Year in review

Settle in because this is going to be long, but hopefully full of pictures...

It's the end of a year. I don't really know what all I finished before I started this blog in June, but I think it was mostly quilting things. I thought I would take this time to look at all the things I have accomplished (with fiber) this year.

First spindle, first Merino, very thick, but still soft

First attempt at dying with food coloring

First completed skein

Then there was the time I tried processing that raw fleece...

Socks for a friend

More of the giant spindle

Hand spun and hand dyed

New fiber, new spindle

Much finer yarn

Dying before combing

Finished skein

Yes it did get finished!

First pair of socks, first lace, first shawl, and first real skein of hand spun

Results of that dying project

The shawl is finished!

The results if a pound of Cotswald, a student spindle, and some food coloring.

Once it got processed, it came out nicely.

Plying

Novelty Plying

So many colors!

The hat got finished anyway...and a matching bag

I got a wheel!!!

Fiber Festival

Fiber Festival returns

Attempts at novelty plying and new dying techniques

Hand processed, spun, and dyed

Phone Cozy from the Festival

Mittens for Tiny, yes they got finished!

New York Fiber

I Spy a finished scarf at at least one mitten

400 yards of singles

New shelf for the future space

And to top it all off, something new, 311 yards of BFL, with about 9 ounces still in the fiber stash!

These aren't even all the things I've done. I also completed that Fair Isle Bag, another lace shawl, a long sleeved shrug, and a few other little things I am sure. I'll see if I can get pictures up today sometime.

Overall, I think it has been a very productive and educational year. I have grown so much as a knitter, trying all sorts of new projects and techniques. I started from scratch with spinning, and now am making decent sock weight yarn. I've learned about sheep from the Festival and The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. It's been a good year!

I finished one!

So after months of not working on it, and it sitting in a box, bag, or other long forgotten location, it's done.

Draped on the tree; it is a Christmas present after all!

To be fair, I did complete many other projects since I cast this on, and as you can see below, it's not like a had help or encouragement from my family (two or four legged, most issues were brought about by the four legged members) to finish this. 

Yes, we put things on this cat, mostly to see if he will move or not.

 It really is a nice scarf. It's for my husband, made from a Caron yarn, that they apparently don't make anymore. It's called Natural Caron or something like that and contains 75% acrylic yarn and 25% merino yarn. It was my first venture into natural fibers and I started it...I don't even remember. I guess it had to be two years ago. My husband was working in VA, my daughter and I had come down from NY to visit for Christmas, I finished a Tumbling Blocks scarf made from Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick (back when it was 100% wool) and decided to make another. He said he wanted one that was thinner since the first scarf covered his neck and half his face when left unfolded, so I went to the store (I was still going to Michael's for my yarn then) and got this Caron.

I got home and pulled out all my knitting books and showed him all the different patterns available, including some online, and he picked a 4x4 basket weave. That's when the problems began. Man, basket weaves do look nice, and I really want to do something with a double basket weave pattern someday, but they are boring and tedious. At least that was my take. You switch between knitting and purling every four stitches, which is just long enough to want to start mindlessly doing one or the other, but then you have to stop. The repeats are 5 rows long, which again, is just long enough to start to loose track and mindlessly knit, but again you can't. So to sum up, it's not something you can do in your sleep, but it's not something where you have to pay attention to every stitch, and I guess that's where I am in my knitting now, I either want something insanely easy, like a bunch of stockinette stitch (preferably taken a step further to be knit in the round), or something fairly difficult, like lace, color work, or cables.

Closer shot of the dreaded basket weave

 I guess that means I have graduated to a new level of knitting. I used to be fine with minimally complex patterns like this, an entire ribbed scarf, or something like that, and the large amount of inches of stockinette needed for a larger project like a sweater scared me, but I have found the zen of stockinette and at this point in my knitting life, I would either like to be in that zen mode, or be completely ripped out of it by something difficult and challenging, not wade in the lapping waves of something you sort of have to pay attention to.

Steeking success...I think

So I finished my daughter's mittens. It was a bit odd and a bit nerve wracking to try the steeking, but I think it worked out alright.
I crocheted around the stitches that needed to be cut. That was interesting. I was using the same yarn so it was hard to see where I was working, I was working from the inside of the mitten, and since I'm not a crocheter I had to use a size E hook with mittens that had been knit on size 1 needles.
The cutting went fine, though I did have a raw end pop out while I was picking up for the thumb.
Overall, well we'll have to see once she wears them a bit, but I think it went ok. It certainly gives me more security to try steeking on other projects.

I know it's hard to see, but there really is some crochet on there too. You can at least see the ends up there.

So I guess I get to try steeking?

On Friday nights I go to a local Starbucks and knit with a group of great people. It's fun and we hang out for 3+ hours and some knit, some spin, and a few even crochet. So I have been working on my daughter's mittens there, and last night I finished the body. I still have to do the thumbs, but the main part is done. So I was binding off as everyone was packing up, and turning then right side out (I knit them inside out, but I'll get to that in a bit) and realized that one thumb hole is on the wrong side...that's what I get for knitting without a pattern right?

So the way I see it, I have a few options:

1. I could rip out and knit again, it's really only about 4 inches
2. I could knit another mitten and use the one with the wrong thumb for some sort of Christmas decoration, like an ornament or something
3. I could sew up the thumb hole I currently have and steek another one on the correct side

 Well, it's the 14th. I still have a couple to several feet left on my husband's Christmas scarf. I have other things I want to knit. I "like" learning new things...right?

So I guess that means I'm going to give steeking a go...wish me luck!

Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Away

Still working on all those Christmas presents. I seem to be in a knitting mood rather than a spinning mood, which is nice for my Christmas presents and nice for my malabrigo Book 4 quest, but every time I look at my wheel, it just seems sad. Maybe once I get through these presents, I will have more motivation to spin.

What about the rest of you? Do you have more than one craft you work at? How do you balance your time between them? Do you just do whatever strikes your fancy at the time, or do you have a schedule? Inquiring minds and all...

Christmas Projects

See the thing about knitting small projects it that they only go quickly if you use normal needles.

I finished the shawl and started a pair of mittens for my daughter from my first skein of yarn spun in New York. I'm working top down, two at a time, magic loop (although the two at a time might have given away the magic loop part), on size 1s, and they're cabled...so yeah, not going as quickly as I hoped, but if they keep her hands warm, that's all that really matters right?

So close

I'm in the final stretch for one of my projects from the Malabrigo Book 4, the Abalorio circular shawl.
It's the lovely end point, where even though the final 8 rows have 576 stitches, I have been knitting like crazy. There is a knitting group I go to on Friday night, and last Friday, I had 9 rows left, the final increase -taking it to 576 stitches- with another 8 rows and the bind off.
Since then, in addition to painting my daughters room, I am currently on the last row.

It's that crazy end of project enthusiasm. I've been working on a scarf for my husband for almost a year, really I started it last January, or maybe even January 2012? If I spent the amount of time knitting on that as I have this shawl, it'd be done in another three days. I mean the scarf is 24 stitches wide, so if I did only 576 stitches a day that would be 24 rows a day, which would amount to almost 5 inches. But I'm in the middle of it, and I don't have the motivation.

Well, I will be finishing the shawl tonight (sorry, no pic yet, it's a Christmas present for a friend), then I have a pair of mittens to make for my daughter, and then I WILL work on my husband's scarf. I should be able to get it done by Christmas... I hope. I've decided that I'm not going to buy any new yarn until January. We'll see how that goes.