Sundown - Old Forge # 3

I'm so happy that my Old Forge # 3 is done! I've got tons of photos to share:


This is it's temporary place for a while. The dogs leave it alone, even Denny.







I love how the color transitions look.


I love how the zig-zag border came out.




The knit on cast off edge took forever, so it seemed.
I didn't have to spin more yarn, in fact I had about 3yds left over of the Pale Aqua yarn. :o)


I used handspun yarn again.
This as the main color: Pale Aqua on Falkland, dyed by Ginny of FatCatKnits: I only needed 24oz of this, ten ounces less than for my first one, which was made with thicker yarn.


and the contrasting colors: I have enough left over from these to make one or two hats.


pattern: Old Forge by Stephen West
yarn: handspun by me, fiber from FatCatKnits, Falkland, 3-ply
needle: 5mm
size after steam blocking: 53" in diameter
mods: I left out the lace pattern again and added the stitch pattern earlier instead. I made the spokes the same length this time. I did the stripes where the stitch pattern should have been. Used smaller needle. Didn't do the purl rounds in the inner circle, just plain stockinette stitch rounds.

I think I'm done now with this pattern, but I must say, I loved knitting all three of them. That I made them with my handspun yarn was one reason for it. I don't think I would have done this three times with commercial yarn.
I'll move on now.
Oh, and since somebody always asks, if I were to sell this blanket, I would ask $ 1,200.00 plus shipping and handling for it. :o)

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April, April, macht was er will!

We have a saying in German, that April does what it wants, because of the unpredictable temperatures and weather conditions. Snow falls into this category. Look what my blurry eyes saw this morning, when I opened the blinds.


The dogs of course were happy. I have to confess, that I was quite done with winter. Of course it's not sticking around for long. Melting as wee speak, but also still coming down.




Hmm, and Blogger changed me over to it's new look. I've got to get used to it before I can tell if I like it or not. But I don't like change, especially if it's not necessary.

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Progress

We had snow flurries yesterday morning, and today it's windy and cold. This is what I see when I look out my studio window into the back yard.


This year there is no bunny nest in the flower beds. I saw the beginning of one, but is was never finished. I hope they are smart enough to NOT have babies on our property, because all three of the dogs hunt the old ones, grassing mercilessly. Maggie is quite fast, and the one she was hunting could feel her hot breath on his little tail for sure. Only the fence stopped her. Lucky bunny.
This is the extend of my herb garden this year. Chives:


That's Old Forge # 3 at the beginning of the 600 stitches per round stage. Only 35 rounds of that to go before I can begin the garter stitch bind off border. The colors are not accurate, because of a late night photo.


But here are better pictures of the yarn.

The big Pale Aqua yarn cakes are 6oz. The small ones are left over, but I will use them before the border somehow.



Fitting nicely in my little basket, ready to go wherever I'm settling down to knit.

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And a doggy picture or two: Happy enjoying sunlight and a nap.


Maggie and Denny in the crate:


I had to be fast taking this picture, because Maggie left "the building" right after. She was in the crate first, but Denny likes to sleep in it too, so he just pushed his way in there, and made himself comfortable. This crate is right beside my desk in the studio. The top is a convenient space to put a small recycling bin, box of dog treats, and other stuff that gets collected too fast. They love to be in there during the day.

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Handspun Friday - Romney & Sparkle

I've come across this fiber, which has been in my fiber stash for years, the other day, when I was cleaning up my studio. I haven't spun it right away, because it's Romney fiber, even though I loved this shade of green, and it's got sparkle in it too!



This is 4.5oz Romney wool, pindrafted roving, with some sparkle added from Homestead Wool & Gift Farm, the contributing sheep is called Baaxter.

Since I've been spinning a lot of Falkland lately for my blankets, I wanted to spin some very different fibers in between, and it is so much fun to get all those different fibers in my hands. Last week it was Bond, which was new to me. I think I've spun Romney before, but can't be sure.

Romney is normally not for next to skin items, but this one was surprisingly soft, and will be a shawl some day.

I've got 475yds, 2-ply of it.




Although I'm into textured shawls right now, this one has to be something lacey.


I have a few contesters, but have not decided yet. There is Gail aka Nightsong, which I've been wanting to knit for a long time now, and 198 yds of Heaven, another one on my to-knit list for ages. Then there's Little Arrowhead, and Flaming Kerchief which is probably not lacey enough. I think Moulin Rouge would be wonderful, but it's not yet available. I also like Kuura, and Zetor another lovely one. I thought about Shetland Triangle Lace shawl but I've knit this one twice already.

It has to be a top down shawl, which can be made bigger or smaller depending on the yardage, so I can use up all the yarn. Any ideas?

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I thought this was cute and funny. A while back, I was sitting at my desk, when I heard the dogs making noises in the background, but I didn't pay attention. Then I looked down to the left side, and saw this:



Maggie was looking up at me. I don't know if SHE or Denny dragged the dog bed next to my chair, but she was the one curled up in it. Normally the dog bed is wedged between the table legs.


Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

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Handspun Friday - Terrestrial

Southern Cross Fibre's March 2012 installment was Terrestrial and Delicate. I've spun up Terrestrial first, waiting for an extra braid of Delicate to arrive with the April shipment. Each month there are two colorways, and I get one of each. That's good, because I'm sure I would love the one I would not get more, and this way, there's no problem for me.

This is Terrestrial: 110gr of Bond wool top



and this is Delicate: also 110gr Bond wool top


Anyway, as I said, I've spun up Terrestrial first into a 3-ply sock yarn. I did two strands of Terrestrial and one strand of grey Corriedale. Here are the bumps before spinning:



These turned into 360yds of sock yarn:



I think it's very manly, and a little bit boring, but I still like it. Bond fiber gave me a little trouble at first, but I soon got used to it. I could see the difference on the bobbins, because the first one I spun ran out of singles a lot earlier. I had spun more of the grey Corriedale too, so I had left overs on two bobbins, which made me clear two other bobbins with left overs, to make another 3-ply yarn.



I only got ~ 70 yds of this one, but I really like it a lot. The Pale Aqua of the third strand did a lot for it.
And here they are together:



Wishing you all a wonderful, lazy weekend!


Denny & Maggie


Denny & Maggie

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A Happy post!

time: Easter weekend
place: back yard
who: Happy and Maggie

It was a sunny, but cool day, and no matter where we pointed the hose, Happy was on it. Maggie wasn't too sure about it, but didn't run away like Denny did. Happy is definitely a water baby.

Chevry - a test knit!

Once again I'm so behind, not only in showing things, but also answering emails. I'm trying to catch up, but there's always so much to do!
In January, Stephen West sent me this shawl pattern to test knit. It was released in March. It's called Chevry, and was a very simple knit. I'm normally not a big fan of Intarsia knitting, but this one was easy. The only problem I had was, that I ran out of yarn, even though I had the right amount in the pattern asked for. I just left out a few rows in the end. So, if you plan on knitting it as written, see that you have more than 400yds in a skein.

Meet Chevry:





I love the look of this shawl. It's not deep, but wide.






pattern: Chevry by Stephen West
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Barn Cat, 1 skein of each color, each skein 400yds. Colorways Booberries & Grapelicious. As I said, I ran out of color A before the end.
needle: 3.25mm
size after mild blocking: 25.5inches x 70 inches

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The Easter weekend went by too quickly. We had a lot of fun outside, because it was sunny, but cool, exactly they way we like it!
Here's our PIA overlooking his Kingdom:




and Maggie pegging me to throw the Frisbee:


I've got Happy photos too, but that would be too much for one post. He'll get an extra one.

We all love it, when the first signs of new life are here!


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Easter Sale at Wandering Cat Yarns!

I wanted to let you know that Wandering Cat Yarns is having an Easter Sale going on! I've got me something pretty already! :o)

♥ ♥ ♥

Handspun Friday - handspun yarn for Old Forge # 2

It's a bit anticlimactic but here it is, the fiber and resulting yarn for my latest Old Forge blanket.
It started with FatCatKnits Fiber Club Famous Couples Romeo & Juliet:



I didn't exactly know what to do with it, but for once I wanted to spin it right away, and not bury it in my stash. I had 5oz of each colorway. After thinking long and hard how to spin it, I decided to make it 3-ply, with one strand of Romeo, one of Juliet, and one strand with some left over orange I had. Which became this yarn:


"So what now? ", I thought. I had to go hunting for some other fiber I could ply the rest with and then I found 10 oz of Corgi Hill Farm Jasper on Falkland (I love Anna Marie's fiber by the way). It was not exactly what I was looking for, but it would have to do, since at that point I didn't have a clue as what I would knit with the yarn anyway.

This fiber was kind of a gradient, from beautiful sunflower yellow to the weirdest greenish/pinkish almost grey. Hm. Well, next up was the yellow one:

and the pinkish one looked like this:

and the greenish one, almost the same:

With that I'd finished off all my 10oz of Romeo and Juliet, and there was only the middle, contrast color to be spun:

Now I had a big pile of handspun yarn, and by then I guess, I'd decided on making Old Forge # 2 with it.

I started to knit, and knit, and knit



and ran out of yarn for the knit on border, so I had to order more Romeo & Juliet fiber from FatCatKnits (thanks Ginny!), but had no more of the Jasper fiber left over. I just added some undyed Falkland as third strand to make it the lightest of all. For the border it would be fitting.


Then I started the knit on border, which is 10 stitches wide. It took me two days of knitting to get as far as the yarn stretched, NOT to the end though. I had to spin up some more, and with this little skein I was able to finally finish it.


And there you have it: the makings of Old Forge # 2.



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Wishing you all a wonderful Easter weekend, if you celebrate, and if not, yours should be just as wonderful!
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