Prolific

Boy! When I look at all these pictures, do I look prolific! Of course, if I'd posted more recently than a year ago, the number of projects I've completed wouldn't look nearly as impressive.

I'll start with our road trips, showing some of the high spots:

Up in Ashland, Oregon is Web-sters. I shop there frequently enough, both online and in person, that I think it should count as one of my LYS (local yarn stores). And, yes, I made some purchases while I was in there.


We found this brand-new place just outside of Ferndale, California.

And what an unexpected treat! A flier in a store window brought it to our attention, so we made a stop. There were livestock, fleeces, fiber, tools and so many vendors!

One of my many purchases was this hand carved, support spindle.

As to my projects, in the car, I switch off between spinning and knitting.

Isn't it fascinating to see the changes from fiber...

...to yarn? I'm undecided whether or not I will ply this or leave it as singles.

There's no before picture. Think of it this way. Tear a piece of paper in half. Then, tear each half in half. Keep going until the strips seem about right. That's what you see here.       
If I'd spun it the way it was, I'd probably have a yarn with long sections of blue, then long ones of yellow, etc. Doing it this way, the color of the finished yarn changes sooner.

And here's the end result.

This wool is from blue faced Leicester sheep. I don't remember ever spinning with it before. The gray and white colors are undyed.

Look how different the finished, two-ply product looks.

Now, on to weaving. In all this time, there've just been the following two projects.

For the first, I wove two separate, identical prayer shawls. Then, I sewed them together with a temporary seam down the long edge to make them wide enough to become... 

...the chuppah for my niece and new nephew. 

                                                           

After that, with stash busting in mind, I chose some cotton colors that I thought would look good together.

To me, this looks like an ocean or the iris of someone's eye.

Then, using up more yarn for the weft, I made lots of dish towels. Depending on how they're folded, some are different on both sides, others are the same.

Like here, this is side one and...

side two (There's a story. Ask me later.)

The ones in the left column are the same front and back. The ones on the right column, I folded askew, so that I could show the back sides with different but related patterns.

It was a fun project, but I'm happy to have it in my rearview mirror.

Intermission: Here are a couple of quick crochet patterns.

Reginald the Scottish Terrier

 and Matthew the Leghorn Cockerel.

And now, knitting. Socks. I think there are always socks.

This was the first time I've ever made socks with colorwork, two pieces of yarn at the same time. The pattern is Rhubarb and Custard Socks.

These are actually from the same ball of yarn. Do you see that the ankle of the left sock is the same color as the toe of the right? There is another pair of socks just like these if I want to match.

These socks are made with what's called "self-striping" yarn.

This pair uses yarn from the same yarn company. I made them last year and have been wearing them ever since. But I've decided I don't like knee socks. So, I cut off the top on both and re-knit the cuff. A friend of mine is going to use the original cuffs to make premie hats.

Finally, there are the sweaters.

 The Dala Sweater,

the Braidy Loop Cardigan,

the Mere Sweater

...and matching coats for the grands.

Don't run away and hide! I know it was a lot. I'm done for now.

....until next time!