pretty socks

I love self patterning sock yarn. 

#kroysock #knittng 

 

Upcycled wool sweater

My slippers had holes in the heels. 

I had a partially felted itchy wool sweater. 

I felted it the rest of the way by washing on hot / cold, then cut out sole pieces. 

Mended the heel holes with wool yarn that will felt into a patch with wear, then stitched the sole pieces on with colourful weaving cotton. 

Voila. Warm feet. 

Mittens

Mittens

Shawl of Sharing

Some time back, a group of fibre artists I belong to banded together to support one of our members who is dealing with cancer.  Of course we did this in the way we know best ... knitting and spinning. I coordinated part of the project, which involved an awful lot of hand spun yarn being shipped to me from all over the world. 

 

The extra yarn has been sitting here waiting for a project ... and just the other day it finally told me what it wants to be.

 

I've been knitting Shawls of Sharing: some are set aside for members of the group that was involved in the larger project, but I decided to post one of them for a wider audience, and share the love a bit further.

 

This shawl is knit from handspun yarn – wool and assorted other fibres (though I don’t believe there is any mohair – there is probably some angora, definitely some silk, and mostly pure wool). It is a slightly curved triangle shape, so it will sit easily on the shoulders, or can be wrapped up tighter like a scarf, or closed at the front with a shawl pin. Colours vary from browns and greens and blues through to a burgundy edging … it’ll go with absolutely anything you choose to wear it with, given all the colours it contains!

 

 

 

Here's how The Shawl of Sharing Project works:

 

If you would like to have this shawl (or have it sent to someone else), perform an act of kindness or make a donation to charity then tell me about what you've done and you'll be entered into the draw. It doesn't have to be anything big: drop some coins into the Salvation Army kettle, make a donation to the food bank, give the mail carrier a cookie, buy a cup of coffee and a muffin for a homeless person, whatever. Small acts of kindness can change the world one little bit at a time … and we aren’t bragging about what we’ve done, we are sharing and inspiring others to find ways to spread a little kindness in the world too.

 

So spread some love in the world, tell us what you have done, and maybe this Shawl of Sharing will come to you!

 

Responses can be made here on the blog, or on Facebook. I’ll draw a name on December 21, to celebrate Solstice and the return of the light!

Sunny Dee: a new shawl pattern available

A little while ago, there was talk in one of my favourite Ravelry groups of the ongoing projects some of us had on the needles that were destined to be gifted to other people. One of the knitters had a whole bunch of things on the go, and said “I wish someone would knit for me!”

Well, I was in the I-need-to-rest kind of place that day, plus I had the sense that there was a new design burbling somewhere in my head that needed to come out. I decided I would be the one to knit for her: I would design and knit a new shawl, and send it off to my knitterly friend.

And, that’s just what I did.

I looked through some pattern books, found a bit of inspiration, and sat down with paper and pencil and needles and yarn and started knitting. I had to restart a few times, as is inevitable when designing, but in the end I came up with a shawl that would knit up quickly in bulky yarn (I finished the prototype that very day), but would also work in finer yarns. As it is a tip-to-tip design, as long as you can divide your pile of yarn in half and the pile is about 200 grams to start with, you’ll end up with something workable.

The shawl is based on garter stitch and the ‘lace’ is just a matter of paired yarn over/knit two together stitches, so it is not complicated at all. The top of the shawl forms a slowly increasing (then decreasing) triangle – you can make it a shallow triangle by working increases/decreases every other right side row, or a more traditionally shaped triangle shawl by working the increases on every right side row. The border is really wide, but a very easy to memorize pattern repeat that forms small points at the bottom edge.

(Yes, those are sheep in the background.)

It’s been made in fine mohair, which creates a beautifully haloed fabric (worn by the knitter’s granddaughter as “her princess cape”), in bulky, super bulky, and worsted weight. All of them look great – hopefully the knitters will add their projects to Ravelry so that you can see them.

The pattern is available now – you can see it on Ravelry or just …

Happy knitting!

Frazzlehead’s Handspun Sock Recipe

I spun up three 100 gram Frazzlebatts.
I plyed them together and made two big balls of 3 ply yarn. Sparkly, purple and red and blue yarn. Thick yarn that wanted to be boot socks.
I experimented with needle sizes. I experimented with toe shapes. I experimented with patterns and leg shaping and in the end, I made knee high socks.

Then I thought, I should write that pattern down so that next time I want to make socks out of handspun, I don’t have to do so much experimenting. And I should share it, in case other people want to make socks out of their handspun yarn too – a recipe for figuring out how to make socks with a bit of trial and not too much error.
Quote from the start of the pattern:

So you got a lovely batt and spun it up. Maybe you got two or three. You have this pile of lovely yarn and it really wants to be something awesome, but … what does it want to be?
Perhaps what it wants to be is a pair of socks.
Well, sure, you say, but did I make “sock yarn”? What if my yarn is thicker than the usual stuff you get for socks? What if I’m not sure I have enough for socks? Will I run out partway through the second sock? How do I know how many stitches to cast on when I’m using non-standard yarn?
Fear not, brave knitter, Frazzlehead’s Handspun Sock Recipe addresses all these problems.

It’s free. It’s here. Help yourself! :)

Pacing

Pacing is key to success in a lot of things: running a marathon, riding the Tour de France, working on a big project … getting through every day life.

I’ve been running a bit too hard lately, I think – the nightmares and really weird dreams are increasing in frequency, I’m having more and more trouble sleeping, and the chest pain is back. Yep, that’d be a sure sign that I’ve overtaxed the system and it’s time to slow things down!

It’s hard to slow down though – there is so much that needs doing, fences that need to be fixed, feeders to build, dinners to make, dishes to wash, laundry to hang up … the list is long. But, if I do a few things off the list each day and then SIT MY BUTT DOWN for awhile, I’ll be in better shape.

It’s just hard to actually *rest* when there is so much staring at me that needs doing.

Maybe if I try and tell myself this vest really needs doing, I will sit and knit on it instead of worrying about all the other things on my list. I do like how it’s coming along, the shaping along the sides is really neat. Short rows are magical.

90 seconds

That's how long it takes me to knit a metre of yarn in plain knitting.

That extrapolates to forty meters an hour.

Your fact for the day.

Christmas Knitting: COMPLETE!

It’s done.

Ten projects, done.

Five already given away, five under the tree or en route to recipients.

 

Amazed?

Yeah, me too.

Almost done

Christmas Knitting Project update!

Projects 1 and 2 were given out already (for my inlaws, when they were here earlier: socks and mittens) … 3 and 4 have also been delivered (to my parents: a sweater and another pair of socks), 5 was also given away (a little headband made of handspun alpaca, for my friend who knits and spins all the the time but sells or gives away everything she makes and has no hand knits of her own unless someone ELSE gives them to her!), and projects 6, 7, 8 and 9 are all wrapped and ready to go. Project 10 (the last one!) has just a little bit of finishing work left, then it, too, will be ready to wrap up.

Yes, folks, it is possible to get your Christmas knitting done before mid-December.

You just have to start in August.

Christmas Knitting

I was at the alpaca show yesterday doing the spinning demo, so today I am pretty tired. Not surprising, but I’m still not really adapted to having such a low level of energy. I slept in and everything, even with the extra hour of time change, and I still feel like taking a nap. This annoys me.

So, to cope with my annoyance, I have been working on Christmas knitting. For obvious reasons, I can’t share my projects with you yet … but suffice it to say  have a list of at least seven and possibly nine knitting projects that I’d like to have done for the holidays, and I have now completed four of them. Yay! Of course, a couple of those were started a very long time ago and just wrapped up recently, but since October I have been focused on my holiday knit projects with only a few distractions (like the goofy muppet hat).

Having just realized that I forgot to eat lunch today, I’ve had a fried egg and I am now headed back to the Big Comfy Chair to continue with Project #5.

After all, handmade gifts are the best kind of present, both to give and to receive. After wearing the lovely shawl that was sent to me a while back and experiencing the awesome feeling of being wrapped in something that was made just for me, I am determined to share that experience with as many people as I can.

Ribbons for Diablo’s Ribbons

The red one says “1st Place” and the blue one says “Grand Champion, knit”.

Yep, I won first place in the knitted clothing category … and grand champion of all the knitted items, as well. I am gobsmacked.

I didn’t get to see all the other entries, though the organizer said she would try to post some photos of the others … I know there were a few sweaters in the same category as the shawl, so I am very pleased to have won! The judge asked the lady who organized the show if she’d be seeing me, and upon hearing that yes, she would see me when I was doing my spinning demo at the show this weekend, the judge said, “Tell her I think she’s nuts to have spun all that yarn on spindles, and that she did a great job.”

So, there you have it folks: I am officially nuts, but it’s all worth it.

Diablo’s people were very happy with the finished product as well, and had a nice pile of yarn to display at their table along with the real ribbons Diablo won in the shows. Oh, and his fleece won top place this year again, and was in the display boxes out front, looking as gorgeous as always.

They even had a lovely write up about the shawl, and about meeting me! I definitely blushed when I read the sign under the picture of the shawl:

Thank you to Lonna Cunningham for having a vision and the passion and desire that resulted in this beautiful work of Art.

I believe in destiny

Lonna stopped by our little farm one day to get a post pounder fixed. She met all our alpacas. We met a very special lady.

Lonna has been coming to all our Alpaca Shows since then demonstrating her spinning talents.

When Diablo’s fleece won Spinner’s Choice in Lloydminster in 2011 we knew there was only one person that we wanted to work with the fleece – Lonna.

Together you and Diablo crated something extraordinary.

Thank you from

Dave, Kris & Diablo

It was an honour to work with such beautiful materials … a lot of work, but the end product is so lovely, it was worth it. I got pretty ribbons and Kris has a lovely shawl, and enough yarn to knit a scarf for Dave, too!

So if you are looking for gorgeous fleece to spin, talk to Kris and Dave of Tail Spin Alpacas. If you’d like the pattern for the shawl, stay tuned … I’ll be publishing it soon!

Muppet Wild Jester Hat

Because life's too short (and winter's too cold) not to wear a goofy hat.

Socks and Mitts

My wonderful in-laws came for a visit this past weekend, so I was able to give my MIL her socks in person.

The mismatched socks didn’t *quite* fit, but they were pretty close … I was able to modify the toe on the one that was too long, and a trip through the washer and dryer ought to snug them up enough to fit well. I traced her feet so that the next pair I make should be a better fit, too.

As soon as I finished the socks, I found myself without an active project on the needles (gasp) and immediately cast on for a pair of mittens for my father in law. He’s got size 13 feet, so he wasn’t getting socks on short notice!

I had the first one worked as far as the fingertips by the time they arrived, so I was able to measure against his hands and make sure they would fit. I discovered that he’s got huge hands as well as huge feet! With some dedicated knitting time though, I got the pair finished before they had to leave.

Growing up, my father in law lived on a farm and went to a one room country school (when he could be spared from the farm work – he missed a lot of school because he was needed at home). He rode a horse to and from class, and since he grew so tall so quickly, most of his jackets had sleeves that were a smidgen too short: they’d pull up and leave a couple of inches of wrist exposed to the elements between the end of the sleeve and the top of the mitten, especially when he reached forward to hold the reins. Mittens like this, he said, with extra long cuffs, were just what he needed back then and he sure appreciates them now!

It’s so much fun knitting for people who grin like that when you hand them the finished item. :)

I sure do love my in-laws, they are such marvellous people, so warm and welcoming. They truly are all I could’ve hoped for!

Mismatched socks for mismatched feet

I started a pair of socks in self patterning yarn oh, three or four years ago … and quit partway down the leg of sock two. They got put away for a loooooooooong time and I unearthed them just before we went on our summer vacation to The Reluctant Farmer’s parents’ house. I thought, ah well, I’ll have to frog that when I get back, there’s no hope of making them match now.

While we were sitting out by the fire pot one night, I happened to mention something about my mismatched socks. “Well,” said my mother in law, “I have mismatched feet!” She has post polio and one of her feet is a size six, stabilized with a foot and ankle brace, the other is a size eight. The one sock I’d already finished was too big for me … about a size eight. And they are in her favourite colour, green! Clearly they were just waiting for me to clue in and knit the second sock to match her other foot.

So I came home and knit the second sock in a size six, with a different heel (garter stitch heel, thanks to the Knit Better Socks blog instructions). I’m hoping it’ll hold up better with the wear of the brace, and also it makes it really easy to see which foot is which, without having to measure them.

One slightly too big for me, one slightly too small:

Tada!

Finished sweater!

The Iced cardigan is done! I had forgotten how much bulky knits stretch in blocking, so my sleeves were a couple of inches too long. No problem, I just pulled out a few rows and bound off again - no garter stitch on the sleeves, as it doesn't seem to be curling and if it does, I'm okay with that. One of my favourite store bought sweaters had curled hems and cuffs.


Here it is, modeled with my new five yard black kilt and kilt hose ... Perfect winter wear! My kilt arrived just in time: we had our first serious snowfall today, and I am glad of the warmth and comfort!

Now I need to knit some fancy stockings ...