Handspun Friday - second batch of Falkland semi solids

This is so much fun! Although I did ply all of them in one day, which did not agree with my neck and shoulders. I had to take off a few days from spinning, but now I've started in on the next batch of seven colors.
I'm loving this so much!


The colors from left to right:
Specter, Magenta, Pale Aqua, Old Brick, Cobalt, Carnation & Clover.
Except for Old Brick I can't say which one is my favorite of these colors. I love them all, well Carnation is a little too pink for me too. I do, however, love how Old Brick looks next to Pale Aqua. I'm planning on spinning some Falkland for another blanket, and dyeing it Pale Aqua for thte main color. I have finished handspun yarn as the second color in my stash. Can't wait to get started on that one.




They are all chain plied, and average 127yds per skein (2oz).



The next seven colors are already missing in this photo.



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Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ Hope you have a sweetheart to celebrate this day! ♥

Kirsten Kapur released her latest design today. It's the Lispenard cowl, and I was lucky to get to test knit this beauty!



It was hard to get good pictures on my manikin this time. The cowl is HUGE, and the buttons, as much as I love them, are heavy, and weigh the light fabric down a little.





I've had these buttons for years, and I think they are perfect for this cowl.



Here are some more specifics:

pattern: Lispenard by Kirsten Kapur

yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Sophisticat, colorway Steel, 2 skeins (I must say the WCY's Ladies are the best! I didn't have the right yarn in my stash, so I asked them if they could dye me some yarn very quickly. I ordered it on Friday and had the yarn to test knit the next Tuesday! Best customer service ever! I love all kinds of shades of grey and this one's just perfect!)

needles: 3.75mm
size after blocking: 13" x 65"



The yarn is Alpaca/Silk blend, and the best of it's kind I've encountered so far. I love the stitch definition. The pattern is 47 (or was it 48?) repeats long. After I've knit it the 10th time, I knew it by heart, and from then on it was just a matter of knitting it. I made it my goal to knit 10 repeats a day to get it done asap. More then ten repeats would have been torture.



The cowl is knit like a scarf, and buttoned together into a loop. If I were to knit this again, I would only knit the garter ridges at one end, and sew/graft it together, and put some nice buttons on for show only. I did knit the cowl as in the pattern, but I still sewed it shut. One reason was that I only had 4 buttons, but there were 6 button holes.

I love the final cowl though, the yarn is so soft, and shiny, and has nice drape. I LOVE the color, and the buttons, it's just perfect.

One puzzling thing about it though, is how very different Kirsten and I knit. We both used an Alpaca/Silk etc. blend for it.

original:
size: 13" x 61"
needles: 5.5mm
yarn used: 725yds (as in the first version of the pattern)

mine:
size: 13" x 65"
needle: 3.75mm
yarn used: 504.5yds

I used way smaller needles, and less yarn, and it's still bigger than Kirsten's. Oh, and there are over 25,000 stitches in this cowl! (did the math on some scrap paper, and can't remember the exact number)

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PS

My 60" circular addi lace needle finally came in today's mail. Now I can resume working on my handspun Old Forge blanket. Right after I finish the mittens I've started in the meantime. Yeah!

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Snow!

First I want to thank all of you who left comments over the last few posts. I can't seem to keep up with answering them, please forgive me. I've been busy, but it will get back to normal soon. Thanks! I love to hear from you!

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We've got snow over the weekend, not much, but enough to enjoy playing in it. Happy is especially happy about it, and jumps around like a lunatic, shaking either his Frisbee, or other green chew toy. It's funny to watch, but you have to stay clear of him, because it really hurts when he wacks you with his rubber toy. Maggie once got in the way, and she yelped in pain. Now she's taking care to stay out of reach.





What? Can't a guy have a little privacy?



















Uh Oh! A little dizzy there, buddy?



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Handspun Friday - some Falkland

I've another big spinning project going on. I've got 54 of FatCatKnits Semi Solids on Falkland to play with. Each is a 2oz bundle. I'm spinning them with a blanket in mind. I'm only going to start knitting once all of them are done.
I've got seven finished so far. I know, this will take a while, since I'm doing other stuff in between. But so far I'm loving it.


The skeins average 127yds, chain plied, 2oz.



I've spun them from lightest to darkest, and had the feeling, I was spinning the same thing over and over, even though they are all different shades.



I've already picked the next 7 colors, they are not in this picture anymore. This time I've picked them randomly, to make spinning more exciting. So far, I'm loving every colorway, they just look so awesome up close and personal. This is really a fun project.



I'm not sure what blanket it will be. I have something in mind, but don't know if I can do it yet. But that's a long way off!

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Have a wonderful weekend!

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What's in a box of dog treats?

Today was a fun mail day! Didn't get the circular needles I'm waiting for, but something much better!

I've received this funny, little notebook from Sara!



Notice the "collar" with the tags. So cute!



Thank you Sara!

It's a hard life!

Do I have sloths, not dogs?

Hi Maggie!


I love you so much, Maggie ...


stretch ...


stretch ...


Ha, got it, sucker!


Oops! There it goes....


Oh, it's so far away ...


you get the ball ....


come on, Maggie, you get the ball, it's your ball anyway ...


na, it's too far away ....


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Handspun Friday - Old Forge

The pattern is finally out, and I've cast on, and knit, knit, knit until my hands ached. Am I done yet? Noooo. I'm about 45% along, no picture of it, because it's punched up on a circular needle, not much to see yet.

What am I talking about? Old Forge blanket by Stephen West! As soon as I saw this blanket, I knew I wanted to spin for it. I had a bag full of variegated BFL fiber, and started spinning.


This is 34oz transformed into mostly chunky yarn. 1,327yds, chain plied, to be exact.
I didn't leave it at that; I wanted to dye it too. Hanging yarn out to dry in January!

Of course it didn't dry, even if it was a windy day. At least it didn't drip anymore.

I LOVE how it turned out!




This is the main color.



For the color in the middle, I spun some Corgi Hill Farm Falkland, dyed for me, called "Monika's Muse".


yarn: 229yds, chain plied



Once I had that all done, I was hoping for the pattern to be released, but not yet. So I got to thinking, and decided I wanted to do the border edge in a third color.
I found some more variegated BFL in my stash, not quite the same, a little darker blend, but good enough.


This yarn had to go into the dye pot as well. Royal Purple was what I wanted, and by god, this is impossible to photograph. That's the best I could do.

This turned out 657yds from 16oz.
I LOVE how this turned out. You should see it in person!
So here they are together.


I've cast on as soon as the pattern came out. Started with DP, and ever increasing circulars. I'm kind of stuck right now. I need 60" circ, and of course don't have them. Found them online, and have to wait now, for them to get here. I'm loving this project, and am already planning a second one. I found some yarn in my handspun stash I didn't know what to do with, and I think it's perfect for the middle color. Just have to spin the main color. FUN!

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Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

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