socks and more socks!

the start and finish of another pair of Heavy Socks using Briggs & Little yarn. i love creating the different stripe patttern for each pair of socks i knit. the Anatolian mitts are finished as well.

reply to gail

gail i was told i would likely not get my wheel until 2011. however my distributor managed to find one for me after only 8 months. very lucky me! the saxony does not have the slider mechanism like the folding wheel but instead has hooks. the saxony is well worth the wait. good luck to you and of course good spinning.

silk ribbon pillow

pictured above is the pair of mittens i started after finishing the heavy socks. both are destined for the christmas presents stash. i'm hoping to get at least three more pairs of socks and two pairs of mitttens done before christmas. we shall see...

here is the pillow top from the silk ribbon embroidery class i took last weekend at kathryn's stitching studio. it is a carolyn mitchell design inspired by all the lovely wild flowers she saw this summer during her travels back and forth across the country.
although i enjoyed taking the class and learning the different stitches i likely won't do anymore large pieces like this as it is very expensive and fiddly. i think i would be more likely to use the silk ribbon embroidery as an embellishment on clothing instead.

my Lendrum Saxony is here! a year and a half earlier than expected. the first handspun created was the dark brown polworth blended with silver tussah silk roving (under the white granite skein) the second was the white granite blend of alpaca, merino, silk, yak, angora and cashmere batt . i bought both of these fiber goodies from Rovings. the roving created by francine at Rovings and the batt created by Kimber baldwin Designs that francine bought while she was attending SOAR. i am so pleased to have this beautiful cherry wheel at the ready when i'm in the mood for a good spin. i will continue to use my Lendrum Travelling wheel for spinning singles but mostly to ply singles.
i am still getting alot of knitting done despite the call of the new spinning wheel. i finished the bundle of baby socks for my friend. the total is now 24 wee socks! i have started another pair of heavy socks for a christmas present. i tried to do a checkerboard pattern which did not work well in the 2by1 ribbing. i decided to keep trying out different striping effects instead as stripes work well with the ribbing. i quite enjoy knitting with the Briggs & Little yarns

a commision

i finished the fancy silk socks and started back to work on the mitre square vest when i got an email requesting a few pairs of the baby socks for friends who just had a baby. i love knitting these wee socks so i emailed back right away saying i would start the baby socks immediately. i just finished using the nostepinde to make a ball of yarn from the Araucania Atacama alpaca in the blue mix. i have to return to work but will cast on this evening when i get home from work.

a change of plan

well i stopped knitting the childs sockas the needles were too big and have started work on the fancy silk sock. it has an interesting scalloped edge and an interesting pattern as well. i quite like this lana grosso sock yarn. the colours are bright and so far i like the pooling effect.

i ended up knitting 18 of these sweet baby socks. they were lots of fun to knit as they worked up very quickly and by the second sock the pattern was embedded so no need to stop and check the pattern. the alpaca yarn is so soft it was a joy to knit up. i gave the tan and rust set to f-e on friday and she was genuinely pleased to receive the socks. now to give the blues to l and m next week and when i get home the pinky purples to k and a.

wee socks too

here is the first set of wee socks. i'll be knitting two more sets in this size as i have three friends who are having babies this winter. these wee socks work up very quickly. i can easily finish a sock in an evening of knitting. when i finished the first sock i sat and marveled at how small it was and that in fact it would fit a newborn. the yarn is alpaca and very soft. it is just right for keeping little feet warm and snug. i got some more done on the child's sock but put them aside so i could work on the wee socks.
i like the pattern very much.

more socks

i finished the Aran mittens from the folk mittens book. they are a wee bit too big and a wee bit scratchy so liner mittens are in order. i'll probably buy thin fleece mittens to wear inside these mitttens. i like this pattern and will likely knit it up again in a softer yarn.

i just started the childs sock pattern from nancy bush's vintage socks book. i am so glad i bought this skein fleece artist yarn so many years ago as these are the third pair of socks to be knit from that one skein. they are working up nicely. i decide to once again knit both socks at the same time as this means both socks are more likely to be the same size, tension.

icelandic fleece and buffalo down

these are the first tools i used to prep the icelandic and buffalo. the handcarders are on top and the flicker tool is below the carders.the icelandic locks are flicked open to ease carding on the drum carder. the buffalo down is quite matted from the cleaning process so i used the hand carders to ready it for the drum carder. the buffalo down was collected from fences, bushes and the ground so was very dirty. during the many washes and rinses it became matted.

below are the prepped fibres. the first being the icelandic fleece and the second being the buffalo down. the colour is deceiving as both are more brown than depicted.

the prepped fibres are then fed into the drum carder to align the individual fibres. i started with the icelandic and created a batt. see below. i split the batt lengthwise and sandwiched the buffalo down between the icelandic. i then fed the sandwich into the carder in order to blend the fibres. i sandwiched them as the buffalo down has a short staple length and would likely end up on the smaller lickerin drum.the blended batt is seen below ready for spinning.

there are about 6 batts spun up on the bobbin. i might ply the icelandic buffalo blend with the black alpaca and aldo doghair polworth wool blend shown below. if i can spin up enough of this yarn i would like to make a gansey with this blend as it would be naturally warm from the dog and buffalo and water resistant from the icelandic. however once damp you would smell like a blend of dog, buffalo and sheep.

begun and done

the finnish mittens are done and i have started to work on the aran mittens using yarn that i spun and plied years ago. itis three ply consisting of black suri alpaca, white coopworth wool and tan maggie doghair blended with polworth wool. i got halfway up the palm and realized the #3 needles were the right size for the cuffs but not for the palm. i ripped back to the cuff and switched to #2 needles for a tighter gauge. hopefully this will work as i like the way these mittens are knitting up with this yarn.

the last time i was in the city i stopped by the pottery studio to see if the last of my pottery was out of the firing kiln. i found four pieces which i think are the last of my efforts from my classes last winter. all in all i am pleased with how my many bowls have turned out. i am really looking forward to taking pottery classes again this coming winter.

i purchased seven knitting and one spinning book a while ago. the finnish and aran mittens are from "folk mittens". i have chosen a sock pattern from "vintage socks" called"child's french sock" that i will be knitting up with the rainbow blueface leister seen in socks pictured in previous posts. although the sock pattern was originally for a child the pattern has been altered to fit an adult. i am excited to start these socks but will finish the aran mittens first.

new mittens

the second pair of striped "heavy socks" using the briggs&little yarn are finished. i wasn't always happy with the stripe pattern but now they are done i am pleased with how they look. they will be a christmas present for a family member or a friend.

i bought "folk mittens" awhile ago and these are the first pair i am knitting from this book. they are mittens from lapland i really like the colour combination. we are having an arts and crafts show next tuesday so i am knitting like crazy to make sure they are done for the show. the yarn is from "mission falls". it is a superwash merino and is quite soft and slips easily on the needles.

end and begin

the cable sweat socks were finished last weekend while i was in town.i quite like the way they look and fit. i especially like the look of the heel. if you click on the picture you can get a closer look at the heel stitches. i will definitely use this pattern again. perhaps i'll use some of the alpaca yarn in my stash or better still i'll use some of my handspun. the next day i started another pair of briggs and little heavy socks.

this time i'm using three colours, light grey, oxford( dark grey) and dark maroon. i'm making up the stripe pattern as i knit. so far i like the striping. i am now knitting both socks at the same time to insure even tension in both socks. this seems to work well.

it is a cold rainy weekend so i will have lots of time to work on knitting, carding,spinning and canvaswork projects.

cabled sweat socks

i've started another pair of socks using the same rainbow coloured yarn as the oakleaf socks. i found this pattern in "socks" a publication from "spin-off" magazine. i much prefer this pattern to the oakleaf pattern it is less fussy and produces a lovely cable. these socks will likely be a christmas present for a family member or a friend. i am still spinning the aldo polworth roving and i'm still prepping the buffalo down for carding with the black icelandic fleece that lisa gave me. it is the weekend so i should get a fair bit done on all craft fronts. perhaps i'll have time and inclination to work on crazy dreams as well. we shall see...

oakleafs are done

a quick post to show the finished oakleaf socks. i like how they turned out but i did not like knitting them so these are likely to be the last pair of oakleaf socks i ever make!

new drumcarder

i received my deb's delicate deluxe drum carder from pat green carders ltd. a week ago. it is beautiful. my first carding project will be blending buffalo down and icelandic fleece. i washed the buffalo this spring and it clumped together so i have been precarding with hand carders before blending with the icelandic. the buffalo has a lot of vegetable matter that hopefully will fall out with the hand carding, we shall see...

i am also making good headway on the oakleaf socks i like knitting the pair at the same time even though it sometimes feels like it is taking forever to knit the socks. i know i will be pleased to finish both socks at the same time. the pattern is mostly in my head now which is great. it is quicker to see and correct mistakes and i need only glance at the pattern to know what to do next, much faster.

i have started spinning the penultimate roving of the doghair polworth blend. i'm not sure what i will ply it with as yet. i have some black alpaca, hand dyed polworth roving called autumn garden i could use or simply make a two ply of the doghair blend. i like the idea of the latter as i could use it to knit the sleeves for a gabsey and use the aurora polworth/ doghair blend for the body of the gansey. you can never have too many of these warm sweaters here in canada.