Another Favorite Project - #02 Bateau-Neck Pullover

Another favorite project that I am still knitting is the Bateau Neck Pullover sweater by Patty Lyons for Vogue. To keep somewhat with the pattern yarn requirements I spun up a blend of oatmeal BlueFaced Leicester wool and silk into a light chunky weight yarn. My original plan is to dye my finished sweater but as I have carried this project along to various knitting groups I get a  response mostly of ‘no, you can’t dye this...it’s beautiful just as it is!’ And it is very pretty the way it is. I’m so thankful to have other voices point this out to me. On the inside though I’m continue to imagine this project in a rhaspberry wine with just the very edges of the arms & waist bands dipped in a pickle green. Maybe I should make 2 of these: one in natural, one in my suggested colorway.

Handspun yarn is really interesting to make a garment; there are thick & thin parts of the yarn throughout. Overall, it creates a warm rustic wearable item. Because the fibers that I chose to blend are next to the skin soft these pullovers can be worn from Autumn to Spring.

This photo shows how my WIP with the piece in front blocked and the piece behind it not blocked.

It is knitted in the oatmeal BFL wool/silk blend, chunky handspun.

 And now for a light grey version and spun slightly more chunky….

It is a big ol' bundle of yarn

Close up showing off the blend of fibers

One Of My Favorite Projects To Make - The Lionberry Scarf

The Lionberry Scarf by Narniel of Endor

This project keeps my interest due to the changes in the texture and the knitted patterns that formed as my knitting progressed. I learned several new knit designs and I especially love the sort of circles that formed in one of the patterns. 

My Lionberry scarf is made with a very special skein of yarn that my daughter obediently picked up for me while she was in London. It is a beautifully hand dyed merino /cashmere blend from Eden Cottage Yarns. Victoria has one of THE best color palettes...I chose the steel grey because it easily coordinates with the majority of my wardrobe. 

This past year I have experimented knitting with sock weight yarns. Lionberry Scarf is one of the projects; I loved making and I love wearing it. I want to make another and probably I’ll want to make another still. 

I thought about other colors that would capture the patterns in this scarf; the color choices need to be kept light, I think, in order to preserve the visual texture. On hand, I had fibers in several shades of aquas and turquoises and greens and, just a bit of sparkly stuff. These got blended together with my hackles and finally became a handspun sock weight yarn. 
Aqua Gold


While these cool shades were being spun I thought about developing a colorway for the warm side of the spectrum. Rose gold is one of this year's ‘colors’ and I am smitten by it. There’s a little sparkly bit is this color too! Rose Gold

                   
                     

Not A Rectangle

Not A Rectangle

It’s starts with color and the combinations of color. The braided wool roving begins its journey here .Once my hands begin to draft out the fibers, breaking the colors apart, the journey takes the turn into adventure. And when that first bit of fiber leaps onto the leader strand it is already taking the twisted, artsy form that I had in mind.

A journey may have many segments and this braid of wool roving will continue to another great adventure after it has come off its bobbin. It has taken on a new form from its earlier self. Plied with another bit of spun wool it is now art yarn with lofty halos fluffing inbetween lengths of more common two ply spinning. And it is grand. Many would suggest the journey is completed. Others will want it to push on, to continue on to the next adventure. And so it has.

Many times journeys provide interaction with things that would have never come our way had we stayed still & put, as though we were finished. This art yarn, apart from being art, is adventurous. It has again transformed itself into something beautiful as it has made friends with other types of fiber, those which are different from itself alone, I can’t help but feel happy when I see how it has turned out. I hope its journey contiues on its happy path.

How it's made:

(special note: this pattern has not been tested, knit it at you rown risk. Please contact me if you have difficulties….apologies in advance)

US 11 or 13, 30" circular needles

Yarn 1: skein of LDY halos

Yarn 2: Sari silk ribbon

Yarn 3: Sari chiffon ribbon

Cast on 88 stitches with yarn 1

row 1: bind off 5 stitches, cut yarn leaving a 4"tail, add yarn 2 and knit to the end of the row

Row 2: bind off 5 stitches, knit to end of row

Row3: 2-wrap-drop-stitch to end of row (what? insert needle into stitch, wrap yarn 2 x's around needle & pull these 2 wraps through stitch. you will have twice the number of loops on your needle than when you started this row)

Row 4: cut yarn 2 (leave 3"tail) and use yarn 1 (I hold both yarn 2 & yarn 1 together and knit with these til the tail of yarn 2 is used up….then I keep knitting row like nothing's ever happened, yet, it has) This row is the second half of the drop stitch beginnings from the previous row; knit into 1 loop and let that 2nd loop drop off the needle. This creates a loooong loop.

Row 5: bind off 10 stitches, knit to end of row

row 6: cut yarn 1 leaving a 4" tail. add yarn 3 and bind off 10 stitches, continue to knit to end of row.

Row 7: cut yarn 3 leaving a 4" tail and use yarn 1, combining tails as in row 4, bind off 10 stitches, knit to end of row

Row 8: cut yarn 1 if necessary; you may be near the end of skein at this point. Use yarn 2 with the tail of of yarn 1, bind off 5 stitches, knit to end of row

Row 9: bind off 5 stitches, knit to end of row

Row 10: bind off 5 stitches, knit to end of row

Row 11: knit 

Row 12: cut yarn 2 leaving 8" tail and draw yarn through the last few remaining stitches on needle. Make slip knot to finish.

And you're finished!

Journey Down The Flax Road

My Journey Down The Flax Road 

Merino, tussah silk & flax (MSF); Could this fiber combination make for something delicious as a WARM weather accessory? Lets start at the beginning:

My own special blend of Blue Faced Leicester (25%)/Bombyx silk (25%)/Flax (50%) has been sitting in time out due to my indecision as to how to spin it & what to make with it for over one year. This roving just feels so different than just a pure wool roving. I did myself a favor though by requesting this combination of fibers be blended through the carder 4x’s...

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A slightly different blend of roving came along & I didn’t make it wait too long before I dyed and spun it. Here is the short version of my lessons learned:

The blend is merino wool, tussah silk & flax though I’m not sure of the %’s of each fiber. The 3 fiber roving is not blended much so each fiber type is easily defined apart from the others. Each fiber type will also capture the dye differently, giving the final dyed roving the appearance of multiple color tones.

The dye bath prep consisted of time allowed for the undyed roving to soak in a plain water bath for  at least 24 hours. I know this time in a bath is required for the silk to take dye. In the end I believe I got a bonus with the flax (cellulose fiber) as it also took the acid (for protien fiber) dye. I dyed the roving by handpainting multiple colors in a color repeat sequence, plastic wrapped then placed all in a pot to steam. 

Loving the results after the dye bath.

Now for the spinning. Ravelry quickly answered my distress call; only 1 entry in the yarn tab matched this fiber blend content and was by far the best help that any search could have offered. Sarcazm is an amazing note taker, incredibly organized and very thorough. She had spun this same blend. Through Ravelry’s message system she answered my multiple questions in exquisite detail. She helped make this spinning journey an enjoyable one. I love her description of ‘dried snot’ for the flax part of this roving becuase, yah, it totally looks like it (see the undyed photo above). 

 Pre-drafted roving

I managed to spin over 400 yards.

Based on Sarcazm’s info I chose to pre-draft the fibers a lot. I spread the fibers out so much that my beautiful coloring was now diluted. But I figured I would gain most of the color back once the spinning began and the fibers wrapped tighter against each other. The projects that I envision to be knitted or crocheted with this yarn are to be light in weight. Perhaps tiny crochet pieces joined together like a Sophie Digard design or, a simple large needle knitted scarf?

Backing up in time, I happily shared my results of the dyed roving with my dear neighbors. She declared that I was finished, the scarf was hanging in front of us drying on the clotheslinesaw the dyed roving, unspun, should be the finished scarf. I think she’s on to something, something that I’m going to attempt in the next few days that involves a sewing machine and silk organza. 

Let’s watch for watch for what happens next.

Spring Romance

The air here, today, holds the sense that romance is in everything.
There's a dampening humidity that's being courted by the wind, the weather is on the cusp of blustery.

If I sit very still I can feel the smallest rain fall.
If I sit very still I can let things fall into place, creating a peaceful setting.

This photo is a cliche but food & drink are comforts. The jelly is from a few/several years ago, it's unmarked. I know it is blueberry… because that's my way and I have made blueberry jelly only once. It's yummy and I shlould make some again this year.

Mother Nature continues with her work and I'm glad to watch the season transformation. This reminds me of standing in the closet deciding what to wear for the day. Then, viola!, I've put things together that make me feel good and comfy.

I'm taking advantage of the overcast day to take photos of my latest creations. Some of these have already been on FB but they're so lovely that I wanted to make more photos for this post.

Lots of handspinning has been going on. I need to put these out for sale in public but they are providing a lot of inspiration hanging around here. I can see purses and cowls and hats all made from these.

Here is one of the latest yarns to come off the bobbin. I recently made a hat with a similar color way and spin technique (long tendril twists, short and long coils). There was a few rounds of vintage looking wedding dress white silk ribbon added in to the hat design. The combination of textures gives a romantic springtime effect with a pinch of spritely playfulness.

A Case For Swatching

I love my Tanis Fiber Arts Four Seasons hat! I’ve worn it a lot for over a year now. With it's cool slouchy form it's easy to wear. With it's cheerful images it's fun to make.

The yarn I used is my own that I spun after I dyed the roving to match the recommended colorways. I spun the gauge recommended in the pattern: finer than what I usualy knit with = smaller needles :0

The color changes and developing images made me want to keep knitting. It didn’t take long to finish.

This past Christmas I wanted to make a special gift for a friend who I usually gift with handspun yarn. This was the hat to make because it presents itself beautifully when finished. Time was not so much on my side and I decided to make only part of the design. I also spun the yarn a bit heavier, knowing that a greater gauge would allow larger needles :)

WOW! Check out the comparison photos of these two hats...Kind of makes a case for swatching.

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.