Boot Cuffs & Legwarmers

I recently purchased some sheeps' wool from a local farmer who has a spinner's flock. This piqued my interest because I want sheep of my own.  A spinner's flock is a small flock of sheep of different breeds so you get a range of fiber types; not all sheep are equal.  I've been able to get local fiber from various sources so I'm  also rethinking what type of fiber animal I want out here (goats, rabbits and/or sheep).  This particular purchase has produced a very rustic yarn.  I'm not dying this batch as I like the shepherdess's story about her fiber journey; living off the land as much as possible. What I have knit up so far is this wide striped set of leg warmers to show off the dark BFL/Gotland and the natural oatmeal Border Leicester. Plain knitting for 75 rounds, no shaping except for a few rows of K2, P2 ribbing at the top.

These simple leg warmers were knit after I finished a more complex pattern for some boot cuffs.

The pattern is based on Lynne Vogel's 'Heart Of Lotus' arm warmer pattern. There are two yarns in this project; the first is a chunky single and the second is a thin fingering weight that I spun from a one of my mixed fiber art batts. This pattern really shows off all that's going on with the art yarn and the art yarn lends to showing off all that's going on with the pattern as far as textures go.

 

And finally are some additional photos of the leg warmers from my previous post  which you can revisit here.
I think it's important to see how my finished items look on real people. There's a shroud of mystery that comes with handspun yarn so I hope my blog helps you discover the possibilities.

Novel Influence

Yet another knitted item created from 'as seen on TV'; more Outlander influence from Claire's 18th century Scottish Highland wardrobe.

Earlier, I had made a blend of merino wools that I dyed in various muted colors thus creating a gently heathered color way. A bit on the neutral side, yes?

 I made a lot; enough blended fiber to spin a few types of yarn. 

My first yarn was a chunky thick and thin with lots of air, kind of a low twist. 

The second yarn was still thick and thin but more of a light worsted weight, you know, to change things up a bit. Crazy.

After watching the episode of Outlander that featured an amazing chunky cowl and also researching on Ravelry I began knitting the larger of the two yarns. As I had made two skeins of this weight it was easy to jump in with  double strands and my US35 circulars. I cast on a total of 21 stitches, knitted the first row then every other row with a drop stitch row in between.

This cowl is supremely soft!
Later, I made some more yarn of this type in purples and undyed merino but I didn't have enough to make this cowl; I had half. Believe me, I tried to make it work. To make it work I used a 3 ply wintery looking art yarn; cold pale grey with tiny bits of sparkly bits (angelina) and soot grey (silk). I think the final result is stunning!

Grandpa Had One Leg So My Project Is Finished In His Eyes

Seriously, no kidding. Despite his approval I have actually begun the second leg warmer; these are not for Grandpa.

 This is a really fun and zippy project. There are great places within this pattern design to set your goals of stopping and starting. For instance, start the initial knit & purl ribbing for 10 rows. Boom, you've done the beginning of the leg warmer. Next is the  horseshoe pattern repeat which is made up of 8 rows. So, do 8 rows then take a break and make dinner or something, something like another 8 rows so you have 2 pattern repeats completed. I am the worst but the others in this household have not caught on … 

 After some time, you will have completed all the horseshoe pattern repeats that make you & your upper calf happy and you'll want to change things up. Move on to the simple lace pattern. Again, you can easily set your goals with this 4 row pattern repeat. 

These photos were taken prior to blocking so things are a bit fluffy. In my reality, I'm not going to block these. I've tried the one leg warmer on & I love the length and fit though they will not become part of my personal cold weather wardrobe. 

And the yarn that I've used is Lucca Dot Yarn. It is a thin single made from a batt that I intentionally made (most of the time I'm just releasing frustration and throwing whatever into the tines of my drum carder).  There's wool, silk and copper angelina and I named this 'Celestial Bodies': a lunar yellow-green, lots of blue & purples (my ideal color of the cosmos) and sparkly copper, because it worked.

I've made these leg warmers a few times. One pair I wear a lot, mostly due to the misplacement of the another pair ( I'm pretty sure these others are in the laundry room). The pair that is in my line of site was made from a DK weight yarn blank that I hand dyed. I was attempting a self striping yarn, which I achieved. The resulting colorway was 'schme' but it turns out that the leg warmer design was more triumphant.

Now I want you to have warm leg(s) too!

Knit on….

Lucca Dot Yarn Leg Warmers with Horseshoe Pattern

Notions: Stitch markers

(the following cast on is for a heavy worsted weight yarn or a light fingering weight yarn; the larger needle size is for the heavier weight yarn)

With #9US dpn or US2 9" circulars, CO 40 or 80 sts ; join, being careful not to twist cast-on

row.  

Upper Ribbing:

K1, P1 for 10 rounds.

Horseshoe pattern (multiple of 10 stitches)

Start pattern, placing markers be-
tween each pattern repeat. ( I typically only place 1 stitch marker at the beginning of the round)
Rnds 1 and 3: Knit.
Rnd 2: *Yo, k3, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k3, yo, kl; repeat from *.
Rnd 4: *Kl, yo, k2, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k2, yo, kl, pl; rep from *.
Rnds 5 and 7: *K9, p1; rep from *.
Rnd 6: *K2, yo, kl, sl 1, k2tog, psso, kl, yo, k2, p1; rep from *.
Rnd 8: *K3, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k3, p1; rep from *.
Repeat these 8 rounds 2 times (total
of 3 complete patterns), then knit one round.  (make as many pattern repeats that make you happy and enough to cover the majority of you upper calf)


Decrease the next row after all your Horseshoe pattern repeats are completed so that you have a number of stitches that is divisible by 6.

Straight lace pattern multiple of 6 stitches):
Round 1: k2, p1, yo, k2tog, p1, repeat till end of round 
Round 2: k2, p1, repeat till end of round
Round 3: k2, p1, k2tog, yo, p1, repeat till end of round 
Round 4: k2, p1, repeat till end of round.

Repeat these 4 rounds until you have reached your desired length. 

Finish the lowest portion of the leg warmer with ribbing. I used a K1, P1 pattern for 14 rounds.

Bind off using a regular bind off stitch; no need to make this extra stretchy.

Art Yarn Cowl

A truly art yarn cowl. What a thing of beauty for this early Autumn weather!

Overall, it fits nicely in all aspects about the neck. It’s not snug at the top so as to preform a sort of choke-hold but its not loosely gaping about either. The body stands up without assistance and is deep enough to ward off draughts. A slightly larger opening at the base is wide enough to easily pull over your head without greatly messing up your hair. It then gently rests well below your collar bone.
And tnow about the yarn. 
There are four differnt styles of textured art yarn: black angora goat locks, mixed fiber batt, tailspun teeswater in BFL wool singles and a 3-ply to create a soft landing for the neck edge.

This cowl should be worn like a peice of jewelry. Wear it alone over a shirt or add it as a comforting accent with a jacket. 

Art Yarn Cowl

Have multiple (at least 3) art yarns available.

US11, circular 16”, maybe 24”

Cast on 48 stitches, join in the round

Round 1 & 2: *purl 15, knit elongated horizontal stitch*, repeat to end of round.

Remaining rounds: *knit 15, knit elongated horizontal stitch*, repeat to end of round.

When desired length/height of cowl is achieved make a regular bind off at all stitches. You will not need to do anything special at the elongated stitch area.

Do not change needle size. If the top opening of your cowl is flaring open due to the larger sized yarn you will need to make appropriate number of decreases in order to gain back correct/slightly smaller opening. Do not make bind off tight as this area needs to have a little stretchy give.

To make elongated stitch:

put needle through next stitch as if to knit - your needles will form an ‘x’.

wrap yarn around both needles at the point where the needles cross 2 times (the yarn should wrap naturally here).

Next wrap the yarn around your back needle - like you normally would to make a knit stitch - and pull this one wrap through - like you normally would to complete a knit stitch.  On the first row you may not immediately see the resulting elongation. At the second row as you approach this area it should become evident that something special has taken place.

Note on yarn selections: it’s important that yarns selected be close in guage but if you have chosen a thinner yarn to be included in your project simply double the strand.

SPINNING!

Will any word that rhymes with '…inning' ever stop Charlie Sheen from haunting my memories of his years past misbehaviors? I'm using my artistic license here 'cause I think the word was actually 'Winner!' Then again, perhaps I should rename this post 'Spinners!' as this week, so far, has been a celebration of Needle Arts, hosted by TNNA, "SPINZILLA". Pony up $10 for the cause, join a team or go rogue and you too can see how much fiber you can spin in the course of seven days. I joined a team and am so delighted with my new friends and teammates. The Cause is to promote a mentoring program for kids concerning  fiber arts, in particular, spinning…It goes viral from there as you can imagine.
Here is my progress report so far: I have spun approximately 2,300 yards of yarn and I have a photo proof to boot.

These are luscious. I want to make something with ALL of them but I think I shoud sell them and let someone else enjoy. I kept thinking, ' Oooh, now this would look great in the Superfluity Mobius by Lynne Vogel' or, 'this will knit up nicely into fingerless gloves' and then there's, 'Forest Purse! That's what this is for!'. A girl can dream.
There was some knitting interspersed through my week at home, too. I'll post those items L.A.T.E.R.
But to wind this up, I hope everyone has a terrific Friday. I toasted my new Spinzilla group, Knotty Ladies, especially one we're all pulling for who's Mum was recently injured (she's our teammate in Ireland so 'Mum'), with this:

Baby Claus Hat + How To

It's not the first & it won't be the last: baby hat.

Hats, in general, are a work in progress for me because I tend not to follow a pattern's instruction. It's the handspun, art yarn thing which offers different gauges throughout a project. I'm very flexible about this as I love the final outcome, when it finally comes out.

This is probably the 4th iteration of Baby Claus Hat.  It's quite different from the rest because I used a commercial yarn for the red portion of the design. It's Louisa Harding's Susorro baby alpaca. This is a wonderfully soft chain-plied yarn and I wanted to see how it looked when knitted. It shows stitch definition really well if you're working a cabled pattern. I didn't go that far with this project :/
it would have looked more awesome, I know…
Anyway, the rest of the hat is my handspun yarn so let's look at that! The ribbed brim is undyed merino wool with black mini cocoons randomly placed. This is to give the appearance of ermine trim. There are 2 rows of a multi-grey single with a couple rows of random tailspun lamb locks in undyed merino. At the very top, I have not quite made a pom-pom but rather a felted ball wrapped in bacon, I mean more lamb locks with the majority of the tail ends splashing about.

CO 54 on US6 circular, 16" length
join in the round
*k2, p1* for 14 rounds
change to multi-grey yarn, knit 1 round, don't cut yarn
change to tailspun lamb locks, knit 2 rounds
change back to multi-grey yarn, knit 1 round, cut yarn
Change needle size to US8 circular, 16" length plus have a set of dbl points at the ready as there's going be decreases and fast!
Change yarn to Susurro and knit 7 rounds
next round is the beginning of the 3 stitch decrease; this where you want to pay attention to the count. There should be 54 stitches on the needles and the hat wants to have a taper now. begin by *k16, k2tog* for this round.
(a) Knit next 3 rounds
(b) Decrease by 3 stitches as before but there are now only 51 stitches so it's *k15, k2tog* for this round.
Continue knitting (a) & (b) rounds for about 3" (take into account that the number of stitches on the needles change after each decrease row so the stitches in between the actual k2tog continue to decrease by 1)
Change the row count inbetween each decrease row from 3 to 2 rows, continuing with decrease for tapered shaping. Continue until there are 5 stitches left on 3 dpn's. Cinch a tail of yarn through these remaining stitches, pull tight and you should have one nicely tapered shaped hat! 
Add your favorite topper if you don't have access to a felted ball.

Time -Out Yarns & A Quick Impressive Cowl

Do you have a place where all your projects that are in time-put go to? Me too, right? There were 4 project yarns, each a really cool art yarn, each very chunky, each I had played around with making swatches just to see what they will look like as a potential finished project, all hanging out in this place of time-out. And then I came across Neauveau Fiber Arts website and found inspiration in the form of a cowl. The cowl is simple enough but it's the stitch that she incorporates to make the cowl have a perfect fit: looose at the base, snug at the top. There is no need to wind this cowl around your neck to achieve a close, warm fit, you know, like a cowl is supposed to offer. Check out Neauveau Fiber Arts youtube video of how to make an elongated stitch, which I think is magical!

Backing up a bit, these 4 art yarns were products from a weekend retreat at Camp Plucky Fluffy in Asheville. I brought back loads of fiber goodness skill. These yarns are intense! You want to touch and study and gaze at these yarns.  And it's fine to just drape them so they hang languidly about a place.  But a finished project…well, that might be over the moon!
My 4 time-out art yarns are as follows: mohair-y 3-ply, chunky corespun and (2) random coil navajo ply and I did not take individual photos of these; what's up with that? But you can at least see them as a group and knitted up. For this cowl I used US35 circular (30" long?) and I cast on 21 stitches. It's a really fast cowl to make. It looks amazing when worn. Do you think so as well?

Cocoons

This is a fun yarn to spin…for the first 8 minutes. Then I just want to be finished; have I spaced the cocoons randomly or did I unconsciously go with the Golden Triangle Rule?, my hands are getting tired, Ugh! the interruption of having to stop, add in some fluff, dang I spun it too tight now I need to let some twist off. Oh, the moans of a hand spinner.

But when this cocooned-filled yarn is off the bobbin and on the needles…well, I just love it.
It can stand alone or be part of a OOAK finished project.

Near the top of the arm warmers is where the cocoon yarn landed. There are just a few rows but enough to showcase bulky, fluffy loops.

Fox Hunt Shrug

Outlander. I love this series on STARZ. I love the story, the setting, the actors but mostly the knitted items. My sister texted back with a 'LMAO' when I told her this last bit of info.

Fox Hunt mixed fiber batt was created based on seeing the shrug that Claire (no relation) is wearing once she is settled within Mackenzie territory.

Ravelry and yarn shops are also enamored with Outlander by the number of FO's I've seen posted lately. Here is my version of Claire's shrug using Fox Hunt which I spun fairly thick and rustic. There are random sheep locks making cameo appearances.

It's a pretty straight forward design although I did manage a slight mandarin collar. I will post the knitting directions on my Ravelry page (LuccaDotYarn) next week.

 220 grams of fiber

 180 yds of handspun yarn

Crisp Mornings

Pre-Autumninal weather should be the title but it's too technical. 

There is also a mixed bag of cooler temperatures and high humidity levels so 'Crisp' needs a clever weather synonym. In any case, this is a blog about the fiber arts world and I, being a spinner of fiber, am excited to rise early on these type mornings to get wrapped up in whatever Mother Nature has cleverly bestowed. 

For me, this is the perfect time of year to think and make projects of warmth; the tall trees with their huge crowns are still leafed out in their summer finery while the understory has tinges of soft gold and garnet. This latter coloring makes a beautiful filter for the dappled beams of sun light. 


 

As a special bonus to myself, I get to wear this during this period of the day

…with flip-flops!