A gifted shawl

I have a friend at work who graciously gave me a loom. Yes, a complete weaving loom!

As a (very small) token of my appreciation i knitted a shawlette for her.  I used the lace weight mixed wool singles spun a couple months ago. If you're interested in how the wool was spun, check out this post.

Mixed wool hand spun singles

Mixed wool hand spun singles

The pattern is Mono's Darling, darling, stay with me shawlette (the pattern is free, just log in).  A beautiful quick knit, perfect for a gift.  I added small glass beads to the last two lace rows of the pattern because... well, because I just have to change everything!

Lace shawl

Lace shawlette

For help on how to knit with beads check out this article in Knitter's review.  I used a very small crochet hook to pull the yarn through the eye of the bead.  It was a bother because the beads are tiny, but I am happy with the results.

And I do believe my friend is genuinly happy with her gift.

More spinning!

I've been feeling sorry for myself for not having the time to spend on quilting, spinning and knitting.  But apparently I do have som time.  I am having results...

Mixed wool singles

Mixed wool homespun singles

Mixed race wool: Swedish fine wool/rya
57 grams

232 meters

Carded and spun in the grease with lots and lots of lanoline

Spun on ratio 1:5,5 on my Ashford Traveller with a short backdraw

Lightly felted.

UFO recussitation

My daughter reminded me of a sweater I had promised her last year... It's always embarassing to admit that a promised gift has turned into a UFO!

(= UnFinished Object)

So I got it out again and have recussitated it , it seems to be alive and breathing at least for the moment.

Tone on tone sweater in shadow knitting

The pattern comes from "Shadow Knitting" by Vivian Hoxbro and uses a really neat technique.  Working with knitted and purled stitches you make a pattern that only shows when looking at it from the side.  So, vertical stripes turn into horizontal stripes depending on your advantage point.

Please excuse the poor picture quality, but I wanted you to see how it works!

Gotland wool

I went to a small wool fair a couple weeks ago.  I found a basket of this wool and could not resist them..

Gotland wool locks

I tried to spin them combed, but they were sooo slippery!  I manages a couple feet, then my patience gave in.. So I carded them and spun them fairly loosely, plied them 3 fold and this is what I got:

Gotland locks and singles

Gotland 3-ply yarn

Gotland wool yarn

More brainless socks

I'm sorry it's been so long.  Time is just not on my side right now!  With work, school and family there is just not time to sew, spin or knit...

But, I have finished a pair of socks

Brainless socks

The pattern is from Ravelry and is called Brainless.  The yarn is handspun rya wool.  Handcarded and spun woolen.

Spinning spring birch

I bought a couple batts of mixed wool from limmo, she called them birches in the spring (or something similar) which is exactly what comes to mind with these colors!

I got to practice my long draw.  At times it worked great... but with a mixed wool bat the changes in texture was... challenging!

What they will become when they grow up?  I have no idea, they haven't told me yet!

More wool!

I've been splurging on wool, wool and more wool!

First I got more of the swedish rya wool I was spinning earlier, spun woolen it turns out fairly course but nice for socks.  Spun worsted it's shiny and smooth, I've got a 50 gr skien that is going to become a beaded shawl.

Rya yarn

From the same breeder I got some mixed breed (rya and swedish fine wool) wool that is sooo very soft, 10 cm long fibers, and absolutely full of grease...  I spun a small amount in the grease with very good results, easily spun, very soft.  Unfortunately all that grease really messes up my wheel... I have washed a couple locks, we'll see how that spins up.

Mixedbreed rya/fine wool

Then I found some GORGEOUS Gotland wool.  I just couldn't resist it..

Gotland wool

Gotland wool locks

See what I mean?  Impossible to resist.

Spinning merino

Just wanted you to see my next project.

The wool is from Limmo design.
Spun straight from the top and 3 plied.
Very soft, and kuddly, I can't walk past it without feeling it!

A cowl for coming winter

I found this wonderful merino yarn and just could not resist it!  Check it out:  link  I ended up making a cowl!

The pattern is very simple, I found it on Intrepid Fiber Wizard's website.  I did change it a little and used a full 100 gr skein of yarn which made the cowl long enough to become headgear as well.  The springiness of the yarn makes a very elastic fabric, which is great for this project.

Wonderful yarn.
Great pattern.
Simple knitting.
Quick project.

Can it get better?

A skein of lace yarn

The lace yarn is now plied and washed.  It is 185 meters and 50 grams of swedish rya wool, combed and spun worsted.

I have no idea what is to become of it... yet.  It might get dyed, it might "grow" beads.

The scrappy helix scarf

Since I have nothing else to do with my time (like packing for the move, working on the Storm-at-sea quilt, knitting the Ullared sweater, or... gasp... cleaning the house) I've started a helix scarf with the leftover yarn from the Shifty triangle mittens.

This is what I did:
Yarn: Drops Delight,
         Color nr 10
         50gr = 175 meters (1,76 oz = 191 yards)

I used two double pointed needles 3mm because they don't take much space when knitting.

Cast on 20-40 stitches (depending on how wide you want your scarf), I did 30.
Knit all the stitches on the needle, turn.
*Knit 8-15 stitches (how wide do you want the center of your scarf?), I did 10.  With the yarn behind the work, slip a stitch purl wise.  Turn. Knit to the end of the needle.
Knit 4-8 stitches (I did 5).  With the yarn behind the work, slip a stitch purl wise.  Knit to the end of the needle.
Now knit all the stitches on the needle, to the othe side.*
Repeat from * to * until desired length.  (and then add some or you will think it's too short..)

Good Luck and enjoy your knitting!

Fair Isle fingerless mittens - a guide

I've been reading Sheila McGregor's Traditional Fair Isle Knitting.  A wonderful book for people like me, interested in history and knitting.

Inspired, I came up with this:

This is not a pattern, but a guide to making your own pattern.

To figure out how many stitches to cast on:
Make a swatch and figuer out how many stitches you knit per inch. Measure you wrist, add 1/2 inch for movement.  Multiply the measurement, in inches, with the amount of stitches per inch you get from your swatch.

Example:  My wrist is 7  inches + 1/2 inch for movement = 7 ½ inches.  My swatch gives me a guage of 8 stitches per inch.  7,5 times 8 = 60

I casted on 60 stitches and used 2 mm double pointed needles and 2-ply scrap wool yarn.

The ribbing is a knit2 purl2 rib, using the background color for the knits and a mix of the other colors as the purls.  I ribbed 8 rows.

The first pattern is a simple zigzag, this pattern repeats 3 times on the mittens, I put it first, last and in between the larger patterns.

The bigger patterns are from the book, but there are so many nice free Fair Isle patterns to copy.  Search pattern databases such as Ravelry (this requires a log in id, but it's free)  and Drops (write "fair isle" in the search box).  I added a couple stitches to accomodate the patterns.

The pattern in blue is a OXO pattern.  I used the X to give me a starting place for the thumb increases.  I added first one stitch in the middle of the X and then one stitch on each side of the first increase every other row for a total of 14 extra stitches.  The other pattern continues on both sides of the thumb increase. 

I kept trying the mitten on my own hand, figuring out how many stitches were needed and how long to knit before putting the thumb stitches on a thread.

On the next row, I just skipped the thumb stitches and joined the remaining stitches together, continuing the knitting until I got the length I wanted.

The top edge is made like this:
Row 1 (that is row 1 of the edge, it's probably your row 145 or something ): ( k2tog, yo ) repeat until end of the row.
Row 2: knit all stitches.
Row 3-7 knit all stitches.
Cast off loosely.
Turn the edge at the k2tog, yo row and sew the hem to the back

Thumb:
Pick upp the stitches on the thread and pick up as many stitches as you need from the back of the thumb.  I picked up 6 stitches.  Knit as far as you want.  Cast off.

Good Luck!

Shifty triangle mittens pattern

Stranded knitting.
Knitting in the round.
Decreasing.
Picking up stitches.

If this is your first try at a mitten, you might want to look at another, more descriptive pattern too.  This is a simple pattern for experienced mitten knitters.

Do you want a pdf copy of this pattern?  Click this!


Yarn: Drops Delight,
         Color nr 10
         50gr = 175 meters (1,76 oz = 191 yards)
         I used about 75 gr of yarn for my mittens.
Tension: 26 stitches x 34 rows = 10 x 10 cm (4" x 4")


Needles: 2,5 mm double pointed needles/US 1 or 2


Pattern:

The yarns is varigated and knitted stranded, using either two balls of yarn or one strand from the outside of the ball and one strand from the inside of the ball.  This causes the shifting of colors throughout the  pattern.   The two strands of yarn may become very like in color during your work.  If this happens cut one strand (and secure in the stitches weaving in the end) and discard enough yarn to clearly see the shift in color between the strands. Secure the end in the stitches and start again. 

Cast on 66 stitches.
Divide stitches on needles, 16+17+16+17.
Knit one closing the round, making sure the stitches are not twisted.  Continues knitting 2 rows in one strand of yarn.

K1 in the lighter shade, p1 in the darker shade.  Repeat for 2 rows. (or more according to tase)

Knit one row in the darker shade.

Start diagram nr 1:

Shifty triangle mittens diagram nr. 1

The two sides of the mitten are not equal, just continue the pattern on the round. (Do not start over the pattern on the second side!)  The blue line is a scrap thread of different color that will make the thumb: knit the scrap yarn over 14 stitches, put the stitches back on your right hand needle and knit them again acording to the diagram. (This is only done on the back side of the mitten, on the front side:  keep knitting the diagram)  Make a thumb-thread for one right hand mitten and one left hand mitten.

Make note of this, I have made several pairs of mittens that have the thumb on the same side, it's very easy to miss...  But of course, you are smarter than me!




Continue knitting the diagram.
When you get to the decreases, I found it easier to make the decrease with both strands of yarn.  If you do this make sure you are really decreasing as you should, since you've got two strands of yarn in the last stitch.

For the right hand decreases I used a k2tog tbl.
For the left hand decreases I used a k2tog.

When the diagram is finished, cut your yarn, pull the ends through the remaining stitches and secure them well, weaving them in the stitches on the back.


Thumb:

Pick up the stitches on both sides of your thumb thread, adding two stitches on each side making 16 stitches on each side of the thumb.

Knit according to diagram 2:

Knit  in the same way as the mitten, the back side is the same as the front. The pattern is a 2x2 stitch square as seen in the drawing.   When weaving in the ends make sure to sew closed any holes between the thumb and the mitten.

Wash and block.

Good Luck!

A winter's vest

Yarn: Mark's & Katten's Sarek.  100% wool. 
50 g = 50 meters.  Used 8 skeins for a total of 400 meters.
12 stitches x 17 rows = 4 x 4 inches (10 cm)
I've used color nr. 1924.

Needles: 6 mm.

Size:  Womans medium.
Measurments:  width over hips 105 cm.  Length from shoulder to hip 57 cm. 

Right side of front:
Cast on 44 stitches.  I used long tail cast on.
Knit stitches for 4 rows making bottom edge.
Knit stitches on right side, purl stitches on wrong side (stockinette stitch) for 15 cm, ending on a wrong side row.

On right side: knit 2, ssk, knit the rest of the stitches on the row.  Repeat every right side row until 32 cm, approximately 16 times.

On right side: knit 2, ssk, knit the rest of the stitches on the row every other right side row.  Repeat until 20 stitches left on needle. 

Continue stockinette stitch until 57 cm (or desired length of vest).  Cast off.
Front, left side:
As right side, mirror image.

Back:
Cast on 73 stitches.  Knit 4 rows to make bottom edge.
Stockinette stitch until 53 cm. 
On right side of vest: knit 25 stitches, cast off 23 stitches, put remaining stitches on a yarn or keep on needle while shaping shoulder.
On next right side row: cast off 3 stitches towards the neck.
On next right side row:  cast off 2 stitches towards the neck.
Knit until 56 cm.
Cast off.
Repeat on other side, mirrored.

Sew shoulder seams and 25 cm of side seams measuring from the bottom edge. 

Pick up stitches along neck lining starting from the bottom edge of one front piece going along the neckline and continuing down the other front piece to the bottom edge again.  Cast off using jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off.  Use the same method to edge the arm. (Do not use this method for shoulder cast off, it is too stretchy and the shoulder will bulge)

Now fit the front to your measurments, slide the front pieces so they fit your body overlapping one over the other.  Sew seams on sides and bottom, making a small pocket in front of the vest, perfect for your iPod.

Good luck! 

Do you want to make another size?
This is how I did the math to fit me, I'll walk you through it so you can make it a perfect fit  for yourself:

The front looks like this, roughly:

Look at the pictures of the vest above, you can tell by the pictures how much the front overlaps.  How far do you want your vest to overlap?  How big do you want your pocket?  Measure how wide you want the bottom of your vest from the side seam to the end of the overlap.  Take this measurement and do the following math:

4 inches = 12 stitches (OR how many stitches per 4 inches your yarn and your knitting makes)  this makes 3 stitches per inch.  (12 divided by 4 = 3)  This time we're lucky to have an even number, if it does not turn up even (could be 5,736 stitches per inch) do the math with at least 3 decimals to make sure the measurement will work right!

Let's say you want your front piece to be 15 inches: 3 stitches per inch x 15 inches= 45 stitches.  So cast on 45 stitches + 2 (the extra two stitches are  edge stitches and will be used when sewing it together)

Knit according to the pattern straight up for as long as you want the overlap (and/or pocket) to be high, start decreasing stitches according to the pattern.

Where the pattern says "or the desired length of the vest"  make sure the vest is the right length for your body.  If you are extremely short you might want to decrease faster than the pattern says, while you are knitting place the front to your body and see if it looks/feels right.  Shape shoulders according to pattern.

Back:

Measure how wide you want the vest to be at the bottom, the back is only one piece so measure from side seam to side seam.  I measured my hips at my widest all the way around and divided by 2.  Do the same math as above but this time use the new measurement.

The back is basically a big square until you get to the neck.  Knit straight up until you have 3 cm (1 1/4 inch) left until the back is as long as the front.  Shape shoulders according to pattern.

Tip:
If I was to make this vest over again, I would make it a little bit longer.