Something New

A few months ago I ordered a bag of mill end Merlin yarn at Louet. When I saw the colours it inspired me to knit the Drawstring Raglan in the latest Interweave Knits. The thing is I do not even have that magazine. So I had to make up my own instructions – again.

I wanted to knit it for my youngest daughter. I chose Barbara Walker’s book to guide me and cast on for the neckline. I also decided to turn it into a top instead of a cardigan.

This is the first time that I have knit something from the top down. My daughter enjoys that she can try it on and check its growth. Somehow it seems to go quickly. And it should better be a fast knit, so that my daughter can wear it before the summer is over!

Completely off topic: My three sour Cherry trees that bloomed so profusely this spring yielded about 2 cups of cherries. Booo!

Big Plans

 

This is the finished Drop Stitch Scarf and I had so much fun making it, that every female on my Christmas list could possibly get one. I made this one for myself, but my oldest daughter wants it real bad. Hmm…

The part that you can see in the photo is where I used the 2ply yarn. I love how the colours turned out with my random spinning.

Specs:

Yarn: my own hand dyed, hand spun superwash merino top
needles: 5mm
size: 7 inches wide, 34 inches long
pattern: here

Crossing the Line

People say that you cross a line when you have more than 2 cats, especially if you are a single women. Last week I think we crossed a different line, when I bought a table loom. We now have 2 sewing machines, 1 serger, a spinning wheel ( I do not own it, but it’s here), a yarn stash, a fabric stash, a button stash, yarn dyeing equipment and all kinds of fibre related tools and now a loom. I think the only thing missing at this point is a sheep in the backyard ( or maybe an angora rabbit?)

As I have mentioned before my 10 y/o daughter has fallen in love with weaving. ( Maybe it has something to do with the fact, that this is the one thing I do not do?) I bought her a small loom last year and they also did some weaving in school. She told me the other day, that she would like a larger loom. She had some birthday money left so I started searching.

I looked at new looms and used looms on E-bay and Craigslist. I found out quickly, that looms are not cheap and it was hard for me to figure out what she needs. In the end I called someone who had listed a table loom on Craigslist at a very reasonable price. When I saw it I could not believe how big it was. I thought table loom meant portable, but I was wrong. The loom has the size of a child’s desk. It comes with its own stand. The weaving width is 32 inches and it has 4 shafts. It is made out of pine, is about 40 years old and from Norway. It is beautiful.

I just stood there for a while and stared at it. Then I asked every question I could think of, trying to find out if we could make it work. The owner of the loom was very patient and finally found a book for us as well. It is Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler and I think it is great.

Later at home I took a crash course in weaving, figured out how to warp the loom for thicker yarn and off she went. ( She likes this style of weaving: thinner yarn for the warp and thicker yarn in the weft.) She is now weaving her second scarf, this time in a twill pattern and is absolutely in love with her new loom. I am astonished how fast she is and how quickly she figured out the pattern.

Do you think I can borrow it some time? I have already subscribed to Weavecast.

This is Fun

I am knitting the Drop Stitch Scarf using my very own first handspun, that I have spun on a wheel. Clearly it is not very good yarn, because I did not know how to adjust the yarn uptake as the bobbin got fuller and also the wheel needed oil.

But I enjoy knitting with this yarn so much! I love the way the colours change and play with each other. I think the places where the yarn is really fat are cute. There is even one spot, where they really pile up. The pattern is very pretty, too!

 

The fiber is a very soft superwash Merino top that I have dyed. I have plied the yarn with a cotton sewing thread, which keeps everything together. These are the first 2oz. I was much better spinning the other half and made a regular 2ply out of it. I hope, it will look nice when I combine these.

Meeting a Deadline

I was done by 11am and the party started at 1:30pm. No problem, right? I have to admit, it was not as tedious as I though it would be to open up all the seams I needed in order to unravel the right front. But I was nervous about getting it done on time. The stitches are not as even as they should be, but that was caused by the curly yarn. And of course, I had not time to wash the cardigan.

Yesterday I went looking for buttons at my local sewing store. The blue buttons they had had all the wrong shade and the orange buttons were shiny, which I did not like. So I used the white buttons, that I had in my stash. I also made a label with iron-on transfer on knit fabric.

Stats:

Pattern: Devan from Knitty in size 1-2 yrs

Modifications: used the same yarn allover, 1*1 ribbing instead of rolled hems

Yarn: my own hand-dyed, colourway “Sunset” in Louet Gems Merino fingering weight, with plenty left over