I've been doing quite a lot of knitting over the last year. Hats, mobius scarves, wrist and ankle cuffs for a bit of added warmth at these pulse points, socks, lots of socks and I've become enamored of a new sort of jacket called a Swirl. These were introduced in the book Knit, Swirl! I learned about it when a LYS had a Ravelry post about a class for making Swirls. So of course I did some research, found the book and really liked the look of the garments. For several years I've been interested in a longer jacket sort of knit garment and this looked like a nice possibility.
After reading the book I ended up purchasing a kit for the Coat of Many Colors, in the Clemantis colorway. I figured that a kit would let me try things out without having to do all the yarn selections myself, since this pattern calls for 9 different colorways. This kit pushed my color preference boundaries, as it includes some colors, like orange and yellow-green, that I never wear. But the overall effect from this while very colorful is of purple. Purple is good, I like purple, so I went for it. And with a few minor points of confusion loved knitting the Swirl with this yarn. It is Mountain Goat yarn, by Mountain Colors, a wool and mohair blend. This is not a brushed yarn, so while there is a subtle raising of fibers in the completed Swirl it isn't hairy like many times we think of mohair.
I found the knitting to be simple but interesting. It starts out with the entire outside edge of the Swirl, so a whole lot of stitches, but then as the welts are knit and decreases made it gets smaller and smaller, and thus knits faster and faster. Then after the outside edge and collar are done it switches from knitting in the round to knitting flat, back and forth, but now getting faster yet because in addition to the regular decreases at the markers the opening for the neck decreases are also being done.
There are all these mini-milestones. The Swirls are knit with welted fabric, sort of like sideways ribbing. Several rounds of knit stitches follow several rounds of purl stitches, 4 or 5 of each, to make this rich, flexible and visually interesting fabric that is extremely simple to knit. Decreases are all k2tog or p2tog, dead easy. So finishing a welt is a mini milestone. Then switching to flat knitting is a milestone. Then there is the milestone where all decreases for the outside Swirl part stop and you switch to knitting the bodice, which is knitted flat with increases. Then come the sleeves, where rather suddenly the number of stitches increases quickly. But this is a milestone and it's very exciting because by this time you are actually very close to being finished!
When the increases for the sleeves are done you knit straight for a while, this is the actual sleeve and cuff of the Swirl and it's a lot of stitches. But you're almost done! Part way through the sleeve section it's time to cast off for the back of the neck and do neckline decreases, so suddenly it's tearing along like gangbusters, faster and faster and faster and you're done!
Swirls are such great fun to knit, and are very beautiful. I am really enjoying wearing my Coat of Many Colors. So much so that I am currently knitting another one, a Strata Sphere in Lamb's Pride yarn in Jack's Plum, a very deep, dark purple. And following that I plan to make one out of Cat Mountain Fusion yarns in the color Aurora Borealis. Blue to green to purple, just my sort of colors! The yarn is lovely and the skeins have been washed and are dry. Just need to swatch to verify gauge and finish this Strata Sphere...
Showing posts with label ravelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ravelry. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Monday, October 14, 2013
Spinzilla!
The first full week of October is Spinning and Weaving Week. So this year there was a contest called Spinzilla. I joined Team Stringtopia (#teamstringtopia) spinning up a number of different fibers during the 7 days the contest ran. Each team can have up to 25 people, and the Spinzilla pages explain about all the details.
As someone for whom spinning is a relaxation, a way to relax and enjoy fiber going through my hands to become yarn, enjoy the process as much or sometimes more than the end result, the production spinning for yardage was a bit of a jolt. However, I put aside all my knitting projects and spun as much as I was able. Now mind, I work full time outside the home, we have a multi-pet household and I take some classes of an evening, so the amount of time I had to spin was limited.
Knowing myself it was important to have multiple projects to work on during the week so I selected a number of different fibers. Some were single batts, some larger amounts. Prior to the beginning of the week I cleared my spinning equipment of yarn so I could start from empty bobbins/spindles, making it easy to keep track of just what I did during the week.
I have 2 spinning wheels, a double treadle Lendrum, and a Mazurka, and a Butterfly Electric Spinner. The Butterfly I have been spinning up some bouncy carded dark grey wool, so using an empty bobbin I spun more of this. As of noon on Sunday I had spun 732 yards of this wool. The Mazurka I spun some light grey CVM cross batts. I had recarded the wool the week before so it would be soft, fluffy and easy to spin. And it was. I ended up spinning 901 yards of this.
The Lendrum I used for all the other bits of fiber that took my fancy. In September I took a class at Stringtopia called Color Blending on Drum Carder. We made a number of interesting blends as well as batt structures like layered batts and taking a roving off through a diz. Several of these were spun up as part of my Spinzilla spinning. I found it very helpful to be able to switch around to different projects either as my eyes got tired or I just needed to do something different for a while. All in all I spun over 1168 yards of singles on the Lendrum.
In addition to all this wheel/electric spinner spinning I also took a carbon fiber micro trindle spindle and bison down fiber with me when I carpooled to work. Over 4 days of commuting I spun 3.15 grams onto one spindle then 6.63 on another. The 3.15 grams yielded just over 61 yards of yarn.
I still have to measure how many yards are in the 6.63 grams of bison fiber and how many yards I spun on the electric spinner last evening. However, as of this writing I measured over 2800 yards of singles spun over last week. In addition to the measuring of yardage I also need to get a photo taken of what I have spun.
As someone for whom spinning is a relaxation, a way to relax and enjoy fiber going through my hands to become yarn, enjoy the process as much or sometimes more than the end result, the production spinning for yardage was a bit of a jolt. However, I put aside all my knitting projects and spun as much as I was able. Now mind, I work full time outside the home, we have a multi-pet household and I take some classes of an evening, so the amount of time I had to spin was limited.
Knowing myself it was important to have multiple projects to work on during the week so I selected a number of different fibers. Some were single batts, some larger amounts. Prior to the beginning of the week I cleared my spinning equipment of yarn so I could start from empty bobbins/spindles, making it easy to keep track of just what I did during the week.
I have 2 spinning wheels, a double treadle Lendrum, and a Mazurka, and a Butterfly Electric Spinner. The Butterfly I have been spinning up some bouncy carded dark grey wool, so using an empty bobbin I spun more of this. As of noon on Sunday I had spun 732 yards of this wool. The Mazurka I spun some light grey CVM cross batts. I had recarded the wool the week before so it would be soft, fluffy and easy to spin. And it was. I ended up spinning 901 yards of this.
The Lendrum I used for all the other bits of fiber that took my fancy. In September I took a class at Stringtopia called Color Blending on Drum Carder. We made a number of interesting blends as well as batt structures like layered batts and taking a roving off through a diz. Several of these were spun up as part of my Spinzilla spinning. I found it very helpful to be able to switch around to different projects either as my eyes got tired or I just needed to do something different for a while. All in all I spun over 1168 yards of singles on the Lendrum.
In addition to all this wheel/electric spinner spinning I also took a carbon fiber micro trindle spindle and bison down fiber with me when I carpooled to work. Over 4 days of commuting I spun 3.15 grams onto one spindle then 6.63 on another. The 3.15 grams yielded just over 61 yards of yarn.
I still have to measure how many yards are in the 6.63 grams of bison fiber and how many yards I spun on the electric spinner last evening. However, as of this writing I measured over 2800 yards of singles spun over last week. In addition to the measuring of yardage I also need to get a photo taken of what I have spun.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Springtopia Spring String Thing, more knitting
Over the weekend I attended Stringtopia's Spring String Thing. This was primarily a spinning related event, but there were also knitting and color related classes, which is what I took. Carol Sulcoski, author and owner of Black Bunny Fibers, did a wonderful job. I highly recommend her classes. I now better understand how to use various sorts of hand painted, variegated, self patterning and striping yarns. This is a topic I'm quite interested in. I enjoy knitting self patterning yarns, but it is nice to know more about how to manage the results.
I have some quite nice hand painted yarns that I have been trying to decide what to do with them, and these classes have helped me make some decisions regarding projects to best take advantage of them.
Currently I'm in the middle of a sort of sock analysis project. Having several balls of the same brand of yarn, Regia, in different colorways, I am experimenting with how needle size affects durability in the toes, heels and foot. Initially this will be in stockinette, later I expect to do some tests that use heel stitch or EOP (Eye of Partridge). Using Regia Blitz Color 02530, a grey-blue self patterning yarn I used 2.0 mm needles for the toe and heel, and 2.5 mm needles for the rest of the foot.
About the time I started to work on these socks I realized that I had missing gaps in my needles in the smaller sizes. I had 1.5 mm (US 000), 2.0 mm (US 0), 2.5 mm (US 1 in some brands), 2.75 mm (US 2), 3.0 mm (US 3) and so on. What I finally paid attention to is that it is possible to get needles in between some of these US whole numbers. Note also that the size of a needle in one brand is not always the same as that same size in another.
Because of this I am stopping using US sizes to reference my needles and instead trying to simply use the mm size. I also ordered more needles. I now have 1.75 mm, 2.25 mm as well as a full set of 1.5 and 2.0 mm.
Since I prefer knee socks I am doing a concurrent experiment with a ribbing I read about on Ravelry. It is quite stretchy and thus far I really like the bounce back that it has.
This ribbing is a multiple of 3 sts:
Rnd 1: k2, p1
Rnd 2: k1, yo, k1, p1
Rnd 3: k3, p1
Rnd 4: sl, k2, psso2, p1
(note that your st. count changes for rnds 2 and 3 and then is restored on 4)
Many thanks to author Barb Brown who posted this ribbing.
So, on the blue Regia 02530 socks I used that ribbing from just after the ankle (toe up) on up the leg starting with 2.0 mm needles. At the point where I started to need more room for my calf I switched to 2.25 mm needles. This really did give a lot more stretch than I expected. However, as expected it wasn't enough for the calf itself, so I increased up the center back around the middle column of stitches. This really made for a nice fabric. Stretchier and more flexible than the same ribbing on the 2.0 mm needles. I just can't believe how much difference there is between fabric made with 2.0 and 2.25 mm needles.
Above the calf my leg tucks back in below the knee, so I switched back down to 2.0 mm needles and also did decreases. I took out half of the increases I'd put in for the calf, then continued on the smaller number of stitches up to right below the knee itself.
These socks with this ribbing stay up quite well. I wear my hand knit socks mainly as bed socks. Often hand knit socks will fall down unless held with a garter, but at least thus far this pair stays up.
To continue the experiment I want to know more about durability on the foot and sole, so my next socks, currently still in progress, are Regia Blitz Color 02526, a nice green with some dark grey and purple. This pair I'm doing on the smallest needles I've ever knit socks with, 1.75 mm. The gauge is quite dense, as one would expect. I plan to use the same ribbing, although since I'm using smaller needles and thus more stitches on the foot I will likely adjust the needle size through the ankle and calf a bit differently.
After this I will probably take a short break from socks and work a shawlette/crescent before getting back to socks.
Things I still want to check:
- What happens when a larger needle is used on the instep? How does this affect fit and durability?
- What happens when heel stitch or Eye of Partridge stitch is used on the heel alone?
- What happens when heel stitch or Eye of Partridge stitch is used on the whole sole?
- On the toe and heel?
I have some quite nice hand painted yarns that I have been trying to decide what to do with them, and these classes have helped me make some decisions regarding projects to best take advantage of them.
Currently I'm in the middle of a sort of sock analysis project. Having several balls of the same brand of yarn, Regia, in different colorways, I am experimenting with how needle size affects durability in the toes, heels and foot. Initially this will be in stockinette, later I expect to do some tests that use heel stitch or EOP (Eye of Partridge). Using Regia Blitz Color 02530, a grey-blue self patterning yarn I used 2.0 mm needles for the toe and heel, and 2.5 mm needles for the rest of the foot.
About the time I started to work on these socks I realized that I had missing gaps in my needles in the smaller sizes. I had 1.5 mm (US 000), 2.0 mm (US 0), 2.5 mm (US 1 in some brands), 2.75 mm (US 2), 3.0 mm (US 3) and so on. What I finally paid attention to is that it is possible to get needles in between some of these US whole numbers. Note also that the size of a needle in one brand is not always the same as that same size in another.
Because of this I am stopping using US sizes to reference my needles and instead trying to simply use the mm size. I also ordered more needles. I now have 1.75 mm, 2.25 mm as well as a full set of 1.5 and 2.0 mm.
Since I prefer knee socks I am doing a concurrent experiment with a ribbing I read about on Ravelry. It is quite stretchy and thus far I really like the bounce back that it has.
This ribbing is a multiple of 3 sts:
Rnd 1: k2, p1
Rnd 2: k1, yo, k1, p1
Rnd 3: k3, p1
Rnd 4: sl, k2, psso2, p1
(note that your st. count changes for rnds 2 and 3 and then is restored on 4)
Many thanks to author Barb Brown who posted this ribbing.
So, on the blue Regia 02530 socks I used that ribbing from just after the ankle (toe up) on up the leg starting with 2.0 mm needles. At the point where I started to need more room for my calf I switched to 2.25 mm needles. This really did give a lot more stretch than I expected. However, as expected it wasn't enough for the calf itself, so I increased up the center back around the middle column of stitches. This really made for a nice fabric. Stretchier and more flexible than the same ribbing on the 2.0 mm needles. I just can't believe how much difference there is between fabric made with 2.0 and 2.25 mm needles.
Above the calf my leg tucks back in below the knee, so I switched back down to 2.0 mm needles and also did decreases. I took out half of the increases I'd put in for the calf, then continued on the smaller number of stitches up to right below the knee itself.
These socks with this ribbing stay up quite well. I wear my hand knit socks mainly as bed socks. Often hand knit socks will fall down unless held with a garter, but at least thus far this pair stays up.
To continue the experiment I want to know more about durability on the foot and sole, so my next socks, currently still in progress, are Regia Blitz Color 02526, a nice green with some dark grey and purple. This pair I'm doing on the smallest needles I've ever knit socks with, 1.75 mm. The gauge is quite dense, as one would expect. I plan to use the same ribbing, although since I'm using smaller needles and thus more stitches on the foot I will likely adjust the needle size through the ankle and calf a bit differently.
After this I will probably take a short break from socks and work a shawlette/crescent before getting back to socks.
Things I still want to check:
- What happens when a larger needle is used on the instep? How does this affect fit and durability?
- What happens when heel stitch or Eye of Partridge stitch is used on the heel alone?
- What happens when heel stitch or Eye of Partridge stitch is used on the whole sole?
- On the toe and heel?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
More Wrist Warmers
I like my Cabled Wrist Warmers (details on Ravelry.com) so much that I am using some other handspun Merino to make another pair. This project is serving a dual purpose, to make another pair of wrist warmers, and to see how the K1B technique may work with socks. These K1B Wristlets are a simple tube with no shaping or patterning. I'll get an idea how the fabric behaves with the K1B.
I've finished the first one of these, except for weaving in the ends, and started the second. A fast, satisfying and useful project.
I've found using wrist warmers/wristlets to be a great way to keep comfortable on a chilly day, indoors or out. Since these leave the palm of the hand open they work at the computer, too. Styles that cover the palm interfere with using a mouse.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Finished the Quiviuk Feather and Fan Scarf, Thoughts about Ravelry.com
I finished my travel knitting project yesterday. It is a Seaman's Scarf with a Feather and Fan Pattern that I knit out of Quiviuk, a quiviut yarn. All the gory details are here on Ravelry. I'm finding Ravelry to be quite a good way to keep records about my various knitting projects. It's all in one place, and since I'm online all day while I work, a few minutes now and then give me a knitting 'fix' at times I'm not able to actually knit. I don't tend to do as much with the social networking aspect of Ravelry, mostly just keep track of my library and projects.
While I don't often use it, there is a huge amount of information and access to other knitters with all sorts of skills. It is nice to know it is there should I need it.
While I don't often use it, there is a huge amount of information and access to other knitters with all sorts of skills. It is nice to know it is there should I need it.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Shawls are wonderful
The chill weather has been uncomfortable for me the last few weeks, as it so often is. Since I work in an office I have taken to wearing some of my shawls the last couple of days. It has really helped. Yesterday I wore a white kid mohair lace shawl and today I've got on a lovely blue alpaca lace shawl. Both of these shawls are knitted from Myrna A. I. Stahman's book "Stahman's Shawls and Scarves: Lace Faroese-Shaped Shawls from the Neck Down & Seamen's Scarves". The blue is the Alka, which I've made several times in various weights of yarn, always lovely. I don't find the pattern I used for the white one on Ravelry, but it is a similar diamond pattern as the Alka, only the interior of the diamonds contains 3 vertical k3tog's, making the shawl even airier than the Alka. I only had so much of that white kid mohair, and using that very open pattern managed to get the shawl long enough to reach about to my waist.
I highly recommend the book and love the shoulder-fitted Foroese-shaped shawls. They stay in place well and are very comforting to wear.
I highly recommend the book and love the shoulder-fitted Foroese-shaped shawls. They stay in place well and are very comforting to wear.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Ravelry
I'd been hearing about Ravelry, and after poking around a bit decided to put my name on the list to join. Yes, that's right, on a list. This interesting site is limiting entry to a few hundred people a day, to keep technical difficulties under control.
Yesterday I got my invitation, created my account and off I went. This is a nice site with intuitive, easy-to-use areas. So far I like it. I was able to very quickly put in many of my favorite books as being in my library. They were in the system already, I typed in a bit to describe one, and then selected from a list. It shows up as a nice picture of the current front cover. Most of them are the same covers as my own bookshelf, but some have been republished since I got them so my actual shelf has different ones! Regardless, it was quite fun to quickly get info into 'my' library online.
I started to put in my projects and needles, and of course even starting to put in my stash will take a long time! But it's started, and I am looking forward to seeing how well having such things easily visible, easily updated, will affect my WIP's (works in progress) and stash. One of my long term goals is to reduce my stash, get it knit up and spun then knit up. Anything that will help with that goal is all to the good!
Yesterday I got my invitation, created my account and off I went. This is a nice site with intuitive, easy-to-use areas. So far I like it. I was able to very quickly put in many of my favorite books as being in my library. They were in the system already, I typed in a bit to describe one, and then selected from a list. It shows up as a nice picture of the current front cover. Most of them are the same covers as my own bookshelf, but some have been republished since I got them so my actual shelf has different ones! Regardless, it was quite fun to quickly get info into 'my' library online.
I started to put in my projects and needles, and of course even starting to put in my stash will take a long time! But it's started, and I am looking forward to seeing how well having such things easily visible, easily updated, will affect my WIP's (works in progress) and stash. One of my long term goals is to reduce my stash, get it knit up and spun then knit up. Anything that will help with that goal is all to the good!
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