengthening rows. This will mean I'll be late starting clue 5, 'cos I'm just not getting very much quality lace knitting time lately.

Here's the first of a pair of fingerless mitts knitted with the handspun and dyed superwash merino. I went up to 5.5mm needles because this yarn is very springy although the yardage suggested DK weight.

I've spun about a quarter of the silk caps and plied them with various colours of corriedale sliver.
There's still more left, it really goes a long way. Now I'm trying to work out what to make with it. There's about 145m altogether.

I got my Ravelry invite today and I've done the preliminary stuff, but it'll take a while for me to get up to speed with it. My name is YarnTinker which is quite appropriate since I almost never get away without tinking something.

Dyeing silk caps

The dyed caps before fixing

Dry and catching on everything they touch! Predrafted and extra drafted

Singles

I thought I'd have a go at dyeing and spinning some silk caps which I bought a while back. I already tackled some silk hankies a few months ago and got on pretty well with them. Well, I dyed the caps first, and when they were dry, I separated a few of the layers and predrafted them. These produced a rather lumpy yarn, so I resorted to completely drafting it into very thin strips. This worked better although there are a lot of slubby bits. I could only do this much before my hands were complaining. Pulling silk around is quite hard work, the fibres are very long and stick to anything they come in contact with. I tried wearing some vinyl gloves, which helped for a while until static built up and then they were useless. It must have been quite a sight, me shaking these lengths of silk about trying to make them let go.

Knitting wise, I've done a few rows of the third clue for the Secret of the Stole, and my mindless knitting sock has grown a bit. I'm using my new Knitpicks circulars, 2.75mm, for these and they are marvellous, the points are nice and pointy and the cable join is excellent. I was so pleased to find a supplier in the UK. I'm seriously tempted by the Options set.

I'm ahead of the game

My Secret of the Stole is coming along and I'm ready and waiting for the next clue. So far this is going well. I've been undecided about starting any more lace projects, but for now I'm going to keep going with those already on the go - this decision may change at any time of course!

Textured hat done

The hat is done. I knitted it top down on two 7mm circulars. There wasn't enough yarn to do a turn up brim, but that would have made it too warm anyway. It's very organic looking and very warm. I'm going to reserve this for the coldest days yet to come. This yarn isn't quite Colinette Point 5 but it cost a lot less and it was fun to make.

I made a start on the Kaalund scarf and then ripped it out and started over with a different stitch pattern and different size needles (3.75mm) . This is a variation on feather and fan and it looks pretty good I think. Strangely, the colours in this are very similar to the cushion - different proportions, but similar. I'm obviously going through a yellow, orange and reddish purple phase.

I'm more than three quarters through the second clue of the Secret of the Stole, so should be done in time for Friday's instalment. This design seems to be mainly stocking stitch with lace motifs, rather then allover lace, which means it goes quite fast.

Different effects

This is the completed first clue of the 'Secret of the Stole', the next clue was released earlier today. I'm using 3.75mm Addi lace needles and some anonymous wool laceweight I bought on eBay. I'm not using beads, I think that would be asking for trouble!

Pictures really are worth a thousand words. I'm still waiting to get a cushion pad, but here's the cover ready and waiting. The same fibre, very similar colours and each side completely different to look at. I really like the stripes, but the colour distribution of the second side surprised me with it's symmetry.

Finished objects

The bedsocks were done yesterday, the second short row heel went smoothly, so I'm a convert to the YO method whenever short rows are required. The first photo shows I'm more supple than I thought I was! These will be put to use straight away.

Dropping in to my LYS yesterday, I was pretty restrained, but this came home with me. It should make a pretty lacy scarf, maybe for a gift. If I can bear to part with it . It's Kaalund Classic Two wool in Guava. Each 50g ball has 356m. The knitted sample in the shop was soft and had lovely drape. I'll be looking for a pattern stitch for this soon. Further to my dilemma the other day, I cast on for the Secret of the Stole and have finished the first clue. I'm using some nameless mauve laceweight I have, I don't know the yardage, but I'm optimistic I have enough. No picture yet, but it's looking good. The long awaited cone of cashmere and silk blend should be mine tomorrow when I collect it from the sorting office. I missed the postman this morning, very annoying.

Decisions, decisions

I plied the green merino and finished up with 190m of roughly DK weight. I think I should have put a bit more twist in when I plied it, but I'm happy with it overall.

I've finished a sock with a short row heel which is going to be a bedsock. It's not a conventional bedsock, but so long as it's warm I don't care. Now to knit the other one! I've used short rows now and again, but never got on well with wrapping and turning in sock heels, I'd miss the wraps or drop stitches and generally mess it up. This time I used the YO method and what a difference that made, I wish I'd tried it before. The yarn is pure wool Jojoland Rhythm worsted weight on 4.0mm needles.

I've been driving myself nuts by getting caught up in a couple of knitalongs, the Secret of Chrysopolis stole and Secret of the stole - both lace projects and so far as I can tell so far, quite different styles. I signed up quite late for both of these and am frustrated that the yarn I bought is held up in the postal strikes we have at the moment. I really don't know why I should even think I can cope with two more lace projects, but the temptation to do both is great.

Slow going

I divided my shades of green merino tops in half and predrafted strips of the different shades before spinning them in a repeating sequence. I'll do the same for the other half, but I'll vary the sequence. It should be quite interesting when plied.

Sorry to say that not much substantial progress has happened with any of my knitting. I've been adding a few rows here and there. That's one of the drawbacks of having several projects on the go at once. The ripple cushion is the one with most growth. You can start to see where I changed yarns from the dyed and then spun to the spun and then dyed (the 2 or 3 inches nearest the needle). I was a bit worried that this singles yarn would cause biasing, but there isn't a hint of it.

This is definitely an improvement on the biased neckband I had before. I worked a twisted rib back and forth, so now I have a seam to sew. I'll do the same for the other bands too when I get to them.

Shades of green

This is a 60" skein which I dyed in 2" sections with a sequence of different greens. The small skeins in the middle are commercial yarns with wool or alpaca content along with some acrylic and I wanted to see how much dye they would take up. Not a lot as it turns out.

I was wondering how many different shades of green I could get from lime, sunshine, bluebell and charcoal. This was the question I tried to answer yesterday. The result was five variations, all quite pale, but nevertheless interesting. I think I need to get some deeper colours of acid dye because then I could get a wider range of shades. The green skein is the 75m of thick and thin BFL from the other day and because I miscalulated the amount of dye I needed for it, I ended up dyeing the last 100g of superwash merino broken tops as well. I'm thinking hat and mittens maybe.

I've made some progress with the alpaca, I now have three skeins done. I'm having fantasies about drum carders since I find carding to be quite a challenge. I can't seem to avoid the doubled up fibres which occur. Still, somehow I'm getting fairly consistent length/weight ratios for each skein - about 2m/g. This is another 140m waiting for the twist to be set.