Home Stretch

I'm almost there. I have knit my 16 inches of stockinette with various increases and decreases. I have been working from the bottom up on this cardigan, and I am ready to make add stitches for some sleeves. If I really wanted to, I'm sure I could figure out what the pattern says on my own, but since I have such a lovely group of knitters to talk to on Friday, I am waiting until then to take this next step.

In the mean time...well it's snowing again, and there is work, and children (if I haven't mentioned it already I am in a homeschooling co-op with my neighbor which means that after I get off of work at 11 or so, I get an hour with my daughter, and then her two girls-6 and 4- come over and we do the afternoon section of school until 3 or 4), and a house to clean. Normal life.



But also, my Brother-In-Law, who is in the Army, and also a big WWII reenacter (apparently that's not a word, or at least not on Google?) has asked for a vintage WWII style sweater vest. So now comes the lovely search for the right green. I have found a few things, but only online, and colors are always a bit if-y on a screen. Yesterday, I went to a LYS to look for some of the yarns we had found online since I knew they carried the yarn. Alas, they did not have the colors I was looking for. I did find another yarn that was a decent color, but I have yet to get that approved by the B-I-L.



In the process, my daughter found some lovely variegated pink and white Ella Rae. She decreed that this was to become a scarf. By the end of the day... She is letting me use size 10.5 needles. I think it's because they are blue.



I have been working on the birds' nests. I did finish a medium sized one, but that has been confiscated for the two baby birds that we are getting from somewhere, at some point (?). My daughter gets attached to things. I am almost two inches into another small nest. So that should be finished by tomorrow night, unless I actually do finish the scarf.



Sorry for the lack of pictures lately. My phone, computer, and camera are not getting along lately. Hopefully that will be fixed soon... Until then I will do my best to get a couple of pictures up of my cardi and the birds' nests, but it might take a few days and be a separate post.



It seems like this is a busy time of year. Hopefully things are going well for everyone out there! Until next time, I'll keep working, hope that you do the same, and please let me know if you are aware of any good army green worsted yarns!

Knitting for the Birds: Charity Project

My weekly knitting group is starting up a charity project that is just so cute and fast that everybody should hear about it. It's called "Knitting is for the (baby) Birds" and involves knitting very quick and easy little bird nests. It is hosted, I guess that is the term, by The Bird Rescue Center of Sonoma County, CA.

Here is a shot of one that was done last year.

Senor Birdnest

 This, I would imagine, is a large size. I haven't knit the pattern before, but apparently, they are super quick and very easy. The pattern only requires knitting, purling, knitting to together, and working on double pointed needles. It isn't a brand new beginning project, but it could be good for anyone who has a few projects under their belt and a desire to help some orphaned birds.

Here are two different patterns:

The original from the Bird Rescue Center, it's a pdf just so you know.

Another version with crochet patterns as well.

It's a good cause that I had to share with you. Hopefully, next week I'll have the time and energy to fill you all in on my Kaleidoscope sweater, my new skein of hand-spun (spoiler- it was chain plied!), and my new commission/request from my brother-in-law, and possibly a few more shots of the bird nests. I hope your projects are going just as well for you!

Black holes

I realize it's been a while since I put anything up. I have been working with fiber, I've just been working with other things too.

I effectively got two new jobs in the past two weeks, so it's been kind of busy.

But progress is being made. I'm 13 inches into the 16 inches needed for the body of my cardi, and I'm most of the way through my Merino, at least in singles. Hopefully, I will adjust to my new schedule soon and have more time for crafting and writing about it...

All done, with this part of it

I have finished spinning the Alpaca for my cardi!

I woke up at 4 on Wednesday morning, and since my family was still asleep and I didn't have to be at work until 7, I decided to spin. I hadn't been doing much spinning as I have just started this job and often go in at 5 am (hence the waking up at 4).

I got so much spinning done! I sat at my wheel, started listening to some music, and set a timer on my phone. Before I left for work I had finished that bobbin and was starting the next one.

Since I was so motivated by getting so much spinning done in the morning, I was able to finish the singles on Wednesday and ply it all on Thursday.

My yarn is currently drying in the bathroom. Hopefully it'll be enough to finish the cardi...

Size 7

It seems as though lately I have the uncanny ability to gravitate towards patterns that are knit almost exclusively on size 7 needles. Here's a list:

1. Kaleidoscope Cardi
2. Moscow Coat
3. Alcazar Sweater from Malabrigo Book 4

There are more, but as this list accounts for about 4000+ yards of yarn, I think that is a sufficient point.

At first, I just took this as a sign that I needed more size 7 needles, but then I took it as inspiration to make sure I actually finish projects.

At the moment I am working on the chest increases for Kaleidoscope, but what may not be known (I don't remember if I wrote about it already) is that I have the yarn for my Moscow Coat, and as it has been recently and will be in the single digits again soon, knitting a giant wool coat sounds like a pretty good idea.

But where would that leave Kaleidoscope, my lovely, hand spun, undyed, alpaca, sweater? Sitting in a bag somewhere. I think that is far too cruel a fate for  any of the above mentioned projects.

So for the time being, I am still knitting inch after inch on Kaleidoscope, and my Moscow yarn is sitting on my dresser, the skeins too big to fit in my current stash (I'm subbing Cascade Ecological wool, the ones that are over 400 yards of chunky yarn in a skein). I see them every day as I go through my room, and hopefully the thought of them sitting there lonely and unused, will help me keep knitting all those rows of stockinette stitch when I am so tired at night after work and homeschooling, trying to finish a project just so I can start a new one...

Don't even get me started on the reality that I have to finish spinning the yarn for Kaleidoscope first.

Spinning Alpaca

This is what happens when I spin my grey alpaca for my cardi...

Progress and new Goals

I've been working on my Kaleidoscope Cardi for about 12-15 hours and I am almost ready for some increases. I tweaked the pattern a bit, starting one size up at the hips and moving to my regular size by the waist. I had to do some math to accommodate the  additional decreases, but it did help make those 8 inches go by a bit faster.

My yarn is working out really well. I am using my own hand spun alpaca for this project and I really like the way it is coming together. The weight is nice, though I can tell the difference between different skeins, but it's one of the differences you can only see if your face is less than 6 inches from the fabric (and nobody over 6 years old should be that close to my hips or waist). I figure it all works out and will be quite nice when it's done.

This pattern was made for amazingly dyed yarn, which I've mentioned before, but I really like it in my natural yarn. It makes it much easier to see the actual yarn, which given how long I've been spinning, and the results I have been getting, I quite like.

So that's my update on the Cardi.

I've been watching "Spinning Hand Dyed Fiber" on Craftsy, and I have a few new goals:

1. Mixing colorways
2. Spinning from the fold
3. Gradiated spinning (I don't know if it has an actual name, but I want to take a colorway and make a continuous colorway that goes evenly from one color to another instead of multiple sections of colors)

I think that's all for now, and the mixing of colorways certainly gives me plenty to work with. :)