As The Yarn Turns

Katrina Update

I'm almost to the armholes of my Patons Katrina top. Stockinette stitch can seem sooo endless at times. So here's another picture of top, looking much the same as the last except longer.

I like the look and feel of the yarn. The yarn has a bit of a shine to it. It's also thick but lightweight. The slight stretchiness makes it interesting to knit at times though. I try to keep an even tension but I find myself stretching it out as I knit if I'm not paying attention.

Llama and Impromptu Spinning Tools

Earlier this year we had a fiber swap on the Spindlers list where we exchanged one ounce samples of various fibers. I got some really nice fibers in the swap, all fibers that I had never spun before. One of them was this really nice, soft variegated gray llama. It's been an experience getting used to spinning llama. It kind of floats around everywhere but I'm starting to get the hang of it. It doesn't have as much of that "sticky" quality that sheep's wool has where it tends to stick to itself. If you're not careful the individual fibers will just go off and do their own thing. No group think for them. It's been slow going since I'm only spinning a little bit of it at a time. I like the looks of the end result.

Which brings me to one of my favorite subjects, how to make something out of nothing. I needed to put the singles on something. All of my dowels and other things that I put singles on were full so I grabbed easiest substitute, empty toilet paper. They actually work as well or better than dowels and there is always a ready of supply of them. I cut a small notch in one end to anchor the starting yarn, wrap the yarn, and cut a small notch in the other end for the ending yarn end. It's also handy when it comes to plying. You can make a plying box from a shoe box or other similarly shaped box. Put a knitting needle or dowel through the long end of the box with your toilet paper roll singles on them. Voila! A plying box. And I bet you've been throwing those toilet paper rolls out. You can also use paper towel rolls but I find toilet paper rolls handier.

 

by Sydney  |

Dublin Bay, Finished At Last!

It seems like I've been dragging these Dublin Bay socks out forever. I really like the socks and I love the Koigu yarn. I just took my own sweet time finishing them this time. Hmm... Maybe because I did enjoy knitting them so much. So here they are, or at least one of them, on my foot.

Now I have fairly average size 7 (US) feet. One skein of the Koigu PM was enough to make one sock. I tell you what, though, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot left. Here's your warning, if your feet are much bigger or you want a cuff longer than 6 inches, you may want to get an extra insurance skein.

So what's my next sock going to be? I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but it's going to be Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn in the African Grey colorway.

A lot of the lists I read seem to be talking about the new issue of Knitty. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out. It's good to see knitting trying some non-traditional ideas. I don't know if I will ever make any of these patterns, but it's good to see new stuff.

Vivian Hoxbro has some nice designs on her web site. If you aren't familiar with her, she wrote the "Domino Knitting" and "Shadow Knitting" books. I'm familiar with the books (but don't own them yet) but the web site was new to me. Did you notice how I put that "yet" in there? There's always another book I want.

So I'm off to get some knitting in tonight. It's been a hectic week and I suspect it won't get better for at least a couple of days. I have to squeeze in my knitting where I can.

 

by Sydney  |

Katrina Top Coming Along

My Katrina top is moving right along. Right now I'm on that looong stretch of stockinette stitch. Actually I don't mind it too much. At least it's the kind of thing that doesn't require a lot of concentration until I get to the armholes.

In case you're wondering how I decided on the number of stitches to caste on, I started with a swatch of course. Then I measured a top that fits like I want this one to fit. I picked up that tip from one of the Elizabeth Zimmermann books. It's much easier than trying to decide how many inches of ease I want.

Learning to weave

I've always been fascinated with weaving but never spent much time trying to learn it. I bought a rigid heddle loom years ago, made a practice piece, and then put it away when the rest of my life got in the way. So I decided to get started weaving again. I decided to start small this time. I found some instructions for making a cardboard loom for a coin pouch and used that along with some yarn I had spun up a while back. I put a big wooden button on it and crocheted a chain for a button loop. It's not too bad. I'm planning on putting a lining of some sort in it since it's not the sturdiest of yarns. Here's what it looks like so far.

Now will I use it? Actually I probably will. I'm always carrying coins around when I'm doing genealogy research. With a loop to go around my neck, this should be much more convenient than digging in my pockets.

 

by Sydney  |

Katrina has a purpose

Well since I couldn't decide on an existing pattern for my Patons Katrina yarn, I decided to design my own summer top. I'm knitting it in the round because I like to knit in the round. So far, the bottom edge has the Arbor Lace edging from Knitting on the Edge, converted to work in the round. This was an easy lace pattern to convert to work in the round. The even numbered rows were all purl, except the last row, so I just changed them to knit. The last row I changed so it was identical to the previous row. Here's how it looks so far. I like it.

Otherwise, I'm still working on my Dublin Bay socks. Actually they're close to being finished. I really want them to be finished now so I can start some other socks. I've also been spinning away on some blue-faced leicester that I had laid out.

Held captive in our own home

It's the mockingbird nesting season. We can't help but know that because we have a pair of mockingbirds that fuss at us every time we go anywhere in the yard. In fact, Mom Mockingbird fusses at us when she can see us, or the cat, in the kitchen. Mowing the lawn or doing any other yard work can be an adventure. She has her nest in the holly bush in the front corner of the house. She had her nest in the same spot last year. I can't argue with her methods though. She hatched a bunch of birds last year, which all went into the garage one morning when I left the door open. Getting one bird out of the garage is hard enough. It was no fun getting a flock of birds out. I would get one out and another would come it to see what was going on.

 

by Sydney  |

Katrina, Katrina, what do you want to be?

I'm not sure why but I've always been fascinated by look and texture of Patons Katrina yarn. I've never really had a project in mind for it, it just seems like it should make a nice "something". So I couldn't control myself the other day and bought a few skeins, enough for a summer top, in the color sherbet.

I've got to diverge a moment here. A while back when I was getting my hair done, the person doing my hair had just got back from a class and was doing everyone's ideal color. Mine came out as orange. ORANGE?! I've never even though about wearing anything orange. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike orange, I just don't consider very often. He tried other colors but everyone shook their heads and said "Nope, orange is the best". Anyway, I figured it was just a fluke until I bought the Katrina. I was holding up skeins of yarn to face and letting Rick judge them. You guessed it, he picked the orange (sherbet) one. So I'll try to add a little orange and orange-related colors in my wardrobe from now on.

So, back to the Katrina. The hard part is trying to decide what to do with it. I thought about the cover tank on the Spring/Summer 2004 issue of Vogue Knitting. I was afraid with the stretchiness of Katrina, it would end up stretched down around my waist. I picked up a little Patons Classics Elegance booklet on sale and thought about making the cross-over short sleeve top from it. I also thought about using it to make the vest from The Knit Stitch. The top in the Patons booklet just didn't hit me right after a while. I swatched for the vest in "The Knit Stitch". The swatch gauge was right on but the fabric just didn't seem right, so the search continues.

Time has been zipping along. I hadn't realized it had been this long since I've updated by blog. Between trying to get a new version of software out at the office and working on an online store, it's been keeping me busy. I have managed to work on my socks and spin a little blue-faced leicester. I love the blue-faced leicester. Whenever I can't decide what to spin, I pick up some blue-faced leicester. It has a nice texture; it's easy spin, and I find it comforting to spin.

 

by Sydney  |