Evil

I have finally finished the main part of the knitting for the Sisyphus shrug (formerly the Kashmir thing) and on Friday afternoon I grafted the two sides together in the middle.

See it? See what's wrong? How it continues to mock me?

Here...maybe that's better.

I hate this shrug. A. Lot. When I die and go to hell, this shrug will be waiting there for me. I will knit on it all day and all night, and just when I think I am finished, it will fall into a heap of yarn at my feet and I will have to cast on again.

Knitting is still a little slower than I'd like, so there's not as much progress to show as one might hope. But I've got some (almost) finished socks, and a scarf that only needs to have the ends woven in. Look for a round of yule project updates which may or may not include photos of me burning this shrug so that it will no longer be able to haunt my dreams.

Oh, also...

Squeee!

We all know about Tuesdays..

And this week we return to our regularly scheduled spinning posts.

First, though, I had a couple of undyed batts. A package of food coloring and several hours later I had these:
This is "Fawkes" 4 oz. of lovely wool in peach, pink, red, orange, and a deep yellow.


I also bought 8 oz. of lovely, lovely alpaca from my LYS. I really wanted to dye it purple, but I know that when mixing colors, purple is pretty difficult to mix. Still, I took a chance, and the results were not entirely unsuccessful:

I decided to call this "Tanzanite." I wanted deeper colors, and more variation. Some places soaked up the red, and some took almost nothing but blue. But, overall, I think it's a passable bit of roving. Here, have a closer look:



As I started to spin the colors muted, and I began to worry there wouldn't be enough "oomph" to the finished yarn. So I spun up half the roving, wound it onto a seperate spool, and began the yarn for the second ply

With just a bit more "oomph" in it. I'd just like to go on record as saying that beads are really hard to spin into yarn. In fact, I kind of blame the beading action for my gimpy arm disaster of last week. So the spinning is still in time out. This Tuesday is going to have to be for knitting only.

Oh dear...

So. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that I was gone so long. There was sickness, there was job stuff, there was bad weather that made it hard to take pictures. But really, I've just been so lazy about posting. It's my fault. I'm sorry.

To make up for it, I've documented my recent case of startitis. Two weeks ago I got a pretty bad kick of it and cast on a sweater, a sock, a scarf, and a bag. I have yarn for two more scarves, a hat, and a pair of mittens on order. I took a running start at my Yule knitting, and was on the fast track to a stellar holiday knit season. See, look at this scarf:


But then, disaster. I came down with a bad case of whatever the hell happened to my wrist this summer. It. Hurt. So. Bad. Dear knitters, I was laid out. I could barely make it through work (where I have to count out money, which hurt me constantly and all day in a way I will not describe in words) and when I got home could not knit on the everlasting bagstopper:



I could not knit on these socks:


I couldn't even knit on my Cobblestone Pullover, which I thought was lovely and so warm.


I couldn't even make any progress on the infamous Kashmir Thing--which I have renamed the Sisyphus shrug.

I was so close to done. I could taste triumph. But again, the stone has rolled down the hill and I am knitless.

But it's been a week, and I'm starting to get back to knitting. It's going slowly, and I'm still hurting a bit, but I will not be brought low. For I am a knitter, and I have gifts to make. I will prevail.

I will also post more often. Even if I won't be knitting as fast.

Back to the land of the living...

I have been ridiculously sick all week. There has been a very angry creature in my sinuses, and he has not wanted me to do anything but go to work and sleep. Regular blogging returns tomorrow, when I can begin to resume something of a normal Dayquil free schedule.

Here's a gratuitous fiber shot for your Sunday afternoon.

This is the finished roving from Smoky Mountain Fibers. It's about 145 yard of sport weight yarn. I navajo plied it to keep the color changes together, and I've got to say, I love navajo plying.

This yarn is also much, much more consistent than the watermelon I spun before. It's pretty amazing what a little practice can do.

A Pattern!

No Tuesdays are for Spinning today. But I will have finished handspun for you in short order. Today is Tuesdays are for Knitting With Hand Spun.

To go with my first hand spun project, I'm going to add another first: my first pattern. As I said a few posts back, this is a beginner pattern, and it's quite easy. It's a great one for people who want to stop knitting rectangles--scarves, dishcloths, blankets--(not that rectangular knitted objects are not lovely, but it's nice to have more options) and start knitting in the round. My first project in the round was a sweater It was purple and acrylic and we are never to speak of it again. I think this is a little bit more friendly. So here goes.

Basic Top-Down Hat

Start with a yarn you like. For hats, I enjoy using a worsted or bulky weight yarn, and needles that are one to two sizes smaller than what I would ordinarily use for the yarn I chose. This makes a thicker fabric, and that’s certainly what you want for a winter hat. You’ll also want a set of double-pointed needles and a 16” circular needle in whatever size you decided on.

For this particular hat, I used a hand spun yarn that ranged from worsted to bulky I got a gauge of 4 stitches and 5 rows per inch on size 8 needles. You might want to make a gauge swatch, but I don’t for this sort of thing. If the gauge is off, just add or subtract increases as necessary to make a hat that is properly head-sized.



Cast on 6 stitches and divide evenly onto 3 needles. Join to knit in the round being particularly careful not to twist (it’s easy with this few stitches)

Row 1, and every odd row: K all sts
Row 2: *K1 m1 * repeat to end of row. (12 sts)
Row 4: *K2 m1 * repeat to end of row. (18 sts)
Row 6: *K3 m1 * repeat to end of row. (24 sts)

Continue in this manner, increasing 6 sts every other row a total of 14 times. (84 sts) OR until the hat fits the head of its intended recipient.

Knit even for 3.5 inches. At this point the hat should measure 7 inches from the top (Cast on) edge (Knit more or fewer rows if you had to change the number of decrease rows worked to get a hat that is 7” from the top.)

Next row: *K2 p2* repeat to end of row.

Continue in 2x2 ribbing for 2”. Then, bind off all stitches very loosely. I used a size 11 needle for this.

When you have bound off all the stitches, weave in the ends at the top and bottom of the hat. If you have leftovers, as I did, you may want to make a little pom-pom and fix it on the top with the cast on end.

Put on the hat, and take a picture:



Ta Da!

For my next post look for that Smoky Mountain Fibers roving, Navajo plying, and a Monkey I got off my back.