All about the process

I am very much a process maker. For me there is a lot of happiness and joy to found in the journey. I very often also love the finished product and don't want to part with it. I have been working on one shawl, a wedding ring shawl since 2010 and am just past the half way point of the body. There are many reasons for this, one time, two not getting it dirty, three not wanting to speed through it, just to name a few.

The reason of time is simply because I don't choose to use my time on it very often because of reasons 2 and 3. The yarn is a very fine weight wool in an antique natural white color. I have to be careful where I work on it. I do take it out of the house to work on but I need a table, as the lace pattern is on both sides and I need my pattern handy. It is not something I work on in the van as I don't want it dirty from all the dust in the van. Mostly, I just love working on it so much, and honestly have no practical use for it when it is finished that I am just going to continue to take my time and enjoy the project a couple of times a week or so.

In being a process maker I learn and, to use a word from Elizabeth Zimmerman, "unvent" many things that are new to me but are most likely not new. Recently during a test knit, this one, I was having a problem with one increase spine with the little holes being larger than the holes in the other increase spines and I didn't like the look of it. In some situations I will take a picture of the problem, rip and try it in a different way. I had many rounds to go on this and it wasn't extremely noticeable because of the hand painted yarn, so I took a picture and tried something different right in the middle of the piece. I take a picture for future reference, either to see if the new thing I tried is any better, in case I have a similar issue in another project or for teaching opportunities.

 

The first thing that I tried to fix the spine didn't work. In this particular pattern there is a spine directly next to the beginning of the round and I thought maybe that having the increase there was making it looser than needed. I was working on 4 double pointed needles and not having this problem in any other areas. So instead of increasing on the increase round, I acted like I had missed it when I got back to that point on the plain round after, and made it up by pulling the stitches tighter. Not much change really, if any. At this point it was close to time to change colors, so I decided to move the beginning of the round to the middle of the side. I thought maybe the transition from a knit round to a purl round and back to get the garter look might be the problem. I cut the hand painted yarn, removed my beginning of round marker and slipped stitches from one needle to the other with out knitting them or changing their orientation to about the middle of that side. I then picked up my heather yarn and started knitting.

After a few rounds I knew I had found the solution, this was it. It was the combination of changing the stitch method at the start and increasing all at the same time.  This is that same increase spin after I shifted the start of the round to the middle of the side.

This is new start of round.  While it is still visible, I think it is less noticeable than the holes being larger.  The picture below shows all the sides.  The one with the new start of round in it is on the lower right hand side.

I continued with this until the piece was finished and am very pleased.

I got a new toy this week! It is my first e-spinner. It is the Electric Eel Nano from Dreaming Robots. I love this little guy. It is very quiet and runs very smoothly. It is much louder in the video than for real because it is sitting so close to the microphone.

I washed two fleeces this week. Both are from our small farm here in Deer Trail, Colorado. One is from the ram we lost this past year, Whitney. He was a Leicester longwool. The other is from my first ewe, Chloe. She is a Rambouillet, Shetland X. I am also processing her lamb fleece to become a Surprise jacket for me.

 

Here is the water after I have added a generous amount of Dawn dish soap.  I like it ot be slippery from the soap.  Dawn binds with the lanolin that the hot water has melted from the fleece.  I use the hottest water that the tap will give.  If I have a really oily fleece I turn up the hot water heater, but that isn't very often.  I recommend about 1 1/2c of Dawn per 3 gallons of water.  In that amount I will wash 4 mesh bags with 8oz of raw skirted wool each.  For these pictures it was a bit more water and soap with a total of 6 bags of wool.

 

Here is  the wash water after the wool has been in there for 20 minutes.  I don't leave it to sit longer because if the water cools too much you risk that lanolin becoming friends with the wool again.

Here is the water after 3 rinses.  There are no more suds but some dirt is defiantly still there.  I do 3 rinses after 1 wash.  Each rinse has less hot water than one before, with the final rinse being all cold water and some vinegar.  I don't go until the water is clear because that would take quiet a while.  I get it to a livable amount of dirt for me and then spin out the remaining water and put it on the rack to dry.

I said I'd detail the current test knits I have going. I'll start with the oldest, my Sparkling Leaves sweater from Jill Karina. I finally finished the yoke, tried it on and it fits nicely. I finished the ball of yarn I was on for the body and them paused there so I can work on the sleeves. Jill has some sleeve shaping that she wanted tested and I said I would. Here is a picture of where I currently am.

A couple of weeks ago I started the Bonfire Poncho from Wendelika. As I stated before, I am working this from unmarked stash yarn, except I did find a tag on one of the balls of main color. It is from Mirasol on their Hacho base which is 100% merino in shade 308.

I have almost completed both of the cable panels, in black and have now started on the main part in the rainbow color way.

Shortly after that I started the Journey to the Cape Sweater from Annie Lupton. This one is made of an very yummy worsted weight yarn that is a 50/50 blend of alpaca/merino. The majority of the sweater is worked in moss stitch, which is a new one for me. The front is cabled with all kinds of different cables and a wrap that is also new to me. I have finished the bottom ribbing and started into the cable panel.

When doing a test knit I always do a swatch. I don't always photograph the swatch, I'll be better about that, but I do always make one. This swatch helped me to know the obvious as to whether or not I was getting gauge, but I also learned what moss stitch should look like and how to count it. When I finish with a swatch some times I rip it out, other times I don't, this time I did and reclaimed the yarn. Swatches I don't rip out get stored in a baggy with the project info for future reference and repairs.

I will be hard at work on these knits for the next couple of weeks and starting a new outfit for Dolores for Utah.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy making!

To the left, to the left, to the right

So for those of you follow me on Instagram you know that I shared a cable trick last week and said I would share more about how I do cables here on the blog with more pictures this week.  That is this week's focus, cables.

For those who missed it on IG I posted this picture.

I have highlighted the slant in each cable on the chart in yellow.  The blue lights are for purl stitches.  When I first learned to cable the directions referred to cable front or cable back,  There was also a chart.  I couldn't get anything to work to help me to remember which was front and which was back...  So I put it down and moved on to something else.  Later on there was something I really wanted to make, but now I can't remember what it was, that had cables.  I read the key and these cables were cable right and cable left.  Wow that made such a huge difference.  Now I don't worry so much about "do I hold the stitches in front or the back?"  Now I just start a cable with a guess and look at which direction the stitches are going to lean.

DISCLAIMER!  I AM A TRUE LEFT HAND KNITTER!

Please remember the above as you read what is below.  The directions below work for me, you will probably have to reverse the directions if you are a right hand knitter.

If a cable is going to lean left then for me the stitches on the cable needle are held in the back.

If a cable is going to lean right then for me the stitches on the cable needle are held in the front.

As you can see in the first picture, with the first stitch of the cable worked you can already start to tell which way it is going to lean.  If I was needing a left cable, I would undo this one stitch and bring the cable needle to the front of my work.

Yes I now know and understand that a direction to "cable front" means that you hold the stitches in the front of your work.  My problem...  I am a left hand knitter.  Because I am a true left hand knitter, I take the stitches off of the right needle and the new ones are formed on the left needle, if I follow directions as written, I get opposite results.  So cable left or right with a chart, even one I make, is much clearer for me.

I have included a swatch chart here so that you can play with it on your own and see if this is something that is helpful to you in your cabling adventure.

The cable on row 3 is 2 over 2 right.  The cable on row 7 is 2 over 2 left.

The project that prompted me to share about cabling is a test knit that I am doing for Wendelika.  It is called the Bonfire Poncho.  It is worked in DK weight yarn on US size 8 needles.  I am working from unmarked stash.  I am using black for the cable section and rainbow for the rest of the body.  The black cable section was a gamble but I am pleased with it.

While it doesn't photograph well it looks great in person.  She did some great work with these cables and now I can't wait to try doing some designing of my own with cables.

I have also started another test knit with cables.  I will get to the cable section tonight.  This one has moss stitch in it, a first for me.  It is a sweater worked in worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles.  The yarn I am using is a 50/50 alpaca, merino blend from elsebeth lavold, their Classic AL yarn.  I didn't put a link because I can't decide where to link to.  There is a yarn designer blog with the same name but no where to order and then shops to order from so you choose.  The sweater design is from Annie Lupton of Boho Chic Fiber Co.

Here is my moss stitch swatch.  Making this swatch helped me to learn how to count moss stitch repeats and know which row I am on, as well as check to make sure I have the correct needle size.

I have finished 2 other test knits since my last post; my Scrappy knit pillow by DanaRaeKnits and a cowl from Gina Baglia.

Next time I will share my new toy with you...


Until then, keep making!

A Taste of Normal

I have had a small taste of normal this week.  My youngest went back to school yesterday, his first day of middle school and the others go back the middle of next week.  I am very excited to get back to some routine and schedule.

This week I did a quick photo shoot for the Hippie Go Lucky Shawl that I finished test knitted.

Here is a picture of blocking.  Without fringe the finished size is 36" x 36".

Here are all the fringe that I cut using that hair pin lace frame I shared last week.

Here is the finished shawl spread out on some rock steps at an out door mall in Aurora, Colorado.

I also took one with it draped over a fire hydrant to show the size better.

I wore it in this style this morning and like it very much.

This week I started another test knit for DanaRaeKnits.  It is the knit scrappy pillow.  It will be finished with the mattress stitch, which I still have to learn.  Here is the very beginning of that pillow.  It is a square worked from the center out.  I used a multi-color yarn that you see in the picture from Oink Pigments.  Sorry I have no idea on the color name or the base.  All I can tell you is the it is a fingering weight yarn.  What you don't see in the picture is the second color I am using.  It is Forest Heater from Knit Picks on their Stroll base.

I made it to a new yarn shop this past weekend!  It is called Knot Just Yarn and is in Denver, Colorado.  This shop is so new that their website isn't even up yet, but the doors are open! They have yarn in many weights, no lace, yet and spinning fiber.  They have these available from indie dyers as well as commercial companies.  I'm really excited to get involved there and meet some people who are a bit more local than Longmont.  I love you Longmont Yarn Shoppe!

At the new shop I bought a kit from Koigu to make the Colourscape cowl.  I have decided that it will be my beginning of school celebration knit.  I will start it next Wednesday at the Stanley Market Place in Aurora, Colorado.

Here are my tiny hanks of yarn.

I have been making progress on the sample that I am knitting for the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, but still no photo, sorry.  I do have a picture of the yarn its details.  It is Lunar Lace from Shibui in the Fjord colorway.

Here is a photo of the progress I am making on my Sparkling Leaves Sweater test knit for Jill Karina.  I am hoping to finish the color work this week and get into the body of the sweater.

Today I added a team to Spin Together for the competition that is in October.  It is the Woolly Weirdos.  I am hoping to meet some more spinners on the Eastern Plains of Colorado by doing this.  I am really excited for this year's competition to be on a team that will hopefully have more local team members.  Registration opens September 1st!  This link goes to our Ravelry thread in the Spin together group.  This is to the Woolly Weirdos blog, which I have slacked on but will try to up with monthly now.

Here is a picture of a fellow Weirdo and I spinning in the studio where Woolly Weirdo meetings are held.

Also this past weekend, I did some 1930s reenacting at the DeLaney farm in Aurora, Colorado.  Here I am on the front porch of the Gully house there.  It is the oldest still standing house in Aurora, Colorado.  It was built in 1866.

Until next time keep on making!

Finished!

A very busy week with many days in town and even spending the night at my sister's house just to save a bit of time.  That was a good choice though as the cousins got to spend some time together.

I blocked the Hippy Go Lucky Shawl yesterday and will start putting on the 792 bits of fringe tonight.  It turned out to be 36" x 36" before the fringe.  The link goes to the pattern page on Ravelry if you want to purchase the pattern as it is now available and is on sale until the end of the week!

To cut all those fringe I used a hair pin lace frame.  I started out with the cross bars further apart but the yarn was pulled too tightly on the up rights and was going to make the fringe be different lengths.  I moved the cross bars closer together and it worked perfectly.  This went quickly.  After winding on for a while I cut up the middle of only one layer.

I also picked up a test crochet from DanaRaeknits. It is called Scrappy Granny Pillow.  I'll let you know when she releases the pattern.  I used leftover sock yarns to make this pillow.  It is made using one large granny square turned on the diagonal to cover the pillow.  It was quick and fun too.  There is also a knitted version coming soon.

I haven't made very much progress on the sample knit for the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, as I was knitting only on the Hippy Go Lucky Shawl.  I finished one repeat finally yesterday.  I didn't do any more spinning but will be at the DeLaney Farm in Aurora, Colorado this Saturday and will be doing more sock spinning.

I will have pictures of the finished shawl, the progress on the sample knit, sweater knitting and sock spinning.

Happy making!