I’ve been knitting wee things like crazy the last few weeks, but nothing has really moved me to blog.  How things have changed from a few years ago!  Anyway, it wasn’t until I got my mail today that I thought “I MUST blog this!”

Isn’t it lovely?  It is a box bag from Stitched By Jessalu, the etsy store of my friend Jess.  I have admired her bags for a while now, but have been good at talking myself out of them.  Recently, she posted this bag, but it sold before I could get to it.  I commented an innocent remark on her blog…only to find she’d ordered more of the fabric and was getting it in a few days later.  I had no choice.  I HAD to get it.  Lucky me, though, I was sale number fifty (50!) and got an extra little bit of joy in my package:

I suspect that the zipper bag will become a home to all the notions that wander about my bag.  Not a bad future for it.  Between the two, I’m in a much better spot for small projects.  Consider what I was using for this sock before:

It was a good bag–bought in Honduras from a women’s collective–but it just didn’t work for socks.  Especially with a toddler fond of pulling needles out of live stitches and poking them wherever they may fit (no joke, I’ve found these sock needles in heating vents, cookbooks and the cat food container).  I think the sock is safer (and more likely to get finished) when it is safely secured.

And because I *really* like this bag and couldn’t photograph it enough, the end:

so little to say.  I’m in one of those odd sort-it-out places where nothing quite makes sense–yet.  I’m telling myself that my subconscious is busy at work on things and will let me know when they are sorted out.  Surely I can’t be the only one that tells myself things like that?

I have a number of things in the works to blog about, but each is a step or two away from being ready.  Since it is a Wednesday and so many do a WIP flash today, here’s what IS ready to be shown:

Yep, that’s another pair of longies.  These are a newborn sized pair for a friend’s soon-to-be-here little guy. The color is off, it is somewhere between that and the picture below.  The first was taken with no light (we haven’t seen sun for three days) and the second with too much light.  I think I need to master the photo editing software I just bought.

Oh, and I should disclose this is another foray into the world of acrylic.  Lest you worry I’ve lost all love for wool, know that I’ll be back next post with a ton of newly-dyed wool.  I promise.

We just got back from a 10 day trip to Sunny Florida. While I would never ever in my life want to live there again (ever), I love visiting in January. I don’t need to tell anyone in the midst of a snowy winter WHY Florida is a great place to go. However, those of you IN Florida know that January beats the pants off visiting in August.

While we were there I finished the packed lunch for my little relative turning two:

What you are looking at is 2 1/2 slices of “pumpernickel” bread, two tomatoes, a slice of cheese (folded in half) and two pieces of meat (corned beef or bacon depending on who saw it), all accompanied by three cookies.   Most of the items were made with my own patterns, inspired buy the ones here, under the “novelty” section.

I wish I’d taken pictures of the individual pieces, but I was dressed for a wedding and heading out the door, hence the not-fabulous picture.  If you are interested, here’s how I knit the pieces:

Bread for a 1/2 sandwich
yarn:  worsted
needles:  size 6/4mm
CO 23
K1 row
K2tog, k to last 2 st, SSK for 2 rows
Each row fol:  k2tog then K to end
BO last stitch

Knit 2

Choc Chip Cookies
yarn: worsted, cream or tan; scraps of brown
needles: size 6/4mm
CO 20
knit 2 rows in garter st
K2tog all the way across row for 2 rows
break yarn, thread needle and slide through rem sts, pulling tight
sew short ends together
weave brown yarn through for chips, periodically knotting yarn for appearance of chips sitting higher on the cookie

Tomato slice- Large
yarn: worsted, red ; scraps of yellow
needles: size 6/4mm
CO 25
Follow directions for choc chip cookies, weaving in yellow for “seeds”

Tomato slice – Small
yarn: worsted, red ; scraps of yellow
needles: size 6/4mm
CO 20
Follow directions for choc chip cookies, weaving in yellow for “seeds”

Bacon/Corned beef slices
yarn: worsted, red or red variegated
needles: size 6/4mm
CO 25
K even in garter st until you have 5 ridges
BO

The cheese wasn’t a fabulous on-the-fly pattern.  I CO 25, k in st st until it looked good, then BO.  I knit it on the Florida Turnpike while on the way to our destination, so I didn’t have any sort of inspiration.  The yellow yarn was Lite Lopi, so when I was dissatisfied with the size and openness of it, I took it into the shower with me and hand felted it. You do what you have to do, right?  The felting also helped with the natural curl of stockinette, which was handy. I just couldn’t bear the thought of lumpy-looking garter stitch cheese.

Anyway, as you can see these aren’t difficult patterns by any means.  I hardly dare call them that, thinking of the more like suggestions.  The cookies and bread were inspired by someone else’s work that I tweaked when I didn’t like how the item turned out, while the chese, meat and tomato came from expereince making the other items.  Feel free to tweak to your heart’s content.

Quick post about quick knitting.  I’m working nights at a temp job, which is messing with my internal schedule.  I leave in a few, but wanted to share a quick knit:

Nope, not for me. We aren’t planning on finding out the gender of this babe.

The story?   I received an email from my sister the other day, asking urgently if I could knit a hat and booties for her soon-to-arrive little girl.  She has had a very difficult pregnancy and has been on modified bedrest.  It has been killing her, apparently, that she can’t shop for a hand knit set locally, and she turned to me for help.  What else was I going to say but yes?

Pattern: Ripple Eyelet Baby Hat

Size knit: Newborn

Yarn: stash-diving produced Lion Brand Wool-Ease in colorway Blush Heather.  Surprisingly soft.

Needles: size 6 & 9 Knitpicks Harmony

Started: January 13

Finished: January 14

Modifications: I altered the pattern to be knit in the round.  What baby wants a seam upside their head?

Knit it again? Not sure.

Notes: The pattern was an extremely quick knit.  I am not a fast knitter by any means, and this took me maybe 3 hours.  I would have finished it in one day morning and afternoon, knitting lace *while taking care of my 19 mo old child* but I had to leave for work 2 rows before the BO.  So, a normal human could get one done in a TV show or two.

Not sure how I feel about the stacking K2tog S Psso.  It looks messy to me.  Here, blocking the crown, you can see it (and my *ahem* “helper).

I already have one One Hour Baby Bootie (Rav link here) done and blocked and am casting on the other as soon as I hit “post”.  Update soon.

The last few weeks have been crazy. I’ve been working! It is only temporary, but I’ve been loving the library I’ve been working for. I heartily wish they had a position for me. I’ve missed Em tremendously the last few weeks, but being competent at a job has been a real ego boost for me. As much as being a stay-at-home mom/student has been enjoyable, it always seems to call into question my sanity and judgment. They joys of toddlers.

Oh yeah, and during that time I completed all the requirements for my Master of Library and Information Science.

I am so far behind with what I have been up to that I won’t be able to catch up in just one post. Would you like to start with some spinning?

I spent the Fourth of July weekend plying. Surprisingly, it actually occurred to me to take notes while spinning so I’d have something blog about.

So, the amazing thing is that I plied yarn that’s been on the bobbin for nearly two years. Can you believe it? I could nearly faint from the shock of it, myself. You may remember when I blogged about it in May, though I didn’t even post a new picture, just recycled the original one. From back in October of 2006. This begs the question of why. Why has this fiber, lovely as it is, been on bobbins for so freakin’ long?

I don’t know if I have an answer for this. It is easy to spin, is grabby enough that I could (and did) spin it quite fine. The colors are lovely and change at an interesting pace, therefore it isn’t boring.

For some reason spinning it felt like a life’s work. As I was plying I felt like it was taking forever. Really, this couldn’t have been more than 4oz, but I suppose the fineness and the long color repeats explains the angst. However, the fiber itself was pleasurable enough. Does that make sense?

One of my goals (and problems) while spinning this over such a long period was spinning a balanced yarn. I didn’t want it over plied only to be relaxed in finishing. Yet, this was the fiber I had trouble spinning about 18 months ago, because it was falling apart. I was lucky to be at a spin-in in February of ‘07 and have a bevy of experienced spinners at hand to help with wheel tuning and spinning advice. Turns out I was not adding enough twist and the fibers were not holding together. Although that was a great revelation, I had to be very careful not to have too great a change in the rest of the single on the bobbin. I am not sure how or why that it would be a bad thing, I just figured things would not turn out right.

Over time I also questioned the reliance on finishing to cover spinning sins. Does it really help, or will things revert to chaos when the final knitting good is blocked? Will make the under plied sections fall completely apart? As I let this sit in the back of my mind I saw some similar thoughts on a number of blogs. This from here:

When dried with blocking, the yarn is temporarily ’set’, like putting your wet hair on rollers to make a temporary curl. As soon as the yarn is exposed to water again–even in the form of a very humid day, just like with human hair–the original twist, or lack of, will reassert itself, even if it’s been woven or knit in the meantime.

Sounds like bad news, right?

Some other thoughts:

I had a ridiculous time getting the wheel set up to ply. I emailed/plurked/IMed Jess, my personal guide to spinning, but I was still obviously doing something wrong, until I somehow got it settled.

I could have preserved the color changes with a chain ply, but really wanted a marled look. Scratch that, wanted a look totally my own. In spinning I’ve done since then I’ve done some playing around with making color repeats longer or shorter than the roving was dyed. This stuff, though, was started at a time when I was exceptionally new at spinning, and finished at a time I had much more confidence. I finally figured out my yarn has a right to be exactly what I make it to be.

Of course, I immediatly starting spinning something:

I freaked out because I had no fiber handy to spin. I dug through some as-yet-unpacked-boxes and found some lovely fiber gifted to me nearly two years ago by The Gabby Knitter. My photography skills do not do it justice.

Finally, with school behind me and a roomy home, I’m ready to do what I’ve wanted to for ages: Have a spin-in at my barn house. I’m working up a flier at the moment, so let me know if you want me to email it to you. I’ll have it in a post in the next few days, too.

I can’t be the only one who goes on a jag, either a spinning or a knitting one.

After I made the second mistake reading the ballband swiffer cover pattern, a wicked easy one to read, I realized what I really needed was some spinning. First, I finished spinning some fiber that’s been on the bobbin for at least 18 months. It looked like this for a long time:

In fact, I think that’s the only photo of it for the 19 months of it’s life. Now, there are two bobbin’s full that are just waiting for me to look at the how-to-Navajo-ply video.

That didn’t satisfy me, so I pulled out a bag of Foxfire Fiber’s cashmere/tussah silk blend in lilac (you have to scroll down to see it, but it is SO worth it) . I think this is what Jess bought for me at Cummington last year, but I was hugely pregnant (37 weeks) and can’t remember if she bought this or my other acquisition from their booth. Either way, it was luxury and I am glad for it.

I admit some trouble drafting the silk. It didn’t talke long for me to realize there was no way I could spin this as smooth and even as commercially spun yarn. For the first time, I decided I didn’t mind that. Some sections, yards and yards of it even, were nearly perfect. Then, I’d get into a funk and couldn’t spin straight to save my life. It didn’t matter, though. This stuff was wonderful to spin– I nearly typed that it was “like silk” to spin, then realized it was.

To keep too-thin spots away I spun it to be about fingering weight (14ish wpi). At some point I realized a few things. One, I wanted this 2oz bump to go as far as possible. Two, I didn’t want to Navajo ply and cut my yardage in third. Finally, I wanted to preserve the color changes as closely as possible. The colors are fantastic, transitioning from a light lilac to a deep one, and a pale silvery shade in between. I wanted that in whatever lacy thing this was meant to be. So, I got brave and decided it would be a single.

This scared me a little:

It was freshly off the swift and oh-so-overspun in too many places. Here’s a closer look:

Scary, isn’t it?

Then, it took a nice hot bath. It was still a little over-spun but not too terribly bad. It was (despite my fear) strong enough to take a spin on the ball winder:

I was pleased.

For the first time in my 20 months of (off and on) spinning, I cast on right away. I couldn’t help myself, I wanted luxury now.

I am doing two repeats of the Ostrich Lace pattern. It is in both the Vogue Stitchonairy Vol. 1 (no. one oh eight-to defeat the auto-smiley) and the Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The Walker Treasury Project has a swatch here.

We’ll see how far I get.

Although I’ve been in New England for three years now, spring flowers never get old. Mostly, I think, because I am still learning things. Like, this. Anyone know what it is?

It lives outside my dining room window and has thus far survived the marauding herds of deer.

On the subject of bright colors, I have another FO. I haven’t taken pictures yet, it’s the last week of the semester and it’s possible I’m drowning. I have a progress photo, taken when I needed some encouragement to either frog or continue. I kept going, but still am not so very sure it was a great project. Take a look for yourself:

Very. Bright.

The point of the project wasn’t another pair of pants for the boy, rather it was an experiment to see how the striping yarn I’ve been dyeing works up in the project it’s intended for.* The colorway was an oopsie one, intended to be far closer to the pastel end of the spectrum. I didn’t think anyone would buy it, so I thought it would be a good example (knit in Em’s size, though, so not entirely a waste). I’m not sold on it, and if I’m not, then who would be?

*What a poor example of grammar. Excuse me.

The stripes are kinda cool though.

Maybe I should make it a black and white photo.

I know you want the winner. I was going to post my latest work in progress, but I’ll bet really you want to know if your name is there. Soooooo:

The winner is! Bea from Baa Baa BlackSheep!

Go check out her blog, it’s a good read. She has some cute little dogs for you puppy lovers, too. I am very much looking forward to shopping for her next weekend!

I was totally not expecting the response I got. 57 comments and 75 entries blows my old record out of the water. Kelli posted on her blog and sent over 15 people; Elaine sent over 5 (I have no blog for her) and I was listed on WiKnit, a knit contest blog. An unbelievable amount of traffic came from these people. I’m really glad y’all stopped by.

And here I thought it would just be you regular folks.

Change is good, blah blah blah. I get that. I do. I just hate to say goodbye to some things.

This was the view from our front yard for over two and a half years:

Sometimes, this was our view: (you may have seen this somewhere before):

The first year we saw an awful lot of this:

That part wasn’t so fun.  Swans are on the mean side, and they make copious amounts of poo.

Although we were cramped into a 640 square foot cottage, we loved it.  Mr. Cygknit joked to the landlords that if they’d just build a second story we would stay.  Once Em got mobile there was no choice but to move, though.  A pond in your front yard and a dam/waterfall by the parking spaces + an almost-toddler is a bad mix.  We moved last weekend, into a converted barn on a good deal of well-kept land.  There’s no pond in the front yard, though there’s a good bit of wildlife.

It just isn’t the same without the swans.

Part of my slackerness as a blogger is due to my getting sucked into a parenting board (or three). I don’t often have to really think about what I want to write; most of my comments are just a few lines long. Over here I feel a need to be, well, clever. Intelligent. Witty, even. Much harder to do in a post instead of a few pithy sentences.

So while over at my favorite small, closed, board–blithely ignorning my bloggy duties here–one of the mamas posted a thread looking to see if any of us spun our own yarn or hand dyed…and calling me out by name. I posted back a hearty no, no. I haven’t dyed for two years and don’t spin well or fast enough really to sell it. Check out these lovely women’s stores, please. I’ve met them all in real life and they are lovely.

No, she wanted ME to do it. She likes non-professional. She wants unique. She wants enough for 2 pairs of adult mittens and 2 pairs of child’s. I volunteer a colorway and to do self-striping.

Those of you that have done that before are laughing in the back, aren’t you?

I placed a Knit Picks order and waited with fluttery stomach. I dyed yarn. I made notes so I could blog about it. I started a post, then abandoned it.

So blog why now? I have been contacted by someone else, with an order for three large skeins and three small contrasting skeins. Also, my first customer has another order for me.

How did I get customers??

While I ponder that, here are some process pictures:

My photograhy skills are wretched, at best.  The colors are not as washed out as they appear and are more truly a vibrant turquoise and a rich brown.  The paler blue reminds me of Tiffany’s blue (purely an accident, I assure you).   I have orders for a pirate-themed colorway, a spring one, and a few to match my whims.

I’m even considering taking a dyeing class.

When did I fall down a rabbit hole?