Month: August 2008

- saffronknits 6 Comments

Night Vine

HHHH

I finally finished spinning for my HHHH swap pal and the fiber is now on its way.

I bought the fiber from FatCatKnits, entitled ‘Night Vine’ – 4 ounces of Merino…

It went from this…

to this…

to this…

173.33+ yards of chain-plied handspun yarn. I didn’t get a WPI, but it seemed to mostly range from sport to worsted. Ironically, this is the most yardage I’ve gotten so far in my spinning. That would have been the only reason I’d have wanted to keep this fiber. The colors really weren’t my favorites and I’m glad it’s going to someone I hope will enjoy the colors more than I would.

Here’s more photos for you to enjoy!

- saffronknits 2 Comments

good news and bad news…

First … the bad news: :(

My spinning. That’s the bad news for me these days. I’m spinning everyday but it sometimes it seems like I’m never going to finish my HHHH project. I am spinning everyday but it doesn’t seem like I will ever reach the end. I am plying and very pleased with the result. But I am regretting using my new spindle for this project. I feel like it makes spinning harder than it should be. It wobbles… a lot, even with no or not much fiber on it. So much more than my spindle made with a toy wheel.

I feel like such a slacker. :???: My poor swap pal has had to wait. :( It’s all so frustrating and if I were spinning this for myself, I would have stopped long ago… but it’s not. It’s for someone else and I don’t wish to disappoint anyone. I WILL finish spinning and the resulting yarn will be pretty (I can already tell that it will be) and I sincerely hope that my pal will think it’s worth the wait.

and now… the good news: :)

My knitting is so wonderful these days. I’m loving it again. I’m reworking a pattern and I’m having fun with it! I’m pretty much ‘redesigning’ on the fly. These are for my grandmother. She wanted some red fingerless mittens. I hope she’ll like the ‘Ruby River’ Dream In Color Smooshy that I got. Plus, I just got my order from Simply Sock Yarn Co – FIVE skeins of Dream in Color Classy!!!! It’s in the colorway ‘Nightwatch’ for an upcoming project, which I am so anxious to cast on for, but I have to finish spinning for my HHHH pal first.

- saffronknits 1 Comment

knitting mojo found / suggestions needed…

Yes! I have found my knitting mojo and have been knitting up a storm. I need to finish a pair of fingerless mittens before the end of September. I have been trying to knit a pair of these for several months, but have not been satisfied with the results.

For the first pair, I used worsted weight and that just wasn’t right, especially since these are for someone who lives in moderate climate all year long.

I’m currently on my 3rd attempt. I bought some Dream In Color Smooshy (drool) then went in search of a pattern. I bought one online that visually, I liked. I quickly discovered that the pattern was not for me. But if I hadn’t bought that pattern, it wouldn’t have led me to reworking another pattern. The thing is, the pattern that I like is for worsted weight yarn.

I did a gauge swatch. I counted my gauge several times, but I’m never sure if I’m counting correctly. Nonetheless, I figured out a stitch count but ended up reducing it by 4 stitches to make it fit the stitch pattern I came up with and I knit a prototype. I made notes as I went along and learned a lot and along the way, figured out what I want to do to make it better. Literally flying by the seat of my pant, as it were. ;)

The biggest issue is that since I took away those 4 stitches, the mitten has no ease and I’m trying to figure out how to get more ease.

Bigger needles? Didn’t like the fabric.
I could go down a needle size and add a pattern repeat, but that would mess up the pattern I created, which works best with an even number of pattern repeats.

Add one stitch per pattern repeat? Well, I think the question is where. The pattern is within a 8 x 2 rib. I tried it as a 8 x 3 rib and got an instant lesson in ribbing. (I then read an article on ‘let me explainknit’ explained why it was less stretchy). One thought I had would be to add a stitch somewhere to make it a 9 x 2 rib (I’m using 4-stitch cables so maybe I can put a knit stitch in between the cables and that might work – but I have to decide if I want to add 6 stitches or 3.) Any other suggestions? Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Reworking a pattern is SO much fun! :roll: But seriously, I’m so close to figuring this out and the results will be SO cool!

If you’ve made it this far and read my babble, I thank you!

see ya next time!!!