Swatchless

Goal setting is a difficult art.  Setting a challenging, yet attainable goal is something I struggle with, particularly with my knitting.  The nice thing is that I know that if I don’t meet my knitting deadlines the world isn’t going to end, yet I continue to make lofty goals to challenge myself.

photo souce: Julie P. Miller's Flickr

My self induced challenge this month was to knit a pair of eclipse socks for the movie release June 30th.  Yes, I’m a grown up that lined up to see Eclipse….yes, I’m a grown up that went to a pre-party to watch New Moon again before Eclipse…..We did this before the New Moon movie, and I’m sure that we’ll be doing the same for the next in the series!

The past few days had been far busier, and I was far more tired than planned, and my poor little Eclipse sock was not much more than a toe on the morning of June 30th. It had been carried around in my bag most of the week.  Every time I reached in to grab my keys, or wallet I got jabbed by those double pointed needles.  (I am sporting a bandaid now from a key finding mission).  It was a constant reminder of how I should really take a minute to knit a bit and breathe a bit.

Finally at 4:00PM I had my chance.  I sat in a friend’s blacked out living room, and knit, watched New Moon being projected on the big screen while we all munched on delicious snacks, and had moments to breathe, and be silly.

I knit through the car ride to the theatre (I wasn’t driving).  I knit in line, and was glad that we were inside this time!  Arriving 1.5 hours early to the movie has its perks.  I knit in the theatre waiting for the big show.  I even turned a heel during the movie!  It’s not a perfect heel, but that’s proof that it was done in the dark. I knit at a coffee shop after the movie, and when we got kicked out–they were closing, we weren’t rowdy–I knit at a friend’s house.

Such dedicated crazy knitting allowed me to complete an entire sock by midnight on June 30th.  I’m halfway there!

The training begins tomorrow.  A strict regimen of ankle stretching, and fleece carding every day for the entire week should be ample preparation!

You see, I’ve just signed up for a really big challenge this July.  I just joined the Tour De Fleece, for Team Canada, and as such I vow to spin every day that the Tour De France riders are on their bikes.

That’s from Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th, 2010.  I aim to get part way through this bag….but we’ll see how that goes.  I imagine that a lot of it will end up as sport weight yarn that I can use to make mittens this winter.  I’m thinking that some creative dyeing may be needed, because that’s a LOT of white fleece! 

I know, there’s lots of fun to be had in July….cottages, beach days, camp outs, and many other adventures.  Good thing spindles are portable!

If you are tempted crazy enough to join in, sign up on ravelry, here are some of the guidelines (not RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 3rd through Sunday July 25th. Days of rest: Monday July 12th, Wednesday July 21st. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Thursday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage from Pau up the legendary Col du Tourmalet)
3. Wear yellow on Sunday July 25th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour – but here we are all ‘race leaders’)

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

• Rookies (first years)
• Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage like lace)
• Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
• Breakaway (Art yarns)
• Peloton (The main group. Everyone is in the peloton at some point)
• Lantern rouge (You will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there. Cheerleaders welcome.)
• Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)

I had a very interesting day at Wooly Acres a few years back, when I got to visit the sheep, meet the sheep dogs, and buy a fleece and some roving.  I had a bump of black shetland roving that was calling out to me from my big bin of fiber stash.  It’s hard to find black sheep….did ya know that?

I spun up a bobbin full, then Navajo plied it to form a bulky 3-ply yarn.  I’m looking forward to knitting a hat, but I don’t think there’s enough black to knit an entire hat…..so now I need a contrasting colour.  Maybe I’ll spin up some more shetland–I have a fleece that is a nice tan/golden brown.

I was searching through Ravelry today, and found a really cute hat.  So, now my plan is to make a Botanic hat (pattern by Stephen West).  It is a reversible beanie, which looks awesome either way you wear it.

I’m pretty sure I’ll need to modify things slightly for my bulky spinning, but I now feel inspired!

Looking for a way to use up some odds and ends of handspun?  Why not weave a scarf!!

My handspun was dyed in rather vivid colours using food colouring and other commercial dyes.  There was not enough of it to make into mittens or a hat, but the perfect amount for the weft of a scarf.  I chose a black warp (Cascade 100% wool), which toned down the other colours quite a bit.

shuttle

I chose to do a plain tabby (over and under) weave to show off the colours of the weft.  I love watching how the colours blend into each other, and how there is no real pattern, but since it was all from the same dye lot it all blends anyway.  My loom is a Leclerc 4 shaft table loom.  I got it second hand a few years ago, and have made a few scarves and placemats.

To start weaving, I’d recommend contacting your local weaver’s and spinners guild and asking about their class schedule.  If you are interested in simple weaving you can consider a rigid heddle loom or knitters loom.  This allows you to lift and lower selected threads to create the weave structure.  There is only one heddle/shaft that you manually raise/lower.

rigid heddle loom

table loom

For more complex patterns, a 4 shaft table loom offers more variety in patterns.  Depending on how the loom is threaded, more complex patterns are available.  The heddles/shafts are raised and lowered by pushing the levers on the right side of the frame.  These looms often cost more money, but if you check craig’s list, kijiji or e-bay you can get a good deal on a used loom.

Ever since I saw Yarn Piggy’s lovely colours achieved from Black Bean Dye, I decided I HAD to try it for myself!

image source: flyingpigknits.blogspot.com

Can you imagine that these lovely colours came from BEANS?!?!

image source: flyingpigknits.blogspot.com

The instructions seem easy enough….

Soak the dry beans, drain the murky purply dye water off, dye the wool (no heating or anything required!)  Plus, you can eat the beans while you are waiting for the perfect colour.  There’s a bit of experimenting with fiber types and after baths of ammonia or vinegar….but I’m game to give it a go!

black beans

soaking the beans for 2 days

skein of 100% wool

mordant bath of alum for an hour

soaking in bean juice

I decided to try an ammonia dip after taking the wool out of the bean  mixture.  It turned the yarn a greenish colour.

yarn drying in the sunshine

lichen green yarn compared to the original colour

I’m really impressed at how green the yarn is!  When I did a great deal of natural dyeing 2 summers ago I always struggled to get a good green.  This is a method that will work year round and end up a great green colour.  It’s making me curious about what would happen if I dyed it first with onions and second with beans with ammonia, it may turn an even brighter green.

More yarn is in the bean juice for a longer soak.  Fingers crossed for blue this time!

It’s amazing how inspiration sometimes comes from yarn, or from a serendipitous email from a knitting site, or sometimes from diving in the stash….it didn’t take long for inspiration to find me!

100g of soft wool....from the stash

While walking downtown I ran into a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.  She reminded me of a knitting project that I had promised to make and hadn’t yet started. I went home and looked through the stash to find the right wool–I think there might even be enough there–weekend knitting project here we come!

In pigeon news:  They are getting more feathers each day….and apparently pooping a lot more too!  They still seem oblivious to me being there taking snapshots daily–tonight the flash even went off!  Maybe they know that I am one of their biggest fans.

Knitting with orange makes me happy!  It is not usually the colour I’d reach for when making baby clothes, but for this particular project it is perfect!  At least one parent has a particular love of all things orange.

These are the first soakers I’ve ever knit.  The pattern is Curly Purly Soaker.  Knit in the round, seamlessly with no need for elastic at the waistband due to the elasticity of the ribbing knit on extra small needles.  I look forward to meeting the little man that will proudly wear the orange underpants.  I wish him (and his parents) well on his arrival!

What is your favourite colour for baby knits?

‘Tis the season for babies it seems.  My cousin and his wife just welcomed baby Charlotte, a little early, but all are doing well.  I dove into the stash and found some sweet baby yarn, from back in the day when baby yarn was thinner than sock yarn!

I knit this hat during the super bowl.  The pattern is based on helloyarn’s top down bonnet, but I had to add more stitches and improvise a bit to deal with the super thin yarn.  I based the sizing on the bonnet I knit for Laila earlier this week.  There’s enough yarn left for a matching pair of booties, but I’m still searching for the perfect pattern.

This sweater started out with the bonnet that I made yesterday.  I had lots of stash left over, and thought a matching striped sweater would be cute.

When knitting sweaters for babies it is important to leave a big neck opening.  This sweater was going to be a cardigan….but changed half way through.

I used Astra yarn and a circular needle, size 4.0mm, to cast on 70 sts.  I separated the stitches  12, 10, 26, 10, 12.

Top down raglan construction is great since you can knit it, increasing on both sides of the markers, until the sweater is big enough to fit around the body and then continue on with the rest of the sweater.

This sweater starts with 6 rows of garter stitch, and then switches to stockinette with an 8 stitch garter stitch border/button band on both edges.

Stripes are worked at will, with button holes placed every 4 ridges in the garter stitch button band.  To make a button hole K3, K2tog, YO.  Making button holes on both sides of the garment will allow you to sew a button in the correct spot by sewing it on top of the redundant button hole.

This sweater spoke to me, wishing to become a pull-over rather than a cardigan.  Perhaps it is just since I don’t like to purl all that much.  After working 3 button holes, and at the end of a purl row, place the 8 knit border stitches on a spare needle.  Begin the knit round by combining both 8 stitch sections together by working a K2tog with one stitch from each edge of the sweater.  This will cause the borders to be one directly above the other.

The sleeve stitches are kept on waste yarn while the body of the sweater is completed.  Cast on 3 stitches under each arm pit.  Knit the body until it is 1/2 an inch from the desired finished length, then work 6 rows of garter stitch.  Note: in the round, garter stitch is knit 1 row, purl 1 row.  Cast off loosely knitwise.

The sleeves stitches are knit, armpit stitches are picked up, and joined in the round.  Decrease 2 stitches every 5th row to narrow the sleeve.  Continue until the sleeve is 1/2 inch from the desired length.  Work 6 rows of garter stitch.  Cast off loosely knitwise.

Work in ends and sew on buttons.

If you like this pattern, check out my others!

This weekend, friends of mine became parents, and I started knitting!  The news of the healthy baby and happy family had me digging through some of the stash to find some old fashioned Astra yarn that I had found at a thrift store a while ago.  When knitting for a baby, machine washable yarns are a definite plus!

My new favourite baby bonnet pattern is the Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character {Ravelink} by Adrian Bizilia.  I have made this bonnet with the ears and face before for a Japanese friend of mine.

This time I made the bonnet without the face and ears.  It’s amazing….a totally new and different hat.

I enjoy how the stripes join up with each other along the line of increases.

This bonnet did not use up ALL of my stash, so I have cast on for a top down raglan sleeve sweater to match (blue with yellow stripes), and there might be enough left for booties too!

The wonderful thing about knitting for a new baby is that projects are small and manageable, and they look SO cute!

What’s your favourite thing to knit for a new baby?