A gentle nudge

I'm still here, just not very active blogwise. A dear friend emailed me yesterday to ask if I was alright because I hadn't updated for so long. So, here I am.

I can't even remember everything I've achieved in the last few months, but this post will include those things that I have pictures of.

This is Haruni, knitted with my own hand dyed and hand spun merino and silk blend yarn.

I only just made it...

The shawl isn't very big, but it makes me happy.

Cubist socks by Cookie A. These were a free pattern from Knitting Daily. They look better when worn, since the stitch pattern causes them to look distorted. There have been a couple of other pairs of socks, but they didn't make the photoshoot yet.

Stash enhancement has been going on. This is some of the Araucania multy sock yarn I acquired to knit some lightweight sweaters. Sadly I'm back to the beginning again, since my swatch lied, and the twisted rib was indeed twisted/biased. I suspect that working in the round is the culprit with the rib, worked back and forth it usually looks fine.


I hadn't tried tapestry crochet before, but this is a Mukluk in progress. The pattern is from an Inside Crochet magazine. I had to go up several hook sizes to get gauge, finally settling on 3.5mm with DK yarn.

I had a play with Huck lace, and had great difficulty with getting the ppi even. Maybe I should have made the sett more dense. I do better when I can beat as opposed to pressing the warp into place gently.
On the loom at the moment is a very narrow warp in no.8 pearl cotton for bookmarks in various twill patterns.

Weaving whenever I can

I've been making some better progress on the towel warp lately, the fourth and last is about a third done. These pictures show the transition between numbers three and four. Weaving on a table loom isn't terribly fast, but it's very versatile, since an eight shaft floor loom usually has only ten treadles, and the networked twill needs more. I'm able to weave the more complex pattern easily. As a comparison, I used the floor loom 'treadling' for the third towel, but I prefer the cut and paste liftplan shown in the article by Alice Schlein.

This is the inkle strap I made for hubby's neckstrap. Mission accomplished!
Having got the inkle bug, I've branched out into tablet weaving too. My first sampler is still on the inkle loom, and I'll take pictures once it's off.

I rough blocked the back of the Printed Silk cardigan and it grew as expected to almost exactly the desired size, so I've now cast on for the left front knowing that the small size should be big enough. The first attempt with a ribbed band was ripped when the ribbed edge was longer than the stocking stitch. In a floppy yarn like this, it was going to look awful. Now I'm knitting it with a garter band and will alter the pattern to a V neck. The low round neck isn't really me.

Purple yarn and Inkle loom

This is about 660m of two ply merino. I thought I would have had more length, but no. I think this will make a nice lacy scarf or small shawl sometime.


This is what happens when you let your hubby loose with felt pens and graph paper. Two inkle bands which are now joined together to make a neck strap for a model helicopter remote control unit. The loom was built earlier this year, but I haven't mentioned it until now. The frame is white oak with hardwood dowels. I finished it with Danish oil and it's very nice. The bands are made of DMC Petra no.5 cotton, each thread yields about 0.5mm width of band. This is the third project I've done, and it really goes very quickly once you get the rhythm.

Slow Knitting

The Printed Silk cardi has grown a bit. I'm now on the twisted stitch pattern for the yoke and the knitting is slower. The yarn is very splitty, so I'm having to be very careful working the twists.


It's been a long time since I did any spinning, but I haven't quite forgotten how. I finished the purple merino and the pinky merino singles which I dyed last July and have plied them. I have about 180g which is now drying. I'll measure the skeins and calculate the yardage tomorrow.


Weaving has also been happening. I'm about two thirds through the second towel now which has a red weft.

What looks like an error half way up this picture is due to me not beating hard enough at that spot. I didn't even notice it in the actual weaving at the time, but it shows up in the photo.

Snow Queen

It's finished and blocked. The finished size is 50" across. To summarize, I used the I-cord circular start with 3.25mm needles, changing to 3.5mm for most of it, and 3.75mm for the last 25 rounds. The clear beads are 8/0 Crystal AB Matsuno seed beads, and the blue ones are Frosted light blue AB Matsuno seed beads. I used 97g of the beads in total and 140g of the white 2 ply botany wool (no idea of the yardage).

Weaving steadily, knitting and crochet too

I've been making progress on various projects lately, but haven't managed to get an opportunity to blog about them, not helped by the lack of photos. My Snow Queen shawl is getting larger, and I'm on the last chart now. It's just a big blob, so no picture yet. Other knitting news involves a Printed Silk cardigan started. I've only managed to do a few inches on the back so far, but it's looking good. I'm using Sirdar Just Soya DK in the Spinach colourway. I swatched with 3.75mm needles and got gauge, but when I washed the swatch it grew a lot. So I cast on with 3.5mm needles for a smaller size and I'm hoping for the best.

I also finished a crocheted sweater which needs a photo shoot yet. Because I like to crochet, I started another garment, this time a top down raglan cardigan. The yarn is Sirdar Countrystyle in a brightish green, and I'm using a 4.5mm hook. I'm designing it as I go along.

I warped the loom with some 4 ply acrylic/wool yarn for a seat cover and cushion cover. I threaded it for an 8 shaft straight draw, and sampled a few twill patterns before settling on one for the seat cover, and a different one for the cushion. The colour scheme is not my favourite, but it needs to emulate the existing one which is brown. The sett is 15 epi.

Here is my very first broken warp thread, well actually it frayed rather than broke, but I fixed it okay. Also visible is my tally counter. I press once per pick and can then find out where I am if my concentration is broken. My sliding beater is working really well, it's the best improvement we could have made to this loom. This fabric is off the loom now and washed and steamed, ready for sewing.

I wanted to weave some more tea towels since I've been using the rigid heddle ones all the time, and it's lovely to be handling your handiwork on a daily basis. So when I discovered this project article on the Interweave site I just had to follow it up. I'd heard about network drafting and wondered what it is and the article removes some of the mystery. I've been buying some cones of 3/14 combed cotton in various colours and it should work well for towels so I put on a 4m warp back to front at 25 epi using my new raddle, and have started weaving the first towel after trying a few different weft colours. My temple finally arrived after a 3 month wait so I'm using a temple for the first time and it really helps with keeping the selvedge threads straight for beating. I decided on navy weft for the first towel, and I'm about half way through it now.

Overshot

It amazed me when I measured the fabric I'd woven for some armchair arm protectors when the sizes matched precisely. Maybe I'm getting more consistent in my beating. This is overshot on 4 shafts and there are two pairs each with a different pattern. I'm so glad I bought a walking foot for my sewing machine, because it makes hemming so much easier.

The warp and tabby weft are 3/14 combed cotton and the pattern weft is no.5 perle cotton. 20 epi and 40 ppi.

Finally, a picture of the most recent socks in progress, plain stocking stitch on 2.75mm needles. The yarn is 4 Seasons, but I can't find the ball band for any more details.

The Snow Queen shawl is making steady progress, I'm now nearly one third through chart F.

Hibernating

Since my last post, I've been working on a few things, mainly weaving related, with some knitting too. I finished the Regia cotton socks I started in January, mainly stocking stitch with a little purl patterning. 2.5mm needles, 64sts.

This is my TopsyTurvy Moebius (Ravelry link) finished complete with I-cord bind off. I did 3 pattern repeats and I've worn it outside a couple of times under my coat. It really kept my front warm!

I finally caved when confronted with the Snow Queen Shawl knitalong (Ravelry link) hosted by BadCat designs. I haven't knit any lace shawls for a while, and even though I don't get much use from them, I still like knitting them. The design as written uses a lot of nupps, but I'm using beads instead. Where the pattern has beads, I'm using different beads. They don't show up very well in this picture, but spreading it out properly isn't easy at the moment. The clear beads are 8/0 Crystal AB Matsuno seed beads, and the blue ones are Frosted light blue AB Matsuno seed beads. Click for bigger. I've reached row 7 of chart F so far.

Now for the weaving. Last time I had just got the loom warped for a twill sampler, using threadings etc from 'A Weaver's Book of 8 shaft Patterns' edited by Carol Strickler. The patterns are nos. 323 - 332. There are six different threadings and ten different tie up and treadling combinations. In my case read lever selections for tie up and treadling.

This is the top of the piece as woven. Notice the wider fabric where there were fewer long floats. The yarn is DMC Petra no.5 cotton sett at 17.5 epi. I'd started with 20 epi, but couldn't manage to get a balanced weave, so I resleyed after sampling. It was a useful learning experience and the thrill of all those patterns miraculously appearing was marvellous.

Since then, my hubby has designed and made a superb upgrade for my loom in the form of a sliding beater assembly, so that every beat is made at 90 degrees to the cloth, and also has the benefit of getting the reed very close to the castle to maximise the shed. It moves very easily, and is a major improvement. This is the warp currently on the loom. It's overshot on 4 shafts using 3/14 cotton for the warp and tabby weft at 20 epi, with more of the DMC Petra no.5 pearl cotton for the pattern weft. I've taken to keeping a mirror handy for checking the back side of the cloth, those pattern wefts have a habit of being a bit loopy sometimes.

Welcome 2010

I spent most of today playing with my new to me loom. I had a 4 shaft Varpapuu table loom for Christmas, and hubby and I have been building a new replacement castle with 8 shafts for it. I had tried it with a very small warp and it was working well, so I've wound a cotton warp for a twill sampler or gamp. Today was the day for getting it threaded and wound on. I had eventual success, although it took a while. I discovered two errors in threading and with the help of a string heddle, all is now well.

In progress...

Ready to go....

The black/multi scarves are off the Kromski which is now folded up and having a rest. One is still waiting for fringe twisting, although the other is now living with my sister in law.



Meg of the blog Unravelling has asked for pictures of looms as they are today. So, these are my two.
The Topsy Turvy moebius is done. It took a couple of evenings to work the I-cord cast off all around, and I'll get a picture once it's been washed and blocked. How do you block a moebius without putting creases in?
I also finished my Round ripple afghan which I began almost 2 years ago.



It ended up about 50" across the points. This is aran weight acrylic/wool blend yarn with a 6mm hook.