Handspun Friday - Peu Bourgeons mitts in Merino/Yak

Thank you all, who left a comment on my last post, for your kind words! Everything is back to normal, and I hope it stays that way.

Today I've got a twofer. Handspun yarn, and a FO made with it!

I've joined the Bare Naked Knitspot Club, pattern only, which I think now, was a mistake. The patterns are tailored to the specific yarn of the month. I thought, I could easily spin the yarn myself. Well, March yarn was YAK! I've never spun yak before, but as it turned out, I did have a merino/yak blend braid in my fiber stash. Not quite the same, but close enough.

This is the fiber: Corgi Hill Farm, 50/50 Merino/Yak, Coffee Dreams.


I've divided it into half lengthwise, and spun it quite thin. I chain plied it, and after its bubble bath, it poofed up quite a bit. I was going for DK weight yarn, but it turned out worsted weight in the end.


2 skeins, total of 186.5 yds, chain plied.



I still wanted to knit the Peu Bourgeons mitts from March offerings (there were the mitts, a cowl, a hat, a scarf to choose from).
After I've cast on size L, I saw that it would be too big, and called it a swatch, ripped it out, and cast on size S.
I had to shorten the cuff too, only did 12 repeats, instead of 20 repeats, but the rest of the mitts were knit as written.





Denny wanted to see for himself why that thing on my hand was so interesting.


a sharper image, now that he's no longer jumping up on me






I can not tell you how much I love the feel of this fiber blend. It's soft, yes, but it's heavy too, and really warm. I think I have another braid in my stash, different colorway though, but I'm looking forward spinning it.

***
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

***

ER - and Sharktooth shawl

I've thought about it, whether I should say something about this or not, but it was such a scary experience, I have to get it off my chest.
There's another thing I can chalk of a list of things I never wanted to do.
ER as a patient!
Obviously, since I'm writing this here, I'm fine, no worries! But I scared the heck out of my son, and myself Thursday night, early Friday morning.

If you know me at all, you know that I don't go to the doctor easily, agreeing to go to the ER was something I'd never thought I would do.

This is what happened. I was in bed reading for about an hour, when I turned over, and suddenly was very dizzy, and felt nauseated. I had to sit up, and spend the next hours sitting, and trying hard not to vomit. I could not close my eyes, or try to lie down, because it made things worse. After several hours of this, I gave in, and the thought of vomiting promised relieve, so I did. Boy did I ever! I haven't done that in over a decade.
My son was concerned, the dogs were freaking out, and I got really scared. I got the relieve for about a minute, and then it all started over again, even worse, because by then I was so incredible tired as well, that my eyes fell shut, but I had to keep them open. Vicious circle.
By then it was 3AM and I agreed to go to the ER. I thought I had eaten something bad, and didn't want to leave this beautiful world, because of Salmonella or some such. Secretly I blamed my home made mayonnaise, but I didn't say anything, because my son ate it too, and I didn't want to scare him even more!

Well, we arrived shortly after 4:30AM, and while sitting there, focusing on one point, trying to get my nausea under control, time went by, and they finally called me in at 7:45AM.

By then I was feeling better already, and I'd joked that waiting another hour I could go home cured.

Anyway, long story short, the Doctor said I have BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO. Never heard of it? Me neither.

When he explained to me what's going on, I actually said, "That's it?"
I still felt slightly dizzy, and nauseated the next day, but as of this morning, I'm my old self again.
Phew!
PS Say nothing about my home made mayonnaise! It was delicious!

***

Have I shown you my Sharktooth shawl yet? It's been so long that I've knit it, and it's been on Ravelry for a while, it's hard to keep up with myself. :o)











This got to be the smallest shawl I've ever knit. If I were to do it again, I would use DK or worsted weight yarn, with larger needles. But I like the look of it.

pattern: Sharktooth, Westknits Shawl Club December 2011

yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Slinky Cat fingering, colorway "Sterling", I love this color.

needles: 3.5mm

I didn't block it excessively, just because I didn't fancy all those picots. I just gave it a bath, and smoothed it out, and let it dry.

Handspun Friday - Old Forge # 3 Part I

As Old Forge # 2 is almost finished (only the knit on border to go, as soon as I get the fiber to spin more yarn, since I ran out), I've started spinning for # 3. Here's the colors for it. I've finished the contrast colors, only Pale Aqua as the main color to go.


Here's what I did. I've used 6oz of Tangerine, 8oz Magenta, and 6oz Sangria to make seven skeins. I've done this before, it's so much fun!



There's a lot more yardage than I need for the middle part, so I'm going to use the left over yarn for something before I do the border. I can't wait to see how it looks knit up.

This photo was taken in direct sunlight.



This one's taken in the shade. The colors are quite true here, but still, they look much better in person. I wish I could copy/paste and have another set of those skeins!



Now I have "only" 34oz of Pale Aqua to spin, and I'm set to start #3! But I'm going to take a little Falkland spinning break, and try a few different fibers to spin in between.
***
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
***
And some photos of sleeping puppies:
Maggie enjoying the sunshine.


Who said, Denny is not a Sloth because he's not hanging?


And what I love to see when I'm spinning:

Happy and Denny sharing the sofa = rare.

***

Polyhymnia's Triangle

This shawl almost didn't make it to the finish line. But I'm glad it did.



My favorite part of Poly was the beginning triangle: it's construction is very clever and I like the stitch pattern too.



I hated the lace part of it, simply because I screwed up so much. YO's are my enemies! Either I have too many, or not enough. Many a ripping involved here. Purely my fault, the pattern is wonderful!


The reason why I almost didn't finish it was the ruffles at the edge. I really liked them in the original, but did not want to knit them myself. So I was all set to bury the shawl in a bag, and hide it, when I thought I could just do a garter ridge edge instead.



I'm very happy with the end result.



pattern: Polyhymnia's Triangle by Romi Hill
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Twinkle Cat (Marcasite), and WCY Twinkle Cat Gold (honey color-Rumpelstilzchen)
needle: 3.5mm
size after lightly blocking: 24" x 90"
mods: I omitted the ruffles at the edge, and knit garter ridges instead

***
I also wanted to show you what I'm spinning right now. I love the colors so much.



It's for my third (and last) Old Forge blanket.

***

1000 posts!

Wow, how did I get here? This is my 1000 blog post!
Let me take this opportunity to say THANK YOU! to all my readers, and lurkers. :o) I wouldn't be here without your feedback, which is important to me. Otherwise I would feel silly doing this.

Anyway, here's some funny clip to cheer you up (if needed). Of course, the star of the movie is Denny. Maggie was not sure she should join in on the fun, (and Happy was in Lalaland, Frisbee on head, you know.)



By the way, the other day, he must have thought he'd died, and gone to heaven. He found half a pork chop in the front yard. Left there by whom? Do squirrels eat meat? The biggest wonder was, that he gave it up, when I asked him to! The following days, he went straight back to the spot, checking if he'd get lucky again.

***

Handspun Friday - semi solids continued

I've managed to finish another batch of FatCatKnits Semi Solids. I really enjoy spinning them in between other projects.

Here's a bobbin shot: each bobbin holds 2oz of one colorway



from left to right: Ash Beige, Smoke, Taupe, Sienna, Chestnut, Colombian Roast, Walnut.



They are chain plied.



And here they are on the shelf. 21 colorways done, only 33 more to go.


***
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

***


Maggie in the evening, watching me spin.

***

Winter is over!

Last week we had -11C, and this week we are supposed to get + 20C on Thursday. Well, lets not talk about the weather, it's depressing.


Here are some happy photos. Denny has taken to eating ice whenever he can get his teeth on a ice cube, no matter how big or small they are.



I've watched him afterward, and he never showed any ill effect, except for increased peeing.


Happy is always in Lala land when we are outside, jumping around with his Frisbee on his head.



***

Beautiful day!

It's so lovely outside today, just the right temperatures. Sunny, a little windy, 15C, so I've decided to sit out on the deck and knit a little.



After a while, I thought it would be nice to have lunch out too.



Somebody else was very interested in my lunch:


trying it from all angles:


Happy knows, if he gives me some space while I eat, there will be something for him at the end.



Oh, and I'm working on my second handspun Old Forge blanket here, drinking Oolong tea. Just delightful. Happy Sunday!

***

Handspun Friday - Old Forge!

♥ Warning, photo heavy post! ♥

I realize that this is an old hat for many of you, who've seen it on Ravelry and/or on flickr already!

Yeah! My Old Forge blanket is done! I can't tell you how much I loved this project from start to finish. As soon as I saw the pattern, I knew I would do it in handspun yarn.
Just to remind you what I've used: variegated BFL for the key lime green, and royal purple I dyed up myself, and some Corgi Hill Farm "Monika's Muse".




This royal purple is impossible to capture:


"Monika's Muse"


And here's the finished blanket:



I made some modifications to the orignial. I left out the lace part. Although I like the idea of the lace, I didn't like the lace design.



I also left out the stitch pattern before the border. But before I added the garter ridge border, I did some slip stitching. I would have liked a few more rounds of that, but I didn't know if I had enough yarn left.



I cast on 11 stitches for the border, and knit it a little different than the original. Notes on that are on my Ravelry project page.



I used 5mm needles, but the yarn was mostly chunky and should have been at least a 6mm needle. Oh well, can't do anything about it now. It's still 61inches in diameter. Using 5mm needles, saved me some yarn, but it might not have been enough when using larger size needles, so I'm happy with the outcome.



Even though I took the photos in the morning sun, the colors are not as vibrant as in real life. Still, I love my Old Forge blanket, and have already planned another one, which will be modified as well.

***

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

***

Coastal Waters Shawl

Sometimes I don't remember whether I have shown you something or not, because it's been a while since I've finished it and moved on, especially if I had already posted it on ravelry. I think I was waiting for the pattern to come out to show you this shawl.


I was one of the test knitters, but I'm afraid I did not stick to the end. Nevertheless, others did a fine job, and now Preita Salyer was able to release her Coastal Waters shawl pattern!



It's a beautiful shawl, with slip stitches. Something different, and interesting to knit for sure.



pattern: Coastal Waters shawl by Preita Salyer
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat in the colors Budgie (I loved this one, it's the lighter color), and Canbean II.
needles: 3.75mm
size after blocking: 29" x 56" (I did modify it, and knit only half the repeats of pattern 4, but added a garter ridge border instead).




I blocked the edge pointy, but it could easily have been just straight.

***