Itchy Fingers

Dying to cast on something new... thinking the ubiquitous February Lady Sweater. I still have a butt-load of Berocco Ultra Alpaca from when I thought a knee length stockingette cardigan was a good idea. Also getting marginally bored with the plain moss stitch scarf. I could, of course, work on one of my many other projects already cast on: the drop stitch vest, the lumina singlet, the hedera socks, the grown up booties... all these projects and more need knitting. I just have a serious case of startitis.

A hat for a girl, a scarf for a boy

The hat for my mean little sister. Finished a while ago, not photographed until today. The sister in question is at an exam and thus not around to be a model for me. There was no way I was going to take a photo of myself- I look exactly as I feel at the moment, like my head is about to explode and spray mucus in a 10 metre radius. Charming I know. Also my nose is all red. Not particularly photogenic. If my picture is going to enter cyberspace for time immemorial, I want it to look nice at least.




A Scarf that was promised months ago for Mister. It was started a couple of times, then frogged. Here it is progressing in (hopefully) its last incarnation. I made him pick the yarn. I made him pick the stitch pattern. If he doesn't like it, it's his own damn fault. I am actually pretty pleased with it. The yarns are delightful. Both, for different reasons. The harmony is surprising. I've never knit with felted yarn before, but I like it! springy, soft, the perfect shade of grey. The Jo Sharp looks a bit unassuming and marginally scratchy in the ball but the subtle variation in colour knits up gloriously.
The needles that I am using are a pure joy to knit with. They are Swallow 3.75mm Timbregrain needles. I am 99% sure they are celluloid. I accidentally stuck one in my mouth when I was bending down to pick up an errant ball of yarn and it tasted disgusting. I believe that is the test for celluloid. Correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, they rock my world. They are flexi, warmish, perfectly pointed and magnificent. Moss stitch makes my sickie brain happy. Mister seems to be pleased with my progress.
That is all that matters.

(Good little blog keeper!)

A very excellent day part 1: Spinning

I was trying to think of a clever title for this post, but kept coming up with cliches. So plain and simple it is. This package arrived on my doorstep on what has been my best day of the year so far.

One of my recent etsy purchases was a spinning kit from yarnspider. I have wanted to learn how to spin for a while now and I did a bit of research into the drop spindle kits available. I picked yarn spider's because it had a lot of fiber in the pack and was cheaper then most. When she says generous bump of blue faced leicester, she means generous!

While pink isn't my personal favorite colour, I know my sister is a bit of a fan and earlier this year I promised her a hat. My original attempt was my first real stab at crochet. It was a failure which will be elaborated on later. HatForASister Version 2.0 is what this yarn will become.

Of course my first effort has all the tension variety of a good murder mystery... some super tight bits where you practically rip the pages trying to turn them fast enough and some fat stodgy bits that bolster the whole thing out.

By the time I was at my second spindle's worth, my tension was markedly improved, although I still have a long way to go. The second spindle also has a lot more yardage then the first. I guess because I was spinning at a much finer gague. I think this may cause a few issues with plying. We will see when we get there. I have only just begun the plying process: I am finding it a lot less enjoyable then I was expecting. I liked spinning more. I will persevere though.

I'd now like to be shown how to spin by someone who actually knows what they are doing. Yarn Spider's instructions are all well and good, but I have a sneaky suspicion that I am not drafting correctly. I achieve a result I am pleased with, but my hands are doing completely different things to the ones in the pictures. We will see.

Casting on (I mean it this time)

Since finishing my Mrs Darcy Cardigan my knitting has mostly been pfaffing around with little bits of not very much. I re-knitted the toes of some socks, I started a hat, I had a stab at a lace shawl, I gave crochet a go with another hat.... more on all of these later (except the socks because they were kinda boring). All in all, not much got done. Until now... New Leaf Time.

I purchased issue 7 of Jo Sharp's Knit after some good sales(wo)manship on the part of Pauline at Yarns on Collie.
A couple of weeks later, I bought a ball each of alpaca kid luster in Brew and Soho summer cotton in ... mystery colour. Oh wait here is a ball band: DK summer cotton in Eclipse.

I did a swatch, all well and good after going down a couple of needle sizes. Forgot to write down what needle size I got gague with. Ripped out the swatch and set it all aside until I had some spare cash to drop on yarn.

Skip forward a month or two.... Go and by lots of yarn from the lovely Pauline. None of my dye lot left, oh well,wasn't really expecting there to be after so long. Got the yarn at 20% off which made me so happy I went and bought a whole lot more yarn to bump up my stash.

Then I had to swatch again, after not writing down the results of the first one. I have just finished getting gague on my 7mm addi Clicks, which sounds vaguely like what I got the first time around. This is three needle sizes smaller then the pattern recommends. I am not that pattern experienced yet, I don't really know how my gaugue matches with other peoples, but that seems like a BIG jump to me. Whatever.

So now to the cast on...

Well it's a start...

A blog. How very modern. I feel frighteningly self-conscious and yet strangely like I am suddenly "with it". Playing with the big kids now. We shall see. Why did I start it? I wanted to tell someone that I managed to order a Phat Fiber box and that I am now very excited. Mister isn't online, so I though I'd tell cyberspace instead. More to follow.