Head, Shoulders, Knee Socks and Toes

I've been sitting (emphasis on "sitting"), making so many things, that I should get up and exercise with the kids: ♪head, shoulders, knee socks and toes.🎵

We know how short the winters in California can be, so when a request was submitted to the management for a sweater with a hood ("I grew out of the last one"), I had to jump on it. I knit this 80's or 90's Pingouin design in just under three weeks!

Wearing a mask, I went into a store and bought this yarn, not realizing how much it smelled. I couldn't knit with the yarn until I'd made it into a skein (hold hands out at shoulder distance apart and wrap the yarn around them over and over and...), washed it, left it to air out and off-gas and finally turn it into a ball, again.

I couldn't knit with this right away either. But that's because when I bought it, it was a carded yak/silk fiber from Alexandra at WEFF. I had the joy of spinning it, followed by knitting up this deliciously soft yarn!

I've never made knees socks before. These were a treat. I bought the yarn at a new LYS (local yarn store), The Knitting Lounge. This is  Uneek Sock by urth yarns. The yarn is hand-dyed and self-striping. And I did something else new with these. If you look at the sock on the right, you might see that the toe is shaped for the left foot. That's right (correct)! Like shoes, these socks are not interchangeable.

Now, if you're thinking everything goes smoothly every time, pshaw! First we knit, then we rip. Then, we knit again.

All better. This is another self-striping yarn. 

Some of my hand knit socks are 20 plus years old. I saw this technique on Youtube. You see, there was a hole...

...and then there wasn't!

So far, this little piggy has stayed home. She was made from a kit I picked up last summer.

I had a box of old fabric that either needed a new home or to be re-purposed. This cloth used to be a valance in our kitchen. I took out the hems and cut it into strips. Then, Sophie, my loom, and I gave each other the eye until I finally put on my big girl panties and braved asymmetry...

together.

When we were done, I learned a new technique for finishing the hems of the rag rugs. It's called a Philippine edge. It's almost like making a braid along the fell of the cloth.

Now that the rugs are done, I've been enjoying looking at them displayed like this too much to put them on the floor. That should change soon. The yarn for my next warp will be here tomorrow. 

This and That

With our old placemats getting worn out, I needed new ones and thought I might learn something by using someone else's pattern.

I ordered a "warp to go" kit from Vavstuga. The colors and yarns come already chosen and there's minimal math left to do. The result is seven placemats and a runner.

I've been wanting to knit a summer, lace sweater for myself with this cotton/linen yarn, Juniper Moon Farm, Zooey, for quite a while.

 Even though it turned out well, it's not what I had in mind.

So, for my next sweater, when I knitted up a small sample of the stitch called for in the Rowan pattern, Landscape by Martin Storey, with a a pretty, gray, tweedy yarn in my stash (Classic silky wool, a wool/silk/nylon blend), and didn't like the resultant cloth, I decided to go off-road. A pattern is not a rule, I can use it as a suggestion. There are no "yarn police".  

 A few trials later, and I found this stitch. To me, it looks tailored, like a herringbone.

And the stitch works perfectly with this boxy bodice and fitted sleeves!

I didn't expect to like the style on my body type. I don't. I love it!

How long has it been since I've used my marudai? Years! I brought it out to do some kumihimo (think fancy, Japanese lanyards).

I sewed myself a pair of pajama bottoms with a color coordinated, Karen-made drawstring. 

This is Sari silk. I don't know how it's made. My guess, based on no facts whatsoever, is that the old saris are used as curtains, couches and wallpaper. Then, a bunch of cats are sent into the room and allowed to have at it. Do you have a better idea?

And here's a pretty picture of Gingie showing off among the poppies.

On Suzie, I've spun up this RedFish 50/50 Silk/Superfine Merino.

And made it into 556.5 yds of two ply yarn.

Next up is this soft fiber I just picked up at WeFF.

I've dressed Julia with this gamp kit from Halcyon, but I've barely gotten started. I tend to be a monogamous weaver. Right now, I'm focused on the rugs on Sophie.

The original plan was to use up some stash warp and weft. Drab, I know. 

Then, I happened on this bag of Pendleton selvedges at WeFF. The colors didn't wow me, but I thought they might be okay with my blah warp. 

Just okay? It's great!

Finishing

My sister says I've been getting all kinds of things done. She's right. I've been knitting like a fiend. But after the knitting (or whatever), everything tends to sit while I procrastinate over the final step, the finishing.

I wove this rug about three years ago, and we've been getting a lot of use out of it. But the header (the dark navy edge near the fringe) is a cotton that shrank more than the rest of the rug. It was pulling up as if I'd laced a drawstring through the ends.

When I finally figured out why the rug was not laying flat, I decided to try snipping those threads. Voila!

After I'd spun this wool, I Navajo plied it (three ply). I didn't like the way it knitted up, so I had to unspin it. For knitting, it's called a gauge. For weaving, it's called sampling. Either way, if I'd bothered to do this to see how the yarn would behave when knitted up, I wouldn't have ended up knitting three hats and ending up with two. (It's called "frogging". Ripping  out.) Luckily, knitting hats doesn't take much time. Finished!

By the time my LYS closed in the end of January, I'd made some serious inroads into my policy of only buying yarn if I had a project in mind, and a reason for it. I bought Paintbox Knits by Bonnette and Murchland. Then, I purchased the yarn and buttons. This dress is a 2T. I made it just because. Now, I'm building a stash of FOs (as opposed to UFOs---UnFinished Objects).

With the left overs, I made the dress on the left. All of these are 18mos size in Juniper Moon Farm "Neve" (pure Peruvian pima cotton).

And, again with the leftovers, I made this 18 mos size sweater/jacket. All four garments needed to be blocked to be finished.

This sweater sat for about two months before I finally blocked it, along with those baby clothes. I admit to dragging my heels...a lot. But Finally! I'm finished! Of course, now, it'll be too hot to wear the sweater until next winter.

Clean House

This is how I clean my house. If I finish something, a project or a puzzle or a magazine, I can get rid of it. Then, there's one less thing in the "to do" pile!

Years ago, I bought 2 oz of this Friesan Lamb wool in Oregon. I spun it up in just a few hours. I'll probably use it for a dryer ball.

Just last year, I did a spinning and weaving demo for my friend's school. She gifted me with a bag of cotton that they'd grown there. I spent several days picking out all of the plant matter. Doesn't it look squeeze-ably soft?

A five years ago, I cut a warp for a rug, but my math was off. I had twice as many ends as I needed. That warp has been sitting in the "to do" pile. Now, not only have I used up that warp, but two bins of cloth have now been consolidated into one! This pattern is from Handwoven, Summer 1985.

Because I was using up, and actually running out of fabric, you can see where I added some green strips to the blue and light blue to the dark blue. Shocking, I know! By allowing it not to be perfect, I actually learned something! And I'm happy with the results!

With the last of the warp, here's the last of the fabric strips...except the red. There's always more red.

Self soothing to keep calm

With all the goings on going on, I've been self soothing, doing things that make me feel calm.

I finished spinning and plying this 50/50 Silk/Camel blend from Redfish. It is so soft to the touch!

 And the 8oz of fiber I started with is now 800yds of two ply.

After such a long project, it felt good to do a shorter one (and to get something else out of my fiber stash). I spun up 2 oz of Milk fiber, called Casin. I haven't done the math to figure out how many yards it is. 

This pair of socks was from a yarn I picked up at last year's yarn crawl. I taught myself how to do a different kind of heel. It's called a short row heel. I'm definitely going to try it, again!

I'm finally down to just one box of fabric scraps and lengths. Don't ask me how tired I am of these same fabrics. Really. Don't! I went onto Youtube to see how to cut it into continuous strips for weaving.

Right now, I'm using some of it to weave a rug with Sophie. I haven't been completely pleased with my previous rug projects, but practice is how I learn.

When my LYS closed, I picked up a pack of five small skeins of Manos del Uruguay, Fino. It's extrafine merino and silk. I really enjoyed doing the colorwork with this fine yarn.

It was so much fun, that I went ahead and used the other set of colors I'd bought. I ran out of the white with about 10 stitches to go. Can you tell? 

The hat is from a free Ravelry pattern called, "Katie's Kep". Such a lovely crown on this hat!