Because my yarn matches my cat

Here is a shawl I am working on, because when your current projects are taking forever to finish, the logical thing to do is to start something new right? Anyway, I had to take a picture of it on my cat because he matches my yarn. He was not amused by these pictures...

I am making this out of the first yarns I spun on my wheel. Yeah, after some time and more experience, now that I'm working with it again, I realize how bad it was. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere right?

Also, this yarn isn't exactly soft. The grey is Jacob and the white is Icelandic, but the pattern fit my yardage well, and it does look nice together.

Hopefully, I'll be able to persuade the cat to lay on it when it is all done, and we will be able to compare colors once again!

Fiber Club!

This Slytherin scarf is sucking out my will to live knit, spin, or do anything fiber related. Fortunately, I have found a little pick me up: I joined a fiber club! Paradise Fibers has a lovely fiber club, and I just got my first package. It contained 4 ounces of dyed merino/silk, 4 ounces of dyed mixed wool, and 3 ounces of undyed baby alpaca.

The merino/silk is going to be interesting as it plies since it currently looks like my 5 year old's crayon bin, the kind where all the crayons are just thrown together. It's got some really pretty colors, but they are all over the place and there sure are a lot of them.

The dyed  wool is beautifully dyed in shades on pinks, reds, and purples. It's pretty fine top as it is, so I'm planning on just spinning it in one long single and then chain plying it, or maybe even leaving it as a single. I wanted to try to get something a bit thicker, so we'll see. Chain plying will certainly be thicker, but I would like enough yardage to do something with it, and I want thicker singles and don't want to end up with massively thick yarn. I guess it's a decision I will have to make later.

The baby alpaca is, well, baby alpaca. It isn't quite soft enough to not know when you're touching it, but it's pretty close (yes I have felt something that was that soft... it was a rabbit). Actually upon further examination, the loose ends are soft enough to fool the nerve endings at the tips of my fingers. Not sure what is in store for this, maybe some wrist warmers...

 

 

Whatever gets made with these, one thing is clear. That scarf needs to get finished, so I can finish spinning what is currently on my wheel, so I can start these!

It's been a while...

Wow, it's been a pretty crazy month. Nothing too dramatic, just hasn't left too much time for knitting. As a result, and a result of a smaller gauge some things have been taking longer than I have been appreciating.

Here's the latest on Slytherin. I can't help but feel that if it were the same yarn as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, it'd be done by now. Each large section is 36 rows, the grays are 4 rows, the smaller green sections are 12, so that makes 112 rows. I just double checked some math with what I could remember from Hufflepuff...it was around 150 rows. I'm not even a third of the way done with this. Hopefully by Thursday I will have a bit more done, and if not, we can all enjoy the scarf that never ends...

Until then...

Updates...

It's been a week. My Mom came to visit, and I didn't get much done, but here are some updates.

I have finished the Yellow/Black Hufflepuff scarf.
I have started Slytherin. I'm using much finer yarn (worsted instead of chunky), so it's going much slower...
I have started the Little Red cape. So far it's going pretty well. I have been unable to achieve different cables in specific sections. It was just too much to keep track of. I have been doing (I think) a nice job of increasing and putting in the cables. So far it is a nonagon (9 sides), with a flower in the center and cables coming out. Hopefully it will end up looking something like a flower growing out of twisting and interlocking vines, or at least I can pretend it does. At the moment I am working on 9 4-stitch cables that travel around the shawl. We'll see how it works, it's only about 30 rows so far, but I am really loving the Hometown USA, and the Tampa Spice is looking gorgeous.

I have run into a crucial road block with the Tapiz mittens. I am conflicted about whether or not I should finish them as mittens or just wrist warmers. As one of the ladies in my knitting group noted, it's not really the time of year for mittens anymore, and I could always use more items to help keep me warm while reading, knitting, or basically anytime in Spring or Fall. It seems like a no brainer right?  Just make them wrist warmers... But I am really liking the look of them and have been doing what I think is a very nice job with the color work, and I was thinking of entering them into a fiber festival in the summer/fall. I was going to enter them as a color work piece not specifically mittens, but I've never done something like that before, and I don't know if there will be an issue if I don't follow the pattern exactly (I hope not since they are already the wrong gauge as I used size 1 needles instead of size 2s...). If anyone out there has any thoughts or experience with festivals, I'd love your input on this one!

Little Red...

Well, I have yarn. I went out to our new Lion Brand Store and got some great Hometown USA in Tampa Spice to make A a Little Red Hood. Of course when I got home she told me she wanted a blue hood...

Here's the plan. I think it should work. The plan is to make an 8 pronged circle and use a button or drawstring or something to pull in the sides at the bottom of the hood. I think I'm going to work in cables as I go, deciding the pattern as I go. That should totally work, right? Suuuure.  Hopefully, it's end up being something that is at the very least a nice table topper if the hood aspect doesn't work out.

WIPs and Projects up ahead...

Ok here is what I am currently working on:

1. Hufflepuff Scarf
2. Slytherin Scarf
3. Moscow Coat
4. Tapiz Mittens
5. Pi Scarf

Here is a list of things I plan to make by the end of the year:

1. WWII Vest
2. Prince Charming Cardigan (I got a new pattern book "Once Upon a Knit" and the hubby actually liked something in it so now I HAVE to make it- Yay!)
3. Alcazar- Malabrigo Book 4
4. Rose Red Wrap- Once Upon a Knit
5. Duck Mittens- Improvised
6. Red Riding Hood Cloak- Once Upon a Knit + Improvisation- we'll see how it goes. I'd like to add in some crazy cables and I'm really thinking about the logistics of making a circular cloak

So that takes me to 11 projects. I won't be too upset if the Pi scarf doesn't get finished this year, but I certainly have to finish it by next Pi day (3-14-15).

Plus I do have a bunch of fiber that still needs to get spun. I am going to be so busy. I wonder how long a Ravelry ban would last?

The Saga Begins...Moscow Coat

Well I finally fell to the siren of the Moscow Coat. It will be a long, and at times tedious journey- it's mostly just stockinette stitch worked flat-but it should be great when done.

I'm still looking for some additional yarn for it. I needed four skeins of Cascade Eco. I choose Ebony, but could only get three skeins at the time. This project also uses two different yarns and the secondary yarn was dyed black, while the Eco yarn is an undyed black, leaving a brown cast. So I either need to find a matching thicker yarn, or decide on a contrasting yarn for the belt and collar. Though, I might be able to use the Eco by holding two strands together. We'll see how it all comes together.

I promise there will be more spinning soon, but right now, I have a lot of knitting to do.