FF: Just in time for spring

Last week I finished up and photographed an absolutely lovely pattern - the Matanuska Eternity Scarf, created by one of my fellow Hello Yarn Fiber Club Members, Melinda Peiserich. It rocks!

It's a very simple pattern with slipped stitches, which is perfect for breaking up the stripey nature of most handspun yarn. I used 3-ply Finn in "Buckland", which was the club fiber from November 2008 (!). I loved spinning this yarn and was saving it for something really special - I had two skeins of 3-ply and one of 2-ply, so I used up all the 3-ply on this piece, a total of 472 yds.

More details:
Needles: US 6.0/4 mm
Start/finish: 3 February - 21 February (it's quick too!)

I love the colors in this yarn knitted up even more then I loved them in fiber/yarn form.

I'm particularly taken with the Bright! Chartreuse! Green! that shows up next to the richer red/brown/pink combination. I was a bit concerned that the Finn would be a bit scratchy around my neck, but it is getting softer and softer as it gets worn.

Sadly, the days for wearing it are probably numbered, as this interloper

is now wide open. Welcome to spring!

Imaginary post

Warning: picture-overloaded post ahead

I was absolutely convinced that I'd started a post about my finished Sour Fig yarn, but Blogger says no. I'll just have to blame my aging Mommy brain for that little mental hiccup. So this post will be a finished yarn and a finished object all in one!

First up: the yarn. As previously described, I took my spindle on our trip back to the US, and after a horrible injury and fabulous repair, I whizzed through 4 oz of Sour Fig Shetland from Adrian.

That's it in the lower right corner - sadly I have no photo of the original fiber, but there's a bunch here.

It took me about four days to spin up the six singles and do the 2-plies. This included spinning in the car, and spinning at every available second during the day. I was determined to ply in one go, so I ended up with a very full spindle, to say the least.

When it was all wound off and soaked and thwacked and dried, I had 56 yds of super bulky yarn with a very interesting texture.

The next problem was to figure out something to make out of it - 56 yds is not very much, but I thought I could maybe get a cowl or a hat out of it. I went for the one willow cowl by Jennifer Casa, and 3 hours later I had a finished object.

The pattern is a simple 1x1 twisted rib cowl, where you knit through the back loop but purl normally. I kept going until I ran out of yarn, which meant I had to tink back several rows so I could cast off successfully. But there it is - instant gratification knitwear, and it's thick enough to ward off some serious winter weather.

Which means it will probably go in to the gift box. Because no matter what my office mates say, London winters are so not bad. But there's one Christmas item done!

The last of the Christmas knitting. Finally.

A quick (approximately 4 hours) cowl in squishy alpaca blend, using only half a skein so I can make another one.

The Guy Next Door cowl by Devin Fredrickson, Berroco Ultra Alpaca (50% alpaca/50% wool), 110 yds on US 6/4.0 mm needles. Started 17 December during "The Illusionist", finished 18th December during "The Golden Compass". Max of four hours to finish, but probably more like 3 if I hadn't messed up and dropped a stitch. The pattern calls for five repeats of the stitch pattern (12 rows), but I did an extra half-repeat for good measure.

My only beef with the pattern was the fact that the stitch pattern was set up so that it didn't repeat evenly - the last repeat of the pattern in the round was shifted a bit to avoid doing something funky over the start of the round. I think, with some judicious shifting of the start point, I can make it so there don't need to be any hijinks, which would be fabulous because I love this stitch pattern, and I think it should be a hat and maybe a men's sweater.

Just lovely movement. This was my first time using this particular yarn, and I really like the feel. It was quite crisp while knitting, maybe even a bit rough, but after a bath it bloomed nicely and is really soft.

My other final project was re-knitting my too-large Cool Beans sock. Now the pair matches (more or less).

The only thing left to do now is haul down to the post office, and pray to the weather/Royal Mail/USPS gods that packages arrive in time. They really should have been mailed a week ago, but maybe I'll get lucky? I can only hope...

Yummy distraction

Dear Lion and Lamb,

We need to talk. Because I've got this List I'm working on, right? But last Friday I took the girls down to the stash to find some yarn for scarves, since it's really starting to get chilly in the mornings. While we were digging out blue and pink yarn for them, I found you buried in the bottom of a bin. And in pawing through the bins, I came across you again. I looked at you fondly, remembering that day almost a year ago when I found you all by your lonesome in the sale bin at Stash, and brought you home with me.

However, the problem lies in what happened next. Even after going back up to the house through the rain you kept calling out to me. And boy were you persistent! You promised me the coziness of wool, the sheen of silk, and you were just the same exact color as the lining of the winter coat I'm working on.

So I did something dumb. I listned to your siren call, pushed the IM Aran sleeves under the couch cushions and wound you up. Then I cast on for a cowl. A few obsessive hours and a couple of bad movies later (Men in Black, The Legend of Baggar Vance - a fine illustration of the extremes of Will Smith's acting career), there it was.

One Darkside Cowl, with gorgeous cushy stitches and brilliant colors,

and a good third of a skein of leftovers, maybe for some matching mitts?

I apologize for ever doubting that your high price wouldn't be worth it, and I now understand why a Clapotis knit out of you might be just the most luxurious thing ever. I have to say, I don't think you're cut out for sweater-dom, but if I ever come across more of you - even at full price! - I'm going to be taking some of your cousins home with me.

Much love forever and ever,
porpoise

FO: Ply by Night cowl and mitt set

Pattern: cowl blogged here, mitts just made up out of my head using linen stitch and more or less the same made up pattern I used for the manly mitts.
Yarn: handspun BFL singles from Chris at Briar Rose Fibers, blogged here in its final form. I used about 3/4 of the yarn, lets say 180 yds for the pair.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Start/finish (for mitts): 12 December - 14 December 2009
Comments: No mods because it's my own pattern. I cast-on 47 stitches and worked in linen stitch pattern for 2 inches. Then I increased one stitch at beginning and end of row (2 sts increased) every third row five times, working new stitches in pattern. worked for about 2 more inches, then put 10 extra stitches on waste yarn, rejoined and worked 2 inches. Bound off in purl. Picked up 10 extra stitches plus 3 more and worked in linen stitch for 0.75 inches around the thumb, then bound off in purl.

Thankfully my mom's hands aren't too big, because the linen stitch has very little elasticity. But the set was very well received!