FO: It's not a V neck!

It is, however, blue. A step forward however...

Pattern: Bramblewood Vest, by Christina Wall
Yarn: Some random, recycled from a Goodwill sweater, navy yarn. I had 750 yds/300 gr, and I used ~670/268 gr.
Needles: US8/5.0 mm for body and bottom I cord edging, US 6/4.0 mm for arm and neck I cord edging.
Gauge: 4.25 sts/7 rows per inch, slightly tighter then recommended (4 sts/6 rows)
Start/finish: 7 Oct - 19 Oct 2009
Comments/mods: First off, the yarn. I have no idea what this stuff is, but it could be Cascade 220? Hard for me to say, since I've never knit anything with Cascade. Relatively coarse, 4 ply worsted weight, in dark dark navy blue. It was fine to knit with - the cable came out great - but my fingers got really really sore on the tips. The only thing I can really pinpoint as a potential culprit is the coarseness of the yarn. Perhaps I'm becoming a delicate lily of the valley in my old age, but this is a first! So, the yarn worked well, and was cheap, but I'm not sorry I'm done knitting with it. And the few balls I have left over will become...maybe nothing.

The pattern was a fun, quick knit. Top down, which is my new fave, mini-raglan seams, fairly mindless, but with a cable every so often to keep you on your toes.

This was my first I cord edging, and I really like how it turned out. What a nice option for finishing off an edge.

I didn't block this very emphatically. Just soaked it in some warm water and Soak, and laid flat to dry, smoothing it out to even out some of the stitches. I suspect that I could have gotten stitch gauge if I'd pushed it a bit, but it's fine as it is. A hard color to photograph in October in London, but it's a cosy vest that is going to see quite a bit of use.

FF: No spinning, double FOs for Project Spectrum

It's rapidly moving in to that sad time of year when the spinning wheel starts to get a little dusty. I haven't quite managed to fold it up and put it away in the Stash n' Gear Room yet, but the brake band and the drive band are both off, and it's looking a bit neglected. Which is unfortunate, because I received 12 oz of Hello Yarn goodies in two different colorways this week, and I'm itching to spin them up. However, it is That Season, and so the spinning is taking a back seat.

In order to try and make it up to you, I present instead, not one but two FOs in my favorite color. One is a start on the gift list, the other is for me. So here goes...

The giftee:

Pattern: Jack in the Box Mittens by Robin Melanson, from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (100% wool, 245 yds/100g), left over from a sweater knit for my MIL long ago, color Touche Teal (icky name), and I used less then one skein.
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm for cuff, and US 7/4.5 mm for rest
Gauge: 5.5 stitches/8 rows per inch.
Start/finish: 4 Oct-8 Oct 2009. Really they were finished today when I sewed on the buttons. But so quick!
Comments/mods: I made the "mens" size, and the finished measurements are 10.5 inches long (from edge of cuff) and 8 inches around. They are roomy on my hands and about an inch too long for me. Which is ok, they aren't for me. The pattern was well written, quick to knit and fun. All good there.

Some details:

This cuff was fun...

I love the Staghorn Cable down the back of the hand - it's such a great texture

I can't believe it's taken me so long to jump on the mitten bandwagon. They are great projects! And, given that you can knit them in something other then fingering weight, they're a lot faster then socks...

FO #2 (for, ehem, me):

Pattern: Indigo Playmate by Wendy Bernard, from Custom Knits
Yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair (70% wool/30% mohair, 140 yds/2 oz), colorway Glacier Lake. I had 11 skeins of this originally, but I ended up with about 9 skeins worth (weight-wise) in this sweater.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Gauge: 4.5 stitches/6.5 rows per inch after blocking.
Start/finish: 3 Sept-8 Oct 2009 (knitting was actually finished about a week earlier, but I have a blocking block).
Comments/mods: I repurposed this yarn from a Moriah's Wildflower Cardigan that I knit PR (pre-Ravelry), and then didn't wear much in Texas. I subsequently discovered that someone had chewed a wee hole in the bottom of it, and decided to rip it out and reuse the yarn in something else.

The yoke and body knit up really quickly. I found that I liked the way this yarn knit up on 4.5 mm needles much better then the US 9/5.5 mm needles I had used for the cardigan; the fabric is thick and cushy and snuggly, but still fluid, while the previous incarnation felt a bit too loosely knit.

I did modify a few things. The collar was supposed to be three inches wide at the bottom edge (so not including the short rows for the shawl collar), but I was wary of yardage, and only knit it two inches wide. Still works fine, but the shawl collar isn't quite as dramatic. I think I like it better this way - this is my first shawl collar, and I was a bit dubious about the full sweep shown in the book. But I like how it looks on (pardon the crappy modeled shot but my photographer is busy eating gelato and looking at rocks in Pisa, so this was the best I could do) (PS - Honey? I'm gonna be so glad when you get home. Be warned that I'm dumping the kids on you and vanishing out the door ASAP).

The other modification I made was to knit the belt and then decide I like it better without. I'm a bit...thick around the middle, and as knit, the belt made this ride up a bit too much and get too short. So I've decided to leave it open. If it needs to be closed, there's always a trusty shawl pin around that would work.

I do love this yarn though. It's got great depth of color, and just feels so nice and soft. I guess it wouldn't be that great if you have an issue with mohair, but I love it. I wish it weren't quite so pricey, but there you have it. Gorgeous stuff.

I love mittens

At least mittens for little people.

Look at the little fin - so cute!

Pattern: Nemo Mittens by Sigurlaug Eva Stefansdottir (both Ravelry links)
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential, dyed by yours truly. I used 4 gr white, 3 gr black, and ~10 gr orange (works out to approximately 19/14/46 yds respectively of fingering weight yarn)
Needles: US 1/2.00 mm
Gauge: 8 sts/11 rows per inch
Finished circumference/length: 5 inches/5.25 inches (cuff to pointy tip)
Comments/mods: The "only" modification I made was to switch yarn and needle size. The pattern calls for sport weight/size 2.5 (3.0 mm) needles for a 4-6 year old size, but I had fingering weight, so size 1 it was. I probably could have gotten away with US 2/2.75 mm ok, but this gauge will be a bit warmer perhaps.

These were so fast! Done, with fins added and ends woven in after three evenings work. Love it. I hope Boo loves them as well, although I'm not sure what she thinks about mittens...

The yarn for these was recycled from some KnitPicks Essential that I dyed for some socks for my sister-in-law about three years ago. It was my first dyeing experience, so I used Kool Aid and ended up with a range of reds, pink, and purple. I took the largest ball of leftovers (41 g of red) and overdyed it with some yellow Jacquard Acid dye in the hopes that it would end up kind of orange. Some pink (5 g) got overdyed with black. I also had a full skein of Bare waiting around, so I knew I could dye more if needed.

Soaked the yarn, and then put both into my handy dandy crock pot for the dyeing.

The pink to black went into a glass jar in the middle while the red to orange was carefully arranged around the outside.

A few hours later, they were all done. The pink-to-black transition went very well, but the red-to-orange still looked really red. I rinsed them out and discovered that the red was bleeding. Quite a bit in fact. Bleeding enough that I got a bit concerned about what Walrus' socks had done to the rest of her laundry (sorry B!). But...I rinsed until I got sick and tired of rinsing, and then hung it up to dry.

I was concerned that it was going to end up too red, but I think it's alright. The mittens are awfully cute though. So cute that I think Boo will need a matching Nemo hat...

FO: Sunset Aestlight

Pattern: Aestlight, by Gudrun Johnston, size large
Yarn: Corriedale handspun, dyed by Adrian, colorway Thrive, spun by me, ~500 yds/121 gr of fingering weight.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
Start/finish: August 20-September 1 (knitting)/September 15 (blocking)
Comments: This shawl was a joy to knit. I've blogged about the yarn already, so I won't go into details of the spinning, but the knitting was lovely. The only real modification I think I did was to use a smaller size needle, in the hopes of being able to knit the larger size and not run out of yarn. Finished, blocked dimensions are 21 inches deep and 51 inches wide.

It starts off with a big garter stitch triangle, with yarn over increases at the start of every row. These loops are then picked up to knit a garter/lace/garter border around the long sides of the triangle, and then it finishes with a lovely pointed edging that is knit sidewise and attached to the live stitches as you go along.

The pattern was very well written and presented, and Gudrun also has a group on Ravelry, with a KAL thread and lots of helpful tips. I had some issues with the last of the border sections, mostly because I was being an idiot, so there are no issues that I could find with the pattern. In fact, if you're new to lace knitting, this would be a great pattern to start with. Since it's largely based in garter stitch, there is almost no purling at all. And the lace patterns used are fairly straightforward once you get through a couple of repeats.

When I got to the edging, I had an OCD moment and started weight remaining yarn. I made it through 2/3 of one long side before I finished the first ball, so I started with the greeny-bluey-yellowy stuff for the section around the point, and then switched back to the yarn I had set aside partway up. In the end, I had plenty of yarn.

These are going to end up in the Sock Yarn Blanket

The transitions are somewhat abrupt on both sides, but so what. My OCD moment has passed and I'm happy with it.

As always the transition from blob,

through blocking,

to finished object is so, so satisfying. I got some blocking wires while we were in Maine, and this was their maiden voyage. They worked pretty well, although I chose to thread them through the shawl before soaking it, and then had a devil of a time trying to squash the thing together enough so that it would fit into the sink and actually get wet. Never mind, it all worked out well in the end.

It's definitely my favorite part about knitting lace. Devil showed continued interest in photography, and insisted on taking some of the FO photos. Girlfriend definitely needs her own camera.

Holy fuck I'm getting grey...

The colors of this shawl make me think of Arizona sunsets, and are sure to be a huge hit on those cold, grey London winter days that I know are just around the corner. I can't wait.

Fiber Friday on a Monday

I think this is the shortest period of time that any fiber has sat in my stash waiting to be spun up.

Blue Faced Leicester Galaxy in the Jupiter colorway, from Spunky Eclectic's brick and mortar store.

Spun up woolen-style at 9:1. I went down a few ratios because I wanted to experiment with "real" long draw. What I ended up doing was more like double drafting - using long draw to get a single, then going back and drafting out the lumps. I predrafted the top along the whole length, pulled off chunks and fluffed them out a bit more, then folded them in half and drafted out of the middle of the chunk. It was very much like spinning from the fold, but the fibers got a bit more disorganized as the chunk got smaller.

I ended up with some light and fuzzy, but pretty uneven singles! After a few days, the singles were plied at 9:1. One bobbin had a lot more on it then the other, so I waited a bit to let the twist calm down before I plied. This was my first time trying to ply from a center pull ball, and it worked out ok. The final yarn ended up overplied by about 2.5 twists/skein. After a soak in warm water with a bit of wool wash, the skeins were balanced.

This is probably the best representation of the colors

Final stats: 9-14 wpi (mostly 12-14), 258 yds, 3.8 oz/107 gr. A good fingering-sport weight. I think this, knit at a tight gauge, will make some good gloves for someone.