What Have I Been Doing?

What have I been doing? It seems I've been spending most of my time outside, digging up part of my front lawn and then, doing that over again and again and again, as the grass keeps trying to come back.

This was taken in the spring, when I was almost done and was getting a little slap happy. 

We planted some vegies before we left on our summer trip and returned to a giant zucchini.

Some years ago, I saw a pattern for leftover sock yarn, the Beekeeper's Quilt. I had a grocery bag full of yarn to use up. For years now, a few at a time, I've knit and stuffed these small "hexi-puffs". The completed ones were taking up space and frankly, I was over it. I gave away what remained of the leftover yarn and, instead of a throw, I now have a pad for my office chair.

During our summer road trip, I did quite a bit of spinning with my Pocket Wheel.

And in packing for the trip, I brought plenty of yarn and knitting needles. The wrong size knitting needles. Before things could get desperate, we found this store up the street from our hotel in Twin Falls, Idaho. Unfortunately, it was closed. Online, they said to contact them. So, I did. The owner sent her husband to open the shop just for me!!! Brian was Very Grateful. 

And I was able to knit my Moby Sweater using Rowan felted tweed yarn. It is by PetiteKnit, the same designer of my new tank tops. 

This is the second of the two tanks, June Top Light. For this one, I used the recommended Knitting for Olive, Pure Silk yarn. I also made some subtle changes to the pattern to make it fit me better than the first one did.

Then, I went back to the first one and took it apart from the underarms up. I decided since I liked the new fit better, and I like knitting...why not! 

The Cumulus Tee is another by PetiteKnit that I made with the Pure Silk.

With my loom, Sophie, I finished the cotton, waffle weave towels. 

Most were given away as gifts.

A new warp on Sophie starts with wrapping the yarn onto the warping mill. 

My apprentice helped me to tie cords around the ends so that they won't get tangled.

And to make a warp chain. This is like crocheting without a hook. It's another way to keep all the ends aligned so that they can be moved to and onto the loom without turning into yarn spaghetti.

I picked up Remix Light (recycled) yarn from the Little Knittery to make Wintersong, designed by Mona C. NicLeoid. Following the pattern, I knit the sleeve from shoulder towards cuff, but then I made a change. The original design had a straight hem on the cuffs. By knitting the cuff from wrist towards arm, I was able to make the cuff edge wavy, like the body's hem. Then, I grafted the sleeve and cuff together using kitchener stitch. 

After Mom wore the sweater once, we decided that the sleeves were too short. I picked them apart, knit the sleeves another 1 1/2 inches and sewed them together, again.

Mom is Very Pleased with her finished, bespoke sweater.

A Little of Everything

I didn't think I'd been doing much fiber work until I started pulling up the pictures. I've been doing a little of everything.

Those bags of cotton I'd been picking at are now cleaned and carded. When they're prepared like this, they're called rolags.

I knit two hoodies, but only have a picture of this one. To make it, I blended two patterns.

Before Julia moved on to live and play with another weaver, we finished this gamp. 

I sewed a second pair of pajama bottoms. Some braiding that was left from the last couple of kumihimo projects worked perfectly for the drawstring.

How cool is this?! I knit a tank top! The pattern is June Top Light from Petiteknit.com. The yarn is Summerlite 4 ply from Rowan.  

And this Moby Sweater is from the same designer. I'm having a blast with it! Most of the sweater knitting I've done has been knit bottom up, this is top down.

I wove these kitchen towels maybe twenty some years ago. After hemming the edges, they almost look like new.

The dry creek bed I've been working on...wasn't. Our rain gauge only measures up to five inches and it was full! Within a couple of days, all this water had soaked in. (In the background, you can see the California Lilac and Mahonia in bloom. Soon, all the bright green in this picture will be poppies!

This is a waffle weave pattern I've used before from Simple Weaves, Sophie and I are making some kitchen towels

...with the assistance of my littlest apprentice.