Spinning, Socks and Garden

Playtime.

Ready for the Majacraft stylus.

Lace weight, two ply. I'm thinking a wool/silk, knitted shawl. Hmmm...

And another pair of socks, toe up.

Roses and wisteria gone wild in the front yard.

The new backyard garden in bloom.

I'm loving this!

This is only a year's growth!

A little of this, a little of that.

I've been busy with a little of this and a little of that. I finished plying the merino/silk.

The color's more true here.

And these socks were my purse project. The pattern's a mock cable from page 104 of "Socks from the Toe Up" by Wendy D. Johnson. The bind off is done double knit. This is the first time I'd ever seen that. I love the way it looks and feels! I've been trying to decide how I can integrate that into sweaters...

A little intermission here. This is one of the two Western Redbuds I planted last March. Obviously, this one's thriving. The other one didn't make it. Go figure.

And here's more of the first planting from last year. Almost everything is thriving! And we haven't had a moment without at least something blooming.

Once I bought my Glimakra, I said I'd sell my Gilmore. Well, that hasn't happened. I decided if she was sitting there, she might as well be busy. This is the underside. It'll be a baby blanket.

I don't have any time to dress the loom for the next project, and it's so pretty, I'm leaving this on for a bit.

Knitting and Spinning

Now that I've finished the two sweaters, I have more time for myself. That means spinning and weaving with knitting as more of an in between project. I bought this fiber at a show a couple years ago, because the colors appealed to me. That, and because my husband and I will buy most fibers and preparations, once. It was labeled as "Pin Drafted Roving, Black suri alpaca blended w/BLx wool and Bamboo silk". The picture looks dark, but that's the true color. What am I going to do with it? No idea.

Meanwhile, my younger son made another request. His hair has grown enough that his hat doesn't fit. I texted him from the store to ask if that was it. Well, he added, a scarf and socks, too. I'm glad my kids appreciate my "stuff".

This is Manos del Uruguay, Maxima. So Soft! The grey is darker than it looks and in some light it appears purple.

Now I'm playing with this merino/silk blend from Red Fish DyeWorks. What can I say? The Color!

I couldn't sleep last night, so instead of just thinking about spinning...yep. The singles are all spun up and I've started plying. Oh, and Yes. I have a toe-up sock in process in my purse.

Knitting Marathon

Besides a couple of trips to visit my mom in Phoenix, we made an overnight visit to Palm Springs. Sadly, another bookstore there was closing. In the back was some artwork. I noticed this rolled cloth and took it out. It's simplicity, bright colors and skilled tapestry weaving drew me. But I put it back, because there was no price and I figured that it would cost about $300-350.  It kept calling to me. So, I took it up the cashier. $40. The cashier/store owner tells me this was made by a 70-ish weaver from Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico, by the name of Leticia Seniara. I hope the owner remembers to relay my appreciation and respect and thanks.

With all that driving, there was knitting. A knitting marathon. My daughter's friend has been asking "where's mine" for Years. Because part of the proceeds for this particular design goes to PBS, I ordered a kit instead of just buying the pattern. What I didn't realize, was that this pattern was sized for a child. 42 inches long is just not adequate for an adult. I didn't know if there was enough yarn in the kit to lengthen the bird's body, so this is the second one I made.

While I was waiting for the kit, I got this pattern online from the same company. My daughter's friend was planning on visiting her in a month. So, I thought I had plenty of time to finish the coat and two...make that three scarves. Oh, but did I say that I'd run out of yarn for the coat? And after calling all of the yarn stores in California and Nevada and Arizona that carry this yarn, we ended up driving an hour each way down to Long Beach. Luckily, the dye lot they had was close enough to do for the plackets and scarf. But the scarf with two purple and one multicolor braid, or even the other way around, had the look of "Oh, you ran out of yarn?" So, I went back to the first yarn store and bought another skein of the multicolor.

Now, let's talk buttonholes. Vertical? Horizontal? Vertical goes with plackets, horizontal doesn't pull. I knitted up samples of both. Vertical was more work and looked like a gaping hole. Horizontal  looked like a cut in the fabric. Then, I had a lightbulb moment. Can you see it? At the top of the buttonhole, I twisted the stitches like for cable! This solves the problem of gaping and mirrors the pattern!

Just a little FYI here, I don't knit the plackets and then attach them. I attach them as I knit them. I knit the last stitch of every other placket row together with one edge stitch on the garment. It's invisible on the right side and not as boring as knit 10, turn, knit 10, turn, etc. And if I've marked my button holes, it's a whole lot easier getting them in the right place, too. Since I wasn't a fan of the attached, braided scarf (and what happens if I run out of yarn after I've attached it to the hood and am on the second side of the scarf), I decided to continue button holes onto the hood placket. This way it can be worn with or without.

Just to make things more fun, there were only three of these perfect buttons at the store. My husband (bless him for the enabler he is) said to go ahead and order the other five I'd need. Have I said how much I appreciate JoAnne Fabrics coupons? These buttons were $12 each!

Finished! The eggplant color is pretty close, but the scarf is NOT! It has orange and khaki and other red-head colors. It is Not this raspberry ish.

Her smile is the Best part of this picture!

Winter Wear

Obviously, this is not my usual pastime, but our doggies were cold.

Machine sewing is not my favorite thing to do, but there's just not enough time to sit and relax and stitch something by hand.

So, here are Dobby and Winky in their new winter wear.

Pencil Roving

I've never used pencil roving before. This was actually the first time I'd even seen it. I bought one, four ounce skein of this hand dyed, merino about a year or so ago at a show.The color is Vineyard Blues. It was easy to separate the two "ply". However, the fiber did NOT want to draft, so I spun it as is...

...and got this beautiful yarn. It feels a little dense, but it's Gorgeous! I have no idea what I'm going to do with it now. I guess it'll just be another skein for the "it's all about the journey/process" box.

Moving on

Now that I've finished designing and knitting my son's sweater, I have time to move on. I've finished the napkins I was weaving on Julia. 

I did three different treadlings on them, though it's not immediately obvious. The brighter colors are so striking, that I see color first, then pattern. The 8/2 cotton turned out VERY soft. I just hope it's absorbent enough to be functional.

This bobbin of singles is the entire  1/2 pound (225gr) of fake cashmere I got for $10 from my LYS. The color in the photo is accurate.

And here is the first of two skeins, done with Navajo ply.