More spinning

Ok, well, I have been on more of a knitting kit then a spinning kick this last week, but I still have some things to show off to my ones of readers.

First, here is some bulky yarn I spun up with roving I got from Spinning Sisters:
I have about 150 yards there. Likely that yarn will turn into a hat, much like the first skein I spun up:
The Specs:

The Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue Hat
The Yarn: My handspun, bulky weight, about 100 yards
The Needles: US Size 10
The Time to Knit: 2 days
The Verdict: I can't believe I made a hat out of yarn I spun myself. I am very proud of this hat.

Finally, here is the first bobbin of some yarn I have been spinning with some Fat Cat Knits roving:

I am trying very very hard to take my time with these singles, and get a much thinner and more consistent yarn this time. Thus, it is taking me much much longer to spin this up. But, I think I am going to be thrilled with the results!

That's all for this spinning post. Coming up soon: Clapotis, Noro Striped Scarf, and possibly a sweater. :)

Happy knitting.

Bird in Hand

Well, I had this super long post I wrote up last night, and I was about 10 minutes away from being done with it (after working on it for over a half hour) when something crazy happened and my post was gone. It was the perfect storm of using copy and paste shortcuts and the backspace key, I think. Sadly I do not have the time to post everything all in one post, so there will be wee little posts throughout this week to get all caught up on the blogging. I know, I know, this is clearly the saddest story you have ever heard. :)

Anyway, Saturday evening I finished my Bird in Hand mittens:These really were a joy to knit, and they went much much better than the last time I tried to knit a pair. It was the move up in needle size. This time they actually fit an adult!

The Specs:
The Pattern: Bird in Hand by Kate Gilbert
The Yarn: Cascade 220, 2 skeins
The Needles: Size 2 (I used my 2 16 inch Addi Turbo Circulars. I think the two circ method is a good choice for fair isle mittens like these)
The Time to Knit: About two weeks
The Verdict: I love these. I am proud of these. I want to wear these right now (although, I won't. It might make the typing thing a little difficult)

That's it for this post. Coming soon: Clapotis, Handspun Hat, Noro Scarves and more spinning!

Happy knitting!

Sit N' Spin. . . .

Well, I have pulled myself away from my new toy long enough to show it off. On Thursday my spinning wheel arrived:
It's an Ashford Kiwi that I purchased online from Paradise Fibers.I couldn't tear into that box fast enough. After a couple hours and a few curse words later, I had my wheel assembled:
I had been reading a couple books about spinning prior to the wheel arriving, so a short time later I was ready to try to start this whole spinning thing. I had a bit of roving around from when I was messing with the drop spindle, so I used some of that to make my first singles:
After a little bit of that, I was ready to pull out some roving that I bought from Paradise Fibers when I bought the wheel, and I went to town. After a couple days and a few more curse words, I actually had some yarn:

It's kind of thick and thin, but I was expecting that as I am totally new at this. You don't just go and spin fingering weight yarn on the first go. But, it's lovely to me and that's all that matters. I ended up with about 100 yards, which was more than I thought I would make.

And, so, of course, my second Bird in Hand mitten is sitting unknit, while I play with the new toy. I am sure in a few days the novelty of the wheel will wear off and I will be back to knitting on a more regular basis.

Excuse me, must go back to spinning now. :)

Stealth Knitting Revealed.

I can now reveal some stealth knitting a did sometime around December. The surprise knitted gift is, in my opinion, one of the best things you can give a person.

I present the Cowl for Kristi:

What a nice looking piece of knitting! Can I see a close up of that stitch pattern!?

That stitch pattern is one I saw in iSeL's Brown Berries Scarf on Ravelry. It's two rows, it's easy to memorize and it looks great with the variegated hand-dyed yarns.

For those knitters out there, here is the stitch pattern:

Row 1 (WS): Slip 1 pwise, purl to end.

Row 2: Slip 1 kwise, *YO, K2, pass YO over K2 *, repeat from * to * to last stitch, K1.

I cast on 24 stitches for the cowl and did a few rows of garter stitch at the end of the button band. Easy easy knit.

And, because I had some leftover yarn, I also knit a nice warm headband:

I knit a tube and then seamed it together for the headband. It's double the fabric! Double the fun!

Kristi received her box of goodies today and I am so happy she liked it (there may or may not have been some knitting needles and some yarn in there to get her started knitting...honestly).

Other than that, my spinning wheel arrived yesterday! It's put together and some (very poopr) spinning started last night. I can't wait to get home this afternoon to work on it some more. Hopefully, I will have some pics to show later this weekend!

Happy knitting! And spinning!

A Bird in the Hand. . . .

You may recall, that last year I tried to knit some Bird in Hand mittens. Everyone (including myself) thought they looked pretty good, but I ended up frogging them. Why? I was knitting them on size 1 needles and it was just too tight and they were kind of small and by the time I got to the thumb my hands hurt so much I just ripped them out and called it a day. It was sad, for I loved the mitten, but it had to be done.

Cut to a couple weeks ago. A few of the ladies in my knitting group expressed an interest in knitting these mittens. So, I decided to organize a little Bird in Hand KAL for the 7-8 of us. It was just what I needed to get motivated to work on these mittens again. This time in a lovely red and beige combo:
This time, armed with the experience of last year's knitting fiasco, I smartly went up to a size two (an Addi size two, which, in my opinion, is more like a 2.5) and I went to the two circular method rather than using dpns. It is going SO MUCH BETTER. I am in love with my mitten.

I am also ridiculously excited about these mittens, as they will match the coat I bought a couple weeks ago. Hooray for mittens!

Not only am I super motivated to finish these because I want to wear them, I also want them done because I have decided that when I complete these I can start working on a February Lady Sweater (all you knitters reading know that this sweater is all the rage right now. And, I do enjoy following the crowd on these things).

That's all for now. Unfortunately, I am off to work now. I wish I could stay home today and knit a mitten. That is a much better use of my time I think.

Oh! I have one more thing to add. As you know, I made a knitting resolution of not buying any sock yarn until Stitches. I have decided to revise this a little. I can buy the sock yarn if it is for a specific project that is not socks. For example, I see myself wanting to knit another Clapotis in the future, and I would really like to use some nice STR or something for it. I think it is a good revision.

Happy knitting!

A quick note

I just wanted to say that I have been knitting a lot in the past few days and have no pictures to prove it. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day. :)

The real reason for this post is to say that I have now gone back to being a two blog girl. I copied Mel and started a blog called Jen's Best Thing About Today. I just love the idea of taking two or three minutes a day to recall what the best thing was. Even if sometimes it is stupid (like today's was having the willpower to only spend $8.10 at a yarn store this afternoon). That kind of thing. Anywho, you can find it here.

Enjoy. We will be back to our regularly scheduled knitting in a day or two.