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!

Taking some time

 Some projects take some time.

Last year in April, the arch was barely covered. What a difference that year has made!

I'm still spinning my huge supply of home grown cotton. It's taking some time, but I'm enjoying it.

I've taken this knitting project out of time-out. Following a chart, each square in the grid has a bead threaded onto the silk. I'd gotten frustrated with some errors that were showing up and set it aside. With enough time apart, years, I made some repairs. Now, I'm back at it. Each and every stitch on the needle, when knitted, has a glass bead slipped through.   

I've been weaving some baby blankets. Weaving projects don't always go smoothly either. Do you see the error in the pattern? It's at the bottom of the last flower repeat. It was too obvious to me. At the top of the picture, you can see where I started cutting out the weft.

  By the time I'd stopped, about four inches and two hours later, it was error free and I had this pile of yarn to toss. 

I found a pattern on Pinterest (no designer named, I searched). On the original, the lower left quadrant of the picture didn't feel balanced to me.  The redesign took me three days.

Look what happens when I take my time! Here are four new baby blankets woven with my drawloom.

A flower in the flower garden.

This design was drawn by the dog's owner, who's also the baby daddy. 

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.